I have my moments

This was from an old 2017 post, as Trump's election unleashed the Left's clear and obvious end game, and it wasn't a need to stop doing what it was doing so we could debate and find common ground. It suddenly popped up on my posts being read for some reason. I say by now, what I was imagining and getting the gist of was spot on bullseye.  BTW, the links still work, including to the article that I repeated in my post's original title.  

Rod Dreher explains.  Rod came in for some pretty rough ribbing over his book The Benedict Option.  Mr. Dreher basically sees a coming storm.  This storm involves a coming persecution against the Church and its faithful, and a reaction that will include the faithful abandoning the Faith by droves.

Of course there is always a storm cloud on the horizon.  When I was in high school, back in the year 1984, guess who the pop culture assessment of Big Brother was?  That would be Reagan and the Conservatives, who were out to put us back to a country of lynchings and back alley abortions, when they weren't busy nuking the world for the American Way.  Our destruction was imminent.  And in the meantime, vans with tinted windows would slide up the the curb, and out would jump a half dozen men in suits and sunglasses, ready to whisk away all dissenters to some hidden concentration camp in the Nevada deserts.  That was a common theme and concern.

Therefore, it shouldn't be surprising that, given the leaps and strides of progress that liberalism has made in the last dozen years, those who are unwilling to conform or compromise will see dark clouds on the same horizon.  What we know is that eventually someone will be right.  Unless the world ends soon, eventually dark clouds will arrive and burst, and someone's fears about the end of the United States republic as we know it will be validated.

In the meantime, while I'm at pains to remember times in the 80s when people actually were taken away because they resisted Reagan, or that Reagan and his cronies nuked the world, I must say it's easier to see the warning signs today.  We've come to a point where liberalism no longer sees itself as liberal, but merely as True [current note: this was my money quote].  And therefore, it thinks nothing of mandating its truth through legislation, and punishing those who reject the truth.

We went in a couple decades from gays just wanting to live and let live to legally punishing those who won't take part in gay weddings.  We went from saying the bedroom is nobody's business to saying everyone must pay for what people do in that same bedroom, under threat of government retribution.  We went from being told that there is such a thing as boys and girls, to being told sex is non-existent outside the mind and it might be time to punish those who think otherwise.  And, of course, we're increasingly told there was little to nothing in this nation's past worth celebrating, and those who would find the good in its heritage equate to Nazis and should be treated accordingly, as all evidence of the country's past is increasingly sent to the broom closet.  If that includes ending this notion of free speech, so be it.

So it wouldn't be shocking that, if this trend continues, those whose faith traditions don't own up to these new values will be forced to compromise or will pay the piper.  Given that most who boldly insist that we must prepare to suffer for when Jesus comes are Christian leaders and pundits living high in a nation of prosperity and freedom, it makes you wonder how prepared they will be if the situation actually changes [current note: sadly, we've seen more than we probably wanted to regarding this].  Martyrdom is easy to discuss around glasses of Champagne.  It's certainly easy if we embrace martyrdom by proxy, where we define our courage by our willingness to let others in the future suffer for our righteousness.  It's quite another thing to deal with when it actually happens.

Mr. Dreher is simply looking at one possible reality.  That so many scoffed at him outright suggests they are either trusting in their power of compromise, possibly the power of the Gospel to convert, or are in denial of the reality of every age: that all we enjoy today can be gone tomorrow.  And if it doesn't happen to us, then consider our posterity.  Just remember when the Olympic Committee of 1936 expressed its resounding joy in anticipation of the 1940 Olympics.  Turns out, there were no 1940 Olympics.  No 1944 Olympics either.  Just tens of millions dead and new tyrannies and terror states to threaten prosperity and freedom for a hundred years.   I'll bet a dozen or so years earlier, few would have imagined it.

Me in a nutshell

So I was giving my two cents over on Facebook the other day.  As a result, I was informed that my views were merely the product of my vile MAGA ways.  Anyone who has read my blog for any amount of time may now commence with the giggles. 

