Continuing In That Vein...

Another gun free zone success was on display in Georgia today:

Six shot, shooter dead.  Perhaps, as was pointed out by a commentator over at Weasel Zippers, the problem is that guns can't read.

Just Curious

The lucky folks that were off having a good time at the NRA convention in Indianapolis may have been disconnected enough not to have seen the latest from Chicago:  from Friday through Sunday there were 40 shootings, 5 of them fatal.  Chicago being, as it were, a gun free zone.

Which made me wonder:  anybody know what the stats were for Indianapolis during the same time period?  A time period when a whole bunch of bitter-clinging, gun-toting, evil NRA members flooded the area? Just curious. Kinda bet I can guess, even taking into account the fact that Indy is a smaller city.

What Do You Put in a Dr. Who Fan's Easter Basket?

Daleggs, of course.

Easter

He is risen!

He is risen indeed!

Holy Saturday

We wait at the sealed tomb.

And at night, we celebrate the great Easter Vigil.

The paschel fire is lit.  The baptismal candle is blessed.

The great Exsultet is sung:

Exult, let them exult, the hosts of heaven,
exult, let Angel ministers of God exults,
let the trumpet of salvation
sound aloud our mighty King's triumph!
Be glad, let earth be glad, as glory floods her,
ablaze with light from her eternal King,
let all corners of the earth be glad,
knowing an end to gloom and darkness.
Rejoice, let Mother Church also rejoice,
arrayed with the lightning of his glory,
let this holy building shake with joy,
filled with the mighty voices of the peoples.... 

It is truly right and just,
with ardent love of mind and heart
and with devoted service of our voice,
to acclaim our God invisible, the almighty Father,
and Jesus Christ, our Lord, his Son, his Only Begotten. 

Who for our sake paid Adam's debt to the eternal Father,
and, pouring out his own dear Blood,
wiped clean the record of our ancient sinfulness.

These, then, are the feasts of Passover,
in which is slain the Lamb, the one true Lamb,
whose Blood anoints the doorposts of believers. 

This is the night,
when once you led our forebears, Israel's children,
from slavery in Egypt
and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea.

This is the night,
when once you led our forebears, Israel's children,
from slavery in Egypt
and made them pass dry-shod through the Red Sea.

This is the night
that with a pillar of fire
banished the darkness of sin.

This is the night
that even now, throughout the world,
sets Christian believers apart from worldly vices
and from the gloom of sin,
leading them to grace
and joining them to his holy ones.

This is the night
when Christ broke the prison-bars of death
and rose victorious from the underworld.

Our birth would have been no gain,
had we not been redeemed.
 

O wonder of your humble care for us!
O love, O charity beyond all telling,
to ransom a slave you gave away your Son!

O truly necessary sin of Adam,
destroyed completely by the Death of Christ!

O happy fault
that earned so great, so glorious a Redeemer!

O truly blessed night,
worthy alone to know the time and hour
when Christ rose from the underworld!

This is the night
of which it is written:
The night shall be as bright as day,
dazzling is the night for me,
and full of gladness.

The sanctifying power of this night
dispels wickedness, washes faults away,
restores innocence to the fallen, and joy to mourners,
drives out hatred, fosters concord, and brings down the mighty.

On this, your night of grace, O holy Father,
accept this candle, a solemn offering,
the work of bees and your servants' hands.
an evening sacrifice of praise,
this gift from your most holy Church.

But now we know the praises of this pillar,
which glowing fire ignites for God's honor,
a fire into many flames divided,
yet never dimmed by sharing of its light,
for it is fed by melting wax,
drawn out by mother bees
to build a torch so precious.

O truly blessed night,
when thing of heaven are wed to those of earth,
and divine to the human.

Therefore, O Lord,
we pray you that this candle,
hallowed to the honor of your name,
may persevere undimmed,
to overcome the darkness of this night,
Receive it as a pleasing fragrance,
and let it mingle with the lights of heaven.
May this flame be found still burning
by the Morning Star:
the one Morning Star who never sets,
Christ your Son,
who, coming back from death's domain,
has shed his peaceful light on humanity,
and lives and reigns for ever and ever.

Amen.

We begin the great narration of our creation and salvation by candlelight.

The journey of those seeking to enter the Church culminateS with baptism and/or confirmation.

And we know that in the morning the tomb will be empty.

Good Friday

There is no Mass, but there is a special liturgy with communion.  The holy water fonts are empty, the alter is stripped. We reverence the Cross.  All goes dark.  We fast and wait.

Holy Thursday

Lent is over, the Triduum begins today.  Tonight we will commemorate the establishment of the Eucharist and the priesthood.

