Sudoku Challenge Answered

Read more in my other blog, especially the "Successful Challenger" and "Version 3" posts.

Sudoku Challenge

After several years of development, testing, debugging, and improving the strategies, I am ready to proclaim that my Sudoku Analyzer is the best on the web, that it can analyze and give a step-by-step solution to even the toughest Sudoku. Please note that this does NOT entail simply giving a solution, but in providing a step-by-step analytical method to solve. And so I am unveiling the great CyberJerry Sudoku Challenge.

To be sure, I am still discovering some rare Sudokus for which the CyberJerry Sudoku Analyzer cannot give step-by-step analytical hints. But for those Sudokus, neither can anyone else. Or so I claim.

Therein lies the challenge: to provide a step-by-step analytical solution to a Sudoku that has CyberJerry stumped. To meet the Challenge, your Sudoku must qualify thus:

• 1. The Sudoku has exactly one solution.
• 2. CyberJerry's 'Analyze' button reports that the Sudoku cannot be rated, and at some point the 'Hint' button fails to provide a Hint.
• 3. You can describe a step-by-step analytical way to solve the Sudoku. You need only do so at the point(s) where the Sudoku Analyzer fails to provide a Hint. Note that this must be deductive logic, not a trial-and-error guesswork method.

If you think you can meet this challenge, navigate to CyberJerry's Sudoku Analyzer page. Enter the contents of your Sudoku in the grid there, and then click the 'Analyze' button to see that (most likely) CyberJerry can indeed rate the Sudoku in question and give hints for every step. In the (unlikely) event that CyberJerry is stumped (per point #2 above), you may proceed to the Challenge by clicking the hyperlink marked 'Sudoku Challenge'. There you will be able to describe your analytical method per point #3 above.

I promise to publish any successful challenge and publicly acknowledge the challenger's superior Sudoku skills. I reserve the right to likewise publish any failures.

next-blog, take 2

NOTE: As of early September 2017, the original CyberJerry websites are kaput, due to a hosting service 'upgrade'. Therefore, all links herein to cyberjerry.net, cyberjerry.com, and prolifestrike.cyberjerry.net are broken. Many (not all) pages may now be found at dogpatchcentral.net

Soon after writing the last article, my hosting service bailed out on me, so I lost my website and the new blog there was dead, along with all other pages. Took a bit of scrambling to find a more reliable hosting service and rebuild the more frequented pages on a new server with a new domain name, dogpatchcentral.net.

So, to repeat that post, I've started a new blog. No, I haven't switched to a Wordpress blog or some other platform. I mean my own blog platform - server database tables, webpage layouts, blog scripts, etc.

The url is dogpatchcentral.net/amigos and its sister blog in Spanish es.dogpatchcentral.net/amigos. Give it a look, tell me what you think.

?expref=next-blog

Are you one of those bloggers who likes to jump randomly from blog to blog? You're not? O. . . well, Ok then, never mind.

But now that I've started this blog article, I'd better at least finish my thought. And my thought is that, maybe after a long dry spell without hardly writing anything in my Blogspot blog, perhaps I'd try something completely different. Like writing my own blog.

No, I don't mean switching to a Wordpress blog or some other platform. I mean to build my own blog platform - server database tables, webpage layouts, blog scripts, debugging, re-thinking, re-designing - the whole nine yards.

So, if you do happen to be in the mood for something different, why not jump over to my new blog? There's even a sister blog in Spanish, based upon the same home-grown software. You can give me advice and criticism as I feel my way through the early software development cycle.

Next step will be to decide what to blog about. Maybe you can help with that decision as well.

By the way - can anyone tell me why it's 'nine yards' ?

Leap Second December 31 2016

El vigésimo septimo segundo intercalar se aplicará entre 11:59:59 pm UTC el 31 de diciembre de 2016, y 12:00:00 (medianoche) UTC del 1 de enero 2017. El segundo intercalar se aplica en todo el mundo al mismo tiempo. Así que si usted vive, por ejemplo, en CentroAmerica y tiene un reloj UTC, el reloj debe ir de 17:59:59 a 17:59:60 (el extra segundo) y luego a 18:00:00.

Estoy feliz de informarles de que mi página en linea de Calculadoras de Segundos maneja bien los segundos intercalares, incluido el inminente.

The 27th leap second is scheduled to be applied between 11:59:59 pm UTC on December 31 2016, and 12:00:00 (midnight) UTC of January 1 2017. The leap second is applied worldwide simultaneously. So if you live, for example, in the Central time zone of the U.S. and have a UTC clock, your clock should go from 17:59:59 to 17:59:60 (the extra second) and then to 18:00:00.

