Happy President’s Day

I’m a 3rd Degree Knight, so yeah I’m going to post this message from the Knights of Columbus.

A new television commercial airing Presidents Day weekend reminds Americans how God and religion are foundational to this country.

Released by the Knights of Columbus, the minute-long spot highlights quotes from Presidents Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Roosevelt, Kennedy and Reagan – each focused on the foundational role that God and religion play in American rights and government.

“The idea that our rights come from God and that religion has a role to play in our nation’s public life is not partisan or sectarian, it is quintessentially American,” said Supreme Knight Carl Anderson. “This Presidents Day is an excellent opportunity to remind Americans that God is – and has always been – foundational to this country and to our system of ordered liberty.”

The spot is running on national cable networks between Feb. 18 and 20. It is also running in regional markets from Connecticut to California.

• Thomas Jefferson (Notes on the State of Virginia, 1785, abbreviated from Jefferson Memorial): “Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are of the gift of God?”
• Franklin D. Roosevelt (State of the Union, Jan. 6, 1941): “This nation has placed its destiny in the hands … of its millions of free men and women; and its faith in freedom under the guidance of God.”
• George Washington (Farewell Address, Sept. 19, 1796): “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports.”
• Ronald Reagan (“Evil Empire” Speech, March 8, 1983): “Freedom prospers when religion is vibrant and the rule of law under God is acknowledged.”
• Abraham Lincoln (Gettysburg Address, Nov. 19, 1863): “This nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom.”
• John F. Kennedy (Inaugural Address, Jan. 20, 1961): “The rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God.”

The Knights of Columbus is the world’s largest Catholic fraternal organization with more than 1.8 million members worldwide. One of the nation’s most active charities, last year, Knights donated nearly $155 million and 70 million hours to charitable causes around the world.

The Tolerance of Bullies

I have purposely tried to avoid bringing many so-called issues from the political arena here onto my blog. Years ago on my first blog I used to chronicle a lot of the events from that arena, and holding a degree in political science as well as history it is a part of who I am. However I had decided to stay out of that realm here at Dolce Domum because so many other people are keeping these issues in the spotlight and I didn’t want to further clutter the interwebs with my own two cents. However, it is clear that this is becoming more and more impossible for a Catholic of faith and of principle. There are political entities who have made it their mission to drag us into this arena whether we want to be there or not. Even if the matter has nothing to do with politics but instead with morality or faith, they have so polluted reason as to convince others that anything and everything that happens today has to do with politics. So even though I had hoped to avoid some of these matters, in posts to come I don’t think I will be able to avoid these anymore as I read literally dozens of stories every day that chronicle these types of events and agendas. I promise to do my best to keep it to well-thought out/reasoned responses.

*****

I had been considering a return to Facebook over the weekend when I read yet another story that chronicled yet another social media campaign waged by Planned Parenthood. Another week, another manufactured rage, and another reason to avoid the nonsense. I’m thankful to have deactivated my account before the Susan Komen/PP brouhaha of a few weeks ago. You surely recall what happened when a foundation that was founded to bring awareness and money towards research in battling breast cancer was bullied into a bloody pulp by an organization that made a name for itself in all things bloody. Nevermind that the SGK foundations total grant money amounted to .009% of all PP funding, or that PP quickly doubled that purported loss of grant money by private donations from the so-called 1% in America (Mayor Bloomberg accounted for $250K, another wealthy patron accounted for yet another $250K), any venturing off of the reservation by a group dedicated to helping women by the ONLY POSSIBLE ORGANIZATION IN ALL THE KNOWN UNIVERSE THAT CAN HELP WOMEN had to be squelched. Hence, we witnessed one of the most brutal and classic instances of bullying ever seen. All in the name of tolerance, of course.

Drunk with their victory over SGK, Planned Parenthood’s marketing minions have now set upon a course to show themselves as indeed the ONLY entity in all the land who cares about women and the poor. And they are once again using Facebook and other outlets in the social media framework to do so. Their latest target is biggest food pantry in Wisconsin.

