Monday, September 30, 2024
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Notable passing. William J. Calley.
William J. Calley, who was convicted for his commanding role in the My Lai Massacre during the Vietnam War, has died at age 80.
Calley only served three years under house arrest at his military apartment for the crime, before being released and cashiered from the Army. About 500 Vietnamese civilians were killed before a helicopter pilot heroically intervened, with some ground troops assisting him. Calley was convicted on 22 counts of murder, having been originally charged with about 100, but only served three days behind bars before President Nixon confined him to house arrest.
He kept to himself after release, but maintained the classic "only following orders" defense, which is no defense at all. He became a successful businessman in Columbus Georgia. In later years he admitted to friends that he'd committed the acts charged with. In 2009 he issued a public apology, stating:
There is not a day that goes by that I do not feel remorse for what happened that day in My Lai. I feel remorse for the Vietnamese who were killed, for their families, for the American soldiers involved and their families. I am very sorry.
He was in some ways an interesting example of the officer corps at the time, in that he had gone to, but failed to complete, college. He entered the Army due to poverty in 1966.
Four solders were charged with crimes due to the massacre, but only Calley went forward to conviction. There was at the time some reason to believe his "following orders" story, but in a general, rather than specific, sense.
Oddly, on this day, I'm drinking Vietnamese coffee. I have some baseball type "patrol" caps from Australia around here that were made in Vietnam. Vietnam is courted by the US as an ally against the country's traditional enemy, China, even though it remains a Communist state controlled country and economy. A vast amount of the shrimp served on American tables comes from Vietnamese waters. The country has become a tourist destination for Americans, and there is, bizarrely given the build of the Vietnamese, a Victoria's Secret in Hanoi.
Most Americans, and Most Vietnamese, were born after his conviction in 1973.
The world moved on, save for those whose lives ended that day, or were impacted by those events over 50 years ago. Calley, at 80, was a member, however, of the generation which is only now beginning to lose its grip on power. Joe Biden is just about the same age. Donald Trump, who was not impoverished, is two years younger and obtained four student draft deferments while being deemed fit for military service. In 1968, the year of My Lai, he was classified as eligible to serve but later that same year he was classified 1-Y, a conditional medical deferment, and in 1972, as the draft was winding down, he was reclassified 4-F due to bone spurs. No combat veteran of the Vietnam War has been elected President and none every will be, as they begin to pass on. Al Gore, agre 76, who served in the country as a photographer, was a Vietnam Veteran, however, and George Bush II, age 78, was an Air National Guard pilot who did volunteer for service in the country, but who did not receive it.
Calley's generation, which is now rapidly passing, was the most influential in American history, and in many ways which were not good ones, which is not to say that there weren't ways in which they were positive influences. They'll soon be a memory, like the generation that fought World War One became some twenty or so years ago, and the generation that fought World War Two basically has been.
Calley's death serves as a reminder and a reflection of a lot of things.
Thursday, May 30, 2024
Subsidiarity Economics 2024. The times more or less locally, Part 2. The Mineral Leasing Act of 1920 Edition.
April 16, 2024
The BLM's new oil and gas leasing rules has effectuated new oil and gas leasing rules for the first time since 1988.
The new rules adjust bond amounts for the first time since 1966, increase royalty rates for the first time in over a century (leasing has only been in place for a century). Bond rates will go from $10,000 to $150,000 and state-wide bonding requirement for operators with more than from $25,000 to $500,000.
Governor Gordon criticizes oil and gas rule that raises costs to producers
CHEYENNE, Wyo. –Governor Mark Gordon is criticizing an announcement from the Department of Interior last week that will increase the costs to oil and gas companies seeking to drill on federal lands. The Governor used the following statement:
“If there was any doubt, it could not be more clear now that the Department of Interior has lost its way. Within a day of announcing its renewable energy rule designed to promote the equivalent of a modern-day gold rush of development for renewables by reducing fees and rents on federal lands by 80%, Interior issued an oil and gas rule increasing costs to Wyoming’s industry by 1400%.
America surely needs more energy, including from renewable sources. What our country does not need are policies that greatly reduce the return to our nation’s taxpayers while simultaneously increasing the impacts and burdens on states and communities. We don’t need policies that increase the costs to consumers while also reducing reliability, or rules that sharpen the threat of industrializing our open spaces and crucial wildlife habitat without recognizing the importance of balance in our energy portfolio. These policies should seem misguided to most Americans of every stripe who love our country. Instead of experience and practicality, DOI has doubled down on bias, dogma, and politics. America is suffering as a result.
