The Social Catholic: Conservative Current Events

Breaking news and social trends from the perspective of Catholic doctrine. God is good! Share Him! #GOP #RNC. Find more content at https://socialcatholic.substack.com

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The Social Catholic | Jethro Higgins | Substack

Growing in Truth and Virtue. Click to read The Social Catholic, by Jethro Higgins, a Substack publication with tens of thousands of subscrib

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(Taken with http://cinemagr.am)

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Occupy an Economics Book: The Ignorance of #resistRNC

#OccupyRNC or #resistRNC is set to stage a huge demonstration at the Republican National Convention in a little more than 2 days. The economics aside -- We'll get to that in a minute -- take a second to look at the "big money" and corporations argument of the occupy movement. The organization of the website they have built for this event is staggering resistrnc.org they've set up a map like a battle grid with strategic locations (including Romney ville a play on the depression era Hooverville). The map even includes real time updates so occupy rioters can avoid police, barricades and even fires (which there is talk of them planing to set using molotov cocktails). Now this is no small task. A ton of planing and organization went into this website, not to mention money. It is very clear that some "big money" is behind this plot. Leftist corporations like Greenpeace and Labor Unions are likely to be involved in providing funding and tactical organization for such a massive endeavor.

The whole premiss of the occupy movement is a joke. If the protestors had bothered to learn anything in their high school economics classes we wouldn't be in this mess. They would realize that republicans Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan are far more likely to improve the economy. Occupiers look at images like the below graphic and get all riled up.

The problem with the above graphic is that if you read this article the labor participation rate has dropped to a near 30 year low of 63.7% what that means is that 36.3% of americans are not working and generate zero income. Now please if I'm wrong let me hear about it in the comments, but if according to the map 40% own roughly the size of Bermuda and 36.3% generate nothing towards GDP or really any economic indicator, then doesn't that sound perfectly and exactly fair? That sounds like the perfect amount for the 3.7% poorest wage earners in America.

The problem is they want you to focus on that 40% but 40% isn't a fair number. Because only 3.7% live in that spec the other 36.3% are either married to or the child of somebody in the other regions, or squatting in the 1% land. A better number to look at would be the disparity between how much the 40% have compared to how much they use. Because in reality that spec on the map probably uses closer to 40% of the government resources which comes from your pocket. So if occupy wants to talk about what is fair they should go back to their spec and tell us from there. The "wealth gap" as they call it comes from not working not from unfairness, and in any system somebody always has to be at the bottom. The great thing about our system is you don't have to stay there.

And if you don't believe it, then do what you always do and listen to this actor and the mainstream media.

[jethrohiggins]

Blues Traveler on Social Content and Community Management:

Social content and community management. The basics brought to you by Blues Traveler. Enjoy my last blog for Penton Media! http://t.co/wa1aiOso

[jethrohiggins]

Internet Privacy or The Art of War?

This is only part one of my first and last blog post for Penton Marketing Services. To view the entire post as well as other social media, SEO and PPC content please follow the link below:

http://bit.ly/N1M6pZ

Internet Privacy or The Art of War? - Part One

"All warfare is based on deception."

- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Microsoft has announced that for IE10 "do not track" will be the default setting. For many internet users this is a welcome move; however the repercussions in the advertising industry could be monumental. According to this article from adage.com, Microsoft’s decision has sent the industry into an uproar.

"Be extremely subtle even to the point of formlessness. Be extremely mysterious even to the point of soundlessness. Thereby you can be the director of the opponent's fate."

- Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Chief Privacy Officer Brendon Lynch wrote in a blog post, "We ultimately concluded that the appropriate privacy-friendly default for DNT in IE10 is 'on,'" Microsoft appears to be the champion of the public with this decision, offering users strong default privacy settings, but it doesn't take an MBA to immediately realize that this is a business move and, obviously, was made taking corporate accounting into account (no pun intended). Serving ads for Microsoft, as described by adage.com, is a "money-losing sideshow", but for the industry leader and Microsoft's largest competitor Google, serving ads is the mainstay of their financial model. This decision to turn "do not track" to auto on is an aggressive move, and it indicates that Microsoft is on the war path.

"To know your Enemy, you must become your Enemy."

― Sun Tzu, The Art of War

At the same time, Microsoft has also announced their new tablet, Surface, which is another bold move into stiff competition, this time with Apple. Surface appears, at least on the outside, to be very iPadesque, but with a couple of key built-in features that give it a competitive advantage. The most notable of which are the keyboard, angled camera and kick stand. If it interfaces with Xbox and/or the Kinect, this gamer is going to be waiting in line come ?/?/soon (no word yet on release date)...

