“…my belief in the sacrament of the Eucharist is simple: without touch, God is a monologue, an idea, a philosophy; he must touch and be touched, the tongue on flesh, and that touch is the result of the monologues, the idea, the philosophies which led to faith; but in the instant of the touch there is no place for thinking, for talking; the silent touch affirms all that, and goes deeper: it affirms the mysteries of love and mortality.” On Charon’s Wharf
“For ritual allows those who cannot will themselves out of the secular to perform the spiritual, as dancing allows the tongue-tied man a ceremony of love.” A Father’s Story
“Short story writers simply do what human beings have always done. They write stories because they have to; because they cannot rest until they have tried as hard as they can to write the stories. They cannot rest because they are human, and all of us need to speak into the silence of mortality, to interrupt and ever so briefly stop that quiet flow, and with stories try to understand at least some of it.” Into the Silence
“Very early, I understood that women were required to be other than what they were.” Of Robin Hood and Womanhood
*George Soros dumped $48 million worth of influence into the vending machine called the Liberal media (Think Progress, Media Matters, MSNBC, etc.) in hopes of pulling out a Western European style liberal utopia in America or at least world domination. Isn’t that special!
People do know that we left Europe for a better way life, don’t they? More importantly, we came to America in order to separate church and state. Why would we want to become spiritually and financially bankrupt like Western Europe, anyway?
*Why do America haters insist on living in America? Venezuela, Cuba, Iran all take in dissidents. They could also join the jihad in Yemen.
*Why would someone burn the Koran? Because hate is easy and Love requires God.
*What kinds of people have time on their hands and watch Oprah?
*Does Obama know that America is in a deep financial crisis while deciding which iron to use on the green? Stay away from a foolish man, for you will not find knowledge on his lips. Proverbs 14:7
*Does Michelle Obama still think the White House is hell?
*Sheep & Goats DEPT.: The PC message of Evangelical Rob Bell’s (pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church) new book Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived attempts to assuage fears by inculcating nonjudgmental mainline liberalism/progressivism into cozy non-fiction. It turns out that the book is fiction. There is a hell. Hell, among other things, is the absence of the living God while generating book sales, making friends and influencing people.
The Apostle Paul, when speaking at the real Mars Hill in Athens, let his listeners know immediately that they were worshipping false gods and idols. He also said this to the Ephesian church: “Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.” – Eph 5:5-6. Here’s a Journal List of those who do not enter the Kingdom of Heaven: Ephesians 5: 3-7, I Corinthians 6: 9-10, Galatians 5:19-21. “There is a way which seems right to a man…”
The phallic presidency of Obama the Virile has fallen flat: 9.1 % unemployment, a stagnant economy and a limp foreign policy. Wage increases for these past ten years have only been 4% compared to all other ten-year periods including the Great Depression. Wage increases during the ten years of the Great Depression were 5%!
The Robin Hood rhetoric (take from the rich and give to the poor) is just more B-movie genre politics. The You-Tube generation, Labor Unions and the Sixties Leftovers who voted for Obama just want another tingle up their leg, another swami to swoon. These Percy-like (The Green Mile) liberals pee their pants whenever they face real life and death issues – issues requiring serious character strength. Dont’ give these sissified whiners an inch. They claim a higher social consciousness* than the rest of us. Bull sh__! They’re just ‘higher’ than the rest of us. Don’t go for this leftist Hollywood sequel. We need real people to govern.
Obama, the Manchurian candidate under a teleprompter spell, wants to buy your vote (GM bailout, big labor favoritism, Obamacare, etc. ) as does George Soros who spent 48 million dollars to influence the media via Think Progress, Media matters and their ilk. America don’t do it. America deserves better than the wet dream called Obama.
*****
*Weinergate: An up-close & personal profile of a Democrat/progressive congressman with a higher social consciousness – Anthony is just raising our social awareness up the flag pole to a whole new level. That’s all.
A few years ago I was interviewed and hired by the company I now work for. I am not allowed to talk in detail about the company. Suffice it to say, though, that I work with Professional Engineers (PEs) in a major industry. Bill is the man who read my resume and sought me out for a position in the company. It was on an ice-cold Friday one day in January 2007 that I was interviewed by him. During the first minutes of the interview I learned that Bill had served in the military – 101st Airborne,U.S. Paratrooper Division – – The Screaming Eagles, in Viet Nam, 1968.
