Tuesday, September 30, 2014

From Virtue Online - PB Schori Not Running for a Second Term



The big news of course was the announcement by Presiding Bishop Jefferts Schori that she would not run for a second term, even though age wise she is still eligible. She made the announcement that she would not run again, but didn't tell us much about her plans for the future. Perhaps scuba diving for squid might once again appear on her horizon or flying planes low over the Utah desert just for fun.

What is a male leader doing among
the bosses of Episcopal-Lutherans in North America?



When You Try To Go to Church Officials Because of an Abusive Pastor



Someone asked me why I did not join a particular group. He must think I miss the beatings.

I am content to view apostasy from the outside, so someone does not try to claim, "This applies to everyone except us."

God save me from the "confessionals" on the inside, who disappear faster than rabbits into the warren  - when an official stamps his feet. The number of "confessionals" decreases by 90% at the first thump.

Thirty seven years of sending leaders to Fuller Seminary,
Willow Creek, and Trinity Divinity for training - and now this.

Thank You SNAP - And the Shattered Pulpit Blog.
Lesson Learned - Do Not Contact a DP, Especially Not Kudu Don Patterson

A Catholic blogger is not happy with the general situation,
but glad Melnick got the Left Foot of Fellowship.

Bishop to new priests - "Infiltrate the world."


  1. Yell County Priest Removed For Alleged Sexual Misconduct



    ARKANSASTimes Record

    By John Lyon

    Arkansas News Bureau jlyon@arkansasnews.com

    LITTLE ROCK — The bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Little Rock says a Yell County priest has been removed from the ministry and will not be allowed to function as a priest again because of “credible allegations of sexual misconduct.”

    In a homily that Bishop Anthony Taylor delivered Sunday in Russellville, Dardanelle and Danville and that was posted on the the diocese’s website, Taylor said church officials received allegations the previous weekend that Father James Melnick had committed “multiple acts of sexual misconduct with multiple adult victims” over a period of less than a year.

    Melnick, 30, was ordained in 2009 and was assigned to Danville and Dardanelle in March 2013, according to the diocese.

    “Since there were multiple victims, we seem to be dealing with predatory behavior, not romance,” Taylor said in the post.

    Taylor said church officials verified the allegations by interviewing Melnick and some of the victims. He also apologized to any who were harmed by Melnick.

    “I sincerely regret the harm you have suffered and in the name of the Church I apologize to you for what Father Melnick has done. Given what was shared with you today and what Father Melnick has admitted to doing, the Church would never allow a priest in situation like this to ever to function as a priest again,” Taylor said in the post.



  2. It takes a lot of courage to speak up and take action about being sexually abused. This is not an easy thing to do. But let's hope that anyone who may have knowledge or may have been harmed by Father James Melnick, will come forward and contact law enforcement, not the church officials. They are not the proper officials to be investigation sex crimes no matter how long ago it happened.
    Sex abuse thrives in secrecy and secret systems that allow it to continue to this day.
    Silence only hurts, and by speaking up there is a chance for healing, exposing the truth, and therefore protecting others.
    Judy Jones, SNAP Midwest Associate Director, USA, 636-433-2511. snapjudy@gmail.com,
    "SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests)

http://www.arkansas-catholic.org/news/article/3998/Father-Carrasco-to-begin-new-assignment-Oct.-1

Effective Sept. 21
  • Rev. James Melnick relieved of his responsibilities as pastor of St. Augustine Church in Dardanelle, St. Andrew Church in Danville and associate pastor for Hispanic Ministry in St. John Church in Russellville. He is suspended from active ministry.
- See more at: http://www.arkansas-catholic.org/news/article/3998/Father-Carrasco-to-begin-new-assignment-Oct.-1#sthash.0FFLHg3Q.dpuf

Author Archive: Fr. James Melnick


A priest of Little Rock, a fan of St. Philip Neri, Pope Benedict XVI, the New Evangelization and the Washington Nationals. Addicted to coffee and mexican food.
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Immigrant Children: Refugees from Failed States

 • July 28, AD2014 • 11 Comments
Immigrant Children: Refugees from Failed States
Bishop Anthony Taylor, ordinary of the Diocese of Little Rock, released a statement concerning the young immigrants who have arrived on our borders. If people understood the hardships of the situation in Latin America, we would not only invoke the inalienable right to immigrate but also the mercy due to refugees.  For many dioceses in […]

