Category Archives: Just Thinking Out Loud

Liar, Liar

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Neely Tucker writes in the Washington Post: “Science is closing in on humanoids and their seedy necessity to lie about almost everything, but don’t worry. We’ve had tens of thousands of years of practice at it, and until you stick your head inside a machine that plays with the protons in your brain so that it can film the neurons firing in your pre-frontal cortex, you can probably get away with it.”

Tucker quotes Maureen O’Sullivan, a professor of psychology at the University of San Francisco, who says, as most of us would, “I want things to be nice.” And this is the problem, she notes: Things are often not nice, and yet people who should know better ignore or look past the unpleasantness of the facts to see a happier version of reality to keep things, you know, nice.”

I say, all this sounds like the state of the nation, swallowing lie after lie, looking for sunshine on a cloudy day.

From the Anchoress  for a laugh here’s some of our politicians and then this:

Carry Me

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I am nailed to myself.  In mercy, Lord, pick up this cross and carry me to Calvary.

Reluctant Prophet

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I’m thinking about Jonah, the reluctant prophet.  He usually pops up in the readings of the Liturgy of the Word during Lent.  He made his appearance yesterday and has been wondering in the back of my mind giving his prophetic word, “Repent!”

Jonah needed to be hurled into the sea (a place of chaos) before he realized there was no escaping his responsibility before God.  Jonah needed a second chance to get it right. Fortunately, for the people of Nineveh (the worldly city of sinners), having gotten Jonah’s attention, God called the prophet a second time.  God was not going to fix things without his servant’s cooperation.

How like Jonah I am.  I need to be carried kicking and screaming to the Lord’s will.  How slow I am to remember that the only sign I’m going to get is the Now of my life.  I do want Resurrection without the Crucifixion.  So, here I sit in the belly of the whale,  my only sign, the sign of the Cross.  As Jonah spent three days in the belly of the great fish (a sign for Christ ) so Jesus spent three days in the tomb, and I must be there with Him waiting with faith.  Maybe, my Now says I have to do something.  Maybe it says I have to change.  Three days with Jesus in the tomb will prepare me for both mission and mercy.

“Who knows, God may relent and forgive, and withhold his blazing wrath,
so that we shall not perish.”
When God saw by their actions how they turned from their evil way,
he repented of the evil that he had threatened to do to them;
he did not carry it out. Jonah 3: 10

Light up the World!

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These are days that pull me in directions I don’t want to go.  My day starts with prayer and reflection.  That sets a tone I want to preserve. You probably know how things go from there. The world tries to be the boss of me.

The best I can come up with as an image to sustain my wholeness is that of an oil lamp, full and lit, sitting on a stand.  The world changes around it, winds blow, it’s light burns brightly at times;  at other times it’s flame flickers and it needs it’s wick lengthened or trimmed; depending.   What I see is that there’s no confusion about it’s being.  It is not the world and it is not the turmoil.  It is a light on a lamp stand.  If it could feel, it might feel threatened, inflamed, dampened.  The reality is,  it remains a lamp on a stand with one reason for being.

So here I sit on my stand (pc at hand),  resolute and responsive to the day, unconquered and unyielding.  Whether darkness prevails around me,  in some small way, does depend on me and others like me.

So everybody, how about it?  In chorus now!  “This little light of mine…..”

Shared by Flickr &  Ultraultraboomerang


Worth Repeating

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Lest we forget.  Thanks to the Anchoress and the Rainmaker this outside of time debate speaks not only for itself  but it pulls back the veil on Obama. BTW \”apocalypse\” is the word associated with pulling back the veil.

Agreement of sorts

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This came in my email. I’m actually for a moral, reconciled and united nation, but this does appeal to me:

DIVORCE AGREEMENT

Dear American liberals, leftists, social progressives, socialists, Marxists and Obama supporters, et al:

We have stuck together since the late 1950’s, but the whole of this latest election process has made me realize that I want a divorce. I know we tolerated each other for many years for the sake of future generations, but sadly, this relationship has run its course. Our two ideological sides of America cannot and will not ever agree on what is right so let’s just end it on friendly terms. We can smile and chalk it up to irreconcilable differences and go our own way.

Here is a model separation agreement:

Our two groups can equitably divide up the country by landmass each taking a portion. That will be the difficult part, but I am sure our two sides can come to a friendly agreement. After that, it should be relatively easy! Our respective representatives can effortlessly divide other assets since both sides have such distinct and disparate tastes.

We don’t like redistributive taxes so you can keep them. You are welcome to the liberal judges and the ACLU. Since you hate guns and war, we’ll take our firearms, the cops, the NRA and the military. You can keep Oprah, Michael Moore and Rosie O’Donnell (You are, however, responsible for finding a bio-diesel vehicle big enough to move all three of them).

We’ll keep the capitalism, greedy corporations, pharmaceutical companies, Wal-Mart and Wall Street. You can have your beloved homeless, homeboys, hippies and illegal aliens. We’ll keep the hot Alaskan hockey moms, greedy CEO’s and rednecks. We’ll keep the Bibles and give you NBC and Hollywood.

You can make nice with Iran and Palestine and we’ll retain the right to invade and hammer places that threaten us. You can have the peaceniks and war protesters. When our allies or our way of life are under assault, we’ll help provide them security.

We’ll keep our Judeo-Christian values. You are welcome to Islam, Scientology, Humanism and Shirley McClain. You can also have the U.N., but we will no longer be paying the bill.

We’ll keep the SUVs, pickup trucks and oversized luxury cars. You can take every Subaru station wagon you can find.

You can give everyone healthcare if you can find any practicing doctors. We’ll continue to believe healthcare is a luxury and not a right. We’ll keep The Battle Hymn of the Republic and the National Anthem. I’m sure you’ll be happy to substitute Imagine, I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing, Kum Ba Ya or We Are the World.

We’ll practice trickle down economics and you can give trickle up poverty your best shot. Since it often so offends you, we’ll keep our history, our name and our flag.

Would you agree to this? If so, please pass it along to other like minded liberal and conservative patriots and if you do not agree, just hit delete. In the spirit of friendly parting, I’ll bet you ANWAR which one of us will need whose help in 15 years.

Sincerely,

John J. Wall
Law Student and an American