Happy Independence Day

Steaks and cold drinks here, which is fine by me. Celebrate Independence and have a great 4th!

God bless,

LSP

A Typical Day in Texas

It was just the normal kind of thing, get up, say Morning Prayer, check ZeroHedge, Drudge, Virtueonline, Stand Firm and head off to the front office porch to conduct the business of the day. Sure enough, before you can say Boycott Burger King, half the Mission turns up on the porch to "get the job done," whatever the various "jobs" might happen to be. I like that and think it's right for clergy to live in parish housing; it puts you in the action.

The Butts

Then I figured it was time for a shoot, so I drove off to the range where I cleverly shot Marlboro Light boxes off of sticks at around 50 yards with a venerable J.C. Higgins .22. Then I moved to a more dangerous paper adversary, the green silhouette. 

Lush Verdant Range Thanks to Climate Change

A Biretta PX4 Storm .45 beat that down and I was pleased to see a decent group. A little left of the X but hey, not too bad.

Go On. Get in the X Ring.

Fun over, I drove back to the compound, met with several church people, said Evening Prayer and drove off to one of the Missions to say Mass. When I got back, a maniacal chicken rushed my truck. Like an assassin. Then it swerved off into the side of HQ to peck at the wall of my house; the bird was mad, obviously, and I walked over to speak to Pedro, its owner.

Must Say Mass in Spanish

Pedro was afraid I'd report his chickens to the "city" and I told him no, I liked his chickens and would be sad if they left. I also hinted that Pedro and Maria might wake up on Sunday morning and come to Mass. He thought that was a good idea.

Back in the Front Office

The day ended back in the front office, where I cleaned a pistol and talked with church people. 

So now you know what it's like, in Texas. On a good day.

God bless,

LSP

Burger King Gets Gay

American fast food giant, Burger King, is selling its signature classic Whopper in rainbow packaging. Dubbed the "Proud Whopper," the gay pride burger unwraps to reveal the slogan, "We're all the same inside."

All the same inside? Or just the burgers?

That may be true of the duplicitous gay burger, which pretends to be something new on its rainbow-wrapped exterior but ends up being nothing other than the same old Whopper that people have been choking down for $4.29 since forever. But what about people, are we all the same inside? 

Flaming Broiled

Burger King seems to think so, and believes this reinforces their cryptic new branding slogan "Be Your Way." That argues for individuality and personal expression but if we're all the same inside then what are we? An army of clones? There's no room for individual personality in that, just the gay life of the Burger King Hive Mind.

Welcome to the Hive

Well done, Libs, for yet again producing the exact opposite of your intended result. BK's deceitful gay burgers are being sold in San Francisco. Go figure.

LSP

Sunset Over Lake Aquilla

One of the many benefits of rural ministry is that you get to go to the nearest lake after Evening Prayer for some rod and reel enjoyment. I deployed plastics on a Texas rig, to lure the Texan fish.

It was tranquil watching the sun go down over the water, and the sunset was beautiful.

I love shooting, riding and, of course, fishing.

God bless,

LSP

Caliphate, Time to Fight back

ISIL has set up the Mahdi banner and proclaimed a new Caliphate, an Islamic state to which all Moslems must rally to defeat, enslave and kill the Infidel. Al-Baghdadi is the Caliph and spiritual heir to the pedophile warlord Mohammed.

Caliph what a gangster

Maybe you think Baghdadi looks like a gangster. Remember, he's Mohammed's direct descendant, apparently.

Savages watch out. We will beat you back.

Deus Vult.

LSP

Just Go Fishing

Today's the Feast of Saints Peter and Paul and I thought I'd celebrate with a bit of bank fishing  at Cedar Creek Park on Lake Whitney. There's plenty of access to the water from the bank and I enjoyed casting into the creek mouth where it meets the lake. 

Lake Whitney from Cedar Creek Park

Had a few bites but no catch; it was tantalizing to see channel cats breaking the water in mid-stream and ignore my lures. Still, always good to get on the water and cast about. I find it clears the mind and there's plenty of sport when the fish are biting, great fun. Next time I go there I'll try my luck further down the Creek.

Here's the Collect for the day:

Almighty God, whose blessed apostles Peter and Paul

glorified you by their martyrdom: Grant that thy Church,

instructed by their teaching and example, and knit together

in unity by thy Spirit, may ever stand firm upon the one

foundation, which is Jesus Christ our Lord; who liveth and

reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God,

now and for ever. Amen.

Fish on,

LSP

Waco SWAT

There was a bomb threat this morning, caused, I'd imagine, by some yahoo hopped up on bath salts and turpentine; evidently Waco SWAT was called in to sort it out. We discussed this after Mass and some of the church people thought that bringing in Waco SWAT was overkill. They felt that the local PD should have taken care of business on its home turf. I was inclined to agree, until one churchman closed the argument. This is what he said:

"Hillsboro PD ain't got a man that could detonate a bomb without killing every person in the county. And that's the honest truth."

No one appeared willing to argue with that.

What's with the APC?

Notable exceptions notwithstanding, I'm against the ongoing militarization of our police. Who are they planning to fight? We have to wonder.

Have a blessed Sunday,

LSP

Iraq Disaster?

Perhaps you're wondering if the U.S. is backing the ISIL savages who are busy beheading and crucifying their way through Iraq and Syria. Maybe you're questioning the strange silence of our Administration in the face of Jihad terrorists taking over a swathe of the same country, Iraq, that we fought a war in to save from, (latterly) Jihad terrorists. 

Savages

Could it be that an army of terrorists funded and supported by our allies, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey might have at least tacit approval from the U.S.?

