Bunker Mulligan "Let us endeavor so to live that when we come to die even the undertaker will be sorry." ~Mark Twain

Slatts advises Ariana’s blog will be activated sometime in the next few hours:

Try to be kind, kids. On the other hand, naaahhh . . . open season on egos!!!

Often, on this site as well, the comment is better than the post. I won’t spoil it for you. And it is worth the short trip.

Juli has a link in her post today at Dagney’s Rant that we should all pay attention to.

Culture. Society. Those two things fascinate me far more than politics. Unfortunately, too many people in this country want government to resolve problems which are based in culture or society. That, my friends, is government at its worst. Most of our governmental problems stem from the belief that government can do things to make people change their way of thinking, or how they deal with others.

They can’t. It has been tried for centuries.

I often wonder whether celebrities are really this clueless:

[Drew] Barrymore, apparently enthralled by the lack of a modern sanitary facilities, gleefully bragged, “I took a poo in the woods hunched over like an animal. It was awesome.”

Not to be outdone, Cameron Diaz, the series host, responded, “I am so jealous right now, I am going — I am going to the woods tomorrow,” Diaz said. A clearly satisfied Barrymore laughed, repeating, “It was awesome.”

Perhaps they should jet back to their US mansions and have an outhouse built immediately. Or, they might even consider taking a hike in Griffith Park.

No, they want the rest of us to live more like those in underdeveloped countries.

People in this country and around the world actually look up to these idiots.

Not the most mature of responses, but perhaps appropriate in this case.

Years ago someone spat on me in San Francisco’s airport. I was in uniform. My immediate thoughts were, “If I nail this guy, I’ll end up in jail in his town.” I simply wiped it off and went on about my business.

The Catholic Church now has a new Pope. Some people aren’t happy about the selection. Benedict XVI has a reputation as someone who believes the Church has standards which must be upheld.

Why is that bad? Because some people in this world don’t want to have to live up to standards. They want the standards changed to suit their own sense of how things should be done. That is true in just about every area of our lives. It is why we have so many problems in our public education system. It is why criminals thrive in certain areas. Just about any problem you name can be traced to someone unwilling to maintain a standard.

The new Pope wants his Church to maintain standards.

I don’t think that’s too much to ask. If you don’t like the standards, you shouldn’t be part of an organization. In matters of Christianity, those standards are absolutes, not suggestions. They have a history and are founded on the words and deeds of the Man the entire religion is based upon.

And those standards aren’t too hard to follow, they are simply inconvenient to some. Rather than follow their faith, they would prefer to pick and choose the tenets they agree with. It has more to do with ego and the need for acceptance than anything else. Engaging in activities condemned by the Church brings a stigma. Rather than abstain from the activity that causes it, some would have the Church accept it so the stigma no longer exists.

Sorry. I don’t buy that. I’m not Catholic, but if you are and continue to be, you should embrace the Church’s standards as your own. Otherwise, you are not really part of that community and are simply delusional.