Another reason we don't want to be China

 Did you ever hear of a group called the Falun Gong?  They emerged in China and they are a religious group
similar to the Buddhists.  They are absolutely haarmless.  They are kind and gentle and are not against
 the government of China in any way.  Ethan Gutmann has written a book called The Slaughter about these kind and gentle people,

I grew up around Chinese people and I love them dearly. but I do not love their government. These  peopls. are hunted down, killed and put in prison.  Without bothering to kill them first they garner their organs to use for organ transplants.  The are widely used in China and other countries as well.. Some of the pictures are dreadful.  Everybody needs to read this book if you can stand it.

The Topeka and Shawnee County Public Library has a copy.


















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without bothering to even kill them fir

November

I guess I will have to vote for our non resident Senator in order to be sure we have a Republican in the Senate. Its not that I am so impressed with the Republicans as they are now but the Democrats are a mess,

If any of you are where you can listen to a radio at 4.00 Monday thru Friday on Bott network 92.5

Attorney Jay Sekulow has a thirty minute show.. He is a Jewish Christian and he is territbly disturbed sbout the treatment of the Teaparty. and others like them, by the IRS and the fact that the government's treatment of them. Also, there is a young minister, who is an Amearican in an Iranian jail. He hs been there for two years. Sekulow has done his best to get him released but they are still holding him. He was in Iran building orphanges. His wife and two children are in this country.

On Friday Sekulow has organized a prayer vigil for him. He had over 300.000 names on a brief asking for his release. He will give it to the President of Iran who will be in

this country. I don't know if there is a group here or not but we should certainly pray for his release. I understand he is ill.

Monday Afternoon Kipling

The Gods of the Copy-book Headings

By Rudyard Kipling 1865-1936
As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

We were living in trees when they met us. They showed us each in turn
That Water would certainly wet us, as Fire would certainly burn:
But we found them lacking in Uplift, Vision and Breadth of Mind,
So we left them to teach the Gorillas while we followed the March of Mankind.

We moved as the Spirit listed. They never altered their pace,
Being neither cloud nor wind-borne like the Gods of the Market Place;
But they always caught up with our progress, and presently word would come
That a tribe had been wiped off its icefield, or the lights had gone out in Rome.

With the Hopes that our World is built on they were utterly out of touch,
They denied that the Moon was Stilton; they denied she was even Dutch;
They denied that Wishes were Horses; they denied that a Pig had Wings;
So we worshipped the Gods of the Market Who promised these beautiful things.

When the Cambrian measures were forming, They promised perpetual peace.
They swore, if we gave them our weapons, that the wars of the tribes would cease.
But when we disarmed They sold us and delivered us bound to our foe,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "Stick to the Devil you know."

On the first Feminian Sandstones we were promised the Fuller Life
(Which started by loving our neighbour and ended by loving his wife)
Till our women had no more children and the men lost reason and faith,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "The Wages of Sin is Death."

In the Carboniferous Epoch we were promised abundance for all,
By robbing selected Peter to pay for collective Paul;
But, though we had plenty of money, there was nothing our money could buy,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings said: "If you don't work you die."

Then the Gods of the Market tumbled, and their smooth-tongued wizards withdrew
And the hearts of the meanest were humbled and began to believe it was true
That All is not Gold that Glitters, and Two and Two make Four —
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings limped up to explain it once more.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

As it will be in the future, it was at the birth of Man —
There are only four things certain since Social Progress began: —
That the Dog returns to his Vomit and the Sow returns to her Mire,
And the burnt Fool's bandaged finger goes wabbling back to the Fire;

And that after this is accomplished, and the brave new world begins
When all men are paid for existing and no man must pay for his sins,
As surely as Water will wet us, as surely as Fire will burn,
The Gods of the Copybook Headings with terror and slaughter return!

Fourth of July Afternoon Burns

Ballad on the American War

by Robert Burns 1784

(to the tune of Killiecrankie)