MARRIAGE: A Well-Defined Union

 • June 17, AD2014 • 5 Comments
MARRIAGE:  A Well-Defined Union
“Many well-meaning people think same-sex marriage is just about equality and spreading the benefits of marriage. Its more radical supporters know it’s about destroying marriage itself.”   ~Robinson and Richards, Indivisible “We must continue to witness to the truth about marriage, find new ways to make the reasoned case about what marriage is and work to […]
---


  • Age: 25 
  • Hometown: Cabot 
  • Parish: St. Jude, Jacksonville 
  • Education: Cabot High School, bachelor's degree from Holy Trinity Seminary in Irving, Texas, seeking licentiate in sacred theology from the John Paul II Institute at the Lateran University in Rome 
  • Parents: Marvella Melnick of Cabot and Jim Melnick of Lonoke 
  • Influential priests in his life: Father Thomas Keller, Father Thomas Arackal, Father Les Farley

  • - See more at: http://www.arkansas-catholic.org/news/article/1784#sthash.IZYe3efl.dpuf

    ***

    GJ - What have we learned today? The Roman Catholic Church can kick someone out of the priesthood, not just transfer the criminal to a new place. Melnick had been recently moved, but that is hard to decipher in regards to a priest. Melnick admitted what he did with a number of adults and is therefore labeled "a predator." He was suspended about one week ago, but kicked out of the priesthood as of today.

    Secrecy really helps. If a Lutheran pastor is moved around by cooperative District Presidents, no one really knows why he has been in four congregations in four different districts. Leaving the state seems to grant absolution and total memory loss.

    Dealing honestly with these predators is not a Lutheran priority. SNAP has worked this in the Catholic Church for decades now, pioneers in identifying the "transfer the drunken predator" method of church management.

    Lillian and the rest - If you have been victimized by a Lutheran pastor, do not contact the officials at all. Get your facts together and go to an attorney. A series of lawsuits will help thwart this, but certainly not overnight. Many legal settlements have been made already and hidden from the sight of innocent members.

    One LCMS DP screamed at an honest pastor, "If this goes to court, it will cost us $10 million - there goes your mission to Russia."

    Kudu Don Patterson, SP Mark Schroeder, and DPs Zank and Engelbrecht do NOT want to help. They want -

    • To Silence
    • To Intimidate
    • To Stop the Lawsuits
    • To Break Up Trusted Relationships.
    Buchholz knew all about Ski and chuckled about it. That is a typical WELS reaction, especially among the "leaders." Does anyone thing that Buchholz would help with predators? His mission in life is to wipe out justification by faith.


    Sassy Sings the Blues Again - And Delivers Roses

    Sassy loves to catch her ball - for a cheering audience.
    We walk the neighborhood twice a day, and her fans come out to greet her.
    I was near our helper's home when his little girl, playing outside, opened the front door
    and told her parents, "Sassy's here."

    Last night we sang another chorus of the Cattle Dog Blues. Sassy joined in and howled at the right places.

    She helped me deliver roses to our neighbors earlier, barking to hurry me up. Sassy's walk is so important that she barks me away from conversations, if possible. I ask her, "Do you have an appointment somewhere? What's the hurry?" At other times she will sit and scan the area, keeping track of all activity and sound. Between her talkative Cattle Dog energy and her German Shepherd protection, she never rests.

    Mrs. Gardener answered the door and admired the roses. Her husband opened a front window and said, "Are you the guy who keeps giving my wife roses?" He laughed.

    I said, "You ordered them," so she mentioned an old song about a man losing his girlfriend to a guy who brought her roses. Right in the middle was a very large red rose with powerful fragrance and bronze to green foliage, certainly the best single bloom among many marvels.

    Knockout - small, rapid bloomer, intense color.


    The roses go through their bloom cycle a bit differently. The hybrid tea roses are slower but yield much bigger blooms. The small, red Knockout roses bloom constantly, especially when Alex has been there to prune all the old blooms off.

    The only soil amendments are newspapers, wood mulch, earthworms, and Epsom Salt. I read some more about the Epsom Salt, which is especially good for roses.

    I sprayed a couple of roses once but never again. I do have some black spot on one rose, but I expected that on one or another rose. The old Persian rose introduced colors into the rose family - and vulnerability to black spot. The only thing I can do is prune black spot away and throw away the affected parts (see John 15:1-10).

