Dear Ann,

Today I sent you a gift to keep you living in style in your van down by the river.  {Indeed!  I am blessed beyond measure.  And “style” isn’t measured in square footage, kids.  It is measured in love, laughter, shared meals, great conversation and the warmth of dear friends and family.  Oh, and also in beautiful Masses/Divine Liturgies, and frequent reception of the Sacraments.}  The gift doesn’t truly reflect my gratitude for what impact you have had in my life.  At the end of 2012, I retired from my 30 year career in the financial planning industry.  Your letter stating why you were closing your business was my inspiration.

I was drinking the industry kool-aid until the 2008 crash.  My views of the market (if you want to call them markets) began to change.  I spent the next 3 years trying to change my planning techniques to address my future concerns.  Also, I worked as a Arbitrator for FINRA for 12 years.  I sat on cases where we issued harsh penalties for small transgressions; yet, Corzine and the Banksters were stealing $Billions.

Nothing made sense.  I looked at every option, but never considered your choice.  I was in my 50s and my plan was to be a financial planner for as long as a could mentally and physically perform the job.  {That’s what I expected for myself, too.  In fact, at 35, I was in my prime and arguably just getting “warmed up”.}  I really enjoyed what I was doing.  Again, nothing made sense.

Finally, on a Sunday morning in December, 2011, my wife and I were sitting at our dining room table reading the paper and surfing the net.  I came across your article.  I sat there with my mouth open and handed the IPAD to my wife to read your article.  My wife told me the person in the article was me.  I decided that moment I would leave the industry forever.

Currently, my life is much more enjoyable and simpler. I have you to thank for my joy.  And as we all have experienced, when we put our life in the hands of the Lord, tremendous opportunities are revealed.  {Preach on, Brother.}  I have ZERO regrets for leaving the industry and I move forward looking forward to new challenges and opportunities that await me.

God bless you Ann, and may He keep you safe to continue His work.  {I pray for all of my benefactors every day, and at least one Mass is offered for you per month.  God bless you!  I will continue to do what I can, knowing that I probably won’t affect a macro-level paradigm shift, but trust in God that He will affect individual results like yours in accord with the Divine Providence.  The fact that I may be in any way attached to that is both humbling and intimidating.  Your continued prayers are most gratefully appreciated.}

We are the times: as we are, such are the times.
(Nos sumus tempora: quales sumus, talia sunt tempora.)
– St. Augustine

The times are evil because men are evil.  Men must become good in order for the times to become good.
(Mala sunt tempora, quia mali sunt homines.  Debent homines fieri boni, ut bona fiant et tempora.)
-Pope Pius XII

-*-

As a condition of using and posting these quotes, the source demanded that I also post the following, which he thinks I stand in the mirror and recite to myself every night before going to bed.

He is wrong.  I recite this to myself in the shower, thank you very much.  (Kidding, kidding.)

inplaceofadarklordyouwouldhaveaQUEEN!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KJ1jtwEi0fU

Our Father, Who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.  Amen.

PATER NOSTER, qui es in caelis, sanctificetur nomen tuum. Adveniat regnum tuum. Fiat voluntas tua, sicut in caelo et in terra. Panem nostrum quotidianum da nobis hodie, et dimitte nobis debita nostra sicut et nos dimittimus debitoribus nostris. Et ne nos inducas in tentationem, sed libera nos a malo. Amen.

St. Peter Healing St. Agatha, Giovanni Lanfranco, ARSH 1614

Meet St. Agatha.  Today is her feast day.  Agatha was a young Sicilian noblewoman who was viciously raped and tortured to death under the Decian persecution in ARSH 251.  St. Agatha is commorated in the Canon of every Mass (the Canon is the fixed prayers from the Sanctus (Holy, Holy, Holy) to the Pater Noster (the Lord’s Prayer).  The invocation of St. Agnes comes after the Consecration, while Our Blessed Lord is upon the Altar.  In the Mass of the Ages, this comes at the NOBIS QUOQUE PECCATORIBUS…  In the Novus Ordo, well, I guess it is hit-and-miss.  The English translation of the Latin is:

To us also, Thy sinful servants, confiding in the multitude of Thy mercies, vouchsafe to grant some part and fellowship with Thy holy Apostles and Martyrs; with John, Stephen, Matthias, Barnabas, Ignatius, Alexander, Marcellinus, Peter, Felicity, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecily, Anastasia, and with all Thy Saints, into whose company we beseech Thee to admit us, not weighing our merits, but pardoning our offences.

