Dissent Requires Courage

     I have an admission to make, Gentle Reader: I'm not terribly courageous. There are times when I back away from saying plainly and explicitly what I think about a particular proposition. It's normally in those cases where I could expect a storm of denunciation from persons who agree with me on most other things: a consequence of the polarizing and hardening of opinion on innumerable subjects. So my "courage of convictions" is a good distance from perfect.

     But I'm nearing the end of my life. If I'm ever to correct that deficiency, it must be soon.

     Those readers who have respected my views on matters of faith and the spirit are the most likely to feel what follows as a "gut punch." If you proceed from here, don’t claim afterward that I didn’t warn you.

---

     I'm a Catholic. That doesn't mean I agree with the totality of Church teachings. The Church has been wrong on a number of occasions and subjects. I've been called a "cafeteria Catholic" for that. Whatever! I stand by my convictions.

     On a variety of subjects, clerical doctrinal overreach has been rampant. Church teaching has at times seemed designed to benefit the Church hierarchy and the clergy generally, rather than to explain and explore the will of God as it was elucidated to us by His Son. This was at its most dramatic in the years near to the end of the First Millennium, when clerics routinely exploited the millenarian fears of European Christians to enrich themselves.

     About thirty years ago, the Church added two remarkable "sins" to its catechism: income tax evasion, and "excessive" sexual pleasure even between husband and wife. Never mind that the income tax itself is a form of armed robbery, or that "excessive" is always a matter of opinion. Never mind that many a State is blatantly oppressive, even murderous, or that the marital bed is supposed to be a place of fulfillment and joy. The Church condemned these things; we're supposed to feel guilty about them and plead for absolution from them.

     To which I replied, "Where is your authority for these pronouncements?"

     (...crickets chirping...)

     For "baseline" thoughts on clerical overreach, see this essay.

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     It is unacceptable for a human institution to arrogate authority that belongs only to God. The moral-ethical rules are His rules. We cannot legitimately alter them, nor can we extend them into realms where they don't apply. Neither teleology nor "good intentions" can justify it. Yet the Church has done so repeatedly.

     In recent years, fearing that its doctrinal overreach has endangered the allegiance of its flock, the Church has tried to "have it both ways:"

     Catholics believe that an individual's conscience is the ultimate determinant of what is wrong or right for that individual. Moreover, God will judge us according to the fidelity with which we have followed our conscience. Nevertheless, this conscience needs to be formed by objective standards of moral conduct. The Church provides us with just that -- moral norms based on Jesus's teachings, the inspired scriptures, centuries of tradition, and the laws of nature.
     These moral standards may seem at times to be inhibiting or restrictive. The fact is, that quite to the contrary, they release or liberate us. These norms both make us free, and lead us to the deep happiness that comes from following God's plan. Jesus underscored that point when he said: If you live according to my teachings, you are truly my disciples; then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." (John 8:31-32)

     [Father Joseph M. Champlin, What It Means To Be Catholic]

     The attempt to tread the narrow line between "Let your conscience be your guide" and "We know better than you do" could not be more obvious. Yet there is no avoiding the primacy of conscience. Conscience, once supplemented with reason, provides us the tool for knowing right from wrong, the "land of sin" from the "land of liberty."

     For what is the conscience? It's the "knowing with" that God provides to every human soul: the "knowing with" God, through the faculties He has awarded us. I had a character in a novel explain it better than I could:

     The word ‘conscience’ means ‘knowing with.’ But knowing with whom? As we can’t read one another’s consciences, or transmit into them, it can only be God. Conscience is the channel God uses to help us make our judgment calls—which does not mean that if you and I make a particular one differently, then one of us is ‘wrong.’ You can never know what another person’s conscience has told him...or whether he’s really paid attention to it as he should.”

     The hard-and-fast rules that must undergird the operations of conscience are set out by Christ Himself in Matthew Chapter 19:

     And behold one came and said to him: Good master, what good shall I do that I may have life everlasting?
     Who said to him: Why asketh thou me concerning good? One is good, God. But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
     He said to him: Which? And Jesus said: Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness. Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. [Matthew 19:16-19]

     Note that Christ's pronouncement comes close to the Noahide Commandments. These are the lightest requirements any faith has ever laid upon Mankind. As they were enunciated first by God the Father and then by His Son, we may trust the Authority behind them. Moreover, they are fully consistent with two even higher Commandments:

     But the Pharisees hearing that he had silenced the Sadducees, came together: And one of them, a doctor of the law, asking him, tempting him: Master, which is the greatest commandment in the law?
     Jesus said to him: Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with thy whole heart, and with thy whole soul, and with thy whole mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. And the second is like to this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.
     On these two commandments dependeth the whole law and the prophets. [Matthew 22:34-40]

     I hold that these rules and these alone are the original authority to which the Church must cleave. The Church's authority is derived from those rules. I've never met a challenge sufficient to make me doubt it.

