Soccer, Civilization and Mexifornia
Several football coaches of my acquaintance have half-jokingly referred to soccer as a “communist” sport. I used to think that was only because soccer took potential players away from football. But the sport, and its fans, really do seem to have leftist tendencies. Recall the World Cup 2010 mess.
Actually, soccer appears to have become more and more the sport of barbarians.
I mean, there are those annoying vuvuzelas which, en masse, sound like a giant hornet’s nest and could probably replace water-boarding at Guantanamo. Loud, obnoxious atonality. (Even the Super Bowl halftime shows haven’t devolved quite that far yet.)
But seriously, rioting is now as synonymous with soccer as tailgating is with football. In the last month or two there have been post-game riots in: Argentina – Tajikistan – Greece – and Barcelona (video – warning multiple f-bombs) . Not sure if it’s communism – but it’s certainly nothing that passes for civilized society.
Which brings us to the undocumented barbarians at the gates in the City of Angels last weekend.
And to sum up Pat Buchanan’s article: Bye-bye California.
Ephesians 6:12
If only all priests and clergy of every denomination were this staunch in their defense of Christian values and God’s word: Chicago priest decries homosexualist agenda
Mark C. Abbott reports in RenewAmerica on Father Anthony Brankin’s (St. Odilo Parish in Berwyn, Ill.) article in a recent parish bulletin. Here is it, slightly edited by Abbott (I was going to excerpt parts but you really need to read the whole thing):
Someone called my attention the other day to the fact that the Feast of Charles Lwanga and his companions, the young martyrs of Uganda, was the day that Illinois declared same-sex marriage legal. Don’t let the subterfuge of civil unions fool you: Civil union is what Illinois, in any other circumstances, calls marriage.
Now there was a tremendous irony in the juxtaposition of the occurrences. Let me explain. Charles Lwanga and his companions, some of whom were Anglicans (Episcopalians), were among the first of the Africans to become Christian.
It wasn’t that long ago. Africa has become so Christian, so Catholic, that they are now sending missionaries to America — we who thought we knew it all. Well it seems that we need the help and religion of those who only three generations ago were worshipping false idols, as we do now in America. We must be totally grateful for the faith of the Africans and their desire to help us maintain what is left of ours.
But anyway, Charles and his companions were the first in Africa to learn about Jesus and Mary and the saints and angels — and to love them. And my goodness, did it make them happy to know now about the true God and how much He loved them. Now these young people were members of the court of the king of Uganda; they were his pages and helpers. They were pretty much at the top of their world already.
Oh …but their king was an awful person. He was the dirty old man par excellence. He wanted them to get involved with him in homosexual activities. He offered them the chance to be rich and powerful and desirable themselves. He promised them higher status, greater position, more clothes, better food and great places to live. And everyone, all their friends and cousins and even their enemies, would bow and scrape before them as everyone bowed and scraped before him, the king.
All they had to do was obey him and do something bad. Do something unnatural and impure. But they refused. They said no. They didn’t hem or haw or try to make deals or think of tricky ways to get out of it. They would not sin! Knowing the outcome, they told him, in no uncertain terms, they would not do anything so perverted and evil.
He was infuriated! Outraged! How dare they deny the king of their country his desires! How dare they refuse his wishes! Did they not know who he was? He was the king. He was the boss. He was everything! He was the country! He was the nation!
But Charles and his companions would not go along. They said, ‘We do not do evil, even if the king asks it, even if the highest person in the world wants us to do something wrong. We will not do it!’ And so the king, whose name no one remembers, killed them outright.
Some he pierced through with a sword. Some he burned alive. There they were, as young as could be, with their whole lives and futures ahead of them, success and wealth and honor as the pride of their families; there they are dead at the king’s feet, lying in a pool of blood and a shower of tears from their mothers and fathers, because they would not sin.
Ah, but each one’s strength had been the strength of ten because their hearts were pure. And their names and deeds and heroism have lived on among us for a hundred years and will live on for a thousand more. And they will forever be a model for youth — and even for us oldsters — an example of heroic dignity, nobility, virtue, loyalty, holiness and goodness for all generations to come; and a model, even if no one understands it anymore — a model of sexual purity.
And I say ‘even if no one understands it anymore’ because I really do fear that we hardly understand the concept of immorality in general, and of the immorality of homosexual activity in particular, any more. Back in the 19th century, the libertine poets, artistic champions of free-and unfettered lust, used to call this particular vice ‘the love that dare not speak its name.’ Now it can’t shut up.
It is bombarding us 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Every show has the homosexual component. The propaganda machine is in full active mode; and they are relentless and unyielding in promoting and telling us how good homosexuality is.
