Good Children Bad President

Many thanks to The Fact Compiler for pointing out this post on the

excellent Hermeneutic of Continuity blog. Here's the transcript in

full, (Hermeneutic's commentary in brackets) :

THE PRESIDENT: I think one thing that's important to remember is that, even though there's a lot of fun at Christmas, you know, you got -- especially when it's snowy like this, so it's pretty outside, you got the Christmas tree, you got the Christmas cookies, you've got presents. You know, I think that the most important thing is just to remember why we celebrate Christmas. [You're on dangerous ground there, Mr President. One of those children just might know.]

CHILD: I know! [Oh! Here it comes!]

THE PRESIDENT: Do you know? [Nail-biting moment...]

CHILD: The birth of baby Jesus. [Aaargh - that's not in the script! The White House only just about allowed the Christmas crib this year.]

THE PRESIDENT: The birth of baby Jesus, and what he symbolizes ["what he symbolizes"? - I'm not sure the children are going to follow this] for people all around the world is the possibility of peace and people treating each other with respect. And so I just hope that spirit of giving [Shifting onto safer ground here - "peace, respect, spirit of giving" and all that.] that's so important at Christmas, I hope all of you guys remember that as well. You know, it's not just about getting gifts but it's also doing something for other people. So being nice [Oh yes! Being nice is good] to your mom and dad and grandma and aunties and showing respect [Yep, that too - nobody can argue with showing respect] to people -- that's really important too, that's part of the Christmas spirit, don't you think? Do you agree with me?

CHILDREN: Yes. [They're nice children and they show respect; but they also have this darned knowledge of the Christian faith...]

THE PRESIDENT: You do? Do you have an interesting observation? [This child was waving frantically - always a warning sign.]

CHILD: I know why we give gifts to other people.

THE PRESIDENT: Why is that?

CHILD: Because the three wise men gave gifts to baby Jesus. [Aaaargh! - the child has gone back to the gospel again!]

THE PRESIDENT: That's exactly right. [Cool - always affirm the answer even if you think it is wrong.] But [Not so cool to come in so abruptly with the "but"] the three wise men -- the reason -- (sign falls off wall) -- uh-oh, I thought that was the cookies going down. We couldn't have that. You know, the three wise men, if you think about it, here are these guys, they have all this money, they've got all this wealth and power, [Oh yeah? Or were they just Persian priest astronomers? Neat link in to the socialist agenda, though.] and yet they took a long trip to a manger just to see a little baby. And it just shows you that just because you're powerful or you're wealthy, that's not what's important. What's important is what's -- the kind of spirit you have.

So I hope everybody has a spirit of kindness and thoughtfulness, and everybody is really thinking about how can they do for other people -- treating them well, because that's really the spirit of Christmas. [and that's got it all dumbed down nicely Mr President. Forget the divinity of Christ, the incarnation, the redemption of the human race from sin - kindness, thoughfulness, niceness and nonrespectfulnesslessness will do fine.]

God bless,

LSP

Late Christmas Message

I know this is old but I liked it; from Ben Stein on CBS:

"I am a Jew, and every single one of my ancestors was Jewish And it does not bother me even a little bit when people call those beautiful lit up, bejeweled trees, Christmas trees. I don't feel threatened. I don't feel discriminated against. That's what they are, Christmas trees…

I don't like getting pushed around for being a Jew, and I don't think Christians like getting pushed around for being Christians. I think people who believe in God are sick and tired of getting pushed around, period. I have no idea where the concept came from, that America is an explicitly atheist country. I can't find it in the Constitution and I don't like it being shoved down my throat…

In light of recent events... terrorists attack, school shootings, etc. I think it started when Madeleine Murray O'Hare (she was murdered, her body found a few years ago) complained she didn't want prayer in our schools, and we said OK. Then someone said you better not read the Bible in school. The Bible says thou shalt not kill; thou shalt not steal, and love your neighbor as yourself. And we said OK.

Then Dr. Benjamin Spock said we shouldn't spank our children when they misbehave, because their little personalities would be warped and we might damage their self-esteem (Dr. Spock's son committed suicide). We said an expert should know what he's talking about. And we said okay.

