Brutally Honest

"He knew he had a career in baseball. But his love for God took over his love for baseball."

What follows is a must read... particularly if you're a sports fan:

The first phone call went to Billy Beane. It was less than a month before Grant Desme needed to report to spring training, and he was about to call one of the most powerful men in the game to which he dedicated his life – the person Brad Pitt would portray in the "Moneyball" movie – and tell him he was quitting to spend the next decade becoming a priest.

And it was then he knew this was the right choice.

Because he wasn't nervous. No jitters, no anxiety. Just 10 digits to freedom. Desme felt a little on the defensive when explaining it to his parents. When he got a call from his friend Logan Schafer, now a rookie outfielder with the Milwaukee Brewers, Desme danced around the subject, fearful of the reaction from someone inside the baseball world. Top 100 prospects don't leave the game. Arizona Fall League MVPs go to cathedrals like Yankee Stadium, not St. Michael's Abbey.

"At first, I didn't really know what to say," Schafer says. "Then I realized it's a simple answer. It's how he explained it to me. He knew he had a career in baseball. But his love for God took over his love for baseball. He loved baseball so much, but he realized there was something greater in life that he had to do. This calling wasn't a one-time thing.

"For those of us who haven't had that call or that overwhelming need to do something, we can't understand. He's turning into the most selfless human I know. It's humbling to see. He made a decision as a human being, not a baseball player."

Beane, too, was thrilled for him. Taken aback, certainly. "I grew up in a Catholic family, so what he was pursuing wasn't completely foreign to me," Beane says. "I spent half the conversation congratulating him."

The closest thing he'd seen to this was when John Frank, the former 49ers tight end, retired after five seasons to pursue a medical degree. Or perhaps Pat Tillman leaving the NFL to join the U.S. Army. The players who called Beane were usually minor leaguers tired of the bus trips and worn down by the reality that so few do make the majors, that once ballplayers reach a certain age they're typecast as minor league lifers. Players with Desme's talent and future don't quit. They just don't.

"As I've told people, it's not something you try to talk him out of," Beane says. "At that point, it would be for your own selfish purposes."

Read the whole thing.

It'll go a long way toward restoring your view of humanity.

And think about Mr. Desme the next time you question your commitment to just go to Mass.

God bless the man.  Might his commitment inspire us all.

Does this typify the average Obama supporter?

I'm afraid it does but I'll entertain arguments supporting an opposing view:

Cameraman: What’s wrong with Romney?

Obama supporter: Uh. He’s for the rich.

Cameraman: He says he’s not going to raise taxes on the middle class… What if he cut taxes for everybody, would that be good for you?

Obama supporter: No.

Cameraman: Are things better with Obama?

Obama supporter: …Well things are definitely not worse.

Cameraman: Did you see our Ambassador got assassinated in Libya?

Obama supporter: He probably had it coming.

Cameraman: So Obama can’t solve the middle east problem for us?

Obama supporter: Well, neither can Romney.

Video of this... idiocy... at the link.

God help us.

How smart can this really be?

I suspect not smart at all:

Amid a series of controversial U.S. air strikes against high-level Al-Qaeda officials in the Arabian Peninsula, and renewed military cooperation with Yemen, officials in Sanaa are now expecting to get a supply of weaponry from the Pentagon, including four of their own UAVs.

An anonymous Yemeni defense official, who was not authorized to speak with the press, tells Aviation Week that Yemen is receiving four AeroVironment RQ-11 Raven UAVs. The 1.9-kg Raven is equipped with sensors for target acquisition, and infrared cameras capable of displaying persons carrying weapons.

“This type of technology would be very appropriate for Yemen’s frontline military units because it provides real-time intelligence from the battlefield to launch strikes while minimizing troops’ exposure to surprise attacks,” according to Aysh Awas, director of security and strategic studies at Sheba, a think tank here in the Yemeni capital.

The equipment marks a significant change in U.S. military cooperation with Yemen, which was suspended until earlier this year. Moreover, the U.S. Defense Department traditionally has kept a close hold on any UAV technologies, exporting them almost exclusively to close Western allies.

The piece goes on to chronicle the questionable decision last year to send similar drone technology to Pakistan.

This on top of Obama's desire to send 450 million in aid to Egypt despite terror warnings being issued and you have a pattern of idiocy that needs to be put to a stop.

November should do it.

H/T to American Thinker.

"Give me your eyes so I can see"

The problems we encounter, the issues we face, the challenges we meet, the questions that confront, all those things and much more, how might they be encountered, faced, met and confronted if we were able to see as He sees?

Brandon Heath is wondering in song, a song I encountered while looking for something else yesterday.

I think it good.  I think some of you might as well:

Lots of people have seen that video given the view count (well over 4 million to date)... I saw it for the first time yesterday... go figure...

The song I was looking for follows.  It speaks to me... and for me... I had posted it some time ago but damned if I can find that post now... so I'll post it again here and now, because I can:

Touché

Matthew Archbold at CMR with your post of the day:

The Obama Campaign suggests an eCard For Women: “Dear Mom, Can I Borrow $18,000 To Pay For My Birth Control?”…

CMR responds:

Nicely done Matt... so nicely done.

The Gates of Hell will not prevail...

For those unfamiliar with the source (or the rest) of that quote, you might want to go here for a refresher.

