Outside The Asylum

And so are the swamp establishment RINOs who inhabit congress today! .  In the debate on the child tax credit, which is at least $20,000 too low to begin with, you can just hear Scrooge in the background arguing with the charity people: “Are there no prisons?” “Plenty of prisons…” “And the Union workhouses.” demanded Scrooge. “Are they still in operation?” “Both very busy, sir…” “Those who are badly off must go there.” “Many can’t go there; and many would rather die.” “If they would rather die,” said Scrooge, “they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population.” This is not pro-life conservativis m.  This isn't conservativism at all.  These people are liberals.

I've been saying this for years- the rape culture and the sexual harassment culture is one and the same.  Can't have one without the other. Here Archbishop Sample makes the same remark:

I haven't been blogging here very much lately, because I've had a crisis of faith.  My crisis stems primarily from my own conviction that I waited too long in life to get married, and as a result, our child is an only child.  Add to that all of the talk coming from the church as of late on the permissibly of divorce, the seeming hatred of people who "breed like rabbits", the tendency of the Pontifical Academy of the sciences towards apocalyptic overpopulation predictions, and my own fears that my form of marriage may no longer fit in what is permissible for a Catholic, and I've been practically frozen. That changes with this blog post, which ironically will be the last one on this subject for this particular blog.  A new blog will be starting soon:  The Wisdom of the Ages -Aged (this post will be updated with a link when I start that blog).  This post will serve as an outline and a reading list for my research into a new set of pre-Cana materials which I plan...

I certainly think 26 members of Southland Baptist are now Catholics, part of the Church Triumphant enjoying Heaven, having lived through the purgatory of an atheist coming into their church services and shooting everybody.  The other approximately 24 people are still living through their purgatory- wounded, mostly with bullets. I doubt you can find a single-pro-gun NRA member who would agree that Devin Kelly, or any other former soldier dishonorably discharged for domestic violence, should have been able to own weapons. Neither does federal law.  US Code 18.922 should have prevented this man from owning weapons, let alone pasting pictures of his weapons on his facebook page.  The ATF should have been all over this guy *YEARS* ago. You can pass all the laws you want, but  if there is no willingness to *ENFORCE THE LAWS ALREADY ON THE  BOOKS* then you might as well pray to the flying spaghetti monster to have Scotty Beam you up- there ain't no intelligent li...

I just had to relink to today's XKCD for the top graphic for this blog.  I quite often feel that way online.

I find this episode of Barney Miller to be highly instructive.   As is this wonderful explanation of Gunlandia for liberals  From Jennifer Fitz

The following argument is not just about abortion, but also euthanasia. I don't think the questioner understood the link.

A wonderful article on solidarity from a left-leaning academic is a wonderful historical look at how the left wing has lost its way, but it doesn't go far enough.  What he is missing is that due to 40+ years of marginalization, the same problem exists on the right side of the spectrum.  Between fiscal libertarians, social libertarians, and paleo conservatives like me, the right wing is ALSO playing identity politics.  And the unwanted are the ones paying the price- in lives- for a lack of principles in the right wing. The United States of Multiculturalism is showing great fissures now between urban and rural people- and we're finding out that urban liberals are more illiberal than the worst KKK member.  But so are, on the other end of the spectrum, the kind of survivalist like that guy my brother purchased a VW bus from in Southern Oregon who collected paintings by Hitler.  Life has become so chaotic, that it is insane. The answer is true solidarity, which ...

Posted this to the wrong blog.  Was a post for Knights of Columbus

A recap of the first year of Amoris Laetitia , led me to create this post on how Pope Francis, regardless of his original intention, has spread a great amount of confusion, at least in the English speaking world (and German, and Argentinian, and Maltese).  This will be a collection of links on the subject for me to continue studying. This article gives an overview of how Jesuit theology and spirituality diverges from Catholicism on one key point:  the discernment process in which morality does not bind those who choose not to believe in that morality. I call that moral relativism, and it is very much the error of the age. We then come to an Open Letter to the Dubia Cardinals  which claims there is no change in doctrine, and a response that shows the logical errors therein.   Finally, we have the historical record  of a Pope who excommunicates  people from Heaven for being arrogant enough to claim that maybe moralism is not relative, but absolute. The...