I am happy to report that my online Seconds Calculators page handles leap seconds, including the imminent one.

(Of course, all this is assuming the Apocalypse doesn't occur in the meantime.)

Apocalypse?

Cubs Win the World Series. It was always a standing joke amongst die-hard Cub fans that were it ever to actually happen, the end of the world could not be far away. A joke. Seriously, a jest, all in fun.

Or - - perhaps the prophetic post of 2012 was merely 4 years ahead of its time. Vamos a ver.

Leap Second June 30 2015

Esta entrada del blog está dirigido principalmente a los empollones y extraños que se preocupan por tales cosas.

Un segundo intercalar (segundo bisiesto) es un ajuste de un segundo que se aplica de vez en cuando al Tiempo Universal Coordinado (UTC) con el fin de mantener la hora del día cerca del tiempo solar medio. El vigésimo sexto tal segundo intercalar se aplicará entre 11:59:59 pm UTC el 30 de junio de 2015, y 12:00:00 (medianoche) UTC del 1 de julio El segundo intercalar se aplica en todo el mundo al mismo tiempo. Así que si usted vive, por ejemplo, en CentroAmerica y tienen un reloj UTC, el reloj debe ir de 17:59:59 a 17:59:60 (el extra segundo) y luego a 18:00:00.

Estoy feliz de informarles de que mi página en linea de Calculadoras de Segundos maneja bien los segundos intercalares, incluido el inminente.

This article is directed mostly at nerds and weirdos who care about such things.

A leap second is a one-second adjustment that is occasionally applied to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in order to keep its time of day close to the mean solar time. The 26th such leap second is scheduled to be applied between 11:59:59 pm UTC on June 30, 2015, and 12:00:00 (midnight) UTC of July 1. The leap second is applied worldwide simultaneously. So if you live, for example, in the Central time zone of the U.S. and have a UTC clock, your clock should go from 18:59:59 to 18:59:60 (the extra second) and then to 19:00:00.

I am happy to report that my online Seconds Calculators page handles leap seconds, including the imminent one.

Conversion of Francis (or - Out to Lunch?)

And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.
  - Luke 22:31,32 [KJV]

Writing such a blog post has been particularly difficult for this revert to Catholicism.

After many years as a nominal Catholic / practicing Evangelical, I gradually began to realize that Truth must be singular. The false dogma of Sola Scriptura is ever subject to individual interpretation and can therefore never lead to anything like verifiable Truth. Real authority, established by God, must trump personal and subjective interpretation of the Bible. Thus I returned to Catholicism and to the divinely established authority of the Church's Magisterium. It is no accident that 'Catholic' simply means 'Universal'.

It must be acknowledged that the 70s and 80s saw a steady deterioration into what can be called soft heresy. You know what I mean: Discounting or soft-pedaling the seriousness of such things as abortion, contraception and homosexuality. Studiously avoiding certain teachings out of fear of disturbing anyone. Denying or downplaying the hard reality of God's righteousness and the fact of eternal judgment. In lieu of teaching, sanctifying and governing their sheep, pastors increasingly limiting their 'ministry' to consoling, nurturing and affirming. Instead of warning people against the imminent dangers of hell, comforting them on their way thither.

The sad fact that many Catholic 'faithful' and clergy were believing and practicing such soft heresies was troubling, but did not detract seriously from my faith in the aformentioned Church authority. Always needful is a clear distinction between Church teaching and the beliefs and practices of individual 'Catholics', including clergy. The solid teachings remain a sure anchor, and the Magisterium - i.e, the bishops collectively in union with the Pope - could be counted upon to faithfully safeguard and transmit those teachings. I took no small comfort in the fact that while other denominations were altering their doctrines to conform with worldly values and norms, the true Church would never follow suit.

Yet here we are in 2015, and I must declare honestly that what I thought could never happen is in fact happening, has been happening for some time. I first began having some misgivings over 5 years ago, and have seen practically nothing since then to relieve my doubts. To the point where, starting about two years ago, some kind of threshold seems to have been crossed. When the reigning pontiff says he cannot judge homosexual clergy, he is in fact publicly confessing that he is not their pastor. When a majority of bishops, led by the bishop of Rome, meet to discuss the possibility of changing Church teaching on marriage, something is seriously, seriously, seriously amiss.

