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Wednesday, July 20, 2016

"Frog Hospital" and "Pax On Both Houses" Discuss Melania, Spinoza, Jefferson, Hillary And WSJ

Peter cueing God to strike Ananias dead for not toeing Christia nity'scommunist line.

  Dear Fred,

Thanks for this stellar edition of Frog Hospital.

I don't know if you've "missed anybody" but "Jim Dandy" and "Nervous Nelly" are, in themselves, quite comprehensive. 

Hot dogs and neurotics.

You've piqued my interst in Spinoza and Frenchman Bove.

Your reference to Jefferson (whose Monticello home I visited last month) was, among myriad accomplishments, famous for devising The Jefferson Bible in which 6'4" red-head Tom cut out all the New Testment's miraculous bits. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Bible

 While at Monticello, my Danny pointed out Tom's own 4 volume copy of Don Quijote, which he apparently read in Cervantes orginal Spanish. (Just this week we learned that Trump reads as little as Sarah Palin, unable to attend the RNC because she's back in Alaska with her dysfunctional family trying to "spring" son Track who's been remanded to custody for domestic violence. And when Donld does read it seems to be - I kid you not - Hitler's speeches: http://www.businessinsider.com/donald-trumps-ex-wife-once-said-he-kept-a-book-of-hitlers-speeches-by-his-bed-2015-8)

One evil miracle that Jefferson excised from his bible -- a "miracle" long tolerated in the Christian Canon -- is God-in-his-heaven" killing Ananias and Sapphira for not toeing the communist 
line. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananias_and_Sapphira

What a ridiculous - and reprehensible - story, calling to mind this cluster of posts.

Time For Catholicism To "Shelve" Traditions And Texts That Represent God As A Terrorist
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/06/time-to-expunge-catholicism-of.html


Seldom Sermonized Bible Quotes


"Trial By Ordeal: The Bloody Old Testamental Roots Of Modern Justice"

"God Enjoys The 10 Plagues Way Too Much"

What's Wrong With The Abrahamic Religions: Absolutism, Scriptural Inerrancy, Bloodlust

Pastor John Piper "discusses the vexing problem of God ordering the mass killing of every Canaanite man, woman, and child."
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/peterenns/2012/07/john-piper-on-why-its-right-for-god-to-slaughter-women-and-children-anytime-he-pleases-and-why-i-have-some-major-problems-with-that/

Mistakes In Scripture: When The Bible Gets The Bible Wrong

"Is The Bible More Violent Than The Quran?"

ISIS And The Inquisition: The Shadow Side Of Religion. Why Does Belief Do This?

"What ISIS Really Wants" And How The Patriarch Abraham Appears To Be The Instigator

Christianity's Bedrock Commitment To Torture: Remaking "The Faithful" In God's Image

"Amish Grace: How Forgiveness Transcended Tragedy," A Glimpse Of True Christianity
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/12/amish-grace-how-forgiveness-transcended.html

Concerning your admirable participation in "Luke Warm For Hillary"...

 Hill is better than her rap sheet.

 Still, her totally self-serving authorization of The Iraq War is one of very few sins that actually deserves Ananias' and Sapphira's punishment.


Ever since Aquinas Institute, I've listened to PBS and NPR's "Marketplace" programs. 

 They are dependably upbeat and, as you say, so focused on the national pastime of greed that they exempt us from any annoying sense of moral judgment and consequent combativeness. 

That said, Chesterton is right in the end.

 But even so, a daily dose of unabashed capitalist reporting is a dependably bright spot on Mainstream Media's continually clouded horizon. 

 In my blog, I try to provide significant admixtures of music, art, literature, religion and science but the world's slow stain is ever with us.