Planned Parenthood called Paul’s Pantry, part of the St. Vincent de Paul Society and the biggest food pantry in Wisconsin, and asked them to come and pick up donations, which may have been noble, but wasn’t something the Catholic organization felt comfortable doing — sending a truck over and perhaps giving the abortion provider a photo opportunity. The American Life League reports what the worker at the pantry said:

All I told the young lady from Planned Parenthood was that I couldn’t send a truck to pick up, and gave her a list of other food pantries that might want to pick up, I gave her no reason at all and she didn’t ask why. Soon after, I started receiving the hate e-mail and phone calls. I politely explained to callers that although we are non-denominational in regards to those we serve, we are a Catholic organization who shares a board of directors with our sister organization, St. Vincent de Paul. We adhere to the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church and to the Rule of St. Vincent de Paul. I also explained our Gift Acceptance Policy and how acceptance of the donation would compromise our core values and possibly damage the reputation of Paul’s Pantry.

What happened next? Why the campaign of bullying mock shock and anger commenced, of course.

“Within 20 minutes I was getting phone calls and emails calling us pieces of sh**. The calls that day came from the Milwaukee area, where Planned Parenthood is headquartered. We have caller ID.”

This is nothing more than PP trying to score a photo-op and boost its sagging image, and artfully using Facebook to further their aims. “Hey! Look at us! We give food to hungry people! How can you not like us? We feed the babies we don’t kill!” And as if on cue, the sheep blinded by ideology and propaganda service their needs on the knees by demonizing those organizations who have for decades and centuries served the poor without sucking off of the government’s teat.

I particularly enjoy the profile picture that states “Cancer Care Above Politics”. Irony much?

I’ve donated to our local St. Vincent de Paul food pantry. I’ve even helped stocked its shelves a time or two. These are good people, often woefully understaffed, with kind hearts who donate much of their time for free in order to serve the poor. The last thing they have is an agenda outside of that mission. Being blindsided by an orchestrated campaign of faux-rage by a government-funded entity looking to better its image is the last thing they need.

Full disclosure: I stopped donating to the Komen Foundation when I first learned of its funding to Planned Parenthood about four years ago. When I mentioned this to others I was told I must hate women and was crazy to think SGK would give funds to PP. Forgive me for saying I told you so, but…I told you so. But I also stopped donating because I have a general rule about giving to ANY charity or foundation that is so administratively top-heavy: I don’t. And before you tell me how much I hate women, get over yourself. I’ve been blessed with wonderful women in my life, from my grandmothers, my mom, my mother-in-law, my wife and my daughter. I’ve several friends who themselves who are survivers of (and sadly those who succumbed to) this terrible disease. Save your ignorant mud-slinging for another day.

In a well-researched article, a blogger doing the job that the mainstream media used to do shows that only 11 cents out of every dollar donated to the Komen Foundation actually goes towards the reason for their very existence: funding research and finding a cure for breast cancer. That’s right: for every dollar you donate to Komen a dime goes to research. The rest is all swallowed up in administrative costs, nice salaries for executives, lavish trips, and marketing campaigns to make everything in the world pink in October to make people aware of breast cancer. Not a dime of that marketing campaign actually cures that cancer (well, actually a dime is all that comes from it) but hey…look at the pretty pink bats the baseball players are using or the pink shoes on that wide receiver. It’s a shame they cowered to the bullies at Planned Parenthood, but even more than that it’s a shame they’ve lost sight of their original mission. Just as there is (for the moment) a choice in America that allows someone like PP to donate that food to any one of the other twenty food pantries in Milwaukee (which they did with much self-congratulations), there are other cancer research entities to which I can (for now) provide my funds towards the common goal of eradicating this terrible disease. Why do those who claim to be all about choice want to wage these social media campaigns against those who exercise choice?

To donate to Paul’s Pantry in Green Bay, visit their website.

Jill Stanek has more.

H/T to The Anchoress for bringing this to my attention originally.

For the most thorough investigation I’ve seen yet of the Komen Foundation, you’ll want to read this. It’s a long but thoroughly researched tour into the inner workings of how a large (and bloated) foundation functions.

Lit Wisp – Inaugural Edition

One LINK
The Butterfly That Stamped, by Rudyard Kipling. In this story, we learn how a clever and most beloved wife saves the day for her very wise husband, who hates to show off. You can download the text here.

One IMAGE
I am working on a logo for my new weekly series and it may involve this painting of literary friends Mark Twain and Rudyard Kipling reading stories on a veranda while enjoying cigars and bourbon. Lit Wisp: literature with a wisp of fine cigar smoke and good bourbon. As I made a conscious effort five years ago to take more time for rest on Sundays, I often enjoin at least two of those three favorite things.

