Monday, June 30, 2014

Conundrum

The definition of the word Conundrum is: something that is puzzling or
confusing.

Here are six Conundrums of socialism in the United States of America:

1. America is capitalist and greedy - yet half of the population is subsidized.

2. Half of the population is subsidized - yet they think they are victims.

3. They think they are victims - yet their representatives run the government.

4. Their representatives run the government - yet the poor keep getting poorer.

5. The poor keep getting poorer - yet they have things that people in
other countries only dream about.

6. They have things that people in other countries only dream about -
yet they want America to be more like those other countries.

Think about it! And that, my friends, pretty much sums up the USA in
the 21st Century.

Makes you wonder who is doing the math.

These three, short sentences tell you a lot about the direction of our
current government and cultural environment:

1. We are advised to NOT judge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few
lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions
of a few lunatics. Funny how that works.

And here's another one worth considering...

2. Seems we constantly hear about how Social Security is going to run
out of money. How come we never hear about welfare or food stamps
running out of money? What's interesting is the first group "worked
for" their money, but the second didn't. Think about it.....

and Last but not least,

3. Why are we cutting benefits for our veterans, no pay raises for our
military and cutting our army to a level lower than before WWII, but
we are not stopping the payments or benefits to illegal aliens.

Am I the only one missing something?
 



June 27: It Could Happen

Today, Catholics of the Western tradition celebrate the Feast of the Sacred Heart.

Outside of devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary, there is none more popular or more identified with the traditional piety of Catholic life than this feast, occurring on Friday of the week following the Feast of Corpus Christi. It was on that earlier feast when a Novena to the Sacred Heart would begin, culminating in the Mass and Office of today.

“Christ’s open side and the mystery of blood and water were meditated upon, and the Church was beheld issuing from the side of Jesus, as Eve came forth from the side of Adam. It is in the eleventh and twelfth centuries that we find the first unmistakable indications of devotion to the Sacred Heart. Through the wound in the side, the wound Heart was gradually reached, and the wound in the Heart symbolized the wound of love.” (1917 Catholic Encyclopedia)

There were various monastic communities who took up the devotion, but the real tip of the biretta has always gone to St Margaret Mary Alacoque (1647-90), a Visitation nun who had a vision. While praying before the Blessed Sacrament, she saw Our Lord with his heart beating openly, and the sight of it all sent her into a spell of ecstasy.  “He disclosed to me the marvels of his Love and the inexplicable secrets of his Sacred Heart.” To say the least.

A common practice in many Catholic homes until the mid-20th century (including mine), was the "Enthronement of the Sacred Heart," in which the family placed the appropriate image of Christ on the wall, and together recited the necessary prayers, pledging the consecration of the family and the home to Him, in return for special graces.  Fisheaters has a good explanation of the whole she-bang, just in case it makes a comeback.

It could happen.
 


How To Keep Witches Away

It is customary to gather St. John’s Wort (Hypericum perforatum) on today’s Feast of St. John’s Birthday - June 24.  

”Wort” is from Old English wyrt (German Würze), which means “plant”, but is used mostly in compounds.  Since ancient times “singent’s wort” was known to relieve melancholy or depression, as does borage… which every garden should have.  It would be hung above doors, windows and sacred images (hence the hyper-icum ”above image”) to keep witches and evil spirit away.  Burning those witches might have something to do with its effectiveness as well, now that I think about it.


Oh! And eat some snails.  It is a Roman custom to eat snails on the Feast of John the Baptist.

June 23: St. John's Eve

Remember to burn a witch tonight.    If you don’t have a witch or a bonfire, you should at least honor the day by smoking a cigar . . .

For the Vigil of St. John (today, as I write) in the old Roman Ritual the priest would once bless bonfires!
And in Bavaria, witches are burned!  A priest friend who shares my feast sent me a spiffing photo (below – a little hard to see at this size, but I assure you, there is a witch in there):
If you have any unwanted witches, send them to Bavaria next year for a nice vacation.
In other places, cast-off or unneeded things are burned… in a way parallel, I suppose, to throwing things away at the other end of the year after the Winter Solstice.
This is custom calls to mind that many places celebrated the feasts of saints with great festivity.
In any event, have a nice bonfire!  The evening is about as long as the year can offer, so a great party could be had well into the night with much cooking in the open and revelry.
The blessing for the bonfire is beautiful.  After the usual introduction, the priest would bless the fire saying:
Lord God, almighty Father, the light that never fails and the source of all light, sanctify + this new fire, and grant that after the darkness of this life we may come unsullied to you who are light eternal; through Christ our Lord. All: Amen.

