John Michael Talbot - "Holy is His Name" (vid)

1. My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord,
and my spirit exalts in God my Savior.
For he has looked with mercy on my lowliness,
and my name will be forever exalted.
For the mighty God has done great things for me,
and his mercy will reach from age to age.

Refrain
And holy, holy, holy is his name.

2. He has mercy in ev’ry generation.
He has revealed his power and his glory.
He has cast down the mighty in their arrogance,
and has lifted up the meek and the lowly.
He has come to help his servant Israel;
he remembers his promise to our fathers.

Justice League vs The Blob

Eight days after the oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, with the leaking oil within a day or so of land fall, the Bamster gathers his Justice League and goes on the attack.

An explosion that killed people and offers up devastation to the whole of the Gulf states, eight days pass, and what did the Bamster do? Nothing. He didn't gather up the best oil disaster/clean up teams in the world to go and contain it; he didn't get the EPA to take any action.

Well he did make some speeches about those vile Wall Streeters (that he's received $millions from), and bashed Arizona as racists and bigots for trying to enforce Federal law that he won't. He's sent some of his Justice League to attack the citizens there and support the undocumented Democrats, I mean illegal aliens, ooops, I mean undocumented workers, ooops, I mean the poor downtrodden murderers, drug runners, human traffickers...damn, I'll never get it right! ummmmmm, Did't this guy swear to uphold the Constitution?

So what did the Bamster do after sitting on his ass for a week? Sends in his Justice League, Attorney General Eric "free the terrorists" Holder. Says Holder: "The Justice Department stands ready to make available every resource at our disposal to vigorously enforce the laws that protect the people who work and reside near the Gulf, the wildlife, the environment and the American taxpayers."

His Justice League includes major action figures Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Tony West, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Division, and some other "relevant" United States Attorneys.

Sue the damn Blob into retreat! Do pro bono work representing the fishes and bottom dwelling creatures (no, not congressmen, silly). Throw up a legal defense shield! We must protect the octopus's garden from the Blob released from beneath the sea.

Arizona and Personal Protection

It's clear that the Federal Government, whether dominated by Republicans or Democrats, has no interest in doing what is required by the Constitution, and that is protecting its citizens, and securing the borders.

Here's some of what goes on in Arizona that drove their citizens on to having to pass SB 1070 to protect themselves. The bill adds nothing that is not already Federal Law, it just says its going to enforce already existing law. The Leftist Liars (but I repeat myself) say its a bunch of new racist laws, and local authorities shouldn't be enforcing Federal Law. Say what? Things like kidnapping, murder, rape and the like should only be enforced, and the bad guys arrested, by Federal agents?

Those crimes just mentioned is exactly what the citizens of Arizona have been putting up with for years, and the Federal Government has refused to do anything except to blow hot air. (I've lived in that great state, and believe me, it's hot enough already.) On average three Border Patrol agents per day are assaulted. Phoenix is the kidnap capital of the country. On average every 35 hours, or about three people a day are kidnapped. How safe would you feel? One in five Arizona teenagers are doing drugs smuggled in from Mexico. Would you want your child exposed to this?

Justice Department's own threat assessment: “Assaults against U.S. Border Patrol (USBP) agents increased 46 percent from 752 incidents in FY2006 to 1,097 incidents in FY 2008.” 1,097 assaults, on Federal Law Enforcement Officers, in a year! If these illegal aliens (AKA undocumented Democrats) are that brazen with law enforcement, how safe would you feel? Citizens are afraid to move about their own cities, but the Federal government, the Democrat Party, and the Jurassic Press, all see the undocumented Democrats as victims of racism; not the citizens as victims of violence, murder, drug running, gun running, human trafficking, and other nasty things.

We have Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTO's) based in Arizona, spreading throughout the US. It's done though gangs, and according to the Justice Department's assessment, “In 2009, midlevel and retail drug distribution in the United States was dominated by more than 900,000 criminally active gang members representing approximately 20,000 street gangs in more than 2,500 cities.”

Yet, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, the same knucklehead that said the system worked with the "panty bomber' fiasco, said, “I say this again as someone who has walked that border.” “I’ve ridden that border. I’ve flown it. I’ve driven it. I know that border I think as well as anyone, and I will tell you it is as secure now as it has ever been.” ummmmmm, don't think so Janet.....

Yet Statists have been calling for a boycott of Arizona because the citizens there were forced to do something to protect themselves. (My favorite is boycotting Arizona Tea, a NY product.) If you think protecting yourself from criminals by enforcing the law is a crime, feel free to join in. There's an alternative, support Arizona at Arizona Tourism and Travel. I lived a decade in Arizona, and it's a beautiful marvelous place to visit (and live, obviously). There's a Facebook page too, Arizona Buycott, if you want to counter the ill-founded boycott against a US citizens trying to protect themselves from the horrors of murder and mayhem.

Adding a Nut to Fruit Loops

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is the most overturned Court. Of the 22 cases reviewed by the Supreme Court from the last term, nineteen were reversed or vacated. They're Leftist ideologues, and the Law be damned in order to promote their Statist principles.

Obama loves this, and to share the love like he likes to borrow and spend OPM (Other People's Money), he's nominated an inexperienced Berkley (!) law professor, Goodwin Liu. This guy advocates a "second bill of rights". It includes mandatory wealth redistribution to guarantee social welfare...that would be education, subsistence pay, health care and shelter. Liu has denounced free enterprise and private property ownership. He has denounced limited government. He would impose, by judicial degree, same sex marriage, even though it has been voted down over and over and over by the citizens.

When ask by the Judiciary Committee, that is tasked to approve or deny his nomination,, he has refused to turn over the documents.

Thankfully, judgeships have to be vetted and voted upon, not like most of the Leftist ideologues that Obama has appointed as czars.

Geico, Tea Party Movement, Civility, Hate Speech

The Geico voice over guy Lance Baxter, who says "15 minutes could save you...". He left a profane voice mail in the Freedom Works message queue. Geico fired him. You'll hear it. You see below MSNBC's and Fox New's coverage and finally what some peaceful, peace loving, caring, tolerant Leftists left in the voice mail box.

