Sunday/Spiritual/Physical

Man In Critical Condition After Hearing Slightly Differing Viewpoint--Babylon Bee  


Dinner at PGC. Very different look with younger members. I liked the music. The food was the same except mom got food poisoning. She's better today but was sick last night. I'm understanding the PGC less and less.
Walked toward the Oratory for mass and head my name called. Timmy Lynch on a bike at the corner. Far away from our homes and early Sunday we see each other.

Since the shale revolution took flight in 2008, annual U.S. natural gas production has soared 60% to nearly 40 trillion cubic feet (see chart above). That’s a whopping 25% more than what second place Russia yields. This U.S. shale surge has led to dramatically lower gas prices (we are currently experiencing the lowest summer prices in over 20 years) and a shift in U.S. manufacturing (from oil to gas) and electricity (from coal to gas). Beyond lower cost, this transformation has been environmentally beneficial as well: natural gas emits 30% less CO2 than oil and 50% less than coal.

Indeed, natural gas this year will supply nearly 40% of U.S. power, about double what it provided before the shale revolution. Gas is also the backup fuel to compensate for the natural intermittency of wind and solar power: gas is needed for when “the wind is blowing” and “the sun isn’t shining.” The U.S. is now reducing its CO2 emissions faster than any country on Earth: “Thanks to Natural Gas, US CO2 Emissions Lowest Since 1985.”--Clemente

One section begins with the following statement: “In order to understand the brutality of American capitalism you have to start on the plantation.” The whole line of argument is false. Capitalism, unlike man-designed economic systems, such as socialism in all its various forms, including communism, fascism and feudalism, emerged from the spontaneous order. Man is a trading animal, and when he runs out of things to trade, he starts producing things that he believes he will be able to trade. It became obvious that rules could make trading more efficient to everyone’s benefit, in the same way that sports teams need rules to make the games workable. Capitalism is benign because it relies on voluntary cooperation while socialism is brutal because it relies on coercion.--Rahm, on the NYT's astonishing anti-American smear.

Saban raising national questions:    mark saban

Another observation on the NYT smear against the U.S.:"In fact, it would be more accurate to say that what makes America unique isn’t slavery but the effort to abolish it. Slavery is among the oldest and most ubiquitous of all human institutions; as the Times series’ title indicates, American slavery predated the American Revolution by a century and a half. What’s unique about America is that it alone announced at birth the principle that all men are created equal—and that its people have struggled to realize that principle since then. As a result of their efforts, the Constitution today has much more to do with what happened in 1865 than in 1776, let alone 1619. Nothing could be more worthwhile than learning slavery’s history, and remembering its victims and vanquishers. But to claim that America’s essence is white supremacy is to swallow slavery’s fatal lie."--Timothy Sandefur

1619 was a historical accident. 1776 was the revolutionary idea, unfinished until 1865. Making slavery more than that is grotesque.

 On this day n 1941, German forces began their siege of Leningrad, a major industrial center and the USSR’s second-largest city. The German armies were later joined by Finnish forces that advanced against Leningrad down the Karelian Isthmus. The siege of Leningrad, also known as the 900-Day Siege though it lasted a grueling 872 days, resulted in the deaths of some one million of the city’s civilians and Red Army defenders.

                                                Spiritual/Physical

The gospel today is the upsetting "Hate your families and possessions" gospel. Another musing on the spiritual vs. the physical. The word "hate" actually means "to place low on the hierarchy" but is no less disturbing. There is a human quality about us humans and, at first blush, it doesn't look like Christ is having any of it. But the gospel contains two very peculiar parables, one about how a man would build a tower and the other how a man would attack an enemy. Both ask for a calculation, an assessment of the builder's and the warrior's abilities, strengths and weaknesses. In the context of putting away the world, your family and possessions it suggests an analysis, a self-evaluation. As if such a personal revolution and upheaval to go to the top of the hierarchy were not for everybody and trying it would be foolish.
In such cases, better sue for peace.