Guilford good our pilot stood
An' did our hellim thraw, man,
Ae night, at tea, began a plea,
Within America, man:
Then up they gat the maskin-pat,
And in the sea did jaw, man;
An' did nae less, in full congress,
Than quite refuse our law, man.
Then thro' the lakes Montgomery takes,
I wat he was na slaw, man;
Down Lowrie's Burn he took a turn,
And Carleton did ca', man:
But yet, whatreck, he, at Quebec,
Montgomery-like did fa', man,
Wi' sword in hand, before his band,
Amang his en'mies a', man.
Poor Tammy Gage within a cage
Was kept at Boston-ha', man;
Till Willie Howe took o'er the knowe
For Philadelphia, man;
Wi' sword an' gun he thought a sin
Guid Christian bluid to draw, man;
But at New York, wi' knife an' fork,
Sir-Loin he hacked sma', man.
Burgoyne gaed up, like spur an' whip,
Till Fraser brave did fa', man;
Then lost his way, ae misty day,
In Saratoga shaw, man.
Cornwallis fought as lang's he dought,
An' did the Buckskins claw, man;
But Clinton's glaive frae rust to save,
He hung it to the wa', man.
Then Montague, an' Guilford too,
Began to fear, a fa', man;
And Sackville dour, wha stood the stour,
The German chief to thraw, man:
For Paddy Burke, like ony Turk,
Nae mercy had at a', man;
An' Charlie Fox threw by the box,
An' lows'd his tinkler jaw, man.
Then Rockingham took up the game,
Till death did on him ca', man;
When Shelburne meek held up his cheek,
Conform to gospel law, man:
Saint Stephen's boys, wi' jarring noise,
They did his measures thraw, man;
For North an' Fox united stocks,
An' bore him to the wa', man.
Then clubs an' hearts were Charlie's cartes,
He swept the stakes awa', man,
Till the diamond's ace, of Indian race,
Led him a sair faux pas, man:
The Saxon lads, wi' loud placads,
On Chatham's boy did ca', man;
An' Scotland drew her pipe an' blew,
"Up, Willie, waur them a', man!"
Behind the throne then Granville's gone,
A secret word or twa, man;
While slee Dundas arous'd the class
Be-north the Roman wa', man:
An' Chatham's wraith, in heav'nly graith,
(Inspired bardies saw, man),
Wi' kindling eyes, cry'd, "Willie, rise!
Would I hae fear'd them a', man?"
But, word an' blow, North, Fox, and Co.
Gowff'd Willie like a ba', man;
Till Suthron raise, an' coost their claise
Behind him in a raw, man:
An' Caledon threw by the drone,
An' did her whittle draw, man;
An' swoor fu' rude, thro' dirt an' bluid,
To mak it guid in law, man.

(links go to the glossary at robertburns.org)

Real Women, Real Men

  When I first started this blog I had intended to just do something about books because I do love books. However something has happened to change my mind. I am going to comment on one thing that happened in our troubled world. It disturbs me that women have decided to ignore the fact that they are women and try to be something else. Goodness knows what

This is a quote from the King James Version of the Bible. 2 Timothy 3:1-6,

“ In the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,l unholy, without natural
affection, truce breakers,false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors,
heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof, from those turn away. For of this sort are they which creep into houses and
lead captive silly women laden with sins, led astray with divers lusts, ever learning but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, ever learning and never able to come to the truth.”

I have developed a real love for the translation called The Message. This same scripture from the Apostle Paul from The Message reads as follows.

“As the end approaches people are going to be self absorbed, money hungry, self promoting, stuck up, profane, contemptuous of parents, drunk, course, dog-eat-dog, unbending, slanderers. Impulsive, wild, savages, cynical, treacherous, ruthless, bloated windbags addicted to lust, and allergic to God. They make a show of religion but but behind the scenes they are animals. These are the kind
of people who smooth talk themselves into the homes of of unstable and needy women and take advantage of them, women who, depressed by their singleness take up with every new religious fad that calls itself “truth”. They get exploited every time and never really learn.”

I will not take the time now to enlarge on these scriptures. Instead, I would like to say some things about the men in my life --- a tribute to some of the best!! These men are quite unlike the men mentioned in the above scriptures.

My Father's Dad. He has been dead for a number of years. He had six children, 3 boys and 3 girls. I remember him well. I was about nine years old when he died. He and my grandmother lived in Winters, Texas in a small frame house. Every one of the children he and my grandmother reared were fine people. They loved the Lord and they loved their mates and their children. And incidentally none of the children had a “significant other”. They were all married to a member of the opposite sex. Grandaddy was tall and slender and very nice looking. In today's parlance he was a hunk! My grandmother could not read or write because she had been the eldest girl of a large brood of children and when her mother died she kept house and fed and clothed the other children although she was really a child herself. Incidentally she was an Armour although a part of then family who was not wealthy. So she never had any schooling. However, she kept a spotlessly clean house and was a great cook. She cooked on wood stove incidentally.

Grandaddy was the kindest ,gentlest man. I wish he could have lived until I was older so that I could have known him better. He would have died before he hurt or killed a woman.

My Mother's Dad was a small man, red haired and had a huge bass voice. I always wondered where all that voice came from because he was really quite small and never had a fat a day in his life. I was playing the piano for church once and suddenly behind me I heard this huge bass voice. I turned around and discovered it was my granddad. He had two daughters whom he adored.

He was a red haired Baptist preacher in west Texas. He was also a farmer. It was very dry where he lived but he never did irrigate. I asked why once and he said he thought the food didn't taste quite right after you irrigated. Anyway, the Lord would take care of His own he believed. And He did! In fact, Henry Daddy, as we called him, became rather wealthy raising cantaloupe. My mouth still waters when I think of those wonderful west Texas cantaloups he raised.

