Archive for March, 2023

Some Catholic Thoughts Under the Fedora: Pope Nails One, And Another, Trouble in Germany, Practical Reasons to support Priestly Celibacy and the Post Christian Experiment

Posted: March 16, 2023 by datechguy in catholic, Church doctrine, culture, under the fedora
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The Pope had something to say about all this Transgender Nonsense.

“Gender ideology, today, is one of the most dangerous ideological colonizations,” the pope said in an interview to Argentina’s La Nacion newspaper. “Why is it dangerous? Because it blurs differences and the value of men and women.”

Always good to hear him get one right. He also has been strong on coining a phrase:

He has frequently used the term “ideological colonization” in reference to cases in which influential organizations and governments require developing countries to accept abortion, contraception and Western values before they can receive aid money. For example, he lamented to Catholic bishops in 2016 that schoolchildren were being taught that they can choose their gender. “Why are they teaching this? Because the books are provided by the people and institutions that give you money.”

That nails it.

Even better Francis is two for two

“With great respect, I have no choice but to think about a derangement (“desequilibrio”) in the person who leads [Daniel Ortega]. There we have an imprisoned bishop, a very serious, very capable man. He wanted to give his testimony and did not accept exile. He is a something that is outside of what we are experiencing, it is as if it were bringing the Bolshevik communist dictatorship of 1917 or the Hitlerite dictatorship of 1935, back to life… They are a type of rude dictatorships, or, to use a nice distinction from Argentina, “guarangas” (vile), assured the Pope in the interview published on Friday.

Via Babalu Blog who notes how this contrasts with his treatment of Cuban communists:

 In its 64 years of existence, Castro, Inc. has committed millions of crimes, and its cruelty dwarfs that of Daniel Ortega. Yet, Papa Che [Francis] has never uttered a single word of condemnation — or anything close to it — against Cuba’s communist dictators.

Its’ a fair critique but it’s such a nice change to see him get things right I’ll take it.

Meanwhile in Germany things aren’t so good:

The German Synodal Way has voted to adopt “implementation texts” related to same-sex blessings, lay preaching during Mass, and a request for Pope Francis to reexamine the discipline of priestly celibacy in the Latin-rite Catholic Church.

If you think that’s bad it gets worse

While the Vatican has not explicitly condemned the Synodal Way’s promotion of heterodox proposals related to same-sex blessings and women’s ordination, the Holy See has been increasingly clear about its rejection of this form of ecclesial governance, which involves bishops and laity “sharing responsibility.” In the German proposal, laity could even overrule a bishop (or bishops at the national level) with a two-thirds majority.

Hey who needs confession when the sinners can just vote to cause sin to be legit?

Pray for these folks they need it.

There is one issue that these folks have brought up that I have mixed feelings on, that’s priestly celebacy.

This is because it was introduced as a reform to stop the practice of heredity parishes and dioceses which is no longer a problem.

I do have some practical objections.

Given the workload of most priests I don’t see how a married Priest would have time for a family and given the commitments a family involves I don’t see how you could make time for the 24/7 nature of priestly duties.

My primary objection to the idea is that as a parent I would not want priests to be in a position where there is a conflict between church and family. Furthermore the insurance costs for families might be prohibitive, particularly at a time when there is so much trouble in supporting retired priests.

Then again Anglican priests who have converted and kept their wives and families have managed to pull it off.

Anyways those are the practical objections I see, but in terms of theology I see no objection to the Vatican changing the rules, just as long as they think long and hard about it because if they think this is a solution to the sex scandals that are primary homosexual they’re wrong.

Finally one of the advantages of being my particular age is I’ve been able to observe the difference between a Christian culture and a “post Christian” culture.

We see the promotion of vice, the sexualization of children, the redefinition of basic terms we have understood for centuries. We see people unable and unwilling to deal with basic situations that our society was able to cope with less than 50 years ago without issue.

We see youth confused and unable to cope, we see people without direction grabbing different fads, dissatisfied with themselves and their positions in life without hope.

Put simply the world, as it does by it’s very nature, is chewing people up and spitting them out because they can’t cope.

