Karma Knows, Baby

The Bush gang's parting gift: a final, frantic looting of the public wealth.
The US bail-out amounts to a strings-free, public-funded windfall for big business. Welcome to "no-risk capitalism". From Naomi Klein in The Guardian.

The strangest thing about the whole matter is that, unlike other shifty maneuvers by governments, this one is being done completely in the open...and not a peep from anyone.

Where are the protests? Where are the general strikes? Where are the sit-ins and boycotts?
Governments around the world have effectively robbed their citizens and I've yet to see one protest march in the streets.

Have we become so cowed? When they see that they have easily got away with this heist, imagine the encore? Its time to say enough. And remember, in the words of Whoopi Goldberg, karma KNOWS, baby. God sees all and karma knows what you did. Vengeance is mine: I will repay saith the Lord. Not man's or woman's or law's or politico's. God's. That should give pause but likely won't.

QUOTE This duplicity is a political opportunity. Whoever wins on November 4 will have enormous moral authority. It should be used to call for a freeze on the dispersal of bail-out funds, not after the inauguration but right away. All deals should be renegotiated, this time with the public getting the guarantees.
It is risky, of course, to interrupt the bail-out process. Nothing could be riskier, however, than allowing the Bush gang their parting gift to big business - the gift that will keep on taking. UNQUOTE

___

Happy Halloween...Woooooooo.......

From Credo comes the Top Ten Ideas For a Catholic Halloween by Taylor Marshall.

Good stuff.

QUOTE 10. Don’t call Halloween "Satan’s Holiday"!There are many Christians who have written off Halloween as some sort of diabolical black mass. It’s the vigil of a Christian holy day: All Hallows’ Eve or All Saints Eve. Has it been corrupted by our culture and consumer market? You bet. However, Christmas has also been derailed by the culture. Does that mean that we’re going hand over Christmas? No way! Same goes for Halloween. The Church does not surrender what rightfully belongs to her - she wins it back! UNQUOTE

And it just gets better.

~~~

Creating Warmth

Today's creative ventures included working at the bakery; of necessity gently chastising an earnest and likable but immature young friend; tending to neglected correspondence, which is a pastime with me (neglecting my correspondence that is) and making a gourmet dinner for my family. I was daring and made some gluten free chocolate chips cookies, and added a tablespoon of finely grated orange zest to the recipe, which came out pretty darn good. For those aspiring young GF bakers out there - in case their inquiring minds want to know - I used my preferred trifecta of gluten-free flours, masa harina, brown rice flour and buckwheat flour, and a wee bit of xanthan gum. Yummy. Nothing says warmth and home like chocolate chip cookies and try tossing in some orange zest next time you bake. Earthy and sweet and very very rich. Mmm.

###

He Ain't Heavy....Oops, Maybe He Is...

Nicolas Poussin. Pharaoh's Daughter Finds Baby Moses. 1638. Oil on canvas. Louvre, Paris, France.

The inscription on the world famous statue at Boys Town, Nebraska and well known Hollies pop song goes "He ain't heavy, he's my brother". Nebraskans have a well-deserved image as caring for youth and going the extra mile to do what is needed for needy youngsters. Charlie and I raised our three (now adult) children here and feel strongly it is a great place to raise a family.

After several grievous baby abandonments resulting in death on the child(infants in dumpsters etc.) the Nebraska State Legislature passed a bill, the Safe Haven bill, which basically, as I understand it, decriminalizes the abandonment of children to hospital emergency rooms in the state. Nebraska's safe-haven law, which took effect in July, is the only one in the country that lets caregivers abandon children as old as 18 without fear of prosecution. As of this morning, there have been a total of 15 instances of families abandoning a child under the safe haven law. Twenty-three children have been left since Sept. 13.

~~~

Channel 7 (KETV in Omaha) has a number of articles on kids dropped off under the "safe haven" law here and here and here.

Read the AJC.com article about the mother who drove from Georgia to Nebraska to dump her son.

Read the CNN.com article about unintended consequences of Nebraska's "safe haven" law.

~~
Gov. Dave Heineman announced today that he will call a special session to amend Nebraska’s safe haven law. The session will begin Friday, Nov. 14.

“After consulting with the Speaker of the Legislature, I am calling a special session for November 14 to correct Nebraska’s safe haven law,” Gov. Heineman said. “A proposed three day safe haven law that the legislature has agreed to will be introduced by Speaker Flood on my behalf.”

The current law which took effect in July, allows parents or guardians to drop off minor children at hospitals without fear of prosecution for child neglect.

Gov. Heineman added, “This law needs to be changed to focus on its original intent, which is to protect infants.”

~~~

I agree that the law needs to be amended, and I agree it should be very young, perhaps three weeks of age of somesuch. But what of the despairing parent with no financial resources and no support who parents a child with severe issues ~ and drops them off rather than abuses them? The despair must be extreme, to leave one's own flesh and blood like that. What a world we live in. In a more gentle age they would be called orphans and some kindly soul ~ perhaps Father Flanagan of Boys Town, Nebraska ~ unofficial patron saint of Nebraska ~ would have taken them in. When the Legislature opens its special session on November 14th, I pray that they use wisdom to decide what to do, and not simply react because the media is calling them "stupid" for passing such a bill. The law of unintended consequences was invoked, but the fallout was that of the heart. This shortsighted bill was that rarest of creatures, a large-hearted law. For that the Nebraska legislature deserves praise.

~~~~~

The Lesser of Two Evils Is Still Evil

From the Glimpses and Thoughts Blog, a pithy argument for writing in Ron Paul or for voting for one of the more principled third party candidates. (The author endorses Chuck Baldwin).

QUOTE Russell Kirk often said that politics is the art of the possible. Republicans have proven that it is not possible to trust anything they tell us they will "do" for the pro-life movement. The hour is late. People have to be won by ideas, not by desperate idealogues who will say anything to get elected. Ideas cannot penetrate when people vitiate their convictions for a "win." The fight against abortion will not be won by trying to channel Reagan by saying "win one for the Gipper - vote McCain." It will not be won by people who two-step when asked about litmus tests and abortion.


I don't know how it will be won. God knows. And He knows that you aren't "obliged" to vote for someone just because he has a chance of winning. Sometimes the truth loses. It's as good a time as any for all of us to learn that lesson. Yes, even lawyers in New Jersey, wasting their vote on John McCain, where Barack Obama will win in a landslide, need to learn that lesson too.


