Je suis Charlie

Freedom of speech the most prized tool for liberty. We use it to incite conflict and expose truths. Yet, we as Americans should be ashamed that it took a Frenchman to muster the courage and determination to to stand against political correctness in the press. I propose that the first step to creating a Muslim reformation for the formation of a protestant revision of that religion be the mass publication of the cartoon that got Charlie Hebdo killed. But America doesn't have the balls to do it. Sad, sad, sad I take back every joke I ever made about the French.

Gays, Guns and Marriage.

Before I get started on this week’s topic, I just want to say how disappointed I am that we as a society are so easily misdirected. We should be working on building an orbiting solar shield and a national EMP protection system, which in turn would cure our economic woes.  Instead, we are all worked up about gay marriage, WTF is wrong with us?

            So let me tell you how I would solve this problem so we can get back the important stuff. Remove the term “Marriage” from all legal documents and replace it with the term “Civil Union”. Then we define Civil Unions as a contract between two (and only two) consenting human adults not of blood relations. Pretty much, legally speaking, everything stays the same, except that we don’t restrict Civil Unions to any particular gender definition. The reason why this is so simple is because Marriage is a religious term, not a legal term. The separation of church and state practically demands that we remove the term Marriage from all legal documents.

            On that note: people ask me about gay adoption. I then say what about transgender natural parents? The possibilities of combinations to a modern family unit is all too confusing and should be taken on case by case bases, by each state, as it currently is. In other words, let the will of the people, child protection and adoption agencies decide.

            In the defense of Marriage, as a married man I would like to say that I am proud to be married and would be tickled to death to see everybody make a celebrated commitment in front of their community to another person for the rest of their life. But Marriage is not just a contract; it is a lot of work. My wife and I were married in a church and we had to follow the rules of that church and its’ religion. As such we cannot be unmarried where as a Civil Union can be broken, our religion does not permit divorce. If a LGBTI couple wants to be married, then they need to find a church that will marry them (I believe Episcopalians are down with that). Afterwards they would need to get a Civil Union License just as my wife and I had to get a License at the court house after we were married. In my world, there would be no difference between what we did, and what any other type of couple could do.

            What I do not want to see is the government declaring marriage a civil right. Just imagine the federal government arresting a Catholic priest for violating the Civil Rights of a LGBTI couple because he would not marry them in his church! Every religion has the right to do what it believes is right just as the Boy Scouts have the right to do whatever they believe is right. Private organizations have the same rights as private individuals and the government is not going to tell you who to have sex with, right? 

                        But if they did... It would time to get our guns.

Try a little Lent?

I needed to know when Lent Ends, so I did some research and thought I would share it with you. 

Lent has two starting days—Ash Wednesday for Catholics/Protestants, and Clean Monday for the Eastern Churches.  But the last day of Lent was not obvious. Lent ends either the Saturday before Palm Sunday March 24, 2013 or Holy Thursday March 28, 2013, or Holy Saturday March 30, 2013. For most Catholics it is Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday). Liturgically however, since 1969 when the revised Roman calendar was used to mark the celebration of the “Novus Ordo” Mass, Lent officially ends on Holy Thursday.

But that’s when I realized that what I really wanted to know was "When does the Lent fasting end, or when can I start drinking again?" For most Catholics it is Holy Saturday (the day before Easter Sunday), which is the 46th day since Ash Wednesday, but there are only 40 days of the Lenten fasting so what the heck is going on? I did some more research and it seems that since all Sundays (not just Easter Sunday) are days we are supposed to celebrate Christ's Resurrection, we are forbidden to fast or do other forms of penance on Sundays. So, when the Church created 40 days of fasting for Easter to mirror Christ's fasting in the desert, Sundays could not be included in the count.

It’s not so much a loop hole as it is an obligation to celebrate Jesus. So go ahead and have a glass of wine on Sundays during Lent. It’s in the rules! 

