A Loose Cannon

I’ve seen “loose cannons” referred to as “loose canons” (LOL!) and the term is used to refer to any unpredictable entity. But it has lost a lot of its immediacy lately, and a lot of times, the people using the term don’t really understand what it means. The truth about loose cannons is much stronger.

Picture this: The heat, stink, and confusion of a sea-battle during the War of 1812. (Yes, there was a war in 1812, with the British, and we won it, too…) Warships in those days were made of wood and powered by wind and sail. Maneuvering them in and out during the course of a battle was dangerous and difficult, because there were lots of enraged men dashing around with swords and pistols while the ship was steered radically to gain the best advantage in terms of wind and position. Rigging could be brought down by a good shot, to fall onto the heads of those on the decks, friend and foe alike. Splintered spars, tangled lines, and blankets of shredded canvas would be everywhere among the blood, the wounded and the dead. The last thing the captain of any ship needed in a time like this was a loose cannon.

Cannons, obviously, varied in size, according to their placement and the size of the vessel. Ships of the line and men-of-war were large ships with sixty or seventy cannons ranged along the sides. One thing was certain: When a cannon happened to be cut loose from its lashings by whatever means, it was incredibly dangerous and unpredictable. A two-or-three-thousand-pound piece of cast iron mounted on wheels, that rolled back and forth on a pitching deck could kill or maim any man who got in its way, not to mention the risk of its punching its own way out through the wooden bulkhead and into the sea, wounding the ship and reducing firepower. For a battle-captain of the sea, a loose cannon could be worse than an attack.

When I think of loose cannons these days, pitching about wildly and dangerously, the first name that comes to mind is Iran. Now, I will be the first to admit that I don’t know much about Iran beyond whatever I’ve observed since the removal of Reza Pahlevi, the Shah, forty years or so ago. He was a “benevolent” despot, and Iran was on the way to the Twentieth Century under his reign. But thanks to Jimmy Carter and the Lefty thralls under him, the Shah was toppled, and leadership (so-called) fell to a Mullah, Ayatollah Houmeini, a non-benevolent despot who instituted shariah law, and we wound up with fifty-six American diplomats being held as hostages. Since then, things have only gone downhill in Iran, and by extension, the rest of the Middle East.

Now, Ahmenidjahd (or whatever the heck his name is) is literally hell-bent on the destruction and subjugation of the West, and is well on his way to achieving nuclear strategic weapons for two things–first of all, to wipe Israel off the map, then to prove to the West that Islam is supreme. If ever there was a candidate for the molten sea of glass, it’s present-day Iran.

Iran. Loose cannon, indeed.

The Shoes Of The Fisherman

Weekend television programming is always bad, so it means quite a few minutes spent surfing up the dial, then surfing back down, only to turn around and repeat the process a few seconds later.

Last night, I happened across a movie on TBN. Now, for those of you who might be unfamiliar with this station, it is NOT Ted Turner’s Atlanta station. The “TB” in TBN stands for Trinity Broadcasting Network, and it is owned by Evangelical Christians of a rather decided Pentecostal bent. Having come from a Pentecostal background on my way to where I am now, I have no animosity, and hold those I know in extremely high regard. But one of the things that often sets them apart from the more “Sacramental” denominations is their rather open disdain for anything having to do with the Roman Catholic Church, which was why I was surprised by what I found there.

So…what made me stop on their station? They were showing “The Shoes of the Fisherman,” a 1968 movie starring Anthony Quinn. The chances are pretty good that even though you might have heard of the movie, you probably haven’t seen it, so let me fill you in a little.

It was made from a book by Morris L. West, and dealt with the election of a Pope who not only wasn’t Italian (the first in over 400 years), but was, in fact, from one of the numerous Eastern Rites of the Catholic Church; a Russian man who had been a political prisoner of the USSR, who chose his own name, Kiril, as his Pontifical name. Well, the book was a smash. And when they made the movie from it, it was even moreso.

What lots of people are too young to remember was all the comparison, speculation, and curiosity that was aroused when, not only was the next real Pope not Italian, he was, in fact, from an Eastern-Bloc nation–Karol Woityla, Pope John Paul II. He hadn’t been imprisoned, but he had been pursued, and had, in fact been ordained “underground.” His life was a heroic battle against the power of the Kremlin, and eventually, he and then-President, Ronald Reagan, succeeded in bringing down the Berlin Wall erected by the Communists and restoring sovereignty to the formerly captive states behind that wall.

