Madonna in the Rosary, Stefano da Zevio; c. 1410

JOHANNA writes:

Last week my husband and I attended the final Rosary of one of the many 54 day Novenas taking place across our country and the world. Our group of about 40 consisted of both young and old with the young outnumbering us which was very encouraging though bittersweet because of close relatives who have lost the faith. We stood together on a Northeastern coastline, feet planted in the wet sand,  surrounded by God’s gifts, reciting His glorious chapters.

A young woman who had brought her dog to the beach was some yards behind us and seemed drawn to what we were doing. Several decades in, I glanced in her direction and she was still there. Just then she prepared to leave and began quietly calling her dog, which had made itself a part of our group. She called and called and it would not go to her even when she came right next to it with her commands. It took a clip of leash to collar and a  forceful tug to get the dog to move away from us. I found this very interesting. Read More »

VICTORIA Bissell Brown, a retired history professor, writes in The Washington Post:

I yelled at my husband last night. Not pick-up-your-socks yell. Not how-could-you-ignore-that-red-light yell. This was real yelling. This was 30 minutes of from-the-gut yelling. Triggered by a small, thoughtless, dismissive, annoyed, patronizing comment. Really small. A micro-wave that triggered a hurricane. I blew. Hard and fast. And it terrified me. I’m still terrified by what I felt and what I said. I am almost 70 years old. I am a grandmother. Yet in that roiling moment, screaming at my husband as if he represented every clueless male on the planet (and I every angry woman of 2018), I announced that I hate all men and wish all men were dead. If one of my grandchildren yelled something that ridiculous, I’d have to stifle a laugh.

After catching her breath, she goes on to batter him some more. And then she writes:

The gender war that has broken out in this country is flooding all our houses. It’s rising on the torrent of memories that every woman has. Those memories have come loose from the attic and the basement where we’ve stashed them. They are floating all around us and there is no place left to store them out of sight. Not just memories of sexual abuse. Memories of being dismissed, disdained, distrusted.

Being married to a feminist offers glimpses into the delusions and cruelty that exist in hell. Prof. Brown, I have some news for you. Every single human being is at some point dismissed, disdained and distrusted. But you definitely should have been dismissed, disdained and distrusted more. Much more. Only someone who has not been dismissed, disdained and distrusted enough could possess your level of arrogance.

READERS may be having some trouble accessing this site. Don’t be alarmed. I’m sorry for the confusion, but I’ve been making improvements to security, and there have been some glitches along the way. The site is now parked at thinkinghousewife.com (where it was originally), not at thinkinghousewife.com/wp. So if you have the second address bookmarked or stored in your cache, you may be getting a ‘server error’ message. Make sure the “wp” is not in your search. Also, Google or other search engines should be directing you to the new “https” version of the site, not the “http.” Read More »

“OF ALL the enemies of the true liberty, war is, perhaps, the most to be dreaded, because it comprises and develops the germ of every other.

War is the parent of armies; from those proceed debts and taxes; and armies and debts and taxes are the known instruments for bringing the many under the domination of the few.

In war, too, the discretionary power of the Executive is extended; its influence in dealing out offices, honors and emoluments is multiplied; and all the means of seducing the minds, are added to those of subduing the force, of the people.

The same malignant aspect in republicanism may be traced in the inequality of fortunes, and the opportunities of fraud, growing out of a state of war, and in the degeneracy of manner and of morals, engendered in both. No nation can preserve its freedom in the midst of continual warfare.”

— James Madison, Political Observations, Apr. 20, 1795 in: Letters and Other Writings of James Madison, vol. 4, p. 491 (1865)

Mary Magdalen Reading, Unknown artist, (1525-1550)

There is a kind of work which any man can do, but from which many men shrink, generally because it is very hard work, sometimes because they fear it will lead them whither they do not wish to go. It is called thinking.

— G.K. Chesterton

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Amalfi Cathedral

   For wisdom is more active than all active things: and reacheth everywhere by reason of her purity.

   For she is a vapour of the power of God and a certain pure emanation of the glory of God: and therefore no defiled thing cometh into her.

