REDNECK CATHOLIC

I Find it Annoying

2011-09-21T13:08:00.000-04:00

Something I find truly annoying is how certain "Gay" ministries set up a sort of double standard on sexual morality. Honestly, I don't understand how they do this and still claim to be Catholic, or even Christian.

Simply put, they want to give a free pass to Homosexuals and Lesbians on common morality by the expedient of "affirming" them without mentioning or the universal requirment of chastity, in accordance with ones station in life. We are all clled to chastity--in the married estate that means fidelity, and not lusting after persons other than your spouse. For those in the single estate, that means not having sex, and not doing things like heavy petting, mutual masturbation, or knecking to the point where avoiding those other things would be come problematic.

But if you're "Gay", most "ministries" would never mention to you that you need to keep your pants on. It's a free pass, granted by omission.

The Queen of the House and I are not within the bonds of Holy Matrimony--that means that we are not free to give physical expression to our affection beyond those things you wouldn't be upset to see your teenaged daughter share with her boyfriend. Yet "Gay" Catholics, and most "Gay" ministries, seem to take the position that it's OK for them to have sex.

Strangely enough, they demand "equality". If they were to receive "equality" they would be told, straight up, by the ministers of the Church, to keep their clothes on, because they are not in the bonds of Holy Matrimony.

Look--Just because I'm in love with a member of the Opposite sex doesn't mean that it's any easier for me not to act out! So "Gays" need to show some integrity and zip up their pants, or admit that they are not really a Catholic, they just enjoy the services.

Well, If you want to know what "religious education was like in my HS...

2010-09-03T14:57:00.001-04:00

...Go on over to the Catholic Caveman. he has a video up that really, actually shows it! It's titled "Nutter(ing)".

http://catholic-caveman.blogspot.com/ .

Hilarious and worth watching.

Hitlers Pope?

2010-04-19T11:44:00.000-04:00

One of the things that really gets me is the unfounded accusation that the Pope was somehow complicit in the Holocaust. This is especially odd to me considering how many Jews were saved through the Vatican's actions in Italy.

It also gets a little odd for me when one realizes that Pius XII fully expected to be arrested and taken away to god knows where by the Nazis, and made plans for the continuance of Church governance.

But now, it has become clear that from 1930 on, Pius XII was excommunicating Catholic who became Nazis. The Vtican Archives show this with the documents. So why isn't it better known? Well, for one thing, there's money to be made from Anti-Catholicism, and publishing something anti-catholic gives one an automatic Cache--and you get called "courageous". For another thing, the Vatican Archives dealing with the interaction of the Vatican and the Third Reich before the outbreak of the Second World War are examined by about---1 in every 3.5 scholars researching the questions of the Vatican and the War. (In other words, they don't even bother to check!)

The Blog is Dead! Long Live the Blog!

2009-07-25T10:14:00.002-04:00

Yep, it's been an interesting time here, as a Redneck Catholic, but it's time I move on into a more thoughtful blog, based more on Church Teachings, Devotions and personal reflections. So I have made my last post on this blog.

BUT YOU CAN FIND MY NEW BLOG AT:

http://sadcatholic.blogspot.com

This has been a rather reluctant decision on my part, because I liked having a place to vent my opinions on church politics, and secular politics, current events and current culture. but I have realized that what I really need to be doing is getting my spiritual life in order, and moving forward in my christian life.

I hope to do a better job in my new blog of communicating what a privilege it is to be Catholic, how fraught with peril is the modern life to those who set there sights on heaven, and to perhaps, deepen my relationship with Christ as I learn, really learn, to pray.

I don't know yet what all I will be writing about, or what directions I will take. Right now I'm interested in Scripture and Patristics, and the Magisterial teachings of the Church. Not to mention liturgical matters. I've also started to discern whether or not the OCDS is something the Lord is calling me to. So I think that the new blog will have different subject matter and direction than this one.

It probably won't have a much different tone--I remain a curmudgeon, and a grouchy one at that!

Oh--Don't worry if you are not on the links, etc of the new place--it ain't done yet! but it's readable.

McBrien, again.

2009-07-25T09:44:00.002-04:00

It seems that the famous dissenter, "Father" McBrien, is very upset that the Apostolic visitors representing the Vatican, in it's two ongoing investigations of the LCWR will be required to take an oath stating that they are loyal to the magisterium and disciplines of the church.

He believes that it will "skew" the results of the visitation in one direction, and that that is unfortunate.

Well, yes it will. that's the point. It will mean that the evaluations of the two investigations will be conducted in accordance with the norms of the Church, by people who actually are Catholic. And yes, it will be unfortunate for those whose "dissent" has gone beyond the limits of the faith, into practicing non-christian spiritual beliefs, into teaching heresy, into rebellion against the church Christ founded, while claiming all the legal and financial advantages of being members of the church.

I have high hopes for these investigations, fueled by the whining, writhing and complaints.

Face it--if you spank a child, they do not say how fair it was and how good it was for them. they whine and cry.

A Prayer I really Love:

2009-07-24T14:16:00.002-04:00

Sub tuum praesidium confugimus,
sancta Dei Genetrix; nostras
deprecationes ne despicias in
necessitatibus nostris, sed a
periculis cunctis libera nos semper,
Virgo gloriosa et benedicta.

We fly to your patronage,
O holy Mother of God.
Despise not our petitions in
our necessities, but deliver us
from all dangers, O ever glorious and blessed Virgin.

The Abuse Scandal, revisited.

2009-07-24T13:49:00.002-04:00

Well, we all wish that the abuse scandal would go away. And of course, it wont'--not for a long time. So I thought I would give it a different perspective.

"What has been, will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun." Ecclesiastes, 1:8-10.

We've had to deal with this issue before. How was it dealt with?

"To defilers of boys communion is not to be given, even at death" Council of Elvira, Canon 71.

Far cry from the enabling and cowardice of the Bishops that we got stuck with prior to 1988, When John Paul II finally wrested control of the process from the modernists.

Round Up

2009-07-23T09:36:00.002-04:00

TAC: The Traditional Anglican Communion is still actively pursuing reunification wit Rome, "because it is right", in the words of the Primate of the Traditional Anglican Communion.

He also cites persecution and misuse of Canon Law within the Anglican Church as indicators of it's failure.

Sunstein: Makes lots of people nervous. Senators from Agricultural states are nervous, because they believe that as the new "regulatory czar" at OMB he will promote regulations that make it difficult to practice animal husbandry. Senators from states with a high proportion of hunters worry that he will try to ban hunting. The guy has a record of extreme positions on animal rights.

But, progressives in the environmental movement are nervous that he actually will continue to "role back" environmental protections. Frank O'Donnel, of Clean Water Watch, said "progressives would have screamed" if Bush had nominated someone with Sunstein's record.

And Civil Libertarians are worried, because he has called for a legally enforceable "take down notice" that could be delivered to bloggers to make them take down rumors that they discuss.

I think this guy is the perfect transnational progressive apparatchik--he just knows how to fix it all, and what the people want be damned--he's the regulatory Czar!

I wonder how we ever got in the habit of appointing all these powerful people in the Executive branch without a constitutional mandate, any way.

Free Speech? A kiosk in Concord, NC was shut down by mall management after they received ONE complaint about it's products.

The kiosk is called...Free Market Warrior. It sells conservative items and bumper stickers saying things like "Work Harder! Obama needs the money". And it has been shut down.
I get tired of listing ways that Tranzies and Progressives attempt to shut down conservative speech. I get even tireder of hearing people say that it isn't happening.

I swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution of the United States from all enemies, forign and domestic, and spent a significant part of my life doing so. But looking at the election results and laws passed in the 21st century, maybe I should have spent my time trying to become wealthy enough to move elsewhere--except there's no where else to go.

Alaska and Tennessee lead the way

2009-07-23T09:32:00.002-04:00

Alaska passed, unanimously, a joint resolution stating that the state retains its sovereignty under the tenth amendment. Alaska and Tennessee have both passed and signed such resolutions, and seven other states have passed them.

36 more states are working on passing them.

Is Washington paying attention? Or are the houses of Congress, SCOTUS and POTUS still hoping that if they ignore the 10th amendment long enough, it will go away?

ACLU--on the rights side this time!

2009-07-21T14:06:00.002-04:00

The ACLU has spoken agains t the Hate Crimes legislation that the Senate has appended to the defense approriations bill, saying that it lacks the strong protection for the rights of free speech and association found in the House version of the bill.

When the ACLU says it's a bad bill, vis a vis protecting the rights of Christian Values, speech and association, you know it's gotta suk!

Lets Smear Someone who cares!

2009-07-21T13:59:00.002-04:00

Julie Driscoll, writing on examiner.com, is saying how horrible Lila Rose is for blowing the whistle on Planned Parenthood for catching them violating the law concerning sexual molestation and the requirement to report it.

She thinks it's awful, and Ms. Rose can't possibly care about women and girls.

After all, the pro abortion community need to smear this chick before her factual assertions about illegal practices at PP get in the way of their business: and it is a business.

In a Newspaper:

2009-07-21T13:54:00.002-04:00

To wit, The Plain Dealer, Out of Cleavland: the paper has published an editorial that said that if the paper had lost as many reader as the Church has Nuns, they would for sure be investigating the reasons! And, this was printed in response to womeone who questioned the wisdom of the two Vatican investigations of American Religious congregations of women.

American Anti-Catholicism, an historical footnote.

2009-07-17T14:01:00.002-04:00

Not many Americans are aware of the Christero War in Mexico. It started when, in 1917, Mexico had a revolution that resulted in the installation of the world's first socialist government. In the 1920s and 30s that same government persecuted the Church, closing hundreds of churches and converting the buildings to secular uses, suppressing religious communities, and hunting priests with an Elizabethan ardor. This is where we get Blessed Miguel Pro from, along with many other martyrs. Even the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadeloupe was under threat! (The Indians defended their shrine and sent the miraculous image of Our Lady to Costa Rica until it was safe to return it.)

What I learned to day is that the US government helped the Mexican Government in their endeavor in various ways, in the interest of "maintaining order".

*sigh*

About Congress

2009-07-17T13:59:00.002-04:00

Our Democratic Party controlled congress yesterday defeated an ammendment to the Health Care Plan that would have required members of Congress to use the plan for their health care.

If they don't want it--why should we?

About the President

2009-07-17T13:54:00.002-04:00

Abp. Burke, the head of the Apostolic signatura is in town this weekend for "The Church Teaches Forum", along with such luminaries as Fr. Benedict Groschel.

He remarked that the Vatican is very aware of President Obama's activities, and such groups as Catholics for Obama, and his appointment of pro abortion "Catholics" to government positions.

The Vatican, according to his remarks, regard this as an attempt by President Obama to drive a wedge between Catholics and the Church as a whole, and are quite worried about it.

I think that there isn't so much as a plan to split the Church, as a series of actions that will have that effect, simply because the Ego of President Obama and the cult of personality surrounding him doesn't allow for criticism to be recieved as anything worthy of notice.

But it's a little telling to me that a spokesperson for Catholics for Obama said that he is in closwer touch with Catholics than the Pope.

They need a new Adjective!

2009-07-15T16:36:00.002-04:00

Why is it, when you read a news paper, anyone who makes the paper for something weird or dissenting who "claims catholic" is described as devout?

Like the person who died in a voodoo ritual in Pa. this person was described as devout because of an Our Lady tattoo on the foot. Devout, "...but with an interest in Voodoo.".

You can not be a devout Catholic--or any type of Christian--and be willing to worship other gods, or to allow your body to be possessed by spirits ( a central practice of voodoo).

Sheesh--this person is described as devout, while the devout I know are described as "fundamentalist", "hard line", "extremist" etc.

A habitual protest in Louisville.

2009-07-10T14:21:00.002-04:00

Quite often, on forth street, there is a protest against a company that says it's putting them on notice, because they don't pay area standard wages and benefits. The protest is sponsored by the local Carpenters and Cabinet makers union.

The company in question does resoration work on historic buildings. The employees declined to be represented by the union.

Now Fourth Street is a high traffic area, frequented by affluent and business people. The idea being, I suppose, to make them think twice before hiring the company in question to do restoration work.

The really neat thing is, the company, even in this economy, is still working, hasn't laid anyone off, and doesn't have a problem recruiting or retaining workers.

So the union does this, because they are upset that they do not control the jobs this company does--it's a power ploy, that's all.

But the protesters aren't employees of the company in question. Nor are they members of the union. They are paid protesters, protesting a job that someone isn't paying local level wages and benefits. They are paid...wait for it...minimum wage with no benefits, by the union.

The post below...

2009-07-10T14:18:00.002-04:00

...Reminded me of something. Every time some group of 15-20 people go downtown and protest anything for half an hour, they get a double page spread in the Leo ( a local news weekly--alternative type) and coverage in the local daily newspaper.