An Exempla is a medieval parable meant to teach moral lessons.  I'm going to start collecting them here. “Never be so bold as to tamper with the acts of God. I shall relate to you a beautiful miracle that Our Lord Jesus wrought in this regard at the request of his mother, St. Mary. I relate it so that you will understand how much it grieves Him and how evil He considers the man who would steal of His nuns from a convent”. (1)  In A Benedictine house of nuns called Fontenblay in England, there was a young noble woman who was very beautiful and good, and renowned for her devotion to Mary. Whenever she passed Our Lady’s statue she would always address it, “Hail, Mary!” and genuflect.  However, it happened that through the devil, “who is ever accustomed to contrive and fabricate such things,” a noble knight fell in love with her. He had heard about her beauty and pretended to be her relative in order to speak to her. He managed to convince her that they should steal awa...

Right now, along the border with Mexico, the United States has a row of gun shops.  Right now, along the border with the United States, Mexico has a row of drug smugglers. Oh, there are gaps- that's where the "undocumented immigrants" come through, but for the most part, we export guns to Mexican drug cartels who in return export drugs to addicts in the United States. This situation is not viable long term.  It is NOT how good Christian neighbors should act. I suggest that instead of a wall, we need a village.  A two block wide, 2000 square mile village.  Jointly owned by the United States and Mexico.  With farms, and shops, and schools.  Built green (it's a wonderful place to put buildings with solar panels on the roof).  Mass transit- as long as we're doing solar, how about a maglev on both sides of the Rio Grande?  And Maglev tunnels *under* the river- with autocars so that you can load up your car on one side and take it to the other side....

The Truth Is Real, Not Rigid - The Catholic Thing : "One man’s rigidity is another man’s solidity. " 'via Blog this' This is in short why I get so heated when Pope Francis talks about the "rigid".  To me, reality is extremely important- Truth in Jesus Christ is important.  To throw away Truth in return for mere pastoral concerns to me seems not very loving or pastoral; tolerance of a lie removes morality more surely than anything else.

Is Science ‘True’? | Commonweal Magazine Confirmation bias is a basic part of being human. You can't avoid it. You can minimize it, but only by eliminating all politics, money, and emotion from a system. And then, your conclusions can no longer be conclusions. Once you have a conclusion, any conclusion- your mind is fixed to that conclusion, right or wrong, and confirmation bias from it will color anything more you do in that field.

David Carlin gives us a fine treatise in The Catholic Thing with the central philosophical error of the Enlightenment (and it isn't what I've heard before). He ends with this phrase (click on it to see the full article). And if that’s the way we intend to tell right from wrong, then nobody can tell right from wrong. That sums up quite nicely the entire reason for the Protestant Rebellion and the subsequent Dictatorship of Immoral Relativism. The whole intent was to confuse the conscience on right and wrong, and remove the definition of right and wrong from the power of God (Divine inspiration) and put it in the hands of individual men (conscience). It's the Garden of Eden all over again. Patrick Madrid makes a similar point in a story about an elderly extraordinary minister of the eucharist.

They tell us global climate change is caused by atmospheric carbon. Based on plant ability to sequester atmospheric carbon, I suggest the following methodology for sequestering carbon away from the environment for long periods of time. Plant native, drought resistant, edible plants on every available surface with sun. They need to be native and drought resistant because they will only be watered with rain. Have lots of babies. At least 10 children per family, whenever possible. Encourage the mortal sin of gluttony. Ideally everybody should die of an obesity related illness and should weigh in at over 200 lbs at death. Discourage cremation at death, encourage full body ground burial in metal caskets encased in concrete to prevent accumulated carbon from escaping back into the atmosphere. Close sections of graveyards when full, and plant native drought resistant edible plants on top of the graves, to accumulate more carbon for sequestration.

