Living Waters New Album featured in Nashua Telegraph!

In the Encore section of the March 17, 2011 Nashua Telegraph, there was a very positive article about Living Waters new release, "Refresh". (This was a reprint of an earlier article in the Merrimack Journal.) Click on this! to see it...

Exciting NEWS! First CD is now live on ITUNES, Amazon & emusic!

Our new CD, entitled "Refresh" has now gone live on itunes on the 20th for $9.99. On Amazon, it was released on Friday, February 11th! It costs only $7.99 for 13 songs. It is very cheap on 'emusic' for just 49 cents a song.  You can sample all of the songs by going to our ReverbNation site and clicking the Amazon button. So exciting! Rejoice with us!





Peace & Love & JOY,
Mark Lajoie!

Check out music from Living Waters

Living Waters FEATURED on ReverbNation MAIN PAGE

Living Waters is going to be a featured on the main page of ReverbNation for the week of November 2 through November 9! Check it out!

Living Waters Music - A Music Player

To see the full site, go to:  http://www.reverbnation.com/livingwaters

In order to see the lyrics, click on "Options" and then the "Lyrics" rectangle.  You may notice you can also "Download" or go to the site.  Some of the songs on this player are "Noteworthy Composer" compositions, meaning they were written using sheet music composition software and have no live vocals (for instance, "A Stand of Courage" or the "Credo").  Since there are no words being sung on these, punch up the lyrics and follow the computerized lead "voice" in order to match the lyrics to it.

For a blog discussing these songs and memories of the Living Waters Band on the Living Waters Music site, click on the blog link to the right.  Within, each blog entry there are links to the songs being discussed,

UPDATE:  Oct 12, 2010.  "Peter the Rock" was played on "The Catholic Music Express" radio program of Oct 3, 2010 and we have been linked to http://www.gvonline.net/artists.html !

Stupid Stupak: When Catholics Trust the Untrustable

Stupid Stupak:

When Catholics Trust the Untrustable

(Let me start by saying that I do not use the word “stupid” as a childish insult to Representative Stupak.  I use it to describe the act of trusting someone about something which only the most naïve could possibly trust.  The only way to describe such an action is “foolish” or “stupid”.)

In the aftermath of the stunning betrayal by Bart Stupak on March 21, 2010, one historical precedent has filled my consciousness with its eerie, stomach-churning similarity.  This precedent is the role of the Catholic Centre Party  in the accession of the Nazis in the early 1930’s.  (Before I go any further, let me also make it clear that I do not intend to directly compare Hitler and Obama.  My purpose is to underline the foolishness of Catholics who trust those who have displayed unmistakable antagonism to moral issues of relevance to Catholics.)

Pictured above is Franz von Papen.  He led the Catholic Centre Party, presenting himself as promoting the interests of Catholics in Germany, but in the end, he was just another short-sighted politician about whom Hitler commented, “These men are ghosts.”  Hitler played him like a violin, used him for his own purposes and tossed him aside.  We need not delve into great detail.  Suffice it to say, Papen made deals with Hitler, a man whose virulent anti-Catholic rants were public record and easily accessible to any curious man, not to mention his perverse hatred of the Jews and others.  Further, his main stated socialist and statist goals were totally repugnant to the Catholic ideals of subsidiarity and solidarity.  Papen thought he could guide or control Hitler for his own purposes.  Hitler made promises to von Papen.  Von Papen used his influence, in his turn, to get Hitler appointed Chancellor, just when it seemed he had been stymied.

 

Papen used his influence for an altogether disastrous intrigue. In spite of all assertions to the contrary, it was he who took the initiative in establishing an alliance with Hitler, who was already beginning to despair of attaining power. Any hesitations he may have had about entering into this suicidal partnership were doubtless swept aside by his natural recklessness, his arrogant assumption of his own right to lead, and an itch for revenge upon his rival Schleicher, now Chancellor in the new cabinet. At all events, the offended Papen cleared away the last personal obstacles to a partnership between the nationalist right and the NSDAP….but this time with real chances of achieving power.

 

He really should have known better.  If he had only stood his ground, we might have avoided the horrors of Holocaust and World War.  A Catholic can’t ‘make deals’ with people who have consistently espoused moral values inconsistent with true social justice theory.  You can’t get pure water from a thoroughly contaminated well.

