THE SHACK

Have just finished reading Wm. Paul Young’s The Shack.

It is a good ‘read’.

It should be read by anyone wondering how there can be so much suffering and evil in the world while at the same time there is supposed to be a loving and caring God.

It does not say anything new.

It does present a powerful message in an easy to understand format.

The brilliance of the author lies in the way in which he says what he says.

Superb!

STRONG WORDS

VP Dick Cheney is writing a book.
It will be an instant best seller and is being eagerly awaited.

b.o. has ordered/allowed his Attorney General to investigate alleged enhanced interrogation techniques of barbarian enemies of the United States.
The CIA is apparently being marginalized and demonized in the process.

Liberal commentators argue that democracies do not and should not carry out enhanced interrogation techniques, alleging that such techniques undermine the very goals democracies seek to achieve.
This in spite of the fact that evidence is mounting that such methods produce excellent results.

What to say about all this?

One useful thought is one written some years ago by a very wise European statesman: “Those who like sausage and politics should never watch either being made.”
This eminently true observation was echoed this past weekend at the funeral of Senator Ted Kennedy.
One of the sons jokingly mentioned that his beloved Dad found a way to include him in the crew of his racing sail boat, even though it was against the rules to do so and that Senators in the church that day would understand the ability of a Senator to circumvent the rules.

The eminent European spokesman was wisely pointing out that some pretty unpleasant things actually do go on in the higher realms of international policy making – nasty things are done certainly by the bad guys, and sometimes even by the good guys.

And if the good guys were not prepared to do the dirty work, then perhaps they were not the men/women for the job.

This is a given. This is a sine qua non. This is Diplomacy 101.
To argue otherwise is to be naive, ignorant, and frankly, to be out of touch with reality.

We have always believed that to be a national leader, in the arena of international relations, is to walk a very fine line indeed, for what is easy morality for the individual is by no means always easy morality for the leaders of nations.

Churchill once said that if necessary he would climb into bed with the devil if it would serve the interests of England.

Strong words.

Churchill was a strong leader.

There are not many Churchills.

THE FIVE JOYS

Cathy over at Breathless Expectations [link under favorite sites] has suggested that it is a good idea to close out each day with a consideration of five joys realized in the course of the day.

We feel that this is a superb idea and posted five ‘joys’ on her website last nite.
And today another few have occurred to me, this time three which were suggested by a character in Lonesome Dove – the TV special – the first one, not the greatly inferior second edition.
The three suggested ‘joys’ were voiced by Robert Duvall who played the fictional character Gus McCrae.
Fictional he was but so spectacularly realistic and full of life’s lessons that I used parts of the film repeatedly in my teaching unit on the Westward Movement.
Anyway, three ‘joys’ of the day as suggested by Gus McCrae [paraphrased]:

1 The smile of a pretty woman
2 a sunrise in the morning or a sunset at night
3 the taste of fine whisky

And today I would add:

4 a fine steak on the grill (the rain let up for a few minutes)
5 being able to watch the coverage of the Kennedy Funeral

Thanks, Cathy, for the idea of the five joys.

KENNEDY

The last of the four Kennedy brothers has died.

Joe Jr. went first - killed in the War.
John second - shot to death.
Robert next - shot to death.

And now Ted Kennedy - dead as a result of natural causes.

Four young men who, for better or worse, constitute what passes for royalty in the US.

Incredible that such a family, blessed by wealth and position and charm could rise so far and should suffer such heartbreak.

There is a lesson in the story.

Much to think about.

NORTHERN NOTES

Heavy rain in the Leelanau – no wind but steady rain falling.
Cozy in camp – very, very cozy.
We like cozy.

Second straight day on the Lake in Kayla Elise – lots of time to cruise and fish and eat and read and think and talk and ogle cottages.

No fish caught but quality time.

And then back to dock to cover vessel and back to camp for cocktails and dinner.
Rain put our grilled steaks off a day – but soup and salad is ok too.

And then time to monitor news sources and to ruminate on the world happenings.

Funeral going on for Senator Kennedy – an important American even tho beset with flawed personal and professional lives.

And the problems with CIA persecution – We never thought much of Leon Panetta before. His stock is going up at The Study – just as it is going down at the White House.

The CIA is being emasculated. Why? Started by Harry Truman who did worry about what it might become – why would b.o. take down one of our premier intelligence units?

