HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Pull pranks and have fun today!

(I have my usual busy Saturday morning, but will try to get back to my computer to visit your blogs later. )

BREAD OF THE DEAD

I  wasn’t sure what I wanted to post today but I  knew I wanted to do something fun and scary for Halloween Eve.  This recipe was e-mailed to me for Pan de Muertos (Bread of the Dead)….and that led me on searches for images which led me to this video.   Really bizarre!

Pan de Muertos is made in preparation for El Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead or All Souls’ Day) which is holiday celebrated in Mexico and by Latin Americans living in the United States and Canada. The holiday focuses on gatherings of family and friends to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. The celebration occurs on November 1st and 2nd in connection with the Catholic holiday of All Saints’ Day which occurs on November 1st and All Souls’ Day which occurs on November 2nd. Traditions include building private altars honoring the deceased, using sugar skulls, marigolds, and the favorite foods and beverages of the departed, and visiting graves with these as gifts.

Oh…and if you think you can stand to eat bread after this video, here’s the recipe for Pan de Muertos.

During the Day of the Dead festivities in the first two days of November, graves are decorated with flowers and offerings of food and drink in honor of the departed, including this pan de muertos, a yeasty, sweet egg bread flavored with anise.

TIME/SERVINGS
Total Time: 3 hrs 40 mins
Active Time: 25 mins
Makes: 2 loaves

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon anise seed
1/2 ounce (2 packets) active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk
1/2 cup water
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 large eggs
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 egg yolk beaten with 2 teaspoons water

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Combine sugar, salt, anise seed, and yeast in a small mixing bowl. Heat milk, water, and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat until butter is just melted; do not allow it to boil. Add milk mixture to dry mixture and beat well with a wire whisk.
2. Stir in eggs and 1 1/2 cups of the flour and beat well. Add remaining flour, little by little, stirring well with a wooden spoon until dough comes together.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured wooden board and knead until it is smooth and elastic, and no longer sticky, about 9 to 10 minute . Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a clean kitchen towel, and allow it to rise in a warm area until it has doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
4. Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Punch down dough and divide into 2 pieces. Cut 3 small (about 1-ounce) balls from each half and mold them into skull-and-bones shapes. Shape large balls of dough into round loaf shapes, and place skull-and-bones on top. Place breads on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let rise another hour.
5. Brush loaves with egg yolk mixture and bake. Halfway through baking, about 20 minutes, remove loaves from oven and brush again with egg wash and sprinkle lightly with granulated sugar. Return to oven and bake until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped, about another 20 minutes.

 

This will be cross-posted on Eating Habits…my other blog which has been sadly ignored lately. For those who haven’t visited there yet, check it out. I know there’s not much there yet, but hopefully I’ll get my act together and put more effort into it…especially since the holiday’s are coming up. I have a LOT of holiday recipe, Italians LOVE the holidays!

TODAY’S LESSON IN SAINTHOOD….

I’ll have to admit,  I’m a bad Catholic.   I never heard of Saint Narcissus and  I couldn’t help but add a little something to the end of this post.   I hope  he  has a sense of humor,  that big stick he’s carrying looks like it could do some serious damage.

OCTOBER 29–TODAY’S FEAST DAY:
ST. NARCISSUS, Bishop.

Saint Narcissus from his youth applied himself with great care to the study of both religious and human disciplines. He entered into the ecclesiastical state, and in him all the sacerdotal virtues were seen in their perfection; he was called the holy priest. He was surrounded by universal esteem, but was consecrated Bishop of Jerusalem only in about the year 180, when he was already an octogenarian. He governed his church with a vigor which was like that of a young man, and his austere and penitent life was totally dedicated to the welfare of the church.

In the year 195, with Theophilus of Cesarea he presided at a council concerning the celebration date of Easter; it was decided then that this great feast would always be celebrated on a Sunday, and not on the day of the ancient Passover.

God attested his merits by many miracles, which were long held in memory by the Christians of Jerusalem. One Holy Saturday the faithful were distressed, because no oil could be found for the church lamps to be used in the Paschal vigil. Saint Narcissus bade them draw water from a neighboring well and after he blessed it, told them to put it in the lamps. It was changed into oil, and long afterwards some of this oil was still preserved at Jerusalem in memory of the miracle.