Stupak should know better about this health care bill, too.  Those who wrote and influenced it or, those whom Obama plans to use to administer the bill, like Ezekiel Emmanuel, Cass Sunstein and the like, have supported the use of government health care to promote federally funded abortions and maybe even infanticide in the words of some of them.  Their own words, associations and actions have given us all more than ample opportunity to figure out what their REAL purposes are.  These people have already let slip their real intentions in regard to life and other moral issues important to Catholics.

What in the world has Obama or his friends ever said in all their ‘public-consumption’ commentary that would give anyone any confidence in their most earnestly argued reassurances?  Their credibility on ‘transparency’, on deficit-cutting or anything else has reached laughable lows.  Why should Stupak trust an empty promise to do something which is inherently nonsensical:  executive altering of legislation??  When they have made it so clear that widespread access to abortion and euthanasia is virtually number one on their list, why should he expect them to change their spots, unless it’s for a tactical maneuver?

HOW STUPID CAN YOU BE?

This is a sad day for all those who feel conscience should have some sort of real-world relevance.  Alas, it seems there is no ‘social justice’ for the most innocent and helpless among us like the infants and the elderly.  We were hoping Stupak would stand tall.  He failed.  We still have a chance to and MUST stand up for life and freedom after this display of stupid gullibility.

Remember November is coming.  Reports are already arising of a massive surge today for Stupak’s opponent.  There’s one thing among many that we all can do.  Let’s get back to work again!

The Lyin’ King: Summit at (Hubris) Pride Rock!

The Lyin’ King:

Summit at Hubris Pride Rock!

All the lions gathered around the big flat rock for the big meeting on hyena-run health care.  King Obamba cleared his throat dramatically and began:

Obamba:    Listen to me and listen long.  We’re talking about how I’m going to take care of all the lions by using the hyenas.  I’m going to let you lions on the right do some of the talking and you lions on the left do more talking than that, but, of course, I will do more talking than all of you lions on the right combined, OK?

McCain:     Wait a minute, why is that?

Obamba:    I AM the King, after all, right?  There was a reason I couldn’t wait to do this, wasn’t there?

McCain:     Well, I….

Obamba:    I have to look like I’m being fair.  Let's see.  Who should go first?

Biden:        Don't look at me.  I don't have to do anything.  Just Biden my time!

Obamba:    Be quiet, Vice Lion Biden.  I will call on one of your lead lions on the right.  So, go ahead, Lemur.

Lamar:       That’s “Senior Lion Lamar….”

Obamba:    Whatever.  Go ahead, Lemur.

Lamar:       Mr. King of the United Lions, back when you kept saying “I just can’t wait to be king” all the time, you promised to do things a certain way and now you’re not.  A lot of the lions are saying they don’t want the hyenas taking care of the lions and rumors are flying that you are going to force us all to do it.  The RBO – the Rafiki Budget Office – says it will be a lot more costly to the lions than the way we do it now.  Will you promise here and now not to Rahm this thing down our throats so we can all discuss this honestly and actually do something that will really help?

Obamba:    I’m going to totally ignore that last thing you just said and I’m going to say that you are factually incorrect about the RBO…

Lamar:       But I have it right here…

Obamba:    No, sorry, little Lemur, I’m right, you’re wrong.  Rafiki is a good friend of mine…before we’re done here, I’ll make you eat your words.

[Obamba's little bird advisor ZatU approaches.]

ZatU:        (quietly)  …won’t be much else left to eat….

Obamba:    ZatU, iz zat you again?  I didn’t realize you were still there.

ZatU:        (softly) You hardly realize anyone else but you is there.

Obamba:    Well, I am the really important one here, after all.

[ZatU hands Obamba a piece of paper.]

Obamba:    What’s this?  (whispering to ZatU)  RBO says that?  (to all) Well, let me make this perfectly clear.  What I meant to say is that certain types of lions at certain times will be doing better in certain ways.  Why, it’s perfectly obvious that that’s what I meant to say about all that.  And, you, Lemur….

Lamar:       (sighing) Senior Lion Lamar….

Obamba:    Whatever.  You have got to stop getting us off track here with all your partisan, mean, power-grabbing type stuff….