— Wisdom, 7:24-25

HIGH SCHOOL girls initiated false sexual assault charges against an innocent boy in Pennsylvania. They have not been punished.

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FOR NINE months, Monika Schaefer, a peaceful, nature-loving Canadian violinist from Alberta, has been in prison in Germany.

Her crime? Making this video. She has done nothing else. She has not called for harm or retribution toward anyone. The very idea that this mild-mannered woman who volunteers to play violin in nursing homes and schools would promote hatred or violence is patently ridiculous. And for this she is in the hands of the world’s most powerful bullies and is portrayed in the Canadian media with dehumanizing rhetoric as a dark, Hitleresque figure. That such a powerless person as this middle-class artist should be arrested and held in a foreign country strongly suggests that what she said is true. As Theodore Fontane, a 19th century German author, said:

The reason people are silenced is not because they lie, but because they tell the truth. When people lie, their own words can be used against them. When they tell the truth, there is no other countermeasure except violence.

Seized in January when she was visiting family in Germany and attending the trial of a lawyer who has defended other activists (thousands of people have been imprisoned or fined in Germany for thought crimes), Schaefer is accused of inciting “hatred.” The clever thing about accusations of hatred is that they can never be conclusively disproven. Hatred is invisible. It lies within the human heart. You can never prove you don’t have it. A society that possesses the vestiges of a Christian sensibility honors charity, making this word an extremely effective weapon. Invert these claims of hatred. In reality, it is those who promote lies about World War II (for financial or political gain) who should be in prison. Read it all in a mirror.

Imagine calling the police and saying, “I’ve just been robbed!!” — and then being thrown in prison by the police for being robbed. The twisted logic of imprisoning those with Monika’s claims is similar. Monika’s brother, Alfred, is also in prison for his Internet videos. Their ongoing trial is a journey into the absurd with the basic principles of international law overturned. Whatever the outcome, they will be crushed.

But please don’t think this is just about the Holocaust. It is not.

That subject is an effective filter for identifying those who are most capable of resistance, those who possess so much honor and integrity that they will risk intense social ostracism and even imprisonment or death to question received wisdom with facts and logic. Honor and integrity are more dangerous than guns.

Schaefer’s imprisonment is ultimately about thought itself — and individuality. We should not be advocates in response of mindless, undiscriminating “free speech.” Only the truth deserves to be disseminated. It is no accident that a powerless, middle class artist is involved. The artist is often the first person to cry out. Beautiful music — Schaefer has obviously devoted herself to beautiful music — instills a love of truth. If she were a musical celebrity, she would have all kinds of interests to protect. But she is not. The middle class has less at stake and it must be crushed intellectually and psychologically because of its natural instincts against tyranny, as the kulaks were crushed under Communism. It is precisely because Schaefer is reasonable, courteous, kind, gentle and non-threatening that she is especially dangerous. The people who are responsible for her imprisonment in Germany, we can surmise, are deeply afraid of these qualities and their inherent persuasive power. They must envy these qualities. We are living in the pages of a dystopian novel. Legions of conservative writers quote George Orwell — but say nothing about a living example of his bleak warnings. Feminists predictably say nothing about outrageous abuse of a woman. Read More »

ANOTHER great column by Protestant pastor Chuck Baldwin:

Trump has given hope to those who were drowning in hopelessness. He has convinced them that he is their political savior. He plays to their wants and fears. He tells them what they want to hear. And he does it so masterfully, so perfectly, that he has brought millions of people (including Christians) under his spell.

Before being elected, Trump said, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose any voters.” And he wasn’t making that up. He knew he had mesmerized them.

