New pigs!

Woke up yesterday morning to find that Sam had farrowed her litter. It looks like 8, which is a low for her, but not to worry. We aren't a high production operation! They are big, almost equal the length of the 3-week old pigs of Betsy's litter. Here is the first picture-better ones should come later. (some are under that hay.)

 

 

A comment below about what I am (economically/politically) is too long to answer in a comment box, so I give below a brief (and incomplete) outline. Here goes (most of this has been posted here at sometime in the last 10+ years) ....

I guess you could call me a Distributist, however the name is misleading to some-thinking that it is some kind of socialism, which if most definitely isn’t. Distributism condemns both socialism and unfettered capitalism, in that both big government and big business are ultimately bad for families, local communities, and traditional values, and argues for an economic structure based on the widespread ownership of wealth via strong local economies.

If you ever have a chance to read Catholicism Protestantism and Capitalism by Anmintore Fanfani you may come away with the idea (as I did) that Capitalism has to eventually become Socialism in the final analysis, as the Government has to eventually highly regulate everything to protect the interests of big business. The regulations become so burdensome that the government is the only entity which has the resources to support such a regulated structure. Thus the government has to begin consolidating industries under itself. (Eventually this too will collapse under its own weight.) This is trending in America today-slowly but surely. 

In America we value the ownership of private property. This has become to mean that we own our own home. But few of us really do, as many have found out in recent years (and with property taxes and inheritance taxes, even if you “own” your home, really you are leasing it from the government). 

Ownership of private property also should mean that we own the means to production. The goal should be that as many as possible of the citizens should be owners of property-real property, that is, the means of production: ownership in land, in buildings and equipment, in farms, factories, mines, in commercial enterprises, and in machinery. Workers themselves (Note Well, NOT a socialist or communist government “in the name of workers”)  should own the means of production instead being the tools of production.

Our economic system has come to a point where workers are merely tools for greater profit, to be acquired or discarded as the quarterly numbers dictate. Workers have a dignity which is not respected by too many corporations. Corporations must remember that they exist not just for profits but to provide fulfilling work and wages for their workers.

Increasingly big companies simply use their employees as commodities (even professionals) to be used up and tossed out. Workers often don’t have dignity and respect. Large companies often squeeze and squeeze the benefits and continually do more with less workers. Some of these large companies (effectively subsidized by government policies) only offer part time work so they don’t even have to give benefits.

Politically, I believe in subsidiarity; that is governance should be done at the most local level possible. The role of the government should be in service of man, or if you will, in service of the family. Increasingly central control, whether it be in business, education, or government, robs man of freedom and self-determination. Government in recent years acts more in the service of commerce than in the service of man.

Both major parties favor entitlements: Democrats for the poor; Republicans for the rich in the form of tax breaks and corporate deals and subsidies (think agriculture and roads)-the latter which enrich the owners of the means to production. Government handouts insult the dignity of man, at both ends of the spectrum. 

So we need a system which encourages family unity and encourages the widest distribution of the means of production. These are complementary goals. 

Much more to flesh out, but this is a starting point.

Oremus pro invicem!

Reading ....

Tractatus de Societate by Nathan Freeman.

Quotes to come .....

Update: Just to clarify, the title is in Latin, but the book is in English!

Oremus pro invicem!

Roads in SC

So everyone agrees that the roads in SC are in a state of major disrepair. Governor Nikki Haley proposes that we raise money for the roads by raising the gasoline tax (Of course no one will notice because gas prices are so low!). But Governor Haley insists that any tax increase is offset by a tax cut of the income tax.

Two questions for the Governor:

1. Doesn't it mean we already have $$$ for roads if you are offsetting taxes?

2. Doesn't a raise in the gas tax affect everyone equally, but cutting the income tax help everyone EXCEPT the working poor, who drive to work, but pay little in income tax?

Just asking ......

Oremus pro invicem! 

Those boys!

This morning I had a lot to prepare for class and I had a car with a broken upper radiator hose and needing a new thermostat.

 

I started working on it, but was frustrated that this car with 243K miles on it had never had its thermostat replaced, and thus the original thermostat was staked in.

 

With much to do, I called my boys to finish taking out the hose and then grinding off the stakes.

 

When this was done, I went back out and guided them in replacing the thermostat; they did the hose.

