It's Punday

Yea I know "Coincidences are spiritual puns" but these are fun to tell at parties:

1. The fattest knight at King Arthur’s round table was Sir Cumference. He acquired his size from too much pi.

2. I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian .

3. She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4. A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because it was a weapon of math disruption.

5. No matter how much you push the envelope, it’ll still be stationery.

6. A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

7. A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.

8. Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

9. A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are looking into it.

10. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11. Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

12. Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said to the other: ‘You stay here; I’ll go on a head.’

13. I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

14. A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: ‘Keep off the Grass.’

15. The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.

16. The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.

17. A backward poet writes inverse.

18. In a democracy it’s your vote that counts. In feudalism it’s your count
that votes.

19. When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

20. If you jumped off the bridge in Paris , you’d be in Seine .

21. A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. The stewardess looks at him and says, ‘I’m sorry, sir, only one carrion allowed per passenger.’

22. Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says ‘Dam!’

23. Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in the craft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can’t have your kayak and heat it too.

24. Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, ‘I’ve lost my electron.’ The other says ‘Are you sure?’ The first replies, ‘Yes, I’m positive.’

25. Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal? His goal: transcend dental medication.

26. There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope that at least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

Head in the Clouds

If you are looking for a cool dissertation paper for your masters work in theology do a study on clouds in the bible. From today’s mass reading:

Ex 40:16-21, 34-38

Then the cloud covered the meeting tent,

and the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling.

Moses could not enter the meeting tent,

because the cloud settled down upon it

and the glory of the LORD filled the Dwelling.

Whenever the cloud rose from the Dwelling,

the children of Israel would set out on their journey.

But if the cloud did not lift, they would not go forward;

only when it lifted did they go forward.

In the daytime the cloud of the LORD was seen over the Dwelling;

whereas at night, fire was seen in the cloud

by the whole house of Israel

in all the stages of their journey.

In both the old and new testaments clouds abound and are usually mentioned as God’s mode of transportation-His hover craft if you will or as the place where He best liked to play peek-a-boo when talking with humans.

As Chesterton said “There are no rules of architecture for a castle in the clouds.” so maybe that’s why God hung out in them.

for the rest of us there is The Cloud Appreciation Society. Wonder around on thier site it is all very pleasant.

On the left coast the people voted against same-sex marriage and now the legislator is trying to overturn that vote. On the right coast the legislator said yes to same-sex marriage and the people are working to put a measure on the 2015 ballot to define marriage as the union of one man and one woman. This is why we will ultimately lose. It is a bad definition it is heavy on the what but lacks the why. With the given definition what difference does it make to replace the nouns or the numbers. And by waiting until 2015 there will be 4 years of same-sex marriage - enough time to make it look safe and not enough time to see the damage.

What if they added to the ballot definition, ' for the procreation, protection and education of children'.

We are now full into the time Chesterton called a place where we can talk about anything but can't talk about everything an age of "efficiency" or "politics for politics sake." I have yet to hear one politian explain to the people the why of traditional marriage or the PHILOSPHY of marriage. Stop and think for a moment, today when we use the word marriage we always need to use the qualifier traditional. That means there can be an untraditional marriage and still be a marriage. Just note the fact that many writers are putting the word marriage within quotation marks these days.

"For the Christian dogmatists were trying to establish a reign of holiness, and trying to get defined, first of all, what was really holy. But our modern educationists are trying to bring about a religious liberty without attempting to settle what is religion or what is liberty. If the old priests forced a statement on mankind, at least they previously took some trouble to make it lucid. It has been left for the modern mobs of Anglicans and Nonconformists to persecute for a doctrine without even stating it..." GKC (Heretics)

It begins with, "What could it hurt?" and ends with, "How were we to know?"

