A Little Thing Called Kindness

There is something largely missing from our world today. It is still to be found here and there, usually when least expected, and it is very catchy when practiced habitually and with sincerity. It is not praise, although praise can accompany it when appropriate. It is not flattery, which is so often artificial and practiced for selfish motives. It is not “tolerance” as that word is known today, although it is tolerant in the correct sense of the word. No, what is missing in today’s world is a little thing called kindness. There are many kind people, but our TV culture is stifling kindness.

The human heart is a sensitive thing. It warms to kindness and is wounded by unsympathetic or cruel words, even when such words are intended to be in jest. Who amongst us has not been met with such unkind words, said in jest, but with a sharp thorn hidden within that pierces our sensibilities? How many times when we have made a point, one more obvious than it appeared before it was spoken, have we been met with a patronizing look and a mocking “Duh…!” sent our way in the name of humor? How often when we have spoken seriously have we received the contemptuous reply of “Whatever…”? How often are really cruel words spoken in the name of humor! This is not humorous – is it funny to crush and wound a human heart? Is belittling a fellow person and making him appear foolish in his own eyes and those of others anything to joke about? Certainly not! And yet this caricature of humor is constantly shown in television programming and practiced habitually by the dupes of Hollywood. It is corrupting our society, which at one time was known for its kindness of word and deed.

There are good people who speak kindly to those they meet, but who abandon kindness when speaking about public persons. Are those in the public eye not entitled to kindness? We may disagree with their positions, we may oppose what they stand for, but can we not make that known without descending to unkind and derogatory words? The current political race is a case in point. What must God think of the lack of charity that has gripped this country in the name of politics? Certainly it is charity to expose the moral danger a candidate may constitute, but this is often done with such execration and obvious ill-will that the original good intention is lost in the flood of odium. This is not right. We are called to be followers of Christ, “Who when He was reviled did not revile…” (1 Peter 2:23)

I say that kindness is a “little” thing, because it costs us so little to practice it. But it is a great thing in that when practiced it makes the world a much better place. How many wounded hearts would be healed by a dose of kindness and compassion! How many troubled minds and emotionally destroyed souls would have been spared the anguish of their trial had they only been treated with kindness and spared the cruel and cutting words that crushed them! We can make a difference in lives by practicing kindness. It costs so little to smile at others and speak kindly to them. Yes, there are times when this involves self-sacrifice; but if we make the Golden Rule our own, and do unto others as we would have them do unto us, we will find that the self-sacrifice involved is well worth the effort. Kindness begets kindness and makes a better and happier society.

What my mother taught me

There are loud and thunderous cries of "foul" being heard in the land. We're being told NOT to peer behind the curtain of past associations.

Mothers everywhere from time immemorial have stressed to their children that you don't hang out with the neighborhood bully, or the neighborhood pothead, or the kid that is known for stealing, the one who's the troublemaker. Good, vigilant parents diligently oversee the companions and influences of their children so they will not be caught up into trouble that will harm them and destroy their lives.

With all that history behind the human race, now you have people telling us loudly and publicly that we're using the wrong criteria to make judgments on what is right judgment and what is wrong.

The answer ladies and gentlemen is hogwash, we can and we should set the example for our children to guide them safely, even if such admonishments are ancient. I'm betting that neighborhood mom's used to tell their children to avoid Barabbas.

Let's listen to the faraway voices from our own childhood and do what mom said.......Stay away from people who can lead us into trouble and who associate with unsavory characters. Our country and our future depend on it.

It's rather curious

This past week, the news showed a woman from a popular show expressing her amazed astonishment that the Alaskan Governor could possibly actually, really and truly believe that God has a plan. Who could possibly believe that God, the creator of the universe, in all it's splendor, beauty and order, would have a plan for what He created? How outrageous is that?

There may be other minds at sixes and sevens over that idea. It's heartbreaking to see such faces in the crowd. They are worthy of our compassion and our prayers.

The Right to Life adherents speak out for the silent voices of the unborn. Pro Death adherents cry out "Kill them, kill them", echoing the centuries old "crucify Him, crucify Him".

One wonders what it is that causes the nearly rabid reaction from those who deny God; when those who wish to know, love and serve Him call for prayer and obedience to the law of God. Any sane mind wonders why prayer and adherence to reasonable laws would cause such virulent hatred.

The first three of the Ten Commandments refer to God and how we are to relate to Him as creatures to the Creator. The other seven commandments relate to us how we must treat each other.

The rabid hoards of liberals who have deleted the first three commandments, have also decreed that the other seven are pretty iffy. They have codicils, provisos and extenuating circumstances.

Does one need to wonder for very long why the world is groaning in pain and on the edge of suicide?

I don't think so!

It's a question of "choice"

Choice. Now there's a word.

Choice has been used as a sword to slaughter infants in the womb throughout history. Please don't be naive enough to think abortion is a new concept. A little study shows even the ancient cultures knew there were choices in the event of an unplanned pregnancy.

Drinking brake fluid is a choice, but it's not recommended. Jumping of the Grand Canyon bridge is a choice but neither is that recommended. Holding up a lightening rod in a thunderstorm is a choice but that has nasty consequences too.

The point? The point is, there are many choices in life, not all of those choices are either good or advantageous.

The "Pro Choice" (the biggest misnomer in history, since killing is not exactly a choice, it's putting an end to life, which in reasonable minds means murder) movement would have you believe that the choice to end a life is a good thing. Choosing to go slaughter your neighbor and rob them of all their possessions IS NOT a good thing. Choosing to kill an unborn child is NOT a good choice to make. It offends the God who brought the life into being and it diminishes all those who are involved and makes them less human.

Contrary to the noxious acid that falls from the lips of the "Pro Death" crowd, self control and abstinence are choices. They are the best choices.

So, you say, what about those women who become pregnant? Again I say "Hello"? Whatever happened to the idea that mature adult people and those who have aspirations to being mature adult people take responsibility for their actions?

Friends, mature adult people and those who have aspirations to be mature adult people, make the right choices. Mature adult people don't make decisions of life and death based on what is convenient.

Mature adult people know unequivocally that there is a good and a bad, a right and a wrong, a holy and an evil. Mature adult people, while not perfect, still making mistakes, errors in judgment and occasionally doing wrong, attempt, with thoughtful reasoning in their daily lives, to make the right choice.

This Obama thing

The media is frenetically agog with news of the acceptance speech Mr. Obama is about to make. They're nearly dizzy reporting about the who, what when, where, how and HOW MUCH.

Ladies and gentlemen, not one of them have posed the question, why is this man who pretends to be holier than thou, and who decries the supposed over spending of the Republican party spending this obnoxious amount of money just to make a speech?

Hello? What's wrong with this picture? Ok, folks, he's not even elected yet and he's spending the money of the general public with abandon.

This isn't his own personal money he's using. This is Your money. This is the money of the people who've donated their supposed "nickels and dimes" to the Democratic party to get him elected. He's using it to have a big party. Can we say frivolous spending boys and girls?

This is supposed to be a man who will be fiscally responsible? He can't possibly expect us to believe that if he spends this much money on a speech, he's going to be fiscally responsible with our money should he inhabit the White House.



Not one peep from the media. That's weird.

God help us if he gets elected.

What's in an apology?

Apologies abound around the world. Presidents, the Popes, heads of state, heads of organizations, celebrities and unknowns have "stepped up to the plate" to apologize.

My question is why?

A sincere, humble apology for the harm one has done, perpetrator to victim is the beginning of justice.

A mass apology from an individual for events and transgressions decades or centuries long past is madness. Why are gownups acting like this? People who appear to be sane are doing it. It's not an act of sanity.

For an apology to have any meaning, it must be given from the perpetrator of the wrong deed to the recipient of the harm in such a way that it at least mitigates, if not rectifies the harm done.

The apologies are flying through the air for deeds and misdeeds as long ago as several hundred years and more. Mass apologies remind one of the *air kiss* familiar to most of us. It's patently false and means absolutely nothing.

The fact that this is all done by supposedly mature adult people is appalling. One has NOTHING to apologize for in this life except to God and to those whom one has harmed in some way.

