Our Lady of Guadalupe

It goes without saying that religion is a very touchy subject.  Maybe that is because it is the essential subject of who we are and where are we going.  I think the nature of God has a lot to do with it as well.  If He were the kind of God who charges through the sky thundering commands and demands of adoration, well then I would think we would all, fearfully, be on the same page.  As He is though, He teaches through specific and limited revelations and miracles.   In His quiet way He waits for us to search Him out, to love Him simply because He loves us.  Up to His Incarnation as the Christ, these events were scattered over a long ribbon of time making human understanding of the divine plan incomplete to say the least.

Following the Incarnation, suffering, death and resurrection of Christ, things got a little more organized.  For a period of fifteen-hundred years there was the Roman Catholic Church.  For two-thirds of the time since Christ walked the earth there was one organization fighting heresy, evangelizing pagan cultures the world over, preserving the Truth, preserving the scriptures and handing down through times the stabilizing precepts of tradition.  For eleven-hundred years there was one bible, the Latin Vulgate.

Then came the protestant revolt.  From this revolt there came thousands of organized churches.  With the invention of the printing press there came many different and conflicting versions of the bible.  It is weird how the technical ability to print many different versions of the bible became the basis of the invented dogma of Protestantism that "the" bible is the sole source of instruction.  As a result of the revolt 500 years ago we now have thousands of different churches teaching as many different ideas and the result has been, predictably, confusion and error.  How can a person tell truth from lies?  How can we reconcile the prayer of Christ, "that they may be one, Father, as You and I are one."?

Firstly, one must understand that there can only be one church, teaching one Truth.  One must understand that each denomination exists because it proclaims all the others to be erroneous. Look at the following logic sequence:

A is the only truth.
B is the only truth.
C is the only truth.
A, B and C are all equally true.
A, B and C are all false.

A, B and C are the different denominations.  They each claim their supremacy.  However, when there are unanswered questions many people default to the forth premise, that all are equally true.  Unfortunately that won't work because the fourth premise wipes out the first, second and third which self destroys the forth.  That leaves the fifth which cannot be true do to our assurance by Christ that He would not abandon us and that He would be with us until the end of times.  He also stated the the gates of hell would not prevail against His church (singular).  So, we are back to sifting between A, B or C. to find the true church.

It is my belief that the Roman Catholic Church is the One, Holy and Apostolic Church.  I did not always believe that.  I waded through A, B, C and the forth premise for years before arriving firmly at Catholic.  It was a journey of learning.  It was a journey of letting go of pride, that is trying to find a religion that suited my desires, and searching with an objective attitude.  Truth is real even though Pontus Pilate didn't recognize It as he was standing in the room with Him.  I am convinced that to study Christian history is to become Catholic.

Sadly, with the severe division of Christianity, when God allows a divine, teaching event to occur, no one pays attention, or very few do.  Such a remarkable event happened in 1531 near present day Mexico City.  It was the appearance of the Virgin Mother to a peasant Indian.  We do not have to take anyone's word for it because she left behind physical proof which can be viewed today.  She left her image on the peasant's tilma.

If you really want to learn the Truth, to learn which church can help you attain heaven, you must search out this remarkable story.  Warning, it will lead you towards Catholicism, as I pray it will.

Happy Eighteenth!

Happy Eighteen Trillion Dollars of debt day America.  Eighteen Trillion Dollars works out to about $56,300 dollars for every man, woman and child in our country.  That equals about $153,000 per tax payer.

Here is another scary fact.  Ever since President Nixon severed the U.S. dollar from the gold standard and let it "float", our money is also simply a debt instrument.  Since paper money has no intrinsic value, using it to purchase a good or service is actually an I.O.U.  The transaction is not complete until we provide goods and services to the rest of the world as they attempt to spend (redeem) our money back with us.  So, as a practical matter, we are officially destitute.

It is a shame.  When President Kennedy was in office we had no significant debt.  Our money was sound.  President Johnson ran with the idea of deficit spending as a method rather than a temporary, necessary evil.  Johnson also initiated the idea of spending the money withheld by the Social Security program and replacing those moneys with Treasury Bonds (debt).  Our country went from financial strength to today's weakened state in a short fifty years.

