Tim Page RIP

Thanks to Wild I know that legendary war photographer Tim Page has died in his late 70s, may he rest in peace. Page was remarkable for his photography of the SE Asian conflict and I wish I'd met him.

But it wasn't to be, he was doubtless more concerned with other things, like moving to Australia, curiously. Brisbane aside, Page certainly shot the war, respect.

I first heard about him from Michael Herr's psychedelic book Dispatches, which had a deleterious impact on several levels. Regardless, Page's photography was outstanding.

May he rest in peace. In related news, a Gathering of Eagles is scheduled in London Sept/Oct, depending on Whitehall. See you there, Mandarins nothwithstanding, on the steps of St. Paul's.

Lee Ho Fooks,

LSP

SHIA CONVERTS TO CATHOLICISM

 

hmmm, note WHITE WOLF

Yes, we live in an age of miracle and wonder, Shia LaBeouf has converted to traditional Roman Catholicism. No, this isn't from the Babylon Bee, the Onion or the autists at /pol, Shia's actually done it, he's embraced the Faith. Far out, it wasn't always this way:

Lampooned in the pages of this popular mind blog and relentlessly attacked by 4Chan basement dwellers, don't say Shadilay, for being a two-bit millionaire socialist fraud, Shia found his life spiraling out of control. So to save his plummeting career and possibly his life, the actor accepted a part as St. Padre Pio in an upcoming movie.

wow

Moved by the Spirit and his experience living with Capuchin friars, to say nothing of learning the Latin Mass, Shia converted. I know, you couldn't make it up if you tried, but such is grace, here's Fox, via the NYP:

“I know now that God was using my ego to draw me to Him. Drawing me away from worldly desires. It was all happening simultaneously. But there would have been no impetus for me to get in my car, drive up [to the monastery] if I didn’t think, ‘Oh, I’m gonna save my career.'” 

While researching and performing the role, however, LaBeouf said he felt “tricked” by God.

“And when I got here, a switch happened. It was like Three-Card Monte. It was like someone tricked me into it, it felt like,” the actor recounted. “Not in a bad way. In a way that I couldn’t see it. I was so close to it that I couldn’t see it. I see it differently now that time has passed.”

There is, says the Good Book, more joy in heaven over one sinner that repents than over ninety-nine self-righteous prig hypocrites that don't. And note this, all ye doomers, if it can happen to him there's hope for us all yet.

Well done, Shia, keep it up, love you brother.

Your Old Pal,

LSP

Under Glowering Skies

No foreign sky protected me,

no stranger's wing shielded my face.

I stand as witness to the common lot,

survivor of that time, that place. 

(Anna Akhmatova)

What remained after the flood? For us, we few survivors? A glowering sky for sure, that much is constant.

And shacks, somehow these too remain.

As does the Dojo. Kick 'em out, kids, before you too are washed away in the flood.

But trees still stand. What happens here is that roots destroy the sidewalk which no one walks on, so the Town in its wisdom cuts down the trees. Idiots.

So back again to the Compound, unscathed, frosty, our enemy the Weather threatening. But questions remain.

Have we paid too much Climate Tax, too little, or is this an issue caused by prayer? Pray for rain, God agrees, cause and effect. Problem, solution. But note how abundantly our Creator provides this. 

Do you detect judgment?

LSP

Climate Change Eschaton

 

This small farming community in North central Texas faced down ferocious storms on Monday, but it was nothing compared to Dallas. Our Old Adversary, the Weather, changed with a vengeance and flooded the Metrosprawl.

Like no kidding. Torrential rain turned suburban streets into raging torrents and shut down the Mix Master, an insane highway complex in the center of town which is a nightmare at the best of times. A woman died in Mesquite, caught in her car as it was carried under by the current. May she rest in peace.

Even the world famous Margaret Hunt bridge was threatened with disaster as the waters rose with primal, apocalyptic fury. Yes, the levees hold, for now. And it's a here and now issue because, apparently, that's not some kind of God-given thing. Work it out, Dallas.

In the meanwhile, Ma LSP's house rests on high ground and I'll be sure to swing by and make sure all's well, safe from marauding hordes of waterborne looters. On that note, smart people are investing in BOATS.

Row Jimmy row,

LSP

Monday Admonishment

 

Who do you love? Your truck, your money, the British Army, what's left of it, the ritual of the Mass itself?, the idea of Rhodesia and the Selous Scouts? How very awesome, until it isn't.

I tell you, readers, there's no luggage rack on the back of a hearse; so store up treasure in heaven, strive for eternal value. Which reminds me of all these young brokers in London, back in the day, "Value!" they'd shout, while hoisting yet another champagne bottle before they got busted for *dealing.

Gross, eh, picture the scene, all kinds of hi-spirits. That in mind, crazy rain here and we thank God for this. Providence, kids, is both loving and implacable.

Your Old Pal,

LSP

Yet Another Sunday Sermon -- WARNING GRAPHIC

I'm not a contractor, never have been, never will be, just a humble LSP, but I do know this. 

Roddy walked into our South Ken office in '97, in tears, positively weeping, all 6.4 of him. Why? Because Lady Di had died and he'd just visited her multi-candlelit shrine. "Why are you crying, Roddy?" asked the Guv'nor. "Because she... she... died!"

Our boss paused, "But Roddy, you're a fkn arms dealer." And he was; tragedy meet mourner and, to be fair, what a neat guy. He sold missiles and drove a Porsche through West London while threatening to invite me to the Special Forces Club. 

Drive Safe.