It is time we get back to common-sense energy policy. I will continue to fight against federal policies that are short-sighted and antagonistic to Wyoming’s industries, our workers, and our way of life. We need to build a realistic, all-of-the-above energy strategy that correctly plans a future of reliable and dispatchable power and properly accounts for – and balances – the costs and impacts of all energy sources.”
April 19, 2024
Tensions in the Middle East have jumped the price of oil back up.
April 27, 2024
Ur Energy will reopen It's in situ uranium mine and processing plant in Shirley Basin in 2026.
The UAW has entered into a tentative deal with Daimler.
Wyoming is suing the Federal government over a methane rule.
Wyoming Sues Biden Administration Over Costly and Burdensome Methane Rule
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Wyoming has joined the states of North Dakota, Montana and Texas in suing the U.S. Department of Interior and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) over a new rule that undermines existing state regulatory programs and harms Wyoming oil and natural gas producers.
The suit was filed this week in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota. The rule – commonly known as the “methane waste prevention rule” and released last month – is an attempt by the Department of Interior to re-introduce a similar rule adopted by the Obama Administration in 2016. That rule was previously blocked by a Wyoming federal court.
The new rule requires oil and gas companies to pay royalties on flared gas, driving up costs for producers and resulting in increased costs to consumers, the Governor said.
“This rule is yet another example of the Biden Administration attempting to use rulemaking to undermine state authority and suffocate the oil and gas industry,” Governor Gordon said. “We will continue to defend Wyoming’s interests in court whenever they are under attack by the federal government.”
Governor Gordon has previously pointed out Wyoming is a national leader in regulating methane gas, with the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality and Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission working cooperatively with oil and gas producers to reduce emissions. The states’ complaint explains that the new rule conflicts with state regulations and in certain instances, creates less stringent standards.
The states’ complaint may be found here.
In a major action, a new EPA rule may actually end coal-fired power plants by 2032. Tom Lubnau on that matter:
Tom Lubnau: EPA Increases Wyoming Industry Political Risk, Again
That would be an epic level change in electrical generation in the United States, although its something we've seen coming for a long time:
Coal: Understanding the time line of an industry
May 9, 2024
There has been a 20% reduction in the demand for Wyoming coal in the first quarter of the year.
May 14, 2024
The US has changed regulation to make construction of high tension lines easier.
The US has banned imports of Russian uranium.
May 16, 2024
Governor Gordon Outraged by BLM’s No Coal Leasing Selection in the Powder River Basin
CHEYENNE, Wyo. – Governor Mark Gordon responded forcefully to an announcement by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that it had selected the “No Leasing” alternative in its Buffalo Coal Resource Management Plan Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS). The BLM’s choice means it is all but determined that coal leasing in the Powder River Basin will not be permitted past 2041. The Governor’s statement follows:
“With this latest barrage in President Joe Biden’s ongoing attack on Wyoming’s coal country and all who depend upon it, he has demonstrated his lack of regard for the environment, for working people, and for reliable, dispatchable energy. This decision, compounded by the recent EPA rules, ensures President Biden’s legacy will be about blackouts and energy poverty for Wyoming’s citizens and beyond.
All the cards are on the table now. At the highest levels the Biden Administration – including Interior Secretary Haaland – have shown a complete disregard for blue-collar workers and their families; local communities and neighborhood businesses; the aspirations of local governments and economic development entities; university scientists and others diligently working on viable solutions to climate concerns; as well as the livelihoods of power plant employees and anyone who relies on dependable, affordable, and attainable electricity.
This SEIS is not about making a well-informed decision. It is about Joe Biden’s partisan, vindictive, and politically motivated war on America’s abundant, cheap, efficient, and consistent energy sources – one that holds practical and achievable goals to remove carbon dioxide from our atmosphere. This administration touts its preference for “best available science” yet only chooses to highlight the science that advances their job- and career-killing agenda.
As Governor, I am profoundly disappointed that our nation’s highest executive leadership has chosen to ignore innovation and opportunity to grovel at the feet of coastal elites. I promise that the State of Wyoming will fully utilize the opportunities available to kill or modify this Record of Decision before it is signed and final. The issues we face globally right now are too important and too urgent to dither away with incoherent policies and wrongheaded initiatives. As with the other attacks on Wyoming’s fossil fuel industries, the Attorney General is actively pursuing options to challenge these destructive decisions.”
