It's a good thing Dylann Roof wasn't holding a Cross in those pictures

I know, knee jerk in an age of censorship.  Our immediate first response today is ban and censor.  I get it, too.  I think there is a legitimate debate about actually having the flag of the losing side of a war flying in government locations.  After all, there weren't too many Union Jacks flying in the states following the Revolution.  Plus, I get the problem descendants of slaves dragged here from Africa would have with seeing that flying over their state houses  (see Obama post below regarding who owns what government buildings).

Nonetheless, today a rush to ban and censor is becoming the preferred goto solution for almost anything.  There just isn't anything I think that enlightened and educated Americans wouldn't rush to ban and censor today. And if the Confederate Flag today, what's not to say something else tomorrow.  Not that the cross would ever be spoken of in that manner.  Nonetheless, I'm getting a little nervous about the growing acceptance our brilliant generation has toward silencing dissenting views and legally eradicating the ability to not bow down to the Left.  Especially under the auspices of 'I'm sure they'll only ban real hatred, not anything I happen to believe!'

"Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."  The Golden Rule, no longer allowed to be taught in our schools.

"Do unto others, as long as you don't do unto me."  The post-modern Rule, widely taught and accepted by humanity's smartest generation.

Catholics and liberalism

Are increasingly one and the same.  True, unlike our Protestant brethren who simply throw the Gospel and the Faith out the window to embrace the hedonism and paganism of the non-Christian world, the Church will never throw certain things out the window.  Christ will have to really live.  Christ has to rise from the dead.  After all, where would the Real Presence be without that?  Likewise, the Church will never allow gay marriage.   It might end up supporting gay civil relationships, or just wash its hands of it, but it won't be able to just say 'I now pronounce you Man and Sam.'

That's because the Church has the Sacraments, and as a result can't so easily just throw the Faith out the window.   It must compromise, slice, dice, shave and twist.  But there are some things it just can't accept.

Still, what will happen, and what one sees increasingly in Pope Francis and his priorities and passions, suggests it will accommodate all it can, and increasingly agree to disagree over where it cannot change.  So at the zealously liberal Catholic website Catholic and Enjoying It, Conservative Catholic Mark Shea gushes over his love and admiration for Stephen Colbert.  What happens next is a sad display of liberal Catholics embracing varying levels of calumny, denial and flat out lunacy in order to suggest that Colbert is a faithful son of the Church in every way.  If he isn't it doesn't matter.  And even if he supports abortion and the sex culture, so what?  He trashes conservatives, and that's enough.

If it weren't for Pope Francis, I'd be more shocked.  But if you want to be an obedient Catholic, and you see liberalism and want to embrace it, you could do worse than living now.  Since it appears embracing liberalism and hating conservatism, as one of the commenters notes, covers a multitude of sins.

The idiocy of postmodern liberalism

Is so overwhelming, sometimes you don't know if it's a put-on, or if it's real.  So the latest installment in the Jurassic Park franchise, the predictably successful Jurassic World, has unleashed a host of outcries for a variety of reasons.  Its sexist portrayal of women as not eternally superior to men has been under fire from the start.  And now, it looks like an abbreviated term for the dinosaur pachycephalosaurus, has been found to be a racist term for Pakistanis.  Just like the word thug is really a secret code word used by evil racists, add to the growing list Paki.  When will our champions of liberal enlightenment learn that you just can't ever be liberal enough?  Someday, we're just going to have to have laws against them.  

Hopefully it's a joke.  And yet, given the stupid acceptance of censorship and thought control embraced by postmoderns, you can never be sure.

No President Obama it is not your house

It is our house.  I know, I know. Some right-wing wacko.  Obsessing about little things.  But only idiots believe that little things don't matter.  Little things, more often than not, give us a look at the workings of the bigger things.  Most who criticize this sort of criticism will, in other cases, be the first to point out some slight or some small gaffe as proof of greater evil behind the curtains.  So in that time honored, and justifiable, tradition of carefully listening to words because they may actually mean something, I just thought I'd remind President Obama that it's not his house.  It's ours.  And we don't serve him.  He serves us.  Not that it will matter in years to come.  After all, a growing segment of our society couldn't possibly understand the big deal. But it's worth mentioning while it still holds true.

FWIW, I'm sure other presidents in history have also said that.  But again, consider the track record, the ideology, and the source.  If Pope Francis were to say someone should have their butts kicked, we'd take it as a figure of speech.  If a football coach says the same thing, we'd understand it differently.

And Happy Father's Day Dad

To the one who made it possible.  I might be prejudice, but to me the best Dad in the universe.  Thanks for everything Dad.  We miss you.

