AT LONG LAST the Senate of the United States of America is rid of a politician who was an immense threat to the Republic. Senator Edward M. Kennedy died - finally - of brain cancer the other day (we don't care to mark the date).
Although we do indeed sympathize with the immediate family - we have ourselves sustained loss of loved ones recently - Senator Kennedy was, to put it mildly, a detriment to our Constitutional Republic. It is tragic that it took death to dislodge him from the Senate, but it was necessary and America has been thereby blessed.
We are sure that there are those of you who will cry boo-hoo and deride us, citing Kennedy's "pristine intentions" and "dedication to the little guy". Well the intentions were quite noble and so were the goals, but Ted Kennedy proposed (and too often suceeded in) using the force of government to force everyone to give as much as Ted deemed needful to whatever cause he deemed deserving, whether those so robbed agreed or not. Ted was exactly the type of moneyed "rich man" he derided and insisted on taxing to death in the name of the poor; yet he held onto his own riches quite closely.
Ted Kennedy would give a needy man the shirt off our back.
There are many commentators who remark about their fantasies of punishments God will now inflict on Kennedy. For our part we believe that God alone has the authority to judge eternally. We and all of us have ample reason to believe thusly, lest it be us standing before Him. So we shall not speculate here on the present state of Ted Kennedy's soul; and in fact we hope he is safe in the arms of the Lord. Those who wish eternal torment in Hell upon someone, no matter how evil, do so because they do not know what exactly that entails. If anyone were able to experience a sample of it, they would never again say, "go to Hell" to another human being ever again. To those who feel this way we reccommend they look into every instance where God has shown Himself to man in the Bible. The very realization of the viewer's own unworthiness would prove fatal. The best among us has no more standing on his own merits with God than the worst among us; and we all are infected with the same eternally fatal disease. Without forgiveness from God, Mother Teresa and Adolf Hitler would share one fate. It is not here we write of Ted Kennedy's final judgment.
HOWEVER we DO judge Ted Kennedy's effect and influence on this Republic. Long story short: Ted Kennedy is dead. May God continue to bless these United States.
Laying Aside
I was moved to tears by Bishop Mark Hanson's closing charge at the end of this afternoon's plenary session of the Churchwide Assembly of the ELCA. Overcome by emotion himself, he pleaded that we in this church refrain from labeling each other; that rather we remain in conversation with those whom we may disagreee with, that we tell the story of what God in Christ Jesus has done.The particular label Bp. Hanson referenced was fearful. After the decisions made this week at the assembly, there are those who are fearful of what this means for our church. With Bp. Hanson, I would call each of us to lay aside the labels: conservative, liberal, progressive, fearful, bold...whatever they may be that we so dismissively affix to ourselves and others. Once labeled, we don't have to listen to these people because we think we already know what they're going to say by virtue of the label we have classified them with.
For shame! Such diminishing of one another as God's children is sinful. It is also not helpful. This is the challenge before us:
Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we'd better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we're in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he's there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! (Hebrews 12:1, The Message)
The NRSV translates it thus.
Let us lay aside the labels as the sin they are and keep our eyes on Jesus. As we were reminded yesterday by Bishop Hanson,
"We meet one another finally, not in our agreements or our disagreements, but at the foot of the cross -- where God is faithful, where Christ is present with us, and where, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are one in Christ."
We have good news to share!flickr picture
Confessions of a Non-Signer
I have followed most of today's and some of previous days' online coverage of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly. My opinions have changed radically not just in recent years, but in recent days. I was impressed with the passion and hearts of all who spoke for and against the proposed ministry policies.A while back an online petition was circulated that was a letter from seminarians to the ELCA in support of LGBT persons in monogamous relationships to be included in rostered ministry in the ELCA. At that time, I could not in good conscience sign said petition. I could not come down on one side of the other. God kept challenging my long held positions. Particularly today, however, as I prayed and listened to the CWA plenary session, I had to add my opinion to that of the majority. Listening and hearing people's hearts is something I have learned during CPE this summer. As I practiced that skill today, the issue was not one of sexuality, but of love, the fruit of the Spirit, and the God that does what God wants to do in choosing whom God wills. There were faces, prayers, words, people before me now to consider rather than black and white words and sides of an issue.
I am brought back to a fairly contentious church council meeting back at my home church in RI. We were discussing and considering becoming a Reconciling in Christ congregation. I was dead set against it and felt like we would be on a "slippery slope." God and others have challenged me over the years. Months ago I could not have agreed with today's decisions. Today, if I was a voting member, I would have voted in the affirmative.