For those who expect apologies for deeds done and undone in the past not directly related to themselves, please worry about your sanity. The whole idea is DAFT!!! You do not owe apologies to people whom you've never met and whom you have not harmed.

Apologizing for things you haven't done isn't the act of a sane, thinking person. Nobody calm, in their right mind does things that have no meaning.


Apologizing for things YOU haven't done and over which YOU have had no control is NOT an act of sanity. If you're doing this or if you're expecting this, you need to worry about your mind. You're out of it!

Seriously, now...

It seems that our society has developed a strange phobia to seriousness. Perhaps we should coin a word for this strange phenomenon, something like “Soberphobia” or “Earnestophobia”. How often we think of a serious person as someone who is gloomy, a “wet-blanket” or a pessimist. But this is an entirely incorrect view! To be serious is a good thing. It denotes responsibility and careful consideration of life’s priorities. Perhaps that is why we do not like it.

A serious person is not a gloomy person. A gloomy person has their priorities of life all mixed up. Such a person views life through blinders, seeing only the bad and giving each situation encountered in life the worst possible interpretation. A gloomy person views everything subjectively. Incidents in life are viewed solely by how they affect him, whether they are according to his tastes. A serious person, on the other hand, sees life for what it is: a period of preparation for what is to come, namely eternity. He views life objectively and is not so foolish as to blind himself to truth. He recognizes that God exists and that objective truth is. He knows that he is body and soul and that his soul is immortal. He expects judgment by God and realizes that eternal recompense for good or evil done by him in life is inescapable. This does not make him gloomy! It makes him routinely view life with the eyes of eternity and make decisions based on where he wishes to spend his eternity. Such a person is joyful rather than gloomy. A gloomy person has blinded himself to truth and that is the source of his gloominess. A serious person recognizes and accepts truth and that is the source of his joy.

Look around you and you will see many unhappy people. What is the source of their unhappiness? They have turned their back on God and blinded themselves to truth. They are not serious about life, despite the fact that they may be serious about some aspects of life. They are very serious (even gloomy) about their financial state and the economy. They are very serious about having their way and enjoying the sensual pleasures offered by the world, but this does not make them happy. Happiness can only be found when conscience is at peace with God.

It is high time that we begin cultivating a little seriousness about the things that really matter. Life is not a game played out on the playground! It is serious business and the consequences of our every thought, word and deed are eternal. Ignoring or denying the reality of God will not make Him any less real and the same may be said of the moral law. God is, and His law is binding on every human being. Now that’s something to take seriously, don’t you think?

Freedom takes a holiday

There was a time not so very long ago, when people in general knew that there was a right and a wrong. They actually knew what right and wrong were called. Their names were sin and virtue.

Freedom is the right to live peacefully within the law. Freedom encompasses the law of God, as in the Ten Commandments, and man made laws. In the last century, the laws of men departed from the law of God. Men rose up against their Creator and began to make laws to suit their own perversions. Freedom has taken a holiday as a result.

Men who govern and rule, who do not believe deep in their hearts that they will answer to God for how they govern, will always govern to their best financial advantage and to their quest for power. The result is that those whom they govern lose their freedom.

A woman recently stated for the camera that freedom means one can say what they want, when they want. I beg to differ. Those of us who still recognize right and wrong are not at liberty to say so. We are slowly losing our freedom. Inch by inch, our freedom is being taken from us. It has become a crime to speak out against sin (wrong actions) in many places. We are now, more and more, being taken before the courts for insisting that there is indeed a right and a wrong. We no longer have the freedom to speak truth. It is becoming dangerous to speak truth, most especially God's Truth, all over the world.

Reasonable men know that truth does not change. Murder has been wrong from the beginning. Murdering unborn children is evil. It is a sin. Homosexuality is a perversion of the gift that God gave us to cooperate with Him in populating Heaven. It is a sin. Lying, cheating, stealing, are all sins. They are wrong. We knew that once upon a time. The laws of men once mirrored the Law of God, but that is no longer so.

As long as men take license with the law and pervert it to their own ends, freedom is no more and license has taken freedom from us. We are now subject to evil laws made by men who's hearts are perverted to evil things.

I say that freedom has taken a holiday, because it will return. Rational men know that God is in charge and that He, in the end will have the last word. Freedom is His and when men once again turn to Him, it is He who will restore freedom.

Career vs. Vocation

My unmarried younger sister is a talented florist. We were discussing life the other day and she mentioned that she felt unsettled. I looked at her in some consternation and asked if she was thinking about giving up her work as a florist in a thriving shop. She explained that she did not like having a “career” because it seemed so feminist and selfish. That gave me pause for thought, because the truth is that in my own mind a “career woman” has a decidedly unflattering connotation. It smacks of the selfish woman who has put herself and her ambitions ahead of her family duties. I do not say that this connotation is necessarily just in every case, but there you have it. I pointed out to my sister that she does her work each day for God, and she asked, “It’s still a career, isn’t it?”

I began to think more about this subject, and gradually it became clear in my mind what the dividing line is between work being a “career” and work being a “vocation”. It is not a career just because it is secular work or because the person doing the work is successful. It is not a career just because education is a prerequisite to the work or because the same work is done for many years. No. Work becomes a career when it is undertaken with self gratification being the reason for doing the work involved. With some a career gratifies pride, with others it is ambition or wealth, but with all careerists the gratification of ego is a goal. On the other hand, a “vocation” is work undertaken and accomplished for the love of God and in accordance with His will.

We too often think of a “vocation” as being a call to the religious life and nothing else. This is not entirely correct. A call to the religious life is indeed a vocation, but the married life and the single life are vocations as well. So also is the work undertaken to make a living when it is undertaken with God in mind and as a means of fulfilling His will. Every butcher, baker and candlestick maker may choose whether his work is to be a career or a vocation. A career may gratify self by inflating the ego, but the rewards are enjoyed in this life alone. A vocation can satisfy self by giving work an exalted purpose and its rewards are enjoyed in this life and in the life hereafter.

The choice is ours to make: will we do our work for God and to please Him, or will we do our work for ourselves and to make us feel important? Considering that work when undertaken for God earns an eternal reward, it seems rather foolish to have a career when we could have a vocation and do the same work we’re doing already. What it all boils down to is who do we think is more important: ourselves or God?

Illegal Immigration: Cause or Symptom of Crisis?

The subject of illegal immigration is hotly contested these days. Let’s face facts: America has thousands of illegal immigrants from many poorer nations, particularly Mexico, and our Customs Department seems patently unable to cope with the situation. Of course, we must remember that Customs officials are hounded at each step by emotional Americans who are blind to the common good of our society and to the right of our country to limit and regulate immigration. These people are also blind to the fact that illegal immigrants are a slap in the face to every legal immigrant who has taken the time and trouble to enter the country legally.

There is much that could be said on this subject, but this essay proposes to take a look at an angle seldom examined by Americans who debate illegal immigration. It is known that most illegal immigrants are poorly educated people who are content to take whatever job is offered them, usually at a pittance. These are the dirty and difficult jobs that most Americans tend to look down on. It was not always this way. This country was founded and made great by people who were not afraid of hard work or getting their hands dirty. Americans took pride in the fact that they were hard workers, and looked down on those who were lazy or fastidious. It is a crying shame that this has changed. Now, people who do manual labor are looked down upon and the so-called “blue-collar” workers are considered second-rate in spite of the fact that it is they who keep our nation running smoothly. This country would be in a world of hurt without our truck drivers, carpenters, mechanics, industrial workers, farmers and the like. This snobbishness, which looks down on blue-collar workers, reaches its zenith in our opinion of those who do the real “grunt” work – primarily illegal aliens.

What has this to do with illegal immigration, you are undoubtedly wondering. What I am wondering is, who will do the “dirty” work if we expel the illegal immigrants from this country? Please do not misunderstand: I oppose illegal immigration, and would favor a move to expel illegal immigrants humanely. But the question remains: who will take over the jobs that illegal aliens do for a pittance now? Are we, as citizens, prepared to conquer our pride and fastidiousness in order to take up the hard work illegal aliens do now? Is there still enough of a work ethic alive in America that our citizens will do “grunt” work, even if it means getting their hands dirty? I think that these are valid questions which should raise concern in every one of us.