Lamar:       We haven’t had any power or say since you….

Obamba:    Whatever.  You see, I’ve got to look like I’m considering your ideas before I shut you down and your bringing up things like that is just less time for me to talk and look King-y and all that.  Yes, My Cane, what is it?

McCain:     That’s McCAIN!

Obamba:    No, it’s not MY cane.  You’re the one who needs a cane, you toothless old lion.

McCain:     Well, anyway, I object to the PROCESS.  You broke your promises when we were competing to be King.  You said you weren’t doing business with the jackals and now you’re meeting with them and the hyenas all the time in secret caves.

Obamba:    Toothless John, stop that, this has been very open.

McCain:     Yeah, and what about the Zebra Kickback and the Smelly Warthog Purchase and all the Pork.  Phew!  There are so many pigs around here now.

Obamba:    John, stop flapping your toothless gums, the campaign for King is over and I am the King – and you’re not.  Besides, no one wants to hear you talk.  They want to hear me.  Well, maybe we’ll let a lion on the left talk a little.  Senior Lioness Slaughter?

ZatU:        No, but we will soon if these hyenas in the king’s government take over.  Then you’ll see your ‘lioness slaughter’….

Obamba:    Oh, is zat you, ZatU?  I forgot you were there and I’m paying no attention to you.  Go ahead, Lioness.

Slaughter: If we don’t let the hyenas take care of the lions, then we’ll see TERRIBLE trouble.  The way things are now just won’t work.  For instance, I know an old lioness that lost her teeth and she had no hyenas to give her teeth from other lions so she had to use her dead mother’s teeth, which don’t fit, and she’ll probably starve.  Lions will be starving everywhere.  It will be a…It will be a…a…

ZatU:        Slaughter?

Slaughter: Yes?

ZatU:        Never mind.

Slaughter: Well, anyway….

Obamba:    All right, that’s enough of someone who’s not me.

[Obamba talks and talks and talks with his lion chin held high….]

Obamba:    What is it, Ryan?

Ryan:         Can I point out the obvious that we are in drought and near famine?  Does it make any sense to go all in with the hyenas when it’s never worked with anything else we’ve done with them?  Most lions reject this path.

[Lion Ryan goes on several minutes with great intelligence, passion and expression, bringing a whole series of facts.]

Obamba:    You’re lyin’, Ryan.

Ryan:         Well, yes, I am Lion Ryan!  I can’t believe you used my title, Mr. King of the United Lions!

Obamba:    Just stop all that now.  You’re embarrassing yourself.  Well, I’m done with all this and I trust I’ve dazzled everyone with how well I’ve seemed to be balanced and listen and all that stuff.  You, right lions, well, actually I’m the only lion who’s right, here,  Now, if you right lions don’t be reasonable and come over to my way of doing things….  [Obamba pounds one paw into the other and slashes a paw over his throat.]  My gang, RahmU, Axle Hotrod and the Chicago Thugs will have to slip you the convincer.  What choice do I have?  I gave you every chance today in my very munificent munificensy.  That’s enough of all this hog waste.  I’m going to do what I really wanted to do in the first place now.

Obamba:    (exits singing, with his lion chin in the air): "Everybody look left, everybody look………LEFT some more!  Everywhere you look I'm standing in the spotlight!  Every body look LEFT!"

ZatU:        He just couldn’t wait to be King, all right.  Now the rest of us can hardly wait till he ISN’T!!

Pro-Life House Dems Now on Front Line

Pro-Life House Dems Now on Front Line

*published on Flopping Aces*

At one point President Obama promised:  “no federal dollars will be used to fund abortions, and federal conscience laws will remain in place.”  Obama released his own version of Obama-care yesterday. Now that we’ve had a chance to look at the massive health care plan monstrosity the White House finally put out for itself yesterday, we can add this to the list of lies, false promises and insinuations.  He apparently met several times with Planned Parenthood.  How many meetings with pro-life groups?  You guessed it:  none!  The group Americans United For Life  has put out the following report (which includes some very informative links):

“On Monday morning, February 22, 2010, President Obama unveiled a ‘new’ health care reform proposal, purporting to combine ideas from the Senate-passed bill, the House-passed bill, and Republican proposals.  However, a careful examination of the White House proposal (which lacks actual legislative language) and statements made by members of the Obama Administration during a health care conference call on Monday reveal the truth – the “new” proposal is simply a modified version of the anti-life bill that passed the Senate on Christmas Eve. 