The movie itself is a magnificent, incredibly beautiful look at the ceremony, tradition, and pageantry of Vatican life, especially the traditions and ceremonies surrounding the selection and installation of a new Pope. It was beautifully acted and produced, and netted two Oscars that year. It was very hard to tear myself away for anything, so I sat there, enthralled, for two and a half hours.

But, all good things must come to an end, and this is no exception, for, unfortunately, toward the end of the film, during what was the “Coronation” of the new Pope, his address to the tens of thousands of faithful spectators assembled in St. Peter’s Square was to the effect that he, as new head of the Church, was going to instruct the Vatican to sell all the treasures in its museums and give the proceeds to the poor.

Noble sentiments, obviously; instructions the Church receives from non-memebers (and even a few cranky members) on a regular basis. But not very practical at all. Now, I’m all for movies with messages, don’t get me wrong. There was nothing wrong with this movie, and for the most part, there was nothing wrong with its message, except…

Let’s say the Church does do this. Instead of housing the finest museum in the world, let’s say the Vatican sells off all those magnificent treasures in its care and uses the proceeds to feed the world’s poor.

How much money do you think could be realized from such transactions? Whatever the amount, it’s a finite number, and one that would soon be exhausted. So, the Vatican would be left not only with no treasures in the museum (etc., obviously), and nothing but operating funds in its national treasury (for the Vatican State is a sovereign nation, don’t forget). This one, little tiny country would be expected to feed the world’s poor with the proceeds gained from selling treasures that belong to the world.

What would happen to the poor after the money ran out? How could the Vatican guarantee that every cent/lira/euro expended go specifically to the feeding of the world’s poor and not for administrative costs, or kickbacks to various officials in the countries being assisted? How much of this money would stick to the fingers of all the military and political functionaries who would be the nominal “administrators” of such funds. And, what would it do for the poor after the money ran out? The poor, as Jesus Christ told His disciples, we would always have with us. Even though the money ran out, the poor would still be there in all their numbers.

Yes, it was just a movie. And an incredibly good and beautiful one, at that. I recommend it very highly. But keep in mind that even though Pope Kiril I had a good idea, the reality is that even the Vatican doesn’t have access to the means to put an end to world hunger permanently. I guess you need Communism for that…

A Question For the Left

It just occurred to me, watching all the efforts of the Left–including the mainstream media–to make the road clear for the Islamofascists (you know: the guys with the clean feet, dirty minds, and bloody hands) in the United States.

<a href=”http://drsanity.blogspot.com/
“>Dr. Sanity sums it up nicely:

The Democrats have a lot of undoing to do. They must make themselves a religion party of “peace”; they must prove that they are “reality-based” and that the idea of spreading democracy and freedom in the world is a stupid delusion; they must, in short, wipe the Bush Administration off the map; as if it never existed. Because if they can do that, they can go back to pretending that there is no real threat from terrorism–only from Bush and Cheney.

What are the Leftist’s plans for themselves AFTER the Jihadists have taken over?

Relative Weather

We take the weather in stride up here. That doesn’t mean it makes it any less harsh and bitter, just that most of us are prepared for it, and know that life goes on, in spite of it.

One of the things that makes the winter weather impressive is the sunsets. We don’t get sunsets in the summer, for the obvious reasons. But, in the winter, the sun goes down around 3:30 pm, and if the wind has been blowing and stirring up dust and frost particles, we get treated to some really spectacular beauty (see above).

But it’s been cold enough to freeze the balls off a pool table lately. It’s been DRY, too, with no precipitation of any kind since mid-October. What little bit of snow we got then has been evaporated, dirtied, and sanded into oblivion, and it doesn’t look like we’ll get any more in the immediate future. We take this in stride, too, although it makes the snowmachine riders despondent and cranky.

When the wind blows, the air dries out to an incredible degree. But when it stops blowing, the temperatures drop within hours. Right now, we are “enjoying” a huge Arctic high that just doesn’t seem to want to move East, so we sit here in the sunshine, actually hoping for some precipitation. When it is said, “It’s just too cold to snow,” they are right. I’ve seen ice crystals, sparkling like diamonds, fall out of a clear, blue sky in Minnesota, but that wasn’t snow. For us, the snow means moderated temps, and we are all getting tired of parched, frigid air.

