Shame Tossed Under the Bus

 

 Modern Dialogue

 Stop listening to instruction, my son, and you will stray from the words of knowledge - Proverbs 19:26
Son - Yeah, I know. It's cool.

Darwin studied shame and its affects in human beings.There is a collective phenomenon -physical, emotional, mental and spiritual.  Man blushes and needs to -as Mark Twain noted.

Adam and Eve lived without shame, until they turned away from God's command " Yuck it up, but stay away from the stuff on the Tree."

The happy couple were buck-assed naked and shame entered the human yarn.  I am ashamed of some things and have tried to atone for those actions.  Shame is the reminder to me that planets do not swirl about me in particular.

I attended a recent dinner at Beverly Woods given by the Alumni. I was wearing a Leo Wind-jacket, khakis and tennis shoes.  I was ashamed of my dress when I realized that this was a business casual deal and not a meeting at Father Perez Knights of Columbus. Bob Hylard '44 wore a sport coat, as did many others.  I looked like I just washed the Malibu. Jerk.

Shame is a gift.  Shame is a way back and better road.  We need to recognize shame for what it is - a signal that something is wrong and we could do something about it. Shame is a head's up - the engine warning light on our dash board.

Shame is being murdered in this Secular, Progressive and Shameless (SPC)culture .Here is a group of healthy, well-fed, clothed and entitled public school children who have soaked up oceans of  SPS Self-esteem:


These youngsters sure learned to combat obesity at school - lessons learned.  Rotten little bastards.

I am ashamed to be breathing the same air as these kids.    They are ignorant children, and the ignorant serve cruel masters.  These kids learned to treat people the way they have treated a widowed grandmother who is serving them - at home, in school, on cable, over the internet, wireless, IPad, or whatever.  Karen is not on Jersey Shore. She is on school bus and working for minimum wage. Shame on her?  Loser! Fat! Old! Poor! No I-Pod, No WI-FI, No reality show.

Kids are modeled on slackers, sluts and sneaks.  This horrific incident did not happen in a vaccum. This is the fruit of SPS self-esteem, PC, Diversity matters, Let's Move! education.  No sin, no sweat.

Children are taught to scorn virtue, courage, responsibility and respect in favor of political correctness, diversity and getting by.

Heroes are erased from the curriculum and pale lifeless secondary examples inflated to Olympic consequence - Shakespeare is bad and Alice Walker says it all; Booker T.. Washington is mocked and WEB DuBois considered a man of consequence; promiscuity is healthy and condoms are free,

Our culture demands no God, no sin, no accounatbility and no shame which goes very far in explaining the success and visibility of Abortion, Bill Maher, Dan Savage, Rose Ann Barr, the Kardashians, John Edwards, ACLU, Jerry Sandusky, MSNBC,   the IVY League and lesser lights, Public Education and Planned Parenthood. Most of all the abscense of shame explains the kids on the bus.

That little incident on the bus in NY State is our societal warning light.  Start over.  Send kids to Catholic School, Independent Schools that honor Virtue, Achievement, Patriotism, Honor and Personal Integrity, or home school them. It will be a start.

 Shame can be a path virtue.

God Saw All That He Had Made, And It Was Very Good." . . .Unless You are an Evolved Progressive"

Then God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals,[a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
27 So God created mankind in his own image,in the image of God he created them;male and female he created them.
28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground. ”
29 Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food. 30 And to all the beasts of the earth and all the birds in the sky and all the creatures that move along the ground—everything that has the breath of life in it—I give every green plant for food. ” And it was so.
31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning —the sixth day. Genesis 1, 1-31 God Almighty

 "At a certain point I've just concluded that, for me personally, it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married." Genesis II Obama Evolved and Gayer Than Christmas*!


Marry, the man has evolved and yet he can swing that first person personal pronoun like a saloon door on payday!  Now, let's see about that post creation part - “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. "   Male to Male and Female to Female . . .no stork; Pert neer, but not plumb.

Well, that's Progress anyway.  The same President who believes that there are more than 57 States in this Democratic Republic ( there's that diversity! We don't have a Democratic Democracy, or a Republican Republic for a the very same reason;  + &  - = the old charge!) has determined that Will and Gary and Gert and Grace can have children.

Well,call me un-evolved and bust my britches!  Gay Marriage, not civil unions and insurance, hospital visitation rights, property control, inheritance is a litmus test for evolution.