The gut-wrenching question I find myself asking is: Are these realities reversible? May the devout Catholic pray in good faith for the conversion of Francis, per Jesus' words to Simon Peter? Or has it gone way beyond that? Have the vast majority of the episcopacy left their posts? Have they abdicated their authority as pastors? Are they collectively Out To Lunch, leaving shepherdless the dwindling minority of faithful Catholics? Are those faithful few left as orphans in spiritual exile?

Goodreads review: Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock Holmes: The Complete Novels and Stories, Volume I by Arthur Conan Doyle

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

That this collection of detective stories is classic fiction is beyond question. Nevertheless, never having read Sherlock Holmes before, at several points I was sorely disappointed. The literary trick of untranslated foreign language quotes almost always aggravates me, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle sprinkled these quotes around using at least 3 languages that I don't comprehend. But I realize that this is a time-honored technique and so do not seriously criticize his famous work on that account.

Nor would I subtract from its rating because of some serious Mormon bashing in the very first story. I am not familiar enough with the true history of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to determine whether Doyle's villainous portrayal of them is historically accurate or just an example of the trashing of a religion which one disbelieves. At any rate, let's let that pass as well.

Rather, I give only three stars to Sherlock Holmes, Volume I because of certain flaws of logic, flaws which I deem inexcusable in a work whose appeal rests almost entirely upon analytical reasoning.

For example, in The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle, Doyle has Holmes deducing a man's intellectual prowess from the size of his hat. Had Holmes never met a stupid man with a large head, or an intelligent one with a relatively small cranium?

Then, in The Adventure of the Priory School, Holmes deduces the direction that a bicycle had been ridden by observing that the rear wheel made a deeper impression in the mud and in places covered over the track of the front wheel. Brilliant. But such would be the case no matter which direction the bicycle was traveling. Duh!

The flaw that irritated me most was found in The Adventure of the Dancing Men. At the core of this story are a series of mysterious messages that I recognized immediately as simple substitution encryption, which assumption Doyle himself later confirms. As a long-time fan of encryption, I set out to decode the messages on my own without reading ahead, and would have succeeded within an hour or so had the messages been properly reproduced. But according to the text, one particular figure in the messages ended up representing two different letters: in one place a 'V' and in two other places a 'P'. Another figure represents both an 'O' and an 'M', while in another place a different figure represents an 'O'. All these are violations of the simple substitution encryption logic which Holmes asserts, and render the messages undecipherable as printed in the book. This flaw is not so much a matter of illogic as of sloppy composition and/or a failure to adequately proofread the encrypted messages.

On a positive note, Sherlock Holmes, Volume I contains plenty of other stories with plots that are both fun and logical. And with over 1000 pages, it provided me with many hours of enjoyable reading, a good buy for the price. Plus, the introduction by Loren D. Estleman is intelligent, informative and entertaining, qualities which one rarely finds in an introduction. All in all, I may very well end up shopping for Volume II as well.

 

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Goodreads review: The Jaguar Smile

The Jaguar Smile: A Nicaraguan Journey by Salman Rushdie

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


As a U.S. citizen residing in Nicaragua, I expected to find The Jaguar Smile interesting and insightful. But I learned next to nothing and saw little in this book that resembled Nicaragua as I've experienced it.

I must admit Salman Rushdie enjoyed certain advantages over me. I've only lived in Nicaragua for a little over 4 years, most of which time I've spent in a rustic barrio of Jinotega, rubbing elbows with my Jinotegan neighbors. Trips to other parts of the country have been via crowded buses in close quarters with common folk. I've had no guide or translator.

Mr. Rushdie, by contrast, was an invited guest of the Sandinista Association of Cultural Workers. For 3 weeks he was flown and driven around Nicaragua by a select few politicians and journalists eager to impress upon him their own ideological viewpoints. He met and talked (via an interpreter usually) with local folk who were included in the planned agenda. Rushdie freely accepted or rejected at his own discretion the viewpoints he heard, and recorded his thoughts accordingly. He seems to have genuinely thought his experience to be a meaningful one.

So, if you want to learn what these Very Important Nicaraguans - and the Very Important Rushdie - were thinking and doing about 3 decades ago, you may enjoy The Jaguar Smile. I can't guarantee that you'll learn much about the real Nicaragua.




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Goodreads review: Imitation of Christ

Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


No accident that Imitation of Christ is, second to the Bible, the most beloved book in Christendom. Filled with sound doctrine and timeless exhortations to religious perfection, it offers no fashionable alternatives nor shortcuts nor culturally correct 'relevance'. It is a work for all seasons and all centuries. Its target audience is the serious Christian, no one else. It simply instructs the reader on the Truth and on how therefore to live. It is to be slowly absorbed, not just read.