But while I shy from trying to pigeonhole people into slick categories, I admit there is such a thing as more liberal or conservative, more traditional or progressive, more left or right ways of seeing things.  No group is a monolith.  But there are trends and tendencies.  

A while back, I was talking to our former priest who has moved on to bigger things.  As my boys say, he's one of those fast risers in the Church and I imagine we'll see more of him in years to come.  Which isn't bad, since he's a good egg.  But as we chatted, we talked about the different ways Catholics approach the issues today, and how that sometimes drives wedges in the Church that might help Satan, but are problematic for most other concerns.  While talking about the most generic divide of Right and Left, I told him how I see myself.  I said I considered myself theologically Catholic, morally conservative, economically moderate, and historically traditional.  He said he liked that, and felt it wasn't too far from a healthy way to approach things if such labels must be used.

So given the individual who tried to tell me all about myself and my MAGA ways, I figured I'd post a refresher on me, or at least how I think I approach things.  You can agree or disagree as you see fit.  So here it is: 

Theologically Catholic - On the whole, I believe the Catholic Church hits the entirety of the history of the Christian Faith closer than the other traditions. Not that there aren't a few things that still get me to raise an eyebrow, owing to my former not-Catholic ways.  I just keep those between me and the Almighty.  Of course this is if you ignore the recent approach of some Catholics acting as if the first 2000 years was merely a deeply flawed pre-game warm-up, and we're now figuring out what the Church should really have taught.  The positive fruits of that tree appear to still be waiting to bud. 

Morally Conservative - When it comes to morals, I default to the old adage that change might be inevitable, but it is never inevitably good.  If we're honest, we're seeing that play out after decades of throwing any and all norms and morals out the window.  And by morals, I don't just mean only what goes on below the waistline.  I mean moral principles and standards and virtues that can no doubt impact the bedroom, but also extend far beyond the boudoir into places like the boardroom.  Things like self-sacrifice, humility over pride, ideas of honor and duty and loyalty and patriotism and defaulting to greater ideals than myself, and even manners and politeness.  Of course I see the converse of these things hoisted on our society as a bad thing.  Whether that attack on old morals and virtues is shouted from the rooftops, or accomplished by more subtle means.   

Economically Moderate - Sorry, but I'm in that camp that didn't leap for joy when Elon Musk became history's first trillionaire.  Call me commie, but somehow I just can't squeeze the biblical witness, much less the Gospel message, into a template that says when it comes to obtaining financial gain, there simply are no rules, just right.  I feel that conservatism's dogged defense of corporate interests in the name of defending Capitalism as the one true hill upon which to die is what keeps people willing to look at the barking mad insanity, if not downright evil, of the modern Left as a viable option.

Historically Traditional - Like morals, I default to the longer standing traditional accounts of the past as carried through the Western Christian Tradition, unless overwhelming evidence can be produced to make me think otherwise.  I understand that some of those traditional accounts were, in the day, new.  But if they have staying power, at least up until recently, they have my attention and my defense.  And by evidence, obviously I don't mean the latest theory, hypothesis, or wild guess based on a presentism laden contempt for the West or an axe to grind with the past.  That should go without saying. 

So there you go. When it comes to the prism through which I see things, that might explain the lunacy that happens whenever I open my mouth.  

Feminism Repost

Is best summed up here.  Some woman I've never heard of receives praise and adoration from her fellow sisters and an enthralled audience.  Why?  Because she boldly announced she is leaving her husband of fourteen years.  Why?  Because she wanted a life more focused on herself, that's why.  And being a woman, she can proclaim such a reason as 'self-love' to an adoring world and receive endless accolades and high-fives. 

Yep.  I've said before that I haven't been able to find an earlier example of a group of people able to declare themselves the only thing that matters and being socially applauded for the trouble.  Not that men haven't been self-absorbed, self-focused rascals over the ages.  But they had to wrap it up in something pretty: God, king, country, providing for the family, helping the village - something. 

But with feminism, at some point it stopped being about the right to vote and became 'women should focus on themselves - because, that's why.'  Certain things, like sexual liberation, were eagerly welcomed by men who apparently thought this would solidify women as one dimensional sex objects for men's sole consumption.  Women played along. 

