Monday, October 2, 2006

                                            Beavers beavering away.

     It's tempting to think there is some sort of formula by which we can see how deeply we are immersed in sin of various kinds.   "Well," we could say, "I'm at an average of 72% of the Seven Deadlies.  Therefore, I will make it into Heaven after 7.2 years in Purgatory."

     Things are not meant to be quite that simple, but we can quantify how far we are immersed in lies.  If we believe, for instance, that Global Warming is a real threat to civilization, and that human activity contributes greatly to that threat, we are, in that area, half full of lies.  If we believe that human activity should have additional regulations, costs, or restrictions, we are proportionately filled with more lies.

     We are either gullible or wilfully choose to pass such lies on.  God may punish both gullibility of such a degree and wilful lying the same, since such gullibility was freely chosen.

     Such lies are like logs, cut down, trimmed to size, and dragged to places where there is free flow of human thought and progress.  There, they are thrown in to dam the stream.  As a result of such lies, people die of malaria.  People are needlessly taxed.  Expenses are high.

     Those who freely choose to dam the stream are participating in a criminal act of great immorality.

Tuesday, October 3, 2006

                                                           Courts.

     As levels of freedom decline, courts stop pretending to protect individual rights.  Instead,  they protect the powers that destroy individual rights.

     They are, in that regard, enemies of individual freedom and democracy.  Individuals in dying republics can often muster enough votes to put officials in place who will respect individual rights.

     Individual rights are anathema to those dependent on taxation.  So that they may continue stealing, the other side puts courts in place that will diminish the right to private property while increasing the right to steal.

     Usually, courts only allow habitual criminals to steal.  Large, public-sector unions are allowed to take from members.  Elected officials are allowed to take from voters.  No individual is allowed own any property that is truly private.

     Courts are rarely the friends of liberty.  Their nature is to be the ally of oppression.  Personalities that delight in authority are often drawn to the courts. 

     The worst courts are in the most authoritarian countries.  Most of them are bribable.  It is harder to tell which judges take bribes in less authoritarian countries.

     Any of us are courting disaster if we take an issue involving the protection of individual, constitutional rights before a judge.

Wednesday, October 4, 2006

                                                         Medihad

     Sometimes, while transcribing reports from the various Lie Committees elsewhere on this site, something comes up of interest to the column readers.

     Yesterday, the Medical Lies Sub-Committee began discussing their newest lie, Medihad.  That's short for Medical Jihad.

     Medical Jihad involves sending medical versions of suicide bombers into the West's medical facilities.  They are trained in medical basics.  They are taught that their long-term goal is, when commanded, to use all facilities at their disposal to cause as much medical damage to people in their areas as possible.

     It is feared that Medihad fanatics may have been placed in leading medical facilities throughout the world.  There, they go about their daily work while awaiting the command to "do their duty" to a religion that rewards the destruction of non-believers.

     Some say that "Medical Jihad is a bizarre fantasy." 

     Others remember 9/11, and wonder if someday a command will be issued and millions of Americans and Europeans will be victims of Medical Jihad.

Thursday, October 5, 2006

                                              Why hate?  To level.

     "Ohhh, we hate you,

     How we hate you.

     Hate, hate, hate, hate

     Hate you.

     You don't know why

     We hope you die.

     It's just because

     We hate you."

     Lenin said that "the essence of Communism is hatred".  Hatred is the essence of every leveling activity.  In fact, when words reflected reality better than they now do, England had a society of "Levelers".  Their organization didn't do well.  Someone had to be in charge, and no one could be.

     Leveling attracts personalities who know they hate their neighbors too much to get anywhere in a free society.  They prefer to use force on those beneath them.  The Communists who machine-gunned countless Ukrainians knew they they could never be successful farmers, but they could kill such people.   When they could, they did.

     Levelers don't like free markets.  They like controlled structures where their lack of ability isn't so noticeable.  They are more likely, for instance, to teach in Public Schools than in Private.  They are more likely to be a unionized bus driver than otherwise.  They rely on others to make their surroundings.

     They tend to be unhappy, bitter, angry, "I'll show them. . .".  Levelers are not pleasant to have around or be around.  They do not like any of us.  They do not like themselves.  They do not like their parents.

     They do not like God.

     It is very difficult to love a leveler.  It's not because they don't like being loved, but they know that it's hard for them to return it.  They know they're supposed to return love, but they think returning it leaves them less, rather than more.

     So, they would rather have attention than love.  It's less demanding.  You see them, trying desperately to get in front of cameras.  When they are the focus of many lenses, they think they are loved.

     Haters are pathetic.  You know what we have to do.  Love them.  Pray for them.  Be kind.

Friday, October 6, 2006

                                                         Basics.

     Catholic Fundamentalism opens up so many doors and provides so much understanding that it's easy to forget the basics.

     We're so used to thinking "God can program in three dimensions" when we run into something spectacular or unusual.  We forget that others may not understand God's power that we more automatically integrate into how we see the world.  

     An imaginary conversation:

     Catholic Fundamentalist:  Once I understood that God programs in three dimensions, things started making more sense.

     Friend/Acquaintance/Relative:  I don't know what that means.