This passage, written in the person of Christ, may be the most perfect portrayal of the Cross that I've ever found:

Of my own will did I offer up myself unto God the Father for thy sins. My hands were stretched forth on the cross, and my body laid bare, so that nothing remained in me that was not wholly turned into a sacrifice for the appeasing of the divine majesty. [4th Book, Ch.VIII,1a]

If Imitation of Christ has a flaw, it is that it was intended for monks and hermits. As such, many of its exhortations, such as

Choose therefore a secret place to thyself, love to live alone with thyself, desire the conversation of none; but rather pour out devout prayer unto God, that thou mayest keep thy soul contrite, and thy conscience pure. [3rd Book, Ch.LIII,1c]

can not be literally practiced by, say, a married person or a parish priest, whose vocation necessarily involves contact with people. This caveat, in my opinion, does not detract from the book's profound prophetic worth.


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Goodreads review: Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska

Diary of Saint Maria Faustina Kowalska: Divine Mercy in My Soul by Faustina Kowalska

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Sister Faustina writes her diary as a very frank and open disclosure of visions and locutions which she continually experienced over a period of several years. In it, she reveals her petty grievances and imperfections mixed in with an earnest and wholehearted drive for sanctity. She lived and wrote 100 years ago, having grown up in a typical Polish family, and entering religious life at about 20 years of age. Thanks to a couple of wise confessors, she was encouraged to not only follow the extraordinary visions given her but to write about them, the result being this very book.

Sister Faustina's relationship with her Savior was a spousal one. Jesus was not only her Lord and God but her divine husband. She saw herself as a bride of Christ, and her notes are marked by radical intimacy, devotion, docility and obedience. She is called by Christ to a special mission, that of spreading devotion to His greatest attribute, His mercy.

In some respects, her presentation of Divine Mercy is very much like the Evangelical notion of a simple faith conversion experience. Any soul, especially a hardened sinner, need only put his trust in the Mercy of the Savior, and he can be assured of a place in heaven; all sin is instantly forgiven, obliterated by the justifying sacrifice of Christ on the Cross. But Sister Faustina's experience of Divine Mercy is wholly Catholic in its understanding. Her revelations never consciously strayed from Catholic doctrine, and everything she experienced was subjected to the discernment of her superiors, confessors and spiritual directors.

This Divine Mercy is constantly contrasted with her own unworthiness and with the wrath of God which she and every sinner rightly deserves. It is, moreover, a very costly gift. Sister Faustina's short life was marked by an extraordinary amount of physical, emotional and spiritual suffering, which she came to see as a sharing in Christ's own salvific sufferings. As Christ's bride, it was her duty and high privilege to suffer like and with Him, and for the same purpose - to bring wayward souls to salvation. So much so that she begged Jesus to allow her to drain her cup of suffering to the last dreg. She was granted this request, and, after years of intense suffering, died of tuberculosis at the Christ-like age of 33.

Two quotes from the book:

"Some day, we will know the value of suffering, but then we will no longer be able to suffer." [963]

"If the angels were capable of envy, they would envy us for two things: one is the receiving of Holy Communion, and the other is suffering." [1804]

Let the reader - especially the serious Catholic - beware. This book could change your life.



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Goodreads review: Healing the Culture

Healing the Culture: A Commonsense Philosophy of Happiness, Freedom, and the Life Issues by Robert J. Spitzer

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The faculty of reason should be seen as the common denominator uniting people of various beliefs and persuasions. As rational beings, we have the privilege and obligation to use the discipline of logic and reason in addressing human difficulties and controversies.

Healing the Culture, by Robert J. Spitzer, S.J., Ph.D., qualifies as a work of reason. Spitzer employs a step-by-step common sense approach to construct a framework of timeless and universal principles, and applies those principles to current cultural crises, especially abortion and euthanasia.

Spitzer begins by defining four levels of happiness. The first level is characterized by immediate gratification, of maximizing pleasure and minimizing pain. The second level is typified by the comparison mentality, of achieving competitive advantage and bolstering one's ego. The third level goes beyond self, toward seeking the good of others. The fourth and highest level of happiness is derived from giving and receiving ultimate or transcendant goodness -- Truth, Love, Justice, Beauty. These four levels move from the immediate to the enduring, from the shallow to the profound.

Next, Spitzer draws connections between one's view of happiness and one's view of other principles: success, self-worth, love, suffering, ethics, freedom, personhood, rights, and the common good. He treats each of these in depth, but perhaps personhood, when looking at abortion and euthanasia, is the critical point.