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took a cup, and when he had given thanks, he gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you.This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”(Matthew 26:26-29) 

 "And Jesus coming, spoke to them,saying:  'All power is given to Me in Heaven and in earth.  Going therefore, teach ye all nations; baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son,and of the Holy Ghost.  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you:  and behold I am with you all days, even to the consummation ofthe world."  (Matthew 28:18-20) 

Exactly

Because there is no issue in the world more important than being able to have sex any time, any where, with any one with out any consequences, including payment for birth control. 

Best Comment of the Day

Is that it would have been great if those who died in Benghazi had had as much firepower available as the government sent to the Bundy ranch.

 

And by the way, animal lovers, when the BLM folks stole Bundy's cattle, they separated new calves from their mothers.  New calves that need to nurse, and were deprived of nourishment and fluids for two days. 

Well, Well, Well

Turns out it wasn't about a desert tortoise after all.  But we knew that.  The tortoise and the cattle have been co-existing for 100 years.  And there are so many of those tortoises that the Feds are euthanizing them.  It wasn't about the boundaries of the tortoise reserve, either.  Because those boundaries are flexible enough that at one point BLM changed them for Harry Reid.  Who just happens to be tight with the head of BLM.  And who just happens to be involved with a Chinese solar firm that just happens to want to develop a facility on that land.

Yeah, it was the land BLM wanted.  Didn't have anything at all to do with the tortoise.  It had to do with Harry Reid and family getting richer.

What I find telling is that BLM representatives seemed willing, at one point, to open fire on the protesters.  That's how arrogant our government has become.  And that's what we have to figure out how to tear down.

WHAT?!

I'd say that this is unbelievable but it's not.  And it's not just this out of control administration.  It's that Americans have let this get to this point.

In 2010 the Farm Bill contained verbiage removing the statute of limitations on debts owed to the gummit.  All well and good - a debt is a debt and one should pay one's debts, even if you think we are overtaxed by a fiducially irresponsible bunch of horse's patooties.  I get this part.

The part that needs to be torn down, stomped on, and flushed down the crapper is that the gummit is now collecting the debts of deceased debtors from their families by snatching their tax returns.  Ol' Mom was overpaid by the IRS and has died?  YOU get to pay the debt.  From The Washington Post:

A few weeks ago, with no notice, the U.S. government intercepted Mary Grice’s tax refunds from both the IRS and the state of Maryland. Grice had no idea that Uncle Sam had seized her money until some days later, when she got a letter saying that her refund had gone to satisfy an old debt to the government — a very old debt.

When Grice was 4, back in 1960, her father died, leaving her mother with five children to raise. Until the kids turned 18, Sadie Grice got survivor benefits from Social Security to help feed and clothe them. Now, Social Security claims it overpaid someone in the Grice family — it’s not sure who — in 1977. After 37 years of silence, four years after Sadie Grice died, the government is coming after her daughter. Why the feds chose to take Mary’s money, rather than her surviving siblings’, is a mystery.

Across the nation, hundreds of thousands of taxpayers who are expecting refunds this month are instead getting letters like the one Grice got, informing them that because of a debt they never knew about — often a debt incurred by their parents — the government has confiscated their check.

We have piles of evidence that government agencies are out of control.  When the heck are Americans going to get off their butts and fight this crap?

Full story here.

Look Closely

This isn't a parrot.

The photo is the work of artist and former body paining champion Johannes Stoetter who spent four weeks planning this shoot, five hours setting it up, four hours painting the model, and another hour trying to find the pose that most resembled that of a real parrot.

Justice

You may have heard that some wiseacres in San Francisco amused themselves by tipping Smart cars on their sides.  Gotta say, I find this entertaining...

...because a zoom on the bumper sticker I circled reveals:

Yeah.  Big smile here.

h/t Andy Parks

More

Long days, that is.  Back whenever.  At least I can't complain of boredom.

On A Dime

As Borepatch's recent posts have shown, things can turn on a dime.  Financial Peace class began last night with the news that the eldest son of friends from church had been found dead that morning.  I can't imagine.  If you are of a praying inclination, please say one for the Blancs.   They've been preparing for the joy of seeing another son ordained to the priesthood in a couple months.  There'll be a hole in their family on that day now.

Lie

It's been years since the New York Times actually reported rather than opinionated, and their recent Jack Chick-like cartoon is multicolored proof of their inability to print the truth.

I know that the problem comes from being liberal - liberals don't view facts as necessary to their statements.  It's all about how they feel and hey, if a lie makes them feel superior, well then the lie is justified. 

The lie is that the Hobby Lobby suit is about them denying contraceptives to their employees.   It's not.  Hobby Lobby already provides coverage for contraceptives.  What they are refusing to do is to be involved with abortifacients,  which kill a new human being rather than preventing conception. 

But liberals lie.  It's easier for them than telling the truth is.

h/t Creative Minority Report