     CF:  Take sand.  He can program the particles that a grain of sand.  Or, a quadrillion grains of sand.  He can have the sand blown into dunes or compressed into stone.

     FAR:  He can program in three dimensions?

     CF:  Picture the atoms that make the sand.  He can program them, and the things that make them.  He can program angels to carry out His programming Instructions.  Angels are God's version of a person we might hire to program a screen-saver.  It's just that God can make a hugely complicated screen-saver that works in three dimensions.

     FAR:  We're living in a three dimensional screen-saver?

     CF:  That's right.  What we live on was programmed as a giant ball that spins around a big ball of light.  Everything is like a huge, self-maintaining stage.

     FAR:  Why?

     CF:  To give us free will.   We can't prove He didn't program the whole thing and we can't prove that He did.  We can't be intellectually bullied into belief or disbelief.

    FAR:  So, that's the "Fundamentalism" part of "Catholic Fundamentalism".  Why the "Catholic".

     CF:  The Roman Catholic Church is the oldest of the Christian Churches.  Therefore, it is the closest to God in time and space.  The others came later and made changes in the original teaching of the Disciples. 

     "New Road to Rome" can be downloaded free elsewhere on this site.  It's helps to review it periodically.  Sometimes, reading a few pages prepares you for a conversation that you're going to be having.

Saturday, October 7, 2006

                                              The Belief Requirement

     Scripture is clear that belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is necessary for salvation.  

     Catholic Fundamentalists all know people who don't believe that.  It is painful to think of them as having to suffer in Hell forever.  That thought makes some of us try to think of a way that non-believers may be saved.

     Once, I knew a man who had thought about becoming a Roman Catholic.  He told me that the priest had discouraged him to the point that he finally gave up on the idea.  At the time, I couldn't understand why this would have happened.

     Over time, I saw his career appear to progress, and noticed that there were few core principles by which he operated.  He would say, and do, whatever was necessary to "get ahead". 

     After he had betrayed several people, I remember thinking to myself, "The priest with whom he studied may have realized that he did not want to be good enough to be a Catholic."

     Scripture is telling us that believing in Jesus is a step that we are required to take if we are to rise above this world and avoid the destruction toward which it and all who are a part of it are headed.  

     Believing in Jesus, especially as a Roman Catholic, requires a control of vanity that no other belief requires.  Such belief makes a mockery of worldly desires and its focus on self-glorification.  It requires that we leave vanity behind.  Believing in Jesus forces us to say that a world we cannot see is more important than one we do see.

     Belief in Jesus requires us to leave this world, and go in a direction toward God rather than toward our navel.   Our closeness to God determines our place in Heaven.  Those closest to Him here will be closest to Him, there.

     The lesson?  Get closer while we can.

     PS.  Just as members of the Jewish faith believe that certain things had to be done and not done to please God (circumcision, not eating pork), the logical extension of that to Christianity is that there must be a belief in Christ to rise to the next level. 

     Belief in Christ is a form of spiritual circumcision that raises us above worldly concerns.  Those whose vanity keeps them bound to earthly concerns are, of course, unable to rise.

Monday, October 9, 2006

                                                       Rewards.

     We do not, according to Scripture, have the ability to understand the rewards that await us in Heaven.  And, we have no idea of what pain awaits the poor souls sent to Purgatory and Hell.

     Dante's view of the afterlife is so realistic that it has dominated our viewpoint since the 1200s.  Interestingly, more people read "The Inferno" than read "The Purgatorio".  And, I think more people read "The Purgatorio" than read "The Paradisio".

     Catholic Fundamentalists have a slightly different take on Hell.  We feel that Hell may provide the vain with their version of Heaven.   Catholic Fundamentalists think Bill Gates is always a good example of falling behind while getting ahead.  Mr. Gates did build a business empire on programming because God wanted a human manifestation of a Programmer who built a business empire using sub-Programmers.  God Programmed sub-programming angels who, in turn, programmed particles, compilations, and movements to make Creation.  In a week. 

     Unfortunately, Mr. Gates soon sank into a zeal to expand his empire by flouting God's love of life.  When Mr. Gates began supporting abortion, he lost his soul.  Catholic Fundamentalists think he may go to an afterlife where he has to spend eternity, mired in the agonizing flaws of a huge, but imperfect system that he can never, ever escape.

     In other words, our greatest pain is to live, breathe, and suffer forever within the logical conclusion of every vain thought we ever had.   Polygamists, for instance, spend eternity having their own families destroyed by those who are a little more ruthless.  Those who lose their souls for willingly participating in complex frauds are endlessly crucified by those same frauds.

     You'd think that the horror of having to suffer at the hands of those shallower and more hateful than themselves would be enough to drive people to Christianity.  Sometimes, it does.

     Heaven?  There, we are in our loving Father's hands, and He puts us where we will receive the greatest joy.

Tuesday, October 10, 2006  

                                  Stale, tired lies.  Stale, tired thinking.

     It's amazing how unimaginative non-believers are.  They repeat the same, tired accusations over and over.  Their minds are so paralyzed with ignorance, hate, or both, that they aren't aware of how boring they've become.

