Dear Friends:  

As we age, we all slow down a certain bit---what with normal wear and tear, disease, and accident.  Well, I've been laid up with a repaired umbilical hernia and several diseases and degenerations and other things you don't want to know about.  Consequently, my energy has led to reduced writing efforts.

As a result, I'm combining all my blogs into one.  So, political, personal, spiritual and literary blog entries will all appear on the same blog.  I will combine them all on the Notes for Ramey site:  notesforramey.blogspot.com/   I will also be adding a few older entries that you may have missed.  This blog will be a real find for you now.  Please visit as often as you can.  Tell your friends!  Subscribe!  Comment!  Send me emails!  tnmccoy63@comcast.net  I'll have it going within the week after I chase all the nurses away.

Thanks to all:  TNM

During the week we’d often see a funeral, and sometimes on Saturday or Sunday a wedding.  One of the joys of being an altar boy was being called to serve at a funeral during school hours.  I don’t mean the funeral was a joy---we were properly respectful.  We were just happy to feel important enough to be called from class and spend a few hours away from education and the nuns.  The weekend wedding was a real perk, and living across street led to my being called for the services quite often.  A wedding [one server,] unless it was a mass [two servers,] didn’t take long, and the best man usually paid us altar boys a stipend.  That extra cash meant a lot to us kids of the cloth.

With a Catholic bride and a Catholic groom, we opened the altar gates and the service was performed at the foot of the altar.  With the Mass, the bride and groom had prie-dieus to kneel on also at the foot of the altar.

For a mixed marriage---Catholic and non-Catholic---the service was performed at the altar rail.  It was just as solemn and joyous for the participants.  Sometimes, the bride went over to the side altar to pray to Mary while ‘Panis Angelicus’ [Food of the Angels] or ‘Ave Maria’ [Hail Mary] was played by the organist.

In the 1960s we had a fifth Mass early Sunday afternoon [about 1 pm or 2 pm.]  It was for the Spanish-speaking parishioners, with the homily in their language.  Since I never attended one, I don’t know whether the Mass was conducted in Latin or Spanish---probably the latter. 

On holydays, such as Easter and Christmas, the traffic near our house was unbelievable.  I watched the action for each Mass: Chevy Bel Air and Coupe, Chevrolet Styleline Sedan; Ford Edsel, Ford Custom, high-flowered hats; compact hats; Ford Crown Victoria, Ford Fairlane 500; Fedora; Packard Clipper, Packard Hawk; Easter dress with a fancy hat; Nash Metropolitan, Nash Ambassador, Nash Statesman; billowing scarves; Plymouth Belvedere, Plymouth Suburban; Dodge Coronet, Dodge Regent, Dodge Sierra; lush overcoats and wind-blown faces; Oldsmobile Super 88, Oldsmobile  Firestar; Pontiac Starchief; Studebaker Champion, Studebaker Commander, Studebaker Golden Hawk, Studebaker Lark; laughing families; Buick Roadmaster, Buick Special, Buick Riviera; Hudson Jet, Hudson Commodore, Hudson Hornet; Mercury Sun Valley, Mercury Monterey, Mercury Voyager; DeSoto Adventurer, DeSoto Power Master; Caddie, or Lincoln; Frazer Manhattan; Kaiser-Frazer Henry J---but rarely a foreign car. 

We were a hard-working parish.  The really rich people, except for the Nowns Sisters must have gone to Church somewhere else.  Some people who kept away from Sunday Mass all year showed up on Easter and Christmas.  Services during Holy Week were also well attended.  We had lengthy services on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.  I remember attending everything, even when I wasn’t serving as an altar boy.

Holy Week started on Palm Sunday.  We had the passing out of blessed and dried palm fronds as a symbol of Christ’s entry into Jerusalem.  We were also read the Passion from the gospel.  I didn’t like this as a kid because it was so long and only a repetition from the previous year.  In the early fifties, everyone had to stand during the reading.  Later on, the parishioners could sit---a deterrent to fainting spells.

