The view from Up Here

Next weekend, October 7th, Front Royal Downtown Business Association will host its Annual Fall Dancin' Downtown, featuring the music of Souled Out. We always have a great time at DD and it's a good opportunity to meet your neighbors in a social setting, enjoy a beverage and some great music, and help support the work of the DBA.

Every now and then you read something that makes you go, "Yeah!"

Here's mine for today: H/T: Pajamas Media

First, a quote from Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Aznar:
“It is interesting to note that while a lot of people in the world are asking the pope to apologise for his speech, I have never heard a Muslim say sorry for having conquered Spain and occupying it for eight centuries!" from Barcepundit

and then, this gem, from a commenter there (forgive a few misspellings - there's a lot of passion there!):
"I was raised by Southern Pentecostal Christians. We shout, we sing, we dance, we jump pews, we stomp, applaud and wave our hands at God. We rejoice in His love for us with smiles that nearly split our faces. We pray til we sweat, so fervently do we believe that He hears us. Some of us make church every Sunday, others waddle in on Easter and Christmas. Some of us are baptized in the river, some of us are sprinkled, some of us simply come to an understanding with the Lord, no formal ceremony needed. Our Lord instructed us to pray in a closet and some of us do. We pray to thank God for our meals. We pray with our children at bedtime. We pray in the car, headed for work. We pray in the shower when we're running late in the morning. We pray when we mow the yard, silently listing our concerns, our worries, bringing our petitions to the Lord with full knowledge that He hears us. When people leapt from towers, when planes crashed in fields, we bowed our heads, we lifted our eyes, we ran to a quiet place to kneel, we shouted out where we stood - we prayed our own personal prayer to our God - and He heard us. Facing any direction, women and men together, faces bare to the sky, on asphalt, concrete, construction steel beams, kitchen linoleum, middle school hardwood hallways - we prayed. Every day, here in America, we pray when we want to, we pray when we need to and some of us don't pray at all. In your neck of the woods, you may live as you please, bow to whomever you wish to bow but,here in my front yard, I am not interested in what you have to say. I do not want to hear how you think I should live, worship or die. I will not wear what you want me to wear nor will I hide my hair, my ankle, my smile or anything else simply because a Muslim man is unable to control his lust and may be tempted or might rape me to teach me a lesson I am an American; I will take a bat to your rapist. I am a Christian; I will pray that he gets a fair trail. Should my daughter decide to marry the loser that she's living with, I won't feel even the slighest inclination to slit her throat. I really am the queen of my house and when I decide to stay inside it's because I want to, not because my husband, brother or uncle isn't here to escort me to the market or an evening PTA meeting.I will worhsip my God, sitting with my husband and my sons. You may spit on my Bible, you may put it in a steaming pile of pig ****, you may burn it if you want; I will be angry and personally hurt, because I store family momentos and photos in it. However, I will not hunt you down and kill you. My religion lives in my heart, not on paper. My church is alive in the hearts of my fellow worshippers, the building is just a place to get in out of the rain. If I live a life that is pleasing to God, I will rise to Heaven where I can spend eternity gazing at the face of my Saviour, bask in the presence of His Son, Jesus Christ and relax in the Holy Spirit. I am sorry that your prophet had to lure followers with a slick promise of carnal pleasure with yet-to-blossom young girls. I am not interested in your history, I am not interested in shining faces, I do not want to live the way your prophet dictates. I am an American and I will believe what I want to believe. I will fight anyone who tries to impose your way of life on me or my family. I am a Christian and I will worship who I please. I am just as stalwart as you. I am as snug in my beliefs as you are in yours. I am as comfortable with my morals as you are with yours. Thanks but no thanks, I am quite happy with my Lord. You may go on home now.

There's a lot of words out there about the Holy Father and his infamous Regensburg speech. Maybe the best word on the subject comes from Michael Novak, whom I enjoy reading from time to time.

Rick Lee published this one. I like it a lot.

This from Jonah Goldberg (h/t The Anchoress): During a Eucharistic Congress, a number of priests from different orders are gathered in a church for Vespers. While they are praying, a fuse blows and all the lights go out. The Benedictines continue praying from memory, without missing a beat. The Jesuits begin to discuss whether the blown fuse means they are dispensed from the obligation to pray Vespers. The Franciscans compose a song of praise for God’s gift of darkness. The Dominicans revisit their ongoing debate on light as a signification of the transmission of divine knowledge. The Carmelites fall into silence and slow, steady breathing. The parish priest, who is hosting the others, goes to the basement and replaces the fuse.

