Bwa ha ha ha!

 For all you Michigan fans out there, from us Buckeyes:

Heh.  And now I can officially say I'm sick and tired of the whole 'Bernie Meme.'  It's time for it to go the way of the California Raisins.  

Sacred art in the Age of Sex

Fr. James Martin demonstrates:  

We call it the Sexual Revolution, but now it's just the Age of Sex.  That modern womenfolk have aborted pregnancies by the hundreds of millions, in addition to tens of millions dead from AIDS or ruined from a host of sex-related consequences has become a small price we're more than willing to pay for our libidos. 

The jaded, nihilistic sense of self-worthlessness that has arisen from this sex ethic has left our generation beyond the point of faithlessness.  That is why we so easily accepted the sudden notion that our worth in the eyes of the Thrice-Holy is largely dependent upon which demographic label has been affixed to us by the Leftist state. 

These things are not problems that arose overnight.  They are the product of a Church that veered left when it should have veered right in its dealings with the movements and developments in our modern age.  And not just recently, but for decades; perhaps generations. 

The Left's latest racial hygiene trick

He's seen Leftists who will turn you white

So it turns out that the latest fad among the emergent Left is 'whiteness.'  Think 'Jewishness' as it would have sounded in Germany during the 1930s.  It is a trigger word that basically means evil, wretched, racist, deplorable, stupid, oppressive, bigot, and a whole slew of unsavory labels.  

It follows the Left's primary thesis that the human race, being born with a moral blank slate, was generally pretty awesome - except for the Christian West and its bastard child America.  That's where all the nasty, unforgivable sins came from.  Sins like  sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, cis-bigotry, Islamaphobia, dogs and cats, living together, mass hysteria. 

Of course in recent years, especially following Obama's reelection in 2016, it's become fashionable to attach skin color to that appraisal.  It's not enough to say Christians or Americans, but white Christians, white Americans, white conservatives, white Evangelicals and so on.  The 'white' is the trigger word and is meant to conjure up the same sentiments Amon Goth had when he hear the word 'Jew.'  

Since Christians know the little secret about original sin in a fallen world, we know that Nazi Germany, not America at its finest, is the default, at-rest position for most of history, and not just European history. Therefore, since people will choose sin over righteousness as often as not, it's not surprising as our entire cultural framework shifts toward a new Jim Crow attitude aimed at the right skin color, that the majority of Americans, including politicians, filmmakers, poets and dreamers and, yes, Christian leaders, will jump on board.  Just as their forebears did waving Nazi flags and goose-stepping around Nuremberg all those years ago.

But there's a problem.  Basically this is just racism meant to drive wedges in society and marginalize those who buck the new Leftist State.  But fact is, not all who are resisting the Left are, well, white.  There are actually black Americans who have rejected the Left.  Some have said they no longer believe Democrats have their best interests in mind.  Some - and this is rough - actually supported Trump.  What to do about the narrative that Trump is White Supremacist, his supporters are White Nazis, and we must stop them at all cost?  

One way apparently is to continue the narrative that whiteness is a pox upon humanity in serious need of extermination.  That view is already sanctioned and promoted in and out of our halls of power.  Now just make the term more than about skin color, which it sort of already is.  After all, the main voices calling for the eradication of whiteness are usually good white liberals.  So clearly it's not just a 'skin color' thing.  Therefore it should take no effort at all to do this, to say whiteness now means failure to bow before the Leftist State whatever your skin color. 

You're a black American who has dared challenge the moral superiority and infallible efficacy of the Left?  Well, now you're an interracial whiteness type.  I'm not sure how they apply the label directly to individuals yet.  Basically it's using 'whiteness' the way 'communist' would have been used in the 1950s.  It doesn't have to be true.  It doesn't even have to make sense.  Just the threat of 'commie' might be enough to beat people down and eradicate dissent.   

Since, unlike McCarthy, the Left has the press, Hollywood, public and higher education, and not a few religious leaders on its side, it can do this now with impunity.  It doesn't have to make sense.  Nor should we sweat the fact that it sounds a lot like racism, and a racism that when applied to ethnic minorities, should be seen as demeaning and insulting.  That's because those who should call it out won't.  

Is it evil? Yes.  Is it racism? Yes.  Is it entirely contemptuous and does it display a deplorable lack of respect for ethnic minorities and their ability to think for themselves? Yes.  But this is the Left.  A heresy wrapped in a blasphemy promoting mass slaughter in order to sustain a porn culture through the AIDS pandemic, and delivering tyranny as the result.  What would we expect?  Except shock, perhaps, at just how many are fully behind this latest manifestation of humanity's woes, including many we imagined would never fall for such dribble.  