I know that people who know me think I must like this kind of weather, or I wouldn’t have moved back up here. Well, to tell you the truth, the weather didn’t have anything to do with it, but that’s beside the point. Believe me, if I wanted to freeze for six months, I could have stayed in Minnesota and done a real job of it. (“Cold weather” in Minnesota means 40 below, with the wind blowing, for weeks on end.) No, thanks. I’ll take Alaska’s version: This is like the Banana Belt, compared to Minnesota’s entry into the frigid-zone sweepstakes. It’s only 8 below here, and the wind stopped blowing a few days ago. The days have been unchangingly brilliant, crystal clear, sunny, and beautiful, for weeks on end. The sun is low in the sky, shining in all the windows and making jokes of all the S.A.D. advertisements I’ve seen.

The weather, like a lot of other stuff in life, is always relative. Bloom where you’re planted, and all that…

Material Spirituality

Scroll down to Material Spirituality, and see why I love to read the good Doctor’s blog.

Finally Getting The Message

This whole article from GATES OF VIENNA is one big “Well, DUH!” insight after another. Not, of course, because of the Baron, for whom I have only the deepest respect. It’s because of the subject. Europeans (in this case, Swedes) hate our guts, and go out of their ways to prove it. Why should we be surprised when we see anything like this in the news or online? I’ve written about that hatred more than once, on several different venues, and every time, I wind up feeling slightly battered, as if I’d been standing in a cold wind all day long. It’s so sad to realize that most people who not only don’t know you but will never know you despise you because you are American. Sometimes, it can leave you feeling as if you are just about the last person standing up for American values before all comers.

When Europe decided to become the new, modern, updated version of the USSR, they agreed to accept the USSR’s “enemies list,” and America’s name was at the very top. The anti-American propagandists have been very busy, but the saddest thing is the hatred that Leftist-”Americans” (can I use that term?) feel for the land of their birth. I’m always at a loss when I realize how deeply these people hate the United States. I, like many others who share my bafflement, can only say, “If you hate it here so much, why do you stay?” Obviously, the anti-Americans think it’s acceptable to loudly spout all the reasons why they hate America and all she stands for while blithely accepting all her bounties and blessings at the same time. And they know that they wouldn’t have it anywhere near as good in any other country, nor would they be able to pronounce doom on their adopted countries as easily as they do so for America.

It’s somewhat like the post-Vatican 2 modernizers and the Roman Catholic Church. At first, the “Spirit of Vatican 2″ was the mantra included at least once in every broadside and new catechesis textbook, every article in all the journals on religion across the country. The “Spirit of Vatican 2,” not the actual documents themselves, was what was taken (way out of context) to give permission for liberal bishops and priests to strip the Church in America of a lot of Catholic traditions, teaching/propagandizing three generations of Catholics into the “new church,” and producing a group of grownups who have no idea of what makes the Church different, what they are called to do, be, or support, or even why any church should wish to be different from any others. Syncretism has become the new pattern for American churchgoing. Rather than simply LEAVE a church that failed to meet their tests for pertinence or appropriateness in “today’s world,” these “new” Catholics remained as members but continually and persistently undermined teachings, traditions, and sacraments until the American Catholic church was almost indistinguishable from its Protestant neighbors.

So, what else can we expect of foreign opinion, than to find that two-thirds of young Swedes think the U.S. is dangerous to world peace? Unfortunately, young Americans feel much the same way. To these young America-haters, the question always and obviously must be this: “If you hate it so much, why don’t you leave it, and move to Canada or France?” The answer is always the same: “I don’t hate America, I just want it to be BETTER!”

Better than what? always pops into my mind when I hear or read this complaint. Instead of patriotism, these people think sedition is the correct mindset, and it makes them appear erudite in the eyes of Europeans, who are snooty and condescending toward America, in the first place. The Europeans, who have had centuries to work on their condescension and haughty pride, simply add these stupid hate-America-firsters to their list of fools.

Just as the Catholic Church is composed of sinners, America suffers fools gladly, welcoming and harboring all who wish to come, including those who wish her ill. It would be nice if there was a way to sort out the fools and deport them to the land of their choice. The only problem is that they think they are doing the rest of us a service by being so “wise” and “wanting only what is best” for America and sticking around to hate it every day until the rest of us get the message.

If the open, vehement hatred of their own country and the public airing of those anti-American sentiments and opinions are considered “what’s best” for America, I’d hate to see what these people might do once they finally decide to go all the way down that road. The mind boggles.

Sadly, It Doesn’t Get Any Better Than This…

Good God Almighty. I have seen EVERYTHING now. What a sanctimonious, self-serving, self-righteous, pompous blowhard. If he thinks this is a piece of writing that exemplifies the quality of writing from the Left, though, he’s right. No wonder I’m a Conservative. He just illustrated for me the reason why I have so many issues with Liberals/Leftists/Progressives.

