Saint Catherine the Great Martyr

Today is the feast day of Saint Catherine the Great Martyr in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches.

Happy name-day to all "Kate"s everywhere.

The Ballad of Kathryn Johnston

[On November 21, 2006, Atlanta, Georgia police officers executed a "no-knock" search warrant for narcotics at the home of 92-year old Kathryn Johnston. H/t Patterico and SayUncle.]

The Ballad of Kathryn Johnston

She may have been sitting in her chair
Or brushing her still glossy hair
But when the cops kicked down her door
She picked up her forty-four.

Atlanta's blue-clad Myrmidons
Who gunned Kathryn Johnston down;
I wonder, how do they feel?
For this was a woman with iron in her spine
That only death could bend to their will.

Their blue-backed paper and their blue-steel guns
To her did not mean a thing.
For she was in her home and with her gun in her hand.
In her castle she would die like a queen.

How many shots were fired at her
In the horribly one-sided fight?
Ninety-two shots for she was ninety-two years old?
A bullet for every year of her life?

Now Atlanta has nothing to be proud of.
Its shame through all the world should resound.
Because it should not have taken so many cops
And it should not have taken so many shots
To bring this brave old woman down.

She fired at three and she wounded three.
Murder her soul does not stain.
But the officious fools who drove her to such ends
Have thrice earned all people's disdain.

Now some will say she was defending her home
And others may say she was defending some man;
We will never know for the truth died with her
In that hellish hail of lead.

These verses were made on Thanksgiving Day
As soon as the news did arrive.
If Atlanta had lawmen worthy of the name
Kathryn Johnston would still be alive.

U.S. University Information

For a foreign student who wants to be admitted to an American college or university, TOEFL, the Test of English as a Foreign Language will very likely be required.

TOEFL -- Overview from Wikipedia.

Kaplan Home Page

Kaplan TOEFL prep. (On the map, click on the Europe link.)

TOEFL: The Test of English as a Foreign Language. (?)

COLLEGE AND UNIVERSITY LINKS:

Triton College,River Grove, Illinois

Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, Illinois

Search YPEPTH (DIKATSA) for U.S. Colleges and Universities it recognizes.

Unofficial but very helpful DIKATSA site.

This page will be continuously updated. Be sure to Refresh for newest version. You can leave questions in the comments but it would be preferrable to e-mail me.

The Pain Comes Later

Have you ever been seriously cut? It doesn't hurt. [Update: I should have added "at first"] The nerve is severed and the shock has numbed it. It is much later, as it is healing, that it hurts. The brain, also, takes a while to understand what has been lost.

It hurts.

More eye candy.

Although she's a little long in the tooth and has been around the block a few times, she is pure Swiss quality, and at $119.95 plus maybe another $60.00 for the FFL's commission/S&H, how can you go wrong?

Canibalism

O.J. Simpson is a sportsman. He eats what he kills.

UPDATE:
SayUncle links to a post which announces that the book deal and Fox interview have been cancelled.

Think the Democrats Won't Take Your Guns? Think Again.

Think the Democrats won't take your guns? Think again. (Xrlq). I can hear my father telling me: "You're a 50-year old lawyer and you have no business carrying guns. I worked very hard all my life to make sure you and your brothers were the people who gave orders to people with guns."

Eye candy.

UPDATE:
SayUncle likes this classic beauty and this wholesome cutie.

My father died on October 31. He and my mother would have celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary on November 5. He lived his whole life totally dedicated to my mother and to my brothers and me. But ...

the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.