But I Couldn't Prove It In Court

This was on Drudge today: Hospice Death Dreams Study  It found that dying patients have similar "dreams that aren't dreams" of being visited by loved ones who have previously passed.

What I 'know' about this comes from reports of people who were at a person's passing, and a 'similar-but-different' experience of mine, and that of a friend.

The first time I heard of anything like this was when my Grandpa died. I remember mom remarkinmg that he seemed at pease, and was smiling when he went. She said she thought it was because he could see Grandma and relatives waiting for him.

When I was about 13 or 14, Mom and I drove up to to see her cousin's daughter take vows at the Immaculate Heart Sisters' novitiate in Montecito. (And I'm pissed that I don't remember her name.)  We met, and started walking up the hill to the ceremony. My Novitiate cousin and I were chatting, and the subject turned to an end of life experience she had heard of. An aunt was dying, and her husband was racing to get to her before she passed. He saw, as the house came into view, light streaming from all of the windows. When he got into the house, he found his wife had passed just about the time the house came into view. And everyone there swore that most of the lights in the house had been off.

After her sister passed away, my friend Carole had a dream of her. As she told me, the dream wasn't a dream, she was talking with her sister about how she had passed.

And finally, my own experience - some time after my mom passed, I had a dream of having a conversation with her. It was short, and the only thing I remember was her telling my that I was going to be all right.

When I awoke from that dream, I realized that it was not like any other dream I had ever dreamt. It wasan actual conversation with Martha.  It felt "different".

I have had 'premonitions' that were true - a friend had called, and I "knew" it as I got a block or so from the house. When I came in, mom mentioned that my friend had indeed called.  This happened twice, and I have no explanation for it. All I knoew is that I was dead certain that my friend had called. I'm relating this just to show that the kind of certainty I experienced when mom visited me was neither unusual, nor surprisingly new.

I know that some medical profesionals have said that the 'moving to the light' experience can be explained by chemicals produced in the brain when a patient is near death or dying; and that it's just a function of physiology.  I do not know if this is just musing, conjecture, or is being studied. But I won't be surprised when someone uses it to explain what is documented in the Hospice Buffalo study.

Me, I have some conjectures and beliefs about it.  One conjecture: assume there are chemical processes in the brain associated with near death/dying, and that they are common phenomena. What if, instead of the chemical process causing the experiences the dying have, the chemical processes are caused by the "dreams that aren't dreams"?

Is my conjecture ameinable to evidentiary proof? Possibly, but I have no idea how go about it. Is my conviction that my conversation with mom wasn't a dream provable?  Same answer - I hve no idea how to prove it.

All I can say about my conversation with mom, and the other stories I've been told is I believe it. I spoke with mom.

But I couldn't prove it in court.

Buy A Nun A Book Day ( Bumped Yet Again!)

...is approaching once again - September 17.  Once again, I will be sending books to the good Holy Names Sisters who taught me in my callow youth.

It's a nice way to say "Thanks"!

Corporal Works of Mercy

Go. Read.

Bumped: Question du jour... (Updated for Neid's Dead Horse!) Updated for Reality Cheque

Update three: The WaPo has this article about Hamtramck.  Go, RTWT

Update two: Well, it's starting to happen. Hamtramck, Mi. (home of the Painless Pole dentist, played by John Shuck) now has a Muslim majority on their city council.  So far, it doesn't look good:

The nation’s first, but certainly not last, majority-Muslim city council has just been elected in Hamtramck, Michigan, a historically Polish city. But before anyone could break out the sparkling grape juice and toast our new diversity, Ibrahim Algahim — a Muslim activist in Hamtramck – crowed at a victory party:

Today we show the Polish, and everybody else.

Multicultural euphoria, meet Islamic supremacist reality. Algahim, at least, was not ready to link arms and sing “Kumbaya,” as the diverse peoples of Hamtramck marched towards multicultural harmony. Randy Wimbley of Fox 2 Detroit reported:
[H]istory [was made] in Hamtramck as voters elected the first majority Muslim city council in the country.
But rather than ease racial tensions, the comments from a Muslim organizer threaten to divide. [Algahim’s comment] may create or widen the rift between the growing Muslim and shrinking Polish community in Hamtramck.

RTWT at PJ Media.

Original post:

Serious question - under the Constitution, why should it be OK for Catholics to forbid birth control and abortion, OK to allow Jews to practice Kosher, but forbid Muslims from following Sharia?