Yet unlike said lawyers, I know that we've just survived arguably the worst Presidency in American history. We'll survive Obama's too. UNQUOTE
~~~~

George Parr on The Economy

Stiff upper lip, and all that, old bean. Very funny satirical skit from George Parr.

"Dodgy debts". Hmmmm...
;)

The Last Laugh - George Parr - Subprime - subtitulos
Uploaded by erioluk

Ad Orientem

“Ad orientem” is from “oriens” meaning “the rising sun” -- thus “the East” or “the dawn” – and with the preposition “ad” ( “to” or “towards”).
In the Early Church the bodily posture of priest and people at the “Eucharistia” was a symbol of Christian hope. Jesus Christ was identified with the dawn and rising sun. And as such His dawn (rising from the dead and then coming in glory) marks the consummation of all things and the restoration of Paradise (Eden lies in “the east”). Not only the celebrant but the whole assembly, united in the one body of Christ, looked to the risen Lord who shall come in glory to restore all things. The eucharistic feast is in anticipation of the messianic banquet at the consummation.
So “ad orientem” is not the priest being bad mannered with his back to the people, but it is the whole people of God looking with awe and joy at the resurrected Lord Jesus and in expectation and hope looking for his coming in glory.
~~~~

Obama Vs. McCain Dance Off

Why YouTube rules. Heh hah...photoshopped dance contest between the presidential candidates, pretty funny stuff.
Enjoy.

What Would Jesus Brew?

Beer!! Drink of the Faithful. Of course, the glorious St. Brighid of Kildare* (see below) turned water into beer, a lake of beer for the King of Kings, as the story goes, providing ample evidence that Celtic saints are surpassingly holy and down-to-earth simultaneously.

QUOTE Shortly after the doors opened on the 27th Great American Beer Festival, a crowd congregated at the booth offering that and other pours from The Lost Abbey of San Marcos, California, where the tap handle is a Celtic cross and the legacy of beer-brewing monks endures.
Standing under a banner promising "Inspired beers for Saints and Sinners Alike," proprietor and former altar boy Tomme Arthur had a confession: He's using God to sell some beer.
"It's the oldest story ever told -- the struggle between good and evil," said Arthur, 35, a product of Catholic schools in his native San Diego. "There is a battle being waged between those who make good beer and those who make evil beer."UNQUOTE

* She was a brewer and lover of the drink. Her miracles include conjuring beer from the ether and multiplying barrels. With a single cask she kept almost twenty churches in the drink for the duration of an Easter long weekend. On another occasion she turned bath water miraculously into beer to quench the thirst of a leper colony.

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen +

I would like a great lake of ale, for the King of the Kings

I would like the angels of Heaven to be among us.

I would like an abundance of peace.

I would like full vessels of charity.

I would like rich treasures of mercy.

I would like cheerfulness to preside over all.

I would like Jesus to be present.

I would like the three Marys of illustrious renown to be with us.

I would like the friends of Heaven to be gathered around us from all parts.

I would like myself to be a rent payer to the Lord; that I should suffer distress, that he would bestow a good blessing upon me.

I would like a great lake of beer for the King of Kings.

I would like to be watching Heaven's family drinking it through all eternity.

- Saint Brighid of Ireland

Talkin' To The Man From Galilee

As the old spiritual says, oh, sinner man, where you gonna run to?

The actual soul of this nation is a good one, and will eventually prevail over the lying politicians, investment weasels and corrupted bankers. The bull caca just keeps getting piled higher and deeper.

Here's a straight shooter, telling it like it is...

"What they (G7 leaders) need to do is go down the bar and leave the rest of us alone," Rogers said.

~~~~~

QUOTE "This is a disgrace," Kucinich said, adding that some additional congressional action may be warranted. "The bailout continues to be perverted by those who led us into the problem to begin with and who stand not to just profit in a corporate sense but to profit personally through bonus packages."

Kucinich does not have confirmation of The Guardian's report but hopes to get some answers.

"No one is denying that this is happening," he said. "That AIG took action confirms that it's happening. We just have to see the extent of it." UNQUOTE
~~~

Johnny Cash sings "God's Gonna Cut You Down"

Free Falling Markets

Worldwide drops in the markets. People are losing their shirts more often than the girls at the local Hootchie Kootch saloon. I was just at the local branch of a well-known value big box stre: and I was nearly shopping by myself. Eerie.

We're free falling...

A Little Perspective

A little perspective now and then is valued by the wisest men (and women!)