It’s interesting to find out that Mr. Moore annoints himself the spokesman for their “platform.” It figures. Apparently, it doesn’t get any BETTER than this.

MICHAEL MOORE’S PLEDGE

(my responses in blue)

I WOULD LIKE TO extend an olive branch. Those of you who consider yourselves conservative and usually vote Republican have not had a very good couple of weeks. Trust me, I know how this feels.

(You know, Michael, you don’t mean a word of that. You are gloating and giddy, and you probably had to take a fistful of depressives in order to settle down enough to write this drivel.)

In fact, those of us on the other side of the fence don’t really know what it’s like to win, so if we seem a bit awkward right now (were we supposed to vote for the majority leader the speaker said to vote for, or stick to our promise to the other guy?), forgive us.

(What the hell are you TALKING about?? The Democrats had both Houses of Congress for FORTY freaking YEARS! You guys won every time out of the gate because you knew how to manipulate, blackmail, and coerce. And, you wouldn’t know how to keep a promise if your life depended on it. You, being you, think “Promise” is a margarine.)

I know you are dismayed at the results of last week’s election. You’ve got to be freaking out about what this bunch of tree-hugging, latte-sipping, men-kissing-men advocates will do now that the country is in our hands. I don’t blame you. We’d never admit it, but we secretly admire you because you know how to chop down a tree, take your coffee black and enjoy watching women kissing women. Good on you!

(Well, we may be dismayed, but you will notice that we have not once squealed about election fraud, or demanded recounts of all the hanging chads. WE are not the sore losers you crybabies are. And, yes, you are a bunch of tree-hugging, latte-sipping, men-kissing-men/women-kissing-women/anybody-kissing-anything advocates. You left out, news-twisting, tax-increasing, cut-and-run NINNIES. You don’t admire anybody but yourselves. The last thing you would ever admit to would be any kind of admiration for anybody on the Right, “secretly” or not.)

What I don’t want is for you to drop into the deep funk we liberals have been in for two-plus decades. Yes, your Republican revolution is over, but hang in there. And do not despair. I, and the millions who voted for Democrats, have no interest in revenge for the last 12 years. In fact, let me make 12 promises as to how we will treat you, the minority, in the coming years.

(You were in that funk because you wanted to be. Whiny, spoiled, self-involved, arrogant elitists like yourself are always bent out of shape when you don’t get your way. You just finished throwing a twenty-year tantrum. What are you talking about? As for the “millions” who voted Democrat, there weren’t that many. Don’t kid yourself. This election was not a “mandate” for your side. It was housecleaning on our side. We threw out some Liberal, crooked RINOs and replaced them with CONSERVATIVE Democrats. You only gained a few seats. “No interest in revenge??” See? There you go again. You guys’ middle NAME is “Revenge.” Let me up.)

Thus, here is “A Liberal’s Pledge to Disheartened Conservatives”:

1) We will always respect you. We will never, ever, call you “unpatriotic” simply because you disagree with us. In fact, we encourage you to dissent and disagree with us.

(Augh!! When we lie like this, WE have the grace to feel GUILTY.)

2) We will let you marry whomever you want (even though some among us consider your Republican behavior to be “different” or “immoral”). Who you marry is none of our business. Love, and be in love — it’s a wonderful gift.

(WE already marry whomever we want, and not because YOU “let us.” Of all the arrogant, elitist sanctimony! If YOU want to marry another “man,” however, it can’t be done. “Marriage” is defined at a union between opposite sexes. Whatever you might do with somebody of the same sex; all the ceremonies you might wish to have, all the cute little “wedding” things you do won’t make what you do a MARRIAGE.”)

3) We will not spend your grandchildren’s money on our personal whims or to enrich our friends. It’s your checkbook too, and we will balance it for you.

(Democrats are defined by their free-spending, pork-barrel, big-government ways. THAT, my fleshy friend, is why we just threw out a bunch of RINOs.)

4) When we soon bring our sons and daughters home from Iraq, we will bring your sons and daughters home too. We promise never to send your kids off to war based on some amateur Power Point presentation cooked up by men who have never been to war.

(Dear Michael: YOU do not have a child in Iraq. Very few of you do, for a couple of reasons:
1. You are aborting yourselves out of existence. You don’t have any children.
2. Any children you might already have are in college, stirring up campus unrest and putting together anti-war demonstrations against the very armies you claim to support.