This is a law question, not a "Muslims are evil question". (They may well be, but that is another discussion...)

Update - As always, ask a question, get an answer, of sorts:  Nied's Dead Horse ‏(@mflynny)  seems to think I'm advocating for Sharia.  I'm not  At.  All.

But, as I proposed to her... Dearborn Mi votes in Sharia as the law of the town.  Chaos ensues.  (You know it will.)  Suits are brought against it by the few sane people left there.

What are the legal grounds for overturning the Will of the People?

Or, to put it another way, what keeps them from turning our laws against us?

It's starting already - "If you put up a Nativity scene, you have to let us put up an anti-nativity scene!!!"

I think it's an important question, and I haven't seen much about it.

Oh. And I guess I should always expand some on why I'm asking a question.

My apologies to @mflynny.

Buy A Nun A Book Day... Bumped as a Reminder!

...is approaching.  I'm consulting my nunnish sources, but all the evidence points to Real Soon - September 17.  Once again, I will be sending books to the good sisters who taught me in my callow youth.

I won't have time to consult this year (my bad), but I'm sure I can find a few books that might interest them!

It's a nice way to say "Thanks"!

One Man's Take...

...on the Catholic Mass



WARNING: Unclean language in spots!

Thanks to The Anchoress!

About Damned Time!

The Washington Times reports that:

 "Mrs. Pelosi should be denied Communion until she changes her advocacy views on abortion, Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke said, according to the Western Center for Journalism."

Seems she is continually breaking Canon Law 915, which says:

"...that Catholics who are stubbornly contrary “in manifest grave sin are not to be admitted to Holy Communion.”

I wonder if she even goes to Mass?

Via Drudge.

(Sorry, Sister.)

Good News About Abortion!

Really!!

From Christianity Today:

Abortion Clinics Closing at Record Rate

 The reasons vary, according to the article, from retiring doctors, to more state laws requiring clinics to adhere to the same standards at outpatient surgery clinics.

Yay!!

Go!  RTWT!!

(Via Drudge)

International Buy A Nun... (Updated x3)

...A Book Day!

 Update III:

Got this from the Sister to whom I'd written:

Thank you so much, Lee. I can identify some Sisters who will be thrilled to receive the books.

Sister Kathryn

 Update II:

My book club has notified me that two of the books I've requested have been mailed.  No word back from the convent, tho...

Update:

 Didn't hear back today, and since the day is next Tuesday, I went ahead and ordered books that I've enjoyed and though the good nuns might also.  Here's my e-mail:

Hello, Sister,

 

As the 'official' day is next Tuesday, I went ahead and picked out four book to be sent to directly you for distribution.  They will probably be arriving over the next week or two, which is a function of how the swap club works.  Each book will be coming from a different member, so arrival is a function of how soon each member gets to it, and how far it has to travel.

 

I wound up ordering three books that are favorites of mine, and one similar but different from a series I have read from.
 

They are:

 

A Letter of Mary, by Laurie R. King

The Dante Club, by Matthew Pearl

The Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tsu, translated by John C. H. Wu

The Best American Short Stories 1997, ed. by Kenison(?)

 

I hope you all will enjoy them!

I wondered what books to get, and who to give them to.  I suddenly realized/decided that I wanted to send them to the nuns (or the order, anyway) who taught me in grade school.  I've managed to track down the "Mother Ship" convent in California, and sent an e-mail off asking what books might be appreciated.

So, if you know (or knew) a nun, buy her a book!

(This seems to be a word of mouth/blog thing, so pass it on!)

Cheese Nazis....

...from Fox:

Florida official tells Christian charity to choose between Jesus and cheese

A Florida ministry that feeds the poor said a state agriculture department official told them they would not be allowed to receive USDA food unless they removed portraits of Christ, the Ten Commandments, a banner that read “Jesus is Lord” and stopping giving Bibles to the needy.
“They told us they could no longer allow us to have any religious information where the USDA food is going to be,” said Kay Daly, executive director of the Christian Service Center.

Florida is saying its the USDA's call.  The USDA is saying, according to the article, that basically as long as a religious organization is not discriminating against people of different faiths, religious display is OK

I didn't vote for him.

Happy Women's...

...Reproductive Health Day??

Tweeted from the White House:

Thanks to the #ACA, 1 in 3 women under 65 gained access to preventive care—like birth control—with no out-of-pocket costs. #HappyMothersDay
— The White House (@whitehouse) May 10, 2013

(From the Weekly Standard, via Drudge)

Guess I'm a Lapsed Extremist?!

