Old? Wounded? Time To Go.

The fate of the U.K's elderly, VOTR

I guess I was badly behind the news but it came as a bit of a shock to see that Oregon is all about helping old people to kill themselves. They call it "Death With Dignity." Surprising too that the same medicine has been suggested to returning veterans.

It seems that the U.K. is working hard to catch up. Thanks, Voice of the Resistance, for the post and graphic.

Christians and right thinking people are against suicide, assisted or otherwise.

LSP

Another One Bites The Dust

The Church once known as St. Mary the Virgin, NYC

The one-time bastion of Anglo-Catholic orthodoxy and forward leaning Missal liturgy, St. Mary the Virgin, Times Square, has rededicated itself to Ss. Sappho and Pansextes. Apparently unaware of the irony of the decision, the parishe's Rector defended the new nomenclature, "Nothing's really changed, we're just being honest about ourselves. 'Smokey Pansextes' is an inclusive, welcoming church."

Too bad, I used to like that church back in the days when it was under the patronage of Our Lady. Preached my first sermon there - I was terrified, the homily was incoherent, but the people were kind.

Deus Vult.

LSP

Foresight

Some people get bewildered by iron sights because they're so used to shooting with scopes, but what happens if the scope goes down? Here's some useful pictures viz. correct sight alignment. As we know, focus on the foresight and don't worry about the rear sight and target blurring.

This excerpt from Random Acts of Patriotism describes it well:

"Focus your eye on the front sight. This should make the rear sight a bit fuzzy, that's fine. The target will also be fuzzy. So... you have to know, and the drawings do show it to some extent, that the image you are seeking is a sharply focused front sight post centered inside a blurry rear sight and resting on a blurry out of focus target."

Allied with proper hold on the weapon, controlled breathing and instinctive position, shooting should be accurate, even if distance eyesight isn't that good - after all, it's only a matter of a few feet from eye to the principle point of focus, the foresight, or 'front sight post'.

Of course you can forget all that and adopt the Imperial Stormtrooper principles of marksmanship by simply blazing away without hitting anything much, which is fun too, if not as productive.

For some reason this puts me in mind of Madalyn Murray O'Hair, who played such a major part in kicking God out of our schools and ended up dismembered, along with one of her sons and grandaughter on a ranch in Texas. She founded "American Atheists"; you can read about her bizarre murder by criminal atheists and its investigation in Crime Magazine. Its rather gruesome.

Off to shoot some guns.

LSP

Horse & Gun

Horses goofing about

Very enjoyable morning at the stables, light rain, cool(ish) and the horses were well behaved, which roughly translated means that they did approximately what I asked them to. Be-Bop's beginning to understand that 'Canter!' doesn't mean, 'become evil possessed facsimile of Pull Devil Pull Baker,' and I'm probably better at balance, seat, influence et al. So that's all good and a serious step forward in The Plan of moving recklessly fast 'cross country with weapons.

Speaking of which, had a Higgins/Marlin .22 shoot off after charging about the pasture, and the synth stock Marlin seemed to beat its elder, despite better foresight and longer, heavier barrel... confused by that, but maybe it was just my poor marksmanship.

Ancient Higgins Foresight - nice

Modern Marlin group at 50 yards

Ancient Higgins group at 50 yards

Well, all in a Thursday morning's installment of 'Horse & Gun'; remember to pray for the soul of Teddy "Lion of the Senate" Kennedy and for the miraculous cure of our national debt.

Deo Vindice.

LSP

Kill The Cow

Ecowarrior Boybishop

Don't get me wrong, I'm against pollution, but I'm a little wary of Mr. Gore's carbon footprint. Perhaps I'm jaded by the Great Ice Age Scare of the '70s, or maybe TROP, slavery and the demographic implosion of the West rank higher on my catastrophe list. Whatever the case, Barking Spider's pithy 'Methane Report' struck a chord; you see, the BBC are busy warning the Brits against the cows because they're turning the UK into a suffocating, gaseous greenhouse. Bad news and I hate to seem disloyal to England but TEC (The Episcopal Church) has been onto this for some time, at least since Boybishop Schori's 2008 Easter address:

"When atmospheric warming, due in part to the methane output of the millions of cows we raise... begins to slowly drown the island homes of our neighbors in the South Pacific, are we truly sharing good news?"

Thanks for that, 'Jefferts' Schori. Note to self - tell cattle raising parishioners to slaughter all livestock and save planet.

For goodness sake.

