You may have heard of the new birth control pill that promises to keep women from having their period indefinitely. I don't have the energy to go on a(nother) diatribe about why contraception is immoral, but this post with a suggested warning label for the new pill sums up my position nicely.
I'm several days into my new diet and workout plan and unexpected things are happening. The workouts are intense and the long recovery seems to be doing it's job. I've made significant gains in strength in less than a week after being at about the same level for a couple of months. I "look" thinner already, and I can already see a line in my stomach. Much to my surprise when I got on the scale this evening, I gained four pounds! Not the result I was looking for.
I have to conclude that this is gained muscle mass due to my thinner look. I'm going to keep at it despite the result and see what happens in a week or two. At that point I'll decide if this is getting me to my goal.
Alright! I'm glad to Pope decided to speak up about this publicly. You may support abortion rights and consider yourself a Christian. You may believe in God, you may be an otherwise decent person, but you are not Catholic. This is one of my biggest gripes with people I talk to about being Catholic. They complain that the Church isn't inclusive enough. There is no debate on this one. We believe abortion is intrinsically evil. If you don't, you aren't Catholic. Case closed.
My favorite version of this is my various acquaintances who don't like the Catholic church because they weren't allowed to get married in the Church. The argument goes something like this:
"Well, they wanted me to get my first marriage annulled. That's like saying the five years I spent with her meant nothing. Like we were never married."
Well duh! That's exactly what's being said. It's very simple. Either you were never validly married and were living in a state of mortal sin, or you were validly married and are not free to remarry if your wife is still alive. We believe marriage is a sacrament that joins two people together forever. If you don't believe that, OK, but don't asked to be married in our church and impugn our beliefs.
Sorry for the rant, but this situation has come up more times than I care to count. My favorite comment of all time though was when a Protestant friend told me,
"You don't really think that cracker is the body of Christ do you? If we thought Jesus was really in Communion we would crawl to church on our knees."
I guess he's never been to a Catholic church with kneelers, or seen the procession of the faithful up the stairs to a Church in Mount Adams during Holy Week. We believe, and we do get on our knees.
If you don't believe, please don't go around telling everyone your Catholic.
Today we get news that a Massachusetts company called Advanced Cell Technology has had successful experiments using embyonic stem cells to repair eye damage in mice. I don't think I have to expound on my objection to this practice, but let's follow the logic of the embryonic stem cell proponents to it's conclusion. If we can arbitrarily destroy a human life to help another human, how do we draw the line? What's to stop companies like ATC from growing humans from the embryos and harvesting organs for transplant patients?
All that is stopping them is the technology. If you can destroy a life that is a week old embryo, or abort a seven week old fetus, where do you draw the line. Who gets to make the decision? This is a road we do not want to go down. Life begins at conception and every human being conceived is precious and should have the same rights and protections.
If you only watch and read main stream news, your probably suprised by this article. After all, President Bush prohibited all embryonic stem cell research didn't he? Nope, he only prohibited the use of federal funds for the research. Private companies can do whatever they want. We should urge our representatives to pass a law making it illegal to do research with embryonic stem cells. Force private industry to devolop cures with morally acceptable adult stem cells. They show more promise in early research anyway, why are we risking going down this path?
I made a bet with a friend that I could have six-pack abs by June 22, 2007. He's giving me 10-1 odds on a $10 bet that I can't do it. This would be a monumental accomplishment since I've never had a six pack before (Even when I was a kid). I've had pretty good success so far just trying to lose weight (So far I've gone from 214 to 194), but it's time to get drastic. I'm going with the four week program outlined by Tim Ferris on his blog. My first workout will be Sunday afternoon after my wife and son leave for a two week vacation.
I will be making a couple of modifications. I won't eat nearly as many calories since I'm going more for fat loss than muscle gain. The real goal is to reduce my body fat percentage into the <10% range. Stay tuned to this blog for updates.
PS - Pick up Tim Ferriss' new book The 4-Hour Workweek. You won't regret it. It's got some very original material in it about the new economy and alternate work environments.
