A lazy morning with snow everywhere. This is not my picture; I don’t remember where I found it, but I love it.

Might as well lookaround and see what’s new!

I’m still staying off politics until after Christmas, but obviously Nelson caving on the health care bill no one is allowed to see is a big story. Obama promised to “remake” America. Apparently he’s remaking it into something other than a representative democracy.

Hey, the Democrats completely own this baby, now, and this will be too. They can’t blame Bush for it when it all goes wrong, although some will try to blame the GOP for it. Doctor Zero has a must-read on the issue. Also, read this.

Also, apparently the president’s ideas of diplomatic engagement are um…redefining it? If this translation is any indication, the world seems unimpressed.

“Poor Barack Obama”. I miss the “arrogant” cowboy.

Just IMAGINE what you’d be reading today in the press, and hearing from the Democrats, if Bush had behaved like this

Thaddeus Russell (great name!) who hasn’t much patience for those troubling Global Warming denialists, (and seems unconcerned about this sort of stuff, but I could be wrong) is nevertheless becoming concerned about the tone and tactics of the climate superbelievers:

This turn against democracy has recently taken on Orwellian characteristics. One of the more stunning but under-reported conclusions reached by many in the climate-change movement is that the instruments of the psychological profession must be employed to solve the crisis.

It’s a real concern that I identified over a year ago:

Forty years after enlightened baby boomers and academics decried conformity and told the world to ignore “the establishment,” to not kowtow to “the man,” to “rap about problems to find solutions,” and to “not guilt-trip or judge other people’s life choices,” those same sorts — the now firmly ensconced “establishment” pretending otherwise — are wondering why they can’t get people to fall in line and do as they’re told to do and think as they’re told to think with respect to the environment and the “crisis” of “climate change,” . . . All of this manipulation and social engineering is necessary, you understand, because we’re facing a “crisis.” The environmental “crisis” is the mother lode of guilt-tripping; if it is successful — if people can be made to accept the unprovable theory that humankind, not nature, is responsible for “climate change” — then the tentacles of the nanny state will be able to reach into every aspect of every life, from how one may heat or cool one’s home to how many children one may bear. It will be a necessary intrusion, meant to save the planet. For the children you should not have.

A kind of unholy trinity: Buffoons and clowns and hysterics. Since nothing real is getting done, and even best-case (nuclear power) scenarios are at least a decade off, I say drill, dammit.

The C Word

The Diamond: In the middle of the road

Hero: A medium sized man lifts a car off a little girl

100 Reasons that Climate Change in Natural and then, of course, there is this.

Venerable John Paul II: Benedict’s predecessor is on the road to sainthood, along with some very notable others.

Do not offer to pray for anyone if you are in the UK, where increasingly, they “don’t do God,” or at least not the Christian version. Thoughts on how misplaced passion on some rights can develop into a tyranny

Sr. John-Mark Maria: a new Poor Clare of Perpetual Adoration. Also, our sister-friends in New Jersey are joyfully cooking and eating together in their long-in-need-of-renovation kitchen and refectory.

“If Snowflakes were kisses: I’d blow you a blizzard” – go read it, because it’s very sweet. Then ask the kid to stop blowing, already!

Did you know that we have Christianity to thank for Coffee?. Something to ponder, anyway, while you enjoy your brew. I am currently having some Hermit’s Bold Blend with a dollop of half-and-half and just the tiniest spritz of whipped creme. Café mit Schlagobers, I think they called it when we were lucky enough to enjoy it at Café in Vienna, although then it wasn’t as sweet.

I love Vienna; it is such a beautiful city. Although we spent only 3-4 days there, and it was mid-winter and cold and bare, still it was beautiful. A concert every night, music and museums everywhere, and kabob stands on the corners. But the best part of Vienna -aside from the delectable weinerschnitzel was the number of coffee houses. My husband and I would walk around a bit, doing touristy things and then declare, “time for coffee,” and duck into a little coffee shop to enjoy the coffee and hot milk. We drank a lot of coffee, and did a lot of walking in Vienna. Perhaps the caffeine enhanced the memories!

More Coffee Theology here

Is this Atlantis? Were she alive, my end-times-obsessed mother would be having a field day.

Finally, if you please, a prayer request for a reader Pianogirl, who sometimes shows up in the comments section, and often sends me good stuff. Her husband, who has been suffering health issues, and is on the “older” end of the employment game, has lost his job. As you can imagine, a “pianogirl” doesn’t make enough to support a household. If you could keep them in your prayers…