The Voice Mail


MSNBC


Fox News


Voice Mail Messages (from the same people that say Tea Party members are violent & uncivil.)

A Thought for a Sunday Afternoon

Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way. What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything. It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

Fall in love, stay in love and it will decide everything.

attributed to Jesuit Priest Pedro Arrupe

Nicole Henry -The Nearness of You- Nango Jazz Festival 2006 (vid)

Andrew Klavan - Barack Obama, Talking Crap II: This Time It's Crap (vid)

Roy Orbison - In Dreams (vid)

Yesterday was the birthday of Roy Orbison, one of the greatest singers ever. This is in tribute to his life and talent.

"Fear the Boom and Bust" a Hayek vs. Keynes Rap Anthem (vid)

Funny vid about two opposing economic views. Informative too.

Right Wingnuts Calling Obama Hitler! (vid)

George Carlin - Saving the Planet (vid) for Earth Day

Dems and Jurassic Press Chugged So Much Koolaid They Can't Ingest the Tea

"I am sick and tired of people who say that if you debate and disagree with this administration, somehow you're not patriotic. We need to stand up and say we're Americans, and we have the right to debate and disagree with any administration!"~~Hillary Clinton, April 2003

She actually yelled that with immense passionate anger. I guess protest is a one way street.

The Jurassic Press, since the inception to the Tea Party Movement, has only done name calling...racists, bigots, homophobes, etc., following the Saul Alinsky model, only insulting and defaming political opponents. The actual issues never get addressed. Good grief, even the president, a huge follower of Alinsky, has become the insulter in chief. Ummmmm, isn't the prez sworn to represent all the people? By the way, Libs and their Jurassic Press propagandists tried mightily to say the movement members were historically stupid because the original Boston Tea Party was about taxation without representation. Well hello! T E A stands for "Taxed Enough Already". Duuuhh....

So here's the Jurassic Press's approach to the movement. See any mention of issues?

When Truth Smacks a Leftist Upside the Head

There's a Leftist Liar (but I repeat myself) NY Times columnist by the name of Charles Blow, that went to a Tea Party rally to find all the hatred, racism, bigotry and violence that takes place. Problem is, the truth smacked 'im up side the head, and he saw none of those things. So he had to just make stuff up, lie like Liberals do all the time. In Blow's article he slammed on black comedian Alfonzo "Zo" Rachel. "They saved the best for last, however: Alfonzo "Zo" Rachel. According to his Web site, Zo, who is black and performs skits as "Zo-bama," allowed drugs to cost him "his graduation." Before ripping into the president for unconstitutional behavior, he cautioned, "I don't have the education that our president has, so if I misinterpret some things in the founding documents I kind of have an excuse." That was the understatement of the evening."

Here's Zo' response. Wicked cool...

Tribute to My Shirt (vid)

Today I had to retire my most favorite shirt ever. Its time has come. A sad day.

Preferences

Milton and Rose Friedman:

Believers in aristocracy and socialism share a faith in centralized rule, in rule by command rather than by voluntary cooperation. They differ in who should rule: whether an elite determined by birth or experts supposedly chosen on merit. Both proclaim, no doubt sincerely, that they wish to promote the well-being of the "general public," that they know what is in the "public interest" and how to obtain it better than the ordinary person. Both, therefore, profess a paternalistic philosophy.

You know what, I don't want anybody but me looking out for me. Don't need some knucklehead that's a good test taker (and doesn't know squat about real life) taking my money and telling me what I should do with my life. I don't want anybody but me and my friends and family looking out for me and my family. I don't want anybody but regular ordinary people looking out for regular ordinary people. I truly believe in the the collective intelligence of people. What we have now are the successful test takers passing out privilege and preferences to whatever preferred group they want. If you have the right racial, sexual or social orientation, you get special preferences enforced by law. If you're an ordinary citizen, not belonging to a preferred group, well hey...tough, too bad so sad. Instead of preferences set by those in power, perhaps we can apply "content of his character" and "all men created equal". Preferences enforced by the believers in aristocracy and socialism, deciding which group gets what, denies liberty. It denies choice. People caring for each other provides choices, liberty and abundance. People don't starve because of lack of food, people starve because of the decisions the believers in aristocracy and socialism make.

Who benefits? The man or woman that works his/her way out of poverty, or takes preference money from the the power elite? Who benefits? Who benefits from the thousands of pages of tax code. The middle class worker, or the who-do-ya-know-to-give-you-a-tax-break preferred group, or the member of a preferred group?

There's these guys, Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, and they think, as 'social scientists', they can "design choice environments that make it easier for people to choose what is best for themselves, their families, and their society". The want to give you only the choices they, and their fellow believers in aristocracy and socialism, think you should have. I got my degree in social science, and Comte was the guy...social science applied will do best by humanity. Don't know about you, but I'd rather decide for myself what I should have.

What's your choice? Be Pavlov's dog? Or Liberty?

Allen West- FL Congressional Candidate (vid)

Love this guy, a man's man, a soldier's soldier. 'We want to create victors, not victims'. Running for Congress in FL

Litany Prayer for Humility (vid)

The transformation of accepting Christ.

Pedophilia and the Myopic Press

The Jurassic Press continues to beat on the Catholic Church and the Pope for it's actions regarding pedophilia. I wrote about the latest dust up fabricated by the MSM here. The Wind Rose Hotel posted two informative an insightful articles here and here. Lots of attacks on the Church, many of which are justified, but the attacks on the Pope are not. What drives it is the Main Stream Media's (MSM) secularist anti-Christian bigotry. It's still PC to attack Christians and rednecks, NASCAR enthusiasts, etc.

Meanwhile, they for the most part ignore the huge cultural and legal problems of pedophilia, especially with Liberal judges and in the public schools. When I had cable TV, nearly every week I watched Bill O'Reilly send a producer out to confront a judge that had let a pedophile free, often ones that were serial offenders, had been convicted several times, and had even murdered their victims. I remember one case that that a pedophile was released after five years that had raped and murdered a child. The Jurassic Press should be in as much of an outrage about that and similar cases as they are with the really bad things that happened in the Catholic Church.

