Virginia Sample Ballot - Update!!!!

I'd like to vote the American Solidarity Party since I am forced to throw my vote away anyway in a 3rd party vote due to having a conscience.  BUT you can't write in Maturen-Munoz in Virginia.  So I guess I'll go with Evan McMullin.  I actually was impressed by him anyway.

Here's a link to the Virginia sample ballot.  This is a neat site that gives you all the info you need to see your state's sample ballot.

Hey, the ASP (American Solidarity Party) just got permission today to have a write-in in Virginia!  Here's a link to the info.

Just Because You're Paranoid Doesn't Mean They Aren't Out To Get You!

So they really are trying to undermine the Catholic Church.  Wonder if Tim Kaine is in on this?

A vote for Hillary is a vote for religious persecution.  I know it is coming.  Either my children will embrace the new secular religion or they will be persecuted for staying true, but I don't want to hasten thing personally by voting for HRC.

I weep for my father's democratic party.  There was a time when you could be a faithful Catholic and a Democrat.  Abortion ruined that. Abortion ruins everything.

Honestly, between the rube Republicans and the patsy Catholics, social conservatives have been thrown under the bus.

Coverboy

This is what I mean about trans stuff being based on the most superficial, consumerist, fashion trendy, exploitative aspects of our media culture.  Guess what?  If you make being a woman all about make up and you want to sell make up, you want being a human to be all about make up.  Everybody wants to wear make up so they can look like sexy cover girls!  We are fed this stuff from infancy.  The magazine covers, the commercials, the celebrity worship.  Our consumer culture (which only sees us as $$$$$$ and not as humans) is just one part of the perfect storm that feeds into the post sexual revolution apocalypse.  This kid is 17.  How long has he been confused or tripping down this road?  Who encouraged him?  Or maybe who abused him?  How did he get so far from his own biology?  This is gnosticism at its most destructive.

Pray for this young man who is being exploited.

95!

I got a 95% on my theology essay.  All I could think when I saw the grade was that the professor must be the easiest grader ever.  I sweated through writing that essay like I haven't done in years (since law school).  I started it twice and gave up, thinking I have no idea what I am reading or what I am writing.  I'm clueless!  Then I finally steeled myself to get over my despair and just power through the thing.  I kept think of Chesterton's quote:  "Anything worth doing is worth doing badly."  I would do it even if I did it badly.  I worked through the whole thing and kept writing myself into corners.  What am I even saying, I'd wail to myself.  I will note that towards the end when I was working on it for maybe the 5th time, some clarity, some wisp of clarity began to filter through.  Not much, but some.  There was a word cap, so I had to keep summarizing my summarizing.  That does help hone in on meaning.  Finally I finished it.  Well, not really.  I didn't have any room to write a conclusion, so I just ended rather abruptly.

A week later, if you had asked me what I had written about, I wouldn't have been able to tell you.

I really struggle with comprehension.  Theology and philosophy are hard reading.  I find I have to squirrel myself away so I can read out loud to myself, otherwise I don't get what I am reading.  So many of these articles, encyclicals, etc are on line.  Some I can print off and others I can't.  I really struggle with the ones on line.  It is so hard for me to focus and absorb what is being said.  I have to time myself:  "Ok, ten minutes reading this section."  Then I have to have pen and paper so I can scribble down notes on what I am reading.  Meanwhile my eyes begin to sting and water from the glare of the screen and the force of my concentration!  When I print off the readings and read them I cover them copiously in underlining, circled words, comments and questions in the margins.  And even with that effort I feel I have only absorbed the bare minimum.  If asked to articulate what I've just read, I can barely do so.  To truly get it, I'd have to reread and reread.  I could do that if I had the time or the ability to focus that much.   In truth, it is also my fault for being so distracted by politics and other worthless things.