"...Suppose that a great commotion arises in the street about something, let us say a lamp-post, which many influential persons desire to pull down. A grey-clad monk, who is the spirit of the Middle Ages, is approached upon the matter, and begins to say, in the arid manner of the Schoolmen, "Let us first of all consider, my brethren, the value of Light. If Light be in itself good—" At this point he is somewhat excusably knocked down. All the people make a rush for the lamp-post, the lamp-post is down in ten minutes, and they go about congratulating each other on their unmediaeval practicality. But as things go on they do not work out so easily. Some people have pulled the lamp-post down because they wanted the electric light; some because they wanted old iron; some because they wanted darkness, because their deeds were evil. Some thought it not enough of a lamp-post, some too much; some acted because they wanted to smash municipal machinery; some because they wanted to smash something. And there is war in the night, no man knowing whom he strikes. So, gradually and inevitably, to-day, to-morrow, or the next day, there comes back the conviction that the monk was right after all, and that all depends on what is the philosophy of Light. Only what we might have discussed under the gas-lamp, we now must discuss in the dark." GKC (Heretics)

As Chuck Asay notes in his cartoon (above) same-sex “marriage” is a dead end. Same-sex “marriage” is not marriage; it is an exercise in frivolity. At best, a same-sex union can produce entertainment.

(and I have no idea why everything is underlined)

Happy Birthday, Hilaire Belloc

(Above: Shaw, Belloc, and Chesterton.)

Today is the birthday of Joseph Hilaire Pierre Belloc, born in 1870 to a French father and an English mother. He and GKC became such good friends and allies that they became known as the "Chesterbelloc."

As a young child he lived in France, but was sent to Cardinal John Henry's Newmany Oratory School in England, then studied at Balliol College, graduating in 1895 with a first class honors in history.

Belloc's first book, The Bad Child's Book of Beasts, was published in 1896, the same year he married Elodie Hogan. He wrote about a variety of topics which include French and British history, military strategy, satire, comic and serious verse, literary criticism, travel, and religious, political and social commentary. In 1902, Belloc wrote his most famous work, "Path to Rome", which described a one-man pilgrimage to the Holy City.

Belloc was also interested in politics and was elected to Parliament in 1906 and 1910. However, he left politics in order to start a new political review called Eye-Witness with G.K. and Cecil Chesteron. In the review the three of them attacked the English governmental system. Belloc, who revered Napoleon's efforts, worked to promote a unified Europe. He, along with GKC, also promoted Distributism

His life was filled with tragedy. Belloc's wife died in 1914 and his son Louis was killed in 1918 in World War I. His good friend Chesterton died in 1936. In 1941, Belloc's other son Peter died in World War II, and Belloc suffered a severe stroke in 1942 which ended his literary work. He died in 1953.

I leave with one of his sunny verses.

The Catholic Sun Wherever the Catholic sun doth shine There's always laughter and good red wine. At least I've always found it so. Benedicamus Domino!

Sun Burnt Memories

I cannot remember which is correct: 'No sane mane would take a baby camping' or is it 'Only a sane man could take a baby camping'. Needless to say we took babies on this trip and they were wonderful to have along. We knew they would limit the activities we could all do together so we worked out an adult tag team method so we all could do stuff.

However the heat wave blitz swept down upon us the morning of the first day and fried our plans of highly physical activities. So our schedule was changed to this - breakfast and go to the lake - lunch and go to the lake - dinner and sit in the shade till the sun went down or go to the lake.

We would all move around in a clump in cool lake water floating the babies between us broken only by short breaks of naps in the shade. My toes are still wrinkled.

We had a great time.

Smuggling in Chesterton

I've been hired to teach English at a local Catholic high school.

One of the classes I'll be teaching writing one - as in creative writing. My department head said it was up to me how I wanted to structure the course, and what works I wanted to include.

I'm adding a personal essay component - and one of the essays I intend to look at (before sending the students off to write) is Chesterton's "A Piece of Chalk."

Who knows what else I can sneak in! Maybe a Fr. Brown story ... or "Lepanto?"

To The Woods!

“I’m bored.”, a phrase uttered by every child at least once a day during the summer. How many of us teachers out there have not heard the phrase, “This is so booooring. Why do I have to learn this stuff.”