Foot Notes: Thus, in order for Lent to include 40 days on which fasting could occur, it had to be expanded to six full weeks (with six days of fasting in each week) plus four extra holly days. Six times six is thirty-six, plus four.

  -St. Augustine's Bulletin  staugust.org/wp-content/.../02/St.-Augustines-Bulletin-21.pdf

Scoutmasters, Priests and Teachers

              I have been bothered lately by the vilification of the Boy Scouts in the Liberal news. When I first heard about the movement to openly allow Gays into the Boy Scouts I was a bit confused. As an Eagle Scout, I can tell you that there have always been Gays in Scouting. It’s never been a secret; everybody knows who’s obviously Gay but never asked either way. Scouting just doesn’t care and that’s the way it should be. What this movement is all about in my opinion, is forcing someone to accept someone else being an “In Your Face Gay” as opposed to just being one of the guys. There is no place for sexual orientation in Scouting. Get your head out of your arse; it’s called the Boy Scouts not the “What I like to Screw Scouts”. My solution to this social problem is simple: Keep it in your pants and keep it to yourself. Gay pride is just as silly a concept as Pistachio Ice Cream Pride. Our new social mantra should become: “Get over yourself, move on and get along”.

Last month Scouting declined the Gay administrative policy change movement and the liberal press accused Scouting of being homophobic. They claim that these people unrightfully fear that their children would be molested by Gays just because they are Gay. They state that this is an incorrect concept based on ignorance. Furthermore, they say that child molesters are not Gays they are Scout Masters. Surprisingly, to some of you, I mostly agree with them. Gays do not molest children because they are Gay, but men who molest boys are Gay by virtue of the definition of Gay they are Gay pedophiles.

Scouting does not want a “In Your Face Gay” policy because they want to keep sex out of Scouting. Quite simply put, sexual orientation is not a character quality. You have to understand that Scouting was created by Baden-Powell in 1908 to teach inner-city boys character through a semi-military structure focused on wilderness adventure. It was the only solution presented to a growing criminal element and gang culture that was cultivating as the popular lifestyle in the slums of London at the time (sound familiar). It worked then and it could work now if only the press would just stop the ridicule and vilification of Scouting and help make it cool in the public eye.

Finally, I have something to say to that “so and so” that called scoutmasters pedophiles, as if to insinuate that all scoutmasters are pedophiles or that most pedophiles are scoutmasters.

1.     Did you know that there are more children molested by Priests than scoutmasters? Does that make all Priests pedophiles too? Perhaps it does (in your eyes).

2.     Did you know that there are more children molested by Teachers than Priests? Does that make all Teachers pedophiles too? Perhaps it does (in your school).

3.     Did you know that there are more children molested by Relatives than Teachers? Does that make all Relatives pedophiles too? Perhaps it does (in your family).

Social Security and Immigration

Social Security and Immigration

It is a well-known fact that Social Security is in danger of failing within the next ten years. The massive amount of Baby Boomers that are approaching retirement will create a top heavy financial burden on the system that cannot be compensated for with the current workforce population. The only solution to the problem is to immediately increase the base of people paying into the system while gradually decreasing the overall costs of maintaining it until fiscal equilibrium is reached.

I believe it would be possible to achieve this goal if we provided amnesty to all illegal immigrants currently in the country. They would have to pay a fine, pass a background check, be banned from receiving government paid for social services and suffer a heavier social security tax for a period of five years. They must pass an accelerated naturalization process as citizenship must become a requirement. Further immigration should then be regulated to match the work force needed to maintain the social security system.  

We will then need to secure our boarders. We could use the troops that are returning from foreign shores to man a great wall from coast to coast.  Building it and enforcing it is not only feasible but would help stimulate the economy by providing permanent jobs. Other benefits would include maintaining the military industrial complex without creating a war, reducing the flow of contraband and enforcing tariffs. Let’s turn this problem into a solution!

