Politickles

The overt and aggressive private and public anti-Christian sentiment so evident in Iraq . . . is not limited to Iraq. It is to be found throughout the lesser and greater Middle East, throughout Asia. It is to be found also in Africa and increasingly it is being found within the once-Christian lands of Western Europe. – Cardinal Seán Brady, archbishop of Armagh, Ireland

Free to Serve

[R]eligious freedom is humanity’s first and most important freedom. Our first governor is God, our Creator, the Governor of the universe. We are created for a religious purpose. We have a religious destiny. Our right to pursue this destiny precedes the state. Any attempt to suppress our right to worship, preach, teach, practice, organize and peacefully engage society because of our belief in God is an attack not only on the cornerstone of human dignity, but also on the identity of the American experiment. – Charles J. Chaput

Witness for the Persecution

The most important lesson from the Japan earthquake is that there are no lessons for human behavior. – “Terrors of the Earth are not our fault,” Boris Johnson, Mayor of London

While I agree with the thrust of Johnson’s argument, his summation, above, seems as addlepated as the attitude he’s lambasting. Whether or not any particular act of Nature/God represents retribution (a question that is not patently absurd, but well worth considering), surely there are lessons to be learned from it — with regard to safety procedures, for instance, evacuation plans, one’s regard for one’s neighbors, one’s priorities in life, etc.

Sent this link — about the lack of looting in Japan following the earthquake — to a friend back home in New Orleans. His response:

I’m not sure the question [Why Is There No Looting in Japan?] was answered, but it certainly is a different world. We could learn a lot [from the Japanese], but the people who would learn are not the ones who would loot.

My rejoinder:

You’ve got a point there. “All right, looters, listen up: Perhaps you didn’t realize this, but looting is against the law . . .”

I’m always amused by public service campaigns that are meant to discourage littering, shoplifting, etc., but can only register with the law-abiding. Print campaigns to promote literacy are pretty stupid, too.

His response:

After picking up litter for two years every morning in City Park after Katrina (the park wouldn’t even put out garbage cans cuz they said they had no one to empty them), I got angry. Imagine that. I wrote a strongly worded jingle to be sung by a brash black kid with the stanza kicker repeated: “You’re just trash.” Took pics of fat families picnicking and came back later to take pics of the garbage they let behind. I was pissed. Told by many no one in their right mind would agree to produce or air. Wish I’d won Powerball cuz that sucka woulda gotten aired. Things got better. The park got a grant to hire Latinos for apple-picking wages to pick litter instead. They even put out some garbage cans and dog-poo dispenser bags. We big time now.

Feel free to publish, post, or pass on Your Weekly Politickle by F.R. Duplantier:

GOOD RIDDANCE!
While their juvenile antics may irk
Those who stay at their posts and don’t shirk,
How much better things run –
How much more we get done –
When the Democrats don’t come to work!

From the archive:

TODAY’S LESSON
“I don’t care if your dad’s out of work
Or state budgets are going berserk:
I’m a privileged creature,
A public school teacher,
An incompetent, overpaid jerk.”
(2011)

Last week’s verse:

MARDI GRAS TIME
In New Orleans, where everyone knows
How to scramble for carnival throws,
It’s just one day of fun,
Then the madness is done –
But the madness in Madison grows.

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Mass times and readings

Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker has introduced sensible, long overdue reforms designed to give elected officials more flexibility to provide and deliver vital public services. Program control over important services such as education should be the province of governors and mayors, who are responsible to voters and taxpayers, not public unions whose leaders more often than not have a private agenda that is in direct conflict with popular will. – Frank Donatelli

Although they promised to protect the paychecks of workers from the political parasites attached to their unions, paycheck protection plans have gone down to defeat. Nevertheless, there may be another way to accomplish the same objective. Unions, after all, were established to protect workers against the alleged exploitation of management. In recent times, however, it seems that the exploitation of workers is more likely to occur at the hands of labor leaders. The solution, then, is simple. All workers should belong to two unions: one union to protect them from exploitation by their employers, and a second union to protect them from exploitation by the first union. Just to be on the safe side, they might want to join a third union to protect them from the second, and a fourth . . .

LOOK FOR THE UNION LIBEL
“Be forewarned that our slanders won’t stop
Until yours is a unionized shop:
Oh, the pictures we’ll paint
When we file our complaint!
So you might as well throw us a sop.”

NEA ENNUI
“We ignore those impossible pests
And their parents’ complaints and requests:
As a matter of prudence,
We disregard students
And focus on feathering our nests.”

Such is the Spartan fare abstemious Catholics in Louisiana must settle for during Lent when we really want a bologna sandwich. Instead of hitting the drive-up window at the corner McDonald’s, we must journey to some exotic locale like Pat’s in Henderson (just east of Breaux Bridge) and spend three or four self-abnegating hours ingesting boiled seafood, seafood gumbo, and crawfish bisque — and fried shrimp, oysters, catfish, softshell crabs, and frog legs. Giving up a Happy Meal just for that is tough, but we do it in the spirit of sacrifice.

It’s Mardi Gras time in New Orleans, in Cajun country to the west, in Mobile to the east and across the Gulf Coast, and even as far north as St. Louis. As tractors tow papier-maché and crepe-covered floats down oak-lined St. Charles Avenue to Canal Street in the Crescent City, parade-goers of all ages shout their traditional plea to the trinket-laden riders: “Throw me something, Mister!” — F.R. Duplantier, “Welfare and the Mardi Gras Mentality”

It’s Carnival time! By midnight tonight, it will all be over, and the blessed six weeks of abstinence begun. In the nation’s capital, however — and, for the moment,  in Madison, Wisconsin — the carnival continues year-round, and sobriety and self-denial never interrupt the excess.

Feel free to publish, post, or pass on Your Weekly Politickle by F.R. Duplantier:

MARDI GRAS TIME
In New Orleans, where everyone knows
How to scramble for carnival throws,
It’s just one day of fun,
Then the madness is done –
But the madness in Madison grows.

From the archive:

TODAY’S LESSON
“I don’t care if your dad’s out of work
Or state budgets are going berserk:
I’m a privileged creature,
A public school teacher,
An incompetent, overpaid jerk.”
(2011)

Last week’s verse:

CHINA PATTERN
“We will tar fossil fuels as unclean,
Promote other resources as green.
There’s a catch — which, of course, is
That those greener resources
Are controlled by our red war machine.”

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