Valentine's Day Sunday Post ... about love?

Let me start odd by apologizing to everyone who came to read the post on Friday ... that wasn’t here. Friday by beautiful bride and I celebrated Valentine’s Day, in part to avoid the crowds of today and also because we had a babysitter on Friday (thank you so much Maw-Maw). So, in keeping with the Valentine’s Day theme of the weekend ... where in the world did Valentine’s Day come from? There are hundreds of accounts of different St. Valentines doing all sorts of things, living in different places, at different times ... and all of them were killed for refusing to deny Christ to the Roman leadership. There was a very popular book of saints written in 1260 that briefly mentions the elusive saint. The very brief vita of St Valentine has him refusing to deny Christ before the "Emperor Claudius" in the year 280. This Valentine restored sight and hearing to the daughter of his jailer before his head was cut off. So that’s a cool story ... I guess. And it’s an old story ... eternally without details. The feast of St. Valentine was first established in 496 by Pope Gelasius I who included Valentine among those "... whose names are justly reverenced among men, but whose acts are known only to God ". Basically, in less than 200 years, the stories of the possibly fictional character of Valentine had become so imbedded in the Christian consciousness that he had to be mentioned, even if by mentioning him it had to be admitted that no one really knew anything about the martyr. It’s not a unique story, there were many, many Christian martyrs ... the Roman’s loved to kill Christians, so did the Jews and the Arabs ... they were everyone’s favorite target for a few hundred years, but what’s romantic about it? I am willing to admit that the idea of choosing to be put to death rather than denying your love for Christ is supremely romantic ... but not in the current incarnation of the word, not in a quiet candle light kind of way. It actually became a romantic holiday in a Geoffrey Chaucer story. In Parliament of Foules Chaucer presents a romantic holiday for lovers on Valentine’s Day as if it were an old tradition ... which it was not ... so it’s a complete product of fiction on both ends. If there were a single St. Valentine, there is no evidence to back it up, and it is in a work of fiction that it became the lover’s holiday. Not to say that there was not some need for such a day that was fulfilled by grasping on to February 14th ... and why not, it’s a good a day as any other for me to say,
ANGELA, I LOVE YOU!

See, it’s not just the Muslims and people from Texas that are totally insane and treat women like garbage ... here’s a Jew that is completely out of his mind. Goel Ratzon, an Israeli man accused of having 23 wives and fathering 59 children was charged Sunday in a Tel Aviv court with multiple counts of sexual assault, rape, sodomy and enslavement. Holy Crazy Batman! It’s a long story, so here’s the short version ... the guy is 60 years old and he forced his wives to tattoo his name and picture on their arm, cut off all ties with their families and friends, live in his “compound” and he convinced them he was omnipotent, able to heal or curse them. Sounds like a winner! The indictment includes allegations of rape and sodomy of two of his daughters, sexual assault of another daughter, and rape, assault and sodomy of four other girls. I was dying to know how he paid for all of this, the compound, the food for 82 dependants ... I figured he was independently wealthy ... I figured wrong. The loser sent his wives to work and took their money to finance his lifestyle. Ladies! What are you doing! Where did this guy find 23 women to go to work and give him money while he was at home raping their daughters? C’mon ladies couldn’t one of you castrated him 30 years ago?

That was romantic, wasn't it? And finally, the most romantic use of Youtube I could ever imagine. Conner Cordova is the bravest, most romantic, most creative Youtuber that ever could exist. After seeing Arianny Celeste carry the round card at a UFC event, the 17 year old decided that he wanted to take her to prom ... and how does a high school student get a famous model to go to the prom with him? The little genius made Youtube videos begging her to go with him and he got UFC fighters to appear in his videos, they all told her she should go with him, this created all kinds of “buzz” and forced her to respond. So she is going with him to the prom. Check out his video ****here**** it's hysterical!