Here's an excerpt from the reading I was attempting this morning:

The idea which represents an object or supposed object is commensurate with the sum total of its possible aspects, however they may vary in the separate consciousness of individuals; and in proportion to the variety of aspects under which it presents itself to various minds is its force and depth, and the argument for its reality. Ordinarily an idea is not brought home to the intellect as objective except through this variety; like bodily substances, which are not apprehended except under the clothing of their properties and results, and which admit of being walked round, and surveyed on opposite sides, and in different perspectives, and in contrary lights, in evidence of their reality. And, as views of a material object may be taken from points so remote or so opposed, that they seem at first sight incompatible, and especially as their shadows will be disproportionate, or even monstrous, and yet all these anomalies will disappear and all these contrarieties {35} be adjusted, on ascertaining the point of vision or the surface of projection in each case; so also all the aspects of an idea are capable of coalition, and of a resolution into the object to which it belongs; and the primâ facie dissimilitude of its aspects becomes, when explained, an argument for its substantiveness and integrity, and their multiplicity for its originality and power.

So now you get what I am talking about!  I've been thinking can I really do this all the way to a Masters degree?  I don't know.  I might really burn out.  The thing I really find myself interested in is learning more Latin and then I love the idea of learning Biblical Greek.   I do my Latin homework for fun.  Isn't that telling me something?  I do love learning about Catholicism at a deeper level but I just don't know if I am cut out to be so highly academic about it.  I'm 56.  What do I care if I actually get a Masters or not?

These feelings are probably currently being exacerbated by the fact that I have my Theology midterm next week!

Say it, brother!

I have never heard of James R. White.  Probably just my ignorance.  I don't know anything about him, but I love that he speaks the truth here (from his facebook page)

Brief Thoughts

1. Trump is a coddled, rich, pampered, arrogant, self-absorbed, egotistical shallow-thinking unregenerate man; his many divorces should have told anyone with the slightest bit of common sense that he has no respect for honesty, integrity, covenant keeping, or women as a whole; his proudly boasting of seducing married women should have told the same people that he is utterly untrustworthy, period. The video/audio is nothing new, it just makes any person with a conscience wince to hear the arrogance and immaturity of a man of DJT’s age. But there is no reason to be shocked or surprised. I bet there are dozens of folks out there with similar recordings or at least experiences with him. Hundreds.

2. There were candidates who, while likewise unregenerate, were morally and ethically light years beyond DJT. They were ignored. And at least one candidate that made, and makes, a quite credible profession of faith in Christ, likewise without the mountain-sized pile of moral and ethical garbage. Not chosen by an electorate who quite clearly cares about issues other than character.

3. Neither candidate is qualified by character to hold ANY public office, period. That the nation is faced with these two candidates is, as most of us have realized by now, judgment, plain and simple. Both will fundamentally alter, forever, a system that is already broken, in my opinion, beyond repair—and that due to the fact that it was designed to govern a people who held in common a set of values based upon mankind being the creature of God, sinful and fallen, and hence based upon inalienable God-given rights, as well as the need to decentralize power due to man’s evil. Since that worldview has been overthrown, the system which worked so well to govern is now powerless, and into that vacuum a system of totalitarian socialism is moving and, as is the want of vacuums, quickly.

4. The moral authority of the so-called “evangelical church” in the United States is a joke. Between the soul-rotting decay of the Word-faith movement and the money-grubbing televangelists, and the sell-out “conservative” leaders who jumped on the Trump wagon early on, the world is snorting in its coffee when anyone speaks to the issue of “moral corruption” by those in political office. The very ones who once berated Bill Clinton for turning the White House into a brothel (on a level that few today even realize—the debauchery was incredible) eviscerated their credibility by ignoring the fact that at least Clinton tried to hide his exploits: Trump brags about them. Combine this with the fact that for far, far too many their “unyielding stand” on issues like homosexuality or marriage are based upon prejudices and tradition rather than a thought out theology that flows from a properly prioritized theological system, and you can see why our words carry no weight.