At this point the fire is sprinkled with holy water and everyone sings the hymn Ut quaent laxis which is also the Vespers hymn.
It is almost as if the fire, and our celebration, is baptized.
Build a fire tonight, even if you can’t burn a witch, and sing something in honor of St. John!  I will enjoy cigars, I think, and maybe burn some old personal records I no longer need … and think about witches.


Night on Bald Mountain

Do you remember these scary images from your youth?


Mussorgsky's (1839-81) Night on Bald Mountain was actually titled St. John’s Night on the Bare Mountain.

St. John’s Night, or St. John’s Eve, is the night before the Feast of St. John which happens to fall around the summer solstice. Eastern Europeans have long celebrated it with a mixture of pagan trick-or-treat traditions and religious observances and bonfires.

The first version appeared in 1867 and was revised around 1872 and again in 1880. In this last version he added a hauntingly beautiful quiet ending in which a church bell announces the dawn and daybreak chases away the evil spirit.

Night on Bald Mountain has remained an audience favorite ever since its appearance in Walt Disney’s landmark movie, Fantasia.



June 23:  Happy Midsummer’s Eve!   Happy St. John’s Eve!   Happy St. John’s Night!


June 24:  Happy Saint John’s Birth Day!   Happy St. John’s Feast Day!


It Started In Belgium

Happy Feast of Corpus Christi

In 1246, Robert of Thourotte, Bishop of Liège, Belgium, had instituted in his diocese the feast now known as Corpus Christi at the request of an Augustinian nun Juliana of Cornillon, who composed an office for it.  In 1264, Pope Urban IV ordered the feast of the Body of Christ to be celebrated as a holy day of obligation for the universal Church on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday and accepted the texts by the Angelic Doctor for the Mass and office.

At the request of an Augustinian nun, Juliana of Cornillon, in 1246 the Bishop of Liège, Robert of Thourotte, instituted in his diocese a feast now known as Corpus Christi.  A few years later, following a great Eucharistic miracle in which a priest suffering doubts witnessed a Host become flesh and bleed on the linen corporal, Pope Urban IV n 1264 ordered the feast of the Body of Christ to be celebrated by the universal Church on the Thursday after Trinity Sunday.  The Angelic Doctor, St Thomas Aquinas (d 1274), composed the feast’s Mass and Office. 

The Collect for today’s Mass, also used during Benediction, was assumed into the 1570 Missale Romanum.  It has remained unchanged:

O God, who in this wonderful Sacrament have left us a memorial of your Passion, grant us, we pray, so to revere the sacred mysteries of your Body and Blood that we may always experience in ourselves the fruits of your redemption.

Where do you put your car keys at night?

Put your car keys beside your bed at night.

Tell your spouse, your children, your neighbors, your parents, your Dr's office, the check-out girl at the market, everyone you run across. Put your car keys beside your bed at night....

If you hear a noise outside your home or someone trying to get in your house, just press the panic button for your car. The alarm will be set off, and the horn will continue to sound until either you turn it off or the car battery dies.

This tip came from a neighborhood watch coordinator. Next time you come home for the night and you start to put your keys away, think of this: It's a security alarm system that you probably already have and requires no installation. Test it. It will go off from most everywhere inside your house and will keep honking until your battery runs down or until you reset it with the button on the key fob chain. It works if you park in your driveway or garage.

If your car alarm goes off when someone is trying to break into your house, odds are the burglar/rapist won't stick around. After a few seconds, all the neighbors will be looking out their windows to see who is out there and sure enough the criminal won't want that. And remember to carry your keys while walking to your car in a parking lot. The alarm can work the same way there. This is something that should really be shared with everyone. Maybe it could save a life or a sexual abuse crime.

P.S. I am sending this to everyone I know because I think it is fantastic. Would also be useful for any emergency, such as a heart attack, where you can't reach a phone. My Mom has suggested to my Dad that he carry his car keys with him in case he falls outside and she doesn't hear him. He can activate the car alarm and then she'll know there's a problem.

Please pass this on even IF you've read it before. It's a reminder.

