Cardinal Says ND Wrong

From Daniel Cardinal DiNardo, Archbishop of Galveston-Houston:
In light of what I wrote above, I want to venture a comment on the recently released statement of the University of Notre Dame; that statement noted that the President has accepted an invitation to give the Commencement Address this year as well as receive an Honorary Law Degree. The news release then outlines the fact that a number of other Presidents have given the Commencement Address at Notre Dame and have thus highlighted, in effect, the university’s importance. I find the invitation very disappointing.
Though I can understand the desire by a university to have the prestige of a commencement address by the President of the United States, the fundamental moral issue of the inestimable worth of the human person from conception to natural death is a principle that soaks all our lives as Catholics, and all our efforts at formation, especially education at Catholic places of higher learning.
The President has made clear by word and deed that he will promote abortion and will remove even those limited sanctions that control this act of violence against the human person. The Bishops of the United States published a document a few years ago asking all Catholic universities to avoid giving a platform or an award to those politicians or public figures who promote the taking of unborn human life.
Even given the dignity of Office of the President, this offer is still providing a platform and an award for a public figure who has been candid on his pro-abortion views. Particularly troubling is the Honorary Law Degree since it recognizes that the person is a “Teacher,” in this case of the Law.
I think that this decision requires charitable but vigorous critique.

Write, call or e-mail:
President of the University of Notre Dame,
Father John Jenkins,
C.S.C. [Cong. of Holy Cross],
President@nd.edu(574) 631-5000 or Fax:(574) 631-7428

Go to http://www.catholicvote.org/ to join the protest and sign the petition.

Act now!
Take a stand for the unborn!

Willie Swings With Wheel

I've always loved the music of Asleep At The Wheel.

This group, under the direction of Ray Benson, lovingly perpetuates the music of western swing - the sound that was orginally poularized by Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys.

Western swing is intoxicating - a lively blend of western music with a dance-to-it swing beat. Wills made the sound his own in the 1930s.

But in recent decades (even though a group named The Texas Playboys still exists) Ray Benson and Asleep At The Wheel have become the keepers of the western swing flame.

Now, The Wheel has teamed with the legendary Willie Nelson on a just-released album called Willie And The Wheel.

This long-overdue concept album takes Willie Nelson back to his musical roots. Teamed up with Ray Benson and the master musicianship of Asleep at the Wheel, this instant classic celebrates the timeless appeal of a most unique and spirited American music genre.

A concept thirty years in the making, Willie & The Wheel is a collection of classic western swing songs hand-picked by the late producer Jerry Wexler.

Better known as ‘Mr. R&B’, Jerry Wexler was a great fan of the original western swing bands like Bob Wills, Milton Brown, Cliff Bruner – all first introduced to him while he was studying journalism in Kansas City. Willie Nelson also had grown up on western swing and it has always figured heavily into his approach to music.

Finally Ray Benson and Asleep at the Wheel (hailed as the modern kings of western swing) were added, resulting in a sublime album, surefooted in its mastery but still as playful and daring as the originals.

Welcome Home, Mr. President!

From Lori Stahl at the Dallas News and Tony Gutierrez at Associated Press:

It’s official: Former President George W. Bush is now making his home in Dallas.
After a month at his Crawford ranch, Bush and his wife, Laura, moved Friday into the Preston Hollow home they bought shortly before leaving the White House on Jan. 20.
"President and Mrs. Bush are glad to be back in Dallas, appreciate the warm welcome by their neighbors, and look forward to once again being part of the Dallas community," said Bush spokesman Rob Saliterman.
Interest in their return to Dallas has been high for weeks. People who live on Daria Place, the North Dallas cul-de-sac where the Bush home sits, report that there’s been a steady stream of curiosity seekers coming to see the 8,000 square-foot brick home for themselves.
“Before Bush came, we had a very quiet neighborhood here,’’ said neighbor Minette Klein, who said she is nevertheless pleased with the goings-on.
The house is not far from Preston Center, where the former president will have an office while planning is underway for his presidential library at Southern Methodist University.
Both Bushes said they plan to devote substantial time to raising money for the library complex – which will also include a museum and policy center. Programming hosted by the Bush Foundation is set to begin even before the library is complete in 2013.
Officials say they need to raise $300 million to build the complex, hopefully before groundbreaking, which is set for late next year.
The Bushes lived in Dallas in the early 1990s but moved to Austin in 1994 when he was elected Texas governor.

Top Dog Is Texan!

From Claudia Feldman in the Houston Chronicle

Life is beautiful if your name is Stump, and it ain’t bad if you happen to be the dog’s best friend.
Stump, the most famous pooch in America right now, is the 10-year-old Sussex spaniel who took top honors at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show last week.
Not quite as well known is the man behind the dog, Scott Sommer, 46. Both live in a spacious, two-story home in northwest Harris County, and neither of them can stop smiling.
Stump, the oldest dog ever to win “best in show” at Westminster, turns into a puddle of melted chocolate when someone pets him or rubs his belly. And that happens nearly constantly.
For Sommer, his life’s dream has just come true — and he didn’t even know he was dreaming it until a week ago.
But first, a little background. Sommer was born into a family of dog lovers in Long Island, N.Y., and he started showing his own dog when he was 5.
“I was hooked,” Sommer says. “I knew that was what I was going to do.”
He graduated from high school at 16 and moved to Houston to begin training and showing dogs for the owner of Kennel at Champions. Though the kennel has changed hands, Sommer is still there.
People bring in their dogs, and he and the staff turn them into champions. Sommer guesses he’s on the road, on the way to or from dog shows, 140 to 175 days each year.
It’s grueling and sometimes lonely work, but Sommer loves it. And he’s good at it.
He and J.R., a bichon frise, won best of show at Westminster in 2001.
He and Stump (and co-owners Cecilia Ruggles and Beth Dowd), won scores of blue ribbons before the personable pooch became critically ill in 2004.
The problem was a bacterial infection so severe that Stump couldn’t even lift his head.
Though Sommer works with lots of dogs, J.R. and Stump are his pets. Stump sleeps with him, sometimes with his golden head, soulful eyes and impossibly long ears on the pillow and his long, plump body between the sheets.
“If I jumped off a bridge,” Sommer says, “Stump and J.R. would follow me.”
When Stump finally recovered, Sommer vowed the dog, then 5, wouldn’t ever have to work again.
And he didn’t. Until Westminster, Stump hadn’t attended another dog show or even had a leash around his neck.
Still, Sommer was taking other dogs to Westminster, and he registered Stump on a lark. He figured he might take Stump, he might not, it depended on how the dog looked and felt a day or two before it was time to get on the plane.
Turned out Stump looked fabulous. He was prancing around like a pup.
“I took him so he could have fun,” Sommer says, “and we did.”

Thanks But 'No Thanks?'

From Melinda Deslatte of the Associated Press:
A handful of Republican governors are considering turning down some money from the federal stimulus package, a move opponents say puts conservative ideology ahead of the needs of constituents struggling with record foreclosures and soaring unemployment.
Though none has outright rejected the money available for education, health care and infrastructure, the governors of Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alaska, South Carolina and Idaho have all questioned whether the $787 billion bill signed into law this week will even help the economy.
"My concern is there's going to be commitments attached to it that are a mile long," said Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who considered rejecting some of the money but decided Wednesday to accept it. "We need the freedom to pick and choose. And we need the freedom to say 'No thanks.'"