Guizot and Wickedness

Guizot

Just when you were beginning to think, "This LSP makes me incapable of serious thought!" up comes an excerpt from Guizot's Democracy in France, 1849, thanks to DC (bear in mind Guizot's Calvinist roots): 

"Let any man dive into his own heart and observe himself with attention. If he have the power to look, and the will to see, he will behold, with a sort of terror, the incessant war waged by the good and evil dispositions within him — reason and caprice, duty and passion; in short, to call them all by their comprehensive names, good and evil. We contemplate with anxiety the outward troubles and vicissitudes of human life; but what should we feel if we could behold the inward vicissitudes, the troubles of the human soul — if we could see how many dangers, snares, enemies, combats, victories, and defeats can be crowded into a day — an hour? I do not say this to discourage man, nor to humble or under-value his free will. He is called upon to conquer in the battle of life, and the honour of the conquest belongs to his free will. But victory is impossible, and defeat certain, if he has not a just conception and a profound feeling of his dangers, his weaknesses, and his need of assistance. To believe that the free will of man tends to good, betrays an immeasurable ignorance of his nature. It is the error of pride; an error which tends to destroy both moral and political order; which enfeebles the government of communities no less than the government of the inward man."

I think I'd want to temper the above with Aquinas' observation that the natural will tends towards the good, which has become warped and flawed through sin, as opposed to totally corrupted. Guizot, with his Calvinist upbringing, may have taken the latter view.

Still, the bad errors of Calvinism aside, we deny the fallen inclination of humanity to evil at our peril and, to quote an English friend, the fact that "wickedness organizes for wickedness." Fortunately for us, grace perfects nature.

Just a thought,

LSP

VCC & The Motorcycle Hippies

Motorcycle Hippies

Here at the Compound we're always on the lookout for interesting stories, like when a member of one of the Missions was driving across his ranch and saw a commotion in his stock tank. "What's this?" thought the Veteran Crew Chief (VCC), as he drove up for a closer look.

Goofing Off

It was hippies, motorcycle hippies, who'd somehow found their way onto his land, out of their clothes and into the tank. VCR got out of his truck and he just might have cranked a round in his short barreled pistol grip pump. You never know, better safe than sorry when you're looking at a whole tank full of motorcycle hippies.

Getting Dirty

Then, like a prehistoric monster emerging from the primeval slime, the leader of the hippies climbed out of the brackish water. My irenic friend told him they were "welcome to swim but this tank is known 'round here for its snakes." The hippies fled.

Trashing Someone's Land

So just who were these hippies? Most likely some crew chancing it out of Austin; they probably figured they'd trash someone's land for a few days before moving on. Hippies notoriously destroy farmland. Good thing they were caught before it got out of hand!

Born to ride,

LSP

Obamamcare Crony Capitalists Run Wild

can't pay won't pay

Vicious rumours that Obamacare is nothing less than crony capitalism run wild are manifestly untrue as Insurance Behomeths get a free ride on the backs of uninsured citizens and everyone else.

I don't have to pay!

Here's Zero Hedge:

"The cheapest plan now has a deductible of $6350! Before it was $150. Employees making $9 to $10/hr, have to pay $30/wk and have a $6350 deductible!!! What!!!! They can't afford that to be sure. Obamacare will kill their propensity to seek medical care. More money for less care? How does that help them? ...It all seems like a joke. How can this be the new system? Pelosi, pass the bill to find out what's in it? Surprise! You've annihilated the working class."

CIGNA CEO

And here's some figures from Forbes (worth the read). As of October, shares in CIGNA were up 63%, Wellpoint 47% and United healthcare 28%.

The best bit about it all is that the poor get fined for not signing on to Government mandated healthcare that they can't afford anyway. Nice.

Insurance Company Jet

Remember, the Government is your friend. Especially if you're on the Executive of an Insurance Company.

And lest we forget, our Overlords in the Government don't have to pay the new health tax. They're exempt, or at least play by a different set of rules; one law for the rich, another for the poor? Surely not.

LSP

Church of England Gives Huge Yes To Women Bishops

Dance to the goddess

The Church of England's General Synod voted overwhelmingly in favour of women bishops, with one priestess, Canon Rosie Harper, arguing that failure to make women bishops would make the Church of England look "weird."