From the pronoia wildman, Rob Brezhny. Here's one pagan hippie I agree with, at least with most of the sentiments he delivers in the letter below, which I found today in my inbox. I personally am still likely to write in a Ron Paul/Dennis Kucinich protest vote, but the first 3/4 or Rob's letter really got my attention. Yes!
~~~~~~~
QUOTE
Dear Readers,

Before the last U.S. presidential election in 2004, *What Is Enlightenment?* magazine posed the following query to five religious leaders: "Many people argue that the upcoming presidential election is the most important in our lifetime.
Do you agree?" Four of the respondents said, in effect, "Yes, because George Bush is bad for America and the world." But the fifth religious leader, Zen Buddhist Jan Chozen Roshi, replied, "I don't know. Our existence is so short, it's like a dust mote in the eye of God.

To say that the time in which my dust mote existed was the most important is a self-centered view." Roshi's wisdom reminded me of an anecdote told by Henry Kissinger, an American politician who was Secretary of State in the 1970s. Kissinger once asked Chinese premier Zhou Enlai what he thought of the French Revolution, which had happened two centuries earlier. "Too soon to tell," Chou answered.

I always like to keep these ideas in mind, even in times of relative peace and calm. But I'm especially fond of focusing on the *very* big picture when divine chaos is whirling around -- like now. It helps keep me humble, and discourages me from any temptation I might have to believe I know the Whole Truth about anything, let alone about the mysterious long-term processes at work in the evolution of the human race.

There's another factor that makes me cautious about getting embroiled in partisan politics and the narrow-minded hostility that fuels it. One of my main goals in life is to love everyone with passionate intensity -- no exceptions. Not just the people I find beautiful and helpful and interesting and attractive. But also the people I don't like and the people who don't like me and the people I disagree with and the people who can't or won't do anything for me. In order to become the gorgeous genius I aspire to be, in order to fulfill the unique destiny I came to Earth to embody, I have to hold EVERYONE in my heart with compassion and empathy. As I contemplate how every single part of creation is interconnected, I've got to be aware that the creatures I'm allergic to and inclined to feel alienated from are also part of the great web of life.

That's my spiritual goal; it's essential to awakening my best self and cultivating an intimate connection to Spirit. It's also my selfish goal; it's critical to my physical and mental health. Hatred always sickens me. Love always invigorates me.*On the other hand:I was born at a specific moment in history with a unique outlook and a particular assignment. I can't help but be passionate about the truth as I see it.

And the truth as I see it is that Barack Obama is the best choice for President of the United States. He is definitely the most pronoiac candidate.That's why I'm voting for him and feel good about saying:BARACK OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT

If you'd like to know a little more about my political perspectives, some (but not all) of which are shared by Obama, you can read them here: http://tinyurl.com/2etg3cIf the spirit moves you, you can also read this article from *The New Yorker,* which I largely endorse:http://tinyurl.com/4ev99m

P.S. It's crucial to keep in mind that Obama can't single-handedly and magically heal all the havoc inflicted on America and the world by He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named and his henchmen. The resuscitation will have to be accomplished primarily by we-the-people, and as much on the local level as in the federal realm.
UNQUOTE
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dominus Vobiscum

The Money Was There All Along

Downsize our military, keep our troops home, start making cool useful stuff locally, and redirect those trillions to schools, healthcare, and alternate energy and we wouldn't have to raise a dime of new taxes.

Please read and distribute this article The God That Failed widely.

From Counterpunch

QUOTE This was the cult that captured the governments of the United States and Britain (among others), as well as the Republican and Democratic parties, and the Conservative and Labour parties as well. And for almost thirty years, its ruthless doctrines have been put into practice. Regulation and oversight of financial markets were systematically stripped away or rendered toothless. Essential public services were sold off, for chump change, to corporate interests. Public spending on anything other than making war, threatening war and profiting from war was pared back or eliminated. Such public spending that did remain was forever under threat and derided, like the remnants of some pagan faith surviving in isolated backwaters.

Year after year, the ordinary citizens were told by their governments: we have no money to spend on your needs, on your communities, on your infrastructure, on your health, on your children, on your environment, on your quality of life. We can't do those kinds of things any more.

Of course, when talking amongst themselves, or with the believers in the think tanks, boardrooms -- and editorial offices -- the cultists would speak more plainly: we don't do those things anymore because we shouldn't do them, we don't want to do them, they are wrong, they are evil, they are outside the faith. But for the hoi polloi, the line was usually something like this: Budgets are tight, we must balance them (for a "balanced budget" is a core doctrine of the cult), we just can't afford all these luxuries.

But now, as the emptiness and falsity of the Chicago cargo cult stands nakedly revealed, even to some of its most faithful and fanatical adherents, we can see that this 30-year mantra by our governments has been a deliberate and outright lie. The money was there -- billions and billions and billions of dollars of it, trillions of dollars of it. We can see it before our very eyes today -- being whisked away from our public treasuries and showered upon the banks and the brokerages.

Let's say it again: The money was there all along.

Money to build and generously equip thousands and thousands of new schools, with well-paid, exquisitely trained teachers, small teacher-pupil ratios, a full range of enriching and inspiring programs.

Money to revitalize the nation's crumbling inner cities, making them safe and vibrant places for businesses and families and communities to grow.

Money to provide decent, affordable and accessible health care to every citizen, to provide dignity and comfort to the elderly, and protection and humane treatment for the mentally ill.

Money to provide affordable higher education to everyone who wanted it and could qualify for it. Money to help establish and sustain local businesses and family farms, centered in and on the local community, driven by the needs and knowledge of the people in the area, and not by the dictates of distant corporations.

Money to strengthen crumbling infrastructure, to repair bridges, shore up levies, maintain roads and electric grids and sewage systems.

Money for affordable, workable public transport systems, for the pursuit of alternative sources of energy, for sustainable, sensible development, for environmental restoration.

Money to support free inquiry in science, technology, health and other areas -- research unfettered from the war machine and the drive for corporate profit, and instead devoted to the betterment of human life.

Money to support culture, learning, continuing education, libraries, theater, music and the endless manifestations of the human quest to gain more meaning, more understanding, more enlightenment, a deeper, spiritually richer life.

The money for all of this -- and much, much more -- was there, all along. When they said we couldn't have these things, they were lying -- or else allowing themselves to be profitably duped by the high priests of the market cult. When they wanted a trillion dollars -- or three trillion dollars -- to wage a war of aggression in Iraq, they found it. Now, when they want trillions of dollars to save the speculators, fraudsters and profiteers of greed in the global market, they suddenly have it. UNQUOTE
~~~~

Capitalism, Socialism, Distributism

Here's a good article on distributism (link below) and a challenge to the lazy thinking that knows only two models(capitalism or socialism). The modernist epidemic of black and white thinking can usually only come up with two opposing views, whatever the topic.

The trouble with those seeking to defend capitalism is that they end up defending trance consumerism - a greedy, godless, amoral system of materialism 100% at odds with Catholic/Christian teaching. The notion of capitalism tempered by moral restraint is untenable. How can market forces act morally? Their fueling passion is greed. The point is that they concern themselves with supply, demand and price and nothing else, existing in a moral vacuum.

The core of capitalism is not about what society, or families or individuals need, but what will reward stockholders' investments and enrich the CEO's coffers.

From InsideCatholic.com

QUOTE Congress has promised over $1 trillion from our hands to "rescue" gargantuan businesses. When corporations demand the largest free ride in our history, it's time to rethink economies of scale. Socialism is a silly solution -- there, everything becomes one gargantuan business. We need a real solution: distributism. UNQUOTE

Why I Don't Like Computer "Games"

I have always had a problem with the trend of online and computer games in which the player is encouraged to make as many cyber "kills" as possible. When our kids were young it sickened me that the coarsening and dulling effect on a young mind was so readily available and popular. We eventually capitulated to our young son's pleas for games he found and first played at his friend's homes, and then gritted our teeth and prayed through the years until he left home. Now he loves to "conquer Europe" in his spare time, his current favorite game.

I work with a person who writes for a very violent online game, a SciFi fanfic game, in their spare time. This person's demeanor is always vaguely overbearing, even threatening, and their language is often littered with references to "kills" and "evil overlords" and so forth, all of which is nerdy and geeky in a person of decided middle age, but also really unsettling. Today I found this article - The Culture Of Cyber Death - which resonates. This stuff is sick, and so are people who are entrenched in it.

From The Distributist Review.