One THOUGHT
During Fr. J’s homily at this morning’s Mass he discussed Lent, specifically its purpose. So many people think you have to “give stuff up” like television, extra food, etc. (and those aren’t necessary bad items to take a break from). He emphasized instead three things: Prayer, Fasting, Charity. Lent is meant to be a time to draw us closer to Jesus during this remembrance of his Passion and Resurrection. It’s not just a time to go on a diet. Instead of just “taking away” something during these 40 days why not add something? If you already pray, pray more. If you struggle with prayer, give it a go. Deny yourself that daily Starbucks as a means of self-denial and/or discipline. Or that big piece of cake. Or fast from television. Finally, give of yourself through charity. Not just by giving money to a group, but perhaps give of yourself as well. Every year I try to find something to take away. This year I’m going to add as well.

One WORD
Charity, defined by Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary (my personal favorite) is

In a general sense, love, benevolence, good will; that disposition of heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men.

You can read the other seven definitions by clicking here.

Love replaced Charity in usage in later translations of the bible in Paul’s letter to the Corinthians. You’re familiar with this verse if you’ve ever attended a wedding. Many couples select it as one of their readings from Scripture. From 1st Corinthians Chapter 13.

And now there remain faith, hope, and charity, these three: but the greatest of these is charity.

Image courtesy of Trading Phrases

Let’s practice a little of that this Lent, shall we?

One IDEA
This idea is one I’ve been kicking around for about a year as a means of doing a bit of regular blogging. It will also serve to keep me off of Facebook where I would likely post most of these things. As Lent approaches and I prepare for my annual vacation from that social site, I am also preparing to leave it altogether. But that’s not the IDEA for this week. A weekly cache of things that have caught my attention or I think others may be interested in. That’s the gist of this Sunday series. And why Lit Wisp? Simply because its an anagram of the first letters of these seven subjects. A little wisp of what passes for my being literature-like. Or literal. Yeah…perhaps that’s the more likely approach as I hardly resemble anyone involved in creating literature, though I certainly consume my share. I hope you enjoy this with me.

One SONG
Ghosts, the first song on Kansas’ 1988 album In The Spirit of Things, contains many images and thoughts that have weighed on my mind of late. I keep meaning to write about it but just never seem to be able to get the words out.

One PROJECT
After taking a year off from home improvement projects since I finished the upstairs bathroom remodel a year ago it was time to dive back in. And we have. In a few weeks we will have had three corners repaired where rot was becoming an issue, and then new fascia and soffits, along with siding on our garage, installed. We have a brick ranch so we’re pretty much siding free aside from the garage. A few days after that the new gutters (with leaf guards!) will be installed. To prep for this we spent our weekend replacing a load-bearing steel rail with a column on the front porch. Today I cleaned off the back patio and took to the last of a rotting privacy fence with my circular saw. This week I’ll wire a new outlet in the garage and we’ll be ready for our house’s facelift. Since moving to our home in May of 2003 we’ve had a goal of completing most of our projects in time for our son’s high school graduation in 2014. We’re still on track.

The Countersign

Today was one of those days where every bit of news I read seemed to be bad and sad. I read of the slaughter of hundreds of Christians in the Nigerian village of Jos by Muslim fanatics, who macheted and shot and burned people fleeing in the night, many of them aged 0 to teenagers. Of predictions that this will be an even bloodier century than the last was by way of martyrs whose only “crime” is being a follower of Christ. And then I read of Father Rick Machette.

I would offer excerpts of this article, or pull portions of it out in order to entice you to read it, but honestly it’s so overwhelming I don’t even know where to begin. This long and in depth article “Love Among The Ruins” about Fr. Machette and his life in Haiti, both before and after the earthquake that has devastated that land, is not for the faint of heart. It is horrible to read in places and if you click the link to view the photos even moreso. But if you look hard you will also find grace. It’s there, as it always is, amongst the cracks quietly shining it’s light in the darkness. As Fr. Rick writes, he strives to “repair the damage done…to make grace present, concretely, in our world.” He calls it the “countersign” to all the evil that seems to engulf this poorest of countries.

You have to look hard, and be willing to look past the evil and conditions so unspeakably foul that they are incomprehensible to us in America. But if you are willing to step outside yourself and do things you had thought yourself incapable of doing, you, too, will find grace in the cracks. It’s there. Don’t look away.

