You know, every time I’m away from my baby I can’t wait to get back to her.  It’s early in the process, but I’m getting a good feeling that we’re starting to become one in purpose.  I will admit, I need to be more dedicated to this new-found relationship… but over time, it’s going to be so good.  I’m still working out the rough edges, but there is just SO MUCH FREAKIN’ PROMISE it’s scary!

Yup.  I love having my own website.

Okay, enough with the jokes.  Ima ’bout to get all serious on you, dawg.

This forum allows me to rant and rave, to be silly, to be brutally honest, to be brutally uncreative… and it also allows me to share with you, my three “followers”.

As you can already glean from my posts, I’m a devoted Catholic.  It’s the best thing that has ever happened to me.  But following the faith has not come without some personal cost.  And I’m not talking about losing a job.  I’m talking about losing the love of a wife.

I have a few different speeches I use at various speaking engagements.  In one, I talk about how the word “no” can be a statement of profound love.

I had to say “no” to Drea many years ago.  And it tore me up inside.

I hope you enjoy reading this, as much as I enjoyed writing it back in 2008.

It was Peyton Manning who, not-so-adroitly, coined the term “idiot kicker” during the 2003 Pro Bowl.

But Mike Vanderjagt’s got nothin’ on Vikings punter Chris Kluwe.

All Vanderjagt did was criticize QB Manning for having a laid-back demeanor in the locker room.  Kluwe?  He railroaded the institution of marriage.

Kluwe didn’t just catch it with its head down.   He stood over it… taunting it… spewing invective-laden rants at any others who would dare defend the necessity of one man, one woman.

Kluwe came off the edge, and in ferocious, reckless abandon, put the hurt on a…

Oh.  That’s right.  Kluwe’s no sneaky, lay-the-smack-down, type of guy out of the secondary.  He’s a kicker.  A pose-in-a-gay-mag, shanking-20-yard punts, kicker.  An “idiot kicker” who uses bully tactics in open letters to state delegates.

“Idiot” because he supports so-called gay marriage?  No.  “Idiot” because he’s made the cognizant choice to take part in the name-calling and shout-down behaviour that has come to mark the SS”M” movement.

And those who hold fast to the traditional and TRUE meaning of marriage aren’t standing for it anymore.

And it’s more than refreshing to see that voices are rising from the rubble of four disappointing results in Washington, Minnesota, Maryland and Maine on election night.

So, some folks took a sledgehammer to the institution of marriage on November 6th.  Big deal.  We know we’re in a for a fight.  We’ve known, all along.

And that goes for Bernard Pollard.

You want imposing forces on the grid-iron?  Bernard’s got game.   On, and off the field.

Following the disappointing result in Maryland, the Baltimore Ravens DB had this to say on the subject of marriage – “When it’s all said and done, there are a lot of guys on this team that stand firmly behind what the Bible says — that a man marries a woman and a woman marries a man.”

Of course, “a lot of guys” is code for “most guys”.   But you wouldn’t know it, the way the narrative is played out in the mainstream media.  Yes, even footballing behemoths can be made to feel that they had better stand down on marriage.

But there are some who choose to be courageous.

Before Bernard, there was Birk.  Teammate Matt, a hulking Pro-Bowl Center and Minnesota native, did not allow himself to be victimized by the vitriol.  Birk, the antithesis to Kluwe, with reasonable and straight-forward talk – sans potty-mouth – laid his stance on marriage out there for all to see.  Matt Birk made me proud to be a Catholic, once again.

And I’m left to feel, unequivocally, that Birk is proud of his Church’s stance in light of the unfortunate polling results from last Tuesday.

Just today, the Vatican announced “in an unusually strongly worded statement” that it will not give up in its fight to uphold the TRUE meaning of marriage.

The Holy See is asking for one thing from Catholics.  That one thing is this – courage.

Take heart that nothing can destroy marriage.  No politician.  No activist judge.  No vote.  No idiot kicker.

Those forces will do their best to chip away at this most vital cornerstone to every culture known to mankind.  But that’s exactly how this “game” is supposed to shake down, folks.  At it’s very heart, it’s Scriptural.  It has, to some extent, a sporting element.

At the end of the day, the most effective game-plan will win out.  We know there is nothing better for a child than for a child to be loved by his own mother and father.  That’s the gold standard, even if it means being labelled a “bigot”.  But the game that is currently underway must include the involvement of dedicated, courageous players willing to get their hands dirty.

