Category Archives: Musings

Through No Fault of Their Own….

Musings, Personal Ramblings, Politics, Religious

Do you ever experience multiple thoughts in your mind fighting for supremacy?  Most days, my mind feels like a rocky cliff upon which competing tides of ideas smash themselves, leaving the spray of individual motes floating down to join new idea tides and renew the cycle.  Some days, a hurricane of thoughts form off the coast and smash opposing ideas against each other, leaving my own current of thought ragged and choppy.  Some days are calm, with ideas few and far between; I enjoy those days just as much as the hurricane ones, for in variety is life.

And then there are the tsunamis.

You know the feeling, the one where something swells up inside you and swamps your every other thought?  Some people call it their ‘light bulb’ moment, others their ‘ah-ha’ moment…whatever floats your boat, as it were.  For me, that moment came today while listening to arguments on “Dreamers” and DACA – the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals – and the continued use of the phrase, “through no fault of their own.”  It was such an interesting phrase that I had to give it some more thought.

Through no fault of their own (hereafter: TNFOTO), Dreamers were brought to this place.  TNFOTO, Dreamers cause hardships to those around them.  TNFOTO, Dreamers take resources from caretakers and governments and can’t repay their debt for decades.  TNFOTO, Dreamers are not considered citizens.  TNFOTO, Dreamers are considered a throwaway class by some.  TNFOTO, Dreamers are under assault by those who do not understand them.  TNFOTO, Dreamers are treated as political Ping-Pong balls without regard to their inherent worth as a human being.  TNFOTO, Dreamers will eventually live or die based on the choices of others.

Stark?  Maybe.

Now replace the word “Dreamers” with the phrase, “the Unborn”.

Here, I’ll do it for you:

Through no fault of their own (hereafter: TNFOTO), the Unborn were brought to this place.  TNFOTO, the Unborn cause hardships to those around them.  TNFOTO, the Unborn take resources from caretakers and governments and can’t repay their debt for decades.  TNFOTO, the Unborn are not considered citizens.  TNFOTO, the Unborn are considered a throwaway class by some.  TNFOTO, the Unborn are under assault by those who do not understand them.  TNFOTO, the Unborn are treated as political Ping-Pong balls without regard to their inherent worth as a human being.  TNFOTO, the Unborn will eventually live or die based on the choices of others.

These children didn’t ask to be brought into this world, but they still deserve the basic human rights of all other people on this beautiful marble hanging in space.  These children don’t know what our founders stated early on: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…”  Self-evident…created equal…heavy stuff.

TNFOTO, all men are created equal.

Dear Fellow Catholics: Please Remove Your Rainbow Flags

Personal Ramblings, Religious

Here are a few radical ideas for my fellow Catholics to contemplate:

  1. The Catholic Church condemns homosexual (“Gay”) Marriage.
  2. The Catholic Church condemns homosexual behavior.
  3. The Catholic Church does not condemn homosexuals.

Just reading those three facts together may confuse some people; they might look upon them and assume this is a “one of these things doesn’t belong” test, but it’s not. The simplest of explanations is thus: condemn ≠ hate. Read that again. “To condemn” does not equal “to hate”. The proper definition of condemn in this context is, “To pronounce to be utterly wrong; to utter a sentence of disapprobation against; to censure; to blame.” As an example, “I personally condemn racism” or “The Catholic Church condemns racism.”

Make sense? Okay. So why bring this up now?

Two words: Gay Pride.

Recently, there have been social media movements advocating the advancement of Gay Pride and LGBTQA+ items. As part of the social media movements, many persons have been posting positive articles and changing logos and profile pictures to include rainbow stickers or flags or whatnots to indicate support of this agenda. What people do with their lives is on them, I understand, but what bothers me is when fellow Catholics stand loud and proud on this issue OPPOSITE the teachings of the Church. The Catholic Church’s stance regarding homosexual acts is clear: “Under no circumstances can they be approved”.

In some people’s minds, that clearly means that Catholics and the Catholic Church hates homosexuals, but they couldn’t be more wrong. Literally three sentences later, the Catechism states: “They must be accepted with respect, compassion, and sensitivity. Every sign of unjust discrimination in their regard should be avoided”. EVERY SIGN! Internal, external, third person potential prospective injunctive whatever…EVERY SIGN! We do not hate homosexuals, we condemn their behavior.

That being said, we as Catholics cannot support movements that promote or advocate positions opposite the Church’s teachings on life, including those of the LGBTQA+ community. You cannot condemn the activity and behavior out of one side of the mouth while glorifying and praising it out the side of the other. To advocate for LGBTQA+ agendas is to speak a lie, i.e. to not proclaim the truth…and in this case, the Truth with the capital T.