Chesterton:

"The merely rich are not rich enough to rule the modern market. The things that change modern history, the big national and international loans, the big educational and philanthropic foundations, the purchase of numberless newspapers, the big prices paid for peerages, the big expenses often incurred in elections - these are getting too big for everybody except the misers; the men with the largest of earthly fortunes and the smallest of earthly aims. 
There are two other odd and rather important things to be said about them. The first is this: that with this aristocracy we do not have the chance of a lucky variety in types which belongs to larger and looser aristocracies. The moderately rich include all kinds of people even good people. Even priests are sometimes saints; and even soldiers are sometimes heroes. Some doctors have really grown wealthy by curing their patients and not by flattering them; some brewers have been known to sell beer. But among the Very Rich you will never find a really generous man, even by accident. They may give their money away, but they will never give themselves away; they are egoistic, secretive, dry as old bones. To be smart enough to get all that money you must be dull enough to want it." 

Chesterton's Midas essay is also a gem: 

"In the olden days its existence was fully understood. The Greeks enshrined it in the story of Midas, of the 'Golden Touch.' Here was a man who turned everything he laid his hands upon into gold. His life was a progress amidst riches. Out of everything that came in his way he created the precious metal. 'A foolish legend,' said the wiseacres if the Victorian age. 'A truth,' say we of to-day. We all know of such men. We are ever meeting or reading about such persons who turn everything they touch into gold. Success dogs their very footsteps. Their life's pathway leads unerringly upwards. They cannot fail. 
Unfortunately, however, Midas could fail; he did. His path did not lead unerringly upward. He starved because whenever he touched a biscuit or a ham sandwich it turned to gold. That was the whole point of the story, though the writer has to suppress it delicately, writing so near to a portrait of Lord Rothschild. The old fables of mankind are, indeed, unfathomably wise; but we must not have them expurgated in the interests of Mr. Vanderbilt. We must not have King Midas represented as an example of success; he was a failure of an unusually painful kind. Also, he had the ears of an ass. Also (like most other prominent and wealthy persons) he endeavoured to conceal the fact. It was his barber (if I remember right) who had to be treated on a confidential footing with regard to this peculiarity; and his barber, instead of behaving like a go-ahead person of the Succeed-at-all-costs school and trying to blackmail King Midas, went away and whispered this splendid piece of society scandal to the reeds, who enjoyed it enormously. It is said that they also whispered it as the winds swayed them to and fro. I look reverently at the portrait of Lord Rothschild; I read reverently about the exploits of Mr. Vanderbilt. I know that I cannot turn everything I touch to gold; but then I also know that I have never tried, having a preference for other substances, such as grass, and good wine. I know that these people have certainly succeeded in something; that they have certainly overcome somebody; I know that they are kings in a sense that no men were ever kings before; that they create markets and bestride continents. Yet it always seems to me that there is some small domestic fact that they are hiding, and I have sometimes thought I heard upon the wind the laughter and whisper of the reeds. At least, let us hope that we shall all live to see these absurd books about Success covered with a proper derision and neglect. They do not teach people to be successful, but they do teach people to be snobbish; they do spread a sort of evil poetry of worldliness. The Puritans are always denouncing books that inflame lust; what shall we say of books that inflame the viler passions of avarice and pride?"   Democracy and Industrialism

Thanks again for the great work you do!

Pax tecum

Alan

On Wed, Jul 20, 2016 at 2:02 PM, Fred Owens <froghospital911@gmail.com> wrote:

FROG HOSPITAL -- Wednesday, July 20, 2016 -- unsubscribe if you wish

No Way José

By Fred Owens
Who are these guys?

No Way José...
For Pete's Sake...
Luke Warm...
Smart Alec...
Yes Sirree Bob...
Peeping Tom...
Even Steven...
Nick of Time...
Jim Dandy...
Who are these gals?
Heavens to Betsy...
Nervous Nellie...
Ruth Less
Did I miss anybody?
Melania Trump. I like Melania Trump. She's very pretty. I don't like her husband  -- he walks on stage next to her and shatters the fantasy.