Fr. Rick had also just written a book Haiti: The God of Tough Places, the Lord of Burnt Men that is available at Amazon.com.

This morning I read a quote by Viktor Frankl that was never more true for me than today.

“The last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

Fr. Machette, and many like him, live that every day. So can I.

“An embarrassment of riches.”

There’s an anecdote about C.S. Lewis that I’ve always enjoyed. One of his friends told of walking down an Oxford street with him one day, when they were accosted by a beggar. Lewis stopped and gave the man some money.

“You know he’s just going to go off and drink it up, don’t you?” the friend asked as they went on their way.

“Yes, well,” said Lewis, “if I’d kept the money I’d have probably gone off and drunk it up myself.”

There’s a wonderful humility and recognition of shared humanity in that story, I think.

A buddy of mine and I often go on a walk during our work day to break up the day and to get some exercise. We’re fortunate in that when it’s cold we don’t have to go outdoors, but can cover several city blocks by walking in the skywalks that connect the buildings. A lot of people aren’t so fortunate.

I took this picture of an abandoned sign on O Street in November as temperatures dropped.

In the warmer months we see them downtown. I’ve written of them before. There’s Xylophone Man, Hippy Guitar Dude, and Sock Puppet Guy. Many more are there who have no names or shtick, but merely sat slumped over against the wall, hands outstretched. But when it got cold they disappeared. Most of them to the few shelters that operate here in town. But the shelters are more full than normal due to the impact of a poor economy. I know not all of them make it to a shelter as I have walked through a skywalk early in the morning before work and seen one sleeping on the heat duct within one of the skywalks, his parka pulled over himself for anonymity.

When we walk J and I will talk about this. We realize that we’re both blessed. We have jobs. Good jobs that pay well. Our company is doing well despite the current climate. “An embarrassment of riches” is a phrase I coined one afternoon close to Christmas. So I do try to give a dollar or more to someone if they ask, or put it in their cup or guitar case if opened. Just as many times I’m embarrassed to say I do not.

And while I have been asked by others why I do because “you know they’re just going to go off and drink it, or smoke it, or toke it up, don’t you?”

Well no, I don’t actually know that. God trusted me with money and granted me the ability to make good choices, and bad, with it. Money is a tool. The responsibility for its use lies with the one who possesses it.

Be Prepared. And Be Charitable.

I’ve always been pretty bad about stocking up on extra food and water supplies in case of emergency. I’m the guy who three days before Y2K bought two jugs of distilled water. I think they finally got used this year as water for Nolan’s hermit crabs. While I’m still not ready to dig a bunker in my backyard or head to the hills of Montana, it is a good idea as a matter of practicality to prepare. I was a Boy Scout after all and that is the motto. Be Prepared.I read an article today on Spirit Daily that talks about taking steps to prepare and offers what struck me as a unique way of looking at it. It’s a great idea and provides an additional motivation for taking such steps in preparedness.

It is always wise to have extra food and water on hand. Due to hurricanes, we have "meals-ready-to-eat" (and other supplies). It doesn't hurt to be prudent. And it isn't just cyclones or solar events. A huge ice storm can likewise knock out power for a large region. We are entering a period of heightened circumstances, including societal unrest. When events come, they will occur in ways that were not prognosticated. And so, how to be prudent?

"It's very simple; just do this," states Kate Saunder, a teacher in St. Louis.

1. Buy one extra case of canned goods, peanut butter, or bottled water every month.

2. Mark these with the expiration dates in an obvious, visible place.

3. Store these in a safe place.

4. Rotate goods so that the oldest are the easiest to access (newest on the bottom).

5. Use the oldest goods first, if needed.

6. Several months before the expiration dates, donate the cases of close-to-code-dated goods to the poor. If we do so, we will be accomplishing this:

1. Our personal, corporal security by having access to fresh food and water supplies for up to twelve months in the future.

2. Our charitable, spiritual well-being by feeding the hungry.

3. Our reduction of waste by avoidance of spoilage.

What a great idea. You’re not only storing up for emergencies, but in a sense becoming a mini-food pantry of your own. How many of us think often about how we’d like to contribute more to the food pantries and shelters in our area but don’t make that commitment? This is a sort of “forced savings” if you will, where by rotating the goods in and out of your own pantries, you are being responsible for caring for the needs of your own families, but for others less fortunate than you as well.