You hate the troops, because you hate what they do. Armies are defined as large groups of people with lots of weapons who kill people and break things. The United States military is NOT the “action arm” of the Red Cross or the Welfare Department. They are trained to take territory and hold it against an ENEMY, and to kill. Get over it.)

5) When we make America the last Western democracy to have universal health coverage, and all Americans are able to get help when they fall ill, we promise that you too will be able to see a doctor, regardless of your ability to pay. And when stem cell research delivers treatments and cures for diseases that afflict you and your loved ones, we’ll make sure those advances are available to you and your family too.

(Good grief. Is THIS your most important plank? You guys trot this silly stuff out every chance you get, because you think it is going to make the rest of us like you. Nice try. We already have universal health care coverage, anyway, you ninny. Medicare, Medicaid, health insurance, etc. Nobody who needs medical care is ever turned away because they are uninsured. Wake up. Time to find some new talking points.)

6) When we clean up our air and water, you too will be able to breathe the cleaner air and drink the purer water. When we put an end to global warming, you will no longer have to think about buying oceanfront property in Yuma.

(Our air is already the cleanest in the world. Our water is the purest. If you don’t have either, then move to someplace that DOES. Sheesh. Do we have to tell you how to do everything? You city people think the whole country is like your neighborhood: Dirty, paved streets and sidewalks, highrises, traffic jams, urban blight, and gangs. Oh, wait. You’re a rich Democrat. YOU live on a big estate with lots of trees, and only have to look at the cities when you can’t get out of it. See, here’s another thing about you elitists: You think that the rules don’t apply to you; that the rest of us are beneath your contempt, except when you want a bunch of votes. And, I have a question for you, Einstein. When you have ice cubes in a glass of water, and they melt, what happens to the water level?)

7) Should a mass murderer ever kill 3,000 people on our soil, we will devote every single resource to tracking him down and bringing him to justice. Immediately. We will protect you.

(It wasn’t “A mass murderer.” It was nineteen members of a large, well-organized terrorist organization who had already declared WAR on the United States and made numerous attacks on Americans and American holdings around the world, killing lots of Americans and breaking lots of American stuff. See? The terrorists GET what war is all about. If you don’t like to defend yourself, then go sit down over there and let the REAL (read “military”) patriots do the jobs they were trained to do.)

8) We will never stick our nose in your bedroom or your womb. What you do there as consenting adults is your business. We will continue to count your age from the moment you were born, not the moment you were conceived.

(You know, Michael, what YOU do in your bedroom is your business. YOU can have sex (IF you can have sex) with anyone you want. We don’t care. What we don’t want is for you and your ilk to demand that the rest of us make special National laws that give you special privileges because you get your orgasms by poking your peepees where they don’t belong. You keep your sexual behaviors in your bedrooms, and WE will leave you alone. Just do not try to cram your sleazy sexual habits down our throats or force them onto our children by sneaking them into our gradeschools under the disguise of “tolerance.” Gross.

Oh, and guess what? Before you were born, you were also a human individual with the right to live. What makes you think those babies in their mothers’ wombs are not entitled to the same consideration you got? Have you ever thanked your mother for not aborting you?)

9) We will not take away your hunting guns. If you need an automatic weapon or a handgun to kill a bird or a deer, then you really aren’t much of a hunter and you should, perhaps, take up another sport. In the meantime, we will arm the deer to make it a fairer fight.

(You will not take away our guns, period. You said it: WE are the ones with the guns. I wouldn’t forget that if I were you…)

10) When we raise the minimum wage, we will raise it for your employees too. They will use that money to buy more things, which means you will get the money back! And when women are finally paid what men make, we will pay conservative women that wage too.

(What do you mean, “When…??” The minimum wage gets raised on a regular basis. Stop patting yourself on the back for the sunrise every morning, you conceited dolt. “And when women are finally paid what men make, we will pay conservative women that wage too…” Um, Michael, that statement sounds awfully elitist. Did you read this crap before you posted it? Any woman who does the same work as a man gets paid a man’s wages. IT’S THE FREAKIN’ LAW, you dope!)

11) We will respect your religious beliefs, even when you don’t practice those beliefs. In fact, we will actively seek to promote your most radical religious beliefs (“Blessed are the peacemakers,” “Love your enemies,” “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God” and “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me”). We will let people in other countries know that God doesn’t just bless America, he blesses everyone. We will discourage religious intolerance and fanaticism — starting here at home.