Now, of course, men have been all but emasculated by feminism and what women want.  Think on abortion.  The current dogma says a birthing person woman gets pregnant and can decide if it's a precious life or a worthless bunch of sludge to be eliminated.  Men?  What can they do?  Not a damn thing, that's what.  They stand in the corner wearing a 'castrated dunce' cap and wait for the woman to decide - keep the baby, at which point the man had better fork out the bucks to pay for it, or terminate the baby, sorry about your luck guy.  

I've often said it's likely that men of this age will not be the men future generations of men look back to as anything other than a cautionary tale.  So beholden to women did men become as sex became the only thing that mattered, they would happily sell their sons down the river in order to get some, no matter what women do, say, or grab for. 

Naturally women aren't the only benefactors of this idea.  The whole 'it's about me' has poured over into almost everything.  So that most young radicals and activists are proud to say it's their world to save and inherit or drop dead.  After all, why should women have all the fun?

By the by, if I could add one more thing.  The power of this feminist narrative is such that when I bring things like this up, I can almost bet 50% of conservative men and 2/3 of pro-life, traditional Christian women will pounce on me with some version of 'Hey!  Women should have rights!'  As if raising a question or challenging the narrative in any way is the same as saying women should have no rights.

I know this for a fact.  I can't count the times in conversations I've mused on the impact that this approach to feminism has had, and even some of the most down home, stay at home, Ephesians 5 women will fire back that I'm some how suggesting women should be what feminists say men have always wanted them to be. 

That's power for a narrative.  Beyond proving my axiom that no matter what liberalism hoists on the world, at least 1/3 of conservatives will jump on the bandwagon, it shows just how engrained the world's approach to feminism has become.  That' s why most men, no matter how much they lament the state of things, stay quiet, at least in terms of looking deeply into the modern state of women's issues.  Sort of like white people questioning not just BLM, but the whole modern culture of modern black Americans.  You don't dare.  And you can bet if you do, half of everyone who normally agrees with you will turn on you and fire. 

NOTE:  I posted this some time ago.  But given the Lindsey Clancy trial and the hurricane that has emerged around it, it's worth repeating.  Feminism is not alone.  The emphasis on group identity and group fealty, even as we were being taught when I was in school that we must move past the same, is evident today.  Though I will say feminism, and the willingness of women to rush in and defend the women, even the most radical feminist activism in the name of defending women first and foremost, is the most established of the 'our group first, everything else dead last' demographics.  Just remember the kerfuffle over Harrison Butker when even conservative Catholic women rushed in to trounce the man for daring to suggest motherhood might be a big thing for women to consider.  

Though I will say this.  The press/Left going after the holdout juror, digging into his past, disparaging him, and even musing on black men and violent tendencies, is causing even some more sympathetic with the BLM to give pause.  Those not sympathetic remember when trying to point out the criminal history of George Floyd was immediately smacked down as racism.  His criminal past being entirely irrelevant.  Now, you have people saying that the juror's criminal past is everything, because you know, black guy.  By now we should realize we don't resist a movement of bad values and morals and principles. We resist a movement with no values or morals or principles.  And that is seen nowhere clearer than in that thing we used to call the news media. 

Now came and went birthday number three

Of the boys that is.  

One thing that became a tradition in our household, at the insistence of our second oldest, was that we refrain from any Autumnal, especially Halloween spirited spooky activities like old Universal monster movies, until after his birthday.  This is because years ago, when they were still in public school, we began moving the Fall activities and viewing to as early as August.  It simply was difficult getting all the things we had done into the calendar when the older three had so many conflicting schedules.  By the time their jobs were the mischief schedule-wise, our son said enough.  Henceforth, any allusions to so much as a cornstalk will be held until after his birthday. 