I wasn’t sure why he told me his background during my interview. He certainly had a right to be proud about his service. Perhaps he wanted me to know who I was dealing with – a no-nonsense, disciplined kind of guy whose word was his bond. He was completely kind, overly polite and very desirous that I was being dealt with properly by the people interviewing me. That day I was interviewed by five other people besides Bill. Later, in the afternoon, Bill began gently pushing me to decide in favor of working there. This was a surprise to me in that I didn’t think I would walk in and get a job that quickly, especially at a company that was so professional and technical. My previous jobs were with small companies. These companies often moved slowly when choosing someone to hire, being very careful of every nickel and dime spent.
I liked Bill’s demeanor, his history of service in the military and his quiet gentle way that hid his strength. I also liked the fact that Bill had worked at this company for thirty-some years. That meant something to me. I had cycled through many different jobs in the manufacturing industry due to the industry’s dependence on the up and down economy. I shook hands with Bill at 3:00 pm that day. I had agreed to work for him at this company. I intuitively knew that he could be trusted to do right by me. He was not like those in the past who had used me to just balance their books.
Over the course of the last few years Bill has directed our design group meetings. He has reviewed me annually and has given me raises. He has been involved in most of the design review meetings that I have been involved in. Bill held everyone strictly accountable to the standards that our company had developed over the years. In our industry, high standards and accountability are paramount to staying in the select stream of business offered by our clients. Bill made sure that each of us adhered to those standards on each and every project. He made sure that our “deliverables” matched the high quality standards set by the company.
During the first year of my work with Bill, Bill held a “Boot Camp”. He had developed a set of classes to give us an overview of the subject matter behind our daily tasks. The camp was informative and again, matching Bill’s character gently pushed each one to a better understanding of our company’s work at hand and to be better people.
Recently a retirement party was held by our company for Bill. Bill decided it was time to go home and stay home. His wife has been dealing with two cancers. Bill needed to be with her on this battlefront.
Here are some of the reflections written out in Bill’s “Farewell Notice” to his team members:
“Th(e) boot camp was intended to teach you technical skills, to be a team player, focus your attention to details, to understand how to use verified design inputs and to be accountable for your actions – but it was also to show you how to be Respectful with each other.
As the time for me grows near for me to pick up my gear and head out, one phrase that I picked up from the years past is one that I may have used in conversation with you.
The phrase is that I am being a straight arrow with you.
The meaning of this phrase has had a deep and everlasting impact on me and for the person I hoped to be.
The meaning is of Trust, Loyalty and respect for each other.”
Bill went on to talk about his military experience in Viet Nam with the 101st Airborne,U.S. Paratrooper Division known as the Screaming Eagles. This happened in 1968.
Bill served in Viet Nam for thirteen months “where I lived in mountain caves in the Central Highlands with my unit.” He shared the cave “with one of our allies who were Viet Nam native mountain soldiers who carried cross bows and wore their native clothes.”
It was in a cave on evening where Bill first heard the phrase “Straight Arrow”, from the lead scout of these mountain fighters. A relationship of trust developed – he had Bill’s back and Bill had his. In broken English, French accents and many hand gestures, the scout explained what he meant by “Straight Arrow” – “a straight arrow is good (trusted) and a bent arrow is not…if you try to bend a straight arrow, even a little, it can never fly straight again and eventually this arrow, if bent too many times, will become a broken arrow that will not fly at all.”
Bill: “This message came to me from this Loyal friend one evening in a cave so many years ago…I took this message to mean that we needed to be straight with each other to co-exist.”
“I believe, by straight, that he meant we should be there for each other – something I have carried with me as a way of life.”
“My hope is that I have always been a straight arrow with you and that you will always be a straight arrow with each other.”
Much more could be written coming out of Bill’s Farewell Notice to the company and out of his example set before me during my time with him. He now wants to do the right thing by his wife. He wanted to be there for her during this enormously difficult time. As he said, “I chose to do the right thing.”
My time of knowing Bill, from my interview to his farewell party just a few weeks ago afforded me the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to “serve” with a man who is honorable, honest, decent and trustworthy – a gentle giant of a man. My quiver is now becoming full with “Straight Arrow” choices of my own.
The right to health care (and mandating others pay for it)
The right to shame the public into paying for national health care;
The right to demand someone’s personal property, then taking that property by force (taxation), then giving it to someone else and then calling the act social justice/social gospel;
The right to homosexual marriage and sodomy;
The right to call someone “homophobic” using hate speech and bullying;
The right to demand “Diversity” and universal acceptance of one’s behavior;
“The rights of Mother Nature.” (Van Jones);
The right to demand that global warming is real even though the ‘evidence’ has been manufactured;
The right to clean air;
The right to smoke;
The right to anthropomorphize animals to make them equal with humans;
The right to hurt others to get what I want when I want it;
The right to an abortion;
The right of collective bargaining;
The right to be an illegal immigrant;
The right to smoke dope;
The right to define want-based needs;
The right to say that another person is filled with hate because they don’t agree with me.
