Maggie's Farm

We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.

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Much Sorry with Delays
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How to Honor Labor Day, Every Day
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Easy for you to say: To the elites on mass immigration
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Labor Costs in U.S.
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Sunday, July 29. 2007

Not from today's Lectionary: "Fools for God"

One of my favorite letters of Paul - 1 Corinthians, 1:18

For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. 19 For it is written,

“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.”

20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? 21 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. 22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, 23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

26 For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. 27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”

Posted by Bird Dog in Religion at 05:54 | Comments (12) | Trackback (1)

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The young Koreans in Afghanistan
They were really missionaries, not aid workers, and thus technically illegal by Afghanistan law, although they were allowed in anyway. Taliban-types are likely to view them, as to treat them, as sub-human. I admire these young people, but now is not the t
Weblog: Maggie's Farm
Tracked: Aug 02, 13:47

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Works for me.

Feeling low and despised this am without a church to go to up here and relatives uninterested in family prayers.

Got some amazing pictures yesterday of view, sunset,and some amorous moths w staying power to put a yogi to shame, wildflowers. Relatives looked blankly at laptop screen and went "Eugh!" at the moths and "boring, where's a picture of MOI!" at the flowers and views..

Original sin: surrounded by nature hollering at us to stop, look and listen at the glory of God, all we are interested in is ourselves, and whining about no broadband!

Will send some pix to the more discerning Maggie's Farm types when I return to "civilization".
The moths belong in Filthy Farm Porn but they are amazingly made!
#1 retriever on 2007-07-29 09:57 (Reply)
A wonderful passage.
#2 Habu on 2007-07-29 11:28 (Reply)
POW!
#3 The Barrister on 2007-07-29 12:48 (Reply)
Dear Retriever:

Where is "up here"?
#4 apple pie on 2007-07-29 13:20 (Reply)
Hi, AP! Live free or die mountains. Let a thousand rusty trailers bloom and a million horseflies attend every hike! I am buying stock in Buzz Off clothing, a godsend!

Our place is high up and when there's a breeze the bugs are blown away and we can blueberry happily bickering about whether we should make pie, tarts, jam for hours. Like the trolls in Lord of the Rings, each person very vehement about the proposed use!
.
#5 retriever on 2007-07-29 14:15 (Reply)
Beloved and I took a friend deep into our mountains. Off loaded beloved to go and check hucklberry patch. When he didn't come back in some time limit that was determined by some unknown wifely instinct, I jumped out of the car and went to find him. I found him all right. Down on his knees up to his chin in hucklberries, every once in a while he would look up and go rrrrooff, rrroof, then go back to pickin and eatin! (he was trying to scare off any on-looking bears)! I took his berries out of his pail and shared them with our friend-figuring by the purple glow on his silver beard that he had already had his share!
#6 huckleberry on 2007-07-29 17:30 (Reply)
Sorry to hear about the trailers, but I have just found a great new recipe for Teriyaki pork chops and blueberry/ginger salsa--would you like me to send the recipe?
#7 apple pie on 2007-07-29 17:33 (Reply)
Sounds good, AP.

Our bears, moose, turkey and coyote have been scarce this year. Suspect poaching. But more blueberries than usual, which is nice.

On way back to be at work tomorrow, piteous whining from the over- sodaed puppies made us take a strange exit in search of bathroom. Three gas stations in a burned out urban wasteland with gang members prowling before we found one portapottie. Me issuing Biohazard warnings to sheltered offspring and checking first for discarded needles [I used to do mission work in such neighborhoods in youth] and driving away wanting to retreat to the country for good.

The sullen malevolence on the locals' faces! Two Americas. I think a bunch of Iraqi teens would have been friendlier!

Growing up in Latin America where there were such huge income disparities, I used to cherish hopes of returning to the land of the free and home of the brave, where we were the UNITED country
.
This evening, I felt as if I had strayed into the favelas of Rio again, or the South Bronx.

And wondered what God makes of it. One could be glib and quote Christ saying "the poor you have with you always" as a rationalization for accepting such ugliness and mutual suspicion. Doesn't set right with my awkward, inconsistent heartfelt longing for a city on a hill.

Clueless, and sad. Maggie's has posted some great links lately on how social pathology increased at least partially as an unintended consequence of bleeding hearts like me wanting to help the desperate people living in neighborhoods like the one that so unnerved us today. But the Farm has been kinda short on blueprints for how to get out of this mess. I do not want to my country to become like those in the Third World, where the privileged and the masses hate and fear each other.
#8 retriever on 2007-07-29 18:23 (Reply)
We must always struggle for the city on the hill. I will not surrender my humanity, nor will I walk away from the teaching of Christ.

A few years ago, I was stopped at a red light in a little seedy part of a big city. Stoned out African/American 25 +/- stepped off the curb in front of me and started to walk across the street. I reached over and pushed down my car door lock. He saw me and he recognized that action for what it was. It was so DAMN automatic. For a moment I hated myself,, so I jumped out of the car and walked up to the man and apologized. He was stunned. I got back into my car knowing I had done the right thing--I had tried to return to that human being what my action had taken away. Today, however, I lock my door before leaving my garage. Times have moved really rapidly in the past 5-8 years. I would propose that the road to that city on the hill is best traversed by one person at a time--helping one person at a time. That is to say social programs are great as long as they are not generic, and for the masses. They must have a pass/fail contingent to them in order for the recipient to move forward. Sorry, about that I know it involves judgment of a horrific kind to be borne by the individual social worker, student loan banker, government day care worker, etc. But, it is the only way I can see that works. You do this--I will help you get to this next place. You do drugs your out--you don't help your kid come to school with their homework done--they stay after hours until it is done, etc.etc.etc.

I always taught my daughter to learn to walk on both sides of town, and to be comfortable with your ability to walk away from either. So far so good--but, you know what Retriever? "These damn kids never grow up" (so said my 85 year old aunt of her 65 year old son) tee hee ;-) So theree you have it!
#9 apple pie on 2007-07-29 18:44 (Reply)
My Mom keeps telling me the same thing.
#9.1 BD on 2007-07-29 18:56 (Reply)
I agree w you AP, about it having to be one person at a time: Since raising my own kids, I have got far stricter also. My kids roll their eyes, but they know you do nobody any favors by reinforcing failure, enabling, setting the bar too low. Nevertheless,m
y kids tend to call me an arch-reactionary racist tyrant because of my approval for commentary like Cosby's, Dalrymple; etc. Educated in pc schools, the puppies were taught that Shaka Zulu was a great man [a butcher still emulated in Africa, sadly, I say]

I find that when alone I give people the benefit of the doubt, but when with my kids I go into sentry mode, trying to protect kids with zero street smarts [growing up in safe neighborhood].
#10 retriever on 2007-07-29 19:40 (Reply)
I forgot to say thank you for reminding me of this wonderful passage. It comes at a veryappropriate time, an important turning point in our lives. Evil did not triumph--though for seven years they did have a better PR team, they will always have more power, but finally the truth is coming out and many innocent students and their families will no longer be victimized. Perhaps, now we the whistleblowers will no longer be cast as the criminals, but rather as those who have also been victimized. The mighty have fallen--but, I will not gloat.
My beloved and I move toward the light. Thank you again for this piece--it will help in the weeks to come for me to hold on to what is good.
#11 apple pie on 2007-07-30 19:31 (Reply)

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