We saw the reverence of Holy Thursday and the black sadness of Good Friday.  And the anticipation and joy of Holy Saturday.  These feelings led to the majesty of Easter Sunday.  That morning with the lilies and other flowers represented the glorious feeling among us all, though I know as a little kid, I was more interested in the various treats of the day.  The wafty flower aroma from the Easter Lilies was all about the church and added to the freshness of the Mass and ceremonies.  We celebrated the rising from the dead of Jesus over two thousand years ago.

All through the fifties we had the same three elderly women as our church choir.  [They may not have been elderly in the 1950s, but they sounded like it.]  Mrs. Hallinan, Mrs. Hegewald, and another whose name I’m sorry to say I don’t remember.  The third also played the organ.  They sang in tune, but their assumed ages showed in their voices.  They sounded dark and ominous and were well suited for funerals.  I only wish we had had some younger singers to brighten the wedding and other joyous ceremonies, or some sinners of any age to appreciate the dark singing. 

But there in the fifties, the ‘triumvirate’ had a stranglehold on the Church singing rights.  I doubt anyone could have joined or replaced them.  It would have been a heresy.  No singers need apply.  Perhaps their most annoying moments were their cranking out litanies during high Mass.  As is often quoted: ‘A voice which could shatter glass!’

To be perfectly honest, I preferred and still prefer the old Latin, or Tridentine, Mass to the modern one in the vernacular of the parishioners.  I go to a Latin Mass whenever and wherever I can find one, and I watch Midnight Mass from the Vatican every Christmas Eve instead of watching another version of ‘A Christmas Carol.’  Neither one however, is like the Masses I remember---although the St Peter’s mass comes close.  By using the vernacular as mandated by the Vatican II council, a lot of mystery and ceremony seems lost. 

The ‘numinous’ [inborn religious sense] has to fight an uphill battle to remain on an even keel.   Protestant theologian, Rudolf Otto in his 1923 book ‘The Idea of the Holy’, discussed this concept.  He has good, if somewhat dense, arguments and discussions of the presence of God and holiness.  A mysterious aura is very important to a person’s belief.  Take it away, as with the demise of the Latin Mass, and you create Catholics of convenience and the modern day, certainly not with the same devoutness as in the past.

In the Latin Mass, we didn’t shake hands and wish each other peace as we do in the vernacular Mass.  After the service [or prayer; Mass is actually considered a prayer,] we made the effort to treat our neighbors with respect and courtesy every day.  That’s what we were taught, and that was a most important attitude.  ‘Love thy neighbor as thyself’ is an old, established concept.  But, I wasn’t always successful.

Opening soon in most theaters is the movie 'Atlas Shrugged Part I' from the novel of Ayn Rand.  I probably won't get to see it in a theater, but I look hopefully to an early television/cable showing.  The story is just as pertinent now as it was in 1952 when the book was first published.  The book itself is rather lengthy, so the producers expect to make three parts of the movie story.  Although I believe much of the objectivism of Ayn Rand, I don't agree with her religious views.  She was an atheist.  And I can't understand people who take the atheistic view of life.  It's so sad and dreary.  And it offers no real hope for anything.  Might as well be a rock on the ground.

Opening soon is the movie 'Atlas Shrugged Part I' from the novel of Ayn Rand.  I probably won't get to see it in a theater, but I look hopefully to an early television/cable showing.  The story and warnings are just as pertinent now as they were in 1952 when the book was published.  The book itself is rather lengthy, so the producers expect to make three parts of the movie story.  Although I believe much of the objectivism of Ayn Rand, I don't agree with her religious views.  She's an atheist.  And I can't understand people who take the atheistic view of life.  It's so sad and dreary.  And it offers no real hope.  This is one occasion when you have to separate the wheat from the chaff.