     Much of my fiction has been aimed at elucidating the rules by which a Catholic – or any other person who wants to see himself as good – must live. Dissent if you please; I stand by what I've written, here and elsewhere. I'll do so when I face God at the Particular Judgment, without fear.

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     Why is this on my mind, you ask? Mainly for two reasons. First, in these later years of life I've become more judgmental of myself. I've always promoted clarity in thought and expression. To fall short of that standard lowers me in my own eyes. Second, because there are innumerable persons who lack a sense for the limits of their authority, and not all of them are in Holy Orders.

     I could go on, but I don't want to become tiresome. Let that stand for the moment. Love God with your whole heart, listen always to your conscience, and do have a nice day.

Quote Of The Day

     Julie Kelly, whose work appears at American Greatness and elsewhere, has become a personal favorite among journalist-commentators. Her writing is forceful, to the point. More, she has a talent for the “wait, what?” phrase that I can’t help but admire. Here’s an example from a recent article:

     Former government apparatchiks and their media fluffers, however, aren’t the only ones in panic mode.

     I went into a gale of laughter over “media fluffers.” The term fluffer has nothing to do with pillows; it’s a term from the pornography industry. If you don’t know what it means, look it up. In the context of the article, which covers the recent criminal referrals against various Obama / Biden associates and others connected to the Clintons, it is appropriate as well as hilarious.

     Applause for Julie Kelly!

It’s Alive… It’s Alive…

     Greetings, Gentle Readers! I’ve decided, after the decline and fall of Liberty’s Torch V2.0 — I assure you, you really don’t want to know the reasons – to return to this site, keep it alive, and post here from time to time. However, any new work I produce will appear first at Cold Fury, where Mike Hendrix has graciously granted me contributor’s privileges. (If you think he was being wise and generous, see your brain-care specialist at once!)

     This blogging schtick is a hard habit to break!

Yes, I do care

 I've just read another article saying that anything "transgender" people want to do to their bodies after the age of 18 is fine, just stay away from the children.

By all means stay away from the children, but as for the rest? It's not fine with me. I don't believe doctors should get into the business of removing or mutilating healthy body parts, no matter the age of the patient. I don't believe it is the business of the medical establishment to cater to patients' delusions.

Whatever happened to "First, do no harm?"

HOT FLASH: As Of Today...

Liberty’s Torch V2.0 is now the main site.

     This site will be for archival purposes only. So:

• To our Gentle Readers: Please edit your bookmarks.
• To other sites that blogroll us: Please edit your blogrolls.
• To my Co-Conspirators: Get with the program! Start posting at the V2.0 site!

     I'll take a full backup of this site late this afternoon. Moving the contents to Liberty’s Torch V2.0 may present some challenges, but we shall see.

THIS IS NOT A DRILL!

What's That Alinsky Saying?

"Make them live up to their own book of rules".

Calling all blue-collar workers! Change your terms of service; declare their opposition to people in need of defence having access to guns a HATE CRIME!

H/T to Ace of Spades for the idea.

Call Your Senators

There are SOME in the GOP who are arguing for a secret ballot, so we won't know they are Quislings.

Screw that.

Make the cowardly little traitors show their side, on camera, in public.

Call your two, and make it clear that a secret vote is cause for them to get NO SUPPORT, NO VOTES.

Ever.

Link here. Enter your state and find their office numbers. Emails are good, letters are better, but phone calls are best (faxes if they can't be reached by phone).

The more staff time that has to be dedicated to dealing with our displeasure, the better - they will take notice of that effort, and conclude that, no, they will NOT get our votes.

Good Thing They Aren't Nazis

Or, are they?

Depression-Era Songs

     There’s a legend of sorts about the Federal Music Project (FMP), a subdepartment of the Works Progress Administration of FDR’s New Deal. That legend holds that many of the songs that became popular during that era were actually commissioned by the FMP – i.e., their composers were paid to compose popular songs. It could be true. Consider these titles:

• We’re In The Money
• Red Red Robin
• The Sunny Side Of The Street
• Brother, Can You Spare A Dime
• Pick Yourself Up
• Boulevard Of Broken Dreams
• No Depression In Heaven

     All these songs were composed and became popular during the Depression years. There were others, of course, but these are the ones I can remember offhand. (No, I wasn’t alive then, but my father was, and he used to hum all of the above until Hell wouldn’t have them.) I’m not sure whether they were FMP-funded tunes, but their association with those years is strong.

