I Repudiate Thee, UT August 31, 2016
Posted by Tantumblogo in abdication of duty, Abortion, asshatery, contraception, disaster, error, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, rank stupidity, scandals, secularism, self-serving, sexual depravity, sickness, Society, unbelievable BS.comments closed
Becoming a convicted Catholic has, as I’ve mentioned a number of times, required me to change my beliefs on a broad range of subjects. I have tried to do this to the best of my ability, and it remains an ongoing project. One small area where I’ve changed my thinking quite dramatically is with regard to my college alma mater. I loved going to UT, even though engineering school was hell (first day, all the freshman ME majors are brought into a room. The instructor says: look to your left, look to your right, those people will not graduate with you. And that was an understatement). I loved the town, I loved the giant, impersonal campus, I loved the sink or swim attitude, the absolute absence of hand-holding, I loved the sports, I loved Bevo, I loved almost all of it.
One of the few things I did not love, however, was the preponderance of liberal knuckleheads. It’s a misnomer commonly spread by Aggies, who in their ignorance don’t know any better, that everyone at UT is a liberal. That is far from true. There is (or was) a very strong conservative undercurrent, especially in the ROTC and Greek communities and certain academic departments. UT has one of the largest Greek communities in the country, in terms of total population (if not as a percentage of the student body). The engineering and business schools were also centers of conservatism on campus, at least 20 years ago. But, overall, it is true, UT had a decided liberal bent, especially among the jackass West Campus types, mostly majoring in some waste of time liberal arts major (sorry if I have hurt your feelings).
Back then, before the internet, however, we could largely pretend they didn’t exist. On campus, the only time I ever encountered silly liberals was when I had to walk past the Undergraduate Library (the worst place to study on campus) and across Guadalupe to get to the frat house. That area, called the “West Mall,” was always filled with boneheads. But, since I lived so far off campus and drove every day, that almost never happened. And Lord knows, none of you ever came to our corner of the campus, at Speedway and 26th, where the engineering and hard sciences were located. Aside from an odd party or two, the two worlds almost never met.
About the only time we would learn of some leftist idiocy, was when it would appear in the pages of The Daily Texan, after the fact.
But back to my original point. My feelings regarding UT today are decidedly different, ranging from half-hearted at best to outright hostility at times. I still have very fond memories, I know UT prepared me exceedingly well for many aspects of life, not so much what I learned in engineering school, which largely had nothing to do with practical, day-to-day engineering, but by learning how to function in the world without help, without backup, without mom or dad or counselor or kind professor there to hold your hand and pat you on the head and tell you everything will be OK, like they do at A&M. It prepared me for a cold, hard, uncaring world. And, UT rightly deserves its reputation as a top-rank public institution with very strong faculty and facilities, especially the very high-tech JJ Pickle Research Campus in north Austin, which I frequented a number of times even as an undergraduate.
Far more importantly, however, I met my wife there. No other event shaped the course of my life, and helped insure I would arrive at the point I am at today, than that.
But, overall, I feel in many respects coldly disaffected from my alma mater. The beliefs so commonly taught there (and I think the politicization of academics, the leftist propaganda, is much, much deeper than it was 20 years ago), the immoral behaviors, the hookup culture that is EVERYWHERE in colleges today, the endless threats to the Faith: I just don’t think I could, in good conscience, allow my kids to go there. Or almost any other major university, for that matter. While I can say: “I made it through there, even as something of a pagan, and so it can’t be that bad,” I know, in many respects, I just got lucky. If it hadn’t been for my wife and her prayers (and those of her mother, RIP), I could just as easily be a dead, divorced addict. UT didn’t cause my addiction, but it certainly didn’t help it, either.
I just see so many problems. For one thing, the Newman Center at UT has always been atrocious. It was awful 25 years ago, and remains so today, from what I understand. There is no St. Mary’s, a la A&M, to help bolster the faith of a young person far from home (not that I’m comfortable sending my kids there, either). I know how I behaved at UT as a young nominal protestant…….I sure do not wish that on my kids.
When I see things like the below, however, which I really can’t even share without violating the standards of this blog (you are warned), it just clinches the matter for me. I know that even today, UT is not entirely dominated by idiot liberals, but, still………what the blankety blank do sex toys have to do with concealed carry? What idiot thought this up, and, even more, gave permission for this demonstration, right on the very steps of the administration building?
Hundreds of University of Texas students waved sex toys at a campus rally during the first day of classes, protesting a new state law that allows concealed handguns in college classrooms, buildings and dorms.
Organizers said the sex toys were used Wednesday to mock what they consider an absurd notion that guns should be allowed in academic settings. The law took effect Aug. 1.
Students and faculty at the Austin campus fiercely opposed allowing license holders to carry their concealed handguns to class. One prominent dean left the school after the law passed in 2015. Several faculty members attended the rally.
Is that supposed to be burnt orange? You’re doing it wrong.