This is only part one. To view the entire post please follow the link below:

http://bit.ly/N1M6pZ

[jethrohiggins]

Economic Development and Human Behavior

Breaking News: There is still economic crisis!

Infographics from 27 Visualizations and Infographics to Understand the Financial Crisis

The nature of human beings will never change. For this reason economic development should be easier than we make it out to be and yet we find ourselves in recession and bailout debt. The fact is human behavior is relatively easy to predict. A person will always seek the maximum amount of reward for the minimum amount of effort. Don't believe it? Go look at the line in front of a lottery machine. As with all rules some people might argue an exception here or there. For example somebody might say, "What about nonprofits?!" Valid. However, is that really an exception or are they just seeking a different "reward". For some people the well being of their fellow man might be the ultimate reward. Hopefully we can come to agree on this natural human behavior.

So, a human will seek to get the greatest return on his efforts. This natural human behavior is what brought about the greatest inventions of our history; the wheel, fire, the atlatl (spear thrower), and of course the toilet. A force, it seems, powerful enough to override this behavior in human beings is of course Love, a force that draws us to do all kinds of work for the benefit of others. But, I digress. How does this speak to economic development?

This simple human behavior explains the actions of both the 1% and the 99%. Let's face it Occupy Wall Street is not interested in fairness. They want the maximum amount of money for the minimum amount of effort. That is why they want wealth redistribution. They are not willing to put in the work necessary to raise themselves up to reap the rewards earned by the 1%. Money doesn't just fall into the wealthy's laps. Somebody worked hard for that money. Maybe it was their parents (Love), but that doesn't mean they don't deserve it that money went exactly where the person who earned it chose for it to go. The wealthy make their money by investing their time, their talent, or their money in activities that have high returns. The largest reward for the least amount of effort.

Here is the major difference between the 1% and the 99%. The 99% invest a small amount of their time their talent or their money, and when they reap their reward they enjoy it. The 1`% invest their time, their talent and their money and then reinvest the outcome again and again. They stack earnings upon earnings without spending their reward. They do this because they understand that if they don't spend their reward they can get an even greater reward, and the more times they stack this activity the greater reward they will get for the sdmallest amount of effort.

Now our society wants to punish them for this activity. We say they have made to much money with to little effort, and that some people exerting less effort deserve some of that reward too. Here in lies the problem. The economy is driven by this 1%. Maybe the 1% has 99% of the money, but as part of the 99% you should realize that your money is only worth what their money is. Your money can't have a different value per dollar than their money. Say for example you have $10,000 and I have $990,000. I have enough money to buy a house and you do not. You say that's not fair so you want 15% of the money. Now you have 150,000 and I have 850,000. I can no longer afford the expenssive house, but neither can you. What's worse is that GM has realized that you can afford a car now, but they don't want to make more cars they want to make more money (Maximum reward for the minimum effort). So they raise the price of their cars until the same amount of people are buying them (if the economy tanks they will go out of business, sound familiar?). This is not economic development this is economic recession.

Scenario 2: I have 990,000 you have 10,000 and nothing changes. In this scenario for GM to make more money they MUST make more cars. In order to make more cars they have to build new plants and hire new employees. You are one of them. You graduate from McDonalds to GM now you make 90,000 but I still make 990,000. that's (carry the one) 1,080,000!? What happend? There is 8% more money??? Not only that because I have 990,000 I can afford my big house that means that the house I would have bought goes down in price (less demand). Now you can afford a car and possibly in a couple of years a house. This is economic development. It's not about how many dollars are in your bank account its about your "buying power". Big business and big money are good things. When people leverage their rewards to make even greater rewards everybody does better. If we want to encourage economic development we can't punish people for making money. Human behavior also dictates that if you quit getting rewarded for an activity you are far more likely to stop doing it, and we really don't want big money to stop investing in our economy. That is not a viable economic development plan.

If the Donald Trumps and Bill Gates of the world sit back and enjoy their money on tropical islands instead of investing it. We will all starve to death.

[jethrohiggins]

Facebook: I will NOT vote for Obama in 2012 - nobama

As I sit here sat there in BWI airport; lurking around the internet at 2:00am I ran across a tell tale sign that Obama might be slipping out of relevance for younger voters. The photo here copares the facebook pages:

I Will Not Vote for Obama in 2012

and

I Will Vote for Obama in 2012

All I have to say is, "Score board" and Rasmussen Reports seems to agree. President Obama swept America away on an emotional tide of change, but all he really did was dig a trench between her people. President Obama is having trouble getting the support of his friends because they are starting to see through the smoke and mirrors to the heart of his act, which is nothing short of communism and a vast collection of government mandates.