QUOTE Indeed. Though marketing considerations may prevent virtual rape, the logic of the game permits, or even encourages it. Of course, these games have the power to form our minds--and our souls--in ways that real life could not. The virtual replaces the real in the formation of habits. After all, a real murder might sicken us and present us with unpleasant consequences; but we can practice a virtual murder an infinite number of times. One can get into the habit of murder without even exercising the courage that a real murderer might have to exercise. Reality at least imposes some limits, even on the murderer or the rapist. But in virtual (non)reality, our avatars do our killing for us, and can do so infinitely. UNQUOTE
~~~~~~

Time For a "Cute Overload" !

What with all the heavy duty politics and religion I sometimes feel like I have heavy boots of clay on and everything is way too serious. So I am introducing The Rosemary Tree's Cute Overload, as an antidote to the bahhs and ennui and especially, to jaded weight-of-the-world-ism.

Awwww...

The Theotokos

I have found a wonderful icon, (new to me, although certainly not actually new) called The Jerusalem Theotokos, (Madonna Gerosolimitana). I like this icon very much, especially after reading the following quite amazing quote: "The Virgin Mary looks a lot like the one on the icon of the Virgin Mary of Jerusalem. She is exactly the same. I have seen her many times and I don't know of any other icon resembling her so much".

- Elder Paisios the Athonite (1924 -- 1994)

Our Lady Theotokos pray for us.

Venerable Edel Quinn

On December 15, 1994, Pope John Paul II declared Irish Missionary and Legion of Mary member Edel Quinn “Venerable” -

“It is certain that the Servant of God, Edel Mary Quinn, a secular virgin of the Legion of Mary practiced to a heroic degree the Theological virtues of Faith, Hope and Charity towards God and her neighbor and likewise the cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude."

Noonan On Ms. Palin

Miz Moose-hunter has had almost 8 weeks to show us her quality, and has come up pretty much empty handed, says conservative icon Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal. I concur. It's really too bad she isn't a brilliant libertarian who just talks like a common country gal, which is what I originally took her for. Terribly sad, the whole story.

QUOTE Here is a fact of life that is also a fact of politics: You have to hold open the possibility of magic. People can come from nowhere, with modest backgrounds and short résumés, and yet be individuals of real gifts, gifts that had previously been unseen, that had been gleaming quietly under a bushel, and are suddenly revealed. Mrs. Palin came, essentially, from nowhere. But there was a man who came from nowhere, the seeming tool of a political machine, a tidy, narrow, unsophisticated senator appointed to high office and then thrust into power by a careless Franklin D. Roosevelt, whose vanity told him he would live forever. And yet that limited little man was Harry S. Truman. Of the Marshall Plan, of containment. Little Harry was big. He had magic. You have to give people time to show what they have. Because maybe they have magic too.

But we have seen Mrs. Palin on the national stage for seven weeks now, and there is little sign that she has the tools, the equipment, the knowledge or the philosophical grounding one hopes for, and expects, in a holder of high office. She is a person of great ambition, but the question remains: What is the purpose of the ambition? She wants to rise, but what for? For seven weeks I've listened to her, trying to understand if she is Bushian or Reaganite—a spender, to speak briefly, whose political decisions seem untethered to a political philosophy, and whose foreign policy is shaped by a certain emotionalism, or a conservative whose principles are rooted in philosophy, and whose foreign policy leans more toward what might be called romantic realism, and that is speak truth, know America, be America, move diplomatically, respect public opinion, and move within an awareness and appreciation of reality.

But it's unclear whether she is Bushian or Reaganite. She doesn't think aloud. She just . . . says things. UNQUOTE

Seek God Alone

To work seeking God alone

"Yesterday I was in the room of a good priest and there my eyes alighted on these words: God alone!

My eyes at that moment were full of tiredness and pain, and my mind was recalling many anxious days like yesterday, and on top of the whirl of many worries, and on top of the confused sound of many sighs, it seemed to me as if my angel spoke: God alone!, disconsolate soul, God alone!

On the window-sill there was a cyclamen plant, beyond it a corridor where some priests were piously meditating, and further beyond a crucifix, a dear and venerated crucifix which reminded me of beautiful and unforgettable days, and my tearful eyes rested at the feet of Our Lord.

And it seemed as if my soul was lifted up, and that a peaceful comforting voice came down from the pierced heart and invited me to rise up, to confide my sufferings in God, and to pray.

What soft and peaceful silence...! and in the silence God alone! I repeated to myself God Alone!
And I seemed to feel a beneficial atmosphere and calm around my soul!... Then I saw behind me the reason of the present sufferings: I saw how instead of seeking to please God alone! in my work, for years I had been begging for the praise of men; I was continuously seeking, continuously worried about having somebody who could see me, appreciate me, applaud me, and I concluded for myself: here too, I must start a new life: I must work seeking God alone!

The glance of God is like a fortifying dew, a luminous ray which fertilises and expands: let us work without noise and without rest, let us work before God’s eyes, before God alone!
The human glance is a burning ray that fades even the most resistant colours: in our case it would be like a frozen breath of wind that bends, that damages the still fragile stem of the poor little plant.

Every action done to make noise and to be seen, loses its freshness to the eyes of the Lord: it is like a flower passed through many hands, bareley presentable.

God alone! oh, how useful and comforting to want God alone for a witness! God alone is holiness at its highest level! God alone is the best security of one day entering Heaven.

God alone, my children, God alone!"

From “The Work of the Divine Providence” by Blessed Luis Orione (1872-1940) (3 September 1899).

Prayer
Make, oh my God, of this poor life of mine a single canticle to the Divine charity on earth, for I want it to be – through thy grace, oh Lord – a single canticle to the Divine charity in Heaven! (Blessed Luis Orione) "

God in the Streets

A very moving Eucharistic procession though the streets of New York City

May God bless you and yours.

DJY

America’s Coup D’État in the Making: Deception and Self-Deception
by Claes G. Ryn

A hard-hitting a clear statement of our current dilemma.

QUOTE The handwriting is all over the wall. It is becoming clearer with each passing day that neo-Jacobinism and related currents, which may have seemed innocuous and "merely academic" to some, have provided ideological cover for an ever more grasping and ruthless pursuit of power. People of great ambition who want to exercise the power being abdicated by Americans are trying to make us accept and even welcome the final disappearance of American constitutionalism and its culture of modesty and self-restraint.

As already mentioned, some earlier assaults on traditional Western civilization were launched by openly radical agitators who saw themselves as on the outside of their societies. Their justifications for seizing power were revolutionary doctrines like those of Marx and Trotsky. Today’s rolling, gradual coup is engineered by already powerful people who want to consolidate and expand their power.

Wishing not to antagonize too much those who still identify with an older America and still wield some power, they try not to appear too radical and so often present themselves as "neoconservatives" or even "conservatives." As should be clear from their own words, that does not make them friends of traditional America.

Needless to say, neo-Jacobin ideology, though long a potent force, is not the only way of justifying the coup from within. Those working to centralize power are strongly entrenched in both major parties and in other influential American institutions, and they employ different ideas and symbols to woo and co-opt different constituencies.

Given the growing problems of the United States, why not welcome these efforts to rethink the ways of traditional America? Because they are inspired by highly dubious motives that color the proposals for change. Though those trying to impose a new power structure often speak in the name of America and their rhetoric is sometimes faintly conservative, they are not inspired by a desire to protect and reconstitute the best of the Western tradition.

By changing the meaning of words, they are rather trying to reconcile us to the demise of that heritage and its replacement with their own enlightened and virtuous regime. Their response to the crisis is aggravating the crumbling of the American constitutional order. Their prescriptions contain the outlines of tyranny and must fill the friends of traditional American and Western civilization with trepidation.

What is ominous about these, our purported saviors, to repeat, is not that they want power. It is that they represent a conceited and self-absorbed special interest and have an obsessive desire to rule others – a desire that cannot be concealed by feigned benevolence toward Americans and all mankind. It is necessary to expose their false solutions to what are real problems and to explore by what measures the best of our civilization might, despite daunting odds, be given a new lease on life. UNQUOTE

October 16, 2008
