"The Global Consciousness Project, also known as the EGG Project, is an international multidisciplinary collaboration of scientists, engineers, artists and others continuously collecting data from a global network of physical random number generators located in 65 host sites worldwide. The archive contains over 10 years of random data in parallel sequences of synchronized 200-bit trials every second."
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, November 17, 2022
The forest doesn’t need us.
It was here before us, and it will be here after we leave.
The forest will survive despite our abuses of it.
We are the ones who need the forest.
“The Man Who Planted Trees”
A short story by Jean Giono Featuring the Paul Winter Consort & Jean Giono Narrated by Robert J. Lurtsema The work won an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1987.
“The Man Who Planted Trees” is 1953 fictional short story by French author Jean Giono, who in a 1957 letter to a Digne, France city official wrote, “Elzéard Bouffier is a fictional person. The goal was to make trees likeable, or more specifically, make planting trees likeable.”
The book, which was translated into several languages and distributed without charge, was so well received that many thought it was a true story, thus somewhat necessitating such a letter.
The story illustrates the magnitude of difference that one person can make to the earth.
“The Man Who Planted Trees” tells a tale of Elzéard Bouffier, a simple man of determination, who, after losing his wife and son, retreated to a desolately remote part of France, which land he thought “was dying for want of trees.” So, with his dog and sheep as his solitary companions, he began his life’s work — daily planting one hundred acorns.
Over 30 years, laboring in peace without interruption, and in complete anonymity, Elzéard’s planting of trees resurrected and transformed a once desiccated landscape, relentlessly ravaged by winds, and forsaken by people, into a verdantly vibrant, vigorous, and thriving region, filled with people and life of all kinds.
Life imitates art. —————————
Manipur man converts barren land into 300-acre forest
Meanwhile, Loiya is certain that the task of growing a forest and nurturing it is going to be “a lifelong mission” although he now works in a pharmacy to earn a living and to sustain his family.
Published: 13th November 2022 12:41 PM — Last Updated: 13th November 2022 12:41 PM
IMPHAL: A 47-year-old man in Manipur’s Imphal West district has converted barren land into a 300-acre forest with a wide variety of plant species in 20 years.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, June 17, 2022
“Russia is scouring the country for manpower and weapons, including old tanks in the Far East, after using up much of its military capacity since invading Ukraine”
In the coming months & years, Russia will be verging on the brink of utter & thorough economic collapse. Political collapse is also all but certain, for NO NATION — including the United States — can continually sustain war/armed conflict efforts without some sort of price which they’ll pay — in one way, or another.
For us, since 2001 until this administration, in the Middle East (Afghanistan, then Iraq), we have opted to build weapons of war, over repairing & rebuilding our internal infrastructure here at home. We have quite literally “beat our ploughshares into swords, and our pruning hooks into spears.”
We have opted to subsidize the makers & builders of bombs, bullets & matériels of death, over life-giving, life-sustaining healthcare & education “to the least of these, my brethren.”
Grim Reaper statue, Cathedral of Trier, Trier, Germany
We have paid the piper, because we CHOSE to dance to the merry macabre tune of death, rather than choosing LIFE for those who are breathing, and food for the living.
We have given to the rich, and demanded from the poor, we have turned upside down & perverted the Constitution by saying “corporations are people, my friend,” and given power to them, while robbing it from The People, all while allowing the coarse grit of wealth to abrade the thin veneer of “justice” by Read the rest of this entry »
On a recent visit with research participants for my book on spousal caregiving, I sat with a man who had a stroke three years ago, at age 59. He can only use one side of his body, rendering him unable to work; his wife serves as his caregiver. He told me about how much he hated himself. “All I do is take resources. I don’t contribute anything.” Tears streamed down his cheeks.
President Biden’s signature Build Back Better bill, which includes funding for long-neglected social programs like Medicaid’s home and community-based services (HCBS), is facing an uncertain future. An upgraded HCBS program would allow millions of people currently stuck on wait lists to receive care at home, rather than in congregant settings. But facing questions from the likes of Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) about cost, the new investments in HCBS may not become law.
What my research participant made clear to me that day is that the lack of robust and accessible social programs for long-term care is merely a symptom of a deeper, more poisonous problem: Disability is a part of life, and we hate it. Literally.
Here’s what we don’t talk about when we talk about the care crisis. When it comes to disability, we devalue care (both caregiving and paid care work) because we devalue the people who need it. It’s why we position care as a response to a horrible disaster. It’s why we refuse to adequately fund home care and fairly pay care workers. It’s why we rely on the 53 million (and climbing) unpaid family caregivers across the U.S. to provide care for free. It’s why disabled people internalize the idea that they are worthless “takers.” We tell people we don’t care about them when we refuse to provide the means for them and those who care for them to live well.
Euphemisms like “silver tsunami” let the idea of disaster stand in for disability.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, June 17, 2021
PREDICTION:
Cannabis WILL be legalized within the next 6 – 8 months at the Federal level.