LSP

Churches I Like

St. Etheldreda, Ely Place

Back in the '90s I loved going to St. Ethedreda's (off of Leather Lane in London) because it was a beautifully restored medieval church, the liturgy wasn't the usual modernist rubbish, it had decent polyphany and if you were lucky you got to hear Fr. Charles-Roux preach - mostly about the Divine Right of Kings and Marie Antoinette. Always a captivating delivery, to say nothing of a singular theme; Fr. Roux went on to be a sort of unofficial chaplain to 'The Passion of the Christ', saying Mass on set for actors and crew.

After Mass you could go to The Old Mitre, which looked pleasantly Dickensian but had been corporatised and ruined inside, or more sensibly there were the various pubs on Lamb's Conduit Street. Great part of London, I always think.

Speaking of which, you might be interested in the hypocritical, sleazy, self-serving, failed Labour attempt to smear England's top soldier. He's come out well, others less so; I like G.O.T's reporting and the All Seeing Eye.

Deo Gratias.

LSP

Wild Evil Hogs

Outrageously Huge Hog

The picture above was tagged 'white trash.' Here's Mr. Auden's comment on that:

The wild evil hogs draw near;

The weather smells of their hate

And the houses smell of our fear;

Death has opened his white eye

And the black hole calls the thief

As the wild evil hogs draw near.

Ravens alight on the wall,

Our plans have all gone awry,

The rains will arrive too late,

Our resourceful general

Fell down dead as he drank

And his horses died of grief,

Our navy sailed away and sank;

The wild evil hogs draw near.

Just a bit of hog poetry, innit. Thanks, GWB, for the insight. In the meanwhile local swine are lying low(ish), but the fight's not over, not by any means.

Doves in a few weeks.

LSP

Space Creature

I thought it was just Episcopal Church 'decision makers', and Nancy Pelosi of course.

No, its deeper than that.

LSP

Ban Ban Taliban

There's a daily update on terrorist activity at The Religion of Peace, here's a snapshot:

2009.08.19 (Yala, Thailand) - A villager is shot five times by Islamists while walking to a market.

2009.08.19 (Baghdad, Iraq) - Islamic bombers stage several coordinated blasts and manage to kill nearly one-hundred Iraqis and injure about six-hundred others.

2009.08.18 (Peshawar, Pakistan) - A civilian is kidnapped and beheaded by Religion of Peace militants.

2009.08.18 (Miranshah, Pakistan) - A suicidal Sunni rams a group of local soldiers with an explosives-laden car, killing four.

2009.08.18 (Badakshan, Afghanistan) - Taliban terrorists murder all four workers transporting election materials.

2009.08.18 (Uruzgan, Afghanistan) - A Fedayeen suicide bomber takes out five Afghanis.

According to the Daily Express, a forum on Islamic Awakening had the following comments on recent British casualties:

“Isma’eel”, said: “Man, they really are dropping like flies over there lol [laugh out loud].”

Another, calling himself “AbuJunayd”, said: “Inshallah [God-willing] the more the kuffs [non-Muslims] deploy, the more the bros will send em back in body bags, or crutches or with serious psychological problems.”

“Waziri” said: “By command of Allah, the invading forces will be forced to withdraw humiliated and defeated by a group of men who between them do not possess even one transport helicopter.”

“Noorah”, said: “They are really getting whooped. Don’t know how they think they can win.”

You can read the whole story here and more than a few have speculated on Jihadist traffic from England to the North West Frontier and beyond. I'm no expert, but there might be truth in rumours of 'insurgents' turning up in Helmand with English Football Club tattoos...

Maybe they have, though its surely more likely that the U.K's homegrown Taliban are perfectly willing to stay at home.

Terrifying prospect.

LSP

Aging Plinker

Walked about Camp Crucis yesterday and heard the distant sound of gunfire, so I went to the source and found the SSC Provincial Secretary firing away at an impromtu range with a scoped semi-auto Remington .22. He kindly lent me an old Winchester pump action and we blazed away in the hot sun for an hour or so. Great fun and a first for me, having never shot a pump .22 before; it had a good feel to it and seemed accurate enough.

Interestingly, the SSC PS is off to Colorado with some bowmen to hunt Elk. He promises pictures; I'll live vicariously. Good man, the Secretary. He has a blog, 'Apostolicity'.

Cheers,

LSP

SSC Retreat

SSC Cross

At 'Camp Crucis' outside Granbury, for the annual SSC (Society of the Holy Cross) Chapter retreat. Its a good society, whose founder members were distinguished for their pastoral work in the slums of nineteenth century London. A far cry from country Texas, or is it?