Claes G. Ryn [send him mail], professor of politics at the Catholic University of America, is chairman of the National Humanities Institute and editor of Humanitas. He also is president of the Academy of Philosophy and Letters. He is the author of America the Virtuous.

It's A Good Day To...

I have always been amused and slightly startled by the modern pop culture's treatment of death. Having swerved away to a signicicant degree from the rudimentary Catholic (or even Christian) idea on the subject, it seems many people like to avoid the omnipresent memento mori of urban squirel & possum roadkill, miscarraiges and relative's funerals, and spend years - years! - pretending that they are going to live in this current body forever, rather than an extremely brief span of years. Facelift? Hah! Botox, my ass. Health food and exercise, well OK, but for quality of life, but babe, it isn't gonna buy you a week. The only healthy-eating -daily -ten -mile -running marathoner I know is also the only person I know to have a near-fatal heart attack before his 40th birthday. ( And honey, even, say, 102 or so is a brief span of years. I can see this all too clearly from the eve of my 55th birfffday. )

From The Bygone Bureau. Don’t Worry—We All Get to Die Eventually
by David Tveite on October 15, 2008
Enjoy!

QUOTE The world is a dangerous place, and it’s a lot smaller than it used to be. We can’t just keep the bad parts at an arm’s length anymore. Even if we blot out terrorism, there are still car accidents, heart disease, natural disasters, school shootings, chainsaw killers, child molesters, asteroids, collapsing bridges, Italians, second-hand smoke, Putin, Oprah, and Nickelback.

So what are you going to do? You can eat healthy, quit smoking, draw the shades, check the locks, get a gun, turn on the alarm, buy a mean dog, and travel everywhere in a bulletproof Popemobile, but someday, you’re going to be as dead as anyone else.

What are your priorities? What do you want from your life, because you can hide in your basement until the end of time worrying about the problems that you’ll never fix, or you can accept that life is dangerous and choose to live yours anyway. The world is chock-full of foul people who do terrible things, and there’s no reason we should ignore that. But if we can’t even push these things into the background every once in awhile, how are we supposed to cope?

So I say don’t spend your life worrying about all the things that can kill you, but don’t expect any of those things to go away either. If you’re scared, try to be brave and when the shit hits the fan and you can’t even do that anymore, at least try to hold steady. It’s been seven years now. How about we stop letting fear run our lives? UNQUOTE

Obama As Elitist

One more little grin to send you on your way...from The Onion



Portrayal Of Obama As Elitist Hailed As Step Forward For African Americans

The Onion: Still "America's Finest News Source"

And the funniest.
;D

Bush Calls For Panic

QUOTE WASHINGTON—In a nationally televised address to the American people Wednesday night, President Bush called upon every man, woman, and child to spiral uncontrollably downward into complete and utter panic.

President Bush addresses the nation shortly before shaving his head and soaking the Oval Office in his own urine.
Speaking from the Oval Office, Bush assured citizens that in these times of great uncertainty, the best and only course of action is to come under the throes of a sudden, overwhelming fear marked by hysterical or irrational behavior.

"My fellow Americans, the time for running aimlessly through streets while shrieking and waving our arms above our heads is now," Bush said. "I understand that many of you are worried about your economic future and our situation overseas, and you have every right to be. Yet there is only one thing we as a nation can do in times like these: give up all hope and devolve into a lawless, post-apocalyptic, every-man-for-himself society." UNQUOTE

Colbert: "I'm Comin' For You, Jones."

Haha...
I love Stephen Colbert

Hell Freezes Over

Blue bloody hell! This just in: Christopher Buckley is voting for Obama. Holy mackinolee...

hip hip hooray for Christopher ! and welcome to zany world of the independent voter, a place I've frequented for years. Our deepest condolences on the loss of your post at the magazine your Dad founded all those years ago.

Blue bloody hell! and Sorry, Dad, I'm Voting for Obama

QUOTE My point, simply, is that William F. Buckley held to rigorous standards, and if those were met by members of the other side rather than by his own camp, he said as much. My father was also unpredictable, which tends to keep things fresh and lively and on-their-feet. He came out for legalization of drugs once he decided that the war on drugs was largely counterproductive. Hardly a conservative position. Finally, and hardly least, he was fun. God, he was fun. He liked to mix it up.
So, I have been effectively fatwahed (is that how you spell it?) by the conservative movement, and the magazine that my father founded must now distance itself from me. But then, conservatives have always had a bit of trouble with the concept of diversity. The GOP likes to say it’s a big-tent. Looks more like a yurt to me. UNQUOTE

####

My Yellowjacket Soap Opera

My insect-bite driven miniseries, my yellowjacket soap opera (or is that miseries) continues today, the third day since I was the unlucky recipient of several ~ I'm still not sure if it got me three or four times ~ yellowjacket stings. Bad stuff: it feels like radioactive fire at first and now on the 3rd day after, feels like an itchy ache elixir has been injected into me.

I sit with my pink, swollen, sore and itchy football of a foot elevated, mind woozy with Benedryl and aspirins and/or ibuprofens (I'm trading them off to avoid pickling my tummy's interior with the famously caustic ibu). The entire thing is slightly paralyzed as well, and the skin is so taut I feel it may burst, like a rotton plum, and then where will I be?

Since I work on my feet this has naturally derailed my normal work schedule, throwing the bakery I work in into even further of a worker deficit than normal, and leaving me feeling oddly guilty, as though I'd planned to step on a fallen apple infested with wasps on Sunday's hike around the Arbor Day Far, orchards at Nebraska City. I do have an overdeveloped sense of responsibility.

My range of activity has been temporarily limited to the confines of my own home, stumbling about like a drunkard from the Benedryl and doing a good deal of reading, partly Tolkien, partly news and politics, and partly online googling "yellowjacket stings". I tried swimming at the neighborhood YMCA for a while yesterday, on the grounds that the cool water would be good for the bites, but it seemed to only exacerbate the injury. A devout Catholic, I meditate upon the sting of sin and the bite of the Enemy.

Here's an excerpt from an Ohio State article on the obnoxious bugs and their bite. I apparently have a "large local reaction". Lucky me, but at least I didn't have a full systemic one.

QUOTE Most people stung will experience a "local" reaction with redness, pain, swelling and some itching only at the sting site. If the reaction progresses quickly to sites other than the sting site or is followed by difficult breathing or choking at the throat, the person is experiencing a "systemic" allergic reaction (anaphylaxis) requiring emergency medical treatment.

Remember that if you are stung on the hand and your face begins to swell or hives break out all over your body, this is a serious condition requiring emergency room attention.

Normal Reaction:--Lasts a few hours. Sting site is painful, reddened, may swell and itch, but will quickly dissipate.

Large Local Reaction:--Lasts for days. Sting site is more painful, swelling and itching may be present both at the sting site and in surrounding areas.

Severe Allergic Reaction:--Can commence rapidly (in a few minutes) after the sting occurs. The whole body is involved. Person may feel dizzy (lightheaded), nauseated and weak. There may be stomach cramps and diarrhea. There can be itching around the eyes, a warm feeling or coughing, hives breaking out, followed with vomiting and swelling. There can be wheezing, difficult breathing (shortness of breath) or swallowing, hoarse speech, drop in blood pressure, shock, unconsciousness and darkened skin following. Reactions may occur in a few minutes with most deaths within 30 minutes, but some within 15 minutes and some in five minutes or less. UNQUOTE






QUOTE There is nothing funny about yellow jacket stings. According to info on the Web, 100 people will die from insect stings this year and you only need to stung once to suffer ill effects! Each sting should be taken seriously. That doesn’t mean panicking every time. It does mean, staying calm and knowing how to respond to the situation.
People need to know how serious bee/yellow jacket stings can be. Once a person has been stung these critters have a tendency to sting you again . I can attest to that, having been stung 10 or 12 times over the years. Each time my reaction to the stings has become more severe.
BTW, bees and yellow jackets are not the same. Bees will generally not attack first. Also, the earth is losing its bee population and that’s important to know because without bees growing food becomes tenuous. We need helpful bees to pollinate our crops etc.
Ten days ago I stung one evening. I thought it was a fluke, but when I was attacked, again, on Friday night I knew something was dreadfully wrong.
Turns out there was a nest of the suckers in my back yard, and as I found out these guys are very aggressive . . . and aggressive just for the hell of it. They will attack for no reason. Apparently, I was too near their nest. BTW, yellow jackets make their nests in the ground near tree roots, which I didn’t know until the exterminator told me . They can also build their nests in lawns, under pine straw, in the ground etc. UNQUOTE

