Yo, zaadies, we're just back from the KC Irish Fest. Has anyone a good hangover remedy? I'm getting a wee bit long in the tooth for this kind of revelling...

Some of my new friends and co-festival goers...in all probability   ;o)

(picture: Ron Paul supporters)

Here's a place for the Ron Paul supporters to "vote" for their favorite likely VP to go all the way to the White House along with Doctor No. The Ron Paul VP Derby poll

It's cool because you can vote in gradients, 1 to 5 to show how much you like the person as a VP possibility.

Enjoy!

"If elected, Dennis Kucinich and/or Ron Paul would have my personal protection. I'd gladly lay down my life in the service of my nation in protecting these two patriots of Peace and Understanding, even from opposite political viewpoints. "
                                comment by YouTube member auraldanger

Ron Paul: Our Power, Our Responsibility

Chris Floyd over at Empire Burlesque has written a real gem of a piece (Post-Mortem America: Bush's Year of Triumph and the Hard Way Ahead) on the direness of our current straits. The elucidation of The Shadow Government (and by that I mean the SHADOW in Jungian terms, the unacknowledged dark side which every person, family, corporation and nation has) is getting much clearer.  The fear and anger that exposing the Shadow is stirring among people is certain to bring some good things. Out, out, out into the light! Out the closeted dictators, the fag-hating gay congressmen, the subprime loan sharks, the secret rendition torturers, the father-knows-best psychopaths running the show. Out 'em all.  And then chose a course of action which makes life better. 

For a while, maybe years, making things better might consist of outing the creeps. But at some point, some point real soon, the task becomes building a parallel universe/country/reality which subsumes their twisted darkness with Light (light of truth, light of reason, light of Christ, light of the crown chakra - cosmic LIGHT). And let's rescue darkness while we're at it, healing and restoring the darkness: the wondrous darkness of a deep meditation, of a sound restorative sleep,  of the soul's dark night to its honored place, the darkness of a summer night (no more light pollution!) and the darkness of the fertile womb, where wondrous things grow to perfection.

In the meantime, know there was never a better time to pray, meditate and do almsgiving. Never was there a better time to cherish the dear mute things, the animals, the trees, the babies and the feeble ancient elders. Protect the innocent with your pronoia and your faith. Heal your own shadow and that of your family.  Now is the time for the world to change. We are it. Be the change.

Dedicated to the men and women of the armed forces. Until you are all home again, prayers, love and devotion. Protect The Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign or domestic...

Peace.

Calm Eagle

POMO MEDICINE WOMAN ESSIE PARRISH

From the Creative Minority Report, a story about some pastor who was fired from a hospital for ending a prayer with the name Jesus. I am not making this up!    Once they've rejected Buddha, Jesus, Allah, Jehovah, Krishna, Isis, Mary, Set, Frida, Thor, Ya-kah-ba-dee and Wakantanka, how is heaven's name do they expect their patients to ever get well? What a lot of spiritually dead morons modernists have turned out to be.

In the natural world here in the North American middle west, autumn is a great sigh of relief after the "dog days" of summer, where the heat and the humidity match each other somewhere in the mid-nineties, producing a phenomenon known to meteorologists as the"heat index."  The heat index usually comes out at least five degrees hotter than the nominal temperature, leaving men, women, children, dogs, birds, trees, flowers, grass and even the chirpy clattering bugs of late summer ill-tempered, thirsty and drowsy.  Vaguely  patriotic attempts to use less energy on air conditioning mean we don't even turn it on until it gets over 80 degrees farenheit indoors,  which of course means that whoever is cooking something is in near- 90 degrees.  It's easy to see why Seattle, Portland and San Francisco are America's greenest cities, since they are blessed with a God-given outdoor natural air conditioning.

We are finally getting to the first cooler days of autumn, with highs in the 60's and low 70's and lows inthe 50's. And it seems that everyone, I mean everyone, can finally relax. THIS is what we've been waiting for: a night that requires a light blanket or a pair of PJ's. We want it. We greet it like a lover greets his bride or a fox greets his burrow, where the dogs of summer cannot come.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tomorrow, of course, is the 6th anniversary of a hugely criminal act (the attacks of 9/11)which has resulted in ever more hugely criminal acts. The insanity of this long train of events has it's roots as do so many things, in an inability of humanity to live by the Golden Rule. Wiser heads than mine have said this about it all, and this. Tomorrow I will light candles, go to church and pray for sense, for calm and for peace.  And everybody, just know this, there's nobody here but us, and we are all related. Stop the hate. Stop the kililng. Stop the insanity.

Lady Liberty

Pope Colbert the First

Good essay over at InsideCatholic by Thomas Woods on why he's a Catholic Libertarian. 
QUOTE
It's not always easy these days to tell which of our two major political parties is the Stupid Party and which the Evil Party. But it remains true, as a conservative wag once said, that from time to time the parties collaborate on something that's both stupid and evil and call it bipartisanship.   Although I have no connection to the Libertarian Party, I've long been associated with small-l libertarianism. By the time I was finishing college, I found I could no longer be a cheerleader for the Republican Party, so much of my political evolution involves my disillusionment with the GOP.
UNQUOTE

I find this interesting becasue I can say pretty much the same, except in my case I have found over the years that I can no longer be a cheerleader for the Democrats and then later realized the same about the Republicans. Woods is right, what we REALLY need is an enlightened alternative to the Republicrats.