One of St. Agatha’s tortures was to have her breasts cut off.  Hence, she is almost always pictured holding a plate with her two severed breasts upon it.  She endured incredible tortures, and was healed at one point by a miraculous appartition of St. Peter himself (pictured above).  Finally, after enduring more rape, torture with fire and mutilation, St. Agatha died from her torture in prison.

She is very close to Our Lord in heaven and thus has great intercessory sway with Him.  As we move closer to the Counter-revolutionary World War wherein the full demonic power of Marxism, islam and the animalistic and hell-spawned depravity of the rap/hip-hop culture will be turned loose upon the western world, ask St. Agatha to pray for you that you might be courageous in the face of any coming rape and torture, and die an exemplary and holy death, if it so happens that you should meet that fate and be thus martyred.  I know I sure do.

St. Agatha, pray for us!

(A letter just in from a longtime cattleman friend.  MF Global is NOT in the rearview mirror.  The cascading consequences of the theft cannot be quantified, are still ongoing, and will be for a very, very long time.)

Ann,
 
You may recall that my local Co-op got caught up in the MF Global scandal.  That of course led to a HUGE loss of money, which in turn led to a series of bad decisions by the General Manager, such as no overtime hours for employees, and not blowing air on grain that came in during harvest, all in order to cut costs and save money to make up for the millions they had stolen.  Makes sense right?  Well they ended up with a bunch of rotten grain, and are still obligated to pay the farmers for it.  So, that co-op, which is not small by any means, finally announced to their employees yesterday that they have reached a deal to sell out to the mega co-op in our area.  Come September 1 we will have a monopoly here.  The mega co-op will now have all of the grain business around, unless one is willing to truck grain more than 45 miles to an ethanol plant or to AGP or Cargill.  Just the windshield time alone for us will be over an hour one way due to traffic and stop lights. No telling how long will have to sit in line when we get there.  There are just a few small mom-and-pop type fertilizer/chemical places here.  There is only one other place left to get fuel.  And now the mega co-op will have all the farm tire business.
 
I have an account with mega co-op.  I called them for propane a few months back.  They told me that I was going to be charged a $100 drop fee, and a $50 fee per tank that I had them fill.  That gets kinda expensive in a hurry when filling multiple tanks for livestock waterers.  Plus, there was a $100 fee for short notice.  I guess three days was not enough notice.  Never mind my place sits right on the Highway and their trucks run by here all the time.  Heaven forbid they would have to turn off the pavement and drive 100 feet to fill the tank at my house!
 
I never thought this MF Global thing would affect me.  I was totally mistaken by that.  One competitor got wiped out because of it and now customer service will be a fond memory in this part of Nebraska.
 
You aksed me to tell ya how it ended up and there it is.
 
On a different note, I have watched most of your Cornerstone Cattle Marketing Level 1 DVD set.  [Yes, it is still for sale and I have order fulfillment elves standing by to drop ship on a 24 hour turnaround!]  So far I can tell it is WAY better than when I went to your school in person in KC.  [That school which this fellow attended in November of 2005 was the very first school I ever taught.  I opened the school by telling the class of 55 that I was very sorry, but they were attending the weakest-delivered school I would ever put on – because it was my first.]  I’m very impressed with the quality.  I thought you taped it at a school you were teaching, I had no clue it was in a television studio.  My wife has kinda been miffed at me for naming our daughter after you.  All she has ever seen is your wacky YouTube videos.  She couldn’t believe I convinced her to name her daughter after a crazy lady. [I ain’t no lady.]  After seeing parts of your cash cattle marketing DVD, and seeing the Ann I know, I think she’s getting over it.

Signed,
Stanley Sell-Buy

What red-blooded woman wouldn’t want her firstborn child named after THIS?