As state after state, and nation after nation is legalizing or decriminalizing cannabis in one form, or another, the United States is facing a decision which was made nearly 100 years ago to make illegal a practically harmless substance, which itself has shown, and continues to show significant promise for the amelioration of serious disease, malady, and human suffering.
According to the Drug Enforcement Administration, in their 2017 “Drugs of Abuse” report,
“No deaths from overdose of marijuana have been reported.”
The National Cancer Institute has written that it’s impossible to overdose on cannabis, because our body’s cannabinoid receptors — the chemicals that bind to THC — are not located in areas of the brainstem that control respiration. For that reason, a “lethal dose” of cannabis is like the flying spaghetti monster: It DOES NOT EXIST.
In stark contrast, the CDC has stated in January 2018 that
In 1972, the Schaffer Commission, officially, the National Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, issued a report entitled Marihuana: A signal of misunderstanding which was the first report by the United States Commission on Marihuana and Drug Abuse, was largely dismissive of specious claims that there was danger in its use, and recommended ending marijuana prohibition and adopting other methods to discourage use.
Specifically, it debunked false claims made about cannabis, and found that, contrary to earlier assertions made about during efforts to keep it illegal,
“marihuana was usually found to inhibit the expression of aggressive impulses by pacifying the user.”
It stated further that,
“neither informed current professional opinion nor empirical research, ranging from the 1930’s to the present, has produced systematic evidence to support the thesis that marihuana use, by itself, either invariably or generally leads to or causes crime, including acts of violence, juvenile delinquency or aggressive behavior.”
Another infamously false claim that marijuana use caused “insanity,” was similarly debunked, and the Commission wrote that
“previous estimates of marihuana’s role in causing crime and insanity were based on quite erroneous information.”
They even warned that
maintaining cannabis’ illegal status
“carries heavy social costs”
and that
“the better method {to discourage its use}
is persuasion
rather than prosecution.”
And in fact, they wrote that “we reject the total prohibition approach and its variations” and instead recommended “a decriminalization of possession of marihuana for personal use on both the state and federal levels.”
A portion of their recommendation was regulation, and wrote in part that “by establishing a legitimate channel of supply and distribution, society can theoretically control the quality and potency of the product.”
Of course, none of the recommendations were followed, and instead, Nixon, the paranoid president who maintained an “enemies list” (and recorded conversations, and narrowly missed criminal indictment, for which reason he resigned the Presidency), initiated his now-infamously-failed “War on Drugs,” and kept marijuana listed on Schedule I.
Nixon’s Domestic Policy Advisor, John Erlichman (1925-1999), was quoted by Dan Baum in Harper’s Magazine April 2016, and said the following of Nixon’s War on Drugs:
“The Nixon campaign in 1968,
and the Nixon White House after that,
had two enemies:
The antiwar left and Black people.
You understand what I’m saying?
We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be
either against the war or Black,
but by getting the public to
associate the hippies with marijuana
and Blacks with heroin,
and then criminalizing both heavily,
we could disrupt those communities.
We could arrest their leaders,
raid their homes,
break up their meetings,
and vilify them night after night on the evening news.
Did we know we were lying about the drugs?
Of course we did.”
Such statements seem to very clearly suggest that laws prohibiting cannabis consumption were left in place for one purpose alone, and that is to use the instrument of law to keep under foot those who might be socially undesirable – most notably, the poor, and ethnic minorities – and that is an egregious abuse of law, and contradicts almost every idea of equality under law in our Constitution.
Our Federal government, along with State and Local governments, regulates and taxes beverage Alcohol and Tobacco (which is 2/3 of the ATF’s name), and does so successfully, and in the process, generates significant revenue for all three levels of governments. Along with that, entrepreneurial enterprises in those two industries hire almost countless numbers of people, and generate significant revenue nationally, and globally through export.
The Libertarian think-tank Cato Institute, in their statement which decries that which they call the “nanny state,” quotes late, former POTUS Ronald Reagan in former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan’s book “The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World,” as having said, “Government exists to protect us from each other. Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves.” (Penguin Press, Chapter 4, (p. 87), 2007.)
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, March 4, 2021
Welcome to the “new” reality.
But, just for a moment, let’s play “What if?”
What if the United States’ failed response (because of the inactions and deliberate failures of the previous administration) was the primary cause of the mutated, more virulent variants?
It’s entirely plausible.
Otherwise, how to explain that the United States, with the world’s 3rd most populous nation – China and India each have WELL OVER 1 BILLION MORE – has ABSOLUTELY THE WORLD’S WORST COVID-19 INFECTION RATE?
Other nations, most notably New Zealand, have had phenomenal success in keeping the disease at bay, relatively speaking, as have a few other nations, including China, India, Greenland, Australia, other Scandinavian nations, and… well, you get the picture.
Perhaps there should’ve been a sign:
Choose One: Your Life, or Your Freedom.