Canon Rosie Harper isn't weird, at all

"I would like to name the sheer weirdness of a community arguing about discrimination in the 21st century - people out there don't care enough to be angry but they do dismiss us as weird," stated Rosie.

Nothing weird about Schori!

According to Rosie, the weirdness of not having women bishops would hurt the declining Church of England's mission, "If we are serious about our mission, and I know this is a very basic point, we really do have to stop being weird," she told the Synod. 

Totally not weird

In a final appeal to normality, Canon Rosie concluded, "Stop being weird and vote yes."

Deranged

Well done, Church of England. With women bishops you won't be weird anymore and everyone will start going to church again. Next stop, Gay Marriage, which everyone knows is entirely normal.

Entirely normal

Good luck, Church of England.

LSP

Rev. "Meth" Flowers, a Sordid Tale of Criminality and Vice

Rev. "Meth" Flowers

It can't be easy being a Labour Councillor, a bank boss and a Methodist clergyperson, so what do you do? You know, to relieve the stress? For Rev. "Meth" Flowers the answer was apparently simple, party on down in an orgiastic haze of coke, ketamine, rent boys and speed.

Speed

According to U.K. press, "Meth" Flowers used company email while he was Chairman of the Co-op bank to hook up with male prostitutes that he took on expensive dinner dates, before  drug-fueled gay threesomes. 

Coke

The paunchy moneyman was certainly up for it, "I knew what he did for a living and couldn't believe how debauched he was," stated one rent boy, Ciaron Dodd, 21.

"Special K"

While "Meth" was boss of the Co-op, the bank merged with the Britannia Building Society, taking on multi-million pound bad debt that came to light during its recent abortive attempt to acquire 632 Lloyds bank branches. 

Fail

The Co-op's debt rating has been downgraded to "junk" status, and the failed bank now stands to lose 70% of it's business to a consortium of buccaneering U.S. Hedge Funds, including Aurelius Capital and other investors. 

"Meth" 

"Meth" has been downgraded too and was suspended from the Labour Party, despite giving the improbably named Ed "FiddyK" Balls, Labour's Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, a donation of 50,000 pounds. 

FiddyK

Rev. "Meth" Flowers, who is under police investigation, is currently in hiding. You can read all about this sad and sordid tale of sleazy skulduggery here, here, here, and here.

Cheers,

LSP

Get That Franchi Instinct

Franchi Instinct L

GWB tipped up at the compound yesterday and before you could say "Archbishop Justin Welby's an Oil Shark!", there was an over and under on the mahogany. My philisophical friend had cleverly gone out and bought a Franchi Instinct L 20 gauge, and who can blame him?

Young Sharky

We took it out for a test drive today, rambling about in search of rabbits, who sensibly stayed under cover, and then slinging a box or so of skeet, country style. Just a lot of explosive fun and good practice. 

Old Sharky

I shot reasonably well, once I remembered to aim... and GWB was knocking the clays out of the air like a good 'un. But how did the Franchi perform? I took a couple of breaks from my cheap, but hey it works, Mossberg 835 Ulti Mag pump to find out.

Prince of Wales grip

I enjoyed shooting this gun; it's light, at 6.5 Ilbs, and comes quickly to the shoulder and to target.  I thought it looked good too, with traditional styling, case hardened finish on the receiver and no gaps between metal and wood. That said, the wood of the buttstock sits proud to the receiver by a millimeter or so, but I felt this was balanced out by well-defined, deeply cut checkering and A grade walnut furniture. Not a bad looking gun, but did it work?

dove feast

For sure, the Instinct functioned flawlessly over several hours of pretty much continuous shooting, with no misfires, failure to eject or mechanical problems. So that's alright then, but would I buy one? If I was looking for an over and under shotgun that costs $1149, yes, I think I would. 

The gun looks good, handles well and if you don't get carried away and forget to aim, it's perfectly capable of knocking the opposition out of the sky. Granted, it's not a $2000 plus firearm, but whoever said it was?