     One oft-repeated sillyism:  "People are being murdered by intolerant Christians."   

     "Where?", we may ask. 

     "Well, uh, they used to murder millions and millions of people.
     "In the 1900s?", we wonder.

     "Well, before that."

     "In the 1800s?"

     "Whenever the Crusades were."

     "Do you mean the Moslem invaders who kidnapped and sold Christians into slavery?"

     "No, I mean the Christian crusaders.  They killed millions and millions of people."

     "Is there any proof that more than two or three hundred thousand were killed over several generations?"

     "I don't know.  Christians killed a lot of people.  We studied it in school."

      When we have identified the source of such misinformation, we may want to ask:

     "How many people have been killed by abortionists?  How many have been killed by environmentalists who took away DDT so people died from malaria?  Did Christians do that?"

     As such conversations progress, we find that they do not want to hear truth, so rather than barraging them with facts, and driving them deeper into the domicile of lies, we may want to gently ask,

     "Why would Jesus tell people to love their neighbor and do good to them that hurt you?"

     Suddenly, you may find that the person will respond:  "Didn't he say to 'sell your cloak and buy a sword'?"  That doesn't sound like doing good to them that hurt you."

     Say that you are thankful for finding a literate liberal.  They are few and far between.  We may suggest, "Read the rest of the passage.  Out of all the people present, there were two swords.  'That's all you need.'  He said, clearly thinking of the right of self-defense." 

     We may want to remind them, "And, when one of His followers did use a sword to cut off an attacker's ear, Jesus healed the ear and told him to put the sword away."

     One thing is certain: they cannot be browbeaten into belief with facts.  They can be attracted by love and respect for their very essence, which is a soul yet to know greater truth.

     They also need two gifts of The Spirit, Wisdom and Courage.  Many people are just plain too afraid to stand up for truth, so they compromise.  Blaming Christianity is always the easy thing to do because Christians generally turn the other cheek.

Wednesday, October 11, 2006

                                                   Rich people.

     Many people want to make up for slights, hurts, and a general lack of love and appreciation by getting rich.  Within every rich person, there's a certain amount of "I'll show them. . . ."  This feeling hurts by selling a lot of lottery tickets and trips to casinos. It helps by getting a lot of people to work harder.

     Wanting more can be healthy until it separates us from God, family, life, and love. 

Whittaker Chambers, one of many who left Communism for Christianity, summed up a lifetime of analysis with a sentence:  "In America, working people vote Democrat.  The Middle Class are Republicans.  Rich people are Communists."

     Many have puzzled over that.  But, when we consider Ted Turner, Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, and so many other billionaires and near billionaires, it's astonishing how many of them lean toward four Communist-approved manifestations of hate and tyranny:

           abortion

           gun control

           extreme environmentalism

           attacks on private property rights of others'

     "I'll really show them." say the truly bitter as they attack their neighbors' lives, freedom, and private property.

     Those who inherit vast fortunes are usually more bitter, and less intelligent, than those who make them.  Henry Ford was a sound conservative in many ways.  As is typical, the foundation he left behind has been hi-jacked by lesser minds who hate life and freedom.  Foundation after foundation is engaged in an endless, depraved attack on everything good and decent.

     Those who staff and run such foundations have great hostility toward original thinking and smarter people.  Like moths to a flame, they are drawn to the huge gobs of money they are unable to earn on their own.  Nearly everyone involved in every foundation is a bitter, second-rate intellect.  Few will admit it.

     Such people hate freedom, because it gives others an opportunity to excel.  The success of others is painful to them.  The very worst foundations work hard to destroy life, eliminating DDT, restrictions on abortions, etc.  Oh, so slightly above them are the foundations whose wretches merely work to destroy freedom. 

     Few foundations, if any, work to stop the spread of gambling, no matter how many people are hurt by it.  Gambling is all right.  No need for a second-rate mind to feel second-rate because some slob wins a lottery. 

     It's not like he invented a light bulb.

Thursday, October 12, 2006

                                              Rich people, Part 2

     My wife recently attended a silly affair in which a lot of rich people commemorated their turning of a useful parking lot into a useless park.  Lots of poor people lost a place to park near work, the city lost parking meter revenue, but the elitists were happy.

     The women, wives of presidents of huge companies, inheritors of vast fortunes, and those wanting to be close to same, were wearing political buttons with the name of a conservative senatorial candidate. 

     A diagonal line was taped over each button.  The were letting everyone know that they, and all "right thinking people" were against this "religious, pro-life extremist".

To a woman, they were "enlightened".

     Catholic Fundamentalists believe that God gave us democracies so that each voter would have free will.  He wanted each voter to be free to vote for the candidate closest to God.

     Most elections give a clear choice.  A candidate is either pro-life, or not.  If we vote for the most pro-life candidate, God judges us more favorably.

     The reason for most pro-death votes?  The pro-death voter makes money from the pro-death candidates' positions;  may make money from them;  wants approval from those who may, in turn enrich that pro-death voter;  or has some personal vendetta against the pro-life voter.

     When the Moslems took over Constantinople, many rich Orthodox converted to save their fortune.

     No one ever saved their soul by voting for the pro-death candidate.  Many rich people lose their souls over this issue.  

