Churches I Like

St. Etheldreda, Ely Place

Back in the '90s I loved going to St. Ethedreda's (off of Leather Lane in London) because it was a beautifully restored medieval church, the liturgy wasn't the usual modernist rubbish, it had decent polyphany and if you were lucky you got to hear Fr. Charles-Roux preach - mostly about the Divine Right of Kings and Marie Antoinette. Always a captivating delivery, to say nothing of a singular theme; Fr. Roux went on to be a sort of unofficial chaplain to 'The Passion of the Christ', saying Mass on set for actors and crew.

After Mass you could go to The Old Mitre, which looked pleasantly Dickensian but had been corporatised and ruined inside, or more sensibly there were the various pubs on Lamb's Conduit Street. Great part of London, I always think.

Speaking of which, you might be interested in the hypocritical, sleazy, self-serving, failed Labour attempt to smear England's top soldier. He's come out well, others less so; I like G.O.T's reporting and the All Seeing Eye.

Deo Gratias.

LSP

Wild Evil Hogs

Outrageously Huge Hog

The picture above was tagged 'white trash.' Here's Mr. Auden's comment on that:

The wild evil hogs draw near;

The weather smells of their hate

And the houses smell of our fear;

Death has opened his white eye

And the black hole calls the thief

As the wild evil hogs draw near.

Ravens alight on the wall,

Our plans have all gone awry,

The rains will arrive too late,

Our resourceful general

Fell down dead as he drank

And his horses died of grief,

Our navy sailed away and sank;

The wild evil hogs draw near.

Just a bit of hog poetry, innit. Thanks, GWB, for the insight. In the meanwhile local swine are lying low(ish), but the fight's not over, not by any means.

Doves in a few weeks.

LSP

Space Creature

I thought it was just Episcopal Church 'decision makers', and Nancy Pelosi of course.

No, its deeper than that.

LSP

Ban Ban Taliban

There's a daily update on terrorist activity at The Religion of Peace, here's a snapshot:

2009.08.19 (Yala, Thailand) - A villager is shot five times by Islamists while walking to a market.

2009.08.19 (Baghdad, Iraq) - Islamic bombers stage several coordinated blasts and manage to kill nearly one-hundred Iraqis and injure about six-hundred others.

2009.08.18 (Peshawar, Pakistan) - A civilian is kidnapped and beheaded by Religion of Peace militants.

2009.08.18 (Miranshah, Pakistan) - A suicidal Sunni rams a group of local soldiers with an explosives-laden car, killing four.

2009.08.18 (Badakshan, Afghanistan) - Taliban terrorists murder all four workers transporting election materials.

2009.08.18 (Uruzgan, Afghanistan) - A Fedayeen suicide bomber takes out five Afghanis.

According to the Daily Express, a forum on Islamic Awakening had the following comments on recent British casualties:

“Isma’eel”, said: “Man, they really are dropping like flies over there lol [laugh out loud].”

Another, calling himself “AbuJunayd”, said: “Inshallah [God-willing] the more the kuffs [non-Muslims] deploy, the more the bros will send em back in body bags, or crutches or with serious psychological problems.”

“Waziri” said: “By command of Allah, the invading forces will be forced to withdraw humiliated and defeated by a group of men who between them do not possess even one transport helicopter.”

“Noorah”, said: “They are really getting whooped. Don’t know how they think they can win.”

You can read the whole story here and more than a few have speculated on Jihadist traffic from England to the North West Frontier and beyond. I'm no expert, but there might be truth in rumours of 'insurgents' turning up in Helmand with English Football Club tattoos...

Maybe they have, though its surely more likely that the U.K's homegrown Taliban are perfectly willing to stay at home.

Terrifying prospect.

LSP

Aging Plinker

Walked about Camp Crucis yesterday and heard the distant sound of gunfire, so I went to the source and found the SSC Provincial Secretary firing away at an impromtu range with a scoped semi-auto Remington .22. He kindly lent me an old Winchester pump action and we blazed away in the hot sun for an hour or so. Great fun and a first for me, having never shot a pump .22 before; it had a good feel to it and seemed accurate enough.

Interestingly, the SSC PS is off to Colorado with some bowmen to hunt Elk. He promises pictures; I'll live vicariously. Good man, the Secretary. He has a blog, 'Apostolicity'.

Cheers,

LSP

SSC Retreat

SSC Cross

At 'Camp Crucis' outside Granbury, for the annual SSC (Society of the Holy Cross) Chapter retreat. Its a good society, whose founder members were distinguished for their pastoral work in the slums of nineteenth century London. A far cry from country Texas, or is it?

Hard Luck Farm

Don't get me wrong, I love the country and the values of thrift, independance and freedom from the atheistical State. But that's not to say that life isn't hard for lots of people; sometimes its their fault, sometimes its not. Whatever the case, the Church should step up to the plate and exercise the virtue of Charity - like the founders of the SSC.

God bless,

LSP

Spend Like Fury!

No relevance whatsoever to events here in the United States.

Off to purchase a wheelbarrow for stipend.

LSP

PS. Thanks to Prats in Power.