The virtue of the Saint did not fail to make enemies for him, and three wretched men charged him with an atrocious crime. They confirmed their testimony by horrible imprecations. The first one prayed that he might perish by fire, the second that he might be wasted by leprosy, the third that he might be struck blind, if the accusations they made against their bishop were false. The holy bishop had long desired a life of solitude, and at this time he decided it was best to withdraw to the desert and leave the Church in peace. But God intervened on behalf of His servant, when all three of the bishop’s accusers suffered the penalties they had invoked. Narcissus could then no longer resist the petitions of his people; he returned to Jerusalem and resumed his office. He died in extreme old age, bishop to the last.

REFLECTION: God never fails those who trust in Him; He guides them through darkness and through trials, in silence but securely, to their end.

Which is why we should trust God and the Saints and  not politicians!  Especially……

THE FUTURE SAINT NARCISSIST-BARACK OBAMA, Con man.

Barack Hussein Obama, from his youth, was not a child who applied himself with great care or study. Although his scholastic ability was often touted as being of high degree, the records of his education have been sealed from the public. He had remained in a secular state and it was not until he was an adult that he was baptized into the Trinity United Church of Christ. He dumped that church as soon as it was made known, despite his  earlier denials,  Barack  sat in the pews as his pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, spewed   ‘inflammatory rhetoric’.   Regardless of this revelation, his followers could only see sacerdotal virtues  in Barack and saw nothing less than perfection; he was called the ‘The One’.

He was surrounded by universal esteem, thanks to his control of the media which caused leg tingles and shouts of “YES HE CAN!”. He was elected President of the World United States in the year 2008. He governed his country with the same aloofness he showed as student. His lavish lifestyle in the White House was totally dedicated to the welfare of bankers such as Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Chase Bank. He didn’t need to do the work as long as he had Czars to do it for him. Life was good as long as the taxpayers and lobbyists were footing the bill.

One holy Saturday night, Barack Obama took his wife on a date to New York City. Although many in the U.S could not afford gas for their cars because of the high price of oil, Obama was able to squeeze enough tax money out of them to fly three aircraft, including two smaller aircraft for White House staff and media, at a price of $24,000 each for this date.  He burned through that oil as if it were water!  It was a miracle!

Followers of Barack Hussein Obama attested his merits by many other miracles. When our country was deep in debt and it looked as if it would collapse, he miraculously produced  billions of dollars out of thin air  to bailout the banks and auto industry.  This  resulted in a tripling of the already bloated debt.    And yet, the media announced with great glee that the recession was over!    Many were without jobs and lost their homes,  but that is evidence of the true miracle…for even though the banks took the money and gave it to their CEO’s as bonuses,  Obama’s “likability” remained high.

President Barack Hussein Obama had many more miracles up the sleeves of his Scabal suit. He was determined to give his countrymen a new health care policy, even if it didn’t benefit those in need of help.  He busied himself making back room deals with the large pharmaceutical companies assuring them that the American people will never be able to purchase their medications in other countries where it is offered at a cheaper rate. After much haggling with the members of the Congress and Senate, the health care bill came to his desk…full of loop holes, taxes for the middle class, government funded abortions, and record profits for the health care and pharmaceutical industries. He blessed it, signed it, and it became law.

After the people realized that their health care bills would continue to rise at record heights and they were worse off than before, they became angry. Many had prayed that he might perish by fire, some said that he should be wasted by leprosy, others said that he should have his golf clubs taken away from him and his blackberry confiscated! They were called racists, and banished from the public eye by the progressive media.

His true followers never left him during his time of need. They continued to support him, regardless of the broken promises. There was plenty of wailing and gnashing of teeth during that time, but President Obama had the miraculous ability to turn those frowns upside down with his golden oratorical skills and a hefty dose of hopium.

After his Presidency, he lived the remainder of his life admiring his reflection in the mirror and surrounding himself with the riches he obtained while bilking the country. Empathy for those who were hurt by his policies never surfaced. He continued to write more books about himself, each one larger than the last.

Mmmmm….mmmmm…..mmmmm….Barack Hussein Obama…..future Saint Narcissist.