It's a verse that came to mind as I read this morning with satisfaction what's coming out of the USA Today:

The Smithsonian Channel has postponed plans to broadcast a documentary on the discovery of a "Jesus wife" papyrus that a Vatican newspaper declares is a probable fake.

A promo for the documentary The Gospel of Jesus's Wife on the channel's website refers to the "damaged and fragile" ancient papyrus as "one of the most significant discoveries of all time."

While the website still carries the description of the program, a small note to the right says it is "not currently airing."

A spokesman says the broadcast has been postponed "until the text undergoes further tests," according toThe Washington Post.

The purported fourth-century fragment consists of eight lines of black ink, written in Coptic, which include the phrase. "Jesus said to them, 'My wife ...'"

Below it is what The New York Times calls "a second provocative clause" that reportedly says, "she will be able to be my disciple."

Karen King, a Christian scholar at the Harvard Divinity School, presented the finding last week in Rome at the International Congress of Coptic Studies.

Yet another lame attempt to smear foundational Christian beliefs falls short, the Gates of Hell not prevailing... as some wise and unmarried young man once predicted.

Carry on.

Dishonorable Disclosures: Every American should watch this video before November

Written by guest blogger Locutisprime

It speaks for itself.

Watch and beware.

From the video's liner notes:

Intelligence and Special Operations forces are furious and frustrated at how President Obama and those in positions of authority have exploited their service for political advantage. Countless leaks, interviews and decisions by the Obama Administration and other government officials have undermined the success of our Intelligence and Special Operations forces and put future missions and personnel at risk.

The unwarranted and dangerous public disclosure of Special Forces Operations is so serious -- that for the first time ever -- former operators have agreed to risk their reputations and go 'on the record' in a special documentary titled "Dishonorable Disclosures." Its goal is to educate America about serious breaches of security and prevent them from ever happening again.

Use of military ranks, titles & photographs in uniform does not imply endorsement of the Dept of the Army or the Department of Defense. All individuals are no longer in active service with any federal agency or military service.

"Red lines don't lead to war, red lines prevent war"

Those memorable words, and many more, from Prime Minister Netanyahu as he addressed the UN yesterday in a speech made all the more memorable by his use of a rather crude but most effective chart:

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned Thursday that Iran will have enough enriched uranium to make a nuclear bomb by next summer and urged the world to draw a clear "red line" to stop it in its tracks.

Flashing a diagram showing the progress Iran has made, he said it was getting "late, very late" to stop Iran.

"Red lines don't lead to war, red lines prevent war," he said. "Nothing could imperil the world more than a nuclear-armed Iran."

Netanyahu said Iran had completed the first stage of uranium enrichment.

"Iran is 70% of the way there and ... well into the second stage. By next summer, at current enrichment rates, they will have finished the medium enrichment and move on to the final stage," Netanyahu said. "From there it is only a few more weeks before they have enriched enough for a bomb."

Netanyahu has repeatedly argued that time is running out to stop the Islamic Republic from becoming a nuclear power and the threat of force must be seriously considered.

"I believe that faced with a clear red line, Iran will back down – and it will give more time for sanctions and diplomacy," the Israeli prime minister said.

The prime minister also drew a parallel between the Iranian threat and the Holocaust. “Those who opposed that fanaticism waited too long to act,” said Netanyahu, adding that the defeat of Germany came years later “at a terrific cost."

The Left, both in and out of the media, were quick to mock the speech and particularly Netanyahu's bomb chart.

And Reuters and the AP deliberately chose to publish shock photos of the man.

They are, simply, disgustingly juvenile.

"The current economic crisis is merely the symptom of a much deeper spiritual and cultural crisis"

I'm going to piggy back quickly on the free Obama phones in Cleveland post by linking to this piece that I believe firmly speaks directly to it:

Western secularism underlies the worldwide economic crisis and challenges the future of Ukraine, the head of the Ukrainian Catholic Church told Canada's bishops.

"The current economic crisis is merely the symptom of a much deeper spiritual and cultural crisis," Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk told the annual plenary of the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops Sept. 25. "As Western society rejects old moral structures and values, it finds that its moral GPS has no fixed and stationary points of reference."

Archbishop Shevchuk said the church must find "new courage" to proclaim the truth of the Gospel to contemporary society to provide "an anchor and compass."

"We live in societies where virtue and goodness are frequently a veneer for religious intolerance, personal gratification and moral decay," he said. "Secularism would like us to be closed in a little box of Sunday worship."

The former Soviet Union used that approach to religion, he said. 

"Separation of church and state has become separation of faith values from society, yet our mission is to preach the word of God to all and to be a constant sign of God's loving presence through social ministry," he said. "Let us not be afraid of the totalitarianism of political correctness and speak the truth regardless of whom we might offend, whether it is on same-sex marriage or on the genocide of abortion."

Or the corruption of leveraging the poor to keep power as Obama and those who share in his ideology are doing.

It's moral bankruptcy and someone ought to say it.

Free Obama phones in Cleveland (UPDATED)

This was up on Drudge as his leading item when I checked moments ago... it's probably racist to even show it:

From the comments at YouTube, someone sums things up:

The uneducated masses out number the educated and they have figured out that they can vote in more government handouts. We have passed the point of turn around. America as we knew it is over.

UPDATE: My next post delves into how immoral this is and how it's a part of why the country is in the shape it's in today.

Carry on.