Perhaps a deeper and more searing question would be (and one on my husband's mind since I returned to the Roman Catholic Church via the Byzantine Rite this past February)
"why am I Catholic?".  I need to ruminate some on that, but for now the short answer is this:
I have returned to the Church, being Orthodox-in-union-with-Rome because I agree with Stephen Colbert:  "And though I am a committed Christian, I believe that everyone has the right to their own religion, be you Hindu, Jewish or Muslim. I believe there are infinite paths to accepting Jesus Christ as your personal savior."  I've also heard Colbert say that all religions are equal: they're tied for second place behind Catholicism.   :P
Here's one for the record, Stephen Colbert hauling out the entire Nicence Creed on national TV. Awesome.

I'll expand on this at a later date...

Economic news, usually soooo boring that  nobody but a few compulsive finance wonks care to pursue it, just may get your attention this week. Uh huh, it really might.

QUOTE

There is a term in finance called "moral hazard." It refers to policies and practices that reward wrong doing by banker and investors instead of allowing them to suffer their losses in the win-lose environment of the rigged casino that we refer to as markets. UNQUOTE

The Brits have their economic knickers in a twist:

QUOTE
US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson flies in to London tomorrow to discuss the worsening global credit crisis with Chancellor Alistair Darling, as fears intensify that the lending squeeze could be the last straw for Britain's buy-now-pay-later economy.  UNQUOTE

AMERICA's chieftan of finance, Alan Greenspan, has shaken up the White House by declaring unequivocally that the prime motive for the war in Iraq was oil.  Come on, Alan, go ahead and say it -  that Afghanistan was about opium.  And the "War on Terror" is about stripping Americans of their freedoms, their rights and their unique identity.   You're so close, just say it!  Greenspan's getting on in years, and maybe knows he's likely to meet Jesus some day soon. Best to come clean a bit first.  Standing before the judgement seat and all that...

What kind of nonsense is this, anyway? Perfectly sensible citizens finding their party of origin (Republican Democrat, Libertarian, Green or "Other") yawningly, achingly B-O-R-I-N-G
and the level of integrity, awareness and consciousness mind-numbingly LOW, coarse and materialistic. Doing something about it, trying to anyway. Standing with signs on a street corner.

Along comes this simple country doctor who tells it like it is, always has, always will. Who doesn't ask for your money, your guns, your soul, total agreement with him or his rejection, or your compromises. He just asks for a return to basics and doing better. Because when we all do better, we all do better.

QUOTE

Those on the political right, in business and corporate culture, and in the Libertarian camp have been

brilliant at creating theoretical, ideological justifications asserting the efficiency, moral superiority, and

even (supposedly) spiritual benefits of property-based capitalism. Those same groups have worked even

harder to argue that socialism violates all those tenets, suggesting that it is economically, morally, and

spiritually wrong. These arguments have been largely embraced by Americans, in part because of the

myth of individual freedom to do whatever the hell one wants, regardless of the consequences to others,

and in part because of the lure of The American Dream, where (supposedly) anyone can strike it rich.

God forbid that we should take away your one-in-ten-million chance of winning the lottery! The welfare

state of the mid-20th century is not gone, however, it's just that corporations are the beneficiaries now

rather than individuals and families.

What I want to know is this: What the hell's wrong with these people? Have they been body-snatched and

replaced by pods from outer space? Do they not understand the simple, elegant truth that "When we all do

better, we all do better"? Obviously not. It's all "I got mine, and I want more. In fact, I want everything." UNQUOTE

What a breath of fresh air.

Ron Paul For President.

Our little group helps out the good doctor:

I'll be home soon
jet lagged and grubby...

travel is crazy anymore

what ever happened to a white linen covered table with a single red rose in a dining car
as the scenery unfolds outside the train like a nature film?  I want it back...

I have always loved this day which, unremarked by most of the modern world, celebrates Michael the Archangel. I love everything about it, the fabbo weather, the Michaelmas daisies flaming royal purple in my garden, the medieval processions, the smell of baking Michaelmas breads and the bright angel himself, so bold, so swift, so brave.  Who is like unto God? is the meaning of his name.

Michael The Victorious from the Carmina Gaedelica

Archangel Michael

 

THOU Michael the victorious,
I make my circuit under thy shield,
Thou Michael of the white steed,
And of the bright brilliant blades,
Conqueror of the dragon,
Be thou at my back,
Thou ranger of the heavens,
Thou warrior of the King of all,
     O Michael the victorious,
     My pride and my guide,
     O Michael the victorious,
     The glory of mine eye.

In case you haven't yet discovered that the internet can contain wit, elegance and old-school sharp thought, do yourself a favor and toddle on over to Taki's Top Drawer. I just read John Zmirak's lighthearted and reverent celebration of Francis of Assisi (Flogging Brother Ass)over there. It is also home to true patriot Justin Raimondo, whose political mind keeps me up-to-date on current events better than a dozen newspapers, Drudge and MSNBC combined.