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Happy St. Patrick’s Day!
Today’s quote:
“For the great Gaels of Ireland / Are the men that God made mad, / For all their wars are merry, / And all their songs are sad.”
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Gloomy conservatives
Aye, Laddie, ya shoulda quote Yeats today, but alas it is Chesterton.
Hayy St. Paddy’s to ya!
I am BRADLEY PATRICK O’BRIEN and I approved this message.
Can we be politically incorrect and tell Irish jokes today? Do you know why God invented whiskey? To keep the Irish from conquering the world.
Never was there a people with more wanderlust. Today everyone is a little bit Irish.
Adios wins. Here’s your digital cappuccino (or if you prefer, in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, an Irish coffee):
~~@)
You can do colors!!!? Hey.. I wanna do that!
Green?
Happy St. Patrick’s day!
I have a geyser in my backyard. Could be the pool pipes. My husband is on his way home to shut this thing off!
Darn. I even used the same code you did…
Here’s a couple great British spoofs of the Vitters, Craigs, and Spitzers of the world who have no shame when it comes to using their families as props.
http://snipurl.com/21y4m
http://snipurl.com/21y4v
Ooh!!! I want to do colors too!
Geyser off. Hubby back to work.
As for the colors, all you have to do is add a little virtual food coloring.
Rev. Doug Jones (not even close to being lefty-liberal) cites a Tucson Weekly editorial on Michelle Obama’s “proud-of-America-for-the-first-time-in-my-life” comment to ask “Can You Love Your Country But Be Ashamed of It?”
Jones answers the question with another: “Did Amos and Jeremiah love Judah?”
test
If Amos and Jeremiah hadn’t loved Judah, they never would have gone through the trials they had, especially Jeremiah. They didn’t have anything to gain politically.
Night Train: Those were funny, but not if that was real.
Well Mickey,
how about sending that virtual food coloring my way then since using the same code you did didn’t work?
Especially since we’re only a few days away from Easter? It just won’t be the same without virtual food coloring on our digital Easter eggs…
Hey, a quote I know, and one I expected to be obscure, and the very first person guesses it! No fair. (Childish pout.)
Happy St. Patrick’s day, y’all. I’m Scottish. People usually say “Scotch-Irish,” but as I understand it that only means that the Scottish people generally came to America through Ireland, not that they actually were partly Irish. So I only identify with the Scottish part. But the Irish are sort of cousins nonetheless. (But as Protestants, we ought to be using orange and not green on St. Patrick’s Day, according to my mom. I for one hate orange and a good portion of my wardrobe is green, so I’m in green accidentally.)
We finally have good signs of spring here–the trees are starting to bud and blossom. I’ve been watching for this a full month, and last year spring was short-circuited by a vicious freeze, so one could say I’ve been watching for it for a full year. (Those of you in northern climes, sorry. But I lived in Chicago for 14 years and couldn’t bear waiting till May for spring, after growing up in Phoenix where I planted seeds in February. I’m very happy to be back in the land of early spring, and this feels like a late spring. Two or three years ago I saw the first tree blossoms on Valentine’s Day, and this year I had to wait till nearly St. Patrick’s Day and Easter!)
Make It Man: It’s something I can do only within the WordPress editor, and the color is assigned a code number. I’m sure there’s probably a way to do it in HTML, but I only know just enough of that to be dangerous.
Cheryl - I don’t like orange, either, so I’m wearing a green top today.
I’m almost afraid not to wear something green on St. Patrick’s Day. When I was in elementary school in Ohio, tradition dictated that those who wore no green were to be pinched. Ouch!
Anyone else have that “tradition” where you live?
Karen O,
I never heard of the tradition growing up in CT, but everywhere else I have lived (PA, NJ, MI, IL, IA) it seems to be the norm.
Fortunately for my kids they’re on spring break today.
I joked with my (very Irish) boss, many years ago, that I was going to wear orange the next day because I was Protestant. He said absolutely not! (I wore a nice kelly green vest.)
Even if I had anything orange to wear (other than a jackolantern sweatshirt), I wouldn’t. From what I understand, the conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Ireland has more to do with politics, history, and ancestry, than with religious convictions.
The two girls really did it up with the green, one even colored green paper to put over her shoes. The boy refused to let societal whims dictate his day and wore his red peewee basketball shirt. The girls wanted special home lunches and left with green bread, green cream cheese on celery sticks, green vegies with green yogurt dip, etc. Boy is having the school lunch. I told the girls I was not fond of pinching and I had best not hear of it happening by their hands after they insisted little brother would be violently pinched for daring to be different. I did explain the use of the three leaf as a symbol of the Trinity.
