Yeah Barry--That's a Fail

The decision to release 30 million barrels of Oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to keep prices down is a fail. Period.  End of Story.

First off, it's not exactly an 'emergency supply', as the press have been referring to it.  It exists to do two things, and two things only---Provide the military, especially the US Navy, with oil reservesin case of a general war, and to protect the US and it's essential services against an oil embargo.  Itwasn't intended to manipulate gasp pump prices for short term political gain.

This oil will have to be replaced--at greater cost than it's original purchase.  By Tax monies, that we don't have.

We are now more vulnerable to embargo, or terrorist disruption of oil supplies.

If you think we didn't notice what you've done, and why you've done it, or that it was done with no regard for anything other than your poll numbers, you're dumber than you think we are.

This was stupid decision, by a shortsighted and self serving Administration, without any concern for the long term or strategic well being of the Republic.

We need a new president--lets hope for change in 2012

Resourcement

Resourcement, what a great word!  It has certain gravitas,  it gives one the impression of meaning, of weight of authority.  It means, basically, returning to or recovering the sources, the original documents of Christian thought. It means a rediscovery of the Fathers of the Church, the Patristic Writings.   It's been a theme in Catholic intellectual life since the early Twentieth Century.

I like the Fathers.  I think everybody should read them, and I study them, in my ill disciplined, poorly educated way,.  Stuck with translations because My Latin is horrible, and I have no Greek at all, I am still struck by these documents.  Mostly composed before there was a specialized theological language developed for Christianity, they are none the less readily intelligible.   Composed at a time when even in the most well educated areas, only about one person in ten could read or write beyond their own signature, they were meant to be read aloud, to the average person.   And the average person can still read them and understand them.  In good editions, the work of scholars and theologians can make them more readily understood, explaining historical notes and points of contention.  And they often, very often, stand as a counterpoint to modernist and "dissenting" theologians, especially people like Kung, Chittister, and McBrien and Curran.


What stands out to me when I read them is this:  The reality of Faith that they display.  The version of the Faith that they are writing about is immediate and real-not attenuated by language, or academic concerns.  The Fathers are addressing very difficult theological issues, often without specialized vocabularies, or sources to cite, yet one sees that for them these were not intellectual questions, but issues of reality, of the shape of reality and the immediate, pressing issue of life itself.

The Fathers writing is redolent of the Theological Virtue of Charity, yet filled with vitality, grit and realism.  They are filled with Eucharistic realism, with no admission that the species we receive are not the Body and Blood of Christ, but without the words "transubstantiation" or "real presence".  The are also filled with the realism of human nature, without the mushiness and gray zones of modern apologetics.  They were confronted with the reality of heresy, schism, apostasy and persecution, and spoke clearly against these things, viewing them not so much as a matter of discipline, order, or structure, but as matters of life and death.  They viewed heresy, schism and related things as matters of life and death, quite literally.  For them, dying outside the Church, dying without the sacraments, was as vital a matter as a swords blow or the headsman's axe, in fact more so.

And they believed in the resurrection.  So real was the belief in the resurrection, they didn't refer to those who have died in the Faith as dead, but sleeping--physical death was a triviality, even as they affirmed, sometimes quite graphically, the burial and decomposition of the body.  It wasn't some vague hope in some far of time.  It wasn't a pious referent to comfort the mourning:  to them, it was as real as bricks.

They loved the Liturgy.  They were, to a man, of the belief that without the Liturgy, one could not be saved, for the Liturgy was the Work of the Mystical Body, the Civic Duty we performed as the Body of Christ on Earth, under the direction of the local Bishop, in which we celebrated the Mysteries and received Sanctifying Grace.  Irenaeus of Lyons said that "Our way of thinking is attuned to the Eucharist, and the Eucharist confirms our way of thinking".  He gave us the first formulation of  "Lex Credendi, Lex Orandi".  He was also bluntly frank in stating that deviations from the Liturgical practice of the Church were brought about by heresy, and manifestation of heresy, and a root of heresy.  He extended this to include spotty attendance at Mass, and lack of prayer or avoiding Mass.  In fact, Irenaeus said that those who do not attend Mass were heretics!  They were denying a central thing, the thing that more than any other defined the Christian, liturgical worship.  The Pre-Nicene fathers are also clear about something else about the Liturgy--it was a sacrificial rite, and was indeed part of the Liturgy celebrated in Heaven.