The end game is not bundles of joy for same sex couples sanctified in Holy Wedlock, of course, but the hammering down of God. The Judeo Christian object of worship of course and certainly not the one covered under Sharia Law.

Once God is locked in the closet,the party is on!   "Kill them babies, Breeders!  Why should loving and caring same sex couples be denied the civil right of marriage?"

 Biology?

"Un-evolved Brute."

Shucks. Fellas, my tongue musta got twisted around my eye-teeth and I couldn't 'zactly see what I was sayin' Just funnin' ya.

Abortion and Homosexual Marriage are the fruits of the same vine, not the tree of Life. That vine is the twisted Hegelian secularism that is easy to follow. The Tree of Life is rooted in first principles - God's Word.  Abortion is murder and America said it was fine with murder in Roe v. Wade.

Most Americans, Catholics, Jews and Evangelicals included, could care less about the sexual inclinations of two same sex adults who choose to make themselves warm and satisfied in arms of each other.  Americans are fair and more than tolerant of one another. They believe in God and that is a problem for Progressives who are intolerant of everyone and everything.  They are really intolerant of God, the Father Figure who makes all of the rules that are just too hard and mostly inconvenient to follow.

This going to get very interesting.

Well, time to subdue my breakfast, beat out the old cave and get to hunting and gathering.


* Michael Houlihan - film maker, author, swordsman and Mount Carmel Varsity Football Letterman: Tapioca, Her Majesty Da Queen, Our Irish Cousins - openning near you.

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1&version=NIV

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304070304577394332545729926.html

"Analyze This! " - God Responds to Latest Scientific Study: People of Faith Don't Think

Scientists have revealed one of the reasons why some folks are less religious than others: They think more analytically, rather than going with their gut. And thinking analytically can cause religious belief to wane — for skeptics and true believers alike.

I was awakened again, thanks be to God. Said my prayers, fed the cat, and got to it.  Read the Tribune and the posted article and asked God what he thought of it. Here HE is!


God ( aka - Supreme Being, Dominus, Lord of Hosts, Yaweh, Allah, Prime Mover, Triun God, Original Gangstah! & etc. )

Hickey, do you know what time it is ?  Oh, ME!  You got Company? Sorry about the get-up,folks,  this goof wakes before I intended man to rise.  Hickey, you are really lucky I turned-in early, or you'd really be up $hit-creek for fair, Paddy Me Boy!  As it is you just added a few semesters to your stay in Purgatory. Take a walk or something - I sure Hell don't need you staring over my shoulders. Now, Blow!

Hi, everybody!  Again, sorry about my state of dress; I'm God for Crissakes, not Adolph Menjou.  He really is an inconsiderate pain in the ass, but he means well, I know. . . .before we get to the meat of the matter, let me first congratulate all the Leo Alumni who will be celebrating their commitment to Leo High School ( 1928-2012 Anno Mine) at the Lexington House in Hickory Hills tonight.  The doors will open at 5:30 P.M. and cocktails will be served between 6:30 - 7:30 Post Meridian central Standard Time.  If any of you guys are thirsty, just wait; there will be plenty of time to toss back a few and remember DUI laws are enforced.  I created the each human body differently - age, weight, gender, food intake prior to consumption of one ounce of alcohol must be considered.  For some of you gents who slept through Brother Finch's chemistry and physics class, which I dou . . .am certain never happened, remember an ounce of booze is an ounce of booze - beer, wine, or loudmouth.  Have fun but if you plan to whack down an inappropriate amount of cold ones, have a sober driver.  Remember to eat.

Leo Men!  You are my sons in whom I am very well pleased!

The weather is going to be a bit odd - Hey, you live in Chicago! 

That's about it.

Now, a group of smart kids used grant money to justify the current war on Faith.  This is a political gimmick that Bismark used in the 19th Century in order to consolidate the 101 German States and principalities under Prussian control.  Kant and Hegel were and still are used to make a case against me.  Knock yourselves out, Lads.

This current study is meant to Balkans folks.  If you believe in Me, all to the good.  If you choose to not believe in Me . . .see you in a few years; right Mr. Hitchens?  Any way. 

This new study, which is really as old as human arrogance, holds that Doubters are smarter than Believers. They use math and science to prove this using a series of John Dewey's tests and measurements.  These are the same class of  talented youngsters who measure and calibrated the wheels on the very expensive Bombardier Rail Car Wheels that the City of City bought like a pig in a poke last November.