This is the full court press if there ever was one. Modern media life has become all about us accepting homosexual behavior, about how wonderful it is, how it is just two sensitive guys holding hands, how they are a gift to the world, how if we are going to be nice to everyone, we need to embrace their lifestyle.
I fear the constant barrage in the newspapers, the television, the media and movies has absolutely deadened our sensitivity to the wrongness of homosexuality. And why is it wrong? Because all this propaganda says that that kind of activity is equal to that between men and women — and it isn’t. It cannot be — ever — and simply because that activity cannot yield the fruit of children. Life cannot issue forth from that kind of physicality.
The reason that homosexual activity is so repugnant to healthy societies is because it is a lie. It says that nature doesn’t matter; but it does! It says that biology doesn’t matter; but it does! It says that God doesn’t matter. But He does matter, and most of all.
For God is the One who made human love, and made it beautiful so that from the love of male and female life comes forth! To pretend that all sexual activity is equal is a shame that the propagandists put on all married people. They are saying that the love between men and women is no more than what two guys get in a dark sleazy bar. Excuse me. That is wrong. And it is about time we started defending marriage by proclaiming that it is uniquely normal and that anything less is not normal; it is wrong and immoral.
Certainly this was the sensitivity of Charles Lwanga and his companions. They knew the wrongness of homosexual acts and the horror of the sin that the king wanted them to commit. And they knew it so strongly that they went to their deaths rather than sin.
I hope I recognize that those persons afflicted with this particular temptation have a daily struggle that reaches terrible proportions of anguish and suffering. But the God who loves them does love them. He is there with His grace and help and presence to help them through it all, just as He is there with the rest of us, giving us all the help we need to stay virtuous.
But I can only imagine what the Tribune and the Sun-Times would make of the martyrdom of Charles. They would laugh and guffaw and scratch their heads in disbelief that someone actually thought that love is only between men and women and in marriage and for the sake of children. But it is. Even if no one understands it anymore. Even if they are going to throw us out of the synagogue of modern opinion for daring to say so and daring to be faithful to Christ.
Love is about life, and nothing less.
So I would say that it looks like we are all in for a little martyrdom — oh, maybe not as bloody as it was for Charles — but it will be just as intense. And the King that is tempting us is not the king of Uganda, but the king of this world. And he offers us the same blandishments that were offered to those young Africans: You will be cool and you will be accepted and you will be considered modern and hip if you accept this sin in your life. Everyone will like you — at least the ones who count, like the producers of Glee or the columnists in the Sun-Times. And how wonderful to know that Richard Roeper and Neil Steinberg are pleased with you!
But thinking about it, I would rather please someone who was a hero to His faith, to His virtue, to His family — someone pretty much like Charles Lwanga and his companions!
If you don’t believe that homosexual activists have an agenda read this.
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For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. Ephesians 6:12
Shut Up and Sing. Please.
What is it that makes celebrities think they need to share their vast wisdom with us lowly rubes? Raking in huge amounts of money from entertaining the masses suddenly makes them sages? Merely breathing in the rarefied air of Hollywood infuses them with all the secrets of the universe, which they feel duty-bound to impart to the rest of us?
Most celebrity prattle would actually be pretty amusing if it weren’t taken as gospel by so many of their adoring fans. Laura Ingraham, in her 2003 book “Shut Up & Sing”, detailed the corrosive effect that their blathering has on our values, morality and society as a whole.
Here, for instance, is Jillian Michaels (Who? Who knows? I guess she’s been on NBC’s “The Biggest Loser” for 11 seasons. Somebody must have been watching.):
“Always follow your gut and what’s in your heart…” “The worst advice I ever got was to be diplomatic, because it compromised my authentic truth.”
Your authentic truth? Your authentic truth?
I know it sounds all hip and self-actualizing, but Jillian honey, our prisons are full of people who have lived this philosophy. Their “authentic truth” enabled them to justify whatever crime(s) they were committing. They were just following their gut.
Sheesh.
And then we have the always sagacious “Prince”:
“It’s fun being in Islamic countries, to know there’s only one religion,” Prince told the British newspaper. “There’s order. You wear a burqa. There’s no choice. People are happy with that.”
Thank-you Mr. Prince… and now, back to reality.
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It makes me sad that so many celebrities are un-moored from the Truth. But it makes me angry that they’re able to use their positions of influence to drag millions of unsuspecting fans out to sea with them.
Oh look! Feral Children:
Suspected flash mob rips off Upper Darby Sears – NW of Philadelphia
Teen Mob Hits Walgreens On The Mag Mile – Chicago
Teachers fear for lives as students run amok – Harlem
Account of racist Peoria mob spurs national attention – IL Peoria police Sunday confirmed there was an incident Friday night but said they were instructed not to comment on it. (Excuse me?!)
Peorians living in fear This is the fifth large mob action in about a month…
“The only foundation for a useful education in a republic
is to be laid in religion.