True confessions: when the petition was circulated favoring change of "Visions and Expectations" and supporting rostering of those in same-gender lifelong monogamous relationships from seminarians, I could not sign it. That is not the case today.
Bishop Hanson's remarks sum up my heart's cry at this time for our church,
"We meet one another finally, not in our agreements or our disagreements, but at the foot of the cross -- where God is faithful, where Christ is present with us, and where, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we are one in Christ."
Here is the link to the video of his remarks. Listen with your heart.picture from ELCA website
Memorial to a Teacher
My CPE supervisor right from the beginning told us the residents of BV would be our teachers. CPE is now complete and I couldn't agree more. This is the story of a relationship with just one of them.When I first met R, she was pretty well bed-ridden and on hospice care in her apartment in assisted living. I went to her room in response to a note from the associate chaplain that she was not doing well.
R didn’t speak much when we met as she was struggling with pain, but still managed a few words and looks of communication. Her eyes were bright clear blue and were warm in spite of the soreness she was experiencing. As one of her two daughters introduced me to her as one of the chaplains, she smiled in response and seemed glad to see me. The conversation we carried on was very limited due to the medications she was being given for pain. They made her sleepy and she would nod off.
She was remarkably warm and welcoming given the circumstances and her own suffering. When awake, on subsequent visits, she smiled as she recognized me. Her facial expressions and eyes did much of the speaking that her mouth was unable to do.
It was particularly her eyes that caught my attention. Many in my family have/ had similar blue eyes: my grandmother, mother, brother, daughter, son, and granddaughter. I could not help but think of my family, all of whom are gone except my children and granddaughter, during the times spent with R. The eyes—as I think of those blue eyes, I remember the song
In Your Eyes
love I get so lost, sometimes
days pass and this emptiness fills my heart
when I want to run away
I drive off in my car
but whichever way I go
I come back to the place you are
all my instincts, they return
and the grand facade, so soon will burn
without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside
(In your eyes)
the light the heat
(In your eyes)
I am complete
(In your eyes)
I see the doorway to a thousand churches
(In your eyes)
the resolution of all the fruitless searches
(In your eyes)
Oh, I see the light and the heat
in your eyes
oh, I want to be that complete
I want to touch the light
the heat I see in your eyes
love, I don't like to see so much pain
so much wasted and this moment keeps slipping away
I get so tired of working so hard for our survival
I look to the time with you to keep me awake and alive
and all my instincts, they return
and the grand facade, so soon will burn
without a noise, without my pride
I reach out from the inside
(In your eyes)
The light the heat
(In your eyes)
I am complete
(In your eyes)
I see the doorway to a thousand churches
(In your eyes)
the resolution of all the fruitless searches
(In your eyes)
Oh, I see the light and the heat
in your eyes
oh, I want to be that complete
I want to touch the light,
the heat I see in your eyes
in your eyes in your eyes
in your eyes in your eyes
in your eyes in your eyes
Perhaps it helped me to sit with her and spend time with her because of my inability to do so when some of my loved ones were dying. I think it was therapeutic for all of us: R, her daughters, and myself. They each allowed me to share their pain as one who understands, having experienced loss myself. There were close friends who were able to sit with my mother when she was dying, when I could not. I wanted to accompany R in her hurting, be a companion to her in the same way I would have been to my own mother, had I been able to be there.
I don’t think it was a matter of trying to exorcise my own demons in taking this journey with R and her family. I wanted to minister to them, walk with them, and listen to them as
Another song comes to mind about the role of being a non-anxious, non-verbal presence with others.
R taught me to listen beyond words to the heart and soul. She welcomed me into her home and into her life. I was invited to journey with her in her final days of life on this earth—to read to her, sing to her, pray with and for her, and to wait with those she loved as they maintained the bedside vigil.
OBAMA IS NO ADOLF HITLER
WE ARE RATHER TIRED of seeing various postings and hearing parvenue personages declaring that there are parallels between "President" Obama and Adolf Hitler. OH, we admit there are a few similarities, but there is a BIG difference, and we do not here speak of race. Adolf Hitler worked his way up the ranks of Germany's Socialist Worker's Party until he became the leader and renamed it "National Socialist German Worker's Party" (NAzionalSoZIalistiche Deutches Arbeiter Partei ). From there he consolidated Party leadership and craftily took over the government by increments until he managed to get an "enabling Act" making him absolute Dictator. He was a gifted and inspiring public speaker who gave life to the inner thoughts and resentments of the German people. He identified the majority, villified the minority, and led a rubber-stamp Parliament (the Riechstag). Through it all he, Hitler, was the undisputedcd tip-top cat, and to cross him was to risk death.