(You respect religious beliefs, all right. As long as those beliefs don’t concern Jesus Christ of Nazareth, Jahweh, or Rome. You practice your Gaia-worship, your Wicca, your Materialist/Humanist/Atheism all you want. If you can find a copy of the Constitution, you might want to check that First Amendment, though. It says, “Congress (that is not you or the ACLU, as much as you would like to think it is) shall make no law respecting the establishment of religion, nor the free expression thereof.” What part of that flies over your head?)

12) We will not tolerate politicians who are corrupt and break the law. And we promise you we will go after the corrupt politicians on our side first. If we fail to do this, we need you to call us on it. Simply because we are in power does not give us the right to turn our heads the other way when our party goes astray. Please perform this important duty as the loyal opposition.

(Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah!!! Gasp! Bwwaaaahhahahahahahahah!! Hoo, boy!)

I promise all of the above to you because this is your country too. You are every bit as American as we are. We are all in this together. We sink or swim as one. Thank you for your years of service to this country and for giving us the opportunity to see if we can make things a bit better for our 300 million fellow Americans — and for the rest of the world.

(Michael, this IS your country, too. Why do you want so desperately to trash everything about it that has made it good? If you think the Democrats are “in power” to stay, go ahead. Think what you want. And, thanks for this little conversation. I always like it when one of you whiny crybabies thinks they’ve said something MOMENTOUS. They get so puffed up and pompous. Just like you…)

Now pull yourself together and let’s go have a Frappuccino. (Thanks. Don’t mind if I do. Have several, yourself.)

Thinking About Giving Thanks

Another Thanksgiving. The usual 20-pound turkey to be ravaged, the usual side dishes, vegetables, and desserts to be demolished and belched over.

Every year, the usual reasons are trotted out for the orgy of excess that Thanksgiving has become, and I’m still trying to discover the tie-in between eating until you explode and thankfulness. As far as I can tell, there is no logical explanation for the practice of one person eating more than a whole day’s worth of food at one meal, and the idea of several people doing this same thing under the headline of “…celebrating Thanksgiving” is even more perplexing.

If the idea is to give thanks to God, I don’t see how stuffing yourself with stuffing and other stuff is going to show the Almighty that you are grateful for His bounty. We usually express our thanksgiving in worship of some kind. But what about the people who don’t take this opportunity to thank the real source of the bounty that graces their tables and the freedoms they enjoy without thought? Are they really thanking God for His bounty?

Of all the reasons for whatever holidays, Thanksgiving seems to be the low day on the totem pole. Christmas is weakening, thanks to multiculturalism and secularism, but days like July 4, or Veterans’ Day still seem to have their purpose shining brightly for all to see. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, seems to be tailor made for the turkey ranchers, dressing mix bakers, pie companies, and cranberry plantations. What better reason for all of these industries to crank up production than a gustatory orgy of gobbling, belching, and post-prandial snoozing?

If the idea of Thanksgiving Day is to thank the Indians who showed the Plymouth settlers how to farm and plant corn, that one gets lost, too. We stuff ourselves in order to show the Indians that we are glad Squanto taught the Pilgrims how to bury a dead fish by each corn plant? American farmers feed the world, and they do it on a fraction of the acreage they used to require for the task, and we thank the Indians by turning them into Welfare dependents? Squanto might say, “Something heap fishy here…”

Whatever the reason, I can understand a celebration of friends and family who are near. Relatives who make the annual trek to join the family for this feast are serious about their family ties. The kind of effort put forth by those who travel far for Thanksgiving is at least worth a mention. And a feast is always a traditional way to show that your family ties are as strong as ever, even though the members may be scattered to the winds.

So, maybe that’s it…we are celebrating our friends and their friendship, our family and all they mean to us. But, do we have to wait for Thanksgiving Day to show God how much we appreciate His blessings, or to show our friends and family how much we love and appreciate them? One day a year? Of course, this isn’t really the case, and families get together frequently and celebrate the fact that they are family. That’s as it should be.

BUT…

I am still at a loss to understand the link between people making pigs of themselves for the sake of friendship or gratitude. Isn’t there another way to show you love your family, or that you appreciate your friends? If this is the real reason for the feast, why isn’t it called “Friendship Day,” or “Family Love Day,” instead of Thanksgiving?

“Nitpicking curmudgeon,” you’ll say. No, I guess I’m just a logical thinker, and this manifestation of gluttony in the name of “Thanksgiving” has always bothered me. And I know I’ll be shouted down loudly if I suggest either renaming the holiday to something like “Gorge and Gobble Day,” or “Group Hugs Day.”