~~~~~

Our Lady of Zapopan

Wow, I did not know of this wonderful Madonna. Be sure and click on over to Father Steve's blog and read it all, and view the related YouTube videos he has up. Salve Regina!

QUOTE October 12th means Columbus Day to Americans, but to the good citizens of Mexico, October 12th is also the day the "Traveling Lady of Zapopan" comes "home" to spend the Autumn and Winter months in her stately basilica. UNQUOTE

Rosemary

ROSEMARY
Folk Names: Compess Weed, Dew of the Sea, Elf Leaf, Guardrobe, Incensier, Polar Plant, Sea Dew. * Gender: Masculine * Planet: Sun * Element: Fire * Powers: Protection, Love, Lust, Mental Powers, Exorcism, Purification, Healing, Sleep, Youth *

Folk Uses: Rosemary, when burned, emits powerful cleansing and purifying vibrations, and so is smouldered to rid a place of negativity, especially prior to prayer and meditation. It is one of the oldest incenses. A chaplet of rosemary, worn, aids the memory, while the wood, smelled often, preserves youthfullness. Rosemary infusion is used to wash the hands before healing work, and the leaves mixed with juniper berries are burned in sickrooms to promote healing. Rosemary is grown to attract elves, according to legend, and the powered leaves wrapped in linen cloth and bound to the right arm dispel depression and make the emotions light and merry.

Road To Serfdom

Here is a quick summary of F. Hayek's classic The Road to Serfdom, in cartoon format. A must-see.

Seeing Red: $100 MIL in Executive Bonus 3 Days Before Filing Bankrupcy

The Lehman Brothers board signed off on more than $100m (£59m) in payouts to five top executives just three days before the bank went bankrupt leaving thousands of employees out of work in London.
From The Times (UK)