The huge main story is the pedophilia that goes on in our schools. It effects far more children than the Church. Charol Shakeshaft of Hoftra University: “Think the Catholic Church has a problem?” “The physical sexual abuse of students in schools is likely more than 100 times the abuse by priests.” Do we see a hundred more times the stories about the problem of pedophilia in the public education system?

In 2006 a federal study reported that 422,000 California public school students would be victims of sexual misconduct by educators before they got out of school. Compare that with 143,000 Catholic school students total in the state. More public school children will be victims than there are Catholic school students. How often are those stories covered? Not so much. Full article here.

A favorite occupation of pedophiles is school teacher. A NY Times article discusses chat rooms and meetings for pedophiles where they discuss how to meet children and what their experiences have been. From that article, Dallas child psychologist Richard Dangel: “Only about 4% of offenders get busted.” “The other 96% don’t.” If you have a child, knowing that, how safe is he\she in school?

National Victim Center, in 1992, found that about 29 percent of all forcible rapes in America were against children under age 11. Now we're looking at 1 in 4 girls and 1 in 7 boys being victims. And the Catholic Church is the problem? A side note here, that the Boy Scouts of America identified the problem and keep homosexual men, a main source of the problem, from being leaders in the organization to protect those children. Look at the grief they get from the Jurassic Press and other Secularists.

Added to the anti-Christian bigotry of the Jurassic Press, is their endorsement of the sexualization of children. They defend the 'Man-Boy Love Association', Calvin Klein ads with underage models exhibiting uber-sexuality, the little girls' "beauty pageants"... the kind Jon Benet Ramsey was part of, the media defense of Roman Polanski, and even an article in USA Today “Sex Between Adults and Children” that came to the conclusion that it was a 'gray area'.

The Church, both Protestant and Catholic, make it quite clear this is intolerable behavior. The myopic secular bigots in the Jurassic Press say outside the Church, it's not so much a bad thing. It goes back to the idea that if you profess a belief and value system, and violate it, then the attack is full on. If you have no belief's or values that you profess you try and live up to, you're given a pass.

No pass here for the Secularists that that turn a blind eye to this rampant sexualization of children, and the rampant sexual abuse of children in public schools.

Lemons, Atheists, and the Establishment Clause

The unenforceable and mostly ignored "National Day of Prayer" was declared unconstitutional by U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb this past week. This is a wet dream come true for militant atheists. If it goes to the Supreme Court, it'll probably get overturned though. It could be overturned by the 7th Circuit, but the judges there are, for the most part, anti-Christian bigots and secularists that have no use for the Constitution.

I love this line from Mathew Staver, president of Liberty Counsel and dean of the Liberty University School of Law in Lynchburg, Va., “If the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional, then the Constitution itself if unconstitutional.”

Even Obama, who in his first year of office ignored the day, as have many presidents in the past, saying it's ceremonial and is just “acknowledgment of the role of religion in American life”. Militant atheists and their secular fellow travelers must drive religion out because only then can the power of the State become absolute.

While researching this unconstitutional ruling against what's in the Constitution's Establishment Clause, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion.” I came upon the "Lemon Test".

Militant atheists and their secular friends want the clause to mean that there can be no religion shown in the public square at all. In a recent debate on Facebook, one of my opponents said religion should be made illegal. So much for freedom of expression and freedom of religion, but Statists have to get rid of the Constitution along with religion.

Since Lemon v. Kurtzman (1971), there has been a application, a test, questions written by Chief Justice Warren Burger for the majority opinion.
They are:

The government's action must have a secular legislative purpose;

The government's action must not have the primary effect of either advancing or inhibiting religion;

The government's action must not result in an "excessive government entanglement" with religion.

These questions have been a solid legal guide for decades, and when applied to this National Prayer day ruling, it will have to be overturned. Unless of course, Obama's new Justice is sworn in, then the Constitution and the rule of law pretty much goes out the window for about a generation, if not forever. Then the secularist will have the individual beholden to the State in all things, and constitutional democracy will have seen its day. Atheism is a religion by the way. The Supremes have said so. Makes sense; they have faith there is no God, they (the militant ones anyway) proselytize, and go to meetings to support each other.

Thing is, since I'm a Christian, I hang out with a lot of similar thinking people as myself, and I've never had conversations saying the equivalent hateful things, and lies, about atheists and secularists than what they say about us. If the subject comes up at all, it's about their attacks on us, their intolerance and bigotry, and how to protect ourselves. One way, is to embrace the traditions that grew this country to be the most successful in human history, and the other is to obey the rule of law set forth in the Constitution. Atheists and secularists reject both.

My Immortal - Gregorian

Evanescence My Immortal

Gregorian - Maid of Orléans

Don't Ya Just Love It When Politicians Screw Themselves?

I wrote in a previous blog about the Democrat's war against doctors, starting with Pelosi's inane statement that the healthcare bill had to be passed to see what's in it.

It's with great glee and laughter that we note the congress critters that passed the bill without reading it, or even having any idea what's in it, have legislated themselves out of their own luxury health insurance. The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program could be tossed out, and the politicians and their staffers, that thought they had exempted themselves from having the same Obamacare they rammed down the throats of the citizens, will be theirs to cherish. We're laughing. Of course they'll write an amendment to make sure they don't have to obey the same laws the rest of us do, but hey, they've shown they are about making people do what they want, not providing what the people want. Speaking of amendments, this bill is 2,400 pages with 153 amendments.

Remember how Barry said that taxes would not go up on people making less that $250,000 a year? The Joint Committee on Taxation ran the numbers and people making less than $200,000 a year will be paying $15.2 billion in additional taxes over the next 10 years. Can we say "Barry lied?"

Remember too that Barry said health care premiums won't go up. LA Times, no friend of capitalism and liberty, reports that premiums will go up. The reason is that there's no provision in the bill that gives the federal government the power to regulate increases. LA Times: "Although Democrats promised greater consumer protection, the overhaul does not give the federal government broad regulatory power to prevent increases." Can you say, "Barry lied?" The costs of premiums have to go up, because the spending by Barry and the Dems is increasing the cost of everything.

Taking control of 17% of the economy against the will of the citizens, raising taxes on people they said they wouldn't, passing a bill they have no idea what's in it, borrowing money from yet to be born generations to pay for this; yep, just a great way to transform the healthcare industry.