Zika Virus Just an Excuse for Abortion, Population Control August 31, 2016
Posted by Tantumblogo in Abortion, asshatery, contraception, disaster, error, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, paganism, scandals, secularism, self-serving, sexual depravity, sickness, Society.comments closed
According to the executive director of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, 98% of women who contract the Zika virus during pregnancy will give birth to a normal, healthy baby. Women who contract the virus outside of pregnancy will develop and immunity and have zero potential to transmit the virus to a prenatal infant. Have you ever heard this before? Why not? This is apparently common knowledge in the epidemiology community. Could it be, this is just the latest scare of the week, be it Ebola or Bird Flu or Zika, to push someone’s agenda? And in this case, is this simply another campaign to exert tremendous pressure on frightened women to have their child killed?
Looks like it:
Abortion advocates have been using the virus and the link to birth defects as an excuse to push for more abortions on babies with disabilities. Some pro-abortion groups in South America even have been scaring women into aborting their unborn babies without knowing if they have Zika or if their unborn baby has a disability.
However, the risk of birth defects is not as great as many appear to believe.
One leading pro-life OB-GYN told World Magazine’s Evan Wilt:
“There is a lot of misunderstanding and unnecessary fear about the Zika virus,” said Donna Harrison, executive director of the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. “And, unfortunately, those fears are motivated by politics.”
… Harrison, a board-certified OB-GYN, told me there are real fears associated with Zika, but pro-abortion groups are overhyping the threat.
For a woman to give birth to a baby with microcephaly, Zika infection needs to take place within the first trimester in most cases. Of those women, only 1-2 percent will see birth defects in their babies.
“That means 98 percent of pregnant women infected with the Zika virus will give birth to normal babies,” Harrison said.
She added nonpregnant women who get sick with Zika develop an immunity to the virus.
Research into the virus and the link to birth defects is on-going. Though many mainstream media reports gloss over the research showing a low risk of birth defects, several have confirmed Harrison’s report. The Associated Press previously reported on various research estimating between 1 percent and 15 percent of pregnant women who contracted Zika in the first trimester had babies with birth defects.
[How much does the satanic Planned Barrenhood hate babies? Let us count the ways……]……….some research efforts in the U.S. have been blocked by Planned Parenthood supporters in the U.S. House and Senate. The pro-abortion legislators have been blocking an aid bill for Zika prevention and researchbecause it does not give money to a few Planned Parenthood facilities in Puerto Rico.
The abortion giant Planned Parenthood has been heavily involved in Zika-related politics in the U.S. Currently, Planned Parenthood is sending staffers to knock on women’s doors in Miami, Florida to talk about the Zika virus, according to the Miami Herald. They also are giving pregnant women “Zika kits” and informational fliers.
In April, a Planned Parenthood activist said women who are pregnant and contract the virus ought to be able to abort their potentially disabled babies. The abortion activists called killing such babies a “human right.”
Whatever it takes to sell the narrative, even if the narrative is extolling the benefits of a million and a half murdered babies a year. One can only imagine how lost, narcissistic, and downright evil a culture has to be for that sell to go anywhere, but as we see again and again, go somewhere it does. Every year, nearly a million gallons of baby blood are spilled, legally, in this country. Sandra Day O’Connor was right, this is a nation that has built itself around sexual license made possible by contraception and abortion over the past 50 years.
How long do we think we can get away with endlessly insulting God, permitting roughly 3500 satanic sacrifices a day of His most beloved creation?
Not satisfied with your guns, they’re coming for your knives August 31, 2016
Posted by Tantumblogo in asshatery, disaster, error, firearms, foolishness, General Catholic, horror, It's all about the $$$, persecution, scandals, secularism, self-serving, sickness, Society, unbelievable BS.comments closed
Proof that the “gun control movement” has never been about mass shootings or reducing crime, but about disarming the populace? As if we needed more? The Obama administration has apparently been using executive fiat to achieve what unpopular, unpassable legislation cannot – punishing those in the firearms industry by pressuring banks and other financial institutions to “divest” of any involvement with such evil, icky enterprises. But not satisfied with going after firearms-related manufacturers, they are apparently moving onto those who make knives, because knives kill, dontcha know. Be especially afraid of the deadly assault knives!:
Operation Choke-point is the scandal-ridden Department of Justice’s initiative aimed at
punishingmaking business difficult for those industries they don’t like. Payday lenders (ok, these can be dicey but are still better than loan-sharks), coin dealers (precious metals throw a wrench in their fiat currency scam), and firearms manufacturers and dealers (because…guns are icky and stuff) have all been targeted by the Obama’s highly-politicized DOJ. Since the Administration’s frontal assaults on the Second Amendment have not yielded the results they want, they have resorted to Executive Branch action to try to move the ball. In this they are pressuring financial institutions to deny banking services to the targeted industries.While Congress is trying to put an end this abuse, Operation Choke Point is expanding into new realms. This past Friday Hogue Inc. announced that Wells Fargo has refused to do business with them, because they ostensibly manufacture “weapons”.