     One of my more unusual college classmates was addicted to several of the above songs. He had a habit of bursting into one or another of them in public, and regardless of the circumstances. It made the rest of us consider him a trifle odd...not the sort of bloke who’d enjoy a Led Zeppelin concert, don’t y’know. But then, his favorite band was Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians, so he probably didn’t give a damn about the tastes that prevailed among the rest of our generation.

     Considering the tremendous effort the Usurper Administration is putting into returning America to the conditions that prevailed during the Great Depression, it wouldn’t surprise me if Depression-era songs were to experience a renewed popularity. In fact, just this morning I woke up with “Red Red Robin” playing in my head. Not a pleasant awakening, I must tell you...especially as the clock read 2:15 AM, an early arising hour even for your humble Curmudgeon. But then, I probably would have enjoyed the experience more were it not for the Newfoundland puppy (at ten months of age, well over 100 pounds) drooling into my left ear at the same moment.

     Bread lines and soup kitchens...25% unemployment...indigents with their hats out on every corner...gangland warfare and blood running in the gutters...hairy nuisances in sandwich boards proclaiming that “the end is near”...

     Ah! The memories!

Loss of Reverence for God

To Leftists, God is - at best - a collaborator in their impious schemes to gain power. That irreligious basis at the core of their revolutionary thinking is what dooms them to failure.

Former VP Mike Pence has his detractors - he was a mild-mannered and civil man, and that sometimes seemed like a rebuke to Trump. There were things he could have said, things he could have done.

But one of his last actions as VP serves as a Red Flag to the rush to embrace China, and clearly sets him apart from the RINO contingent - he formally recognized the policy against the Ughurs as genocide.

A New Plan for Thursdays

The fifth day of each week, henceforth, will be know as No Politics Thursday.

I will not read about politics, write about it, or watch any news show containing any mention of it.

It's my way of carving out a respite against Politics 24/7, which the Left has decreed will be the New Standard for all social interactions.

If someone brings up any topic that touches on politics, I will inform them (quite politely) that I do not discuss that subject on Thursdays. I may have to repeat myself quite a lot, at first, as SO many conversations seem to devolve into endless discussions on that very subject.

ALL is political, proclaims the Left. And, in fact, it is true - for them.

For myself, I will abstain.

They Don't Seem to Realize They're Admitting the Crime

The Left spent 4 years screamng that Donald Trump was "Not MY President" (and change - they were proclaiming this even before he was inaugurated).

They went so far as to impeach him, and try him in the Senate - at which point, he was acquitted.

They bided their time, ran their Muppet-Wannabe Biden, and lost. But, then, by virtue of holding their breath until they turned blue, getting their allies in the media to prematurely declare, and using both quasi-legal maneuvers, abbreviated hearings (practically ignored by the media), and questionable court decisions NOT to intervene, got their Muppet installed in office.

They had pre-emptively impeached Trump before he left Washington, while he was still president - with the shameful collusion of the RINO contingent.

Now, they have taken the Articles of Impeachment over to the Senate, with pomp and cameras, determined to vanquish the Trump-Beast, at last.

What they have forgotten:

Impeachment is reserved SOLELY for removal of legally elected office-holders from those offices.

If Trump can be impeached, he must be the legally-elected President.

So, he is right, that he was elected President in 2020. Not Biden - the FICUS (Fraud-in-Chief-of-the-United-States).

Further discussions of the extra-legal shenanigans of this Congress:

In Ann Althouse - some very good comments, as well - points that I had not considered.

From a legal blog - what is a Bill of Attainder? One positive aspect to this Leftist crap, it gives high school teachers of Government classes something current to hang discussions of antiquated concepts upon.

The BIG Announcement

Liberty’s Torch V2.0 is up and running.

     Eventually it will have a second domain address ending in “.us,” but I have yet to figure out how to arrange for that.

     Mind you, it’s not what I’d like. The host (Hosting Matters) is painfully slow. Also, it’s a WordPress-powered site, and I detest absolutely everything about the WordPress interface. But it will have to do for now. I was far too anxious about getting out of Google’s clutches.

