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Month: May 2012

“TOTO, I’VE A FEELING WE’RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE. WE MUST BE OVER THE RAINBOW.”

“TOTO, I’VE A FEELING WE’RE NOT IN KANSAS ANYMORE. WE MUST BE OVER THE RAINBOW.”

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Lita and I are in Arizona this week, and like Dorothy I have a feeling we are not in the United States anymore. This is Arizona where reality and fantasy are like distant cousins who hardly meet anymore. Martin Luther King Junior could have been talking about Arizona when he said: "Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity." -Martin Luther King, Jr. A recent article, entitled "Total Eclipse" by Timothy Egan in the New…

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ADVICE FOR THOSE OF US WHO ARE AGING

ADVICE FOR THOSE OF US WHO ARE AGING

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Here are some thoughts about attitudes as we grow older. Maybe there is something here that will benefit you. The first is the thoughts of a Jesuit priest as he grew older. It has been reproduced many times. Prayer of an aging Jesuit Dear Lord, teach me to grow gracefully, help me to see that my community does me no wrong when gradually it takes from me my duty; when it no longer seems to seek my views. Rid me…

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HEAVY HANDED CATHOLIC CHURCH CONDUCT

HEAVY HANDED CATHOLIC CHURCH CONDUCT

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In Vienna, Austria, it's reported that at the parish church near Innsbruck a first communion mass was held on April 22. The church was full of parents and relatives and the first Communion children. The parish priest, father Patrick Busskamp, announced that only Catholics who were in a state of grace should come forward for communion. He told them that Catholics who are divorced and remarried and Catholics who do not attend mass every week were not worthy to receive…

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PAUL ALLAN & THE PIG WAR

PAUL ALLAN & THE PIG WAR

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Allan Island is located just west of Fidalgo island. It is a 292 acre private island. It was named by Charles Wilkes who led the first United States Navy expedition assigned to explore the Pacific Ocean in 1838. He surveyed Puget Sound and named dozens of landmarks including Elliott Bay. Wilkes obsessive behavior and harsh code of discipline was the inspiration for Herman Melville's Ahab in the book Moby Dick. Wilkes named it in 1841 after Capt. William H Allen…

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THE PHRASE “HOBSON’S CHOICE”

THE PHRASE “HOBSON’S CHOICE”

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For many years people would use the phrase "A Hobson's choice" in referring to a situation where they only had one option. The orgin of the phrase is based on actual historical fact. Around the turn of the 17th century Thomas Hobson ran a carrier and horse rental business in Cambridge, England. He rented horses much as cars are rented today. While he had a large number of horses to rent he would require customers to chose the horse in…

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