www.atlasshruggedpart1.com

Scientists today, as shown on the Science Channel all the time, are trying their best to explain life, the Big Bang and other astronomical and biological miracles in terms of chance encounters, physical interactions, and time.  They notably leave out God in all their discussions.  I believe that the entire span of life of the Universe was decided in a second or less by God before He created the Big Bang.  Everything that happened after that was guided by God's hand in the physical interactions from His creation of physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, etc.  Creating and giving mankind the freedom of will and action, however, was a deviation from the plan.  He wanted us to be free to do what we wanted and develop the faith to believe in Him and His works.  I've been reading books and articles on astronomy, physics, chemistry, sociology, biology,religion and numerous other areas for fifty years.  And my faith is still strong.  Mankind has deviated from 'what could have been for happiness and security for all,' and he has divided his thoughts and actions between good and evil.  We still suffer from the evil part.  When the scientists finally admit that God was the prime mover in creation, they'll probably work on trying to discover who or what created God.

No, I didn't dry up and blow away.  I've been through some of the travails of life.  For several weeks I had the flu.  For several more weeks I tried to nurse my computer back to health.  But I failed.  And so did my hard drive.  I lost a lot of data I forgot [or couldn't find] to back up as well.  Thus I spent time in search and recovery---and recovered nada.  Dell sent me a new hard drive, but didn't install it as I had been led to believe.  By the time [which by the way, was progressing day by day] we got it installed, I was far behind in my reconstruction of what data I could figure out.  Some of the lost data included much from my mail program and the data base I was using for my blogs.  Thus, the delay in writing more blogs.  I've researched and have made sure all of my important data is now being backed up [called shutting the barn door after the horse in gone] where I can find it.  But since I lost all my blogging notes, I'm pretty much starting from scratch.  Politically, everythings going the way I expected, so I should still have plenty to write about.  For my personal blogs, life still has its quirks to write about.  I'll be back soon with more important thoughts.

In my retirement years, I look more closely at commercials, ads, and movies; and the inconsistencies, poor grammar, and occasional misinformation stand out like red flags.  I just don't think the current crop of writers is up to snuff, especially those in the advertisement industry.

Money Mutual has an advertisement with a picture of Montel Williams: Get a short term cash loan of up to $1,000 by tomorrow.**  Per Montel: 'Money Mutual's online network is a cash source you can trust for finding a short term cash loan quickly and easily.'

It states further:  "...a cash advance is a signature loan backed by future sources of income, usually your paycheck...

However, it states in the same ad: '** The operator of this website is not a lender, does not broker loans to lenders and does not make short term cash loans or credit decisions.  This website does not constitute an offer or solicitation to lend...the operator of this website is not an agent, representative or broker of any lender and does not endorse or charge you for any service or product.  Not all lenders can provide up to $1,000...Typically lenders will not perform credit checks with the three credit reporting bureaus...Credit checks or consumer reports through alternative providers may be obtained by some lenders.'

Yet the ad goes on to ask: "Why does Montel Williams endorse Money Mutual, a payday loan company?'  How can this be if the small print data is correct?  Not a lender; does not broker loans; does not make short term cash loans; is not an agent or representative of any lender; but the ad also states that Money Mutual is a payday loan company.

The questions remain:  If all these data are true, just what is Money Mutual?  It states it 'does not constitute an offer or solicitation.'  So if not all lenders can lend up to $1,000, why are they utilized?  Potential lenders 'typically' will not use credit bureaus, but they'll probably use other sources for the same credit information.'  That seems a lot of effort expended for relatively small loans.  Watch the interest grow.

As an alternative, you can use a credit card to get a needed advance without a problem.  Or your own bank could lend some money with your savings account to back it.

If you do get a loan you'll be paying interest for the money and additional charges or fees for the lender to pay Money Mutual for it's services---though the latter, as it claims, does not broker loans etc.

There's no free lunch.

