Warnings to the Tea Party

There is a conservative political movement afoot, whose favorite form of demonstration is the "Tea Party." This is very positive in many ways. I am glad to see so many people with courage to stand up to the government and stand against tyranny.
However, what many (most?) of these people are overlooking is the fact that it was George Bush, both I and II, who took away so many of our freedoms in the name of fighting terrorism.
I will quote here from The Wanderer, June 17, 2010 edition:
"Tea Partiers have unfortunately been fed a line of hokum by politicians aided and abetted by the mainstream media. They fail to understand that it is precisely the interventionist defense and foreign policies that are driving the bad things they see in government...The federal government is twice as big as it was in 2001 and there has been the creation of major new bureaucracies at the Department of Homeland Security and the office of the director of National Intelligence...The Tea Partiers should understand that terrorists will only tear down the United States if we Americans help them to do so. Irrational fear of a small group of men hiding in a cave in Asia is what drives larger government, the infringement of civil liberties, and more taxes and regulation...So how can the Tea Party turn things around? It can only do so by realizing that the first thing that must be done ...is for the United States to end its wars overseas and dramatically scale back on its international commitments."
"The Bush war policies have given President Obama too much unchecked power..."
by Phil Giraldi of the American Conservative.

A Jansenist/Calvinist sermon

Borrowed from "The Virginian," by Owen Wister.

"The cowboys were told that not only they could do no good, but that if they did contrive to, it would not help them. Nay, more, not only honest deeds availed them nothing, but even if they accepted this especial creed which was being explained to them as necessary for salvation, still it might not save them. Their sin was indeed the cause of their damnation, yet, keeping from sin, they might nevertheless be lost. It had all been settled for them not only before they were born, but before Adam was shaped. Having told them this, he invited them to glorify the Creator of the scheme. Even if damned, they must praise the person who had made them expressly for damnation."

Drivel of the Heretics

From the May 27th, 2010 edition of "The Wanderer."

More than 30 years ago, Dietrich Von Hildebrand said: "One of the most horrifying and widespread diseases of the Church today is the lethargy of the guardians of the faith of the Church...I am thinking of the numerous bishops...who make no use whatever of their authority when it comes to intervening against heretical thelogians or priests, or against blasphemous performances of public worship...
"But it is most especially infuriating when certain bishops who...show this lethargy toward heretics, assume a rigorously authoritarian attitude toward those believers who are fighting for orthodoxy..."

"A partial list of abuses calling for apology by the many bishops in the U.S. hierarchy is:
-To the millions of Catholic parents and grandparents who are enduring incredible sufferings over the collapse of the faith and morality of their children and grandchildren, which includes not only spiritual concerns for their children's salvation, a source of constant inner anxiety and distress, but on the practical side they see their children unable to practice chastity, engaged in lives of adultery and fornication and the breakdown of family life."

Fatherless

This blog is based on what I read in the April 8, 2010 edition of "The Wanderer." It includes several sources, including Amy Alkon of the Canadian Children's Rights Council; Patrick Fagan and Dorothy Hanks, "The Child Abuse Crisis: The Disintegration of Marriage, Family and the American Community"; Adolescent and Family Health, vol. 1, n.1; the Victoria Times Colonist, January 8, 1998; The FBI, The U.S. Census Bureau, and the National Fatherhood Institute.

"Why is it socially reprehensible for a man to leave a baby fatherless, but courageous, even admirable, for a woman to have a baby whom she knows will be so?...The vast majority of child physical and sexual abuse is committed in single-parent homes, homes usually where the father is not present...Contrary to public perception, research shows that the most likely physical abuser of a young child will be that child's mother, not a male in the household. The father is the parent most likely to be the protector of the children. The presence of the father... placed the child at lesser risk for sexual abuse.
"Father deprivation is a more reliable predictor of criminal activity than race, environment, or poverty."
"Father deprived children are:
1)72% of all teenage murderers
2) 60% of all rapists
3)3 out of 4 teen suicides
4)90% of runaways
"Father deprivation is a serious form of child abuse that is...entrenched within our legal system. Powerful sexist people have a vested interest in diminishing the role of men, especially their role as fathers."

Catholics and torture

From the Wanderer, March 11, 2010.
"Morning's Minion at the popular, orthodox Catholic website, Vox Nova, demanded that the U.S bishops...remind Catholics that those who justify torture should refrain from receiving Holy Communion, under Canon 915. Criticizing a program on EWTN called "The World Over," and its host Raymond Arroyo, Morning's Minion wrote about a particular episode which hosted Marc Thiessen, who identifies himself as a practicing Catholic, and attempts to justify torture.
'I think the analogy is clear. Arroyo and Thiessen are both public figures, and Arroyo in particular is a TV personality on a Catholic TV channel, making the scandal all the more grave. They are clearly 'obstinately persevering' in support of an intrinsically evil act. Worse, they actually try to justify it on Catholic grounds. Thiessen has made it his life's work to claim that some forms of torture are virtuous...The Church's teachings on torture could not be clearer. Torture was condemned by the Second Vatican council in Gaudium et Spes, which declared:
'Furthermore, whatever is opposed to life itself, such as any type of murder, genocide, abortion, euthanasia, or willful self-destruction, whatever violates the integrity of the human person, such as mutilation, torments inflicted on body or mind, attempts to coerce the will itself...all these things and others of their like are infamies indeed.'"

oh no!