All too often, the debate over life issues such as abortion and euthanasia are typified on both sides by political posturing, anecdotal arguments, and emotional pleas. Spitzer's reasoned and methodical approach is both refreshing and extremely important. It is an example of good philosophy that is practical, rational, and engaging.

Using rigorous logic, Spitzer examines various criteria for defining who is and is not a person. Reason dictates that such a definition not be tied to accidental, temporary, or non-essential traits, but that it must depend upon inherent powers and essential attributes, regardless of whether those attributes are currently manifest, dormant, or undeveloped. Spitzer concludes, quite reasonably, that every being of human origin should be considered a person. It is important to note that Spitzer does all this in a way that even an unbeliever would find compelling, providing that said unbeliever is honest, willing to think, and is a person of basic good will. It is also important to note the legal and cultural ramifications of these simple but profound ideas.

Pope John-Paul II repeatedly called upon Christians to build a 'culture of life'. Benedict XVI emphasized the importance of using reason in our dealings with the culture. In my opinion, Healing the Culture fulfills both of these mandates, and is well worth reading, digesting, and sharing.



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Goodreads review: War Against Population

The War Against Population: The Economics and Ideology of Population Control by Jacqueline Kasun

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


A host of issues such as poverty, hunger, AIDS, and Global Warming have been attributed by many to the general ill effects of overpopulation. But when the particulars are looked at case by case, no causal connection can be shown. Consider a certain famine, and you find its primary cause is a civil or regional war. Examine an epidemic, and you find that it resulted from widespread sexual promiscuity. Another devastating crisis is seen to come via a combination of political greed, incompetent management, and uncontrollable natural forces. Show me, if you can, a specific, serious human problem that is demonstrably caused by Too Many People. To date, I haven't seen a single instance.

Is there something in the human psyche that demands simplistic answers? ("If we can just solve the overpopulation problem, everything will be OK.") Or do we find dark delight in news of impending doom? Or a secret self-loathing, that readily embraces the notion that we ourselves are the biggest problem? It is interesting to note that population control advocates have nearly always been members of rich, industrialized nations.

A more sinister explanation to consider is that some people are deliberately beating the overpopulation drum to further their own agenda. One extremely well-researched book that explores this possibility is Dr. Jacqueline Kasun's 1988 (later updated) book, The War Against Population. This is not some nutty 'conspiracy theory' work. It is well documented in showing that some very powerful elitists view population control as a key to their political and material interests. To really control people (and their stuff), control their numbers. One well-exposed example is the Nixon Administration's 1974 National Security Council Memorandum 200 (NSSM 200), a.k.a. the "Kissinger Report", and subtitled "Implications of Worldwide Population Growth For U.S. Security and Overseas Interests". Consider just this one citation among many from NSSM 200:

Whatever may be done to guard against interruptions of supply and to develop domestic alternatives, the U.S. economy will require large and increasing amounts of minerals from abroad, especially from less developed countries [See National Commission on Materials Policy, Towards a National Materials Policy: Basic Data and Issues, April 1972]. That fact gives the U.S. enhanced interest in the political, economic, and social stability of the supplying countries. Wherever a lessening of population pressures through reduced birth rates can increase the prospects for such stability, population policy becomes relevant to resource supplies and to the economic interests of the United States. (NSSM 200, CHAPTER III - MINERALS AND FUEL)

In addition to exposing an anti-population agenda, Dr. Kasun presents a formidable quantity of evidence to debunk the myth - and groundless fear - that we humans are too many in number, or anywhere near too many. Do you find this important? Are you willing to perhaps question the scientific neutrality of many population studies? In the interest of intellectual honesty, I highly recommend The War Against Population as an excellent starting point for such questions.



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Slouching Towards Savagery

Combining two earlier thoughts: The previous post "God, Husband and Father" opined that Patriarchy (and, with it, civilization)

...starts with the Woman, and it starts with raw biology. The beginning of the patriarchal order is when the woman binds herself to one man and one man only. She in effect decides to belong to that one man, most likely to the man to whom she gives her virginity.

Secondly, my early impression of Nicaragua (the "Repaso" post) contains this paragraph:

But if I expected to find the same innocent culture that I encountered in Guatemala in 1975, in that I have been disappointed. Along with money and technology, most Americans and Europeans have brought with them the corrupt morals and worldviews that threaten to completely undermine their own native cultures. And with few exceptions, Nicaraguans look up to their wealthier neighbors and want to be more like them. So the same kinds of trashy TV, political ideologies and immorality are flooding in, and folks here seem generally to be eager to emulate Americans and Europeans, even if in lemming fashion it ends with their own demise.