Politics? You think? You mean like in the way he is out to close Gitmo?

b.o. health care efforts are in delightful decline. Praise the Lord.

The war in Afghanistan is not going well – even Iraq is showing stresses.

Dr. Krauthammer on Fox tonight called b.o. a liar and a coward, with reference I think to the CIA persecutions. Dear Wife observed that he probably would not be invited to the White House for a beer.

THANK YOU, ROBERT NOVAK

We were never big fans, but we used to see him on Crossfire and occasionally an article or two of his would come our way.

And then, with his death, we noticed a quotation of his, in so many words:
“Love your country but don’t trust your government.”

Like all such proclamations, there are times when they are more or less accurate admonitions.

Crises, emergencies, these might be times when one has to trust, perhaps trust blindly.

But when there is time to think it over, to discuss, to consider more than even two sides, then it might be the course of wisdom to reserve the automatic salute to what the government says or preaches.

Such is a time now.

b.o. is simply incredibly, unbelievably economical with the truth.

His snow-plow engine is piling the stuff up every loving day.

Death panels; b.o.’s statements regarding negative consequences of public option; b.o.’s efforts at bipartisanship; his professed understanding of American economy and culture and how to enhance/protect/preserve it; and the like – these and other instances should make it impossible for the thinking American to believe virtually anything the current President of the United States says about anything having to do traditional American life.

It is time “…not to trust.”

OUTSIDE THE CHURCH – HOW SWEET IT WAS

It was Saturday and it was early, 7:00am.

We got there at 7:15am and lots of others were arriving at the same time.

It was our first experience at a church garage/yard sale and it was to open at 8:00am.
I normally am just getting up at 8:00am.

Anyway, we of The Study teamed up with Dear Daughter and the Mom and Dad of her husband and rented a table. We also brought three tables of our own.
And we all three families lugged over enough stuff to fill the tables on top and under and on all four sides.
Unsold stuff would be picked up on Monday by the Salvation Army.

Families participating had the option of donating all proceeds to the Church or to giving over a percentage.

Now, Dear Wife and I hate garage sales. We don’t go to them or give them. Actually, I am the biggest hater.
But this time, we got behind the effort and we were right to do so.

Non-members were invited to participate and we had a joyous day of fund raising, fellowship, and a sense of doing worthwhile things together, with dear friends and with strangers.

Funds were to be divided between general fund; our priest candidate; our animal ministry; and other ministries which I cannot at this moment remember or even know about.

Lots of stuff was picked up by happy shoppers and the Salvation Army should find some good stuff on Monday.

And then afterwards, it was home to freshen up and then to head on out to a local Olive Garden where I was finally able to prove a claim I had been circulating for the last couple of years:
At said eatery, they have a wine tasting program whereby if you ask to participate, they will serve you one-ounce glasses of any wine on the menu for 25 cents – as many tastes as you request, and the tiny proceeds will go to a leukemia charity.

Now, what could be finer than that?

We arrived a bit later than usual – put in our name for a half hour wait – and there was my chance: I said to my six fellow diners, let’s go on in to the bar for a little wine tasting.

And the Dear Bartender produced many, many glasses and bottles and proceeded to allow us to contribute to charity for ca. 40 minutes.

Again, superb fellowship and even more outreach.

Since it was the birthday of Dear Wife, and since she was having a ball on this most unusual method of celebrating her Day, what more can I say?

How sweet it was!!!!

DAME VERA LYNN

Dame Vera Lynn is one of the Good Ones.
And she is still with us.

Go to the site below and read the Telegraph article about one of the Brits who helped to win the Last War.

She has to be right up there with the best of the American entertainers who warmed the hearts and spirits of the fighting men and women who did what had to be done.

Check it out.

So many of them have left us.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/britainatwar/6043373/Dame-Vera-Lynn-the-original-Forces-Sweetheart-is-still-in-demand.html

RANDOM THOUGHTS ON A BLUSTERY NIGHT

Thursday night.

Some severe weather has passed us by.
But we are not as late as usual sitting down to contemplate and to write.
And there are storms raging in the news.

A few:

Significant security breaches in Iraq.
Perhaps the US has left the cities too soon.

The Russian Navy has ‘rescued’ a Russian freighter from persons unknown, and has crew and ship “in custody”.
We wonder just who were the “persons unknown”.