Unfortunately, while the White House was crafting modifications to the Senate bill, they failed to remove the anti-life language.  Therefore, all of AUL’s concerns about the bill’s abortion-related provisions, conscience provision, and end-of-life provisions remain.  Further, the White House proposal dramatically increases funding – by 11 billion dollars – for “community health centers” which will include Planned Parenthood abortion centers.  Because the proposal lacks a blanket prohibition on the use of federal funds for abortions, these new funds could be used to directly pay for abortions.

For detailed analyses of the anti-life provisions in the Senate health care reform bill, please see the following posts:

Legal Analysis of Life Concerns in President’s Proposal (Same as the Senate Health Care Reform Bill)

Abortion Tax and other Problems in President’s Proposal (Same as the Senate Health Care Reform Bill)

Abortion Funding Chart (In President’s Proposal and Senate Health Care Reform Bill)

Comparison Chart of Hyde Amendment, Senate Bill/President’s Proposal, and House Bill”

It is time to write and call all of the pro-life Democrats in the House and point out their Stupak Amendment just got thrown under the bus.  (That bus is going to be a mile high before Obama gets done.)  Strongly encourage them to vote AGAINST this bill now that the reason for their previous positive vote is totally gone.  They are now manning the barricades against an existential threat against the American way of life.  Many of them are Catholic.  Will they move towards Obama or towards the call of Benedict XVI to value innocent human life?  We need to help remind them how crucial this is to our land and all humanity.  Call now!

 

 

The Four Corpsemen of the Obamaclypse

The Four Corpsemen of the Obamaclypse

 *published on Flopping Aces*

In recent days, concurrent with the apocalyptic “Snowpocalypse” in Washington and the earthquake in Chicago, a deluge and a great shaking of another sort has been shaking the Chicago cabal of President Obama in Washington, D.C.  It is awesome serendipity that such similar cataclysms are mirroring each other in this way!

 

Many leading reasonable Democrats are lashing out at the inner sanctum of Chicago chosen ones surrounding Obama.  Steve Clemons, Edward Luce, ex-Governor Doug Wilder of Virginia and others are, for the first time, beginning to be honest about the administrative incompetence and unsuitability of, in particular, Rahm Emanuel, Robert Gibbs, Valerie Jarrett and David Axelrod.

 

The reasons these people are remonstrating spring, of course, from a far different place than those of the majority who are opposing health care and apocalyptic spending.   Many of these liberals are frustrated that their once-in-a-lifetime chance to push certain pet causes is slipping through their fingers.  Nonetheless, any amount of honesty is precious and praiseworthy.

 

So many of us tried to warn of the danger of hiring someone with SO little administrative experience who was so entangled with the questionable mindset and tactics of the ‘Chicago Way’ and far-left radicals.  Perhaps, all Americans of good will can now agree about the destructiveness of this fearsome foursome and press for their ouster.  How much further must we go to realize that the man in charge of hiring and organizing all of this is even more culpable than those he has appointed?  I think a lot of Americans have already taken, or, are about to take, that short step to sanity in this election season of 2010.

[I must say that I am indebted for this potent title to Mark Steyn.  It's a brilliant turn of phrase that deserves repeating!]

Corpse Man!

Introducing…

Corpse Man!

 

Sources have managed to get this rare picture of the Commander-in-Chief’s secret weapon, CORPSE MAN.  President Obama let the phrase slip at a recent press conference in reference to the Navy’s latest hush-hush project.  “Torture” or enhanced interrogation will now be totally unnecessary.  More intimidating than a mere superhero, CORPSE MAN will save us time and money on interrogations at a mere cost of…tens of BILLIONS?!?!  You bet!  We’re going to spend our way out of this crisis!

Obama “Faith” Advisor Attacks Pope!

Obama “Faith”Advisor Attacks Pope!

