KBJ is a package deal for the Left. There must be no boundaries for sexuality--people must be free--even to pretend to be another sex (but don't you dare culturally appropriate an Indian name). There must be no boundaries for the country, either. Vilify anyone who isn't at least brown, but if a Republican he's white and racist. Laws and customs are just repression of desires. Teach the kiddoes to be confused about sexuality and have the little ones taught at library story hour by men dressed as hypersexualized women. Turn Planned Parenthood loose in the schools to teach masturbation and contraception to underage children, then offer abortions. Ridicule marriage and monogamy. Encourage the suppression of religion. Push the birth rate below replacement level. Feminize the men and turn them into snowflakes so they'll want to become women--something KBJ can't define. Put little boys at a disadvantage for 30 years and then punish them for failing at being men. Dress both sexes alike, unless they are transwomen, then pump them full of hormones and put them in thick make-up and bangles and beads. Make them a news spectacle as "first woman to be on the board of xyz." It's the ultimate feminist hatred of men, and ultimately of themselves, women.
Thursday, March 24, 2022
Brown-Jackson has it all
Ketanji Brown Jackson can't define "woman" and doesn't know what to do about child victims of pornography. She'll be approved as our next Supreme Court Justice. Whether or not she can define "woman," she was nominated because she is one.
Can she define the word woman? No.
Ketanji Brown Jackson can't define the word "woman" although she was nominated for a place on the highest court in the land for that reason, and she's very soft on the crime of possession of child porn. What's wrong with this? Nothing, according to Joe Biden. Considering his crimes, I suppose that makes some sense to them, because the excuse is other judges are lenient too. What about the children? I didn't go to Harvard or Yale (8 of the 9 judges are from 2 law schools), but I can define woman and I know when children are used to satisfy the lust of adults in mailed publications or internet sites, the adults whether perps or consumers need to be in jail for the maximum allowed, not a slap on the wrist.
When Annaliese Dodds (British government position for women's rights) was asked to define woman, she also, like Judge Brown-Jackson, wouldn't do it. Carl Trueman in First Things writes, "To be qualified for a job, one must have a basic understanding of the specific task at hand. The car mechanic needs to know what a car is; the brain surgeon needs to be able to recognize the brain. A politician tasked with safeguarding women’s rights should therefore know what a woman is and be able to articulate that understanding in public statements. “What is a woman?” hardly seems an unexpected or unfair question to ask the shadow secretary for women. And yet she fluffed it." . . .
"Trans ideology robs women of their history and takes male privilege to a whole new level—all in the name of women’s rights. Like the idea that pornography liberates women, transgender theory is arguably one of the most effective male confidence tricks in recent history: Nothing that women can lay claim to as women is now off-limits for men. Hugh Hefner once declared that Playboy was good for women, to which Fr. Richard John Neuhaus responded, “As long as women know what they are good for.” Today, the progressive lobby presents trans rights as good for women, to which I might respond, “As long as women have no idea what a woman is.” " https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2022/03/liturgy-of-the-powers
When Annaliese Dodds (British government position for women's rights) was asked to define woman, she also, like Judge Brown-Jackson, wouldn't do it. Carl Trueman in First Things writes, "To be qualified for a job, one must have a basic understanding of the specific task at hand. The car mechanic needs to know what a car is; the brain surgeon needs to be able to recognize the brain. A politician tasked with safeguarding women’s rights should therefore know what a woman is and be able to articulate that understanding in public statements. “What is a woman?” hardly seems an unexpected or unfair question to ask the shadow secretary for women. And yet she fluffed it." . . .
"Trans ideology robs women of their history and takes male privilege to a whole new level—all in the name of women’s rights. Like the idea that pornography liberates women, transgender theory is arguably one of the most effective male confidence tricks in recent history: Nothing that women can lay claim to as women is now off-limits for men. Hugh Hefner once declared that Playboy was good for women, to which Fr. Richard John Neuhaus responded, “As long as women know what they are good for.” Today, the progressive lobby presents trans rights as good for women, to which I might respond, “As long as women have no idea what a woman is.” " https://www.firstthings.com/web-exclusives/2022/03/liturgy-of-the-powers
Wednesday, March 23, 2022
The Last Walk by Roland Lane
Last Walk
Roland Lane, March 20
For me it was a poignant video moment from the hundreds we have witnessed from Ukraine in the last two weeks. Perhaps you saw it too. A father and son walked hand in hand toward a town or city. The son was about four or five years old and was wearing a yellow parka or slicker of some sort. The father was in his late twenties or early thirties. He looked over the head of his son as three or four adults passed by going the opposite direction. Those individuals were carrying backpacks or some type of luggage. Our small family of father and son carried nothing. The video footage lasted about four seconds, but the image spoke the language of this war. What do you say and what are you thinking in what may be the last walk with your son?
My thoughts flew back to the happy memories when I walked hand in hand with my father as we shuffled along through the golden leaves of a bright autumn day in Circleville, Ohio. Circleville was the home of the Circleville Pumpkin show and we walked from where we parked our car on Washington Avenue to Main Street and turned right where parade officials were lining up the floats for the afternoon parade. For me that corner of Washington and Main was magic. Great piles of leaves and brightly decorated floats greeted us along with the aroma of spiced tea, coffee, chocolate, elephant ears, minced chicken sandwiches and pumpkin pie. It was five years after the end of World War II. I was five years old and one of the first baby boomers, a part of the magnificent class of 1945 and a happy recipient of the blessings of peace.