Those were happy times

Happy Fathers Day to me

With the best presents I ever received, or ever will receive.  Thanks to God that he gave me a wonderful wife and four pretty darn awesome boys.  Our fourteen year old continues to struggle with some health issues he's had, but he seems to be coming out of it.  The others are chugging along quite nicely.  They are good together (usually), and make me proud.  Of all that God has given me, I count them with the most humility and honor that I was seen fit to be their dad.  To all fathers who feel the same, may God bless you on this day set aside to celebrate, well, you.  Just don't forget that Father of fathers in the process of a good cookout.

Squirrels have to be a result of the fall

We long gave up on growing corn in our garden.  It resulted in too many fat squirrels.  And in our back yard, squirrels have become the number one pest we deal with.  For instance, we have no less than three bird feeders hanging from the trees that have grown up next to our deck.  And to this day, I don't know if more than a handful of birds have managed to get to the seeds before those rascal squirrels.  

Caught in the act!

Rosie the Riveter redux

When I was in school and college, there were two things the left despised; three things they hated:  Father Knows Best, Ozzie and Harriet, and Rosie the Riveter.  Why?  Because they were the go to examples of flagrant propaganda meant to hoist false and fake narratives and agendas on a button down, conformist society.  

Ironic, because today, Ozzie and Rosie don't hold a candle to the singular mind controlling propaganda being pushed on every corner of our culture at every moment and in every subject by the very ones who used to cry foul over such forms of collective thinking.  Sports, religion, science, history, finances, and now even over the counter medications commercials, are all aligned to advance The Agenda.  

Remember when we used to mock the totalitarian states for their brainwashing ways and singular control of every venue of communication and dialogue?  Yeah. We were right.  Which is why at this point in time, we must be really, really, really dumb. 

Shooting victims who matter, encyclicals, and the new world order

It should be painfully obvious now that human suffering and carnage, like just about everything else in our world, exists only for the purpose of advancing the doctrines of the post-Christian reformation known as the secular left.  So a week ago, four people were shot to death in my neck of the woods.  It made the national news.  For a moment. 

Then they discovered the victims were black, the killers were black, and it was likely related to drugs. Nope.  Nothing for the propaganda organs of the left to sink their teeth into.  Black on black violence?  The blight of drugs in an age itching to legalize the same?  Expect to hear nothing about those precious children of God and their sudden, tragic deaths.  

Then the horrific shooting in Charleston happened.  And there you have it.  Before the end of the very day it occurred, when no real information was known, we had the narratives and the agendas:

Gun Control

Racism in America (as opposed to Islamic terrorism which never seems to have anything to do with Islam). 

And as a bonus, banning the Confederate Flag

Propaganda gold. Without any real knowledge to go on, this became the main story arc for interpreting that work of racist evil.  Defy it at your own risk.  Sure, pause has been given on a national scale. Mourning and tributes.  As well they should.  I would like to see this reaction to it without the rush to advance agendas so quickly.  If only for a day or so. 

But the left now sees its victory as clenched.  It's fourth quarter with the two minute warning and the left is four touchdowns ahead.  The officials are paid off.  The announcers are on their side.  And they have the ball five yards away from another touchdown.  There is no need to be subtle.  To pay lip service.  To act as if the important thing isn't seizing the moment to advance an agenda or two.  They can do it right along with the actual human response of weeping and mourning and praying.  There is no need to pretend.  

This assurance of victory that allows for such flagrant and cynical exploitation of human tragedy mirrors the very rejoicing that those on the left are experiencing in light of Pope Francis's encyclical, Laudato si. 

On the surface, I admit there is little to be alarmed about.  Take care of the planet.  We have a responsibility to be stewards of, not exploiters of, the environment that God has evolved around us.  Be wary of those who hinder solutions for selfish motives, and likewise never forget that humans are also part of the natural equation.  

But on further review, a couple things begin to emerge.  As one observer notes, for a Catholic encyclical written by a Catholic pope, its language and presentation isn't too far off a modern, secular rallying cry for human animals and their relationship to Earth First.  Second, the almost complete condemnation of the dying West, in which the West is not only responsible for virtually all international conflicts, all poverty, but also now the prime cause of global warming, echoes the post-Christian, post-Western progressive school of thought of who is to blame, and who are the heroes.  And furthermore, Pope Francis even gives a nod to that post-war 20th century liberal pipe-dream of a singular global world order led by a single worldwide government.  Not the first modern pope to suggest such a thing, but telling nonetheless.  Perhaps these are incorrect interpretations or alarmist reactions.  But simply, given the overall body of comments by Pope Francis, they are far from unfathomable.  

Why are those who seek to replace the values of the historic Faith with their post-Christian values so confident that they immediately can move to exploit human tragedy before the bodies have been taken to the morgue?  When the leader of over one billion people even appears to accept that the opponents of the left are indeed the villains, and with select exceptions, the new order is the only acceptable paradigm for rethinking our place in the cosmos, score more than a touchdown.  Chalk up a major victory on Superbowl Sunday. 