For two years now, it hasn’t mattered to a tinker’s dam what Trump does or doesn’t do. He has given people the “illusions of hope,” and they dare not let go. Their hope is in Trump. This is more than support or appreciation—or even love; this is worship. The “always Trump” crowd literally worships Donald Trump. From a spiritual perspective, they have been bewitched. They are hypnotized. They are in a trance. And they dare not allow themselves to be awakened, for if they were, they would have “to know the worst, and to provide for it.” This they are not willing to do. Read More »

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DEMOCRACY tends to draw psychopathic personalities to power. In “Psychopaths, Basketball Players and Politicians,” Mike King at The Anti-New York Times explains why. He writes:

So, why is it that so many psychopaths (who constitute a small minority of the general public) rise to the top of certain fields? It’s for the same reason that so many men 6′ 5″ or taller, rise to the highest levels of professional basketball. During the course of our daily routines, it is a very rare occurrence to come across a man that tall. When we do, our eyes are drawn to him. “Damn. That guy is tall.” 

But if you were to buy a court-side ticket to an NBA basketball game, you would see as many as 20 men who are 6′ 5″ or taller, all in the same place and at the same time. Not only the players, but some of the coaches too! Coincidence? Conspiracy? It’s neither.

Obviously, great height makes a man closer to the basketball rim. As surely as heated air will cause a balloon to rise, so too will tall men rise through the ranks of shorter men and reach the NBA. A trait that is so rare among the general public, is “normal” among NBA players.

In the realm of “democracy” politics, in which the object of the game is to sell 51% of the dumb-as-dirt public on the idea of voting for you, the psychopath will rise to the top more easily than an honest man — just as a 6′ 5″ basketball player will rise to the NBA more easily than a 5′ 11″ player. Read More »

AT THIS time of year, in our humble garden, I sometimes see a bumblebee stationed on a flower, smack in the middle of a blossom, unmoving. It is very striking, this sight, because bees are usually, so, well, busy. But the bee does not move. Is he exhausted? Is he drunk? Is he drinking the last dregs of nectar and maybe even some dew, which must be delicious at this time of year?

I did a little research. I found out that bees do take naps on flowers, which are warmer than the surrounding air. And at this time of year, the workers are old and dying, the air is cooler, and so they might be sleepier than normal. What a great place to take a nap! Right in the heart of petals, swaying lightly in the breeze.

According to the poet, Fr. John Bannister Tabb, the bee is collecting his due, not the dew.

 The Tax Gatherer

‘And pray, who are you?’
Said the violet blue
To the Bee, with surprise
At his wonderful size,
In her eye-glass of dew.

‘I, madam,’ quoth he,
‘Am a publican Bee,
Collecting the tax
On honey and wax.
Have you nothing for me?’

Fr. John Bannister Tabb

Here is a picture — a poor one — of a sleeping tax collector outside our window.

Saint Dominic Receives the Rosary (detail)/ Plautilla Nelli

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ON OCTOBER 9, 1774 while he was in Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress, John Adams walked into a Roman Catholic chapel as a diversion from the pressing matters of politics. There he found Catholics praying the rosary during Mass.

He was disgusted. After all, he envisioned a world in which such superstitions would be abolished — and he set about institutionalizing such a world politically.

He wrote to his wife, Abigail:

This afternoon, led by curiosity and good company, I strolled away to mother church, or rather grandmother church. I mean the Romish chapel. I heard a good, short moral essay upon the duty of parents to their children, founded in justice and charity, to take care of their interests, temporal and spiritual. This afternoon’s entertainment was to me most awful and affecting; the poor wretches fingering their beads, chanting Latin, not a word of which they understood; their pater nosters and ave Marias; their holy water; their crossing themselves perpetually; their bowing to the name of Jesus, whenever they hear it; their bowings, kneelings and genuflections before the altar. The dress of the priest was rich white lace. His pulpit was velvet and gold. The altar-piece was very rich, little images and crucifixes about; wax candles lighted up. But how shall I describe the picture of our Savior in a frame of marble over the altar, at full length, upon the cross in the agonies, and the blood dropping and streaming from his wounds! The music, consisting of an organ and a choir of singers, went all the afternoon except sermon time, and the assembly chanted most sweetly and exquisitely.

Here is everything which can lay hold of the eye, ear, and imagination–everything which can charm and bewitch the simple and ignorant. I wonder how Luther ever broke the spell. Adieu.