ON THE OTHER HAND here we have this Obama. Obama was nothing but a "community Organizer" in Chicago before he was noticed by the Party he serves. He got where he was then and is now by kissing the asses of the party bosses and delivering the votes of the quick and the dead to the Daley machine. The Democrats showed "Appreiciate" by giving him a back-bench in the State Senate. He cast every vote at his party's call, and whenever it fell to him to think for himself at all, he voted "present". Evidently he thought so little they rewarded he by sending him to the Senate in big ol' D.C.
We apologize to Gibert and Sullivan for our lame references. However, at that point he began to be groomed for the 2008 Presidential elections, and the Obama brand was rolled out at the 2004 Democrat Convention. The extreme Left leadership of the Democrat Party did not, do not, and never did envision him as a 'Fuehrer" but rather as an attractive candidate who would be a bill-signing nincompoop and a spokesman for their vision for the country. The DemonRatz are NOT about to give Obama the dicatorial powers they covet for themselves. We do not say that Obama is not a dangerous entity. He is, but he is also a loon and a butt-boy for those who handle him. He did not write "cap-and=trade"; he merely promotes it and (if it gets to him) will sign it like an obedient servant of his white Massas. And the same goes for this health-care boondoggle.
Adolf Hitler would NEVER have let the likes of Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid set the agenda. HE would have written the legislation HIMSELF and told them to pass it OR ELSE. Pelosi and Reid hold the leash and grind the organ as they send Obama out to dog-and-pony phony "town halls" to hold out his cap for support. Obama is a worse insult to Black Americans than "Amos "N Andy " ever was. To compare him to Hitler is an insult to Hitler.
But that's okay, we suppose; because Hitler can't be insulted too much.
ON THE OTHER HAND here we have this Obama. Obama was nothing but a "community Organizer" in Chicago before he was noticed by the Party he serves. He got where he was then and is now by kissing the asses of the party bosses and delivering the votes of the quick and the dead to the Daley machine. The Democrats showed "Appreiciate" by giving him a back-bench in the State Senate. He cast every vote at his party's call, and whenever it fell to him to think for himself at all, he voted "present". Evidently he thought so little they rewarded he by sending him to the Senate in big ol' D.C.
We apologize to Gibert and Sullivan for our lame references. However, at that point he began to be groomed for the 2008 Presidential elections, and the Obama brand was rolled out at the 2004 Democrat Convention. The extreme Left leadership of the Democrat Party did not, do not, and never did envision him as a 'Fuehrer" but rather as an attractive candidate who would be a bill-signing nincompoop and a spokesman for their vision for the country. The DemonRatz are NOT about to give Obama the dicatorial powers they covet for themselves. We do not say that Obama is not a dangerous entity. He is, but he is also a loon and a butt-boy for those who handle him. He did not write "cap-and=trade"; he merely promotes it and (if it gets to him) will sign it like an obedient servant of his white Massas. And the same goes for this health-care boondoggle.
Adolf Hitler would NEVER have let the likes of Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid set the agenda. HE would have written the legislation HIMSELF and told them to pass it OR ELSE. Pelosi and Reid hold the leash and grind the organ as they send Obama out to dog-and-pony phony "town halls" to hold out his cap for support. Obama is a worse insult to Black Americans than "Amos "N Andy " ever was. To compare him to Hitler is an insult to Hitler.
But that's okay, we suppose; because Hitler can't be insulted too much.
STOP ABUSING THE CONSTITUTION
EVER SINCE THE DAYS OF THE FRANKLIN DELANO ROOSEVELT ADMINISTRATION, politicians with a taste for Statism have used three sections of the Constitution to justify the restrictions they put upon We The People. We were of course not present at the forging and signing of Our National Charter, however we are very certain that the Framers did NOT intend these passages to be used as loopholes large enough to steer an aircraft carrier through.
These passages are the PREAMBLE; and the "INTERSTATE COMMERCE CLAUSE" and the "NECESSARY AND PROPER" CLAUSE" contained in Article One Section Eight of the Constitution.
FIRST. STOP QUOTING THE PREAMBLE AS JUSTIFICATION FOR ANYTHING. It is an introductory statement outlining the goals the Constitution and the Federal Government are established to attain. That the Preamble says for instance that one goal is to "Promote the General Welfare" DOES NOT GIVE CARTE BLANCHE TO DOLE OUT MONEY TO EVERY DEADBEAT ON EVERY STREETCORNER. Indeed, that is NOT the meaning of "general welfare" at all. That has more to do with ensuring that we live in a decent country and are free and nothing to do with giving some sad-sack a check every month to buy booze with and food stamps to buy Vienna wieners with. "To insure domestic Tranquility" is also not a blank check to for instance establish a police state so that there are no riots. And there is also something to the fact that the word "INsure" rather than "ENsure" was used. Our Founders were educated men, who knew what a word meant.