Saw this over at Sondrakistan:

I stopped practicing the Catholic faith when I was twenty, because I disagreed with most of their teachings on the nature of human sexuality.  I was pretty sure I wouldn't be able to convince them to change their stand, so I left.

Fourty some odd years later, I seem to be in what might be described as a near-earth orbit of the Church.  I see how it is still a bulwark against the insane "-isms" that plague us at every step.

And then there's this stupid training poster the Army has put together.  I saw it and said to myself, "I stand with the Catholics".  I may not participate in the liturgy and Communion, but I stand with the Catholics.

Profound Congratulations...

...to Jewel.

The Easter Vigil: I have at last crossed the Tiber

 

The oil of peace and certainty has now mingled well with the chrism of joy. It is one of the best fragrances you can ever smell.  It’s past 1:30 in the morning, and the perfume is still wafting through my nose.

Receiving the Body and Blood of Christ was my First Supper.

I cannot find the words right now to describe how I am feeling.

Easter blessings and joy to you all on this Day of Christ’s Resurrection.

The die is cast!

This Should...

...pretty much wipe out all of my Lenten points.

I guess the lawyers have finally managed...

...to teach everyone else to eat their young.

From The Anchoress:

Not everyone is into political issues, or keeps up with them, and my husband has a limited attention span for news articles on issues that have promised “nothing new” for the last few decades. For that reason, and although he is strongly pro-life, articles touching on the issue rarely get his attention: there’s a lot of yelling on all sides, but few if any saying anything new.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is helping to change that, by saying something new, extreme, and rather shocking, and by trying to codify his new words into law. Deacon Greg Kandra sums it up in a particularly good homily:

. . .In New York City today, 40% of all pregnancies, nearly half, end in abortion.
Among minorities, it’s as high as 60%. In some neighborhoods, it’s 67%. And that’s just the beginning. To some, it seems, that’s not enough.
In Albany two weeks ago, the governor of this state proposed an abortion bill that threatens to make New York the bloodiest state in the union.
It would permit unlimited late term abortion on demand – right up to the ninth month.
It would allow people who are not doctors to perform abortions.
It would declare that the “state shall not discriminate” against the right to abortion, a declaration that could threaten the very existence of Catholic hospitals. Long Island alone is home to six hospitals that could be crippled by having Medicare funds withheld if they refuse to comply.
If enacted into law, this bill would declare that abortion is a fundamental right that cannot be denied. No parental notification for minors, no limits on taxpayer funding of abortion, no limits on late-term abortions.

 When I was 16, the hospital my mom worked at shout down the maternity ward (1966 - end of the baby boom).  She found a new job at a Catholic run maternity home.  We moved into a house that was across the street from the hospital, so I got  to see a lot of the "young mothers".

They came from all over the country.  It gave them and their parents a chance to save face - "Oh, Patty is going to school in California for a year."  Which was true.  I saw them crossing the street to school as I was coming and going.  So, the home provided a place to live, school, and a hospital where a young girl could have her baby.  They were also given counseling by social services workers.  Most of the babies were adopted.

The home is still there, and it's gotten larger. 

And yet, more and more every day, we are killing our unborn children in ways that would loudly be declaimed as "inhumane" if we executed murders, or put down our pets in the same way.

Our government is warring against our children, but not against those who threaten us.

It's that simple.

Christmas 2012

My Christmas status report...

Well, it seems we are all still here, Mayan calendar not withstanding.  I kept telling people that their calendar stopped because they ran out of numbers!

I've been living here for about a year and a half now.  Doc Deb was gracious and invited me to move in when I lost my job last year.  I'd been doing maintenance stuff in exchange for my keep, until she lost her job in March.  She decided to move down to Texas to be with her parents, who are getting a bit frail.  I'd pulled the pin on my retirement benefits (such as they are), so now I'm staying in the house, making the mortgage payment.

The last three months have been exciting - I started working as a contract writer for a company called Remilon.  I'm writing on-line classes on programming for them, for starters.  The idea is, you could take a full class on one of many subjects for free, and then take the CLEP exam, and get college credit for the class.  It's an inexpensive way to clear out a lot of undergrad requirements, given that the cost of a CLEP exam is usually under $100.00.  My first lesson is finished, and I just uploaded the video for my second one yesterday.