“The universal, or approximately universal, opinion in these days is that the unpardonable sin is to be a bore. This is a profound error. If this awful phraseology is to be used at all, it may be safely said that the unpardonable sin is being bored. “– G.K. Chesterton, “A Defense of Bores”

According to the Etymology Dictionary the word boredom, in its current usage, started in 1852. The date corresponds with the fiery start of the second industrial revolution.

Interesting that man became bored when things were happening to make his life easier and 'more free'. Now with all our blinking, singing, dinging and whirling toys we are more bored than ever.

My children, grand children and I are headed for our annual summer camping trip-away from the plug in toys. No one is ever bored kicking a stone, baiting a hook or sitting around a campfire.

Scientists have finally demonstrated that sex is useful. I can't tell you how relieved I am.

Move Along. There Is Nothing To See Here.

At the conclusion of Tom Wolfe’s book THE PAINTED WORD he summarized his theory and made a prediction:

"Hilton Kramer, lets slip the admission: “Frankly, these days, without a theory to go with it, I can’t see a painting”.

“LETS SLIP,” AS I SAY. WE NOW KNOW, OF COURSE, that his words describe the actual state of affairs for tout le monde in Cultureburg; but it is not the sort of thing that one states openly. Any orthodox critic, such as Kramer, is bound to defend the idea that a work of art can speak for itself. Thus in December 1974 he attacked the curators of the Metropolitan Museum’s exhibition “The Impressionist Epoch” for putting big historical notes up on the wall beside the great masterworks of the Impressionists. But why? What an opportunity he missed! If only he could have drawn upon the wisdom of his unconscious! Have the courage of your secret heart, Hilton! Tell them they should have made the copy blocks bigger!—and reduced all those Manets, Monets, and Renoirs to the size of wildlife stamps!

"Twenty-five years from now, that will not seem like such a facetious idea. I am willing (now that so much has been revealed!) to predict that in the year 2000, when the Metropolitan or the Museum of Modern Art puts on the great retrospective exhibition of American Art 1945-75, the three artists who will be featured, the three seminal figures of the era, will be not Pollock, de Kooning, and Johns—but Greenberg, Rosenberg, and Steinberg. Up on the walls will be huge copy blocks, eight and a half by eleven feet each, presenting the protean passages of the period . . . a little “fuliginous flatness” here . . . a little “action painting” there . . . and some of that “all great art is about art” just beyond. Beside them will be small reproductions of the work of leading illustrators of the Word from that period, such as Johns, Louis, Noland, Stella, and Olitski. (Pollock and de Kooning will have a somewhat higher status, although by no means a major one, because of the more symbiotic relationship they were fortunate enough to enjoy with the great Artists of the Word.)"

He was close. It took thirty years for this to reach full fruition. Where words are not only larger than the works of art they explain they completely replace the art. Please don’t be confused, this is not “word art” the words still just describe the art it is just that the art does not REALLY exist.

The Museum of Non-Visible Art, or MONA, is a joint collaboration between art collective Praxis and actor James Franco. The museum, which doesn’t actually exist, features invisible art pieces, which also don’t exist, that can nevertheless be purchased with cash - which does exist. MONA art pieces currently on “exhibit” include imaginary sculptures, invisible garments and even a hypothetical Franco short film.

Yes, they are serious.

Corinth anyone?

The International Planned Parenthood Federation released two new publications on abortion and sexual rights for youth. The new documents are the latest part of the organization’s larger campaign targeted at teenagers and older children.

'The sexual rights guide “Exclaim!” calls for a cornucopia of sexuality and gender protections and entitlements under the guise of international law. “Governments must respect, protect and fulfill all sexual rights for young people,” the publication states.' It says protect and fulfill sexual rights. Sexual rights mean the right to have sex so if the government is to fulfill that right will it have to get into the prostitution buisness? The report does not say.