Vincent

Vincent (Starry Starry Night) by Don McLean



Friday, June 13, 2014

Little Spat on the Perry

This makes me want to vote for him in 2016. . .
Little Spat on the Perry
Notice to you Bible Believers:  You must renounce your religious beliefs and praise the 3% who practice homosexual sodomy!

Everything's bigger in Texas -- including political scrutiny. If anyone knows that, it's Texas Governor Rick Perry. The longtime Lone Star has taken his share of lumps from the press, despite a popular 14-year run that positioned the state as one of the most financially solvent in the country. Regardless of Texas's success, the media isn't eager to cut the former presidential candidate any slack -- as evidenced by this week's ridiculous overreaction to Perry's statement on homosexuality.

Speaking in San Francisco of all places, the Governor was asked about the decision by state Republicans to support reparative therapy for people with unwanted same-sex attractions. Never one to back away from the issue, Governor Perry made an argument liberals despise -- that homosexual behavior is a choice.

"Whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not, you have the ability to decide not to do that," he told the audience. "I may have the genetic coding that I'm inclined to be an alcoholic, but I have the desire not to do that, and I look at the homosexual issue the same way." While not everyone might have used that comparison, the underlying message is an important one: people are responsible for their behavior, regardless of their sexual preferences. Of course, that sends the Left into a blind rage because it implies that homosexuality is, as science suggests, about conduct -- not identity. If it's about conduct, then people can control it. Liberals would rather debate homosexuality as inborn so they can make all the convenient comparisons to civil rights and demand acceptance. In reality, the research does not show that anyone is "born gay" and instead explains homosexuality through a complex mix of developmental factors.

Obviously, homosexual attractions are not a "choice" in the vast majority of cases. But it should be insulting to people with same-sex attractions to claim that they're compelled to act on those attractions. Homosexual or heterosexual, people are responsible for their conduct. Have we come to the point that we are nothing more than our sexual urges? And that's essentially the point Governor Perry was trying to make. But unfortunately for him, there's no room for an honest conversation in Obama's America.

On Thursday, the Governor's office sent out a simple statement reaffirming its commitment to marriage and natural sexuality. "The Governor supports traditional marriage and believes that marriage is between one man and one woman. He has been clear on his position that each state has the right to define marriage to reflect the views of its citizens." Much as liberals despise that little thing called the First Amendment, Governor Perry has the freedom to have that opinion -- even if it isn't politically correct. And there are millions of Americans that are glad he isn't afraid to voice it.

Tony Perkins
Family Research Council




Laurie Dhue - Idiot

I used to love watching Laurie Dhue on Fox News before she was fired for being an alcoholic.
Now she is a recovering alcoholic working for Glen Beck.
She doesn’t like Rick Perry for saying that homosexual behavior is a choice just like getting drunk is a choice.   She is outraged by his Christian beliefs that sodomy is wrong and a choice.
She is an immoral idiot.   Glen Beck should fire her.  

With apologies to Ricky Ricardo, Rick Perry — you’ve got some ‘splainin’ to do.
When asked at a news conference in San Francisco (of all places) Wednesday night whether he thought homosexuality was a disorder, this is how the Texas governor responded:
“I don’t know, I don’t. I’m not a psychiatrist, I’m not a doctor… I wrote a book called ‘On My Honor’ and I talked about that people make choices in life and, um, whether or not you, whether or not you feel compelled to follow a particular lifestyle or not you have the ability to decide not to do that. And I made the point of talking about alcoholism. I may have the genetic coding that I’m inclined to be an alcoholic. But I have the desire not to do that. And I look at the homosexual issue the same way.”

Whew, I sure am glad he clarified that he’s not a doctor. There was reportedly an audible gasp in the audience after he made his proclamation. I myself also gasped, albeit inwardly, when I read the story.




I hope she reads all the comments on her article that overwhelming against her stupid reasoning and acceptance of sodomy as something wonderful.

A Travesty Of Justice

Remember early in the Afghanistan War when that former Marine and CIA agent was killed by a group of prisoners taken in Afghanistan?  
Guess who killed him and guess who Obama just released from GITMO?
What did we ever do to deserve Obama and his evil minions?

