The Peaceful Gnome

Thursday we spent most of the day with SFBUNies and others at Lake Temescal :

Well now, Sotomayor is a shoo in of course, even if she's not a lesbian the way the ultra-left crowd really wanted. Here is a bit from Chronicles Magazine about her, reading the whole thing is worthwhile: The process by which Sotomayor was selected testifies to what we can expect in Obama’s America. Not a single male was in the final four. And she was picked over the three other women because she was a person of color, a “two-fer.” Affirmative action start to finish. Reading 30 of her opinions, GW law professor Jonathan Turley found them “notable” for “lack of depth.” Liberal law professor and Supreme Court expert Jeff Rosen of The New Republic reports, after talking to prosecutors and law clerks, that Sotomayor covers up her intellectual inadequacy by bullying from the bench.

This You Tube Video is not from our church but it is from one very similar, a Confessional, Ligurgical, LCMS Church, it explains why we do what we pretty well I think:

Some Lutherans, most at our church included, make the sign of the cross at certain points in the liturgy. There are other gestures that are made as well, some by the Pastor and some by us, such as kneeling at the altar to receive the Lord's Body and Blood. There is a good description of these bits of ceremony in Weedon's Blog today . It's interesting, short to read and explains why we do what we do. And why it can never be required , it's a "get to" not a "have to." :-) There is good stuff in the comments section also, so don't miss that part. Gesture in Worship.

I go back and forth on eating vegetarian, what I finally settled on is that I avoid meat for the most part and eat almost all vegetarian dishes. After all eating lower on the food chain is more efficient from an energy standpoint and better for the planet overall. Still, from time to time meat calls to me, and I answer, what can I say, on this one thing I am not a fanatic :-) There is one thing I can say with certainty though, and that is: Do not use " meat substitutes " ever . If you are going to eat a meat dish, eat meat! Trying to put some soy substitute crap or tofu into a recipe that normally has real meat just seems lame to me, it never tastes the same and the very fact that you are using a substitute encourages you to compare it to the same dish with real meat. I will tell you now, the real meat wins the competition every single time. (Garden burgers not included, those are not really substitutes but a thing of their own.) There are an infinite number of vege...

Issues Etc. had Dr. Angus Menuge of Concordia University Wisconsin on last week talking about The Science of Spirituality. It is worth listening to. Sadly it seems Issues no longer has the "embed" feature that they had before so just go to the link and listen , the segment is about 26 minutes long.

Dear Leader Barry O has announced his pick for the highest court in the land . A "Latina" woman who believes that "Identity Politics" is the right way to make legal decisions. As Stephen the Irishman in Braveheart said to William Wallace, "God tells me he can get me out of this mess, but he's pretty sure you're fucked. " Without rule of law we have nothing in America to distinguish us from any 3rd world dictatorship. As I've said many a time before, it's all over for the republic, and the empire ain't going to last very long either. The barbarians are inside the gates. Just as well I'm sick of America anyway. Check out J.D. Tuccille's post in Disloyal Opposition where he explains it better than I: Obama's Supreme Court pick has a taste for identity politics

Thomas Fleming talks in Chronicles about the disgusting spew of a speech at Notre Dame the other day by Obama, he gets right down to the nitty gritty of it with the final line: "Obama, like a latterday Rodney King, wonders why we all can’t just get along. I wonder why we cannot just get way–from him and 70 million baby-eating zombies who voted for him ." Full story here.

I know that all of the millions of totally confused folk out there who conflate the two mean well but really it's not that hard to tell them apart. 1. Memorials are for the dead , thus Memorial Day . 2. Veterans are people who served, they are alive, thus Veterans Day . We had a lady at church who made a big production out of "honoring our veterans" this morning. I'm a veteran but I'm not the person to be honored on Memorial Day, the ones who made the ultimate sacrifice are "memorialized" on Memorial Day. Ah well, clueless but well meaning, that's America for you.

Father Hollywood has some pertinent comments on Persecution, 21st Century American style from Father Hollywood by Father Hollywood

Today Lora, Mike, Serenity and I went Kayaking on Monterey Bay . It was a bit chilly but it was a lot of fun. I did not take my camera out on a kayak in the bay, so there are no pictures of our actual trip to post, but at least I still have my camera ;-) I'm good at destroying cameras and decided not to risk this one. We saw hundreds of sea lions, a few harbor seals, a couple of otters floating on their backs in the kelp beds. We also saw flights of pelicans and some cormorants diving . After paddling around for an hour and a half we had a late lunch at Bubba Gumps and headed on home.