As Chesterton said, "Once abolish the God and the government becomes the God." so think if this “plan” goes through we will have to set up a new cabinet seat - “The Department of Aphrodite Pleasure”. As every town now has postal service will they have to have ‘temple prostitutes’ as well?

Movie finds an answer through Chesterton

The director of Bruce Almighty, Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, and more had a serious accident that set him off exploring the question, "What's wrong with our world?" The title of the resulting documentary (and the answer) come from Chesterton: "I am."

I'm going to look for it. I hope is comes to my town.

Funny place to find Uncle Gilbert

A recent donation to the library of congress puts a new spin on an issue considered long settled - a Flat Earth Map. In 1893 Orlando Ferguson created a map of the Earth that, he claimed, reconciled biblical (note the angel reference from Revelation 7:1) and scientific knowledge.

The map depicts the Earth as a giant square slab with a dimpled upper surface - an inverse torpoid for you math majors out there.

This is great news for the Flat Earth Society cause no one really liked their map.

The Society aims are simple:

1. To restore humanity’s faith in Common Sense. Seeing is believing. For hundreds of years humankind has been blinded by metaphysics, brainwashed by popular fallacies and bullied into denying the evidence of one’s own sense. The Flat Earth Society stands for a renewed faith in the basic truth of sense experience.

2. To combat the fallacious deification of the sphere which, ever since the sly deception of Pythagoras, has warped western thought.

3. To spearhead humankind’s escape from his/her metaphysical and geometrical prison by asserting that science, like philosophy and religion, is ultimately metaphorical and therefore that reality as we verbalize it isultimately metaphorical, and therefore that realtiy as we verbalize it is essentially mystical and poetical.

George Bernard Shaw was a member of the group (really?) they also infer that G. K. Chesterton was a member by quoting him on their membership application:

G.K. Chesterton: “A man should always question the strongest convictions of his age, for those convictions are invariably too strong.”

If it is good enough for uncle Gilbert you can count be in. I would love to see Dale Ahlquist's response to this. I think he should devote a show on it.

Oh yea, people don't fall off the Earth because of Intelligent Pulling, not gravity.

Small thoughts on the 4th

"The Declaration of Independence dogmatically bases all rights on the fact that God created all men equal; and it is right; for if they were not created equal, they were certainly evolved unequal. There is no basis for democracy except in a dogma about the divine origin of man." - G. K. Chesterton

The Mayflower compact is a small document that no longer appears in school history text books maybe it is because it mentions God a whole bunch or it advocates small government is anyone's guess. In case you have never seen it here it is:

"In the name of God, Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the Loyal Subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord, King James, by the Grace of God, of England, France and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, e&. Having undertaken for the Glory of God, and Advancement of the Christian Faith, and the Honour of our King and Country, a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia; do by these presents, solemnly and mutually in the Presence of God and one of another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil Body Politick, for our better Ordering and Preservation, and Furtherance of the Ends aforesaid; And by Virtue hereof to enact, constitute, and frame, such just and equal Laws, Ordinances, Acts, Constitutions and Offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the General good of the Colony; unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In Witness whereof we have hereunto subscribed our names at Cape Cod the eleventh of November, in the Reign of our Sovereign Lord, King James of England, France and Ireland, the eighteenth, and of Scotland the fifty-fourth. Anno Domini, 1620."

A little document that set the ball rolling for the Declaration Of Independence. Both documents base our government on a Christian ideal. Today we are working to erase that original ideal to a secular one. But if we are not governed within by God we must therefore be Governed without by Government.

As Robert Winthrop said in 1849, "All societies of men must be governed in some way or other. The less they may have of stringent State Government, the more they must have of individual self-government. The less they rely on public law or physical force, the more they must rely on private moral restraint. Men, in a word, must necessarily be controlled, either by a power within them, or by a power without them; either by the Word of God, or by the strong arm of man; either by the Bible, or by the bayonet. It may do for other countries and other governments to talk about the State supporting religion. Here, under our own free institutions, it is Religion which must support the State.

Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration of Independence said. "[T]he only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be aid in religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments. Without religion, I believe that learning does real mischief to the morals and principles of mankind."

Benedictus XVI makes a TWEET.

Launching a new web page: news.va where you can get the latest news from the Vatican.

Oh yea, he also celebrates his 60th anniversary as priest today.

Daily meditations by Pope Benidict XVI in english.

Very Cool.

Go Ask Alice

On Yahoo news you might have seen the blurb called ‘No 'him' or 'her'; preschool fights gender bias’. A little story about a preschool in Stockholm that does not use gender specific language or toys or I suppose bathrooms.

All this is done, of course, in the name of equality. I know many of you are shaking your heads thinking those crazy Swedes and you might even be afraid to read the article knowing that with each step in you will get closer to having your head explode from the onslaught of absurdity. However there was line in the story where the loony grenade went off in their hands. To show how right thinking they are they mentioned a book where you do not need a mommy and daddy just two caring adults, "From a bookcase she pulls out a story about two male giraffes who are sad to be childless — until they come across an abandoned crocodile egg."

I do not know this book but all I could think of was when that crocodile grows up it will eat its parents.

Maybe I'm just projecting reality on to the situation which will always get you twisted up.

"When logic and proportion
Have fallen sloppy dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's "off with her head!"
Remember what the dormouse said;
'Keep YOUR HEAD'."

Another note on Fr Corapi

When I first heard about the problems Fr. Corapi was having I was shocked but not surprised. I had heard several of his talks about the possibility of this kind of thing happening to him as it has to other priests. Is it possible that the allegations are true - yes it is possible. However there was one allegation that did not ring true to me and that was his "occasional" drug use.

In his own story Fr Corapi admits of his previous drug use. He was an addict spending everything he had for a fix. In my work with junkies there are a few things that are always true. The first is the habit can be beaten but they are always and forever a junkie. It is impossible to go back to occasional use and when they do fall off the wagon it is always back to the drug of choice. Just like an alcoholic can never become a social drinker nor switch to crack, a crack junkie can not do an occasional line nor swith to whiskey.

There is another thing about junkies and that is the personality trait that made them addicts in the first place does not go away. So they do sometimes trade a hard drug for a hard philosophy. The field of social work and counseling is filled with ex-junkies. Some make the trade to bodybuilding, or drive harder back into their pervious profession or become Jesus freaks.

Fr Corapi had traded his drug habit for the priesthood and he had become a fame junkie so it did not take long for Fr. Corapi to go into full withdrawal when the scandal broke. After the attack all of his media outlets, except his website, were cut off to him. In one of his talks he had mentioned that if this kind of allegation happened to him he would just spend more time with his dogs and do a lot more fishing. His addictive personality could not let him do that.

His withdrawal first manifested itself in an attack on his accuser all over his web site. "Not my fault!" - "I was framed" - "She is unbalanced." This at first,for me, seemed way out of character until I remembered that for junkies it is never their fault and everyone is out to get them. And I knew then he was in deep spiritual trouble.

Then there was silence from him and I thought he was going to work through the process. Yes, the process is deeply flawed and one that fully states you are guilty until proven innocent and in time it will correct itself until then we just have to suck it up.

This past week Fr. Corapi has said he is leaving the priesthood. He said it in a whining-burn your bridges sort of way. Now not only is his accuser unbalanced his Bishop seems to be too. Here I was both shocked and surprised. In his many talks about Spiritual Warfare he has stated correctly that the devil attacks the priesthood because if there is no priest there is no Eucharist and no Eucharist no power. Yes, in some of his talks he made stuff up or exaggerated events of his past I forgave him those because they were stories used to high light a theological truth. The substance of those talks were true then and are true forever what he is doing now does not change that. He has just been overpowered and beaten by Satan and it is for that reason I pray for Fr. John Corapi.

There are two many examples from the saints that have gone through a beat down that Fr. should have modeled but no... he turned and walked away. Again that's what junkies do.