Novena: Ninth Day   Meditation: Today bring to Me SOULS WHO HAVE BECOME LUKEWARM, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. These souls wound My Heart most painfully. My soul suffered the most dreadful loathing in the Garden of Olives because of lukewarm souls. They were the reason I cried out: “Father, take this cup away from Me, if it be Your will.” For them, the last hope of salvation is to flee to My mercy  ( Diary , 1228). My Prayer Response with St. Faustina : Most compassionate Jesus, You are Compassion Itself. I bring lukewarm souls into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart. In this fire of Your pure love, let these tepid souls, who, like corpses, filled You with such deep loathing, be once again set aflame. O Most Compassionate Jesus, exercise the omnipotence of Your mercy and draw them into the very ardor of Your love, and bestow upon them the gift of holy love, for nothing is beyond Your power ( Diary , 1229). *Diary passages with...

Novena: Eighth Day   Meditation: Today bring to Me THE SOULS WHO ARE DETAINED IN PURGATORY, and immerse them in the abyss of My mercy. Let the torrents of My Blood cool down their scorching flames. All these souls are greatly loved by Me. They are making retribution to My justice. It is in your power to bring them relief. Draw all the indulgences from the treasury of My Church and offer them on their behalf. Oh, if you only knew the torments they suffer, you would continually offer for them the alms of the spirit and pay off their debt to My justice  ( Diary , 1226).   My Prayer Response with St. Faustina : Most Merciful Jesus, You Yourself have said that You desire mercy; so I bring into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls in Purgatory, souls who are very dear to You, and yet, who must make retribution to Your justice. May the streams of Blood and Water which gushed forth from Your Heart put out the flames of Purgatory, that there, too, the po...

Science suffers when scientists become politicians.  A few examples: Biologist  Paul Ehrlich  predicted in the 1970s that: “Population will inevitably and completely outstrip whatever small increases in food supplies we make,” and that “The death rate will increase until at least 100-200 million people per year will be starving to death during the next ten years.” In January 1970,  Life reported , “Scientists have solid experimental and theoretical evidence to support…the following predictions: In a decade, urban dwellers will have to wear gas masks to survive air pollution…by 1985 air pollution will have reduced the amount of sunlight reaching earth by one half….” In January 2006 Al Gore predicted that we had ten years left before the planet  turned into a “total frying pan.”  We made it. In 2008 , a segment aired on ABC News predicted that NYC would be under water by June 2015. In 1970, ecologist  Kenneth E.F. Watt  predicted that “If pres...

Novena: Seventh Day Meditation: Today bring to Me THE SOULS WHO ESPECIALLY VENERATE AND GLORIFY MY MERCY, and immerse them in My mercy. These souls sorrowed most over My Passion and entered most deeply into My spirit. They are living images of My Compassionate Heart. These souls will shine with a special brightness in the next life. Not one of them will go into the fire of hell. I shall particularly defend each one of them at the hour of death (Diary, 1224). My Prayer Response with St. Faustina: Most Merciful Jesus, whose Heart is Love Itself, receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who particularly extol and venerate the greatness of Your mercy. These souls are mighty with the very power of God Himself. In the midst of all afflictions and adversities they go forward, confident of Your mercy. These souls are united to Jesus and carry all mankind on their shoulders. These souls will not be judged severely, but Your mercy will embrace them as they...

Novena: Sixth Day   Meditation: Today bring to Me THE MEEK AND HUMBLE SOULS AND THE SOULS OF LITTLE CHILDREN, and immerse them in My mercy. These souls most closely resemble My Heart. They strengthened Me during My bitter agony. I saw them as earthly Angels, who will keep vigil at My altars. I pour out upon them whole torrents of grace. Only the humble soul is capable of receiving My grace. I favor humble souls with My confidence  ( Diary , 1220).   My Prayer Response with St. Faustina : Most Merciful Jesus, You Yourself have said, “Learn from Me for I am meek and humble of heart.” Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart all meek and humble souls and the souls of little children. These souls send all heaven into ecstasy and they are the heavenly Father’s favorites. They are a sweet-smelling bouquet before the throne of God; God Himself takes delight in their fragrance. These souls have a permanent abode in Your Most Compassionate Heart, O Jes...