I am wearing orange. I didn’t think I’d have to go to work today (where many of the students I tutor are Catholic/attend Catholic schools), but I was called in. So I’ll have a five-second answer if anyone asks, but I remember the pinching-ouch!
I grew up with pinching (So. AZ). I went to a Catholic school, so wearing green and singing Irish folk tunes was required.
Now I don’t wear any green or orange. I teach in Illinois, and orange would be presumed to be an Illini fan. Can’t do that, as I live in Mizzou country.
I grew up in upstate NY. We didn’t have the pinching tradition. I had never heard of it until my children were in the DODS school system in Germany. They had teachers who grew up in places where that tradition was practiced.
Cameron - 21
You are in luck, wearing ‘orange’ is good.
BBC
The Orange Order is the largest Protestant organisation in Northern Ireland with at least 75,000 members, some of them in the Republic of Ireland.
Its origins date from the seventeenth century battle for supremacy between Protestantism and Catholicism.
William of Orange, originally of the Netherlands, led the fight against Catholic King James.
He took the throne in England and his final victory over James at the Battle of the Boyne in Ireland 1690 sealed the religion’s supremacy in the British Isles.
Almost every minister in the Northern Ireland government from 1921 until the imposition of Direct Rule in 1972 was an Orangeman.
Cameron’s quote did not mention that William’s taking of England in 1688, called the Glorious Revolution, is sometimes called the “Bloodless Revolution” because of the extremely low body count (it was not really bloodless, but apparently nearly so). It seems that James II wasn’t much of a fighter and gave up rather quickly before a major skirmish could take place.
I am more curious about the name “Orangeman.” Didn’t Syracuse used to called their mascot the “Orangemen.” Did they drop that for “Orange”? Was it supposed to be a slur against some ethnic group (other than Irish)? Or am I just confused about when St. Johns changed “Red Men” to “Red Storm”?
Well, I grew up with pinching. And with a mother who refused to let me wear green on St. Patrick’s Day. (At one point one of my two pairs of pants were green, and I wore them to breakfast and only then remembered it was St. Patrick’s Day. She made me change.) My arms would get painfully sore by the end of the day. Unfortunately, since I wasn’t very popular, kids wouldn’t let it go with one pinch. They’d pinch me every time they encountered me, all day long. Mom simply said, “Pinch back,” but of course that wasn’t appropriate. I don’t think she really had any clue what I put up with every year. And there wasn’t any religious principle involved in wearing green or not! I think sometimes a sympathetic teacher would offer me a paper shamrock or something, but I obediently refused and suffered the pinching.
Cheryl, you poor kid! I’m surprised you didn’t get “sick” every March 17th just from dreading the day.
Interesting that you say you have a lot of green in your wardrobe. Making sure you’ll never be pinched again, huh?
Cheryl D. @ #16
The Scots and the Irish are cousins to be sure. They are both Celtic/Gaelic. The Saxons sort of took the middle kingdom. That’s why there are kilts and pipes at either end of the fair isles.
I don’t remember the pinching, but I do remember refusing to wear green. I am a redhead, so people were always telling me that I have to wear green because I’m Irish. Since I’m not Irish and I am more than a little ornery, I would make a point of not wearing green. My dad did tell me that I should wear orange, but I didn’t.
Of course if I was going to get pinched all day for not wearing green, I might have changed my “convictions” and worn green.
TJ - The Syracuse name change was the result of working with Nike on a complete marketing overhaul of their sports identity. Nike has done this with other schools (Oregon, for one). Basically, they create an entire new brand - new logos, new uniforms and a common, gender-neutral name for all teams.
Of course their flagship sports program (men’s hoops) has now been shutout of the NCAA tourney two years running. Time to bring back the Orangemen?
So, is sex appeal a key element in finding a spouse? If one finds a solid person, with a good relationship with the Lord, strong work ethic, kind and compassionate, caring for fellow human beings, earning potenial and interest in keeping good accounts, etc, is that overruled by not being “physically attracted” to the person or is physical attraction overrated? Should it come ahead of all the others?
Mumsee, depends if you’re male or female.
Travis, Nike’s efforts with their favorite sons, the ducks, produced this headline on football uniforms: “The Good, the Bad and the University of Oregon.
Thanks, Travis. Orange/Duck = corporate sell-out?
I suppose they could change their name to the “Orange Kids” in honor of Nike sweat shop workers. I would say “that’s my two cents on the matter”, but I’m afraid that might be more than the kids’ wages (rimshot).