Without this there can be no virtue,
and without virtue there can be no liberty.”
~ Dr. Benjamin Rush (signer of the Declaration of Independence –
and overall amazing man)
Indeed. Without these things we’re in a world of hurt.
Help stop the “Gas Madness”
Instead of tapping our own supplies — leading to cheaper gas and creating jobs — Obama allows Americans to be held hostage to OPEC and hostile dictators. This is madness.
Want to help restore sanity to our energy policies?
On Tuesday, June 28th Americans for Prosperity and Senator Jim DeMint are holding a national strategy conference call – You can participate, just sign up here.
Hope for Croatia’s future?
As we all know, the main stream media not only ignores – or misrepresents – the lessons of history, they do the same with current events. Here’s another interesting story out of Europe (like the one about Estonia) that we could all stand to learn about, analyze, and discuss. But you’ll never hear about it from the msm since it involves a fight between government corruption and free-market economic policies and conservative principles.
Croatia, population some 4.4 million, is located on the Adriatic. Rather crescent-shaped, it’s wedged between Slovina, Hungary and Bosnia-Herzegovina. A beautiful country (Really! Check out the images on Google.) with mountains, lakes, islands and a craggy coastline that’s over 2500 miles long, Croatia has the potential to become the Switzerland of Southeastern Europe… IF – it can recover what’s been lost in the last several decades.
Jeffrey T. Kuhner, a columnist at The Washington Times and president of the Edmund Burke Institute, a Washington think tank, recounts Croatia’s history of the past century, a sad tale:
Under Serb-dominated Yugoslavia, Croatia was reduced to an economic vassal of Belgrade. From 1945 until his death in 1980, Communist dictator Josip Broz Tito imposed a brutal police state. His multiethnic empire subjugated Yugoslavia’s constituent peoples – especially Croatians.
Tito sought to smash the two great sources of opposition to his totalitarian rule: the Croatian peasantry and the Roman Catholic Church. His regime murdered more than 200,000 Croatians, including countless priests and nuns. Churches were confiscated. State-sponsored atheism was inculcated systematically in the youth. Press freedoms were abrogated. Dissidents and anti-communist intellectuals were shot or imprisoned. The environment was ravaged. Economic collectivism destroyed private enterprise and personal responsibility. Cronyism and corruption became rampant. Croatian nationalism was suppressed savagely. In short, Croatia’s moral and historic core – traditional Catholicism fused with Central European civilization – was eradicated.
And if history teaches us anything it’s that when God gets pushed out or thrown out of any society, something has to fill the vacuum – from totalitarianism to a thugocracy. Since Croatia’s 1991-1995 War of Independence (from Yugoslavia), it’s been a country plagued by corruption:
The governing Croatian Democratic Union, known by its acronym HDZ, is the political expression of this gangster ruling class. Its former prime minister, Ivo Sanader, is under investigation for embezzlement, bribery, corruption and influence-peddling. High-ranking sources both within the government and outside say that, along with his cronies, Mr. Sanader plundered public assets. They have amassed huge personal fortunes – all at the expense of the Croatian taxpayer. The HDZ elite have stolen or siphoned off about $1 billion – a grotesque sum for such a small nation. Mr. Sanader belongs in one place: the dock. He should answer for his crimes to the Croatian people…
…Hence, there is little transparency and openness. Political connections and bribery are necessary to personal advancement. A healthy, vibrant society is based upon pluralism, the rule of law, entrenched private property rights and meritocracy. Croatia has none of these.
But maybe, just maybe, Croatia had found the champion it needs in Natasha Srdoc: Croatia’s Iron Lady. To turn the country around, Mrs. Srdoc and her newly-formed political party – Croatia 21st Century- advocate “tax reform, market-driven growth, spending restraint and Catholic social values – especially by strengthening families and health care”.
She is a staunch critic of government corruption. Hence, she is fiercely opposed by the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ). The regime has labeled her “an enemy of the state.” She and her family have been threatened. She has become a dissident in her own land. For Zagreb’s politicians, Mrs. Srdoc is Public Enemy No. 1…
…Her key pledge – the one that has Croatia’s governing class trembling – is to send every corrupt politician to prison and to confiscate their illicit enrichment.
Sounds like a plan! And apparently her message is resonating with her fellow Croatians. Polls show that the majority agree with Mrs. Srdoc that the country shouldn’t rush headlong into European Union membership because, as she puts it: Croatian people expected through this (EU) negotiation process that Croatia would be able to establish rule of law, an independent judiciary, protection of property rights, and, above all, to get rid of rampant political corruption… However, we haven’t seen that happening.