-END-
March 17, 2024
Biden admin seeks to end new Powder River coal leases
May 21, 2024
The price of Gold has hit a new high.
May 26, 2024
May 28, 2024
May 30, 2024
Wyoming Joins 19-State Lawsuit Against California and Four Other States Whose Actions Threaten Nation’s Energy System
May 23, 2024
The State of Wyoming has joined an Alabama-led 19-state coalition asking the Supreme Court to declare unconstitutional the efforts of California, Connecticut, Minnesota, New Jersey, and Rhode Island to dictate the future of American energy policy.
Those five states have brought unprecedented litigation against the nation’s most vital energy companies for an alleged “climate crisis,” and are demanding billions of dollars in damages. As litigation proceeds in their state courts, California and the other states threaten to impose ruinous penalties and coercive remedies that would affect energy and fuel consumption and production across the country, including Wyoming. The coalition raises the grave constitutional problems with California’s extraordinary tactics and asks the Supreme Court to take up a multi-state lawsuit.
“Wyoming’s core industries are under attack, not only from the federal government, but from other states that depend on the resources that we produce,” Governor Gordon said. “We will defend our industries in the courts, and guard against other states' attempts to set national energy policy outside the boundaries of their own state. The State of Wyoming strongly believes that each state has the ability to pursue their preferred policies within their own jurisdiction, but will not idly stand by when other states use their own policies to dictate energy policies in Wyoming and other states. Our Constitution prohibits that very notion.”
The Supreme Court will decide whether to hear the 19-state lawsuit against California and the other four proposed defendants. The coalition argues that traditional energy sources like oil, natural gas, and coal are essential for American prosperity. The states also argue that the matter is of utmost importance because our system of federalism gives each state no more power than any other state.
In April, Wyoming signed the Alabama-led 20-state amicus brief in the Supreme Court asking the Court to review a lawsuit filed by the City and County of Honolulu, which also seeks to impose billions of dollars in penalties on the energy industry. Honolulu claims that the companies deceived consumers about the emissions created by everyday products like gasoline. The Supreme Court has not yet ruled on the energy companies’ request to hear the case.
In addition to Wyoming, the Alabama-led suit was joined by Alaska, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Kansas, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, and West Virginia. A copy of the lawsuit may be found here.
Last prior edition:
Subsidiarity Economics 2024. The times more or less locally, Part I. And then the day arrived (part two).2020s, 2023, 2024, Agriculture, Alcohol, Coal, Economics, Electrical Power, Petroleum, Sheep, Solar Energy, Subsidiarity, technology, trends, Wind Power, Wyoming's boom and bust economy
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Thursday, May 7, 1874. The Imperial Press Law.
The German Imperial Press Law, which sought to liberalize freedom of the press so as to avoid the conditions of 1848 which had given rise to revolution, was passed. The law remained in effect, save during the Nazi era and in East Germany, until 1966
Imperial Press Law
I. Introductory Provisions
§ 1. Freedom of the press is subject only to those restrictions that are stipulated or permitted by the present law.
§ 2. The present law applies to all products of the printing press as well as to all other duplications generated by mechanical or chemical means and intended for dissemination, including writings and graphic representations with or without lettering, and music with text or annotations.
What is decreed in the following with respect to “printed matter” applies to all aforementioned products.
§ 3. “Dissemination” as defined for the purpose of this law also includes posting, exhibiting, or making these products available in places where they are liable to public notice.
§ 4. The authorization to operate any type of press-related business on an independent basis or to publish and distribute printed matter can be revoked neither by administrative nor judicial means.
Apart from this, the provisions of the Trade Regulations Act are authoritative for the operation of press-related businesses.
§ 5. Those persons to whom a certificate of legitimation can be denied in accordance with § 57 of the Trade Regulations Act may be prohibited from the non-commercial public dissemination of printed matter by the local police authorities.
Infringements of such prohibitions are penalized in accordance with § 148 of the Trade Regulations Act.
II. Press Regulations
§ 6. Any printed matter appearing under the purview of this law must indicate the printer’s name and place of residence and, if it is intended for the book trade or other types of dissemination, the publisher’s name and place of residence, or – if the printed matter will be self-marketed – the name of the author or editor. In place of the name of the printer or publisher, details included in the company’s entry in the commercial register will suffice.