Friday, October 13, 2006

                                                     Rich people, Part 3

     When Christ proclaimed "The Kingdom of God", everything was turned upside-down.  An entirely new world was revealed.  In that world, the poor widow who gave her mite to the poor suddenly outranked the trillionaire Caesar who spend billions on aqueducts and arenas.

     The Proclamation of The Kingdom made it cleat that God saw all human beings as equal.  Each person was not to be judged on what he did, but on what percentage of himself that he gave.  God, it seemed, "graded on a curve".

     Rich People were offended by Jesus, The Kingdom, the widow, and her mite.  They just couldn't stand the notion that poor, smelly slobs could have any redeeming value at all, much less outrank them in this new, bizarre scheme of things.

     Suddenly, in a world that deified the wealthiest, percentages became important.  "Giving one hundred percent of a fortune consisting of a dime." outranked "I'm giving a hundred million out of fifty billion to build an aqua duct."

     States and religions that judged charity on amounts given were shaken.  Those thought to be generous suddenly saw that they were miserly.  Each had to make a choice, amassing gold, or obeying the God Who programmed gold.

     At the same time, the poor saw that God had given them hope.  They had as much right to Heaven as their richest neighbor.

     Most people do not believe in the Kingdom of God enough to give all their money to the poor and follow Him, but many of us can see the advantages, and are rewarded for subsidizing the process to some degree.

                                                      Rich people, Part 4

     In Democracies, large numbers of people have the opportunity to steal from those poorer than themselves.  At first, those who steal have to pretend to be helping the less fortunate.   As the need for money becomes greater, the lies are dispensed with.

     Those who love money more than their souls do not steal and kill as directly as a mobster with guns and bombs.  They rob and kill at long distance.  They use malaria and corrupt political processes to loot whole continents of their riches and labor.

     They support international organizations that deny basic rights, like the ownership of private property.  Money flows like water to all but those in the greatest need.  Nations die of various diseases, wars, and revolutions.

     Rich people do not care about the swarms of people moving over the earth.  They aim for the mineral rights.

Monday, October 16, 2006

                                                      Rich People, Part 5

     At one time, seven families controlled all the economic activity in Rome.  A few families of equivalent wealth control most of America's economic activity.  Sugar,for instance is increasingly the province of the Fanjuls.  They are a family of Cuban exiles who understood the importance of monopoly.  They control ever more of America's sugar production and distribution.  Their political influence (payoffs) keep the price sugar from "floating" in a free market.

     In fact, Bill Clinton's dalliances with Monica "Hold this cigar for a minute." were interrupted with calls from the Fanjuls about the price of sugar.

     Every section of every marketplace is similarly affected, as rich families become ever richer by absorbing ever more of "their" section of the economy.  Little gasoline stations were wiped out by chains who passed laws for the "good of the environment" to make them replace tanks they couldn't afford to remove and replace.

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

                                     The Legend of Catherine Baker Knoll

     Most Pennsylvanians believe they have a Lieutenant Governor named Catherine Baker Knoll.  She is purported to be a kindly, older woman, slim in outline.  The legend, which remains uncontradicted, is that she has been the personification of a good and loyal Democrat for over 200 years.

     In recent years, the role of Catherine Baker Knoll has been played by Madeline Albright, the former Secretary of State in the Clinton administration.  When Pennsylvania's Democrats need Catherine Baker Knoll to be present, most recently as the Lt. Governor on whose coattails Governor Rendell rode to office, Madeline Albright dresses appropriately and comes to Pennsylvania.  She makes the required speeches, cuts the necessary ribbons, opens agricultural exhibits, says "I sincerely congratulate you for your vital contributions.", nods wisely, shakes hands compassionately, and goes back to wherever she lives.

     To digress for a moment, Madeline Albright has become one of America's great political fill-ins.  On occasion, Madeline Albright has replaced Diane Feinstein.  For that, she wears a black wig and more stylish clothes than would be thought attractive in rural Pennsylvania.

     Once, when Christie Todd Whitman was undergoing a long bout of elective surgery, Madeline Albright filled in as Governor of New Jersey.  She had to lose a few pounds, and was only publicly visible when seated behind a desk reduced a few inches in height, but did an effective job.  For nearly six months, the people and legislature of New Jersey believed that Madeline Albright was Governor Whitman.  At the same time, she was thought to be the Lt. Governor of Pennsylvania.  When Christie Todd Whitman returned, New Jerseyites were never told that what little money had been in the State Treasury was gone.

     Pennsylvania Democrats are taught from a very early age that Catherine Baker Knoll is the one person they can always trust.  Many older Democrats actually revere Catherine Baker Knoll.  Some of them, in an historical distortion that would be unfathomable outside of Pennsylvania, believe that Catherine Baker Knoll was once Eleanor Roosevelt.  "I know it doesn't make any sense," the more lucid among them will admit, "but that's just the way it was."

     When threatened with the possibility that Catherine Baker Knoll may be removed from a ballot by some ruthless, younger Democrat, most lately, Edward Rendell, Pennsylvania's older Democrats go into attack mode.

