Neanderpundit

With apologies to the Great One.

Mass this morning was Father Assblanket, once again. I use his presence as a sort of a moral barometer of the quality of my week; if I’ve been a particular prick for a lot of it, I get the Right Reverend Assblanket, and if I’ve strived more than usual to do my best, I get Father Brian, who is as good a human as the day is long.

Anyway, today’s gospel was Mark 12. As follows:

1 In the course of his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces,
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seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets.
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They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.”
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2 He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums.
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A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents.
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Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, “Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury.
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For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.”

He uses the widow’s pittance to tell us all we should be contributing more to the church. He’s got this grandiose scheme to finish an unfinished space in the back of the church for use as a CCD area etc. No big deal, good idea, right? Wrong. Rather than get a few parishioners to do the work, he’s gotten quotes from contractors (apparently Palumbo Construction, from the sound of it) to the tune of a million and a half bucks.

Mostly for drywall, paint, and ceiling tile.

Apparently, the irony of the first sentence of the reading is utterly lost on him:

1 In the course of his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to go around in long robes and accept greetings in the marketplaces,
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seats of honor in synagogues, and places of honor at banquets.
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They devour the houses of widows and, as a pretext, recite lengthy prayers. They will receive a very severe condemnation.”

(emphasis mine)

He’s made it clear that we as parishioners should be getting second mortgages to finance his project. So far, after a year of whinging about this, he’s been able to get 515 of 2500 people to contribute. Look, assblanket, 20% buy in means 80% opt out. Like the recent elections, this is what I’d liek to call a “message”. the loud, clear message is “I won’t have anything to do with this ignorance”

I’d love to win the lottery, just so I could write this retard a check for the whole amount- on the condition that he ask to be transferred to the poorest church in the diocese, and take a vow of poverty (diocesan priests don’t do this, as a rule) A couple of years of having to work a side gig to put food on the table might do him some good.

I see that Google is ignoring veterans day. Fuck you google.

I also see that Dick is getting is wish; the demoscum are beginning to turn on the military. As Dick said: The more the military is hated, the more effective they are. (or something to that extent)

For my part: I have a huge respect for the miltary. I have seen, with my own eyes, boys who went into the military, and returned men. Good men. Men in the classic tradition. I have also seen men who came back from the first and second world wars, from Korea, from Vietnam. I have seen their recollection and pain. I have heard their stories- the ones who had recovered enough to tell them. I saw the ones who didn’t come back whole. I saw the ones who struggled with their memories all their lives, and I knew some who didn’t come back.

hundreds of thousands of men paid horrible prices for freedom- and not just OUR freedom, but for the freedom of our opponents. Look at Japan today. Germany. Even the former Soviet Union. had we been able to do our job properly in Vietnam and Korea, those peoples would now be more free as well.

Our men and women fought for everyone’s freedom, not just ours.

I salute each and every one of you. And I thank you. And you are all always in my prayers.

talking about blackpowder and shooting today brought back memories.

Making blackpowder is a pretty simple process, and anyone with a little patience can do it. You have to be prepared to save a lot of urine, and you have to deal with the smell. I know re-enactors who use cow urine, it’s easy to come by in large quantities, and it’s got a higher level of saltpeter in it.

Anyway, making the powder and shooting it was a lot of fun, and the smoke was acrid and thick. One day, boogers black form shooting all afternoon, I remembered why the smell was so familiar- Cow urine! Black powder smells the way it does, because it’s made with urine! If you spend time around fireworks you can definitely remember the smell.

So I switched to Pyrodex. It’s less corrosive, and it works quite well.Plus, it’s always exactly the same. And you still get the smoke, but it’s not as acrid. Maybe they use bat urine.