We only have a little time before future generations ask of conservatives today 

what we asked of Germans after WWII. 

It's time to say goodbye to the Lamb and Flag

So the news broke yesterday that the Lamb and Flag pub, made famous by Tolkien and Lewis and the gang, is closing for good.  Why?  Need we ask. Covid restrictions that have happily avoided doing anything but buttress corporate fortunes while obliterating endless millions of middle and lower class livelihoods, have struck again.  This is the first time in history that I'm aware of where the measures used to fight a pandemic will do harm to so many millions that will far outlive the pandemic itself. 

I can't even name from our area the number of small business owners and middle class entrepreneurs who have seen their dreams and fortunes dashed.  All while millionaires and billionaires videochat from their mansions about how important it is to sacrifice millions of shmucks heroes so that they can remain healthy millionaires and billionaires safe in their mansions. 

My boys also pointed out something I hadn't thought of.  They said that in recent years, things like pub crawls, pub Dungeons and Dragons, pub gatherings, and American versions of the same had become quite popular.  People turning away from the Big and Small Screens and actually finding ways to have fun with friends and acquaintances around a pint was helping the already struggling pub (and similar) industries mount a comeback.

Well, no more.  Those pastimes have almost died.  My sons, who are connoisseurs of modern pop culture with a finger on the pulse of the Fantasy/Sci-Fi world, have informed me that the latest D&D renaissance is floundering, in large part due to closing the stores and other venues where people were meeting to play.

And what is left?  Well, since you aren't supposed to mix and mingle, you stay home with the family and either have a stack of board games, or turn on the Big Screen and veg, staring at the entertainment industry's paltry offerings, laden with sponsors and propaganda, making them richer in the process.  In addition, you have no easy way to communicate except via digital social media, controlled by corporate tyrants almost proud to monitor, and even censor, wrong think and offensive discourse.  

Covid will go down as the human catastrophe that helped solidify the global oligarchy of modern corporatism.  At this point, I don't even think they bother pretending not to be doing what they're doing.  And what are they doing?  They're setting up a global market where millionaires can become billionaires, billionaires can become trillionaires, and most of the human race can get back to the hides and the cotton fields where they belong.  

A question for you political junkies out there

When did Executive Orders become the Fourth Branch of our government?  I know it's not Biden.  Nor Trump.  Nor was it Obama.  But somewhere, somehow, executive order anymore seems to be the way presidents get to impose their agendas by circumventing that pesky legislative process.  Perhaps I'm wrong, but it's a feeling I have.  And I don't think it's a good trend. 

Unity: A reflection

So we've heard all about unity over the last couple weeks.  Unity, unity, unity.  Well, by my lights, if you really want unity then you don't get to pick and choose when it's time for unity.  

Just my two cents worth. 

Meanwhile, from the chronicles of America's demise

A former football coach is still trying to get his job back.  

Why?  Because he committed the unpardonable sin of wanting to pray openly, rather than in a duly designated closet where the school told him to go.  Had he worn a dress or advocated gay sex or celebrated the extermination of tens of millions of pregnancies to sustain our porn culture through the AIDS pandemic, no doubt he would be athletic director by now.  Had he embraced the new Jim Crow and told his white students to grovel for mercy and beg forgiveness for their skin color, as my wife has had to do in her workplace, perhaps even principal.  If he had championed the a post-American global oligarchy driven by socialism and dreams of a communist paradise, I'm thinking superintendent, though that might be a bit much. 

Alas for him, he thought to freely exercise his religion by praying openly, and that was his big mistake.  Surely 1947 will go down in the history books as one of the most important years on the journey to America's death.  Given so many other failures and losses, that's quite an achievement.  Well done SCOTUS. 

A New Prolife Catholic passionately defends President Biden's pro-abortion crusade

Yep.  Not much to say really.  Those who believe we will stop abortion by giving people more money, well, there is that.  As Catholics, the solution can't be supporting contraception as a way of curbing abortion rates. I suppose there could be something biblical about thinking that the more money people have, the less they sin.  I'm betting it isn't that easy, however, and I personally believe it's our relationship to the Almighty and Jesus Christ that is the ultimate answer.  But that's me.  And the priest who spoke at our parish yesterday. 

I won't bother with unpacking the opinion piece itself.  I think most of the linked to blogpost speaks for itself.  Except to say that is Exhibit A for why I no longer get anywhere near his blog or anything he writes. I'm trying to keep my heart and mind on Jesus as best I can, and I'm sure that wouldn't help a bit. 