The right to say that another person is racist if they don’t agree with a person of color.
The right to mock and disparage others with pejoratives and at the same time
The right to be free from bullies;
The right to not be held responsible for one’s actions;
The right to blaspheme a Holy God.
At the first bleep of alarm clock’s tirade my cinema head pops out of the rabbit hole. 3:38 am. I shut off the one-sided conversation and let myself fall back into a nest of pillows. I close my eyes. Inside my eyelids there’s an x-ray showing me the last scene of a dream. Mr. Dream State is looking good until anxiety’s screen saver pops up. Then my heart starts pumping adrenalin to somewhere outside of my body and I get out of bed. In the dark I fumble for the switch I need to start the day.
I head to the kitchen in my underwear. I flip on the TV and turn the volume down with the remote. In the kitchen I grab a pouch of oatmeal and start swinging it back and forth to settle its contents. I blink. Mr Dream State appears for a second. He is sitting in his cube facing pictures of his grandchildren. His wife smiles back from a shelf. I nuke the oatmeal, feed my parrolet Henry and make coffee. I head for the shower where the hot water is blazing hot. I’m the first contestant today. After the shower, a lobster looking woman is seen in a rain-forest video.
In the bedroom I throw on some pants and head for the kitchen for hot coffee and cooled oatmeal. On TV the weatherwoman is talking about wind speeds, precipitation levels and the temperature in May of 1952. I imagine that when I am ninety-two I might like to know those things.
Mr. Dream State shows up on my radar again. He and I are seated watching the weather together. I pour coffee and sip gazing at him on the inside of my eyelids. In my dreams he is always facing away from me. We are looking at the same things.
“Today will be mostly cloudy with a chance of…” It didn’t take long for me to realize that Duffy Adkins weather forecasts were recorded the night before and then replayed while she slept. There were just too many days when the actual weather was plus or minus ten degrees and plus or minus rain. The rain falls on the just and the unjust so I get dressed based on intuition and then suffer the consequences of humidity, wind chill and stormy weather. Isn’t that a song?
Outside my car is waiting for its cue. I crank the engine, turn on the fan and zip out of the parking lot of my apartment building. It will be a good day in Chicago if the weather and intuition hold up.
At the train station I stuff two dollars into the parking fee slot and walk over to the yellow line that divides me from the commuter. I wait. People gather. Gum chewing, smoking, dream people with large coffees and huge handbags. We wait. Soon the cyclopean search light of the train pokes out around the distant curve and heads straight for us. We wait. Clang. Clang. Clang. My head looks for another rabbit hole.
Two conductors get off the train and both say “Good morning.” I say “Good morning.” while my arthritic knee decides if it’s going to move. When it does I find my seat near the door where two women sit juxtaposed. The older one speaks with a hoarse guttural voice to the younger one who chews her gum in rabbit fashion. They know each other. They sit, chew and talk with the two conductors about the Bull’s chances in the playoffs. I read my Bible and then the latest copy of Vanity Fair. Mr. Dream State is sitting next to me reading what I am reading. I see him nod silently, appreciatively.
After an hour and ten minutes of the train’s stop and go lurching we arrive at the downtown station. We are on time today, plus ten minutes. Weather forecasts. Train schedules. Dreams?
I walk five blocks to my building and push the “34” plastic square which needs a push. I am shuttled up to my floor and find my cube as I left it – draped with drawings, spreadsheets and cut sheets. I push aside a set of schematics and place my tote bag in the vacated space. Coffee. I scrounge my purse for a few dollar bills and head back down the elevator to the cafeteria.
Veronica greets me. “Hola, amiga!” “Hola, Veronica.” “Como estas?” “Estoy bien. Y tu?” Bien, gracious.” Veronica hands me a small coffee and I say “Feliz Viernes.” She chirps, “Oh yeah, Feliz Viernes.” I walk the corridor to the elevator. I push “34” sipping black coffee, smelling Mr. Dream State. Notes of Havana.