Hard Luck Farm

Don't get me wrong, I love the country and the values of thrift, independance and freedom from the atheistical State. But that's not to say that life isn't hard for lots of people; sometimes its their fault, sometimes its not. Whatever the case, the Church should step up to the plate and exercise the virtue of Charity - like the founders of the SSC.

God bless,

LSP

Spend Like Fury!

No relevance whatsoever to events here in the United States.

Off to purchase a wheelbarrow for stipend.

LSP

PS. Thanks to Prats in Power.

Churches I Don't Like

Clown Yewkrist, Holy Trinity, Wall Street

I try to avoid religious polemic on this blog, apart from the odd playful dig at His Grace, The Lord Archdruid of Canterbury, his waspish boybishop sidekick, Katherine Schori and, of course, the slaver proponents of The Religion of Peace. But sometimes enough is enough and you have to speak out against churches like Holy Trinity, Wall Street. Why? Because of their **y Clown Eucharist. I don't like that church; I think its its a right mockery. Unfortunately its paradigmatic of the The Episcopal Church as a whole - wealthier than a truckload of Nazi Gold, and as risable as a gang of clowns. Chances are they're not even humans beneath the clown masks; no, they're probably Aliens, or robots, like Nancy Pelosi. With that in mind, I award Holy Trinity Wall Street a sturdy 9 out of 10 LSP Rubbish Church points. A high score, by anyone's reckoning.

After dwelling on that for an unwholesome ten minutes, I hoisted a Texan Flag outside the Parsonage. Uplifting.

Hang Out More Flags

Have a blessed Sunday, remember to shoot safe, stay on the horse and beware of sinister clowns, ecclesial or otherwise.

Cheers,

LSP

PS. Thanks to Texanglican for the unsettling clown picture.

Freedom Of The Gun

Various Guns

I love guns and I find there's a freedom in shooting, especially out in the country, that's powerful medicine for the soul. I don't want to lose that and so, amongst other reasons, I support 2nd Amendment rights. These stand, I think, for a whole host of other liberties. Read Conservative Scallywag, as interviewed by The Liberty Pen:

tLP: That is one of my favorite quotes from Jefferson ("The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."). What, in your opinion, are the reasons the Democrats are so intent on dissolving gun ownership and all associated rights?

CS: Simply put, it is about control. Control over what we eat, drive, what doctor we see, how much we earn, who we hire, or even live by. Absolute control over our lives…

Even today, I think Jefferson stands. Remove the right to bear arms and what other freedoms follow? You know the saying, "give 'em and inch and they'll take a mile." Neither fraction is one I'm keen to give up.

Thanks, Conservative Scallywag, for the answer and Liberty Pen for putting the question. See the whole interview here.

Good shooting,

LSP

Good Arab

Good Arab?

Some Arabs are bad, very bad; they try to kill you. Be-Bop's not like that, he just confuses the signal to canter for "run as fast as you bloody can and devil take the hindmost." Don't get me wrong, running full tilt 'cross country is a great way to spend the morning, but who's in charge? The Arab? Or some other thing? Well, it was a weird mixture this a.m., which landed Be-Bop on a lunge-line. Long, but a line none the less.

Whatever; it was neat to drive out as the sun was rising.

Just get out of town.

Tack Room

A few cups of coffee later it was time to ride on, in the beautiful cool of the morning, until 'canter' = "mad rush for the nearest non-existent exit". We'll have to practice and get it right. Until then, check out this ghost town chapel. Eerie, I always think.

On Remembrance Day the Battle Flag of the Army of North Virginia flies above this chapel. That's a heck of a thing.

Stay on the dam horse.

LSP

Boots On The Ground

Pair of old boots

Decided to take a break from reading commentaries on St. Augustine and "freedom" to write about boots. I've been using a pair of 8" Bates desert boots with suede & nylon uppers, vibram Durashock soles and goretex inners. A very comfortable boot with good traction and until recently, surprisingly waterproof - waded about in the shallows off Aberystwyth a few months ago and came out completely dry. They've held up well too knocking about the country - in the brush, along half dry creek beds and at the stables; so along with the U.S. military I guess I'd recommend them. But they're not without problems.

On mine the sole started to delaminate from the upper; I solved this with Locktite superglue, which has held up well but its annoying to have to use it at all.

Superglue Solution

More seriously, I discovered that when they leak they hold water and refuse to dry. What seems to happen is that water gets held between the leather/nylon upper and the goretex inner lining, with the whole boot acting as a kind of heavy squelching sponge. Granted it took a storm to get this effect but still, the boot's effectiveness was seriously compromised by its inability to lose the water and dry out. A real problem for anyone having to wear them for any length of time in wet conditions. Solution? Heavy duty, breathable, waterproof spray - I think. Better yet, a system that doesn't trap water in the boot. Also, for Texan country use, the Bates boot doesn't give much protection against snakes, which is fine until it isn't.