Barry O announced that the trouble with Bush was he paid way too much attention to that pesky Constitution thingy and we should just replace it with repeated references to "Rule of Law" which apparently means just making up rules to suit us as we go along merrily detaining people for, well what we feel like detaining them for:

Persecution, 21st Century American style from Imperial Twilight by Robin

I once thought that writing my journal on a computer was the greatest thing ever, I churned out page after page of stuff. Then it dwindled away to nothing. I spent most of my time browsing the web, playing Civilization, reading emails, writing emails, listening to music... anything but writing. Click the picture to Embiggenate to readable size I suppose I could get an app like the one in the second panel but what I actually did recently was to get some pens and some paper and when I want to write I shut off the computer and sit quietly and write :-) I still like computers, and if I had a big writing project to do, especially one I was going to print out or share around I'm sure I'd figure out a way around the distractions, but for contemplative journaling nothing beats the scratch of pen on paper, it slows my mind down, each word is more carefully selected, unlike typing on a computer where I can pretty much type as quickly as I think, which I will grant really isn't all ...

Today Serenity and I went to Audubon Canyon and Stinson Beach with some SFBUNies. We saw trees full of nesting herons with their huge chicks, very cool. We also played in the surf at nearby Stinson Beach, also cool. Here is a slide show of pics I took today : (Note, after you click the start arrow click in the square in the lower right corner with the four arrows pointing out to go to full screen) Or you can go here to look at the individual pics.

What a wild combination that is. Some people, both anarchists and Christians, have told me it makes no sense. Obviously I disagree. So here is what exposing a child to these three things, unschooling , Christianity and anarchism, looked like yesterday. Yesterday Serenity and I went to a park in Livermore and met up with some other unschooling families for some play time. Serenity, and her good friend Isabel, spent some time picking flowers just before we left the park to go to our house for the rest of the afternoon, Isabel came along with us for a "play-date." Serenity, anarcho -capitalist that she is, decided the thing to do with the flowers was to go around the neighborhood and sell them. So they got two small wicker baskets, one for the flowers and one to hold the money, and set out door to door around the area. I followed at a distance to monitor safety but did not interfere beyond insisting they not knock on the two doors that had "No Solicitors" sign...

There is a fascinating post on Disloyal Opposition about bloggers who go out and get original content, not just repost stuff they find... like I usually do with "news" stuff :-) Much of the old media likes to claim that bloggers are parasitic, just reposting things they find in the old media, but that is simply not true. There are many thousands of journalists out there now who report the news but don't work for newspapers, radio or TV. They say whatever they want without any restraint by some big corporate controlled editorial board. That means it can be pretty uneven in quality and accuracy. On the other hand stories that "the man" did not want to get out now get out with speed and regularity. So, check out: 'Parasitic' new media beats old media to the punch

Abuse in Schools Widespread, Report Finds Exclusive: GAO Says Misuse Of Restraints, Seclusion, Other Tactics Has Even Proven Fatal May 19, 2009 (CBS) A new federal study, released exclusively to CBS News , reveals hundreds of cases of abuse of students at the hands of school officials -- and even deaths. The report, done by the Government Accountability Office, finds incidents of abuse of restraints and seclusion, among other forms of mistreatment, in public and private schools alike, all across the country, says CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes . A congressional panel has scheduled a hearing about the findings for Tuesday, and child advocates are calling for better laws to protect students. Students such as Cedric Napoleon and Paige Gaydos. Paige's mother, Ann Gaydos, is slated to testify Tuesday at the hearing to be held by the House Education and Labor Committee about the abuse Paige allegedly suffered on multiple occasions in school in Cupertino, Calif. when Paige, who has ...

Heh, now that's how it is :-) This is from "Secular Homeschooling Magazine" , I think I might have to subscribe to it after reading some of this: The Bitter Homeschooler's Wish List by Deborah Markus, from Secular Homeschooling, Issue #1 , Fall 2007 1 Please stop asking us if it's legal. If it is — and it is — it's insulting to imply that we're criminals. And if we were criminals, would we admit it? 2 Learn what the words "socialize" and "socialization" mean, and use the one you really mean instead of mixing them up the way you do now. Socializing means hanging out with other people for fun. Socialization means having acquired the skills necessary to do so successfully and pleasantly. If you're talking to me and my kids, that means that we do in fact go outside now and then to visit the other human beings on the planet, and you can safely assume that we've got a decent grasp of both concepts. 3 Quit in...