Given that I live at the main crossroads in Red Lion, there is a *lot* of traffic, and traffic noise, which makes recording my lessons pretty much impossible.  I went to the local library, and asked if I could use one of their conference rooms as my recording studio.  I wound up talking with the director, Don, about it.  One thing led to another, and I wound up hanging a projection screen in the board room for them.  We are working on starting some computer skills classes there.  I use the library as my office sometimes, as it gets me out of the house and away from potential distractions (like Baxter helping me type).

Got the heater working, and think I've located the leak that flooded the basement.  It's not the boiler, nor is it the water heater.  I believe that it's in one of the pipes going through the cellar wall to the heater in the kitchen.  That means, the kitchen floor will have to come up in order to locate and repair said leak.  Fun.

I got an estimate on getting the old siding replaced.  The Home Depot guy (also named Don) was mostly worried about the sagging laundry room.  I did a little poking around, and it looks like there is no really code-grade footing for it.  The floor will also have to come up for diagnosis and repair, and possible jacking/shoring.  Yay.

Christmas... I'm going to get the place picked up and cleaned up this weekend.  My plan for Monday is to bake.  Current projects are to be two pumpkin pies and weapons-grade fudge topped brownies.  (I may do soft oatmeal cookies before that, just to get me through the weekend.)  Christmas day will be my Christmas movie marathon: The Ice Harvest (John Cusack, Billy Bob Thornton, Connie Nielsen), The Holiday (Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jack Black, Jude Law), Scrooged (Bill Murray, Karen Allen), and a new one, the 200th episode of NCIS.  I think of as a take on "It's a Wonderful Life", with Gibbs taking George Bailey's place in the center of things.  And maybe, if I can find them, the "Eureka" Christmas episodes, too.  Dinner will be turkey tamales and Caesar salad.  And french vanilla ice cream laced with brandy (from the book "Ice Cream Happy Hour").  And, of course, I hope to chat with my daughter.  She is on the road from L.A. to Billings, Montana as we speak.  She expects to arrive today, and will be staying with my cousin and his wife until she can get situated.

Update - pictures!!

Living room with tree, candles, and Baxter

Dining area/work area

Bar, red hat, and Dakota

Kitchen work station, with pie!!

Close-up, workstation and pie!  Kitchen composting happens in the green bins on the left.

And that's about it for year end here in PA.

Merry Christmas to all!

Elevating Thought

 It's been a month since the election, and I'm still trying to re-group.  What upset me the most (after the outcome)  was the encroaching lack of civility and clear, useful journalism on the Right as well as the Left.  I find that disheartening, since one of the Big Deals we made about the Left was and is their lack of civility, and the mendacity of the MSM.

One writer who comes to mind is John Nolte, at Breitbart.  Here is his opener on the Zimmerman/NBC suit:

"Though it might feel like a hundred years ago, it was only last April when the media joined Barack Obama's cynical crusade to gin up his base in Florida through the artificial inflaming of racial tensions. And there was no question NBC News was the worst of these co-conspirators after the network was busted editing a 9-1-1 call to make Trayvon Martin's suspected shooter, George Zimmerman, look like a racist. Today, Zimmerman filed suit against the Peacock Network."

Now, I gather that his basic assertion about NBC editing the sound track of the 911 call is factual.  But I don't think anyone would deny that the inflammatory nature of the paragraph.  I'm not suggesting that Mr. Nolte do anything differently - he has his "bully pulpit", the editors must like the way he's writing, and the First Amendment applies.  You go, John.

But I think this kind of writing only helps to maybe put an up-tick in the pitch fork, torch, tar, feather, and rail markets.  Which I don't think is really helpful at all, even in the short term.

My metaphysics training has taught me to stand guard at the doorway of thought.  In a nutshell, this warning is based upon the idea that we see and become what we think and believe.  If we don't pay attention to what we are admitting into our thoughts, we can start to slide downhill.  A practical example - repeat a lie often enough, and it (seems to) become true.