Alison Spann was only 9 years old when she was told the devastating news that her hero father had become the first American killed in the war in Afghanistan. What she found out 13 years later about the man reportedly behind the death of her father, a former U.S. Marine and a CIA operative interviewing prisoners in Afghanistran, left her in “shock.”
The man who is reportedly responsible for Johnny Michael “Mike” Spann’s death is Mullah Mohammad Fazi. If the name sounds familiar, it’s because he is one of the five Taliban commanders that President Barack Obama recently released from Guantanamo Bay in exchange for Army Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl.
“My initial reaction was shock. I was shocked that our president would release five of the most high-risk prisoners being held in Guantanamo in exchange for one American,” Spann told FoxNews.com. “As a whole, my family was extremely upset and saddened that our government would do something like this, especially in light of the fact that it seems that people in the intelligence community are fairly united in their belief that these terrorists are likely to seek to further harm Americans in the future.”

Mike Spann was killed during a prisoner uprising at a compound in northern Afghanistan on Nov. 25, 2011. Mullah Mohammad Fazi was the “unquestioned leader of the prisoners at the compound,” according to FoxNews.com.

Spann said it’s “become harder and harder to have faith in an administration that is plagued with scandal after scandal.” She also dismissed claims that the released Taliban commanders may not return to the battlefield.
“You cannot release someone of such a high caliber within the Taliban community and expect him to suddenly emerge as a peaceful being. I would think now more than ever after being detained in Gitmo that he would seek revenge on America,” she said.
While she’s not willing to make a judgement on Bergdahl yet, Spann said she does not agree with the POW swap and argued that the “implications from this decision will be seen in the near future.”




Best Airport Video in Las Vegas

This Guy Got Stuck Overnight in an Airport So He Made a Music Video About It


After being bumped off two consecutive flights, Richard Dunn had a choice: stay at a nearby hotel for a few measly hours or stay at the airport until his 6 am flight the next morning. Dunn opted for the latter, making the most of his alone time by filming a glorious music video to the Celine Dion version of the Eric Carmen classic, “All by Myself”.

And how did he get those all those amazing tracking shots and camera angles with just his iPhone? Dunn explains:

“I had a person behind a ticket counter give me a roll of luggage tape before she left. I then used a wheel chair that had a tall pole on the back of it and taped my iPhone to that. Then I would put it on the moving walkway for a dolly shot. I also used the extended handle on my computer bag and taped the iPhone to my handle. I would tuck different stuff under the bag to get the right angle. For the escalator shot I had to sprint up the steps after I got my shot so the computer bag didn’t hit the top and fall back down. Quite fun!”


Hispanic Leaders Speak Out

Several Democrat leaders have recently stated that Obama will sign an (illegal) executive order and grant amnesty to illegals on Independence Day, July 4.
Will American citizens rise up against such an outrage?   Will the Republicans in Congress have the courage to start impeachment proceedings?  

HISPANIC  LEADERS SPEAK OUT
 
Augustin  Cebada,  Brown Berets; "Go back to  Boston!   Go back to Plymouth Rock, Pilgrims!  Get out!  We are  the  future.  You are old and tired.  Go on.  We   have beaten you.  Leave like beaten rats -you old white people.  It is your duty to die. Through  love of having children, we are going to take over.
 
Richard Alatorre,  Los Angeles City Council. "They're  afraid we're  going to take over the governmental  institutions and other institutions. They're  right. We will take them over . .We are here to stay." 

Excelsior, the national newspaper of Mexico, "The American Southwest seems to be slowly returning to the jurisdiction of Mexico without firing a single shot." 

Professor  Jose Angel Gutierrez, University of  Texas; "We have an aging  white  America. They  are not making babies.  They are  dying. The explosion is in our population .... I love  it. They are shitting in their pants with fear. I love  it."

 Art Torres, Chairman of the  California Democratic Party, "Remember 187--proposition to deny taxpayer  funds for services to non-citizens--was the  last gasp of white   America in  California."

Gloria  Molina, Los Angeles County Supervisor, "We are politicizing every  single one of these new citizens that are becoming citizens of this  country..... I gotta tell you that a lot of people are  saying, "I'm  going to go out there and vote because I want  to pay them  back." 

Mario Obledo,   California Coalition of Hispanic Organizations and  California State  Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare under Governor Jerry Brown,  also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill  Clinton, "California is going to be a Hispanic state.  Anyone who  doesn't like it should leave." 

Jose  Pescador Osuna, Mexican Consul General, "We are practicing 'La  Reconquista' in  California." 