Since I initially posted this article the numbers have changed drastically, the nobama group is now at over 680,000 where as the probama group is only at a little more than 120,000. However another interesting turn of events the probama group has been advertising outside of the US to try and compete for numbers with the nobama group. The ads below were being served in the Philippines via Facebook during my most recent trip to see my son.

Facebook seems to agree with my assessment a public forum that is usually filled with Obama support can't even muster 1/5th 1/6th of the numbers as the anti-Obama counter part. I predicted this trend here several weeks ago when I discussed how Republicans were winning the share of voice in trending Google searches. People are tired of Obama, and your die hard liberal Democrat supporters are of course going to vote for him, but Obama should be very worried about those folks in the middle. Gay marriage, Socialist medicine, anti religious freedom the list goes on and on... He's setting fire to all of his bridges, and if he's not careful it is going to cost him this election, but he seems content at the moment to advocate for higher taxes on the rich while simultaneously courting the mega rich for campaign funds.

If you look at the arguments set forth by these two competing Facebook groups above one thing stands out. The pro Obama group whines A LOT just look at their opening argument. "Ever since he took office he has had everything thrown at him" Duh! He is the president. It's in the job description, no excuses. In sharp contrast we have this from the anti Obama group,

"Our objections to Obama for president are political and ideological -- not race. With that said, keep our discussions civil and on message. We'll try our best to block/ban any user that is racist or uses violent, angry, aggressive rhetoric towards other persons. Thank you."

Much more adult and mature.

I believe we will see this trend continue and I think "I will not vote for Obama in 2012" will reach 1 million soon. The other group may never. I hope you will join me in liking the page because if we move any further forward with change we will fall off of a cliff. Nobama.

[jethrohiggins]

Catholic Church takes legal action against Obama

The Catholic Church takes legal action against the Obama health mandate

In an move worthy of praise dozens of Catholic organizations joined the Cardinals of America in a lawsuit aimed against the bad policies of President Barack Obama who knowingly and without reservation trampled on the constitution violating every US Catholics freedom of religion. Cardinal Timothy Dolan has wasted no time in his new position. He is turning the tide of American thought against these failed Obama policies which threaten thousands of charitable organizations around the country. President Obama made no effort to when faced with this issue to respect the country or its people. Hopefully this instance will help to turn the tide of American public opinion against the failed ,and destructive, radical policies of this reckless administration. Thank you to CNSNews giving the fair and righteous coverage this story deserves. As MSNBC and CNN look for inconceivable ways to spin this story and label the Catholic Church as an anti-American aggressor don't you buy into it. Over the next few weeks and months the media absolutely will make every attempt to drag the Church through the mud. Priest scandals will be brought back up, and talking heads will undoubtedly talk about the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition. The powers that be will use every dirty tactic they can to discredit the Church, and the one tactic that will be out of their reach is a legal argument.

I will continue to write about this story as it develops, but please stay tuned in educate yourselves, and don't just sit back and hope somebody else fixes the country. Get involved! Show your support! Voice your opinion! "There is one evil that we must fear most of all, and that is, the indifference of good men!" -Boondock Saints. The only thing that our aggressors need in order to win against our civil liberties is for you and I to continue to do nothing about it. Nothing you do this year will be more important than fighting back against this onslaught of anti-American radical left policy. Get angry and do something about it! Join these facebook groups Our Once Great Nation and I will NOT vote for Obama in 2012 comment, like, email, call, REPEAT! Don't just watch DO! America is counting on you!

[jethrohiggins]

As I sit here in BWI airport; lurking around the internet at 2:00am I ran across a tell tale sign that Obama might be slipping out of relevance for younger voters. The photo here copares the facebook pages:

I Will Not Vote for Obama in 2012

and

I Will Vote for Obama in 2012

All I have to say is, "Score board" and Rasmussen Reports seems to agree. President Obama swept America away on an emotional tide of change, but all he really did was dig a trench between her people. President Obama is having trouble getting the support of his friends because they are starting to see through the smoke and mirrors to the heart of his act, which is nothing short of communism and a vast collection of government mandates.

Facebook seems to agree with my assessment a public forum that is usually filled with Obama support can't even muster 1/5th of the numbers as the anti-Obama counter part. I predicted this trend here several weeks ago when I discussed how Republicans were winning the share of voice in trending Google searches. People are tired of Obama, and your die hard liberal Democrat supporters are of course going to vote for him, but Obama should be very worried about those folks in the middle. Gay marriage, Socialist medicine, anti religious freedom the list goes on and on... He's setting fire to all of his bridges, and if he's not careful it is going to cost him this election, but he seems content at the moment to advocate for higher taxes on the rich while simultaneously courting the mega rich for campaign funds.