Measure twice; cut once works only if the carpenter has learned which end of the rule which - remember that scene in This is Spinal Tap?  That was great!  The Stonehenge scene.  Where the stage manager wrote down inches ("s) instead of feet (')? Here, Watch This!

Spinal Tap - Stonehenge - The most popular videos are here

You guys kill me . . . and then I Resurrect!
Anyway, ever since Moses took his sandals off when I lit that bush on fire ( Charleton Heston!  Take a bow, Son!) you need proofs. Thomas the Apostle, that was a close one for you, Kiddo. No matter what I say, do, or demonstrate there will always be doubt - supposed to be.  I don't want you clowns stumbling around in the dark, or depending upon your trust of Kellogg's that there is exactly 16 ounces of corn-flakes in the box, or worse allowing science alone to be your guide - looks at how much weight Al Gore put on since he obsessed with glaciers and penguins.  That and his pretty wife gave him the gate.

I am perfect. Sorry, the job's taken.  Everything else is limited ( you can only drink so many beers, guys), fallible, disappointing, and in exact.  The earth is nice and round.  Water freezes at a some point, given certain circumstances, and it boils at some point, again given certain circumstances.  The NBA does not draft Pygmies - is that certainty, or what if Shorty Mnumbaka has a hang time measured in 0.58 minutes X Two and standard English yard ( 3') s times Seven?   Shorty will go into his freshman year at Brother Aman Prep School in Gungu, Uganda just a bit north central of Lake Albert.  Don't believe me?  Got Proof? just kidding.

Look, you have computers and they are all coded using 0s and 1s. You have DNA coded A, T,G, C with three billion of these letters in every human cell - math is limits.

I have been talking to you all for millions of years; some choose to believe on a few thousand of years, Whats a few numbers off between friends?  I AM. . . .don't just take my  Word for it. Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner for quantum electrodynamics, said, "Why nature is mathematical is a mystery...The fact that there are rules at all is a kind of miracle."

Here's the deal. No matter how many numbers, proofs, or tests, you all have Free Will.  No Charge! 
One caveat - There really is only One test, all the rest are Old Styles and Slim Jims, really.  It is Pass/Fail and really can not study for it - call it The Final.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/la-sci-religion-analytical-thinking-20120427,0,7996681.story

http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html

The Siberian Express, My Furnace, Jeff the Serviceman and God's Hand

I have an aging Tappan Furnace ( 80% level) that heats my modest raised ranch home on Rockwell Street -over by the tracks on 108th Street in Morgan Park. My son, Conor is taking two HVAC ( Heating, Ventilation & Air-conditioning) classes at the school of the Operating Engineers Local 399 in Chinatown. Chicago has welcomed the Siberian Express - a rigidly frigid Tsunami of Artic air blowing down from the top of the globe - along with the arrival of President Hu Jiangtao of Red China last night at about 5:30 P.M..

When I went to work at Leo High School yesterday morning at 5:30 A.M. my thermostat was set at an economically comfortable 68 Degrees. My raised ranch home was warm because ceiling fans are set on reverse-circulate and bounce the heat back down. I had business downtown and returned home at 8:30 P.M. - my son was at the library, I guess and my daughters were with their aunt preparing for a Cleary family event in Galena. My house seemed cold as well as empty. I checked the thermostat and it was still yet at 68, but the actual temperature was fifty-five degrees. Problem.

I am not the brightest 40 Watt bulb in the corrugated Sylvania box, but I have my moments of lucidity. I went down to the reliable old Tappan Furnace ( 80% level) and checked the pilot - ON! The furnace would not fire. My son was unavailable and I am earnest, but mechanically challenged, especially when wires and gas lines are involved. Lucidity! Call someone! You are out of your element.

I called Around the Town Heating at 116th & Pulaski* and Jeff, a 2006 graduate of Evergreen Park High School arrived in less than twenty minutes. The Siberian Express was insinuating its frosty will through the bricks, mortar, beans and plaster of the House of Hickey.

Jeff got into the Old Tappan. I offered Jeff one of the high-end brownies form Potash Brothers in the Gold Coast that had somehow evaded the grasp of my kids. " Thanks, I'm good. I had a big dinner before the call," Jeff told me without pulling his head out of the bowels of the Tappan. " Go up and dial the Stat all the way down," Jeff ordered. Up, I trundled.

