Saints, priests, columnists and other fun stuff

Mallory Factor has a new book entitled "Shadowbosses: Government Unions Control America and Rob Taxpayers Blind."

The author opposes automatic payroll deductions forced upon workers by their unions.

Nationwide, unions collect $14 billion annually in dues. The majority of this comes from government employees; or, more accurately from taxpayers.

"That's more revenue than 65 percent of Fortune 500 companies, giving huge money to spend on politics – almost all of which goes to Democrats," Factor said.

National Review's John Fund wrote about Factor in the Oct. 29 edition, as it applied to California's Proposition 32 – the so-called Paycheck Protection Initiative. (It was defeated, of course, as the unions conveniently spent taxpayers' own – confiscated – money against them.)

As Mr. Fund, concluded: "Thomas Jefferson wrote that 'to compel a man to furnish contributions of money for the propagation of opinions which he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and tyrannical.'"

It sure is. (Unfortunately, it's also legal.)

Yes, I'll have to give Mallory Factor's book a read one of these days. And soon.

* * *

Thanks, Fr. Mike

A very special thank you is extended to Fr. Mike Paraniuk and St. Mary Catholic Church for performing and celebrating the Sacrament of Baptism for a very special young lady on Veterans Day Sunday 2012.

In the Roman Catholic Church, the Sacrament of Baptism is often called "The door of the Church," because it is the first of the seven sacraments. (The reception of the other sacraments depends on it.)

This past Sunday, Fr. Mike made time in his busy schedule between St. Mary's in Hillsboro, St. Benignus Catholic Church in Greenfield and the Good Lord only knows what else (close to 10 masses a week) to baptize one of my nieces.

It was a beautiful ceremony, befitting a beautiful young lady who is near and dear to my heart.

Yes, it was a beautiful ceremony. With one possible exception.

As I told a good friend this week, "Of all family and friends present on Sunday, Fr. Mike offered a plea "to pray for us" to their respective saint namesakes. Everyone present was named after a saint – or two, in some cases.

With one obvious exception.

"There are no St. Rorys," Father Mike announced.

No kidding...

Thanks again, Fr. Mike, for a wonderful ceremony.

Keep the carillon playing. And work in some Christmas music real soon. "Adeste Fideles" is one of my favorites.

* * *

Jan Glidewell revisited

There's an old ("old" being a rather subjective term) newspaper columnist on the Sun Coast of Florida who retired a few years ago. His name is Jan Glidewell. He is a former Marine. He served in Vietnam. He's a bit liberal, politically. That's OK. (After all, nobody's perfect.)

Several years ago, upon the occasion of Jan's retirement, one of his editors, Bill Stevens, wrote:

"(Jan and I) worked through the night on one particular story, only to have this rather demanding editor rewrite part of the top that had made us so proud. Lack of sleep probably affected his judgment, but Jan summoned his courage and said, 'If you had been Shakespeare's editor, it would have been 'One Gentleman of Verona'!'"

That brought back my own memories of an editor who once insisted that "theirs" is not acceptable in any usage because the pronoun "their" is "already plural."

Maybe he wasn't familiar with Tennyson's "Charge of the Light Brigade."

'Forward, the Light Brigade!' 
Was there a man dismay'd? 
Not tho' the soldier knew 
Someone had blunder'd: 
Theirs not to make reply, 
Theirs not to reason why, 
Theirs but to do and die, 
Into the valley of Death 
Rode the six hundred…

But to continue with Mr. Stevens' comments from a nearly decades-old column: "Jan has made a living deflating windbags and poking fun at authority. One of my favorites came a few years ago after a sheriff and county commissioner got into a dispute that involved a challenge to take a lie detector test.

"'Next week,' Jan wrote, 'We're going to hook all of the Pasco County commissioners up to polygraphs, and then use the swinging needles to mow U.S. 19 from Holiday to Yankeetown.'"

Mr. Glidewell and I exchanged correspondences around 2000 when I was thinking of accepting a newspaper job in Florida. He was kind enough to respond to an inquiry I'd made.

One of his better quotes is this: "‎You can clutch the past so tightly to your chest that it leaves your arms too full to embrace the present."

Good words, indeed.

To Saints Mallory, Michael, Alfred, and Jan: Godspeed.

Purgatory Rory has a million miles of redemption ahead of him. (And, no, Bob Marley's "Redemption Song" doesn't need added to the carillon playlist!)

Rory Ryan is publisher of The Highland County Press.