I feel, we could do well to take a generation, and ignore all theology since Aquinas, and view that which occurred after the death of Isidore of Seville (The last of the Patristic writers) as explications of the Fathers, to be reinterpreted in the light of the Fathers.  After that we could pick it up again, and see in the light of what we have learned.  I love the Patristic Writers, and what they teach us.  And what  they teach us, most of all, is the reality of the Faith, the realism of pastoral practice in the view of the faith--not in view of convenience or human respect--and the grit of sanctity.

Ignore this one

Thinking of dead friends.  Feeling guilty I am alive.  Wondering what was the point when my government supports those who will destroy us.

Trying to figure out what to do when my own nation has turned it's back on everything I thought mattered.

Hurting for my enslaves sisters in Christ.

Wishing I could do something.

VOTE IN THE NEW POLL BUT...

READ THE POSTS FIRST!  Read them even if you don't want to vote. I think this is something very important, and I worked hard, for a couple of weeks, researching this.

If you disagree, that's fine, but do me the courtesy of reading--I have verified everything from more than one source and it's a grim picture.

I know they're long, but please do take the time--it's important.

Today is Corpus Christi--and we share in one baptism, and with our orthodox Brothers we share in one Bread, and one Cup, the Body and Blood of our Lord, and we make one Body--and our Brothers are being killed and our Sisters being raped and enslaved.

Poll Results

Well, in my poll about liturgical reform, 69% of the respondents were in favor of keeping the liturgy we have now, but reforming it to include reverent celebration, fitting vestments and accoutrements and decent music.

21% favored a return to the liturgy of St. Gregory--also known as the Traditional Latin Mass.

Only 8% favored keeping things as they are now.

So why are so many clergy and professional Catholics opposed to reforming the liturgy?

Jihad and Fourth Generation Warfare.

Fourth Generation warfare is something new in the realm of armed conflict.  It's first practitioner was Mao.  And no conventional force that has tried to wage battle in the long term against practitioners of this system have one a war.

There are tactical considerations, but they are ephemeral, generally based in the geometry of asymmetrical opponents.  it is possible to a nation that wages exquisite third generation warfare--like the US--to win every battle, to always carry the field, and lose the war.  Like in Vietnam.

The difference between Third Generation Warfare and Fourth Generation Warfare is conceptual.  3GW warfare considers war to be, in Clausewitz's classic formula, "The continuation of politics by other means."  4GW has a different approach--4GW considers political process a form of warfare.  Seems almost the same--it isn't.  It's a major game changer.  You might need to think about that for while to get it straight in your head, I know I did, but it's crucial.

The Jihadi, the Islamic Supremacists and the Muslim states in general are taking Fourth Generation Warfare as their approach.  Keep that in mind as you read the posts below, and when you consider the news.  And do read the posts below.

SITREP; The Third World War Today

Apologies:  this post has had to be edited for factual errors.  Not in reserach, but in editing.  I confaled the situation in Ivory Coast with that in Nigeria.  It's been fixed, but I"m sorry for the error on my part. 



Rowan Williams, the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, isn't exactly the most hawkish person on the topic of Islam and Sharia.  yet he has noticed, and spoken out about, the violence that Christians are suffering at the hands of Muslims in North Africa and the Middle East.  He said "There is no doubt at all that this is a very anxious time for Christian Communities.  There have been extremist atrocities already, especially in Egypt."  He also pointed out that there have been more Christians murdered and Churches burned that people are aware of--tht it's not being reported in the press.

Well, yes.  After all the MSM play down anything that might make the Islamic hoards look bad, even the brutal gang rape, forcible sodomizing and mutilation of one of their own, caught on their own cameras.  It's worse than we would ever guess, if we stick to the MSM and the TV.

Here's where we stand, right now:  one hundred and five thousand Christians are martyred each year.  That's over one million in the last decade.  That's a Genocide, not waiting to happen, but happening right now, that the press doesn't' want to report on.   The press doesn't report on this for two reasons.  The first is physical cowardice.  In Europe, people who report this sort of thing get killed.  They don't want to run the risk, so they run stories about groups who are unlikely to use violence to fight back.  The second reason is simply that most of the press dislikes Christians and Christianity.  There is more than enough proof of this if you look around, to include surveys and admissions by "journalists".

One Christian is martyred every five minutes.  Every five minutes, one person is killed for being a Christian.  And our society does nothing--rather than report this, we get stories about some horndog sending pictures of his junk,or what celebrity is gay, or who's whipped their tits out in what movie or whatever. 

