Category Archives: Reflecting on the news

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:

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.

Obama Silencing the Voice of Conscience

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Obama silencing the voice of conscience? Not!

“Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” Matt 22L 21, Mark 12: 17, Luke 20: 25

When something is repeated in the Gospel as this is by three Evangelists, it means this is supremely important.  Of course, when you don’t like what the Gospel says, you simply leave the Church or come up with a version of church that makes you the Magisterium.  In other words, you become the Voice of the Holy Spirit.  Convenience, but not conscience!

Repealing this rule is, of course, one more issue of conscience vs. having none.

Here’s the NY Times report:

The rule prohibits recipients of federal money from discriminating against doctors, nurses and other health care workers who refuse to perform or assist in abortions or sterilization procedures because of their “religious beliefs or moral convictions.” Its supporters included the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Health Association, which represents Catholic hospitals.

Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican minority leader in the House, said, “This is the third action taken by Washington Democrats in the past 38 days to weaken American rules that are meant to safeguard the sanctity of human life.”

“The “separation of Church and state” does not mean – and it can never mean – separating our Catholic faith from our public witness, our political choices and our political actions.  That kind of separation would require Christians to deny who we are; to repudiate Jesus when he commands us to be “leaven in the world” and to “make disciples of all nations.”  That kind of radical separation steals the moral content of a society.  It’s the equivalent of telling a married man that he can’t act married in public.  Of course, he can certainly do that, but he won’t stay married for long.”

Talk Matters

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In Is Talk Cheap? Thomas Sowell warns that talk matters, words matter, and the ability to express oneself in speech matters tremendously.  He calls to mind the gripping power of Winston Churchill and the enormity of the  impact his powers of speech and expression had on history.  With will and words, Churchill carried the Britons to heights of hope and endurance against Hitler and his juggernaut.

Sowell’s thoughts:

“Talk matters for good reasons as well as bad…..Unfortunately, people on the make seem to have a keener appreciation of the power of words, as the magic road to other power, than do people defending values that seem to them too obvious to require words.

“The expression, “It goes without saying. . .” is a fatal trap. Few things go without saying. Some of the most valuable things in life may go away without saying– whether loved ones in one’s personal life or the freedom or survival of a nation.”

Sowell points to the shell game Obama and his new administration play with words.  Cloaked in vocabulary, this administration hides the blatant reality of legislation that would take away workers’ right to a secret ballot by calling it, “Employers’ Freedom of Choice Act.”  “Choice” what a lovely word.  Where have we seen it go wrong before?

Obama’s budget of deficits is labelled “A New Era of Responsibility.”  Sowell says of Obama, “You want responsibility? He’ll give you the word “responsibility.” Why not? It costs nothing.

Those of you who want your country back, be on the lookout for a Presidential candidate who can handle the language without speaking in the “patrician style of country club Republicans.”  Look, too, for someone with a good non-apologetic offensive.”  According to Sowell, “General Douglas MacArthur gave a one-word definition of defensive warfare: defeat!”

Last and most important!  Look out America!  I believe that the gift of gab that got Golden Mouth elected won’t stop with words.  Deception breeds deception, whether in word or deed.

Heresy and Human Nature

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Writing here about a heretical concept and human nature in The President, Shock and Awe and Tertullian” Roger Kimball states:

“Many people, I believe, have been stunned by the President’s behavior in his first weeks in office. It’s been a shock and awe performance. Historians of this period will look back in wonder: how ever did a new President waltz into office and, before he had even finished unpacking, extract $800,000,000,000 from taxpayers for partisan spending programs? …. But those historians will note with interest how, even at the beginning of March, some reputable commentators still referred to the President’s poverty program as ‘stimulus package’.”

Tertullian said, that the blessed in heaven would derive pleasure from witnessing the torments of the damned. While heretical, Old Tertullian does have a grasp of human nature, so too, does Obama, who is making hay while the Swells sweat and the Have-nots hoot.  “…it will cause pain among the affluent. It will also cause delight among the more than 43 percent of tax filers who pay no income tax.”

Unfortunately, we’ll all get a glimpse of Hell as this “stimulus package” unfolds.  When it’s actually read , we may find we’re funding Hamas and the Taliban.