One can only think of this verse from scripture:

At the sight of the crowds, his heart was moved with pity for them because they were troubled and abandoned, like sheep without a shepherd.

Matt 9:36

That is what happens always happens when you remove Christ from the picture. Because he respects our free will if you choose the world he will step back and let you face it alone if you choose, but fortunately he always has a hand extended if you change your mind. No person or nation is ever so far gone that God will not bless it if it repents.

Quick Thoughts Under the Fedora: Glenn is Right, Where’s the Solar lights?, Small Signs, Rewards of Persistence and Choices and biology.

Posted: March 15, 2023 by datechguy in under the fedora
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Yesterday we got 20″ of snow, in some hillier parts of town the snow total was as high as 31″. I wasn’t worried as I had an excellent Ariens snow blower to clear the driveway so my wife the nurse could get to work.. At least not until the power went out and I discovered that no matter how hard I pulled the cord, without the electric starter I couldn’t get it going.

If nothing else this confirms Glenn Reynolds advice today: “IF YOU CAN AFFORD ONE AND HAVE SPACE, YOU SHOULD REALLY HAVE A GENERATOR”

There was one thing that confused me yesterday. Quite a few of my neighbors have solar panels on their houses as they are subsidized by both the feds and the state, yet when the power went out they lost power too.

I thought the whole idea of solar panels is you generate your own electricity? What the point in having them if they don’t give you power in your place when all the other power is gone?

I always offer the 3rd Mystery of Light of the Holy Rosary (The Proclamation of the Kingdom of Heaven) both for my wife and to notices the works of God all around me. An example took place yesterday.

After I finally dug enough to get my car out so I could take DaWife to work I headed down to road in the hopes of finding a place with power that I could sit down, eat and maybe charge my laptop. On the way I noted a woman walking in the snow who is a friend of mine that I take to Mass on Fridays outside of Lent (during lent my church adds two Friday masses). When I circled around she was there waiting saying “As soon as I saw your car I knew you would circle to pick me up.” She was walking to the nursing home where she words leaving almost an hour early to get there in the midst of the storm.

The irony is that if DaWife had not asked me to drive through a McDonalds and the line hadn’t been the length of Cuba delaying us I would not have been at the right place to give Claire a lift in the storm.

Don’t tell me there’s no God.

After I dropped Claire at work I noticed, to my surprise, that the local Longhorn’s Restaurant was open. I pulled in and was seated at once. Apparently one maître d’, a manager, a cook and a server made it in and they were making do. Shortly after I came in a party 9 was seated and within 10 minutes tables and booths around we were filling despite the warning that it might be 10 minutes before the server could get to them.

I got something quick and small as they had enough work and I asked the maître d’ how they would handle it. He answered: “As best we can, but on the bright side the tips will only be split two ways.

I suspect those who made it in had to put in effort to do so but they will also reap the financial rewards from their hard work. That’s how it should be.

Finally I noticed this story first at the NY Post and then at Redstate concerning the “Trad Wife” movement.

a trend on TikTok began emerging that gained traction very quickly. It was women simply posting their daily lives as traditional housewives. They cooked, they cleaned, they looked nice for their breadwinning husband, and they took care of the children during the day.

Feminists are of course up in arms. Apparently equal rights for woman doesn’t include the right to choose to stay at home and raise your children yourself.

You would think feminists whose goal was to rise on the cooperate ladder would be happy to have less competition for that coveted “diversity hire” position that companies are tying to fill, but perhaps the real problem is that this skit from the BBC is more than a just a skit.

Did you notice that all the women in that skit were childless?

On a closing note. Massachusetts has paid maternity leave and one of our leads just came back to work after having her first child. She is liked and well respected at work but when I talked to her, she said that after spending the time with her son that the leave allows she wishes she was in a position to stay home with her son permanently.

No amount of political theory can counter millennia of biological urgency.

The bailout hustle

Posted: March 14, 2023 by chrisharper in Uncategorized
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By Christopher Harper

Silicon Valley and New York City bankers got a good deal: a bailout worth billions of dollars in exchange for millions in campaign funds for Democrats.

But the cozy relationship between bankers and Democrats is a fairly recent development.