As a nation we have become addicted to ease and to gadgets that entertain us by the hour. No longer do people use leisure time to improve their minds with good literature, to study or to improve themselves in other ways. But leisure time filled with primarily mindless occupation is a curse to a nation. Certainly there is a time and a place for recreation, but we have made recreation a top priority. We work in order to buy more gadgets, to pay for our trips to the ball game…in other words, to have fun. We have lost our sense of proportion and the seriousness that should govern our lives and actions. We no longer think with our intelligence, but with our emotions. As long as we continue this way, illegal immigration will continue unchecked because we will not be able to deal with the problem logically and unemotionally. As long as ease remains our top priority we will not be willing to work hard or get our hands dirty, and we will have a use for the illegal aliens who will. This is unfair to our country and to the illegal aliens.

Our country’s border problems are not solely due to the aliens who cross them illegally. The mindset and lack of a work ethic among Americans plays its role in the problem as well. There is little that we, as citizens, can do about border security. But we can examine ourselves and our own work ethic and use of leisure time. Restoring the work ethic that made our country great must be a “grassroots” effort that begins with individuals and families. In time, it will spread to shore up our nation and make it once again a land of opportunity for those willing to work hard, even if it means getting dirty hands. In time, it may enable us to think clearly and solve our nation’s problems, including that of illegal immigration.

Picture credit: www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=6025

A nation asleep

We are sleeping.

By and large most of us are consumed with simply running our daily lives. We tend to leave the running of the country to the politicians. Come election time we tend to party and personalities.

Yesterday a friend sent me the following links.

http://newsbusters.org/polls/should-john-mccain-visit-anwr-illustrate-its-remoteness-22159

http://www.anwr.org/

Here is a good one

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arctic_Refuge_drilling_controversy

and another one

http://www.govspot.com/issues/anwr.htm

My eyes opened wide.

I would like to suggest one more link for your perusal. www.Townhall.com. In the past couple of months I got interested and have been reading some of the posts on that site. I'm awake now.

Wake up friends! We're in trouble.

The Rat Race

Up in the morning and rush through the day
Never a moment
To think or to pray.

Tied to a clock with a schedule to keep
Life is a frenzy:
You work, play and sleep.

Where are the days when you had real joy?
Spent time with your loved ones
And laughed like a boy?

Family meant more than a brilliant career,
And money could never
O’er heart domineer.

An honorable name, you thought, was attained
By hard work and honesty
Not treasures gained.

God and His law you acknowledged each day
Alone or with family
You knelt down to pray.

But now all is different – you’re tired and depressed.
The idols you worship
Can’t make you less stressed.

You own all the latest in high-techno toys,
To give you a thrill,
With their glamour and noise.

But man wasn’t made to indulge every whim,
Mad devotion to pleasure
Is no life for him.

Enough of the rat race and pleasure that’s mindless!
Turn off all the gadgets!
Let your “self” shed its blindness.

A man’s more than a body, he does have a soul.
It must figure into
Your plans and your goal!

Your soul is immortal, and die it shall not.
Eternity draws nigh
Have you given it thought?

A soul’s destination is limited, see:
Heaven or hell
Which one will it be?

You have but one life and one soul, don’t forget.
If you die far from God
You’re in hell and that’s it.

So return to your senses; worldly life bid adieu!
No more slaving for pleasure
Mindless rat race eschew.

Give yourself back to God, He is waiting for you.
Guide your life by His laws
And find joy that is true.

Watching the tide rise

All around us rages an unseen war. Two little girls are shot to death on a Sunday afternoon. An old man is hit by a car and left wounded in the street. College students are murdered with alarming frequency on campus. Children are committing suicide. Children are murdering other children. Babies are dying of disease and famine.

Remember that song from the sixties sung by Peter, Paul and Mary...."Blowin in the Wind"? It kept repeating "How many times"? My point? My point is this: as turbulent as the sixties were to live through, what we are enduring now makes the sixties look like a quiet Sunday afternoon picnic. What we are living through now is a reflection of hell.

Like a frog in a pot of water, slowly by degrees we are boiling to death. Morality has slowly declined until it's is all but dead. We live in a world of death. Our morality, our sense of decency, our consciences are all dying.

All that decent people once held dear has been loudly decried by those who reject morality and smother the cries of those who tried to protect our society. Good people have been led astray and their sense of decency has been quieted within them. Those who are still outraged by evil watch in horror as the tide rises.

Truth has been rejected. God has been rejected. The cry "God is dead" from the sixties has turned into the death knell of our society. It is we who are dying because we have joined our cries with that of Lucifer, "I will not serve". We refuse to worship God as He has demanded. Ladies and gentlemen He is the creator. He IS. Meditate on that a while. God IS. That thought is the chocolate mousse of meditation. God IS.

The idea that God would demand something of us outrages us. "Who does He think He is to tell us what to do"? So we demand our inheritance here and now. We take what life has to offer and throw ourselves into the hedonistic fray. We pretend that there is no God. We pretend that He has not made His law. We pretend that we are not the creature but the Supreme Being. We pretend.........

Soon, only too soon, we will face that moment when we will have our appointment with His Majesty. The King will call us to account for all we have done and for all we have failed to do.

In the mean time, our society descends, ever more rapidly into the maw of hell, deliriously convincing ourselves that we are having a good time and feverishly pretending that there will be no accounting.

How do we save ourselves? We ask Him. We humble ourselves and we say, "Lord save us, we perish". Then we recall the words of the Mary the mother of Jesus at Cana to the waiters there, "Do whatever He tells you".

This will keep our heads above the tide, no matter how high we see it rise.

--
Posted By Rose Blue to A Box of Opinions at 6/10/2008 05:33:00 AM

Radical Secularism a Solution for Multi-Cultural Tensions? Think Again!

I was reading an article recently on the social tensions being experienced in Québec as a result of multi-cultural immigration. The Québec government spent five million dollars on a study of the issue, and the Premier has promised to implement the proposed solution put forth in the report by the members of the study group.

The study determined that because Québec is no longer predominately French Catholic, the solution to multi-cultural tensions is radical secularism. In de facto practice this means that any religious symbol is to be allowed in public life, with the exception of Christian symbols: “Crucifixes must be removed from the National Assembly and classrooms and Christian prayers banned from city council meetings but students should be allowed to wear their Islamic hijabs, Jewish kippas, Sikh turbans and even the ceremonial dagger called a kirpan.” According to the article I read, the report made one or two exceptions based on Québec’s long-standing Catholic culture: “‘Under the principle of the neutrality of the State, religious displays linked to the functioning of public institutions should be abandoned.’ But because ‘Catholicism has left an indelible mark on Québec's history,’ the huge crucifix on top of Mount Royal in Montreal and the town and village names derived from the Catholic calendar of saints can stay. These were deemed to ‘no longer fulfil an obvious religious function.’ The famous crucifix in the National Assembly ‘can be put in a room devoted to the history of Parliament.’” According to the article, these measures do not signify a radical change but only an adaptation: “‘What we are facing, instead, is the need to adapt’. The growth of secularism and the fading of the traditional French Catholic culture of Quebec means that greater accommodation must be made to non-Christian immigration. The proposed solution is radical secularisation [sic]. ‘Our society is sufficiently divided at present and we must seek to reduce splits and tensions instead of exacerbating them. The time has come for compromise, negotiation and balance.’”

What are we to think of radical State secularism being the “solution” for the problems of multi-culturalism? Not much! State secularism may sound very kind and “tolerant” but the truth is that it leads inevitably to State atheism. It is a matter of common sense: a State that recognizes every god in fact recognizes none, especially not the true God. We can already see symptoms of this State atheism in the Québec situation. The government is bending over backwards to make every religion, and god, feel welcome, except for the true religion and the true God. Muslims and Jews may wear the symbols of their religion, but Crucifixes and Catholic symbols are to be taken down and hidden away in lavender as relics of the past history of Québec. The Québec government stresses the need for “negotiation” and “compromise” but how is it possible to negotiate or compromise the truth? There can be only one true God and only one true religion. Truth is – period. If it is negotiated or compromised it is no longer truth, but just another manifestation of error. If every god is recognized by a State, then obviously no god is recognized as being true, and especially not the true God. The ramifications of secularization for government are enormous. Whether society wishes to believe it or not, God IS. And as God, He and His laws must be acknowledged and obeyed by governments as well as by private individuals. Those governments that reject God and His laws will be punished by Him, and rightly so.

