Get Back!

All too soon the retreat was over and everyone drove off into the metrosprawl to their various destinations. You need a retreat after that drive, so I spent the night in Dallas before heading back to the rural idyll that is The Compound.

What did I gain in the few days away at Montserrat retreat house? A new-found appreciation for the rule of St. Benedict, Chesterton, and a significant dose of humility mixed with contrition. All very good things, as was the company of fellow clergy and the opportunity to worship together.

It was good, too, to step away from the news for a short time, but I couldn't help noticing that a 17 year old Danish woman is going to be punished for fighting off a "refugee" with pepper spray. The message seems pretty clear; women of Europe, don't you dare defend yourselves against your new Islamic overlords. 

So where's the feminist outrage? That seems to be in inverse proportion to the number of Germans purchasing firearms. Or, to put it another way, there isn't any.

Make of this what you will,

LSP

The Old Boot

Some call her The Old Boot, others are less flattering, but one thing's for sure, Hillary Clinton seems to live a charmed life that's above the law. Here's Chesterton on the phenomenon.

"But the idea of punishing a public man as a public enemy has, for good or evil, become an impossibility. And the idea of taking away the private wealth of a public man is equally inconceivable, especially if he is a really wealthy man... But at least it is certain that modern government makes life for the governing classes safer; and never before in the whole history of the world has it been so safe a business to govern." (On the Pillory)

I'm hoping that Hillary will prove to be the exception to this rule.

Cheers,

LSP 

The Crimes of England

What were the crimes of England? According to G.K. Chesterton, writing in 1915, they were mostly to do with England siding with Prussia. This bias towards Germany, going back at least to the days of Frederick the Great, helped cause the Napoleonic conflict, barbarism against the Irish, the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the then unfolding horrors of World War I. Nothing quite like a bold call, thank you GKC.

With the caveat that "a little Chesterton can go a long way" and whether you agree with him or not, he writes with a bravado that can be startling. Here he is on "the idea of the Citizen."

The idea of the Citizen is that his individual human nature shall be constantly and creatively active in altering the State. The Germans are right in regarding the idea as dangerously revolutionary. Every Citizen is a revolution. That is, he destroys, devours and adapts his environment to the extent of his own thought or conscience.

Every Citizen is a revolution? There are times when GKC is like a charge, a very clever, quick-footed and amusing charge, but a charge nonetheless.

I love that,

LSP

Rule of St. Benedict

We've been hearing addresses on the Rule of St. Benedict at this retreat, and they're very helpful. Good job, retreat conductor. Benedict lived at the end of the 5th century and pretty much founded monasticism in the West. Some even say that he rescued Western civilization and I'd be inclined to agree.

Speaking of the end of civilization, Donald Trump is boycotting Fox, and whatever else you care to say about the billionaire presidential hopeful, he's certainly shaking things up. I'll leave you with this blast against the neocons from ZeroHedge,

Blinded by hubris, enthralled by the possibilities of unlimited power, the neocons – and their liberal internationalist doppelgangers on the other side of the political spectrum – didn’t see the nationalist backlash coming.

That points to a curious lack of vision on their part.  What would Benedict say? I'll wager he'd counsel humility, a virtue that's in notoriously short supply.

God bless,

LSP

Retreat!

We're advancing in a different direction, which means getting on I35E and driving to Montserrat Retreat House for the annual diocesan clergy retreat. You need a retreat after that drive, I tell you.

I was hoping for some quiet fishing off Montserrat's pier but it's underwater. Well, there's no telling where, when and how The Weather will strike in its vicious no-holds-barred war on humanity. Just look at New York, all that tax money and they still got hit by several feet of Climate Change.

So maybe there won't be any fishing, but there will be some Chesterton, The Crimes of England. I'm looking forward to that.

More anon, as the story unfolds.

LSP

Little Fur

My sister inherited a coat, Big Fur. She had it tailored down. Now it's Little Fur.

Don't confuse Big Fur and its smaller descendant with anything that went on at a pop concert in California.

That is all.

LSP

It's The Dyslexic Deacon!