The Federal Government will not face this problem.  They cannot.  No senator or congressman will run for office on a platform of cutting benefits and increasing debt payments.  They will drive this vehicle off the cliff at full throttle.  We must do it!  We must refuse their empty promises and their worthless handouts.  Of all the programs that they have foisted upon us, three are breaking the bank.  Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid together account for over twenty-five percent of the annual expenditures.  A forth liability is growing rapidly, the interest on the eighteen trillion.  If we shut those three down, the debt would stop growing.  If we stopped lining up to sign-up for their stupid gimmicks such as Obama Care, stopped angling for "rebates" (someone else's money), stopped looking for a free ride, we might just pull ourselves out of a dangerous spot.  Otherwise, the day will come when the rest of the world will refuse to take any more of our worthless promises (money).  On that day we will collectively see mind boggling inflation (devaluation) of our money and chaos will erupt.

So, the next time a bureaucrat offers you money, spit in his eye. 

...Minding My Own Business When...

I pray for the day when everyone in this remarkable country starts working in harmony and for the good of each other.  Imagine what that would be like.  There would be civility in our streets, families staying together and giving their children love and encouragement as they grow into adulthood.  Best of all there would not be the searing pain of losing loved ones to death by murder.  Please Lord, let it stop.

In the meantime, we must be ready to defend ourselves and the innocent around us.  In the meantime we must face reality and understand that there are people among us who have no respect for life and certainly no wish for order.  In the meantime we, the citizens who care, must stand strong.  In the meantime we must be armed.

Zemir Begic was senselessly attacked and killed in St. Louis last Sunday morning while driving his car.  He was unarmed.  May our good God grant him peace and ease the suffering of his wife and family.  May the young boys who committed this crime come to grips with the horror and beg God for forgiveness.

Armed Citizens Stories

Both of the following YouTube clips illustrate how suddenly your day can go from routine to terrifying.  We never know when we will place ourselves into a trap laid by a criminal.  Both of these men were in their cars when trouble hit.  We all tend to perceive our cars as safe havens.  Criminals sometimes perceive our cars as loot.  Both of these men had their thug repellents handy and that changes everything for the bad guy.  They both are alive and well today for that one simple act of preparation.   

This last YouTube segment was posted by a veteran police officer who explains clearly why we need to arm ourselves.  To summarize what he is saying; the police cannot, in spite of their best intentions, protect us all.  They usually arrive just after the fateful moment, good or bad.  Warning: His video starts with an actual audio recording of a woman on the phone with 911.  It is chilling.  The woman's voice goes from calmly telling the dispatcher, who has officers on the way, about men breaking into  her home to screams.  She was dead by the time those en-route officers arrive.

His video ends with another 911 audio clip, it too is chilling.  The results, however, are very different.

God bless America and thank you founding fathers for the 2nd Amendment!

Moral Consequences Of Debt

Imagine a man who borrows far more than he could ever repay and has no intention to try.  He is living high and well on money he didn't earn and cares not about the future beyond his passing.  After all, once he dies, that crushing debt isn't his problem.  Calling his actions irresponsible is understating the fact.  It is a crime against those from whom he borrowed or those descendants who now are held responsible.  It is a manifest lie on his soul, the promise he made when he borrowed to pay the monies back with due interest.  It is simply theft.  The saddest consequence of his selfish actions will hit him after he dies.  Our God knows in fine detail all of our actions and motivations while alive on earth.  His justice will be complete and exacting.  This poor soul will carry this debt to the grave and he will repay every penny, with interest, much to his gravest sorrow.  Knowing this, the responsible man will borrow only that which he seriously needs, truly pledges to pay back and has the actual ability to do so.

The United States debt is about to hit eighteen trillion dollars.  That is already far more than we can ever repay as a country as things are now.  Click the debt clock link and watch those numbers roll!  That debt equates to over $153,000.00 per tax payer!  Understand this, when the federal government borrowed that money they did it by co-signing the loan with our collective names.  If you are a tax payer, you really do, personally, owe those bond holders the 153 thousand dollars; yes, you.  This is the gravest of responsibilities.  This should bring out three reactions from us all right now.

Firstly, and I am serious about this, do not take any unearned money from the federal government, for any reason, not social security, not welfare, not health subsidies, not anything.  The overwhelmingly main drivers of that debt are the entitlement programs.  Before you make the claim that the money you have been paying into social security and medi-care is yours and you simply want it back, understand this brutal fact, it is gone.  If your paid monies were still there, there wouldn't be a debt.  If you demand that money "back", it will have to come from your children and their children through more taxes and even more borrowing.  We must stand up as responsible, courageous adult men and women and face the world squarely and stop asking for handouts.  If life is hard, so be it.  God will give the hard worker, the honest laborer well deserved and indescribable rest and peace in the next life.  To the lazy and dependent, He will exact a price for riding the backs of the producers.