    Epsom salt is good for germination of seed, so I added some to the new spinach row and the White Profusion butterfly bush. The tiny flowers already had a Monarch butterfly sipping from them.

    Epsom salt dissolves instantly in water, so I laugh at all the websites that say "Stir Epsom salt into the top layer of soil." (Martha Stewart too.) I sprinkle it on top before I water the plants or  I go out during a rain. Very few advice pages come from active gardeners. They often read like public relations blurbs written by city slickers who don't know which end of a shovel to use.

    I have never had such strong and productive roses in the first year. Our yard is blessed with clay soil, and a concentration on soil health has made that clay even more beneficial.

    Clay exchanges mineral ions better than any other type of soil, but clay needs organic matter to lighten up its cement-like heaviness. Given a feast of organic matter on the surface (mulch, manure, leaves, compost) - the soil creatures will tunnel, dig, and mix that clay into supersoil with a great ability to hold water.


    Let's skip the laxative. Great for human feet and rose feet (roots).


    Monday, September 29, 2014

    Mulching Is For the Birds

    Many butterflies only feed from a specific plant.

    A book on raising plants to attract birds made this point - A mulched garden will draw many birds, because they will search for food just beneath the layer of organic matter.

    You're traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind; a journey into a wondrous land whose boundaries are that of imagination. That's the signpost up ahead—your next stop, the Creation Zone.

    Exhibit A - Picture if you will an unusual bush, not just any bush, but a very special bush. The gardener has placed a layer of mulch underneath - no soil or weeds are visible through this layer.

    Exhibit B - In contrast, imagine the typical American plant, standing alone with all the leaf litter cleared and raked away to the soil below. Weeds have also been removed, since they grow where sun reaches bare soil.

    The Monarch lays its eggs on milkweed and the related butterfly weed.


    Exhibit A Examined
    The first plant will always have moist soil underneath, because wind and sun have been blocked from drying the soil. Besides that, rotting organic matter will hold moisture while it is decaying. Since the sun is blocked, the recycling soil creatures can toil in the shade, shredding the mulch. Earthworms will be active in rising to the surface for food and restroom facilities, creating tunnels for air, root penetration, and rain channels.

    Since the mulch favors the plant, more material will rain down to feed the mulch layer, as leaves form, age, decay, and drop off.

    The lawnmower will not be pushed beneath the bush, because no one wants to choke the blade with mulch. There are no weeds or grass to cut where mulch is placed.

    Exhibit B Examined
    The second plant exposes its best soil, the top soil, to wind and water erosion. That soil is always dry from sun and wind evaporation. Soil creatures will work underneath, but only during bankers' hours for decay, when darkness reigns and they are safe.

    The bush will need more watering, so it will be somewhat hampered by mixing chlorinated city water with rain water. Only the rain brings fixed nitrogen to green up the plant and promote growth. My mother was famous for her classroom flowers that always bloomed. She stored the water to let it evaporate the chlorine out - before she put it on her plants.

    Birds may nest in this bush but will not feed much beneath it. They sleep when the soil creatures come out to feed in the darkness.

    Since weeds and grass continue to grow underneath the bush, the mulch-free gardener will disturb the soil with various tools for stopping the beneficial action of soil creatures - the lawnmower, the rake, and the three-toothed hoe.

    Bluebirds love suet because they are insect eating birds.


    Trapping the Nutrition
    When the soil population is increased, many good things happen at once.

    • Moisture is held in the top twelve inches of soil, part of each bacterium, nematode, fungus, earthworm, ant, spider, sowbug, pillbug, and springtail. 
    • A billion creatures here, a billion creatures there - it starts to add up. No springtail is an island, each to his own. Every springtail  is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a bug be washed away by the sea, America is the less.
    • The nutrients pass from creature to creature instead of being drained from the soil. That bag of fertilizer ends up in the water table, with only a little of the nitrogen in the soil. Rainwater's nitrogen is trapped in the root layer and fed into the plants' roots by fungus.
    • The soil population attracts a larger and healthier bird population to keep harmful insects under control.

    God is in charge of the soil, in spite of man's worst efforts, so plants continue to grow in the wreckage caused by misinformed gardeners, who do more work for fewer results, spending a lot more money.

    Dandelion seeds feed birds, and the down parachutes line their nests.
    Leave that herb alone, you Scotts Weed and Feed slave!