One Christian is martyred every five minutes, and our government is supporting those who are killing them.  Obama's active support of the revolutions in the Islamic world is not only illegal--in violation of the War Powers Act--but actively promoting those who kill Christians--those who kill us!

The leadership of the insurgents in Libya are people who actively fought with the Taliban in Afghanistan, and Iraq.  And they are persecuting the Christians there with alacrity. 

The insurgents in Egypt are mostly led by the Muslim Brotherhood--the oldest Islamic Supremacist group in the world, and the first Muslim Terrorist group, founded to kill British Soldiers.  Eritrean Christians, who fled their homes because of the depredations of Islamic Militias functioning on order of the government, went to Egypt to avoid the persecution and out right genocide they were subject to. (In 2010, provincial governors ordered Christians purged from their provinces--that meets the definition of genocide, and you don't hear much about it.  The press, it seems, doesn't care about genocide against Christians.)  There are about 800 Eritrean Christians being held in Egyptian jails--without specific charges in many cases--and who are not allowed to register with the UN as refugees.  Hundreds more are in the hands of Human Traffickers, and more are being held hostage for ransom.  It is believed that those who cannot afford the ransom--averaging $20,000--have their organs harvested and sold on the black market.  Eritrean prisoners in Egyptian jails, BTW, are sometimes converting to Islam to avoid the maltreatment they experience as Christians.

The Native Christians of Egypt, the Copts, are also being oppressed and persecuted, with numerous Church burnings, murder and mutilations.  one Copt was killed for the crime of "renting an apartment to loose women".  The apartment was unoccupied.   A common theme is kidnapping a young Christian girl, claiming that she has converted to Islam, or forcing her to convert on pain of death, then marrying her to a Muslim.  If the girl escapes, it provides an excuse to burn where ever she has taken refuge, and to do violence to those accused of helping her.  The Egyptian police generally do little or nothing in these cases.

In Algeria, where the Monks of the Monastery of Tibhirine were kidnapped by the Armed Islamic Group, held for two months and then killed, seven Churches were ordered to shut their doors permanently  in the province of Bejaia.  This follows from the promulgation of a law known as ordinance 06-03, which says Christian Churches must have government permission to conduct worship.  Unfortunately, there is no provision for a way to apply for permission.  With the insurgency in Algeria taking full form, this law has provided the basis for preventing Christians from worshiping.

In Tunisia,   the christian minority is frightened by the examples of their neighbors.  they only number about 2000, so they might actually be overlooked--a small enough minority is often seen as too small to be concerned yet.  A slime thread on which to hang a hope.  In Syria, which still has a sizable Christian minority (did you know that Syria was 1/3 Christian in 1900?  In 1960 it was just under 15%--the effect of a diaspora due to deteriorating conditions for them.  Now it's about 10%.)  However the Christian Community is preparing to leave.  One pastor in Syria says the concern is what will happen if the Government changes.  He claims that most of the Christians will emigrate.  Syrian Christians are citing frequent graffiti calling for all Alawites--the faction and ethnic group that have been keeping the Christians safe from the Sunni majority--to be killed, and all Christians to be rounded up and sent to Beirut.  The UN, and international agreements call forced resettlement of populations because of ethnicity or religion genocide, and the insurgents in Syria are calling for Genocide against two groups.

These are the insurgent groups our government is supporting with the Blood of American Youth, and American Treasure--of which we are running short.

What about our "Allies" in the Islamosphere?  Well gee, we don't have many.  Saudi isn't so much an ally as someplace that thinks it can rent our Army.   Pakistan?  Well...


Pakistan arrested the people who provided the intelligence that allowed us to take down Bin Laden.  The Pakistani intelligence apparatus is actualy on the side of the Jihadists, as long as the ruling party remains in power.   So for that matter, is the Pakistani judicial system. In Punjab, a Christian neighborhood  in the city of Gojra.was attacked because of an accusation of "blasphemy".  it turned out that not only was there nothing that constituted blasphemy, there wasn't even an event as reported.  There was a massacre, and arson.  Well, the Pakistani Courts in Punjab acquitted all 70 men who went to trial for these crimes.  Oh, I guess mention should be made that the Punjab Prime Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif is allied to Islamic Extremist groups, to include ones technically illegal in Pakistan.