Secondly, we must demand that congress shut down those entitlement programs now.  They must not write another solitary check.  We must make good on those bonds and the only way we will be able to do that is to divert all those entitlement funds into payback.  If we don't then two things will happen.  Our currency will fail and those entitlements will do us no good with worthless money.  Upon that failure, the people we owe will demand payment through inflation, which is much more work on our part for far less return.  In other words, they will take it out of our hides and they will claim our land.  One way or the other, we will pay it back.  We will be reduced to servitude.

Thirdly, we must not support politicians who seek our votes with these empty promises.  If we vote for this, we will pay for it.  There is no free lunch.  Congress cannot produce goods and services.  They can only produce ever more depreciating fiat money.  If we receive any good from the government it is because they took those goods from someone else, by force.  When we sit around and ask for aid, someone else suffers.  There must be a profound awakening among our people.  We must hold congress accountable for this debt as they have held us accountable for it.  They must hear the resounding, "STOP THIS BULLSHIT AND PAY IT BACK, NOW!" from us.

I believe it is already too late.  I believe that soon, our money will fail and we will be suffering for our collective foolishness.  I believe that the United States will cease to be a world force.  I believe that foreign military forces will soon claim authority over our peoples.  I believe we will soon be held to account on this world and certainly in the next for every cent we took unjustly.  I pray to our good God for mercy and I pledge with my sacred honor that I will not take a single red penny from my fellow citizens through that money whore we call the federal government, not ever! May God grant me courage and support, for I do this for love of Him and you, my fellow citizens.  William C. Howe

DUI Checkpoints

I have strongly negative and visceral feelings about the possibility of police setting up DUI checkpoints.  Theses are checkpoints wherein each car is stopped, and the police interview the drivers while searching for evidence of intoxication.  I totally agree that driving an automobile while under any adverse influence of drugs or alcohol is extremely dangerous and that the manifest loss of life and limb is tragic.  I have no problem with police pulling over a car which gives them probable cause by erratic or conspicuous maneuvers.  My angst lies in the idea that the police are able to screen people as they go their way looking for miscreants.  We all know that miscreants are there.  We all know that in the cars, houses and businesses of our everyday world there are law breakers who have illicit drugs, driving impaired, or have other evidence of crimes on their persons or property.  Do we really want to be screened as a matter of routine in the quest for an ideally peaceful and safe society?  Under the slippery slope theory it would next move to the police being able to search your car for evidence of criminal activity, other than DUI, and from there to searching homes and persons in a systematized manner.

So, here we are.  The legality of the DUI checkpoints have been tested in the courts and are here to stay.  What are your court affirmed rights?  Firstly, you do not have to go through the checkpoint.  The police are required to give you ample notice of the checkpoint through posted signs.  These signs should be posted far enough in advance to allow you the option of turning around and going in another direction.  You must, of course do this while complying with all the other traffic laws.  Should you elect to enter the checkpoint, you must co-operate with the police in their stated mission of discerning your acceptable sobriety.  They may ascertain that you are in compliance with traffic laws such as having your driver's license, insurance, registration and inspections.  If you are sober, there should be no problem.  You do still have the right to refuse a search of your car.  The best method is to adopt a mature, respectful attitude.

If you are actually impaired, well then, I hope you are caught.  And while I'm on the subject, we need to develop an universal intolerance to using our cell phone gadgets while we are driving as well.  I have friends who are working police officers and I have asked them if cell phone induced accidents are a problem.  They all, without hesitation, agreed that it is so.

Young Ladies and a Hard World II

On September 9th of this year I posted an article detailing the sad stories of several women who were snatched off of the street, never to be seen alive again.  This last Sunday night, in Philadelphia, it happened again.  Please pray for Ms. Carlesha Freeland-Gaither.  This YouTube video shows how overpowering such an attack can be.  Although Ms. Freeland-Gaither struggled valiantly and called loudly for help, she was unable to escape her attacker.

Imagine how differently this would have played out if after being thrown into the backseat of the car she was able to pull our her handgun and put a bullet in the brains of this maniac.

Dear Father in heaven.  Hold and protect this young girl.  By thy power bring her home unharmed.  Amen.

11/6/2014  She is found!

Jury Nullification II

This link provides rebuttals to eight Jury Nullification objections.  These objections to Jury Nullification are based in the fear that the people cannot be trusted to get things right.  I stand in the opposite camp, that the government cannot be trusted to get things right.

 Whatever your opinion, it is an educational read.

The Difference Between Light and Darkness

When the Virgin Mary learned of her cousin Elizabeth's pregnancy and rushed to her, she was already carrying Jesus in her womb.