My sentiments have not changed much in the two years since I wrote the above. The culture of Central America (perhaps of the whole world) is slipping steadily into a dull savagery. And I think it has to do with the feminization of the culture and of women's independence.

The feminized culture isn't the Utopia promised by the feminists, especially for women. Since a 'liberated' society means sex without responsibility, its women are much more likely to attract womanizers and misogynistic woman abusers. Indeed, a feminist culture is a paradise for these irresponsible miscreants. Likewise ample accommodation is given for serial sex and the adulterous changing of partners, a sort of prostitution in slow motion. Likewise for sterile, childless or one-or-two-children households. What is increasingly not tolerated in the feminized world is the large and stable patriarchal family where an unattached man marries a virgin and where true motherhood is cherished.

Because of a lazy, feminist lack of strong fatherhood in the Church, and a resulting lack of strong fatherhood in society, any sanctions or taboos against unwed sexual activity are downplayed or completely ignored. (God forbid that we should marginalize or offend the whores or their bastards!) Socialist government programs insure that fatherless families are well tended to. As a result, young women have no fear or scruples about promiscuity, and tend to deliberately choose mates with no commitment. I guess liberated (savage) women find liberated (savage) men attractive.

When women choose savagery, there is little or nothing that men can do about it except play the same game. The typical gigolo / womanizer has several women, either in succession or at the same time, and perhaps dozens of biological offspring whom he need not support. The decent man who wants a stable relationship and who wants to be a real father is lucky to find one woman (usually one who was not his virgin) and will produce zero or one of his own offspring, while perhaps supporting one or more bastards from his wife's previous lover(s). So the gigolo's biological offspring, not the good man's, are well represented in each succeeding generation. In this game of demographic natural selection, women decide who will win, and right now the gigolo is winning big time. Civilization starts with the Woman; so does its demise.

As implied above, I have no idea whether this is a global phenomenon or an anomaly of Central American culture. I suspect the former. Nor do I have a solution to suggest. Perhaps the situation will be self-corrective. Since matriarchy / savagery is inherently unstable and backward, the whole damned house of cards may soon collapse. Globally, I suppose patriarchal Muslims will survive the collapse and effectively own the demographic future, with perhaps a few scattered pockets of traditional, large, patriarchal families keeping the Christian faith burning here and there.

God, Husband and Father

In the previous post, I offered my radical (root cause) analysis of the current moral crisis in the world. Now for an even more radical analysis, of a deeper root cause, a systemic ill at foundational levels...

Until recent times, the patriarchal structure of families and of society was not seriously questioned. And for good reason: from a Scriptural point of view, the most basic human authority is that established by God before the Fall of Man - the authority of Man over the rest of God's creation, and the real authority which God bestowed upon Adam over Eve, and, by extension, of all husbands over their wives. This domestic line of authority is, from a divine point of view, the source of all other human authority, the beginning of all human organization and governance.

    As an important aside, it must be pointed out that patriarchal authority does not automatically infer actual superiority. Jehovah's Witnesses (not the brightest bulbs in the pack) make the intellectual blunder of deciding that, since Jesus obeys the Father he must be inferior to the Father and therefore not divine. Feminists make the identical error in proclaiming that Patriarchy degrades women by making wives obey their husbands.
    Notice that in all four biblical passages¹ where wives are enjoined to be subject to their husbands, they are told to obey their own husbands. Which is to say, they have no business obeying other men. This debunks the feminist myth, does it not? For the feminist complaint to be credible, Patriarchy would have to demand that all women obey all men because of their innate inferiority to them.
    As it is, true Patriarchy is about a divinely established order, and has nothing to do with an organic superiority. In this context, the word 'superior' may denote an order of authority, but it does not necessarily mean a higher level of worth or goodness. Consider: The Catholic Faith teaches that in the Holy Family there was one sinner, one sinless human, and one sinless divine-human. Yet the sinful Joseph had patriarchal authority over Mary and the child Jesus, both of whom were really superior to him.

---

1.  Eph.5:22, Col.3:18, Tit.2:5, I Pet.3:1

Moreover, this patriarchal pattern is reflected in - nay, is the essence of - true monotheism, the relationship between Man and the Almighty. God as Father and God as divine Lover are two parts of one ancient theme. The pages of Scripture, both old and new testaments, are full of references to a nuptial relationship between God and his people. That most grevious sin of idolatry is always portrayed as the sin of adultery, analogous to the traitorous deceit of an espoused bride leaving her true husband and embracing false lovers.