He adored my Mother and his grandchildren. In fact he adored my Dad as well and he married my Mom and Dad. This man would never have hurt a fly much less a woman. I never got to hear him preach but people who did said he had a huge voice and was a marvelous pulpiteer.

This brings me to my third example. My Father. He was a large man, over six feet tall and very well built. He was handsome. He had curly red hair that turned black later in life and then white. He,too, was a Baptist preacher. He was an administrator also. He was gentle and unafraid of anything except maybe sin. He loved the people in the churches he pastored. And he loved his two children and my Mom. He would have died for any of us. He and Mom took into their home another child – a little boy they found in the streets of Jerusalem once when they were traveling. He became my brother and they loved him as much as they loved us. They “adopted” many other students who came their way and were responsible for bringing many Korean war orphans to this country.

He adored his grandchildren. When his first one was born he was afraid to pick her up because she was so tiny. A very short time later this first granddaughter gave him his nickname. She adored him.

My fourth example is my husband. His Mother is Irish and his father is East Indian. He is to my way of thinking absolutely gorgeous. But more than the way he looks is the way he IS. He is one of he kindest, gentlest man I have ever known. He would never have hurt anyone. Most remarkably he loves me. I am older than he is by several years and while I am not an an invalid I can no longer do some of the things I used to do. He loves me anyway. He says that he never could keep up with me when I could still walk and he says for the first time he can keep up with me. He is so intelligent it is scary sometimes. He writes beautifully and I stay after him to write more. He takes care of me every day as if I were made of porcelain or fine gold. I stand in awe of him One of the things that attracted me to him is his sterling character. He is almost painfully honest and believe it or not he is an attorney. He will never know how much I love him and appreciate him. One other thing about him is that he had never been around dogs and really didn't like them much. It was sort of love me love my dogs sort of an arrangement and he took me, 8 dogs and 4 cats. Now he loves dogs as much as I do but we only have three now and since we have one dog that has never been around cats we are afraid to get another cat. Any man that can love a woman with 8 dogs and 4 cats is pretty exceptional. When we first got married he was not the most patient soul I ever met, but now I can hardly believe how patient he has become. In short, he's great!

There is one other man I would like to add to my list. That man is my pastor. He is pastor of a small Spanish-speaking church. Some years years ago I taught at a school for Spanish- speaking people and I fell in love with them. I took a crash course in Spanish but that's been years ago and it is pretty much gone. I wanted to learn Spanish again since we have so many Spanish speaking people in our country now. I found this church and decided we needed to join it. My husband agreed and I called the pastor. He invited us to come worship with them and the rest is history. I have no doubt that God directed us to this church.

My pastor is kind and gentle. It is apparent that he cares about people. He is ready to listen to any problem or idea anyone has. He is completely bilingual and can easily shift from English to Spanish and back again in a heart beat. He is extremely intelligent and that is an added bonus to his other attributes. He had the good sense to marry a woman as fine as he is. My husband and I love both of them dearly. They both have then gift of encouragement and this is something lacking in many people. He also has the most delightful sense of humor. They are dear, dear people.

Tiger, Tiger, Tiger

The Tiger William Blake Tiger Tiger. burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye. Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies. Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire? And what shoulder, & what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat. What dread hand? & what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain, In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp. Dare its deadly terrors clasp? When the stars threw down their spears And watered heaven with their tears: Did he smile His work to see? Did he who made the lamb make thee? Tiger Tiger burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Kolaches, Fear and the House of Tudor

It has been awhile since I have added anything, but I have been reading feverishly. Susan Wiggs has fast become one of my favorite authors for fiction. I can hardly put a book down she has written. THE WINTER LODGE is excellent and replete with great sounding recipes. It is said that Camp Kioga is perfect for loving families and some not so loving. This is a story of small town, USA, the chief of Police, several very wealthy families and some very poor ones. Recipes are as include:  “Kolaches

for Beginners”. Most of these are from Jenny Majesky's Polish grandmother. Lemon Chess Pie, and “Happy Cake”. One of the recipes is a funeral casserole. It has ground beef, onion, carrots,broccoli, can crème of mushroom soup, chicken soup and chow mein noodles..

There is a brand new edition of the Tudor Rose Trilogy. The first book is AT THE KINGS COMMAND, the next is THE MAIDEN' S HAND. The third is AT THE QUEEN'S SUMMONS. They have to do with Henry VIII. You could read them in any order but since we now know what order they are supposed to be read in it will be easier to understand.

Dr. David Jeremiah has a new book on WHAT ARE YOU AFRAID OF? It is excellent and it covers the fear of illness, storms, depression, death and just about any other fear you might have. Using some science, a lot of Scripture, common sense and a lot of Biblical characters he manages to relieve fears of all kinds.  Our library has no large print edition of this one, but it's worth a look.