 

AWB (ATHEISTS WITHOUT BRAINS)

You know, I’ve got nothing against the average person who doesn’t believe in God. Some of my best friends are atheists and I love them to pieces. However, some atheists are just plain stupid. It seems that Penn State came up with a T-shirt design intended to foster some school spirit. The “Penn State White Out” t-shirt has a vertical blue line down the center and the words “Penn State White Out” that crosses the line toward the top. The blue line down the center was supposed to resemble the blue stripe that is on the football team’s helmets. The back of the shirt says “Don’t be intimidated…It’s just me and 110,000 of my friends.”

There have been 30.000 shirts sold…but 6 whiny atheists complained. They claim it “looks like a cross”. Waaa! Waaaa! Boo Hoo! One of those big babies, Michal Berns, who is a junior majoring in media law and policy, said she refused to buy the $15 shirt because of its religious connotations.

“At first glance, you don’t necessarily think that’s what it looks like, but when you look at it more, it does look like a cross,” Berns told Foxnews.com. “That’s the reason I didn’t purchase it.”

Yeah…if you turn your head a certain way and look really really hard you might see something that resembles a religious symbol…that is, if you’re a freakin’ half-wit with your head up your arse, that is.

I guess the next step for the atheists of the fundamentalist variety will be insisting that all these be taken down….

Or maybe this game should be forbidden….

….because if they turn their heads a certain way, their eyes will burst into flames.

OH NO!!! NOT THAT AMBULANCE, SEND ME ONE WITHOUT A CROSS ON IT!!!

How’s this for a suggestion to those 6 babies who complained…don’t buy it, and do everyone else at Penn State a favor and transfer to another school…preferably one that house other idiots just like yourselves.

They can even design their own shirts.

GETTING A GRIP ON EVIL

It’s not hard to find evil in this world, it surrounds us like a thick dirty smog. You only have to skim through the newspaper and you will find story after story about young kids murdering other kids. Teenagers. young children, innocent fathers, and pregnant mothers are being caught in the crossfire of gang fights, kidnappings of young school children who are either tortured and killed, or used or sold as sex slaves. Let’s not forget about the incidents of parents abusing and killing their own babies or young children. Pure evil.

The question is, why is this form of evil escalating at such a high level? Is it simply a “sign of the times” or is there a deeper, more sinister reason? Not wanting to sound like “The Church Lady”, but….Could it be Satan?

The Catholic Church takes demonic possession very seriously. In December of 2007, the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI began organizing exorcist squads to tackle the rise of Satanism and demonic possession.

Vatican chiefs are concerned at what they see as an increased interest in the occult.

They have introduced courses for priests to combat what they call the most extreme form of “Godlessness.”

Each bishop is to be told to have in his diocese a number of priests trained to fight demonic possession.

The initiative was revealed by 82-year-old Father Gabriele Amorth, the Vatican “exorcist-in-chief,” to the online Catholic news service Petrus.

For those who are unfamiliar with Father Gabriele Amorth, he’s the go-to guy if you want to know anything about his job. Here’s a video of an interview with him. It’s amazing to me how calm and cool he is, considering all that he’s been witness to.

In the book, An Exorcist Tells His Story, Father Amorth listed the six extraordinary forms of demonic activity:

1. External physical pain caused by Satan. We know of this from many lives of the saints. We know that Saint Paul of the Cross, the Curé of Ars, Padre Pio, and many others were beaten, flogged, and pummeled by demons. This external form of persecution does riot affect the soul; therefore with this type there has never been the need for an exorcism, only for prayers. Here I will dwell only on the other types of actions that directly affect exorcists.

2. Demonic possession. This occurs when Satan takes full possession of the body (not the soul); he speaks and acts without the knowledge or consent of the victim, who therefore is morally blameless. It is the gravest and most spectacular form of demonic afflictions, and it attracts the attention of producers of movies such as The Exorcist. According to the Ritual for exorcisms, some of the signs of possession include: speaking in tongues, extraordinary strength, and revealing the unknown. The man of Gerasa is a clear Gospel example of possession. To fix a set “model” for demonic possession would be a serious mistake; the affliction runs the gamut of symptoms and severity. For instance, I have exercised two totally possessed persons who remained perfectly still and silent during the exorcism. I could cite many other examples and as many different symptoms.