The b.o. Administration has approved deep-sea drilling off the Brazilian coast to benefit Brazil.
But not off the US coast???

A democrat US Congressman verbally abuses a voter at a public forum.
Not the first time.
And not the last time.

Scotland is not having its finest hour.
We saw a USMC bumper sticker last year. It said in so many words,

To err is human; to forgive is divine. Neither is Marine Corps policy

The Scottish Government has erred (sp?) It has acted as though it has forgiven, even if it has not.
It does not want to be like the United States Marine Corps.
And it is successful in that regard.
It thinks it has done the right thing.
It has not.

The reason is that actions have consequences.
In this case, the Government has spared an evil doer from the earthly consequences of his actions.

The Scottish Government has done the wrong thing, thinking it has assumed the high ground.

In this instance, and in all other such, it has acted pathetically.

I think back to my teaching days and the reasons for punishing evil doers, criminals, miscreants, etc.

There are several legitimate reasons:

1 deterrrence
2 rehabilitation
3 incapacitation
4 retribution
5 public condemnation

Releasing the Lockerbie bomber ostensibly has served none of these five objectives.
Keeping him under lock and key would not achieve all of them, but it would achieve some of them.

Scotland should be ashamed of the Ministry of Justice.

The b.o. Administration is thinking of bringing some of the Guantanamo barbarians to a prison in Michigan.
This is one of his more ludicrous predicaments.

He has to close a perfect facility and build another just because he made an idiotic campaign promise.
What a leader!!!

AARP has declared legitimate worries of folks about the b.o. health care ‘reforms’ to be the stuff of myth.
60,000+ members have resigned as a result.
Good for them.

And so it goes.

There is a movie of some years ago…i have forgotten the title and I think it was not a very good movie, but the film has a catchy theme song. One of the lyrics says, in so many words, “It is a very strange world we live in, Master Jack.”

I think that the lyric is correct.

Our world is a very diverse place indeed.

Post script: I think the title was something like Billy Jack, the story of a young fella skilled at fighting who tried to do the right thing.

I believe he got into a heckofa lot of trouble.

Actions have consequences.

SUNDAY NIGHT

Sunday night.

A weekend of weekends:

Friday, our 44th anniversary.
Saturday, the marriage of our Step-Granddaughter.
Sunday, a brunch for the wedding party at our Daughter’s home.
Monday, a once-postponed luncheon in a 19th Century village with two friends and later dinner with out-of-town guests at our home.

So far, so good.
This old fella is holding up.
But my goodness.

Anyway, once again it is late and once again I sit down to right shortly before midnight.

The wedding was picture perfect.
The entire package, the church and the wedding ceremony; the wedding party itself; the guests; the band; the venue; the whole undertaking functioned in the way of a well-oiled machine.

It was blisteringly hot outside but the small church was blessedly airconditioned.

The minister was obviously beloved by the family and very much at ease in carrying out his clerical duties.

Dear Wife and I had no duties to perform and I was free to be the interested spectator, the loving Grandparent.

And then I thought of Gertrude Himmelfarb.

Now, I have no idea how many of my most cherished readers are familiar with the work of this formidable intellect.

But I ran across her some years ago and frankly had not thought of her for some time.

But into my mind one of her observations came.

And I pass it on.

I cannot list her academic, professional credentials right now because of the current disarray of my working library – but sufficient to say she was/is a distinguished professor emeritus at a distinguished university.

To the point: the ceremony was progressing nicely. Prayers were recited. Biblical passages were read. Hymns were sung. Advice of all sorts was given.
All was done in accordance with a tradition evolved over the centuries, for better or worse.
Countless generations saw and heard versions of the service we saw and heard and did what they could with the received teachings.

And now, this past weekend, we were a part of that line of tradition. We saw and heard and then went forth to do what we could with the received teachings and admonitions.

All and good.

And then I thought of one of the teachings, the warnings, of Gertrude Himmelfarb and my mind turned to what might be happening to the centuries old traditions of holy matrimony.

And more importantly perhaps, to what might consequently be happening to related parts of our social fabric.

To be specific: Dr. Himmelfarb observed some years ago that when the abnormal becomes the normal, then eventually, the normal will become the abnormal.

And the alarm flag went up.

Well, it has been up, but it went up a little higher this time.

Marriage between one man and one woman has been the norm for a very long time. It has been supported by our legal system and it in turn supports that legal system.