with my commentary below Novena: Fifth Day   Meditation: Today bring to Me THE SOULS OF THOSE WHO HAVE SEPARATED THEMSELVES FROM MY CHURCH, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. During My bitter Passion they tore at My Body and Heart, that is, My Church. As they return to unity with the Church, My wounds heal and in this way they alleviate My Passion  ( Diary , 1218).   My Prayer Response with St. Faustina : Most Merciful Jesus, Goodness Itself, You do not refuse light to those who seek it of You. Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who have separated themselves from Your Church. Draw them by Your light into the unity of the Church, and do not let them escape from the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart; but bring it about that they, too, come to glorify the generosity of Your mercy ( Diary , 1219). --------------------------------------------- I often notice that today, those who choose this path do so becau...

From who other than GK Chesterton, the Utopia of the Usuriors.

Novena: Fourth Day  Meditation: Today bring to Me THOSE WHO DO NOT BELIEVE IN GOD AND THOSE WHO DO NOT YET KNOW ME. I was thinking also of them during My bitter Passion, and their future zeal comforted My Heart. Immerse them in the ocean of My mercy (Diary, 1216).  My Prayer Response with St. Faustina: Most compassionate Jesus, You are the Light of the whole world. Receive into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart the souls of those who do not believe in God and of those who as yet do not know You. Let the rays of Your grace enlighten them that they, too, together with us, may extol Your wonderful mercy; and do not let them escape from the abode which is Your Most Compassionate Heart (Diary, 1217).  ------------------------- Yesterday I let off a bit of steam about "rigid" Devout and Faithful souls. THIS group is the motivation for yesterday's souls. We've found Jesus, we've found The Way of Life, and we see clearly The Way of Death and the damage it...

Sorry this is late, due to Easter.  Was posted to facebook on time.  Novena of Divine Mercy, with my commentary  Novena: Third Day Meditation: Today bring to Me ALL DEVOUT AND FAITHFUL SOULS, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. These souls brought Me consolation on the Way of the Cross. They were that drop of consolation in the midst of an ocean of bitterness (Diary, 1214).  My Prayer Response with St. Faustina: Most Merciful Jesus, from the treasury of Your mercy, You impart Your graces in great abundance to each and all. Receive us into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart and never let us escape from It. We beg this grace of You by that most wondrous love for the heavenly Father with which Your Heart burns so fiercely (Diary, 1215). --------------------------- My personal reflection: this is the group that today's moral relativists jeer at, hate, and are intensely intolerant of. These are the people who, though not perfect themselves, still ...

Novena: Second Day  Meditation: Today bring to Me THE SOULS OF PRIESTS AND RELIGIOUS, and immerse them in My unfathomable mercy. It was they who gave Me strength to endure My bitter Passion. Through them, as through channels, My mercy flows out upon mankind (Diary, 1212).  My Prayer Response with St. Faustina: Most Merciful Jesus, from whom comes all that is good, increase Your grace in men and women consecrated to Your service, that they may perform worthy works of mercy; and that all who see them may glorify the Father of Mercy who is in heaven (Diary, 1213).  ------------------------------ My commentary: Vocations are down in the United States. It is a hard life to live. It can only be done with the support of parents and a large family. Pray for larger families, and pray for vocations.

The Novena of Divine Mercy, with suggested prayer and my commentary: Novena: First Day Meditation:  Today bring to Me ALL MANKIND, ESPECIALLY ALL SINNERS, and immerse them in the ocean of My mercy. In this way you will console Me in the bitter grief into which the loss of souls plunges Me (Diary, 1210).  My Prayer Response with St. Faustina: Most Merciful Jesus, whose very nature it is to have compassion on us and to forgive us, do not look upon our sins but upon our trust which we place in Your infinite goodness. Receive us all into the abode of Your Most Compassionate Heart, and never let us escape from It. We beg this of You by Your love which unites You to the Father and the Holy Spirit (Diary, 1211). ---------------------------------- My commentary- I trust in Jesus, I don't trust in man very well. Our response to the crucifixion can't be limited to trust- we must also convert away from sin and be saved. Divine Mercy exists- there is only one unforgivable sin and w...