In springtime my focus shifted to Newark, Ohio the childhood home of my mother. On Sundays our family walked a block to church on Western Avenue a street lined with cottonwood trees. It was springtime, and the Cottonwoods dispatched millions of white cotton-like wisps to greet little kids walking to church. The cotton wisps covered lawns and parked cars and on windy days it looked like a snowstorm. I walked hand in hand with my grandmother and I knew from the earliest memories I was not an ordinary grandson. There was a warm and wonderful connection with Grandma Cora that I did not fully understand until much later. My grandma’s eldest son, my uncle Mark died in the last months of the war. I was born six weeks after it ended. I did not discover until much later in life that my grandma Cora saw me as the replacement for the lost son.
My father lived a good life. He was the best man I ever met and although he was almost 92 when he died, all the earlier joys and happy times did not make it easy for me. It was a little past 9:30 am and I and my dad were in his hospital room alone together. I moved his oxygen mask away from his face and bent down to speak into his right ear while I nervously watched the numbers plummet on the oxygen monitor on our upper left. I spoke eight words and he four. My dad and I both knew it was our last conversation. It was one of the shortest conversations in my life and simultaneously it was the most dramatic and most intimate. Be it physical, emotional or mental, most of us will take a last walk with a loved one.
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are now taking that last walk. Much of this might have been avoided had the U.S. leadership not botched the exit and abandoned thousands of friends in Afghanistan. Now, the world watches Taiwan. Biden stubbornly hangs on to the notion of “no oil from here” and begs oil from Russia, Iran and Venezuela. Are we all now in agreement that Biden cannot distinguish friends from enemies? This might be the last walk for the United States.
My thoughts flew back to the happy memories when I walked hand in hand with my father as we shuffled along through the golden leaves of a bright autumn day in Circleville, Ohio. Circleville was the home of the Circleville Pumpkin show and we walked from where we parked our car on Washington Avenue to Main Street and turned right where parade officials were lining up the floats for the afternoon parade. For me that corner of Washington and Main was magic. Great piles of leaves and brightly decorated floats greeted us along with the aroma of spiced tea, coffee, chocolate, elephant ears, minced chicken sandwiches and pumpkin pie. It was five years after the end of World War II. I was five years old and one of the first baby boomers, a part of the magnificent class of 1945 and a happy recipient of the blessings of peace.
In springtime my focus shifted to Newark, Ohio the childhood home of my mother. On Sundays our family walked a block to church on Western Avenue a street lined with cottonwood trees. It was springtime, and the Cottonwoods dispatched millions of white cotton-like wisps to greet little kids walking to church. The cotton wisps covered lawns and parked cars and on windy days it looked like a snowstorm. I walked hand in hand with my grandmother and I knew from the earliest memories I was not an ordinary grandson. There was a warm and wonderful connection with Grandma Cora that I did not fully understand until much later. My grandma’s eldest son, my uncle Mark died in the last months of the war. I was born six weeks after it ended. I did not discover until much later in life that my grandma Cora saw me as the replacement for the lost son.
My father lived a good life. He was the best man I ever met and although he was almost 92 when he died, all the earlier joys and happy times did not make it easy for me. It was a little past 9:30 am and I and my dad were in his hospital room alone together. I moved his oxygen mask away from his face and bent down to speak into his right ear while I nervously watched the numbers plummet on the oxygen monitor on our upper left. I spoke eight words and he four. My dad and I both knew it was our last conversation. It was one of the shortest conversations in my life and simultaneously it was the most dramatic and most intimate. Be it physical, emotional or mental, most of us will take a last walk with a loved one.
Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are now taking that last walk. Much of this might have been avoided had the U.S. leadership not botched the exit and abandoned thousands of friends in Afghanistan. Now, the world watches Taiwan. Biden stubbornly hangs on to the notion of “no oil from here” and begs oil from Russia, Iran and Venezuela. Are we all now in agreement that Biden cannot distinguish friends from enemies? This might be the last walk for the United States.
Roland Lane, March 20
Tuesday, March 22, 2022
Fearing for the safety of Finland and the world
Note to a friend in Finland, which was at one time part of the Russian empire.
"I do hope no one in Finland is counting on Biden to save you from Putin. When he's reclaimed Ukraine for his restored empire, he'll come after the rest of you. Biden is worthless. Our military is very weak. He's making deals with Iran and so is Putin. At first he was a laughing stock; now he's just evil."
https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/russia-ukraine-crisis/finland-and-sweden-receive-letters-from-putin-demanding-security-guarantees-for-russia-articleshow.html
And in March 2014: "After annexing Crimea and with troops massed on the border of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin will not stop trying to expand Russia until he has “conquered” Belarus, the Baltic states and Finland, one of his closest former advisers has said." (Independent, pay wall)
https://inews.co.uk/news/world/will-russia-invade-finland-why-not-nato-how-likely-attack-putin-1496734
"I do hope no one in Finland is counting on Biden to save you from Putin. When he's reclaimed Ukraine for his restored empire, he'll come after the rest of you. Biden is worthless. Our military is very weak. He's making deals with Iran and so is Putin. At first he was a laughing stock; now he's just evil."
https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/russia-ukraine-crisis/finland-and-sweden-receive-letters-from-putin-demanding-security-guarantees-for-russia-articleshow.html
And in March 2014: "After annexing Crimea and with troops massed on the border of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin will not stop trying to expand Russia until he has “conquered” Belarus, the Baltic states and Finland, one of his closest former advisers has said." (Independent, pay wall)
Letter to a Democrat friend, January 2, 2001
It's amazing what turns up in old e-mails. Sometimes I can't get them to open. But the one I'm using for this "memory" was copied to a Word Document. If you remember the millennium scare when the experts thought all computers would fail because no one had programmed them to turn over to 2000, you'll understand why I sometimes don't know what year these were sent unless there are events to which I can connect. The computers continued to work, but didn't record the dates!