The relationship has consequences.
I will not list them now.

If this set of relationships is stripped of its legal and religious ‘uniqueness’, and made just one of several ways of organizing our living arrangements, if what has been considered ‘abnormal’ is accorded identical legal/religious protection, if it is made normal, what will happen to the normalness [I know, grammar], the legal/religions sanctions which have attached to the historical understanding of marriage?

And, what will be the result of the changes to our social fabric?

I wonder if those folks who push for new definitions of marriage have really thought through the consequences of ‘new normals’.

Traditions are important. They are the life experiences of a people. They influence, more or less powerfully, what a people will do under any given set of circumstances.

Tinker with them, allow some to die or some to grow stronger, and you will affect how the people will react to challenges which will inevitably come.

As our new, interim Pastor is fond of saying at the end of his sermons, "A thought."

THE ROBBER BARONS

And so, back ‘downstate’, we at The Study look out at the world from our home base.

We see that the debate(s) continue:

The health care/reform factions/town hall meetings argue it out.

The Episcopal Church, aka TEC, continues to apparently fragment, foundering on matters of sex and all that such a topic implies.

Venezuela continues disruptive efforts in the South.

Forest fires apparently rage in Alaska and msm ignores them.
Now, we know one cannot fight Alaskan forest fires, but to ignore them is to ignore an important story.
Why are American forest fires only important if they burn up the homes of Hollywood stars?

Iraq and Afghanistan continue to consume US treasure, human and otherwise.

China and Russia doubtless go about their subversive activities.

The b.o. Administration continues to pander to disgusting democrat interest groups.

Global warming proponents continue to make ridiculous predictions.

b.o. Administration continues to seek moronic green legislation.

No drilling, not now, not then, no way!!!!
BRILLIANT, just BRILLIANT!

Congressional majority leadership is unbelievably, amazingly, transparently ignorant on most commonly debated national issues.

And now a comforting note:

It is possible for the rank and file of us to ignore all of the above almost all of the time only because our nation, our society, is absolutely so amazingly strong and secure and rich and powerful and shall I say, tolerant, despite some evidence to the contrary.

The Robber ‘Barons’ of past and present, whom the libs so gleefully and ignorantly deride, are the ones who have worked with the amazing natural AND human resources found in this Great Land, to produce the unprecedented supreme power entity known as the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

It is our hope and belief that the sleeping political awareness of the American electorate will come to realize the HUGE ERROR it made when it elected the collectivist person known as b.o. as President of this Great Land.

It is our hope and belief that at the next election, b.o. and his national dem party will be summarily and decisively voted out of office and replaced by someone who understands just what it was/is that has made the United States the Beacon on the Hill that it was, is, and we hope, will be for a very long time to come.

HOW SWEET IT IS - GRANDKIDS IN THE NORTH

We are back from The North, back from a week of North in company with two Grandchildren; Dear Wife; Sophie Matilda; and the family of Joel of The Mole Hole with whom/which we share the same Northern Camp ‘compound’.

A splendid week!

The car going up was packed, stuffed. Adults in front seats; kids in middle with Sophie; and cargo in rear.

Stuffed!

A quick stop for Micky Ds and Taco Bell…and then we were off.

AC wobbled a bit toward end of the 4+ hours and engine made a slightly ‘different sound’…but we made it.

And arrival was joyous.

Weather mostly grande; kids playing and adults and kids reacquainting and…adults playing too.

If the weather was iffy, there were sidewalk sales in one of the nearby villages.

Good weather meant boating/tubing to immense delight of even The Old Fella of The Study.

And there was grilling and eating out and campfire s’mores (sp??).

As Dear Wife said, we did all the hoped for things except hike the Conservancy trail we had hoped to do.

We followed the news a little. Not as much as Downstate. But we did a little.
And we discussed and agreed and shared differing views on politics; religion; social/philosophical etc. matters and stuff I cannot recall at this moment.

And there were cocktail hours for the adults and premium Orange Crème hours for the kids with cheeses, crackers, nuts, and all assorted goodies.

And dogs got along well and neighbor kids were good.

And our neighborhood was full of neighbor folks having a good time.

The only omission: with all this fun stuff going on, The Study got precious little attention: books taken North or ‘living there’ were never opened. Few thoughts were jotted down for later development.

But community was in first place and for this would be author, that is a good thing.