Today, on the Feast of the Holy Rosary, it is truly marvelous to reflect on the survival of the rosary beads Adams refers to, this “mystical garland,” in a world in which the “enlightened” views of Adams have been dominant for hundreds of years. Read More »

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ALAN writes:

When I was 49, people started calling me “the old man.”  That was not so much because I “looked old” as because they sensed (correctly) that I had no desire to be hip and cool, as they were and as they imagined everyone else wants to be.

That was twenty years ago.  By now, I must be ancient.  Splendid.  That should qualify me to write the following.

             “There isn’t much that I have learned, through all my foolish years. Except that life keeps runnin’ in cycles.  First there’s laughter, then those tears…..”

                                           — Frank Sinatra, “Cycles”

I beg to differ with the lyric of that understated 1968 ballad sung so superbly by Frank Sinatra and which I have always enjoyed hearing. I have learned a great deal “through all my foolish years.”

I learned that there are six tribes of human beings: Read More »

Children’s author Roald Dahl

SEAN NAUGHTON, in the latest issue of Culture Wars magazine, looks at the life and works of the famous children’s book author Roald Dahl, of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory fame. Naughton calls Dahl the “bad granddad of children’s literature.” (If you don’t have a subscription to Culture Wars, you can buy the October issue for only $4. This article is well worth the price.)

He writes:

Like any good grandfather, Dahl really does want to bring joy to the children; as with his own five children to whom Dahl first told the tales as bed-time stories, his young readers are plied with an intoxicating, psychedelic cocktail of possibilities and i

mages and wordplay. But for all the phizzwizardry of his tales and for all the whoopsy-wiffling of his telling, each of his gloriumptious confections has an unmistakable bitterness in the coating and a deadly poison at the centre. For all the deftness of his writing and the playfulness of his story-telling, Roald Dahl cannot hide the cruelty of his gaze, nor the coldness and cruelty of his merciless, iconoclastic heart.

He cannot hide these things because he does not see them himself. He thinks that all the voyeurism and vengeance in his books is just childish fun. This is because he himself never grew up. I think the same can be said of his adoring fans. He remained all his life a playful, treat loving, self-centred child, with a loose tongue and a taste for revenge. There is something monstrous about a grown man who is clever and powerful but remains at heart a vengeful child. There is something monstrous about Roald Dahl. Bad Granddad. Read More »

LIBERALISM entails the constant promotion of sexual freedom interrupted by incapacitating seizures of Puritanical outrage over the effects of sexual freedom whenever the constant promotion of sexual freedom is even remotely threatened. Read More »

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WHAT IF every American received a modest stipend from the government, sufficient for all basic needs and health care — distributed not through taxation but by the issuance of currency by the government. Consider “social credit,” the ingenious, thought-provoking economic system invented by the engineer Clifford Hugh Douglas to alleviate the joblessness caused by advanced technology and the money-lessness caused by central banking.

Robert Klinck looks at the social and psychological effects of a “social credit” dividend:

It is important to recognize the change in the social environment—in all areas of human relations and endeavour—that such a policy would effect.

     Knowing that you have a dependable source of income relieves the kind of destructive stress that manifests as psychological harm and disease. The edge would be taken off the desperate, often virtually life or death, aspect of competition for income-providing positions.

     Knowing that you have an economic backstop liberates you from participating in economic activity that you judge to be unethical or otherwise harmful.

     Having confidence that you will always have the monetary means of survival removes a common motive to commit crimes, including committing suicide, which are notoriously more common during so-called economic slowdowns. Read More »

Solange Hertz

“THE Declaration of Independence states:

We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That, to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it, and to institute a new government …

“Here is formal canonization of revolution. In the face of it, to insist that Church and state must – or can – remain separate is to make every citizen a moral schizophrenic. To tell him it’s ‘self-evident’ that all men are created equal leads him to deny the evidence of his senses; to tell him that authority comes only from the people, is to make of him a formal revolutionary with a mandate to turn against any authority that doesn’t suit him. This is why ‘democracy,’ doomed from the beginning, is even now disintegrating beyond repair.”

— Solange Herz, The Star-Spangled Heresy: Americanism (Kindle Locations 5500-5507). Tumblar House.

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