The Democrat's War Against Doctors

Pelosi said that the health care bill had to be passed to see what's in it, and now many are finding out. For the full year of the debate, actually it was a one sided promotion by the Jurassic Press and Dems, some interesting developments have actually been reported.

Title VI, Section 6001 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The “Physician Ownership and Other Transparency – Limitations on Medicare Exceptions to the Prohibition on Certain Physician Referral for Hospitals.”

This is nothing less than a full on attack by the Dems and Obama on doctors, specifically doctor owned hospitals. The Dems, forever playing the class card (taking a break from playing the race card), along with the Leftist American Medical Association (AMA, representing less than 25% of doctors) say, with no evidence, that doctor owned hospitals cater to only those with better insurance and higher incomes.

Some of the rules under ObamaCare. If the doctor owned hospital already exists, it will have to get permission from the government to expand. To qualify to expand, it has to be in a county where population growth is 150 percent of the population growth of the state in the last five years; inpatient admissions must be equal to all hospitals located in the county; the bed-occupancy rate must not be greater than the state average, and the hospital must be located in a state where hospital bed capacity is less than the national average. Did you understand that?

Right now about 60 doctor owned hospitals in various stages of development have been stopped.

Molly Sandvig, executive director of Physician Hospitals of America (PHA) asserts that doctor-owned hospitals in 38 states provide 55,000 jobs, $2.4 billion in payroll and pay $509 million in federal taxes.

Besides the AMA attacking entrepreneurial doctors, the Leftist American Hospital Association (AHA), representing non-profit and corporate hospitals, that will financially benefit from ObamaCare, are also attacking doctor owned hospitals.

You can guess the charge of the AMA and AHA by this response by Sandvig: “We don’t cherry pick patients, period, end of story. We take patients based on their need for care, not on their ability to pay.” “It [the health care reform] puts control outside the hands of physicians and patients and into bureaucrats’ hands really."

Once again the fascist Obama administration and Dems are deciding who the winners and losers are. Government wins, the lobbyists paying Dems and Obama the most (remember he was going to get rid of those guys?) money to them, wins.

Speaking of losing. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, based on current training rates, there will be an estimated shortage of 150,000 in about 15 years. Article here. Add to that the number of doctors that say they will take early retirement rather than contend with ObamaCare, and the other about 30%-35% of doctors that say they will be finding another occupation because of this. These are smart people, doctors, and could probably find some science teaching or research position, plus other stuff I can't imagine, to do.

Closing hospitals, reducing employment and tax revenues, driving highly skilled people out of their profession, cutting Medicare, raising taxes on things like walkers, wheelchairs, and hip replacement parts; that's a good start to 'transform' the healthcare system.

I guess, at the least, Liberals could go to Cuba for healthcare.

Feminist Lies About Catholic Women

N Y Times columnist Maureen Dowd this past Saturday wrote an article lamenting the fact that she's just as oppressed by Catholicism as a group of Saudi women she met with in Saudi Arabia.

I asked why they were not more upset about living in a country where women’s rights were strangled, an inbred and autocratic state more like an archaic men’s club than a modern nation. They told me, somewhat defensively, that the kingdom was moving at its own pace, glacial as that seemed to outsiders.

How could such spirited women, smart and successful on every other level, acquiesce in their own subordination?

I was puzzling over that one when it hit me: As a Catholic woman, I was doing the same thing.

I, too, belonged to an inbred and wealthy men’s club cloistered behind walls and disdaining modernity.

I, too, remained part of an autocratic society that repressed women and ignored their progress in the secular world.

I, too, rationalized as men in dresses allowed our religious kingdom to decay and to cling to outdated misogynistic rituals, blind to the benefits of welcoming women’s brains, talents and hearts into their ancient fraternity.

Can any sensible, self honest person believe that she suffers as much as a member of the Catholic Church as a Muslim woman in Iraq or Saudi Arabia?

A similar article in "Newsweek" by Lisa Miller,

The chasm between the church's stated principles and its functional reality yawns wide. In the U.S., 60 percent of Sunday massgoers are women; thus most of the contributions to the collection plate—$6 billion a year—are made by women. And yet the presence of women anywhere within the institutional power structure is virtually nil. The number of women who hold top-tier positions in any of the dicasteries, or committees, that make up the Vatican structure can be counted on one hand. Few women retain high-profile management jobs, such as chancellor, within dioceses. And though nuns dramatically outnumber priests worldwide, they are mostly so invisible that when a group of them speaks up, as they did recently on health-care reform, everyone takes notice.

Actually there are more women represented in positions of power than there are in corporations. Here's a PDF of the breakdown.

The Church hierarchy allowed women to accomplish great things throughout history.
Nathanial Hawthorne's daughter Rose founded the Hawthorne Dominicans, and they took care of cancer patients for free, and did it all on donations.

General Patton's daughter worked with a nun Mother Benedict of France after WWII and formed the Abbey of Regina Laudis here in the U S, and is world renowned for the all the artists, writers and musicians it has trained. Mother Benedict during WWII was a doctor that hid Jews.

Teresa of Avila built and managed several monasteries. I'll write later about monasteries; they were the center of Western Civilization for centuries. Of course Dowd and Miller seem to think that isn't such a good thing, being that Christianity, Islamofascism, and Muslim misogyny are all equally as oppressive.

The Church, both Protestant and Catholic have for centuries supported women's achievements. Of course stupid men said and did stupid things, but overall, there's a record of allowing women to serve and grow. “I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans of fullness, not of harm, to give you a future and a hope…” (Jeremiah 29:11) This is for women too.

How free are women like Dowd and Miller, when having ultimate freedom, the result of Judaic-Christian principals, claim to be oppressed, when there is nothing at all that kept them from becoming the successes they are now? How many women in Islamofacist countries have done what they have?

Thoughts on Aging

I'm another year older today, a milestone year for me. My first milestone year was 25, that was so because I was so wild and had done so much, and surviving combat, that I was surprised to have reached that age. The second milestone was 33, that I saw as a turning point, that I should diminish the sex, drugs, and rock 'n roll, and get serious about working. The party was off the charts, to enter a new era. Now, I'm reading a book by Jesuit James Martin, "The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything, and in a chapter, this poem written by Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, on aging gracefully. I pray my aging is graceful.