     I’ve just posted to the new site for the first time. I’ll be mirroring those posts here until I’ve finished configuring it and have seduced persuaded my Co-Conspirators to move there, at which point this site will be for archive purposes only. So mosey on over and have a look.

     Many thanks to Mike Hendrix of Cold Fury for the initial installation.

All my best,
Fran

The Return of the Blogs

 I've been kinda checking out the stats lately on this and other blogs over the last few months - the numbers are up over last year, and it looks like still rising.

And, commenting is up (on the other blogs, too).

So, I think the Much Heralded and Proclaimed "Shutting Up of the Disgusting Right" - long a goal of the Left - is pretty much kaput (as my German ancestors would say).

The latest from According to Hoyt would seem to support that assessment.

Ya' know, the Official Elite and Destined Rulers of the World don't seem to have gotten the message. That 'insurrectionary' pack of Good Ol' Boys that made their marks in the Capitol were the Gentle Ones. Hell, they didn't even bring in much in the way of weapons - I know people who could have grabbed better equipment out of the back of their truck.

If we get pissed off enough, there WILL be Blood on the Floor. There's too many who are too old to kowtow, and too proud to beg.

So.

It's time for the state governors and legislatures to show their teeth. Next time the DC Elite try to impose unconstitutional mandates on the country, we need to have some people in charge that will bare their own chompers, and bark back, too.

We can hope that'll learn 'em, but I doubt it. Don't forget, they're dumber than a box of rocks.

The 13th Day

     The world has been taught to scoff at that which it cannot see, hear, and touch. It has paid a heavy price for its scoffing. I trust I need not enumerate the many tragedies men have inflicted on one another, as faith has retreated and secular humanism, with its innate arrogance and vaulting ambition, has advanced to fill the void.

     Matthew Arnold captured it in verse of crystalline brilliance:

The sea is calm tonight.
The tide is full, the moon lies fair
Upon the straits; on the French coast the light
Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,
Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.
Come to the window, sweet is the night-air!
Only, from the long line of spray
Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,
Listen! you hear the grating roar
Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,
At their return, up the high strand,
Begin, and cease, and then again begin,
With tremulous cadence slow, and bring
The eternal note of sadness in.

Sophocles long ago
Heard it on the Ægean, and it brought
Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow
Of human misery; we
Find also in the sound a thought,
Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

The Sea of Faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round earth’s shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled.
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating, to the breath
Of the night-wind, down the vast edges drear
And naked shingles of the world.

Ah, love, let us be true
To one another! for the world, which seems
To lie before us like a land of dreams,
So various, so beautiful, so new,
Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light,
Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;
And we are here as on a darkling plain
Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
Where ignorant armies clash by night.

     But while the Sea of Faith has retreated...or has been pushed back by overweening human pride...it has not vanished utterly. The divine Immanence still manifests to those who are willing to believe what they see and hear...even if no one else can see or hear it.

     In 1917, World War I was raging across the length and breadth of Europe. Millions had already died; millions more would follow. The flower of European manhood would fall to the war and to the influenza pandemic that followed. Russia had fallen to Communism, with consequences that would impoverish and oppress three generations. The faith of the Old World had taken a terrible blow. For many, it seemed an illusion the war had disproved.

     On May 13th, 1917, at noon local time in Fatima, Portugal, Lucia dos Santos, Jacinta Marto, and Francisco Marto, three shepherd children innocent in every sense, were granted a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary. This was the beginning of what is known today as the Miracle of Fatima: a series of Marian apparitions, each of which occurred on the 13th day of the calendar month. It culminated on October 13 with the Miracle of the Sun, a supernatural event witnessed by some 70,000 persons in which the Sun seemed to gyrate, dance across the sky, and as its finale dive menacingly near to the earth.

     It happened. It was not mass hypnosis, nor mass hallucination, nor some kind of enormous hoax. At Fatima, Portugal on October 13, 1917, seventy thousand onlookers witnessed what could only have been a manifestation of divine power: a miracle.

     The Miracle of Fatima brought millions to the Faith, and renewed the Faith in millions who had fallen away. God does this sort of thing when the world slips perilously close to the edge of the Great Abyss. And note: He doesn’t deliver it to kings or premiers, but to the lowest and humblest of our kind.

     There have been other miracles. Many have attracted scoffers certain that they could prove that nothing miraculous – that is, nothing inexplicable by what we think are the laws of nature – had occurred. But many alleged miracles have withstood every test the scoffers have rained on them. Including Fatima.