Let us keep in mind that Christ dined with the sinners, but he did not advocate their behavior. In John 8:11, He said to the woman caught in the act of adultery, “Go and now sin no more.” Interestingly, in the earlier part of the sentence (again, John 8:11), he said, “Neither will I condemn thee.” In this case, he was literally stating he would not condemn her to die as the crowd of tricksters was asking Him to do. He told the woman the truth, that what she was doing was wrong, but told her he would not kill her for it. We in the Church should do the same: tell people that this behavior is wrong, but that we don’t advocate for their harm. In fact, we will refuse to unjustly discriminate against them in word, thought, or deed as the Catechism teaches us. Does that mean we accept their sinful behavior? No. Are there times where we will justly discriminate against homosexuality, such as keeping blatantly effeminate/homosexual men from being ordained priests and thusly leading their flock into sin by following their behavior? Absolutely.

In the end, recall some of His most famous words: “A new commandment I give unto you: That you love one another, as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” When you love someone, you tell them the truth.

If you love someone as Christ commanded, you tell them the Truth.

Wicca Growing in America

Musings, Religious, TDaC, Writing

See, this is the kind of stuff I worry about….

For reference, here’s the article:

Now that that’s out of the way, here’s the basics: Wicca as a ‘religion’ is growing.  Ugh.  I remember when I first read Fr. Amorth’s book “An Exorcist Tells His Story” I had trouble believing his statement that paganism is on the rise.  I’ve seen some stories recently that have turned my head and opened my mind, most recently of which is this one cited above.  Reading through the article, this caught my eye: “It’s funny, because I’ve got people who are devoted Catholics coming to me and saying, ‘I’ve got a problem, and can you do a spell for me?’ ”

A couple of things to point out here.  If you’re a “devoted” Catholic, you’re not going to ask for a spell from a Wiccan anymore than a devoted Prolifer is going to ask for an abortion.  It kind of defies the label.  Plus, bonus, it’s stated in the Bible that you shouldn’t consult a witch.  Period.

Witchcraft is a shortcut, a way to get something for less than what you want to ‘pay’ for it.  When people ask me about Catholic Birth Control (yes, they capitalize it in their speech) they’re asking how we can abstain from sex on some days and not others and wouldn’t it just be easier to use “real” birth control?  Yes, it is harder, but it makes the times we can be intimate more special, thus increasing the joy in the activity (which I have so dryly spoken of here).  If you feel like you’re shackled by bad luck, where are your prayers?  Where is your fasting, your attendance at daily Mass, your Eucharistic Adoration?  Nah, those things are hard, lemme skip over here to the purveyor of spells and just get a quickie thing done.  Couple of bucks, no biggie, right?  No biggie, but only as long as you don’t value your soul.  By going to a witch or a fortune teller or a psychic or whatever it is that allows people to commune with the dead or the ‘spirit world’, you’re violating a tenant of your faith…so no, no biggie.

This is one reason why I wrote “The Devil and Casari: Ad Hominem“, so I can make sure to reach an audience who may not have heard the importance of staying away from crap like this.  Some doors you can’t shut once opened.  Consider this: the easy road is easy because it’s well paved and greased, but doesn’t that mean it’s also harder to stop moving when someone starts hauling you where you don’t want to go?  That’s witchcraft – you open the door, get (maybe) what you want, then find that you got more than what you wanted…only not in a good way.

TLDR: Don’t mess with witchcraft; playing with fire can get you burned.

On the Abdication of Responsibility

General, Musings, Politics

While watching CNN this morning (only news channel on Sling) I saw a journalist (Mr. Cuomo) ask a Congressman about the Paris attacks. 30 seconds really caught my attention. They went something like this:

Journalist: The President asked for a use of force decree from Congress two years ago. Shouldn’t you have given it to him then so this could be taken care of by now?

Congressman: Well, the President said they were contained only hours before the attack, so it’s not our fault.

Journalist: But the President was talking specifically about the ground war in Syria where they have been contained, so be nice.

Paraphrasing for the most part, but that’s the gist. So much to unpack here. Lemme start with Congress.

Losers. I know it isn’t nice, but there it is. Don’t say on the one hand that the President’s plan sucks while on the other hand you refuse to debate the real issues. Democrats, you are so busy pointing fingers at the Republicans and telling them they’re all kinds of mean that you ignore the mirrors in front of you showing your own flaws. Republicans, you’re so busy saying you’ll do something “next time” that you’ve practically grown roots and and started putting out leaves. Your jobs are pretty simple, Constitutionally speaking: put up bills, debate them, vote on them. Republicans in control have failed on the first part (do nothing); Democrats on the second part (deem and pass, anyone); everyone has failed at the third. Losers, one and all.