     Buses, filled with Democratic Citizens renowned for their support of Catherine Baker Knoll, begin their biannual trips across Pennsylvania.  "We'll show Catherine that we care!"  They are filled with Pennsylvania's most loyal Democratic Citizens.  Heartless Republicans call the DC's "Demented Citizens". 

     Their insult comes from an understandable jealousy.  Republicans know that they do not have a single universally-beloved person in their own party who can generate such loyalty.  Republicans tried to turn Elsie Hillman into their own version of Catherine Baker Knoll.  Even hardened Party regulars weren't fooled.  "No one even knows if she's warm-blooded." was the most positive reaction to their ploy.  Attempts to dress Tom Ridge up in a dress and wig while trying to smile warmly were similarly unsuccessful.

     A close examination shows that the Republicans' mocking heartlessness may have a grain of truth in their "Demented Citizens" accusation.  Early-rising investigators discovered that many of the Democratic Citizens on the Catherine Baker Knoll support buses actually are recruited from nursing homes.  Most of them, unfortunately, do suffer from dementia. 

     Many bus riders are, it appears, those without whom their nursing home staffs would most like to do, even for only a day.  Among the ever fewer words they are able to put into coherent sentences are those favorably directed towards Catherine Baker Knoll.

     The DCs are a very inexpensive group to move around.  Many of them do not realize that they are on a bus, that they are moving, or that they have left the home.  Wearing their bright CATHERINE buttons and beanies, and bravely waving their "KEEP KATHERINE" (sic) flags, they can be driven in and out of the State Capitol and wheeled through an amazing number of offices and ceremonies in a day.

     Their enjoyment of the trip is enhanced by the wide variety of plentiful medications that are given, largely on a random and increasing basis, as their "day out" progresses.  "That sure is a good picture.", they say over and over, staring out their assigned window while rolling through scenic Pennsylvania.

     Since most of them cannot remember having eaten, they are rarely fed.  Party activists, anxious to cut costs, make sure the DCs are returned to the long-suffering staff of their nursing homes without a single restroom stop.  They are warmly greeted, stripped, hosed down, and strapped back into their warm beds, remembering little of their long jaunt except a few pills the less demented have cunningly hidden away in their shoes.   

     By the time they doze off, a third of the DCs from any given bus actually think that they have spoken to Catherine Baker Knoll.  Another third have forgotten who Catherine Baker Knoll is.  The other third thinks that they, themselves, are Catherine Baker Knoll.

     Historians calculate that if Catherine Baker Knoll were a real person, she would be well over 200 years old.  Before her part was so ably played by Madeline Albright, the Catherine Baker Knoll role was beautifully filled by Shelley Winters.  Before Shelley, Tallulah Bankhead did a fine job, and before that, Theda Bara.

    Theda, who had a terrible voice, did not have to speak.  She was replaced by Tallulah when sound was introduced to American films.  Cinema historians remember that one of the very first "talkies" featured Tallulah Bankhead as Catherine Baker Knoll, giving each Pennsylvania soldier a red poppy as he got off a troopship in Philadelphia.  Faded photographs of Catherine Baker Knoll pinning a poppy on an honored ancestor are still family treasures in many Pennsylvania households.

    An early tintype shows the first verifiable image of Catherine Baker Knoll.  She is bandaging wounded Pennsylvania infantrymen immediately after the Battle of Gettysburg, where she is said to have braved enemy fire to "take care of my boys".

    A faded pencil sketch, portraying her bayoneting a British sailor during a little known skirmish in the war of 1812, has yet to be authenticated.

    No one knows who portrayed Catherine Baker Knoll in the early days of the Republic.  During the frigid winter at Valley Forge, it was Catherine Baker Knoll who kept hundreds of soldiers alive with kettles of hot soup.  She also delivered letters to and from the troops.  She was so well known that stamps weren't needed;  an early ruling by the Continental Congress decreed that she merely had to initial the corner of the envelope with "CBK" in her distinctive, flowing script.

     In the French and Indian war, Catherine Baker Knoll warned young George Washington of an Iroquois ambush, saving his life and the future Republic.  Before that, countless pioneer families learned to count on Catherine Baker Knoll.  She learned so much from Seneca medicine men that she wrote, and convinced Benjamin Franklin to publish, herbal guides that allowed pioneers to make life-saving medicines from local flora.

     One theory has it that the first Catherine Baker Knoll was a member of the Penn family.  They disowned her for eloping with, depending on who is telling the story, an Irishman, a Scotch-Irishman, or a Hessian soldier with the unlikely name of Rupert Woodcock.

    Regardless of historical theories, most nursing homes across Pennsylvania have at least a dozen recordings of Catherine Baker Knoll press releases going all the way back to Theda Bara.  Adapted to various VCR and TIVO formats, there are few nursing home Democrats who do not watch it daily.

     No matter who Catherine Baker Knoll seems to be, what role she is playing, or who is playing her, Catherine Baker Knoll is larger than life.  She is not only a legend in her own time, but for all time.

                                                                                                           Bill Adams,

                                                                                                           Envious Republican

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

                                           Catholic Fundamentalism

     God programmed such a fascinating world, with such fascinating people and possibilities (see above column, for instance), that we are often distracted from Him.

