After returning from my second pilgrimage to Medjugorje, Bosnia, in mid September I had about a month of true inner peace, - Medjugorje is so peaceful, simple (as long as you stay out of the commercialized areas) that I seriously could move there.Well one month back and with the campaign in frenzy mode, the economy tanking, reading my 401k statement- all my peace is gone. Yes, morning prayer with my Magnificat, Mass on Sundays of course is sanctuary but temporary if you let stuff get to you. Teachin Group Power classes is a great escape as well but its just an hour....
Obama's corinat..... sorry, "election" has damaged me beyond repair. How can my country elect such an empty suit to "lead" us? How can any person of faith vote for someone who's first promised act as president would be to sign FOCA into law? Not even inagurated and already he had to call and apoligize to Nancy Reagan for a stupid crack he made about her during his first press conference. God help us ....please. I'm planning my 3rd trip back to Medjugorje starting tomorrow

There are several products and services I will never buy. Not because of poor quality, bad service or price, but because of the inane, annoying, stupid commercials on Tv or the radio that these companies hit us over the head with everyday. Here's my top 6 list:

1.Ovaltine -liked it as a kid, but now the fake, overdubbed children's chorus screaming "more Ovaltine please! makes me cringe.
2. Hyundai/Mitsubishi- not because they are made in Korea/Japan, but it's loud, fast talking pitchmen for a few local dealerships gives me a headache.
3. OnStar- again, fake, phony testimonials supposedly recorded from real life situations where subscribers lock themselves out of their cars or report accidents. The dialog is so contrived I feel embarrassed listening to it. 
4.Viagra, Cialis, Levitra- there's that warning about something lasting more than  4 hours.......well never mind, you know what I mean.
5.McDonald's- here's a company that spends millions and millions hawking their artery clogging junk food, which, if they never even aired another commercial they would continue to sell their crap at the same rate. Think of all the heart disease research that could be funded using their advertising budget!
6. Sleepy's mattresses- I hate their jingle, and the little guy in the hat.
Man, am I becoming an old grump or what ?

Oh, boo hoo, the Muslims are angry again - so what's new? Pope Benedict quotes from a 14th century emperor who probably lived through Mohammed's reigns of terror and the "Muslim street" explodes again, just like the ridiculous, brutal reactions to the Danish newspaper's cartoons.  The Pope is condemned for quoting an accurate fact, not offering his own opinion or thoughts on it. I'm sorry he apologized, I would have advised him to make an apology for using the quote only- only if :
 Leaders of the Muslim world (including the Grand Mufti from Turkey)apologize for:
1. 9/11/01
2. the USS Cole bombing
3. The Marine barracks in Beruit
4 .Khobar towers bombing
5.The first World Trade center bombing
6. The beheadings of Paul Johnson Nicholas Berg, the executions of our soldiers in Iraq and subsequent mutilations of their bodies.
7. The bombings in London and in Spain.
8. Every bus, restaurant, car, or suicide bombing in Israel that killed innocents.
That's just a start- how about also condemning the use of terrorism to achieve their ultimate stated goal- to convert the world to Islam by any means. People keep telling us that Islam is the religion of peace- sure it is- amongst fellow muslims only. If you are a Christian, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, anything but a muslim, you are an infidel and you would only have 3 options- convert, submit or die. Mohammed did in fact spread his religion by the sword- if anyone has doubts read his book!
Islam sorely needs to reform. Is there not one, modern Islamic scholar who will come out of the 14th century mindset and lead Muslims into the new millennium? Christians had their Reformation, the Catholic Church reformed at Nicea and as recent as the Second vatican Council in 1962.
The whole world will benefit. In the meantime, Muslims should show a little of the peace and tolerance they are always talking about, to other faiths besides their own.
People are becoming weary of the Muslim's excessive, irrational reactions to every little perceived slight.  I would hate too see this weariness become rage and develop into a backlash against true peace loving, conservative Muslims.

Our music ministry, S'elahSong just returned from a 10 day pilgrimage to Medjugorje in Bosnia/Hercegovina. The group - cosponsored the trip and we had the honor of providing the music for 3 masses at St James church, as well as giving 2 concerts at our Hotel, the Villa Regina.

The experience was awesome and the peace of the place will stay with us for quite some time. I could probably write a book about my experiences ! Maybe I will share some thoughts from my journal in upcoming blogs, right now I am still processing the whole experience. Maybe I'll try to post some pics as well.
In the meantime, some pictures will be posted on www.selahsong.org

You'd think that it was the end of the world- libs and the pro abortion crowd going bonkers over the President's veto of federally funded embryonic stem cell research. Political cartoons depict the President as an Ogre that is dashing the hope of millions of afflicted people that just know without a doubt that research using embryonic stem cells will cure them. The unvarnished truth is that embryonic stems cells have not produced one cure, not one disease, spinal injury, Alzheimer, nothing.
Years and years of privately funded research has resulted in zero success on any medical front- and, private funding will continue worldwide anyway. But there is hope- Adult stem cell research has been successful on several fronts, including Diabetes and Alzheimer research. Why won't these liberal hand-wringers get behind Adult stem cell research and demand federal funding for it when it has already shown results? Because it is all perceived as a threat to abortion on demand rights- once an embryo is recognized as human life and is rightly protected from being destroyed, it then becomes a slippery slope to banning first late term and then oh no! all abortion on demand, thus saving millions of babies each year in the US alone. It doesn't matter that stem cells harvested from adults with no destruction of life might some day result in a cure for diabetes or Alzheimer or Cystic Fibrosis or cancer-  The thought of losing even a small part of  abortion on demand, even in the late term is unacceptable to the culture of death.