E-Harmony
You have to hand it to those advertising guys at E-Harmony.  First it was ‘active’ to use E-Harmony but ‘passive’ to go to bars and look for a mate yourself.  Then it was a young woman who was a small business owner and didn’t have the time to search for a mate herself, so she had E-Harmony do it.  Now, we hear that E-Harmony isn’t a ‘dating’ site after all.  It’s a ‘matching’ site.  I’m not sure what the difference is.  It isn’t a marriage bureau, is it?  We’re also told now that E-Harmony isn’t ‘...as shallow as some of those other sites...’  He must mean the aforesaid ‘dating’ sites.  How much is some?  One? Two? Three?  More?  And based on the English sentence in the ad, that must mean that E-Harmony is also shallow---otherwise why compare it to ‘some of those other sites in such a way?’  And the details?  If compared to one or two other sites, then E-Harmony must be about the third most shallow site.  It’s hard to say since there advertising has been all over the place with contradictions in recent months.
But wait!  The latest ad says: ‘...We can match you on more levels than other dating sites...’  Whoa there!  I thought E-Harmony wasn’t a dating site?  I’ll tell you a secret.  If their ‘compatibility’ questions are as confused as their ads, then prepare yourself for a real live huggy bear as a mate.

In welcoming the New Year, I have many wishes.  These are only a few of them.

1. Proper and limited use of the word 'alleged:' I wish newspapers would tone down their constant use of the word 'alleged.'  When a person commits a crime with numerous witnesses, or such person truely confesses after being confronted with overwhelming evidence, I don't think the term 'alleged' is appropriate anymore.  I know you're not legally guilty until adjudged so by a trial in front of your peers, but there must be exceptions for news reporting of such obvious cases.  Even so, most writers aren't exactly sure what the word 'alleged' means.  You can tell this by trying to read a news story.  The writers are in such a hurry to use the word 'alleged' that they fail to write a proper English sentence.  'The alleged man [as opposed to a real man?] robbed the clerk at gunpoint.  [The alleged gun didn't go off.]

2. Properly counting a decade or century: You'd think that by now, the media would have learned how to count to ten.  You start with one and you end with 10.  That's a decade if you're counting years.  Despite what the 'fame jumpers' keep saying, the second millennium started in 2001.  Does the last digit there give you a hint?  So hold off on your 'decade lists', will you media?  Next December [2010] is the time for them.

3. Retire Vince '...you know we can't do this all day...': Vince is among the most annoying people on television.  He sounds insincere, and he talks down to the audience.  If he handles the ad for a product, I'd be less apt to buy it.  In any case, I'd rather listen to repeats of 'Billy Mays here.'  His energy is more even than the speedy Vince, and he was a more believable salesman.  Another annoying 'Crazy Eddie' type is the beanbag who screams his ads for a hotel liquidating company.  He's enough to give the listener heart palpitations.

4. Al and the Volcano: People are always fearful of an active volcano.  In fact, there's a near-lame story of 'Joe and the Volcano' where Joe [Tom Hanks] was to be sacrificed to the volcano god to save the people of an island, Waponi Woo.  He was to jump inside it while it was spouting---thus appeasing the god [and Abe Vigoda, the Waponi chief] and hopefully calming the volcano and leading it to a dormant state.  Well, I think in real life the calming of volcanoes would lead to a cooling of the atmosphere and fewer deaths due to lava flows and pyroclastic activity---as if we need cooling in a cooling era of our planet's cycles.  So I wish we should sacrifice Al Gore to the god of the most active and dangerous volcano in the world.  We can choose from Merapi in Indonesia, Popocatepetl in Mexico, Vesuvius in Italy, Unzen in Japan, and a few others.  Maybe the crackling of the burning fat would calm the fires like oil does to boiling water.  And just for good measure, we could also use Michael Moore and George Soros---that would calm two more volcanoes.  And consider Nancy Pelosi.  Does Botox burn?