“When Will It End?” : How A Changing Virus Is Reshaping Scientists’ Views On COVID-19
CHICAGO (Reuters) – Chris Murray, a University of Washington disease expert whose projections on COVID-19 infections and deaths are closely followed worldwide, is changing his assumptions about the course of the pandemic.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, October 5, 2020
I have maintained from Day One of the emergence of this pandemic back in late December 2019, early January 2020, that there will be a “golden thread” running through it all, and that being, is that we are unwittingly marching into the veritable “promised land” of health, which is longevity, through improved well-being. The lessons learned in this coronavirus pandemic are teaching us, by experience, what we need to know to improve human health, and by extension, longevity.
Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, MD, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland
It will, of course, emerge as a secondary by-product of treatment, and prevention, at the tertiary level. And for that, we can all be grateful.
So, while at present, we (at least the wise ones) are taking every conceivable precaution to prevent contracting the disease, there remain stubbornly stupid individuals whom insist on ignoring science (like the President and many Republicans) and the expert recommendations of those whose life work has revolved around studying infectious disease, the most notable among which is Dr. Anthony Fauci, MD, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, in Bethesda, Maryland.
Why Do Some People Weather Coronavirus Infection Unscathed?
One of the reasons Covid-19 has spread so swiftly around the globe is that for the first days after infection, people feel healthy. Instead of staying home in bed, they may be out and about, unknowingly passing the virus along. But in addition to these pre-symptomatic patients, the relentless silent spread of this pandemic is also facilitated by a more mysterious group of people: the so-called asymptomatics.
According to various estimates, between 20 and 45 percent of the people who get Covid-19 — and possibly more, according to a recent study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — sail through a coronavirus infection without realizing they ever had it. No fever or chills. No loss of smell or taste. No breathing difficulties. They don’t feel a thing.
Asymptomatic cases are not unique to Covid-19. They occur with the regular flu, and probably also featured in the 1918 pandemic, according to epidemiologist Neil Ferguson of Imperial College London. But scientists aren’t sure why certain people weather Covid-19 unscathed. “That is a tremendous mystery at this point,” says Donald Thea, an infectious disease expert at Boston University’s School of Public Health.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, August 4, 2020
Howard Stern, 2016
Quit now, while you’re ahead.
Sometimes, life comes to us unannounced, but not unexpectedly. At other times, we’re stupefied by what occurs… even though, perhaps, we shouldn’t be.
Our friends – the ones who tell us things we don’t often want to hear, such as telling us “NO!”, are the very ones to whom we often ought be listening.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, May 25, 2020
One again, Republicans are demonstrating their lackadaisical reckless attitude toward human life, and thereby proving that they care little, if anything, about Americans of any stripe.
Whether young, old, infant, geriatric, sick, healthy, able, disabled, veteran, civilian, Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, well-educated, poorly-educated, gay, straight, bi, gender non-conforming, or anything of all points in between – it makes no difference. Money is their god. The Almighty Dollar rules.
They and their feckless titular leader are forcing ALL Americans to bow before the altar of Mammon, sacrificing our wise elders, children, even the unborn, to the all-consuming selfish fires of commerce.
The radicalized members of the Party of Trump are your “Death Panels.” They are the very thing Republicans warned America which would happen if the PPACA were to become enacted — which is not even anything even remotely close to Single Payer/Medicare For All.
And yet, even though they’ve continually tried their damndest to kill the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), aka “ObamaCare,” and every vestige of it since the day it was enacted on March 23, 2010, they’ve still not managed to come up with any alternative whatsoever.
Nada.
Bupkis.
Not only have the GOP’s dire predictions not come true, nor have they even remotely happened, but they’re still showing America what they think is TRULY important – money, money, money… MONEY!
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, May 6, 2020
Your Money, or Your Life… You Choose.
Presently, there are increasing calls clamoring for our states’ and nation’s economies to be returned to a state of “normalcy” (whatever that may be, or look like). Those voices are largely cacophonous, often belligerent, threatening with violent, even lawless displays, such as in Michigan recently, when renegades and insurrectionists stormed the State Capitol building armed with loaded assault weapons, and battle accouterments such as helmets, flak jackets, and bullet-proof vests, threatening to kill the Governor, and attempted to seize the Legislative floors.
In response, some states’ Governors are “reopening” their states’ economies, which have been largely shuttered for the benefit, and protection of the Greater Good, preservation of Public Health, and the prevention of loss of life, through unwitting dissemination of a particularly insidious and occult disease for which we have no cure, neither validated, nor verified treatment, nor vaccine – the novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, aka COVID-19.
It seems to me that, in essence, what is being done – not merely said – is presenting a “your money, or your life” robbery type scenario, a practical sacrificing of human life upon the altar of filthy lucre to the god of mammon, through the high priests of Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, February 7, 2019
An orgasm is the moral equivalent of a sneeze. It’s part of the autonomic nervous system and thus, largely cannot be controlled.
A sneeze is much ado about nothing.
Or, at least it is now.