The Preamble has NO bearing on whether a certain act of government is in compliance with the Constitution. The Constitution's binding legal authority begins directly below the words "Constitution for the United States of America".
SECOND; "TO MAKE ALL LAWS WHICH SHALL BE NECESSARY AND PROPER" is also cut-and-pasted by those who wish to justify whatever lunatic schemes the politiciand might want to push across. But as the REST OF THE CLAUSE MAKES CLEAR, "Necessary and proper" means to carry out the AUTHORIZED POWERS. For instance, you cannot decide that since (A) is needed - and therefore necessary - that it is "proper" to pass a law requiring it. At a MINIMUM, SOMETHING in the Constitution must put (A) within your purview, specifically. It doesnt matter WHAT you think. If it is not authorized, then it is not necessary nor is it proper. PERIOD.
THIRD; THE "INTERSTATE COMMERCE CLAUSE" IS THE MOST ABUSED CLAUSE IN THE ENTIRE CONSTITUTION. The classic example of this is Millard V Filburn, wherein a farmer was arrested and fined for growing wheat beyond his quota for the purpose of feeding his own family. The justification for this was that since farmer Filburn made his own flour rather than buy bread in "Interstate Commerce", then he was "affecting" "Interstate Commerce" and thus the Federal Government was authorized to fine him for growing more wheat than some official thought proper. This was upheld by the Supreme Court, which was full of shit; but ever since that decision the Federal Government has claimed jurisdiction forever over anything which has at some point in time "Moved in Interstate Commerce". This means for example that the Congress assumes that if paper and ink moved from one state to another, then what is done with that paper and ink may fall under Federal control. In fact, abuse of the ICC is the foundation of the lion's share of all the Statist legislaation that has been passed or proposed since the Great Depression.
WHEN ACTOR/COMEDIAN/ENTERTAINER W. C. FIELDS, AN ATHEIST, WAS ON HIS DEATHBED, his nephew walked in on him as he was poring over a Bible. Asked why such a crusty old non-believer was perusing the Holy Book, W.C. responded: "Looking for loopholes, my boy! Looking for loopholes!" A modestly funny story, to be sure; but that is the way too damned many politicians view the Constitution. And it has to stop.
These passages are the PREAMBLE; and the "INTERSTATE COMMERCE CLAUSE" and the "NECESSARY AND PROPER" CLAUSE" contained in Article One Section Eight of the Constitution.
FIRST. STOP QUOTING THE PREAMBLE AS JUSTIFICATION FOR ANYTHING. It is an introductory statement outlining the goals the Constitution and the Federal Government are established to attain. That the Preamble says for instance that one goal is to "Promote the General Welfare" DOES NOT GIVE CARTE BLANCHE TO DOLE OUT MONEY TO EVERY DEADBEAT ON EVERY STREETCORNER. Indeed, that is NOT the meaning of "general welfare" at all. That has more to do with ensuring that we live in a decent country and are free and nothing to do with giving some sad-sack a check every month to buy booze with and food stamps to buy Vienna wieners with. "To insure domestic Tranquility" is also not a blank check to for instance establish a police state so that there are no riots. And there is also something to the fact that the word "INsure" rather than "ENsure" was used. Our Founders were educated men, who knew what a word meant.
The Preamble has NO bearing on whether a certain act of government is in compliance with the Constitution. The Constitution's binding legal authority begins directly below the words "Constitution for the United States of America".
SECOND; "TO MAKE ALL LAWS WHICH SHALL BE NECESSARY AND PROPER" is also cut-and-pasted by those who wish to justify whatever lunatic schemes the politiciand might want to push across. But as the REST OF THE CLAUSE MAKES CLEAR, "Necessary and proper" means to carry out the AUTHORIZED POWERS. For instance, you cannot decide that since (A) is needed - and therefore necessary - that it is "proper" to pass a law requiring it. At a MINIMUM, SOMETHING in the Constitution must put (A) within your purview, specifically. It doesnt matter WHAT you think. If it is not authorized, then it is not necessary nor is it proper. PERIOD.
