Fr. Dolling on Chicago

Anglicanism's a confusing beast, and it gets all the more confusing when you consider its claim to be catholic. This isn't taken very seriously these days, if it's considered at all, but it was in the 19th century, when the 1st and 2nd Oxford Movements worked to catholicise the Church. For the clergy and people of this movement, to be an Anglican was to be a catholic Christian. 

One of the more colorful figures of the 2nd Oxford Movement was a slum priest, Fr. Dolling, and I was reminded of him at a clergy conference (SSC) today, in Arlington.

Dolling visited America in the late 1890s and stayed for a year, before returning to work in England's slums. He was struck by the country, especially Chicago; here's his description of the city on a Sunday evening:

"Comparatively few of the churches are open on Sunday night. All the theatres, and music-halls, and saloons, and low resorts certainly are. To wander along State Street on a Sunday evening is to witness sights the equal of which is to be seen in no other city in the world, and as to what may be seen in other cities of the world I have not a small experience. There is no suggestion of Sunday evening. The shop-doors are closed, but all the windows are a blaze of light, and before them are crowds of women looking at the bonnets, on slowly revolving discs, or watching the electric appliances that dazzle the eye with sudden gleams of tinted globes. Crowds surge about the lower-class theatres. There is the beating of a drum and the shriek of a hurdy-gurdy to attract to a dime museum. At one street-corner is a man yelling anarchy. He has a big crowd. At another street-corner is a sallow, curly-haired individual demonstrating that the earth is flat. He has 200 listeners. At another corner is a semicircle of Salvationists, and a tall woman in a poke bonnet is nasally yelling in prayer that God would strike Chicago to Hell. There are not more than a dozen onlookers."

I love that.

God bless,

LSP

Dog & Gun

My dog, Blue Cartoon Contest, loves gunfire and he loves the range. So do I, so I took the little barker out to the country for some more remedial pistol practice.

Blue Ferox

Lo and behold, no sooner had I drawn my .45 from its holster than my excitable Heeler began to bark with joy. He ended up being relegated to the 50 yard bench...

A Bit More to the Left, Please

I tried out some slightly better ammo, to see if it'd improve my groups, and it certainly didn't hurt, tightening things up by about an inch. But I can't brag, because my performance wasn't stellar, unlike the cop who took down the Muslim terrorists in Garland.

The Prophet

At the end of the shoot, I pitted my wits against the ancient adversary, swinging steel plates, at 10, 15, 25 and 30 yards. They got a severe beating, until I moved out to the 30 yard mark, at which point they were mostly safe.

A Dog in the Grass

There was a time when they weren't safe at 30++ yards. I want to get back to that.

Shoot straight,

LSP

Jihad, Meet Texas

The Jihad came to Texas yesterday, as two Muslim holy warriors attempted to shoot up and possibly suicide bomb a "draw Mohammed" art contest in Dallas. The Islamic terrorists were shot dead by police.

The U.K. dhimmitude media refuses to show pictures of the drawings that incite Muslims to kill and murder. So here's one, to make up for the deficiency.

Some dhimmwits are blaming the Muslim terror attack on Islamaphobia. You can read about that on the internet.

Result? Texas: 2, Jihad: 0.

LSP

Joe Biden Champion of the Oppressed!

Vice President Joe Biden visited Dallas yesterday, where he spoke at a fundraising dinner for the oppressed LGBTQ community. 

Oppression

Where did the downtrodden, persecuted pansexualists meet? Why, at the Ritz-Carlton in Uptown, of course, where rooms start at $449 per night and guests can graze off Wood Grilled South Texas Sorghum Glazed Antelope and Coriander Crusted Lamb Chop.

Discrimination

And let's not forget the Yoakum County Akaushi Beef Filet and Chicken Fried Maine Lobster and Maple/Black Peppercorn Soaked Buffalo Tenderloin.

Persecution

It must be pleasant to be so oppressed.

Downtrodden

The Vice President Joe Biden is a big fan of Whitesnake, the New Transsexual World Order, butterfly knives, and votes. 

Creepy

The Biden is known to security as "Hands On."

LSP

Biker Eschaton

It's all about motorcycles these days, on this transport blog. There's Lukeya's Norton, LL's Ducati, Fredd's Kawasaki and lots more. This puts me in mind of a biker party I went to, many, many years ago.

There I was, on New Year's Eve, at a party. They were a mixed crew, a couple of Wolf's Outlaws, maybe a Bandido or two, perhaps a Desperado, and there I was, regimental tie, blazer, the whole, "I say, you men, carry on," type of thing.

As the New Year struck, I congratulated the assembled outlaws with a hearty "Happy New Year!" including one ne'er do well who was at least 8' high and 5' wide. "Is it? F***er?" he asked me. I didn't reply, but I stood up (even straighter), looked that ruffian right in the eye, and prepared to die like a soldier.

The leaders of the party saved me, fortunately. "Leave him alone!" they said, "He's Adolf! And he's alright."

And that was that. Why did the outlaws call me Adolf? I'll leave you to ponder that.

Born to ride,

LSP

Filthy Little Beast!

I set up on the front porch to clean some guns. They were filthy, especially the ARs, but it was relaxing to clean the little monsters and all in a good cause. A clean gun is, after all, a happy gun, as opposed to a malfunctioning, dirty, nightmare.