When the signs of age begin to mark my body
(and still more when they touch my mind);
when the ill that is to diminish me or carry me off
strikes from without or is born within me;
when the painful moment comes
in which I suddenly awaken
to the fact that I am ill or growing old;
and above all at that last moment
when I feel I am losing hold of myself
and am absolutely passive within the hands
of the great unknown forces that have formed me;
in all those dark moments, O God,
grant that I may understand that it is you
(provided only my faith is strong enough)
who are painfully parting the fibers of my being
in order to penetrate to the very marrow
of my substance and bear me away within yourself.

Anti Christian Bigotry Seeps Into the Heartland

Even though a review of history shows beyond a doubt that this country, based on Judaic-Christian principles, is the most successful in terms of the material wealth, liberty, security, safety, and spiritual health than any other nation ever, and that secularist, socialist countries have a 100% failure rate, there are those in this country that still want to abolish all religion and religious principles.

The purpose is to replace religion as traditionally experienced, with the State. The State must do this, because it needs to create a vacuum so it can insert itself more effectively into the lives of citizens. They must change morality coming from God to morality coming from the State. They use "separation of Church and State" as the foundation of their argument. I don't see where non-Christian citizens are forced by Christians or government to observe Good Friday, or Christmas, or Easter. This is a Judaic-Christian, religious society, and these holidays are a reminder of that. Getting rid of them helps sever that and complete the imposition of a Secularist government. One has to obey the State under penalty and prosecution. God gives people a choice whether to obey or not. I prefer choice.

In the city of Davenport, Iowa, their Civil Rights Commission made a motion to change the name of "Good Friday" to "Spring Holiday". This was, of course, to impose State Morality on citizens in the name of "diversity". Good Friday is extremely important for Christians, at the core of our beliefs. The State's attempt to deny it creates diversity? When the Chair of the Commission was asked why he didn't abolish Christmas, his lame response was that several other 'diverse' groups celebrate Christmas. What? He couldn't name one, since that's a holiday, Holy Day, for Christians.

Something Statists don't like is not getting their own way, it's all about them. They use "civil rights" now to impose their agenda of obedience to the State. The founders and people of that time all recognized Good Friday, and changing that tradition to what anti Christian Secularists want, and excluding it, shows just how intolerant and self centered the Left is.

That this happened in the Midwest is astonishing. I would expect it in New York or California. Fortunately this decision was rejected by the citizens, but the secular Statists will be back.

History of the World

For those that don't know about history ... Here is a condensed version:


Humans originally existed as members of small bands of nomadic hunters/gatherers. They lived on deer in the mountains during the summer and would go to the coast and live on fish and lobster in the winter.


The two most important events in all of history were the invention of beer and the invention of the wheel. The wheel was invented to get man to the beer. These were the foundation of modern civilization and together were the catalyst for the splitting of humanity into two distinct subgroups:


1 . Liberals, and

2. Conservatives.


Once beer was discovered, it required grain and that was the beginning of agriculture. Neither the glass bottle nor aluminum can were invented yet, so while our early humans were sitting around waiting for them to be invented, they just stayed close to the brewery. That's how villages were formed.

Some men spent their days tracking and killing animals to BBQ at night while they were drinking beer. This was the beginning of what is known as the Conservative movement..


Other men who were weaker and less skilled at hunting learned to live off the conservatives by showing up for the nightly BBQ's and doing the sewing, fetching, and hair dressing. This was the beginning of the Liberal movement.

Some of these liberal men eventually evolved into women. Those became known as girlie-men. Some noteworthy liberal achievements include the domestication of cats, the invention of group therapy, group hugs, and the concept of Democratic voting to decide how to divide the meat and beer that conservatives provided.

Over the years conservatives came to be symbolized by the largest, most powerful land animal on earth, the elephant. Liberals are symbolized by the jackass.

Modern liberals like imported beer (with lime added), but most prefer white wine or imported bottled water. They eat raw fish but like their beef well done. Sushi, tofu, and French food are standard liberal fare.. Another interesting evolutionary side note: most of their women have higher testosterone levels than their men. Most social workers, personal injury attorneys, journalists, dreamers in Hollywood and group therapists are liberals. Liberals invented the designated hitter rule because it wasn't fair to make the pitcher also bat.

Conservatives drink domestic beer. They eat red meat and still provide for their women. Conservatives are big game hunters, rodeo cowboys, lumberjacks, construction workers, firemen, medical doctors, police officers, engineers, corporate executives, athletes, members of the military, airline pilots and generally anyone who works productively. Conservatives who own companies hire other conservatives who want to work for a living.

Liberals produce little or nothing. They like to govern the producers and decide what to do with the production. Liberals believe Europeans are more enlightened than Americans... That is why most of the liberals remained in Europe when conservatives were coming to America . They crept in after the Wild West was tamed and created a business of trying to get more for nothing.

Here ends today's lesson in world history.

Begone Michael Steele

I cautiously supported Michael Steele to head the Republican National Committee at the time he ran, but the guy has been a disaster.

He allowed, right from the beginning, Jurassic Press types to attack conservatives, agreeing with Leftist Media Knuckleheads that they were a problem for the Republican Party. He kinda sorta stiffened his spine in following attacks, after the Party core got after him.

Then recently there was the fiasco of a couple thousand bucks of Party (and party) money spent at a strip club in LA. Sensibly a Republican National Committee staff member was fired and RNC chief of staff Ken McKay resigned. Good riddance. This should not have happened at all. When is the alleged leadership of the Republican Party, and Republican politicians, going to get it through their thick skulls that nothing less that Puritan behavior is acceptable. Dems don't purport to have any values other the spending OPM (other people's money), and are allowed to have affairs, go to strip clubs and anything else they want.

From the "Washington Post": "The RNC had more than $22 million on hand when he arrived last year, but is down to less than $10 million, despite raising a record $96 million during that time, records show." Steele raised $10 million less last year than the RNC did in 2005, and has spent $10 million more, including significantly more on private planes, limousines, catering and flowers.