It was once thought to portend poor health, sickness and disease, which is why many will say “bless you,” or “gesundheit!” after one sneezes.
Again, because a sneeze is a function of the autonomic nervous system, there’s largely nothing we can do to prevent it from occurring.
The autonomic nervous system regulates such bodily functions as digestion, breathing rate, heart rate, urination, pupillary response (response of the pupils to light), and sexual arousal.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, January 1, 2019
Welcome aboard!
Glad to have you in the New Year!
Curious about how the New Year was looking, I messaged some friends in Germany, where it’s 7 to 8 hours ahead of the Central Time Zone. She and their boy were visiting his father over the winter holiday season, where he was stationed on Active Duty with a Special Forces unit.
The “New Year” is often depicted as a babe, a veritable infant, wearing a diaper and banner sash with the year imprinted upon it, while the outgoing year, the “Old Year” (Father Time), is depicted as a decrepit old codger wearing a tattered cloak type garment with a staff.
When I’d earlier messaged my friends, I’d asked if they had any special plans. Not everyone celebrates the incoming New Year, you know. She replied, “Not sure quite what we are doing, there are several parties to choose from.” (Don’t you just marvel at our ability to communicate INSTANTLY to the opposite side of the world!?! Seriously. How great is that!?!)
Several hours later, just about the time when the New Year was dawning in Germany, I sent a message which stated, “How does the New Year look so far? Got any clothes on?🤣”
The reply, “Happy New Year. Hardly. In the hospital. C has a broken ankle.”
Of course, upon hearing such, one would naturally ask, “How’d THAT happen?”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, December 18, 2018
Here’s but one story from my storied career.
—//—
Once, upon a time, I worked in a CVICU (CardioVascular Intensive Care Unit) in Greenville, MS – a predominately Black populated area, with high poverty, and all the problems that come along for that ride.
A patient came to us from a SNF (Skilled Nursing Facility, i.e., Nursing Home), and was refusing to communicate/talk with staff. I became his Nurse. He was a Black gent, and I cared for him just like I would for anyone else – with dignity, and empowering them to make decisions regarding their care.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, November 19, 2018
Almost everyone who has worked in sales has heard the mantras “the customer is always right,” and “the customer is your most important person.”
And as anyone who has worked in healthcare can attest, neither of those statements are true.
For example, consider the patient who, arriving at the ED (Emergency Department) said to the physician, “My doc says my sugar is high so he gave me this medicine for diabetes.”
Naturally, the physician asked, “Do you take it?”
The patient replied saying, “No, ’cause I don’t have diabetes, just high sugar.”
And then, another Physician who explained to the patient’s mother her child’s diagnosis and therapeutic interventions saying, “She has a concussion, she needs to rest in bed in a quiet dark room until she is better.”
The mother then asked, “Can she go to the fair?”
Conventional wisdom often monikered as “common sense,” sometimes follows the pithy axiom that “common sense isn’t so common anymore.”
For years, I’ve maintained that the customer is NOT “always right,” nor are they the “most important person” in any business.
Instead, the most important person in any business are the employees.
Some CEOs have gotten a bad rap, often justifiably, because while seeking to return corporate profit and shareholder return, they’ve cut resources and employees. Like the abusive Pharaoh of the Exodus account in the Old Testament, they demand to “make more bricks with less hay.” Of course, we know how that story ended – not well.
So naturally, it delighted me to read some time ago that Sir Richard Branson, a renown entrepreneur and philanthropist, has similarly long held that thought and said, “Put your staff first, customers second, and shareholders third.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, October 9, 2018
Ever thought about suicide?
Many have.
And not all of them are depressed.
Some are epidemiologists – folks whose business it is to think about the source, causes, and prevention of disease. And then, other health professionals such as physicians, Nurses, psychologists, social workers, and others think about suicide – again, not as means to end their own lives, but for the sake of others. And yet Nurses and physicians also personally think about suicide, and often at rates greater than the average population.
I’ve thought about suicide.
I’ve thought about suicide many times.
In fact, I’m thinking about suicide as I write this entry.
But I’m not thinking about suicide as a means to end my own life.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, June 27, 2018
Saint Cyril of Alexandria (c. 374-444) was a scholar, writer and bishop who promoted the use of the title Theotokos (“God-bearer”) for Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, June 12, 2018
Salt is such an ordinary, inexpensive, and easily found substance in most cases nowadays that you can fail to fully grasp the profound meaning of Jesus’ famous metaphor. Consider these facts about salt: While it was once known as “white gold,” salt is necessary for human life. It preserves, purifies, and enhances the flavor of food. It made civilization possible. Wars have been waged over supplies of salt; it has been taxed, hoarded, traded, and Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Saturday, May 26, 2018
Love is Like a Greased Pig
By Mark Gungor
“I just don’t feel what I used to feel for you.” “I love you, but I’m not in love with you anymore.” “I believe I’ve found my soul mate…and it isn’t you.”