With that in mind and looking for something that'd be inexpensive, better at the stables and still good for getting out in the field, I went down to the local Tractor Supply Store and bought a pair of 10" Wolverines.

New Wolverines

They seem sturdy, comparatively well made and comfortable. Also they don't have the treacherous goretex lining which I've grown to suspect; I'll see how they hold up. In the meanwhile, the Bates pair still have plenty of life in them.

Back to the African Doctor now.

Cheers,

LSP

Alien Invasion!

Nancy Pelosi - Space Creature?

I thought it was just TEC (The Episcopal Church) that had been taken over by Aliens, but I was naive, myopic even. They're here in far greater force than at first I thought. Here's what Mind Stew has to say on the subject:

"Is Nancy Pelosi some kind of robot or is she an alien? One thing is for sure. There is no way in hell she is human.

Physical Observations:

Skin. It looks as though she has some sort of synthetic skin covering. It could be some kind of bio-mechanical material draped over a mechanical or extraterrestrial skeleton.

Eyes. Always open to the point it looks insane, her eyes are simply creepy. In addition, her eyes never blink. This has people all over begging the question “What the ***k?”

Face. Varies greatly in shape and structure from the human species. Again, this appears to be made of some plastic or synthetic material. Definitely not carbon based."

You can read the whole analysis here, but I'm afraid its not just Nancy. No, there's plenty more candidates and, just think, they're running the country.

Yours contra Alien menace,

LSP

Lebensraum

Justice Ginsberg - getting rid of undesirables

Speaking to the New York Times, Justice Ginsburg had this to say about Roe v. Wade:

Q: "Are you talking about the distances women have to travel because in parts of the country, abortion is essentially unavailable, because there are so few doctors and clinics that do the procedure? And also, the lack of Medicaid abortions for poor women?"

Justice Ginsburg: "Yes, the ruling about that surprised me. [Harris v. McRae -- in 1980 the court upheld the Hyde Amendment, which forbids the use of Medicaid for abortions.] Frankly I had thought that at the time Roe was decided, there was concern about population growth and particularly growth in populations that we don't want to have too many of. So that Roe was going to be then set up for Medicaid funding for abortion."

Question: Who was concerned about 'population growth' in the 1970s and just who is it that Ginsburg's 'we' would rather have less of? Surely not the poor people that Ehrlich wanted to eliminate in his discredited catastrophe theory "The Population Bomb." And what about Dr. John Holdren, Obama's new Science & Technology Czar? He was pretty active in the '70s too, advocating (see Lindy's Blog) that:

Women could be forced to abort their pregnancies, whether they wanted to or not.

The population at large could be sterilized by infertility drugs intentionally put into the nation’s drinking water or in food.

Single mothers and teen mothers should have their babies seized from them against their will and given away to other couples to raise.

People who “contribute to social deterioration” (i.e. undesirables) “can be required by law to exercise reproductive responsibility” — in other words, be compelled to have abortions or be sterilized.

A transnational “Planetary Regime” should assume control of the global economy and also dictate the most intimate details of Americans’ lives — using an armed international police force.

Holdren, Eugenicist (from Jill Stanek)

You can look up Holdren's Sangerite theorising in his 1977 book, Ecoscience: Population, Resources, Environment. Or simply go to Musings from the Elephant Man.

I know this isn't about guns or country life, but it is about God. I think He's against Holdren, Ginsburg and their new school lebensraum.

Defende Nos.

LSP

PS. Food for thought - is there a link to the drug addict satanist A. Crowley in all of this? Note: The rascist eugenicist founder of Planned Parenthood, Margaret Sanger, was a friend and lover of Havelock Ellis - so perhaps there is...

Churches I Like

The Brompton Oratory, High Altar

Sunday started off as per usual, with several Sung Masses at the Missions, then everything changed. I didn't get to try my luck against hogs, wild dogs, horses, or even spurious set up targets out in the countryside. No, there was none of that. Instead I got to drive to Dallas and move furniture for one of my sisters in blistering heat - I gained a bed and a Barbour out of the deal; not bad, but not the same as getting out in the field after worshiping the Alpha and Omega.