Those already infected with this “tolerant” and implicit form of atheism known as secularism will ask how I know which God is the true one. It is very simple: He has revealed himself in Sacred Scripture, both the Old and the New Testaments, and in the Tradition of the Catholic Church. This Divine Revelation, Scripture and Tradition, is contained in the Deposit of Faith safeguarded by the Catholic Church whose Founder is God Himself. To reject or deny the Catholic Church as the true Church is to reject and deny her Founder, Jesus Christ. To reject Christ or to deny His claims is to call Him a mountebank, a deceiver. He said that He is God and He proved His claim by numerous and outstanding miracles, the greatest of which being His own resurrection from the dead. Who but God could resurrect Himself from death? Since Christ is God, to reject Him or to deny His claims is to fall into atheism.

Secularism, which appears as an innocent “tolerance”, is actually a most dangerous deception and an insult to the true God. It is certainly not a “solution” to multi-cultural tensions, but will only exacerbate the problem. The true solution is for society to recognize the claims of God and to live accordingly, converting those who do not know the truth to the true religion and to the true God.

What is it we don't get about........

Once upon a time in America we had standards. A man or woman running for office had to live by those standards, or at least make a really good show of doing so. A politician caught in a scandal or compromising situation, (i.e. divorce, adultery, etc.) knew their career was over.

Once upon a time we knew right from wrong! We knew that we should have standards and that we should demand that our leaders abide by those standards. Then we stopped exacting those standards.

So, what is it we don't get about the correlation between dropping our standards and the ever increasing debauchery of our politicians. How is it we don't get the connection between dropping our standards and the huge increase in dishonest politicians.

Case and point, the governor of Nevada who left the mansion and wants his wife kicked out of it. Grownups are supposed to know how to behave. Causing public scandal isn't behaving folks. If said governor can't conduct his own private life, and deliberately humiliates his wife, what can the people of Nevada expect from him?

The Bill and Hillary scenario of adultery and public scandal is another obvious plate of food for thought. If these two people can't conduct themselves like adults in their marriage, they certainly can't conduct our country with any degree of maturity.

Obama? This is a man who chooses to remain in a congregation who's main preacher justifies using the foulest profanity, spreads rumor and scandal and then dares to call himself a Christian. What is Obama doing? He's asking us to believe that in twenty years he never heard anything untoward. He's asking us to pretend that we're stupid.

If we step back and look at the phenomenal increase in public scandals with our politicians over the last five decades, it's easy for a person of reason to see that there is an obvious, direct and proportionally larger link between our falling standards for public officials and the sharp increase in dishonest and scandalous politics.

Should we have high standards for our officials? You bet your life we should. If a man can't conduct his own private life on a morally correct path, he's not going to give much thought to conducting affairs of state with any truth and honesty. If a man will cheat on his wife, he's going to cheat on us. It's not hard to figure out.

Our country is descending into chaos and it's our own fault. We stopped demanding that our public SERVANTS (we've forgotten that we elect them to serve us), live by an honest and morally upright standard. SO.....we fall right along with them. It's insane reasoning to pretend that we don't need to worry about the morals of our public servants.

An individual who has no problem degrading and disrespecting the person they vowed their life to, won't give degrading and disrespecting all of us who are strangers to them, a second thought.

Counting Blessings

There is so much disturbing news in the world today that I think we tend to see only the bad around us and forget to be thankful for the good. I propose that we spend a little time counting our simple blessings and joys as an antidote to the “blues”. No matter who we are or where we live there is always something to be grateful for and to enjoy.

I live in a rural part of Minnesota near the Canadian border. I have much to be thankful for. As I am a lover of natural beauty, a beauty which is but a dim reflection of the glory of God, when I think of my blessings I usually think of the natural beauty by which I am surrounded. Every sunset painting the sky with glory is a joy to me. When the sunset is poised over a calm lake, silhouetting islands dotted with pines; and there is no sound but the lonely wails of the loons and the soft lapping of minute waves against the rocks, I think the moment is a foretaste of the peace and beauty of heaven.

Clouds with their varied formations, especially when their undersides are gilded by the rising or setting sun, are a treat for the eyes. When the clouds mount up into massive cumulonimbus formations, commonly called anvil-heads, they are a treat for the child in me as well. Such clouds with their potential for destruction make my adrenaline rise! When the storm finally breaks, unleashing blinding flashes of lightning, earth-shaking claps of thunder and torrents of rain lashed by the fury of wind, it is a sight to behold. At times, it is a frightening experience which involves a mad dash to the basement and minutes spent cowering in a corner praying for protection from the elements. Even then there is something to be thankful for, such as a basement! During such times, when I realize what a coward I can be, I wonder what the Last Judgment will be like. If the natural fury of a storm can be so terrifying, what will the anger of God be like to experience? Such storms are powerful motivators for an examination of conscience and an amendment of life.

The beauty and simplicity of flowers is incredible. Look closely at a flower and you will be amazed at the intricacy and delicacy of each petal and stamen. Even the most common wildflower is a marvel of creation. I often wonder if those who do not believe in God have ever looked closely at a flower. That such beauty and intricacy can spring from a little seed is living testimony of the existence and goodness of the Creator. Whenever I am feeling low, a sweeping glance over a meadow of wildflowers is enough to pick me up. The mixture of colors from the many different flowers and the varied greens of stems, leaves and grasses comprise a masterpiece of art from the hand of God.

Last in order, though first in importance, I am grateful for my Catholic faith, my homeland, my husband and my family. What a great gift the Catholic faith is, and how misunderstood and unappreciated it remains to so many! What a great gift family is, and yet how many people in the press of duties forget to make time for and to appreciate their loved ones. To love and be loved is a great blessing! Finally, we do well to remember that living in a country where we are free is something to thank God daily for. The world is full of oppression and many of its people would give their lives to enjoy the freedom we take for granted.

The next time we are tempted to grumble, or we are feeling down in the dumps, let’s take a moment to count our blessings. We may be surprised to find they outnumber our trials!

Control or No Control? That is the Question

The recent hoopla over the Second Amendment has publicly disclosed a divergence of thought among Americans on the issue of guns. This is nothing new, of course. The pros and cons of gun control have been a hot topic since the attempted assassination of President Reagan. The topic is never discussed calmly as people have strong feelings that are diametrically opposed.

What seems to be overlooked in these discussions is who or what is the real factor behind murder. One school of thought says that eliminating guns will solve the problem of violent crime. The other says that guns are not the issue. They can’t both be right, so what’s the answer?

Like most people, I have strong feelings on this subject. Feelings are not important, though, facts are. And the fact is that murder and violent crime begin in the heart of the criminal. When people set aside the moral law, which forbids murder, and harbor evil intentions in their hearts it is only a matter of time before someone gets hurt. If we want to limit violent crime, and who doesn’t, we need to get back to fundamentals such as acknowledging God and His laws. It is only when people begin once again to believe in God’s justice and in the reality of hell (yes, it does exist and people do go there) that men will begin to govern their hearts. Because of original sin, however, there will always be criminals in our midst who reject God’s laws. A spiritual solution will not end violent crime, it will only curtail it. Where does that leave us in the gun control issue?