Or as the Righteous Brothers sang, “You’ve lost that loving feeling.”
However people want to word it, the bottom line is this: The fabulous and intense experience of our early love isn’t there anymore. I guess it wasn’t true love after all.
In the wonderful movie classic, The Princess Bride, the cotton-mouthed, speech-challenged priest talks about “true love” (Or “twuuuu wuv” as he says it!) at the wedding ceremony of Princess Buttercup and Prince Humperdink. He states that true love will follow you forever. While it makes for a great movie line, in reality it is a bunch of nonsense. True love doesn’t follow you like a little puppy that is constantly there. It’s actually more like a greased pig! You have to chase after it and pursue it. You have to run it down and tackle it and when it gets away, you go after it one more time. You may finally get a hold of it for a while, but then the little rascal can slip away and you have to chase it down again.
I know, I know—a greased pig isn’t all that romantic of an analogy to use, but it surely is more realistic and more accurate! Men and women who ascribe to all this romantic fantasy stuff will be sorely disappointed. So many people actually think that love and marriage will always be easy; that it will always be a skip through the meadow with birds chirping and butterflies flitting and the orchestra playing in the background. They think that the emotional high and buzz they experience at the beginning of dating or marriage will always be there. “Our love is true love and it will never fade!” That’s why so many people become disillusioned once they get into marriage—and sometimes it doesn’t take very long at all. They think that they have “fallen out of love” with their spouse once the flames of passion begin to die down to a smoldering ember.
Of course, our feelings change over time. There is no way that the initial euphoria can go on and on. It gives way to a deeper and more mature kind of love. The stages of marriage have been well documented in the research. That initial high that people experience at the onset usually only lasts six months to two years. Once the buzz is gone, the mistake that people often make is to allow their “feelings” to dictate their actions. They don’t feel that rush of emotion that they associated with love in the beginning and therefore, they assume they aren’t in love any more. Then naturally, since they don’t feel love, they reason (wrongly) that they must be true to their feelings. As a result, many Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, May 22, 2018
If you knew you would be canonized a saint and could choose your patronage now, for what cause would you cheerfully accept intercessions? Be careful in your selection: Saints become the patrons of causes they know all too well. Rita of Cascia is the patron saint of Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Much has been written about the importance of a “ministry of presence” – of being with people in times of need. Important as presence is, there is also a “ministry of absence,” said noted spirituality author Henri Nouwen. We should never forget that it is Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, April 15, 2018
One thing Jesus never could stomach is a hypocrite. In the stories, He always prefers sincere sinners to religious fakers. It’s easy to slip into the role of a synthetic disciple without even noticing. Our religious routines — prayer, Mass attendance, lip-synched proper responses to moral issues — can go on autopilot. Meanwhile, Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, November 3, 2017
Saint Martin de Porres (1579-1639) was a barbershop surgeon when he joined a Dominican monastery at age 15. Soon his success with medicinal herbs and miraculous healings earned him great fame as a healer. But Martin was famous for tending to small things, too. Once, he solved the monastery’s pest problem by Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, November 2, 2017
A few years ago a church document had this to say about death: “Death, while starkly real and total, is the vehicle of that final offering of self which calls for the supreme act of faith in the Lord of Life.” Yes, death is Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, October 22, 2017
It’s time, once again, to play…“Let’s Pretend!”
Let’s pretend you’re religious. Not everyone is. Should you use the force of government, or the rule of law to mandate that others abide by the edicts of your religious convictions?
That’s the essence of what Christian Evangelicals, Protestants, Catholics and others are doing when they deny prescription birth control (contraception for women), or abortion. Here’s why: It’s religious. That’s fairly simple enough to understand. And “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” Besides, they’re cloaked under the wolf-in-sheep’s-clothing auspices of “Christian” businesses, because hey… Jesus suffered, died & was resurrected for Businesses & Corporations – right?
But the hypocrisy, religious abuse, and charlatanism doesn’t end there. If EVERY person whom opposed abortion would agree to pay for an unintended pregnancy, and accept the newborn into their home… wait – hardly anyone does that, not even religious folk. But it’s not about religion, it’s about the control, and subjugation of women, using so-called “religious” pretext.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, September 22, 2017
Women, as today’s gospel (Luke 8:1-3) makes clear, accompanied Jesus in his ministry. They left their families to follow Him and offered financial support for His mission. They stood by Him at the cross, and all four gospels place women at the tomb when the resurrected Christ is revealed. As scripture scholar Elizabeth Johnson points out in her groundbreaking book Consider Jesus: Waves of Renewal in Christology,“Jesus Christ Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, September 17, 2017
We are told in today’s reading (Matthew 18:21-35) that the unforgiving servant will be “tortured” for failing to forgive another, after having been forgiven himself.
Because a parable is a symbolic way of talking about a profound truth, we can take the word tortured metaphorically and ask, “In what way are we ‘tortured’ when we fail to forgive?” Failing to forgive makes us hostage to our hurt.