5. Hillary Clinton is evil. Yes, I used the “e” word. Might as well do so why I still can. You won’t be able to in the not too distant future (hate speech, you know). She is evil on every level you can be evil. Worldview evil, the zombie slave of the Culture of Death, bought and paid for by Planned Infanticide. She stands for everything that is immoral and ungodly and destructive. And I haven’t even gotten to the fact that she is the most corrupt politician possibly in the history of the nation. But she will be elected President of the United States. Jezebel will rule.

6. Stop fantasizing about the SCOTUS. One word: Obergefell, and that WITH Scalia. That ship has sailed, it is over the horizon. See point 3. Further, the doe-eyed optimism of my fellow Christians that a man like DJT, who has no earthly concept of what “trustworthiness” means, and has lived his life violating covenants and promises (ask his wives and the married women he seduced, proudly), would actually go to the mat to push through even semi-meaningful judicial nominees is further evidence that bearing the name “Christian” does not necessarily endow you with common sense.

7. Stop comparing DJT to David. David was REPENTANT. Trump is PROUD. These are NOT synonyms. And if you think the pathetic statements made by Trump are acts of repentance, LOOK UP THE WORD sometime.

8. Finally, stop saying that those of us who will not prostitute ourselves at the altar of political expediency are demanding moral perfection on the part of candidates, and, of course, “none have ever been perfect.” I am a sinner—but unlike Trump, I do not take pride in my sin, promote my sin, or excuse it as mere “locker room talk” or the like. I hate it, detest it, and flee from it. The moral and ethical black holes represented by Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump differ in nature and extent from any candidates we have ever seen in the history of this nation, and the fact that we are stuck with them at this very time of national decline on so many fronts speaks loudly…to those with ears to hear.

Evan McMullin

Maybe I'll vote for this guy.

Merrie England; A Journey Through the Shire - Book 29

Merrie England; A Journey Through the Shire, by Joseph Pearce is a short and emotional read; a book about the author's Catholic pilgrimage through England of yesteryear.  It is charming, full of interesting hidden history, and, I thought, full of sadness too.  It seemed to me the pilgrim's heart was aching all the while he walked, enjoyed the glories of his tromps across the the countryside and witnessing the beauties he is seeking out.  Pearce is channeling Hilaire Belloc here and he even ends the journey by visiting Belloc's home and burial site.

Pearce refers to himself in third person throughout the book, simply as the pilgrim.  He visits the sites of old saints, some of whom I knew of, some whose names merely rang a distant bell in my mind, and some who were truly obscure to me.  The pilgrim decided to seek out the eternal trinity of the Good, the True and the Beautiful and ignore as much as possible the present state of his beloved country.

The Shambles

This is one of those books I wish I hadn't read on my kindle.  There are lots of wonderful photos, as befits a travelogue, and I'd have loved to have a map of where Pearce is walking.  Was there one?  There must have been, but it would have been too small on the kindle screen to be satisfying.  He starts off visiting cathedrals at Ely and Peterborough and there's another too, all three of which I was not familiar with.  He visits York which made my heart leap up for I was there the summer I was 16, forty years ago, and I still remember the Shambles and the Roman wall.  He goes up to Lindisfarne, a place I would love to visit.  He stops in Wales to visit the capital of second-hand book stores, Hay-on-Wye.  He goes through Oxford and then heads south to Belloc land finally ending at Walsingham. I am skipping a lot here. All of it was captivating.  Along the way, Pearce weaves poetry into his retelling of his great walk (with some train rides!), mostly Gerard Manley Hopkins, but also Wordsworth, other poets and Belloc, of course.

The Holy Island of Lindisfarne

I'd like to buy this book in hardback, reread it and then make it a basis for my own pilgrimage.  The whole time I was reading it, I was seized with the strongest desire to drop everything and go!

You could read this book in one longish sitting.  It is not a lengthy book, but it is a deep one, full of exuberance and pondering, prayer and grief, word play and poetry.  And ale.  Pearce knows the best inns for good ale.