I'd say that's well possible. But what if the rise of ISIL is just a pet monster that got out of control, like OBL (Osama Bin Laden) or the Taliban. Or, in other words, a monumental screw-up? Remember, readers, who is in charge. We have:

Teeth.

Wooden Top.

The Poor Witch.

And O-Tard himself.

What could go wrong?

Remember, the Government is your friend and our Libyan ambassador was killed because of a youtube video.

God bless,

LSP

Get on the Case! Knife Review

Don't get me wrong, I like my my Spyderco folder, I like my Buck and my Kershaw too and I wouldn't mind a Benchmade, but I wanted something that wasn't "tactical", a knife that'd be handy in the field for cleaning small game and in the home, for slicing up food and opening bottles of wine.

I settled on the Case Trapper, with chrome vanadium steel Clip and Spey blades. Why? For a start, it's good to own something that doesn't have "made in China" written on it; I also liked its traditional styling, its yellow handle (you can see it against the Kryptek), and overall excellent fit and finish.

The knife's razor sharp too, as well as compact enough, at 4 1/8" closed, to fit snugly in the hand or pocket. Open, the knife measures 7 3/8", so it's reasonably substantial and at 4 oz it weighs just right for a jack-knife of its size.

So, does it work? Sure it does, it sliced through some pork chops and onions as if they were butter. Does it look good? If you like the looks of a traditional American classic jack-knife, yes it does. Is it Tactical? No, thank God. Would you recommend it to a friend? Most definitely. Are you going to take up whittling? I highly doubt it but you'll be the first to know if I do. Will you use the Spey blade for its intended purpose? Excuse me?

Case have been making the Trapper since the 1920s and you can see why it's still popular, it's a great little knife. It's inexpensive too, at around $37; I'd say that was value for money.

Get one, if you like Trappers.

LSP

Jefferts Schori Gets an Oxford DD, Some Kind of Joke?

The Devil may hate Latin but he's not above using it for his own reasons, such as awarding the Episcopal Church's leaderene, Katherine Jefferts Schori, the coveted Doctor of Divinity degree at Oxford University today. 

Earlier this year, the Archbishop of Canterbury gushed over Schori's impending recognition by England's hallowed hall of academe. 

Excuse Me?

You can read all about it at Stand Firm, here's an excerpt:

“Prior to becoming ordained, Bishop Katharine pursued a career in oceanography, and her enduring deep commitment to the environment has evolved into a profound dedication to stewardship of our planet and humankind, especially in relieving poverty and extending the love and hospitality of Christ to those on the edges of society. As Archbishop Desmond Tutu once said of Bishop Katharine, ‘In her version of reality, everything is sacred except sin.’"

Except sin? Of course, but only in Opposite Land. You know the place, where being a Christian means turning churches into Muslim Cultural Centers, pushing infanticide under the guise of "reproductive health", aggressively suing other Christians, denying the unique divinity of Christ, being a schismatic and championing LGBT sex.

So just what is this so-called DD "honoris causa", some kind of joke?

LSP

Nativity of John the Baptist

Today's the Feast of the Nativity of St. John the Baptist, who prepared the way for Christ by preaching repentance. Part of that included attacking Herod for his sexual profligacy, which ended in the Baptist's martyrdom. 

Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone

We saw a similar kind of witness the other day, when Archbishop Salvatore Cordileone of San Francisco was vilified for daring to stand up publicly and defend marriage as something that only occurs between men and women. This, according to Nancy Pelosi and a host of other government officials, to say nothing of Episcopalian church leaders, was tantamount to hate speech. 

Nancy Pelosi Space Creature

You get the impression that the advocates for tolerance and inclusion would have liked nothing better than to have delivered the Archbishop's head on a platter to the nearest Integrity office. Despite that, Cordileone didn't stand stand down and delivered his message at the National march for marriage. 

John the Baptist

I suspect that John the Baptist would have used stronger language, but still, well done Archbishop. Predictably not well done, Pelosianites.

Here's the Collect for the day:

ALMIGHTY God, by whose providence thy servant John Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of thy Son our Saviour by preaching repentance; Make us so to follow his doctrine and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and after his example constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

God bless,

LSP

Country Magic

Thanks to Global Warming Climate Change (GWCC) it was cold and wet this morning, so I drove to West in search of "Valu Paks" of .22LR and a haircut. The barber was closed, along with most of the town, but the rumored .22 was there. Good result.

Downtown West

I took some time to wander around because I like West and its interesting Czech history. I understand some people still speak the language but regardless, the town's seen better days.

West Has Seen Better Days

Maybe the place will find a new source of income and prosperity, then again, maybe it'll simply continue its slow slide into decay and ruin. Like Detroit, but in rural Texas. Struck by that, I headed back along I35 and stopped at my town's Outlet Mall. 

Dead and Dying Outlet Mall

This was opened in the 1980s, promising wealth and jobs. Today it's mostly empty; here's a review, off of Yelp:

What I have to say about this place is probably the same that I can say about Afghanistan: bombed out and depleted. Like another reviewer mentioned, the only thing that makes this location complete is tumbleweeds blowing across the parking lot.

I took some pictures because I like to record the fall of what passes for our civilization, and was stopped by "Security." 

Mall Security Guarding the Empty Shops

Our conversation went like this:

"You can't take pictures here! No."

"Why not?"

"Well... I'm not rightly sure, sir, but no pictures allowed."

"Look, they're not even real pictures, they're digital."

"Maybe they'll hurt the buildings, sir. I been working here ten years."

"That's a very long time! And it's been a real pleasure to meet you. God bless."

"You too, sir!"

I liked the old man and off he went in his blue golf cart into the empty car park of the empty mall. I didn't ask why or how the pictures would hurt the buildings. 

That was obviously magic, country magic.

God bless,

LSP