Saturday Morning Cartoons are coming back?

That would be nice, now that all but my youngest are beyond that age.  Though in fairness, how many of us watch those old cartoons when we can?  We bought the boys some DVD collections of Tom and Jerry and Bugs Bunny back in the day, but they must endure endless disclaimers of our moral superiority over those old timers who weren't enlightened enough to discuss arming teachers due to regular school shootings.  That's not how they frame the disclaimers of course, but think about it.

Nonetheless, they have to go through hoops like that and it does spoil the fun.  The DVDs even have the disclaimers - or mini-clips featuring Whoopi Goldberg - so you can't bypass them.  You must watch the righteous condemnation segment to get to the fun stuff. 

We have found a  streaming service - the only one we've purchased - that has some of the T&J and BB cartoons without any moral handwringing.  But those are only a set group of cartoons that haven't changed much in the year since we bought the service.  Fun though they are, you can only watch the same cartoons so many times before it wears thin.

So here's hoping.  My boys will probably all sit down with their youngest sibling and watch a few rounds with him when they're available to do so.  If they do, we'll be sure to bake up some Pillsbury cinnamon rolls and serve them with a glass of milk, just like I used do get back in the day.  All things considered, it wasn't a bad way to spend a Saturday morning. 

Biden is the Catholic President the modern Catholic Church deserves

Yep.  As the most prominent Catholic in the world aside from the Pope, his first days have been spent undoing most anything Trump did, including broadening the ability to abort pregnancies by the tens of millions in order to sustain our sex culture with a giant 'Catholics can do this and it's awesome' stamp.  

No, Catholics upset about this haven't been paying attention to our own Church.  This isn't Medieval or Renaissance problems with power hungry bishops and popes with concubines.  It's not where the basics are assumed by the masses, even if we have to watch out for the corrupt summoners.  

This is a point where a sizeable number of Church leaders, and a majority of Catholics in many parts of the world, simply no longer believe what the Church has taught for 2000 years. They don't believe in Christianity anymore.  Poll after poll finds that they don't believe the Eucharist is more than bread and wine.  They don't think the Trinity is anything but a Christian opinion about God (hence the easy ability to say things like 'Muslims worship the same God, no questions').  They don't believe in actual miracles, the Virgin Birth, or even the Resurrection. This doesn't count their complete support for the moral and social sins promoted by the secular world. 

In these things, when they speak of them at all, they sound more like agonistic and atheist skeptics than traditional Christians. Many just come out and say they don't believe it at all.  A friend of mine gave me a book on the Bible.  He wanted me to use it to do a lecture series at his parish.  Priest though he was, and rather conservative at that, I was stunned when I read through the text.  It was as 'critical scholarship' as any atheist ever proposed, rejecting almost everything except the Resurrection and the Virgin Birth.  The whole Old Testament was reduced to Peter Pan and Harry Potter.  He even accepted the rather recent development in skeptical scholarship that most of the New Testament was written centuries after the fact, the Church merely lied about their dates to buttress the idea of apostolic authorship.  And from what I could tell, the author himself wasn't some flaming leftist liberal type!

That's the Church today.  Everything it does - like most Mainline Protestants and a growing number of mainstream evangelicals - screams WE DON'T REALLY BELIEVE IT EITHER!  And the world is watching and the young are hearing loud and clear.  Oh they may appreciate the constant acquiescing to the modern nihilism and narcissism satiated only by meaningless sex and jaded hedonism.  But they also see that Christians running about with all those prayers on their lips don't believe it any more than they believe there was some big war in a galaxy far, far away.  

After all, if the distinction of the modern Church is how freely it will change its teachings to keep up with the latest Jonses, people begin to assume any other teachings not yet changed are nonetheless up for grabs.  And that might even include rethinking the very existence of a God.  Hence the gushing numbers of people abandoning the faith and and leaving it once and for all. 

Speaking of Ohio Winters

 There are always those wonderful winter nights:

That was actually from last year, on one of the full moon nights after ice accumulation preceding the snow.  I think around Christmas, but before Covid.  It just looks cold, but the good kind of cold you see before going in, sitting down next to the fireplace with a nice cup of English breakfast tea, and staring out at the snow.  

Now this made me laugh

 I'm sure we've all seen the millions of Bernie memes since Wednesday, but this one got me: 

Friday Frivolity: Winter in the Buckeye State

Some scenes from this year's snows

These pictures are what I think of when I think of winter in Ohio.  We in Ohio are blessed with many things, but consistent weather is not one of them.  Unless you like randomness, there are better places in the country to live weather-wise.  It's nothing to have rain, snow, sunshine, fog and clear skies in a 24 hour period.  On the flip side, however, that means if you like one particular season more than the other, you might just get your wish many times throughout the year at the most random moments. 