Plus, in an interview, Steele was asked if he was held to a higher standard because he was Black, and he answered yes. I hate it when anybody plays the race card for any reason, and this reason is to cover up his own failures as an alleged leader. The Republican core wants someone that smacks down the Jurassic Press, embarrasses Liberals, makes sure no contributed money is wasted on stupid stuff, or on self, and fills the coffers for upcoming elections. Steele has not done any of these things.

Steele must go, and quickly.

How Come We Hate Bernie Madoff but Accept Social Security?

BERNIE MADOFF	SOCIAL SECURITY
Takes money from investors with the promise that the money will be invested and made available to them later	Takes money from wage earners with the promise that the money will be invested in a "Trust Fund" and made available later.
Instead of investing the money Madoff spends it on nice homes in the Hamptons and yachts.	Instead of depositing money in a Trust Fund the politicians use it for general spending and vote buying.
When the time comes to pay the investors back Madoff simply uses some of the new funds from newer investors to pay back the older investors.	When benefits for older investors become due the politicians pay them with money taken from younger and newer wage earners to pay the geezers.
When Madoff's scheme is discovered all hell breaks loose. New investors won't give him any more cash.	When Social Security runs out of money they simply force the taxpayers to send them some more.
Bernie Madoff is in jail.	Politicians remain in Washington.

Something for Nothing

Nearly half the population of the US doesn't pay taxes, actually 47%. About 73% of taxes are paid by the top 10%; that's an income of about $366,400. Some think that may be a fair and correct thing to happen. Some think the government should be able to cap people's incomes, and earnings beyond that should go to the government. If the more I make means I get to keep less of it, what's the incentive to be more productive and generate more wealth? Why should a small businessman grow his business after he's stable and comfortable?

If you're in the bottom 40% of income earners, with all the deductions and stuff, you many even get money from the government, even though you paid nothing in. Some think this is okay too.

If you have a kid under 17 and make about $50,000 for a family of four, you may not have to pay any taxes.

Do people appreciate more those things they have to pay for, or things that are given to them? Nearly half the citizens of this country get's access to and uses the material, goods and services of this country and have payed nothing for it. Roads, bridges, education, police and military, fire departments, etc.

Seems to me, no matter what your income level, you should pay a percentage of your income for these services.

Full article here.

Press, Pope, Pedophilia

We can count on the Jurassic Press to attack Christianity during Holy Week every year. We had the (anti Christian) DaVinci Code movie, emphasis on the Gospel of Judas and how it takes down Christianity, James Cameron finding Jesus' casket (so obviously he wasn't resurrected), and nonsense that Jesus was gay. This year the attack was a personal one, starting in the NY Times, about how the Pope, then Cardinal Ratzinger, ignored a case of pedophilia.

The article was written by Laurie Goodstein here, and at no time did she interview directly any of the people involved in the Milwaukee case with Rev. Lawrence C. Murphy, the pedophile priest. Cardinal William Levada wrote an extensive article describing what happened. This is in response to the NY Times article. Fairness, and good journalism, you know, is getting both sides of a story, which the Jurassic Press has decided to not do unless it fits their Secularist Statist agenda. From several sources I've tried to create a timeline of what happened, and why I think Goldstein is a liar, and the NY Times supported her. In this, I hope to provide something closer to the truth, doing journalism as I was trained to do, though I don't have access to interview the players.

Father Murphy, the pedophile, began serving in 1950 at a school for deaf boys in Milwaukee, and did so for 24 years. During the '50's his pedophilia was reported, he was suspended (not enough to be sure), and according to the NY Times, Ratzinger was aware of this. Ratzinger was in Europe at the time. About 22 years pass, and Murphy with his vile behavior rises again. The Archbishop of Milwaukee had to do something, so he wrote to Ratzinger, who had become the Vatican's Congregation for the Defense of the Faith. It appears there may have been two letters, asking for advise how to deal with this. Ratzinger didn't answer the letters, so the Archbishop brought charges against Murphy. An assistant to Ratzinger approved the defrocking of Murphy, and the charges were kept open.

Ratzinger received a letter from Murphy in 1998 saying he had suffered from some strokes. Ratzinger, through his assistant, had Murphy banished, a step from what I gather, is just one short of defrocking. The banishment was contingent on Murphy admitting guilt. A couple weeks before Murphy's death, the letters of guilt and expression of remorse had not been received from Murphy. There were some issues within the Church, and canon law that were causing the delay, or he just may have been too sick. Not being a lawyer or especially a church lawyer, I don't understand what the delay was.

Out of this, it seems that Ratzinger was far away, it was a distant issue that was being taken care of locally, that he had kept the issue open by waiving the statutes of limitation.

The NY Times tried to make this sound like Ratzinger was complicit in a coverup, had protected the guy, had intimate knowledge of the issue.

That the Catholic Church has a major problem is not in doubt. That it has handled this horrible issue of generations of pedophilia as badly as it possibly could, is not in doubt. The Church is paying for it dearly too.

As for the Jurassic Press, maybe instead of creating a story to attack the Pope and the Catholic Church, could do a real story on the venal corrupt judges that let hundreds of pedophiles loose on society on a regular basis.

The Constitution Doesn't Matter - Congressman Phil Hare (vid)

This guy took an oath to uphold the Constitution.

"Better start looking for a job".

Exactly. The Statists, Dems, Barry, Pelosi, Dusty Harry, none care about the Constitution. That's why they had to ram this through, bribe, make back room deals, and lie.

Glad We Live in a Post Racial America XV

We've heard, ad nauseum, from the Left about the "racist teabaggers", both words being vile. I've never heard MSNBC or CNN or any of the other media lap dinosaurs of Obama and the Dems address one issue of ObamaCare. Only name calling.

Of course, Conservatives and Republicans support Michael Steele (Chair of the Republican Party, but if he doesn't clean up his act, he's out of that position, not based on race, but on performance), Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas, Lynn Swann, Walter E Williams (often fills in for Limbaugh), JC Watts, Ward Connerly, Larry Elder, Alan Keyes, Condoleezza Rice, to name just a few, all African American. So if Tea Party Movement people, Conservative and Republicans support these, how can they be racist?

Apparently because if you're Conservative and Black, you're not really Black. Liberal Whites and Liberal Blacks are vilifying Conservative Blacks. Of course we all know the term 'oreo'.