Unable to move on, we become captives, prisoners to our own resentment. Unwilling to accept the imperfections of others, we can become Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Have you ever, in a passionate moment, had your ear gently kissed by the lips of your lover? The sensation of tenderly soft and warm skin brushed up against the lobe of your ear, or even a light flicker of the tip of the tongue anywhere on the ear is to many, sensuously delightful, and highly erotic.
For some, it’s enough to send shivers down your spine! Your entire body quivers with passionate delight!
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, August 24, 2017
Poor Bartholomew, the mystery apostle. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and the Acts of the Apostles call him Bartholomew, but in John he might be the person named Nathaniel. An interesting lesson for those who think the Bible is clear about everything — even the names of the 12 apostles!
Martyrdom of St. Bartholomew, (1355-1360) Prato, Museo di Palazzo; Tradition holds that the apostle Bartholomew was martyred by being flayed alive. That brutal torture has been depicted in a variety of ways over the centuries. He is sometimes depicted holding a knife, which symbolizes his martyrdom. The artworks seem to evolve over time from showing him just before the blade strikes, to when flaying occurs and then in later works after the act, where he is draped in, or holding his own skin. Viewing those artworks reflecting the act of being skinned alive without squirming can be difficult considering the pain and blood. That is especially so in the early religious paintings of the saint.
But aren’t most of us nearly anonymous disciples ourselves? We don’t get mentioned in the church bulletin all the time, and Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, August 22, 2017
Some say it’s good to be queen, and in the musical You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Lucy is dismayed to learn she can’t be queen when she grows up. You have to be born one. “If I can’t be a queen,” she says, then “I’ll work and work until I’m very rich and then I will buy myself a queendom.” Good grief! Wrong on both counts. Queen saints became saints by doing Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, August 13, 2017
If you’ve ever taught someone to swim, or remember what it was like for you when you learned, you’ll recall the doubt and fear — and then the realization that swimming is much easier once you let go of the fear, stop fighting the water, learn to relax and enjoy the experience. Where in your own life do fear and doubt threaten to pull you under, as happened to Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, August 10, 2017
Fresco cycle on the life of St. Stephen and Laurentius, scene: St. Laurentius before the court of the emperor Valerian, who orders him tortured to death on a fire-grate
Saint Lawrence (225–258) was a deacon known as the keeper of the church’s treasures. That means he disbursed donated alms to the needy. In August of 258 A.D., the pagan Emperor Valerian outlawed Christianity, and Roman authorities demanded that Lawrence turn over the wealth of the church.
They first tortured him extensively looking for information on other Christians, and then they Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, July 27, 2017
The routine nature of daily life can easily cause our hearts to grow dull. And when we’re feeling dull, it’s hard to be spiritually attuned and hear what Heaven has to tell us. Yet fortunately, it doesn’t take much to shake things up and get a new perspective. Just break out of a routine and do something different — take a new route to work, rearrange your furniture, clean out a junk drawer, or Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, July 24, 2017
My late father, who grew up in abject poverty in rural West Alabama in Lamar County, escaped poverty by serving in the Navy during the Korean War. Daddy said he asked his father – who had at most, a 3rd Grade education, and who, like him was well-acquainted with the backside of a mule and a plough – if he thought it would be a good idea for him to join the Navy. Daddy said that his father replied, “I think it’s a good idea. Maybe you won’t have to work as hard as I have.”
Daddy completed High School, which was almost an unheard-of thing for many in that era, especially in that location, and then went to Navy Boot Camp at San Diego, which is now San Diego Naval Air Station, where he experienced culture shock. Though he never identified it as such, his stories to me about his time there clearly indicate it was.
The idiomatic phrase “everything but the squeal” was a very real thing for him. That phrase means Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, July 19, 2017
You’re not looking for God in the supermarket. You don’t expect to see God in traffic. You don’t usually have a religious experience while doing homework, standing in line at the bank, or eating cereal. Moses was certainly not expecting to Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, July 18, 2017
Camillus de Lellis Tends the Wounded in the Hospital of the Santo Spirito in Rome During the Flooding of the Tiber in 1598; by PIERRE SUBLEYRAS, 1745.
Research suggests that more than 5 million Americans are problem or compulsive gamblers. Though he lived some 500 years ago, Saint Camillus (1550-1614) would be able to relate because he suffered from the same problem as a young man. In fact, he lost everything he owned by gambling — which perhaps contributed to his ability a bit later in life to leave everything behind to follow Jesus, eventually founding an order dedicated to caring for the sick. Perhaps you think Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Among Saint Benedict’s renowned Rules for monastic living were guidelines for the Cellarer – the person in charge of the monastery’s provisions. The Cellarer safeguarded and dispensed the monastery’s food and drink and adhered to quotas set by the abbot. During lean times when Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, July 5, 2017
As a child and youth – even later in life – when visiting my maternal grandmother, I would often play her baby grand piano.