I am proud of them. What responsible and skilled young men I have.

Oremus pro invicem!

Now reading ...

... Paul Thigpen's Final Thoughts of Catholic Saints & Sinners.

This one struck me:

Sir Everard Digby(1578-1606) was an English Catholic convert who was hung, drawn and quartered for his part in a plot to blow up Parliament and overthrow King James I, who persecuted Catholics. When the executioner cut out his heart, and held it up saying, "Here is the heart of a traitor", Digby managed to summon up the strength to respond "Thou liest"

God's Training for us

I am into the last book I got for Christmas: Finding God's Will for You by St. Francis DeSales (Sophia).

Many good quotes, but here is this mornings:

Although the difficulties, temptations, and different events that occur in the course of carrying out our plan may cause us some uncertainty as to whether we have chosen well, still we must remain firm and not consider all such things. ... furthermore we do not know if God wills us to be trained in consolation or in desolation .....

On this feast of St. Joseph, Oremus pro invicem!

Spring Break

It has been a busy few weeks. Last week Connor was on Spring Break from Northeast Catholic College. We also had friends visiting for a few days. We took the opportunity to put our bull down (hoping he had already bred both Mabel and the heifer). We had steaks last Saturday night and it felt distinctly like a non-Lenten meal. (We aged the loin in our refrigerator and hung the rest of the beef in a friend's walk-in refrigerator.)

 

Usually by March I have most of the wood we need for the next winter at least on the property, if not cut, split, and stacked. This year I hadn't even started. But on February 28th, [again with the help of visiting friends-quite possibly they won't be back as we worked them the whole time they were here :)] we cut 4 truckloads of wood from a neighbor's downed trees.

 

This week I am on spring break from my 4-day a week teaching job at the local technical college. More cutting firewood from another neighbor, a little splitting, fence-building (we have a sow due to farrow and needed a new farrowing pen), and some garden tilling. I am hoping to put at least part of the spring garden in today.

 

We also finished butchering the beef yesterday in our friend's cold room.

 

I haven't done this much physical work since the semester started. It makes me yearn for more physical work and less teaching/desk time. But at the same time I have just agreed to teach 2 summer courses.

 

My body is sore with muscles not used to all this activity. But it feels so good.

 

God has provided us another winter with free firewood, beautiful weather this week, great friends, and everything else we need.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Requiem Press

I haven't mentioned Requiem Press in some time - mostly because we are no longer publishing. I still get author inquiries from time to time - more query letters in a year than books sold these days, however.

 

The only reason I mention it at all is because we still have inventory left on a few titles. I haven't pushed them much, but a couple times a year someone finds the website and orders a book or inquires about a book which we've sold out of.

 

The remaining books in inventory each sell and ship for a combined price of $5 - no hidden costs. And if you want a whole bunch of any one title, I will work out a better deal.

 

Titles left are available at the link above or on the sidebar. (The image is of one of our first books - we have plenty of these!)

 

Readers of this blog have been extremely supportive of this effort when we were an ongoing business, roughly from 2004 to about 2008-2010. I still have a few books I'd love to publish in print or electronically, but the family, the homestead and paying work take up so much time.

 

I am working sporadically on two of my own titles-one dealing with the slaughter and butcher of hogs, and the other stories from our life on the homestead (many of these related or alluded to in the archives of this blog.) No doubt I will announce it here first if either comes to fruition.  

 

Now back to regular programming .....

Oremus pro invicem!

The Yield of the Land

Last night I came home to this:

This loin came from a 145 pig we put down on the feast of Cyril and Methodius. So the loin isn't as big as usual. It was sliced open and stuffed with sausage. On the outside (being bacon-poor this week), Mrs. Curley took a couple slices off a ham we had just finished brining and dressed the loin with them.

It was delicious. One shouldn't enjoy such meals during Lent. (Of course if I was a Melkite, I couldn't.)

Oremus pro invicem!

Today's Present

This morning "Betsy" gave birth to 10 piglets. This was her first litter and a mistake. She wasn't supposed to be bred, but the boar scaled fences and defied my wishes. In any event, here she is with her pigs.

Constant stories in the news about self-indulgence in America and the West: legalizing marijuana the the businessmen licking their lips, LBGT...xylmnop.... everywhere, recent movie releases which celebrate exploitation of women and gratuitous pleasure.

