GumboFilé

I stayed home from my normal employment and grouted the floor today. I needed to get it done and just ran out of time over the weekend.

Tonight my younger daughter started talking about body piercing. I don't know how it came up. I think I may have walked in on an existing conversation. Anyway, even though she declared that she had no intention to get anything pierced, other than her already pierced earlobes, she challenged me to show why piercings, other than women's earlobes, are not acceptable for Christians. Both of my daughters like to give me such challenges. I confess I had to do some homework. I found two very good articles and I highly recommend them to anyone who may have to answer a similar challenge. The addresses to these articles are below.

http://www.credenda.org/issues/10-1childer.php?type=print

http://www.chalcedon.edu/cgi-bin/GPrint2002.pl?file=report/issues/97dec/schlissel2.php

There are many reasons why I love living in South Louisiana. One reason is all the good music. This is a good month for good music in South Louisiana.

Tuesday, February 1, 8:00pm, Blue Moon Saloon (Lafayette),
Cajun jam hosted by Cajun accordionist Ray Abshire

Friday, February 4, 7:00pm(?), Boutins Restaurant (Baton Rouge),
Les Freres Michot
8:00pm, Blue Moon, Zydeco acordionist Curley Taylor
10:00pm, Varsity Theatre (Baton Rouge), Red Stick Ramblers

Saturday, February 5, 8:30pm, Blue Moon, Lost Bayou Ramblers & Red Stick Ramblers

Monday, February 7 (Lundi Gras), 8:00pm, Blue Moon, Bluerunners
(hard-edged Cajun)

Tuesday, February 8 (Mardi Gras), Courir de Mardi Gras (Eunice),
(time not known) Lost Bayou Ramblers
(time not known) Blue Moon, Bluerunners & Weary Boys
(telecaster bluegrass)

Friday, February 11, 8:00pm, Blue Moon, Roebucks (rock-a-billy surf)

Saturday, February 12, 8:00pm, Blue Moon, Crystal Plamondon
(multilingual Albertan Country)

Wednesday, February 16, 8:00pm, Blue Moon, Cajun jam
hosted by Cajun fiddler T-Louie Michot

Thursday, February 17, 8:00pm, Blue Moon, Savoy Michot Band
(raw Cajun)

Friday, February 18, 8:00pm(?), Sidebar (Lafayette),
Lost Bayou Ramblers

Saturday, February 19, 6:00pm, Liberty Theatre (Eunice),
"Rendezvous des Cajuns", Lost Bayou Ramblers
9:00pm(?), Breezy's (Lake Charles), Lost Bayou Ramblers

Friday, February 25, 7:30pm, Bulbur Auditorium (Lake Charles),
"Banners" event, Bobby Sanabria (Afro-Cuban Jazz)
8:00pm, Blue Moon, Jeff & Vida (cool bluegrass)

Saturday, February 26, 8:00pm, Heymann Performing Arts Center,
(Lafayette), Lyle Lovett, Joe Ely, John Hiatt, & Guy Clark
(you shouldn't need to be told about these guys)

Check out the links on the right side of this page for venue and band info and other events that I didn't list.

I'm taking a break from laying mosaic ceramic floor tile in one of the bathrooms. My back is killing me. As soon as I'm finished I'll probably take a muscle-relaxer and go to bed. Before taking out the old floor, I took out the old vanity and toilet. We're replacing them also. Then, as I was laying out the tile I discovered that the door needed trimming, so I took down the door, trimmed it, and put it back up. This is the first time I've ever done a floor by myself. I hope it turns out ok. Well, my Guinness is near empty. I'm going to finish it and then finish the floor while I'm still able. I really need more than one day a week to get things like this done. I try to avoid unnecessary labor on the Lord's Day but I'm going to have to grout this floor sometime so the plumber can install the new plumbing this week. In the meantime my wife and daughter and I are sharing a single bathroom. Therefore, it's back to work for me.

The cover story in this week's issue of the Times of Acadiana was about "gay marriage"(?).

Marriage exists when two people of the opposite sex have a public commitment to live together with an exclusive sexual relationship. If your relationship doesn't require you to accomodate yourself to a person of the opposite sex, it's not a marriage and doesn't deserve to be called such. Living with another person of the same sex is just too easy. It also sounds very boring. Calling this a marriage will not make it a marriage any more than calling me gumbo filé will make me fit into a 2 oz jar.

There's not much information in my profile but you can find out a lot about me by following the links on the right side of this page. I encourage you to do so. You can also find out about some of the great things there are to do in South Louisiana. I encourage visitors and residents alike to take advantage of these great cultural opportunities.

Several of my high-school graduating class visited one of our former teachers today. Brother Richard recently turned 93. Thanks to Kim and Leslie for organizing the event.

Brother Richard is a member of the Christian Brothers order of the Roman Catholic Church. Though I've left the RC church for a reformed denomination, I'm grateful for the orthodox truths that I was taught in Catholic schools.

In attendance, in addition to Brother Richard, and Kim and Leslie, were Lydia, Rae, Jan, Terese, Megan, Carolyn, Catherine, Bobby, Sidney, Paul, Jimmy, Lawles, and myself.

I don't know how well Brother Richard remembered any of us. I reminded him that I was a distant relative of his brother-in-law.

When I got home, one of my neighbors was circulating a petition to prevent another neighbor from putting a dirt pit and a mobile home park on private property near the entrance to our community. While I am in agreement that I would rather not have these establishments in my community, I do not believe in using the coercive power of civil government to prevent private landowners from using their property for any lawful purpose.

There is a similar dispute in the nearby city where I work with my relatives in our family owned business. Some would like to use the coercive power of the civil government to outlaw smoking indoors in most places that are open to the public.

We don't smoke. We don't allow smoking in our home. We don't allow smoking in our business. These are our decisions. They should remain our decisions.

We should not allow anyone to use the coercive power of the civil government to prevent any lawful use of private property. These matters should be the subject of negotiation rather than coercion.

Regarding "investing" our tax dollars in the New Orleans Saints, most people agree that Louisiana is one of the poorest states in the US. We're certainly the poorest state with an NFL franchise.

It's becoming evident that Louisiana may no longer have what it takes to feasibly sustain a franchise in today's NFL. We certainly can't justify one of the poorest states in the US making multimillion dollar welfare payments to one of the richest men in the state.

We're the only state directly subsidizing an NFL franchise.

It doesn't matter whether or not the Saints allow their books to be examined by the state. If the Saints can't be profitable without our tax dollars, they shouldn't be in Louisiana. Though some otherwise reputable economists may contend that the Saints return more money to the economy than they receive from the taxpayers, most that say this (if not all) are in some manner beholden to the Saints, and they ignore the lost opportunities costs of the forfeited tax dollars. In addition, for every economist that favors the Saints, there is another that would reach an opposing conclusion. It certainly isn't a slam dunk that the city or the state gets a net benefit from the Saints being in New Orleans.

Even if it could be proven that New Orleans and Louisiana get a net benefit from the Saints, it would still be immoral to take money by force from you and me to give to them.

Twenty-eight other states are doing just fine without the NFL. Louisiana can do without the NFL as well.