  And it came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: [42] And she cried out with a loud voice, and said: Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. [43] And whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? [44] For behold as soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. [45] And blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord. Douay-Rheims Luke 1:41-45

Several things are learned in those scripture words.  We must understand that Elizabeth is crying out words which the Lord has put to her to say.  Mary's salutation would have been the first and only thing communicated to her, thus calling Mary the "mother of my Lord" could only have been by divine intervention.   Secondly, her baby, still in the womb, "leaped for joy."  Only a human person can feel joy.  Thus it shows that babies in the womb are indeed individual persons and are loved as such by their Lord and creator.

The Catholic teaching concerning Mary is most unique in that since the fall of Adam and Eve, she is the only human conceived without the stain of original sin.  Original sin can be described in an analogy of a rich estate.  The family members and their descendants are entitled to live on the estate because it is theirs.  However, on the sad day when the family loses the estate and they no longer own it, the descendants cannot go back, no matter how deserving; it simply is not theirs anymore.  Original sin is the penalty on all humankind for the sin of Adam and Eve.  The gates of heaven were closed to all of us.  Christ Jesus was always, is and always will be the second person of the Holy Trinity, God.  Jesus is the part of God who created the universe and everything in it including each and every human being, individually.   Mary did not conceive Him, He conceived her.  Thus it was through His will that she was cleansed of original sin before she was born.

And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord. [47] And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. [48] Because he hath regarded the humility of his handmaid; for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. [49] Because he that is mighty, hath done great things to me; and holy is his name. [50] And his mercy is from generation unto generations, to them that fear him.  Douay-Rheims Luke 1:47-50

This is why she calls Him her Savior.  God had a marvelous, mysterious plan for Mary.  He, Himself would take the physical condition of a zygote, grow and develop a human body within Mary's womb, and be born of her as an infant.  Jesus, who has the power to create or destroy anything, who knows every human being ever born and who will ever be born, who commands a legion of angels, innumerable, has willed Himself to enter the world not crashing through the clouds on a mighty fire breathing steed, throwing lightning in every direction and shouting for honor and adoration in a thunderous voice, but as a new born human infant.

We now know, by twenty-first century technology, that a mother carries in her body, for the rest of her life, the DNA of each child she carried.  We also know that every woman carries in her from her own time in her mother's womb, every egg that has the potential of fertilization and development.  Thus it is true that from her earliest stages of development in her mother's womb, Saint Anne, Mary was already carrying the egg which would be the body of Jesus and that for the rest of her existence she would carry His DNA in her bloodstream.  This is one of many reasons God preserved her from original sin at birth.  This is why one of her names is The Immaculate Conception.

, The Catholic teaching is that Saint John the Baptist was conceived with original sin but was born without the stain of it.  Remember the Jewish leaders asking him by who's authority he baptized?  He did not answer their question directly because they would not have understood it.  He was baptizing by the authority of Jesus, as taught to him by Jesus, when Jesus spiritually baptized him womb to womb the moment his mother heard Mary's salutation.  That is why John the Baptist leaped for joy in his mother's womb. Thus we have a spiritual communication to an unborn infant from his God, another unborn infant.

Now let us venture into the darkness.  Abortionist Lisa Harris describes an unforeseen and emotional experience she had while dismembering an eighteen week old fetus while she herself was carrying an eighteen week old fetus in her womb.

With my first pass of the forceps, I grasped an extremity and began to pull it down. I could see a small foot hanging from the teeth of my forceps. With a quick tug, I separated the leg.

Precisely at that moment, I felt a kick – a fluttery “thump, thump” in my own uterus. It was one of the first times I felt fetal movement.

There was a leg and foot in my forceps, and a “thump, thump” in my abdomen. Instantly, tears were streaming from my eyes – without me – meaning my conscious brain – even being aware of what was going on. 

The perverse similarity of her experience to the story of Mary and Elizabeth struck me.  I am convinced that Ms. Harris's baby leaped with horror as it spiritually understood that the other baby was just murdered.  Ms. Harris and her child were so closely bonded as she cradled it in her womb and nourished it with her own body, that the grief and sorrow of such a great crime poured over from that infant through her heart and out of her eyes in a stream of tears.  One could try to explain it to her, but like the Jewish leaders of Saint John the Baptist's time, she wouldn't understand it or believe it.

All of the sins of the flesh are most grave and cry out for vengeance however, killing a baby in the womb is the most depraved of them all.  Christ was there.  Christ, unlike us, was divinely aware of Himself and His condition while He was in the womb.  He loves each and every one of those babies more tenderly and personally before birth as we love our children after birth.  We can only think of the "baby" abstractly before they are born because with our physical limitations of experiencing things with our five physical senses, we do not know them until we can see them and hold them.  Christ already knows them better than we ever will.