As a child, when a summer thunderstorm would approach, she would tell me to stop playing, because, as she said, lightning would strike the piano because of the metal wires in it. She falsely supposed it to be an attractive force of some type.
Of course, at the time, I thought such an idea to be preposterously absurd… and still do. And in retrospect, I saw my obedience, then rebellion, and later obsequiousness, more as a reflection of my love to, and respect for her.
Naturally, as a youth, I attempted to reason with her by asking her if she’d ever heard of, or knew anyone who’d ever had their piano struck by lightning while being played during a thunderstorm, and she said Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, June 26, 2017
Matthew’s gospel quotes Jesus as saying, “Stop judging, that you may not be judged.” While you have to make some judgments every day, Jesus forbids judging Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, June 19, 2017
Saint Romuald (c. 951-1027) was a man on a mission. As a young man, having been compelled to witness Sergius his father duel with a relative in an argument over property in which he killed his adversary, he entered a Benedictine monastery at Classe, Italy to do 40 days penance for him – to atone for the murder his father committed – which resulted in his own vocation to religion as a Benedictine monk. His father, who also later became a monk, contemplated leaving his monastic order, but was dissuaded by Romauld. Throughout his monastic life, Romauld continuously sought simplicity, which motivated him for 30 years to Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Wednesday, May 17, 2017
I used to have stuff. Used to have it in a 10×10, just like you. I got tired of having “stuff.” I got tired of paying thousands annually for a place to keep it all.
My “trophies” weren’t plastic sports figurines mounted on wooden, or marble scraps, and made in China. Mine were Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, May 5, 2017
Calling out EVERY TRUMP VOTER!
Sarah Palin’s “Death Panels” are now Donald Trump & the GOP’s gift to you!
They WILL kill you & your grannies, grandpas, kids, wife, relatives, family, and YOU!
DO NOT BE DECEIVED!
In their world, Money Trumps Life!
—
By Yvonne Foster
“I have atrial fibrillation and arthritis, my husband is pre-diabetic and has had heart surgery, our daughter is asthmatic. None of this is through any fault of our own.
“I have shed tears today not only for my family but millions of others like us. What is going to happen to all these people? Healthcare should not be something available only to the rich.
“I have seen evil before, but I’ve never looked this kind of evil in the eye until I looked at Trump and Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, February 7, 2017
Should the government tell you what you can, and cannot do with your body?
We chose to have a funeral and now have a spot in a Blacksburg cemetery where we can visit her whenever we are near. Having a gravesite, I know, was a huge help in the grieving process for Matt.
Are you now government property?
Are you a slave?
Are you not entitled by law to FREEDOM to decide for yourself what is good, and best for yourself?
Or, are we in a “Nanny State” in which politicians and bureaucrats tell you what to do, when to eat, what to wear, where to live, who to love, and when to shower?
Lindsey Paradiso, and her husband Matt, had to make an untenable choice because their unborn infant daughter was diagnosed with a disease from which she would most likely not live… not even a few days.
And indeed, her heart stopped beating before she was at term.
I am so lucky to have such a strong and wonderful man to stand beside. We had just been admitted to the hospital for labor induction after having Omara’s heart stopped.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, November 13, 2016
A longtime, and dear friend recently chose to share her own very personal story.
I share it here with her permission.
Though I am certain she would not object, I have chosen to omit her name.
The reader should be aware that Ethan is her and her husband’s young boy, and firstborn.
Used With Permission
—/—
This is private, but I am going to put it out there to put a face on an issue for some of my friends.
On Tuesday, I lost two great sources of hope for the future. One was the election, but the other was more personal. Midday, before the polls ever closed, and right as I was returning one turf to Headquarters to pick up another, I got a phone call that brought me to my knees.
I was pregnant, ya’ll. I was 11 weeks on Election Day, and it had been a dicey start, but we thought we had made it. We were already discussing adorable ways to make it FB official. We anxiously awaited the results of this genetic test that would tell us the sex, so we could hopefully rest a bit easier if it was a girl (because of the pattern of kidney disease in my family).
The doc gently informed me that it was a little boy, and he had trisomy 18. Either I would naturally miscarry, or I would watch my baby die a slow and painful death over the course of a few days, months, or maybe a year. My worst nightmare was coming true, and I was terrified that I would Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Thursday, October 27, 2016
Church Pastor: The Truth About My Late-Term Abortion
by Amy Butler, October 26, 2016, 7:55PM EDT
“Trump’s words drove me to tears, and to write my painful story for the first time.”
Elections are supposed to be about real people — and not the ones whose names appear on the ballot. They are supposed to be about all of us, the policies that will impact our lives in tangible ways and the choices we make about the country we want to be.
The Rev. Dr. Amy Butler is the Senior Minister of The Riverside Church in New York City. Prior to this call, Pastor Amy served as Senior Pastor of Calvary Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. Pastor Amy holds degrees from Baylor University (BA ‘91, MA ‘96); The International Baptist Theological Seminary (BDiv ‘95); and Wesley Theological Seminary (DMin ‘09).