Timothy F. Johnson, chairman of the Frederick Douglass Foundation, a Black Conservative organization: "I've been told I hate myself. I've been called an Uncle Tom. I've been told I'm a spook at the door." "Black Republicans find themselves always having to prove who they are. Because the assumption is the Republican Party is for whites and the Democratic Party is for blacks."

Black congressional candidate from Mississippi, Angela McGlowan: "It's not even about Republican or Democrat, from my standpoint." "All of us are taxed too much." She supports and is supported by the Tea Party Movement.

None of the racist instances that Black Liberals have said have happened at Tea Party protests have been proven to have happened. Of course there are inherent threats against Black Conservatives that don't toe the racist black liberal line, "I'm sure the reason that (black conservatives) are involved is that from an ideological perspective, they agree." "But when those kinds of things happen, it is very important to be careful of the company that you keep," said by Hilary Shelton, director of the Washington bureau of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the Statist, Racist Black organization.

If you are against socialized medicine you're a racist. If you're against borrowing $trillions to bail out major corporations, you're a racist. If you disagree that government should run every aspect of our lives, you're a racist.

The biggest purveyors of this racist hate speech is MSNBC. Ever notice that all their anchors and commentators are white? Check here, and you'll see "Morning Joe" with white Joe Scarbourgh (alleged conservative, passes for token conservative on this Statist station), white Mika Brzezinski, white Willie Geist..."The Daily Rundown" with white Savannah Guthrie and Chuck Todd...white Andrea Mitchell...white Dylan Ratigan... white Ed Schultz...white Chris "thrill runs up my leg" Mathews...white Keith Obermann...white Rachel Maddow. They all speak freely of the lack of diversity of Fox News and the Tea Party Movement. ummmmmm, guys, get a clue.

I know this last is off the subject a bit, but good grief, look at the source.

The Empty Tomb

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene went to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. Then she ran and came to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and said to them, "They have taken away the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid Him." Peter therefore went out, and the other disciple, and were going to the tomb. So they both ran together, and the other disciple outran Peter and came to the tomb first. And he, stooping down and looking in, saw the linen cloths lying there; yet he did not go in. Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb; and he saw the linen cloths lying there, and the handkerchief that had been around His head, not lying with the linen cloths, but folded together in a place by itself. Then the other disciple, who came to the tomb first, went in also; and he saw and believed. For as yet they did not know the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again to their own homes. But Mary stood outside by the tomb weeping, and as she wept she stooped down and looked into the tomb. And she saw two angels in white sitting, one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. Then they said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping?" She said to them, "Because they have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid Him." Now when she had said this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, and did not know that it was Jesus. Jesus said to her, "Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you seeking?" She, supposing Him to be the gardener, said to Him, "Sir, if You have carried Him away, tell me where You have laid Him, and I will take Him away." Jesus said to her, "Mary!" She turned and said to Him, "Rabboni!" (which is to say, Teacher). Jesus said to her, "Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.' " Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that He had spoken these things to her. Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in the midst, and said to them, "Peace be with you." When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained." Now Thomas, called the Twin, one of the twelve, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said to him, "We have seen the Lord." So he said to them, "Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe." And after eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors being shut, and stood in the midst, and said, "Peace to you!" Then He said to Thomas, "Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing." And Thomas answered and said to Him, "My Lord and my God!" Jesus said to him, "Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name. John 20

"I'm Spiritual, But Not Religious"

We've heard the phrase a lot, "I'm spiritual, not religious". The SBNR (spiritual but not religious) see religion and church as ridged, inflexible, dogmatic, controlling; not allowing freedom of thought.

I'm surprised to find I'm not capable of thinking for myself. People that don't know I'm a Christian think I'm quite a creative thinker. These people, I guess, change their minds about me after they learn I'm a religious person. Guess I become an unthinking idiot at that point. I guess Dr. Martin Luther King was not capable of thinking freely; or perhaps Maimonides, Augustine, Reinhold Neibuhr, Francis of Assisi, Rumi, CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien. Boy, what a bunch of unthinking, stick in the mud idiots that lot is.

Jesus. That unthinking rube from the sticks! Did he get in trouble and crucified by following religious convention? Or did he get in trouble for questioning, thinking and acting outside the accepted conventions?

Of course, if you're an SBNR person, you at least recognize the spiritual aspect of our lives, so that's a bit better than people that believe we are just interacting organisms and nothing more. Being an SBNR is convenient. Just you and God, or 'my god'. I just have a problem with the phrase too, "That's between you and your god", or "that's between me and my god". SBNR's have their own individual little gods going on. You get a high end spiritual smörgåsbord. I'll take a little Buddhism, a little Islam, a little astrology, a little Theosophy, and season the mix with whatever.

That's just about that singular person. It's about self. It's about doing and saying whatever makes you comfortable. It's whatever you can use to rationalize your thoughts and behaviors. I guess one could say that's a religion too, the 'it's all about me' the "I AM" religion. Thinking like that, who's there to challenge, correct, get you out of your comfort zone? That's why God sends prophets, to correct us. (Those of you that aren't religiously educated, prophets don't predict the future, they warn us of the consequences of our bad behavior, what will happen if we continue to turn our backs to God.) If you're an SBNR, then you are alone with God. God wants us to experience Him with each other. Experiencing God is a communal experience, not a singular experience.

In the church, you can be corrected, or be a corrector. You need humility when in a community. I know I've grown as a man, spiritually and religiously since I've joined the church. I've learned to interact with people much better. I've learned to serve much better. I used to be an SBNR, so I know the thinking, the experience.

Has the church made huge mistakes and bad decisions? Absolutely. Has religion always provided the right process, and gotten right results? Of course not. The church is a reflection of ourselves, our humanness, and we recognize that, and constantly correct for it. Over all, the church, religious people, have done more good than ill in the world.

Ultimately, the two, religious and spiritual, matter only when combined.

James Martin, SJ, From his book, "The Jesuit Guide to (Almost) Everything":

"Overall, being spiritual and being religious are both part of being in relationship with God. Neither can be fully realized without the other. Religion without spirituality can become a dry list of dogmatic statements divorced from the life of the spirit. This is what Jesus warned against. Spirituality without religion can become a self-centered complacency divorced from the wisdom of community."