But 2500 people who marck for miles through down town, praying for an end to the holocaust of abortion, gets zero media coverage in this area.

Abomination!

2009-07-10T14:08:00.002-04:00

Margaret Sanger, founding and conceptual light of Planned Parenthood and the Eugenics movement in the US--and the person Hitler credited with inspiring his eugenics programme--was a racist and classist bigot, who thought to use the technology of the time and emerging technologies to rid the nation of "human weeds" (her words)

But we all know that Planned Parenthood is actually about empowering women, and women's reproductive rights.

Except maybe for Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who told the New York Times "Frankly, I had thought at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations we didn't want to have too many of.

So it seems that the skewed demographics of abortion in this country are not simply an artifact, but the continuation of an unspoken policy dating back to Ms. Sanger, that people of color, and the poor, should be removed from the gene pool.

And Justice Ginsburg simply made the assumption that that was the purpose of the decision.

Evil. And with the mendacity of PP, an evil that they can deny and mislead people about.

Come to think of it--all the PP volunteers I met and knew, were white, middle class college women. But when I went to the Pro-life March, there were entire black congregations an board.

Just a round up

2009-07-10T13:42:00.002-04:00

Freedom of conscience, Loss of: The 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals has removed an injunction that would allow pharmacists in Washington state to continue to practice without distributing "Plan B" emergency contraception.

The logic of the ruling is that your freedom to practice your religion ends when you refuse to do something that violates your conscience, but is legal. The court apparently doesn't think that going to another pharmacy is an option.

I can't help but suspect the law was passed, and the suit pressed, with the intention of barring Catholics from the profession of pharmacy. Sort of like laws that barred Jews from certain professions in the Third Reich. It really, is an extension of a very old practice used in the persecution of Christians. In the Roman Empire, people were required to offer a pinch of incense to the Emperor. This drove a wedge between those who submitted and their faith--not just under church Law, but within their own minds and conscience. I see this as more or less the same thing.

Gay Rights? NO--a Gay Wrong: A Gay man living in Ontario has filed a human rights complaint against the Bishop of Peterborough, Ontario. The basis of the complaint is that the Bishop Has refused to let him serve Mass, based on the mans openly proclaimed homosexuality. The man involved lives with another man, but says that the relationship is chaste.

When you make one of these complaints in Canada, the process is punitive in itself--and very expensive for the defendant. The Gay Community in Canada has repeatedly used this process to silence of coerce Clergymen--one ruling has made it a punishable offense for one clergyman to ever again mention that homosexual conduct is sinful from the pulpit.

Here's my personal take: 12 parishioners complained, and it was causing division and scandal. From the point of view of the Bishop, and the Church, to forbid this man from serving Mass was correct! Moreover, I am not without sympathy for the Gay man in question. I live in a chaste relationship, under the same roof, as my ex-wife, who is the mother of my children. I don't serve Mass, I don't serve as a lector, and I don't serve as an EEM. It would cause scandal for parishioners to learn that we lived in the same house, outside of Matrimony, no matter if we're chaste or not. Yes, people are not supposed to assume the worst. But many do, that's life, get used to it.

This is a purely religious matter that the state has no business interfering with. And using the coercive power of the state to make people afraid to criticize you is simply a form of fascistic oppression.

An Unexpected Friend: Bishop Council Nedd, of the Episcopal Missionary Church has asked Connecticut Governor M. Jodi Rell to fire Carol Carson, State Ethics Committee Chair, and Ethics Enforcement Officer Thomas Jones.

These two are responsible for the "ethics investigation" that attempted to classify the church as an unregistered lobbying organization for stirring up popular opposition that would have placed the governance of the Church more of less in the hands of the state and removed Episcopal authority from play.

Bishop Nedd says--and many agree with him--that this was simply an attempt to grab Church funds, and to hinder the Catholic Church. In effect Anti-Catholicism.

I Love You, Lila Rose!

2009-07-09T10:29:00.003-04:00

The intrepid young lady has once again gotten proof that Planned parenthood clinics are covering up rapes of underage girls in their clinics.

This time it was in Alabama. The state is taking this quite seriously, and the local law enforcement is saying that it is a criminal failure to report a 2d degree rape. It looks like PP will have to change it's practices soon.

Well, this is interesting.

2009-07-09T10:24:00.003-04:00

In 1996 a group of french monks in Algeria were massacred. The blame was placed on the Islamic Army Group.

But the event is being revisited. President Sarkozy (of France) is raising questions. It seems that there is considerable suspicion that the monks were killed by the Algerian Army, perhaps by mistake, and the event was covered up in an act of collusion by the French and Algerian governments.

I would really like to know what happened. A massacre of monks is a potent propaganda tool, and it seems that someone, somewhere, is lying. The truth would help everyone.

Abortion topic

2009-07-09T10:16:00.002-04:00

A review of studies published in Current Womens Health Reviews
shows a very different set of outcomes for pregnancies ended by abortion than those ended by miscarriage.

20-30% of women who have had an abortion experience serious psychological problems, perhaps related to the fact that 64% of women feel pressured into abortion. Further, the study points out that grief after an abortion is in many cased repressed or socially censored, because the perception is maintained that it didn't involve a human death.

In the end, the study point to a lowered level of emotional support for choldren born after the abortion, a certain distance between mother and child. More disturbingly, there is also a significantly higher rate of child abuse for children who are born of mothers who've had and abortion.

A 2d Class Relic is a first class gift!

2009-07-09T10:13:00.002-04:00

In keeping with my policy of giving President Obama his due, I will mention here that his gift for Pope Benedict XVI is very thoughtfull, and appropriate. Not always something he does well.

He is giving His Holiness a stole, that has been draped over The enshrined body of St. John Neuman.

That's a good thing to give to the Pope.

News of the Weird...

2009-07-09T10:06:00.002-04:00

...reported a couple of things this week under the header "Sexual confusion".

The first was the release of a study from a school of Nursing in British Columbia (I think--forgot to bring the paper with me) showing that teenage girls who self identify as lesbian or bisexual are 7 times more likely to get pregnant. the hypothesis was that the girls are using irresponsible heterosexual activity to hide their identity. I beg to disagree: most teenage girls I knew who identified as lesbians or bisexuals were simply girls who had thrown convention and traditional mores to the wind, and were very active sexually. They were also prone to having been sexually abused.

The second was a statement by a professor at Notre Dame Australia that teen pregnancy was a positive thing in the lives of disadvantaged girls--they completed shcool, quit smoking and found jobs at a higher rate than their peers. My take on this: The professor is nutzo stupid. An out of wedlock pregnancy in a teenage girl is never a positive. Any attempt to paint it as such is grasping at straws to accomodate a problem that the speaker has no idea of how to address.

Of course, sourcing from News of the Weird means that this information could all be a crock of organic ferilizer. But those two jumped out at me. For them to be even remotly plausible is a sobering thought.

Iconoclams: (heh)

2009-07-08T13:46:00.003-04:00

I'm feeling iconoclastic today, so I'm just throwing out some observations.

Bob Dylan: Overrated. Pompous. Poser. And he can't sing. Bob Dylan sux.

M1911A1: Sux. Inaccurate as issued. Maintenance intensive. Overpowered.

Democracy: Lets the mediocrities be whipped into a frenzy by demagogues, to the detriment of all.

Gregorian chant: Not suitable for parish worship--most choirs can't read the notation or master the intricacies of pointing. Plainchant is better for this purpose.

Rachel Ray: Needs to get her vocal cords checked, and to make some food that a Midwesterner has heard of.

Independent News Weeklies: Suck. Short on news, most aren't independent either. Mostly so coffee house habitues can feel connected to what they think is progress and culture.

Patriotic Sentiment: Has gone from being a laudable love of ones country, based in the concept of nations and tribes as an extension of the family--patriot, patria, pater--to being a way of attempting to discredit anyone who disagrees with you.

Organic Agriculture: Sux! Sux! Sux! What the crunchies don't tell you is the yeild difference. It would take 3 times the land under the plow as we currently have to produce the same usable harvest. Not to mention that organic agriculture in the US and Europe typically has a much higher energy input than conventional.

Beatles: Usually insipid. They owe their fame to teenage girls who were more interested in them as cute boys.

Curmudgeons: All we ever do is bitch and gripe!

Life imitates art

2009-07-08T13:44:00.002-04:00

The guy who plays Vincent Crabbe, the bullying soon to be criminal in the Harry Potter movies, just got busted fro growing pot, and possessing like, 8 bags of pot in his car.

I just thought he played a juvenile delinquent.

Journalism is Dead

2009-07-07T13:42:00.002-04:00

At least, I think so. It has been replaced by propaganda. Not for the first time, mind you. Remember the Hearst Papers and the Spanish American War?

But once again American journalism has descended into propaganda.

Why do I say this? Well, there's the "military coup" in Honduras. Except there wasn't. It seems that the president of Honduras attempted to usurp constitutional powers not belonging to the the presidency. The Honduran equivalents of congress and the Supreme court told him no. He attempted to use force to do what he wanted. He was deposed by their government, and the military followed the orders of the civil powers to remove him from office. He was replaced by his constitutional successor. Not a military junta. But what we read in the papers made it seem like the military had taken over the reigns of power to for stall a "Chavez Friendly" government.

Ooops.

And then there is this: Madonnas next concert in Poland occurs on the Solemnity of the Assumption. Catholics are responding with a prayer vigil, as they value the Catholic underpinnings of their culture. The press is describing them as "Ultra Catholic". Ever notice how, when people of religious beliefs are outspoken in public, they are always described as "fundamentalists" "ultra Catholics" or some other epithet that makes them sound out to lunch?
(A far cry from when Churches were at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement!) Of course, if someone with a religious credential speaks out in favor of a stand point that a journalist shares, then the epithets are switched for adjectives--like calling Pelosi a "devout Catholic".

But straight up factual reporting unflavored by bias? Not any more. NOt from the progressive press. Not from the conservative press. Not from anybody.

YIPPIE!

2009-07-03T10:32:00.002-04:00

The State of Connecticuts ethics office has dropped it's attempt to get the Catholic church to register as a lobbying group. The Attorney General of Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal has said the attempt raises serious constitutional questions.

Of course, the fact that this was dropped stems only from the States concern for constitutional rights--it doesn't have a thing to do with the legal actions initiated in Federal courts about this matter.

Or the fact that the event that precipitated this was the defeat of a a law aimed specifically at the Catholic Church, dictating a form of Congregational governance for it.

I am glad that the attempt has failed. On the other hand, this is only a tactical victory, a federal court ruling would have established a legal precedent to protect our coreligionists in Connecticut from such interference with their rights to freely exercises their religion, and their right of free speech. Which really, is what this was all about.

The apostolic visitation and The New York Times

2009-07-03T10:13:00.002-04:00

The New York Times has published an article, on the front page, no less, about the Apostolic visitation of the Leadership cousel of Women Religious.

The newspaper says that many nuns are afraid that it some sort of doctrinal inquisition. Gee, what made them think that? Perhaps the fact that the CDF is running it, and called it a"Doctrinal Inquirey"? And if they are in fact orthodox in their belief, why would this bother them.

The Times went on to say that these sorts of visitations are initiated when the Vatican views a group as problematic. NO Kidding? LCWR might be problematic? There is no suspicion that they are problematic--it is a known fact.

To support the above assertion--only 55% of the Orders and Congregations affected are cooperating with the Vatican at all.

It's a sad , sad time. but at the same time, Vatican involvement is a sign that the generation of inaction and confusion is coming to an end.

Liberty University and BYU...

2009-07-03T10:11:00.003-04:00

...have both delisted their student Republican Party clubs and their student Democratic Party clubs.

The move comes as the schools have decided that both parties hold positions inimical to their faiths.

If only Catholic schools could be so straight forward and courageous.

New Poll

2009-07-02T11:09:00.001-04:00

You can vote. But like in Iran, it probably won't make a differece.

Poll Results:

2009-07-02T11:02:00.002-04:00

Well, in coming up with a name for a band of Catholic hunter/gatherers, "Nomads of the Sacred Heart" won with 40% of the vote, followed closely by "Those skinny, sweaty Catholics in the woods" with 36% of the vote.

Nobody liked the kings wood folk. "Mary's Merry Men" got 12% of the vote, while "the People of Sankt Hubertus" got 8%. (Sankt Hubertus is the German Patron Saint of Hunters and Hikers.)

A popular write in was "The Catholic Cavemen".

Rewritting culture.

2009-07-02T10:28:00.003-04:00

Merlin, on TV, once again made me aware of something insidious in the arts. This insidious something I call rewriting culture.

Now obviously the Arthurian Cycle, "the Matter of Britain", evolved over centuries, and came to be part of the common literary inheritance of the western European Cultural Group. But to evolve isn't the same thing as to be reinvented. And when reinvention eliminates a key feature or two of the myth cycle, its meaning for our culture is stolen from us, and the cultural property devolves into mere story telling.