*published on Flopping Aces* 

Over the past year we’ve already seen ample evidence that Obama has indeed been affected by the Marxist marinade he stewed in over the years.  Some of us were not so shocked by the massive spending, government takeover and the nascent socialism in most of his proposals.  But the sheer radical nature of so many of his appointments was truly eye-opening, wasn’t it?  (See among other articles, “Czar She Blows” earlier this year.)  As the year went on, we saw many other disquieting examples.  (Anita Dunn comes to mind, as well as his subsuming of the Census.) Well, it seems the radical Marxist, anti-religious beat goes on.

 

The Catholic News Agency is reporting that former minister Harry Knox, appointed by Obama to his Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership, is standing by his comments attacking Pope Benedict XVI as “hurting people in the name of Jesus”.

Pope hurts people 'in name of Jesus,' Obama faith-based advisor restates 

Washington D.C., February 4 (CNA)

Knox, a former licensed minister of the United Methodist Church and a leader with the homosexual activist group Human Rights Campaign (HRC), originally made his comments in March 2009 in response to Pope Benedict's comments about the effectiveness of condoms in fighting AIDS in Africa.

"The Pope's statement that condoms don't help control the spread of HIV, but rather condoms increase infection rates, is hurting people in the name of Jesus," Knox had said in a HRC statement. "On a continent where millions of people are infected with HIV, it is morally reprehensible to spread such blatant falsehoods."

CNSNews.com spoke with Knox at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday. Asked if he stood by his comments, he said "I do."

Asked about Harvard AIDS prevention researcher Dr. Edward Green's claim that the Pope was correct, Knox said Dr. Green was "simply incorrect."

"All the other evidence of science shows otherwise."

In March 2009, Dr. Green told CNA that researchers cannot find an association between more condom use and lower HIV rates. He has also written that programs to increase fidelity in relationships and to reduce the number of sex partners are effective.

Previously, Knox has described Pope Benedict XVI and certain Catholic bishops as "discredited leaders" because of their opposition to same-sex "marriage."

Though acknowledging the Knights of Columbus' "good works," he also called the Catholic fraternal order's members "foot soldiers of a discredited army of oppression", because of the organization's support for the successful California ballot measure Proposition 8. That 2008 measure restored the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman.

My school’s religious order has many institutions serving the people in Marxist-ruled Zimbabwe and many other countries hardest hit by the AIDS pandemic.  It is a truly catastrophic situation.  Those who aren’t orphaned are often being raised by older grandparents.  The money our schools are raising in this country is helping many of these orphans live at our schools in Africa.  Programs discouraging promiscuity are getting results.  Handing out condoms isn’t working.  What the Pope says is a very simple statement of fact that is encountered in every day life down there, and not just in the convincing statistics referred to by Dr. Green.

I can offer an anecdote of my own in regard to the practical counter-disease effectiveness of condoms in real street life.  Many years ago, I got the chance to visit and stay at Covenant House in New York City for awhile.  (Covenant House is a shelter for runaway kids.  A lot of runaways in New York, many very young, are picked up by pimps and forced into white slavery:  forced prostitution.)  I got to talk to the workers serving these kids there about the real statistics they got straight from the street.  Can you guess what the failure rate is for condoms in real street use?  It’s one in five.  Can you guess the average number of tricks these kids have to turn a day?  You guessed it:  five!  It’s basically Russian roulette.  The STD’s all these kids get is no abstract papal religious propaganda; it’s horribly real.

Who would you rather trust in this African AIDS crisis: all the Catholic religious orders in Africa who are actually serving the orphans and shattered families, or someone denied ordination for not adhering to his own denomination’s rules?

It seems many of those surrounding Obama betray antipathy to authentic religion.  If they are ‘religious’ at all, it is the Marxist model of Reverends Wright and Fleger, HEAVY emphasis on Marxist not ‘religious’.  All this makes me wonder about Obama’s year-long search for a church to attend.  Could it be that any ‘church’ he would really want to attend would not look good in a PR sense?  I almost hate to speculate like that, but in view of the ever-increasing evidence from so many of his appointees, like this Harry Knox, what else are we to think?

Beware of far-left idealogical zealots offering ‘spiritual’ advice, or ANY advice for that matter.  Their grasp on reality is so skewed that, every time they try to “help”, a lot of people are actually going to get very hurt! 