William N. Grigg writes about the connection between authoritarian government and child abuse in his blog post on Pro Liberate: "Don't Tase me, Big Bro!" Here are a few excerpts, but you really should read the whole thing through, it's shriek of outrage inducing, at least for me: When a police officer subdues a child as young as five years of age by treating him to a 50,000-volt shock, this is a law enforcement decision that will be the subject of an official review. Sure, the officer's actions will eventually be vindicated, but in the interest of good public relations the officer, his superiors, and the local media have to undergo an intricate ritual, as stylized as Kabuki theater, before announcing the official inquiry's foregone conclusion. When a group of Florida prison guards subject scores of children, ranging in age from 5 to 17, to 50,000-volt shocks as a kind of bizarre prank, this is a lapse of judgment that may have adverse care er consequences --...

What the __________? So it's somehow a crime not to obey every bizarre whim of some bottom feeding uniform wearing power tripping slug who supposedly works for the public as a "Peace Officer?" I'm sorry but the idea that I am expected to OBEY without question these lowlife scum just makes me laugh hysterically. Really, it just ain't gonna happen guys. Get over yourselves. Read this is from Disloyal Opposition : Friday, May 15, 2009 Motorhome Diarists now free (sort of) The itinerant journalists of the Motorhome Diaries , who were arrested yesterday in Jones County, Mississippi, are now free on bond, but still face local charges. According to one of the diarists, the arrest -- which started with a traffic stop -- ultimately involved pepper spray and the ransacking of the travelers' vehicle. Jason Talley, Peter Eyre and Adam Mueller were passing through the state on their journey ac...

Well, actually anyone can read this but it will really matter to members of the rapidly imploding LCMS, this is from The Brothers of John the Steadfast : May 15, 2009 The Northern Illinois District Convention Part II - The Opening Devotion Includes Foul Language References, Another Example of How this is not Your Grandfather’s Church , by Pr. Rossow The opening devotion of the Northern Illinois District (NID) convention included a couple of off-color references. When he was called on it, the presenter confessed the error before the whole convention and was given forgiveness by the District President. The whole thing was really weird. In the end, I think it illustrates all too poignantly how the new way of doing church promoted by President Kieschnick and many other leaders of the synod, has brought the world into the church. (Read the rest here)

So, back in November of 2007 I posted this cartoon with a link to some story about the violation of our liberties by the Republifacist Bush Regime. And today "Anonymous" had a reply on that post that I have to agree with, except for the bit about flying, that's not at all how I felt when the newest corporate-military whore lied with his hand on the bible and swore to uphold and defend the constitution... 1 comments: Anonymous said... Thats..how I*m beginin to feel too! and..when..bush..left..I..thought. I..could..fly!! Now..that..Obama.. is.. doing..the..bush..shuffle on..the..Photos..on..renditions. .on..COMING..CLEAN..TOTALLY..CLEAN I feel like I*m bein suffocated!!! May 14, 2009 9:31 PM

I've heard Barry O called a "pragmatist" and have always responded that this means little beyond indicating he has no principles. It seems I may be wrong, he has principles, he just won't admit what they are. As this post by Veith, Pragmatism to do WHAT?, points out : But pragmatism fails as a political definition, says Robert Reich, who served as President Clinton’s labor secretary, because it describes how a politician moves toward a goal, not the goal itself. “It’s possible to be ruthlessly pragmatic in terms of how you get to an objective,” Reich said, “but the phrase is nonsensical in terms of picking an objective.” . . . “Most presidents who were change agents . . . described themselves as centrists but clearly had a collection of values about what was good and right,” Reich said. “The question becomes one of how much you reveal about where you want to lead people.” So that presidents keep most of where they want to lead people hidden? This does not sound...

From J.D. Tuccille: Thank God the new guys are in. Oh, wait ... Last week, the Central Intelligence Agency upset a few political apple carts when it revealed what many people already suspected : that Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi was briefed on the use of "enhanced interrogation tactics" -- torture -- against detainees suspected of terrorism as early as September of 2002. The revelation undercuts Pelosi's criticism of civil liberties violations committed by the Bush administration. It also helps to dispel the myth that either of the two major political parties in this country has much regard for individual liberty -- or basic decency. According to CIA documents (PDF), Nancy Pelosi was one of the first two members of Congress clued in about the use of torture, the other being Porter Goss, the Republican then-Chairman of the House Intelligence Committee on which Pelosi sat as ranking Democrat. Read the rest her...