…….It is bad enough that the Executive Branch uses the levers of government to target their political enemies. What makes this situation worse is that these companies are not just engaging in legal commerce, they are producing and selling products that are not only legal but actually specifically protected under the Second Amendment.
The DOJ didn’t see fit to stop at guns, they are now going after knives and knife companies. Why stop there? Why not go after automobile manufacturers? Any tool can be used as a weapon. An ISIS terrorist killed more than 80 people with a truck in Nice……..
……..Congress is attempting to right this wrong, but the wheels grind slowly in Washington. There have been hearings on Operation Choke Point and a bill has passed the House which would stop this abuse and discrimination, but it is bogged down in the Senate. Senators Mike Lee and Ted Cruz are leading the effort try and fix the problem. [Even if they can get it to pass the Senate, Obama has already indicated he would veto any such legislation that attempts to curb his preference to rule by decree.]
It’s always been about power. A well-armed populace is at least a latent threat to the dreams of the planners and schemers who so fervently believe they know much better than the rest of us. One can imagine just how far the sexular pagan left wants to carry its power into the daily lives of citizens by their intense compulsion to deal with this threat. It has nothing to do with mass shootings or concern over a safer world, and everything to do with dealing with threats to unlimited power.
For a bit more on Operation Choke Point, which is blatantly unconstitutional, I would think (where are the lawsuits?!?), see below:
So, how do you think our dear, departed Bishop Farrell would come down on this? To ask the question, and all that…….
Change in Plan: Prayer Outside The Men’s Club Postponed August 31, 2016
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin.comments closed
Due to a change in travel plans, I will be unable to pray outside The Men’s Club tonight, 08/31/16. You are of course welcome to do so, but I cannot be there.
Sorry for the late notice, this decision was only arrived at last night.
I hope to reschedule for next week but it may be the week after. I’ll let you know.
ISIS has buried thousands in mass graves August 30, 2016
Posted by Tantumblogo in asshatery, demographics, disaster, Ecumenism, General Catholic, horror, martyrdom, sexual depravity, sickness, Society, unadulterated evil.comments closed
Hmmm…….the most fervent, most convicted Christians practice love, mercy, and great concern for their fellow man. The most fervent, most convicted muslims almost universally practice murder, domination, and cruelty to an unbelievable extreme.
Anyone see the difference?*
It seems ISIS has buried thousands of bodies in mass graves throughout the territory it has conquered, and even brags about this fact in various media:
Between them, the two scenes of horror on Sinjar mountain contain six burial sites and the bodies of more than 100 people, just a small fraction of the mass graves Islamic State extremists have scattered across Iraq and Syria.
In exclusive interviews, photos and research, The Associated Press has documented and mapped 72 of the mass graves, the most comprehensive survey so far, with many more expected to be uncovered as the Islamic State group’s territory shrinks. In Syria, AP has obtained locations for 17 mass graves, including one with the bodies of hundreds of members of a single tribe all but exterminated when IS extremists took over their region. For at least 16 of the Iraqi graves, most in territory too dangerous to excavate, officials do not even guess the number of dead. In others, the estimates are based on memories of traumatized survivors, Islamic State propaganda and what can be gleaned from a cursory look at the earth.
Still, even the known numbers of victims buried are staggering — from 5,200 to more than 15,000. [With thousands, probably tens of thousands, waiting to be found as ISIS is forced to retreat]
Sinjar mountain is dotted with mass graves, some in territory clawed back from IS after the group’s onslaught against the Yazidi minority in August 2014; others in the deadly no man’s land that has yet to be secured.
They aren’t just killing non-muslims. They even kill those they feel are not sufficiently pure muslims, like Shiites. The article at the link speaks of whole ravines and sinkholes filled with bodies. But Christians definitely earn a special ire from ISIS and other allied groups.
We are told that this is not true islam. But if it is not, where is the mass outrage? Where are the riots in the streets of Cairo or Karachi, like there are every time some Westerner draws a cartoon of Mohammad or says something critical of islam? That’s the most damning indictment that ISIS is not somehow counter to the beliefs of many muslims. While the “silent majority” of muslims may perhaps think ISIS goes too far, they certainly aren’t moved to oppose ISIS in any concrete way. And far, far too many muslims are quite happy to be governed by sharia, which ISIS claims to be implementing in its fullest, purest form. Heck, a majority of muslims in Britain AND Canada today claim to desire to live under sharia. Even more chilling, so do a majority of American muslims.
As we’ve seen around the world, it’s a short walk from sharia to ISIS. Saudi Arabia may not have mass graves, but they do have plentiful genital mutilation, repression of women, and a hideous intolerance of all non-sunni islamic beliefs. American servicemen cannot even wear a crucifix in public off base.
All the political and social elites who continue to tell us that islam is the “religious of peace” accomplish is the destruction of their own credibility, as if they had any. That applies doubly for those in the Church who repeat this exhausted, discredited mantra.