Guns do not kill people. People kill people. Using a gun to do so only makes the job a little easier than using a knife, a club or poison. But if guns make it easier to kill people, runs one school of thought, then banning guns should make things safer for everyone, right? WRONG. It is impossible to get guns out of the hands of criminals. Banning guns will only disarm law abiding citizens, putting them at the mercy of criminals. This is common sense. Will a criminal turn in his guns because the law says to do so? Of course not; what is one more broken law to a lawless man? Nothing. A gun ban serves to make crime much safer for criminals, and will only increase the rates of violent crime. Don’t believe me? Take some time to read the English newspapers. England has had gun control for many years now, but a look at the newspaper shows how effective the control is. Every day the pages of The Daily Telegraph and BBC are filled with articles telling of violent crimes committed across the length and breadth of England. Rape, murder, assault and armed robbery are a daily fact of life for British people. And England (including Scotland and Wales) is a very small country! In size it compares roughly to the state of Iowa, with Iowa being slightly larger. Yet the rate of violent crime in England is much higher than that of any state in the Union. Gun control has made England a far more dangerous place to live than it was before the control went into effect.

By way of contrast, compare the rate of crime in one western town in the United States. In this town there is a gun ownership law. Every householder is obliged to own a gun and be trained in its use. What is the rate of violent crime? Zippo, nada, doesn’t happen. Why? Because criminals know that if they try to commit a crime they are going to be facing victims who have guns and know how to use them to defend themselves and their property. It is not gun control that has made this town a safe place to live; it is responsible gun ownership which has done so.

The Second Amendment, guaranteeing the right of every American to keep and bear arms, is a safeguard against many evils. Hopefully the Supreme Court will uphold this, our birthright, and make it inviolable. God grant that America does not go the way of England and place her citizens at the mercy of violent criminals.

What is Happening to Our Children?

Our local schools have had a rash of bomb scares and threatening calls over the past few weeks. This is not what you ordinarily experience in a small backwoods community in northern Minnesota, and it not only closed the schools several times but also raised apprehension in the locals. Today I saw a in a local newspaper that the culprit had been arrested: a twelve-year old boy who will now have a criminal record to live with for the rest of his life. I thought immediately: What has happened to our children?

Of course, we are shocked. Nay, we are outraged that a boy this young would think of doing such a thing. But should we be? Are not the papers filled every week with news reports of teens and pre-teens committing petty crimes, doing drugs (an online paper tonight had an article about a toddler and his five year old brother smoking marijuana given to them by...their teenage uncle!) and even committing violent crimes? Do all these children come from neglected homes? Indeed not! Then what is the influence common to all that perverts their sense of right and wrong? What is destroying our children?!

Children are great mimics and what they see as acceptable behavior, or what appears “cool” to them, they are likely to do. That gives pause for thought, because what are children filling their minds with these days but violence and crime? They absorb it from the endless hours of television they watch, wherein every sort of vice and depravity is blatantly portrayed as being normal and entertaining. They absorb it from the computer games they play, many of which make the violence on television appear tame by comparison. They absorb it from the music they listen to, the lyrics of which are filled with blasphemy, cursing, sex and violence. How can we expect these children to know right from wrong when we allow them to bombard themselves with such depravity as “recreation”?

This is where an opinionated blogger begins to skate on thin ice. You see, it is the responsibility of parents to see that their children are protected from evil influences, and today’s parents, by and large, are not doing so. It is so much easier to give little Johnny what he is begging for, and computer games, television and rock CD’s keep him out of mom and dad’s hair. After all, these things can’t be so bad…right? WRONG. The eyes are the windows of the soul and what we view regularly we become. The ears have a direct line of contact with the brain, and what we hear regularly we retain in our subconscious. Depravity fed to children through their eyes and ears will make depraved children.

So what is the solution? Simple: throw out the TV, the computer games and the rock music, and have a family life together. Sure it’s hard at first, but well worth the effort; not only for the entire family but especially for the children who will grow up in a wholesome atmosphere which will allow them to develop their personalities and character. Parents, do you love your children? Then do what is best for them even when it means making a sacrifice! You won’t regret it, and when your children are older they will thank you. I know – I’ve been thanking my parents for doing the above for years now!

Love is not a feeling or a four letter word.

The dictionaries have been updated. The original definition of love, once upon a time, was to desire and work for the good of other. That was the primary definition with attachments and add ons about feelings.

Poets and writers, media, dictionaries and a multitude of others have changed and hidden the real meaning of love. Love is portrayed as an ooey gooey feeling. That's silly and it's not only detrimental to our mental grasp on sanity, it's insulting to people who think!

Try telling a mother nursing her child through a fatal illness and attending a death bed that love is warm and fuzzy. Go ahead and tell her that she should be "feeling"ooey gooey. The truth is what she is DOING is love. Not only is she truly loving, she is loving to an heroic degree.

To tend a sick child or loved one who is vomiting on your feet is love. Taking the garbage out so someone else doesn't have to do it is love. Cleaning off and warming up a snow covered car on a sub-zero morning so someone else doesn't have to do it is love.

For women, the endless chores of cooking and cleaning and nursing and shopping, in other words housework is love. For men the endless pursuit to provide for his family and keep things in working order is love.

Are there feelings attached to love? Of course there are, but those are feelings aren't love. Feelings were given to us so we'd have a gauge to measure things by. Fear keeps us safe. Emotions have a use. The feelings we have come to accept mean love are given us to encourage us to keep showing love. It's unfortunate that we lost that understanding and we often make decisions based on feelings rather than on logic and reason.

Jesus, dying on the cross didn't feel good, but what He was doing WAS love. He told us, in so many words, that the greatest love is to give up one's life for other. We do that when we DO for others, especially when that doing doesn't feel all that great.

It's a bit sad really that we've come to a place in our society where we actually believe that love is some great feeling that we're supposed to feel. So we buy that and when the *feelings* are overshadowed by the reality of the repetitive tedium of every day life, we move on to find the will of the wisp feeling we have been conned into believing that we're supposed to have.

"What fools these mortals be."

Will polygamy win?

What people are missing is that these people don't even qualify for the name Christians. They do not believe that Jesus is God, that He died for our sins and the Bible DOES teach about marriage. Tthey don't follow even the sketchiest outline of Christianity. Essentially these people are pagans who have defied the laws against bigamy in this country for nearly 100 years and whatever they claim, they DO commit child molestation from one generation to another.

Giving their children in marriage while they are still children and training them to accept whatever alpha male in the pack is picked for them and perverting marriage to mean multiple mothers sharing the same male is the grossest betrayal of innocence and marriage for all but the most depraved of cultures. The idea that these people are raised and trained to do that is the stuff of the depths of hell.

Will they win? Probably! The line was crossed when Christian people began to accept ideas and compromises in matters of divorce and then after that it was abortion. Once upon a time, people knew that those things were offensive and sinful. All Christians believed that divorce and abortion were evils. As soon as those things became acceptable the downhill slide into the maw of hell was assured. It hasn't stopped yet.

In general people no longer grasp the concepts of right and wrong. It's only wrong when one "feels" it's wrong. They've lost the ability to discern truth and goodness. Truth is what you "feel" you believe, truth has nothing to do with the case. Laws have been struck down, NOT because they are no longer good laws or that they are no longer true, but because it became inconvenient to follow those laws.

The conscience of the world is unconscious.

Many years ago I had a conversation with a woman who told me that she couldn't believe that abortion was wrong. The reason was that she'd had several. She couldn't afford to believe it was wrong because she would have had to admit that what she had done was evil. Homosexuality was once acknowledged to be a choice of evil. Now we're expected to believe that it is not a choice but that we are simply born that way and can't change it. The mental gymnastics it takes to live with that takes a terrible toll on the soul. There are hundreds of thousands of men and women who have suffocated their consciences in order to do whatever they "feel" like doing.

Precious few people repent and find their way back to Truth.

You can pretend that truth isn't truth, but you can't make it so. Gravity does work! When we do what we feel like doing instead of what we know to be right, we pay a terrible price. The state of the world is that price.

Full of pride and self-righteousness we claim that we want to leave the world a better place for our children and for our grandchildren. We're liars. We don't care about them because we refuse to acknowledge what we know is true and act on it. We damn future generations because we don't "feel" like turning back to the truth and living the way we know, (and deep down we do know) is true.

Instead of healing the world by turning back to real Truth and good values, we have come to a pass where those who remind us that the "Emperor isn't wearing any clothes" are allowed to be persecuted.

The hidden child abuse

Lately in the news, we get frequent reports of children either beating each other, their teachers, or being assaulted themselves. What's happened to our children?