Immediately following the attack, which killed ten and resulted in churches being burned, the Pakistani Police arrested...wait for it...the Christians for attacking "the other group". They were held for several months. Sources in the Catholic Church in Lahore said that Christian witnesses were intimidated by threats into silence.  The acquitted Muslims were delighted, with one saying "There are no witnesses because they know they are wrong.  Even though we didn't do it they deserve it because they are blasphemers."

Farah Hatim is a Pakistani Catholic woman.  She is also something of a poster child for a practice that is distressingly common in Punjab, as well as Egypt.  She was kidnapped, forced to "convert" to Islam then married off to a Muslim man.  Her family complained, and the Muslim family that took her produced a written document saying the conversion and marriage were by her own consent.  he family maintain that she was tortured into signing it.  Now her captors are holding her incommunicado in their household--which is legal.  She is at risk of being divorced under Sharia and then being trafficked as a sex slave.  He family is at risk for complaining, and continuing to work for her rescue.  They have been the target of threats and intimidation.

This form of human trafficking is legal under Sharia, and in fact recommended.  If a group does not accept Islam, then the good Muslims should go to war or on a raid to capture them.  If they don't submit then, they become slaves.  Shaykh Abi-Ishaq  al-Huwayni recently said that if one wants a sex slave, one should simply go to the market and buy a woman who appeals to him. A slave being under the "right hand" of her owner is legal to have sex with under Islam.  Predictably, when interviewed by telephone for a TV program, other Muslim men in the studio can be seen nodding in agreement with his legal reasoning.  The words and actions of Muslim men in North Africa, the Middle East, South Asia, South East Asia and Africa support the thesis that Muslim men want Christian women as sex slaves, and the Islamic law, Sharia, support this.

This pattern is held to in Sudan, where the violence in Darfur has been called "sectarian strife" although those who have witnessed it, or survived it have a different take.  They maintain that is has been Islamic militias, operating with the knowledge and sometimes aid of the Central government conducting raids with the goal of stealing cattle and seizing slaves--women and children, the men are killed or driven off--as well as the food supplies of the Christian and Animist villagers in the south being stolen or destroyed.  The Sudanese Armed Forces intelligence units have taken to arresting, and at times shooting, Christians because as Christians, they are by definition the enemy.

In Uzbekistan, Protestant and Orthodox Christians live in fear of police brutality.  When they try to use the courts to obtain justice against unfair practices, false arrest etc, they are subject to death threats--by the police.

Finally, there is Nigeria and Ivory Coast.  The press was full of stories about the UN--led by the French--supporting the deposition of a strong man who defied elections in Ivory Coast.  The president of  was a Catholic.  The "freedom fighters".  They wish to inflict and "Islamic Republic" on Ivory Coast.  So why was Europe supporting this? Well, for one thing, the European powers have never reconciled themselves to no longer being a colonial powers.

In Nigeria, the Muslims lost an electoral bid to establish a Sharia Republic.  And now, Europe is enabling them.  Why is this?   Nigeria is an oil producing nation.  The Muslim Rebels in Nigeria have been trying to get control of the oil fields for at least 15 years.  They are backed by Arab money, because, after all, Nigeria wouldn't dance to the OPEC tune concerning Israel and other issues.  Europe see this as safeguarding it's oil supply.  Human Rights, Western Civilization and Religious Freedom be damned.

 France, a secular state that since the 1790s has been hostile to Christianity, and which is rapidly succumbing to Sharia with whole towns considered no go zones for the Police and Judiciary teamed up with the Muslims for oil and influence.  In Ivory Coast, France teamed up with Muslims to depose a Christian president, which it characterized as a 'strong man".   Perhaps his biggest crime, in the eyes of France, was conducting the Government of Ivory Coast as that of a sovereign state--he no longer danced to the French tune. France lead the UN into Ivory Coast, and worked with the Muslim militias.   The UN, shortly after moving in, began reporting mass graves and other evidence of Muslim Atrocities, through it's Human Rights Commission, then suddenly fell silent.  Reports of massacres of as many as 1000 Catholic Christians by Muslims, reports by reliable sources, have gone unreported, or under reported in the west. 

And, going back to Nigeria, this month, Islamic militias fell on Christian Nigerian villages while the people were working the harvest and drove the Christians out.  the razed the villages and turned them in to cattle lots.  The Christians are in the bush, sans homes and harvest.  (This technique has been used in South East Asia as well.)

The West, and Christendom, are cooperating with the enemy that seeks to destroy it. If only by pretending it's not happening.