Ross Douthat, of Atlantic Monthly, in an inspired piece on theocracy from the wonderful site, "First Things. If you don't read First Things, you should.

I ran across a wonderful comment on Hugh Hewitt this morning - a response against that tired leftist saw- Religion is always behind all the great slaughters of history. ChairmanMao wrote:

""Yes you're so right. Except for the American Revolution, French Revolution, War of 1812, Boer Wars, American Civil War, Spanish-American War, WWI and WWII, Korean War, Vietnam, and Persian Gulf. Also, don't forget ancient wars. Oh and cancer. And AIDS. And cholera, malaria, starvation by secularists and Mother Nature. And wild animal attacks like what happened to Steve Irwin. Mount Saint Helen's took out a few people but is that really religious, I mean it's just a name? Except for all those things, you're right." "

Once in a while it's time to take out one of your cherished beliefs and think about it. In some ways like a collector who must take the time to go to the shelf where your collectibles are on display and dust them, one by one. It's really a useful exercise. Our thoughts and beliefs are much like that. We assume that they are "true", so much so that we often frame our worldview around them, but we seldom give them a good dusting and think about "why" we believe what we do. This brief story comes from Protein Wisdom

Read this article. DJ Drummond hits the nail on the head.

I was so impressed by this post. I'm not going to snip it, because the whole thing is worth reading, thinking about, and acting on.

Through all the pontificating in the media - I have two clear recollections of that day- The first was standing in the Lobby at the US Dept of Transportation, watching CNN with a knot of co-workers - stunned at the unfolding story. It seemed unreal and I remember wondering how a pilot could have gotten so off-course as to fly an airliner into a building - it had to have been an accident. And then the second airliner hit.
The second clear memory is that of riding west on Interstate 66 in the back of a pickup truck, watching behind as a pall of smoke rose from the Pentagon, 2 or 3 miles away. Another unreal moment. Yet at home, 75 miles away, things seemed so, well, normal.

Been thinking a lot recently about how polarized our country is and how it seems to be increasingly difficult to avoid both parties in an argument flying into a rage and begin spouting insults. As a student of history, I find it curious that we all preserve a bit of rosy nostalgia for the "old days" when we were all fine upstanding citizens who treated each other with civility and benevolent understanding. But the more you think about it, you really can't actually point to any time in recorded history when that was proveably true. The words may change, but the sentiment remains the same- "If you disagree with me, you are a moron." Am I right?

If I am, what does that mean? There've been plenty of examples of visionary individuals who have attempted, through one form of social engineering or another, to create frameworks for community interaction that would result in peace, justice, and fairness. But where are they now? The idea that humans will submit themselves over the long term to such a framework is fairly well discredited, at least to the pragmatists among us.

People, simply by nature, want to have the best over their fellows, want to win the argument, want to feel superior. And no amount of civilizing will change that.

In my earlier post I inadvertently included the Adirondacks in New York State as part of the Appalachian chain.  In fact, in New York, PA, and Massachusetts, it is the Taconics and the Berkshires that are part of the Appalachians.  The Appalachians are in fact geologically part of the Laurentian Chain.  So now you know!
Steve

For those of you who are asking, "Here" is Front Royal, Virginia, a pretty little town 70-some miles west of Washington DC, and a world away in so many ways. Front Royal has a population of something over 15,000 and it sits along the Shenandoah River, surrounded by that stretch of the Appalachian Mountain Chain that to the south is called the Blue Ridge and then the Smoky Mountains, and a ways to the north becomes the Poconos and ultimately the Adirondacks, the Green Mountains, the White mountains, and so forth. You get the idea. Nearby, of course, are pieces of the Appalachian Trail, and the northern end of Shenandoah National Park.

Front Royal was settled in the 1750's and incorporated in 1788. For most of its history it has been a sleepy little town, possibly excepting May 23, 1862 for a few hours.

Happy September, All! The Leaves in The mountains surrounding the Shenandoah Valley will soon be turning, but for now we're just enjoying a mild late summer. This blog will be an eclectic mix of Local and national, fact, observation, opinion, and conjecture. For now, here's a little sampling - the latest issue of "Out and About Front Royal" Magazine