The Stimulus Package Woes

           There is talk on Capitol Hill of another stimulus package. The majority of the money of the last package went to “shovel ready projects” the rest went to various local government projects all of which were intended to boost the economy by creating jobs. Then all that turned into saving the economy by saving jobs. Three years later all I see is debt, some rebuilt bridges and repaved roads. The jobs that were saved will soon be gone and then we are back to where we started. Thus, another stimulus package is needed, and then another, and then another, and so on, and so on, etc.

            The problem I have with the last stimulus package is that it did little to help the economy. What it did do is line the pockets of the owners of construction companies. Please allow me to explain. Big fat checks were sent to each state, the state divided the money into local and state agencies, mostly for construction projects. Then big money was paid to various construction companies that were picked by the usual system of graft, kick-backs and political favors. Who do you think makes those big reelection donations to your local and state politicians? Sure, a few guys got paid their usual salary to improve roads and things like that but the majority of the money was kept as profits by the owners of the construction companies. So the rich get richer and “keeping your job” is the new salary raise, thanks Gov.

            Let’s look at the numbers and see what we can do to solve the problem. The stimulus package was $787 billion dollars in 2009. In 2009 there were 78668381 people or families that actually paid taxes. That is $10,004.02 for each of us. I suggest that we should have put that money in one of those ATM food stamp cards, make it applicable for goods and services made in the USA, then give one to each tax payer. Now that’s my idea of a stimulus package. What’s yours?

Lazy and Healthy People

Lazy and Healthy People 

            Last night I went to the store to get some grapes for my daughter. Full of Christmas cheer, I tossed a buck in the Salvation Army bucket, grabbed a bag of grapes and jumped in line to pay. The lady in front of me was buying cases and cases of soda, cookies, chips and a five Lb. package of hamburger. I rolled my eyes and said to myself “Please, please don’t be EBT”. Sure enough, she pulled out a Food Stamp card. It wasn’t enough so she paid the remainder with a credit card. She is not the lazy or healthy person I am referring to in my title. In fact, I am glad that our country can give her a helping hand in whatever her situation is.  This event was not originally part of today’s topic, but I felt it sort of fit in so I mentioned it. I love the work Michael Obama is doing with the “grow your own food” and “healthy school lunches” platform. But please, please limit food stamps to healthy food. It would be such an easy thing to do, and it would help so many people.

            The lazy people, to whom I am referring, are a certain number of farmers that receive government subsidies. There are three types of farm subsidies that I know of. The first is in the form of low cost crop insurance that will cover a farmer’s loss for a bad crop. The second is money paid to a dairy farmer to regulate the cost of milk. The last is money paid to farmers for not growing food. Guess who I think the lazy people are. The latter is used as a way to help regulate the price of food so that it remains artificially high, creating a profitable market for farmers. I say we stop that subsidy, make them work for their money and grow some damn food.

            The healthy people, to whom I am referring, are actually not healthy, but need to be. These are all the poor starving people that we are constantly reminded of during the holiday season. The countless number of malnourished people we see on TV; starving to death in some god forsaken place, so remote that only a wealthy celebrity could amass a convoy to reach. All of these people reside in countries whose government receives billions of dollars in aid from our government every year. We, as Americans think this aid is supposed to help their government’s population build infrastructure to resolve their plight. In actuality, it is a program created in the cold war to buy political alignment. All the monies paid eventually end up in the bank accounts of the government officials. This is an out dated practice and it needs to be stopped. The cold war is over and this money does not guarantee that any foreign government will look out for our interests.

            Instead, I say we take the foreign aid money and buy the food the “no longer lazy” farmers and making and we distribute it directly to the poor via air dropped crates with big American flags on them and slogans like “America Cares”. You can’t just ship the food over there as we have done in the past; the foreign governments take the food and sell it instead of giving it to their people. We need to just go right to the source. So that’s how I would make them healthy people.

Merry Christmas Everybody.