While I was reading this book, I couldn't help but contrast it in my mind with my previous read, The Blueberry Years.  That book too was a memoir and that author also tried to find something religious and soul satisfying in what he was attempting, but that book rang hollow for me.  It seemed like an artifice put on after the fact.  Here, Pearce's focus truly is of a religious nature and his whole pilgrimage is one long prayer.  He isn't trying to make a god out of something (like farming blueberries).   The pilgrim is trying to see everything in a holy relationship with God.  Both authors have an agrarian spirit, but one rings true and the other doesn't.

Two thumbs up.  For more book reviews go to Read 52 Books in 52 Weeks.

Mike Lee asks Trump to Step Down - Oh if only!!!!

Barbara Comstock, my congresswoman (whose Democratic opponent has fallaciously tried to tie to Trump - a person Comstock has never endorsed or supported) joins in with other Republicans to call for the end of Trump's candidacy.  It probably won't happen.  No one has the intestinal fortitude required, but it is heartening to know that there are some sane people out there somewhere.

A Week of Celebrations

In addition to Rosh Hashanah at the beginning of this week, yesterday was H and P's 2nd wedding anniversary.  I looked and looked for photos I could post and could not find one!!!  I searched my computer over and nada!  So I am asking for a good old-fashioned photo album of their wedding for Christmas.  I don't know where all the photos are digitally, but I can't access them, that's for sure.  I would at least like to occasionally look at some kind of photo without having to deal with computers.

Today is Rick's birthday!  Poor guy, he is exhausted from work plus he had to do this debate today at some energy law conference which he is nervous about.  And on top of that both of us had car emergencies yesterday which had us suddenly going to our respective dealerships and getting loaner cars.  So he has to deal with that today too.  

On Friday, Viviane's little son Dylan turns one!!!  So Friday we are having a double birthday (Rick and Dylan) and anniversary party.  The thing is I have to come up with a menu that is something I can cook in the a.m. (but my crockpot broke) featuring foods both Rick and Hannah/Peter like but they are diametrically opposed in taste.  Peter likes anything spicy and Mexican.  I think it is the California influence.  Rick hates Mexican food.  I also am signed up for Adoration between 5-6 p.m.  The only time I could squeeze it in.  I'm telling people to come at 7.

This is really weird but I am thinking of making a big vegetarian taco salad and then also making fettuccine Alfredo with salmon.  The vegetarian taco salad will also feed Sean.  Lemon cake and ice cream for dessert.    I can get all the parts of the taco salad ready and then toss them together at the last minute.  The fettuccine is hard or long to make (I'd get a piece of grilled salmon from Whole Foods to break up and toss into the fettuccine.  I can bake the cake Friday a.m.

The thing I am most prepared for is showering little Dylan with gifts.  I kind of went overboard.  I miss buying fun toys for little kids.  

Maybe I'll ask J to bring balloons home on Friday too.  That will help festive things up!

Hmm.  Still thinking this all through.

Happy Rosh Hashanah!

We think it is the year 5777.  But for some reason we are having trouble confirming that, even in this age of google.

We didn't have granddad over, he was visiting Peggy's family and going to shul with them.  But I did roast a chicken and it was delicious.  I wish I had a photo because it came out gorgeous.

I took a whole chicken rubbed the inside with salt and stuffed with big chunks of a chopped onion.  Then I rubbed olive oil and garlic salt all over the outside.  I put it in my big dutch oven at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, then I turned it down to 350.  I chopped up three sweet potatoes and a delicata squash (all gotten from our CSA) and I threw them into the pot with the chicken.  Lovely orange and golden colors. About half way through the cooking time, I poured some melted butter over everything and I also sprinkled fresh rosemary all over everything (also from CSA.)

It came out absolutely scrumptious!  Of course the sweet potatoes weren't made in the traditional tzimmes way, but close enough for us!  I should have had challah bread but I forgot.