For Christians, however, the space between the unstoppable force of leftism and the immovable object of islam continues to shrink, and shrink, and shrink. And yet, it is Christianity alone – Catholic Christianity – that can provide a sufficient bulwark against islam. Mamby pamby secular left-leaning hedonism will fold up under the pressure of islam like a cheap green tent in a windstorm.
*- Yes, nominal Christians have certainly committed many atrocities in the past, but rarely if ever on the basis of the Christian Faith itself. Serbs murdering muslims in Bosnia 20 years ago were motivated primarily by nationalism, not religion. But ISIS, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda, etc., all murder based specifically on the practice of their faith, as a representation of their piety and fervor. AND, more importantly, they can find numerous supports for their behavior in their false holy book (Koran) and their false tradition (haddith). In fact, since islam has always understood that which comes later in the Koran to supersede that which came earlier, the fact that most of the really bloody-minded verses, or “suras” of the Koran come later in the book means they have greater import, and supersede the more beneficent verses from the early parts.
The Trials of the Martyrs: Saints Julitta and Quiricus, Her Son August 30, 2016
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, catachesis, Four Last Things, General Catholic, Glory, Grace, Holy suffering, Interior Life, martyrdom, reading, Saints, sanctity, Tradition, true leadership, Virtue.comments closed
From the Victories of the Martyrs by Saint Alphonsus (translated by Fr. Eugene Grimm, CSsR), the story of St. Julitta and St. Quiricus, her son. This is one of the more heart-rending martyrdoms of the early Church, not for the horrendous tortures to which the Saints were subjected, but for the situation of a young mother and son martyred together, within sight of each other. Saint Alphonsus makes clear the tortures of many of the martyrs were almost beyond imagining. He also makes clear that what gave power to the endless cruelty of the torturers was the hatred with which the pagans have always held the Christian religion, and the demonic influence which dominates those unpossessed of Grace. 
Pagans hate Christians because our existence – lived rightly – is a reproach upon their conscience. Something for us to consider as we see the world growing increasingly dark all around us. Another source of their hatred is the exclusivity of belief that faith in Jesus Christ demands; the world will tolerate weak, worldly Christians after a fashion, if they are willing to not be too serious, too committed, too “fundamentalist,” too, ultimately, convicted. Amazingly, we see this same hatred of truly devout, believing Christians even among most of the leadership of the Church today, even, to the very highest office entrusted by God to man. This last factor is what makes the present crisis the worst the Church has ever experienced, in the minds of many.
At any rate, Saints Julitta and Quiricus, who died because they were viewed as so “obstinate” and “intolerant,” refusing to burn a pinch of incense to false gods. What a contrast to the conduct of so many in the Church today, who are happy to light veritable bonfires to the false gods of this present world, whether that god be called ecumenism, leftism, secularism, or what have you:
St. Julitta was a noble of the city of Iconium. During the reign of the Emperors Diocletian and Maximiam, a most cruel tyrant called Domitian was governor of the province. While the persecution was raging most violently, St. Julitta took her infant son Quiricus, only three years old, and 
accompanied by two female servants, fled for safety to Seleucia in Isauria; where, however, she found Alexander, the Proconsul of Cilicia, who exercised a no less barbarous cruelty than Domitian against those Christians who refused to sacrifice to the Gods. The Saint passed from Seleucia to Tharsis, where Alexander arrived about the same time. Having been recognized, she was arrested and conducted before the judge with the infant Quiricus in her arms. Fire and incense were produced, in order that, renouncing Jesus Christ, she might sacrifice; but the Saint answered: “I am a Christian and therefore am prepared to lose not only my property, but even my life, rather than deny my God.” The judge frequently urged her to abjure her faith; but she who wished to compensate her temporal loss by the acquisition of eternal gains uniformly replied: “I am a Christian: I cannot deny Jesus Christ.”
Alexander, infuriated by her constancy, ordered that the child should be torn from her embrace, and that she should be cruelly scourged; but the holy lady under this torture fervently and continually repeated: “I am a Christian; I cannot sacrifice to your gods.” Quiricus, meanwhile, was beholding the agonies of his mother, and struggled to return to her embrace; but Alexander, to quiet him, placed him on his knee, and endeavored to kiss him. The child, however, kept his eyes fixed on his mother, and by plunging and kicking, tried to free himself from the tyrant, crying out at the same time: “I also am a 
Christian.” The inhuman wretch dashed the child from him, and the agonizing mother, seeing the steps of the throne bespattered with the blood and brains of her infant, exclaimed: “I give Thee thanks, O my God! for having called by boy before me to Thyself!” [Oh what strength can Grace impart! While I have grave doubts as to how I would hold up under physical torture, the torture of seeing my children threatened with harm, even death, would, I fear, be a very great temptation to me. May God grant that this never pass. Obviously, such strength is beyond human nature and is due to a supreme supernatural influence. If such tortures should ever threaten, I pray God grant me such Grace, otherwise I know I would fail]
The brutal judge, still more infuriated by this exclamation, caused her sides to be torn with iron hooks, and boiling pitch to be poured upon her feet. Meanwhile one of the bystanders said to her: “Julitta, have pity upon thyself; perish not as thy son has perished; sacrifice to the gods.” “I cannot,” she replied, “sacrifice to devils and mute statues. I adore the Lord Jesus, and wish to meet my son in Heaven;” upon which the judge decreed that she should be beheaded. This sentence filled the Saint with joy. Arrived at the place of the last struggle, she cast herself upon her knees, as Father Massini relates in his beautiful work of the lives of the Saints, according to the acts of the martyrs by Ruinart.