    From Crabgrass to Green Manure
    I had a patch of garden go wild with crabgrass - not much different from entire rose gardens not far from our house. My excuse was the fence where water dripped down for the pole bean crop. Lacking mulch, the weeds flourished. Instead of hacking, thrashing, and cutting through the jungle, which would have ended the bean crop, I threw down soggy masses of newspapers, which blocked the sunlight and ended the brief reign of crabgrass. They turned into green manure. The pole beans continue to produce.

    That took five minutes work.

    Keeping organic matter in the yard will increase the population fed by decomposition. Adding organic matter will also be beneficial.

    These laws of Creations were fixed at the beginning, with a perfect balance between prey and predators,

    Butterfly weed is a beautiful flower that favors the Monarch.



    Sunday, September 28, 2014

    Massive File Swapping Scandal at the Other Vactican

    Vatican's previous envoy to the Dominican Republic Jozef Wesolowski who has been sacked amid an investigation in Rome into accusations he had sex with children
    seen here in Santo Domingo, on August 12, 2011.

    http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/vatican-paedophilia-scandal-archbishop-jozef-wesolowski-stored-over-100000-child-porn-videos-1467410
    A former Vatican archbishop accused of paedophilia stored tens of thousands of child porn videos and photos on a computer in his office at the Holy See diplomatic compound in the Dominican Republic, it has emerged.
    Details of Jozef Wesolowski's massive child porn stash have been revealed after the 66-year-old was arrested at the Vatican earlier this week.
    He is the highest-ranking Vatican official ever to be investigated for sex abuse, and the first top papal representative to receive a defrocking sentence. He has been charged with sexually abusing minors and child porn possession and might face up to seven years in the Vatican's tiny jail.
    Vatican detectives analysed the PC Wesolowski used in his office in Santo Domingo, where he served as Holy See envoy from 2008 to 2012 as part of an investigation into the alleged sexual abuse of underage boys.
    The probe reportedly revealed a collection of horrors. The Polish native held more than 100,000 sexually-explicit files, Il Corriere della Sera newspaper reported....
    ***
    GJ - Many disgusting details follow, but nothing about absolving him and getting him a top lawyer and work release.

    The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity, 2014.
    Consider the Lilies



    The Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity, 2014

    Pastor Gregory L. Jackson




    The Hymn #396   O For a Faith                                                            4:18 
    The Confession of Sins
    The Absolution
    The Introit p. 16
    The Gloria Patri
    The Kyrie p. 17
    The Gloria in Excelsis
    The Salutation and Collect p. 19
    The Epistle and Gradual       
    The Gospel              
    Glory be to Thee, O Lord!
    Praise be to Thee, O Christ!
    The Nicene Creed             p. 22
    The Sermon Hymn #657                Beautiful Savior                                4:24

    Consider the Lilies of the Field


    The Communion Hymn # 305:1-5                       Soul, Adorn Thyself             4:23
    The Preface p. 24
    The Sanctus p. 26
    The Lord's Prayer p. 27
    The Words of Institution
    The Agnus Dei p. 28
    The Nunc Dimittis p. 29
    The Benediction p. 31
    The Hymn #23    Hallelujah! Let Praises Ring                                        4:77

    KJV Galatians 5:25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not be desirous of vain glory, provoking one another, envying one another. 6:1 Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.  2 Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ. 3 For if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.  4 But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another.  5 For every man shall bear his own burden.  6 Let him that is taught in the word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things.  7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.  8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.  9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.  10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

    KJV Matthew 6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. 25 Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? 26 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? 27 Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? 28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: 29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

    FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY
    Lord God, heavenly Father, we thank Thee for all Thy benefits: that Thou hast given us life and graciously sustained us unto this day: We beseech Thee, take not Thy blessing from us; preserve us from covetousness, that we may serve Thee only, love and abide in Thee, and not defile ourselves by idolatrous love of mammon, but hope and trust only in Thy grace, through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, one true God, world without end. Amen.

    http://ichabodthegloryhasdeparted.blogspot.com/2013/04/norma-boecklers-new-book-treasury-of.html

    ---

    Consider the Lilies of the Field

    Matthew 6:28 And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin:  29 And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 

    The Scriptures are based upon the foundation of Creation through God's Word. God commanded through the Son. When He said, Let there be light, light came into existence. And thus the entire universe came into being through the Word. It is one of those great ironies - and a sign of the times - that this Creation by the Word is so neglected.