Sorry, about not giving credit where’s it due, Victoria. I just realized # 24 was written by you (saw Cameron’s name at the top and made a mistake). Sorry, and thanks for the good Scotch-Irish word!
Adios,
Why and how?
Actually, I ask because I have two, one of each, who say that it matters more than the other stuff. If the buzz is not there, it is a no go. I have two that are married and quite happily to whom it was not so important but the buzz came afterwards. Just wondering.
Men are attracted through their eyes. Women through their ears.
That is what I thought but daughter and friends definitely concur that physical attraction is more important and that concerns me if it is a serious trend.
Mumsee,
I’m told that sight matters a LOT more to women today than it used to. (I have a relative about my age who tells me that it matters as much to women as to men, but women just don’t admit it. I don’t think she’s right, but I may only be speaking for myself.)
I personally think we’re in a time period in which finding a mate is a very, very treacherous undertaking. Most potential spouses have sexual experience, many come from divorced parents or have their own divorces, etc. Add feminism (with its strong women and weak men) and the fact that the church hasn’t done a good job of discipling its young, and a whole lot of other factors, and we really are set up for disaster. Modesty of dress, word, and deed is not being taught at all, either. Sexual sin really is all but expected. And from what I’m seeing, a large number of young people are simply going through life single. I think that the old date-through-the-whole-youth-group model was horrible, but I also think it’s bad to see that desire for marriage (and especially desire for children) has almost fizzled out. I only know two people in my church who are dating; one is 14, and his parents need to step in and disallow it, but I just don’t see 20- and 30-something people heading toward marriage, in my family or in churches with which I’m familiar.
Mumsee,
I know a young lady who has a guy who gets a check on every point your above checklist. He is all that, and there is no attraction from the young lady. He’s not her type.
I’ve thought about counseling her and saying, “So what?”
But, I remember what it was like to like a guy as only a friend. I definitely had fireworks with my husband, so I cannot, in good conscience, advise her to settle.
I have a friend who did marry because of the check list. The spark came later. His admiration of her wooed her, within marriage.
Good question. It could very well be prudent to decide with your head, and not your eyes.
I will keep reading for further input.
Mumsee & EYG - Does prayer enter into the decision-making process for these young people?
The leading & guidance of the Holy Spirit, to one who is sensitive to Him, will give that little inner nudge, towards or away from the “check list” guy in one case, or the “sparks” guy in another.
Then there’s the matter of obeying that nudge.
Mumsee,
I know a couple, married now with something like eight children by adoption, who met in Bible college, had one conversation, saw that they had the exact same vision in life, and at the end of the conversation the man said, “We should get married.” They chose to have all their children by adoption, and have adopted from at least three races (white, black, and Asian), possibly more. I can’t remember how many children they had at last count, but it was at least six, a couple of recent ones, and that was some years ago. But their oldest daughter was married by then, so those last babies I knew about might have been it.
I can see myself in that sort of situation–deciding to marry because we agree. I love deeply, but might or might not have “sparks” right up front. If I respected the man, and he fit what I wanted in a man, that would be enough for me. But I know the sparks would come later. I also hear from pretty much all maried people that the passion, feelings, etc. ebb and flow in marriage. So it doesn’t seem all that important whether they’re there before marriage; I’d be 100% committed to a lifelong marriage however I “felt” entering into it.
I do think that physical attraction is more important to a man. One of my single brothers argues that that is from God, and he points out that most of the biblical brides are described as beautiful and attractive to their husbands. Fortunately for women, men’s tastes differ widely.
(I do have my physical “ideal,” but it doesn’t matter that much to me. My sister laughed one day when she realized her husband fit MY ideal and not hers!)
This is laugh-out-loud funny. From an article on the basic news site of World, “Florida Dems Abandon Mail-in Vote Plan,” comes this absolute gem:
“Today’s announcement brings us no closer to counting the votes of the nearly 1.7 million people who voted in January,” Clinton spokesman Phil Singer said. “We hope the Obama campaign shares our belief that Florida’s voters must be counted and cannot be disenfranchised.”
It sounds like they liked those talking points too well not to reuse them, huh? Just like votes can be counted and recounted and still be in danger of being “disenfrachised” if someone can be interviewed saying so, a state can disregard its own party’s rules, knowingly, and then Democrats can still want the rules changed later. (Does anyone really want this woman running our country? Would there be any way of knowing what the rules were on any given day, if she were in charge?)
TJ #25: Or am I just confused about when St. Johns changed “Red Men” to “Red Storm”?
I believe St Johns changed due to PC pressure to get rid of any names that might offend the indigenous tribes. (I refuse to say “Native American”, as anyone born in the lands from Canada to Chile is a Native American.)