She then prayed after the following matter: “O God who hast been pleased to admit my child to a participation of the glory of Thy Saints, turn Thine eyes of mercy towards me also, and grant me a place among the souls destined to love Thee and adore Thee forever.” Having finished her prayer her head was at once cut off. I is thus that Julitta, with her heart inflamed with holy love and full of joy, consummated her sacrifice in the year 304.
———–End Quote———-
There is some assertion that Saint Alphonsus confused the location of the martyrdom, and where the martyr lived prior to her assent to Heaven. But this is of no import to the overall meaning and value of this story.
Saint Julitta and Quiricus, pray for us! Pray that our world return from the precipice of final descent into atheistic barbarism and total impiety! Pray that we may be a light that, through Grace, guides souls back to faith in Jesus Christ and His Church. Soften the hearts of the leaders of our Church so that the Truth, the full Truth, may be taught at all times. And, should the worst happen, pray for us to have the strength of faith and cooperation with Grace that you so gloriously evidenced.
Boycotts can work: Target sales fall dramatically, start of a cave? August 30, 2016
Posted by Tantumblogo in awesomeness, Basics, General Catholic, It's all about the $$$, paganism, rank stupidity, Revolution, scandals, secularism, self-serving, sexual depravity, Society, Victory.comments closed
Target Stores recently announced some of the worst financial performance the chain has seen in some time, with sales falling 7.2% in the second quarter of 2016, the period covered by Target’s disastrous decision to allow men into women’s restrooms and changing rooms. This decision prompted a backlash and boycott now endorsed by 1.4 million former Target shoppers. The firm is instituting a first of its kind (for the store) one day storewide sale to try to lure shoppers back:
Target is launching a first-of-its-kind one-day sale to try and boost back-to-school shopper traffic amid a boycott over its bathroom policy. The retailer is offering a 10% discount on everything in its stores and online on Sunday. Target is calling the event #TargetRunDay.
It marks the first time Target has ever offered a 10% discount both in stores and on its website. The sale comes after Target last week reported its first quarterly traffic decline in more than two years.
This is what happens when you blindly hop on the social-justice bandwagon without consulting your customers, understanding their mores, or giving a damn about what they think. Serves Target right. Drive by any Target store since the “transgender” policy went into effect and witness an ocean of empty spaces in their parking lots. [Meh. I rarely ever shopped there anyway. More and more, I trade on Amazon, which has its own problems, but puts the shipping on them]
Target’s same-store transactions, which is how traffic is measured, fell 2.2% in the second quarter. Overall, sales fell 7.2% to $16.2 billion. “In the second quarter, our No. 1 challenge was traffic, which affected sales in all of our merchandise categories,” Target CEO Brian Cornell said last week on a call with analysts. [Traffic means how many people are entering the stores, which is down sharply. Other stores report having same levels of traffic but that traffic spending less per visit. This seems to indicate the boycott may be having an impact]
Shopper traffic is falling amid a boycott over Target’s new policy, announced earlier this year, that welcomes customers to use any bathroom or fitting room that matches their gender identity. The announcement triggered an immediate backlash. Critics said the policy opened the door for sexual predators to victimize women and children inside the retailer’s bathrooms, [Which has already been documented occurring a number of times] and more than 1.4 million people signed a pledge to stop shopping at Target unless it reversed the policy.
Fearless prediction: Target CEO Brian Cornell, who made this decision to virtue signal to his elitist peers, will be fired within a year or so, and the policy will be quietly reverse. It seems Target is already trying to make some accommodation for those righteously indignant at finding their daughters and wives exposed to pervs, spending $20 million on single-stall bathrooms:
Target (TGT) CFO Cathy Smith said Wednesday that the company has heard objections to the transgender bathroom policy from some customers, though she said other customers had voiced support. In response, Target has decided to expand its use of a third, single-toilet bathroom at all of its stores, which can be locked by users.
That bathroom can be used by any customer who needs some privacy, including parents with small children of a different gender or those who are uncomfortable with a public bathroom in which a transgender person is allowed.
But the problem with dressing rooms, and the entire notion of “transgender” restrooms, remains. For instance, what if the one, single-use facility is already in use?