Professor  Fernando  Guerra,  Loyola Marymount    University; "We need to avoid a white backlash by using codes understood by Latinos . . .  "
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


WHEN I WAS YOUNG:
When I was young, I  remember hearing about the immigrants that came through Ellis Island. They wanted  to learn  English. They wanted to breathe free. They wanted to become Americans. Now too many  immigrants come here with demands. They demand to be  taught in their own language. They demand  special  privileges--affirmative action.  They demand ethnic studies that glorify their culture.
~~~~~~~~~~~

HOW CAN  YOU  HELP?:
Send copies of this email to at least ten  other people, 100 would be even better.  Help  us get the word  out.
 
 Remember, when you vote that we need someone in the White House who will balance the  budget and control  illegal immigration. If we make all illegals legal, then we have lost our country forever. Liberalism will have won and you will have a one party system forever.  Redistribution of wealth will be the law. It is  called socialism. Our  country is heading in the wrong direction  and we are doing it to ourselves without serious protest.

 ALL  AMERICANS SHOULD BE DISTURBED, VERY DISTURBED  BY  THIS.  WHAT A SHAME THAT NOT ENOUGH  AMERICANS HAVE THE  BACKBONE TO STAND UP AND  SAY,  "ENOUGH IS ENOUGH".  IT IS  TIME  WE TOOK OUR COUNTRY BACK!

If you are too politically correct  to pass this on then you, my friend, are America's biggest  problem.


Canadian Oil

Hmm... this is 'interesting'.
Kind of adds a little 'dimension' to the topic-, like "the Rest of the Story".
Kind of tarnishes the 'environmental' platform!

Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad owns all of the rail lines in the US
connecting to western Canada, and they haul 80%+ of the crude from Canada
to the Midwest and Texas, or charge other Short Line railroads a fee to use their tracks.
 BNSF charges $30 per barrel to haul the oil, where the Keystone would cost $10
by the State Departments own estimates.

 BNSF is owned by Berkshire-Hathaway whose chairman is Warren Buffet.

In the last 2 election cycles, Buffet gave extensively to Democrat causes and candidates,
including $40K+ to Obama in 2012. He also bundled and hosted numerous fundraisers for Obama.

If anyone here believes the pipeline isn't being blocked by Obama on Buffets behalf, you're nuts.

Buffet could stand to lose $2B+ a year if the pipeline goes in, and he makes the same amount every year it's delayed.

This is crony capitalism at its finest, and what is making people mad at our government and capitalist system.



Who wrote the song "Precious Lord"?



Who  wrote the song "Precious Lord"? I was very surprised to find out who it  was.

THE BIRTH OF THE HYMN "PRECIOUS LORD"   
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xn8RpQyX4M

Back in  1932, I was a fairly new husband. My wife, Nettie and I were living in a  little apartment on Chicago 's south side. One hot August afternoon I had  to go to St. Louis where I was to be the featured soloist at a large  revival meeting. I didn't want to go; Nettie was in the last month of  pregnancy with our first child, but a lot of people were expecting me in  St. Louis . I kissed Nettie goodbye, clattered downstairs to our Model A  and, in a fresh Lake Michigan breeze, chugged out of Chicago on Route  66.

However, outside the city, I discovered that in my anxiety  at leaving, I had forgotten my music case. I wheeled around and headed  back..

I found Nettie sleeping peacefully. I hesitated by her  bed; something was strongly telling me to stay But eager to get on my  way, and not wanting to disturb Nettie, I shrugged off the feeling and  quietly slipped out of the room with my music.

The next night,  in the steaming St. Louis heat, the crowd called on me to sing again and  again. When I finally sat down, a messenger boy ran up with a Western  Union telegram. I ripped open the envelope....

Pasted on the  yellow sheet were the words:

YOUR WIFE JUST  DIED.

People were happily singing and clapping around me, but I  could hardly keep from
crying out. I rushed to a phone and called home.  All I could hear on the other end was "Nettie is dead. Nettie is  dead.'"

When I got back, I learned that Nettie had given birth  to a boy. I swung between
grief and joy. Yet that same night, the baby  died. I buried Nettie and our little boy together, in the same casket. 
Then I fell apart. For days I closeted myself. I felt that God had done me  an injustice. I didn't want to serve Him anymore or write gospel songs I  just wanted to go back to that jazz
world I once knew so well.. But  then, as I hunched alone in that dark apartment
those first sad days, I  thought back to the afternoon I went to St. Louis ..

Something  kept telling me to stay with Nettie. Was that something God? Oh, if  I
had paid more attention to Him that day, I would have stayed and been  with Nettie when she died.

>From that moment on I vowed to  listen more closely to Him. But still I was lost
in grief. Everyone was  kind to me, especially one friend. The following Saturday evening he took  me up to Maloney's Poro College , a neighborhood