The only exception to this regulation is printed matter serving the purposes of business and commerce, domestic and social life, such as: forms, price tags, business cards and the like, as well as ballots for public elections, provided they do not contain anything aside from the purpose, time, and place of the election, and the names of the persons to be elected.
§ 7. Newspapers and journals published monthly or more frequently, even those published in irregular installments (periodical publications as defined for the purpose of this law), also have to indicate the name and place of residence of the commissioning editor on each issue, piece, or number.
The designation of multiple persons as commissioning editors is admissible only if the form and content of the designation makes clear which portion of the text each of the designated persons edited.
§ 8. Commissioning editors of periodical publications can only be persons who have the right of disposal, who possess civil rights, and who make their home or maintain their usual abode in the German Reich.
§ 9. As soon as distribution or dispatch commences, the publisher is obliged to deliver one free copy of each issue (number, piece) to the local police authority in the place of distribution, whereupon a receipt will be issued to the publisher immediately.
This regulation does not apply to publications exclusively serving the purposes of the sciences, the arts, business, or industry.
§ 10. The commissioning editor of a periodical publication that accepts advertisements is obliged to include, upon request and in exchange for payment at the usual advertising rate, any official announcements conveyed to him by the public authorities in one of the next two issues.
§ 11. The commissioning editor of a periodical publication is obliged, upon request by an involved public authority or private person, to correct facts conveyed in his publication, and to do so without any additions or deletions, provided that the correction is signed by the sender, does not include any punishable content, and is limited to factual details.
After receipt of the submission, the reprint must appear in the next issue that is not yet ready for printing, namely in the same section of the publication and in the same typeface as the reprint of the article to be corrected.
The inclusion occurs free of charge, provided that the reply does not exceed the space of the announcement to be corrected; for any lines exceeding this amount, the usual advertising rates apply.
§ 12. The regulations contained in §§ 6 to 11 are not applicable to printed matter originating with any German Reich, state, or municipal authority, or with the state representation of any German federal state, provided that its content is limited to official announcements.
§ 13. Periodical announcements duplicated by mechanical or chemical means (lithographed, autographed, metallographed, carbon-copied correspondences) are not subject to the regulations stipulated in this law for periodical publications, provided they are disseminated exclusively to editorial offices.
§ 14. If a periodical published abroad is convicted twice within a one year-period for violating §§ 41 and 42 of the Criminal Code, the Reich Chancellor may, within a two-month period after the second verdict took effect, issue a public announcement banning the further dissemination of this printed matter for up to two years.
The bans on foreign periodical publications passed thus far by individual federal states in accordance with their respective state legislation are no longer in force.
§ 15. In times of imminent war or of war, publications concerning troop movements or defensive measures may by prohibited by the Reich Chancellor by public announcement.*
§ 16. The press is prohibited from publishing public demands for the payment of fines and expenses incurred through criminal acts and from publicly confirming the receipt of contributions paid toward such.
Any monies received on account of any such demand, or the equivalent value, is to be declared forfeited and directed to the poor-relief fund in the place of collection.
§ 28. During the duration of the confiscation, the dissemination of the printed matter affected by it, or the reprint of the passages provoking it, is inadmissible.Anyone with knowledge of the confiscation who acts contrary to this regulation will be punished by a fine of up to 500 marks or imprisonment of up to six months.§ 29. Sole jurisdiction over decisions on transgressions committed by the press also rests with the courts in those federal states where the administrative authorities are still responsible for the sentencing of these offences.As far as the involvement of the public prosecutor’s office in courts of the lowest instance is not mandatory in the individual federal states, the files in the cases of confiscations effected without judge’s order are to be presented to the court immediately.VI. Final Regulations§ 30. For the time being, the special legal regulations that exist with respect to the press in times of impending war, of war, of a declared state of siege, or of domestic political unrest (uprising) remain in force in this law as well.The right of state legislators to pass regulations concerning public posting, fastening, and exhibiting of announcements, posters, and proclamations, as well as their free and public distribution, is not affected by this law.The same applies to the regulations of state laws with respect to free copies in libraries and public collections.Barring any general business tax based on state laws, no particular taxation of the press and of individual press products (newspaper or calendar stamp tax, taxes on advertisements, etc.) can take place.§ 31. This law takes effect on July 1, 1874.
Last prior edition:
Monday, March 30, 1874. Louis Riel becomes a member of the Canadian Parliament.
