Let there be Light

Stunning: This spectacular photo captures the Advent procession at Salisbury Cathedral, where 1,300 candles are paraded through the pitch black building.

Illuminating: The Darkness to Light procession is one of the most popular services of the liturgical year in Salisbury, England.

Maybe Isaiah Robert will join the choir.
What a wondrous celebration.

Coercive malevolence and other favorite past-times

One of the most demonstrable up-close-and-personal displays of wicked coercion I ever witnessed was at the school where I taught in California's San Fernando Valley a lifetime ago.  It involved a vulnerable student named Thomas.  

I noticed Thomas in line the first day of the 1979 school year.  Recognizing the whale noises subversively  communicated to the pod dwellers, I knew that Thomas was a potential target for ridicule.  I was drawn to him immediately.
Thankfully, as the year progressed and the school of fish swam harmoniously together, Thomas learned that he was safe among the others.  It was the first time he could let his guard down.  There was no blood in the water.

Until that dreadful day when his mother removed him from my classroom.  She was angry that the school principal would not pay her custodial salary under the table.  She feared that part-time employment could affect the welfare assistance she was receiving.  In protest, she launched a mini-drama.  

As Thomas's mother approached on a sunny May day to return his books and remove him from the school, she kept a running dialogue that was intended to speak for her pawn.   

"Look at him.  He's so glad to get out of here."  

That was not the truth.  Thomas was happier in my classroom than he had ever been in his school years.  The positive attention I heaped on the dear lad, rendered him a class favorite.  Everyone liked Thomas.  He was not the brunt of fat jokes in this school.  His blood was not in the water.

His mother either had no knowledge of the classroom haven or she did not care that her son was finally able to enjoy school.  He could be used to punish the principal and me for not doing what she wanted. Thomas's mother was a wicked woman.  

Using people like pawns in an evil chess game is wicked.  For Barack Obama, malevolent  coercion is a blood sport.  Mischaracterizing others in his manipulative game of "I Win!" is legendary.  His straw men are strewn across the fruited plain.  Their names are Thomas.

Here are two examples in a grab bag of countless coercions:

In referring to the private insurance market  the ObamaCare  exchanges are replacing, the emperor said, "(I)t's important that we don't pretend that somehow that's a place worth going back to."

But we are supposed to pretend that Mr. Obama is accurately speaking for the millions of Thomas's that were perfectly happy with their insurance plans.  I'd be delighted to go back to the affordable insurance plan that has served me since retirement.  You, Mr. President, do not speak for me.

Another one of his favorite deceptive assertions is that the "do-nothing" congress refuses to negotiate.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  Barack Obama pretends to be a bi-partisan listener and then refuses to budge.  Congresswoman Noem bears witness to this ploy.  The president refuses to even make eye contact or show the respect of follow-up after meeting with his across-the-aisle adversaries.  He then follows up his dismissive behavior with accusations that the republicans refuse to work with him.  Wicked Machiavellian behavior.  
Like a grade school bully, Mr. Obama bloodies everyone's nose and then whines and bellyaches that no one will play with him.  What a punk.   

One has to wonder about the endgame purpose when the favored tactic is exploitive deception.  If ObamaCare is really about serving Americans in the best possible way, why is it drowning in untruthful corruption?  

If the truth liberates - as Jesus posited - does it follow that mendacity enslaves?  

Thomas did not leave my classroom, 30 years ago, a free boy.  He was bound to his mother's wicked schemes.  I have prayed, through the years, that the middle-aged man knows the truth.  I pray, in God's mercy, that Thomas is free.  

Anytime I am asked to believe something I know is untrue, I will not remain silent like I did when Thomas shuffled away.  When the Emperor is buck naked, someone has to point it out.

Understated cartoon of the week

You betcha!

Pride cometh before the fall

Jonah Goldberg's gloating - aka, pointing out the obvious - over Barack Obama's gravitational pull to reality is the filet mignon of commentary.  With a nice cabernet to wash it down.

Here are some luscious excerpts:

In every tale of hubris, the transgressor is eventually slapped across the face with the semi-frozen flounder of reality.

Barack Obama’s hubris — another immigrant word, which means a sinful pride or arrogance that causes someone to believe he has a godlike immunity to the rules of life.