So, it's after his birthday.  And we'll be heading into that wonderful season of Fall.  But first, a shoutout to our second oldest. Emotionally driven, highly intelligent and at times irascible, he is the reason we homeschooled.  His quick wit and razor sharp recall doesn't let things go, like when the district's Gifted Program administrator told him his classroom work and his lifelong achievement of all As really didn't matter.  What mattered was to the testing. He rode that horse to the finish line, doing his best Robin Williams impersonation along the way.  We realized the only way to recalibrate his focus was to go radical.  Had we not been in the economic troughs from our entrance into the Church, we might have gone to private schooling. As it is, homeschool was the only option we could come up with.

Of course he's not just rapier wit and intellect. All three of the brothers got good reviews from their teachers, and all three were noted for being nice and helpful to others.  This was made obvious by how willingly they all stepped up to the plate and helped with taking care of my mom while she was living with us, even as her health declined. But our second boy was the one who would take it to the next level. It was nothing to see him break away and walk across a parking lot if he saw some lone kid, or maybe a teen in a wheelchair, and just visit for a few so they weren't left out.  Despite his general introverted ways, he was willing to step in and help or even defend others when he saw the need or opportunity.  

Beyond all that, through the years we've seen him do amazing things.  Possessing a never ending appetite for new things, he was ever the one to think outside the box.  And even now, as a father of two, married, and already working on a sequel to his and his wife's first novel, he and our daughter-in-law have done more in a few years than I've done in a few decades.  Given his love for his family, his drive to accomplish and his boundless curiosity and willingness to dig in on what he believes, you just can't help but be proud. In a very good way. 

He's the hat wearer, so no doubt loves this import from Ireland

The middle two, or how many Griffey's does it take to put candles on?

Both families, us and his in-laws pulled together to get the Rivendell Lego Set
I'll never discourage them staying young at heart in that way

It looks like they're plotting something

Proudly showing off his homemade Tiramisu (it was delicious)

Shameless grandkid pics - the contemplative grandson, the exuberant granddaughter

The bros together again. L-R: Our oldest, our second bday boy, our third, and our fourth

The most disastrous statement in recent memory

I know the country has erupted over the Lindsay Clancy trial.  I seldom comment on things like trials since I'm not a lawyer, and I'd probably just make myself look stupid for discussing the legal ins and outs.  If anything I'll mention what is happening around such a trial.  Which brings me here. 

For the record, from my observations, the outrage erupting over this, the outrage that the MSM is desperately trying to contain, isn't driven by people wanting to discuss postpartum issues.  It isn't even from the women who insist the man must always be guilty, so there is a vast conspiracy to cover up the fact that the father murdered the children.  As my oldest pointed out, as batty as that is, at least they hold a higher moral grounding.  After all, they're saying they support her because the believe she is innocent.  Fair enough.

No, the flamethrower that has created the firestorm of outrage, and the group the MSM has done its level best to downplay or sweep under the carpet, is that segment of women (mostly) who have rallied around Clancy, declared their allegiance to Clancy, who have raised a million dollars for Clancy, and have proudly declared that it matters not one whit if she killed three or thirty kids or none at all.  Because it's the Ya-Ya Sisterhood that matters full stop, end of statement, that's it.  Women first, and everything else 5th at best.  And they have continued saying it when there has been pushback. That has caused the outrage.  That has caused the most people - including women - I've ever seen in my lifetime come out and say it might be time to rethink feminism all the way back to women's suffrage.  

Which brings us to the interview with three of the jurors.  Never have I seen an interview with people do more to damage to everything those interviewed clearly yearn for than this.  It's a hoot.  Find it on the internet and shake your head.  Or be ashamed.  Much of it was them trashing and belittling the holdout juror.  Nothing in their interview suggests they were jurors merely seeking justice and wanting to do whatever was right.  Not a single damn thing. But then then this juror said this:

I saw the broadcast and knew in a split second that this statement would explode across everywhere. And it has. Rightly so. Because not only was it delivered with all the soulless disregard of a Cyberdyne Systems Series 800 Model 101 terminator, but it was framed as a major character flaw on the part of the holdout juror.  The Male holdout juror BTW (that point being constantly made in the MSM - see the Oppressed v Oppressor template I mention below).   It was said unironically as if being unable to get over the children's vicious murders was yet one more character flaw of his.  These are murdered children, yet apparently it's a defect in your character to get hung up on the fact. As my son pointed out, she even used the connotative 'vicious'.  That's what the prosecution should say.  Make it sound really bad.  But she, who clearly said she wanted Lindsay to beat the wrap, says it was a vicious murder, accepts that it was a vicious murder, and agrees Clancy did it.  But the only problem is the juror, the Male juror, who got hung up on it.  And she said it as emotionally as one might say he just couldn't get over us having toast with our sardines. 