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An ocean and ½ a continent away from us, it’s hard to know for sure all the intricacies surrounding the Croatian situation, but right now their unemployment is at a staggering 20 percent. For the youth, it stands at 30 percent. Reckless spending and soaring deficits have pushed Croatia to the brink of national bankruptcy. (Kind of sounds like where America is headed doesn’t it?) So something’s got to give.
Srdoc’s proposals could go a long way toward improving things. As Kuhner says:
Croatia’s conundrum is that it is a Central European nation governed by a Balkan political class – dishonest, venal and incompetent. This may change. If it does, it will dramatically alter the country’s destiny. The HDZ is part of the past; Mrs. Srdoc represents the future. Will Croatians seize it?
Let hope so.
Sen. Ron Johnson (WI) – with an economics primer for the President
Sen. Johnson, just elected last fall, has 31 years of real-life experience in manufacturing. So he’s more that qualified to criticize the Community-Organizer-in-Chief for his “depressing display of economic ignorance.” In this short video the Senator explains how jobs are created (hint – not by the government). So simple, even Nancy Pelosi should be able to understand it:
Video posted at The Foundry.
Saturday Shorts 6.25.11
Random links of interest, concern or curiosity from the past week or so, that deserve at least a SHORT mention:
Most Americans Still Believe in Traditional Marriage, Poll Shows ~ When the polling is honest, the results are more truthful. (The earlier Washington Post-ABC poll implied that same-sex couples would be arrested for entering into a gay marriage.)
The Flotilla is coming, the Flotilla is coming ~ “Bad enough that Israel is surrounded by twenty-two hostile Arab countries plus a genocidally anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli Iran, a country which has positioned soldiers in Lebanon, Gaza, and Syria.” But now another “Flotilla of Fools” is getting ready to set sail to “break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.” Good grief.
Elder of Zion has more Gaza Flotilla II updates.
Speaking of floating… Meet the man who’s re-creating Noah’s Ark ~ Story and video of a Netherlands man who’s re-creating the Ark to scale. Pretty amazing. (Just ignore the bit about the Oracle Gore’s predictions.)
Sarah Palin – America’s Deborah ~ Very interesting theory/analogy by the Ignorant Fisherman. Could it be true? Or do I just really wish it’s true?
A Patriotic Week Celebration ~ Heading off to this event in Highland, Michigan today. Sounds like fun!
Yahweh Reigns
Yesterday was not one of my better days… then I happened upon this video. Just what I needed. All set to deal with whatever tomorrow throws at me. 🙂
Chalk one up for freedom of speech
This morning in the Netherlands the Court of Amsterdam returned a not-guilty verdict in the heresy trial of Geert Wilders.
Thank God.
Read Pamela Geller’s whole post at Big Government:
Geert Wilders Verdict: West 1, Islam 0
One small victory in the ongoing War for the future of Western Civilization.
Estonia – Prosperity is possible when common sense prevails
Obamanomics will never work in the real world. Here’s what will: Estonia’s Free-Market Principles Prevailing
Estonia is a country of some 17,000 square miles and 1.3 million people. It’s located just south of Finland on the Baltic Sea, bordered by Russia and Latvia. In typical socialist fashion, after World War II the USSR pretty much devastated Estonia’s economy.
Twenty years ago the weakening of the Soviet Union, and the yearning of the Baltic States (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) for freedom, finally culminated in Estonia’s independence in 1991. Shortly thereafter Mart Laar, only 32 at the time, became prime minister. And Mr. Laar just happened to have read Milton Friedman’s great book on free market economics, “Free to Choose” –
He says, “It sounded good to me so we went ahead and did it.”
Under Mr. Laar’s leadership, they did not diddle with reform, they went at it on all fronts full speed ahead — “shock therapy.” They re-established the rule of law, property rights, and were serious about getting rid of corruption. They opened themselves to trade and privatized most of the economy. Also, they instituted a flat tax, which was quickly copied by many other countries, including Russia. (Russia? Whoa!)
And now…
Estonia is one of the most economically free countries in the world and it is easy to do business there. It has the lowest debt/GDP ratio in Europe and has maintained fiscally sound policies, unlike most countries, including the United States.
Although Estonia’s economy suffered along with every other countries’ in the world-wide slump –
The good news is Estonia is now back on a growth path and, unlike the U.S., Estonia is still following free-market principles and the expectation is it will soon recover its lost ground.
It is a tribute to Mart Laar that during his two terms as prime minister (1992 to 1994, and 1999 to 2002) and in the years since, despite different parties controlling the government, the basic economic policies and freedoms that he had a major role in designing and implementing are still in place.
How ironic (and maddening, frustrating and depressing!). At the very time we were discarding the economic policies and principles that made America great, Estonia was picking them up and running with them.
And now we can clearly see which approach works – so long as prosperity and freedom are what you’re really striving for…