About this letter/e-mail. This reply was written January 2, 2001, I know because I mentioned the death of my mom (January 2000) and the December visit of my father. Also we discussed the election of George W. Bush. I was answering a note from a friend I hadn't seen for a long time who was about 30 years younger and had been in our small group from church. From the context it had been about 5 years since we'd been together. We were both Democrats, although I had voted for Bush in November 2000 because of the abortion issue. I remember we went to her wedding a few years before; I heard years later that they were divorced. She apparently had said something in her letter, which I don't have, that triggered these comments from me--still a registered Democrat, but ready to leave the party. In the letter below, if something is in parentheses, it's in the original, but something in brackets means I added it today to clarify. Also, I've changed personal names to letters. Also, one more thing. When I told my husband about finding this e-mail, he had no recollection of Barbara or our attending her wedding.
Dear Barbara,
It was good to get your e-mail of December 5 and find out what is going on in your lives. I'm happy you've found a believers' church. The Mill Run church opened a year ago [New Year's Eve 2000], but we still attend Lytham. [Comments followed about her deciding not to have children--she was adopted, and her adoptive parents had divorced--I think it was not a happy family.]
You may recall that I am also a registered Democrat--even voted for Clinton/Gore in 1992--mainly because Gore was on the ticket. Notice in my x-mas letter I didn't say which party was stealing the election, but you seemed to know--hmmm.) But I've voted Republican in the last 2 elections [1996, 2000] because they more closely represent what I think is important--human lives, not human lifestyle. I believe abortion is the defining issue of our time as was slavery 150 years ago. Each era has its problems it needs to solve. The difference is 150 years ago Christians (particularly women) were in the forefront trying to reverse a terrible crime against humanity, now women are the great perpetrators. The church just falls in line and tries to pretend it will go away if no one speaks out. The ethical standards of Christians seem to be no different than the rest of society.
The other day on the Rush Limbaugh program I heard a Republican woman complaining about "one issue" Republicans (she was pro-choice), and Rush said he didn't think there was such a thing, but where else could a pro-life person like me go? Four years of a Republican president might save many lives--maybe more if he gets the right people on the Supreme Court and partial birth abortion goes back to the slime pits where it belongs.
Bush has said he is against partial birth abortion and we hope he follows through. Where else could your vote save lives? That Clinton and Gore are Christians (and I believe they are) meant nothing once in office. Gore used to be pro-life (and he seemed to be capable of telling the truth before he became vice president) and he flip flopped for political power--maybe Bush will do the same, but for now I think he sees that wing of the party--those one-issue folks--still has some clout. In just the year 2000, we got partial birth abortion, research on human embryos and the abortion drug RU-486. So there is definitely a slippery slope and it's getting steeper. I think "death" is Clinton's legacy that he's been looking for--more deaths than a major war. Assisted suicide and euthanasia are coming down the pike, and if the Christians' stand on abortion is any indication, it is the gateway to new ways to "make choices."
You said you were thinking of leaving the country if Bush was elected. I don't remember Republicans threatening to leave if Clinton won in 1992 but perhaps they did (some Perot supporters may have in the next election), and Bush got a higher percentage of the popular vote than Clinton ever did. Democrats had the power for 40 years in the legislature, and I think the Republicans stuck it out. If you believe the Democrats are right about the Microsoft suit and it was necessary to hamstring our technology growth, and they were right to strangle our power sources so we have rolling brown-outs and gasoline shortages, and they were right to weaken U.S. by diminishing and demoralizing the military, then you should stick around and fight for your principles. Then maybe in 4 years you can have it all back--but in the meanwhile, if there are layoffs in technology or gasoline shortages, or power outages, remember those were your guys.
Our group keeps on going--like the energizer bunny--but sometimes I think we are the halt and the lame. But it keeps us on our knees! We have 14, 2 widows and 6 couples. X and Y still struggle but they come. Y suffers from a mental illness but is on medication. S continues to have small strokes--her daughter got married this past year. We thought perhaps J had Alzheimer's, but he had brain surgery to relieve some kind of pressure and is now OK. We took in a new couple about 3 years ago, and another new couple this year. N and D, our graduates, still come to special events. J and L and G and P moved out of town. N's dad died in the fall at 104--he was also X's grandfather.
We had a wonderful visit with my 87 y/o Dad in early December. I miss Mom, but have really enjoyed getting to know him better this past year. She was so easy to love and we all enjoyed her wisdom, counsel and love. He's a bit more difficult, but I've been so impressed with his bravery this past year.
I'll close now, and wait to hear from you in five years. I'll send you my family's story [not sure what I was referring to] in snail mail. Hope this doesn't clog your mailbox!