THIRD; THE "INTERSTATE COMMERCE CLAUSE" IS THE MOST ABUSED CLAUSE IN THE ENTIRE CONSTITUTION. The classic example of this is Millard V Filburn, wherein a farmer was arrested and fined for growing wheat beyond his quota for the purpose of feeding his own family. The justification for this was that since farmer Filburn made his own flour rather than buy bread in "Interstate Commerce", then he was "affecting" "Interstate Commerce" and thus the Federal Government was authorized to fine him for growing more wheat than some official thought proper. This was upheld by the Supreme Court, which was full of shit; but ever since that decision the Federal Government has claimed jurisdiction forever over anything which has at some point in time "Moved in Interstate Commerce". This means for example that the Congress assumes that if paper and ink moved from one state to another, then what is done with that paper and ink may fall under Federal control. In fact, abuse of the ICC is the foundation of the lion's share of all the Statist legislaation that has been passed or proposed since the Great Depression.
WHEN ACTOR/COMEDIAN/ENTERTAINER W. C. FIELDS, AN ATHEIST, WAS ON HIS DEATHBED, his nephew walked in on him as he was poring over a Bible. Asked why such a crusty old non-believer was perusing the Holy Book, W.C. responded: "Looking for loopholes, my boy! Looking for loopholes!" A modestly funny story, to be sure; but that is the way too damned many politicians view the Constitution. And it has to stop.
OBAMA THE DANCING MONKEY
WHAT TOO MANY PATRIOTS DO NOT REALIZE ABOUT "PRESIDENT" BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA is that he is not the main threat to our liberty. Obama is the butt-boy of the DemonRat leadership. He was picked and groomed by the enemies of liberty as a spokesman for the brand years before he was elected. Obama was intended by th Ratz to be a shill, a spokesman, and an endorser for the vision of the Pelosi/Reid wing of the Democrat party. He is nothing more than an instrument for those who would change us from a Republic of free people to an aristocracy of elite Statists. "People of Color" have been hoodwinked into believing that one of their own now runs the country, when in fact he has been called to the "big house" to pack the c otton for ol' Massa.
The DemonRatz know full well that control of the Congress is MUCH more importnt than control of the White House. This is why they tried to ram everything they c ould through before the Reps and Senators went back home to face their constituents. And the effort will only be redoubled because the way things are going they will lose big time in November of next year.
Obama has deluded himself into thinking he got where he is by his own merits. He did not. He is a tool of those who would
The DemonRatz know full well that control of the Congress is MUCH more importnt than control of the White House. This is why they tried to ram everything they c ould through before the Reps and Senators went back home to face their constituents. And the effort will only be redoubled because the way things are going they will lose big time in November of next year.
Obama has deluded himself into thinking he got where he is by his own merits. He did not. He is a tool of those who would
HOT AUGUST
HERE WE ARE IN AUGUST IN THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION, and it is as every year hot in the morning, hot as hell at noon, and hot and dark at night. But why is THIS August different from all other Augusts??
Mainly because in August the politicians and their staff pack up, go to hell home, and shut the hell up; and for the rest of the month the Republic is safe from the Congress. But not this year. No, this year the politicking goes on even though the politicians are out of town. The "President" and his henchpeople led by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are hell-bent on cramming socialism and taxes down our throats, and we are giving our reps and Senators an earful, loudly. The Lefties are "outraged" at our "assault on Democracy"; and never mind that when it was a bunch of gays "discussing" some aspect of homosexual rights, or NARAL types decrying some effort to limit some of the more barbaric practices of the abortionists; or if some Conservative speaker they did not agree with appeared at a college; the Lefties did not mind the shouting and screaming of their people one bit, in fact they claimed that far from assaulting Democracy, their side was exercising "free speech".
Obama is asking people to turn in their neighbors - and they want names, addresses, birthdates, employment, everything - who oppose "Obamacare". He has personally told the Union thugs to go out and quell the protests; and in one instance an elderly Black conservative was roughed up for selling conservative buttons and stickers at one of these "town halls". In response there is debate in the firearms community about whether to arm ourselves at these rallies for self-defense against gangs of bat-and-cane wielding goons.
WHAT IS IT, WE WONDER, ABOUT AUGUST? World War I broke out in August, and it was in mid-August that the Molotov-Ribbentrop "Non-Aggression Pact" was signed, leading directly to the onset of World War II with the invasion and division of Poland on September 1 1939. Now it is August 2009, 70 years since the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and the beginning of a global holocaust; and the United States of America are boiling. What will come of this?
Hot August, indeed.
Mainly because in August the politicians and their staff pack up, go to hell home, and shut the hell up; and for the rest of the month the Republic is safe from the Congress. But not this year. No, this year the politicking goes on even though the politicians are out of town. The "President" and his henchpeople led by Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are hell-bent on cramming socialism and taxes down our throats, and we are giving our reps and Senators an earful, loudly. The Lefties are "outraged" at our "assault on Democracy"; and never mind that when it was a bunch of gays "discussing" some aspect of homosexual rights, or NARAL types decrying some effort to limit some of the more barbaric practices of the abortionists; or if some Conservative speaker they did not agree with appeared at a college; the Lefties did not mind the shouting and screaming of their people one bit, in fact they claimed that far from assaulting Democracy, their side was exercising "free speech".