Shoot straight,

LSP

Borth

Borth

You may not know it but there's this small town in Wales called Borth. It's a short drive from Aberystwyth and seems to be pretty much controlled by older hippies who run all these overpriced junk antique shops, "galleries, and novelty cafes. Hippies are known for their thieving.

relaxing after a hard days thieving 

Borth also has sand dunes, which puts me in mind of Sting. Some people think that Sting's greatest cinematic performance was in Dune, others feel that he was even better in Brimstone and Treacle. But I won't judge, decide for yourself!

the genius of Sting

So go and visit Borth; it's just this little strip of hippie go-downs and a couple of pubs in a line facing the sea, right there on the Western edge of the Island.

edge of the world

Cheers,

LSP 

Brit Spy Found Dead in Bag

go on, try it at home

A British spy, Gareth Williams, was found dead inside a padlocked sports bag in an MI6 apartment in London. U.K.Police have ruled the death accidental. "Most probably it was an accident," stated London Police Deputy Assistant Commissioner, Martin Hewitt.

Gareth Williams was on secondment to MI6 from Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), and lived in MI6 provided housing in London. 20,000 pounds of unused women's clothing and shoes were found in Williams' not-so-safe house. 

The spy's DNA was not found on the locked sports bag in which he died.

Nothing to see here. Move along.

LSP

South London Pikers

South London Pike

I used to live in South London, a very, very, very long time ago, in what the English romantically call a "Tower Block", in a place not so far from Peckham. Hipsters live in Peckham now, strangely. Regardless, last week I overcame the psychic barrier that is the Thames and travelled South of the River to Lewisham.

Looking South

Before I knew it I'd RV'd with some old friends, climbed into a "motor" and was speeding(ish) towards Catford. We stopped on the edge of a tranquil pond as the sun was setting and the fish were starting to jump; country life, right there in the metroplex. Beautiful; a couple of rods later and we were casting for Pike and they were striking -- on my friend's lure anyway.

R with Pike

Thanks, R, for the rod and reel action.

Fish on.

LSP

Halloween

Skullmug

A church person once told me that Halloween was Satan's birthday. I tried to explain that it's just the Eve of all Hallows, the first night of the Triduum of All Saints, when Christians remember the faithful departed and the Saints. She wasn't buying. For her, Halloween was just a paean to Old Scratch.

This goof supports gay marriage because he's conservative, apparently.

Others think that Halloween isn't about the faithful departed, God, Satan, or anything else. They think it's Celtic. Some people have convinced themselves that the Celts were all about gay marriage, a bit like David Cameron but more tribal.

Scary As You Like

I won't comment, but I will leave you with a picture of a famous witch stateswoman; people are saying that she'll be President one day. Pretty scary, eh?

God bless,

LSP

Where's The LSP?!?

Good Old KLM

"Where's the LSP?" I hear you ask, in that worried, angsty kind of way.The answer's simple, Nairobi, London and now... Aberystwyth! "Aber" is a Welsh seaside town and a member of the famous rock band, the Scorpions, had a mansion here. He had to sell it when he started running out of ready money.

All Saint's Cathedral, Nairobi

Nairobi was interesting and made me want to go on a horse safari in the Great Rift Valley, which is the stuff of legend, mystery and adventure. You can do that for around the price of two return tickets from Calgary to Toronto, so I'm saving up. I liked the Anglican cathedral and the coffee, which was absurdly strong; useful if you're slaving away over a hot computer in the press room. 

Truculent

Then it was back to the endurance test that is modern air travel. When we got to Heathrow, via Schipol, the pilot announced that there'd be a delay while "Military Police" conducted a "security check." Two cops in flak jackets and machine guns boarded the plane; one stationed himself aft while the other advanced down the craft. He took an African woman off the plane. Hey. Welcome to England.

Someone, please, invite me on a horse safari.

That said, London was huge fun. The city's now home to all these novelty skyscrapers, which the comedic Brits have  given pet names to, like the Gherkin, the Shard, the Walkie-Talkie and so on. 

The Shard, built by Robot Hesse

The Walkie-Talkie's a menace and apparently caused fires during the summer by reflecting sunlight onto cars and trash, like a massive laser. Who knew that mad Sci-Fi Nazis had taken over Britain's architectural establishment?

Aberystwyth

Two days later I got to Aber. It was raining. I stood by the lighthouse and watched the waves crash into the pier.

More later.

LSP

The Government's Back!

And the Government's Back.

I see there's been some sort of deal, in which members of the government have voted to bring... the government back! Remarkable.

Who was it that said, "The turkeys keep voting for Christmas."

Illuminati Shill Bear

In related news, one of the little people in Miley's neat bear act left the stage "shivering and crying" because she was treated as "less than human", like some kind of fake bear. You can look it up on the internet if you doubt me.

Real Bear

Well, there's bears and there's bears.

Cheers,

LSP