I was a bit concerned about the front sight of my .45, which had pretty much lost its glow-in-the-dark spot. So I applied some glow -in-the-dark paint to it with a tooth pick; the paint's called Glow and you can buy it for a couple of dollars at Walmart, in the craft section. We'll see how it works.

As I pondered the newly restored sight, I reflected on Christ's words, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments." Notice he says "my commandments" instead of the world's, or the self's commandments.

That's counter-intuitive to us, because we've been trained to think that the world and the self are the sum and measure of all things.

They're not, no more so than the vain conceit that a dirty gun is just as good as a clean one.

God bless,

LSP

Black Gun May Day Mayhem!

It was a beautiful sunny morning in Texas, crisp and bright, so I thought I'd better make good use of time and head down to the range with a collection of black guns. Don't get me wrong, I like wood and steel, I prefer it even, but these were the guns I wanted to shoot today.

5.56

So I did. The AR's performed flawlessly, which pleased me, because I had a hand in building them. It's always good when something you've worked to create works well. The rifle variant is well-capable of MOA awesomeness, which is exactly what I was hoping for. The Ruger American .17HMR shot well too, producing the best group of the day, 3 rounds in the same hole. Then it was pistol time.

.17 HMR

I'll be honest. I wasn't too pleased with my pistol performance during LL's visit, and I wanted to fix that. "I know," I thought to myself, cleverly, "If I get a Blackhawk Serpa holster, I'll shoot my .45 like a pro." 

Whatever

The Serpa's a good holster, no doubt about it, it holds your sidearm in a vise-like, mechanical grip, and has a smooth trigger finger release. The paddle system hugs your hip too; it isn't going anywhere. Get a Serpa, just be sure to properly index your trigger finger as you draw your weapon from the holster, otherwise you might shoot your foot off. Bad result.

Serpa

But, did the holster make me a better shot? No. It didn't, and I had to shoot off a box of cheap Federal ammo at 25 yards before I got in the swing of things. 

Message to market. Neat kit is no substitute for rounds down range. There's a moral in that, if you care to draw it.

Typical Texas Range Scene

Have a great May Day evening and remember, May is Mary's month.

God bless,

LSP

Ukraine Magic

The news cycle moves pretty quickly these days, so perhaps everyone has forgotten about the civil war in the Ukraine. But amnesia aside, things haven't gone too well for Western backed Kiev forces, in their fight against pro-Russian separatist districts. 

Debaltsevo

In Debaltsevo alone, separatists captured 450 heavy weapons, 200 pieces of armor and 60 tanks during fighting in January and February. However, this streak of George Soros funded bad luck may be about to change.

Typical Ukrainian Shamans

Some 2000 wizards, witches, shamans and warlocks gathered in Kiev today to hold a magic ritual for peace in the troubled country and to cast spells on amulets and charms for nationalist fighters.

Sergey Grechishkin, a self-styled magician, who calls himself Sabirius and a "master of the primary circle," described the purpose of the ritual as an "appeal to higher forces."

Charging Up

“It will be a joint appeal to the higher forces. Each of us will do it in his own way. We will ask them to help people to recover from this bloody attack of anger and hatred and save those who found themselves in this wild bloodbath. The second ritual is a 'charging up' of protective amulets for the warriors and residents in the conflict zone, which will then protect people from bullets, frags, knives and batons.”

Protective amulets for the warriors? That worked well for the Sioux and the Mau Mau.

Perhaps you think I've made this up, as some kind of joke. Think again.

LSP

Iron Horse

Since this is becoming a transport focused forum, it's only fair to say that my old pal, Lukeya, isn't just keen on trains, he also likes bikes, and has a nice-as-you-like Norton Commando. 

LL has a motorcycle too, a Ducati Diavel, which some believe to be only marginally slower than chain lightning.

Fredd also had a bike, the iconic Kawasaki 750 triple, and believes that riding it was a lot like having a timber wolf, for a pet.

"So," you ask, "Where's your motorcycle, so-called 'LSP,' if that's your real name, which we doubt."

That, readers, is a very good question.

LSP

The Crying Towel

When I'm feeling pathetically sorry for myself and tempted to snivel into a crying towel, I reflect on the woman I visited in ICU this morning.

That puts things in perspective right away.

God bless,

LSP

Operation Jade Helm

It's that Operation Jade Helm time of year again, and I like nothing better than to invite some of the operators up onto the porch for coffee and easygoing talk about hunting, gear, tactics, philosophy, politics, and the state of the Anglican Non-Communion. 

Good times, and I can tell you this. They're not too thrilled at the prospect of Hillary Rodham Clinton becoming Commander-in-Chief. No sir.

Spot the Operator

But maybe that's a fading prospect, along with the chances of SCOTUS upholding what everyone has always thought obvious. Namely, that marriage is something that occurs between a man and a woman.

If they don't, as appears likely, I will disobey their law and so will the Missions.

Train hard, think positive, fight easy.

LSP

Problem? Solution #LukeyaStyle

Here at Team LSP, we like to think of ourselves as Solutions Providers. That's why we support Baltimore's recent Light Rail Initiative (LRI).

Let's have more and better trains!

Carry on,

LSP