Obama is asking people to turn in their neighbors - and they want names, addresses, birthdates, employment, everything - who oppose "Obamacare". He has personally told the Union thugs to go out and quell the protests; and in one instance an elderly Black conservative was roughed up for selling conservative buttons and stickers at one of these "town halls". In response there is debate in the firearms community about whether to arm ourselves at these rallies for self-defense against gangs of bat-and-cane wielding goons.
WHAT IS IT, WE WONDER, ABOUT AUGUST? World War I broke out in August, and it was in mid-August that the Molotov-Ribbentrop "Non-Aggression Pact" was signed, leading directly to the onset of World War II with the invasion and division of Poland on September 1 1939. Now it is August 2009, 70 years since the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact and the beginning of a global holocaust; and the United States of America are boiling. What will come of this?
Hot August, indeed.
FORTY YEARS AFTER: HAS ANYONE GROWN UP YET?
THIS WEEK MARKS THE 40TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE MUSIC-DRUGS-AND-SEX-IN-THE-MUD-NEXT-TO SOMEBODY-TAKING-A CRAP FEST COMMONLY REFERRED TO AS "WOODSTOCK". What twaddle. We are part of the so-called "Baby Boom" that produced this damn-near disaster. What is being heralded by so many news specials, etc; as "the wonder of 1969" was simply an exhibition en masse of the experience of most of us from that era individually; ie: it is a damn miracle we are around to tell of it.
But never mind, these news specials are replete with old hippies who evidently never bothered to become adults talking about how "everybody helped each other" and how there was like, wow, no racism and stuff. More about that later.
There was on "Dateline" some dude who spoke of staying at a motel outside the concert site and "kissed a man in front of (his) parents" at age 16. We do not know about you, dear reader. But if we had done the same in front of our parents, we would have been sent to a shrink and our father would have sent the man to the MORGUE. Maybe there were miracles at Woodstock after all.
AS TO THE LACK of racism and other culture clash, the reason is as clear as beer piss to anyone who has ever seen pictures or newsreels of the event. The crowd was as homogenous as the 1934 Nuremberg Nazi Party rally. Trying to find a black face in that crowd is like playing a Level 10 game of "Where's Waldo?" It is sort of hard to be a racist when there isn't anyone who isn't your race around to be racist to. I guess the fact that the whole crowd did not leave when Sly and the Family Stone took the stage means nobody was racist?
There might have been Indians - or "native Americans" as the saying goes; although as a 1/8 Cherokee we will be happy to call you a native American if you were born here - but most of them were white boys with feathers in their hair who dollars-to-donuts wouldn't know a tepee from a wigwam.
The whole thing was one helluva mess. We are today astounded by one thing and one thing only: That there were just too many of us kids to deal with back then. Half a million of us at Woodstock and that was less than one third of one percent of us. No wonder our parents, the "Greatest Generation", had a shit hemmorhage at the spectacle. They had literally fucked themselves out of a culture.
The very next year, of course, there were various attempts to re-create Woodstock. This was sort of like bringing in giant fans to re-create a tornado everone miraculously survived, but nevermind, we were kids and we were (and to some extent remain) nitwits. Our personal experience was called "Wrightstock" (on the grounds of Wright State University outside of Dayton, Ohio); where they all but put up neon signs as to where to "sneak in" and if memory serves even hosed down a few acres of dirt to make a mud wallow. Lame? In retrospect, yes.
THEN CAME THE ROLLING STONES CONCERT AT ALTAMONT, CALIFORNIA where there was a truly diverse crowd. And there was bloodshed.
But here we are, 40 years later; and judging from the fawning "news" (40 year old "news"?) coverage some of us have gotten much older but not a helluva lot wiser. Sic Transit Gloria, and maybe that's a good thing.
But never mind, these news specials are replete with old hippies who evidently never bothered to become adults talking about how "everybody helped each other" and how there was like, wow, no racism and stuff. More about that later.
There was on "Dateline" some dude who spoke of staying at a motel outside the concert site and "kissed a man in front of (his) parents" at age 16. We do not know about you, dear reader. But if we had done the same in front of our parents, we would have been sent to a shrink and our father would have sent the man to the MORGUE. Maybe there were miracles at Woodstock after all.