In five minutes, I heard the Tappan fire up and the blower engage. Heated air was coursing through the tin arteries of my home once again. This young man, a skilled tradesman, had honestly, quickly and methodically performed HVAC CPR on the heart and hearth of my home, on the coldest night of the year! God be praised!

"I cleared the clogs from vacuum hose off the draft inducer. and vacuumed out the whole area - no leaks or chipping on the lines, but you have gotten all the years out of this Tappan, your gonna get. Your next problem will be big. Here, sign, this Mr. Hickey," offered the HVAC cardiologist. Here is how Jeff's words tranlate to Pat Hickey ("ew+2πi = ew for any w, since adding iθ to w has the effect of rotating ew counterclockwise θ radians. Even worse, the infinitely many numbers
...); yet, I nodded with conviction.

The cost was modest and the problem could have been life-style changing for a few weeks. I duked Jeff a double saw-buck ($20 in standard lingo and wrote a check to Around the Town Heating .

House Hickey 1 -Siberian Express 0 -thanks to the ringer Jeff. Jeff refused the high-end brownie again.

We take everything for granted and that is the human condition - I am all too human.

A furnace, a sump pump, a human heart can quit or go on the fritz. God holds the warranty on our hearts. God planned our lives, but we are expected to maintain our hearts and souls. How we use our hearts and maintain our souls can not be left to ourselves - we need better people than ourselves to remind us to not only check the pilot lights and replace the filters, but also, like Jeff, to give us fair warning that a big change is needed. The Siberian Express shows up and God helps us with people like Jeff. I went to confession last Saturday and the priest in the box told almost the very same thing that Jeff did.


Around The Town Heating & Cooling Inc.3511 W. 116th Place
Chicago IL, 60655

Chicago Phone: 312-243-9896 4912 135th St.
Crestwood IL, 60445

Suburbs Phone: 708-388-2247

Email: aroundthetown@sbcglobal.net

ACLU -Catholics May Not Enter Into Business Agreements -Ed Yohnka

ACLU and American Progressives have hated Catholics and the Catholic Church from the get-go - that's okay; nothing new. However, for the last forty years the American corporate media have sucked- up to the ACLU on every instance of opportunity to impugn Catholics and undermine any all moral authority of the Catholic Church.

Folks still take the sacraments each Sunday and many people continue to convert to the Roman Catholic Faith. Nevertheless, NPR, the newspapers, Public Television ( WTTW) and new internet Progressive flagships like Huffington Post offer the ACLU full forum. Ed Yohnka of ACLU availed himself of an opportunity to make such that the Abortion Industry keeps the dollars flowing to Planned Parenthood and the ACLU, by denying the Catholic Church the right to enter into contracts.

Voila!

In a little reported local move, Resurrection Health Care, a Roman Catholic health system, is seeking to sell two of its suburban Chicago hospitals to the nonsectarian Vanguard Health Systems. As part of the deal, Resurrection has demanded that Vanguard maintain the religiously-based health care restrictions Resurrection instituted when took control of the hospitals a number of years ago--and Vanguard has agreed to do so.

These restrictions are embodied in the Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services ("the Directives"), promulgated by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, and are imposed on all Catholic-owned institutions and the employees who work in those institutions. The Directives prohibit many critical health services--particularly in the area of reproductive health end-of-life care. Under the Directives, patients are denied tubal ligations and vasectomies as well as contraception. In fact, the Directives prohibit many women who have been raped from accessing emergency contraception, which could, if taken promptly, prevent an unwanted pregnancy. Patients' end-of-life wishes are only respected if they are consistent with "Catholic moral teaching." Elective abortions are forbidden, as are abortions that are necessary to preserve the pregnant woman's health. In cases where a pregnant patient's physician believes that she will die if her pregnancy is not immediately terminated, the physician may seek approval from the hospital's ethics committee, who will decide whether the Directives permit termination in that case. Only if that committee allows it, can the life-saving measure be taken.

These restrictions endanger women across the nation . . .

Eddie Boy, women who get abortions are just fine and dandy. Unborn Children? Not so hot.

The Catholic Church will not yield on abortion, as it did not yield on Fascism and Communism. That really puts Progressive panties in a tight twist.