    One would never know from reading today that the great scientists of the past were also Creationists. They observed and saw Creation. There is perfect harmony between Creation and the efficacy of the Word in Lutheran doctrine, because that is the Biblical teaching. Just as God willing the universe into being by the Word, so He declares the Gospel Promises, fills us with faith, and gives us forgiveness through faith.

    I am not going to prove Creation through the scientists of the past, but they had no trouble being pioneers in science who communicated in the language of Creation. America was described by one of the early scientists exactly that way. This land has more natural blessings than any other.

    One is the Great Plains. The prairie grass sent down enormously deep roots, which were the foundation of creating soil, with the help of microbes and soil creatures. Prairie fires only made the soil more productive, since ash is good for the soil and roots simply sent up more plants to enjoy the sun and bison contributions. One herd ran beside an observer for days. We talk about man's wisdom, but how many can even imagine such a large system, the bison herd, sustained by food and water.

    The Great Plains set up America as a great agricultural nation with the richest soil on earth, except for the Ukraine, a similar area. And it is based on the lilies of the field, the wild flowers that gave us 20 feet deep topsoil across the Midwest - with no trees in sight.

    We all love flowers or no one would ask about flowers on the altar. The hybrid flowers are fun to grow. I recall one gardening specialist talking about "roses the size of dinner plates" and "Tropicana, which you can identify from 200 feet away." He was rather scornful of hybrids, but we like them.

    There is no reason to scorn the wild flowers. My mother was a specialist in them. She would bend over and say, "Shepherd's Purse." From that time on I would spot Shepherd's Purse, a modest flower and seedpod, yet one our pet rabbits loved. 

    The structure and beauty of the wild flowers should fill us with as much joy and wonder as the new editions of the flowers God created. Consider the lilies of the field. They do not worry and work. They have no human skills of sewing and embroidery. Yet Solomon at the peak of his wealth never wore such beautiful clothing as these wild flowers.

    This is a Gospel lesson about teaching us not to worry. God often delays answering our prayers. We wonder if we are forgotten, since the crooks and bullies are doing so well. But God rewards us with blessings that make us that much more thankful.

    Here is one wild flower - the dandelion. The roots can make coffee. The leaves are packed with nutrition. The flowers are among the sweetest of all and can be used for making wine. People fret over getting rid of it.

    Yesterday I began studying a book on planting for birds. I wanted to encourage the birds with a variety of easy to grow plants that were needed by many species. High on the list - dandelions. Birds love their seeds and use the parachute fuzz to line their nests.

    Dandelions are good for the soil, drilling down with their taproots and bringing up nutrition, fanning out with their leaves and providing a shelter and food source for bacteria, protozoa, fungi, and earthworms. 

    And yet they are despised, plucked, poisoned, and cursed. When we had rabbits, we kept a special area where the dandelions grew without any interference, with enormous flowers and long stems. The rabbits jumped for joy when they saw their treats coming near. 

    Naturally, or Creationly, the rabbits recycle the soil's abundance by eating the greens and flowers. This shows the intricacies of God's design, where what we see and the unseen all work together to provide various material blessings.

    Jesus says - look at these wildflowers and consider how much God has designed for your own benefit.

    Matthew 6:30 Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? 

    This is the Jewish comparison, from the lesser to the greater. If God can do this for the wildflowers that we often overlook, how much more will He do for you - O ye of little faith.

    The closing statement is one we find often in the Gospels. The problems begin with lack of faith among believers. The disciples believed in Jesus and followed Him, but they panicked when difficulties arose, even when they were short on food. 

    If people knew about the design of every single plant cell, a factory system by itself, they would be less likely to wonder if God can provide for them. I am not saying that as if it never occurred to me. We have had to start over many times, and yet God provided.


    One plant cell makes the Ford River Rouge plant look like Tinker-Toys.


    Henry Ford invented the integrated factory site, the River Rouge Plant, where everything was made in one place and assembled. People wrote about that for decades, but they overlook the wildflowers that do the same without thinking.

    Every plant cell has a wide variety of self-regulating mechanisms to feed the plant, generate the flowering and fruiting cycle. And the cells have to reproduce. New cells have their own jobs, just as "I am the flower that will fruit." And - "I am the fruit that will produce seed."

    Because Jesus is the Creating Word, His teaching always directs us toward the Creation so we can see and experience what He is capable of doing.

    31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. 