The answer is us! We are the culprits and we are perpetrating a form of child abuse on them that goes largely unnoticed. We neglect and refuse to teach our children. We've been sold a bill of goods that discipline is abuse and we no longer discipline our children.

Constantly we see in public, parents pleading with their children about one thing an another. Children are permitted to throw tantrums, both at home in private, and in public. The adult authority in the child's life stands by desperately trying to placate the child, or bribe the child, or reacts in anger, thus teaching the child that it's OK to get angry and say and do mean spiteful things when angry. We have abdicated our authority and we put children on the same level with us. In essence we demand that children be miniature adults, even though they lack the skills and the experience to behave as adults. We put an enormous burden of responsibility on our children that does not belong to them.

Remember that children learn what they live?

The greater problem is that adults very often do not practice self control. We are so focused on pleasing ourselves (it teaches selfishness). We're impatient and rude to those who stand in service of us at the check out counter (it teaches arrogance). We cut each other off in traffic and fill the air with expletives blaming anyone but ourselves, showing gross disrespect to those around us( it teaches that others are not important, only we are important).

We feed our minds garbage in our reading and television watching (it teaches a lack of taste and discrimination in what they feed their minds).

Our work ethic is atrocious. We tell "little white lies" on a regular basis and justify it (it teaches dishonesty). We eat too much and drink too much and cater to our whims too much. We put ourselves in enormous debt, spending way beyond our means in order to feed our desire for whatever interests us (it teaches a lack of self control). In some cases we even punish our children for imitating us in these things.

THEN we have the nerve to wonder what's happened to our youth.

Children learn what they live.

When you hear that men stood around watching while a stranger was beaten or killed, or when those who witness injustice keep silent. When we knowingly spending money for "frills" knowing that we can't really afford it. When we steal time from the workplace by not diligently attending to our duties and goofing off, telling fibs and outright lies. That is what our children are learning.

Once upon a time, courage, honesty, diligence, self sacrifice, integrity, ethics, self control, respect for authority and elders were instilled in children. How seldom we see those things now.

Children learn what they live.

Everything we see in our children is what they've been taught. When we fail to train and discipline our children to a moral standard that gives them to tools to become happy, productive adults, we perpetrate one of the worst forms of child abuse. We've condemned that child to a miserable life. What is even more shocking is that we then refuse to admit that there's something wrong and help the child justify what they've done. In doing so, we heap more abuse on our children and on society at large.

How long will we continue to build prisons by neglecting and abusing our children? Silent and deadly child abuse. The invisible child abuse of training our children to be hedonistic, selfish mean spirited creatures. How cruel we are.

Children learn what they live. What are you teaching?

Some Thoughts on Freedom

The recent annexation of Tibet by Communist China has given me pause for thought about freedom. How I pity any country unjustly invaded and subjected to the oppression of a totalitarian regime! What a great blessing freedom is, and how often we take it for granted.

But what is freedom? Nowadays it is confused with license, and people claim the “right” to do whatever they please without thought for their fellow human beings or the common good of society. So we see sodomy and abortion claimed as “rights” even though both are against the moral law and crimes that call to heaven for vengeance. Both are fatally destructive to the family and to the common good of society. What a vile caricature of freedom it is when such aberrations are called “rights”!

Freedom is a gift from God for one purpose: that we may be free to choose the good and serve God as He intended in this life so as to merit heaven. Freedom brings with it an obligation. We are not morally free to willfully embrace error, to commit sin, to oppress our fellow human beings, or to transgress against the rights of others. We may be free to do these things according to civil law, but we are not free to do them according to God’s law, which is the highest law.

Western civilization became great because it adhered to God’s law, which was reflected in the civil laws of nations. It should come as no surprise, then, that when the Western world abandoned the law of God, tapped into the keg of Liberalism and became inebriated with the strong ale of Humanitarianism, Western civilization went into a tailspin from which recovery seems impossible. Liberty became synonymous with license, and in no little time crimes became “freedoms”. For example, murder of the unborn became “freedom of choice”; the practice of sodomy became “freedom to live an ‘alternative’ lifestyle”; propagation of intellectual error became “freedom of Press”; and atheism became “freedom of religion”. But these aberrations are not freedoms! Is one free when enslaved by ignorance of truth? Is it freedom to be a slave of disordered passion? Is a woman who murders her unborn child a “free woman” or a barbarous monstrosity? Freedom gives us the right to choose the good, not to practice evil.

Is it too late to recover Western civilization? No. With God all things are possible, but without Him we are doomed. When people begin to recognize God’s rights as Creator and Redeemer, and once again take up and live the moral law, our society will slowly climb out of the liberal cesspool which threatens to drown it entirely. But this must be a “grassroots” effort - we must each begin with ourselves. And what is the best way of beginning? By getting down on our knees and raising our hearts to God. He always listens if we are in earnest.

All things being equal

Once upon a time, people were polite. They were raised to conduct themselves with at least the appearance of being polite and treat others with courtesy.

Now the phone rings, when one answers "Hello" one hears "Is *Bobby* there?" Not "This is Sam, is Bobby there please?" The lack of respect from the first word on is sad. Not only is the individual showing a complete lack of manners, but they are exhibiting the lack of respect they have for themselves.

There was a time when all persons in a position of authority were addressed by their title. Mr., Mrs., Miss, Dr., Professor etc. That imparted a sense of dignity to everyone. It helped to keep order and show respect for others. After the sixties everyone was on a first name basis. It made us all "equal". This practice is the more subtle, insidious side of a mentality born of raucous pride and envy. Vive la revolution.

The only place we are equal, is that we all have a soul made by God for Himself. Every other front has a hierarchy.

Michael Angelo, Einstein, Madame Curie and Queen Esther are NOT my equals. I can neither paint like Michael Angelo nor cipher like Einstein further the cause of science like Madame Curie or save a nation like Queen Esther. My skill in any of those fields is decidedly below theirs. It does not harm me that I am not equal to these people. Indeed neither these people, nor any other can be equal to me. I am the only person who can adequately be me.

To pretend that one is equal to everybody else is to denigrate oneself. There is a natural hierarchy in nature. Surely it's a no brainer that a rock is not equal to a swan. Neither is an animal equal to a human. Rocks are made to complete a certain function and they do very well in their own realm. Should we find them attempting to rule nations we must know that sanity has deserted us.

Humans, cultivate, explore, investigate, experiment, build up and increase in knowledge and skill. No other creature does that. We each have various levels of talent, intelligence and understanding. We are not equal one to another. There is a hierarchy among human beings on multiple levels. Having been created equal by virtue of the soul given us by God, we each fall into our own place in the scheme of things.

A good man is greater than an evil king. They are not equals.

Every human being is the only person who can be exactly who they are. In that respect, none of us have an equal. It is wisdom to know that and to be content to be who we are and to achieve what we are capable of achieving.

It is success to know, love and serve God while we live, so that we may be happy with Him hereafter. In order to do that we have no need to be equal.

The Demise of Logic

It is becoming increasingly obvious that as a society we have lost the ability to think. Read the newspapers (or rather, don’t) and you will see what it is that tickles the fancy of an unreasoning world. Scandal, murder, and abominations form the staple of daily reading for the mindless masses. What has happened to the common sense and lofty idealism that once characterized our beloved America?

Alas! The 1960’s happened…an era of rebellion against authority, morality, reason, and all that conduced toward making this country great and its people noble. Truth was cast aside for relativism and objectivity; authority was denied as being too restrictive; morality went the way of the flesh…in more ways than one; and reason gave place to mawkish sentiment and self-will.

One of the tragic victims of this disastrous revolution in society is Literature. Why do I mention it when speaking about logic and our ability to think? Because, as Dr. Carol Byrne pointed out in an article published in the Spring 2006 edition of Mater Dei Magazine:

"Literary works – in the sense of the imaginative and creative kind, such as drama, poetry and fiction – have for centuries been playing an important role in shaping human thought for good or ill. By appealing to our imagination and our sense of enjoyment in reading, they become part of our mind’s life. And we know from the Scriptures how thought determines action: as a man thinks in his mind, so he is in life." – “The Inside Story, Getting to Know Ourselves through Good Literature”, pg. 1. [My emphasis]

That is rather an alarming thought when you stop to consider what people are filling their minds with! Is it any wonder that western civilization is tumbling down around our heads?