3. Diabolical oppression. Symptoms vary from a very serious to a mild illness. There is no possession, loss of consciousness, or involuntary action and word. The Bible gives us many examples of oppression; one of them is job, He was not possessed, but he lost his children, his goods, and his health. The bent woman and the deaf and dumb man who were cured by Jesus were not subject to total possession, but there was a demonic presence that caused physical discomfort. Saint Paul was most certainly not possessed by a demon, but he had a demonic oppression that caused an evil affliction: “And to keep me from being too elated by the abundance of revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan, to harass me” (2 Cor 12:7). There is no doubting the evil origin of the affliction.

While possessions are still relatively rare today, we exorcists run into a great number of people who have been struck by the devil in their health, jobs, or relationships. We must make it clear that to diagnose and heal an oppression-related illness is not any easier than to diagnose and cure a person afflicted by full possession. The degree of gravity may be different, but the difficulty of the diagnosis and the amount of time involved in healing are the same.

4. Diabolic obsession. Symptoms include sudden attacks, at times ongoing, of obsessive thoughts, sometimes even rationally absurd, but of such nature that the victim is unable to free himself Therefore the obsessed person lives in a perpetual state of prostration, desperation, and attempts at suicide. Almost always obsession influences dreams. Some people will say that this is evidence of mental illness, requiring the services of a psychiatrist or a psychologist. The same could be said of all other forms of demonic phenomena. Some symptoms, however, are so inconsistent with known illnesses that they point with certainty to their evil origins. Only an expert and well-trained eye can identify the crucial differences.

5. Diabolic infestation. Infestations affect houses, things, or animals. This book will only mention the topic. I merely want to state that I will never use this term when I refer to persons. I will always talk about possession, oppression, and obsession.

6. Diabolical subjugation, or dependence. People fall into this form of evil when they voluntarily submit to Satan. The two most common forms of dependence are the blood pact with the devil and the consecration to Satan.

Below is another interesting video about an exorcism performed by Jesuit Priests. Fascinating stuff!

Following are three other videos that I found from a past television series, Mysteries of the Church-Exorcism. Unfortunately, the beginning of the first video is full of the “drama” that you see on these shows….weird background music, the host of the show walking into a Catholic church…looking at the stained glass windows as if something was going to pop out and grab her. That kinda stuff. But once you get past that part and into the interviews with the priest, Rev. Jose Antonio Fortea and Dr. Richard Gallagher (Academic Psychiatrist) who gave some amazing testimonies of actual exorcisms, it makes the video worthwhile, in my opinion.

Here is the series in three parts. I hope you have the time to watch them because it shows that the Catholic Church does not take this lightly and are very careful not to step in without a lot of investigation which includes having the person possessed seen by medical doctors and psychiatrists/psychologists.

Obviously the Pope is taking this seriously enough that he is having more priests trained to perform the rite of exorcism. Speaking to a retired Pastor from my Parish, he made it clear that demonic possession not only exists, but he actually had the opportunity to talk to an exorcist and hear the tapes of an exorcism. He said it was enough to scare the daylights out of him and the sounds that came from the person being exorcised was in no way human. That was enough for me to spend a lot more time praying to St. Michael. And after watching those videos I put up today, it’s time to brush off the old scapular that I have tucked away in my jewelery box.

So…what are your thoughts on this and have any of you had experience with people you know who dabbled in the world of the occult?

YUP—IT’S MONDAY ALRIGHT

“I always give 100% on my blog:

13% Monday

22% Tuesday

26% Wednesday

35% Thursday

4% Friday”

I’ll be workin’ on that 13% right after I’ve had my coffee…my third cup of coffee. Hang in there…

–Nunly

MY SUNDAY SERMON…OK, IT’S A RANT

I’m going to start this post with a very direct statement. Those who are not Catholic and speak out against the Catholic faith are some of the most myopic and fundamentally imbecilic people on the face of this earth. I’m not just saying that about those who never were Catholic, but I include those who call themselves “recovering Catholics”.