Anyway, my mind strayed to the Brompton Oratory in Knightsbridge/South Kensington, which I used to love when living in London. Beautiful music, Latin Mass, no liberal 'nuns' wailing away with guitars, and sidesmen (greeters) with peculiar green tail coats and brass buttons - probably Colonels. Go there if you can and experience transcendent worship; what's the point of any other? After Mass its always fun to knock about and enjoy a pint (or several) at the Grenadier. LSP points out of ten for an outstanding church? I have to give the Oratory a solid 8, which is by no means shabby.

God bless,

LSP

All Purpose Bird Gun

Remington 870

Dove season's not far off, September 1st, so naturally the mind veers towards shotguns. A friend asked his cousin, Captain Charles Henry Canon IV, what his recommendations were for a inexpensive "all purpose bird gun". I thought the reply was pretty wise; here it is:

"all-purpose bird gun to me means two guns: one for quail and dove, the other for duck. There is simply not enough oomph in a 20 GA to knock down a duck cruising at 70 mph.

If you are looking for a good duck gun that is cheap with a good reputation, get a remington 870. You can have it "dipped" in camo and it will not chip the paint and it'll be water proof. I started using one this past season after I put to many knocks on my dad's Browning Gold 12 GA.

For the quail / dove, get a Remington model 1100. Classic shotgun that is not too expensive and is a very good skeet/trap gun as well.

You could probably find both of these guns on-line and spend less than $1000 for both of them...."

I'm inclined to take Cpt. Canon's advice and scout about for a 1100, which can be found pretty cheap. Already have a 12 GA (Mossberg 835 gun show special) that's bashed about but seems to work. For a good review of the 870, check out Field & Stream, where its rated as one of the 50 best shotguns ever.

Good shooting,

LSP

PS. The aptly named Canon is a serving member of the U.S. military, hopefully we'll hear more from him.

Riding Around

Got up early to go for a ride in the comparative cool of the morning; the neighbour's birds had escaped their backyard prison to find freedom in the church car park. They were pecking about, pleased with themselves.

Horses were in good form too, intrigued by the addition of several donkeys to the field, which they found strangely fascinating. Enjoyed the ride; practiced sitting and posting trot, two point, serpentines, spirals and cantered about for a bit. Hugely uplifting - then the heat began to rise...

So 'Be-Bop' went back to his stall and I headed off to shoot targets at the stock tank and talk church. Very relaxing after charging about the pasture and a great way, I think, to spend the morning - of course my equine objective is to go extremely fast for long distances while jumping over obstacles, preferably in pursuit of something. But all in good time.

Arrived home to discover the birds had retreated to their gaol where they'd found food - doubtless a metaphor for something if you care to make it.

God bless,

LSP

Dhimmi in Chief?

You will bow down before me, Jor-El! First you and then one day, your heirs!

I know its old news but a recent post at Eye of Polyphemus recalled me to its noxious fact. Why would the leader of the world's largest democracy bow down before a slave owning Saudi Arabian monarch?

Commentators have noted that the slaver king didn't return Barrack Hussein's gesture of subservience, doubtless because:

"Obama’s speech in Cairo will not elicit a new cordial tone with Islamic societies but rather contempt. What was on display was not a visionary new approach... but an abject display of weakness... This situation has placed a degree of veto power over U.S. foreign policy with a feudal theocracy where it is illegal for women to drive. This situation is as intolerable as it is ridiculous." Money Confidential

It is ridiculous and its also tragic that our President should pay homage to the Guardian of the Holy Sites while remaining deathly silent over the daily atrocities carried out their devotees; check out Religion of Peace for the bodycount.

Yours somberly on the Feast of the Transfiguration.

LSP

Hog Poem, Innit.

Photograph: Niall Benvie/Corbis

My good friend GWB, philosopher, theologian, shooter, fisherman and fowler, has been branching out into verse and turned in this number about the tuskers. With apologies to The Cause and Mr. Tate:

You know who have waited by the wall

The twilight certainty of an animal,

Those midnight restitutions of the blood

You know--the immitigable pines, the smoky frieze

Of the sky, the sudden call: you know the rage,

The cold pool left by the mounting flood,

Of muted Zeno and Parmenides.

You who have waited for the angry resolution

Of those desires that should be yours tomorrow,

You know the unimportant shrift of death

And praise the vision

And praise the arrogant circumstance

Of those who fall

Rank upon rank, hurried beyond decision--

Here by the sagging gate, stopped by the wall.

Seeing, seeing only the hogs

Flying, plunge and expire

Well, one word's original and that makes all the difference. Thanks, GWB, for the line and Mr. Tate for genius.

God bless,

LSP

PS. Go to Virtual Mirage for an amusing Cell Phone Karma video. Thanks LL.