St. Joseph's Abbey. Never made it out there, but the New Scot did visit once, iirc. Monks in Spencer launch brewery

The Local Bites Podcast

Introducing the Local Bites Podcast - website

Episode 1: Helena Norberg-Hodge On How Corporate “Free” Trade Treaties Threaten Local Communities And Economies Worldwide (mp3)

六福喜事

Tickets were sold out quickly - what I and others missed at the beginning of the new year...

Nom Nom Paleo: FOOD FOR HUMANS BOOK TOUR: BAY AREA LAUNCH

Intellectual Compatability Not as Important as Character and Dispositions

Alpha Mail: finding a conservative wife in a liberal sea

Via the Pittsford Perennialist - the Western: America's Most Noble Creation by David Macaray

You wouldn't expect to see this at Counterpunch; or not without praise for Django Unchained as the new model for Westerns.

I thought I was "immune" to caffeine but the last two times I drank coke products in the evening(both times at EPL? or once at InO and the last time at EPL) I had trouble falling asleep and even felt my heart beating rather quickly. The effects of caffeine? Have I become more caffeine-sensitive? Old age?

Some Videos from the Recent Performance of the Tuttles with AJ Lee at F&S

Playlist

The Huntresses Trailer

THE HUNTRESSESS Trailer Blends Girl Power And Campy Humor

More:

Michael Coren, The Future of Catholicism

Michael Coren - The Catholic Register - Random House


Article for The Catholic Thing.
Beritbart interview
National Review interview
Corruption in the Church

The Hermeneutic of Continuity
American Thinker
Zenit

A Chastisement That Cannot Be Averted?

UT San Diego: CATHOLIC BISHOPS PRAY FOR RAIN IN CALIFORNIA
Divine intervention to avoid rationing?

Fr. Z

Related:
California Catholic Conference

Interview With the Chaplains of Wyoming Catholic College

Cardinal Newman Society

ThePaleoDiet's Rebuttal to U.S. News and World Report

Here

Resistol's John Wayne Collection

Cowboys & Indians: Open Range: A Nod To An Icon
A new line of John Wayne cowboy toppers is hitting store shelves.

Resistol

"I can't get no respect."

A commenter over at VD:

MrGreenMan is right. I don't know how it keeps getting missed in Libertarian circles, but there is no freedom without economic freedom. But no one talks about it. I guess escaping the corporate gulag is just too hard. And I'm trapped like most are. I'm sitting here in my office (not a cubicle anymore).

But escape we must. To have a free citizen, to be a man that women respect, you have to be financially independent from the corporations. This isn't to say that coming together to work on a company and its products is always bad, but we can't let that determine the course of our financial lives. I worked contract for many years. the money was much better. The flexibility was great. But so was the risk.

Kunstler:

Divisions between men and women are tragically compounded by the dangerous dynamics of work in America that leave many men (especially men) in a vacuum of purpose, meaning, and potency. It is almost impossible these days for low-skilled men to support a family. The indignity of this thunders through broken communities and the penitentiary cellblocks. But the anomie is also expressed in the higher ranks of an economy where office work can be done by anybody, and gender confusion lately has been valorized as a compensating mechanism for the marginalization of men and the failure of manhood. The political blowback from this, when it comes, is apt to be fierce. Look no further than Duck Dynasty.

I've asked before whether women can maintain respect for a man who is subordinate to another women, and I've made the claim that the emasculation of men began not with feminism (though it added to it) but with the growth of the modern nation-state. In the spiritual realm, the negative consequences of this emasculation is the creation of obstacles to the proper exercise of the lay vocation (for men) and their spiritual life.

Russia Today: New Zealand soldiers perform Haka for fallen comrades in Afghanistan

The occasion is a sad one, but I thought this was a cool way to honor a fallen comrade - the fusion of Anglo and Maori cultures...

ORD, PHX, EWR...

James Howard Kunstler: Forecast 2014 — Burning Down the House

Our popular entertainments are just what you would design to produce a programmed population of criminals and sex offenders. The spectacle of the way our people look —overfed, tattooed, pierced, clothed in the raiment of clowns — suggests an end-of-empire zeitgeist more disturbing than a Fellini movie. The fact is, it simply mirrors the way we act, our gross, barbaric collective demeanor. A walk down any airport concourse makes the Barnum & Bailey freak shows of yore look quaint. In short, the rot throughout our national life is so conspicuous that a fair assessment would be that we are a wicked people who deserve to be punished.

Having been to a few airports in the last few months, I would agree. There are very few good places for people-watching in America - night clubs (which have the problem of immodesty) and upper-end restaurants.

Over at Peak Prosperity: The Disenchantment of American Politics by James H. Kunstler

See also: Obama and the Left

Not a Dead Horse Yet

After This Year’s Mess, Small Is More Beautiful Than Ever by Kirkpatrick Sale

Overheard at a movie theater a little more than a week ago, before the showing of American Hustle (I missed out on the 70s) - "I love this pope so much - he makes me feel like I should go back to church." If she stopped attending because she disagreed with Church teaching, why would she come back, unless she thinks that the current pope will alter Church teaching? Could there be a better reason for people like her changing their minds about Church? If the Church is being run by "old men" (as criticized by some people) will Pope Francis also disappoint?

Rebuilt

I saw this book at one of the local Catholc bookstores. There is a website associated with the book. The New Scot may recommend it to a confrere. Does the book provide an outline for true reform? Or does it 'compromise' too much with the status quo (the 'reform' of the post-Vatican II era American Church)? 9I looked at the part dealing with liturgy and wasn't really satisfied with the recommendations.) The Foreward is by the current Roman-rite archbishop of New York City, Timothy Cardinal Dolan.

About Rebuilt
YT

A Parish's Rebirth
The Good Catholic Life
A poat at Pray Tell.
Catholic San Francisco: Tale of parish’s conversion offers valuable insights by Daniel S. Mulhall
Church of the Nativity in Timonium aims to 'make church matter'


Related:
Nativity Church in Fargo, North Dakota: the typical Uhmerican parish? Look at all the women in charge of various ministries, including liturgy and music!

The Old Ideal of Masculinity and the New

Kevin Costner > Chris Pine

Orthodox Chant-One is Holy(Corean ver.)

Related: The Life of The Orthodox Church in Korea

Been a bit tired today, after returning home from a short trip...

Rob Hopkins: How to discuss Transition with ... No.1: Conservatives/Republicans
The 5 factors that will enable Transition to scale up
Ralph Nader: 10 Books to Provoke Conversation in the New Year
Kevin Carson: Artificial Scarcity And Artificial Abundance: A One-Two Punch

Intelligence

Does the writing for the show lack it? The premise sounds like a rip-off of Person of Interest (former operator) and Chuck.


Then there's ABC's Killer Women, with playing Tricia Helfer a Texas Ranger and Sofia Vagara doing her part to promote girl-power feminism.


Better and more wholesome than Duck Dynasty?

What man admits to continuing to watch this?

Downton Abbey returns tonight. We can argue when it lost the opportunity to be anything more than a period soap opera. Lady Mary, recently widowed, attracting the interest of not one but two suitors this season? It's a good thing they fixed the money issue last season, so the possibility of a mercenary motive could make the scenario more plausible.


Edit. Aristo Fetishism in Downton Abbey