For us cold weather types, we might have to make it through the odd Indian Summer or warming trends even as we were building snowmen the day before.  As a general rule, we don't typically get your big Northeast (or even northern Midwest) winters.  Except for the areas north of Akron/Canton and along the lake, our winters are typically of a milder sort.  Only rarely will we see the foot or more of snow sustained for months on end.  Even when I was young and - yes, it's true - winters were generally colder and longer than today, the snow was usually measured in inches most of the time.  

So when I think of winter, I think of light snows.  An inch or two perhaps.  I don't expect trees weighed down by tons of thick snow like a Currier and Ives greeting card.  Instead there will be a slight dusting of the branches.  Just enough to say 'winter.'  

Because I'm in central Ohio, we have farms and fields aplenty.  Therefore it isn't snowcapped mountains, or even rolling hills, but endless acres of fields colored white.  But it isn't Kansas or Nebraska either.  The fields, especially compared to our more western brethren, tend to be smaller and more compact, usually broken by lines of trees or small woods scattered here and there.  As you look out on fields, you'll always see behind them some tree line, mostly coniferous, but the odd pinewoods can sometimes be visible. 

Streams and brooks also make their way through and around the fields.  Outside of deserts, you expect to see a fair share of rivers and waterways anywhere you go.  But Ohio seems to have them in large numbers, and no walk through the fields or woods will last long before you have to navigate some small brook or rivulet.  Even then, while small, these little watercourses make for splendid scenery, especially when the snow dusted branches bend down over the picture.  

So that's winter for us Buckeyes.  There are other parts of Ohio, in the rolling hills of Southeastern Ohio near the mining regions, or in the northwest, closer to the lake effects of Erie and Michigan.  But for most of my life, it's been around the agricultural central regions that colors the images of my winter thinking. 

St. Agnes' Eve

Just a nice read on this feast of St. Agnes, for times such as these: 

Deep on the convent-roof the snows Are sparkling to the moon: My breath to heaven like vapour goes: May my soul follow soon! The shadows of the convent-towers Slant down the snowy sward, Still creeping with the creeping hours That lead me to my Lord: Make Thou my spirit pure and clear As are the frosty skies, Or this first snowdrop of the year That in my bosom lies. As these white robes are soil'd and dark, To yonder shining ground; As this pale taper's earthly spark, To yonder argent round; So shows my soul before the Lamb, My spirit before Thee; So in mine earthly house I am, To that I hope to be. Break up the heavens, O Lord! and far, Thro' all yon starlight keen, Draw me, thy bride, a glittering star, In raiment white and clean. He lifts me to the golden doors; The flashes come and go; All heaven bursts her starry floors, And strows her lights below, And deepens on and up! the gates Roll back, and far within For me the Heavenly Bridegroom waits, To make me pure of sin. The sabbaths of Eternity, One sabbath deep and wide-- A light upon the shining sea-- The bridegroom with his bride! Alfred, Lord Tennyson

The National Press reacts to President Biden's Inauguration:

 

I wonder how Jesus will fill his days

Now that President Biden has been sworn in.   Why, even Pope Francis, in stark contrast to his ripping into Trump, has been all grins, smiles, giggles and laughs with his helping hand extended to the new administration.  Thank goodness the Vatican and right thinking Catholic leaders stepped in to mitigate any damage caused by USCCB president Gomez's all too harsh statement on Biden's pro-abortion/sex culture priorities.  Whew.  That was close. 

Remember all those old books and movies about how Catholic bishops and popes ever and only cared about sucking up to the powerful lords, princes and kings back in the day?  Remember all the stories about how the Catholic leaders preferred a world where God made kings and bishops and oppressed peasants to grovel before them?   Remember all those tales about how Catholic leaders were willing to turn a blind eye to, or heck, embrace, the evil as long as they got invited to the next big feast? Yeah, so do I.  

I think I'll go and watch The Mission.  It's a reminder that only fools trust Catholic leadership when it comes to meddling in the rock'em, sock'em world of earthly politics.  Especially during tumultuous times such as these. 

The dumbest headline of the year

And that's saying something.  Headlines, we all know, are usually written by someone other than the journalist who wrote the article.  Therefore, it may not be the journalist's fault if the headline is misleading, false or dumb.  But whoever is responsible for this has some explaining to do:

Katie Couric's 'condescending, elitist' remarks calling to 'deprogram' GOP retires journo (journalist) label, crisis say.