But this year, we have watched a major candidate for our country’s highest office demean and slander whole categories of American citizens. We have watched him make offensive, outrageous claims about real people and real decisions that everyday Americans face. People like me. Decisions like mine.
What sent me to my computer to write is late-term abortion. As I heard Donald Trump talk about babies being “ripped” from their mothers’ wombs, as if ending a pregnancy is a reckless, irresponsible afterthought, my outrage poured down my face in angry tears. In those moments, Trump, who has never been pregnant and presumably has navigated this far in his life without undertaking any difficult, gut-wrenching, gray-area decisions, used my own pain — deep, deep pain — to advance his political agenda.
But his words won’t tell my story, so I’ll tell it here. I don’t often speak about this experience. And I’ve never written about it until now.
The late-term abortion I chose was the end of a dream. The pain was so real and so consuming that navigating my way through the grief, I never thought that I would have the happy, healthy family that I do today. It was one of the most agonizing experiences of my life and Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Friday, October 21, 2016
I HAD A LATE TERM ABORTION.
IT IS NOTHING LIKE DESCRIBED BY TRUMP.
PLEASE DON’T BASE YOUR VOTE ON THE FEAR MONGERING HE IS DOING.
PLEASE READ MY EXPERIENCE:
I had to have a late term abortion. It was the worst moment in my life. What made it even worse was the State of Utah had made it illegal. I had one dead twin. The other had severe Spina Bifida, and would only have lived with life support, in great pain, for a few days.
I lay on the hospital floor, bawling hysterically, for twelve hours, waiting for an ethics committee of the health care corporation to Read the rest of this entry »
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, August 10, 2015
It was Easter Sunday, 2010, and unknown to me, dumb luck had befriended me.
Pure dumb luck.
Even scientists believe in it.
In 1996, Duncan C. Blanchard, a meteorological researcher then affiliated with the State University of New York at Albany, authored a scientific paper entitled “Serendipity, Scientific Discovery, and Project Cirrus” published in the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society in which he cited Project Cirrus (1947-52), a period and project of research from which “many serendipitous discoveries and inventions were made, opening up areas of research still being pursued today.”
Blanchard’s work was cited a decade later in 2006 by David M. Schultz, who was then affiliated with the Cooperative Institute for Mesoscale Meteorological Studies, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma, and the NOAA/National Severe Storms Laboratory, Norman, Oklahoma in a research paper entitled The Mysteries of Mammatus Clouds: Observations and Formation Mechanisms. In it he wrote that what little we know about mammatus clouds was, because of their nature, “obtained largely through serendipitous opportunities.”
In other words, what little we know about the clouds (so named after human breasts because of their appearance), has been obtained by pure dumb luck – although, being prepared, and being in the right place at the right time does account for something.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Tuesday, August 4, 2015
According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, and the Centers for Disease Control, abortions are performed at a significantly higher rate in racial/ethnic minority communities (Negro & Hispanic) than in the White/Anglo majority community.
The legislation of which he is author and principle sponsor, HB 294, is “To enact section 3701.034 of the Revised Code to require the Department of Health to ensure that state funds and certain federal funds are not used either to perform or promote elective abortions, or to contract or affiliate with any entity that performs or promotes elective abortions.”
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Sunday, July 12, 2015
A dear friend who is a long-time retiree, aged 78 years, entire subsistence is from a meager pension (earned from a lifetime of work in a unionized organization), supplemented with a paltry Social Security check.
She’s lived through breast cancer surgery (mastectomy) & reconstruction, other major surgeries (knee replacements) and procedures, and lives in a trailer which she owns, situated upon a lot which she rents. She has resided there many, many years.
Posted by Warm Southern Breeze on Monday, June 8, 2015
I recollect, a few years ago, having gone with a dear friend to the apartment where her former husband lived.
He had died alone.
D’Angelo (not his real name) was a retired Army NCO, whom had volunteered for service. He was genuinely a “squared away” soldier, and rose to the rank of First Sergeant (E-8), which rank is politely nicknamed “Top,” because, aside from Sergeant Major which is also an E-8 position, it is the highest rank and position a NCO can obtain.
His generosity was well-known, and his humility, honesty and genuine love for his fellow man was evident throughout his life. And though he was a good man with many admirable character qualities, a congenial fellow, well liked – even loved – by many, it seemed he never could win the battle over the bottle.
What little I knew of him from others’ reports and my own limited interaction with him, he was an honorable family man. And yet, Read the rest of this entry »
One again, Republicans are demonstrating their lackadaisical reckless attitude toward human life, and thereby proving that they care little, if anything, about Americans of any stripe.
Saint Martin de Porres (1579-1639) was a barbershop surgeon when he joined a Dominican monastery at age 15. Soon his success with medicinal herbs and miraculous healings earned him great fame as a healer. But Martin was famous for tending to small things, too. Once, he solved the monastery’s pest problem by 
Warm Southern Breeze 