If you look at the arguments set forth by these two competing Facebook groups above one thing stands out. The pro Obama group whines A LOT just look at their opening argument. "Ever since he took office he has had everything thrown at him" Duh! He is the president. It's in the job description, no excuses. In sharp contrast we have this from the anti Obama group,

"Our objections to Obama for president are political and ideological -- not race. With that said, keep our discussions civil and on message. We'll try our best to block/ban any user that is racist or uses violent, angry, aggressive rhetoric towards other persons. Thank you."

Much more adult and mature.

I believe we will see this trend continue and I think "I will not vote for Obama in 2012" will reach 1 million soon. The other group may never. I hope you will join me in liking the page because if we move any further forward with change we will fall off of a cliff.

[jethrohiggins]

Barack Obama recognizes unborn babies as human beings

Obama counts unborn babies as human for his own gain

No president has ever championed abortion like President Barack Obama. From his run for the white house in 2008 to his current bid for the 2012 election Barack Obama has said time and again that he fully supports abortion as a choice for expecting mothers to dodge the responsibility of mother hood. That is why the discovery this mothers day that President Obama requires unborn babies to be registered as separate guests from their mothers on any White House tour is so upsetting. Barack Obama clearly acknowledges the growing baby within as a person while simultaneously supporting its indiscriminate execution. Please do read the article above for the full story.

With the revealing of this policy of Barack Obama's White House it should be interesting to watch how he wiggles his way out of this story. There is a good chance that a staff member will be fired and a statement will be made, but don't you buy it America. At worst Obama accepts that the killing of what he knows to be a human being is ok, but even in the best case scenario President Obama is trying to pad the White House visit numbers. Why would he want to do that? That is the key question, and maybe there is more to that. It is ludicrous however to claim that the policy is for security reasons. The only explanation of the situation at this point is that the practice is for White House security, but to assume that a fetus is somehow a security threat is insulting to the intelligence of the American people.

What are your thoughts? Do you think this news will be swept under the rug by Presidnet Obama's gay marriage announcement?

[jethrohiggins]

Obama & Class Warfare: Liberal Agenda a "Coalition of Special Interest"

There is one main difference between liberals and conservatives. A liberal looks at the entire world and searches for ways to fix every single individuals problems, and they believe it is the governments job to do so. In stark contrast a conservative looks out at America and asks, "How can we best build this nation as a whole in order that everybody might prosper together."

Behind the liberal facade of wanting to help everyone lies something a little less noble and a little too ambitious. You see, any individual issue in the liberal agenda could never garner enough support to be made into law. That is why they have created their "Coalition of Special Interest". This is because in general liberals do not desire "change" for the majority of the nation they desire it for the minority. Their changes effect only a small portion of the population positively, but affect the majority of the nation in non positive ways. More specifically they desire governmental change for positive effects to themselves. The liberal agenda is reminiscent of a child at the lunch table who sees his neighbor with a fruit roll up while he himself has an apple. The child then complains to his mother about how unfair this is and demands something be done about it. Unfortunately usually the liberal answer is to complain to the teacher to divide everyone's lunches up into equal parts or to make a rule about what must be in the lunch bag. (speaking of which...North Carolina replaces a 4yr olds turkey sandwhich with chicken nuggets for health reasons and this Chicago and Boston force parents out of health decisions for their own children ) The conservative answer to this lunch room example would be two fold:

1. Deal with it.

2. If it's that big of a deal get a paper route and buy your own fruit roll ups.

The beating heart of this liberal mind set is the idea that together the "Coaltition of Special Interest" can beat the majority and get what we want. One person wants socialized medicine, another wants abortion and still another wants free birth control from the government. None of these ideas make good sense for our nation. Beyond the obvious moral implications these ideas are financially unsustainable for the long term fiscal health of our country. We are spending money for these liberal agenda action items that we don't have.

So what is the big liberal answer to fix their over spending? Easy steal money from rich people (read: fruit roll ups). Most people aren't rich, so if you put together a group like occupy and lie to the general public by saying you represent 99% of the people it's easy to get a lot of support for terribly irresponsible spending. Instead of resting the fault on those doing the spending (liberals looking to make special interest groups happy) just blame rich people and play into people's jealousy over their neighbors success. It is a very well crafted plan. With one major pitfall. If policy makers new anything about the economy they would know that raising taxes gives you more money in the short run but much less money in the longer run. Lowering taxes gives you less money immediately but in the long term it improves the economy and increases total income to the government.

However, maybe liberal policy makers aren't as ignorant about the economy as we think. What better way to increase your votes than to set the country up for economic failure. The more disenfranchised people in our country the greater support liberal politics gains (even if they caused the problem). Maybe the left knows exactly what they are doing. Look at Obamacare for your example. It didn't have a snowballs chance in hell of passing right up until the last minute. Closed door deals were brokered. Off the record promises were made. Low and behold come time for the vote Obama had gathered enough yes votes. Yes votes that the majority of politicians are beginning to regret making.