As St. Augustine pointed out, the human soul is always feminine before God. But notice that for
Augustine's insight to make any sense, we must assume a patriarchal structure to our own human society. We must first understand that it is right and necessary for every young lady to save her virginity for one man, and then devote herself to that one man. And the man must then be willing to shoulder his responsibility as leader and provider and father. Only when we accept this as our norm can we see our proper posture before God our Father. There is a necessary link between the patriarchal roots of civilization and the patriarchal essence of true religion.

Interestingly, it starts with the Woman, and it starts with raw biology. The beginning of the patriarchal order is when the woman binds herself to one man and one man only. She in effect decides to belong to that one man, most likely to the man to whom she gives her virginity. If the man finds her devotion credible, he can for the first time know what the woman always knows via her biological role: he can know his own children. He can be a father in the true sense, and can shoulder the responsibility for both his devoted wife and for their children. From a biological point of view, the woman's devotion and submission is what enables the man to abandon the haphazard biological strategy of spreading his seed as widely and generously as possible, and to adopt instead the better approach, of caring for his own children and for their mother. It is the woman's feminine devotion that makes patriarchy - fatherhood - possible, and which is therefore the beginning and foundation of civilization as we know it.

Likewise, the soul that would be saved must abandon all false lovers and give herself wholly to her God. Like the devoted virgin giving herself to one man only, the Church and each of her members must be devoted wholly to God our Father and divine Lover. This means we must categorically reject the surrounding culture and its values. We can no longer pretend to be friends of this current culture nor of those holding worldly power (Jas.4:4). Having devoted ourselves to God alone, we must reject the adulterous advances of all others, especially the usurpations of feminists and egalitarians.

Consider how our present world scorns fatherhood. The feminist / egalitarian / homosexual campaign to redefine marriage and the family amounts to a rejection of the patriarchal institutions of marriage and family. Portraying abortion as solely a woman's 'right' deliberately ignores the rights of the baby and also denies the holistic patriarchal structure of the family and the responsibility of the father. The breadwinner status in the home is supplanted by government entitlements which foster dependency upon the bureaucracy and render genuine fatherhood practically superfluous. The net effect of the world's agenda is to foster a post-civilized savagery in which both men and women flit from mate to mate like bees flitting from flower to flower. Can someone tell me how a child of God can be on friendly terms with such? No, the Christian politician - or even the Christian who is a friend of politics - is a contradiction of terms, an oxymoronic impossibility. The Christian who cavorts with worldly powers is more prostitute than bride. Every soul that would be devoted to God must heed St. Peter's Pentecost call to "save yourselves from this wicked generation." (Acts 2:40)

Unless we reject the soft tyranny of feminism and return as a people to the disciplined virtues of patriarchy, we will lose all vestiges of fatherhood. Which is to say, we will be lost and uncivilized, no better than wild animals. And unless we return as a Church to a wholehearted devotion to God and a rejection of our surrounding culture, we will lose our connection to God our Father, and will be damned.

The Abdication of Conscience

The political and cultural battle continues to rage over whether the government can rightfully usurp people's consciences by, for example, forcing Catholic hospitals to perform abortions, or forcing adoption agencies to place children with same-sex couples. The struggle is over whether the government can be allowed to trump faith and conscience.

I believe this battle is much older than most folks realize. The conscience clause ought to have been raised several decades ago when the government began to use public money to fund abortions, sterilizations, and the like. If it is wrong to commit an abortion, then it is also wrong to pay for one. If the government must not force a Christian physician to do abortions, it must likewise not force the taxpayer to fund them. It is this simple but radical conviction that led me to launch ProLifeStrike.org over 4 years ago.

But is this really the root (radicus) of the problem? Perhaps the issue goes back even further. Like maybe the 1940's, back to FDR and the New Deal. And then greatly intensified in the 70's and beyond with LBJ's Great Society and the War On Poverty.

Raised in a liberal Democrat home, it was difficult for me to make this radical (root cause) connection. For a long time I was strongly in favor of the various social programs of the liberal Democrats. It initially made no sense to me that the same politicians who wanted to 'help' the poor also wanted to abandon the poorest among us, those who cannot raise even a tiny voice in protest. Only gradually has it occurred to me that government entitlement programs and tax-funded abortions are woven of the same fabric. And only recently have I begun to understand the reason why. It has to do with the question above: Ought religious people surrender their faith and conscience to government authority?