The two most important elements of the Arthurian cycle are the flaws in the nature of it's major players--which lead to the failure of Arthur's Kingdom--and the religious element--the search for the Holy Grail, the cup with which Christ celebrated the Last supper.

With the fatal flaws of it's protagonists, the Grail, it's repeated episodes of prayer and repentance, the matter of Britain as we have received it are a profoundly Christian cautionary tale, and the modern rewritings and revisions eliminate the christian elements.

This trend is evident in other parts of our Pop Culture. In one area especially: Vampire Stories.

In both Twilight and Buffy the Vampire Slayer something is missing , the lack of which redefines the vampire from an object of horror to something almost or blatantly attractive. that something is the anthropological dimension. (Here I'm using "anthropology in it's theological sense--the study and nature of man vis a vis spiritual and religious truth.)

Man is unique in creation because of his nature as a being created in the image and likeness of God. God is a spirit, he is pure spirit. And, he breathed spirit into us when we were created. yet, being "formed of clay" we are of matter as well. animals and plants are alive too, but they do not have the same spiritual likeness of god at the core of their being. Our nature unites--or perhaps bridges is a better term--the spheres of matter and spirit. Uniquely in all the creation, we are of both.

Vampires have something missing: that breath of spirit. they are traditionally abhorrent because they mimic humanity but are in their nature they are utterly inhuman. Despite the erotic overtones of the modern vampire (overtones that originated in troubled mind of Bram Stoker, and which were first popularized by his book Dracula, influence as it is by the occult teachings of both the Golden Dawn and Thelema) the core of the vampire narrative is the horror of a human form rendered inhuman by being both animate, yet devoid of the Breath of Spirit infused into our being by god.

The same applies to the growing body of Lycanthropy stories and films, which gloss over, once again, the core of our cultural expression of the myth; a human being, separated from his spiritual nature becomes bestial--no better than the animals.

the presentation of these things has gone from objects of fear and pure horror, to objects with a destructive and hypnotic attraction, to states that people can see as desirable and longed for. (See the movie Wolf, with Jack Nicholson.)

The rewritings of these myths are like an acid rain that dissolves the stone foundations of our common, christian Heritage, east and west. That bedrock is the understanding of man, the anthropology of faith. That understanding is what renders a variant--a singularity if I may borrow a term from physics--frightening.

By eliminating from the Arthurian matter the flaws and consequences of those flaws, and from the Vampire and werewolf stories the horror of the loss of human nature, and the action of grace, however symbolized and expressed (think of vampires being driven away by crucifixes or the Eucharist) in correcting these singularities we make the loss of human nature--complete, and unique, into something desirable.

And by eroding our cultural value that humans are, in fact, unique and special on the Earth, we slowly make room for a devaluing of humans themselves.

It is, in it's own way, an example of the culture of death.

My least favotire Mystery of the Rosary...

2009-07-02T10:21:00.003-04:00

...would be The Crowning With Thorns.

I was taught, and hold to be true, that praying the rasary isn't about reciting the Aves and Gloria Patries...it's about maditationg on the mysteries. That is to say, making yourself, in the sanctuary of inner prayer, present at the events as an observer, to feel what it was like to be there.

When I pray this mystery it works perhaps a little too well. I was a soldier. In many ways I still think like a soldier. I can put myself there, with this guy we think is fomenting rebellion and guerrilla warfare. I can see my self joining in, punching, mocking, spitting upon our Lord. I can see myself to the extent that it's devastating, at times.

And I always come away with the sense that I'm still punching Jesus in the face, every time I sin, every time I turn my back on grace in favor of my own desires or opinions. Because that's what we do. Were we not sinners, each of us, then the Passion would not have been necessary. Were we not sinners the sacrifice at Golgotha would not be needed. So I end this mystery with a profound sense of my own betrayals and disrespect of Christ.

This also why this is also my favorite mystery.

The. Best. Sentence. Ever!

2009-07-02T10:17:00.003-04:00

Written by Robert Heinlein in the short story "If this goes on..."

"He woke up with a splitting headache, his mouth tasted like tired sin, and he had a sense of impending doom."

You read that sentence, and you know exactly what was up with the character: you know the grit and grime, the fatigue and stress, the feelings of disorientation.

I wish I could write a sentence like that.

Reflections

2009-06-27T11:11:00.002-04:00

The Saddest Thing I have ever heard: "I'm coming to terms with my heterosexuality." The young lady who said this came from a solidly middle class background, and attended "good schools". Still in high school, her education and social milieu had made her feel inadequate for not being a lesbian of bisexual. Somehow, that made her less cool, less progressive, and perhaps less intelligent.

Such pressures, whether institutional, or among the kids themselves as a result of cultural modernity, cannot help but warp teenagers.

The gravest of modern errors: This one stems, ultimately, from Luther: the idea that everyone has a "Pope in his belly". It leads to people evaluating religions not on their claims to truth, but on the individuals preference. It's the idea that we humans know what is right and wrong, and God agrees with us. It's like the old pop song "I been talkin' to Jesus, and he knows I'm right."

Rather than evaluate history, scripture and events, people make choices based on such things as whether a religion allows them to use birth control, or to have gay sex, or is understanding and permissive of premarital relations. Or, for that matter, whether a religious body wholeheartedly approves of their business practices, or their ethnic and social attitudes.

Ultimately, it stems from pride. One holds certain opinions or attitudes, and simply cannot conceive of a reasonable God disagreeing with them. They assume that the call to repentance applies only to those things they don't like about themselves and to other people.

If I acted on my initial opinions of many topics, or decided that since I want to do something and can indulge in a bit self justification, it has to be OK with God--the world would be much the worse for it.

The Obama Administration: It sure looks to me as if it's shaping up to be as duplicitous and ineffectual as any other.

Bare Ruined Choirs: I just read it. I'm going to have to re-read it. I haven't figured out what to make of it,or it's author, except for one thing: it seems to be a very honest book, written at a time when honesty in the church was in even shorter supply than now.

Just a round up

2009-06-25T09:58:00.002-04:00

"Heteronormativity" and Special Privileges: I don't know what to think or to say, other than that I cannot escape the conclusion that something, somewhere, is horribly, horribly wrong.

University of Michigan researchers have decided that the love stories in Disney films and other g-rated family entertainment are to blame for "heteronormativity". That is to say, the depiction of beauty, happiness and romance associated with Male Female relationships is why children perceive heterosexuality and relationships as normal.

I always thought that was because they were the norm, in a mathematical sense: Less than 3% of the population is homosexual. (Kinsey's figure of 10% is long discredited!)

And on the other hand, in New York City, there is another of those "Gay Festivals" featuring public nudity, exposed genitals, floggings, electricity fetish torture etc. This is obvious violation of City and State laws concerning public decency, yet the City studiously avoided enforcing those laws. They make no such exception for Heterosexual practices.

How come less than 3% of the population is able to dictate and enforce their version of mores and morals on the rest?

TEC, ACNA and OCA: I just had to use the abbreviations! The Orthodox Church of America (which is an outgrowth of the Russian Orthodox Church, intended to unite the various Orthodox jusrisdictions in the US and end the bickering over "canonicity" and some of the rampant phylitism in this country) has severed it's ties with The Episcopal Church, and transferred them to the Anglican Church of North America. (That's the newly formed province, working in communion with the Southern Cone, who feel that the Episcopals have gone off the reservation theologically.) The OCA has decided, apparently, that TEC has gotten so foar off the track that it isn't worth engaging them in dialog. OCA also recognizes that many of the ACNA faithful have a faith very like that of the OCA, and hopes to bring them into communion with the Orthodox Church.

The Paraguayan Prsident: Former Bishop Fernando Lugo, who was removed from the episcopacy and became president-has a son. The revelation of this fact occurred during the mess of his deposition for running for political office. Now the mother of the child is saying that the ex-bishop raped her when she was 17, and that was the origin and substance of their relationship.

I don't know if I believe her or not. But I have to say my inclination is that if a man would abandon the Priesthood fro political power, it probably wasn't all that important to him to start with. And if he would father a child on a woman in diocesan employ, that strikes me as akin to rape at best. It is ethically impermissible to have sexual relations with subordinates or employees.

How innocuous seeming regulations can be used to repress Christians: Ms. Helen Slatter has quit he job as a nurse. The reason? she was told she could not wear her crucifix. The crucifix was worn under uniform. Yet she was told that it presented a danger of infection or could even be used as a weapon.

All this in a medical system with a very high infection rate due to lack of basic cleanliness--according to it's own evaluations--in a society marked by blatant anti-catholicism and a a growing anti-religious tone.

It didn't have anything to do with infection control or safety.

Poll Results:

2009-06-24T14:12:00.003-04:00

Well, 46% of the people who responded to the query about whether I should go to the woods and live as a hunter/gatherer say I should take them with me. 35% say I should not go to the woods and be a hunter/gatherer. 10% don't want to go with me but think it's a good idea for me to do so. 7% don't care what I do, so long as I leave.

SO: IF I GO AND TAKE THE WILLING WITH ME TO FORM A NEW TRIBE OF HUNTER/GATHERERS, WHAT SHOULD WE CALL OURSELVES?

That's the question for the new Poll, so go ahead and vote.

Unexpected, but cool

2009-06-24T13:57:00.002-04:00

The US District Court for the Northern District of California has ruled that the Contra Costa County Public Library cannot exclude Christians from meeting at the Library.

Library employees and officials initially said that the Library cannot be used for meeting with a religious purpose, then said that it could not be used for meetings that were actually religious services.

The court ruled that that was excessive government entanglement in religion, and upheld thirty years of precedent that holds (up to and including SCOTUS) that the courts are not competent to decide what is a religious service, as opposed to other forms of free speech, or religious activities.

This case was declined by SCOTUS, and sets a good and firm precedent that banning religious speech or activities constitutes excessive entanglement by the state.

Yea!

It's sad.

2009-06-24T13:53:00.002-04:00

St. Josephs church in Jacksonville Florida was vandalized this weekend. Vandals destroyed eight statues, valued at tens of thousands of dollars.

The Church in Ireland used to have a prayer: "From the fury of the Norsemen, O Lord, deliver us." I Propose a new prayer for the church in America: "From the mischief of the ignorantly thuggish, O Lord, deliver us."

About the New Translation

2009-06-23T13:44:00.003-04:00

"No book on doctrine will teach you as much as the missal--provided you bring some knowlege with you" F.J. Sheed, Theology for Beginners (Third Edition, 1981. Servant Books, Ann Arbor, MI.)

And that is why the new translation is so important! Lex Credendi, Lex Orandi gets tossed out, but the reality is, our faith is understood in prayer. And the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, the Eucharist, is the source and summit of Christian prayer.

That's why the Code of Canon Law stipulates that Roman Catholics have a right to the Roman Liturgy. Because after we finish our basic Catechises, the Theology of the Church is made manifest, and broadcast with profligate abandon in her liturgy.

Now there are people who object to the new translation of the Roman Missal in good faith--they feel that it may be lacking in English grammatical forms etc. However, I feel that these objections are immaterial, while the current translation is obviously inadequate for wither devotion or the transmission of the Truths and Mysteries of our faith.

I'm going to give you an idea of why I say this, by quoting from the blog The Roman Sacristan. This is the collect for Pentecost Sunday:

Current ICEL Translation:

Let us pray. God our Father, let the Spirit you sent on your Church to begin the teaching of the Gospel continue to work in the world through the hearts of all who believe.
We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you And the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

The Roman Sacristans Literal Translation:

Let us pray. O God, Who by the Mysteries of Today's feast, Sanctifies Your universal Church
in every people and nation, pour out upon the whole breadth of the world the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and because Divine Worthiness was worked among then in the very beginnings of the preaching of the Gospel, make them now to flow through the hearts of believers.
Through Our Lord Jesus Christ, your son, Who lives and reigns with You, in the Unity of the Holy Spirit, One God, for ever and ever.

These are very different prayers. In the ICEL current translation, too much emphasis is placed upon the believers, and not enough on God. The second translation points out that it is through the generosity of God, in his Love and Mercy, that the gifts of the Holy Spirit are made available. Moreover, it emphasises the need of the church for these gifts by it's tone of supplication. It also comments through description of how the Gifts of the Holy Spirit work in the world. (Where the first seems to be speaking about how the believers work.) It is well to remember that all the good that we do, that any role we play in the evangelization (and the word evangelization comes from the word for Gospel in most languages!) isn't us: it is the Holy Spirit.

So yes, we need a new translation. (The "absolution" at the end of the penitential rite in the current translations is nothing like what is in the Missae Typica! and that's just one example. The memorial acclamations as well are different enough to be different prayers!)

And I have to say that Bp Trautman's objections strike me as spurious--he raises one set, it gets shot down, he raises another, and so forth. I have reached the inescapable conclusion that this Prelates obstreperous actions stem not from concerns about the translation on offer, but from a desire to obscure the theology of the Mass, so as not to have to deal with the hard sayings.