     He programmed particles, compiled them into structures, and let us, the kings of creation, move among what He made just to see if we would move toward or away from Him.  So, He should be increasingly at the center of our thoughts.

     As we grow closer to God, we grow closer to our neighbors as we see that they, like us, are made in His image.  We want them to use their free will to move closer to Him, as we, ourselves, move closer to the source of all joy.

     Catholic Fundamentalism is lot like a table on which the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle can be put together.  The table is so big that everything fits on the table.  Darwin, Freud, Marx, and all the other frauds are there, fitting in perfectly. 

     Every political thought, every religious heresy, every single human being who ever was and is fits right in.

     The absolute delight of being able to examine any part of Creation, turn in over in our minds, and see that it fits right into Catholic Fundamentalism is a sure cure for what ails us.  Because, even our ailments fit us as perfectly as the thorn in St. Paul's flesh.

     And, it's fun.  It's fun, looking at the Grand Canyon and realizing what silly, credulous fools they are who believe the silliness that it took longer than the few months of The Flood, with great, lunar tsunamis as big as mountain ranges rolling over the earth, to lay down and compress all those layers of stone.

    It's a joy to watch professional liars tell us to think in ways that benefit their employers. 

    It's hard not to hate them, but loving such people is our job.  So, that's what we do.

Thursday, October 19, 2006

                                                 Guardian Angels

     The Church teaches that each of us has a guardian angel.  We may conclude that we have a helper to make us make the right decisions.  In short, we have free will, and we can do what we want, but there is a source of information available that may help us make the right decision.

     I don't know of anyone who has seen their Guardian Angel.  So, one of the Programming Instructions must be that they keep largely out of sight.  The only time that I ever "saw" mine was in that semi-conscious state between waking and sleeping.

     An simple song was repeated for what seemed an hour or so in my mind:  "Jesus Christ, our Sovereign Lord, wants the very best for those He loves." is as close to it as I can remember.

     As I listened to it, I caught a glimpse of the song's origin.  It seemed to be coming from a record, a vastly smaller version of an old 45 RPM record, maybe a hundredth the size of a neuron.   The record did not spin around, but stood still, and my Guardian Angel was skating around and around on it. 

     His skate was the sum-micron needle that played the song.  "Wow!  That's one way they communicate with us!" was the accompanying thought.

     Regardless of its reality, such a thought makes us aware of the worlds we can discover, and will discover when our soul leaves our body.

    With that in mind, we tend to engage in daily battles to keep our thoughts purified.  At night, to keep our spirit from sinking into sin, our angels sing to us.  Their hymns drive away the siren songs of sin.

     When fully awake, I thought to myself, "I'm going to have a Mass said for my Guardian Angel.

     Hope I don't forget.

P.S.  I didn't.

Friday, October 20, 2006

                                 Global warming, a most magnificent lie.

     Catholic Fundamentalists always assume that any intellectual fad is a lie.  Global Warming is a truly magnificent lie, a huge, swelling rotundity of a lie.  When circus sideshows used to have fat men, that's how big a lie Global Warming is.  It is one of the biggest, most impressive lies the other side has ever told.  Billions of people have been taxed to pay for the thousands of mini-lies woven into Global Warming.

     Really Big Lies are important for several reasons.  First, they are like IQ tests.  They show us who's been dumbed-down enough to believe them.  Second, they let us know who is too cowardly to condemn them for what they are.  Lower on the moral scale, we can identify those who profit from them. 

    It is the very beginning of the Global Warming lie that makes it most cunning.  It is based, in its dark, dark heart, upon vanity.  "You, human being, are so powerful and important that you are affecting the climate."

    Then, a greater vanity kicks in.  "Since you, ordinary citizen, are so powerful that you are affecting the very earth we live on, we must tell you what to do to save us all."

    It's ever harder for most of us to fathom the ridiculousness therein.  Ninety three million miles away is a ball of fire that's almost a million miles in diameter.  It would hold a million earths inside it.  It spews out so much energy that the small amount that hits the earth keeps it warm.

     Small variations in the amount of solar energy that hit the earth cause large variations in our climates.  A few sunspots moving across the face of the sun make a difference.

     Compared with earthly volcanoes and solar flares, only the vainest human could believe that they are powerful enough to make a meaningful change in climate. 

     Being regulated and taxed to protect the earth becomes a compliment to how important each of us is.

     Vanity is the key to the success of any taxation.  "We are grateful to you, dear and sensitive citizen, for helping to make things better."  When combined with intentional under-education, mis-education, and intentional dumbing-down, vanity is the doorway to slavery.

Monday, October 23, 2006

                                            A way to picture our soul.   

    Trying to picture spiritual beings is always worthwhile.  Visualizing our soul makes our soul happy.  It is filled with joy when the mental parts of our body are paying attention to it.  It's joy calls favorable attention to us from our guardian angels and its superiors. "Look, Bill's thinking about his soul.  Let's help."

     One way to picture our soul is to think about all the pipes of light carrying information all over the world right at this very minute.

     First, imagine a light-pipe.  Within it is a beam of light carrying a vast amount of information. 