It seems that those who speak loudest about their concerns over separation of Church and State can’t seem to keep their pie holes shut when it comes to telling us what we should believe, who we should follow, and how we should do it. For instance, Maureen Dowd who just wrote a column about her version of “The Nuns’ Story”.

The point of her story was supposed to be that nuns (and women in general within the Catholic Church) are figuratively beat into submission. She starts out with her “sad sad” story about how she was late for school as a child and so afraid to be punished by the “mean” nun that she was found “hovering” in the corner of the playground by the priest who took her by the hand and brought her back to class whereby assuring that the nun would not punish her…because the nun would never cross “the man”. Now, I’m not sure what goes on in that empty head of Maureen Dowd, but what she did was make the “the man” into a white knight who came galloping over on his steed to save her–the damsel in distress, and slay the dragon…er, nun. So who put themselves in the “submissive” role, Maureen, you freakin’ twit?

Dowd continued her story with the usual platitudes that are put forth by those who have either fallen away or never were Catholic in the first place, such as the worn out report that Pope Benedict is a Nazi. Of course, putting forth facts would only hurt her point so making slanderous remarks are the best ways to serve her purpose. The real story, of course, about Pope Benedict’s childhood and so-called relationship with Hitler never crosses the pea-brained mind of Dowd and others like her. Like all teenagers of that day, he was forced to be conscripted into the Hitler Youth like every other German teenager. However, he never attended any of the Hitler Jugend meetings and because of that he forfeited his school tuition. His family was not rich, and this also put his family at risk with the Gestapo. But hey…facts are something that Maureen Dowd and most anti-Catholics rarely deal with.

Dowd continued her rant about some unnamed document that she claimed the Pope wrote which urged women to be submissive partners, resisting any adversarial roles with men and cultivating “feminine values” like “listening, welcoming, humility, faithfulness, praise and waiting.” Again…is the document ever noted ? Any links to said document where the whole thing could be read in context? No.

I won’t even go into the rest of her so-called journalistic attempt at smearing the Church. As with the rest of the anti-Catholics and fundamentalist atheists, she brought up the priest scandal and lied about how the Church won’t allow nuns to treat AIDS patients or live in apartments. The fact that nuns are very active in the care for ALL sick and within AIDS clinics has no bearing in her story. Nor does the FACT that nuns do live in apartments which the Catholic Church allows because it was more economical than building a Convent for every parish who only houses one or two nuns. But hey…those facts just get in the way of making slanderous claims, don’t they?

To make it very clear, I cannot name one person, including myself, who was/is not upset over the way the priest scandal was handled by the Church hierarchy. It was a tragedy, no doubt. However, we made our voices heard and the result was stricter guidelines as to background checks for new, incoming priests, and stricter control over priest or any member of the Catholic Church and school system who work with children. The Catholic Church is paying the price for their past mistakes, but anyone with a brain knows that this was not the “norm” and continue to support their Parish priests.

Just yesterday, I saw a story about how Christopher Hitchens and Stephen Fry…both atheists or agnostics– or whatever, held a public “debate” in London in which they argued against a motion that the “Catholic Church is a force for good in the world.” Defending the Church was Archbishop Onaiyekan of Abuja in Nigeria and a Conservative Tory Member of Parliament, Ann Widdecombe. The crowd was packed with people who were hostile to the Catholic Church, so how this was considered a “debate” is beyond me. It reminds me of the so-called “town-hall meetings” where the only people allowed in were those who support the person talking.

During the debate the archbishop emphasized the social and charitable works that are performed throughout the world. This, of course was ignored by Hitchens as he blathered on about the so-called ” institutionalization of the rape and torture and maltreatment of children” in the Church.”

The two atheists continued to attack the Church, calling priests “sexually dysfunctional” and the Church as “obsessed with sex”. Of course, I’m used to this kind of talk because I see this hatred spewed all over the Internet and on TV on a regular basis. As I continued to read the story, the last paragraph is what really struck me with a visual that I couldn’t get out of my head. A person in the crowd stood up and asked a question. According to the news article…

He asked how “the Galilean carpenter” would feel about the wealth of the Church and attacked the hierarchy of the Church and the “twisted, neurotic and hysterical way its leaders are chosen”. On more than one occasion Mr Fry raised his voice, and at one point shouted at the archbishop “So what are you for?” after the Nigerian had said the Ten Commandments would still exist without the Church.