(Hard Sayings? Look at the long version of the sequence for Corpus Christi--the one that most parishes don't use when they can get away with it. It mentions unworthy Communion and Damnation--yes, it addresses one of the problems in the church in America Today! And the communion verse from the Graduale--the official and recommended music for the Roman Rite mentions the guilt incurred by unworthy reception!)

Here we have the best opportunity in a generation to correct the bad Liturgy and worse education we have suffered through, and many who should be living up to their vocation to "Teach, Sanctify and Rule" are afraid that some people will be offended by the wholeness of the Catholic Faith, and the Sacrifice of the Mass.

So I guess it isn't true

2009-06-22T09:46:00.002-04:00

Arthur B. Shostak, of Drexel University, and his team have completed a twenty year project examining the involvement of fathers in abortion cases.

Turns out the idea that Mr. Selfish who knocks up the impressionable young girl and leaves her isn't the dynamic at all. And, it turns out that something like 50% of men who got their girls friends pregnant out of wedlock proposed that the two marry and raise the kid.

And the idea that "he didn't accompany me and support me through the procedure" turns out to be this: only 23% of abortuaries will allow the man to do so. After all, it's a woman thing.

I'm tired of the feminist/progressive determination to make men the problem.

Of course their going to try and censor us!

2009-06-22T09:42:00.003-04:00

Catholic Answers is suing the IRS. For violating their free speech rights.

It seems that Francis Kissling of "Catholics for a Free Choice" prodded the IRS to fine Catholic Answers for saying that a pro choice politican can be excluded from Holy communion--which is the stance of cannon law.

So for speaking out on a matter of Catholic Faith and Morals, they are being harassed and fined. I hope the courts do the fight thing, but I have little faith in the Judicial Branch any more.

I wonder what will happen with the hate crimes law?

The new translations

2009-06-22T09:37:00.001-04:00

Well, they didn't get the neccesary 2/3 vote at the meeting. However, there are 55 bishops to be polled by mail, and we need only about 5 votes to approve them. I think they'll pass.

Good Eats!

2009-06-22T09:34:00.002-04:00

Some people I'm sure are familier with "Big Fat Jerry's" seasonings. Well I got news for you.

I met him!

We went to a Family reunion at my son-in-law's Mom's house. And the guy on the grill was Jerry himself!

Imagine: Pork ribs, Catfish, Rabbit, Wild Turkey, Chicken...all slow grilled to perfection. Wondeful.

But having seen a master at work, I won't be able to bragg about my grilling for months, if ever.

Just stuff

2009-06-22T09:18:00.002-04:00

Global Warming: Phoenix AZ has just had the longest stretch of June Days under 100 degrees F. since 1913.

Sports Thugs: Things are just going too far. Drunken Fans heckling at a Golf tournament? Good grief!

The Imitation Jungle: Well, Summer is here, and in the Ohio Valley we are having the Late June Jungle Imitation for which we are justly famous. It's been 90+ with humidity so high that the TV weatherman described it as "air that you can wear".

The upside is that we get these marvelous thunderstorms, that rumble in and echo off the Knobs and down the valley. It' dramatic and beautiful.

Right now, it's literally as dark as late dusk outside with the street lights on and the rain coming down in sheets.

I was rude to a begger--on purpose!

2009-06-19T13:55:00.002-04:00

I was walking down the street when this kid--under twenty for sure--asks me if I have a spare cigarette.

There he was, with that lank white trash look, his skin head haircut, cut off cargo pant jams with deaths head and "graffiti", wife beater, choker collar and home made tats. I looked him up and down with "sergeant eyes" ( I can still do that) and said simply "No." and walked on.

He was mutttering and feeling very disrespected as I walked off.

Loosing Motivation!

2009-06-18T09:45:00.002-04:00

I am loosing my motivation to continue with this blog rapidly.

Mostly, because it's so repetitive! It seems to me that what I'm really doing is a whiners cronicle of the disintegration of the Church and the Republic.

I'm thinking I will finally get a new 'puter next month, and will close this blog out and begin a new one, with a focus much more on matters of Liturgy, Devotion, Scripture and Prayer.

Because, just between us, I have been devoting much more energy towards anger and outrage than to Prayer and Devotion, and this Blog facilitates that. Since I'm more interested in being granted the Beatific Vision in Heaven, with Christ and his Saints, than in influancing the political order, I ought to put my energy and resources there.

Coolness

2009-06-17T12:29:00.002-04:00

Cardinal DiNardo celebrated a solemn pontifical Mass according to the Anglican Usage to mark the 25th anniversary of the founding of Our Lady of Walshingham Parish--the second Catholic Parish worshiping in the Anglican Usage.

The Anglican Usage is, I think, far superior to the Ordinary Form of the Roman Rite--it retains the dignity and the vertical elements that are so often discarded in the Ordinary Form. to be honest, it's more Catholic!

Welcome Home!

2009-06-17T12:22:00.002-04:00

On September 3d, 2009, Archbishop O'Brien of Baltimore will celebrate Mass the Chapel of All Saints Convent, in Catonsville Maryland.

What makes this especially cool is the occasion: The Sisters of All Saints will be received into the Catholic Church on that day, returning from the Schism and Heresy of Anglicanism.

I'm glad they're coming home! And their Convent and Chapel are beautiful, as are their traditional habits.

On the Tiller Killing:

2009-06-17T12:21:00.001-04:00

The poll on the tiller Killing resulted in these results:

87% of respondents felt that the killing was unjustified and unjustifiable.

The remainder didn't care.

And on the Global Warming Front:

2009-06-15T10:39:00.002-04:00

May and June i the Midwest have been the coolest since records started being kept.

And crops are expected to yield poorly due to cooler weather last summet in agricutural areas of Europe and a much cooler spring than normal in North America.

This winter (now, actually) there has been abnormal snowfall in Australian and New Zeeland.

While we do lots of stuff about "Anthropogenic Global Warming" food crops are nearing crisis conditions due to cooler, damer weather. this at a time when US and global grainreserves are at a two decade low.

My garden is yielding poorly for the time of year, and plant's are not as far along as they should be for mid-june, due to the wet and coold spring.

Global warming? I remain unconvinced, especially as we enter a Maunder Minimum period.

Of course we can trust Senator Durbin!

2009-06-15T10:33:00.002-04:00

Even though he cashed out over a $100,000 worth of stocks, after he met with the Secratary of the Treasury and the Fed Chairman, in sept 2008.

After all, despite Senator Clintons cattle futures deals, etc, it's thos republican Senators who are always using their connections in dirty business deals.

The Austrian Bishops...

2009-06-15T10:16:00.002-04:00

...have been summond to Rome for an emergency consultation. this occurs as Rome attempts to deal with the Diocese of Linz, which had it's presbyters refuse to accept the man appointed as Auxiliary Bishop few months back.

The Diocese is on the verge of open Schism.

BTW--Catholics in Linz posted photos on the web of a "monstrance" used in the diocese, which is not at all in line with tradition or rubrics. It looked, for all the world, like the inner labia of a woman's genitals (it was actually pink), with a black hand print where the vestibule would be, with the Blessed Sacrament (if, in fact, it was even validly consecrated) displayed there. Horrible.

Actually, the church in America looks in great shape, when compared to Central and western Europe!

Father Z

2009-06-15T09:54:00.002-04:00

Father Z has a wonderful blog at http://wdtprs.com . He has and iteresting post a bout a page in about the New Translation of the Missal.

Here's the neat stuff:

The current ICEL Translation reads:

"He took the cup"

The new Translations reads:

"he took this precious chalice into his holy and venerable hands"

And the Missae Typica (the genuine roman liturgy in the ordinary form!) reads:

"accipens et hunc praeclarum calicem in sanctus ac venerabiles manus suas.

He has lot's of stuff like that, to include literal translations of prayers for feasts and solemnities. Each shows the richness of the original language, imagery and theology, and the paucity of what we anglophones are given. It is impossible to read this stuff and not come to the conclusion that there was an attempt to erase much of the mystery of the Christian religion from the prayer life of the anglophone world, under the guise of opening these riches up to those who do not read or speak Latin.

That's why I like the T-shirt that reads "I'm not being fed".

In this post, he points out that the "training days" for the new translation are in many places presenting it as a new missal, with new texts, created out of the minds of the Vox Clara commission and the ICEL translators, rather than pointing out that the original translation was meant as interim, and is so incomplete as to constitute an almost completely different liturgy than that of the Roman Rite.

Go read this post, entitled "His Hermenueticalness on the upcoming new ICEL translation." It's good, and uses Father Finnagans though, fisked well and intelligently, to make his point.

And while you're there, go ahead and read his own translations of the Corpus Christi Collect, and see how cheated we have been by modernist liturgists.

Plus lots of other good stuff! In fact, If you only have time to read one Catholic blog, quit wasting time on me and go read Fr. Z!

Me and the Marsupial

2009-06-15T09:17:00.003-04:00

So I came walking up to my house Saturday, to see that the porch door was left open, and a 'possum was hanging from one of the window screens--on the inside.

I hate 'possums. Well--that's too strong. Let's just say that I have a distaste for the Virginia Opossum that borders on disgust. Their strange little marsupial teeth, their nasty disposition, their rat like tails, everything about them makes me wish that I didn't have to deal with them. And now, one of the nasty little buggers was hanging from the window screen, inside my porch.

Simple problem, I thought. I picked up the broom and gave him a swat to get min off of my screen before his primitive, un-evolved protomamalian claws could ruin it. I expected him to run off the porch at that point. Instead he darted over to the corned and hid under the furnishings. Fair enough, it was a young 'possum, and I did outweigh it by a factor of about 100. I guess if an 1800 pound giant swatted me with a broom, I 'd go hid under something too. I went inside to give the nasty little bugger a chance to flee.

A couple of hours later I came out on the porch, and saw he was still there. (Now this is one of the reasons that I don't like living in town. If I lived in a rural environment, I could simply take the .22 and shoot the nasty little bugger dead. But I can't do that in town!) So take a quick look around, and pick up my can of "Gun Scrubber", a proprietary aerosol that removes carbon and fouling from fire arms, and sprayed his nasty little butt with it. Now this stuff stinks, and gives the skin a sensation similar to Ben Gay or other rubificient, I thought he'd leave to get away from it. I go back inside.

Later, I go out on the porch, and yep, he's still there. Next step? I get my walking stick, and poke him with it. If I can't kill the nasty little bugger, I don't want to injure it--I'm ruthless, but not cruel. He doesn't budge. At this point, I have decided he's showing an admirable tenacity, worth of a fanatical resistance fighter, the Polish Home Army, or perhaps even some sort of protomamalian jihadist. I have spent time and several attempts to get inside of his decision loop and get him to run away. Now the gloves come off.

I went inside, and got a Swiffer. these devises have a loop on the end of the handle to facilitate hanging them in a closet. I tied some garden twine to the loop, the fed it back through to make a catch pole. Enlisting my eldest daughter to provide the needed arms, we went back to the porch.

By this time the 'possum doesn't even need to think--he's hissing and snapping at us as he sees us coming. It's time to be decisive! My daughter picks up the item he was hiding under, and I slip the noose of the catch pole over his head. The nasty little bugger slipped the noose, and darted for another piece of cover. A sharp whack with the catch pole repositioned him for the noose. This time I pulled it tight, regardless of his health. I tried then to simply lead him to the door, but oh no! he wasn't going for it. At that point, I picked him up off of the floor by the expedient of raising the catch pole and carried the enraged 'possum, hissing and snapping all the way, to the door where I released the tension on the cord and let him. drop to the steps.

One would think, that after all this harsh treatment he would have fled. Instead he tried to re-enter the porch! Fortunately, my eldest has the sensibilities of a farm wife, and gave him two sharp whacks with the broom, which finally convinced him to make a run for the line of holly trees that mark the north boundary of our yard.

I hate 'possums!

Yes, I honestly believe Gays want to seduce kids.

2009-06-13T09:54:00.003-04:00

Anonymous: I have several times listed factual data--occurrences that the GLBT community has been overtly involved in and organized, policy statements of various GBLT groups, etc--to support my thesis. When that occurs you resort to name calling and accusations of criminal activity and intent, with no evidence to support them. This is why we conservatives need protection from Hate Speech by Gays.

Your comments, that have not been published, saying that I am a practitioner of incest, a pedophile, a rapist, and a Nazi, have been turned over to Blogger. And no other comments of this type will be accepted.

I would turn off anonymous comments all together, except I do not want to silence those who actually have something to say.