Where to Bingewatch B5 for free, all five seasons

Several Months ago, four cardinals asked five rather pointed questions. http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/full-text-and-explanatory-notes-of-cardinals-questions-on-amoris-laetitia And for months, Pope Francis refused to answer. Yesterday this happened: http://www.ncregister.com/blog/edward-pentin/pope-francis-thanks-maltese-bishops-for-amoris-laetitia-guidelines And with this act, the dubia has been answered. We now now the answers to these questions, thanks to Pope Francis yesterday approving of the Maltese plan in this matter: The answers are Yes, No, No, No, No, precisely the opposite of the hoped for orthodox answers of No, Yes, Yes, Yes, Yes. Objective truth surrounding the Sacrament of Marriage is now gone. The church has reversed the universal teaching on the indissolubility of marriage.

It's rare, but every once in a while I run across a cool site for Software Engineering.   97 things every programmer should know   is a resource to turn any code monkey into a professional

My wife and I recently went to a couple's retreat to try to improve our marriage.  While there, I learned a very interesting definition of what a man needs to be a man: a Challenge An Adventure A woman to die for. I was reading this upcoming Sunday's readings , and it occurred to me that the Gospel reading, the encounter with the Samaritan Woman at the Well, is Jesus Christ's moment of becoming a man. Bear with me.  Let's go through each of the above criteria: A Challenge.  Jesus Christ was both man and God.  Which means the God side was continually, in his brain, having a dialog with the man side.  What a challenge for a first century Jew, raised in a tribal society- to enter Samaritan Territory, and sit at this well. An Adventure.  Once he sat at the well, after the adventure of getting there at all (travel in those days for a poor man like Christ was on foot- slowly) the thirst kicked in.  All human adventure is linked to our needs; and ...

The problem of refugees has come to the forefront due to Donald Trump.  But the one place I've had a problem with Church teaching, is in the unreasoning allowance for human migration. Thinking about where I differ with Donald Trump, I think my problem with this teaching is a severe cultural problem that has happened with white American Catholics in my generation.  We've lost our roots, we were denied teaching about our culture in the 1970s and 1980s, and we're only now getting it back. When you have no culture yourself- multiculturalism is a threat.  Everybody else is allowed culture, but white people are not.  Why?  Because our culture is evil.  Our culture is supposedly that which conquored the world- but now must be denied. But what if we start taking a different approach.  What if, in forming "Sanctuary Chuch" policies, we not only feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, protect the criminal ( for a time, and to reconcile the crimi...

As readers of this blog know, since the first Synod on the Family, I've had a bit of a love/hate relationship with Pope Francis.  I recently came across an interesting "Rigid" side blog post   listing all the "Rigid Catholic" concerns about this Pope and the way Jesuits in general operate within the Church.  It is most excellent, and contains things that you won't see in main stream media or even sometimes in Catholic media about the Pope: Mercy for fornicators Mercy for pederasts (molesters of pubescent children) Mercy for Jesuit schools that in search of money are abandoning Catholicism in favor of Islamic or Humanist studies The side insults against rigid Catholics Twisting history to exemplify heretics at the cost of real saints Dialogue with Masons Ignoring the massive martyrdom caused by Islam, while welcoming massive numbers of Moslem immigrants to Europe who have an antithetical view of western women resulting in rape and murder The 500th...

Any time you see a privilege that someone else has that you want- that is an opportunity to create a business to give that privilege to others. Every "White Male Privilege" in the book   Four Days to Change , is in fact something that society once found necessary for survival.  It's something that white male culture *had* to have, and so built business structures to provide. There is no reason why those structures cannot be built to provide exactly the same privileges to others. All it takes is localism- taking an interest in your neighborhood, and building, rather than dividing.

The problem is, almost every form of birth control, including sterilization, has flaws.   Condoms cause more sex to occur, overcoming the contraception.   Same is true of any other form of birth control.

