Nom de plume: Rivrdog

It must be an election year...

There's flip-flopping in progress...el Presidente, who was for "traditional marriage" yesterday, isn't for it today.

Look, if you want to declare your love for another person ot even another member of another species, fine. If you want to share your fortune with that person/whatever, fine.

"Marriage" is specifically defined as a union of two humans, of opposite sex, of other appropriate pre-requisites, as approved by the State, and that's where the rub is, that "approved by the State" part. Since the Forefathers could never have forseen the mainstreaming of homosexuality as a cultural norm, we have to forgive them for being so obtuse about what marriage is and isn't.

It's time to update the law to the cultural norm, though. Here's the Rivrdog solution:

Congress needs to send out an Amendment to the US Constitution that wipes the word and meaning of "marriage" off of all law books, substitutes the word and meaning for "union" in it's place, and leaves the definition of unions between peoples up to Congress. This removes religion from the question entirely. 

In the Forefather's day, religion had a place in the moral lives of every American citizen, and the religious definition of marriage was perfectly acceptable. Since Federal courts have given their imprimatur to "civil unions", there is no more place in our culture for a religious definition of them to be the law of the land.

You see, Campers, we have this little clause prohibiting "establishment" of religion into law. There is no better definition of "establishment" than accepting the religious definition of Marriage instead of our constitutional Court definition.

Establishment of religion has it's place, and that place is in our hearts and minds, not our books of Law.

I might not be a fish biologist, but...

Here's a new meme re-branded meme.

"I might not be..." presents the common-sense approach to issues that have "gone all technical" and now ordinary folks get disparaged and laughed down for trying to expound on them.

Curse those technocrats who claim the entire world of knowledge to themselves, anyway.

So, your Rivrdog blog will spend some time with this meme.

In fact, I already have. My recent post on electric cars was an "I might not be an automotive engineer, but I know what I want and should get in an electric car" post.

The "I might not be..." posts also point out something that this blog has become noted for, and that's holding up our poor educational establishment to the light of history, showing what it could be, has been, but isn't now. I might not be an engineer, but I can read engineering articles and become somewhat informed. I might not be a fish biologist, but I can and DO read up on invasive species, and coupling my interest with that of a conservationist having a 1950s-1960s basic science education (much better than today's), I can see why there is huge danger in crossing ecosystem boundaries with different species. In Oregon, we put our money where our mouths are on this subject, and every boater pays a $5/year fee (including the Holy Paddlers, who howl about having to pay the fee, because paddling is supposed to be freeeeeee) to support research into and control of, invasive species.

So, never be afraid to stand up for your basic education. Just because someone else might have degrees in a narrow field which you lack, and maybe even be or have been employed by the Government to use those degrees for Government Planning Bureaus, or perhaps received grants of money to study those narrow subjects, it does not mean that YOUR common-sense approach to that same subject is somehow insufficient for human understanding.

In fact, these narrow fields of academic and scientific concentaration frequently become "in-bred" with their high priests and acolytes forming what is nothing but a belief system, or religion, around that body of knowledge. When those fields of endeavor and study become inbred like that, no good can ever come of the furtherance of those missions.

If you don't believe me, look at how the Endangered Species Act, a good concept involving the basic precepts of conservation of species, became fouled with political ambition and is now used almost exclusively as a tool for furtherance of Government control and seizure of privately-held resources, as well as re-distribution of wealth from the private/successful sector to the public-assistance (unsuccessful) sector.

I could go on, perhaps even write books, and I will, eventually, but for now, I'm just taking notes, and YOU should take note, too.

YOU might not be a historian, but if you can write down your observations, you fill the role of one in a good and useful manner.

Genocide by Malaria?

Fifty years ago, Rachel Carson wrote "Silent Spring", the book which claimed that the widespread use of DDT was going to eliminate all the songbirds from the Earth (and eagles and all other birds). The world believed her, and followed her suggestion, which was to ban the manufacture and use of the chemical almost everywhere.

The problem was, that with the then-widespread use of DDT and long-range aircraft to spray it with, we had just about eliminated the most deadly pest in the world fifty years ago, the malaria-carrying mosquito. Once the ban went into place, the mosquito rebounded rapidly, and since then, untold millions of tropical-world residents have died of malaria, borne almost exclusively by the mosquito, with most of the victims being babies and children.

Now, if any one person, under any other circumstances at all, could be directly linked to the killing of millions of innocent babies and children, the entire civilized world (and most of the less-civilized world as well) would howl for their head.