And now, they have the guy who's supposed to be making our schools safe. Kevin Jennings, the "Safe Schools Czar" has long been active GLSEN. Here's some of what this group has been doing:

Transgendered "Prom": On May 9, the group BAGLY, (the Boston Alliance for Gay and Lesbian Youth--which is seated on the state funded Massachusetts Commission for Gay and Lesbian Youth--and associated wit GLSEN) put on a "prom" for transgendered and gay youths. The Door keeper was a guy wearing the sash he won as "Mr. Boston Leather". There were numerous adult transgendered people attending. No one was checking IDs at the door, adults were witnessed passing out cards to the kids identifying their particular fetish. Adults were dancing with minors, making contacts etc. There were no attempts to chaperon the event, or to prevent interactions between the adults and minors.

BTW--the event was held in Boston City Hall.

BTW--GLSEN is also on the mentioned Massachusetts Commission, by law.

Fistgate: In 2000, GLSEN activists held an event--to which children as young as twelve were bussed, in which girls were taught how to perform tribidism, how to negotiate performing oral sex with another woman, and other sundry arts. Boys received tips on fellatio, and were asked if it was rude "not to swallow".

In spite of us being told that these events help combat the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, these kids were taught that they can make an informed decision not to use a condom--so it's demonstrably false that GLSEN is at the fore front of "AIDS Prevention"--they were coaching kids on how to do some pretty risky stuff, to include tips on the practice of "fisting".

At this event, the campaign "No Sex--No Problem" was ridiculed. Organizers felt that kids couldn't choose not to have sex.

Jennings has said that it's his personal goal for in five years people to hear the word GLSEN and think "Oooooo--That's good for kids!". His words.

Put all this together and it doesn't look to me like GLSEN is all about protection--it's about seduction, indoctrination and availability.

A priest once told me "Gays can't reproduce--they must recruit". I thought he was full of it. But now, 22 years later, I think he was right.

Oh--This same priest was the first person to mention to me the problem with Gay and predatory priests infesting chancery offices and having a "good old boy" type protective network. I didn't believe that, either.

The ACLU

2009-06-13T09:31:00.002-04:00

And Subsidiarity: In Ohio, the ACLU is opposing legislation that would remove the authority to regulate the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance from school districts, and place the decision in the hands of classroom teachers, while protecting the rights of a pupil (that's a hobby horse of mine--people in post secondary education are students, people in primary and secondary educational institutions are pupils. We need to remember that there are distinctions between minors, adults, and between various skill levels and educational levels!) to not recite the pledge.

The ACLU is worried that if the authority is decentralized, more kids will recite the pledge.

And Protecting Children: In Barre, Vermont, The ACLU is suing the city because an ordinance restricts where registered sex offenders can live. In the case in question, the pervert was living in close proximity to a park frequented by children.

The guy in question was in fact aware of the ordinance before he moved into the Apartment, and the Landlord was also aware of the ordinance. In fact, the Landlord refused to let the perv in question sign a lease, because he thought the location would be a problem after the authorities reviewed the situation.

The ACLU says a victory in this case would render all such ordinances, in other cities, unenforceable. Simple inference then tells us that the ACLU thinks that communities should not have the right to protect children from perverts and predators. Think about it. They don't want us to be able to keep evil people fro having easy access to kids.

And Religious Symbols: Right now, the ACLU is seeking to have two war memorials torn down, because they feature crosses. In fact, one solution proposed was to transfer the land they are on to private ownership, so there could be no perception of separation of Church and State, and the ACLU doesn't like that--they want those symbols destroyed.

A war memorial isn't a Church, and Christianity is a feature of our culture. What the ACLU is actually trying to suppress isn't a violation of the establishment clause, it's the cultural expression of Christianity and it's role in our shared culture. The goal is simple--to marginalize Christianity so that it is no longer a part of the common culture, with the dignity that the ACLU wishes to extend to sex offenders, the disloyal, sex workers, thieves and murderers.

Conclusion: I used to admire the ACLU, appreciating their work to protect Freedom of Speech. (Which was what they were founded to do, during the McCarthy era). Any more, I think they just want to re-write American Culture to reflect their own secular world view. I no longer admire them--I fear them and their attempts to dictate what I can express, what you can express, in public.

Shutting Catholics up

2009-06-11T11:28:00.003-04:00

In the Arts:

Novelist Piers Paul Read is a Catholic. In fact, he's an orthodox Catholic. His latest novel is in trouble: it's too Catholic.

Set against the back ground of the death of John Paul II, and concerns a priest accused of terrorism. Mr. Read's agent, Gillon Aitken refuses to promote the novel, entitled Death of a Pope, unless Mr. Read excised the aspects of the book that are favorable towards Catholicism, saying that there would be "no market" in the UK. Mr. Aitken represents authors such as S.Faulks, P. Barker and of course, that friend of everything Catholic, Germaine Greer.

Mr Read has fellow authors going on record to say that the idea that there is no market for such a book in the UK is balderdash--especially considering that the Catholic population of the UK is growing, and more Catholics attend Sunday Services regularly than any other Christian body in the UK.

Ignatius Press--which doesn't publish books of low or mediocre quality--has picked up the book for us distribution.

In Connecticut:

The State of Connecticut is attacking the Catholic Church again. A few months ago the Legislature of the State sought to dictate to the Catholic Church--and only the Catholic Church--how it would govern itself and it's property. Catholics spoke out and defeated the attempt.
(It should be noted that Connecticut was one of the states with an established church through the first quarter of the 19th century, that church being Congregationalist, and the organization they tried to force on the Church in their state was a form of Congregationalism.)

Now the legislature of that fine State--which I'm beginning to think we should give back to the Queen of England--is trying another tack.

They are accusing the Clergy and the Church of illegal lobbying by preaching against the move. (It seems that many legislators in Connecticut are Catholic, and since they went to Mass and herd the priests preach, it constituted "lobbying".)

The Bishops of Connecticut have filed suit in Federal Court. Good luck to them, but I don't trust the Court to uphold the constitution, or freedom of religion, or any other freedom any longer.

In the Courts:

Joyce Appleby, an historian who has been past president of the American Historical Association and the Organization of American Historians, has published a call for Catholic judges--especially on SCOTUS, to recuse themselves from hearing cases involving issue that the Church has teachings on.

In other words--if you embrace the Catholic faith, you have no business influencing law or politics.

We are not second rate citizens--yet. But we will be. After all, the only acceptable prejudices in American are Anti-Catholicism, and Christianophobia.

Peruvian Bishops...

2009-06-11T11:22:00.002-04:00

...want Canadian Bishops to stop funding pro-abortion groups in Peru.

In fact, they have gone so far as to formally complain, as a National conference of Bishops, to the Conference of Canadian Bishops.

The next stop, if the Canadian Bishops don't stop funding the murder of Peruvian children will be a Canonical complaint to the Vatican.

Why hasn't the Church suspended these heretics in Canuckistan? The only way were are going to eliminate the gangrenous rot that infects the Church is to amputate. The only way to cure this cancer is to excise it.

The very idea that a national conference of bishops sends money to groups like this is horrible, and seems to me to be De Facto proof that the Canadian Bishops are in Schism.

SSPX

2009-06-11T11:18:00.002-04:00

So, the Vatican is beginning new talks with the SSPX.

I wonder--is that the real motive for the Modernists in Regensburg threatening excommunication for their next batch of priestly ordinations?

Or is it sour grapes that the SSPX is going to ordain over 20 men, when priestly vocations in Germany are vanishingly rare, other wise.

And, Canon Law says the penalty for doing those ordinations is suspension--not excommunication. So, to the Regensburg Radicals actually have any respect for Canon Law, or are they just playing games?

Miss California.

2009-06-11T10:53:00.002-04:00

Got fired.

D. Trump claims it was for not fulfilling her contract, which, it seems, she has not been doing.

Ms. Prejean says that that's not the whole storey, that in fact she is being manipulated for political reasons. She cites the fact that last month Keith Lewis told her that they had two offers, one from I'm a Celebrity, Get Me out of Here! and another from Playboy.

The one from Playboy was an offer of $140,000 to pose semi nude.

Ms. Prejean says they wanted her to take these offers, Mr. Lewis claims that he was simply passing them along. It's interesting to me, that they tried to fire her for posing semi-nude, failed and then encouraged her to do so.

Ms. Prejean says that Ms. Moakler has been trying to be rid of her and to make things difficult since she won Miss California.

This is why I would be fine with eliminating the whole pageant industry--it's shallow, bitchy, dehumanizing, politicized and pointless.

I'm ashamed of his Hoosier connection.

2009-06-11T10:48:00.002-04:00

So that guy, Letterman, made some very rude jokes, implying that Palin's daughter is a whore.

But, he made sure to clarify that he meant Bristol--the 18 year old, not Willow, the 14 year old.

Yep, those compassionate progressives--just for laughs they decide to label an unwed mother a prostitute. After all, her mom is a conservative so she doesn't deserve any sort of respect.

This would be easier for me not to be pissed off about, except that I know liberals who have explicitly stated that the dividing line between a sexually active female and a slut is pregnancy and child birth!

Yes, I have had "progressive" women tell me that having a baby makes one a slut, especially if it's unplanned.

After many years as a progressive, the eventual toxic build up of stuff like that made me decide that the progressive world view and consensus was flawed to the point of neurosis.

Hydrid!

2009-06-11T10:25:00.002-04:00

My friend Hydrid was fishing with me, and caught her first fish.

You can see a photo of her and her fish at http://hydrid.blogspot.com .

The Queen of the house opines that having caught a desirable fish or acceptable size her first time out, with in minutes of starting, she'll be hooked for life.

Nashville Dominicans

2009-06-10T09:44:00.002-04:00

The Dominican Sisters of St. Cecilia have 240 or so professed Sisters, with 40 in formation. They serve 34 schools, and have a new foundation in australia.

And this year, their postulant class is big enough that housing them is a problem.

Promise Keepers

2009-06-10T09:41:00.002-04:00

Promise keepers are going to resurrect themselves with a major event in Boulder, Colorado.

I hate to bring this up, but I number among my former aquaintances a woman who ran an escort services. Her experience was that the only time she was harder pressed to provide girls than when the Church of God met in Anderson IN, was trying to keep up with demand when promise keepers came to Indiana.

So I just blow them off.

She said, in a polite way STFU!

2009-06-10T09:36:00.002-04:00

Dr. Alveda King has reacted to the baby murderer--I mean abortionist--LeRoy Carhart's comparison of Tiller to Dr. Martin Luther King.

"For LeRoy Carhart to mention the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. ...in the same breath with that of George Tiller ...is offensive beyond belief. The analogy is just wrong".

Are you ready for jail?

2009-06-10T09:29:00.003-04:00

The "Hate Crimes Act" that the House of representatives passed has gone to the Senate. It looks like their going to hide it as an amendment to another bill.

Mostly because there is quite a bit of opposition to outlawing thoughts and opinions.

What's truely disturbing to me is the House's refusal to pass an amendment protecting the excercise of free speech to condemn pedophiles. Really--the Dems i ncontrol of the house refused to protect our right to freedom of speech, if we used that right to condemn pedophiles.

So here goes: PEDOPHILES ARE THE SCUM OF SOCIETY, HORRIBLE, EVIL PREDATORS, WHO SHOULDN'T ENJOY EVEN THE RIGHT TO LIVE WHERE THEY CHOOSE! tHEY SHOULDN'T HAVE ANY PROTECTION IN THE WORKPLACE EITHER! IF I HAD THE POWER TO FIRE SOMEONE, AND KNEW THEY WERE A PEDO, I'D FIRE THEIR ASS! sOME THINGS ARE SO EVIL AND DISORDERED WE SHOULD NOT HAVE TO TOLERATE IT AT ALL, OR THE PRACTICIONERS THEREOF!

OK--now go ahead and arrest me you oppressive facilitators homofascism!

Round up

2009-06-09T09:35:00.003-04:00

Tiller: I read an interesting article in the Brit press about the murder of Dr. Tiller. One interesting thing was that he expected his fee--$6000--before he began to work. Another was the accusation that Fox News was really to blame for inciting the murder.

BTW--Tiller was excommunicated from the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church for his activities.

I would like to know how many people approve of his demise, and how many think the action was morally wrong.

San Francisco's ongoing persecution of the Catholic Church: Aside from passing a resolution categorizing the Church as a hate group, what else has this benighted city done? How about repeated attempts to tax Church property? They lose in court, but it costs the Church a lot of money to fight the City. It is nothing but a blatant attempt to injure the Church, and in contravention of State and Federal Law.

Noooooo----there are no bigots in SF.

How Rude! On Monday, June 1st, two US soldiers were killed by a Jihadist. In Arkansas.
So at one of the memorial rallies what goes down? Some Islamic Chick in a Hijab shows up, starts screaming about how Muslims are victims, and Jesus was a Muslim, Jews, etc.

Lets see--We pro-lifers are a menace because of the actions of a pill popping mad man, and Muslims are always the victims and peace loving.

