1.  I have used every possible word for “miscellany” so now I’m going to title these mish-mash (used that too) posts with cocktail orders, because a little virtual drankin’ is in order, methinks.  A Manhattan is two parts Rye Whiskey, one part sweet vermouth and a dash of angostura bitters, shaken, served in a chilled martini glass with a marischino cherry garnish.  Nom nom nom.  Drinky-winky, Possum.

2.  Many, many thanks to the buyer and all of the bidders on the Rainbow whisk.  It sold for an amazing $350.  Your munificense never ceases to amaze me.  The next listing will be the Slotted Wooden Spoon of Judgment and Discrimination.  After that will be the Silicone Basting Brush of Dialogue and Encounter.

3.  I am really, really struggling to summon the energy to comment on the theatrics and farce in Washington.  I truly think that if at this point a person STILL doesn’t get that all politicians – ALL … ALL OF THEM are lying politicking whores and psychopaths who are in it purely for the money and personal powertrip and that all “politics” is pure, contrived theater that makes professional wrestling look like epitome of sincerity and truth by comparison, I’m just going to go ahead and call it and fill out the toe tag.

3.  There are now basically two camps on the ObamaCare website fiasco.  There is a camp that says that the site was built to crash and cause denial of service attacks on itself because the regime didn’t want people to see that insurance premiums are skyrocketing.  There is another camp of IT guys that says that the entire website is a Potemkin Village – that it is just a front-end facade with a data entry form, and that there is no real code underneath the facade to actually sell people insurance on an “exchange”.  This is VERY plausible.  When massive database code is written, it is broken up into tiny tasks with each task assigned to a team.  When the Red Team finishes Task A and the Blue Team finishes Task B, the Yellow Team is tasked with knitting the Task A code together with the Task B code.  And once that is done, that finished bit, called Part D is then married to Part E which was created in the same way, and that goes on and on for level upon level.  There are entire companies that do nothing but micro-manage these tasks and teams so that a massive, whole database project can be accomplished.  What this means is that an entire group or even company is totally unaware of what is going on elsewhere in the project, because all they focus on is their specific taskset.  So, the guys who wrote the front-end code would have no clue and no way of knowing that no one was writing any code to create a functioning insurance exchange.  Everyone would just ASSUME that it was happening – just not in their office, or even their company, and they would happily write and pass their code for their tasks up the chain assuming and trusting that the whole ObamaCare exchange project was, you know, REAL.  So… where did the $650,000,000.00 go?  Oh, I couldn’t even begin to hazard a guess…

4.  For your “Fruits of Francis” file:

Ann,
Today I went to Mass at a [Novus Ordo] Parish I try to avoid but I woke up late and wasn’t able to attend the Maronite Mass I usually attend during the week.  Five minutes before Mass began a woman stood up and said “Let’s recite the Angelus,” and we did.  The readings today were about Christ rebuking the Pharisees and wouldn’t you know it but the priest used the readings to point out in his sermon the arrogance of praying devotions and the fact that saying them “MEANS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING” unless you have inside you a burning heart like Jesus helping the needy blah blah blah.

Now, you might say that the priest is right, but no.  Praying devotions like the Angelus and the Rosary are NOT contingent on whether or not you FEEEEEL something.  You should pray them even if you feel numb and spiritually bone dry.  You should pray even if you are angry, sad, pooped or frustrated.  You should pray if you feel like a zombie and find yourself without a single flying flip left to give.  In fact, it is in those times that some of the most intense infusions of grace occur.  The key is remembering that God is the actor and He really doesn’t need you to be all “jazzhands for Jesus” if He wants to go to work on you.  In fact, let’s just say what needs to be said here:  99.9% of the “jazzhands for Jesus” schtick that you see is fakety-fake-fake-fake.  Forced smiles, ponderous lip-biting, hand-waving, sing-songy insincere speech inflections, GLAZED, EVASIVE EYES.  Blecgh.

What praying these devotions, and most especially going to Mass and Adoration, does is open the door for Him.  Remember, God is a Gentleman and will never come over uninvited, much less break in by force.  Even if all you can do is unlock the door and barely leave it ajar and then lay down in a puddle, that’s fine.  But you have to give Him a way in.  The Angelus, the Rosary, Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and ESPECIALLY Mass – just do it.  Even if you think your heart is an ice-cold lump of coal before, during and after.  We generally do not physically or consciously perceive the infusion of grace in real time.

Hey!  So let’s take these Fruits of Francis and make a smoothie!  Let’s all learn the Angelus!  It was traditionally said at 6:00am, noon and 6:00pm.  All of the churches used to ring their bells, and everyone would stop and say the Angelus.  It is a prayer of thanksgiving for the Incarnation – God taking on human flesh.

V. The angel of the Lord declared unto Mary,
R. And she conceived by the Holy Spirit.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

V. Behold the handmaid of the Lord.
R. Be it done unto me according to thy Word.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

V. And the Word was made flesh.
R. And dwelt amongst us.

Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen.

V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God.
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let us pray: Pour forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, Thy grace into our hearts, that we to whom the incarnation of Christ Thy Son was made known by the message of an angel, may by His Passion and Cross be brought to the glory of His resurrection; through the same Christ our Lord.

R. Amen.

Yeah.  That’s just the epitome of arrogance, isn’t it.  See?  That priest shot his mouth off and now tens of thousands of people just learned how to pray the Angelus as a direct result.  Heh.