Thursday, April 4, 2024
Thursday, April 4, 1974. I wanted to note Hank Aaron. . .
The tornado Super Outbreak of 1974 concluded
It is the second second-largest tornado outbreak on record and most violent tornado outbreak ever recorded. 148 confirmed tornadoes hit Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, and New York.
What I really wanted to note, but the story above is more important, is that Hank Aaron tied the career record of Babe Ruth on this day in a game in which his Braves played the Reds.
Jordanian women were granted the right to vote. Parliament was also suspended at the time, so it wasn't as impactful immediately as it might sound.
The ban against the Ulster Volunteer Force, in effect since 1966, was lifted. The loyalist militia had been formed the prior year, 1965.
While the UVF's motto is "For God and Ulster", and it was supposed to disband, since the 1994 ceasefire it reportedly has been involved in rioting, drug dealing, organized crime, loan-sharking and prostitution. Some members have reportedly been involved in racist attacks.
I guess this all goes to show that even on days when there's an exciting event, a lot of cruddy things are occurring.
Last prior edition:
Friday, March 29, 1974. Kent State Indictments
Tuesday, January 9, 2024
Wednesday, January 9, 1974. Oil.
OPEC voted to freeze oil prices for three months. Saudi Arabia had been willing to reduce them, but Algeria, Iraq, and Iran, had not been.
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Actor turned politician Ronald Reagan delivered California's State of the State address, noting the oil crisis but asserting it was an opportunity to develop resources, freeing the US from foreign petroleum.
Wednesday, December 7, 2022
Thursday, December 7, 1972. The last to be drafted, Apollo 17.
Apollo 17 was launched.
It was the last of the Apollo missions and accordingly the last manned mission to the Moon.
This seems like something I should recall, but I don't. I would have been in 4th Grade at the time, and moon missions were a big deal, but as noted, this was the last one and the 17th Apollo Mission. Fifty years later, I can't recall having paid too much attention to this one, although it seems to me I dimly recall it.
On the same day, the last conscription induction call in U.S. history occurred. The call was to have been one of two to occur in 1972, but the second one was suspended due to a national day of mourning called by President Nixon in honor of Harry S. Truman, who died on December 26, 1972. The conscription call would have occurred on December 28.
The men who were chosen in the draft lottery on this day did not, I believe, immediately but in 1973. This was, after all, in December. Having said that, I'm not completely certain. 49,514 men were inducted into the service via conscription in 1972. 646 were inducted in 1973, with the final induction occurring on June 30, 1973, The height of the Vietnam War era induction occurred in 1966, when 382,010 men were inducted.
On January 27, 1973, President Nixon suspended conscription. In part this recognized the impending end of the Vietnam War, but the move was also clearly political and designed to address increasing civil unrest in spite of the obvious coming end of the war. Conscription had been resumed in 1948 and the Cold War was far from over, but moral in the U.S. military was disintegrating to the crisis level, which provided another, albeit unstated, reason for suspending the draft. The Army started rebuilding itself as an all volunteer force in 1973, but it would really take until the Reagan Administration for a new, effective Army to form.
Congressional authority to induct expired on June 30, 1973, although oddly lottery drawing continued until March 12, 1975. Registration for conscription terminated on April 1, 1975, which I can recall occurring. Registration would resume, however, a mere five years later, in 1980, and it remains a legal obligation for men.
Men drafted on this day would have found themselves in the odd situation of having to serve in the U.S. Army until late 1974, according to The New York Times, which ran a headline on November 23, 1974, that the last conscripts had been discharged. If that is correct, they must have been let go slightly ahead of schedule, which likely would have reflected the end of the Vietnam War and a drawdown that sought to eliminate men who didn't want to be there. Otherwise, the June 30, 1973, inductee should have served until June 1975. The last pool applied only to men born in 1952 or later, so it applied only to men in their early 20s, for practical purposes.
The end of the draft really returned the U.S. military to its historical norm. The Army had not conscripted at all until the Civil War, and then did not do it again until World War One. Militia service, of course, was mandatory in the US up until around the Civil War, when it started to slowly die off as a observed state requirement. The World War One and World War Two drafts had been enormous, with the US drafting 2,294,084 in 1918 alone, and 3,323,970 in 1943. Following 1940, there'd only been one year, 1947, in which there had been no inductions, up until 1974.