If you support women's rights, this is your hour to get to the rooftops and scream out against this Daughters of the Handmaid's Tale brand of feminism. That outgrowth of the women's movement that says women should rule, they can destroy and murder and women should still rule, end of argument.  If this keeps up, I wouldn't be surprised to see the last century and a half of women's rights unravel over the next decade or so.  If women don't call it out, however, then I admit I have a hard time believing that's a bad thing if this is where women's rights must go. 

Oh, and if you ever wondered what the late Rush Limbaugh meant with his controversial term Feminazis - wonder no more.  This is group intersectionality through the oppressed versus oppressors template writ horrible, but increasingly common among leftwing activism.  The question is, how far are we willing to let it go? 

UPDATE: So it came out that the lone holdout juror is black.  Which shouldn't matter, yet we all darn well know it would.  If this was a black holdout juror who resisted an all white jury trying to convict a black man, it would make all the difference in the world.  Not to mention the overwhelmingly contemptuous and disparaging way in which the interviewed jurors spoke about him.  Can you imagine if the holdout who was black was doing what the Left/Press wanted?  Whew.  We'd have George Floyd level international outrage.  Plus, it looks like the press is now switching to secret police mode, and digging into the black holdout juror's past to find anything with which it can destroy him or at least his credibility and reputation.  As it does anyone or anything that gets in the way of the Left's agendas.  The fact that he's black?  It matters no more than women harmed by transgender men or people defending the slaughter of Israeli Jews on October 7th.  That is, not at all.  

A single 9/11 tribute

On September 11, 2001, a 27-year-old woman called her stepmother from a hijacked plane and said words her family would never forget:

"It's going to be harder for you. I want you to be okay."

Just two days before making that heartbreaking phone call, Honor Elizabeth Wainio was enjoying the trip of a lifetime in Paris. She had traveled across Europe to attend a close friend's wedding in Florence, Italy, before spending time wandering through the beautiful streets of France. She enjoyed lunch near the Champs-Elysées and lit a candle inside a quiet church to honor her grandmother.

When she arrived back home in New Jersey, she was vibrant and full of life. Everyone called her Lizz. At twenty-seven, she worked as a district manager for Discovery Channel stores, and she was already looking forward to making homemade spaghetti and getting ready for an upcoming business trip to San Francisco.

Lizz boarded the cross-country flight that morning for work, traveling to California to visit several retail locations under her management. The morning sky was clear when Lizz boarded United Airlines Flight 93 at Newark International Airport. But around 9:28 AM, terrorists took control of the plane, pushing the terrified passengers toward the back of the cabin.

Unlike the passengers on the earlier hijacked flights, the people on Flight 93 were able to make phone calls and learn the devastating truth about what was happening across the country.

They learned that the Twin Towers in New York City and the Pentagon had already been struck.

They realized this was not a hostage situation with demands, but that the plane itself had been turned into a weapon.

During those tense moments, a fellow passenger passed an air phone to Lizz so she could speak to someone she loved. Lizz called her stepmother, Esther Heymann. Despite the danger, Lizz’s voice was remarkably calm and steady. She chose to focus on easing the grief of her loved ones rather than her own fear. During their conversation, Lizz also mentioned her grandmother, who had lived near the peaceful countryside in Pennsylvania, saying,

"I'm going to be with my grandmother."

Around 9:57 AM, the passengers decided to take action to stop the hijackers from reaching their intended target in Washington, D.C.  Todd Beamer prayed before saying his famous final words, "Let's Roll," as passengers banded together to storm the cockpit.