     We can imagine our soul as a section of that beam.  The section of the beam is bent into a circle, where our being just goes around and around as it moves, hopefully toward God.

     Each of our individual sections of the beam absorbed information from father and mother, and ancestors beyond Noah, so there's a lot of information in our section of the beam.

     And, there are souls streaming all around us, each a segment of the greater beam.

     Everything we ever did, or was done to us, affects the state of our soul.  God's programming has come alive in each of us. 

     When our soul came into being at the moment of conception, it was given the power to wrap the molecules that form mind and body around it.

     We grew from there.  We still grow.

     Thinking about it makes our soul happy.   Sometimes, when we think about how wonderful our soul is, we are smiling without realizing it.

     Hope you're smiling.

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

                     Souls love organization and moving in the right direction.

     Yesterday, we looked at the soul as a section of a beam of light carrying a vast amount of information.

     The soul can be visualized as a section of a light beam full of information, but it is not constrained by a pipe.  It is floating free, able to move in any direction.  It is important to be sure that our soul moves toward God and not away from Him.

     When we were conceived, a great organization took place.  As long as we are moving toward God at the amazingly fast rate we travel, our soul is happy in its organized being. 

     As soon as we direct the motion of our thoughts or body toward anything but God, our soul is unhappy.  Mind, body, and soul are at risk from disorganization.  Our soul is much better able to see that risk, and what comes after it, than our mind.

     Souls are real and souls are movement.

                                                             II.

     Each time we sin, our soul shrivels.  The desire to sin is within us.  When that desire is slaked, relief is temporary.  Then, there is a new desire that can only be slaked with greater sin.  Sin compounds until death.

     Sin is preceded by thought.  Thinking about sin opens the door to committing the sin, therefore, is much the same thing.  By keeping our soul moving toward God, we avoid sin and strengthen our soul.

     The soul of a sinner is a shrunken, wrinkled, raisin-like thing.  The soul of a saint glows like a light bulb.

                                                             III.

     When our soul leaves our body, it goes "as is".  That's why the Sacrament of Confession is so important.  The dark spots, stains, and shrivels are removed before it goes to judgment.

     Old carvings show Egyptian deities who are weighing souls at judgment.  They were closer to understanding souls and what happens to them than many moderns.

Wednesday, October 25, 2006

                                             The Spirits of Transient Joy

     There are few beings on earth as happy as a farmer with a new pick-up truck.  The first few dozen trips to town are among the most enjoyable times he will ever have.  He will often make up reasons to drive his new truck to town.  He may even take the family to church.  "Jes' thought I'd bring the wife into town for dinner." will be a line he'll rehearse in the event he sees anyone he knows.  And, he'll be looking.

     If someone should be so impolite to share the thought that Heaven is even better than a new pick-up truck, the farmer will look sideways at you, smile the smile reserved for dealing with sure and certain idiocy, and agree until you go away.

     Then, he'll drive somewhere else.

     Two or three years later, when the truck is starting to show signs of wear and two or three years of payments remain, the trips aren't quite as enjoyable.  But, the farmer still thinks of the truck as "new".

     Dents, dings, wear, and tear make this illusion one that must pass.  After a while, maybe an unexpectedly good price for grain, the farmer will get a new truck.

     Again, he will know great joy. 

     Where does this joy come from?  What makes this happiness so great that it overwhelms the knowledge that paying off the loan may double the price of a truck whose price has dozens of hours of TV advertisements built into it?        

     Catholic Fundamentalists have discovered a new kind of spiritual being.  Spirits of Transient Joy jump into people as they get closer to buying something new.  There are some kind of spiritual "apartment houses" at every retailer, where Spirits of Transient Joy live after they leave the purchaser when his purchase ages. 

     No one in any business ever talks about them, but the entire economy is based on convincing people that they need a "Spirit of Transient Joy" to move into their mind, and convince them the only way that can happen is by making this purchase, and , "right now". 

     Whether buying a modest home, a mansion, a mink, a Timex, a Rolex, a rowboat, a yacht, or a palace, there's an appropriate "Spirit of Transient Joy" that will move into one's mind for awhile.

     Spirits of Transient Joy can be very costly.

P.S.  Salesmen are those in whom Spirits of Transient Joy may temporarily reside.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

                                             America's Real Iraq Policy.

     It's always instructive to "Look at Rome and learn.".  Rome had two approaches when dealing with foreign governments.  The most familiar was perfected by Caesar.  When he invaded Gaul, he killed two million Gauls and sold another million into slavery.  Pacification became easier.

     Rome's second approach was exemplified by, I think, Tiberius.  When encouraged to invade Germany to "teach 'em a lesson", he replied:  "If we attack, the Germans will band together and fight us.  If we leave them alone, the German tribes will destroy each other."

     President Bush's tactic combines the two.  He got rid of Hussein, the one powerhouse in the area who ruled between Syria and Iran.  Bush then attempted to install a functioning democracy.  He might as well convince wolves to become vegetarians.

     But, if he succeeds, he will have succeeded.  If he fails, Syria and Iran will fight over the semi-vacuum of Iraq, making an even bigger vacuum.

     Either way, American foreign power wins.  The only losers are the people who have the misfortune to live there.