There is a Fifth Column Among Us

In 1999, Sheik Muhammad Hisham Kabbani gave testimony before the State Department on Radical Islam.  Sheik Kabbani had visited 114 mosques in the US, and found that 80% had been heavily influened by Wahhabi Islam, by way of Saudi Money.  Wahhabi is the root version of Islam for the activities of the Taliban, Al Qaeda and other militant groups of Islamic supremacists.  Sheik Kabbani is a Sufi, that is to say, a member of a group that the Wahhabi sect wishes to subjugate, convert or exterminate.  It disturbed him.

In 2005 Yehudit Barsky, an expert in terrorism, said the same thing--about 80% of the mosques in the use were preaching extremist Wahhabi ideas, and were supportive of jihad.  The money trail remained the same--cash from Saudi Wahhabists.

In 2008, A federal investigation found Islamic academies in the US to be teaching that it was permissible to kill those who leave Islam, as well as "polytheists" (and many Islamic sects declare the Trinity to be polytheism) as wel as to seize their goods and property. 

Also in 2008, an different investigation found that 80% of mosques in the US were preaching antisemitism, the extermination of Israel, anti-christian hatred and the necessity of imposing Islamic Law and Rule on the US. this investigation covered 2.300 of the 3000 or so mosques in the US.


As of 2008, there were 40 + instances of terrorist and extremist cells connected to mosques in the US, to include the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Washington DC, where the 9-11 murderers received aid and advice.


Currently, it's been found that 51%--51%--of mosques in the US are distributing literature that call for the use of violence to achieve a Sharia based polity or for Violent Jihad as a positive religious duty.  A further 30%
of mosques distribute literature that shows "moderate' support for violent Jihad and political violence.  Moderate meaning that one doesn't have to do so, but that it's permissible to do so.

And in the middle of this, the Obama Regime claims that Islam isn't a threat, and that we need to worry about Christian extremists, pro-lifers, tax protestors, gun owners, conservatives, bloggers and talk radio as the true threat to America.  Yeah, I know, they've backed down from that, but the people who tried it are still in power.   Not only is there an Islamic fifth column in America, there is a traitorous government that seems to be on their side.

Tales From the Third World War--American Front.

We re in a World War, a war in which the philosophical underpinnings of culture are at stake, no less than in the Second World war.  The main difference is that this war has the peculiar property of not only being a multi-front war, but that many of these fronts are fought in courtrooms and public demonstrations, and that the governments who are representing modern, liberal (I'm using liberal in the classical sense, not the modern sense) and tolerant world views are siding with the enemy.

In Allentown, PA, a Muslim woman is suing the Diocese of Allentown for religious discrimination.  What did they do to her?  They required her to take a lunch break. If memory serves me correctly, after a shift reaches a certain length, employers are required to give their employees meal breaks.  But since she's Muslim, and it was Ramadan, she was forbidden to eat, and "could do nothing but sit at her desk".  No, she could use her break for errands, to take a walk, to go outside, to do more or less anything she pleased.  Moreover, an hourly employee is scheduled for a set number of hours per week--she was a part time hourly employee--and going over that becomes expensive for the employer.  But since she was a Muslim, she feels that the the law concerning breaks shouldn't apply to her, not the principles of sound management.  She's suing.


In the UK, there is a bill under consideration in Parliament that would make it illegal to use Sharia in courts of Law, in good part because it discriminates against women.  UK courts have been using Sharia in cases concerning Muslims.  This bill is important, because of claims of "voluntary" preference for Sharia on the part of women are often, perhaps most often, compelled by violence and threat of violence from Muslim men.  The Iranian and Kurdish Women's Rights Organization says that in Muslim neighborhoods,  traditions are trumping UK laws, and women and children are becoming invisible when their concerns are submitted for arbitration.  One woman was quoted as saying she came to the UK to get away from such practices, only to find them even worse in Muslim communities in the UK.  All this is happening with the tacit collaboration of the UK courts.

It's getting bad here in the us as well, especially in Michigan.  In Dearborn,Michigan,  discrimination by Muslim Police and City Authorities is out of hand.  A federal suit has been filed against Imad Fadallah, and the Dearborn  Public Schools.  Mr. Fadallah was principal of Fordson HIgh School.  While pricipal, he engaged in a program of discrimination against teacher who were Christian, or teachers who did not comply with the social norms of the Islamic community.  he also engaged in retribution against teacher who complained, or helped or advised students to complain.  One instance was when Ms Georgianne Sternglass advised a student who had been hit my Fedallah to report the abuse to the authorities.  Retribution followed, including attacks on her competence.  Ms. Sternglass has won awards on the Local, State and National level for excellence.  Fadallah apparently worked to rid Fordson High of Christian and Non-Muslim Arab teachers all together.