As for poor Lisa Harris, pray for her!  Pray to our good Lord that she sees the horror she is committing.  Pray that she comes face to face with her guilt so that she may avail herself of Christ's infinite mercy to the truly repentant sinner.

Our Precious Fourth and Fifth Ammendments

Shaneen Allen, the Pennsylvania lady who was arrested in New Jersey for the possession of a handgun, made a big mistake.  I do not blame her for making it because our education system, which is charged with teaching our maturing citizens about government and our rights in the civil arena, failed her and us.  Her mistake was not about driving into New Jersey with her gun, that action is protected by the Second Amendment, though the authorities of New Jersey don't recognize that and will inflict harm if you do.  Her mistake was telling the police about it.  Being stopped for a traffic violation does not require her to tell the police anything about her business, where she is going or what she has in her car.

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.  Fourth Amendment - United States Constitution

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.  Fifth Amendment - United States Constitution

The only business at hand during a traffic stop relates to operating a motor vehicle; things like the charged violation to traffic laws, registration of the car, driver's license, insurance, etc.  The officer does not have the authority to search your car in a quest to find other violations not related to his reason to stop you.  If he asks you for permission to search your car, your answer should always be a firm and polite, "No".  Ms. Allen erred by volunteering to the officer the fact that she had that gun in her car.  In her naive attempt to be a co-operative, model citizen she brought the crushing weight of the New Jersey criminal system down upon her head.

Again, you do not need to take this red neck’s word about it.  Watch this You Tube video posted by a law professor.  The video is over 45 minutes long, but it may be some of the most valuable time you spend.

If you watched the video, I hope you heard the first thing the police detective said.  He made the huge point that in other countries, countries without the enumerated rights spelled out in our Fourth and Fifth Amendments, the police are bound by almost no rules and can immediately get "physical" as they attempt to wring a confession from you.  What he didn't say but is true, in other countries the police can kick in your door and hunt for evidence of a crime.  God bless America!  God bless our Constitution. 

John Filippidis of Florida was driving southbound on I-95 and had just entered Maryland, a very aggressive gun restricting state.  Mr. Filippidis was pulled over by a Maryland Transportation Authority Police Officer.  The officer was abrupt and took Mr. Filippidis behind the police cruiser and instantly stated, "You own a gun! Where is it?"  If you learned anything from the above video it would be that Mr. Filippidis should not have answered that question one way or another.  The officer turned his intimidation tactics to Mrs. Filippidis and demanded to know where the gun was.  She said she didn't know but stated that "it may be in the glove box..."  BOOM! That was enough for the officer to pull the entire family out of the car and have it thoroughly searched (ransacked).  They found no gun.  They were pulled over because the Maryland officer discovered through a linked database system that Mr. Filippidis held a concealed carry permit in Florida.  If that poor family had followed the sound advice of never talking to the police, that officer would have had no choice but to let them pass.

If you are pulled over, be polite but answer no questions. 

"Holy S***, I Survived!"

A Las Vegas woman was literally backed into a corner by an aggressive,  increasingly violent stalker.  The linked article tells how she dated Douglas Eugene Jackson for about a month and then experienced the worst six months of her life.

Reading the article shows the progression downward in options and solutions until we reach the bottom, shoot or die.  She attempted relocation.  She tried to disappear off the cyber world.  She got a restraining order.  She called the police, numerous times.  She appealed for help anywhere she could.  In the end, she was forced to shoot him, last Friday, as he was kicking in her apartment door.  She is alive today for one reason only - the gun she had in her hands, not 911, not the police, not the myriad of community counseling offices and especially not that stupid restraining order.  "A restraining order is just a piece of paper," was Jackson's contemptuous comment.  Even by his perverted logic, he was right about that.

Remember this "public service" advertisement produced by a gun control advocacy group?

This Las Vegas woman survived this exact horrific experience because, unlike the victim in the ad, she had a gun.

The Only Effective Thug Repellent Known To Man

Good News From New Jersey & Sad From Arkansas

On August 27, 2014 I wrote a post titled Southern Hospitality.  I mentioned the case of Shaneen Allen, the Pennsylvania lady who drove into New Jersey and volunteered to the police officer, who stopped her,  the fact that he had her licensed handgun (in Pennsilvania - not New Jersey) in the car. The Atlantic county prosecutor  initially pressed for the harshest penalty possible, prison time and permanent felony status.