Norma
About this letter/e-mail. This reply was written January 2, 2001, I know because I mentioned the death of my mom (January 2000) and the December visit of my father. Also we discussed the election of George W. Bush. I was answering a note from a friend I hadn't seen for a long time who was about 30 years younger and had been in our small group from church. From the context it had been about 5 years since we'd been together. We were both Democrats, although I had voted for Bush in November 2000 because of the abortion issue. I remember we went to her wedding a few years before; I heard years later that they were divorced. She apparently had said something in her letter, which I don't have, that triggered these comments from me--still a registered Democrat, but ready to leave the party. In the letter below, if something is in parentheses, it's in the original, but something in brackets means I added it today to clarify. Also, I've changed personal names to letters. Also, one more thing. When I told my husband about finding this e-mail, he had no recollection of Barbara or our attending her wedding.
Dear Barbara,
It was good to get your e-mail of December 5 and find out what is going on in your lives. I'm happy you've found a believers' church. The Mill Run church opened a year ago [New Year's Eve 2000], but we still attend Lytham. [Comments followed about her deciding not to have children--she was adopted, and her adoptive parents had divorced--I think it was not a happy family.]
You may recall that I am also a registered Democrat--even voted for Clinton/Gore in 1992--mainly because Gore was on the ticket. Notice in my x-mas letter I didn't say which party was stealing the election, but you seemed to know--hmmm.) But I've voted Republican in the last 2 elections [1996, 2000] because they more closely represent what I think is important--human lives, not human lifestyle. I believe abortion is the defining issue of our time as was slavery 150 years ago. Each era has its problems it needs to solve. The difference is 150 years ago Christians (particularly women) were in the forefront trying to reverse a terrible crime against humanity, now women are the great perpetrators. The church just falls in line and tries to pretend it will go away if no one speaks out. The ethical standards of Christians seem to be no different than the rest of society.
The other day on the Rush Limbaugh program I heard a Republican woman complaining about "one issue" Republicans (she was pro-choice), and Rush said he didn't think there was such a thing, but where else could a pro-life person like me go? Four years of a Republican president might save many lives--maybe more if he gets the right people on the Supreme Court and partial birth abortion goes back to the slime pits where it belongs.
Bush has said he is against partial birth abortion and we hope he follows through. Where else could your vote save lives? That Clinton and Gore are Christians (and I believe they are) meant nothing once in office. Gore used to be pro-life (and he seemed to be capable of telling the truth before he became vice president) and he flip flopped for political power--maybe Bush will do the same, but for now I think he sees that wing of the party--those one-issue folks--still has some clout. In just the year 2000, we got partial birth abortion, research on human embryos and the abortion drug RU-486. So there is definitely a slippery slope and it's getting steeper. I think "death" is Clinton's legacy that he's been looking for--more deaths than a major war. Assisted suicide and euthanasia are coming down the pike, and if the Christians' stand on abortion is any indication, it is the gateway to new ways to "make choices."
You said you were thinking of leaving the country if Bush was elected. I don't remember Republicans threatening to leave if Clinton won in 1992 but perhaps they did (some Perot supporters may have in the next election), and Bush got a higher percentage of the popular vote than Clinton ever did. Democrats had the power for 40 years in the legislature, and I think the Republicans stuck it out. If you believe the Democrats are right about the Microsoft suit and it was necessary to hamstring our technology growth, and they were right to strangle our power sources so we have rolling brown-outs and gasoline shortages, and they were right to weaken U.S. by diminishing and demoralizing the military, then you should stick around and fight for your principles. Then maybe in 4 years you can have it all back--but in the meanwhile, if there are layoffs in technology or gasoline shortages, or power outages, remember those were your guys.
Our group keeps on going--like the energizer bunny--but sometimes I think we are the halt and the lame. But it keeps us on our knees! We have 14, 2 widows and 6 couples. X and Y still struggle but they come. Y suffers from a mental illness but is on medication. S continues to have small strokes--her daughter got married this past year. We thought perhaps J had Alzheimer's, but he had brain surgery to relieve some kind of pressure and is now OK. We took in a new couple about 3 years ago, and another new couple this year. N and D, our graduates, still come to special events. J and L and G and P moved out of town. N's dad died in the fall at 104--he was also X's grandfather.
We had a wonderful visit with my 87 y/o Dad in early December. I miss Mom, but have really enjoyed getting to know him better this past year. She was so easy to love and we all enjoyed her wisdom, counsel and love. He's a bit more difficult, but I've been so impressed with his bravery this past year.
I'll close now, and wait to hear from you in five years. I'll send you my family's story [not sure what I was referring to] in snail mail. Hope this doesn't clog your mailbox!
Norma
Monday, March 21, 2022
Hollywood's new Red Scare
"Another writer, who, like most of the writers we interviewed, was afraid to speak openly for fear of never working again, said: “I get so paranoid about even phone calls. It’s so scary. My close friends and my family are just like, ‘Don’t say anything.’ It is one of those things, ‘Will I be able to sleep at night if I say anything?’ Getting jobs in this town is so hard, and I’m very grateful to have a great job. If there’s any so-called ding on my record, that would just be an argument against hiring me.” "
Sounds like something right out of the 1950s, when Hollywood feared the HUAC, the Red Scare, and the Blacklist. Ironic that now it's WOKEISM, just another form of Communism that is causing fear, anger and lost jobs for Hollywood. MeToo meets George Floyd meets diversity quotas. Well, we hadn't been to a movie theatre in years. Never too early to give up on a dying Hollywood altogether.
https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/hollywoods-new-rules?