 

On the other side of the world, Christians being martyred and kidnapped. War ravages.

 

Nero fiddles as Rome burns?

 

A not so modest proposal: Christians are fleeing the Middle East, the Holy Land. What if 10,000 or 20,000 Western Christians sold their belongings and moved enmass to formerly or presently Christian-occupied areas in the Holy Land. We wouldn't be an army, except an spiritual army bringing prayers, hope, and solidarity.

 

Yes I know there are problems (which I can enumerate) with such a proposal, but how can we personally (at personal sacrifice) show solidarity with these Christians who are suffering?

 

Lord have mercy on us!

 

Oremus pro invicem!

Nap time

Sunday when we got home from Mass, inside the house was in the 50's. I wasn't feeling real well. Someone started a fire in the stove, but I just needed a nap. So I bundled up on the living room couch and the kids did their part and gave me more insulation - see below.

Apparently someone thought is worth recording. It was a goooood nap!

Since then we have all been down with some kind of bug. Due to the freezing rain Monday night, fortunately my Technical college canceled my evening classes on Monday and all classes on Tuesday. Much needed down time here. Back to work today as we begin Lent.

Oremus pro invicem!

Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching

As indicated in a previous post, most reviews I have seen of Anthony Esolen's book Reclaiming Catholic Social Teaching (Sophia Institute Press ) have been extremely positive. There was one exception which I also noted. After finishing the book, I am convinced that the negative reviewer either didn't read the entire book or was so looking for certain information outside the scope of the book, that he missed the point.

 

Many who write about Catholic Social Teaching (CST) are seeking to promote a specific interpretation of CST, i.e. Distributism, agrarianism, relief of the poor, criticism of (or justification of) capitalism, or justification of the welfare state.

 

But Dr. Esolen is starting back at the beginning. He draws heavily not just from Pope Leo XIII’s Rerum Novarum, but many of his other writings on marriage, the family, and the Eucharist. This is not to say that Pope Leo XIII's writings are the beginning of CST. Dr. Esolen argues that CST has a long tradition-going back to Christ in the Church. Pope Leo is taking the time to restate it and flesh it out in the light of a world in political and industrial revolution.

 

Dr. Esolen does not propose an economic "third way" between Capitalism and Socialism, but defines the right relations between man and God, the family, community, employer/employee, and the State.

 

Thus, the economy (in the right sense) is concerned with the family not industry and investors. The State (in right relation) is in service to the family, not a policeman of the family.

 

Before I began reading the book, the word in the title "Reclaiming" misled me to think I was going to read a detailed plan to apply CST. Instead, I got a better understanding what CST actually is. Thus the "Reclaiming" is a reclaiming of our understanding of CST. It is not a political or economic (in the commonly understood sense) agenda. However, it is a plan in the sense that a true understanding of CST should inform our response. 

And in the final analysis, Dr. Esolen does give a plan-the same plan which is the solution to all our individual and world problems-Christ, especially Christ in the most Holy Eucharist.

 

Highly recommended! Thanks Dr. Esolen for this effort.

 

Oremus pro invicem!

 

 

 

So what did I do ....

 .... on this feast of Sts. Cyril and Methodius (and of course St. Valentine)?

 

The same thing I did on my last wedding anniversary - butchered a hog!

 

I also cooked up a bunch of sausage, made some head cheese, and worked on taxes.

Oremus pro invicem!

Manalive!

Just finished listening to Chesterton's Manalive. I was telling Mrs. Curley about it, but she thought the man who broke all conventions but kept the Commandments was silly. Yet......

 

I could see the profit of leaving on a journey East (or West) around the world just to find my home again. And I could see the profit of recourting my wife over and over.

 

May be I am a romantic, or may be Manalive is a man's book?

Oremus pro invicem!

Unresistable grace

For Christmas, my wife and daughter downloaded a bunch of books and stories from Libra Vox for me to listen to on my travels. (Each day have at least a 60+ mile commute each way.) Right now I am listening to Chesterton's Manalive. So, I decided I would pray the rosary on my last leg home. Usually I start it at the blinking light in Kershaw. However I was enjoying the book so much, I was seriously contemplating skipping the rosary (just this once-right!) for Chesterton. But he (Chesterton) would have none of it.