music school. It was  quiet; the late evening sun crept through the curtained  windows.

I sat down at the piano, and my hands began to browse  over the keys. Something
happened to me then. I felt at peace. I felt  as though I could reach out and touch God. I found myself playing a  melody. Once in my head they just seemed to fall into place: 'Precious  Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand, I am tired, I am weak, I am  worn, through the storm, through the night, lead me on to the light, take  my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.'

The Lord gave me these  words and melody, He also healed my spirit. I learned that when we are in  our deepest grief, when we feel farthest from God, this is when He is  closest, and when we are most open to His restoring power.

And  so I go on living for God willingly and joyfully, until that day comes  when He will take me and gently lead me home.

- - - -Tommy  Dorsey

For those too young to know who he is, Tommy Dorsey was  a well-known band leader in the 1930's and 40's.

Did you know  that Tommy Dorsey wrote this song? I surely didn't. What a wonderful story  of how God CAN heal the brokenhearted! Beautiful, isn't  it?

Worth the reading, wasn't it? Think on the message for a  while.

Thought you might like to share this, I just  did!

 

How The USA Is Echoing The French Revolution

Following the example of the bloodthirsty radicals of the French Revolution who despised religion, American secular progressives (Democrats) have embraced the secular virtues of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity at the expense of the theological virtues of Faith, Hope, and Charity.   As in France, those who don’t go along with the progressive agenda must be punished . . .

Liberty, Equality and Fraternity: Those Three Impostors

. . . Echoing the anthems of the French Revolution, the progressives in America have embraced Liberty, Equality and Fraternity as the only virtues.
Consequently Liberty now means every man must be allowed to do whatever he pleases as long as he harms no one. What everyone misses is that this is the motto of the Satanists: “Do as you please, but harm none.”

The obsession with Equality (marriage equality, income equality) has been become an aggressive attack on any person who in any way might just possibly be racist, homophobic, misogynistic or just plan unkind in any conceivable way. Such individuals must be isolated, ostracized, punished and persecuted by the crowd howling for equality. Equality has become, as it was in the French Revolution, not just a mob rule, but a mob rampage.

Fraternity is not the fond embrace of one’s fellow man, but an indolent acceptance of every other person without discernment of character or recognition of accomplishment. For the modern progressive “Fraternity” is an obliteration of personality, a dumbing down of individual ideas and a leveling of the population so that everyone becomes a cipher, a comrade, a drone and a drudge. . .
The theological virtues, on the other hand, balance and empower the lesser virtues of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Liberty is balanced by Faith for Faith is the implicit trust and relationship with the Other while Liberty is the individualistic assertion of oneself. Hope inspires Equality because Hope longs for a future fulfillment of the self instead of grasping at a superficial equality that never satisfies. Charity balances the longing for Fraternity by replacing a bland, self-serving comradeship with bold, self-sacrificial love.

The conservative sees what is good in Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, but sees within these secular virtues a deeper and more original good. The theological virtues are supernatural gifts that inspire and empower not the Liberty, Equality and Fraternity of revolution, but the true Freedom that comes from Faith, the Fulfillment of the Individual and the Fire of Divine Love that purifies and transforms both the human soul and human society.




#1 Superfood


Anyone who’s paying attention knows it’s a very good idea to eat green, leafy vegetables and colorful citrus fruits. Over time, research has shown their association with reducing cancer and chronic disease. In fact, most of us know that we should be consuming multiple helpings of these foods each day.

Lightning

This breathtaking lightning video from Saratoga Springs, NY, shows the incredible power of lightning, and why you don't want to be standing under a tree. The video was taken June 3, 2014, in Saratoga Springs, New York. Video courtesy Saratoga Spa State Park.


A couple inside the truck were rescued by police in Canada after the cabin filled with smoke.


Remembering D-Day

A Beautiful Story

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IS NO MATCH FOR NATURAL STUPIDITY.

 
I was driving through northern Illinois last night listening to a call-in program on WGN in Chicago.

People were calling in all upset about the goat's head sent to Cubs owner Tom Ricketts at Wrigley Field.
      