1.  Yes, I have not forgotten about the whole Podcast thing.  I got derailed when my computer pooped out.  I promise that I will scream at the internet again soon.  It is the oddest thing, but now that I live in a Van Down By the River, I entertain more than I ever have in my life.  Back in the day I had a HUGE house and only had people over a handful of times.  Now it’s a steady stream – and it’s GREAT.  It is such a pleasure to entertain.  I’m telling you guys, DON’T FEAR LIFE IN A PROVERBIAL VAN.  It is great fun.

2.  With regards to the static interference in the podcasts, thanks to one and all who explained what it was.  It turns out it is interference from CB radios, which are certainly from police cars and ambulances that might pass by the general vicinity of the Van, and not mind control beams from the shape-shifting lizard-Jooos.  🙂  Alas, I cannot establish a Faraday Cage as recommended, but we will all survive.

3.  I try to only eat one meal per day, and thus go for the yum-yum.  Yesterday, in keeping with Friday abstinence, was a smoked salmon sammich.  Take a baguette of French-style bread, cut open, slather one face with dijon mustard and then drizzle honey over the mustard, slather the other face with cream cheese.  Apply smoked salmon.  If you can get it, fresh dill sprigs take it to the next level.

4.  KD over at Market-Ticker.org has a post up about Chris Christie and how he is “done” because of this bridge lane closing scandal.  I have to disagree.  Chris Christie has been anointed by the oligarchy and is now, in fact, establishing himself as an oligarch.  He is their boy.  He isn’t going anywhere.  EVERYTHING is forgotten within 36 hours.  That is the news cycle.  Chris Christie could eat a baby on the front steps of the New Jersey governor’s mansion and it would be shrugged off.  Think about it.  When was the last time any member of the oligarchy suffered ANY adverse consequences for ANY crime?  Do you remember that Eric Holder was formally held in Contempt of Congress years ago for non-cooperation in the Fast and Furious inquiries?  Do you remember how everyone was saying that Hillary Clinton was “done” in the wake of the Benghazi murders of which she is a direct co-conspirator?  Hillary Clinton is now, as I said years ago, the universally-assumed 2016 candidate.  Rand Paul has sold out the so-called “conservative right” more times than I can count, and EVERY TIME it is all forgotten within literally a matter of hours BY THE CONSERVATIVE RIGHT.  I tweeted yesterday a piece about how Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, who both ascended to power by winning primaries against incumbents, told Hannity that they would NOT support non-incumbent Rethuglican candidates.  Yup.  You know, like Lindsay Graham or Mitch McConnell, two of the most revolting, amoral fiends in Washington.  It’s all a sickening charade, people.  This business of not remembering or being able to synthesize a dataset that is more than 36 hours old is why I hold out no hope.  As long as psychopath X waves the “team flag” everyone’s still on board.

5.  In the same vein, here is a video of a group of employees of a small business being shown how ObamaCare is going to send their insurance premiums and deductibles through the roof.  One lady’s goes up to over $1300 per month and her deductible doubles.  This is absolutely no surprise, because SIMPLE COMMON SENSE tells us that a system that mandates that people with pre-existing conditions be allowed into a risk pool AFTER the adverse risk event has already occurred, is a system that will see premiums explode parabolically before the entire system implodes upon itself.  How is this a surprise?  Does no one actually understand on even the most basic level what insurance is?  Apparently not.  But what I really want to point out is the glassy-eyed reaction of the people.  I see not a hint of outrage, refusal to comply, nothing.  The people in question you can tell are NOT making six figures, and yet they all seem perfectly resigned to paying the equivalent of an above-median mortgage payment for HEALTH INSURANCE, while having their deductibles double.  Shrug.  Nothing I can do about it.  Oh well.

I look at that and am chilled to the bone, because I realize that it is going to take horrors on a level that many of us can not now imagine possible in the western world to wake people up and get them to the point of actually resisting this crap on any level.  The feedback that is being given to the oligarchy is that of total capitulation, and thus the green-light to proceed with and escalate the theft and tyranny – and believe me, the oligarchs are watching the non-reaction reaction of the masses VERY closely, and they are very, very pleased.  It isn’t the oligarchs that I fear per se.  It is the glassy-eyed apathy and intellectual and moral sloth of the broad citizenry that is the source of night-sweat terror for me.