President Queeg & The Brown Mutiny

President Queeg

&

 The Brown Mutiny

*published on Flopping Aces*  

If you want to see a truly great classic movie, allow me to recommend The Caine Mutiny released in 1954.  Why that one?  Well, I’m beginning to see some resemblances in the plot of that movie and the STRANGE things going on around the Obama administration since the Massachusetts Miracle election of Scott Brown.

 

The short version of the plot is that a poorly-run ship gets a new captain who, it is hoped, will restore discipline and purpose to the crew.  On the surface he looks like the perfect person to lead, though he’s never had such a task before.  He’s seen hard duty and maybe he might be good in an essentially training job.  It soon becomes apparent to all, however, that this Captain Queeg is damaged goods, psychologically.  He seems to be on a megalomaniacal power trip and obsesses about trivial issues while being oblivious to true dangers.  Here is an excerpt from the Wikipedia summary:

 

The next day, the Caine is assigned to tow a target for gunnery practice. Queeg berates both Keith and Keefer over a crewman's appearance and, while distracted, cuts off the helmsman's warning; as a result, the Caine continues in a circle and cuts the towline to the target. Queeg refuses to accept responsibility and tries to cover it up.

 

Other incidents serve to undermine Queeg's authority. When the remains of a quart of strawberries is stolen from the officers' mess, the captain goes to absurd lengths to hunt the culprit. More seriously, in combat, Queeg breaks off escorting a group of landing craft during an amphibious assault long before they reach the fiercely-defended shore, dropping a yellow marker in the water instead and leaving them unsupported. Afterwards, Queeg makes a speech to his officers, not explicitly apologizing for his behavior, but bending enough to ask for their support. His disgruntled subordinates do not respond.

 

Keefer begins trying to convince Maryk that he should relieve Queeg on the basis of mental illness. Matters come to a head during a violent typhoon. Maryk urgently recommends that they steer into the waves and take on ballast, but Queeg fears that the ballast will foul the fuel lines with salt water. Queeg's decisions seem to Maryk to threaten the capsizing of the Caine. When Queeg appears to become paralyzed and unable to deal with the crisis, Maryk relieves him and takes over, with Keith's support.

 

Part of the crew is court-martialed for their mutiny.  At first, Queeg presents himself as perfectly logical and a victim of jealousy and it seems to be working.  Queeg is going to be cleared and the crewmembers convicted.  Then, in a climactic scene, Queeg, played to the hilt by Humphrey Bogart, comes apart on the stand under the pressure of truth, his constant rolling of those metal balls in his right hand serving as the background for his mental collapse.

 

Now, let’s see what happened to Obama last week.

He had been brought aboard the ship of the body politic to straighten things up.  He had never done anything like it before and there was some suspicion that he was ‘damaged goods’, having been stewed in a Marxist marinade and perhaps scarred by an unusual background.  But he actually seemed to LOOK like the perfect antidote for what ailed us, just as someone like Queeg might SEEM to be perfect as a trainer; he had seen active duty; so, though he had never actually had such duty as a training captain, he might do well.

 

But as soon as he became our ‘captain’, Obama began to betray annoying symptoms of clueless behavior.  He obsessed about the Olympics, global warming and the Nobel Prize, while our ship of state cut the towline of international respect.  He conveyed massive energy and resources towards a health care monstrosity no one wanted while the real crying need for jobs lay like a target cut off and adrift in the water.  When our Army cried for a quick decision in Afghanistan, he obfuscated and dithered.  While Fort Hood and the Underwear Bomber cried out for a strong response, Obama dropped the yellow marker of apology and unprecedented civilian treatment of terrorists, including trying KSM in New York City.

 

Far from being the transparent post-confrontational ‘trainer’ he had promised to be, he practiced a Queeg-like paranoid secrecy everywhere, in his many secret czars, the subsuming of the census, the Cambridge policeman acting stupidly, the total closed-door secrecy in the health care process, the silencing tactics with Fox, media and citizenry alike, and so much more.