AS TO THE LACK of racism and other culture clash, the reason is as clear as beer piss to anyone who has ever seen pictures or newsreels of the event. The crowd was as homogenous as the 1934 Nuremberg Nazi Party rally. Trying to find a black face in that crowd is like playing a Level 10 game of "Where's Waldo?" It is sort of hard to be a racist when there isn't anyone who isn't your race around to be racist to. I guess the fact that the whole crowd did not leave when Sly and the Family Stone took the stage means nobody was racist?
There might have been Indians - or "native Americans" as the saying goes; although as a 1/8 Cherokee we will be happy to call you a native American if you were born here - but most of them were white boys with feathers in their hair who dollars-to-donuts wouldn't know a tepee from a wigwam.
The whole thing was one helluva mess. We are today astounded by one thing and one thing only: That there were just too many of us kids to deal with back then. Half a million of us at Woodstock and that was less than one third of one percent of us. No wonder our parents, the "Greatest Generation", had a shit hemmorhage at the spectacle. They had literally fucked themselves out of a culture.
The very next year, of course, there were various attempts to re-create Woodstock. This was sort of like bringing in giant fans to re-create a tornado everone miraculously survived, but nevermind, we were kids and we were (and to some extent remain) nitwits. Our personal experience was called "Wrightstock" (on the grounds of Wright State University outside of Dayton, Ohio); where they all but put up neon signs as to where to "sneak in" and if memory serves even hosed down a few acres of dirt to make a mud wallow. Lame? In retrospect, yes.
THEN CAME THE ROLLING STONES CONCERT AT ALTAMONT, CALIFORNIA where there was a truly diverse crowd. And there was bloodshed.
But here we are, 40 years later; and judging from the fawning "news" (40 year old "news"?) coverage some of us have gotten much older but not a helluva lot wiser. Sic Transit Gloria, and maybe that's a good thing.
The Necessity of Faith - Science and the Sacred
Take a peek at this blog. Very interesting.
The Necessity of Faith - Science and the Sacred
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SURPRISE, SURPRISE.
CELEBRITY DEATH UPDATE : NOTED PITCHMAN BILLY MAYS, whose hyper-energetic ads for detergents and cleaning aids blew the eardrums out of a generation of television viewers; was said today by the LA Medical Examiner's Office to have died due to complications of cocaine use.
You must be shittin' us. Really? You mean that a guy who got hyper-excited about damned near everything he spoke of and was always, always equipped with a huge grin as he jumped about shouting the virtues of soap was on drugs?? For real?
My. Aren't we surprised. (we're not).
You must be shittin' us. Really? You mean that a guy who got hyper-excited about damned near everything he spoke of and was always, always equipped with a huge grin as he jumped about shouting the virtues of soap was on drugs?? For real?
My. Aren't we surprised. (we're not).
MEANWHILE BACK IN ALEXANDRIA......
Yes, we know. This is the ALEXANDRIA Daily Poop, yet we seem to have posted very little if anything specifically about the City of Alexandria. We must, and promise to, remedy this; starting with today's posting.
Let's talk about our Congressional Representative, the embarrassing James Moran.
This idiot is about as Virginian as Boston Baked Beans. He has repeatedly insulted Jews, has been accused of smacking women around, and on one occasion roughed up a pre-pubescent African-American kid because he thought he might be fooling around with his vehicle. Get a skinful of boozze in this bozo and look out, we mean he is from all accounts a pretty mean drunk. In our opinion Congressman "Bugs" Moran is not a nice person. And if he were a Republican (or even a conservative) the DemonRatz would be hollering for his head.
But it's all good, you see; because Bugs is a liberal DemonRat. He expressed last year outrage and astonishment that people thought they were "entitled to keep their wealth" (People other than him, that is ). Which is why when we inherited a tidy sum from our father we quickly put it where he and Ubama will not be easily able to get their hooks on it. Moran in addition to being what he is personally is a money-confiscating gun-grabbing tax-and-spend neo-socialist liberal-schmiberal loon of the first water, which makes him a fine fit for this city full of liberal weenies.
But our fair city may be turning around. In the last City Council election many of the most egregious socialist libs were thrown out, and two conservatives - one Republican and the other Republican leaning - were put in. Justin Wilson, one of those intolerable young socialist knowitalls who got elected by a wide margin last time was tossed out on his ass. He made a concessionary announcement that was nothing but standard liberal twaddle regurgitated.
Oh, there is hope. You bet there is. Change is in the air, and it's not what the Ubamanistas were hoping for.
Let's talk about our Congressional Representative, the embarrassing James Moran.
This idiot is about as Virginian as Boston Baked Beans. He has repeatedly insulted Jews, has been accused of smacking women around, and on one occasion roughed up a pre-pubescent African-American kid because he thought he might be fooling around with his vehicle. Get a skinful of boozze in this bozo and look out, we mean he is from all accounts a pretty mean drunk. In our opinion Congressman "Bugs" Moran is not a nice person. And if he were a Republican (or even a conservative) the DemonRatz would be hollering for his head.