Now we're asking ourselves why our children have no conscience, why they don't know right from wrong, and why it doesn't bother them to kill strangers, their classmates, and themselves…

Funny how simple it is for people to trash God and then wonder why the world's going to hell."

You can read the whole thing here, or for something different visit GNN for an interesting tale of a Norwich clergyperson and Global Warming.

Cheers,

LSP

Norwich - don't be fooled.

PS. "Downtown" Norwich was once described to me as "hell with the lid off" - but don't let that put you off.

Hog Poem

Pig

Thanks, GWB, for this New Year Hog Poem - with apologies to the Confederate dead:

There is no crying allowed here past midnight,
But only hogs,
Flying, plunge and expire,
Here by the sagging gate,
Stopped by the wall.

Good hunting,

LSP

Reptilian New Year

Dangerous Reptilian

Its long been suspected that things are not quite as they seem behind the privileged doors of '815', The Episcopal Church's (TEC) spiffy Manhattan H.Q. Above Top Secret reports on the latest round of Ecumenical discussions endorsed by the numbers-small but money-rich denomination:

"Independent sources have claimed an on-going set of face-to-face meetings between U.S. military Episcopal Church officials and extraterrestrial life.

The sources reveal that senior U.S. Navy officers Episcopal Bishops have played a leading role in an inter-services intra-denominational working group responsible for the meetings, and that different extraterrestrial groups are allegedly involved.

One source claims that the contact involves extraterrestrial groups known as Reptilians, and a siliconbased life form dubbed ‘the Conformers’. Another source claims the extraterrestrials are called Ebens from the Zeta Reticuli star system, but known colloquially as the Grays.

TEC Bishop

A third source claims that human looking extraterrestrials representing an association of star nations are liaising with military officials. Two of the sources have been interviewed by this writer who has been aware of their claims for more than a year, and finds them credible."

Thanks, ATS, for for revealing the sinister links between TEC and the Off-World takeover of our planet. Remember, to be forewarned is to be forearmed.

God Bless and Happy New Year.

LSP

Frank Zanzibar

+Frank Weston, 1871-1924

Exited the highway to get a cup of coffee before church; the sun was rising on a beautiful brisk morning and the air was full of the sound of shotguns firing off against doves - which made me want to go for a morning shoot - badly. But I headed off to the Missions instead and preached on John's Prologue and the Incarnation, concluding with the Bishop of Zanzibar, thus:

"You have got your Mass, you have got your Altar, you have begun to get your Tabernacle. Now go out into the highways and hedges where not even the Bishops will try to hinder you. Go out and look for Jesus in the ragged, in the naked, in the oppressed and sweated, in those who have lost hope, in those who are struggling to make good. Look for Jesus. And when you see him, gird yourselves with his towel and try to wash their feet."

Notice that there isn't anything conditional in Bishop Weston's comments on looking and seeing. Well, I'll have to live up to the message...

Shoot straight,

LSP

Boxing Day

Ice Age

Drove through a light dusting of Global Warming to get to the LSP command post in Dallas and a Christmas greeting from my old friend Moet; always a welcome guest. Then it was food, fun and family till well into the night - huge enjoyment. And what's wrong with that, in our puritanical and barbarous times? Nothing at all.

lull before the storm...

Speaking of barbarians, it seems that yet another person has tragically misunderstood The Religion of Peace and set himself alight while trying to blow up an airplane heading to Detroit. A good thing Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab failed. What an evil thing to do, thank God he was stopped.

Have a great Boxing Day and Feast of St. Stephen.

Cheers,

LSP

Merry Christmas

Jowett

Jowett, Master of Balliol, after a mile of walking in silence with the young Augustus Baker,

"Your last observation was singularly commonplace."

Well, I stand judged... Anyway... thanks for reading & following.

Merry Christmas!