Nicole Norderman "Why" (vid)

Were You There? (vid)

Peter's, and Our Denials

Now Simon Peter stod and warmed himself. Therefore they said to him, "You are not also one on His disciples, are you? He denied it and said, "I am not!" -John 18:25

Deny my Lord? I could not but disdain
The thought that I might so esteem life’s breath
As timidly to flee from threat of death
And thus avoid the Saviour’s Lenten pain.
No, never would I shout that same refrain
Of “I know not the man!” nor would I bend
In fear, but follow even to the end,
For I would not bear frailty’s heavy chain.
But at that hour when courage seemed so vast,
When pride had banished cowardice from sight
And I had thought my valour would suffice,
I realized at once that, in the past,
Through sinful deeds committed I had quite
Denied my Lord far often more than thrice.

© David T. Koyzis 1990

Homily for Good Friday

"The simple fact is: this can’t be a day like any other. Scripture tells us that on the day Christ died, the world – literally – cracked open. The earth quaked. To this day, we cannot help but remember what was done for us. As the old spiritual tells us, it causes us to tremble.

But in the midst of all this, we do something remarkable.

We venerate the cross with a kiss.

I’m sure some outside our faith find it strange that we pay tribute to an instrument of death. But they don’t see the cross the way we do. Maybe they should.

Maybe they should try to see that the cross was not an end, but a means to an end – the method God chose to remake the world. Maybe they should strive to see in the cross the beginning of our salvation. This is the wood of the cross, on which hung the savior of the world.

When the priest prays the Eucharistic Prayer for Reconciliation, which we hear so often during Lent, he invokes the cross powerfully, and poignantly. As the prayer puts it, Jesus “stretched out his arms between heaven and earth in the everlasting sign of Your covenant.”

We are reminded today that it is a covenant that was sealed with nails, and splinters, and blood.

In the reading today from Isaiah, the prophet tells us about the suffering servant – foreshadowing Christ. Isaiah tells us: “He grew up like a sapling before him, like a shoot from the parched earth…it was our infirmities that he bore, our sufferings that he endured.”

In Christ’s cross, the wood we venerate and touch, we see part of the shoot from the parched earth. Nailed to this cross, He became one with it – and we are able to see this wood for what it truly is: a tree, like the one that prisoner saw, that holds out hope.

From within the four walls of our brokenness, behind the barbed wires of sin, we look out and look up -- and we see this “tree” that symbolizes our salvation. This is how we know we are saved. This is how we know how much God loves us.

This afternoon, the cross speaks to us. It speaks of the One who suffered and died upon it.

It speaks to us in consolation. And – yes -- in hope.

And quietly, but persistently, it offers us the promise of something better, beyond the prison wall.

'I am here. I am here. I am life. I am Eternal life.'"

This is the ending of the Good Friday Homily by Deacon Greg Kandra. Complete homily here.

Thoughts on Church on Good Friday

"To be connected with the church is to be associated with scoundrels, warmongers, fakes, child-molesters, murderers, adulterers and hypocrites of every description.

It also, at the same time, identifies you with saints and the finest persons of heroic soul of every time, country, race, and gender.

To be a member of the church is to carry the mantle of both the worst sin and the finest heroism of soul because the church always looks exactly as it looked at the original crucifixion, God hung among thieves."

-- Fr. Ronald Rolheiser, O.M.I., "The Holy Longing"

It tougher, I think, to be Christian, to be a member of the church, than to decide you're a spiritual self only, and not needing the fellowship, or the guidance of others wiser than you. It's easier to reject being a Christian and a member of the Church, and essentially your own god, center of your own universe, and put Self ahead of all.

I heard a woman call into Michael Medved's talk show saying Jesus never existed and religion is nothing but mind control. She said she was a "free thinker". That passed for self identification, all the while everything she said, all her statements, have been said ad infinitum by others. Her sadness and anger grew throughout the call, which is what most of her fellow "free thinkers" express. Intolerance, lack of knowledge, lack of understanding. I was saddened by her intolerance, ignorance and unhappiness. They call themselves freethinkers and 'brights', but don't exhibit either trait.

We in the Church know we are all too human, do all to many bad things, say all too many bad things. We do understand we do many good things, and say many good things. I would say it's harder to admit our humanness, and belong to a self critical, self correcting Church, and be Christian, trying to live up to the expression of that, than only have insults to believers, condemnation, and self congratulations to offer.

It is indeed difficult to be connected to the Church. It creates an environment for Love and growth that secularists miss out on. It's a constant reminder of our shortcomings. It's a constant reminder, with no excuses, of our humanness. There is sacrifice, yet nowhere near the sacrifice of Christ on this day over two thousand years ago.

Out of that sacrifice comes our salvation, our hope.

Maundy Thursday Observances

A year ago I wrote about Holy Week here. Today is Maundy Thursday, and this is its meaning and how we observe it in our church.

Maundy Thursday. Our evening of worship begins with an Agape Meal, best described, I think, as Seder for Christians. It's a simple prayerful meal of finger food. Christ and His disciples had their Supper on this evening. After the meal, the congregants walk over to the Sanctuary (I miss this part of the evening because the choir sings and we have to prepare and warm up.) The service itself is called "Tenebrae". This is the night when Jesus was already in the shadow of the Cross, Judas' betrayal, and in what was probably a Passover meal, the institution of the Eucharist or Communion; Jesus breaking the bread and pouring the wine, saying "Do this in remembrance of Me." Tenebrae is from the Latin word for darkness or shadow. The service is a recognition and in a very small way an experience of Christ's suffering. Communion is served. There's no standard or ritual for this service and it varies from church to church and we even vary it year to year. The only standard we've observed is the service being in candle light. There are eight or nine large candles in the front of the sanctuary. As a verse is read a candle is extinguished, and the room gets darker and darker. At the end, only one candle, that representing Christ is left burning. As it gets darker in the room with each candle going out, we reflect on the shadow of the Cross, the physical and emotional pain, and the sacrifice made for us. It's a sad sad ceremony, and at the end, we file out prayerfully and silently.