He now says that through his new Black Sheep Dog program he will be able to reach more people with his message, (note: it is now his message not Jesus'). I do not know how this will happen since EWTN gave him a world stage. Maybe he will become a radio talk show host or FOX news will make him a commentator all I know is that fame junkies do not end well. Maybe he needs to go through that fall again to get back on the right path.

"But for the Grace of God there go I."

lets play

Table Gype can now be played for free online at BoardGameArena.com!

Clerihews in Gilbert Magazine

The March/April issue of Gilbert Magazine just arrived (never mind that it's now June!), and it contained several of my clerihews.

Perhaps the editors have lowered their standards!

Lot's wife
ended her life
when she came to a halt
and proved her salt.

In his early life Thomas Merton
was often uncertain.
He ended his consternation
through contemplation.

Vladimir Kosma Zworykin
helped to make possible television.
His contribution to that form of mass media
is why he's one of the last entries in our encyclopedia

e (cummings) e
tYpog(plays)raphy
(poet)surpri(ic)sinG imagery,paren
theses—(games)w or d sb ro k en

Anne Rice
found a pearl of great price.
But she had to make money first
dwelling on an unnatural thirst.

Prolific Stephen King
can make horror out of anything.
His wife fears what he'd do
if he tried to barbecue.

Ah, fame.

Of course, payment consists of the satisfaction of seeing my name in print and being part of that fine publication (subscribe if you don't already!).

I won't quit my day job.

Israel Gow on radio?

A local (Rochester NY) radio production of "The Honour of Israel Gow" may be in the works.

The script is currently being developed - in conjustion with the head of the local Chesterton Society and local Catholic radio.

As I get mdore details, I'll post more information. But it is exciting to learn of a chance for GKC's writing to reach a new and wider audience.

Breaking News

I have been trying to get deep into lent and especially Holy Week but this news was worth lifting my head for and sharing with all you Chesterton nuts.

Paul Novak’s Table Gype won the MENSA Select award for 2011!
And in the second edition the packaging has been improved as well as wooded game pieces – no longer will “some assembly be required”

If you have yet to get yours now is the time.

Pope Clerihew

When Alexander Pope
slipped on a bar of soap
the couplet he muttered was neither stoic
nor heroic.

Philosophy matters

John Paul II sums up the inventible out come of the European existential world view:

"At the root of this loss of hope is an attempt to promote a vision of man apart from God and apart from Christ. This sort of thinking has led to man being considered as 'the absolute center of reality which makes him occupy — falsely — the place of God and which forgets that it is not man who creates God, but rather God who creates man. Forgetfulness of God led to the abandonment of man.' It is therefore no wonder that in this context a vast field has opened for the unrestrained development of nihilism in philosophy, of relativism in values and morality, and of pragmatism — and even cynical hedonism — in daily life. European culture gives the impression of 'silent apostasy' on the part of people who have all that they need and who live as if God does not exist."

But then JP2 is a phenomenologist so he concludes

"Be confident! In the Gospel which is Jesus, you will find the sure and lasting hope to which you aspire. This hope is grounded in the victory of Christ over sin and death. He wishes this victory to be your own, for your salvation and your joy.
"Be certain! The Gospel of hope does not disappoint! Throughout the vicissitudes of your history, yesterday and today, it is the light which illumines and directs your way; it is the strength which sustains you in trials; it is the prophecy of a new world; it is the sign of a new beginning; it is the invitation to everyone to blaze new trails in order to make the continent a true common home filled with the joy of life."

Mussolini clerihew

We don't know if Benito Mussolini
ever wore a bikini,
but there are reports he once sang a song
while wearing a thong.

Who doesn't love a good haunted guitar song.
The Guitar by Guy Clark

Chesterton Sighting: Among Humorists

I was at the library when I spotted a book by Paul Johnson called Humorists: From Hogarth to Noel Coward. The title alone attracted me, but I would probably have passed it by, except on the cover among the list of the "humorists" was ... G.K. Chesterton.