BTW #33: Orange Duck. MMMMM, one of my favorite dishes!
Thanks all, I was just wondering if it was just mine but it seems pretty widespread. If we are training them up to attach to one person, it seems a bit odd to have them bouncing from person to person looking for the buzz. I have mentioned that the buzz can come from somebody on the bus, does that mean you drop your spouse and take off with mr or ms buzz?
Perhaps because we are so saturated with the false romance of love, it is tough to see the true romance of commitment. All the couples I have known that have made a buzzless commitment ended up with buzz and a very satisfying, though challenging as all marriages tend to be, marriage.
Prayer is a part for one but not so much for the other. I think immaturity in the Lord is involved as well as they struggle with self and the Voice but as I have the same struggle, can’t really fault them. I can’t blame them for wanting the fireworks but wish it were not quite so high on the list of importance.
Mumsee, Re the buzz, I’d only say that a person you respect but dislike probably isn’t the right one.
I for instance have often found myself in conversation with someone I’d classify as a “bore”–a fundamentally decent person, but who can talk about the same subject for three hours without ever realizing the other person is only being polite in holding up her side of the conversation. I guess I must have “I listen” emblazoned on my forehead. I’ve had a couple such men who seemed (possibly) to like me, and I’ve asked myself whether I could marry him if he showed interest. Then I realize I can’t even imagine trying to fake interest for the next 40 years, and being embarrassed by my husband when he does that to other people, and that’s my answer.
So, if there’s some such “turnoff,” then the issue of buzz/non-buzz might be an issue. But if there’s a good connection and basic respect, then looking for a buzz is looking for too much, I’d say–or, rather, expecting such is expecting too much. Plus, on a practical level, it probably leads many into sin. I tend to keep men at arms’ length for propriety–I’ll be polite and friendly, but not overly friendly. If I’m dating someone and not sure I feel a buzz for him, and think that I should, I might be inclined to “experiment” a little to see if it comes. Wiser people than I have pointed out that if “falling in love” is a good reason for marriage, then falling out of love might be a good reason for divorce, and falling in love with someone else a good reason for adultery.
And I have never married, but I have never given away my heart either, so I have no “regrets” in my singleness.
Have any of you read the latest NEWS?
NY DAILY NEWS: Hours after he’s sworn in, new NY Gov. Paterson Confesses Affair…
I never used state cash to pay for liaisons…
What next?
Re: Orangemen:
A few years ago I did quite a bit of reading on Irish history and was very disturbed by the history of the Protestant/Catholic split in Ireland. (BTW, I’m Protestant.)
Basically, after England and the Protestants conquered Ireland, England sent many Protestants to settle in Ireland. Those Protestants had many, many advantages over the native Catholics, who were severely treated. To make a long story short, the millions of Irish who left during the potato famine did so because so many of their Catholic family members were starving to death, mostly because of the Protestant rulers and landlords.
Yes, there was an potato fungus that led to the famine, but the Catholics were kept from farming other crops, could not own their own land, and could not even fish in the rivers because it all belonged to the Protestants.
Catholics were forbidden to go to non-Protestant schools, had to pay “parish taxes” to support the Protestant clergy, and couldn’t own even a good horse. The largest asset a Catholic could own would be worth less than a good horse. So the Catholics were forced into perpetual poverty and ignorance. In the Protestant schools, the Catholics were frequently derided as stupid “papists” and told they were good-for-nothings that were going to hell.
Yes, current Protestant-Catholic relations in Ireland depend on more recent events, but they are rooted in a very shameful history.
I could never wear orange as a Protestant symbol.
On a more positive note: has anyone here read “How the Irish Saved Civilization” by Thomas Cahill? It’s a fascinating history of St. Patrick and his spiritual legacy in Ireland that literally saved the most important literature of ancient times, including almost all of Greek and Roman literature as well as the Bible. I highly recommend it.
#47
BethD,
I read How the Irish Saved Civilization and found it interesting, but I have also read a number of reviews of the book that say it is full of historical inaccuracies, and that Cahill provides no sound basis (in terms of being able to back up his claims) for the main thesis of the book.
Buzz: That is pretty much how I see it, if the guy is solid all around but there is some thing you don’t think you could put up with for fifty years, don’t expect him to change, might want to pass that one by. But when I hear, “He (or she) is really nice, we get along great, similar goals, etc, but there is no special appeal..” I have to wonder about that.
It is also interesting that the advisers are predominately young singles who are not content to be single all advising to discount anybody where there is no buzz. But the marrieds suggest that is not so important. The hearers just say, “well, it’s different now”…