My husband and I have received, within the past few days, statements from a home equity loan which is paid in full and a credit card account, also PIF, with interest charged on a ZERO balance. We are closing both the accounts tomorrow, and seriously thinking about closing all lines of credit. What I want to know is this: where do these clowns get off? AIG and their $440,000 spa weekend after receiving untold wealth from the people's taxes...Lehman Brothers golden parachutes, it sickens me. Where do they get off? When the people take to the streets in a general strike? When are the perpetrators of this disaster behind bars where many of them belong?
~~~~

Ron Paul on Fox News 10/10/08

Note that Fox News tried to slip in the word "conspiracy" because popular wisdom is that only "nuts" believe in them, and if they could get Ron to say it was a "conspiracy" then he is proved to be a nutter. Yet again Ron Paul outclasses them, and stays right on topic with insight so lacking from our politicans today. Nearly everyone I have asked, everyone, says they would vote for him or Dennis Kucinich, in the case of Democrats, if they were on the ballot.
###

India's New Saint, Sister Alphonsa

QUOTE TRIVANDRUM, India (Reuters) -

Thousands of Christians were flocking to a small town in southern India on Saturday to celebrate the planned canonization of a Roman Catholic nun, against a backdrop of the worst anti-Christian riots in decades.
Sister Alphonsa will become India's first woman saint when she is canonized by Pope Benedict at a special ceremony at the Vatican on Sunday.
"It is a very important event and a big recognition for a woman born in a simple, ordinary Indian family," said Archbishop Raphael Cheenath in eastern Orissa state, where recent attacks on Christians have killed about 35 people.
"At this time of suffering, it will help us and inspire us."
Tens of thousands of people were thronging a church in the town of Bharananganam in Sister Alphonsa's native Kerala state ahead of the occasion.
Special masses are being held in all Catholic churches in the state, where Saint Thomas, one of the 12 apostles, is believed to have arrived in 52 AD, bringing Christianity to India.
Bells will ring and firecrackers will burst across Kerala when the Pope declares Sister Alphonsa a saint at 1.30 p.m. (0800 GMT), said Father Dominic Vechoor, chancellor of Palai diocese, where she was a nun from 1927 till her death in 1946. UNQUOTE

~~~~~~~~~~

Whoa Nelliebelle II

Holy Warren Buffett, Batman. This is huge.

Re: Credit cards. A bank holiday would be "everything stops." You can't write checks if the banks aren't open. You can't use credit cards if the banks can't process them. Unless they've got some kind of magic we don't know about.

From Bloomberg

QUOTE
Berlusconi Says Leaders May Close World's Markets (Update1)
By Steve Scherer
Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said political leaders are discussing the idea of closing the world's financial markets while they ``rewrite the rules of international finance.''
``The idea of suspending the markets for the time it takes to rewrite the rules is being discussed,'' Berlusconi said today after a Cabinet meeting in Naples, Italy. A solution to the financial crisis ``can't just be for one country, or even just for Europe, but global.''
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as much 8.1 percent in early trading and pared most of those losses after Berlusconi's remarks. The Dow was down 0.5 percent to 8540.52 at 10:10 in New York.
Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers are meeting in Washington today, and will stay in town for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings this weekend. European Union leaders may gather in Paris on Oct. 12, three days before a scheduled summit in Brussels, Berlusconi said today, while Group of Eight leaders may hold a meeting on the crisis ``in coming days,'' he said.
Berlusconi didn't give any details about what kind of rules leaders were looking to change, except to say that leaders are ``talking about a new Bretton Woods.''
The Bretton Woods Agreements were adopted to rebuild the international economic system after World War II in a hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The aim of the agreements was to establish a monetary management system, initially by pegging currencies to gold. The IMF was set up later to help manage the international financial system.
To contact the reporter on this story: Steve Scherer in Rome at scherer@bloomberg.net Last Updated: October 10, 2008 10:15 EDT
UNQUOTE

Jim Rogers Straight Talk

"Commodities are the only thing I know that are coming out of this unimpaired...I find it outrageous that normal people have to bail out a bunch of 29-year-olds driving Mazeratis."

Great stuff.

Médaille On Buffett

The Distributist economic viewpoint as articulated by John Médaille and others is one which I am just learning about but have much sympathy for. Basically, it is an economic "third way" between communism and capitalism, wisely understanding the truth of the wag's statement "Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under communism, it's the other way around."

In a nutshell, distributism envisions an economic order modeled on the guild-dominated economies of medieval Europe. Advocates take Catholic social teaching seriously; indeed, they frequently insist that CST virtually obligates Catholics to support a distributist program. There is much of value in the distributist vision, including criticism of consumerist culture and an emphasis on wide ownership of property and communal cooperation.
___
QUOTE As a matter of full disclosure, I am a stockholder in Berkshire Hathaway. But this old distributist will listen to the old capitalist. Pearl Harbor was a rather severe wake-up call. This melt-down is another. How will we respond? Trouble in life is inevitable; the real test, for a person or a nation, is how we deal with it. UNQUOTE
_____

Bailout Nation

from The Distributist Review
John Médaille

The Savers Are Bailing Out the Squanderers

Former SEC economist Laura Rowley argues that rampant consumerism and wealth disparity are to blame for the economic meltdown.

From Yahoo Finance

This article points at the great civil divide that will inevitably come. This country has to come together one way or another and wake up! On the one hand I have no sympathy for those that kept their head down, saved and are now on tap to pay for the Wall Street bailout...why? Because there was so much corruption and shady business going on in high places and lack of moral and social obligation, to ignore it and CYA is nothing to be proud of.