Target is trying to maintain a brave pretense that the boycott is having no impact, but even the mainstream media seems dubious about that. In the end, they’ll try to arrive at some face-saving compromise, but the CEO will almost certainly be out.
So, perhaps boycotts do work every once in a while.
Non Sequitur: A little Dallas History August 30, 2016
Posted by Tantumblogo in Admin, awesomeness, Dallas Diocese, demographics, fun, history, non squitur, silliness, Society, technology.comments closed
This post is more for the locals. In the summer of 1991, my parents and I moved from central Plano, near US75, to what was then far west/northwest Plano. This was well before Dallas North Tollway had been expanded north of Keller Springs Rd. It was just a two lane blacktop.
There was our brand-new subdivision, and nothing else for miles. You could see the brand-new EDS headquarters about 3 miles north, but that was it. It was prairie and cows. There was a large ranch just to the east (still there, soon to become a large nature preserve). A lot of wildflowers. Our house was the fifth to be built in this new subdivision and the 2nd to be occupied. Literally across the street would be some black angus grazing. For a couple of years, it felt like country living.
It’s been almost completely built up around there for years, now. Which just goes to show how fast the Dallas area continues to grow.
For a little more historical evidence of that, some photos from DFWFreeways.com, showing the old and the new.
Back in the mid-50s, Dallas pretty much stopped at Northwest Highway. Even much of the land along Northwest Highway was quite country. Lovers Lane was still used as its name suggests, at least the eastern part was. The photo below shows the newly completed Central Expressway looking north from Walnut Hill towards Northwest Highway. There was a Ford Tractor dealership just out of frame to the lower left. As you can tell, this area was still completely undeveloped. Within 10 years, however, it would be almost completely built up, making room for hundreds of thousands of new residents:
US75/Central Expressway looking north at the Northwest Highway interchange. Nice traffic level!
Northwest Highway and US75/Central Expressway as it appeared 11 years ago, in 2005 (looking from the opposite direction as the first photo above, but covering the same stretch of road). 50 years makes quite a difference. That is the world’s first mall, Northpark, at right. It is still one of the most successful malls in the world:
Incomplete Central Expressway in tiny, sleepy Plano in 1955. The town population was about 2000 but was poised for explosive growth. By 1970 the population was 17,000, and 1980, 72,000.
Perhaps the most amazing comparo of all, Preston Road at Valley View, which would become LBJ freeway, in 1958. The more modern scene is shown below:
Man there was just whole bunch of nothin’ out there in 1959! Looks like Phillipsburg.
By 1970, however, Dallas had expanded to fill in virtually all of the northern territory up to LBJ freeway. Richardson was almost built out, and Plano was starting the growth that would make it the fastest growing city in the US in the 1970s, 80s, and 90s. It, too, in turn has become built out. And the slow process of decay begins.
Irving had enjoyed that explosive growth in the 50s and 60s. A little closer to home for me today, a then 2 lane SH183 at Britain Rd in Irving in 1954:
Lots of interesting stuff on this site. It’s one reason you haven’t had much from me today. It’s worth checking out.
And I thought I had some hot opinions on Francis August 29, 2016
Posted by Tantumblogo in abdication of duty, Basics, different religion, disaster, error, Francis, General Catholic, horror, scandals, secularism, Society, the struggle for the Church, true leadership.comments closed
Some blogs I don’t get to read often enough. St. Corbinian’s Bear is definitely one of those. I have read a few posts in recent weeks, and meant to rip off some of his stuff, but never got around to it. That is, until today. I knew Bear had always been very concerned about Francis’ pontificate, but I thought he sort of followed the Voris line for a while of not overtly criticizing the Bishop of Rome. That apparently has gone out the window, because the Bear rips Francis limb from limb in his most recent post (and not for the first time, I might add).
But I don’t excerpt heavily below simply for that fact, I think the Bear reaches conclusions that are very important and worth sharing. In short: we can and must remain Catholic in spite of all the antics in Rome, and it might serve many of us well to simply stop being concerned with following papal novelties/atrocities from one day to the next (my emphasis and comments):
Exhibit A: the latest Pope-on-a-Plane game. The elderly and ridiculous gentleman from Argentina will not condemn Islamic terrorism. Instead, he points out “fundamentalists” who “believe in absolute truth,” who inhabit both Islam and Catholicism.
In other words, if you are an orthodox Catholic, you are a fundamentalist and therefore a potential terrorist. Terrorism is not an Islamic problem, but a fundamentalist problem all religions are subject to. (No doubt this is why when we hear of a terrorist attack, we immediately think of radical Christians.)
Thus spoke the greatest traitor to the West now living, Jorge Bergoglio. The most despicable quisling, and cuck-in-chief of the throw Western Civilization overboard, mutiny so more victims of a failed and violent religion can fit on the Barque of Peter, now on a course for the fabled One World Religion. Captain Queeg was a regular Admiral Nelson compared to this guy. [That’s pretty strong, but, while some of the points are perhaps arguable in detail, I don’t think they are flat out wrong, or the inverse of the truth, so to speak. I, for one, do think Francis believes in a nebulous religion of man where traditional doctrine has very little importance, good works are effectively superfluous, but having the right intentions and adhering to the right talking points (largely, the piety of the transglobal elite) is paramount]
Being a practical Bear, not inhibited by superstitious dread of being struck by lighting for speaking the truth, he says “screw that.”……..