5.  Excercise?: There's an ad on TV right now for the 'Shaker.'  This is a barbell shaped object that you can shake back and forth to tone your arms.  The adwoman asks 'when you put on a sleeveless dress, what's the first thing that sticks out?'  I don't know about you, but I'm probably in the majority who's answer was not hers.  She said 'your arms.'  And as anticipated by the advertisers, most of us thought of something else immediately.  Anyway, what is this thing?  You shake it with your arms, it vibrates and springs back and forth and you lose arm flab.  I think they call it 'dynamic inertia..' [Forceful inactivity!] Well, this is nothing new.  Check with Nick and Nora Charles and ask how they maintained their lanky and admirable physiques.  The answer is simple.  As Nick puts it to a bartender, 'a dry martini you always shake to a waltz step.'  Enough of that and you have to wonder why there are any fat bartenders.  Anyway there's a triple money back guarantee.  Now what does that mean?  Triple your money back? No.  Money back guarantee said three times?  Probably.  You could also get the benefit by shaking malts at home.  But then, the resulting product would negate any shaking benefit.  Right?  I wish for its quick demise.

6. Stop the Polar Bears!: I'm getting tired of watching Noah Wylie spout his requests that we send money to his charity for the poor, declining polar bear population.  First, the money goes into a fund serving other animals.  So much for the Polar Bear.  Second, I wish Noah would just check the real figures before he jumps on the animal rights wagon.  The Polar Bear population is increasing on a regular basis.  Planetary cooling and warming are natural events and should be acknowledged as such because we aren't going to change them.  Such it is for the polar ice.  It'll cycle back again.

7.  Baskin & Robbins: Okay, the current B & R ad has the most annoying music and lyrics for ice cream and cake.  Those little figures dancing around over everything singing 'ice cream and cake' is enough to send me to Carvel for my desserts.  Send B & R to the Back Room.

Finally, there's a soup commercial bragging to us that '..farmers raise vegetables in Campbell soup...'  Personally, I'd raise them in the dirt of the fields.  But, you can never tell where the next 'growing medium' will come from.  Anyway, I wish Campbells would proof-read the ad copy in the New Year.

I wish these all to be eliminated or corrected.  [Fat chance!]  And I wish my readers a happy and prosperous New Year. [Better than even odds.]

Though this is over 100 years old, I just came

across it recently. May all my readers have a

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

--T N McCoy

Why do bells for Christmas Ring?

Why do little children sing?

Once a lovely, shining star,

Seen by shepherds from afar,

Gently moved until its light

Made a manger-cradle bright.

There a darling baby lay

Pillowed soft upon the hay.

And his mother sang and smiled,

“This is Christ, the holy child.”

So the bells for Christmas ring,

So the little children sing.

-- Lydia A C Ward c1907

"It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations are blessed whose God is the Lord."
                                                            - Abraham Lincoln 1863

Friends:  Greetings on this Thanksgiving Day.  The above words of Abraham Lincoln remain as true today as they were during the Civil War.  Unfortunately, the 'God who is Lord' in Christianity is no longer acceptable to the pc crowd of Liberals and their ilk.  Sad.  So sad.  For we need Him today more than ever.  We need to give thanks for what we have and pray to God that it will never be taken from us.

Needashave: We didn’t know his name, so we called him one based on his scraggly beard. He was an old man with the green painted bike and saddlebags who silently rode down the hill and past my first home often. We lived across from railroad yards, so only one side of the street had homes. He kept to the other side of the road and never acknowledged the existence of anyone, refusing to heed our waves.  His existence was used by Mom and Dad as the bogeyman, but Needashave never spoke to or attempted to hurt anyone. We weren’t afraid of him. In fact his presence was a type of continuity to our young lives. He was a silent soul who spent his last days in a hut built into a rock wall up the street in the woods [or so I was told.]  I’m thankful to him for always being there when there was so much uncertainty in 1950s America.

Needashave

© 2005

Silent lane with breeze alive;
Powered chain and a one wheel drive;
Sun or rain---and that’s no jive!
    Rides along our Needashave.

Saddle bags with contents hid;
Passing crags with a no climb bid;
Zigs nor zags---but smoothly rid.
    Rides along our Needashave.

Barber’s bane, he’d use no blade;
Ragged mane of cut delayed;
Hirsute pain?  Yet features staid.
    Rides along our Needashave.

Railroad fence whizzing by;
Common sense tells you why:
“Riding hence, while always shy!”
    Hail to thee oh Needashave!