Another Example of Universities trying to silence religious speech: A woman graduating from UCLA had her graduation statement "edited" because she thank the Lord and mentioned that dreaded name, Jesus. These statements are written by the graduating students and are intended to be their thoughts and words about the experience. She was silenced.

Christine Popa was told she had to remove the reference. In fact, the "advisor" from the Biology dept. who spoke with her said she could simply not read any of Ms. Popa's statement. Ms. Popa mad it clear that she was not happy--not because her faith was involved, but because her right to freedom of speech was involved.

The resolution came when this went public, and it became clear that UCLA, a government supported school, was attempting to violate the separation of Church and State by silencing religious speech. They have changed their policy and Ms. Popa's statement will be read.

The important dynamic isn't that she was allowed to make her statement, it's that the attempt was made to suppress it, and the attempt was not abandoned until there was public knowledge of the attempt. Face it, if UCLA thought it was legally in the right, they would have stuck to their guns.

Yet again, we see an ongoing pattern of people in Academia trying to silence religious speech. And, no matter how much this is denied, it keeps happening!

Excommunicating the SSPX: The Diocese of Regensburg, Germany, has said that it's considering excommunicating men who are to be ordained priests by the Society, and the Bishop who ordains them.

This sucks.

We are trying to heal the breach between the SSPX and the main body of the Church. Regensburg is trying to widen it.

Obviously, this has nothing to do with Church discipline: No move was made to discipline those poncho ladies and their fake bishop who were ordained. No move was made to correct any number of Modernists. No move was made against liturgical abuses so egregious as to constitute sacrilege.

Here's an idea--depose the bishop of Regensburg.

Revisionist History Sucks

2009-06-08T11:00:00.002-04:00

History is the study of past events, not the events themselves. So, over time, as the body of knowledge, and various interpretations arise, the historical take on events changes. This isn't revisionist history, it the process of the academic discipline of history.

Then you have people who write and publish "history" books that ignore or distort data to present a picture that fits, not the facts, but what they want People to think about the facts.

Here's an example: After the Reich, The brutal history of the Allied Occupation. (Giles MacDonogh. 2007, Basic Books, New York, NY).

This is all I will say about it: Between pages 298 and 299, there are photos. One of these photos is presented as that of "...a drunken American officer sleeps through a striptease in his Darmstadt mess in April of 1948". This is very problematical. One, the man isn't in uniform, and in 1948 American troops were required to be in uniform virtually at all times. Certainly in the mess. Two, If you've spent much time in Europe you know that Europeans and Americans don't have the same body language. This guy was a European. Three, he didn't have military hair cut--I have seen enough of the grooming standards to know that it wasn't a military haircut in 1948, either.

And, of course, sleeping through a striptease is such an act of brutality.

Why People Hate Us

2009-06-08T10:10:00.003-04:00

A good many of us Christians are simply not able to understand the depth of hostility that many hold us in, and have no idea of it's origin.

The last few days have given me a couple of examples, both of which do a wonderful job of explaining this. They both illustrate common behavior among Christians that isn't in line with our faith, and that engenders a great deal of hostility. Some of us mistake ourselves for God.

The first is the Tiller shooting.

I understand the desire to stop a man from murdering the unborn. But when we talk about about being pro-life, the phrase we most often hear is from conception to natural death. Murder is not natural. I understand the frustration of a state government that has over 200 documented complaints, many of the malpractice and other criminal matters, against a man who was protected by the Attorney General of Kansas, an official who was appointed by a governor who received much money in campaign donations from Tiller. But if you check your catechism, you'll notice that the instances where capital punishment is allowable is very circumscribed--and the decision is reserved to the civil authorities. The early Christians didn't run around killing Roman officials or those who exposed infants or performed abortions. And, after time, they won!

The bozo who shot Tiller simply fulfilled the fears of the pro-abortion community, and rendered anything we have to say about the subject ignorable--we can be painted as murdering fanatics now.

The second instance involves resistance to Pornography. On my way back from fishing, we stopped for coffee, gas and cigarettes. Across the road from where we stopped there was an "adult superstore". It was under siege by local Christians. They had raised banners--expensive, commercially produced banners--telling patrons that if they entered the store, they would be photographed, and their photos and licence plate numbers would be posted on an Internet web page. They had banners proclaiming that if truckers entered, not only would they be photographed and posted, but the corporations they worked for would receive photos, etc., of their entry.

Again if you check your catechism, you will find that we are not to be gossiping about other peoples peccadillo's. Let alone publishing them on the Internet. (That's why we shouldn't read gossip rags, BTW.) Further more, they are endangering people livelihoods. To be honest, if I'm working in a place you think is immoral and you get me fired by impeding business, I'm not going to like you. If I lose my business, because you impeded it by running a blockade with threats of what amounts to black mail, I'm probably going to hate you.

(Here I know what I'm talking about! I know people who lost jobs, or had their earnings reduced, by smoking bans in bars--yep, I worked in bars, used to be good money there. I am no longer in any sympathy for anti-smokers.)

Instead of converting people, too often some of us scream at them, or regrettably (and thankfully rarely) shoot them. We seem to have forgotten something--punishment of sin belongs, not to us, but to God. Is it any wonder that Seculars hate and fear us?

Gear review

2009-06-08T09:57:00.003-04:00

Normally, I'm not really a tent person. In late spring, summer and early fall I prefer a tarp with a mosquito net--the Indiana Uplands does a very good job of simulating a second rate jungle during these times, and the ventilation is much better.

But for my fishing trip I bought a tent. Not a top of the line deal, but a Bass Pro Shop house brand 7'x7' dome tent that was packable.

I got it on sale for $30--it normally goes for $60. A Discount Department Store tent would cost about $30, so I went for it. Here's the deal:

The quality isn't up there with say, a Eureka! or a North Face tent. But one wouldn't expect that. The build was mediocre but adequate. The materials were also no better than they needed to be, but were still as good as they had to be.

The worst feature? The directions. They were not very clear at all, on first set up they left me with two shock corded poles and no idea where they went. I eventually figured it out.

The best feature? Ventilation! The tent has two hooded vent's just above the ground, with good screening. these vents can zip closed if necessary. The upper sections of the dome, on wither side, are screen, and there are two screened areas that can be zipped weather tight in the front and the rear. It ventilated as well as a tarp/net combo.

Now I didn't do a scientific weather proof test. Nope putting it in a weather chamber, or even under a powerful garden sprinkler. I just used it for three rainy days in the woods. And I will tell you, there wasn't a wetness problem! Stayed dry the whole time.

There is a gear net under the top of the dome inside, which proved very handy, and I found that the vents made a good place for wet socks to dry--out of the way, not soaking anything they touch, and with enough air flow that they dried.

So, If your looking for an inexpensive tent that's a cut above the usual cheap dreck, at a competitive price that's about half of the the lower priced "name brand" tents--this is a good place to look.

The fishing trip!

2009-06-08T09:53:00.002-04:00

I went fishing at Lake Monroe.

I shan't bore you with a blow by blow review of the trip, suffice it to say that we had fun, sorta.

My friend, Hydrid, caught her first ever fish: a large mouth bass that ran about a pound and a half, then she caught a hybrid stripper, then she caught a sauger.

I caught a nice channel cat--I love catching channel cat, and only rarely do so!

The the thunderstorm came, and the water purifier failed. End day !

Then it kept raining.....

Then it cleared up and was time t0 return to New Albania.

And I would do it again in a heart beat, rain, bad purifier, and all!

Memorial Day, A day late.

2009-05-26T13:23:00.002-04:00

Thank you, gentlemen. I know you're dead, and probably don't read my blog, but thank you.

I gripe a lot about America, politics, religion, culture. I grip about everything. An no one has come to my door to carry me away. Because you men laid down your lives for our freedom.

I often think that the parades, speeches and posturing are a poor way to say thanks. But really I have to admit, that when I think of you guys I think of the words of St. Paul: "Greater love than this hath no man, that he lay down his life for his friends." Again thank you.

And the best thanks we can give you? Exercise our rights, and demand that the government and the economic and industrial leaders of our country respect them. Any thing less, is just letting you boys down.

Vacation coming up!

2009-05-26T13:14:00.005-04:00

Next week!

I plan to go up to Deam Wilderness for a few days, hike into Lake Monroe's less used areas, and fish fro bluegill and perhaps crappie. Maybe even a little bit of turtleing.

I need to get out of town for a while. I was raised in a rural environment, and lived as much as possible in smaller towns or semi-rural areas. Now I live in the 16th largest Metro area in the US, and that's not counting the communities on the norther bank of the river! You can drive for hours and not get out of town. It's awful: very noisy, very poor air quality (terrain and weather induced) crowded etc.

So with any luck at all, I will spend some time in the woods, eating easy yet tasteless meals that can be cooked on a single burner stove. Drinking coffee and Gatorade, and maybe even catching fish!

I can hardly wait!

Congatulations!

2009-05-26T13:11:00.001-04:00

To the Archdiocese of Newark, for having the largest class of priestly ordinands in the U.S.

Alienation

2009-05-23T11:54:00.002-04:00

I'm a pretty alienated guy. And, sad to say, I feel most profoundly alienated from the Church. I have to say, I go through spurts of this. They happen most often right after I receive The Record, our Archdiocesan news weekly.

This week is an especially alienating edition. It's got stories about two new parishes. Such hopeful progress as we move to the future: Two parishes created by consolidating in one case, five existing parishes and building a new church for them, and consolidating three parishes in the other case.

I'm especially appalled by the latter. Three parishes in the Portland neighborhood are being consolidated into one, to be known as Good Shepard. How ironic. If we had had good pastoral care, these three parishes would still be viable. It was through a misplaced "pastoral spirit" that young men decided they weren't going to consider the priesthood--a hard drinking bishop who supports gay clergy men can have that effect on a young man. And even more telling, the decline in the attendance of these parishes shows the failure of both pastoral ministry, and the will to preach the gospel to all nations.

Portland is a neighborhood affected by what's referred to as demographic change. It went from being a white working class neighborhood, to a largely black neighborhood of lower and underclass people. Instead of honoring our own Church's teaching about a preferential option for the poor, we abandoned the neighborhood to all practical intents. The crime rate went up. that goes hand in hand with poverty. But we didn't try to convert the new residents. There was no real effort to evangelize them, to convert them to Catholicism. In effect, the liberal, progressive forces of our Archdiocese (Which our current ordinary is trying to correct) cut and ran.

Imagine the difference it could have made, if funds that went into building bland, mall like suburban churches and paying off the families and victims of abusive priests, had been used to keep the schools and parishes viable? How much difference would some low-cost or no cost Catholic Schools, with their proven superiority to Louisville public schools, have made to lives of hundreds, thousands, of kids in these neighborhoods? Imagine in a systematic effort had been made to evangelize the people living there, to create a core of people with good and firm moral values?

But no, they were poor, and we were enthusiastically embracing our post-war affluence. They were black, and we were white. And now, no matter how you dress it up, the church is losing even more ability to influence and help this neighborhood.

How did we ever trade our heritage of Apostolic Teaching, Missionary Outreach, Sacramental Ministry and Spiritual care for bland suburban conformity and ineffectual expressions of what ever is trendy? Sometimes I think it's time to swim the Bosporus, but then I wouldn't be in union with the Holy See, and I don't see them doing any better.

And then again, it's the annual graduation issue of the paper. I looked. I read. I came away saddened. It was amazing to me how the graduates of the major "Catholic" high schools carried themselves. In effect, they looked like frat boys and sorority girls in training. By dress, deportment, by everything I could see, they had bought into, not the counter cultural values of a genuine Catholicism, but mainstream American culture, with all it's shallowness and materialism, it's conformity and cowardice.

How did a radical, distributist, magisterial Catholic redneck like me fall into such a bourgeoisie church?

More importantly, how did we convince ourselves that mainstream acceptability and affluence were more valuable than our identity as Catholics first?

Sometimes, I just get disgusted by the ability of people to not notice.

2009-05-22T12:53:00.002-04:00

Not notice what? How about the persistence of the GLBT community in their attempts to re-write the world to match their desires.

Like, after losing an election, their attempts to silence people who disagree with the idea of gay marriage. You know, mob intimidation, extortionistic practices to small business, vandalizing church property. And now, of course, attempting through judicial action to revoke the Catholic Church's tax exempt staus in California.

The other thing that I can't help but notice is the link between homosexuality and ephibephilia and pedophilia. Currently a group of GBLT shrinks is trying very hard to get the DSM revised again. (Once before they tried that, and got Homosexuality removed.) Now they are trying to get, among other things, pedophilia removed as a disorder. I documented, a year or two ago, the remarkable consistency of the GBLT movement in trying to lower the age of consent, or repeal the age of consent laws all together. Now they are taking the first step in normalizing pedophilia.

And the "hate" bill currently before congress, would, by the admission of one of it's sponsors, Alcee Hastings (D-FL) would protect some thirty paraphilias and sexual activities as sexual orientations and "civil rights", among them, incest, pedophilia and sexual sadism. This is the "Hate Crime Bill" that the GBLT community is lobbying for. Her remarks can be found in the Congressional Record, April 29, 2009.