We also had a big green salad with everything from our CSA (except for the cucumbers which were from the grocery store).  For dessert I bought a Jewish Apple Cake from Whole Foods.  We also had apple slices and honey.

Here is a really cute video explaining Rosh Hashanah and the blowing of the shofar.

Third Party Voting

Since I am not invested in either of the mainstream parties and since they both seem to be falling apart (Republicans faster than Democrats, it appears), I am for a 3rd party rising to take the place of either (or maybe a 4th party too,  to replace 'em both!).

Here's a way to fight back against the stranglehold of the Democrats and Republicans who have chosen two of the most unworthy candidates ever to run for the office of president of the U.S.   It might be tilting at windmills, but I'd rather be doing that than rolling in bullshit:

 http://www.burnmyvote.org/

*****************

As for my pie in the sky 3rd party of choice, this one is closest to my own beliefs:

American Solidarity Party


Here's a great article on the American Solidarity Party.

The Bathrooms are Finished!

Since late May we have had workmen in our house almost every day.  It was a long, long summer.  Today, the last day of September they finished up the job.  We still are going to replace the carpets upstairs in the bedrooms (we've already replaced the master bedroom's) and the upstairs hall and stair runner.  That is all that is left for us to do in the great renovation of 2016!

Anyway, here is what the newly refurbished bathrooms look like.

The powder room:

I like this tile but I didn't realize there would be such thick grout.  Worried about keeping it from getting stained.

No hole in the ceiling!

The powder room got a new toilet, sink (by accident!  They broke the sink when they took it out.) And you can't see it here but a new medicine cabinet.  The light switch got moved to a better location.  But my favorite thing is that there is no longer a big hole in the ceiling. There was a big hole there for about two years caused by a leak in our broken jetted tub that we never used.

And see that vent-looking thing?  We have a fan!  When they built this house, the rule was if the bathroom had a window you didn't need to install a fan.  But people don't really open windows in the middle of winter to air out their bathrooms.  So now all 3.5 bathrooms have fans.  I am a big fan of bathroom fans.






B's bathroom:

We used the same tile and accent for all the upstairs bathrooms.

B's bathroom is the jack and jill bathroom between her and J's room.  It is officially a girls' bathroom.  He and S use the hall room or boys' bathroom.  Above is her new deep soak tub.

Here's the other side of the tiny bathroom.  Her new cabinet and counter.  She's got a towel ring to dry her hands.  Before she used a thumbtack and an old bangle.  I am not kidding.  So this is an upgrade.  She got a new toilet too.  Her toilet was forever flooding.  Worst toilet ever.

She got a fancy faucet.

She also got two mirrors.  The side one is a medicine cabinet as well AND it has this extra magnifying make up mirror inside!  B loves theater and helps with make up backstage at the community theater.  Make up is her thing.

I look like my mother from the eyebrows up.

You can get an idea of B's color scheme in the picture below.  Rick had new wooden doors installed too.  Before they were cheapo hollow doors.  These doors are nice and solid.

Now to the boys/hall bathroom.  This bathroom probably didn't need all the renovations.  The old, all white, builders grade tile was cracked though, so we decided since we were doing every other bathroom, we'd do this one too.

Lighting isn't good here, but you can see same counter, cabinet, etc.

The boys didn't get a deep soak tub.  Instead they got a glass shower door and a handheld shower.  I don't know why but they thought that was cool.

Not included here are the photos of the master bathroom.  I posted about that a couple months ago.  And we got new counters for the kitchen at the same time.

I can't wait to get rid of the horribly stained carpets upstairs.  

It is such a relief to know workmen aren't going to show up every morning at 8.  No stepping around them to use the bathroom or having them tell us they are turning the water or the electricity off.  No more getting up every morning and moving my minivan out of the garage so they can pull there trucks up.  No more stuff stashed in the living room and garage.  I mean the workmen had to do all that stuff.  But still it was hard to concentrate with the noise and disruption.  I am very happy it is finally over.  It cost us an arm and a leg but it was something that really needed to be done.