So, in the interests of simplicity and tradition, I guess we can just keep calling it “Thanksgiving,” but I propose that we use it for that purpose. Attend church or synagogue and give real thanks. During your festal meal, emphasize the “Thanksgiving” aspect of it. Talk about things we should be grateful for, even if we’ve never thought of it that way before. Restore broken relationships and cement new ones. Give thanks for the love of family and the closeness of friendships. Give real Thanks, not just to each other, but to God. And, maybe, just maybe, we can reclaim the meaning of “Thanksgiving.” It’s not just for dinner any more.

Hmmm…Maybe keeping the Thanksgiving Spirit all year round wouldn’t be such a bad idea…

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all of my faithful readers–all both of you. Blessings and peace to you!

Bloggers And The Real News

When is the Lefty press going to get tired of claiming that all is not well in Iraq? It saps the morale of the troops and discourages the people at home who love and support them.

We all desire more than anything that our troops be home safely, that no clouds of terror or danger be building on the horizon. Failing that, the least we can do is to encourage our children and loved ones in uniform, and reassure them of our love, support and pride in what they do. Of course, you can hardly find a vehicle on the road that doesn’t sport a magnetic yellow ribbon that says, “Support Our Troops.” Unfortunately, a lot of these ribbons are accompanied by bumper stickers that claim that we are in an unjust war declared by an unelected President.

The Progressive (the like us to call them that…) press has gone to great lengths to convey a failing campaign in Iraq; a sagging enthusiasm for the fight, and discontent with the Coalition forces among the Iraqis. This is the version of the story that gets printed every day in papers and magazines all across the country, and droned on about endlessly and dolefully from the talking heads on television news.

Why would our press people be so determined to undermine the good work that is being accomplished in Iraq? Why are there so few reports of the great strides being made in restoring infrastructure, the creation of a stable government, and succor to the people who suffered for so many years under the viciously heinous and bloodthirsty reign of the soon-to-be-executed-we-hope Saddam Hussein?

For myself, I can only infer from this the idea that the Leftist press desires our failure in Iraq for one reason alone: They wish George W. Bush to FAIL at whatever he attempts. This desire is based on one emotion: They hate this President profoundly. They hate him so much that they would actually prefer to see us fail in Iraq at whatever cost in life and treasure, than to give him the slightest bit of good press. They prefer kidnap victims being decapitated and their bodies burned and desecrated. They prefer to hear that more American troops are dead. They want a total failure in Iraq so they can chortle and crow over the defeat of George Bush. The Leftists are proud of their hatred of the President.

Thank God for the Internet. Every day, I say this little prayer simply because it has been the tool that has prevented the Leftist press from continuing to have their way with our minds. Thank God that there are people publishing on the internet with the real truth; that soldiers and officers in the field actually have their own blogsites, email home frequently, and they write the truth about what they are accomplishing in Iraq, in total opposition to what is being reported here at home in paper and on television.

It’s as if the Leftists, whom we know are still locked in the 60’s, think they can–by their slanted reporting–turn this war into “another Viet Nam,” Just as the war was lost in Viet Nam by weak politicians who interfered and didn’t allow the generals to prosecute the war to a decisive victory, Iraq will be lost by appeasers, and we will, after the deaths and maiming of two thousand of our troops, return Iraq and the rest of the Middle East to the hands of irrational despots and Muslim maniacs, after subitting the United States to a “Global Test,” presumably for pure intentions. Talk about a waste of patriot’s blood. Will it all be for nothing, after all?

For the “great unwashed”–the average news-consumer in the U.S, however, the Lefitst view is all they see, thanks to the stranglehold the Leftist news stations and papers have on information in the U.S. News consumers don’t have access to the internet, don’t know how to surf into blogsites and online conservative news websites and places like FREE REPUBLIC or REAL CLEAR POLITICS.

One can only hope that this will change even more decisively as the cost of owning a computer continues to fall and computers get more user-friendly and easy to operate. People like me will teach themselves how to use their computers, how to surf the net, use search engines to search for the truth, and cancel subscriptions to yellow journals like the New York Times or the Washington Post, then read their news online. Here’s hoping they all find discussion boards and begin to talk about the truth.

The grip the mainstream news has had on the necks of news consumers is a death grip; as in “a dying medium.” Thanks to the Internet and what can be found there, more people every day are cancelling subscriptions to large newspapers, tuning out of mainstream news broadcasts, and going to their computers or to FOX News for the truth.