Just as I approached the blinking light and eased to a stop, came the words out of the speaker from Manalive:

Then he sat staring rather foolishly at the rude lantern of lead and coloured glass that hangs over my door. It is old, but of no value; my grandmother gave it to me long ago: she was devout, and it happens that the glass is painted with a crude picture of Bethlehem and the Wise Men and the Star. He seemed so mesmerized with the transparent glow of Our Lady's blue gown and the big gold star behind, that he led me also to look at the thing, which I had not done for fourteen years.  (emphasis added)

I couldn't resist the grace, turned off the CD, and began the rosary.

 

Oremus pro invicem! 

Even more from EBW

"There is no doubt about it, the basic satisfaction in farming is manure ...."

More from EB White

E.B. White tells another truth (paraphrased): Farming is 20% agriculture and 80% fixing things that break!

Mr. Austin Ruse has an article at Crisis Magazine last week where he tries to make the case for pro-life Catholics not just continuing to support the GOP vs. switching to the Democratic party, but that we have a home in the GOP. However, given only those two choices, GOP seems to have diminishing returns for pro-lifers. For years many have suspected the GOP (in general) keeps with the pro-life rhetoric in order to garner votes and then does nothing to change to the light of the unborn. Witness two weeks ago when the Republicans couldn’t gather enough votes in a Congress they control to pass a pro-life bill outlawing most abortions after 20 weeks if pregnancy.

I have read Mr. Ruse’s argument over and over by others, and while I don’t agree with it, I can understand why many Catholics will continue to support the GOP for the reasons Mr. Ruse gives.

However, what I don’t understand is Mr. Ruse’s attack on Distributists who (in general) do not advocate supporting the Democratic Party. Mr. Ruse starts his close with the following diatribe:

As for Catholic Social Teaching, the cudgel this group likes to beat us with, who says Catholic Social Teaching requires us to follow the policy prescriptions of the hard left? ……

This makes no sense to me. Most of the people I know who are concerned by the GOP’s lack of understanding of Catholic Social teaching would definitely not support the Democratic party no matter the failings of the GOP, and would also argue that the  policy proscriptions of the hard left don’t follow the Catholic prescription of subsidiarity.

Finally, he decides to start throwing insults instead of making a coherent conclusion:

While we’re at it, let’s get the Federal government out of the land business. The Feds own a third of all US land, up to half and more of many western states. Let’s have a modern day land-rush for all those Distributists out there who are just itching to fish, farm or make cheese—though one suspects they’ll stay exactly where they are, blogging and adjunct teaching.

As a Distributist, a blogger, and an Adjunct for a technical college who doesn’t just itch to work a homestead but actually does, I suppose I could take offense, as could many others.  May be Mr. Ruse has someone in particular in mind, but he uses a broad brush – exactly what he criticizes in those who criticize the GOP’s commitment to life issues. (I suppose the adjunct remark is to imply the adjuncts are just not good/smart/etc enough to get another job?)

Perhaps it isn’t the time for a third party to rise and take the place of the GOP or the Democratic Party as many of my ilk would like, but it is clear that increasingly neither party has a coherent vision compatible with primary life issues (abortion, contraception, euthanasia) or secondary life issues (subsidiarity, economy, poverty, social teaching, war, etc.)

From my view, both major parties seem more interested in staying in power than anything else. That is why they won’t vote on controversial issues near an election. This is why they come out against policies they supported previously based on the support or opposition of the opposing party. It is about power.

A case could be made to continue to support the GOP, but saying that Catholics have a HOME in the GOP, as Mr. Ruse trues to argue, seems to be stretching it. Mr. Ruse becomes even less convincing when he decides to take broadsides at people he clearly knows very little about. (And Mr. Ruse should recall that the likely biggest 2-3 contributors to the next GOP presidential nominee will likely be pro-same sex marriage as they were in the last election.) I would argue that a stronger case could be made to support neither party. The GOP would either have to re-evaluate and re-up their pro-life commitment or be regulated to a secondary party. (Of course the argument that we then would be stuck with very a majority of anti-life Democrats until the GOP decided to change would be a compelling argument against this course.)

I guess this is why it is said that politics makes strange bedfellows. This is why, I suspect, many want to stay out of the bed these days!

Oremus pro invicem!