Your Old Pal,

LSP

A Mercifully Short Sunday Sermon

“Lord, will those who are saved be few?” And he said to them, “Strive to enter by the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able." (Lk 13:22)

Strive to enter by the narrow gate. It grates against post-modernist Marcusian ears, against the culturally ascendant air we breathe  because "narrow gate" sounds dangerously like narrow-minded, and so bigoted, intolerant and hateful.

"After all," says our Ivy League uneducated friend, "I've got my truth, you've got yours. Coexist!"

What a broad path and it sounds alluring; so free and tolerant, so very narrative. But let's apply this logic to mathematics. Imagine a classroom full of young children, pronouns mixed. Their teacher asks, "You have two rainbows in the sky and you add another two rainbows, how many rainbows are there?"

An impetuous youngster raises zhir hand, "One!" A pensive girl, she/hers, utters "three," another adventurer exclaims four, another eight and an enthusiastic child offers up "eighty eight!" The teacher beams, "Children, all of you are right!" And each receives a delicious unicorn cupcake, don't say Lambeth Conference.

But look what's happened. In the name of freedom, these poor children have been denied the liberty of doing mathematics because they haven't been allowed to go through the narrow gate of correct addition. The logic of salvation's similar.

As with 2+2=4, there's one solution to paradise and that's Christ; He is the gate. Only He unites humanity to God, He alone is true God and true Man. He alone offers the perfect, sinless, atoning sacrifice to the Father for the forgivness of sins and He, and only He, rises victorious from the grave only to give His resurrected life to the faithful.

So to get to heaven, the end or τέλος of desire, we have to go through Christ, the door, the gate of the sheep, the way, the truth and the life. And we must strive to do so, to make the conscious, deliberate effort to conform our lives to His.

The Savior's grace, frightened and gentle readers, will supply the deficiency.

Here endeth the Lesson,

LSP

A Civil Disturbance

 

Remember the Cherokee Nation uprising? I do, just, and part of our people goes that way, so. Speaking of which, did you know that some 80% of US combat arms are from Texas.

Food for thought,

LSP

Italy

 

Go figure, everyone's in Italy, living large and escaping the beautiful strip malls and flyovers of our cultural ascendancy for something else, and who can blame them? 

I texted an old music buddy, who's set up in an Italian castle, "Maybe they need to turn that town square into a parking lot. Ffs, get onnit." He clicked between contracts and replied, "Look. Castle ceiling. Standard." Have a look:

Huh. But that's not all. Ma LSP and several sisters are in Italy, living it up on the Adriatic. I guess Texas wasn't good enough, they just had to go one better:

Feeling badly left out, I drove through Italy but didn't stop. Let the reader understand.

Italy Texas, a fine place to be. Then there's this town, where the kids are staying:

So unattractively awful, why hasn't this been torn down and turned into a strip mall? I mean to say, what's wrong with these people? As we reflect on that, here's a castle garden.

Soothing, don't you think?

LSP

What A Good Couple Of Days

 

It started as it often does, with a drive down I35 to the Metrosprawl, but this time in a V8 Beast, result. Objective? Set up at Dallas HQ then visit with the Bishop the next day and, the day after that go for a post-op checkup at a medico in Plano.

Two orders of business, several possible orders of outcome. So perhaps I was a little... pensive, how would it go? It went well. Had a great meeting with our outstanding new(ish) Bishop, which found financial security for Mission #1. No small thing, I live there.

And the Doc was helpful too, "You know, that was a pretty serious operation and you're healing way better than expected, I'm surprised." Result, and I drove back to base through the Tollway wasteland of North Dallas in good spirits.

Seriously, surgery's a deal. I know, we're all Warriors, but still, it's helpful to have the thing checked off by a doctor. He's Christian, to boot, and asked for permission to pray before the op, "Of course you can, I'm a priest." And there you have it, back to the sylvan boulevards of Old Hill County tomorrow.

Drive Safe,

LSP

EPIC LOSER

 

Liz Cheney, net worth in 2018 >15MN$ on a 174K$ congressional salary got wiped out in Wyoming in this week's election.Her campaign? Trump is evil and everything the Democrats do is awesome, which is why she's Republican. 

Who thought this genius pol strategy up? Imagine, there you are on K Street in what would've been a smoke filled room, now filled with the fizz of Topo Chico:

Look, Liz, the wave of the future, how do I put this, of history itself, is open borders, trans bathrooms and 'eat the bugs.' You know, Green. So occupy the middle ground and bring it home, get the old hippies and their kids and bag those aging Cold Warriors, blame Russia at every point. That'll get 'em and you'll win big.

 

Leaving aside millionaire progleft traitor Liz's enormous heft, she certainly campaigned on an aggressively pro-Democrat/Progressive ticket, and lost hard, really hard. No wonder, who wants a hypocritical multimillionaire, faux leftist shill to rule them? Wyoming certainly didn't, and while we're at it, don't mention Haliburton.

                                                                          How Very Gross

Rest of the country and Uniparty RINOS? Take note, we're taking names.

E Pluribus,

LSP

Just Hanging Out

 

Just hanging out in Dallas, Lao Tze style, enjoying the porch

Good thing there's a handy leaf blade knife, right?

Blue agrees, he's up for a treat scrap

In other news, the appalling Salman Rushdie's been stabbed by some outta control Jihadist. Rushdie wrote the aggressively annoying Satanic Verses and incurred a Fatwah. Well, looks like it caught up with him. Bad luck, Rushdie.

I met the bizarrely annoying Rushdie back in the '90s at some place in London. He was with the even more annoying Malcolm McLaren, who distinguished itself by wearing fancy shirts without cuff-links. Whoa, what a radical.

The intenselt irritating McLaren died in 2010, Rushdie still lives.

All best,

LSP