To my knowledge, no one ever linked Rachel Carson to this form of intentional genocide.

Why not?

Answer below the fold...

Is Impeachment enough justice for this asswipe Judge?

Story here. A State Judge in PA tossed out an assault case against a Muslim, opining that the Muslim was "obligated" to assault the victim in the case, a person who acted as a "zombie" Prophet Muhammad, and thereby insulted the Muslim faith.

The Judge is Muslim, and should have recused himself when the case got to his docket.

The Judge invoked Sharia law, which is NOT the law of the land in PA or anywhere else in the USA.

The Judge is an idiot, because he had a perfectly good reason to toss the assault case, the "fighting words" Doctrine, and instead, chose to cite Sharia law.

Impeachment is too good (and too slow) for this Judge. He needs to be arrested and charged with Official Misconduct, in that he invoked a code of Law which is not recognized, and thereby broke his Oath to support and defend the Constitutions of the United States and the Commonwealth of PA, and therefor committed some grade of Treason. I'll be willing to bet that PA has a law or judical rule that a Judge charged with Official Misconduct may not sit on the bench while such a case is pending.That would get him off the bench the moment he is arrested and charged.

Get him off the bench. What's next for this asswipe? Will he dismiss Murder charges against a Muslim who committs an "honor killing"? Will he permit polygamy? Will he permit divorce without judical review, simply by the Muslim husband uttering "I divorce thee" three times?

This asswipe Judge has officially condoned Anarchy and denied the Constitutional Rule of Law. If there WERE any justice, he would be put on trial for his life for doing so.

The small businessman's Evensong

"Now I lay me down to sleep,

I've sold enough to pay for the Keep,

Should I die before I wake,

I pray (why the Hell didn't I finish that bottle of  '03 Ravenswood Sonoma Valley Cabernet)

It's been a good day for WillBoat.

Goodnight Chet, Goodnight Ed, Goodnight, World (and back when those words were uttered on NBC every night, it WAS a Good Night, because USAF General (CinC SAC) Curtis LeMay and his successors saw to it, and stalwart men held the thin nuke line, but it was good enough to keep the USA safe, and still would be (had not Bill Clinton closed out SAC). I was on that thin nuke line late in those days, and I'm proud to have done my part.

No, I'm not dead, again

Update to "I'm not dead" #1.

Preparing to go to "war" in the City Council chamber of Portland two days hence.Willboat vs. the High Priests of the Green Religion which is almost totally established as a State Religion now, in defiance of the Constitution's Bill Of Rights (First Amendment). The City Council will hear the First Reading of their Grand Plan to boost paddling and supress motor-boating on the Willamette River. This Grand Plan is an important item on the Green Agenda, and it's defeat would mark an important turning point in the fight to restore the Constitution in these parts.

I note with delight that Fox News has picked up on this Establishment of a State Religion, and I've heard it two days in a row on their morning show. Perhaps I can lend my modest forces to the fight to save this important part of the Constitution.

I will do my best.

Joy to the World!

The Lord has Come!

But Christ has had better than two millennia to Save the World, and it isn't looking good for Him to finish the job without some help.

I think we will hear the Call to Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition, and we will hear it very soon.

We best be ready when we get that Call, it will be our Final Test.

Meanwhile, listen to the best Christian choir on the planet tell you of THEIR Joy.

Merry Christmas!

Hydrate yourself well

...because your eyes are going to de-hydrate you some while you watch this Christmas Story.

BTW, the event he spoke of in the poem, taking up a young, suddenly-orphaned girl and taking her home, that has actually happened, and I was a part of it.

I don't remember the Winter day now, it's been 25 years and I shredded all those Patrol notebooks long ago, but I was on patrol on Dog Watch (6pm-4am), and there was a terrible car crash out in the East County. Initially, I wasn't assigned, but as I listened to the dispatch calls, two patrol units went Code Three, then a Sergeant, then two Fire/First Aid companies, then the dreaded call for the Medical Examiner (Coroner) came from the crash scene.

I went about my patrol duties in my own District, but noted some interesting radio by-play about the crash call, involving passing of numbers for calls to the District Attorney, the Juvenile Court, the Children's Services Division. Eventually, I finished my shift, having gotten no closer to the call than some highway-blocking duty, for just a few minutes until a Reserve unit could relieve me.