     The Miracle of Fatima is now more than a century in the past. Yet it continues to inspire men to faith...and to works of art and drama. Including producer-directors Ian and Dominic Higgins, who made of it a movie of exceptional beauty and emotion.

     See The 13th Day. I just did, and I promise you won’t regret it. It’s available on DVD from Amazon, or directly from Ignatius Press.

     And have faith.

The Cone of Silence Descends on America

Not just Trump is being silenced - so are a whole lot of other NLDs (Non-Leftist Dissidents).

Guys, this is bad, and getting badder. I don't see a lot of those so-called defenders of Human and Civil Rights standing up for us. They don't seem to see a problem with declaring a whole group of people to be not deserving of participation in American life.

We need to basically do the equivalent of Slapping the Deniers, full in the face, to get them out of their paralysis of inaction that could cost the rest of us our very existence.

OK, so no 'Impenetrable Barrier" - then, governors should give sheriffs the authority to deputize volunteers and send them to the border - with weapons - to hold the line. Make the border states NON-SANCTUARY STATES.

The individual states need to step up, and act in ways that limit the power of the Federal government. They have the superior right; they need to man up.

And, found on Peace or Freedom (picture is archived here to reduce the load on his site).

The One-Way Door

     People die. All of us, eventually.

     Yeah, yeah, I know: In other news, sitting in a comfortable chair for an hour or two will rest your legs. But the above is among the truths we strive hardest not to think about.

     Just yesterday, Ragin’ Dave wrote of the passing of Larry King:

     Dude was 87. What the hell did you think happens to people, folks? Yes, he was famous. Had a TV show. And he got old, and he died, which is what happens to people. Why the hell do random people freak the hell out whenever some celebrity dies? I'm not saying I'm happy about it, I'm saying that he was an old man and old men die.

     When my father kicks the bucket, I'm going to be weeping and wailing, but he's MY FATHER, not some celebrity that I never met.

     Dave has a point. We routinely attribute excessive importance to celebrities. Most of them are “famous for being famous,” and very little else. If the touts and columnists had never mentioned them, they’d lack significance to the rest of us.

     However, now and then a celebrity becomes emblematic of an era and its values. His passing acquires extra significance from that association...perhaps far more than his achievements, whatever they may have been, would have brought him on their own.

     Consider the 1999 death of “the Yankee Clipper:” Joe DiMaggio. Joltin’ Joe was a fine player, arguably the best center fielder and one of the best hitters of his time, but baseball is merely a sport. It has entertainment value, but little other significance. DiMaggio’s passing acquired extra significance from the era in which he played, 1936 through 1951, and from his excellent personal qualities. The importance of those years to American and world history, added to his superb play and his fine character, gave him a stature unavailable from baseball alone. His admirers’ memories of him come with all of that and more besides.

     Subsequent sports stars who’ve departed this vale of tears haven’t borne the glow that surrounds DiMaggio. Mickey Mantle, DiMaggio’s center-field successor and himself a fine player, doesn’t share it. Ted Williams has a fraction of it, even though he played for (shudder) Boston.

     I know little of Larry King, but I doubt that his memory will have anything like it. King was a capable commentator and interviewer. He occupied a high place among his colleagues for many years. But he didn’t impress the nation in an emblematic way.

     So yes: we generally attribute an absurd degree of importance to celebrities, living or dead. But there are a few exceptions. They stand apart from the rest not because of their achievements, but because of their personal qualities, their association with eras of great events, and with other persons who characterized them. They become emblems of times that we old ones, our rose-colored glasses never far from us, remember as “the good old days:” the days whose values we honored and whose passing we lament. The days when the streets were safe...when homeowners rarely locked their doors...when neighbors looked after their neighbors’ children, properties, and other interests...when immigrants were expected to assimilate and were happy to do so...when the schools taught rather than indoctrinated and propagandized...when journalists reported the news without slanting it toward their preferred political positions...when lawyers counseled their would-be clients not to sue...when politicians occasionally told the truth and didn’t regret it afterward.

     Forgive me, Gentle Reader. I must turn away from this subject at once. Have a nice day.

Our petty, vindictive, manipulative, scheming Navy.

Here's a story that will fry your frazzle:

"USNA Cancel Culture: Update on MIDN 1/C Chase Standage, USN." By Stu Cvrk, RedState, 1/24/21.

This to skewer a Naval Academy midshipman with "an exemplary record." And note the part about having the man repay $174,753, the cost of his education at the Academy.