My distress is in no small part to my own slippage.  Looking back over my pre-election and near-post election posts, I'm struck by how they could have been less, well, vulgar, and more informative and thoughtful.  Fortunately, Gerard turned on a light for me, and gave me a glimpse of what I've been seeking.  It has apparently been wending its way thru the web.  One full copy of it is at The Thinking Housewife.  I'm excerpting the first section here:

A Plan for Traditionalists

AT The Orthosphere, Kristor offers a reasonable guide to survival and affecting the culture. In the immediate future, he recommends:

1. Resolve to pay no more PC jizya (beautifully spelled out in the Solzhenitsyn essay that has been discussed a lot lately in the wider orthosphere). Tell the truth, and call a spade a spade: calmly, politely, and without being obstreperous about it, but nevertheless firmly. Without making a big deal about it or calling attention to yourself, fail to appear for the public rites of Moloch. If you must thus appear, quietly fail to meet the requirements of the rite.
2. Write, read, blog, talk: join a book club, an apologetics roundtable, a bible study group. Learn the arguments for reaction, for Christianity, for theism; learn the arguments against them, and how they may be defeated. Speak up: fearlessly, scandalously, but always humbly and politely.
3. Live a virtuous, upright life, at home and in business. Speak the truth, and do the right thing. Whatever it happens to be, don’t let it be about yourself; let it be about the True, the Good, and the Beautiful.
4. Beware; and be prepared to move, quickly. Get rid of stuff that you don’t need or that is not positively beautiful to you in some way – especially debt and belly fat, which are likely going to cost you as the financial and medical sectors of the economy devolve over the next ten years.
5. Maintain tradition in small things: e.g., dress more formally than is customary these days, practice old-fashioned manners, refrain from swearing; read old books, and then discuss them around the family dinner table; join together in regular and serious family prayer, if only to bless each meal; remember your family holiday traditions, and observe them gravely and with joy.
6. Pray without ceasing. Pray whenever your attention is not wholly consumed with the task at hand. Work toward praying even when it is. Nothing is so convincing as sanctity, or so attractive, or so authoritative. Without it, personal rectitude can seem like Pharisaical arrogance (and risks becoming just that). You can’t push sanctity. But you can work at allowing it to happen.

 (Debt isn't the huge problem it was five years ago.  The belly fat, though continues to be tough.)

There's more, all worth read, pondering, and incorporating into our lives.  Go!

Humility...

...the other guys should try it.

"I’m 100% convinced Mitt Romney was shaken to his soul right then and there.  I think at that moment it was sinking in he might really be the next American president, and it humbled him right to his core, in every nerve of his body.  And as he was saying that little prayer, you could hear the sound of thunder from all those thundersticks outside. Like this huge low rumble that just surrounded all of them at once.  A quiet little prayer, and the sound of thunder."

For some reason, I'm reminded of the scene in Camelot, where Vanessa Redgrave's Gunivere angrily counsels Lancelot to try "Hoo-mil-ee-tay!"  Someone should have done that to Obie a long time ago.  And made it stick, too.

Go.  Read.

Via The Ulsterman Report, and of course, Gerard

Pray and Act

The Manhattan Declaration and the 40 day fast for America.

I found this while reading through reader comments at Brietbart about  the AFP commercial I linked to in the post below.  The responder did not include any links, so, since Google is my friend, I found a bunch of posts about the 40 day fast for America.

I followed the link to the "Pray and A.C.T." page at the Renewing American Leadership (ReAL) website.  It describes the why and how of the fast.  It also directs you to the Pray and A.C.T. website.  as of today, the link fails, returning a "Server Not Found" error.  I'll poke into that when I'm done here...

The "ACT" part of the page asks that you go to the Manhattan Declaration webite, and read and sign it.  That link goes to the web page.  Here is a link to the declaration as a .PDF.

The declaration is about 4,700 words long, so get comfortable.  It is a clear and concise defense of life, marriage, and religious liberty from a Christian moral perspective.  Two thinks I liked the most about it:  first, it strongly and clearly emphasizes human free will, and the fundamental right and freedom to follow one's own conscience.  (I inferred that one might add "well informed" as a state of said conscience.  Or that could just be the Ghosts of Jesuits Past.)  Second, was the mini-lesson on Martin Luther King, Jr.'s from the Birmingham jail: "...citing Christian writers such as Augustine and Aquinas, King taught that just laws elevate and ennoble human beings because they are rooted in the moral law whose ultimate source is God Himself. Unjust laws degrade human beings. Inasmuch as they can claim no authority beyond sheer human will, they lack any power to bind in conscience. King's willingness to go to jail, rather than comply with legal injustice, was exemplary and inspiring."


Read the whole thing.  Sign it if you feel so moved.  Fast if you feel so moved.  And act, if you feel so moved.

Pax Vobiscum.

(Cross-posted at Window on Red Lion)

"Ishmaelites"...

...or "Saracens".

Mme Sherzo posts a goldmine!

Go.  Read.  It. All!