Fadallah also scheduled Bryan Purcell to teach classes at the times his doctor had provided documentation that he had to be scheduled to eat and inject his insulin--a violation of the union contract rules under which the Dearborn Public Schools functioned.   Also both Purcell and Sternglass to teach classes at opposite ends of the building, at the same time, then wrote them up when they couldn't be in two places at once.

BTW--Fadallah is the cousin of the man who ordered the attack on the US marine Barracks in Beirut, Mohammed Hussein Fadallah, and the son-in-law of Nabil Berri, leader of the Harakat Amal--a Shiite Militia.  Remember that family ties are the basis for most Muslim politics, before you scream "guilt by association", for that matter, remember that guilt by association is the basis for conspiracy laws.


Other related matters that have gone to court in Michigan include Haitham Masri, a Muslim physician, who sued an indigent Jewish man in an attempt to silence him on Masri's questionable medical practice and his vocal support for both Hezbollah  and Hamas--both groups which have carried out terrorist attacks against US personnel--Ron Wolf, the defendant, was given pro-bono legal council and was able to prove in court that the lawsuit was frivolous, and an attempt to silence him.

There is the case of "Haidar"-whose name isn't made public so Islamic operatives don't kill him  He is a moderate Muslim, who denounced HAMAS, and supported Israels right to exist.  He worked for ICE--Immigration and Customs Enforcement.  he was framed for a violent crime, which he did not commit.  At his trial, the judge--whom I believe to be a Muslim--excluded almost all the exculpatory evidence his defense lawyers presented.  His primary accuser was Ali Taleb, who is wanted in Lebanon on a warrant for terrorism, and who is an agent for Hezbollah and is living openly in the Detroit area.  Despite these circumstance, it took a jury 25 minutes to find him not guilty.

Arab Christians in Dearborn MI face religious discrimination from their Muslim neighbors, in employment, housing, and in matters of free speech.  At an Arab street festival, Christians were arrested for distributing Christian literature.  Three of them.  By eight cops.  Eight Muslim cops, with guns.  One thing to remember--the case i am thinking of, these people were Arab Christians, trying to keep the knowledge of the heritage of Arab Christians alive.  Their presence was taken to be a criminal disturbance of the peace, and the festival organizers denied they were even Arabs.  (Oddly enough, the Muslim Arabs were distributing literature at the Michigan State Fair a couple of weeks later--their rights were respected.

Reuters is reporting that "discrimination" cases against Muslims in the US is on the rise--what they are not reporting is that Muslims are reporting as discrimination simply being held to the same standard as everyone else.  For instance, the case of the man in Ann Arbor Michigan who took a job at a beer distributor, then declared that as a Muslim he should not have to handle beer to get paid.  His job?  Fork lift operator in the warehouse.  When he refused to to his work they refused to pay him--he got fired.  He sued for religious discrimination.  This is common!

In Tulsa OK, police captain Paul Fields has been suspended for two weeks,transferred and is under internal investigation for refusing to order officers to attend an event at a mosque!   He is suing for violation of his first amendment rights.  Keep in mind that these officers weren't being ordered to provide security, but to participate in an event.  The internal memorandum on the event stipulated that voluntary participation was preferred, but if not enough officers volunteer to make the quota, assignment should be considered.  he didn't assign anyone.  This stinks to high heaven--there wasn't even a clear order to assign people, just the suggestion that assignment should be considered.  It is clearly the intent of many in the government to hold the feelings of Muslims above the rights of everyone else.

Last fall, we had the spectacle of CAIR insisting that Muslim women not be subjected to the TSA pat downs, and they almost got their way.  What stopped them was the internet, and the outrage and incredulity this provoked.  Napolitano and Obama were going to go for it.  We also have the refusal of Homeland Security refusing to profile Muslim, with Napolitano using the sentence "Not Muslim but Islamic".  Really?  And she went to college? 

