Bad Lawyer vs. Terri Schiavo. Again.

As reported on Thrown Back, the law protecting Terri Schiavo is coming up for a constitutionality hearing on August 31.

However, August 31st has some interesting saints' days attached to it. Now joining the Sts. Teresa in Terri's corner are folks like Lindisfarne Monastery's founder St. Aidan, the miraculously surviving, slave-ransoming, Muslim-converting St. Raymond Nonnatus, and the philosopher St. Aristides.

But here's the kicker.

Blessed Richard Bere was a lawyer turned Carthusian monk who starved to death in Newgate for opposing Henry VIII's first divorce. Talk about having a stake in Terri's case! Go, counselor, go!

Shopping!

Finally, some nice wolfhound merchandise. From the Great Lakes Irish Wolfhound Association.

Also, I must get me a copy of the classic Anthony Andrews/Jane Seymour TV movie, The Scarlet Pimpernel. I'll check Best Buy this weekend, then go to Amazon if I must.

Mary Sue: The Home Game

This was suggested over...well, it was one of the Mary Sue collecting communities, but I can't remember which one. Anyway, the game is simple: just go to fanfiction.net and search for your first name in "Story by Summary" under one of the really big story categories, like Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter.

I was a bit worried that I wouldn't have any Mary Sues under my name. There weren't any under LOTR, but I did pretty well in the Harry Potter world. I even got a story in German! Here are my results. Aeh, they're all so cute....

Why not try your luck?

SpaceshipOne Is Home!

Mike Melvill is now the first civilian pilot to reach space. He reportedly heard "a couple of bangs", and the rocket engine apparently went off prematurely for some reason (um, that doesn't sound good). But all's well that ends well. (I just wish CNN's coverage hadn't ended so soon...oh, wait, they're gonna go back. Also, MSNBC just showed some footage of SpaceshipOne getting towed back in from the runway.)

It was beautiful. I just wish I could've been there, to pray and scream and shout and cheer in person. It's inconvenient to have nobody around to hug when you want one....

See her landing, so lightly you'd swear that she cares
That she flies on two wings and a good million prayers!
-- Leslie Fish/Julia Ecklar, "Witnesses' Waltz"

A Prayer for SpaceshipOne

O God, King of the Universe, today we pray for two pilots, an airplane called White Knight, and SpaceshipOne. They are trying to help humanity and make their daily bread. We pray that the pilots' skill and the work of Your people at Scaled Composites will be sufficient to the task of reaching space and coming safely home. But if it is not, Lord, we pray that You keep them all safe in Your Hands, which are the only sure safety and freedom.

When we look at the stars, what is man, that You are mindful of him? And yet, not even a sparrow falls without Your knowing. So remember all those astronauts and space engineers, O Lord, especially all those competing for the X-Prize. Let their striving to reach space bring them closer to Heaven and You.

May their Guardian Angels watch them and keep everyone out at Mojave Airport, as well as the pilots. May our prayers be joined by those of the patron saints of aviation: St. Joseph of Cupertino, St. Therese of Lisieux, and Our Lady of Loreto. May St. Thomas More, who thought about the future and whose feast is tomorrow, add his prayers to those of his fellow science fiction writers. And may all this be done to Your glory and according to Your will, in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.