Ed, name ONE istance where the ACLU Ever helped Catholics. Name one Aborted Child, Ed.

Huffington Post, NPR, WTTW, the corporate editorial boards and amoeba spined hacks like Dick Durbin will help you huff and puff about "American Values."

American People know the smell of dead skunk and the themes of the ACLU.

Hey, how about them BlackHawks!

What's Lacking? Any Sense of Transcendence

Here's a fabulous Lord Elton and his catamite at some huge event.

This morning, I heard that Elton John proclaims that Jesus is Gay. Last year Jesus was a Community Activist. Before that, Jesus was an Anti-Semite.

"I think Jesus was a compassionate, super-intelligent gay man who understood human problems. On the cross, he forgave the people who crucified him. Jesus wanted us to be loving and forgiving. I don't know what makes people so cruel. Try being a gay woman in the Middle East -- you're as good as dead."

Faaaaaabbbulous! and just in time for Oscar Buzz, Lord Elton!

I always thought He ( Joshua Bar Joseph - The Christ) was a Jewish Carpenter's Apprentice . . .Well Goodbye Yellowbrick Road!
For talk radio I listen to WLS AM/NPR ( for laughs)/Relevant Radio - for news, weather and information. Relevant Radio is Catholic Radio - ( 950 AM) until about 6PM when it becomes Avenue 950 ( Home to the wonderful Skinny and Houli Show which gave Chicago its voice back) with great jazz - Classic Cool!

Don and Roma punctuate every syllable with Healthy Trinity. NPR low-talks news about mistreated Muslims in London who wanted to fight police torture with fertilizer and blasting caps - diversity rocks the Casbah! Relevant Radio presents the news and more - we get great aphorisms beyond Ridley Scott's Gladiator!

What we do in life echoes in eternity. Awesome, Maximus.

On Relevant Radio at drive-time is Father Larry Richards, a stiff collar out of Pittsburgh, PA. He has a great sense of humor. On one show I heard a guest talk about how Pro Lifers are making impacts on young people because they address not only the immediate fears and anxieties of an unwed teen mother-to-be ( school, career hopes, friends, family expectations) as well as the transcendent implications of killing a child. Great stuff.

Lord Elton and his catamite have more substantial porgies in the hot oil.

American Media took the Death of God in 1960's seriously and nailed the Old Guy's Cultural Coffin shut tight. The transcendent - that which reminds us that we are not alone and responsible for what we do every moment is what is lacking in what passes for American culture - this want in our spiritual diet gave us Hope and Change over Courage and Commitment; Graphic Novels (Comic Books) over The Great Books; Jersey Shore over Death of Salesman; Avatar over Best Years of Our Lives; SEIU over American Labor Movement; Abortion and Gay Marriage over the American Family; Carbon Footprint Policing over Mankind.

The Alternative Lifestyle is the norm. Jimmy Kimmell is Alastair Cooke. John Stewart is Walter Cronkite. Keith Olbermann is Oil Can Harry and Rachel Maddow is Ward Bond. Our Media and our public education system and our university group thought have taken the Hegelianism of dopey John Dewey closed the door on Yaweh, Allah, or God. No one told them to shut up, read something or do some hard work.

Relevant Radio is one way to get some transcendence back into our diets. It is Catholic Radio and catholic means universal. I listen to Klezmer music, read Issac B. Singer and still put Mayo on a Bacon Sandwich - give it a try.


Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844–89).

Pied Beauty 1918.

GLORY be to God for dappled things—
For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
Landscape plotted and pieced—fold, fallow, and plough; 5
And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change: 10
Praise him.

I Believe that God Looks like Dennis Haysbert and God Speaks - ' Jimmy Carter's Wrong!

"I think people who are guilty of that kind of personal attack against Obama have been influenced to a major degree by a belief that he should not be president because he happens to be African American.

"It's a racist attitude, and my hope is and my expectation is that in the future both Democratic leaders and Republican leaders will take the initiative in condemning that kind of unprecedented attack on the president of the United States," Carter said.

Because I have questioned President Obama, at least once a month or more, am I rock-ribbed hateful klansperson, opinionated person, prejudiced person, sectarian, segregationist, sexist person, white supremacist, xenophobe?

