The Meddlesome Priest :

WIND BREAKING NEWS! Finally, President Barack Obama and UN Secretary-General Ban Kee Moon have admitted they got the cause of global climate change wrong. Good for them. In a joint Rose Garden press conference today, President Barack Obama and United Nations Secretary General Ban Kee Moon announced that 99.999 %    of the world’s climate scientists now agree that global warming climate change is actually caused by bovine flatulence rather than human fossil fuel consumption.  In prepared remarks given to reporters the President asserted; “Debate is over. It’s time to act decisively. I’m not a flatulentologist, but when 99.999 %  of them, all over the globe, tell me that this is true beyond doubt, then I must accept it. Moreover, methane emissions from cow flatulence, exhaling and belching is reaching catastrophic proportions and is the single most contributing factor to global warming. Therefore, I am asking Congress for 3 Trillion dollars to establis...

Bless me Father...for I have offended liberals.   of·fend·ed əˈfendid/ adjective resentful or annoyed, typically as a result of a perceived insult. "she sounded slightly offended" If you offend someone, then you are responsible for the offending. And...by hypothetical syllogism: If you are responsible for the offending, then you have sinned through your offense. If you have sinned through your offense, then you must confess your sins. If you confess your sins, then you will be absolved through penance.  If you are absolved through penance, then you must sin no more. If you sin no more, then you will be saved. Therefore, if you offend someone, you will be saved.  If this sounds like moral schizophrenia, that's because it is. Perfectly valid, but totally unsound, this gospel according to American Liberalism is the 'be nice' secular religion. There's plenty of sin and salvation to go around for everyone. Af...

    “Courage is grace under pressure,” according to Hemingway, but what is grace?   Is it saving grace, fall from grace, being in good graces? There but for the grace of God, go I? What are the necessary attributes of ‘grace’? Grace is the gift of favor Grace is permission and forbearance Grace is the gift of poised character through faith Grace is clemency blended with mercy in perseverance Often quoted excerpts from President Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage include: “The true democracy, living and growing and inspiring, puts its faith in the people – faith that the people will not simply elect men who will represent their views ably and faithfully, but also elect men who will exercise their conscientious judgment – faith that the people will not condemn those whose devotion to principle leads them to unpopular courses, but will reward courage, respect honor and ultimately recognize right.” again, and this is not bad...

“Rhetoric is the art of ruling the minds of men.”  -- Plato T he rhetorical process of weaponizing words is as ancient as it is simple. It is also as invidious as it is insidious. Here’s how; Here Change a definition and you change people’s thinking Change people’s thinking and you change their speech Change people’s speech and you change their behavior Change people’s behavior and you control their political policies Change people’s political policies and you change their laws Change people’s laws and you control their culture Change people’s culture and you control their society If culture wars are wars of ideas, and ideas are constructs of words, then nothing is more vital to cultural combatants than weaponizing their words.  The technology to weaponize words is the skill to rhetorically re-define terms. Like most other forms of propaganda weaponry, re-defining terms is a bipartisan device with equal opportunity for all.  I learned this...