Oh no! Today I was driving down a back road, doing the speed limit, 35 mph, when a dear little bird, black and white and yellow, flew right down in front of my car! I hit the brakes but it was way too late. I didn't hear or feel even the slightest thump but when I came to a stop, there it was, in the grill, completely flattened. I couldn't even see the dear little head. All I could see were some delicate feathers in kind of an oval shape. It is sad when a bird lover like me hits a bird. No doubt some native, possibly threatened species. Why couldn't I hit a starling? Why didn't I see it coming?
It reminds me, though, of the poor people who have accidentally killed a person/people with their automobiles. How awful! And for some of them, their lives are over, with long jail terms, even though it was truly an accident.

Opinion on Feminism

A man named John J. McCartney, Jr., writes:
"Feminism has:
1) Preached for 40 years about a woman's "right" to kill her unborn child.
2) Exhorted mothers to leave the home and do "productive work."
3) Generated hostility to men as men and encouraged reflexive questioning of male leadership in marriage and work.
4) Lobbied successfully for the privilege--for women--to experience the thrills and hazards of military combat and shipboard intimacy;
5) Made the lesbian agenda its own;
6) Lobbied for, and won, no-fault divorce, generating poverty among, and injustice to, women;
7) Loudly proclaimed the absurdity that day care is as, or more, beneficial than mother care."
I am afraid I have to agree with Mr. McCartney. The only things feminism seems to have achieved are the disintegration of the family, lots of single parents, poverty, more government interference in families, and the disappearance of Christian and European peoples.

Defending Valentines Day

I am writing this unimportant bit in defense of Valentines Day. This past week several people I know (including my stubborn teenage daughter) have told me they don't like Valentines Day! And these people are Christian, too. One of these people told me he celebrated Chinese New Year instead. I asked, "Are you Chinese?" Of course not. What nonsense. And he has been writing 2010 for the last month and a half so the idea that the New Year started in mid-February for him is silly.
I have noticed that all of these people do not currently have a sweetheart. But that's no excuse!!! I was a very homely, awkward teen and did not have a sweetheart on Valentines Day until I was in my twenties but I still made or bought a beautiful Valentine for my mom and dad and also sent a valentine to my grandmothers, aunts, sisters, friends, etc.
Some people say, "Well, your husband or wife should love you all year round, not just on Valentines Day." Again, I say, What nonsense! Valentines Day is a wonderful reason to do something a little extra for your sweetheart. Of course he or she loves you the rest of the year.
Next year if anyone has the gall to say something against Valentines Day, I am making them come over, and we are going to sit and cut and color and paste some pretty papers and hearts together until they remember the wonderful, childish joy they got out of sharing something lovely with someone!!!

Foreign Aid

I read a couple of things this morning about where our US foreign aid money goes.
Christopher Manion, who used to work in Washington D.C. for Senator Jesse Helms, writes:
"Years ago, when I was responsible for reviewing legislation that distributed American "aid" to the Caribbean, I was visited by ...lobbyists and foreign agents who advocated massive amounts of ....taxpayer money for the Haitian government of 'Baby Doc' Duvalier, undoubtedly on of the most corrupt and brutal dictators in a worldwide pantheon of tyrannical thugs.'
'Our poverty is your fault,' the Third World countries sang in chorus, as their lobbyists came around, looking for more money. The trouble was, their poverty was the fault of their dictators, who siphoned off a good 20% or 30% right off the top (in Haiti it was even more: Food 'aid' would be delivered straight to Duvalier's cronies, who would then go sell it or give it away to their constituencies, in turn driving down the prices of food produced by impoverished Haitian farmers, none of whom had large plots of land).
'Unfortunately, a lot of American businesses started to cash in on the 'aid,' since they could sell the government a lot of the food, etc. delivered by aid programs. In their turn, the lobbyists would get about 10% of whatever aid they were able to procure for their foreign clients. It was all legal, an for 50 years the U.S. foreign aid program and the hundreds of billions that U.S. taxpayers provided for foreign 'aid' served primarily to keep recipient countries in poverty, while their rulers plundered the programs and prospered off the corruption."

Being Difficult

I have been reading books on dealing with difficult people. There can be lots of difficult people in our lives. Some of them we live with; many of them we work with. Maybe they go to our church or school. Sometimes we are the difficult ones. Here are some things to look out for so we aren't being the difficult ones:
Anger: Absolutely must control it. Very little is ever achieved by blowing up. Usually only harm is done.
Oversensitivity: Have to get a grip on this one. Most people are not out to hurt us.
Whining: If something is really wrong, point it out. But don't point out every little thing.
Sniping: Stop with the not really funny, humiliating remarks. Be careful with humor.
Nothing person: Communicate! This is a really tough one if someone refuses to communicate with us. Teenagers use this tactic a lot to "get back" at their "mean" parents.
There are some good books out there on the subject of difficult people. If someone in your life is really giving you grief, for heaven's sake, try to find out if you can do anything about it!
And be aware that at times we all give people grief: inconsiderate remarks, impatience, cutting people off in traffic, etc.
When dealing with difficult people it often helps if you catch them off guard and give them a hug, compliment, or whatever, before they can get started criticizing, being negative, etc.
With a little consideration, humor and humility, a lot of difficulties can be avoided.