I love Amos and Andy, Hattie McDaniel, Eddie Robinson, as well as the Lads Marsallis, Dennis Haysbert ( whom I believe God must surely resemble), James Earl Jones, Muhammad Ali, Thomas Hayes, Marquis Ball, Big Dave, Ronnell, Mike Holmes, Chris Mad-Dog' Thomas, Lonnie Newman, Akim Hunter, Dr. Eric Wallace, Il. Rep. Mary Flowers, Dr. Lonnie Smith and all of the White Sox of Color.

I am conflicted. I asked a noted south side intellect and he replied, " I think the Sh#nes make way too much of all this racism business." Hmmmm. I am conflicted. I see the intrinsic humor there, but I am made uneasy by its overt irony wrapped in frankness and my subsequent giggles.

So, I decided to ask God.

He was busy, but he left a message on my cell phone - ' It's your dime, Start talking . . .Just kidding. Hey, you missed me, but your call is important to me leave a message at the tone. I got your number in the memory card; so, if you don't hear from me, it's my falt! I didn't feel like calling! Hey, I'm God! Just kidding; wait fo the tone . . .' waiting, waiting, waiting (tone) it was David Allan Coe's "Now I Lay Me Down to Cheat"* (click my post title for God's Channel - Outlaw Country on Sirius Radio)

At the end of the chorus and subsequent buzz, I uttered out my carefully chosen words.

"Almighty Father, President Carter, on two occasions wedged into the Joe Wilson issue by branding critics of the President racists and . . .( Buuuuhp!!)

( Basso Profundo - It is Dennis Haysbert!)You really are a gabby little fellow. Listen here, Hoss! Let me get on this topic, like a Cow on the Cabbage. Son, Lookee here. You mistreat your fellow man and I'm on it. Your comeupance is ordained.

Now, off the record. Jimmy Earl is a Jackass. Now, don't go repeatin' that, or your ass is smote. I gotta go. Hey, know why the Hill-rods love Nascar?

"No, my Savior."

They all like to say "Hey, lookee thar! NAS Car! Yep, Shore is a NAS Car, Custis!" Now, look, dummy, behave and watch your language around of my little ones and re-read Matthew 23 - My Boy (IHS) said it right to that one. Nas Car!!!! Kills me.

Deus Misereatur !


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dennis_Haysbert
*Now I lay me down to cheat
On the woman I love so
And if I die between these sheets
I pray to God she'll never know

Merry Christmas! God is Great and the Rest Ain't Too Bad!

Merry Christmas*! This morning cops and fireman and City Workers were getting coffee at White Hen at 103rd & Artesian as well as Kareem's Dunkin Donuts over on Western. They were bundled in arctic gear for a full day of serving all of us.

Two young coppers and a young lady EMT had been among the worshippers at Sacred Heart Catholic Church on 116th Church Street last night, when Terry McEldowney held forth with Oh, Holy Night and Adeste Fidelis. The tiny French Mission church built in 1904, during the Chicago Stockyard Strikes was packed with Faithful and devout neighbors from all over the 19th Ward. Terry McElligott and I were asked to pass the Offering baskets after Father Dempsey's sermon explained that 'God does not read computer print-outs for his Beloved, but sends his Son among us, to share our Joys, Set-backs and Sufferings.' Sacred Heart Church did Okay! It took four good cranks on the hopper of the Offering Box to load the offerings.

My kids and I slept in Peace, because public service angels were out and about on Duty.

The young Police officers and Fire Fighters and all the public servants from the City of Chicago's Water Department and Streets and Sanitation and the Peoples Gas crews and the frozen wire warriors on the ComEd trucks are out with the Little Guy in the Manger - keeping watch, while the angels sing.

* I found this manger scene on the Net; done a by a young artist when he was 7 years old. Click my post title for his site.

God Bless Us All - He has and he does!

John McCain: Anti Abortion. Obama is all for it - so was CHairman Mao!

NARAL endorsed Barack Obama who told Planned Parenthood that he would fight for the right of Mothers who choose to murder their babies. Choice, argues NARAL, is Justice. I don't think so. But let's take a look at what a Pro Choice culture, Red China, has done for women.

Chairman Mao, a Communist Icon, demanded, advocated and ordered Abortion.

Here is what happened to a woman named Mao - no relative.

