A Sign Of The End Times?

No doubt about it. An Old Testament-style plague of locusts has been predicted.

Get Your Primary Docs While They're Available

An unintended byproduct of Obamacare is a predicted shortage of primary care physicians.

"As Many As Have Been Baptized Into Christ"

This morning we sang this hymn for Christ's triumphal entry into Jerusalem after his raising of Lazarus.

For some of us, however, this hymn holds an additional, slightly different meaning. Father Nektarios has this account of Orthodox persecution during World War II:

Bishop Sava (Trlaich) of Plalski (Lika) was imprisoned on June 13, 1941 and tortured beyond endurance in a stable along with several priests. During their beatings a phonograph recording of "As many as have been baptized into Christ, have put on Christ" was played. The bishop-confessor was permitted to say good-bye to his 83-year-old mother, albeit with his hands tied and his feet shackled. In mid-August of the same year he was taken to the Velebit Mountain and thrown into a pit with numerous other Serbs.

2nd Healthcare Discussion In The Nave

My physician friend told me that when he started his career, people who couldn't pay him his fee gave him chickens and produce for his services. Nowadays, people who can't afford him pay him nothing, offer him nothing, and don't thank him.

When Even Pierogi Aren't Sacred

Things are getting really bad when someone robs a pirohi sale. The good news is that donors made up for the loss.

I should give them a call. The old folks talk fondly about prune piroghi as a Lenten treat.

Blue Laws--Why Not?

One county in New Jersey doesn't permit commerce on Sundays:


The blue laws have been in effect in Bergen County since the 1950s to give our citizens ... one day of rest from the traffic jams, noise pollution and accidents that are a nightmare on Saturdays and long weekends...


Six days give people plenty of time to be worker bees. Clergy are exempt.

Healthcare Discussion In The Nave

I asked a physician friend how he liked being forced to become an Unmercenary.

He didn't.




The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots & tyrants. --Thomas Jefferson

WOW!

Orthodox priest denounces Obamacare.







Thanks to Chris Banescu.

Where Were You Tonight?

Lenten Music

Standing At The Liturgy Is The Best Exercise

I knew it all along:

Marathoners Face Greater Risk of Artery Problems

"Neither Your Dreams Nor Your Strictures Can Eradicate Them"

I happened upon one of Och's postings about some jurisdictional controversy, and, once again, he's pronounced certain occupations unfit for Christians. In this instance, he mentioned bill collector, napalm manufacturer, and Monsanto attorney. He's mentioned others in the past, but I've been an irregular reader of his recent posts, and therefore I've probably missed a wheelbarrow full.

I posted this comment just to let him know that his promotion of an agrarian dystopia hasn't gone unnoticed:



Out of all of the other occupations you've dissed over time one appears to be conspicuously absent: agricultural utopian.

By fostering agriculture, which is pretty easy to understand economically as a form of production across time periods, you're promoting the emergence and maintenance of moneylending. God knows that you don't like moneylending. Moneylending can't survive if production takes place over a short period of time.

I'm sure you don't intend to be a hypocrite, but your failure to study economics lands you in such straits.

To be a consistent Ochlophobist, you'd promote hunting and gathering as the archtype of Christian secular occupations.

Consider the lilies, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. (Luke 12:6 RSV)

God gave us economic laws so that we can get by in a fallen world. Neither your dreams nor strictures can eradicate them.

My Vehicle Has A Clutch

and I know all about shifting into neutral.

Runaway Prius

By all means, let's let the government shift for us.

A Net Gain In Longevity?

If you take the Pill, you'll live longer.

Ныне силы небесные - Г. Львовский (Russian Orthodox Music)

"Now the Powers" from the Presanctified Liturgy

Thanks to Fr. John Whiteford

"Do not attend non-Orthodox services – there is no substitute for Orthodox worship or Orthodox sacraments! "

Wise words from the clergy who serve our Orthodox warriors.

Wertfreiheit, Again

Gabriel and I have been discussing the relationship between Austrian economics and libertarianism. Maybe this piece by Ralph Raico will add to the discussion.

We Can't Say That Coffee Is Good For You,

but I feel better already.