Sounds like something right out of the 1950s, when Hollywood feared the HUAC, the Red Scare, and the Blacklist. Ironic that now it's WOKEISM, just another form of Communism that is causing fear, anger and lost jobs for Hollywood. MeToo meets George Floyd meets diversity quotas. Well, we hadn't been to a movie theatre in years. Never too early to give up on a dying Hollywood altogether.
https://bariweiss.substack.com/p/hollywoods-new-rules?
Found in Grandma's Bible--If we only understood
On Sunday morning I wanted to check how the word "charity" was used in I Corinthians, and looked at my grandmother's Bible, a 1901 American Standard Version. By 1901, the American Edition used the word "love" and not "charity" as in the 1611 King James Version. And although the copyright date was 1901, it had really been revised in 1885. (Long story). I'm not sure this was her study Bible which she had used when they went to Chicago for a spring class at Bethany Seminary because it only had a few notes in the margins in what looked like her "older" frail handwriting after she'd had a slight stroke in the 1930s. But I found a yellowed clipping, probably from the Brethren Gospel Messenger printed in the 1930s. It was a poem by Rudyard Kipling.
IF WE ONLY UNDERSTOOD
If we knew the cares and trials.
Knew the efforts all in vain,
And the bitter disappointment,
Understood the loss and gain--
Would the grim eternal roughness
Seem— I wonder— just the same?
Should we help where we now hinder?
Should we pity where we blame?
Ah! we judge each other harshly,
Knowing not life’s hidden force;
Knowing not the fount of action
Is less turbid at its source;
Seeing not amid the evil
All the golden grains of good;
And we’d love each other better
If we only understood.
Could we judge all deeds by motives,
that surround each other’s lives,
See the naked heart and spirit,
Knowing what spur the action gives,
Often we would find it better,
Purer than we judge we should,
We would love each other better
If we only understood.
(By Rudyard Kipling)
Could we but draw back the curtains
That surround each other's lives,
See the naked heart and spirit,
Know what spur the action gives,
Often we should find it better,
Purer than we judged we should,
We should love each other better,
If we only understood.
Could we judge all deeds by motives,
See the good and bad within,
Often we should love the sinner
All the while we loathe the sin;
Could we know the powers working
To o'erthrow integrity,
We should judge each other's errors
With more patient charity.
If we knew the cares and trials,
Knew the effort all in vain,
And the bitter disappointment,
Understood the loss and gain—
Would the grim, eternal roughness
Seem—I wonder—just the same?
Should we help where now we hinder,
Should we pity where we blame?
Ah! we judge each other harshly,
Knowing not life's hidden force;
Knowing not the fount of action
Is less turbid at its source;
Seeing not amid the evil
All the golden grains of good;
Oh! we'd love each other better,
If we only understood.
IF WE ONLY UNDERSTOOD
If we knew the cares and trials.
Knew the efforts all in vain,
And the bitter disappointment,
Understood the loss and gain--
Would the grim eternal roughness
Seem— I wonder— just the same?
Should we help where we now hinder?
Should we pity where we blame?
Ah! we judge each other harshly,
Knowing not life’s hidden force;
Knowing not the fount of action
Is less turbid at its source;
Seeing not amid the evil
All the golden grains of good;
And we’d love each other better
If we only understood.
Could we judge all deeds by motives,
that surround each other’s lives,
See the naked heart and spirit,
Knowing what spur the action gives,
Often we would find it better,
Purer than we judge we should,
We would love each other better
If we only understood.
(By Rudyard Kipling)
In the 19th and 20th century newspaper editors did not always check the sources of material that fit the space, if it was credited at all. So I decided to Google the title of this poem. The first version of this I found was at a website called Virginia Chronicle which had microfilm copies of serials published in Virginia. I found the poem attributed to Kipling in the Highlander Recorder, Monterey, Virginia, for Friday, September 30, 1927, however a few lines in the third verse were slightly different. Also, a version of it appeared in the May 25, 1915 Salina [KS] Semi-Weekly Journal.
So I continued to look, and found DiscoverPoetry.com website which seems to be for children. It had a poem by the ever famous "anonymous" which had the verses and lines arranged differently, plus it had four verses. https://discoverpoetry.com/poems/anonymous/if-we-understood/
Could we but draw back the curtains
That surround each other's lives,
See the naked heart and spirit,
Know what spur the action gives,
Often we should find it better,
Purer than we judged we should,
We should love each other better,
If we only understood.
Could we judge all deeds by motives,
See the good and bad within,
Often we should love the sinner
All the while we loathe the sin;
Could we know the powers working
To o'erthrow integrity,
We should judge each other's errors
With more patient charity.
If we knew the cares and trials,
Knew the effort all in vain,
And the bitter disappointment,
Understood the loss and gain—
Would the grim, eternal roughness
Seem—I wonder—just the same?
Should we help where now we hinder,
Should we pity where we blame?
Ah! we judge each other harshly,
Knowing not life's hidden force;
Knowing not the fount of action
Is less turbid at its source;
Seeing not amid the evil
All the golden grains of good;
Oh! we'd love each other better,
If we only understood.