From Wikpedia

Mao Hengfeng is a women's rights and human rights activist in the People's Republic of China. A mother of twins, she was reportedly dismissed from her job in 1988 because she became pregnant for a second time with a third child, in contravention of China's family planning regulations. Mao refused to have an abortion, and was subsequently detained in a psychiatric hospital. She gave birth on 28 February 1989, and notified on 20 March that she had been dismissed from her job for missing sixteen days of work. This was the period when she was giving birth and recuperating, as well as recovering from her ordeal in the psychiatric institute.


[edit] Appeal and petitions
Mao Hengfeng appealed against her dismissal under China's Labour Law, and was reinstated to her job. However, the soap factory where she worked disputed the ruling. Mao was seven months pregnant with her fourth child at the time of the appeal hearing, when the judge reportedly told her that if she terminated this third pregnancy he would rule in her favour. Concerned for the welfare of her existing family, Mao terminated her pregnancy against her wishes, but still the court ruled against her, apparently because she had taken sixteen days of "unauthorized leave" from work, and also for her original violation of family planning policies.

From 1990 to 2004 Mao repeatedly petitioned the authorities for redress for her dismissal from work, her forced abortion, and the denial of other basic rights including that of freedom of expression. She had also made several attempts to initiate legal proceedings against the authorities in relation to these abuses, but courts repeatedly failed to respond or refused to file the cases.

As well as actively petitioning authorities to seek redress for herself, Mao Hengfeng has also acted to safeguard the rights of others. For instance, she is known to have actively supported other people seeking redress over alleged forced evictions in Shanghai and Shanxi province, and is reportedly regarded by the Shanghai authorities as one of the city's most persistent and experienced petitioners. She is actively campaigning on behalf of other individuals arbitrarily detained in "Re-Education Through Labour" or psychiatric facilities, including women held for alleged violation of family planning policies.

She opposes arbitrary detention and campaigns for legal reforms that ensure redress and protect ordinary people against abuse of power.


[edit] "Re-Education Through Labour" and recent developments in Mao's case
Mao Hengfeng was assigned without trial to eighteen months' "Re-Education Through Labour" (RTL) in April 2004 after repeatedly protesting about various abuses of her rights. Her welfare allowances were discontinued, leaving her family in severe financial difficulties. Many people in Shanghai openly demonstrated in support of her.

Since her release in September 2005 she has continued with her protests and has suffered further abuses along with her husband, Wu Xuewei, who was reportedly beaten by the police and may face criminal charges. Both are at risk of further human rights violations, including arbitrary detention and torture or ill-treatment.

On 13 September 2005, Mao and Wu were both reportedly beaten by police when they gathered with over a hundred other petitioners at Putuo District Court in Shanghai. They were supporting Xu Zhengqing, a petitioner who was facing trial in connection with his attempts to attend a memorial service in Beijing in January 2005. Along with dozens of other petitioners, the couple was detained by the police. Mao Hengfeng managed to escape and tried to continue her protest on behalf of Xu Zhengqing. However, she was detained again and sent back to her residential district, where local police and government officials apparently threatened her with imprisonment if she continued her protests and presented her with a formal police summons for investigation on suspicion of 'disturbing the normal lives of others'.

From 23 to 27 September, Mao and her family were reportedly held under a form of house arrest after she stated that she would go to a United Nations representative office in Beijing to protest about the abuses. Seven police officers reportedly stood guard in front of her flat preventing her from leaving, even to go shopping. On 29 September she was again placed under house arrest; an official told her that this would continue until the end of the fifth plenary session of the 16th Central Committee of the Communist Party on 11 October. The following day, three police officers and seven District Official Guards were stationed in front of her house. She was warned that she would be detained or face violent treatment if she tried to break out.

Amnesty International is following Mao's case, and this entry has been taken mostly from their article on her.

Choice ? Looks more like Death, Torture and Imprisonment.

John McCain is against Abortion. Barack Obama is for Abortion. I am for John McCain.

Click my post title for John McCain on Human Dignity

Sister Wendy Beckett: 'My real world is a world away from bustle"

My first experience with a nun occurred in the late 1950's at Little Flower Grammar School at 81st & Honore on the south side of Chicago. It was not a good one; similar experiences cascaded through my eight years at LFG.

My only ally, it seemed, - ( Hey, every one got clouted - except the snitches and they are now DNC Super Delegates) in my personal 'world's collide' with the Religious Sisters of Mercy was my County Kerry bog man Grandfather.