As I turned in my shift paperwork to the Dog Watch Sergeant, I asked him about Deputy Stellato, who had gotten the original call for the crash, but had not been seen on duty, or heard on the radio since.

"He's on Family Leave" was the Sergeant's curt reply. I got curious. "Did one of his kids get sick?" I asked. "No", said the Sergeant, "he just got a new Foster child." The grizzled old Road Sergeant didn't want to talk about it, but he looked up from his stack of paper long enough for me to see HIS eyes were wet, "The couple who just died in that wreck left a little girl at home, and Stellato volunteered to foster the little girl, and it's all been handled properly."

Well, this hardened 'Nam combat vet, 8-year Road Deputy got a sudden lump in his throat. I still can't think about that night without tearing up.

Andy Stellato died this year, some sort of nervous-system disease, ALS maybe, and I went to his funeral, of course (he was a Police Academy classmate of mine). The Pastor related this vignette of his life, and most of the Deputies who were with Andy that ugly night were there to wish him Godspeed.

May God speed you about your Life on Earth, and welcome you Home when you leave it, but fear not in the meanwhile, there are always some stout men and women wearing Deputy's Stars to handle the rough stuff for you.

H/T to the Patriot Padre, who's spent some time behind a badge himself, including pulling MY bacon out of the fire on a dark night in a rough barfight.

Liturgical music

If you've ever studied music, you know that in Western Civ, there is a wealth of music that was composed to Praise the Lord. In fact, until the Renaissance, most music had that purpose, because music with other purposes (i.e., to please the ear NON-religiously) was considered a sin.

In those days, if you were gifted enough to be able to write (poetry or prose), compose music, or render images in any art form, you did your work in the Name of the Lord. When you did, you were broadly supported by the wealthy and powerful members of whatever society you were a member of. The aristocracy took it as their duty to support the arts, and by doing so, they also supported the clergy and the spreading of God's Word.

Not so much anymore. Today's liturgical music is a small niche of popular music. Christian music attempts to cover all the bases, venturing into every genre from rap to rock and roll, and I've even heard of Christian Punk (but I haven't listened to any). Some current Christian music is quite traditional, some is even historical (Gospel music which originated within groups of black slaves, for example).

It all has it's place, and today and tomorrow is the main place for it.

In Portland, we have listener-supported Classical music on FM radio and streamed on the Internet. I awoke to my Eton S360 radio some post-Medieval liturgical music this morning, and I will play it most of the day. It just suits the Holy Holiday, it seems to me.

You can listen with the Rivr Family, right here. I hope you have a decent sound system that you can connect to your computer. I only have that in my office, so I will listen to the FM presentation on my home-theater set-up (formerly known as a "stereo") on FM 89.9 mhz.

At some point during the evening today, I might even turn the TV to Oregon Public Broadcasting, which traditionally plays the Yule Log, an endless video loop of a fire in a huge wood-burning fireplace (one of the three massive central fireplaces in the central lounge of Timberline Lodge).

Liturgical music is a part of me, I used to sing it during my private school's Christmas Pageants (they don't have them now, not PeeCee to celebrate Christmas, even if you are a private school). I've listened to it forever.

Liturgical music represents the Peace on Earth and Goodwill to Men that the birth of Christ is supposed to represent. Listen to some as you prepare for your family's Christmas celebrations.

Teh ghey sportz?

I had no clue that there were gay sports leagues. This article about a falling out between one gay team and it's league Commission, is an eye-opener not just about sportz fever, but about the working of the fanatical gay mind.

Read the article, then come back and tell me that this sports league does not constitute a religious cult and nothing more, if you can. While your're at it, answer the question this brings up of why gay sportspeople don't think that they can compete with heteros in established leagues, but have to have their own leagues.

This is the proof we have sought for years that "special rights" are not Constitutional, but, when enshrined in the Constitution by mistaken Courts, make a laughingstock of the idea that we are a Nation of Laws under our Constitution, for when Law is invoked to enshrine ANY religion in the Constitution, the Constitution is dead and gone, and should be replaced.

I'm sworn to protect the Constitution, but this particular conflict between flavors of the sexually obscure, masquerading as protected classes, give me pause to reflect on my oath.

The Founders did not write this Constitution we have now, that being the Constitution I am sworn to protect with my life.

Does my oath then still bind me, if the Constitution has changed beneath the oath?

Or, am I free to assume I am not still bound, and may support conflict to end the travesty that is our present Constitution and restore it to it's former tone and former strength?