Sunday, August 31, 2008

The continuation of the quote from last week..from Revolt Against Maturity.. Yes, I know what you might very well be thinking.."oh, another quote, I don't have time to read quotes", but I'll have you know that it's worth the read. At least to me, as I tend to think about topics I wouldn't normally, and then consider how those same fruits of actions are grown in our own country..after all, slavery in one form or another is not a thing of the past. Adieu and have a great Lord's day!

Jode


"The material which this commission assembled brought some amazing facts to light. The house slaves were indeed members of the oldest aristocratic families in the land. Centuries ago, an impoverished member of the family had sold his freedom to some prince of other, whereby the rights and duties of the new slave and his descendants were exactly prescribed. The slaves were only obliged to do the work which had been done by the first of their line. And for this they were maintained by their masters all their lives and in certain circumstances they were rewarded with presents.
In the course of time, it was the princes who became impoverished and the aristocratic slaves who increased in the most devastating fashion. It thus came about that many a slave owner had to expend his whole income in supporting the descendants of his original slave. If the first of them had been a cook or a groom, all his descendants --- and their number increased with the passage of time to dozens --- could be nothing else but cooks or grooms. One slave owner with three horses had to maintain thirty grooms, who lived in his own house and demanded presents from him. Another, who was living from hand to mouth himself, had at his disposal twenty cooks, and it never occurred to a single one of them to do anything but lounge about in the kitchen. All the slaves had valid documents in their hands, which protected their position, and they regarded this attempt to free them as a brutal injustice and violation of their ancient privileges, whereas for more of the owners the riddance of their slaves meant bliss unheard of.

Not all slave-owners have had such unfavorable conditions, but the mark of a true slave, the spirit of slavery, is precisely that which Essad-Bey described. The slaves of the Causasus were some of the oldest aristocracy; today, many of the oldest aristocracy of the West, major capitalists, workers, and farmers are alike infected with the spirit of bondage or slavery, which had always a preference for security as against freedom, and the certainties of slavery as against the risks of liberty. Fear is the mark of a slave, and ultimately his fear is a fear of life and its problems and a search for the womb-like security he imagines slavery to be. The slave had the backward look, the orientation to the past, and an oblivion to the future, because he has none. True slavery is of the spirit, and it is a flight from life."

To be continued..again. :D Or should I say, to to be continued, that's how I rename files.. "newimage" newnewimage" ..."newnewernestimageanddontforgetit".

Tuesday, August 26, 2008

Ok, I'm stealing some time out for a post because I realize tomorrow will never come if I leave it for then. Now for a family reunion recap...I should say part 1.

The reunion for us began a day early when the Soles from FN stopped in on their way down. We had a pleasant evening of tea, and conversation followed by a day of us packing all of and our belongings into the van. We crammed ourselves in, and left at around 7 am on Wednesday, after waving good-bye to Mark who was unable to come, intending to catch a 5:20 or 7:30 pm Ferry to the Island. All in all, an estimated 13 hour trip, which includes ferry time, but not pit stops. It was a good drive down, I've always taken some sort of pleasure in highway driving, and 97 south is a new road for me. This was my first time driving to/in Vancouver, as I've only flown in before, and that only for connecting flights to the States. The drive was nearly uneventful, excepting a wrong turn at Albakerky (Albuquerque?). We turned towards Lillooet, instead of stay on highway 97, until we ran into highway 1. The road signs in the southern half of this province are very lacking, and I suppose my navigational skills needed some refreshing. :D So we ended up taking the higher portion of the Sea-to-sky-highway (99) until we were able to get onto our more desired route, highway 1. The view from 99 was awesome and awe inspiring, demanding a respect for the posted speed limit, as the narrow, winding highway runs right along the Fraser Canyon.

We made it to the ferry in "time" (4:30 pm) for the 5:20 ferry, but were put into a ...loong liiine of caaarrs.., and didn't make it on until the 9:30 ferry (which was also running late). We later learned that the abnormal swelling of the lines was due to a fire that had occurred on one of the ferries earlier that day, and also that two other sets of relatives made it onto the 7:30 ferry, for which we were ten cars too late in line. We learned a few valuable lessons, such as never relax in a ferry line-up, because it could move at any time, even when the ship hasn't sailed in yet. So after taking 1.5 hours to get across, and another 1.5 hours to drive to Uncle Dave and Auntie Becky's, we arrived at the fashionably late time of 1 am. This is not an unusual arrival time for members of our family, albeit, we have been striving to change this habit since the days we were born. :D After such a looong day Belinda and I chose not to disturb the repose of all of the other campers, choosing rather to park the bus on the road that runs past Auntie Becky's bakery. We chose to throw the seats down for the whining/crying/extremely tired/half asleep bunch of kids, and to roll out a couple of sleeping bags into the glass in an obliging field, to climb in, and to sleep as though we were on feather beds--- at least until the kids took turns crying, and the dew set in. But regardless of these little hindrances, we slept well, and you should have seen the stars at 3 am, wow.

To be continued..hopefully.

Jode

Sunday, August 24, 2008

"The Old Testament law referred to slavery as a voluntary servitude, where except for captives of war and criminals making restitution, a slave was free to leave at any time. Such slaves were men seeking refuge from the world of freedom and responsibility; they preferred security to liberty, because liberty meant troubles and possible losses, whereas servitude meant cradle to the grave care.

A telling illustration of such slavery comes from Essa Bey's account of the abolition of slavery in the Caucasus after conquest of that area by Tsarist Russia. The Russian viceroy called in the Caucasian chiefs and ordered the abolition of slavery; he was surprised at the ready cooperation he received. The resistance came from the slaves, who protested, "Slavery is our sacred right...Many of us are of the hereditary nobility, and some of us are priests. The Tsar should have a respect for the rights of the native nobility." A commission was appointed to investigate the matter.".....Quote to be continued.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

"An old saying has it that 'murder will out'. More accurately, a man's thoughts will come out in acts as well as words. History, therefore, does not stand still. Solomon said of man, 'For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he' (Prov. 23:7). What a man says today, he will probably do tomorrow. The idea therefore that pornography will not lead to sexual action, or murderous ideas and plans to murderous acts is naive and foolish. Ideas are programs for action, and man's imagination is his drawing-board for next year's campaigns and activities." Revolt Against Maturity ~ Rushdoony.

Thursday, August 07, 2008

AFTER : The girls room.


Forgive the horse with its missing eye. The eye in the garage somewhere just waiting to be glued back on. :D

Tuesday, August 05, 2008

Here are some pictures from my latest projects, as well as a couple of my room with my new/old desk. It's perfect for my sewing, and I'm so glad Belinda spotted it..and got it for me (at a steal of $20) , she's awesome. :) We picked up the trunk at the same sale, and as it had potential I turned it into a coffee table/a hope chest for Baillie. Nothing quite as nice at solving two desires in one. I'll try to post some of the after pictures of the girls' room soon. :D

BEFORE


AFTER


BEFORE


AFTER




Method to great before and after pictures...first begin work before you pull out the camera so that the room is thoroughly trashed prior to the "before" picture. This will increase the appearance of improvement and organization when you put Humpty Dumpty back together again. See below for a few illustrations of this method. The proof is in the pudding.

BEFORE


AFTER

BEFORE