Right before the attempt to retake the plane began, Lizz spoke to her stepmother one last time.

"They're getting ready to break into the cockpit. I have to go. I love you. Goodbye."

Minutes later, Flight 93 crashed into an open field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. The hijackers never reached their intended target because of the extraordinary bravery shown by the people on board.

Lizz is remembered not just for how her life ended, but for the profound love and selflessness she displayed in her final moments. True heroes are not only defined by their grand actions, but by the quiet ways they protect the hearts of those they love.  Lizz gave her family a forever gift of peace, teaching us all that even in our hardest moments, love has the power to carry us through.

In the face of unthinkable tragedy, Lizz chose connection over fear. Her gentle, loving spirit remains a beautiful reminder that no matter how vast the darkness may seem, the warmth of a simple "I love you" will always echo much louder.

From the authors of 'We Are Human Angels'

The unraveling of America's healthcare system

A tragic story here in Ohio that got me to thinking.  God rest that child and her grieving parents.  I don't even like to think about it.  But here's the thing.  

Most who ignore the news media are aware that death from medical malpractice is no small thing, and hasn't been for decades.  Whether it's getting worse proportionately or not, I don't know.  As much as we like to imagine that there is some treasure vault out there with a stat for everything that needs proven, it doesn't always work that way. 

Especially when something, like the medical community, is what I call the Priesthood of Privileged Professions.  Like academia in general, or education (public or higher), or the scientific community at large - at least the scientific community that toes the line.  Ever notice that these are professions or vocations that the news media will promote, but seldom if ever critique, no matter how bad things are or how many failures stack on failures? 

So that there is no small number of Americans who die from medical malpractice each year, though it is seldom mentioned, is not surprising.  Likewise, there are the growing problems with medical care in general.  We've seen it ourselves in recent years.

The last time my mom had a stroke while she was still living with us, my oldest son and I took her to the emergency room.  By then it was not the first stroke she had, and we were fast learning the symptoms.  But you couldn't get anyone there to say she was anything other than just old.  Maybe a UTI.  Both of us fired back and said dig deeper, it's a stroke.  My normally introverted oldest became almost angry, telling them we've seen stroke, we know stroke, this is a stroke.  After about ten minutes of back and forth the ER doctor, she finally agreed to run some tests in that direction and, would you believe it? 

But then a year earlier, she had a stroke, they knew she had a stroke, and she remained in her ER bed for over a day, because there was no room at the inn.  Or the hospital in that case.  And this isn't some Billy Bubba's Hospital and BBQ medical place either.  It's one of the premier hospitals in Ohio.  Yet they just didn't have the beds.  Finally they discharged her because, well, that was that.  They set up some homecare visits instead. There simply were no rooms. 

This is happening more and more as well.  Even critics of America's healthcare who pine for good old socialized medicine have conceded that the one area American healthcare did shine was speed of service.  While the legendary wait times in more socialized environments is a thing, in America it's one problem we didn't have.  Until now.  

My third son had a health emergency a year ago.  He went to the ER, and they patched him up, but told him to call his primary care provider ASAP.  So next day he did.  He explained the problem, what the ER said, and his provider's office said sure, they can get him in.  In about three weeks.  He explained he actually needed seen, you know, now.  But that was that.  They told him to go to a clinic or wait.  It made me think of this scene from Caddyshack: 

Or, are you sick?  I'm afraid we can't see you.  What?  That's what you're there for! 

I've experienced the same thing.  As have others.  I know some who have said it seems like the medical offices are just not invested in things like making you better anymore.  I'm sure it's not all like that. But there comes a time when you start thinking it can't just be our little corner of the world and everything else is just peachy. 

But it's this sort of thing that is under reported, if reported at all, that so many don't want to talk about, that more and more people are seeing and getting fed up with.  I know it's tough to think things are as bad as they seem.  We love the ones who say 'Democracy isn't collapsing, America isn't unraveling, why things always seem that way but it always works out!'.  