 Shaneen Allen

This week, as a result of tremendous pressure from the Gun Owners of America he has backed off of that draconian position and will place her in a first offender catagory, a provision of New Jersey law which cuts considerable slack to innocent, inadvertent violations and does not leave a felony status.  This is great news for a young woman who was tripped up by our silly, arcane and numerous gun control laws which vary from state to state and are universally unconstitutional.

www.gunowners.org

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep a bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

This is the only valid law in the entire United States concerning gun ownership and carry.  Every other law which attempts to restrict either action is patently unconstitutional.  We must all start bombarding our representatives with demands that all of those restrictive laws be purged from our legal codes.

For those of us who feel that Shaneen Allen was at fault for having her handgun in New Jersey, because after all, she doesn't really need a gun in New Jersey, let us think and pray for Beverly Carter of Arkansas, who was abducted last Thursday.

(Beverly Carter's remains have been found.  09/30/14 - Requiescat In Pace)

Beverly Carter

Our women deserve peace of mind in normal times and a fighting chance in horrific ones.  These laws must go!  If you haven't joined the Gun Owners of America, you should.  Don't bother to join the National Rifle Association, they are worse than useless.

Sowing What We Reap

To be fair, our local law enforcement personnel work hard, face many dangers and do induce peace and order on the streets of America.  I myself am always respectful to an officer whether meeting him in informal or serious encounters.  That said,  I am increasingly concerned about the militarization of the police along with the the marked increase in aggression they are using on our people.  These are products of our endless and fruitless "war on drugs"  Prior to the 1970's serving a search warrant with a battering ram and stun grenades, in the middle of the night was unheard of.  Now, it is routine.

I also suspect that the training these officers are receiving are "cue" based; see the cue and act!  If they see a weapon, act!  It doesn't seem to matter what the other behavioral actions are, react on the cue.

Earlier this month Officer Sean Groubert approached Levar Edward Jones in Columbia, SC as Mr. Jones was exiting his car at a gas station.  If you watch the video you will see how extraordinarily touchy Officer Groubert was following what had to be hyper paranoia training.   Mr. Jones's reaching back into his car to retrieve his driver's license, as per Officer Groubert's instructions, caused the officer to assume that a weapon being drawn.  Before Mr. Jones has even completely turned around Officer Groubert is shooting.

Patty Konie was coping fine in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.  She was in her home, on dry land with plenty of food and provisions.  The cops came through with an unconstitutional order to remove everyone.  They admitted that they had no actual legal basis to remove the citizens of New Orleans from their homes, but would use strong persuasion to get an agreement with "no" not being an option.  Patty was trying to demonstrate to these men her capability of survival when she showed them, passively, her handgun.  At the mere sight of the gun they attacked her.

York, SC Deputy Tarrance Knox shot and injured a slow moving 70 year old man whom he pulled over earlier this year.  The man's offense was to reach into the clearly visible bed of his pick-up truck and pull out a cane.  Deputy Knox feared that it was a shotgun.

Worst of all was the killing of John Crawford III in Dayton, OH, August 5, 2014.  The linked video shows Mr. Crawford walking and talking on his cell phone while shopping in a Wal-Mart.  Though he is carrying an air gun, which he selected from a Wal-Mart display, no one in the store seems concerned.  On the basis of a vague call to 911, the police stormed in and shot Mr. Crawford dead.

Patty Konie was tackled for simply showing the cue, even though she was calmly talking to the officers.  Mr. Jones was shot because he moved purposely.  Tarrance Knox and the Dayton cops shot simply because they saw the long thing in those men's hands.  See the cue and act has brought us unnecessary pain and death.  Our police forces must stop acting like an occupation army and start acting like members of our community.

Real Life

Piers Morgan once made the claim that gun proponents grossly exaggerate when they cite the self defense statistics.  He said that he has never seen one example of lawful self defense with a gun.  I cannot help his willful ignorance, but the reality is, citizens using guns to protect themselves and to frustrate criminals occurs everyday and our streets are much safer for that.

But, you do not need to to pay attention to what Mr. Morgan or I think.  Just go about your everyday activities.  If you never face an attack, you will be fine.  However, if the unthinkable crashes into your peaceful sphere, how will it play out for you?

This link tells the story of one Marathon gas station clerk defending himself from three armed thugs in Canton, OH last week.  The end result was two thugs dead, one missing and the injured clerk will live many more productive years.

Did you see it, Piers?

Capable Women Surviving In This Hard World

Dinah Burns of Lancaster, Ohio unexpectedly found herself confronted by two, count 'em, two young men intent on violent aggression with a baseball bat.  She walked away unharmed thanks to her handy thug repellent, a handgun.