Mr President, you’ve been so busy arguing against the representatives of the people that your hands are nowhere near clean in this area. Nearly every time the Republicans talk about issues important to them…and the citizens who voted for them…you say it’s a non-starter or something. You’re quick to jump on anything that happens which offends you or your base and are even faster to praise things that polarize your party, but rarely do you extend the opposition an olive branch. You’ve extended these to our traditional enemies such as Cuba, Iran, and Russia more than you do your fellow citizens. Shame on you.

Journalists, you have failed on so many levels it’s hard to know where to begin. When just seven percent of journalists identify as republicans, the bias is clear. More?  Check here, here (cites above material), and here (older for comparison). When you eat, sleep, and breathe a single point of view, you miss and misrepresent the truth as it is to be the truth you want to see. Rush and Sean do it too, and you excoriate them for it. It isn’t your job to defend the President – he’s a big boy with unlimited media access, he’ll be fine. It isn’t your job to defend Democratic candidates – let them speak for themselves. It isn’t your job to make fun of how people look on one side of the political spectrum but let it slide on the other (The View anyone?).  You complain about Republican tax plans non-stop, but where’s the realism on the Democratic side?  Free everything?  Sure, why not. 

Everyone here has abdicated their responsibilities in favor of looking good. Congress won’t vote because then they have to defend those votes. The President won’t work with Republicans because they’re mean and it’s hard. Journalists freeze out anyone who isn’t in on their groupthink sessions, then wonder why people are so stupid as to believe other things.

Shame on you all.

With all that said, I’m personally willing to forgive and forget if you’ll just GET OFF YOUR COLLECTIVE ASSES AND GET TO WORK!  Mr President, put in the time and effort to doing what needs to be done. Get your hands dirty. Drink with your opponents and find/make commonalities. Congress, take a look at the crap storm we’re dealing with here outside of D.C. and put in some thought. Make tough votes. Be willing to lose your job for what you believe in and be proud of that fact. Journalists, put down the water buckets and pick up your thinking caps. The load might actually be heavier than carrying someone else’s water, but you’ll find that spark of satisfaction in your chest far outweighs the lump of depression you’ve been disguising as smugness for so long. Find the truth and tell it. Don’t tell a version of it, tell it like it is.

We can come back from this. We’re better than this. Take the reins, give them a flick, and let’s get moving again! 

How Do You Accept Compliments?

General, Writing

In and amongst the multitude of positive and negative/constructive comments I received in the feedback stage of “The Devil and Casari: Ad Hominem,” I was also blessed by several outstanding compliments that flat out made me blush.  While these were being delivered, I did my best to nod and smile (albeit verbally, since most everything was over the “phone”) and say thanks, but all the while on the inside I was churning with fear. Was this for real?  Would someone really want to see this book on their mantle, or was that something just nice to be said to someone who had done so much hard work on a project?  I know…and I mean I KNOW…that the compliments were/are sincere, but that massively insecure past of me continues to scream that it was all a lie, that someone was just being nice, that they didn’t really mean it, and on and on and on.

Giving sincere compliments is a joy, so why is it receiving them is so hard?  What’s wrong with me that my first response to a compliment its to self-deprecate?  Seriously?!

Example:
You: Nice haircut.
Me: Thanks, I got tired of spending money.

See, mocking myself already. As it should be.  Enough about me, though; I’d like to hear from you instead.  How do you take a compliment?  Do you say something nice in return, do you self-loathe and mock, do you smile and stay silent, what?  Comment below, leave something on my Facebook post, whatever, but I’d love to hear just how you react when someone says something nice about you or your work. 

If I like it, I might even compliment you just to see it in action. 

Gotta Burn to Build

Religious, TDaC, Writing

An official half of all beta readers are finished with rough draft number one!  Huzzah huzzah!  With readings come critiques, and as requested, they are painful and unforgiving.  My stomach is in knots, my heart it is a’racing…yeah, the picture should be an easy one to draw. They burn, they burn! 

GOOD! 

These bodyblows help strengthen the writing, find flaws that I was blind to, and suggest trimming or plumping of certain areas or thoughts. Cool.  Of course, that means more work for me, but what’s the point asking for critiques if you don’t listen?  I’m not taking all suggestions to heart, mind you; after all, these are critics, not co-authors, so I’ll do as I please. It just so happens top please me to do most of what’s suggested. 

Among the best suggestions thus far are the addition of several chapters increasing the relationship between the three main characters, so that’s what I’ll be working on while the other half of my beta readers finish their copies.

In other pointless news, one of the exorcists whose book was influential to my writing “just” (May 2015) participated in the first ever recorded (so written) COUNTRY WIDE exorcism. Target: Mexico. Why?  In part, this heinous death cult of Sante Muerte, or “Saint Death”.  Evil, evil, evil!  People hesitate to turn to God but THIS gets their attention?  Tell me again how Satan isn’t real or isn’t operating in our world? 

Alright, end pointless rant and not coincidentally pointless news update. More as it comes!