Dr. Oz sets Oprah and Michael J. Fox straight on stem cells and Parkinson’s
And here M.Z. Hemingway- to whom a hat-tip for the above- comments.
Haven’t heard much about this in the media, have you?
HT also to the Reverend Christopher Esget.

I’ve noticed a fascinating phenomenon in my on-line conversation with lib… er, progressives: their seeming conviction that to disagree with them, or to suggest that their rhetoric is irresponsible or ill-advised, is somehow to attempt to deny them their freedom of speech.
An equally fascinating phenomenon is their conviction that conservatives have no right to free speech whatsoever.
Maybe that’s why they don’t want to be called “liberals” anymore.
I don’t always agree with CNN’s Roland Martin. But this reaction to the firestorm about Miss California in the Miss USA pagent having given a response to a question on gay “marriage” which reflects the viewpoint of a clear majority of Americans is right on the money.
YouTube has disabled embedding, so I wasn’t able to include a video in my previous post on Susan Boyle. But- Yahoo! Video to the rescue!
In case you’ve been on Mars and haven’t seen it, here’s the 47 year-old Scotswoman instantly becoming one of the cultural icons of the Western World:
I will never hear this song again without thinking of Susan. She’s taken this beautiful song right away from Fantine!
Marty Havlat ties it in the third, and wins it twelve seconds into overtime!
ADDENDUM:
The game winner:

It seems that even Texas Gov. Rick Perry believes the urban legend that the treaty by which the Republic of Texas was annexed to the United States granted Texas the right to secede.
Snopes.com deals with that much-circulated whopper in the last paragraph of this article.
That the treaty contained no such provision can be readily seen by simply reading it. Its full text is here.
The Wikipedia article on the annexation of Texas to the United States says this:
A popular urban legend has grown stating that Texas has a special right to secede from The Union. A thorough reading of all documents for annexation shows that no provision is made for Texas to secede from the United States.Texas has the same rights granted to it as any other state, but also the right to form from its territory 4 states in addition to “Texas”, essentially creating 5 states. Furthermore, in its 1868 decision in Texas v. White, the United States Supreme Court ruled that secession of Texas from the United States was illegal. The court wrote, “The Constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union, composed of indestructible States.”
Here is the text of the Ordinance of Annexation approved by Texas.
Here is the Joint Resolution of Congress annexing Texas to the Union.
But no matter how many times the facts are pointed out, the silly legend that Texas has a right to secede established by legal treaty continues to bounce around the internet. If the treaty in question had contained such a provision, the United States never would have signed it.
HT: Drudge

My Blackhawks make their first Stanley Cup playoff appearance since the 2001-2002 season tonight, facing off as favorites against the Calgary Flames.
Here’s hoping for a deep playoff run in this second season of the New Era.
Too bad they disabled embedding at You Tube.
I watched this over and over… and not just because I love the song. This lady rocks!

A 28 year old Russian man, Artyom Sidorkin, apparently inhaled a fir tree seed at some point. There is no other explanation- other than Photo Shop and some doctors who want attention very, very badly.
Sidorkin developed severe pain in his chest. Surgeons removed most of his lung, expecting to find a tumor- and instead found a small tree growing in it.
Reminds me of that Allan Sherman song from the ‘Sixties, I See Bones:
The doctor was looking at the X-ray
And I asked him, “What do you see?”
And he kept on looking at the X-ray
As he said in French to me:
“I see bones.
I see gizzards and bones,
And a few kidney stones
Among the lovely bones.
I see hips
And fourteen paper clips,
Three asparagus tips
Among the lovely bones.
I see things in your peritoneum
That belong in the British Museum.
I see your spine,
And your spine looks divine.
It’s exactly like mine.
Now doesn’t that seem strange.
And in case you use pay telephones
There’s two dollars in change,
Among your lovely bones.
Could this be the origin of the Coneheads?
It should be noted that some of the commenters at a Russian site reporting the story are skeptical.
HT: Drudge

