Yes, it's been a whole week

Some of it was spent being pushier than I've ever (with a few semi-regrettable exceptions) been in my life, telling strangers, in so many words, that what I wanted from them was more important than whatever else they were doing just then.

A lot of time was spent recovering -- physically -- from the effects of my own pushiness.

A few seconds were even spent talking with an A-list blogger who has a hard time believing anyone reads his blog.

"Nobody told me there'd be weeks like these . . . " Well, they probably did, only I didn't believe them. Still, strange weeks indeed.

Ad lib exorcism?

I'm ignoring the scare quotes, because that's not what I want to talk about:

The Catholic Church's leading 'exorcist' is calling for all priests to be allowed to conduct the ritual after Pope Francis apparently performed one in St Peter's Square last week.

On one festive occasion, someone asked our former parish priest if he went in for exorcisms, and he said he'd never attempt one himself, because an exorcist has to spend so much time in front of the Blessed Sacrament, just for protection, that he doesn't really have time for anything else.

Let's take it that Pope Francis knew the risk he was taking -- and let's leave the impromptu demon expulsions to him. 

Good news, at last, from Oklahoma

Not quite so many people dead as they thought at first.

As always, the disaster has brought people's religious beliefs to the surface -- and for some people, that's Global Warming/Climate Change. In the hard copy of today's Sun, the last word in this headline was not "debate" but "denial" -- "Tornadoes strike at the heart of climate change denial".  

And what about the snow in Newfoundland last weekend --  did that strike at the heart of anything? Nah, just a freak storm.

Holy Father does exorcism on the fly?

There's video here -- it doesn't show much if any of the actual deliverance, which is why I haven't bothered embedding it. Still. "Lord, in your name, even the demons were subject to us."

Three bits

• Say prayers of courage, says Pope Francis, “Not prayers of courtesy: 'Ah, I will pray for you,' I say an Our Father, a Hail Mary and then I forget.”
•  And in South Africa: "The Catholic Church says charging people to use existing roads is not acceptable."
• No, this time the priest was not really asking for money: "Some Springfield residents received an e-mail plea for help that appears to have come from their former pastor . . . KY3 News looked up that address in London, and it appears to be a Laundromat."

Worst of both worlds

Selley on the government's mistake in keeping abortion off the order paper by any means necessary:

All the muzzling and machinations haven’t stopped the hysterics from accusing Mr. Harper of a theocratic agenda to keep Canadian women barefoot and pregnant; meanwhile, they have quite rightly bolstered his reputation as an abuser of democracy. Surely this government’s thuggish reputation is a bigger problem at this point than the “social-conservative conspiracy” burden it has always successfully shouldered.

Not exactly astute, and I say that as one who usually votes Tory for lack of any better choice (uh-oh, that word again).

Murder, the Feds say

From RTV6:

According to a federal arrest affidavit, Weldon swapped out his girlfriend's antibiotics with abortion pills . . .

He's charged with first degree murder.

Of course, his ex, poor woman, has made it clear she very much wanted this baby, and that's what's supposed to make all the difference. Still, we have an agency of the U.S. government saying it's possible that killing an unborn child is murder.

Don't go postal there

Me, filling out an overly inquisitive field trip permission slip: Why do they need to know our postal code to be able to reach me by phone? What are they going to do, call up and ask "Are you the Unpronounceables who live in AKA L8R?"

"Mr. Gumble, you're upsetting me." "No, I'm not!"

Over the weekend, I learned the difference between major depression and dysthymia -- no, not from Wikipedia, from a doctor who had a lot to get through in a presentation of a couple hours.

If there's a quick way to tell them apart, it's this: Dysthymic people can be in denial over their pain. Major depressives (if that's what you call us) can't.The doctor said this is the only time denial is ever good or useful.

But I don't think it's necessarily good or useful even then. What happens when there are dysthymic deniers and major depressives in the same family? The dysthymics may deny the pain of seeing someone they love sunk in major depression -- which means they're denying that person's pain too. And depressed people need empathy.

One small quibble with something that was mostly excellent. I left knowing more about myself and my own family.