The predominantly hostile crowd soon turned against the prelate. At one point a member of the audience asked the archbishop: “Of which current Catholic policy are you most ashamed?” He received a round of applause. [emphasis mine]

Of course, using the term “the Galilean carpenter” to describe Jesus was just another way to put down who Jesus was. The following image came to my mind when I read that:

Notice the crowds, jeering and spewing their hate towards Jesus. I can’t help but think of the faces on that crowd when I read articles like this and see the venomous hostility from the comments left all over the Internet. The hate that drips from their comments is so palatable that it borders on a sick obsession. And yet…these people who call themselves “Liberals” and “Progressives” are just the opposite. There is nothing “Progressive” about the persecution of any religion or those who follow a religion. In fact, it goes directly AGAINST the very preface of why the pilgrims came to this country to begin with…to flee from the persecution of their religion.

Persecution: [pur-si-kyoo-shuhn] -noun
A program or campaign to exterminate, drive away, or subjugate a people because of their religion, race, or beliefs: the persecutions of Christians by the Romans.

So, please…anyone who reads this blog and has been a part of this campaign of hateful remarks about the Catholics, tell me what is your purpose? Do you honestly believe that you are going to “take down” the Catholic Church? The number of Catholics in the world increased from around 1,131 million in 2006 to slightly under 1,147 million in 2007. The most recent count in the United States shows that in 2009, we have 65.2 million Catholics in the United States. That’s 22% of the total population and a rise from the 64.8m from last year.

Personally, I think this campaign to change the Catholic Church in the U.S. to what the “Progressive Liberals” want it to be is going to backfire. They are only telling each other what they want to hear as they congratulate themselves for what they believe are witty and insightful remarks. By the looks of the people packing into our Church every week day and weekend for Mass, and the growing anger they feeling towards those who think it’s politically correct to spew hatred toward the Catholic Church, there may just be a war of biblical proportions that the fundamentalist atheists are going to be sorry they started. Oh…and guess what? Catholics in the United States vote in high numbers. Think about it.

My Sunday sermon rant is over.

I HAVE NO TITLE FOR THIS POST-DEAL WITH IT

I’ll be out of the house this morning, so my dog will have to fill in. If your comments don’t receive a quick reply, that’s probably because she’s sleeping on the job. Slacker dog.

Be back later….in the meantime, this is an open thread.

If you want some real stuff to read, I might suggest the following:

Why I don’t eat cows.
Beef Encounter: Meet the master taster who can tell a cow’s age, gender and breed from one mouthful of meat.

This one sounds a lot like the “Chicago Way”
Deadman Tapped for Democratic Panel

If I had a nickel for every time this has happened to me…
Man found asleep in a closet… with a corpse.

This next one is my favorite story of the week…check it out at Quipster’s blog (thetowncrier).

IF GOD WANTED ME TO FLY…

….HE WOULD HAVE GIVEN ME WINGS

I can’t tell you how much I hate to fly. Its not that I’ve never flown before, in fact, I used to fly quite a bit…reluctantly. I’ve  always hated the hassle of going to the airport and standing in long lines just for the pleasure of  sitting in a long metal tube packed to the gills with people coughing,  sneezing,  and my biggest pet peeve…trying to shove their over-sized luggage over the luggage compartment over MY seat.   It seems lately, however, that maybe I should be leery of trusting those airlines who promise “friendly skies”.

This morning I opened the paper to find a story about two pilots on Northwest Airlines who seemed to have missed their airport by 150 miles. Ooops! And what was their excuse? They said that they were in a heated argument about airline policy.

The National Transportation Safety Board are looking into the possibility that they just fell asleep, however. Apparently the pilots dropped out of radio contact just before 7 p.m. on their flight from San Diego to Minneapolis. They were flying at 37,000 feet. The jet then flew over the airport that they were supposed to land at 8:14 p.m. and the air traffic controllers were not able to establish communication with them until 8:14. In fact, the FAA said the air traffic controllers were concerned enough to put Air National Guard fighter jets on alert in two locations for fear that the plane had been hi-jacked (they never left the ground).