The last man inducted was Dwight Elliot Stone. He was a married plumbers apprentice living in Sacramento who was 24 years old at the time and had two kids. He tried to avoid to hide induction before finally turning himself in. He served in the Army for 17 months (which would make the NYT article at least a bit inaccurate) before being discharged early for reasons he wasn't aware of, but which were probably due to the fact that by 1975 the Army didn't really want unwilling soldiers around.
Stone went to basic training at Ft. Polk, at which the press followed him around a bit. He was trained as an electronic technician, after which he was stationed at Ft. Monmouth, New Jersey. Upon his discharged he was quoted as saying "I wouldn't have joined. It wasn't the place to be. I wouldn't recommend it for anyone. I didn't like it. It was poorly run.''
In the early 70s, it was in fact poorly run.
Stone went back to work as a plumber/pipe fitter in Sacramento, but over time his view changed, as it did for many who had been conscripted in the same period. He later stated that while he didn't like being in the Army, he'd had a lot of fun while in it, and he used his service benefits to attend two years of college. His oldest son enlisted in the Marine Corps.
Wednesday, November 18, 2020
Churches of the West: November 18, 1966. The Latin Rite of the Catholic Church relaxes the Abstention Rule.
November 18, 1966. The Latin Rite of the Catholic Church relaxes the Abstention Rule.
On this day the Latin Rite Catholic Bishops of the United States relaxed the rule on abstaining from meat on Fridays throughout the year. This followed a Papal direction in 1962 that the Friday penitential requirement be adopted to local conditions, reflecting a move by the Church focused on that goal. The same move resulted in the vernacular replacing Latin in the Mass at about the same time.
In the case of the Catholic Bishops of the United States the removal has created some confusion. Fridays retain their penitential character and Catholics are urged to substitute something for abstaining from meat but few do. Indeed, there's debate on whether there's any requirement to do and the fine, orthodox, Catholic apologist maintains there is not. Some others maintain there very much is, with those holding that view tending towards the Catholic Trad community.
To the surprise of American "Roman" Catholics, the rule was not done away with globally and it remains a matter of Church law in many other localities in the world. It also remains one, of course, during Lent.
There are a lot of rumors in the Protestant world about this practice, a lot of which are frankly absurd. Old anti Catholic myths regarding fish on Fridays were one of the things that I still heard in school when I was a teen, usually centered around some completely bogus economic theory. The actual basic reason for the practice is that it was a remaining Latin Rite penitential practice of which there had once been many, but which had dwindled down to just a few in the Latin Rite over time. In the Eastern Rite and the Orthodox Churches, however, they remain numerous and occur throughout the year.
Indeed, the practice in the Eastern Rite and Orthodox Churches is instructive in that their fasts often extend beyond abstaining from meat and to other things. During Great Lent, for example, they ultimately extend to oils, dairy and alcohol.
The reason for abstention from meat (there was never any requirement that people actually eat fish) reflected the logistical economy of an earlier time. Today fish is readily available on the table no matter where you are, but in earlier times this wasn't so. Abstention from meat limited diets and protein sources other than fish were regarded, and frankly usually still are, as more celebratory. People like fish, of course, but not too many people are going to sit down to a big Thanksgiving dinner of flounder. The goal wasn't to starve people, but to focus on penance while still sustaining their needs. Limiting food to the plain, and fish for most people, if available, was plain, emphasized that.
As with a lot of things, over time in Protestant countries this practice tended to mark Catholics and also became subject to silly myths. Even now, over fifty years after the practice was relaxed in the United States, you'll occasionally find somebody who will insult Catholics with a derogatory nickname from the era related to fish. Likewise, like a lot of dietary practices that have long ceased, people born far too late to really experience "fish on Fridays" will claim they did.
Ironically, of course, fish has gone from a less favored food even fifty years ago to a dietary and culturally prized one. It's one of the odd ways in which the religious practices of Catholics, to include fasting, has come back around as a secular health practice. And as Catholic orthodoxy has returned as the Baby Boomers wane, fish on Fridays has been reintroduced voluntarily among some orthodox or simply observant Catholics, even where they are not required to do it.
Sunday, March 10, 2019
And so we have the biannual absurd resetting of the clocks once again. . .
Sunday, March 3, 2019
Sunday Morning Scene: Churches of the West: Holy Family Catholic Cathedral, Anchorage Alaska
Holy Family Catholic Cathedral, Anchorage Alaska