Okay, I had to take it out. He refers to Chesterton as "A Living, Talking Gargoyle," and begins the chapter on GKC with "It is hard to think of Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-1936) without laughing. Or I find so."

He points out that Chesterton found humor in even serious subjects: "GKC never regarded humor as inappropriate, intrusive, or out of place. On the contrary. It was, or should be, welcome always and everywhere, especially in religious discussion."

He gives some background on GKC, noting that like many of his generation he could have become just another "aimless bohemian," but "He was saved by marriage, his wife, Frances, being a sensible and practical person."

I agree with that conclusion. Frances was a gift from God.

Johnson does raise the rumors about the marriage being unconsummated - I find in many of the other chapters in the book he also tends to wander into matters of sexuality - but questions that assumption and argues that it may just be a way GKC's enemies to attack him.

He goes on to provide some interesting (though familiar) insights about Chesterton as a humorist.

The book is clearly intended for folks who might not be familiar with the writings and humor of Chesterton, or who perhaps have not analyzed the humor of some of the other featured humorists (Benjamin Franklin, Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers, James Thurber, and Charlie Chaplin being among some of the others).

If you spot it, check out what he has to say about Chesterton. It's worth the read - and it's a quick read.

Pinetop Perkins goes home at 97 and he still had 20 gigs booked for this year. Boy, that man could play.

The Strange Music by G. K. Chesterton

Other loves may sink and settle, other loves may loose and slack,
But I wander like a minstrel with a harp upon his back,
Though the harp be on my bosom, though I finger and I fret,
Still, my hope is all before me: for I cannot play it yet.

In your strings is hid a music that no hand hath e'er let fall,
In your soul is sealed a pleasure that you have not known at all;
Pleasure subtle as your spirit, strange and slender as your frame,
Fiercer than the pain that folds you, softer than your sorrow's name.

Not as mine, my soul's annointed, not as mine the rude and light
Easy mirth of many faces, swaggering pride of song and fight;
Something stranger, something sweeter, something waiting you afar,
Secret as your stricken senses, magic as your sorrows are.

But on this, God's harp supernal, stretched but to be stricken once,
Hoary time is a beginner, Life a bungler, Death a dunce.
But I will not fear to match them-no, by God, I will not fear,
I will learn you, I will play you and the stars stand still to hear.

There is much talk these days about what is happening in several states about striping teacher unions of their collective bargaining rights. The balance of power between labor and management is a volatile one each side feels the other is taking too much. All states are now facing budget problems states do not produce anything they take and distribute they cannot crank up production to give more they can only take more but there is no more to take. On average 90% of each state’s budget is spent on three things: Education, Medication and Incarceration. They won’t cut medication because that would make them seem heartless and they won’t attack incarceration because that would make them look soft on crime, also both of those programs have many and very strong voters. So they attack education. This is principally the fault of the teachers unions. They have always thought of themselves as invincible and as such have done a very poor job of PR.

Their saying has always been, “It’s for the kids.” now for so many that saying rings hollow. It seems that every voting cycle there is a tax on the ballot for the schools yet test scores are dropping, the number of those going on to college is dropping, school violence is rising - yes by most accounts our schools are failing. True, the percentage of “bad” teachers is below the average of any public industry but the only news we get is from those bad ones. The unions have not spent the energy to publicize the successes.

The education field is hurt because they have taken on the job of parenting, a job they are not equipped for and will always fail at. A village cannot raise a child. At one teachers meeting, I was at, the principal told us we need to find more ways to get the parents involved. My question was, “Why would we want to do that”? No one had an answer. The last thing any teacher wants is being kibitzed by a parent because they do not care about your classroom they only care about their child. As one parent told/demanded of me was that her child needed more individual attention and it was useless to tell her that I have a 40 min class with 30 kids so he will just have to wait his turn to get more than his one minute. I am sure the reason this edict came down for on high was to improve public relations but they did not have the mental tools to complete this program – we are teachers not sales and marketing people.