Then I found that version as a hymn by Anonymous in "The New Gospel Song Book: a rare collection of songs designed for Christian Work and Worship," Firm Foundation Publishing House (1914) p. 118
The poem "If" by Kipling is quite famous, but I can find nothing in his list of works resembling this poem, which apparently really is by Anon/Author unknown and misattributed to him. But Grandma and others suffering through the Great Depression and a few American editors loved it.
Sunday, March 20, 2022
Dark chocolate morsels
I haven't been able to get Hersey Dark Chocolate Nuggets lately where I shop, but did find some dark chocolate Dove red foil wrapped "promises." Today's wraps for the 2 of us were "Don't wait for sleep to start dreaming," "Be fearlessly authentic," "A smile is the quickest way to brighten a room," and "Be(you)tiful." Dark chocolate is good for your brain and heart; milk chocolate just adds waist.
Saturday, March 19, 2022
Praying for Anna
Fixed hour prayer time observances are very old in the Judeo-Christian worship traditions--Orthodox, Roman Catholic, Episcopal--but not in mine. I've made one up--6, 9, 12, 3, 6 and 9 and am praying for a fictional Russian grandmother (great-grandmother) who is my age and I've named Anna Ivanovna. She represents all Russian grandmothers whose grandchildren will go back to Russia in body bags because of Putin's foolishness in wanting to reestablish ancient Russia. So in my mind's eye she is 82. Although data for the early 1940s on life expectancy in Russia have been lost due to the war, she's lived beyond the average. In her formative years she would have been nutritionally deprived. She's educated but lost her government job and pension when the USSR collapsed. I don't blame her for not believing her government run news or Putin about what's going on in Ukraine. She doesn't even have a tradition of a free and honest press; I do/did and can't believe mine either! In my fictional grandma story, her father (Ivan) died before she knew him in WWII; her grandfather died in the Stalin purges of the 1930s; her great grandparents were children of emancipated serfs and lived through the turmoil of 1905 and 1917.
Friday, March 18, 2022
The corruption of banks
It's bad enough that our taxes fund the deaths of the unborn due to clever politicians' machinations--now our banks and investments with women in the board room are tainted? This is to further entrench the idea that a job can replace a family and the lie that abortion is "women's health care."
"One of America's largest banking corporations [Citigroup] is reportedly shelling out cash [for travel] to help employees circumvent state abortion laws." (The Blaze)
You may recall, this is how we ended up with employee benefits tied to jobs, which then later were assumed to be necessary for all. After WWII when there was a shortage of good workers with salaries and wages frozen (The Stabilization Act), larger companies began offering paid health insurance to circumvent government laws.
"One of America's largest banking corporations [Citigroup] is reportedly shelling out cash [for travel] to help employees circumvent state abortion laws." (The Blaze)
You may recall, this is how we ended up with employee benefits tied to jobs, which then later were assumed to be necessary for all. After WWII when there was a shortage of good workers with salaries and wages frozen (The Stabilization Act), larger companies began offering paid health insurance to circumvent government laws.
Two years ago during the Covid war. . .
Looking back two years ago, Ohio had 67 cases of Covid-19 and zero deaths. And yet on social media and main stream media Trump's enemies were saying president Trump should have been taking action in December 2019! They'd decided by March to side with Communists and claim he was a racist for calling it a Chinese virus even though a month before that was the term the media used. After three years of insulting him, calling him a traitor, demented, deplorable, not my president, racist, etc. they flipped completely and claimed he should have known more than all the bureaucrats, academics, scientists and career politicians who study and make laws and regulations about viruses and infectious diseases. These are the same folks who ten years before gave Obama a complete pass on the Swine flu epidemic. These are the same people who sued the president every time he tried to close our border, then howled when he didn’t shut down the economy six weeks before the lethality of Covid was known. They assigned to Trump the powers and intelligence of a deity or maybe just a dictator. Then when he kept his word about funding a vaccine within a year, they ridiculed him, said they would never trust it because his fingerprints were on it, and turned around to take the credit and mandate its use.
Now we're in a new kind of war (or the old kind) and Biden is negotiating with Iran using Russia as the intermediary to restore Iran's power to develop nuclear weapons. We need to stop calling Biden demented and compromised, and acknowledge he's the worst snake in the grass, worse than Putin, and the most evil destroyer of our country we've ever faced (and all with the same lies from media and Big Tech that worked against us in the Trump administration).
Now we're in a new kind of war (or the old kind) and Biden is negotiating with Iran using Russia as the intermediary to restore Iran's power to develop nuclear weapons. We need to stop calling Biden demented and compromised, and acknowledge he's the worst snake in the grass, worse than Putin, and the most evil destroyer of our country we've ever faced (and all with the same lies from media and Big Tech that worked against us in the Trump administration).
Thursday, March 17, 2022
The difference between men and women
"The gender gap in athletic performance, as shown in records from Olympic competition, has remained stable since 1983. The mean difference has been about 10 percent between men and women for all events. The mean gap is 10.7 percent for running, 8.9 percent for swimming and 17.5 percent for jumping. When performances improve, the improvements are proportional for each gender."
A well trained, in shape, female athlete can out perform a male non-athlete. Female equestrians can compete on a par with males because of their physical balance and concentration.
This article will probably be taken down as "hate research," (2018), so read it while it's available.