Perhaps it is time that we as individuals take a small step toward shoring up the bastions of civilization by turning off the television, setting aside the newspapers and rag-mags, and taking up the reading of good Literature. Yes, that was Literature with a capital “L” as opposed to the genre of cheap, filthy, frothy, mindless novels that go by the misnomer of literature.

I can already hear the clamor of dismay: “But that is so hard! Those books are so boring…nothing ever happens in them!” To which I reply: Yes, it is hard at first to take up good Literature, and one must develop a taste for it. Why? Because good reading is filled with principles and ideas. Most of it concentrates on character development rather than on sexually lurid and yawningly boring plots that a six-year-old could see through. That good Literature is unappreciated is not the fault of the works themselves, but of our minds being so ignorant and lazy that we will not attempt to read and understand good books; and if we do make the attempt and encounter difficulties, we have become too lazy and sensual to persevere in our attempt. But how much we lose by not persevering! Good Literature ennobles the mind, instills lofty principles, and gives us courage to climb out of the cesspool of mediocrity toward the pinnacle of knowledge.

Today’s version of literature does just the opposite. As one astute author put it:

“Considered in relation to knowledge, popular literature is a powerful strengthener of self-ignorance; considered in relation to feeling, popular literature simply serves to make sure that we love and hate and feel virtuous according to conventional rules that ignore the complexity of life.” (R. Hellman, The Ghost on the Ramparts, Athens (Georgia), University of Georgia Press, 1973, p. 24. Quoted in abovementioned article by Dr. Carol Byrne. My emphasis.)

The choice is ours: Do we wish to develop our reason as God intended, so that we are able to think logically and embrace truth, or are we content to mill with the herd and stampede like lemmings over the abyss? Our decision will not affect ourselves alone. It may very well affect the destiny of western civilization.

God bless the children

Increasingly we hear reports of children doing terrible things. Children as young as First Grade are committing crimes one would think wouldn't cross the mind of a child. Children with guns, children who murder, torture and steal. Children who who have been robbed of their childhood.

Last evening while watching a young girl weep because nobody understood her and I was enraged. I felt sorry for her. The rage was directed at the adults in her life, particularly her parents. WHY did they do this to her?

There's a pervasive attitude that childhood is a time for play and indulgence. The idea that childhood is the training ground for adulthood is completely lost. Our children have one shot, and one shot only at a decent life. Childhood is the "classroom" for our future adults.

Childhood is where you learn respect for authority, compassion for those less fortunate, honesty, integrity, self control, diligence, where they learn HOW to be a functioning adult. Collectively our society has completely lost the understanding that feeding, sheltering and watering children isn't enough. They have to be taught. The most important lessons a child learns are the lessons of what is right and what is wrong. They must learn how to distinguish right from wrong and how to build their character so they have the strength to choose right over wrong, AND for the right reasons.

Evil legislators are now working full time and diligently to make sure that the hands of parents are tied legally by attempting to enact legislation to prevent parents from disciplining their children. No thinking person considers that a well timed spanking is violence. No rational person ranks spanking with beating and abusing a child. Such people are either insane, or evil. To rob parents of their tools to discipline their children is a moral crime that either demands that the perpetrator should be on medication or deserves a time out in the State Penitentiary .

When will we stop this evil child abuse by refusing to teach and discipline our children. Society at large seems blind to the fact that we are reaping what we sow by being forced to build more and more prisons and to have a larger and larger police force.

In the meantime it's the children who suffer. They suffer all the way into adulthood and lead miserable lives because they weren't given the tools while they were children to have the strength, self possession and knowledge to lead themselves in productive happy lives as adults.

We treat our children worse than we treat our animals.

On legal and illegal immigration

This came in on one of the lists I frequent. One wonders when it became legal to break the law in this country. More to the point one wonders when somebody will notice that it's illegal to break the law. The fact that there are citizens in this country who stand up and argue in favor of ILLEGAL (meaning against the law) aliens defies understanding.

This letter to the Editor says a mouthful.

Newspapers simply won't publish letters to the editor which they
either deem
politically incorrect (read below) or which does not agree with the
philosophy they're pushing on the public. This woman wrote a great
letter to
the editor that should have been published; but, with your help it
will get
published via cyberspace!

New Immigrants

From: 'David LaBonte'

My wife, Rosemary, wrote a wonderful letter to the editor of the OC
Register
which, of course, was not printed. So, I decided to 'print' it myself by
sending it out on the Internet. Pass it along if you feel so inclined.

Dave LaBonte (signed)

Written in response to a series of letters to the editor in the Orange
County Register:

Dear Editor:

So many letter writers have based their arguments on how this land is made
up of immigrants. Ernie Lujan for one, suggests we should tear down the
Statue of Liberty because the people now in question aren't being treated
the same as those who passed through Ellis Island and other ports of
entry.

Maybe we should turn to our history books and point out to people like Mr.
Lujan why today's American is not willing to accept this new kind of
immigrant any longer. Back in 1900 when there was a rush from all areas of
Europe to come to the United States , people had to get off a ship and
stand
in a long line in New York and be documented. Some would even get down on
their hands and knees and kiss the ground. They made a pledge to
uphold the
laws and support their new country in good and bad times. They made
learning
English a primary rule in their new American households and some even
changed their names to blend in with their new home.

They had waved good bye to their birth place to give their children a new
life and did everything in their power to help their children assimilate
into one culture.

Nothing was handed to them. No free lunches, no welfare, no labor laws to
protect them. All they had were the skills and craftsmanship they had
brought with them to trade for a future of prosperity. Most of their
children came of age when World War II broke out. My father fought
alongside
men whose parents had come straight over from Germany, Italy, France and
Japan .. None of these 1st generation Americans ever gave any thought
about
what country their parents had come from. They were Americans fighting
Hitler, Mussolini and the Emperor of Japan. They were defending the United
States of America as one people. When we liberated France , no one in
those
villages were looking for the French-American or the German American
or the
Irish American. The people of France saw only Americans. And we
carried one
flag that represented one country. Not one of those immigrant sons would
have thought about picking up another country's flag and waving it to
represent who they were. It would have been a disgrace to their
parents who
had sacrificed so much to be here. These immigrants truly knew what it
meant
to be an American. They stirred the melting pot into one red, white
and blue
bowl.

And here we are in 2007 with a new kind of immigrant who wants the same
rights and privileges. Only they want to achieve it by playing with a
different set of rules, one that includes the entitlement card and a
guarantee of being faithful to their mother country. I'm sorry, that's not
what being an American is all about. I believe that the immigrants who
landed on Ellis Island in the early 1900's deserve better than that
for all
the toil, hard work and sacrifice in raising future generations to
create a
land that has become a beacon for those legally searching for a better
life.
I think they would be appalled that they are being used as an example by
those waving foreign country flags.

And for that suggestion about taking down the Statue of Liberty, it
happens
to mean a lot to the citizens who are voting on the immigration bill. I
wouldn't start talking about dismantling the United States just yet.

(signed) Rosemary LaBonte


KEEP THIS LETTER MOVING. FOR THE WRONG THINGS TO PREVAIL THE RIGHTFUL
MAJORITY NEEDS TO REMAIN COMPLACENT AND QUIET!! LET THIS NEVER HAPPEN!!


I hope this letter gets read by millions of people all across the nation!!

There IS no "Mother Nature"

There's a recurring type of statement which one finds very curious. Statements which lend themselves to portraying the government as some sort of living, breathing entity.

"The government spends too much money", comes to mind. Actually this type of statement is so common we almost don't realize that we've fallen into the trap. There is no single sentient entity that does anything. The reality is that thousands of individual people hold positions of authority and they choose sides on issues and make them happen. The cause is people, the effect is very often disaster.

The government doesn't spend money, people do. The government doesn't legislate immorality, people do. The government does not go to war, people do. There is no "person" who is government. Government is hundreds of people who generate enough cooperation amongst themselves to cause and effect events, laws etc.