 

Queeg had good attorneys to mask or spin the stories about him.  Obama had almost the entire media and elite to try to spin the behavior we began to see with our own eyes.  So, it looked like he might be able to get away with it.  Until…

 

Enormous political pressure came to bear on Obama with the unexpected win by Brown in Massachusetts in the wake of New Jersey and Virginia, and then, IT HAPPENED.  The veneer cracked.  Hordes of once true-blue liberal pundits, politicians and power brokers began to say out loud what those watching closely have known all along.  [For instance, Mort Zuckerman has repented with a vengeance]  People began running from the health care bill like the plague, pointing fingers, jumping off the ship. Voila.  The Emperor has no clothes.  Everyone is staring at Obama in the witness chair, tumbling those balls in his hand, totally obsessed with an ideological madness, unable to face the reality surrounding him.  He just can’t seem to deal with it, resorting to absurd comparisons that now fall completely flat with everyone.  We’ve all seen it together and called it what it is.  EVERYBODY KNOWS WHO HE IS NOW.

The one key, even crucial, difference is that Obama has not been relieved of command as Queeg so obviously needed to be, and was, at the end of  “The Caine Mutiny”.  Even though we have uncovered a similar paranoid obsession in Obama, he will most likely remain our ‘captain’ until 2012.  There is still plenty of damage he can do, so many more yellow markers to drop, so many fruitless strawberry hunts to waste our money upon.

 

What do we do?  Let’s all find something to do in making 2010 a sea-change election.  This is a matter of patriotism not partisanship.  “It is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country.”  Choose a local candidate who gets it and become involved in their campaign.  If you have a lot of money, it won’t do you any good if our country goes aground on some reef of socialism; give it where it will do some good.  Are you a good writer?  Write editorials, letters to the editors, on blogs, anywhere you can.

 

We’ve already managed to do so much up to now.  Why stop?  Let’s effectively take this captain’s hands off the wheel and limit the damage he can do.  Like Paul Revere on Brown Beauty, let’s ride!  Let’s mutiny against stupidity and RAISE SOME CAINE!!

 

The Sisters & the Swashbuckler

The Sisters & the Swashbuckler

In the run-up to the miraculous come-from-behind victory of Scott Brown in oh-so-Blue Massachusetts, some conservatives were agonizing about supporting Brown (who is not strictly pro-life) or the ‘true conservative’, the ironically named Mr. Kennedy.  In their agony to be ‘right’, they almost missed the rescue boat!  Kennedy ended up getting less than 1%.  Thank the Good God, most conservatives felt the inspiration of the Spirit and did the right thing by not insisting on such litmus test purity.  Believe me, I think orthodoxy or defining truth is an important matter, but that’s not really the mistake being made in such cases.  The problem starts with not recognizing that judging the worth or ultimate destiny of any person is a job that belongs to God alone.  If God wants to use someone that’s not OUR idea of someone worthy, then so be it, that’s not our job.  What is our job?  We’ve got to do WHATever we can with WHOever we can!  The Lord Jesus spelled it out in his Last Judgment of the Sheep and Goats.  The question wasn’t ‘Have you believed the right things’; it was ‘What did you DO to, for or with the LEAST’.  Mother Teresa didn’t interrogate those she helped about their worthiness or background and she worked with many unlikely allies.

 

It reminds me of the man on a roof in a flood begging the Lord for help:  he refuses a rowboat, a police boat and a helicopter and says he’s waiting for God’s special help.  As he’s drowning he complains to God, who replies:  ‘Gee, I sent you two boats and a helicopter.  Why didn’t you take any of them?’  Thank God, we jumped in Brown’s pickup!

 

The mistake of the hand-wringing conservatives, a ‘Brown-out’ of short-sightedness, is a common one in history.  Truly wise men and authentically called leaders are usually humble enough to see the rowboat, even when it’s coming in a disconcerting or unexpected package while the puritanically proper are so ‘right’ that they’re actually wrong.  I see such an example in the events surrounding the great Battle of New Orleans.

 

[I should preface my remarks by saying ahead of time that I realize Andrew Jackson is a controversial and troubling figure.  Some of the things he did were so amazing and admirable while others were horrific and inexcusable.  Suffice it to say that what he did at New Orleans was amazing.]

 

Colonel Jackson was about to face the greatest army in the world.  The Redcoats racing up the Delta had just defeated the mighty Napoleon and were the best organized, provisioned and experienced soldiers in the world.  Now, Jackson could have gone with a conventional plan solely based on U.S. regular soldiers, but what he did was visionary.  For one thing, he actively enlisted every level of citizenry in the city on many levels.  And then he turned to two very unlikely sources for help.