Of course, this will be investigated because the airline will be checking out the cockpit voice recorder and if the sound of snoring is heard (or the lack of the so-called “heated discussion) the truth will come out.

This isn’t the first time this has happened and unfortunately will not be the last. Last summer it was reported that two pilots for Go! Airlines, a subsidiary of Mesa Air Group, didn’t respond to air-traffic controllers for more than 15 minutes as their plane flew over Hawaii happened because both pilots fell asleep. A report by the National Transportation Safety Board had said that one of the pilots in this incident was diagnosed with sleep apnea, a condition that makes causes daytime fatigue.

“The day of the incident was the third consecutive day that both pilots started duty at 0540 [5:40 a.m.],” the report says. “This likely caused the pilots to receive less daily sleep than is needed to sustain optimal alertness and resulted in an accumulation of sleep debt and increased levels of daytime fatigue.”

On a personal note, a few years back my brother had just sat down in his seat for a flight from California to Chicago. He said the pilot, looking very agitated came out of the cockpit and made an announcement that he was being forced to fly the plane, even though he had not had enough sleep due to “double-booking”. He then said, “It’s up to you if you want to stay on this plane.” My brother grabbed his bag and left the plane and insisted on another flight. He was given another flight, along with the large group of other passengers who de-boarded. I assume the pilot was fired for this…but he was thinking of the safety of his passengers and he deserves credit for that.

The airline industry has been bailed out over and over again by our government and doing this has done more harm than good, in my opinion. These large airlines may still be in business but they have been running that business in a way that is dangerous to the public. They are making decisions to overwork their pilots, attendants and maintenance crews in order to protect their “bottom line”.

Just last week I was reading the Chicago Tribune and there was a story about a report in the Wall Street Journal that the FAA expanding an investigation into “suspected structural problems found in a small portion of American Airlines jets”.

The newspaper reported Saturday that at least one of the Fort Worth-based airline’s McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series jets was believed to be in such poor shape that it was ferried without passengers to a maintenance base at low altitudes to avoid stressing the fuselage by pressurizing it. It cited unnamed people familiar with the matter.

[snip]

The Journal also reported Saturday that preliminary FAA findings showed as many as 16 jets that were operated for months despite substandard repairs.

And what do the customers of these airlines get for the pleasure of boarding these metal tubes of death? Poor service, rude flight attendants who are overworked and underpaid, and fees up the ying/yang for amenities that were free in the past– such as meals, snacks, soft drinks, checked baggage, pillows, blankets, making reservations by phone, a paper ticket, and more.

Last week, the Chicago Tribune reported that the “Piling On” of airline fees will probably continue for the long haul as airlines try to keep their profits up during this global economy crisis we are in. British Airways have just added fees for seat assignments more than 24 hours in advance of departure for ordinary seats.

… Current charges for economy are about $16 for a flight within Europe and about $32 for a long-haul flight. Fees on many expensive business-class tickets are even higher — about $32 within Europe or a whopping $80 for long-haul. And those prices won’t even get you into a coveted exit-row seat in economy, where you’ll have to pay $80 to $120 for the extra legroom.

[snip]

The real surprise here is the fee on many business and premium economy tickets, fare levels that are typically immune to the nickel-and-dime (or maybe sixpence-and-shilling) charges so prevalent in ordinary economy. All I can guess is that BA’s financial situation is dire enough — and the trade press seems to think it is — to warrant offending even its high-paying customers.

BA’s main transatlantic competitors haven’t matched, at least so far. But as I’ve often said about airlines, “Never underestimate the power of a bad idea.”

For those like me whose travel mainly consisted from visiting out of town family or other vacations, jumping in a car and driving is more palatable. Frankly, I’m surprised that there have not been more of an outrage from those who have to travel for business. But then again, with the economic crisis, travel is being cut out of many of the company budgets…which will only make airlines start charging more and cutting more corners to make up for the loss of business.

I have a lot of sympathy for what the pilots of these large airlines are going through. However, like the pilot who warned the passengers on my brother’s flight years ago took a stand, I wish more of them would do the same.

(Note: Picture of the adorable little girl at the top of the page is my granddaughter in her butterfly costume–Halloween of 2002. Gratuitous grandma bragging rights are the perk of having your own blog. )