We have the DHS and Federal  Law enforcement screaming about "right wing terrorism"  and "Christian Extremists", going so far as to categorize prayer as violence.  We have a Member of Congress, Sheila Jackson Lee insisting during the second round of hearings by Congress on Islamic Radicalization in the US insisting that we should be looking into how "Christian militants...might bring down the country".  Right, look at that.  Add up the number of terrorist attacks.  Look at the response of the two communities.  We have a government dominated by a class of progressive activists who have traded reason for narrative, and who loath traditional American Freedoms and Values.  They don't want to do anything that would preserve them, even if that means allowing Sharia and terrorism by Muslims to paralyze  the nation, and provide a pretext for a police state which would be turned--already has been attempted to be turned--against the Christian majority in this nation.



Considering that Muslims do not want to live under the same laws as the rest of us, I have decided that they do no want my business either--I no longer buy food or meals from Islamic businesses.  After all, I want to respect theme, so I respect the fact that they don't want people like me around.  It's too bad, really, I like middle Eastern cuisine.  But I love my rights and freedoms.

A Poem I Wrote Two Years Ago...

...In a bar.

Nota beer for wussy men

Namby Pamby wussy men

not for sneeky geeky wussy men!

Not a beer for girly men

wimpy gimpy girly men

not for weak and wheezy girly men!

Not a beer for emo men

whiny crying emo men

not for product using emo men!

Not a beer for vegan men

picky pale vegan men

sensitive poser vegan men!

All the beer for manly men!

Beery Cheery Manly men!

Hearty eating manly Men!

Al the beer with MEAT!

It got me a free beer from the waitress.

Learning From chapter Two

I was given The Mass of the Early Christians, by Mike Aquilina, Our Sunday Visitor Publishing Division,  Huntingdon, IN, 2007.

Chapter two, "The Altar of Israel" was very, very cool.  I learned somethings that I had never known.  For instance, there was a custom in first century Israel of the chaburah, a kind of fellowship meal that began with the blessing of bread and wine, including the prayers called berakoth, (which included washing the hands).  I went like this:  "Blessed are you, O Lord our God, King of the Universe, creator of the fruit of the vine...Blessed are you O Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth."  Sounds mighty familiar, doesn't it?  This meal was eaten with family and friends  It was a semi-formal event, and considered a pius and spiritual practice.  It was common enough that Jesus was surely familiar with it, and most likely did it with the Apostles. 

Another neat thing to learn was the practice of the Todah.  That was a sacrifice of bread and wine offered as praise, thanksgiving and gratitude for deliverance from some dangerous or dire event or situation.  it was quite common, and very respected.  This also occurred in the setting of a sacrificial meal, consumed with family and friends.   What's really interesting is that it held a position of some importance, to the point that the Talmud holds that with the advent of the Messiah, "All sacrifices will cease except the todah sacrifice.  This will never cease in all eternity"   It hit me like a brick that the Mass has been offered for longer than the Temple stood, and hasn't ceased from the Lord's Table until this day.  That's a powerful, if accidental, witness on the part of the rabbinical scholars who compiled the Talmud.  Not to mention, the Todah was offered in Thanksgiving, which is the meaning of the word  "Eucharist".   These practices, the chaburah, the todah, and the berakoth were in many ways similar to, and related to, the seder, which most of us are familiar with in it's role in the Mass.

This is a really good book, not dumbed down, but not written in such a way as to be taxing.  it's good, solid Catechal material!

BTW--in chapter one, it cites someone named Hegesippus, a Jewish historian who noted that the Apostles deliberately adopted the dress and custom of the Jerusalem high priest.  Chapter on also points out the first century evidence for the thee fold ministry of Bishop, Priest and Deacon, and belief in the Real Presence.

I like this book.

And a Snarky Solstice to You!

Today is the first day of Summer, and my bus was a bit late.  The additional time downtown let me see  many things, and has provided the inspiration for this post:  Stupid Clothes.

Look, I know it's the first day of summer, and you want to wear those flirty sun dresses and things.  I know it's sunny and beyond warm today and you're really very pretty.   But you should check the forecast--when it says sustained winds with gusts, wear something else light cute and flirty.  Because, when you are walking in a half crouch, your hands gripping the hem of your skirt, you don't look cute and flirty, you look awkward and uncomfortable.  I suspect you feel awkward and uncomfortable too.

And Dude!  It's 90 degrees and sunny!  Skin tight black faux leather trousers, a sleeveless black shirt and a black leather shrug (Shrug? On a guy?) don't make you look like a freethinker, unyielding nonconformist, or dangerous rebel.  They make you look like an underweight twerp who's either going to succumb to heat stroke or mouth off to the wrong person and get his skinny little ass kicked.