    God takes care of believers and unbelievers alike. Luther says, "Go about your duties and God will direct you." The human condition is such that we become paralyzed with worry at times, as if God is no longer active, interested, or able. But the Promises of God say otherwise. This is directed at all of us so we do not crumple with anxiety but do our jobs with thankfulness to God. He knows our needs and will supply them.



    33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. 34 Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

    People are either seeking material gain first or spiritual wealth first. There can be no tie. I am always astonished by the cleverness of people who invent new jobs to survive. They invent ways to make a living from the shabbiest surroundings or the least likely circumstances. So Jesus says to start with the Kingdom and the righteousness of faith. If we lose that, we lose all, no matter what we have.


    Saturday, September 27, 2014

    Plants Are Chemical Factories - Even at the Cellular Level



    As others have observed--Darwin's Black Box--the famous evolutionist could get away with guessing about activities at the microscopic level, because he could not see them at work. A very good optical microscope at the time could barely see a bacterium - 500,000 fit on the period at the end of this sentence.

    We can use scanning electron microscopes to see structures and to spoof the real image by assigning colors to each component. The complexity grows at the microscopic level. I read the book passages over and over to grasp all that is going on with chemical exchanges, protozoa, bacteria, fungi, algae, and nematodes: Teaming with Nutrients, Teaming with Microbes.

    The next level of activity is gigantic in comparison - sowbugs, pillbugs, spiders, ants, and earthworms. On that level, they are like humans eating from the garden, so great is the size differential.

    The health of the soil determines the productivity of the plants, and the health of the plants determines our own health. I have large and small pole beans hanging from skinny looking vines, but they have have soaked up sun and mined the soil to turn light and chemicals into complex carbohydrates while fixing nitrogen in the soil. We know the fungus needed for that to happen at the root level. The fungus swaps nitrogen for carbon.

    I said to Mrs. I - "Look at those giant bean pods." I keep pulling them off the vines, and they keep producing. We have about three weeks of growing weather left. The tomatoes have almost quit but have not frosted. The pumpkins only had enough time to establish a canopy of vines across the lawn and on top of the chain-link fence. They needed more time for pumpkin production.

     Amanita muscaria


    A fungal hypha is considerably larger than a bacterium, the average length being 2 to 15 micrometers with a diameter of 0.2 to 3.5 micrometers— still so thin that it takes hundreds of thousands of individual hyphal strands to form a network thick enough for the human eye to see. A teaspoon of good garden soil may contain several yards of fungal hyphae, invisible to the naked eye; millions upon millions merge together to produce something as obvious as a king bolete or an intricate Amanita muscaria in all their fruiting glory. These and other mushrooms are simply the fruiting bodies of fungi. Consider the energy and nutrients required to produce them.

    Lewis, Wayne; Lowenfels, Jeff, (2010-09-10). Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener's Guide to the Soil Food Web, Revised Edition (Kindle Locations 840-844). Timber Press. Kindle Edition. 

    WELS Bullies

    WELS Conference of Presidents try on their new clerics.

    Who are the bullies shutting down The Shattered Pulpit blog?

    They are all squeezed out of the same system of drunken bullies doing whatever they want, especially those allied with Church and Change.

    The Ski scandal has been a Jeske operation from the beginning. Glende and Ski both worked for him, and Ski was on the board of Jeske's in-house Church and Change coven.



    The biggest liar about Church and Change is Kudu Don Patterson. He denied being a member, though he was on the "secret" discussion list and led one of the C and C meetings. He also went to the "last" Church and Change meeting and took a crew to the Exponential all-denominations Emergent Church fest.

    Looking at Kudu Don's websty - there is the Jeske link. Time of Disgrace - getting worse all the time.

    Kudu Don created the insta-call for Ski, so the boy wonder could skip town five seconds after the CRM status was forged in Sauron's Lair.

    Kudu Don is paranoid about information leaks. When I began lobbing smart-bombs at his operation, he closed off potential leaks, one after another.

    Patterson is also a pint-sized bully. When Joe Krohn wanted to ask a doctrinal question at the voters' meeting, he was silenced. Patterson told him that they would visit him, but only to tell him off. He was not to open his UOJ-doubting mouth at all.

    "Don't be afraid, lil darlin', that is DP Patterson
    trying to make Easter relevant to children."
    Patterson promoted live bunnies! to pet,
    but hid that when I found it on the Net.
    Ski probably misunderstood "Live bunnies."
    Ski and live bunny.