Wednesday, March 16, 2022
Biden's terrorists compared to Trump's terrorists
Biden is "Poised To Remove Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corp From Terror List To Wrap Up Nuke Deal" (headline Mar 16, 2022) so he can restore Obama's dangerous nuclear deal. Yet his Secretary Mayorkas of DHS is bullying parents as "violent domestic terrorists" if they speak out about trans-indoctrination for kindergartners and CRT reeducation camps in our schools or voters who investigate fraud in the 2020 election or federal employees who speak out against government abuses. Whose side is Biden on? American citizens, or Islamic terrorists? https://www.scribd.com/document/564349619/Report-to-the-Secretary-of-Homeland-Security-Domestic-Violent-Extremism-Internal-Review-Observations-Findings-And-Recommendations#from_embed
"US President Donald Trump officially designated the IRGC a Foreign Terrorist Organization in 2019, imposing sanctions on the group. The IRGC has been linked to numerous terrorist attacks around the globe, including the 1996 Khobar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia and an attempt to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the US on American soil. It provides arms and training to terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen." https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/324094
Why is Dr. Fauci untouchable? The Forbes story
Adam Andrzejewski “published 206 investigations while writing an estimated quarter million words on the platform.” His targets were bipartisan, outing Joe Biden, Donald Trump, and plenty of others. But then. . . he wrote about Dr. Fauci. Bye, bye. After extensive digging and overcoming NIH foot-dragging, Andrzejewski discovered that Fauci and his wife, Christine Grady, chief bioethicist at NIH, are worth more than $10.4 million, and they rake in major money for a lot of things. Andrzejewski’s reporting held up under scrutiny, even from the National Institutes of Health, which found only minor semantics corrections to complain about. Nevertheless, it seems that pressure from NIH got Andrzejewski cut from Forbes’s lineup.
from the original article at https://openthebooks.substack.com/p/factfindingfaucicanceledforbes?s=r
https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamandrzejewski/2022/01/12/no-faucis-records-arent-available-online-why-wont-nih-immediately-release-them/?sh=766d1f7e46bd Story about Fauci's financials NOT being public and transparent
"Two [NIH] directors, two bureau chiefs, and two top PR officers didn’t send an email to the Forbes’ chief on a Sunday morning because they wanted to correct the record about Fauci’s travel reimbursements.
They sent that email to subliminally send a message: We don’t like Andrzejewski’s oversight work, and we want you to do something about it.
Unfortunately, Forbes folded quickly."
Tuesday, March 15, 2022
The Tulsi and Tucker are treasonous meme
When Mark Levine, Mitt Romney, Keith Olbermann and the ladies of the view all think it is treasonous and you/we are a Russian assets to question whether there are bio-labs in Ukraine and perhaps we should be cautious about no fly zones and expanding the war zone, then we have a truly divided nation. Democrats against Democrats and Republicans against Republicans; twitter mobs and Tik Tok influencers against long time investigators; Christians against Christians, and military veterans against people who never served a day; liberal minorities against illiberal minorities; and women who are ignoramuses against women who have done something with their lives--I tell you--it's makes my head spin. Especially when we're into our third year of the government lying to us about the source and funding of a virus that has locked us all up for two years! A government that says you must be silenced if you can't support the non-science that men are women; a government that says there was no flimflamming in the 2020 election; a government that sends a cackling airhead to Europe and Poland to further convince our allies of our weak, feckless administration. The world is indeed a global crazy town.
Monday, March 14, 2022
Russian and Ukrainian Orthodox Churches--different but the same
"Look, major saints of the Slavic Orthodox Church — and I’m talking about Ukrainian Russian Orthodox Church and Serbian, what have you — a lot of them are of Ukrainian descent. Ukraine has produced the fathers of Orthodox Church that have served in Russia, Serbia, Moldova, Romania, in other parts of the world, including Middle East and in Jerusalem. Ukrainians have contributed to the fabric — into the mosaic — of the spiritual entity of who we are as Orthodox Christians.
We are two distinct groups of people, Russians and Ukrainians. We’re people of one faith — we’re Christians. But our cultural background makes us different. Because of the impact that Western society has had on Ukraine, people the Western Ukraine, and in general in Ukraine, are open to their whole idea of self entities, identifying themselves as Christians and asking themselves valid question, “Why am I a Christian? Why am I Orthodox? Why am I doing the ritual I’m doing? Why am I living the way I live?”
In the northern part, or the northern neighbor, the Russian Federation, they would often use the teachings of the saints of the church and imply that you are not worthy of anything as a person, as a child of God, to accomplish anything in order to fully and truly approach him with your worthiness. Two distinct approaches to the sanctity of human life." https://religionnews.com/2022/02/25/a-religious-politician-head-of-ukrainian-orthodox-church-of-the-usa-slams-patriarch-kirill-putin/
We are two distinct groups of people, Russians and Ukrainians. We’re people of one faith — we’re Christians. But our cultural background makes us different. Because of the impact that Western society has had on Ukraine, people the Western Ukraine, and in general in Ukraine, are open to their whole idea of self entities, identifying themselves as Christians and asking themselves valid question, “Why am I a Christian? Why am I Orthodox? Why am I doing the ritual I’m doing? Why am I living the way I live?”