Conservative issues are much more difficult to gain support for. That is because conservative ideas are more responsible in general (we've made some missteps but i'm not interested in digressing over these petty examples the left will bring as a counter point.) Conservatives don't support spending money the government doesn't have. This is because conservatives understand that the government doesn't have a single cent, there is no such thing as government money. That money is our money. When a college student with a part time job, and $15,000 in school loan overflow, enters the food stamp program he is stealing. Conservatives understand that. Conservative policy can be unpopular because it suggests tightening your belt and watching what you spend. Being responsible isn't a good political move because in our culture public opinion champions the irresponsible, just look at our heroes: skanky drug addicted celebrities, drug addict and rapist sports figures, and unfaithful politicians and public figures. What this nation really needs to regain it's strength economically is to not get its way for a while. America needs a spanking and a time out. Not a fair portion of a fruit roll up.

[jethrohiggins]

Baby Liam enters the world!

6:09AM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

Since I am thousands of miles away from my family at the moment I will be updating everyone with what is going on here. Liz is leaving her parents house now for the hospital we are at 37 weeks and Liam decided that he's going to enter the world early. It is currently 6:09pm 6:09am Philippines time. Please say prayers, and check back here soon I'll be posting updates all night!

Your brother from a holy Mother,

- Jed

6:22AM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

For some back story William has been in position for birth for about a month now, and the doctor was anticipating a possible earlier birth date. She warned Liz that if she didn't wear her maternity belt it could have been as early as 2 weeks ago. So the early date should be nothing to worry about, but please pray for everything to go smoothly and naturally!

6:45AM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

Slight delay. We're on pause for the hospital run for maybe an hour. Stay tuned!

7:08AM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

Ok we are back on the move! A hospitoling we go!

8:14AM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

Ok now they are finally leaving for the hospital for real this time. The initial panic of arriving at delivery day seems to be wearing off and Liz is in very good spirits very excited to go have a baby.

8:52AM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

Liz has been moved to the labor room at the hospital. Her sister Leenie has her phone so I'll be getting updates from Ate Leenie while Liz is in labor. Everybody seems to be doing well and very excited! Ate said "Gosh I'm shaking!"

9:32AM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

And now the waiting game. You see, in the Philippines nobody goes into the labor room with the pregnant mother because there are several pregnant women in there waiting to go to a delivery room so anybody that comes to the hospital with the expectant mother is forced to wait out in the waiting area for hours sometimes until something happens. Apparently the doctors are also not very good about coming out to speak with the family. So we won't know anything until she is moved to the delivery room at this point. Liz's sister Leenie is waiting at the hospital for the next bit of news. She is also rubbing it in my face that she gets to hold my son before I do... thanks Ate...

10:03AM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

Well no news yet... here's an interesting note though the Philippines is exactly 12 hours off from Eastern time so when i post that it's 10:03am there it means it's 10:03pm here. It makes Liz and I's conversations very interesting because one of us is always just waking up and one of us is always just about to go to bed. The baby is sure to throw a wrench in the perfectly synchronized schedule LOL. More to come, stay tuned.

11:07AM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

Leenie says that she thinks Liz has moved into the delivery room now. She's not sure though . she's really amped lol. She says that She thinks Liz is going to have the baby soon and that she is 2 X excited. More to come soon hopefully!

11:20AM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

Liz's sister just spoke with the doctor and it appears that the baby isn't ready yet to come out. the doctor said probably in a couple more hours. She's only at 3cm and she is experiencing some pain right now. The doctor is going to check back in on her in a little while. Liz is in labor now it's just a waiting game until Liam is ready to come out! Keep praying!

11:52AM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

No news yet. I ordered a pizza I have a feeling I'm going to be up for a while LOL. The doctor apparently left and will come back later...

12:26PM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

My third Cousin Sharon Baker used to work in the NICU and she had this to say about Liz. "Since it's her first baby it could be a while. We don't consider it 'active labor' until 4cm & 100% effaced (thinning of the cervix). Getting to this point is the slowest & most comfortable part of labor. After 4cm, average progression is about 1 cm/hour. Then, she'll have 20 minutes to 3 hours of pushing to do. You've all got a long night ahead of you."

So it could be a while yet. Hopefully it goes a little quicker for Liz's sake. Sharon also had this to say about babies who arrive early. "When your son is born, he needs to spend almost all his time on mom's chest (skin-to-skin). This allows for a calmer transition, temperature stability, less stress = less calorie burning so more calories available for gaining weight. It's also referred to as Kangaroo care. You can find a lot of information re. 'near term' infant & kangaroo care. I'll send more info later. She should request to wait on a bath for the baby for at least 6 hours, then he goes back skin-to-skin." Thanks for the info Sharon!