……..He especially hates Catholics who actually believe in all that crap, i.e. believe they possess the absolute truth. Pope Francis calls faithful Catholics “fundamentalists,” and puts them on a level with Muslim terrorists. See how easily the man lies? How can we trust anything a liar says? [Is it a lie if he believes it to be the truth? But that would be far more condemning than if he simply lied, because it means he cannot SEE the truth]
We can’t.
Yes. I believe the Catholic Church holds the absolute truth. If I did not, I would not – could not – be a Catholic. [Dang right. I went through an enormous amount of self-inflicted pain trying to run from the truth. But I know I have found it in the Church of Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. I know it is in the Church of the Fathers and Dogma of the Faith. Anything contrary to that is false] If that makes me a terrorist, well, then I’m a Bearrorist. As for Jorge Bergoglio, he obviously doesn’t believe in all that crap anymore. How can a man who says Catholics who actually believe the Church has the absolute truth are potential terrorists be Catholic? How can a man who apparently believes the Church holds only a partial and provisional truth that must be supplemented by non-Christian religions, be Pope?Buh bye, Jorge Bergoglio. I don’t know what you are, but I know what you aren’t.Jorge Bergoglio has found the crack from which the smoke of Satan entered the Church and sits over it, breathing deeply of the fumes, like the Oracle at Delphi, so he can walk out and try to pollute Christ’s Church with the open sewer of his always-open mouth. [Wow. As I said, it’s pretty strong stuff. More than I would tend to say, but I do agree that in Francis we have a man who is truly problematic with respect to the Doctrine of the Faith and the 150 year conception of the Petrine office – a conception which has, I fear (though I do not know, with certainty), been misshapen into a cult of personality very dangerous to souls. Is it possible the crisis in the Church is God’s way of trying to steer the Church back from an erroneous implementation of the understanding of Papal Infallibility, by allowing the dangers in this understanding to play themselves out? That is to say, papal infallibility, so narrowly defined, has transmogrified over the last century plus into a kind of universal impeccability applied to every papal act and statement no matter how non sequitur, where even the most egregious abuse or error is accepted or explained away as somehow being required of belief- at least on some nominal level – because of a kind of hyper-montanism? This is the old “2+2=5” game that I have literally heard some papaloters say they would accept if the pope said it, even off-hand. Anyway, I’m getting a bit fur afield…….]
What do you do when you can’t take the Pope seriously anymore, and you’re a Catholic? You know, it’s not really that hard. You know how to Catholic. If you read this ephemeris, the Bear bets you know how to Catholic hard. Be Catholic. Be Catholic if your local parish is crappy, with dancing girls and idiotic homilies. The less attention you pay to that demented man in white calling himself the Pope, the happier you will be. It’s all just PR, anyway. [As I said, I don’t get to read SCB much. But I don’t think he’s sede vacantist, not in any declarative way, certainly, he simply is reacting to the unavoidable mountains of evidence. As a prescription, however, I think it a very good one.]
Someday soon, there will be a popular uprising, and Pope Francis will be thrown into the Tiber. If not, he’ll die, having ensured there will never be another nutjob from a southern hemisphere country that thought it could win a war using WWII ships bought from the U.S., against a first world country with nuclear submarines. [Argentina, like so many South American countries, has been doomed in the worldly sense from being far too susceptible to being ruled by individuals who appeal to negative passions – envy, pride, sloth, etc. The same is transpiring in this country, but 100 years later. I do not think Francis can be understood outside the Argentine socio-political context, and, in that sense, he is the ultimate provincial]
Pope Francis disregards reality in the same way. If he were an animal, he would be dead. Beasts don’t have the luxury of ignoring reality. But there is no human so stupid or wicked that he cannot be put upon the highest pinnacle by schemers smarter than him.
Indeed. Within the Church, I’m not certain Francis is a pawn. From what I understand, he spent decades cultivating his position as a leader of the Cardinal Martini modernist-progressive faction, and asserted himself as the torch-bearer for that group after Martini’s death. He certainly globe-trotted a great deal cultivating support among progressive and progressive-leaning bishops, while at the same time presenting himself as at least a moderate to his two “bosses,” John Paul II and Benedict. Among the progressives at the conclave of 2013, there were few with more support and a better “presence” than Jorge Bergoglio.
Is Europe Finished? August 29, 2016
Posted by Tantumblogo in abdication of duty, Basics, demographics, disaster, error, General Catholic, Immigration, rank stupidity, secularism, self-serving, Society.comments closed
Not to raise the ire of European readers – I would probably bristle somewhat at an outsider proclaiming the US finished (though, I must admit, things look decidedly bleak at present) – but as the article below notes, more and more ominous trends affecting Europe’s future continue to surface. Probably foremost among those are the negative demographics affecting the Continent, where the native population has seemingly decided to gradually die out, to be replaced by those exotic muslim “others” so beloved of the self-anointed elite.