I’m willing to assume the three-point stance on marriage.  Are you?

It’s time to get ‘smash-mouth’ on marriage.

Figuratively speaking, of course.

I’ve believed this for the better part of a year.  And I am convinced it would not have been repealed had Romney taken the White House.

Socialized health care is the bane of a free nation.  The US national debt will be AT LEAST 20 TRILLION before Obama heads into his Executive-Fiat-Third Term.

Having endured the rigours of the Canadian health care debacle, specifically in the last year leading up to my father-in-laws passing, I truly weep for a country in which the phrase “land of the free” has taken on another dark and sinister tone.

People.  Health care is not a right!  It is a commodity!  But don’t believe me.

Watch this.

Apparently, there are more than a few disgruntled Americans who are toying with the idea of moving to Canada.

CNN is calling it “election season bluster”.  I call it flat-out ignorance.

Let’s break it down, shall we?
What type of person would actually mull over a move of this magnitude?  Well, let’s just say it would be a person not too keen on moving FORWARD into the abyss.

Okay.  So we can pretty much ascertain that the moral fabric of such a person might be one who clings to the Constitution?  Is so passionately in love with the stars and stripes, and so damaged with its self destruction, that he buys into the Sting credo “if you love somebody, set them free”?  Maybe this kinda gal is also big on religious liberty, and believes wholeheartedly in God being the author of all life, huh?

Maybe, and I’m just throwing this out there… maybe this person isn’t smitten with Socialism?

Alright.  So this cat is calling up Canadian immigration to say “hey, I want in”?

Really?

Move to a country where the Charter of Rights and Freedoms is so absurd that it triumphs judicial activism at the expense of individual liberty?  Move to a country where its inhabitants laud among all else, “well, the world just LOVES Canadians” without realizing that the world LOVES taking advantage of the kid in class whose desire to be “loved” and accepted trumps his own self worth?  Move to a country whose politicians’ 21st century approach to science and research on personhood isn’t even worth ringing the bell for wholesome debate in Parliament?  Move to a country that is so far gone in its willingness to remove God from all facets of its culture, the applause rains down from the rooftops when a judge screams at a gentle woman championing life “Your God is wrong!”?

To those misguided friends who are picking up the phone to make that toll-free call, put the phone down.  Now take a few steps back.  Grab a glass of water.  Take a seat… breathe in, breathe out.

Good.

Now, stop your complaining.  Please.  For the love of God.

You live in the freest country ever known to mankind.  As the anthem states, America is the land of the free but freedom comes with bravery, not running and hiding.   Your job is to stay.  And fight.  For the battle is still ongoing.

You leave, the terrorists win.  And heck, isn’t that what the Terrorist-in-Chief wants, anyway?

Now, excuse me while I go back to funding the slaughter of innocent life in the womb through my tax dollars.

A final Gallup poll conducted from November 1st-4th found the Catholic split favouring Obama was 52-45%.

We Catholics are so far out in the desert.

Hey, Jews of the Old Covenant… we’ll see your 40 years, and raise you a couple of more decades.

How long, O Lord?  How long?

Palpatine… Obama… Oh, the similarities.

Just mute the flat-screen.

Let the CNN ticker blast the numbers coming in from across the last free nation standing.  Silent.

Then turn up the speakers on your computer and play this piece of utter and tranquil beauty.

Tomorrow morning – no matter the outcome – will not be one of sorrow.  The Sorrow of all Sorrows was suffered for us all at the foot of Calvary.

Mother of Mercy.
Our life.  Our sweetness.  Our hope.

Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God, that we may be made worthy of the promises of your Son.

To all of my “like-minded” friends who have spent the better part of six months pinning their hopes to Mitt Romney, this nip-and-tuck affair is only proving just how much rot there is at the root.
This is full-on infestation. And our willingness to be appeased by “lesser evil” ideology is partly to blame. A complete lack of accountability has the United States fighting for its collective future at this very moment.

Melodramatic much, Damo?
Not at all.

I am deeply invested in this election. And while I have a knot in my gut, I do not fear the future.
Bring it on. Whatever it is. Bring it on.

Y’all are with me, right?
Right?

On July 3rd, 2005, Spain became the third country to legalize so-called same-sex marriage.  Seventeen days later, Canada followed suit to become the fourth country to do so.

But there could be change on the horizon in Spain.  We can hope and pray.

And we must continue to do the same here in Canada.