12:38PM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

Guys! It happened it's finally here! I'm so excited! It's totally pizza time. hello artisan Dominos pizza! No baby news though. Sorry to get your hopes up lol.

2:00PM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

Well it's about 2:00 now and still no word. We're going on 5 hours but I have a feeling it's going to be a couple more. I'll update you all as soon as I here anything new.

2:20PM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

Liz's sister grabbed the doctor and found out that Liz has been moved into the delivery room the doctor said that the baby is definitely coming today. So it's just a little while longer maybe a couple hours.

4:38PM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

My mother-in-law is telling me that William is here now! Of course i haven't heard anything yet from Liz's sister in 2 hours hopefully she will message me soon with an update.

8:59PM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

I'm a Daddy! Yahoo messenger totally sucks! William was born hours ago and Liz was trying to contact me but nothing was getting through. She must be sleeping now. tomorrow morning everyone gets to see the baby! Pictures to come soon!

1:25AM Philippine's time 5/4/2012

After a little nap and an epic battle with technology I'd like to officially welcome William David Higgins into the world born May 4th @ 2:12pm 6lbs 12oz. Because he was born early they took him away at first to stabilize his temperature. A large group of people game and joined Liz at the hospital in the afternoon. Thanks for being there everyone! As promised below are the first two pictures I have received of my son!

Liz and I thank you for all your prayers, and we can't wait to introduce you to our beautiful baby boy!

[jethrohiggins]

What is love? About love and sex

I wrote this note on Facebook years ago when I was still a Director of youth ministry, but the article linked to below really brought it back to my mind. It's amazing how close our two lists of 7 things are! The things that Emily Stimpson is saying are absolutley true I encourage everyone to read what she says.

The following is what I wrote about love in 2008 and it is truer now than it ever has been before. I stand by what I said then 100%. I'm not down on love. I love love, especially now that I am married and have my own son on the way (who is due literally any minute now as I type this blog). So take a minute and read about what love is, really. What is a relationship? Not our cultures answer to the question "What is Love?".

Our Own Worst Enemy: by Emily Stimpson

REAL LOVE

I've read a lot lists floating around social networks, and they mostly make me sick to my stomach. Our culture is perpetuating the idea that physical intimacy is what Love is all about. This is categorically false. Although physical intimacy has it's place in your love life it absolutely does not define it. This right here is the REAL love list. Women, if a man treats you this way you have found love forever not "Until BOREDOM do us part" or "until menopause do us part" You ready for this? Here we Go!!

1. Real love is an intimacy of the mind. You should feel completely comfortable not touching your significant other while in the same room, but just enjoying each others company. If you have to touch your significant other every second you're in the same room your relationship is not strong enough mentally, so you crutch on what's easy the physical.

2. If you have real love for your significant other you should make them the only person you are intimate with. But if you are sexually intimate with every person you fall in love with none of those people are the only person you are intimate with. Real Love is forever, and forever goes in BOTH DIRECTIONS folks, not just into the future.

3. REAL Love IS NOT happy with you the way you are. Real love challenges your partner to become a better person real love helps them every day to become the best person they can be, and real love, REAL LOVE, expects the same from them, not complaining when out of Love they try to help you overcome your faults.

4. REAL Love is a DECISION not an emotion. It begins with an emotion, but REAL serious Love, the kind that includes things like sex and marriage, is a decision. A decision that lasts "until DEATH do you part". It won't be easy, and at times you will want to walk away but you make the DECISION to never do that no matter what. If you can't man up, and commit yourself, FOREVER, to the happiness of the beautiful woman who wants to be with you, THEN KEEP YOUR JUNK IN YOUR PANTS! Because you are not worthy.

5. (ladies) Real love respects the man you will be with. You wouldn't flaunt your body to others if you were married. Why are you doing it now? If there is real substance to you in your heart and in your head guys are going to notice. Guys don't need you to highlight your physical beauty... we're pretty good at noticing it no matter what you are wearing, and if we don't find you physically attractive no amount of thongs, makeup or short skirts is going to change our minds in fact it usually makes it worse :) You start jiggling things around, and wearing nothing but a piece of yarn and you are going to attract a terrible person who will take advantage of you and kick you to the curb for the next jiggly thing he sees. You are beautiful and deserving of everything love has to give. Don't cheapen yourself, and spend your life chasing after guys who aren't capable of really loving you.