Well, there you have it.

2009-05-21T10:12:00.004-04:00

In the first domestic terrorism bust since the department of homeland security said it was, 2d amendment advocates, pro lifers, vets, etc that you had to watch out for, it turns out to be...

Domestic Jihadists, three of which embraced Islam in Jail, and who wanted to attack Synagogues. And shoot down an air liner. They even bought the explosives and missle--from investigators working undercover.

The worst thing pro lifers have done since the report was to superglue the doors of a planned parenthood clinic shut. I think they got the glue at a convienience store.

Just a quick roundup, from the Public Library computers

2009-05-21T09:48:00.002-04:00

Why isn't he in gaol, or something? Rembert Weakland, the Benedictine Monk turned Archbishop who was exposed as an embezzler, and ephebophile and a chronic liar has once again proved he is unfit for the society in which he lives. Prior to this, he claimed that the victims of priestly sexual abuse were "predatory adolescents" taking advantage of priests for monetary gain. (Of course, he did pay out better than a quarter of a million dollars of diocesan funds to keep a young fellow from filing a complaint, that probably makes him feel like a victim, somehow.)

Now the disgraced prelate has angered victims groups by saying that the Archdiocese he ran into the ground knew sexual activity with minors was a moral evil (that he cooperated in by not eliminating the priests involved. And Oh! By that whole give-the-boy-cash thing he did. The Cash that belonged to someone else.) but that they didn't understand that it was a criminal matter.

Oh sure, they never heard the word "jaillbait" before.

New Hampshire disses freedom of religion: New Hampshire closely defeated a bill legalizing "Gay Marriage". The margin of defeat was 188 to 186. The sticking point, you see, was language in the bill that gave allowed Clergy and Religious groups to refuse to perform "Gay Marriages". It seems that some in the New Hampshire legislature feel that the free exercise of religion would build discrimination into to laws of the state. Steve Vailancourt, a republican who is gay, said that the language was the result of "bullying" and would build discrimination into the laws of the state.

Interesting--when I was a kid, bullying was when a bigger kid beat the snot out of you. Now it's anytime anyone says that they don't whole heartedly accept the Gay Agenda.

GASP!!!! Catholics like Benedict XVI: In late March, the Marist College Institute For Public Opinion conducted a survey and found out that 78% of practicing Catholics have a favorable or very favorable view of the Pope. Even more fun, 59% of the American public does too. 50% of the general population wanted to hear what he has to say on Life issues, and 57% wanted to hear his take on Family issues.

And, about 65% of the non-catholic American population as a whole has a favorable view of the Catholic church. 85% of Catholics do as well. Actually, 92% of practicing Catholics do. Interestingly, 78% of non-practicing Catholics do as well.

And that's the way it is, in New Albania today!

New Poll.

2009-05-19T14:51:00.000-04:00

Please, it's important to me, so please give me your take on it all!

According to the Poll

2009-05-19T14:46:00.001-04:00

70% of us think we, as a Nation, are hell bound. 27% think not. And 2% are Satan Worshiping post modern perverts, and greedy to boot. Oh--those two percent also say they hate babies.

I have an interesting readership!

The proper way to refer to various groups.

2009-05-19T14:27:00.004-04:00

IMPROVED AND EXPANDED.

We all know that a gathering of crows is properly termed, not a flock, but a murder. Sheep gather in flocks. Whales gather in pods. Cows gather in herds. So for a great many types there is a specific name for a gathering of them. here are some you may need to know.

Thugs: a gathering of thugs is known as a stench. For example: "We used to go down to McMasters pub for beer and darts, but now there's always a stench of thugs there".

Trail Lawyers: A rubbish. Example: "after the chemical spill, a rubbish of trail lawyers descended on Smalltown America".

Republicans: A denial. Example: "There is an entire denial of republican apologists insisting that big government policies and a failure to follow through on pro-life issues haven't cost the party support".

Democrats: A deception. Example: "The entire deception of Democrats at the party were unanimous in their endorsement of Abortion Rights."

Emos: A bore. Example: "A bore of Emos hung out at the Cappuccino Bar and Vegan Grill".

Advocates/Community Organizers: Just as deer and cattle share the word "herd", these two groups share the word "whine". Example: "The whine of community organizers eventually paralyzed local government."

Modernists: An ignorance. Example: "The milling ignorance of Modernists eventually set the Cathedral on fire during the Liturgical dance."

Bureaucrats: A blunder. Example: "After the reform legislation, blunders of bureaucrats met in every back room and private club, trying to block it's implementation to protect their bailiwicks.

Untalented Celebrities: A Sludge. Example: "A sludge of celebrities clustered in front of the paparazzi."

Jackasses: A congress. Example: "A congress of jackasses completely ruined our chance at rational plans.

Rednecks: A sufficiency. Example: "A sufficiency of Rednecks is able to get along quite well without Thugs, Trial Lawyers, Republicans, Democrats, Emos, Advocates, community Organizers, or Modernists."

The First Lady of France has Criticised the Pope...

2009-05-19T14:26:00.001-04:00

...and posing topless and in lingerie prepares you to issue theological opinions how?

Arrrrggggghhhhhhhhh!

2009-05-19T14:16:00.001-04:00

Lightning hath restricted my 'net access even further! Blogging will be light!

And my habitual, lazy blogger round up.

2009-05-13T11:58:00.003-04:00

If it's May, it must be time to worry about Folsom Street: OK, now the blogosphere is starting to resound with the annual "Oh Crap! What are pulling now" tizzy over the Folsom Street Fair.

It more or less became a cause in 2007, with it's promotional poster featuring the last supper with sex toys. And, of course, the photos emerging from the fair, featuring public nudity, public sex, and the infamous toddler-in-leather-gear watching the festival.

After many complaints, the 2008 festival was supposed to be more sedate. Actually it was, public nudity was more limited, and public fellatio and sodomy were conducted on the sides of streets and at the entry to alleys and alcoves instead of the middle of the street. I understand the public bondage and floggings were conducted behind screens. But the public activity was again photo documented, and more complaints were filed. Oh, the photo documentation included photos of the police ignoring the illegal activity.

The San Francisco Police are saying that this year, if they don't behave, it will be the last. The organizers of the event are saying they have been blind sided by the complaint, having never heard of them until the April meeting to begin the coordination between the police and the festival.

Look, I believe i the 10th amendment. All they have to do s get the state of California to change it's laws to allow the behaviors that the Fair is famous for, and I'll quit yowling. but until then, they need to obey the law, Gay or not.

Gay Gene? Nope: The American Psychological association has admitted that there is no proof of a "gay" gene, and dropped biological determinism from it's list of factors in same sex attraction.

Wow--with studies that purported to find proof for such a thing being widely touted, and more numerous and rigorous studies saying such a thing didn't exist being ignored, it seems that this is a tacit admission that, well, they put ideology ahead of science in saying that biological determination was part of same sex attraction.

This is why I don't relay think that psychology is scientific: too much room for assumption, bias and ideology, not enough rigor and room for scientific falsification.

Oh the organizations new brochure on the subject no longer refers people to various Gay activist and advocacy groups. It now refers them to the APA, Mental Health America, and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

One Man,One Women, or Anything goes: Polyamory activists are agitating for recognition of their "rights" as married entities.

I got two observations:

1--As the redefinition of marriage proceeds for gays, it becomes harder to exclude other "alternative" lifestyles from the mix.

2--when religious people do it, it's polygamy, and is perceived as repressive, abusive and wrong. When progressives do it , it's called polyamory, and it's practitioners are oppressed free spirits who just are not allowed to live their lives in peace and equity because of the privileging of heterosexuality.

More on Taxes: Well, now there is under consideration a $2 a pack federal increase on cigarettes, plus the Soda/sugary drinks thing, and now they are looking at chips and snacks, and most evilly of all, what are now tax free health benefits.

Let me get this straight--to give health benefits/plans, and to improve the system, they are going to tax the health benefits that people already have? Didn't anyone tell these clowns that the power to tax is the power to destroy?

We have a Democratic Congress, and Democratic President, and the move now is to tax everything that doesn't bite. Hmmmmmm---maybe a Federal excise tax on pets? After all, most ringworm can be traced to interaction with pets!

What's really bad is this--part of the rational for taxing health benefits is that they can lead to "over consumption" of health care. Who gets to say what that is? I bet it ain't doctors and and nurses. I bet it's apparatchiks who just know what's best for people they'll never meet.

And considering that the most expense in health care occurs in "end of life care", you can bet that grandpa, under this regime, won't get what he needs, too expensive! Too bad I'm a Grandpa.

"Catholic" education.

2009-05-13T11:39:00.003-04:00

Clarke College in Dubuque, Ia, granted an honorary degree to a congressman who supports widened abortion access, tax money funding abortions, and embryonic stem cell research. Nobody said a word, and it didn't attract attention.

The president of the Association of Catholic Colleges & Universities is saying that the documents pertaining to Catholic higher education are "vague". (They ain't! Ex Corde Ecclessia spells it right out, as does the documents from the USCCB. [Why did the USCCB need a document? there was already one applying to the whole Church--just enforce that one!]) The association is trying, not so much to be Catholic, but set up a situation where people become confused over what is Catholic--a behavior that has been defined n no less a document than a Papal Encyclical as a hallmark of the Heresy of Modernism.

It's no wonder that there is a donnybrook brewing over Catholic colleges and universities.

It will take something like Notre Dame, Georgetown, or Catholic University of America being declared non catholic, to get the rest to straighten out. It's sad, like an amputation. but like an amputation, it could keep the gangrene from spreading, and allow the antibiotics of faith, discipline, fidelity and obedience to clear up the rest of the infection.

About the bishops (or, how to revitalize the Church in America)

2009-05-13T11:14:00.003-04:00

If we want to revitalize the church in America, it doesn't start in the pews. Nor does it start in the Seminaries and novitiates. It starts in the Cathedrals, with the bishops.

We have, I believe, currently 74 bishops involved in the Notre Dame problem. yet we have almost three hundred bishops in the US. Most are remaining silent. That's a telling symptom. The very first step to revitalizing our Church, is to get a better grade of bishop. We need, in the famous phrase, "men with chests". Men who will speak fearlessly on issues that are controversial to the secular state that surrounds us.

And then, there is the simple fact that US dioceses are too large. We need more bishops.

Many dioceses are too large in terms of population. When an entity such as L.A. needs a half dozen auxiliaries, it's clear that the diocese needs to be broken into smaller units, each with it's own ordinary. Bishops are supposed to be pastors, yet administration, PR, etc eat so much of their time it's no wonder that parishes, priests and segments of the faithful go their own way. The bishop is too busy.

Other dioceses are too large geographically. If the bishop must, after all the time he has to spend on administration etc, drive 6 hours, 8 hours to visit a parish, parishes won't be visited very often. As a result, the ties between the Faithful and their Bishop will be greatly weakened. (Consider that Alaska basically has to have bishop with a pilots licence and a plane. think of how much harder it would have been for the Jesuits to use the missions there as a dumping ground for their perverts if the bishop could have been more physically accessible to his people.)

And there is a result greatly to be desired in increasing the number of ordinaries: by appointing "men with chests", men who are willing to be courageous, to be counter cultural. And we need men who are deeply loyal to the Church, who by their numbers would bolster the USCCB, and bring it into closer alignment with the Holy Father, and overpower the lay bureaucracy that subverts the church.

Obama got it right again.

2009-05-13T10:46:00.002-04:00

Given the fact that I definitely do not like President Obama, his policies, or his emerging tactics to induce change, I feel honor bound to say when he does things I do agree with.

The change of command in Afghanistan is one such thing.

Our Army is geared towards high intensity, short duration operations against massed conventional forces. So is the Marine Corps, with a slightly different emphasis. Our Air Force is dominated by the fighter community that is trained equipped and organized to defeat a threat that no longer exists. (I'm a former fire supporter--I guarantee you that the Air Force thinks poorly of the air-to ground mission, except for strategic bombing!) This force array plays to the strengths of Fourth Generation Warfare, which is what we are facing. And, to make matters worse, DOD doesn't think about how to defeat a Fourth Generation Warfare (4GW) threat, preferring to try and "enhance" capabilities that already have proven themselves to allow the agility of a 4GW enemy into our decision loop, and force us to react to them, surrendering battlefield initiative.

With the change in command in Afghanistan, President Obama has thrown in his lot with the portion of our armed forces that perceive the basic inability of conventional forces to deal with insurgencies, sub-national enemies, and trans-national enemies. What the appointment of Lt. Gen McChrystal means is this: We are moving from a strategy that plays to the political and operational strengths of our enemies to one that plays to their weaknesses.