 

First, he asked for the help of Catholic Religious nuns, the Ursulines.  We must remember, Jackson was a Protestant in a time that was generally distrustful and biased against the minority Catholics, but he did not hesitate to ask.

 

“…the Ursuline Sisters prayed that they would be spared loss of life in the Battle of New Orleans led by General Andrew Jackson against the formidable British Army. In spite of overwhelming odds including huge numbers of highly trained British soldiers, the Battle was won. General Jackson, publicly, and in a letter to the Sisters, acknowledged “heavenly intercession” in that victory. The Sisters welcomed the many injured British soldiers and nursed them back to health. (Jackson’s letter resides in the Ursuline Museum on State Street).

 

In years after the Battle, President Jackson’s trips to New Orleans always included visits to the Ursuline Convent.”

 

The other unlikely source was the notorious pirate, Jean Lafitte.  Now, Lafitte actually saw himself as a “gentleman” and a “privateer”, but there was no doubt he had done some bad things.  Nonetheless, Jackson met with him and saw something admirable and even trustworthy in this remarkable tactician and organizer and decided to ‘overlook’ what didn’t fit with his idea of propriety.  Lafitte truly wanted to help for reasons that were at least partly laudable.

 

We can all read in history the results of this unlikely alliance, the glorious Battle of New Orleans. The way everyone planned and gave every ounce of energy they had together was a true inspiration.  It was a truly miraculous unforeseen victory achieved through the hard work, co-operation and determination of many different yet like-minded patriots, very much like that joyous election of January 19, 2010.

 

So, let’s keep our eyes peeled for the next rowboat and the next allies in the glorious and righteous cause we share.  Keep your powder dry and your boots on.

 

You might want to listen to Johnny Horton’s classic “The Battle of New Orleans” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxB42cjHTGg

“Brown Beauty” Rides Again! OR The “Scott” Heard Round the World!

“Brown Beauty” Rides Again!

OR

The “Scott” Heard Round the World!

  

My motto has always been ‘puns are fun’ and, my, what a feast presents itself in the current Special Election with Martha Coakley and Scott Brown!  I employed several in my recent posts.  Many, and rightly so, have seen an awesome parallel with the beginning of the American Revolution in Massachusetts in 1775.  There, too, we saw the regular populace revolt against an out-of-touch, domineering aristocracy and top-down government bureaucracy.  Outsiders have no idea to what similar depths of corruption and clueless entitlement the Democratic establishment in the Bay State has descended.  (Oh, wait, actually you do since the Obama Presidency.)  At any rate, I am reveling in the sweet happenstance of several fortuitous puns!

 

In the original Massachusetts uprising, Paul Revere borrowed a horse to embark on his famous ‘midnight ride’ popularized by Longfellow’s wonderful poem.  What was the NAME of this heroic equine messenger, you ask?  Why, BROWN BEAUTY is that name, of course.  How appropriate that the workmanlike messenger of this present oh-so-sane revolt is also named BROWN, and that his campaign has been a thing of BEAUTY?  In the immortal words of Jackie Gleason, “How sweet it is”!

 

The happy result of said ride of Revere was, need we say, the “shot heard round the world” at Concord.  How curious!  Have you noticed that “shot” rhymes with SCOTT?  I was just reading in several foreign papers online that everyone around the world seems to have taken notice of this little-known State Senator and the revolutionary import of what is happening in Massachusetts.  So, that means we might call this current confluence of events – dare we say it – “The SCOTT Heard Round the World”!  [For more sublime wordplay, go to Howie Carr’s latest irreverent masterpiece.]

 

Some might regard such ruminations as of little importance.  But results of wordplay like this often serve as distillers of the essence of very important truths.  A whole range of events, meanings and movements can be summed up in such short summaries as “The XYZ Affair” or “Wall Street Lays an Egg”.  What Cary Grant’s marriage to heiress Barbara Hutton meant in reams of gossip commentary has forever been encapsulated as “Cash & Cary”!  I view these merry jests in much the same way.  These phrases may be fun & trivial but the struggle for the future of all humanity is there in the fibers of their cloth and in the lilt of their short cadences.