6. REAL love is about appropriate SEX. It's about seeking real intimacy with the one you love. Sex does and always will permanently connect you with your partner. That's half the point! (the other half is making babies) Sex unites a man and a woman to each other for the purpose of STRENGTHENING their love, and bringing children to the family. Not creating love, or turning like into love, but strengthening something that already solidly exists, giving it the ability to last forever. If you pass around the pie to everyone who's hungry nobody feels special, especially you. There is nothing left for you to give once you've given away sex. No way of showing your Love that they are more special than anyone before them.

7. People encourage girls to save sex for a special night like Prom or Homecoming with you're boy friend that you "Love". Question... Why would you want that night with your high school boyfriend to be more special than your wedding night with your future husband? Saving your self for prom or your one year anniversary, or until you get engaged... that is a bastardization of what is good and truly meaningful. Which would be saving yourself for the most important human being in your life.

People wonder why our divorce rate is so high. People say oh it's because people aren't having their happiness suppressed any more by out dated concepts. That is absolutely BULL and you know it. Our divorce rate is so high because we are becoming more and more of a selfish people. Our personal happiness is becoming the most important thing to us. Stop for a second, and think about the kind of person you want to spend the rest of your life with. If you were their only sexual experience you would be their best sexual experience, and not only that you would share something between each other that no other person has ever known. These are the sort of things that make marriages last, and these are the only sort of things that can be called true unselfish Love.

There it is. You got a problem with that? Give me an ear full. I love love, but love is hard work it's not like a movie. The sooner you get over yourself and realize that it's not about you or your happiness at all, it's about YOUR PARTNERS, the sooner you will have the capacity to actually Love with true devotion. Then you will be ready to be a husband or a wife.

Pass this on to somebody that you love not because anything bad or good will happen to you next week if you do (because any message that claims that is garbage), but because if you love to love and believe this you should desire it for your friends. That they have true happiness and Love. That is what love is.

[jethrohiggins]

Titanic II: Australian billionaire builds history

Clive Palmer an Austrailian billionaire has decided to build a piece of history. Maybe it was the second release of Titanic in theaters that sparked the idea. (let's hope it wasn't the many cruise ship disasters that have plagued the world this year). Whatever the reason Clive Palmer is doing something that I believe the entire world can respond to by saying "awesome!" To be honest it's a wonder to me that at this point in history nobody has attempted this yet. I mean in our world it is all about the biggest and the best. Why has it taken us this long to get another Super Cruise ship up and running? A good number of my friends from college work 6 month shifts in cruise ships doing singing gigs. I wonder how many of them will fight tooth and nail to be on this boat. I gotta be honest part of me would love to watch the maiden voyage first hand, but maybe due to the history of her namesake... I'll sit this one out. Official ride number 3 maybe is where I'm going to deem her see worthy.

Palmer aquired his wealth through his successful mining operations and as the article below states he will be building the ship to add to his investment portfolio. His new company Blue Star Line Pty Ltd is using a Chinese shipping yard to build this goliath ship. It is unfortunate that based on America's incredibly unreasonable corporate tax rate that the ship was not considered to be built in one of our ports, but such is life. Apparently palmer is an aspiring politician as well. Quite the entrepreneur and renaissance man Clive Palmer is. Superstition aside I'm really excited to see this ship built. now if we can only get billionaires around the world to follow suit then we can get to mars sooner, and maybe get a spruce goose up in the air! God bless capitalism! Awesome stuff like this and Virgin galactic just doesn't come from communism.

Titanic II set to disembark in 2016

[jethrohiggins]

White House Correspondents Dinner: The Hollywood Party

The White House correspondents dinner was actually pretty entertaining at times. However there may be ramifications politically from some of the jokes. The Washington Post wrote an article that was very interesting.

Hollywood and Washington went on a romantic date Saturday night

One of the jokes Jimmy Kimmel made rang very true in a not so funny way he said, "Everything that's wrong with America is here tonight" and that was true. The drivers of all our political and economic problems were all in the same room Saturday night. Hollywood, liberal leaders and the Democrat 1% had a good laugh at America's expense tonight. Yes it was funny. Yes Obama got some good jokes in. However the humor aside a lot of the jokes the president and Jimmy Kimmel made shouldn't have been funny. The joke campaign ad the president had made about himself shouldn't have been funny. The joke statements were pretty true. Granted I did giggle when they referenced the absurd Sarah McLaughlin anti-animal cruelty campaign. Which seems like it was designed to divert funds from starving children in Africa in order to buy dog beds. I digress...