So rather than get sucked up in the obvious momentum of the movement that makes it clear the value of human life ends where the fleeting promises of my narcissism and hedonism begin, let's pause to remember all victims of violence, hate, anger, and victimization by an ideology that promises godhood to anyone, then strips away God to oppress everyone.  Let's rise above it, pray for the victims, their families, and yes, the killers all.  Act as we are called to do, and pray that we can break from the juggernaut and truly be courageous enough to look for the real solutions, not just the ones that satisfy competing agendas or dominant ideologies. 

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High

    will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress,

    my God, in whom I trust.”

Surely he will save you

    from the fowler’s snare

    and from the deadly pestilence.

He will cover you with his feathers,

    and under his wings you will find refuge;

    his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.

You will not fear the terror of night,

    nor the arrow that flies by day,

    nor the pestilence that stalks in the darkness,

    nor the plague that destroys at midday.

A thousand may fall at your side,

    ten thousand at your right hand,

    but it will not come near you.

You will only observe with your eyes

    and see the punishment of the wicked.

If you say, “The Lord is my refuge,”

    and you make the Most High your dwelling,

    no harm will overtake you,

    no disaster will come near your tent.

For he will command his angels concerning you

    to guard you in all your ways;

    they will lift you up in their hands,

    so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.

You will tread on the lion and the cobra;

    you will trample the great lion and the serpent.

“Because he loves me,” says the Lord, “I will rescue him;

    I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.

He will call on me, and I will answer him;

    I will be with him in trouble,

    I will deliver him and honor him.

With long life I will satisfy him

    and show him my salvation.”

Psalm 91

Humbled and honored by The American Catholic

Thanks to the efforts of Nate Winchester, it looks like my blog has been mentioned on The American Catholic.  Wow.  Talk about letting a chihuahua run with the great danes.  So I'm a little taken by my goofy little blog home being mentioned by Donald McClarey.  The American Catholic continues with the thankless task of reminding us that not everything to do with American religious conservatism is as stupid and bigoted and evil as Comedy Central and Huffington Post say. Heck, you can actually be Catholic and value traditional ideals and experiences, even if they sometimes coincide with traditional American ideals and experiences!  Radical.  For some places in the Catholic blogosphere, saying that is as tolerable as opening a Kosher deli in 1940s Berchtesgaden.

I still should be honest and admit that I am having issues with certain aspects of Catholic thought and life and the ways in which the Church is edging ever closer to the post-Christian, secular Left model of reality.  There were always some issues, as there will be whenever someone enters a new tradition.  There were when I became Christian in the first place.  The problem has been that I've not reconciled these issues ten years later, especially in light of where the Church has clearly been moving in recent years.

Sure, the treatment we've received, the slammed doors, the cultural issues have made it difficult. But be that as it may, I'm still at a point of struggles.  And as people who know me can attest, I won't just stand around, shrug my shoulders, and accept things.  Not where eternal questions are concerned. The good news is that there is more in the historic Christian Faith that I value, so I will never simply leave.  But how things end up working out in my Faith walk remains to be seen.  Just thought I would put that out.

On a more personal note, yuck!  I can't stand that video.  Marcus didn't give me any prep time or a pre-show interview as usually happened with the guests.  I was more or less dropped on the stage and told do my best with no clue what to expect.  If I don't ever watch that again, my life's fortunes could only improve.

But thanks to Nate and to Don for lowering the quality quotient of The American Catholic by including my little voice in the chorus.

Personal Note: Start proof reading my posts!   :)

Rest in Peace Christopher Lee

A major part of my childhood just passed.  Growing up, Christopher Lee was, to me, as big as Elvis or Sinatra or James Dean.  He was iconic. I remember seeing old Movie Monster magazines with photos of Mr. Lee, thinking that the photographer must have been some sort of awesome to have the chance to photograph 'The Man.'  

Of course as I grew up, I realized that particular place that Christopher Lee occupied in the overall cinematic canon.  Nonetheless, he was never entirely outside the main stream of cool.  And each decade, he seemed to manage to put a foot in the latest currents of popular culture.  Most youngsters who know his name at all will know him from The Lord of the Rings or the unfortunate Star Wars prequels.  

And yet he was so much more.  A genuine Renaissance man, he spoke more languages than I have coffee cups.  He was a war veteran, a capable singer, a lover of literature, and what's more, a bona fide Tolkien fan.  In fact, he claims to have made it a point to read Lord of the Rings every year (beginning in September, of course).  

But now the world is a bit less interesting.  Not that it was a surprise or a shock.  It's almost not even sad, for such a rich, celebrated and joyful life to have moved onto the next realm.  May he experience a small part of the joy he brought to many like me.  And may he not have to endure too much of his eternity with his dear friend Peter Cushing, who will always be able to gloat that he was in the classic, not the catastrophe.