The corporal and spiritual works of mercy - feed the hungry, clothe the naked, instruct the ignorant, give aid to the homeless, the sick, and the dying - have always been an integral part of an authentic life of faith. But nowhere in Scripture or in sound Catholic teaching are we commanded to turn these duties over to a secular government. In fact, the desire to do so could be seen as an abdication of one's personal responsibilities. The faithful Christian must feed the hungry and clothe the naked. To ask Barack Obama and Nancy Pelosi to do this for me is to surrender my moral conscience to them. If you want Barack Obama to be your conscience with regard to the hungry and poor, then he will also be your conscience with regard to the pre-born and sexual deviation. The problem with ObamaCare is not an inadequate conscience clause. The problem with ObamaCare is ObamaCare. The problem with ObamaCare is the New Deal and the Great Society. The problem began when the government usurped the Church's responsibility to the poor and needy, when the government began to commandeer people's consciences, and when Christians willingly abdicated.

Blogger's Block

Despite (or perhaps because of) my recent blog-fade, the last post attracted 3 quite different and interesting comments, albeit over the course of nearly 9 months of silence from me, which represents an exception to the general lack of interest shown most other posts.

While acknowledging that criticisms of my writings are usually well deserved, allow me to offer the following defense:

• Re-read the top line of the aforesaid post. I have never claimed any prophetic charism for myself, but was mostly just repeating a thought from a brother in Christ that struck me, as it still does, as being insightful and prophetic. And a bit scary.
• The immediate and precise details not being realized, it yet remains to be seen whether the main point will come to pass - namely, will Obama break diplomatic ties with Israel, and will this finally call down God's righteous judgment upon America?
• I can't explain why I felt compelled to attempt a 'prophetic' blog post. It was my first and, most likely, last such attempt. Neither can I explain my subsequent writer's block and inabilility to offer further thoughts. Perhaps the two inexplicable phenomena are related.

The final point is currently forefront in my mind. Not that I have been completely silent (see my Books page and my other blog.) I have not yet learned to just humbly shut up (Job 40:4,5). But perhaps my blogging days are coming to an end. "Dogpatch, Ergo sum" was always an Idea blog; perhaps I simply have no further ideas or new thoughts to offer.

No, that's not exactly true. I do have at least one additional thought rattling around inside my skull for some time now. Not sure if I will ever get around to articulating it here. But here's a hint: if I write an article about this thought, I would like it to happen sometime before Father's Day. That gives me - what? - 2 or 3 months to write the article. Or not.

Prophecy

The following is not my invention, but an observation made by a fellow believer three years ago, which struck me then as it still does, as prophetic.

Why hasn't God judged America?

If this seems a strange question to you; if you do not see how sorely America deserves God's judgment, then read no further; you are clueless. But if you have asked this question yourself, consider the following:

God has not yet judged America because of the promise made in Gen.12:3. When the Almighty called Abram to become the father of faith, he said, "I will bless those who bless thee, and I will curse those who curse thee." This promise was transmitted to Abraham and also to his offspring - but only to the offspring of the promise, to Isaac, Jacob, and to the chosen race, the Jewish people. As Jesus said in Jn.4:22, "...salvation is from the Jews", and as Pope Pius XI affirmed, "We are all spiritual semites."

It is a fact of history that those nations, kingdoms, and empires that have been a blessing to the Jewish people have prospered, while those that have persecuted God's chosen race have not done so well. America has generally been good to the Jews and has furthermore been a strong ally of the nation of Israel. So America has enjoyed God's blessing of prosperity, despite the great travesties and moral corruption of which she is guilty. The first clause of the promise applies to America: "I will bless those who bless thee." But should America turn her back on the chosen race, the second clause will take effect: "I will curse those who curse thee."

The prophecy is this: Barak Obama will lose the 2012 election. The Republicans will regain the White House, and quite possibly regain several seats in Congress as well. Conservatives in general and Pro-Lifers in particular will be dancing in the streets and will proclaim with characteristic optimism that the tide has turned, and that America is headed for true reform.

But there are 75 days between Election Day and Inauguration Day. With nothing to lose politically, Obama will use those 75 days to deliberately pick a fight with Israel over some pretended grievance. He will then break diplomatic ties with Israel, and in so doing will finally call down God's righteous curse.

Remember as well - - Inauguration Day 2013 falls within a couple days of the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade. 40 years is the Scriptural limit of God's patience (e.g. Ps.95:10).

Fortnight for Freedom Protest

I guess the good news is that 'Catholics' for Equality, which bills itself as "the country's largest national political organization of pro-LGBT equality Catholics", could only muster a handful of protesters. Click on the photo to see their site. Can you find more than a dozen or so individuals protesting?

It remains to be seen whether or not this event means that our bishops are finally getting a set. One can always hope.