LSP

Midnight Jokers

I've stayed out of the Healthcare thing because everyone else has been on it but I've got to say that the comments on Hillbuzz and KOOK's seem right on the money. Death Panels, infanticide, subterfuge, corruption, pork... and the list goes on. Anyway, here's some writing from Hillbuzz via the excellent KOOK's Manifesto, if you haven't read it already:

Claire McCaskill, the second worst Senator alive today, is stirring rebellion in Missouri.

Across the state, images of Claire Bear as The Joker are popping up…caused by Missourians angry at her refusal to stop the government rationing of healthcare through Harry Reid’s dead of night, top secret, forced legislation.

Every single Democrat voting for this monstrous bill is a Joker.

This is not how legislation should be passed. This is not the American way. This is how the Soviet Union and banana republics operated.

UPDATE: Some of you wonder why Claire McCaskill is now just the Second-Worst Living Senator. Previously, she has been listed as the Worst Living Senator in our book. Harry Reid, in our opinion, nudged her out of her title a few weeks back when he started calling opponents of Healthcare Rationing RAAACISTS, and said that opposing what he was doing with this secret, middle of the night legislation was tantamount to supporting slavery. That is so wrong, so inappropriate, and so patently INSANE that we couldn’t help but list him as the Worst of the Worst. McCaskill will, no doubt, regain her title in November 2010 when Reid is booted from office…and she will retain that title until she, too, is removed from the Senate in 2012.

Off to wrap presents now.

LSP

I Like Guns

Found this at Conservative Scallywag. Result.

Must get more of them...

Happy shooting,

LSP

Berdyaev

Wjatscheslaw Iwanow, Lev Kobilinskij-Ellis, N. Berdyaev (standing) and Andrej Belyi

I've been struck Berdyaev's book "End of Our Time"; he was writing in 1935. Here's a quote:

"Faith in the ultimate political and social salvation of mankind is quenched. We have reached settlement-day after a series of centuries during which movement was from the centre, the spiritual core of life, to the periphery, its surface and social exterior. And the more empty of real significance social life has become, the more it has tyrannized over the general life of man. Politics have twined about us like a strangling parasite, and the greater part of contemporary political and social life has no reality, no being, at all: it is just bogus. The strife of parties, parliaments, conferences, newspapers, programmes and platforms, propaganda and demonstrations, the grab and scheming for power - these are not life... they are a hopeless hindrance."

He doesn't have much time for the Bolshevists either. These, he feels, are in the grip of a diabolic, supernatural power, the "kingdom of Satan".

Perhaps they were - or are. Regardless, I like "strangling parasite". Seems to sum our situation up neatly, and his thoughts on secularism aren't bad either, but that's another post.

Have a blessed Sunday,

LSP

Moving House

There I was, in Dallas, quietly standing outside a restaurant, reflecting on the state of the world and a magazine deadline when all of a sudden a house went by - on a flatbed. There it was, moving down a side street in Oak Cliff. You don't get that in England. Amazing country, Texas.

Anyway, a pleasant couple captured the thing on their smart I Phones and emailed me the shot. They were from Holland, I think, and wanted to know who I was and where I was from. So I rambled on about guns and England - much consternation in the Dutch camp.

Cheers,

LSP

GNN & The Holy Sepulchre

Entrance to the Holy Sepulchre

I've been to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre a couple of times and its never failed to move me, on several levels. I was moved when I came across this post on the excellent GNN; here's the intro:

"OK... it's time to come clean. I didn't come to Israel for the waters, nor the nightlife. Some months ago I realized a calling to ordination in the Episcopal Church. Jerusalem is my pilgrimage. It has confirmed my faith and made me all the more confident in my decision.

Since my childhood I have heard many spiritual and downright breathless tales of visits to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem. The church includes within its walls the last 5 Stations of the Cross:

10..........The site where Jesus is stripped of His garments

11 & 12...The site of Christ's crucifixion and death on the cross

13...........Where His body was removed from the cross and prepared for burial

14...........Jesus' tomb

That's my preface. Read about the place. It's amazing."

Read it all - a great post, I think.

I'll be saying a Mass for Nicky's intention and, from the haven of the Diocese of Fort Worth, wish him all the best. Its not easy being a padre at the best of times - harder still under the aegis of Jefferts Schori.

God bless,

LSP