The first East European bombshell was Zsa Zsa Gabor and her less famous sister Eva Gabor -- both from Hungary, with that sexy accent, dripping in diamonds and furs, tossing rich husbands aside one after another.
Democrats hate Melania because she has no independent career. She is a stay at home mom with a rich husband. She takes care of her son -- with help, of course -- and does her nails. I am not aware that she has done harm to anybody.
What I am Reading. My daughter Eva suggested that I read contemporary fiction, so I have read Plainsong by Kent Haruf, published in 1999, a story of small town life in the plains of Eastern Colorado.
Then I read Bilgewater by Jane Gardam, published in 1976, a lighthearted tale about a British teenage girl named Marigold.
Now I am reading Henry Duchemin And His Shadows, written by Emmanuel Bove in 1920 or there about, but newly translated from the French and published in 2015. This slim volume is a collection of short stories of surprising intensity.
What I Have Stopped Reading. Baruch Spinoza, the Jewish-Dutch philosopher, published the Theologico-Political Treatise in 1670. That is such an unfortunate title. The work is actually very easy to read. Basically Spinoza declares and proves that the Bible ought not to be taken literally, that Moses did not actually part the Red Sea because that would be contrary to the laws of nature. The laws of nature and the laws of God are one and the same. There are no miracles -- only events that we cannot yet explain.
Spinoza explained all this and he was considered to be a wild heretic. He argued for scientific inquiry freed from Biblical tyranny. Thomas Jefferson read this book and it inspired his secular vision.
But no one wants to talk about it. Spinoza? Never heard of him.  For this reason I put this book aside and I am reading contemporary fiction -- because these are good stories, and because people I know have read these books and we can discuss it further.
Back to the World. I wrote these mini-book reviews to remind you that the world has not gone crazy, just the Republicans.
Meanwhile We're Stuck With Hillary.  Here are the basics. She is strongly supported by older woman, Latinos and African-Americans. Among these groups are people I know who genuinely admire Hillary Clinton. This is her base. And it's almost enough to form a majority in the November election.
But she still needs people like me and there are millions of voters out there who think the same way I do. I call us Luke Warm for Hillary. We don't want Trump, so we're stuck with Hillary. We're the key group, the swing votes, the independents. As a Luke Warmer I will vote for Hillary, and that will be the margin of victory.
WSJ. I sometimes I buy the print edition of the Wall Street Journal for $3 because it is so calm and un-disturbing. The regular news is about war and death, crime and assault, murder and mayhem. Awful things happen. Awful photos and gruesome videos come at us from social media. But not at the Wall Street Journal because it's all about money. Some people make money. Some people lose money. Who cares?
Somebody gets shot -- that's suffering. Somebody loses money in the stock market. Who cares?
Today WSJ reported that Netflix shares are down 13% because growth has not been as robust as expected. In London, the hedge funds bet short on the pound sterling -- expecting it to go down after Brexit, and it did go down and the hedge funds earned some billions. Chinese investors are buying Hollywood studios. Wells Fargo is up. J.P, Morgan is down. The money goes round and round.
Stay  calm with financial news from the Wall Street Journal -- but the editorial page can be combative and conservative and might increase your blood pressure. I skip that part of the paper.
Health Care for Older Folks. My daughter Eva Owens is working for a healthcare startup in Seattle and wishes to conduct a survey of needs.  She says, "Right now we're looking for elderly clients that are on publicly funded (Medicaid) in Washington state and utilize home health care aides."
She is looking to conduct hour long phone interviews about your experience and will provide a $20 gift card for your time. Do you know someone that might be interested in being interviewed? Contact her at __________
The Frog Hospital Mission. Our mission at Frog Hospital is to cover the presidential campaign and other catastrophes, but to do so in a grounded fashion. It is never good to panic, especially when things are going badly. So we will bring you news of breakfast, books, barbeques and baseball  -- it helps us all to keep steady and be useful.
Signing off for today with these immortal words:
I don't wanna work, I just wanna bang on the drum all day.....

--
Fred Owens
cell: 360-739-0214

My gardening blog is  Fred Owens
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