It’s almost as if Europe’s political masters had decided the populace could not be relied upon to support their agenda, and so are voting themselves in a new population:
Deaths that exceed births might sound like science fiction, but they are now Europe’s reality. It just happened. During 2015, 5.1 million babies were born in the EU, while 5.2 million persons died, meaning that the EU for the first time in modern history recorded a negative natural change in its population. The numbers come from Eurostat (the statistical office of the European Union), which since 1961 has been counting Europe’s population. It is official.
There is, however, another surprising number: the European population increased overall from 508.3 million to 510.1 million. Have you guessed why? The immigrant population increased, by about two million in one year, while the native European population was shrinking. It is the substitution of a population. Europe has lost the will to maintain or grow its population. The situation is as demographically as seismic as during the Great Plague of the 14th Century. [I would say it is even more so, because then, Europe was not importing millions of young muslim men of military age (and often, militant disposition) who refuse assimilation and in fact demand the assimilation of Christendom to islam. It would be fantastic if it were not true]
This shift is what the British demographer David Coleman described in his study, “Immigration and Ethnic Change in Low-Fertility Countries: A Third Demographic Transition.” Europe’s suicidal birth rate, coupled with migrants who multiply faster, will transform European culture. The declining fertility rate of native Europeans coincides, in fact, with the institutionalization of Islam in Europe and the “re-Islamization” of its Muslims.
In 2015, Portugal recorded the second-lowest birth rate in the European Union (8.3 per 1,000 inhabitants) and negative natural growth of -2.2 per 1,000 inhabitants. Which EU country had the lowest birth rate? Italy. Since the “baby boom” of the 1960s, in the country famous for its large families, the birth rate has more halved. In 2015, the number of births fell to 485,000, fewer than in any other year since the modern Italy was formed in 1861. [Revealingly, some of the sharpest demographic declines have come in what have historically been viewed as Catholic countries – Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland. The different religion imposed 50 years ago is yielding its poison fruits]
Eastern Europe now has “the largest population loss in modern history“, while Germanyovertook Japan by having the world’s lowest birth rate, when averaged over past five years. In Germany and Italy, the decreases were particularly dramatic, down -2.3% and -2.7% respectively…….
…….As Lord Sacks recently said, “falling birth rates could spell the end of the West“…… [Can the West persist without Europe? An interesting question. I really don’t know.]
……Liberals and secularists tend to dismiss the importance of demographic and cultural issues. That is why the most important warnings come from some Christian leaders. The first to denounce this dramatic trend was a great Italian missionary, Father Piero Gheddo, who explained that, due to falling birth rates and religious apathy, “Islam would sooner rather than later conquer the majority in Europe”. He was followed by others, such as Lebanese Cardinal Bechara Rai, who leads the Eastern Catholics aligned with the Vatican. Rai warned that “Islam will conquer Europe by faith and birth rate“. A similar warning just came from yet another cardinal, Raymond Leo Burke. [To the degree there have been warnings from the Church, they have not been nearly persistent or loud enough. Furthermore, what warnings there have been have been drowned out by the constantly repeated mantras: “Islam is good.” “Religion of Peace.” “Only bigots oppose immigration.” Etc.]
In one generation from now, Europe will be unrecognizable…….[2 million x 30 years = 60 million, which, coupled with muslims already there and an accelerated death rate of natives, means a Europe about 20% muslim if not more so]
……..Demographic suicide is not only experienced; it appears to be wanted. The xenophile European bourgeoisie, which today controls politics and the media, seem imbued with a snobbish and masochistic racism. They have turned against the values of their own Judeo-Christian culture and combined it with a hallucinatory, romanticized view of the values of other cultures. The sad paradox is that Europeans are now importing young people in large numbers from the Middle East to compensate for their lifestyle choices. [Great commentary. It does appear to be desperately wanted by the political/economic elites, who appear to desire the destruction of the culture that bred/created them, and yet there is still insufficient political reaction to stop their culture-destroying policies]
An agnostic and sterile continent — deprived of its gods and children because it banished them — will have no strength to fight or to assimilate a civilization of the zealous and the young. The failure to counter the coming transformation seems to come down on the side of Islam. Is what we are seeing the last days of summer? [Many in the West have chosen their favored religion. A religion of life – Catholicism – or a religion of death – secularism. It’s really as simple as that]
Who has the greater will to fight? Who is willing to suffer more to attain their ends? Who has the more single-minded purpose and a clear objective? Who has the resources to succeed? That will tell you which side will win out in virtually every major conflict. At present, Europe fails in all areas save the last, and that won’t last for long at present rates.
Then what?
Are you ready to be a dhimmi?
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