The Dyslexic Deacon's back and he's back in force, reporting on the recent primates meeting in Canterbury. Over to you, Deacon.

Saucies closed to APB Justsin Wobbly have leaked a seekret reprot on the Naglican Conunuim. '38 Shades of Gay' reveels how conversative FAGCON prymates suckcessfully censered ACUSA (TEC) homosectual weddings at the resent cumming together in Cant A Becket. In the Indrotuction APB Justsin apollogises for the Conunium's phomohobic passed and looks forwood to censering homosectuals in the Cherch of Negland.

Thanks, Dyslexic Deacon, keep it coming!

LSP 

Saturday Ride

After my morning routine of Morning Prayer (1928 BCP), walking the dog, drinking coffee and talking with spiritual singing gentlemen of the road, I went for a ride.

It was good to get out in the country and back in the saddle, though my horse disagreed at first. Easy, girl, we're riding on, and that's just the way it is.

Rodeo bronc over, we walked, trotted, cantered and galloped through the bucolic Mesquite groves of Olde Texas. Good thing I was wearing a sturdy Carharrt! Those thorns are big. But seriously, there was room enough to open up and I enjoyed that. Gallop.

After the ride I asked myself if I'd learned anything. Maybe a bit; sit deeper in the saddle, rely more on legs than rein, work with the rhythm of the horse, not against it, use the animal's instinct to get back with the herd to your advantage. All that sort of thing; basic horsemanship skills, and there's nothing wrong with that.

More importantly, it was exhilarating to ride out fast in comparatively untamed country and get away from everything. Just you and the horse. 

There's a freedom in that.

Gun rights,

LSP

A Chance Encounter in Texas

We all get into routines, some are good, some less so. My routine is this. Say Morning Prayer from the 1928 Prayer Book, none of your newfangled rubbish, thank you very much, then take the dog for a walk and get a coffee. That's what I did today, and as I was standing outside the filling station, sipping my coffee, and enjoying the crisp, sunny Texan morning, I heard singing.

It was faint at first and sounded like a spiritual. The singing grew louder; sure enough, it was a spiritual and its source was a middle aged black man walking down the road by the 1st Baptist Church. He was wearing a Russian style hat with ear flaps and a dirty old parka, defense against the cold, I suppose.

Blue Stryker went on guard as the singing gentleman came closer and stopped,  just out of range of the leashed dog. I smiled at him and he smiled back, "Is that a cow dog?" he asked, "They're real smart dogs! I got three. Say, do you have a cigarette?" I told I did and threw him one, as he cleverly stayed out of the dog's attack zone. "Bless you, brother," he said, and went on his way, singing his spiritual. "God bless you," I replied, and meant it.

I liked that man and file this story under "country life in Texas."

Your Old Friend,

LSP

And Here's Pat!

Via ZeroHedge:

Can that crowd at Davos not understand that it is despised because it is seen as having subordinated the interests of the nations and people in whose name it presumes to speak, to advance an agenda that serves, first and foremost, its own naked self-interest?

The political and economic elites of Davos have grown rich, fat and powerful by setting aside patriotism and sacrificing their countries on the altars of globalization and a New World Order.

Pat riffs on Dougherty, rips on the transnational Davos elite and slams the attempted suicide of the West. If you think that's not planned, remember, it's all conspiracy theory until it's conspiracy fact.

Check it out.

LSP  

Hail To The Chief!

A reader sent this in. I thought I should post it.

Hail to the Chief,

LSP

The Trump Phenomenon

"What so frightens the conservative movement about Trump's success is that he reveals just how thin the support for their ideas really is. His campaign is a rebuke to their institutions. It says the Republican Party doesn't need all these think tanks, all this supposed policy expertise. It says look at these people calling themselves libertarians and conservatives, the ones in tassel-loafers and bow ties. Have they made you more free? Have their endless policy papers and studies and books conserved anything for you? These people are worthless. They are defunct. You don't need them, and you're better off without them."

I think Michael Brendan Dougherty nails it, and you can, and should, read the whole thing here. 

LSP