Victoria Davidson of Milwaukee, Wisconsin was a victim of an aggressive car jacking.  Fearing for her life she pulled out her handy thug repellent and shot one of several attackers.  She is fine today.

Both of these women are alive and well because someone coached them in carrying and if in extreme need, using a handgun.  

The Solution To Gun Violence In America

The solution to gun violence in America is more laws.  Not!  

I'll let Miss Carey Wedler handle this question.

Young Ladies And A Hard World

This past week our society witnessed the disappearance of another young woman, Hannah Graham.  She is a student at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia.  She was walking late at night, with her cell phone in her hand, sending texts and has vanished.  I pray that she is safe but fear the worst.  Each and every time I get into a debate with a proponent of strict gun control I am given the argument that if one were to get into trouble all that is needed is to call 911.  This precious young lady had her phone in her hand and it was not used to call for help.

Hannah Graham

Her case is similar to Morgan Harrington's.  Most sadly, we know what happened to her.  She was abducted in Charlottesville last October.  She too had her cell phone and was using it the night she was taken.  Again, there were no calls for help.

Morgan Harrington

Dru Sjodin was a young woman working her way through school.  It was November, 2003 and she was walking to her car after leaving her retail job at a major shopping mall, at a reasonable time, before 9:00 PM, talking on her phone when she was abducted.  Her body was discovered in the spring.  Again, no call for help, even while talking to a friend.

Dru Sjodin

Chandra Levy was a young woman who was out of school and working in Washington, DC.  She was jogging in broad daylight in May, 2001, on a public trail when she disappeared.  I do not know if she had a phone on her.  We do know she was murdered however.

Chandra Levy

Tragically, there are many other cases like these.  I pray for these women and their families.  I wish they had been brought up with a stronger sense of survival.  Too many of our people simply expect our streets to be safe and fail to be cautious.  Having a phone is useful, but being with others is better.

You know my next point, of course, if you have read any of my other posts.  All of us should be practiced with a handgun and we should have them on us at all times.  When the shocking attack happens, your phone will be useless and your gun better be right there.  Do not put yourself at risk, which means accurately assessing your situation and always be ready for the worst.

There was one night when my car broke down in a strange, to me, town.  It was around 9:00 at night and I certainly had not planned on this.  As the drama unfolds I found myself alone in a junk yard, in the dark, waiting for the tow-truck driver to return and I didn't have a phone.  What I did have, because I always have it, was my .45 automatic.  It is hard to describe the peace that comes with that back-up when you are in a scary place.  We all, especially our women, deserve that peace of mind.  That is why I go crazy when people argue for severe gun restrictions.  In each of those four cases above I know the women had no guns and I suspect that the attackers didn't need them; in fact they counted on the fact that their victims were unarmed.  As for the police, they are just as frustrated in these disappearances as we are and can offer no better aid than we could.

Finally, here is a picture of a young woman who was shopping in Richmond, VA earlier this summer.  She is in a Martin's grocery store.  I expect that she will be just fine.

Hobby Lobby's Delusion (and Ours As Well)

This week the Government Accountability Office released a report identifying over one thousand health insurance policies, traded on state exchanges which were created by Obamacare, covering abortions.  The howl from some members of congress is both comical and pathetic.  "I am SHOCKED! SHOCKED! to find abortions being covered here!" Those of us who hated the idea of covering contraceptives knew that it was a certainty that abortion would be included since they are part and parcel of the same evil group.  The next alien to pop it's head out of the dead man's chest will be euthanasia.  So, the promises of the man who would be president are bold lies, once again.

The key objection is BSBHO's assurance that none of the money that the Federal Government uses to subsidize the individual's policy premiums, through those state exchanges, would be used for abortion coverage, is a lie.  Somehow, it is not an objection that the private citizen's money be used for abortions, just the government's.  That displays the extreme lack of moral fortitude on the part of our people.  We should be mad as hell to learn that abortion is covered by any policy for anybody!  You must now be perfectly aware that your premiums are covering abortion.  It doesn't matter if your personal policy doesn't cover this grave evil for you.  Your premiums go to the same "pot" and supports the insurance company which pays out for abortions.

This illustrates the delusion of the Hobby Lobby family, fighting their way to the Supreme Court so they could opt out of covering SOME of the contraceptives for their employees.  Give me a break!  Their carved out conscience clause doesn't protect them morally one whit.  Their monies still cover the whole lot as it flows into this evil, flawed health insurance system.