                                       Part II.  Realities of Foreign Policy.

     The Communist Party put Daniel Ortega and fellow Communists in charge of Nicaragua.  They did as they were ordered.  The Church was attacked and the country was looted.  They were thrown part way out of power by an election that, to everyone's surprise, went against them.

     During the war with the Communists in Nicaragua, America made a very big deal of not using active air power.  During the day, they didn't.

     We did, however, have powerful air weapons that were used at night.  Transport planes were fitted out with huge, gatling guns pointed straight down.  A plane flying over an area could put down a hail of fire with a slug hitting every square foot.

     That, combined with radar and night vision, allowed us to utterly destroy the Communists on the ground.

     In the daytime, an officer was kangaroocourt-martialed for "improper use of air power".  At night, the officers who sat on his court martial flew planes that did far worse damage.

     It does not take any great stretch of imagination to understand that the same thing is going on in our foreign wars, today. 

Friday, October 27. 2006

                                                   Bigger or smaller?

     It was tempting to title this "America at the Crossroads", but that title would indicate that our position is more unusual than it is.

     Some nations are getting bigger.  China has absorbed Mongolia, Tibet, and parts of Russia.  European elitists have cobbled together something that taxes and legislates like one country.  The United States may respond to these competing empires by creating a super-country that combines itself with Mexico and Canada.

     Some nations are getting smaller.  England gave up Ireland.  She is giving more independence to Scotland.  She has lost her colonies.  So have France and Spain.  Russia has lost her satellites.  Former African colonies have fragmented into tinier countries, some no bigger than tribal domains.

     History shows that all entities are always getting bigger and smaller.  Smaller companies grow, larger companies sell less desirable components. 

     The Church doesn't much care.  Political activities always reflect technical capacity.  Technical capacity reflects the degree and quality of intellect that is brought to bear on a problem. 

     Catholic Fundamentalists don't get real excited either way.   We know that we are supposed to understand that all change exists because that's the way God programmed things.   

     We try to bring what influence we can to bear on issues.  We try to love our neighbor and to do good to them that hurt us.  Who are we to argue with God?

Friday, October 27, 2006

                                   Gresham's Law:  A Near-universal Truth.

     "Bad money drives out good."   When governments were secure enough to allow people to have money with intrinsic value, the edges of coins made of precious metal were often shaved.  The tiny shavings were collected by unscrupulous money-changers.

     People who had real money tended to keep, and even hoard, coins that had full weight, so the coins in circulation were of ever-less value.  Hence, "Bad money drives out good".

     A variant of Gresham's Law:  "Bad public officials drive out good."  When good politicians discover that they cannot stop other politicians taking bribes, they tend to leave office.  "I do not want to be tarred with that brush."  Others say, "If everybody else is doing it, what harm is there if I do it?"  The thought of putting a few million dollars in a safe place is always tempting.   Again, "Bad public officials drive out good."

     When this happens, there is a decline in the morals of politicians, and more money is stolen.  This drives more good people away, and the jurisdiction sinks more deeply into the effects of lies and thefts.

     History gives no instances of societies who were able to recapture lost morality.  But, societies do survive moral collapses.  How? 

     Rome went from monarchy to republic to triumvirate to dictatorship.  We are going down the same road, and are currently between republic and triumvirate.  Frankly, the experience with democracy has not worked well, so the next step will be sooner than we think.

     If the takeover happens before our citizens are disarmed, we will be ruled by someone like General Franco.  If the takeover comes after we are disarmed, we will be ruled by someone like Lenin.

     The people who are trying to disarm us already know whom they like to have running things.  They also know from the history of leftist takeovers that the leftist ruler will kill many of them.  They are so blinded with hatred that they do not care if they die, if only millions more do, too.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

                                    When Socialists Meet Gresham's Law.

     The great depression was caused because government wanted to win a war it had declared against its subjects.  At the beginning of the Depression (we've even learned to spell it with a capitol "D", the way we capitalize any war) the government stopped putting money into circulation.

     The economy literally dried up.  

     In its endless pretence of "making things better", various new programs and projects were started.  Some, like the TVA, are still wasting money.  At the beginning of the Depression, people had coins of real value.

     In order to become the sole arbiter of value, the Government made it illegal to own gold.  It sent people around to the homes of those rumored to own gold, and made them sell their gold to the government.  They were given a green piece of paper that said "$20.00" for every ounce of gold they lost.

     After the government got all the gold, they decided that gold was worth more.  Suddenly, all the gold for which they'd paid $20.00 an ounce was decreed to be worth $35.00 an ounce.

     It was a very profitable enterprise.  The government nearly doubled its reserves.  The people lost nearly half their gold, since the piece of green paper marked $20.00 could only be redeemed for a little more than half the amount that was taken from them.

     It was soon discovered that people were keeping "too much" gold in safety deposit boxes.  By the early 1930s, it became illegal to open some safety deposit boxes without a federal inspector on hand. 

     So, all the best pieces of gold that people had hoarded were all confiscated.  Gresham's Law had helped the government get all the best coins into its possession.

     Bad money had driven out good money, and the government got all the good money.  So, Gresham's Law also teaches that bad government drives out good government.