Choosing The Goddess

Why are there so many women determined to undermine and destroy the Catholic Church? Looking at an old Wanderer’s February 12, 2004 article The Mercy Nuns and the New Religion by Paul Likoudis, one is tempted to wonder just how much real faith some of these women have.

Time was when nuns were quiet, prayerful, modest, humble, and dedicated. Only a few orders these days can claim such women among their numbers, and that number is shrinking. Nowadays, most nuns are strident, bitter feminists with axes to grind. They are determined to lead as many Catholics as possible (especially women) into the New Age cult of the Goddess. Overtly practicing and espousing Wicca, Goddess worship, and other forms of paganism, these nominally Catholic women in their polyester pants suits and mannish haircuts are proving once again that temptation can surely come from a woman. In the old days, women were considered “second-class” because it was believed that they were tempters, as Eve was, and would entice men to their downfall.

These days, it’s not the men who have anything to fear from these nuns, but the women of our parishes. In town after town, when these Goddess-worshippers come and present “retreats” on spirituality and prayer, you can be sure that they won’t be teaching their audiences how to pray the rosary or handing out schedules for adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Instead, chances are very good that the gullible ladies of the parish will learn chants, spells, and why they should revere the Goddess.

These women seem to have thrown away everything having to do with Jesus Christ, His mother, His Church, and all that His disciples taught. Today, they retain only the most rudimentary ties to the Church–the initials after their names and their convents. Were these women in thrall to the Goddess when they entered their respective orders, or were their vows corrupted and discarded after they entered? I guess it doesn’t make much difference when they were co-opted by witches and pagans. The problem is that they were so easily corruptible and so quickly led astray.

Philip G. Davis, professor of religious studies at the University of Prince Edward Island, delivers a warning called, “The Goddess Arrives.”

“The Goddess movement,” he wrote, “is essentially a blend of Wicca, modern witchcraft as formulated by the English occultist Gerald Gardner (1884-1964), with American-style 1970s radical feminism. The claims made by radical feminists on behalf of the Goddess go much further than this recent history, however. The Goddess now stands for a complete and distinctly neopagan view of human nature and history.

… “Who is the Goddess? She is, in short, the imaginary deity and symbol of a new religion which sees itself in opposition to all that Christianity has represented over the past 18 centuries in which it has been a dominant presence in Western civilization. What then is she doing in the Church?

“She is not simply there as ‘God in a skirt,’ a device for describing the biblical God in more gender-balanced terms. On the contrary, the Goddess is being used as a vehicle for changing the nature of the Christian religion from within. With her Wiccan, neopagan, and ultimately occult ancestry, the Goddess stands for an entire alternative body of beliefs and practices.

“According to her own devotees, the Goddess is an immanent, pantheistic deity; transcendence itself is derided as a stereotypically male notion which denies the value of the self and the world. Being immanent, she is to be known through neither revelation nor reason, but through subjective intuitive experiences. Such experiences are to be sought in many ways, ranging from neopagan magical ceremonies to the active exploration of multiform sexuality as a sort of spiritual exercise. Moral norms are also subjective and intuitive, guided only by the so-called Wiccan Rede, ‘An ye harm none, do what ye will’.” (ibid)

In today’s atmosphere of lackadasical adherence to the precepts of the Church, it is not surprising to find this depth of apostasy among Catholics of all levels. The surprise is always that it appears most deeply entrenched among those very women whose faith called them into the religious life, and who historically poured out those dedicated lives in service to the Lord and to His Church. At what point did the Church fail to provide the nurturing atmosphere that previously drew them and the sisters who chose the consecrated life above the allure of the world?

Now, we have small communities of pants-suited women, where once we had large and thriving communities of women who glady took the veil and habit to proclaim to the world that they loved Christ and the Church more than they loved the world. These days, we have middle-aged, post-menopausal women in trousers who seem especially disturbed by the obedience of the Blessed Virgin Mary to the will of God; silly women casting spells and waving decorated sticks, muttering incantations, dancing in circles and spirals and following laybrinths, and blaming everything that is not right in their world on the men and the Traditions in the Roman Catholic Church.

It is doubtful that any of these women can be lured away from their Goddess, so the outcome of the problem is hazy, at best. It has fallen to us who believe to pray for a new life for the old orders, a new dedication, and a new vision for their roles in the life of the Church.

I guess Satan doesn’t mind going in drag. Anything it takes, so long as it turns people’s eyes away from God.

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For more insight into the paganization of the churches, read Goddess Unmasked, also by Phillip G. Davis, in which he researches the roots of the Goddess movements and ties all the loose ends together.