Who in the world ever thought she was an objective journalist?  That's like  believing in the Loch Ness Monster.  Who watched her over any amount of time and concluded she was being fair and objective?  For that matter, who watches or reads anything today and concludes they're dealing with a media that reports, rather than makes, the news?  I mean, does anyone ever believe the media any more?  I mused on that here.  

Local news still isn't so bad and, depending on the outlet, there appears some attempt among some of our regional newscasts to at least maintain the illusion of objective journalism.  Most mainstream, national outlets have long put that down.  

Papers, such as they are, act mostly as published marketing material for secularism, socialism and the political Left.  We won't even discuss the morning news shows.  The old daytime talk shows were  more objective.  The evening news casts seem to be about where cable news was a decade ago.  

So a headline that acts like there is even such a thing as objective journalism would itself be a knee slapper.  But even twenty years ago, when there was still some notion that journalism and objectivity were not like kosher ham, Ms. Couric was a glaring exception.  Everyone knew her biases because she wore them on her sleeve and reported and interviewed accordingly - much to the cheers of the critics and 'objective' journalists of the day. 

Biden is now President Biden

And Never Trumpers everywhere rejoice:

As for me, I follow the old John Wayne rule: I didn't vote for him, but he's my president.  And I mean that, not like those who said it about Trump the morning after the 2016 election and by that night were calling for the entire electoral process to be burned to the ground. 

Likewise, I won't do to him what the Left, press, Democrats, Hollywood and most of Corporate America did to Trump and, in some ways, Trump's supporters.  Not only on principled grounds, but because I'm not stupid. As Trump learned all too well, if you're a leftist calling our election rigged, expect the might of the mass media to be on your side.  If you're not, and you're a right winger calling our election rigged, expect the might of the mass media to be against you.  Same with anything at this point.

I intend to oppose the Biden administration on the key issues, which probably means most things.  But I won't play the Left's game since the Left can make or break the rules as it sees fit.  I will, as I'm commanded to do, pray for the Biden administration.  But I plan on being wise as serpents on this one, not stupid like stupid people.  I'm not blind to what is happening.  The world teeters on the brink of a new epoch in its history, and it won't include  many things we've long taken for granted.  In some Lovecraftian sense, it will be a complete flip upside down of everything we assume to be real, true and good.  Furthermore, it will take on a global mandate since that is where we're heading, with the support of most power-players, including the Pope. 

So there you go.  That's where things stand as I see them, FWIW.  He's my president, I'll pray he do right by his office, I won't be stupid and play the Left's games, or be a coward and play the Never Trumper games.  I'll try to keep one foot on the ground and one ready kick the dust off as need be.  

Democrats blaming Trump for our divided nation

Is like Ernest T. Bass blaming Sheriff Taylor for all the broken windows in Mayberry.  

Just a thought as I watched one newscast after another this morning reporting on today's inauguration, and parroting 100% the Left's perspective that our divisions are because of Trump.  

I've watched that little trick for more than 30 years.  The Left's whole 'Now that we've won, we want unity ... so stop being divisive and admit you're a Nazi' shtick has more than worn thin.  The only thing worse is that it's now accepted dogma by not only the press, but almost everyone, including our religious and even conservative leadership. 

It's either cowardliness or stupidity, I'm not sure which.  But either way, it doesn't bode well for the coming era. 

Are they only Christians?

I had to dig deep to find this, a story reporting the massacre of over 700 Christians at an Ethiopian Church.  I did a general such for Ethiopia, Ethiopian Christians, and even attack in Ethiopia, and found nothing.  I had to type 'Ethiopian Church Massacre' to find anything.  And then the sources I have found are basically Christian, and a few general religious, publications. 

We all know after the horrible mosque shooting in New Zealand that such things are covered by the international press.  Heck, the entire world came to a halt with that one.  Likewise, following the attack against Christians in Sri Lanka that no doubt had nothing to do with New Zealand, the international media covered it and warned us of the inevitable Islamphobic backlash that never happened.  So it isn't as if there is some standard about not covering such assaults on religious communities.

But this is all I've found.  Maybe it's wrong and there was no such massacre.  We can only pray.  If there was, we may never know.  Remember, there is no more journalism.  Propaganda tells us what it wants us to know, not what we need to know. 

In the meantime lift up our hearts and prayers to the Lord, that whatever happened is revealed, and God cover the hearts and minds of those impacted with his love through Jesus Christ.