In the northern part, or the northern neighbor, the Russian Federation, they would often use the teachings of the saints of the church and imply that you are not worthy of anything as a person, as a child of God, to accomplish anything in order to fully and truly approach him with your worthiness. Two distinct approaches to the sanctity of human life." https://religionnews.com/2022/02/25/a-religious-politician-head-of-ukrainian-orthodox-church-of-the-usa-slams-patriarch-kirill-putin/
Sunday, March 13, 2022
The history of Russia and Ukraine, as partners and as enemies
This article is from "Plain News" a paper for plain people, conservative Mennonite, Amish, Hutterite and Brethren. It's an opinion piece on what is behind the invasion of Ukraine. It has a good history going back 1000 years, and a partial motivation about the NATO policy and expansion (I don't really think that is so strong because even if Russia owned Ukraine, NATO would still be on its border just as it would be if Ukraine were part of NATO.
https://www.plainnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Why-is-Russia-invading-Ukraine-___-Plain-News-3-9-22-1.pdf
"The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland joined NATO in 1999; Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined in 2004; Albania and Croatia joined in 2009, Montenegro in 2017, and North Macedonia in 2020. NATO reports that Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine are all currently seeking membership. Almost all of these countries were previously a part of either the Soviet Union and/or the Warsaw Pact military alliance. Russia has viewed this NATO expansion to its very borders with much trepidation . . . "
https://www.plainnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Why-is-Russia-invading-Ukraine-___-Plain-News-3-9-22-1.pdf
"The Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland joined NATO in 1999; Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia joined in 2004; Albania and Croatia joined in 2009, Montenegro in 2017, and North Macedonia in 2020. NATO reports that Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine are all currently seeking membership. Almost all of these countries were previously a part of either the Soviet Union and/or the Warsaw Pact military alliance. Russia has viewed this NATO expansion to its very borders with much trepidation . . . "
Friday, March 11, 2022
YouTube channels--addictive time wasters
Do you ever watch the YouTube channels? Today I wasted a huge amount of time watching 3 videos of Top Notch Lawn Care. Yup. Watched a guy cleaning up the worst yards and lawns you've ever seen. Thousands of viewers and many comments. It was sort of satisfying after all the war footage and the hopeless mess our politicians get us into. As my mom who remodeled her parents' farm home as a religious retreat center used to say, "I can't save the world but I can save 4 acres." I think that must be how this guy believes.
Thursday, March 10, 2022
Older adult ministry at UALC
On December 29, 2021, I wrote a letter to a "ministry" (don't know who read it since there was no personal name) which was no longer on the schedule when our church reopened after the Covid lockdown. For over two decades there had been a Thursday morning Bible study mostly attended by retirees, although there were a few younger adults who attended. There were also attendees from the retirement communities near by, and by members of other churches. I attended only occasionally until the last few years. I could see that it met a lot of needs, especially social and mental stimulation. There was a once a month luncheon after the study with interesting programs, sometimes about social services offered in the community, or volunteer opportunities, or featuring an interesting member of the congregation or artists in conjunction with the visual arts ministry. Here's the letter--there's no "dear pastor" since I didn't have a name:
"I read through the [winter] offerings and am wondering why the Thursday morning study has not been reinstated. Your ears must be burning for all the times members of that group discuss it during Sunday coffee time. It’s one of the longest running ministries that I’m aware of in the church. I retired in 2000, have participated at different times, but it was going strong when I was still employed. I know of no group that was more affected by the church lockdown/closure than this age group. It provided intellectual stimulation, a service opportunity for some, fellowship, occasionally lunch, and friendships. Not everyone in the group is an elder, and some are not members of UALC, so it also does outreach. Many do not use social media (which UALC provides) so it’s a chance to connect—as essential as the smart phones are for the teens. Loss of the Sunday church bulletin has also affected this group more—its reinstatement would mean more than card stock handouts suggesting volunteer opportunities or special needs.
If this older adult group is to be eliminated, perhaps you could announce it."
I'm happy to report that the group met today at 10:30 a.m., about 2 years to the day that the church closed in 2020. I didn't count, but there was a very large group--I'm guessing maybe 50. The study was led by our senior pastor, Steve Turnbull speaking on "Jesus is Lord," and there was good group participation. We also sang two familiar hymns (singing is good for the health) and had prayer. It was followed at noon by the mid-week Lenten service in the sanctuary which included communion and a nice lunch (soup, salad, hot drinks, corn bread, and ice cream with a cookie). The three groups didn't necessarily overlap with some who came to the church service weren't at the Bible study, and some at the Bible study didn't stay for church or lunch. There were already many isolated, lonely people in this group, particularly widows and widowers, who looked forward to this program, and the lockdown hurt them with loss of church services and volunteering. Not all could use Zoom for Sunday school. Everything we know about the health and welfare of elders was out the window during the lockdown. Some I know began attending other churches which reopened much sooner. So losing their Thursday group after the reopening with no explanation was painful. I pray we can keep it going and I'm appreciative that someone managed to work through the problems of reinstatement. Thank you pastors Steve and Joe.
How Biden has failed us and helped Putin
Ted Cruz says Biden is the best thing that ever happened to Putin. Agreed.
Biden refuses to protect or encourage our own energy sources which could also save Europe; he allows our country to be invaded; he sat and watched as Putin threatened to pounce as soon as weather permitted; he flooded our economy with inflationary dollars using Covid as an excuse; before he took office he warned oil and gas investors he would shut them down; and he hides in his basement terrified of our homegrown global green terrorists.
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