But it's all good, you see; because Bugs is a liberal DemonRat. He expressed last year outrage and astonishment that people thought they were "entitled to keep their wealth" (People other than him, that is ). Which is why when we inherited a tidy sum from our father we quickly put it where he and Ubama will not be easily able to get their hooks on it. Moran in addition to being what he is personally is a money-confiscating gun-grabbing tax-and-spend neo-socialist liberal-schmiberal loon of the first water, which makes him a fine fit for this city full of liberal weenies.
But our fair city may be turning around. In the last City Council election many of the most egregious socialist libs were thrown out, and two conservatives - one Republican and the other Republican leaning - were put in. Justin Wilson, one of those intolerable young socialist knowitalls who got elected by a wide margin last time was tossed out on his ass. He made a concessionary announcement that was nothing but standard liberal twaddle regurgitated.
Oh, there is hope. You bet there is. Change is in the air, and it's not what the Ubamanistas were hoping for.
NOW OBAMA AND THE DEMONRATZ ARE USING GESTAPO TACTICS.
ITEM: THE WHITE HOUSE WEB SITE IS URGING PEOPLE TO REPORT OPPONENTS OF OBAMACARE TO THE WHITE HOUSE.
Really? This is the technique that the Geheime Staatspolizei - commonly known as the Gestapo - used to terrorize the political opponents of National Socialism. We at the Alexandria Daily Poop are accordingly terrorized. OOOOOOH we is SO FWIGHTENED we promise not to say nothing bad bout de pessiden' jes' pleeze doan repo't us pleeze.
Actually we hope we get reprted several thousand times. We hope we are visited by Government agents telling us to cease and desist. Because we will tell them to go FUCK THEMSELVES. Here at the Alexandria Daily Poop, we will say WHATEVER THE FUCK WE GODDAMNED WELL PLEASE and we DARE anyone to try and stop us.
We are NOT "astroturf" we are true grassroots and Obama and his thugs know it. The mobs who shout down the Obama apologists are not rent-a-mobs, they are people who are pissed off big time that these DemonRatz seem about to take their votes for granted and vote for this socialist attempt at taking over not just the economy but also their very lives.
There is much more to be said about all this, but right now we must go and turn ourselves in to the Gestapo. And tell them, as should you, to go fuck themselves. Sideways
OKAY BIRTHERS, COOL IT.
- HERE AT THE ALEXANDRIA DAILY POOP, we are assuredly not fans of "President" Obama and his liberal left Demon-Rat cronies. We believe we have established more than sufficient "cred" on this issue. And we woulld like nothing more than to see him forced from office. But.
The noisome crowd of Obama opponents known as the "Birthers" - those who seek to prove that Barack Hussein Obama is not a natural-born American Citizen as required by the Constitution - keeps beating the drum. To you "birthers" we say, stop it. You are making the serious opposition look silly.
We at the Alexandria Daily Poop have examined the birth certification proffered by the "fact checker" and it appears genuine. More over, our own birth certificate contains the same information as does Obama's. Also extant are old newspaper clippings announcing the birth of Obama in Honolulu.
We were astounded today to read noted African-American leftist racial agitator columist Eugene I. Robinson in today's Washington Post; writing about this very subject; and finding ourselves in near-complete agreeement with him on this issue. There is in fact more than sufficient corroborating evidence to put the natural-born citizenship issue to rest.
SO SHUT UP. Yesterday and last night, while crowds enraged at Obama's attempt to force everyone into socialized medicine were jeering Democrat apologists off the stage, on the left-wing tak shows all the talkers were talking about YOU PEOPLE and your silly birther blatherings.
Lest any of you lefties take comfort in this posting, I would point out that such outlandish paranoid ranting by the 9-11 "truthers" was met by you with silence. Pardon. Your hypocrisy is showing.
Our Anniversaries
Yesterday we celebrated two anniversaries. The first was our wedding anniversary. Six years ago yesterday Ray and I got married. It's been an awesome journey together so far, part of which brought us to our second anniversary. One year ago yesterday we were on our way to Gettysburg to begin seminary.Now the first year of seminary has been completed, including the crazy world of summer Greek which a new group of students will soon be experiencing. Teaching parish is done. Now my classmates and I are completing CPE and will be starting our second year of seminary. Many of of never would have imagined that this is where we'd be.
I'm grateful for anniversaries, for those times to look back over the year or years and rejoice in God's grace in the blessings and the difficult times. "Great is thy faithfulness."
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