It's easy to see why we fall into this trap because the words are used so often that we don't think about them anymore. The problem with that, is that we also fall into the trap of believing that the "government" is evil. The government is not evil, the people driving the government are either good or evil as individuals. When you have enough individuals of like-minded evil, you have bad government. NOT a bad government, but bad government. The semantic difference is huge and the slip from one mind-set to the other is quick and small.

While we're on the subject, lets get another thing straight........*There is NO Mother Nature*. Such a creature does not exist. It's disheartening to hear how often the news agencies and weather agencies use this term as if there is a monstrous, living, breathing virago somewhere who's tools are tornado, flood, blizzard, earthquake, etc. and uses them to beat us with. SHE does not exist.

Truth to tell, God controls the weather. That the general public would rather believe that some bizarre, monstrous banshee controls the weather is weird. That little collective flight into fantasy is so widespread we aren't even conscious of it anymore.

Government is no more evil than a rock, even though both are used to kill.


Here's the link to my blog if you'd care to have it. Please book mark the blog if you find the comments here interesting.

	http://aboxofopinions.blogspot.com/

Watching the race from the sidelines

I've been AWOL for the past week in blogland, but that doesn't mean I haven't been listening with my ear to the ground.

The newspapers, radio, internet news and blogs and of course the TV news and programs are in a continual uproar with the ever popular "he said, she said", "they're lying", "ummm, I'm telling", and endless discussion about the finer points of the lies and tattles told.

Pardon me for asking, but don't we want grown ups to be sitting in positions of authority and power in the government.

Hillary's little gaff about the sniper fire shows an ease of abruptly departing from reality which doesn't bode well for answering the red phone at 3 am.

Obama would have us believe that he attended a church and was extraordinarily friendly with his pastor, but hadn't a clue about the outrageously nasty poison the man was spewing from his pulpit. That begs us to suspend reality all the way to unconsciousness. It goes way beyond, Miss "Look at me wasn't I brave in Bosnia". As creative as that little story was, Obama wants us to pretend that the vitrol poured out in the church he attends was "taken out of context".

Essentially, we're being told that what we heard isn't what we heard and if it was we only have to remember what is, is folks! Not only that, we're being asked to swallow that that's what Christianity is. Bile rises in the gorge!

Mr. Maverick McCain, for all his faults looks absolutely domesticated beside those two. He's not perfect but he certainly looks like a rose blooming in a city dump at the moment.

Then there's the 3 billion dollar assistance BOTH Hillary and Obama want to send out to save their people. Tommy rot!!! We are dancing with the devil when we cry that the government is responsible for our debts. Truth to tell, it does look as if the banks played a May game with people who wanted to buy homes and offered terms that are now coming home to roost. Scores of people who made a bad choice are now paying for it.

However innocently made their mistake was, it's a worse idea to give even more power to the federal government so they will bail out all those who are in foreclosure. The government governs, it's not Mommy and Daddy and it's deadly dangerous for us to treat them that way. Conversely, it's even more deadly for us to let them treat US as if we're children who need looking after.

The long and short of that is that if either of the Demo(lition) party candidates have their way, taxes will soon be rising to the top like cream again and I'm pretty darn sure none of the people who are purportedly being saved by these two eager volunteers will see any of the cream for themselves. I can however, see the Demo(lition crew) licking cream from their chops.

It boggles the mind that so many are so fooled so much of the time. The show is not over yet and it bids fair to becoming a horror story to rival Mary Shelley.

P.S. hehehehe, remember that comment I made about having my ear to the ground? I meant 30 billion, not 3 billion. What is that new phrase? Oh yeah, "my bad"!

Be afraid

What's to be afraid of? Be afraid of some white men, some black men, some oriental men, some Russians, some Chinese.......be afraid of some Americans, some Canadians, some Frenchmen.....

Some of each of those, indeed, some of all of us are evil. Be afraid of those who are evil. Some men live without God, be afraid of them because they have no law. Some men use the name of God to teach perverse philosophies and lead you into the darkness of their minds and evil.

Obama held his grandmother up as an example of something shameful. He repeated that she said that sometimes she's afraid of black men. He used it to justify the rantings of Mr. Wright.

I don't care what color you are. We are souls created by God for Himself. We are here temporarily, just as the ceasars were, the Huns, the Picts, and just as millions and millions of people who have long passed into eternity.

The only thing worth fearing is evil, evil men and the evil they do. We should fear the evil we may all do. There is nothing else to be afraid of.

Fear evil!

They're still on about......

It's been my observation, that the "news" isn't news anymore.

In a conversation yesterday, someone observed to me that the BBC has an actual news program. Europe, or at least England, actually have news programs.

In this country, whether in print or on the Internet or on the airwaves, news has degenerated into a continual rehashing of the latest scandal ad infinitum until you're heartily sick of hearing about it.

I don't need to know anything more about poor Paul McCartney and his ex and their multi million dollar settlement.

How many times do they think we need to be told that Obama speaks with a forked tongue? Enough already. Any person of even moderate intelligence gets it. Well, ok maybe that needs to be addressed a few more times. It does seem really, really, really, far fetched that he could attend a church for 20 years and not know what the pastor is preaching all that time. It begs a question of Obama's attention span.

I did notice that there were a number of individuals who insist that the vicious comments made by Obama's pastor were "taken out of context". Minds capable of distorting the truth to that extent should frighten us. Minds like that should scare us to death.

I DON'T and I repeat DO NOT need every dirty detail about the governor of New York's indiscretion. I particularly don't need ANY detail at all about the other party of the indiscretion. I have no use for this information. As far as I know there's not going to be an exam with questions about this man and his fall from grace or others connected with this scandal.

You can almost see a group of children squatting around something dead on the ground and squealing eewww gross when the news media presents to us 60 different ways and 210 times in the same day for a running total of 3727 times in the same week the latest "on dit". Aren't these people supposed to have some sort of edumacation on what constitutes news? (I just made up those figures by the way)

Do these people not know that immorality hasn't been news since the Garden of Eden? I'm beginning to develop an aversion to the news in any form simply because they repeat themselves so many times. It's annoying. Is that their point? Do they want intelligent (well ok, relatively intelligent) people to lose interest in the news and stop keeping up? Maybe that is the point.

If that's not the case, maybe there should be a whole semester in Journalism 101 on the difference between news and gossip. Perhaps they just don't teach that anymore.

All of that being said, I am grateful that situations like the legal system in Massachusetts refusal to pass Jessica's Law and the judges there setting dangerous criminals free on a nearly daily basis, are kept in the forefront of the public arena.

Still, I do wish they'd learn the difference between what's truly news worthy and what's enough when you mention it once.

Can we take this man seriously?

The media has been littered for the past two or three days with the "news" that Obama has attended a church for the past 20 years give or take and hasn't heard what his pastor has to say.

Obama is issuing statements to distance himself from the poison this supposed "minister of God" has been spewing to his congregation and fondly believing that we're not going to notice that he either hasn't been paying attention to what his supposed spiritual adviser has to say or he's just been caught spinning the truth into the next galaxy. Either case is not a good reflection on Obama.

I've never seen any person as anything but a soul created by God and therefore having the same value and dignity, given by God, as my own. I've never understood a distinction based on the shade of a person's skin. God made everyone, God is good, what God has made is good, even if we ARE all sinners.

That said, I'm beginning to believe that we should be paying close attention to these people. One has to hope that people are alert enough to catch all the "little slips" Obama, his wife and their cohorts are making. Their "slip" is showing and it's shocking to see this kind of hatred. What would he do, in a position of authority such as the presidency of the United States, to the people it appears he has such loathing for.

Bottom line: I don't believe for one minute that Obama is unaware of the vindictive rhetoric and incitement to hatred this so called minister vomits from his mouth. I do find it hard to believe that any thinking person would believe this line of spin.

Even assuming for a moment that Obama has attended this church for 20 plus years, and has had this individual as a spiritual adviser for however long, not to mention that this individual has given up preaching to assist Obama, .........

What does it say about Obama, if he could sail through 20 years and miss all that?