Churches I Don't Like

Clown Yewkrist, Holy Trinity, Wall Street

I try to avoid religious polemic on this blog, apart from the odd playful dig at His Grace, The Lord Archdruid of Canterbury, his waspish boybishop sidekick, Katherine Schori and, of course, the slaver proponents of The Religion of Peace. But sometimes enough is enough and you have to speak out against churches like Holy Trinity, Wall Street. Why? Because of their **y Clown Eucharist. I don't like that church; I think its its a right mockery. Unfortunately its paradigmatic of the The Episcopal Church as a whole - wealthier than a truckload of Nazi Gold, and as risable as a gang of clowns. Chances are they're not even humans beneath the clown masks; no, they're probably Aliens, or robots, like Nancy Pelosi. With that in mind, I award Holy Trinity Wall Street a sturdy 9 out of 10 LSP Rubbish Church points. A high score, by anyone's reckoning.

After dwelling on that for an unwholesome ten minutes, I hoisted a Texan Flag outside the Parsonage. Uplifting.

Hang Out More Flags

Have a blessed Sunday, remember to shoot safe, stay on the horse and beware of sinister clowns, ecclesial or otherwise.

Cheers,

LSP

PS. Thanks to Texanglican for the unsettling clown picture.

Freedom Of The Gun

Various Guns

I love guns and I find there's a freedom in shooting, especially out in the country, that's powerful medicine for the soul. I don't want to lose that and so, amongst other reasons, I support 2nd Amendment rights. These stand, I think, for a whole host of other liberties. Read Conservative Scallywag, as interviewed by The Liberty Pen:

tLP: That is one of my favorite quotes from Jefferson ("The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government."). What, in your opinion, are the reasons the Democrats are so intent on dissolving gun ownership and all associated rights?

CS: Simply put, it is about control. Control over what we eat, drive, what doctor we see, how much we earn, who we hire, or even live by. Absolute control over our lives…

Even today, I think Jefferson stands. Remove the right to bear arms and what other freedoms follow? You know the saying, "give 'em and inch and they'll take a mile." Neither fraction is one I'm keen to give up.

Thanks, Conservative Scallywag, for the answer and Liberty Pen for putting the question. See the whole interview here.

Good shooting,

LSP

Good Arab

Good Arab?

Some Arabs are bad, very bad; they try to kill you. Be-Bop's not like that, he just confuses the signal to canter for "run as fast as you bloody can and devil take the hindmost." Don't get me wrong, running full tilt 'cross country is a great way to spend the morning, but who's in charge? The Arab? Or some other thing? Well, it was a weird mixture this a.m., which landed Be-Bop on a lunge-line. Long, but a line none the less.

Whatever; it was neat to drive out as the sun was rising.

Just get out of town.

Tack Room

A few cups of coffee later it was time to ride on, in the beautiful cool of the morning, until 'canter' = "mad rush for the nearest non-existent exit". We'll have to practice and get it right. Until then, check out this ghost town chapel. Eerie, I always think.

On Remembrance Day the Battle Flag of the Army of North Virginia flies above this chapel. That's a heck of a thing.

Stay on the dam horse.

LSP

Boots On The Ground

Pair of old boots

Decided to take a break from reading commentaries on St. Augustine and "freedom" to write about boots. I've been using a pair of 8" Bates desert boots with suede & nylon uppers, vibram Durashock soles and goretex inners. A very comfortable boot with good traction and until recently, surprisingly waterproof - waded about in the shallows off Aberystwyth a few months ago and came out completely dry. They've held up well too knocking about the country - in the brush, along half dry creek beds and at the stables; so along with the U.S. military I guess I'd recommend them. But they're not without problems.

On mine the sole started to delaminate from the upper; I solved this with Locktite superglue, which has held up well but its annoying to have to use it at all.

Superglue Solution

More seriously, I discovered that when they leak they hold water and refuse to dry. What seems to happen is that water gets held between the leather/nylon upper and the goretex inner lining, with the whole boot acting as a kind of heavy squelching sponge. Granted it took a storm to get this effect but still, the boot's effectiveness was seriously compromised by its inability to lose the water and dry out. A real problem for anyone having to wear them for any length of time in wet conditions. Solution? Heavy duty, breathable, waterproof spray - I think. Better yet, a system that doesn't trap water in the boot. Also, for Texan country use, the Bates boot doesn't give much protection against snakes, which is fine until it isn't.

With that in mind and looking for something that'd be inexpensive, better at the stables and still good for getting out in the field, I went down to the local Tractor Supply Store and bought a pair of 10" Wolverines.

New Wolverines

They seem sturdy, comparatively well made and comfortable. Also they don't have the treacherous goretex lining which I've grown to suspect; I'll see how they hold up. In the meanwhile, the Bates pair still have plenty of life in them.

Back to the African Doctor now.

Cheers,

LSP

Alien Invasion!

Nancy Pelosi - Space Creature?

I thought it was just TEC (The Episcopal Church) that had been taken over by Aliens, but I was naive, myopic even. They're here in far greater force than at first I thought. Here's what Mind Stew has to say on the subject:

"Is Nancy Pelosi some kind of robot or is she an alien? One thing is for sure. There is no way in hell she is human.

Physical Observations:

Skin. It looks as though she has some sort of synthetic skin covering. It could be some kind of bio-mechanical material draped over a mechanical or extraterrestrial skeleton.

Eyes. Always open to the point it looks insane, her eyes are simply creepy. In addition, her eyes never blink. This has people all over begging the question “What the ***k?”

Face. Varies greatly in shape and structure from the human species. Again, this appears to be made of some plastic or synthetic material. Definitely not carbon based."

You can read the whole analysis here, but I'm afraid its not just Nancy. No, there's plenty more candidates and, just think, they're running the country.

Yours contra Alien menace,

LSP