We managed church on Sunday, in the small seasonal, century-old congregation, near Omena Bay.

Dinner followed right on the bay.

A delight for all concerned.

Goodbyes yesterday were accompanied by assurances of regatherings in a few weeks, and the packing up was smooth. Early dinner at a Northern family pub; dessert at an award-winning creamery, where you can smell the potential ice cream, as St. Thomas would say (dairy cow manure); and then on for a swift drive downstate.

How sweet it was/is!

Thank the Very Good Lord for His blessings!!

"THE LAST TOMMY"

Boy, that is a very long link that you see below.
But the item is a good one:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/charlesmoore/5990265/Political-leadership-that-once-won-wars-is-missing-in-action.html

And so I return to a recurring theme, there is no greatest generation, regardless of what tom brokaw said [I know, caps are missing].

Harry Patch was a member of a greatest generation.

But the real question is, will there be generations as great in the future of the U.K.?

We at The Study think that there will be.

Such is the way it has been in the past; still is; and evermore shall be.

At least, such should be one of the oft used prayers for the welfare of the nation.

NORTHERN NOTES

August 8 – 2009.

Good grief.

It is late and the day has been busy and we are tired.
But we must network a little bit.

There have been breakfasts, lunches, and dinners.
And a cocktail hour and munchies and talk about things great and small and grilling and before that grocery shopping and shopping with the Grand Kids and driving and all sorts of such hilarity.

And the people.
We saw Deputy Sheriffs with great handlebar mustaches on great draft horses and crowds and small-town bakeries and smiling and laughing senior citizens and junior citizens.

Up this AM and out the door to do ‘heartland stuff’.

There is a little town near the end of the Leelanau Peninsula that for fifteen years has hosted a DOG PARADE!

The parade is headed up by first responders – police and fire…and it is followed up by the same.

And there are jillions of dogs.

And most are costumed, as are their ‘masters’.

Dear Wife just sat down across from me and I just realized that the above is just a bit ‘disjointed’.

I cannot help it and if I don’t keep going for a little while I will fall asleep.
We are tired.

There was a storm last night in this little town and two good-sized boats moored in the marina broke loose from their moorings and washed ashore.

We overheard such talk as we walked toward the water after the parade.

And, and, as we approached the marina, Dear Wife noticed that standing by the side of the road was no less than one of the lads from my high school class of 1959 with his wife, sister, and brother-in-law, up for a visit from ‘downstate.’

Alumnus and wife were two of the classmates we had over for dinner in May.

We had a delightful chat.

The business of the Leelanau is cutting me off from day-to-day news.
Nice!!!

We love the news, but this is a nice change: real, old-fashioned America on a Saturday afternoon, watching a dog parade which is a huge community draw.

The community is Northport, Michigan.

GO NORTHPORT!!!!!

TOUCH HANDS…PACKY ECKOLA…R.I.P.

Thinking about the passing of Jim Rooks a day or two ago put me in mind of another Northern Michigan friend/acquaintance of mine with whom I taught school for over thirty years, an Upper Peninsula native, Jack Eckola.

Jack died shortly after retiring, years ago.

He would come ‘downstate’ in the fall to resume teaching duties and at the end of the school year return to his beloved North.

In mid-May he would announce that once again he had begun to ‘empty the freezer’ in preparation for the annual trek to Crystal Falls, to a cabin he built from logs he cut and had prepared at a local mill.

He told one of his sons that when he married, it had better not be in the summer, for if it was, Dad would not be there.

Anyway, we visited Jack’s cottage in Crystal Falls a number of years ago and we knew that his wife, Packy, was an accomplished artist.

I have since found out that she was also an author; historian; public figure in Crystal Falls; and probably other things that I know nothing of.

Our main contact was with Jack.

So it was that I decided that since we were recently not too far from Crystal Falls just a few days ago, that I would ‘Google’ her name.
Well, up came many, many ‘hits’ and to my regret discovered that she had passed away just a couple of weeks ago.

And so I say to Packy, it was an honor to have known you and we recognize you as a person we should have gotten to know better.

You and Jack will be in our thoughts and prayers.

A thought from our annual Christmas Letter comes to mind:

Ah Friends, dear friends, as years go on
And heads get gray
Touch hands, touch hands, with those that stay.

Touch hands with ‘those who stay’.

One never knows.

Godspeed, Packy Eckola.