You sold your soul for "security." But true security is only in God.
~~~~~~~

Crying in Your Beer? Click Here.

Whoa, Nelliebelle....

The Great Depression of 1929 was quick, taking just a few weeks for the stock market to lose half of its value. And over 25 years to gain it back. What road are we travelling?

Monks and Mammon

A CEO with NO annual salary, millions in profit, and all the money going for good works. Fabulous!!

New Look At The Rosemary Tree

It's still the same blog, I'm just messing around with colors and styles of font and background.
Like the new look??

Bankstah Rap

From Sinfest, suitable named due to Eff-bomb alert. Click on over to read it, it's hilarious. (Then say three Hail Marys.)

Lepanto

"O Lady of Last Assurance

Light in the laurels,

sunrise of the dead,

Wind of the ships

and lightning of Lepanto

In honour of Thee,

to whom

all honor is fled."

- G. K. Chesterton, In October

(The Battle of Lepanto took place on 7 October 1571 when a galley fleet of the Holy League, a coalition of the Republic of Venice, the Papacy (under Pope Pius V), Spain (including Naples, Sicily and Sardinia), the Republic of Genoa, the Duchy of Savoy, the Knights Hospitaller and others, decisively defeated the main fleet of Ottoman war galleys.)

Although I've not read it, the book Empires of the Sea by Roger Crowley is reviewed as an readable, excellent historical take on the conflict. The conflict between Ottoman Turkey and Christian Spain for mastery of the Mediterranean basin had a huge influence on the development of the modern world, yet is probably not something you know very much about.

Our Lady of Lepanto, pray for us!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Europe Into the Abyss

From The Telegraph (UK) comes some hard core doom. Get some garden tools, seeds and hunker down, the big money boys have really f*cked up everything for everyone. Bye bye retirement funds...

QUOTE We face extreme danger. Unless there is immediate intervention on every front by all the major powers acting in concert, we risk a disintegration of global finance within days. Nobody will be spared, unless they own gold bars. UNQUOTE
###

Robin Hood Reversed

As I write this the Dow is down 522 points, headed below 10,000 for the first time in over four years, and the so-called bailout seems to be exactly what we were afraid it was: the biggest armed robbery of the poor by the rich in the history of humanity. I have watched with amusement the mainstream media "bread and circuses" distracting folks, the sports pseudo-competitions and the celebrity sex and the spangly sparkly objects swung hypnotically before our eyes to lull us into being afraid and being obedient. Congress grew a pair briefly, voting NO on the so-called bailout initially, but then lost 'em as quick as they'd found 'em. The bloody horsehead of martial law was plopped onto the senators and congresscritter's pillows and most of them turned and bowed and pullled their fetlocks. Yeash, Mastah Paulson...

The American population, on average, as a whole, reads, writes and comprehends at about an 8th Grade Level. The Republicans know that they are dealing with a bunch of mental 14 year old’s who don't pay attention to what is really going on. That is how they were able to destroy this Country in only 8 years. Our educational system, for the majority of us, is a joke. Analytical thought is uncommon, and the reality is that this is a country that runs on credit and credit alone. Our maufacturing jobs are all gone overseas. We don't make anything that people want, except weapons and war, we have a "negative" savings rate and a large percentage of the population that thinks Sarah Palin is an excellent choice for Vice President. Now, Ms. Palin may be a good mom, a fine Wasilla mayor and an OK Alaska governor, as two intelligent professional liberal Alaskans of my aqauintance maintain she was, but her absolute top level of competency was reached with that job, if not the previous one, in my opinion. But I digress. Bottom line - the rich have robbed the poor, at gunpoint, and have gotten away with it.

From a blog at US News, a rant to-the-point:

QUOTE Ever since the republicans, under Richard (I am not a crook) Nixon, decoupled the Dollar from the Gold Standard due to the increased runaway spending of the Vietnam War, we have been on a slippery slope towards economic ruin. The mad-dog , $10 Billion Dollars a month spending on the Iraq war is merely a repeat of the Vietnam War Economics. The crisis we are facing today is the result of a dollar that is not worth the paper it's printed on. The rest of the world is slowly coming to the same conclusion and if something isn't done post-haste, they will start dumping the toilet paper we call the U.S. Dollar and cutting their losses before we take them down with us. As to the $700 Billion Dollar bail-out, it's for the Chinese and other sovereign wealth funds that are demanding that their investments be made good or they will proceed to cash out while they can. Well I guess SOCIALISM is bad for the public but good for WALL STREET as it helps foreign banks recover their losses. UNQUOTE
~~~~~~~~~~~

Universe, Top to Bottom

A really cute cartoon. The observable universe, top to bottom. From xkcd webcomics.

Dilbert In D.C.

Novena to St. Francis

Glorious Saint Francis, who voluntarily renounced all the comforts and riches of thy home to follow more perfectly the life of poverty and abnegation of Jesus Christ: Obtain for us, we pray, a generous contempt of all things in this world, that we may secure the true and eternal things of heaven. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen. O glorious Saint Francis, who during the whole course of thy life continually wept over the passion of the Redeemer, and labored most zealously for the salvation of souls: Obtain for us, we pray, the grace of weeping continually over those sins by which we have crucified afresh Our Lord Jesus Christ, that we may attain to be of the number of those who shall eternally bless His supreme mercy. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen. O glorious Saint Francis, who, loving above all things suffering and the Cross, merited to bear in thy body the miraculous stigmata, by which thou becamest a living image of Jesus Christ crucified: Obtain for us, we pray, the grace to bear in our bodies the mortifications of Christ, that we may merit one day to receive the consolations which are infallibly promised to all those who now weep. "If we be dead with Christ Jesus, we shall live also with Him," says the Apostle; "if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him." Pray for us, Saint Francis, that we may obtain the graces and favors we ask for in this novena; pray for us, especially, that we may obtain the grace of perseverance; of a holy death and a happy eternity. (Pray an Our Father, a Hail Mary, and a Glory Be five times)

Lederhosen, Oktoberfest and Sports Jerseys

Dirndls and lederhosen are becoming the ever more popular choice of outfit for going to the Oktoberfest -- and not only among the born-and-bred Munich inhabitants. Today half of staid Lincoln, Nebraska will be clad in gaudy red sports gear, some sporting children of the corn hats, for the Nebraska-Missouri football game.

Group affiliation is apparently a huge psychological need. And an amusing one...

From Science Daily

Why Does Lederhosen Conquer The Oktoberfest In Munich?

####

Overload of calories throws critical portions of the brain out of whack

Here is yet more scientific proof that overeating is not so good: you know how you feel drowsy and sort of dull after a really huge meal? Well, that's just your brain, like, shutting down.

From Science Daily

QUOTE In today's society, this pathway is mobilized by a different environmental challenge—overnutrition," he said. Once activated, "the pathway leads to a number of dysfunctions, including resistance to insulin and leptin," both important metabolic hormones. UNQUOTE
~~~~~~~~~~~

"Men, it has been well said, think in herds; it will be seen that they go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses slowly, and one by one."

On CSPAN Congressman Brad Sherman reveals that politicians were threatened with Maartial Law if the bill did not pass. What is going on around here??

Ron Paul On the Passed Bailout Bill

"The credit crunch is a symptom of a very serious disease in this country."

The good doctor has the right diagnosis.

First Friday in October

The emphasis has been so heavy on the negative, the economic mes, the political election cycle, the war in Iraq and countless worldly woes ~ let's take a moment on this first Friday, before many of us - the Catholics amongst us, anyhow - head to church before our dinner ~ let's take a moment to consider the spiritual side. That's the side that matters most!

From Spirit Daily
QUOTE Often God deals with our swollen selves by pricking the balloon we too often become.
When we boast or gossip, when we have pride, we fill like a blimp with hot air.
The Lord, in His Mercy, will eventually cause that to burst. He will let fresh air in. Pride goes before the fall.
"Nor do people put new wine into old wineskins," says Matthew 9:17, "otherwise the wineskins burst, and the wine pours out and the wineskins are ruined; but they put new wine into fresh wineskins, and both are preserved."
How are you swollen? Is there negativity welling inside of you? What has become too big for your "skin" to contain? UNQUOTE

Bloomberg 10/2/08

"If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their money, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them, will deprive the people of their property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered."~Thomas Jefferson

Maybe Ron Paul is right! ?

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