I get off the elevator and at the receptionist’s desk I can only see the black octopus hair of Flor above the counter. Mr. Dream State used to have black hair but it turned grey. Flor is coughing again. Flor coughs loudly every day. Her sneezes are not for the faint of heart. I say “Good morning, Flor. Happy Friday.” She says “Happy Friday, Jennifer.” and coughs. I worry. My cube is within viral range.
Ahhh. Coffee, email and work to do. Mr. Dream State is happy for me. I smile back at him. Soon I will be in his arms (if he ever turns towards me). I lay out the displaced schematics and dive in.
Noon arrives as usual and I eat my now defrosted leftovers. After lunch I head out of the building for a walk in Millenium Park but Rahm Emmanuel is taking his oath of office under the Pritzker Pavilion so I head toward north toward the river. I walk slowly like the peg-legged woman I see all around. Arthritis is getting it digs at me. Mr. Dream State takes my arm. He’s my right side, my right leg. He is quiet, stable, there for me.
I push “34” thinking of my leg, his leg. I get off the elevator and see the flouncy-bounce of blonde curls called Carol. Carol subs for Flor during the lunch hour. “Hi, Jennifer.” ‘Hi, Carol. How are you?” As I walk past the desk I see that Carol is using a large paper cutter to slice rather small labels. I wince when she tells me that she uses the paper cutter on anyone who does not sign the registration book and then I smile. Mr. Dream State is scary-funny like that.
Back at my desk I read emails and pour over schematics until my eyes hurt and it is four o’clock. I gather my things and head out. On the way to the elevator I say “Have a great weekend, Flor.” Flor smiles her teeth out, takes in big gasp of air, coughs and says, “Have a great weekend, Jennifer.” I flee to the elevator and push”1”.
I walk the five blocks to the train station and I am early. I stand waiting (with Mr. Dream State who’s handsome and serenely confident) and some train buddies, regulars who ride in the same car. At some unknown time driven by some unknown force the big burly black conductor inside the coach turns on the coach car lights and opens the door for us clucking hens. He descends his throne room stairs like the king of Khartoum. He greets his passengers under his heavy breath.
I sit in an upper row of single seats. I begin to float away but arthritis doesn’t let me get too far. I find my place in the magazine and settle back, aching for a massage. Mr. Dream State, the conductor, doesn’t need to see my ticket. He just smiles and lets me ride.
One hour and fifteen minutes later we arrive at Friday night, the weekend and sleeping in. I’ll soon be sucking desire’s thumb and clutching the sateen edge of twilight to my breast. Mr. Dream State will be unrobed. And with him, R.E.M., just a few blocks from here.
Chaos is spelled O-B-A-M-A-nation,
This man markets himself as our only salvation,
Yet, our Divine Demagogue with deficits galore
Messes with our future and pimps us as whores.
Obama the Inflater sends prices sky- rocketing
While Obama the insurance man, your money he’s pocketing
“We can win the future if buy you my party’s ticket
You will have peace of mind, the future can go stick it.”
Jennings and Ayers, Jeremiah Wright and Van Jones,
You wouldn’t let these kind of people into your homes.
Yet, the leader of the Chaos Cartel let’s ’em come ’round,
He will even let George Soros buy the next round.
Illegal immigrants and narco-terrorists daily cross the line
While Obama the Teleprompter plays Joker just fine:
“Moats and alligators, what else do these Americans need?”
“Chaos and insecurity, total dependence is my creed.”
Two-Faced Obama speaks from both sides of a lie
He wants us to think progressivism hasn’t died:
“Shame on corporations for making so much.”
“Now, come on GE, let’s go have some tax-free lunch.”
Nine percent unemployment means that millions have been sacked
Yet Our Most Benevolent Obama is hoping to be backed
So campaigning is the first priority of this President:
“Let them eat cake and food stamps if they’re a resident.”
Obama, Slick-Attorney, appointed AG Holder-over
A man obsessed with racism from Panther to Panther.
The Constitution is living and also dead in my time.
The Federal courts can’t even rule mandatory health care is a crime.
Michelle, the Obamaness, brought ‘art’ to our nation’s crib,
A rapper named Common his filthy message glib:
“Don’t trust the Man, be chaos if you can.”
“BTW: Poetry is a piece that you hold in your hand.”
Obama and chaos are one and the same,
Obama and uncertainty look for someone to blame
But the mirror of Truth doesn’t hold a narcissist’s gaze,
It only sheds light on the instant gratification craze.