 Some guy called in from Indiana and said, "Why are you all so upset cause someone sent a goat's head to Wrigley Field?

Aren't you the guys that sent a horse's ass to the White House".

I almost ran off the road!



Monday, June 2, 2014

You May Be A Muslim

Have you ever wondered why it's OK to make jokes about Catholics, the Pope, Jews, Christians, the Irish, the Italians, the Polish, the Chinese, the French, including French Canadians, the elderly, bad golfers etc. but its insensitive to make jokes about Muslims? 

We need to level the playing field for the sake of political correctness.....
  
Jeff Foxworthy on Muslims.....

1. If you refine heroin for a living, but you have a moral objection to liquor, you may be a Muslim.

2. If you own a $3,000 machine gun and a $5,000 rocket launcher, but you can't afford shoes, you may be a Muslim.

3. If you have more wives than teeth, you may be a Muslim.

4. If you wipe your butt with your bare hand but consider bacon to be unclean, you may be a Muslim.

5. If you think vests come in two styles: bullet-proof and suicide, you may be a Muslim

6. If you can't think of anyone you haven't declared jihad against, you may be a Muslim.

7. If you consider television dangerous but routinely carry explosives in your clothing, you may be a Muslim.

8. If you were amazed to discover that cell phones have uses other than setting off roadside bombs, you may be a Muslim.

9. If you have nothing against women and think every man should own at least four, you may be a Muslim.

10. If you find this offensive and don't forward it, you may be a Muslim.



Why You Should Smoke Cigars

Why I Smoke Cigars
By Dennis Prager

There are few personal confessions more likely to alienate many Americans than to admit to smoking. Singles ads are filled with people who will never even go on a first date with someone who smokes. I strongly suspect that more women would date a millionaire who earned his money disreputably than a millionaire who smoked.

Drinkers are far more highly regarded than smokers, as are playboys, gamblers, lawyers, politicians and almost anyone else except child molesters.

So I have no doubt that some readers who until now have held me in esteem will lose respect for me when they learn that not only do I smoke cigars and a pipe, but I love doing so, have no interest in stopping and have been happy to pass this pleasure on to my older son. In fact, we regularly have some of our best talks while we enjoy our cigars.

For the record, I never smoke cigarettes, which I happen to dislike the smell of, and which I acknowledge to be dangerous. But what I write here largely applies to cigarette smokers as well. In fact, I find anti-smoking zealots far more dangerous to society than cigarette smokers, and would much sooner date a cigarette smoker than one of the zealots.

Having said that, however, it does need to be pointed out that there is little in common between cigar (or pipe) smoking and cigarette smoking. Most important, we don’t inhale. This is not meant in the way former President Bill Clinton meant it when he said he “never inhaled.” The purpose and joy of cigar and pipe smoking are to enjoy the taste of tobacco in one’s mouth. The purpose and joy of cigarette smoking are only vaguely related to the taste of tobacco.

And that leads to two other great differences between cigarette smoking and cigar (and pipe) smoking: First, there is no issue of addiction regarding cigars or pipes. I have been smoking both since I was 15 years old, and could stop tomorrow if I wanted to. Indeed, as a Jew who observes the Sabbath prohibition on kindling fire, I do not smoke for a day every week, and it is effortless. Likewise, I am frequently on the road lecturing, and often miss days at a time with absolutely no discernible effect. Second, because one does not inhale when smoking a cigar or pipe, the likelihood of lung cancer is minimal.

Yes, I am warned by doctors that I am more liable to contract mouth or lip cancer, but while physicians may see such diseases, in 40 years of smoking I have never met or heard of one person with either cancer.

Indeed, I am quite convinced that my one-a-day cigar or pipe may well have had a positive impact on my health given how much relaxation it induces. Stress kills far more people than cigars or pipes do.
It is a sign of the times that the latest James Bond film has prohibited 007 from smoking a cigar. One of the most benign practices a person can engage in was banned, but our macho hero can be shown drinking alcohol and bedding women (and without any mention of condoms!), not to mention killing people and engaging in behaviors infinitely more dangerous than cigar smoking.

We live in the Age of Stupidity. This new age has been induced by widespread college education and widespread secularism — Psalms is entirely accurate: “Wisdom begins with fear of the Lord” — which explains, for example, why only well-educated secularists came to believe that there were no innate nonphysical differences between men and women.