Yeah, they often do seem that way in this fallen world.  They always seem to be falling apart, going from bad to catastrophic, or on the edge of collapse.  And often it turns out things finally cross a bridge and pick back up.  But sometimes they don't.  Sometimes those yelling the sky is falling loud enough turn out to be vindicated when, in fact, the sky finally falls.  And we know from history, the sky will fall.  And if the good guys don't admit things are unraveling fast, the bad guys will be happy to step in and do something about it, even if it's all the wrong things. 

The Ohio State University continues to do dumb things

It was just announced that Senior Day for the Ohio State Buckeyes will be on the season opener. Traditionally and barring catastrophic incident, across all sports, 'Senior Day' is when senior athletes and their family/parents gather on the field or court at the end of the season to celebrate their last home game together.  It's one of those traditions you check each year, but a tradition that means something.  That 'last hurrah before we go our separate ways.' It's something I've seen done in every town and city and state I've lived in. 

Until now.  There is nothing about having that on the first home game of the season that means anything.  Because the players will return time and again for the rest of the year.  I mean, all it is now is saying 'Hi, we're the seniors this year, see you next week.'  If the argument is that it was only some old tradition we had to do, at least it meant something.  Now it's a tradition we have to do that means nothing.  There is no word on whether this is now permanent or not.  But we know how these things usually go.  

Despite the reasons given, virtually nobody believes that the driving force behind this isn't contracts with broadcast corporations and sponsors for the televised final home game - which happens to be against Michigan. College athletics is in a flux right now, and few sports have been hit harder by the 'make the students professional millionaires' (NIL: or Name, Image and Likeness) decision than college football. The sport has been flopping about like a goldfish on the living room carpet ever since they began trying to wrap up the season without the old Bowl series.  The 'money for important athletes' rule has merely torpedoed an already listing ship.

Now this.  An obligatory tradition that will still play out for no reason now except being an obligatory tradition, shorn of what heart and soul it possessed, most likely for the money.  It makes me think of the Mirror Lake debacle, which I mentioned here.  Long and short, in the 90s a 'tradition' emerged in which hopped up, drugged and drunk morons gathered to jump into the shallow waters of Mirror Lake.  For ages, that location was voted one of the most beautiful locations on any college campus in America. Nonetheless, that new trend kept up until the inevitable, when someone dove in and snapped his neck and died.  So naturally, instead of dropping the hammer on the practice, the OSU leadership gutted the entire location, turning it into a 'natural beauty area.'  Another way of saying 'just a pond that, half the year, looks like a fetid swamp instead.'  

Another fumble of worth I can think of was when OSU announced it would no longer give a shout  out during graduation to the students graduating with honors.  We wouldn't want those students who didn't achieve the highest grades to feel bad after all.  And the last thing we want to do is celebrate greatness or success.  

For me, things like this symbolize the dearth of worthwhile leadership in our nation as much as anything.  A leadership that seems capable of doing not much more than strip away everything meaningful and leave an empty husk of an institutional stamp in the wake. Sometimes I think all of our problems today are because of nothing more than the fact that our modern leaders suck. They're no good.  They're Barney Fife without the virtues.  It might be as simple as that.

The best time for being a grandparent

When you have a chance to watch all of your grandchildren together.  Of course there will likely be a numerical limit to that down the road.  But as of now, when the grand total of grandchildren able to be babysat is two, it's a go.  And a fun go at that. 

He has a sly smile as his sister looks up from coloring

He makes his move - to punch the book not color!

She surveys the damage as he tries to act indifferent

Happy grandma and uncle with the little'uns

By all accounts, our youngest is wonderful with the kids

Contrasts: One chilling baby, and the exuberance of running on a breezy summer day

On top of all the fun, it was decided over at the house to get some turkey legs and roast them along with some roasted spiced potatoes, leeks, and for dessert, a seed cake that would make Bilbo proud.  They figured what better way to kick off the approaching Fall season?  Though our third son wasn't available owing to work, we made sure to save him a plate.  All was right with the world.

The two oldest working the grill together

Enjoying the spoils and thoughts of the coming season