From the inceptions of Mao's concept of "peoples war", through the conflicts in Southeast Asia, Central America and the Horn of Africa, 4GW enemies have been able, not win battles for terrain, or of attrition, but the political and psychological battles for the dominance of mind. We failed in Southeast Asia, We largely failed in Central America, and we fled Africa because the rules of asymmetrical warfare are not the same as the rules of conventional warfare. Armor, Artillery and air strikes can kill insurgents, but cannot defeat them.

Yet we have won insurgencies: The Philippines, our allies in Kenya, Malaya, and Yemen. And we had a program in Viet Nam, in the delta region, that was extraordinarily successful, until discontinued by senior officers who favored a conventional battle strategy that failed. (I am referring to Project Delta here.)

We need to remember this: The TET offensive was a decisive tactical victory for UA and ARVN forces--the Viet Cong were largely destroyed, and never again were able to undertake significant operations. Yet through clever presentation of the Viet Cong message, it became a strategic victory for the communist forces. Winning Battles doesn't count for much in an insurgency. For that matter, the battle in Mogadishu was by any conventional reckoning a horrible defeat for the Tribes. The US forces had no intent to hold ground, they were staging a raid. In this raid they inflicted an estimated 5000 casualties on the troops of the Somali war lord, suffering relatively few casualties themselves. Yet a short piece of video, depicting a Somali troops committing a war crime, broke the political will of the US, led to the with drawl of US forces, and the collapse of the UN mission.

So yes, Obama has taken a major step in the right direction here, appointing a general who is a specialist in asymmetrical warfare to this theater. It might not work, but what has been tried does not work. This is a change I can believe in.

Notes from my parish:

2009-05-12T17:36:00.003-04:00

Our Parish, St. Martin of Tours, Louisville ky, has several outreaches. One of them, the Schuhmann Center, serves the poor of our inner city neghborhood, within our parish boundaries.

Here are the 2008 statistics:

men served 10,810
Women served 4,774
Children served 5,460
_______________________

Total served 21,044

Families provided with food:861
Christmas food baskets: 324

You can send donations to the Schuhmann Center, C/O St. Martin of Tours Church, 639 S. Shelby St. Louisville KY, 40202 Phone number 502-589-6696.

We also have a separate outreach for mothers with small children called The Golden Arrow, when I get stats from them, I will publish those as well. The money you send to the Schumann center will be used for works of mercy--they don't have much overhead because it's mostly volunteers. The resources to where you want them too, not to a staff.

AND!!!!!!

"In Exaltation" is a concert that will be shown on EWTN on Pentecost Sunday, 21 May, 09 at 2:00 PM. It's the second such broadcast from our Parish Church. If you don't get EWTN on TV, you can get it on the 'net at their web site. And, you can see what my parish Church looks like!

Star Trek--the new one.

2009-05-12T17:20:00.000-04:00

Go. See. It.

No spoilers, no review, no nothing. Just an imperative suggestion: Go see it!

All I will tell you about is this: Spock out Spocked Spock, and the prequel should get a sequel .

Really, go see it.

Can you help a Redneck Out?

2009-05-12T17:00:00.001-04:00

My niece (who is closer in age to me than her mother, our relationship is in many ways that of siblings) has in the last couple of weeks been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Her condition was more advanced than usual at diagnosis, and she is older. She has lost a great deal of her vision, and is currently having trouble with mobility. The Doctors say that will improve with her chemo, but she's finding some of her meds right now rough going.

The problem is that she's board stiff, and is having problems reading. She can read on her computer by making the print look bigger. So, she likes to read true crime and articles about true crime. Can anyone list some websites for that in the com-box?

I don't know what this word means:

2009-05-12T16:57:00.000-04:00

LOGOCENTRIC: I find it being used in articles that dispute the validity of Catholic or western cultural norms, and it isn't in my dictionary.

It looks like a word that has either a very consice meaning, or is essentially meaningless, allowing a disparaging remark to be made about opinions without actually refuting them.

Any body out there know what it actually means?

More on Notre Shame

2009-05-12T16:49:00.002-04:00

Many graduating students at Notre Dame are planning on attending an alternative event to their own graduation ceremony, the Class of 2009 Vigil For Life. They have succeeded in getting Father Frank Pavone, of Priests for Life to be their keynote speaker and celebrant.

Other Graduating Students are participating in their own protest, called NDResponse.

RealCatholicTv.com is reporting rumors of a shakeup about to occur in South Bend as early as this week, and is making an appeal for as many catholics as possible to pray all 20 decades of the Rosary daily for Notre Dame to return to the fold. I am not familiar with RealCatholicTV.com, and don't know how reliable their reportage of the rumor is! If you are better informed than me, let me know!

Just Stupid Stuff in the News

2009-05-12T16:14:00.003-04:00

Hate little boys? Despise little girls? Move to Sweden, it has been officially determined that aborting a foetus because you dislike it''s sex is legal. I guess we can see where such concepts of "in case of rape or incest, or of danger to the mother..." come from: A desire to just make it OK to kill kids you don't want. Or kill kids who happen to be the wrong sex.

This was just sick! Neo Nazi thugs in Austria shouted insults, "Heil Hitler" and "this way to the gas" at concentration camp survivors at the Mauthausen concentration camp site during a commemoration ceremony. They also shot them with air rifles.

You know, Germany bears the guilt for the Nazi monstrosity, and Austria managed to bill itself as the first victim of Nazi imperialistic expansion. But Hitler was Austrian. Austria provided many of the leaders of the Nazi apparatus, even the famous Nazi commando Otto Skorzeny. And, of course, Austria voted overwhelmingly for the Anschluss. Maybe they need looked at a little closer?

HAH! Non-smokers, we told you they would come for you next! The senate is considering special taxes on Soda and "sugary drink" to pay for the overhaul of the health system they want to impose. (And I say: Tenth amendment!) Afterwords, they'll think of something else to tax that we consume. Regressive taxation, that's the ticket to a better deal for the working and lower classes, all the way.

In fact, the most reactionary Republicans I now all favor taxes on goods and services, so that everybody pays, even though say, 4% of a $200 bucks a week hurts a lot more than 4% of $2000 bucks a week, if you have to live on the 200.

The Latest from Nan the Theologian: Well, it seems that Ms. Pelosi knew about the water boarding six years ago. And did nothin'. Of course, when it helped he political agenda she said she din't know about it. Liar.

Tell me, Nan, can you find quotes in the Patristic texts to support falsehood?

In the case of Nancey Pelosi, I have to say this--I went from merely disliking her, to despising her, when she managed to put a small item in the Federal Minimum Wage bill that that excluded American Samoa (again!) leaving the wages there at under three bucks an hour. Interestingly enough, the largest hourly employer in American Samoa is Starkist Tuna, headquartered in--wait for it--San Francisco. (Let me get this straight--if i object to the current tax policies, according to Janine Garafalo, and the left, I'm racist. But Nan can attempt to deny an entire ethnicity and nationality of a living wage and she's a Liberal heroin? No wonder I left the Left!)

Miss California: Gets to keep her crown. It's interesting that she was blamed for the bru ha ha, and smeared for her pics. We need to keep in mind that those pics showed nothing particularly naked, and in fact looked like what many young actresses pose for in Maxim and crowd, without the slightest opprobrium. And, whenever they were mentioned, so was her membership in an organization that advocates fro traditional marriage. I guess straight people who believe in traditional matrimony can't be sexy. It's just not allowed.

Hmmmmmm......

2009-05-11T13:11:00.003-04:00

UPDATED! NOW EVEN MORE INTERESTING!

I was speaking with our Pastor this morning, and I mentioned the whole "blocking software" thing. he volunteered that he was speaking with the priest who is in charge of continuing religious education and faith formation for the archdiocese. It seems that some of the diocesan educational sites have the same problem, and the problem of not appearing in search engines, even when searched for by name. And, Parish websites have an even more vexing problem--they appear with links to porn or other noxious sites.

Now, contrary to beliefs in some quarters, I'm not a paranoid conspiracy theorist. Conspiracies rarely manage to remain quiet, and seldom are very effective. Rather, there is a consensus, I believe, among people in small cubicles that Catholicism is unsuitable for family consumption, who program accordingly. And I suppose, that this consensus extends to practical jokers who think it's funny to install the porn links on parish web sites.

Microsoft Windows Parental Control software blocks access to my blog, and to SubVets blog, and to the Catholic Caveman's Blog.

But not to Liz's blog.

And not to Planned Parenthood.

I see Liz's blog all the time, and I must say that it's innocuous, even if quite a ways to the left of mine. I can understand parents not wanting their kids to be exposed to my take on Catholicism and politics. But apparently, the people who wrote and distributed the software don't care if parents want their kids insulated from Planned Parenthood. You have to set that one by hand. And all it's related sites as well.

Noooooooo---there's no agenda there!

Some random observations:

2009-05-11T12:41:00.003-04:00

Fr. Cutie--Is showing no signs of repentance for being caught, as it were, en flagrant delecto . And it seems that Fr. Ophra (as he has been referred to) has the backing of the Miami "faithful".
No wonder many of our evangelcal and fundamental brethren wonder f we are actually Christian, when we so flagrantly support forncation--even by ordained mnsters who have made solemn promses to remain chaste in the unmarried estate. (Currently 61% of "cathollics" say they condone sex between umarrried persons.)

Archbishop Wuerl gets a second chance--Obama has proposed a law that will allow the District of Columbia to use tax money to pay for abortions. Since people who perform or procure abortions for others, and procuring an abortion includes paying for it, are automaticly excommunicated, he now has a chance to reiterate Catholic teaching to Ms. Pelosi, and if she backs and promotes this law, or vote for it, to enforce Canon Law and forbid her from recieving communion. Let's pray that he excercses this option andmakes the most of his second chance.

Sunday Collection--I helped collect the money at the offertory. It was educational to see who donated. Here's what I noticed: Immigrants gave a lot, in folded wads of cash. Young famiies donated, using the envelopes. The elderly all donated. but middle aged folks, us boomers, ddn't give squat--just sat there staring forward. Oh--the young families had the ids put the envelopes in the baskets. Also I noticed that the affluant tended not to donate, while the working class did.
The people who were visiting for the First Communion (you can tell!) also donated. Interestingly enough, those who appeared to be protestant (not being familier with the liturgy and hymns) tended to give a five dollar bill, those who seemed familier with the liturgy gave one dollar bills.
Oh, the lady who kept glaring at the choir loft and scowling at the Latin chants gave a twenty.

One can't rally draw conclusions from this, because many Parishoners mail their donations in, and I don't know if we use on line donations or not, etc. but s was kind of interesting.

Sunday Mass

2009-05-10T18:51:00.000-04:00

We went to the 11:00 Mass today. That's our Parishes most popular Mass, a solemn celebration in the ordinary form with Gregorian, the peoples responses in Latin, etc. It' is always beautiful.

Today, it was standing room only, being First communion for many of the children in the Parish. And, I have two observations:

---There were more infants there than you could shake a stick at! Babies everywhere! I was n Poppo Paradise looking at all the babies!

---Little girls in their First Communion Dresses look just like Lillies-of-the-Valley when they process!

And It was soooooo good to have my daughters there with us, and the Grand babies.

Military Science Fiction and Tom Kratman.

2009-05-09T14:57:00.002-04:00

Military science fiction is, I admit, a nice market. Like all SF, at it's best it allows for the examination of current assumptions, cultural, social, spiritual and economic. At it's worst it consists of poorly written exercises in sex and violence.

And, sometimes, Military SF becomes exposition of an idea. Heinlein's Starship Troopers, a classic of the genre, was a lengthy exposition of what exactly makes for a citizen (a point deliberately ignored my many of it's politically motivated critics.) Halderman's The Forever War was an anti-war polemic, written by a man who had served in combat as a medic and who was left maimed and crippled for life. David Drakes Hammer's Slammers was a paean to camaraderie, and the final loyalty to one's buddies.

And Tom Kratman's A Desert Called Peace (Baen Books, first paperback printing 2009) is an examination of morality, the Law of War, and the subtle interplay of propaganda, supranational organizations, the press and moral and objective truth in asymmetrical and fourth generation war.

One caution i must give anyone who reads this book--do not assume that the actions or attitudes of any one character are those of the author. That's a mistake in literary criticism, and just may allow one to comfortably disregard the message.

In this narrative, Mr. Kratman, who is himself a soldier, also examines ruthlessness as a value. both it's strengths and weaknesses. In effect, he outlines the boundaries of the military principal of shrecklichkeit, and when frightful acts are of justifiable value, and when they are not.

But what I like best about this story, is that he shows the cost, both psychological and spiritual, incurred by a man who embraces ruthlessness and shrecklichkeit with an aim towards shortening a conflict, and removing the advantage in the propaganda war that makes insurgency and fourth generation warfare possible.

This is a book I will re-read, as I read other books on warfare and conflict.

Now, if only I can find a copy of his book Caliphate!