Yes, it's a very pretty black satin push up bra, and it matches your vinyl miniskirt, but it would look much nicer if you wore a blouse with it.  And, it really, really didn't match the studded patent leather gorget and vambraces with scuffed up warrior boots.  Look grunge is over, for more than a decade it's over, and club fetish/grunge mash-up doesn't work that well anyway, especially at high noon.  Also, musk and make-up are not good substitutes for soap.  I can't believe the deli is letting you ride the delivery bike like that.

Strappy pink poulaines with spike heels don't' go well with acid washed, pre-torn denim sailors pants and a wife beater, for any one, let alone you, seeing as how you're a guy with a shaved head, 'stache and goatee.  Looks odd.

What about you I.R.?  Huh?  Who wears a superannuated madras shirt with cream slacks and an olive green PGOG vest?  And those shoes!  This ain't the great divide, it's a city street!  You expecting maybe a battle to break out?  And what's up with the collapsible walking stick?  Is that some sort of affectation or are you expecting to break your ankle?  Are you without any idea how to dress, or is it laundry day at your house?  Maybe you just don't care--your brown felt trilby doesn't match a damned thing you're wearing!

A Mid-Summer Night's Eve

Well, for al those who will be running about the Indiana Woods, in scanty or missing attire, fueled  by varying types and amounts of intoxicants, and with certain activities that shant be recounted on a family blog like this:

Have fun with the deer ticks, chiggers,poise oak, poisen ivy, mosquitos and other manifestations of the nature you are communing with.  Do remember to get a blood test early next week.  Don't worry about those cellphone pictures, I'm sure they won't hit the 'net.

A folks--I did that for years and years, and it was one of the ways I ruined my life for a time, and squandered the gifts God gave me.  I hope you realize how stupid what you're doing is, and get out before it happens to you.

It was and is the period of my life I am most ashamed of!

Tomorrow I shall make a special visit to the Blessed Sacrament to  pray for all of you, that you receive God's blessing in full, to include the blessing of conversion and repentance.  I think I'll ask the same for myself--there are things I still need to repent of as well.

Corapi

I have decided what my opinion is concerning the accusations against John Corapi:  I think they are true.

I think the motive behind them was probably retaliation, but I think they are true.  I think this because of Corapi's behavior, and because on thing in specific he has done.  he filed a civil suit against his accuser for Breach of Contract.  Breach of Contract--not defamation of character, or slander.

I believe he knows he would have lost suits for slander or defamation.

That more than any other thing, makes me think they are true.

His refusal to obey his religious superiors makes me think he is a fink and will start a catholic flavored sect.

Tired.

I'm tired.  I sad and tired.  I can't pick up the newspaper, turn on the TV, or surf the 'net without finding things that are horrible.  I can't watch a TV program without getting propaganda.

Things are bad, from official of th UK government saying Christians and Catholics aren't 'assimilating" into society and that the Muslims are doing a much better job, to not being able buy a snack food without making sure it's not made by a company that uses aborted human tissue to test flavorings.

One of the Secretary of State's former Senate Interns is now a porn star.

On and on it goes.

I'm tired, and I don't have that luxury.  I am a soldier of Christ, in my own small way, and i do not have the luxury of exhaustion, yet it's looming fast.  I hope to find some good news soon, to cheer me up, and give me something positive to write about, because there are far to many of us Blogging Bead Squeezers wh are busy screaming bloody murder about the latest horror. 

Not that we have any shortages of latest horrors.

Trinity Sunday!

1+1+1=1 !!!

The Father is my Hope!

The Son is my Refuge!

The Holy Spirit is my Protection!

Holy Trinity, Glory to You!

Orthodox prayer to the Holy Trinity

Most Holy and Adorable Trinity,  One God in three persons, I praise Thee and give Thee Thanks for all the favors thou hast bestowed upon me.  Thy Goodness has preserved me until now,  I offer Thee my whole being and in particular all my thoughts words and deeds, together with all the trials I may undergo this day.  Give them thy blessing.  May Thy Divine Love animate them and may they serve Thy Greater Glory.

I make this Morning Offering in union with the Divine Intentions of Jesus Christ, Who offers Himself daily in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and in union with Mary, His Virgin Mother, and our Mother, who was always the faithful Handmaid of the Lord.

Glory to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, Amen.

Traditional Catholic Offering to the Holy Trinity