It's pretty telling however about the democratic party that it seems Hollywood plays a large role in their platform. It's unfortunate that the majority of Americans would actually take into account a celebrity's political views when forming their own opinions about the issues. Celebrities wield a lot of power when they do things publicly because people want to be like them, and they want to emulate them. But hold on a minute! Do you really want to make such important decisions based on what somebody completely removed from the issues thinks? When deciding the fate of issues like abortion, freedom of religion, and immigration don't you think your decision should come from a deeper place than "Because Kim Kardashian tweeted about it." It's a sad state of affairs that our citizens use such shallow means of examining the issues. Read the Constitution, read a history book, or better yet learn what your faith teaches about the issues. Hopefully in the future Hollywood won't have such a pivotal role in politics.

[jethrohiggins]

This Eucharist - by Jethro Higgins (Catholic worship song)

Warning: This post is SUPER Catholic. This is a song I wrote for Eucharistic adoration when i was a youth minister and playing in the church band. It is a pretty authentic picture of how the Eucharist makes me feel. Feel free to learn it and play it for church activities. For any other purposes please seek my permission. Below you can read the lyrics.

V1: In this Eucharist gift of body and blood I am overwhelmed and over joyed and filled with your Grace my God, And in the breaking of the Lamb that was slain my knees hit the floor and I beg once more to be worthy of this gift of the Lord.

Chorus: I am not worthy Lord but only say the word and I shall be healed by the grace of my God. I am not worthy Jesus but that-a which God has made clean we are not to call profane.

V2: In this Sacrament we touch the living God and not the same and I am not ashamed to say I can feel the change and in my heart I know I become a temple of the Lord and dwelling with in me is the holy one the Savior whom I adore.

*Chorus*

It's not just a sign! Not merely bread and wine! It's so much more! Bread can't hear the cry of the poor!! Hallelujah Hallelujah

*Chorus*

Amen. Amen. Amen. I do believe you Lord my God.

[jethrohiggins]

Why Suffering?: About God, is pain bad or good?

You've got a few minutes right? I mean you're on facebook killing time... walk with me for a while. visit each link before you move on. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kmVyiuA6DY APOSTOLIC LETTER SALVIFICI DOLORIS OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF JOHN PAUL II TO THE BISHOPS, TO THE PRIESTS,... See More TO THE RELIGIOUS FAMILIES AND TO THE FAITHFUL OF THE CATHOLIC CHURCH ON THE CHRISTIAN MEANING OF HUMAN SUFFERING - 1984 (the beggining of his papacy long before his great suffering at the end of his life) "This is the origin also of the present reflection, precisely in the Year of the Redemption: a meditation on suffering. Human suffering evokes compassion; it also evokes respect, and in its own way it intimidates. For in suffering is contained the greatness of a specific mystery. This special respect for every form of human suffering must be set at the beginning of what will be expressed here later by the deepest need of the heart, and also by the deep imperative of faith. About the theme of suffering these two reasons seem to draw particularly close to each other and to become one: the need of the heart commands us to overcome fear, and the imperative of faith—formulated, for example, in the words of Saint Paul quoted at the beginning—provides the content, in the name of which and by virtue of which we dare to touch what appears in every man so intangible: for man, in his suffering, remains an intangible mystery." http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/john_paul_ii/apost_letters/documents/hf_jp-ii_apl_11021984_salvifici-doloris_en.html Fr. Stan Fortuna unpacks Pope John Paul the Great's beautiful message to us on the meaning of suffering. Why we must suffer, and what is gained by suffering. The link is only to part on out of 10 but I encourage you to watch all 10. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNCTV4gT45U Fr. Stan raps his holy head off about the human requirement of suffering... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgZbP8nddhU&feature=related Some people have a pretty Holy response to the endless suffering they see in this world. Rightous B: Who they are: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TrapvVxlHo... See More What they do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DotxtQFTGA Pain is as close to you as the air you breath. This is the fact of life, but through this pain and suffering God molds us and shapes us into something far greater and far more worthy and blessed than we could ever imagine. There is beauty and benefit in humble, GRACE-full suffering, the virtue and vehicle by which we overcome the various forms of evil that plague our lives and this world. This is why the Faithless, the Hopeless, the LOVE-less, can't cope with suffering in our world... because they cannot bring themselves to believe in the existence of objective evil (or good). The question is not, "If God is good, why is there suffering in the world?" THE question is..."God is good period. Why can't I deal with the reality of evil productively by allowing suffering to increase MY OWN virtue, and allowing that suffering to make me a light of Hope along the path toward righteousness for others...?" (Inspired by Pope John Paul II the Great, and Fr. Stan Fortuna's youtube discourse on suffering) "Modern rationalism will not tolerate mystery" (Fr. Stan discourse part 2) Embrace your cross and walk with Christ. May God's LOVE bring meaning and blessing in the sufferings in your life, and may God bless you all this week. Your Brother from a Holy Mother,