There has been talk of sanctuary churches as of late, and I got to thinking how these could be a positive rather than further division in our nation. From Wikipedia , we have this ancient description of Sanctuary in English Common law: Church sanctuaries were regulated by common law. An asylum seeker had to confess his sins, surrender his weapons, and permit supervision by church or abbey organization with jurisdiction. They then had forty days to decide whether to surrender to secular authorities and stand trial for their alleged crimes, or to confess their guilt,  abjure the realm , and go into  exile  by the shortest route and never return without the king's permission. Those who did return faced execution under the law and/or  excommunication  from the Church. If the suspect chose to confess their guilt and abjure, they did so in a public ceremony, usually at the church gates. They would surrender their possessions to the church, and any  landed pr...

Too bad it's by a  climate change denier , because the mathematical proof of just how much effect man really has on global warming is fascinating.

I finally figured out why I have a visceral reaction to the German/Maltese/Argentinian formulation of Amoris Laetitia Chapter 8, and it has nothing to do with the Sacraments. It has to do with the Culture of Rape, and precisely, the role Rape plays in some civil marriages. "Continence is impossible"  says  Cardinal Francesco Coccopalmerio in his book on Amoris Laetitia. Those of us in Oregon long ago made Marital Rape  illegal.  And if you have his hypothetical example, a woman who desires to be chaste and a man who refuses to be chaste, that is the classical case of marital rape. The church should not be condoning this sin.  Ever. Not all can reach the ideal, but that does not mean we should stop teaching the ideal.

This Article in the Catholic Herald today  asks an interesting question, one I have yet to see any Jesuit (after all, the Pope is taking this theology from Jesuit theology) explain in any reasonable fashion. If discernment and uninformed personal conscience can be applied, as Chapter 8 implies, to divorced and remarried persons, can it also be applied to fornicators?  To those civilly married to a person of the same sex? Can it be applied to abortion?  How about Euthanasia? And moving beyond these, can we say, discern a right to pedophilia, to sex trafficking?  To usury?  To abusing the poor? If  you think that this is a slippery slope argument, that's because it is.  But moral relativism often opens us up to slippery slope arguments- and in the long run, slippery slope history.

Because it's part of freemasonry - and is only in our constitution because the majority of our leaders at the time the First Amendment was passed, were freemasons.

I've started reading  Michael Welp Ph.D. 's semi-fictionalized novel, Four Days to Change , currently free in Kindle Format.  It's about his experiences running "Diversity Training" seminars for white, male, heterosexual executives; and it's told as a tale of four such executives meeting at a fishing resort to discuss diversity. As many of you are probably well aware- I'm an old school ethical hacker, and from that standpoint I largely see racism, diversity, and identity politics as irrelevant, irrational criteria.   It is said early on in the book that where a meritocracy exists, can be the worst for diversity, because everybody is required to assimilate into the majority culture.  But I see meritocracy as the only chance somebody like me has- I may not be black, but I spent my entire grade school and high school years shunned for my autistic behavior.  Kill the meritocracy, you kill me. The majority culture is the majority culture ONLY because it has...

Apparently Caffeine-infused beer and Marijuana-infused Coffee are real products.  I think somebody has no idea what these drugs are used for.

Yes, I have my own computer back.  But fair warning- if you don't like strong language, this blog post is not for you. It's about a new religion that arrived in the 1940s, right after WWII.  And it's a fucking stupid religion. It's been called the sexual revolution, but what it really is, is worshiping the act of fucking stupid.  No puns, no cussing here- I'm using the words very literally.  EVERYTHING- from birth control to abortion- from STDs to Obamacare to AIDS- is all in service of the Holy Orgasm.  And not just any Holy Orgasm- but the extramarital holy orgasm- fucking stupid.  Fucking under conditions that you have to have mental problems to do. And now with same-sex marriage; we have the procreative aspect of fucking stupid.  As in fucking when there is zero possibility of procreation.  Stupidity in the extreme. There was a reason morality evolved.  There is a reason why *every* religion over a thousand years old condemns forn...

Are you being a good steward with the funds you have been given?  I've long subscribed to the Penny Hoarder newsletter, and today they had a really neat article on when to buy certain durable goods.