My father was a banker in the Midwest and a diehard Republican. He condemned FDR’s spending policies, loved Ronald Reagan, and wanted the government to balance the budget and stay away from his paycheck.

In fact, I thought for years that you had to join the Republican Party to become a banker. As a boomer, I thought my father was a bit off his rocker in his politics, and I wish I had told him just how right he was.

Today’s bankers remind me of the commodities traders I reported on in the 1970s. They’ll bet on almost anything.

Silicon Valley Bank bet on almost every tech idea that came through the doors.

But Andy Kessler of The Wall Street Journal goes beyond the gambling. “Management screwed up interest rates, underestimated customer withdrawals, hired the wrong people, and failed to sell equity. You’re really only allowed one mistake; more proved fatal. Was management hubristic, delusional, or incompetent? Sometimes there’s no difference,” he wrote.

Signature Bank of New York added political wokeness to the combination. The bank refused to do business with Donald Trump, scolding him for the events of January 6, 2021.

Despite all this nonsense, Biden & Co. will bail out the banks even though the White House says it’s not a bailout, providing funds to depositors who recklessly kept more than $250,000 in the banks. Federal bank insurance would not have covered that money until Biden waived the limit.

But the math doesn’t work. Silicon Valley Bank had $173 billion in total deposits, including $152 billion not covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. Also, the FDIC did not cover $79 billion of the $88 billion in deposits at Signature Bank.

That’s nearly double the amount at the FDIC to cover all the depositors over $250,000.

Treasury officials said any losses to the DIF would be repaid in full by raising fees on the system’s banks. If the FDIC charges banks higher fees to cover the extra money, those costs will probably be passed onto the consumer through higher costs, such as increased ATM charges and overdraft fees.

So we will end up paying much of the bill for the bailout!

At least there’s a silver lining to all these shenanigans: no one will ever take Jim Cramer seriously, who told people to buy Silicon Valley Bank stock.

I Declare March 18th “Hurray We’re Not Dead Day” Since Greta doesn’t want to celebrate our Unexpected Survival

Posted: March 14, 2023 by datechguy in Uncategorized

Eula Goodnight: Marshal Cogburn, we’re ready to go. Shooting cornbread in a meadow is not taking us anywhere. And my father’s murderers ride free.

Rooster Cogburn: Well, Sister, I was just celebratin’ a little.

Eula Goodnight: Celebrating what?

Rooster Cogburn: Bein’ alive, Sister. Bein’ alive.

Rooster Cogburn 1975

I’m slightly confused.

Five years ago Greta Thunburg thought the world was going to end in five years.

It didn’t.

So she deleted the tweet that said it would happen and that’s all.

But WHY is that all?

Shouldn’t she be happy that the world didn’t end? Isn’t the idea that we all didn’t die from climate change a reason for people all over the world to celebrate?

Yet none of the people who agreed with this dire prediction seem pleased, they just seem to want to quietly walk away.

Hey if my Doctor had told me I had five years to live and five years later I was still going strong I’d throw a party.

But in fairness to Greta this happened before. In January of 2006 Al Gore said we had ten years to save the planet and the great Rush Limbaugh decided to run with it:

Now, the last time I heard some liberal talk about “ten years” it was 1988, Ted Danson. We had ten years to save the oceans; we were all going to pay the consequences, which would result in our death. Now Al Gore says we’ve got ten years. Ten years left to save the planet from a scorching. Okay, we’re going to start counting. This is January 27th, 2006. We will begin the count, ladies and gentlemen. This is just… You have to love these people — from afar, and from a purely observational point of view.

Ten years later the clock ran out and for some reason Al Gore didn’t celebrate the fact that mankind had survived either.

You’d think they all wanted us to burn, or starve or something.

Well personally even with all the problems the world still has I think this calls for a party so I declare March 18th 2023 A Day of Celebration of us all being alive so let’s party using a slight variation of my own Happy Birthday Song

♫ Hurray we're not dead! ♪
Hurray we're not dead!

We haven't died yet
We haven't died yet

Five years have passed and we're still here
The Climate death did not appear

So let  have a laugh and give a cheer
Hurry we're not dead!

♪ We're not dead. ♫

Climate change didn’t kill us, HUZZAH!

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