Also schools are now all teaching to the test. Overall test score are linked to federal dollars. Teachers are no longer given the freedom to follow a train of inquiry. The new merit pay program for teachers will be linked to test results. Schools will become more and more like Dilbert factories that put out defective product.

The attack on unions will not improve education only save money. Lower salaries will not attract quality people but attract more like the one I knew who said, “I only teach to get money for my clothing budget.”

Good game for the first day of spring

Its Monday the first day of Spring so who wants to work.

Imagine for a moment you're a baby plant - a seed. Depending on the choices your make, your life could go in any direction. You could grow into a beautiful rose or a Venus fly trap. You could get eaten by a bird or crushed by a bowling ball. You might even find yourself babysitting a chorus of giggling baby broccoli florets.

Such is life.

Gameplay: Not so much a game as a series of decisions. Transfer those decisions from your thinker to your computer via the click of your mouse.

Recommended for: Anyone currently circling the circle of life.

Play HERE

PLANNED PARENTHOOD LIES AGAIN

Somehow I don't think they will really correct the problem - and will continue to deceive.

Ultimate Loyalty: Japanese Dog Stays With Injured Friend

One of the reasons I love dogs.

Chesterton Sighting

Of the five seasons I dislike Mud Season the most. Although it is the shortest it is the ugliest. We try to console ourselves with Robin and Crocus sightings
but we walk on roadways to avoid losing a shoe. The rains are relentless, there is flooding and the streams and creeks are swollen to the 10th month with twins capacity. On those days when the rain abates I take lunch in my car trading the gloom of my shop with the gloom of nature. I usually park my car near the pedestrian suspension bridge that spans the wet gash that runs through our park.

This is a good looking bridge that all the area’s first year photographers make a pilgrimage to. I enjoy this structure for its simple man-made beauty. One of the things that has amazed me about this bridge is that it is always sans graffiti. That was until yesterday. The creek it spans was as high as I have ever seen and on one of its anchoring black girders someone wrote in chalk “POOL CLOSED”.

The two things that lightened my heart was of course the sense of humor displayed in this bleak time of year and that this person respectfully wrote in chalk, the next rain will wash it away. Then I thought what kind of person walks around with chalk in their pocket? Could it have been a large human wearing a cape and Pince-nez glasses?

It seems that today relationships follow this pattern: This is a great deal becomes an ordeal becomes looking for a new deal. And in our sped up world the seven year itch has become the three year glitch. A new survey of 2,000 British adults points to the 36-month mark as a significant point of relationship restlessness. The poll cites weight gain, stinginess and snoring as key factors that seem to be annoying couples earlier than ever, which are big deals in a materialistic world. The poll was commissioned by Warner Bros. in promotion of the U.K. release of its film, Hall Pass, which addresses marital tedium. (I have been married for 32 years and it has been a lot of things but never tedious or as Uncle Gilbert said "The whole pleasure of marriage is that it is a perpetual crisis.").

Incidentally, 34 percent of those polled said the film made them feel slightly better about their partner, while 66 percent said they saw the movie while cheating.

Rabbi Chanina ben Dosa said, “Whenever a person’s fear of sin comes before his wisdom, his wisdom will endure; but when a person’s wisdom comes before his fear of sin, his wisdom will not endure.”

Which is the eloquent way of saying “Sin Makes you stupid”.

Again, although conflicted, I think Live Action undercover videos may come to a bad end. And we should take a pray and wait and see approach. But I know offering prize money to follow that precedent might lead others to “Lie for Jesus”.

Careless drinking

"... For in so far as drinking is really a sin it is not because drinking is wild, but because drinking is tame; not in so far as it is anarchy, but in so far as it is slavery. Probably the worst way to drink is to drink medicinally. Certainly the safest way to drink is to drink carelessly; that is, without caring much for anything, and especially not caring for the drink. "-gkc

Apology

In my recent post on helping your Wednesday I mistakenly attributed the quote to Chesterton, it rightfully belongs to Maryanne Williams. I have no excuse.