Unlike most, Hickeys, Old Lawrence understood. 'Pay them no mind, so, Páidín ( in Chicago phonetics, sounds like Pat-Sheen, translates to Paddy) , they're a shower of Hairy-faced Old Galway Bitches!'

Later in life, bumps, clouts, psychological warfare notwithstanding, I taught with some incredible women who 'took the veil.' The Sisters of Notre Dame - Helen Kavanaugh, Helen Larsen, Theresa Galvan, and the brilliant Madeline Lamarre. These girls could teach, filet a Kankakee River Channel Cat, work a beer glass like Bricklayer John McKenna and direct all of their actions to God.

I read a book about Sister Wendy Beckett, a South African born Sister of Notre Dame, Art critic, television star and contemplative. What struck me was Sister Wendy's attitude toward all things: 'everthing that happens in Life is a means to an end and I happen to believe that the end is God.' Sister then went on to compare the Rape of Lucretia by Tarquin to Cezanne's The Abduction - and wittily and smartly points to the nature of contempt for human beings intrinsic to the act of Rape.


Sister Wendy's life is spent in Caravan - in American, a trailer, a tornado target - at the bottom of a hill on which sits a Carmelite Contemplative Convent. As a contemplative, Sister Wendy has taken a vow of absolute silence and speaks only to the Superior of the Convent and rarely at that.

She talks a plenty - through her writing. Sister Wendy is a brilliant scholar and master of Art, who understands the nature of artistic expression and can explain the work of the World's Masters to this dumb as dirt know-it- all whose mouth goes like a duck's ass 24/7:

"Art is beauty and God is beauty. If you can get people to look at art; you are bringing them closer to Him, even if they don't know His name."

"My own definition of beauty is that which perpetually satisfies us. You look at it again and again and there is more of it to satisfy us. I would say that beauty is very much an attribute of God - He is essential beauty. But only those of us who have been fortunate enough to have faith know where beauty comes from. For the others, they are responding to beauty and responding to Him, though they mightn't be aware of that - they are responding to the pure, free, strong, loving spirit of God."

Sister Wendy

Got it in one take, Sister Wendy - and without a knuckle to the noggin. Thank You!

Click my post title for the TV series on Sister Wendy

Here is what Sister Wendy has been doing in the contemplative life -
Books

2001
Sister Wendy's Impressionist Masterpieces
Sister Wendy's American Masterpieces

2000
Sister Wendy's American Collection
In the Midst of Chaos, Peace (with Mary J. Dorcy and Dan Paulos)
Sister Wendy's Book of Muses (with Justin Pumfrey)

1999
Sister Wendy's 1,000 Masterpieces (with Patricia Wright)
My Favourite Things: 75 Works of Art from Around the World

1998
Sister Wendy's Nativity
Inner Life: A Fellow Traveler's Guide to Prayer (by David Torkington; foreword by Sister Wendy)
Sister Wendy's Odyssey: A Journey of Artistic Discovery
Sister Wendy's Book of Meditations
Sister Wendy's Book of Saints
The Mystery of Love: Saints in Art Through the Ages

1997
Sister Wendy's Story of Christmas: Adventures in Art
Sister Wendy in Conversation with Bill Moyers: The Complete Conversation (edited by Karen Johnson)
The Wisdom of the Apostles (compiled by Philip Law; introduction by Sister Wendy)
The Duke and the Peasant: Life in the Middle Ages (with Jean De Berry)
Max Beckmann and the Self

1996
Sister Wendy's Grand Tour: Discovering Europe's Great Art
Pains of Glass: The Story of the Passion from King's College Chapel, Cambridge (with George Pattison)

1995
Sister Wendy's Meditations: Meditations on Joy
Sister Wendy's Meditations: Meditations on Love
Sister Wendy's Meditations: Meditations on Peace
Sister Wendy's Meditations: Meditations on Silence
A Child's Book of Prayer in Art

1994
The Story of Painting
The Gaze of Love: Meditations on Art and Spiritual Transformation


Series

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2001
Sister Wendy's American Collection

1998
The Saints with Sister Wendy
The Much Loved Friend: Portrait of The National Gallery

1997
Sister Wendy in Conversation with Bill Moyers

1996
Sister Wendy's Grand Tour: Discovering Europe's Great Art
Sister Wendy: Pains of Glass
Sister Wendy's Story of Painting
Early Art
The Renaissance
Baroque to Romanticism
The Age of Revolution
Modernism