So, Lora and Maryann made dinner tonight. Maryann did oysters on the half shell, Lora made a big chicken pot pie and strawberry stuffed crepes with cream cheese filling and whipped cream... urp... naturally I ate more of all of these than I should have, except the oysters of which I ate only one, which was pretty good, though I could not admit that since I'd previously declared I didn't like oysters :-) Friday we saw the new Star Trek movie, which is by far the best of all the Star Trek movies, and I know what I'm talking about having seen every Star Trek thing that has ever come out :-)

To all the wonderful moms out there, but mostly to my own terrific mom: Here's the current 4 generations.... Here's a previous 4 generation shot, I'm the short guy in front

I really should not post when I'm tired, or have been drinking, or worse, both. As I said on an email list this morning: In the cool light of morning, in contrast to my mood last night when I was tired and grouchy to start with, I regret having posted this. There really is not enough information available for anyone to really know what is going on there. There is an update posted on Will Grigg's blog, at the end of the original post that set me off in my grogginess last night. In the update he pulls back some and indicates that he was contacted by someone on the Federal side who says that, while the Patriot Act is not the appropriate way to deal with things there was certainly a minor crime committed. That may or may not be true but it does remind me that going off half cocked like I did is seldom a good idea :-/ Please disregard anything I post after my bedtime of 9:30 PM and I will endeavor in the future not to post in my sleep. :-)

...the more things change , the more they stay the same. Just a little reminder that no, nothing at all has [expletive deleted] changed since Barry O took over the top job in Soviet Amerika. Please read about the pointless and mindless persecution of an obviously innocent home schooled kid in Pro Liberate here. Amerikan Government Drones, stupid, brutal and without morals or mercy, and those are their good points. The local news coverage of this ridiculous farce is here. The title of this post comes from the song Circumstances by Rush: A boy alone, so far from home Endless rooftops from my window I felt the gloom of empty rooms On rainy afternoons Sometimes in confusion I felt so lost and disillusioned Innocence gave me confidence To go up against reality [Chorus:] All the same we take our chances Laughed at by time Tricked by circumstances Plus ca change Plus c'est la meme chose The more that things change The more they stay the same Now I've gained some understanding Of the o...

Some unschooling life as it's happening today. Last night Serenity was invited to stay overnight with her friend Isabel. Serenity met Isabel at some SFBUNie events and we've been meeting her family and several others at parks in Livermore most every week recently. Isabel and Serenity get along great. When I was dropping Serenity off at Isabel's yurt , yes, they live in a yurt up on a hill outside of town, I got to talking to Cindy, Isabel's mom, about math and how it's taught in schools. She told me about this article " A Mathematician’s Lament " by Paul Lockhart. What a great read! I encourage anyone who had the love of math pounded out of them by schools the way I did to read this. It's pretty long at 25 pages but well worth the read, it's funny and sad at the same time. I saw myself in it all over the place. Here are some of my favorite parts: “…if I had to design a mechanism for the express purpose of destroying a child’s natural curiosi...

I was reading the blog Intense Lives written by an unschooler from Trinidad who mentioned "CouchSurfing" in a recent post. CouchSurfing is a network of people who agree to have travelers stay at their house for night or two. Check out this description of how it works , this sounds like an awesome, and way cheap, way to travel! I could for sure go with that, and I think it would be cool to have some stay over with us too... depending on the reactions of the more stuck in the mud members of my household of course ;-) There is a related thing with the Good Vibrations conference directory, one of the questions there is "Are you willing to host traveling unschoolers?" I thought that was pretty adventerous by itself, but CouchSurfing expands that to a whole new level ;-) Trust and hospitality, what a strange concept...

There is a new science web site out that more closely matches my outlook on the interaction between science and religion than most others, even better than RTB in my opinion. It is called BioLogos and was founded by Francis Collins and involves Karl Giberson as well. I've read recent books by both of these men, The Language of God by Collins and Saving Darwin by Giberson . Both of these books were instrumental in keeping me from dumping Christianity as incompatible with reality. They are quite sharp with the science and are Christians at the same time. I think I'm going to enjoy following their blog too. From the blog: Francis Collins on the Goals of BioLogos In a recent interview with Christianity Today , available from the publication's website, Francis Collins discusses what he hopes the BioLogos Foundation can accomplish through its website and other projects. "My hope would be that we are hu...