Obama, Chaos,
Obama, the Neil Patrick Harris of poli-schtick,
Obama, Chaos,
Obama, the Blamer,
Obama, Chaos,
Obama, racism,
Obama, Chaos,
Obama, division,
Obama, chaos,
Obama, class warfare,
Obama, Chaos,
Obama, the Mocker,
Obama, Chaos,
Obama, the Insipid,
Obama, Chaos,
Obama, the Intransigent,
Obama, Chaos,
Obama, Hubris,
Obama, Chaos…
(music fades, the economy fails and the American spirit dies on the vine.)
“We have entered, as I see it, a spiritual limbo. Our educational institutions are no longer the bearers of high culture, and public life has been deliberately moronised. But here and there, sheltered from the noise and glare of the media, the old spiritual forces are at work” Roger Scruton
*****
“When a common culture declines, the ethical life can be sustained and renewed only by a work of the imagination.”-Roger Scruton
*****
“Jesus prayed, “This is eternal life, that they may know You . . .” (John 17:3). The real meaning of eternal life is a life that can face anything it has to face without wavering. If we will take this view, life will become one great romance— a glorious opportunity of seeing wonderful things all the time. God is disciplining us to get us into this central place of power.” Oswald Chambers
*****
“No power on earth or in hell can conquer the Spirit of God in a human spirit, it is an inner unconquerableness.” Oswald Chambers
*****
To those who have had no agony Jesus says, “I have nothing for you; stand on your own feet, square your own shoulders. I have come for the man who knows he has a bigger handful than he can cope with, who knows there are forces he cannot touch; I will do everything for him if he will let Me. Only let a man grant he needs it, and I will do it for him.” The Shadow of an Agony,Oswald Chambers
*****
“If we wish to erect new structures, we must have a definite knowledge of the old foundations.” John Calvin Coolidge
*****
Atheism is a post-Christian phenomenon.
*****
If social justice looks like your hand in someone else’s pocket then you are stealing.
*****
“In Sweden, giving to charity, absurdly, came to be considered a lack of solidarity, since it undermined the need for the welfare state.” – Roland Martinsson
*****
“…to love democracy well, it is necessary to love it moderately.” Alexis de Tocqueville
*****
Capitalism seeks to help others through a servce or product it provides. Free Market Capitalism is the most moral and fair economic system available to man. Capitalism augments personal growth, responsibility and ownership. Charity flourishes under capitalism. Charity dies under subjective “fair share” government confiscatory policies. Socialism redistributes ambivalence and greed.
*****
“We are to regard existence as a raid or great adventure; it is to be judged, therefore, not by what calamities it encounters, but by what flag it follows and what high town it assaults. The most dangerous thing in the world is to be alive; one is always in danger of one’s life. But anyone who shrinks from that is a traitor to the great scheme and experiment of being.” G.K. Chesterton
*****
Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent.
It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage – to move in the opposite direction. Albert Einstein
*****
“You shall know the truth and the truth shall make you odd.” Flannery O’Connor
*****
“There is but one good; that is God. Everything else is good when it looks to Him and bad when it turns from Him.” C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce
*****
“Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him” (Job 13:15).
*****
God’s grace is not about the allowance for sin. God’s grace is about the conversation God allows regarding sin.
*****
From the book of Proverbs: We are not to favor the rich or the poor. We are to pursue justice.
*****
“Always keep in contact with those books and those people that enlarge your horizon and make it possible for you to stretch yourself mentally.” Oswald Chambers
*****
One goldfish says to another, “If there is no God who keeps changing the water?”
*****
“The truth is always there in the morning.”
From Cat On A Hot Tin Roof script – playwright Tennessee Williams
*****
God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied.
*****
“America’s greatness has been the greatness of a free people who shared certain moral commitments. Freedom without moral commitment is aimless and promptly self-destructive.” John W. Gardner
**
“Men of integrity, by their very existence, rekindle the belief that as a people we can live above the level of moral squalor. We need that belief; a cynical community is a corrupt community.” John W. Gardner
*****
“In the world it is called Tolerance, but in hell it is called Despair, the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive because there is nothing for which it will die.” Dorothy L. Sayers
*****
“Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere.”
G. K. Chesterton
*****
“The battle line between good and evil runs through the heart of every man.” Alexander Solzhenitsyn
*****
This is what the LORD says:
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
-The prophet Jeremiah, 6:16
*****
“…our common task is not so much discovering a truth hiding among contrary viewpoints as it is coming to possess a selfhood that no longer evades and eludes the truth with which it is importunately confronted.” James McClendon, Ethics: Systematic Theology, Vol. 1
*****
Cindy Wity 