Lines of the day

• Recorded message: "This message will now be repeated . . . " followed by silence
• Dollar Tree flyer: "All luau supplies $1.25!"
• CDC: "CDC is not a clinic or hospital. CDC is a public health institution that is a part of the federal government. CDC cannot refer patients to specific health care providers or treat or prescribe medication." The things people expect you to be able to do just because you're called the Center for Disease Control!

It also says mental health is a human right

Today's Post has one of those Mediaplanet inserts, this one on mental health, which perforce is one of my areas of interest. Of course it says it's important to spot and treat mental illness in kids, good and early. In Ontario, it seems, people who deal with kids actually work together to make sure this happens.

Here in Non-Tario?

School: You have to get your child assessed.
Mental Health: We don't have to assess him.

 

If you have anything to offer up today --

Think about offering it up for Charlotte's mother, who has died suddenly, and for the family.

Line of the day

"It's probably been a long day, and now you get to listen to three hours of sex abuse prevention."

-- Guest speaker getting real with her audience

More irresolutions

• I will not clean with microfibre cloths and plain water -- until they invent one that's insecticidal
• I will not conclude my spiritual exercises by imagining the guests at Cana or the Last Supper singing "The Parting Glass"
• On the other hand, to quote Lucy van Pelt, who knows what I'll do?

Irresolute resolutions

• To post every -- er, more often
• To walk my post in a military manner -- wait, that's something else
• To vote for any party that promises to mandate that calls to Mental Health are returned
• To remember when I've written an article and when I've merely uploaded one written by someone else and adjust the author settings as needed
• To stop worrying that I'm turning Our Lord into my therapist
• To refrain from making a lame joke about Our Lord's ethnicity and His putative role as my therapist
• To revoke any of these resolutions that seem like a bad idea tomorrow

Haggard versus Chesterton . . . and the Boston bombers

Throughout an otherwise unusually restful weekend, I had an earworm: A Merle Haggard song called "Mama Tried". Catchy, but ominous. I'll get to it in a moment, but first here's Chesterton:

Many of the country songs describing crime and death have refrains of a startling joviality like cock crow, just as if the whole company were coming in with a shout of protest against so sombre a view of existence. 

"Mama Tried" is one country song that's the inverse of that. Here are the first words of the first verse:

The first thing I remember knowing,
Was a lonesome whistle blowing,
And a young un's dream of growing up to ride . . .

Cute, right? But here's the chorus, sung to music every bit as jaunty as the verses:

And I turned twenty-one in prison doing life without parole.
No-one could steer me right but Mama tried, Mama tried.
Mama tried to raise me better, but her pleading, I denied.
That leaves only me to blame 'cos Mama tried.

Ever since I first heard this song a few months ago, I've wondered on and off what appalling bloodbath took place to land someone so young in the lockup with the key thrown away, since the song never tells us. (And in my opinion it's somewhat cheap to leave that part out and skip straight from the moderately difficult little boy to the convicted arch-villain.)

Well, since the bombing, I have some idea what it could've been like.

Line of the Day

Man at church, speaking of my sons: "They're good boys. There's much worse trouble they could be getting into."

What I've been doing instead of posting

• Serving on the Benevolent Committee for the Giving Away of Other People's Hard-Earned Money
• Waiting for a government worker to return my call. Long ago, I read about a lady who, circa 1955, got a vague idea that as the widow of a veteran she was entitled to some kind of pension. She duly applied and they told her to "go home and wait". So she . . . quit her job. And waited several months till they told her she didn't qualify for enough to live on. After the last few days, I don't look down on that lady quite so much.
• Being careful the articles I edited which mentioned Boston were above suspicion of exploiting it

Breaking: Bombing suspect spotted in video (?)

Tried to embed the CNN video but seemed to get the wrong one -- anyway, here's the story.

Gotta keep going

Though what I have to keep at seems suddenly so trivial as to be insulting to the people who unknowingly ran into an explosion in a crowded square in a peaceful city.

Lord have mercy.

And may those who are left hear someone say the right thing, whatever it may be for them.