Apparently the House gym has been contaminated with antibiotic-resistant staphlococcus. It’s being disinfected after a staffer (who is apparently recovering, having been simply warned against using the gym again until the drainage has stopped) caught the scary staph infection that eats the stuff used to treat it.
I’d pun further on “staph” and “staff,” but this is no laughing matter.
HT: Drudge

Since the high school I graduated from is in Chicago, and since I could care less about the Iowa Hawkeyes (unless they’re playing Northwestern or Illinois), and since my allegiance to Iowa State is pretty much due to the fact that you’re a Cyclone fan by default if you live in Iowa and do not root for the Hawkeyes, I seldom watch local sports programs. But I saw an item on one of then last night which captured my interest. Sort of.
It seems that the crew at this particular station is notorious for eating anything that is left out in the break room- including, on one memorable occasion, salted sugar cookies. But the host left out a box of Peeps yesterday in honor of Easter.
There were no takers.
It appears that I am not the only one who is not a Peeps person.

Herein former Polk County GOP Chair Ted Sporer reflects on the hate speech Iowa’s legislative left wingers (specifically extremist House Speaker Pat Murphy) are using to demonize those who don’t think the same way they do about gay “marriage.”
This is standard moonbat operating procedure, of course. You don’t have to engage the opposition in debate if you simply call them enough nasty names- a technique the Party of the Jackass has long since mastered. After all, why think when you can slander?

And he said to them, “Do not be alarmed. You seek Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has risen; he is not here. See the place where they laid him. –Mark 16:6
But as I told the congregation at St. Mary this morning:
He is risen. He is here- in the Word and in the Sacrament, sharing His victory over death with us…. I have yet to hear of anybody receiving Holy Communion from a caddy, hearing a good sermon preached by a walleye, or receiving Holy Absolution from a blue jay. A cardinal, maybe- but not a blue jay.
Jesus is God, and God is present everywhere, including golf courses and the great outdoors. But only here is He present to share with us His victory over death. Only here does He give us not merely information about Himself, but Himself; only hear does He give us not instructions on how to survive death, but His own resurrection life.
We do not need information about Him, or even from Him. Our plight us much more serious than that. The only thing that can save us from this body of death is Jesus Himself- and because He is risen, He is here.
May you share regularly in the antidote for death- the Word of the Gospel and the Blessed Sacrament- that you may share in his resurrection life.
The huge percentage of journalists- both broadcast and print- whose views tilt strongly Left is well documented. Though the Left denies it, so is the overwhelming bias which asserts itself in their coverage of the news.
Little known, however, is the role of Fenton Communications, a left-wing propaganda machine which is responsible for intentionally promoting a goodly percentage deal of the disinformation which misleads the American people on the issues of the day.
Rowan Scarborough of Human Events explores its activities here.

Isaiah 53 (English Standard Version)
Who has believed what he has heard from us?
And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed?
For he grew up before him like a young plant,
and like a root out of dry ground;
he had no form or majesty that we should look at him,
and no beauty that we should desire him.
He was despised and rejected by men;
a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief;
and as one from whom men hide their faces
he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
we have turned—every one—to his own way;
and the LORD has laid on him
the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
yet he opened not his mouth;
like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
so he opened not his mouth.
By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
and as for his generation, who considered
that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
stricken for the transgression of my people?
And they made his grave with the wicked
and with a rich man in his death,
although he had done no violence,
and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him;
he has put him to grief;
when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
make many to be accounted righteous,
and he shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many,
and he shall divide the spoil with the strong,
because he poured out his soul to death
and was numbered with the transgressors;
yet he bore the sin of many,
and makes intercession for the transgressors.
A post from a previous year on the reason why Good Friday, and not Easter or Christmas, is the most important day of the church year can be found here.
…is positively post-modern:
Love that rabbi!