Nearly 100 years ago, before widespread college education and before widespread secularism, when America tried to prohibit a vice, it chose alcohol, not tobacco. It knew that there were immoral consequences to alcohol consumption — most child abuse, most spousal abuse, about half of violent crimes and most rapes are accompanied by alcohol. Nobody has ever raped because smoking a cigarette or a cigar numbed his conscience. And no one fears smoking drivers; we rightly fear drinking drivers.

Both in my hometown and on the road, I find great joy in visiting cigar stores and schmoozing with the owners and with the guys smoking there. In fact, cigar stores may be the last place men can get together without women.

Of course if you think I am really killing people due to the secondhand smoke they inhale from my cigar or pipe, I presume all discussion ends. I am then simply a killer who needs to be stopped. I find absurd the notion that more than 50,000 Americans are killed every year just by being in the presence of smokers. But if you believe it, all you need to do is open a window and enjoy yourself.

The late legendary comedian George Burns was a listener to my radio talk show. When he was around 90 years old, he invited me to his Beverly Hills home. In the course of our two hours together, he smoked two cigars and had a couple of martinis. I asked him what his doctor said about those habits. George looked at me and responded, “My doctor died.”

My father is 88 years old and has been smoking a few cigars a day (in my 87-year-old mother’s presence, I might add). They are both in near-perfect health. He not only taught me the joys of cigars. He also taught me the importance of thinking for myself and how to lead an honorable life that includes as much joy as possible.



How Well Can You Spell?

While 281 spellers compete in the 2014 Scripps National Spelling Bee by spelling words that can make one's head spin (“weissnichtwo” and “cabotinage” to name a couple), there are many words we come across regularly that are commonly misspelled, according to the Oxford English Corpus.
  


The Scotch-Irish Orangemen Connection to Masons

If you look at Klan or Masonic literature in the 1920s and 1930s, you find a list of political concerns that look surprisingly, well, Left-wing. Masons favored strict secularization in the public schools, as a bulwark against Catholic incursions. They also fought hard against foreign interventionism: Catholics, on the other side, were pushing for armed US intervention against the anti-clerical Masonic regime in Mexico, and later against the anti-clerical Left in Spain.

In the US and Britain, these interfaith tensions focused on Masons and anti-Masonic conspiracy theories declined in later years, but they remained strong elsewhere, particularly in regions with populations derived from Ulster or Scotland. The Orange Order, so powerful in such lands, is a close relative of Freemasonry.



The KKK Connection the APA and Masons

Similar Masonic precedents marked the post-1915 Ku Klux Klan, which became a national US phenomenon between 1921 and 1926, drawing perhaps five million members at its height. And at this stage, the KKK was at least as heavily devoted to anti-Catholic and anti-immigration causes as to anti-Black racism. The Klan found its local leadership in Masonic lodges, and especially among local clergy. In order to appeal to Masons and other fraternal organizations, the Klan offered a rich mythology and heraldry, with all the mystique implied by its hierarchy of “Hydras, Great Titans, Furies, Giants, Exalted Cyclops, Terrors,” its distinctive secret language, and an elaborate system of progressive initiations, of signs and countersigns. (I published on this at some length in my 1997 book Hoods and Shirts).

It’s an oddity of US political history that histories of the mighty Klan of the 1920s pay so little attention to the APA, which was its immediate ancestor.



American Protective Association

Also known as the American Protestant Association) . . .

Although not well remembered today, the great American popular movement of the late nineteenth century was the American Protective Association, which preached radical anti-Catholicism, and prepared to resist a feared Catholic coup d’état. Founded in 1887, the movement’s support ran into the hundreds of thousands at least, chiefly in the Midwest. Its founder was Henry F. Bowers, a Freemason, who structured the movement on Masonic lines, with regalia, oaths and initiations.

The APA oath specified that,
I do most solemnly promise and swear that I will always, to the utmost of my ability, labor, plead and wage a continuous warfare against ignorance and fanaticism; that I will use my utmost power to strike the shackles and chains of blind obedience to the Roman Catholic church from the hampered and bound consciences of a priest-ridden and church-oppressed people; that I will never allow any one, a member of the Roman Catholic church, to become a member of this order, I knowing him to be such; that I will use my influence to promote the interest of all Protestants everywhere in the world that I may be; that I will not employ a Roman Catholic in any capacity if I can procure the services of a Protestant.