I haven't been able to post any blogs this last week, though I wanted to. I was going to talk about the cockroaches that are coming out of the woodwork with the visit of Pope Benedict to the United States. These bigots and hate-mongers are like cockroaches. They are vermin, carry disease, and scamper in the light (of truth).

Anyway, I will get to that later.

This last week I had a major computer crash in which I still have not fully recovered. I think that the computer is toast.

The stress of this, coupled with the growing pile up of work, plus the recent events of Grand Wizards of bigots like Bill Maher, I nearly had a cardiac event. Not kidding. I spent most of the last two days in bed.

I have not suffered through this much stress in about 10 years, but this time it was double the danger since I am in less health today than I was then.

I appreciate your prayers.

Your miserable servant,
Brother Bubba

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THURSDAY OF THE THIRD SUNDAY OF EASTER

I just found out about a new project at Catholic Answers called the "Original Catholic Encyclopedia". There is without question great kudos deserved to Catholic Answers to placing this important Catholic work on the Internet, but...

rarely have I seen such legal maneuvering to protect one's turf especially since this Catholic Encyclopedia published between 1907 and 1914 is in PUBLIC DOMAIN. That means that the copyright on the work is no longer in force and the work is available and thus belongs to the general public -- not to Catholic Answers.

Any special coding that Catholic Answers uses in placing this document on the Internet they may copyright, but the words and illustrations of the encyclopedia are PUBLIC DOMAIN and do not belong to Catholic Answers. Reading their website one would not know that.

I have never seen such "in-your-face" notification of claimed copyright. On their home page for the encyclopedia is a BIG RED BOX and essentially says, "hey, don't touch this, this is ours". To the scanned plates of the book they have book HUGH and intrusive watermark, SCANNED BY CATHOLIC ANSWERS. The watermark covers the whole page and at times makes it difficult to read the document. Most publishers who use watermarks create marks that are smaller and less intrusive.

Their extensive LEGAL statement has a User License seven pages long that would make Inspector Javert (a very legalistic policeman) in Victor Hugo's novel Les Miserable want to kill himself (which he did do when he realized the foolishness of his legalism).

Basically, we can use their website containing this PUBLIC DOMAIN encyclopedia but only if we agree to a blood test, sacrifice of our first born, get written permission to read any of it, and give up our citizenship if we dare to copy any of the PUBLIC DOMAIN material onto our own websites.

If we had the volunteers to produce this encyclopedia on the Internet we would, but we would make it available to the public without the extensive legalism and attempt to claim as ours what is not ours since it is a PUBLIC DOMAIN book after all.

There is a very ugly, and I believe unChristian, trend to be very proprietary with writings that ought to be readily available to everyone without such paranoid copyright claims. The Gospel, or important documents on the faith, should not be under the control of any person or company.

PUBLIC DOMAIN material can be used by anyone and permission is not required from anyone. I will continue to copy and publish Public Domain material at my pleasure and will not be bullied by those who wish to keep it to themselves.

On our site even for original writings that really do belong to the author are not under such extensive user agreements and copyrights. Our website uses the Common License which avoids the egotism and arrogance seen by many publishers and allows for a more free exchange of information. This applies to ORIGINAL works on our website. We claim no control over other people's copyrighted works and certainly not for PUBLIC DOMAIN works.

Catholic Answers ought to be ashamed of themselves for such a in-your-face extensive display of attempted control and ownership to dissuade anyone from copying or using Public Domain material that does not belong to them.

Your miserable servant,
Brother Bubba

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TUESDAY OF THE THIRD WEEK OF EASTER

Well, life is almost back to normal. After three years of turmoil, illness, and moving around I now have a cat back in the house.

It has been rare for me to not be without at least one cat in the house at least since I was 3 years old. The only times a car has been absent from my life has been when I was in situations where a pet was not allowed or possible.

Now, today, St. Michael House Hermitage has been blessed with a 9 month old black Siamese mix (Siamese are the only cats to have). I would insert a picture here, but as the cat has only been in the house for less than one hour, she is still hiding. I don't even have a name for her yet.

I truly am lost without a cat. I have a little glass cat that sits on my desk. It has been on my desk no matter where in the world I have wondered since at least 1965.

As a kid I had fantasies of being a cat. I even wrote a Poem about it when I was at the University of Iowa writing workshops.

Six A.M.

The smell of bacon and eggs
Thomas O’Malley at the door
scratching to get in
a bowl of milk laps it up
purrs washes his face rubs against my leg
slowly lops onto his favorite couch My
favorite couch I don’t want cat hairs on
he kneads the upholstery with sharp claws
didn’t I tell him five times already to stop that
curls and sleeps He’s had a hard night

With eyes that reflect devilish red
he streaks through the night
on cat’s paw unnoticed
nothing escapes his cunning

Fidei Defensor*

defending the family honor you see
from trespassers mice
sundry nocturnal inhabitants
ghostly creatures

As if from a far universe
the wizard’s companion and spy
he returns at morning’s rays

Oh how it would be
to change places

* Fidei Defensor = Defender of the Faith

I will probably get another cat when I can but it must be Siamese -- a Seal Point preferably -- A kitty should have a companion other than his human pet.

Your miserable servant,
Brother Bubba

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FRIDAY OF THE SECOND WEEK OF EASTER
Feast of St. Isidore, bishop and doctor

"I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal..."

These words are burned into my soul as much as the Preamble to the Constitution, the first sentence of the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, or the Gettysburg Address.

Martin Luther King Jr. lived out the full meaning of his destiny. He said once, "If a man has not found something worth dying for, he is not fit to live." I had that quote on my personal letterhead for years.

Forty years ago today the 39 year old Martin Luther King Jr., the hope and dream of a generation, was brutally shot down and killed by an assassins bullet. We were all in shock; we could not believe this was happening. We had just a few years ago buried a president. We had lived through the WATTS riots and other race riots. We watched thousands of body bags returning from Vietnam. And now this. Why? Why? was what many of us asked over and over again. This couldn't be happening. Was he really gone?

As the old saying goes, you can kill the dreamer but you cannot kill the dream. The leader of the Civil Rights Movement was gone, but his dream was not dead. I must admit that many of us thought that the dream might be dead, but it wasn't. The dream was bigger than Martin. It was and is a dream born in the heart of God

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline...

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day on the red hills of Georgia the sons of former slaves and the sons of former slave owners will be able to sit down together at the table of brotherhood.

I have a dream that one day even the state of Mississippi, a state sweltering with the heat of injustice, sweltering with the heat of oppression, will be transformed into an oasis of freedom and justice.

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

I have a dream today.

I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together.

This is our hope. This is the faith that I go back to the South with. With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope. With this faith we will be able to transform the jangling discords of our nation into a beautiful symphony of brotherhood. With this faith we will be able to work together, to pray together, to struggle together, to go to jail together, to stand up for freedom together, knowing that we will be free one day.

This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring."

And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!

Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!

But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"

No, a dream cannot be killed. Martin knew that his time was coming to an end, but the dream would live after him. We all watched that night that was to become his last night when he said:

Well, I don't know what will happen now. We've got some difficult days ahead. But it really doesn't matter with me now, because I've been to the mountaintop. And I don't mind.

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I'm not concerned about that now. I just want to do God's will. And He's allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I've looked over. And I've seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!

And so I'm happy, tonight. I'm not worried about anything. I'm not fearing any man! Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord!!

A dream cannot be killed.

Your miserable servant,
Brother Bubba

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