Saturday Song Share: Metallica - Nothing Else Matters

This one's for you, Kent.  Wish I would have been able to see you play this.

Son Tries to Buy Dead Father's Patrol Car

Here's your feel-good story for today:

A Thanksgiving Message from Fr. Don

Father Don actually published this last week, but given it's Thanksgiving, I felt it appropriate to share with you today:

"Each of us has her or his own list of items for which to be thankful. We can start at the outer edges of this vast universe or begin in the depths of our own being. Either way, our life, our existence is a fabric of gifts, items whose origin was not our doing. Especially those of us in relatively good health, living a comfortable existence in a much-blessed country, have no excuse for whining and complaining. As the chronically ill and the poor so often teach us to our embarrassment, there are so many things, so many people, so many events for which we should be thankful. We'd do well to list for ourselves all the gifts that make our life so livable -- and more."

We can and do audit our pains, slights, and times where we had to suffer indignity or unfairness.  However, if we chose to audit our blessings in addition, the ledger it'd create would be embarrassing.  

We have been deeply blessed - all of us.  Let's take some time today to truly be cognizant of it, and thankful for it.

Happy Thanksgiving.

St. Mary's Mission Church

As we slide into Thanksgiving, if you need something to be thankful for, be thankful that you and your family don't live on the Red Lake reservation.

However, all is not lost there:



"Anybody that underestimates the power of Catholic education to change lives is a damned fool."

And that is one glaring reason, of many, why the Catholic Church matters.

RIP Kent

My buddy and partner, Kent, at the duck camp died.

I went to camp on a Saturday morning to do some chores and hunt some pheasants, and when I arrived one of my partners told me Kent had died the preceding morning.  

The news was like a punch to the gut.  Kent had not been around much this hunting season, and I sensed something was wrong with him.  That week, I had made a note a couple of times to myself that when I freed up I needed to call him and ensure he'd be at camp this weekend.  I also wanted to let him know I was there for him.

I didn't call.  I wasn't there for him.

We don't know how he died, nor does it matter to me.  All that matters is that we've lost our 4th partner of the camp.  Somebody I've hunted with for over 40 years.  Somebody with a grin that lit up a room.  Somebody that could fix damn near anything.  

What happens now with the camp is anyone's guess.  We're still not resolved from Bach's death over a year ago, and now this.  It's going to be a huge mess.

But, ultimately, that doesn't register, because buddy and partner, Kent, at the duck camp died.

I can't convey enough how much I will miss him.

I'm Back

Hi YDP Nation.  It has been over a month, but I'm back.

So what happened?  Folks, I was tapped out.  Between the church scandals, the Kavanaugh hearings, the violence - I simply felt like I didn't have a foundation.  My church and my country were ugly things.  

No, they've not gotten much better.  But I have.  I'm at a place where it's time to start putting down some markers on what I believe is important, and I need to start being the one responsible for taking things in a new direction.  As it has in the past, this little blog will continue to serve as my small little shout at the rest of the world.

Sorry for the absence.  A lot has happened, and I'll be telling you all about it.  But in the meantime, let's just try and be decent to each other.  

Deal?

See you tomorrow. 

Kavanaugh Trial is the OJ Trial. Part Two

Welcome to the OJ trial.  You know it well.  One aggrieved portion of our society is going to finally make the other side pay via their day in court, and it matters not what the evidence does or doesn't show.  Women have been suffering at the hands of men since the dawn of time, and now men are finally going to pay, rule of law be damned.

And when it's all over, we'll hate each other even more.  

Do I believe Ford?  I believe something happened to her.  Do I believe Kavanaugh?  I do indeed.  Beyond her testimony, is there one piece of evidence to back up Ford's claim of Kavanaugh's guilt?  Not one.  In fact, what Ford claims as evidence isn't corroborated anywhere.  Her "evidence" exonerates Kavanaugh!

While Ford is credible, her specific accusations against Kavanaugh are not.  Not at all.

Doesn't matter.  Just like white folks had to pay in the OJ trial, regardless of the evidence, men need to pay now.  That's why, at the protest at the capitol, a woman was wearing a "men are trash" t-shirt.  Not "Kavanagh."  Not "abusers."  

"Men."

And was lauded for it.

You can own one too.  There are plenty of options out there.  Just Google it.

Nearly 25 years after OJ, and race relations are worse than they've been before the trial.  Oh, sure, we elected a black president.  And what did that get us?  Things getting continually worse.  Expect the same from the Kavanaugh event, regardless of what happens in the actual decision.

I fear this is the start of something terrible that will absolutely tear our families, our communities, and our nation apart.  Hate reigns.  

To invoke Johnny Cochran:

If she claims she's aggrieved
She MUST be believed

That's our rule of law now.

Most Parents Don't Monitor Kids' Time Online

Check out the latest via a survey from UKIE on parental monitoring of kids' time online:

35% can spend as much time as they want online?  Another 30% have limits that aren't enforced?

What kind of generation are we raising, and what are going to be the associated ramifications?