Jesus told us so many times to, "be not afraid".  He also taught us to fear the things which kill the soul, not the things which kill the body.  Health insurance is all about the body, which in spite of heroic expenditures and procedures, always loses in the end.  We must not let our fear of dying, which is inevitable, destroy our eternal souls.  We must all cancel our health policies, now, as we follow Christ and hope in a real life which is everlasting.

The Hungry Monster II

The Federal Reserve Bank is our central bank.  Their job is to manipulate the amount of money in the economy so as to maximize the good times and to minimize the bad times.  Their basic strategy is cruel due to the fact that they subscribe to the theory that maintaining an annual three percent inflation rate somehow keeps the good times rolling.  In fact, at that rate of inflation, every twenty years our savings have been devalued by about fifty percent.  The really scary part of that money supply manipulation strategy is the fact that no one is overseeing what they are doing, no one audits their accounts and no one knows how much money they have "printed" over the past ten years.  By using the quoted "printing" I am alluding to the twenty-first century fact that they no longer need to print actual pieces of paper with serial numbers on them; all they have to do to create more money is to enter a few strokes on their magic money making computer server and Presto! another troubled bank has a few million dollars to cover lousy loans and bad paper for another month.  Without this cheating system all of our banks would have failed years ago.  What they are running on now are these hidden bail-outs; as obligations come up that they cannot meet, the Fed slips them some computer cash and our citizens believe all is well in the system.  They can get away with this for a little while, but it will collapse one day.

Is there really a economic crash coming?  Well, I think so, but then again, I'm just a stupid redneck.  I offer this linked article, which is a speech given by the Vice Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank this past August 11th to a conference of central bankers. It is from the Federal Reserve's web-site.  You can try to read it if you like, but you will find a bunch of blather and hiding behind vague statements which will be really boring and confusing.  They do that on purpose.  However, you will quickly get the sense that he is expecting a collapse rather than predicting good times are coming.  He talks about ways in which the central bankers around the world should batten down their hatches and attempt to ride out the coming economic storm.  In other words, they are getting ready for a crash.

"Additional steps have been taken in some countries. For example, in the United States, capital ratios and liquidity buffers at the largest banks are up considerably, and their reliance on short-term wholesale funding has declined considerably. Work on the use of the resolution mechanisms set out in the Dodd-Frank Act, based on the principle of a single point of entry--though less advanced than the work on capital and liquidity ratios--holds the promise of making it possible to resolve banks in difficulty at no direct cost to the taxpayer. As part of this approach, the United States is preparing a proposal to require systemically important banks to issue bail-inable long-term debt that will enable insolvent banks to recapitalize themselves in resolution without calling on government funding--this cushion is known as a "gone concern" buffer."

"Bail-inable long-term debt" means that the banks will close, take a required percentage of our deposits and issue us a mandatory (you gotta take it!) savings bond with a term so long that we will never see the day when we could cash back.  Thus they will "recapitalize themselves" with the only money left standing around, ours!  Thus they are able to save a "gone concern" (Quotes theirs) 

This "gone concern" strategy was tested in Cyprus, Greece last year.  The banks of Cyprus were closed, to prevent withdrawals, and re-opened after ten percent of the deposits were taken.  Our central bank is now forming such a process for us.  If I were you, I would ease down to the bank, calmly, and withdraw any savings you have, now.  Since they drove the interest down to nothing, what good are they anyway?

As for a cash crash, you want to have real, usable, assets.  Gold and silver coins would make a good default currency.  The paper money you take out of the bank would fall in value as fast as the jeopardized bank deposits would, however you will have them and they will still be good for past debts.  What makes me shake my head is the intention of the bankers to confiscate our money after they destroyed most of it's value.  Insanity!

Another remarkable shenanigan of our central bankers has been revealed.  They are playing the markets with our money.  Imagine a game of Monopoly with six players and a banker.  The banker has unlimited cash and has no personal risk.  Let's make a rule wherein an open property automatically goes to public auction when the first player lands on it.  Now, we will allow the banker to bid on the properties with the bank's unlimited cash supply.  How would you expect that game to go?  Have you wondered why the NY Stock Exchange has been doing so well in this lousy economy?  Have you wondered why the gold prices have stayed so low?  We can only imagine the market warping effects of the central banks "investing" in the markets, but we can be certain that we do not want our money in that rigged game.  Get out!  As for those 401k's, well get used to the idea that you will never see that money.

All of this illustrates the teachings of Christ to place our wealth in heaven where the thieves, rust and moths cannot take it away.  We have all been chasing dollars so long that we haven't noticed these thieves stealing it from us all along the way, even when we had it safely "in the bank."