But, with an irony so rich it would be made of Corinthian leather if it was a car seat, the only way he could get his signature legislation passed was to baldly and brazenly lie about it, over and over and over again. He created a rhetorical cloud castle where no one would lose his insurance, every family would save thousands of dollars, and millions of the uninsured would suddenly get coverage. Anyone who doubted this was called a fool or a liar, or even a racist.  
 Jonah Goldberg, National Review

Read the whole romp to reality here:  http://www.nationalreview.com/article/363907/obamacare-schadenfreudarama-jonah-goldberg

Obama appealing to the lowest common denominator

The assumption in this denigrating ad is that young people have the moral rectitude of Hugh Hefner and his cage full of bunnies. Heartbreakingly pathetic. Children and young adults tend to leap over the bar that is raised. In the current crop of undisciplined 20-somethings, the bar of low expectations are limboed under rather than leaped over. I expected more from my children who are now productive and virtuous adults married to virtuous spouses.  Let's hear it for righteousness.

Question of the century

I hear you, Professor Sowell.

Quote of the day, Or the decade

Describing sex as “casual” is like describing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel as a “nice little doodle.” That’s what I can’t stand — the people who diminish and cheapen sex are the ones who get to pass themselves off as “sexually enlightened.”  Matt Walsh

Out with the old

Not necessarily.  We often think that all things new are best.  Let's take, for example, an iPhone.  I like my 3GS and have no desire to upgrade to the latest 5C.  Doubtless, the new and improved version offers many more options and is superior.  This is often true of technology.  But is it true of everything?

 Truth only seems old fashioned nowadays because we’ve grown so accustomed to deceit and manipulation. But Truth is eternal, so it can never be old or new. It never ‘was’ or ‘will be.’ It just ‘is.’ It always ‘is.’ Truth never grows old, and if you believe in it and try to live by it, you will always be, in some ways — the only ways that matter — the youngest, freshest, most energetic rebel on the block.  Matt Walsh

Let's look at music, art and literature, and ask this question:  Should the old be discarded or up-staged by the new?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cifOZOwQJ84

Is there any music more beautiful than classical?

Michelangelo's David

                           Michelangelo's Pieta 

Is there comparable art being created today?

Allison's artwork

Allie MacKinney recalls me
offering this timeless word of counsel
as she headed to Greeley, CO for college.

Shut-up & Take this medicine, it's good for ya

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. 

C. S. Lewis  

Alan Jackson - When The Roll Is Called Up Yonder

Too much to ask?

http://www.nationalreview.com/article/356900/obama-and-art-phoniness-thomas-sowell

Why do so many American politicians weave webs of deception for the express purpose of deceiving the very people they are supposed to serve?  How much wool can I pull over your eyes today?  How much smoke can I blow up your endzone today?

Is it too much to ask that servant leaders of integrity govern by the consent of the people?  The Founding Fathers did not think so.
Is it too much to ask that the "What's good for thee but not for me" 'leaders' of our exceptionally conceived nation, at the very least, love America?  Is it too much to ask that the president and his cohorts spend the lion's share of their time serving "We the People" rather than plotting to deceive?

I would far prefer to be me rather than thee when the roll is called up yonder.

The wedding in Fargo

Laura and Ben's wedding.
The ten High School Friends together again.

Still crazy after all these years

Cuttin' a rug
or
whip lash?

Danielle in FarGO

My gorgeous girls together

Mid-day refreshment with her favorite brother-in-law.

The GrandBabes wishing a HaPPy bday to Gramma Care

Morgan's idiom references had me rolling:
"Sure hoping you don't have 'fish to fry.'"
"Goodnight!"  Wink.  

Hilarious.

Auntie and Niece reunion

As Robert would say, "Mother and child reunion."
Danielley is the aunt - not the mother - meeting her beautiful niece for the
first time.

Deadwood or bust!
Good times in South Dakota, Sept 2013.  

Who knows where Morgan is.
Probably on the Red Slide.

At the risk of neglecting MJ & Isaiah Robert,

Danielle is bonding with her niece.  

Amelia Margaret helping Danielle
check her email.

Saddle up, Partner.  I've got these reins.  

Clearing brain clutter

Jennifer Fulwiler of Conversion Diary fame, wrote the most insightful article - The Mental Neat Freak - on the varying activities that reboot mental stability.  She was flummoxed and dismayed that two hours getting a massage or haircut did not calm her in the long run.  Short term, yes, the activity was fun and enjoyable.  But she discovered, after some introspection, that writing and reading are the activities that center her knowledge that "All is Well."  It's fun and productive to figure out what settles the soul.

For me, biking and quiet contemplation, do the deed.  I am an idea person, so time to ponder and wander is crucial for a sense of peace.  As extroverted as I am by nature, renewal comes with the balance between people interaction and time with the still, small Voice.

Here's the link to Jennifer's article:  http://www.conversiondiary.com

Sometimes the truth is funny as a crutch

http://youtu.be/hfP6LmJiSec