South Africa dilemma and the United State’s spiritual malaise

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Trump just hosted the president of South Africa. During a press conference, the president said that his country is replete with poverty (…a 40% unemployment rate currently), and as a result, riddled with gang violence, and such. *It was noted that some 75 people are killed in that country every day now. That’s more fatalities than some war zones. The Catholic Catechism explains that First World countries have a grave responsibility to help Third World countries which are struggling. This is Exhibit A, with an exponent… American lifestyles, as a whole, revolve around nice, well-appointed houses or apartments. We eat three square meals a day, with snacks, and with, often, never giving a second thought about eating out regularly — as many of these Third World people are tremendously food insecure. We purchase the latest in automobiles, with all the options. And I could go on, and on… with all this. In modern day apparitions from the Blessed Virgin Mary, she, regularly, talks about “unbridled materialism” plaguing the First World. We (many of us), in turn, default to looking at Elon Musk, Jeff Bazos, Warren Buffett… as being plagued with “unbridled materialism,” without looking at ourselves in the mirror. And that is especially germane in comparison to our lifestyles versus the abject poverty lifestyles of many of those in, say, South Africa. *See: Luke 16:19-31. Hint: Many of us are the “rich man,” and many in South Africa are “Lazarus the Beggar.” Our Foreign Policy spins around carrying out the essence of what the Catechism calls for. See… *Note: The reason for the photo of the baby in the womb with this? With abortion, the killing around the world is absolutely off the charts. Concurrently, and as a result of abortion, it seems God is incrementally taking His protective hand off the world, as we devolve into war in Gaza, Ukraine, the Sudan, Haiti (gang war), South Africa (gang war), and on, and on… Stay tuned for full-blown World War III.

“smart” energy use

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Neptune 360 water meter

I just wrote a newspaper article about a village in our circulation area that’s going to these “smart” water meters. And part of this includes an app. that allows the resident to track the level of water use from day to day. Likewise, there are energy meters that do, basically, the same thing. Our administration’s paradigm would be about promoting America becoming a “Society of Conservers.” And these kinds of energy tracking tools, in combination with target consumption goals, and so on, would go a long way in moving us toward that type of orientation — as it would enhance individuals taking more responsibility for energy conservation. Each home/business would become, in essence, its own individual ‘power plant.’

Disarm our nuclear ‘charioteers’?

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worldatlas.com photo

Our Bible Study last night looked at Isaiah: 31. The cliff note is God tells the Israelites He’s going to protect them supernaturally against the formidable Assyrian Army, but the Israelites collectively don’t trust and look for help from the Egyptians. God, in turn, says to them: “What sorrow awaits those who look to Egypt for help, trusting their horses, chariots, and charioteers, and depending on the strength of human armies, instead of looking to the Lord, the Holy One of Isreal…” And later: “The Assyrians will be destroyed, but not by the swords of men. The sword of God will strike them, and they will panic and flee.” And that’s exactly what happens… Modern day corollary: In our travels, I met Fr. Tom McCaslin, who was the Social Action Coordinator for the Omaha, Nebraska Diocese at the time. He said that America spends $50 billion just maintaining its nuclear arsenal each year, while meanwhile around the world, 24,000 people starve to death each day, and some two billion people don’t have access to clean drinking water and live in deplorable slum conditions. The priest continued that America should unilaterally disarm its nuclear weapons, take the massive savings and help the poor worldwide. “We should do the right thing, and trust God,” he said. [*Instead of relying on the modern-day chariots (nuclear missiles), well, you get the point.] “America First,” as a sound spiritual principle? Hardly. For more on our Foreign Policy, see…

Black Museums; Black Amends

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National Geographic

The International African American Museum opened in Charlston, SC, in June of 2023. The museum is located at Gadsden’s Wharf, which, from 1783 to 1807, “…was the largest single point of entry into North America for enslaved Africans.” The article notes that an estimated 80% of all African Americans can trace at least one ancestor to the area. Spending $100 million on the museum, according to the article, is, to a degree, part of a larger “reckoning” going on in South Carolina around the slavery issue. In my opinion, this is long overdue, but at least it’s happening. And here’s the kicker… Besides spending the millions on this museum, and other African American museums, another pool of federal/state money should be developed — to pay reparations to “ancestors” of this atrocity. Especially those ancestors who have, for generations now, been trapped in poverty loops in our inner cities, and our rural areas. For a look at the reasoning for this, and how reparations would work, see our position paper on Black Amends…

Common Sense & Mars Madness

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National Geographic excerpt

In Trump’s address to Congress the other night, he said America will be aiming at Mars “…to plant a flag there.” During the same speech, he said he was bringing “common sense” back to the government. Okaaaay… The temperature on Mars averages below 0 degrees. There is very limited oxygen on Mars. The soil on Mars is basically clay and silt-sized particles, but it’s mostly made of sand. None of all this, oh, is all that habitable for humans. My sister just went on a missions trip to a village in rural Cambodia. The village has no electricity, no running water, little food. Wouldn’t it make sense, (spiritual) common sense, to take the billions of dollars being wasted on going to Mars, and use it to help people in desperate straights on this planet? This would be a “Cambodia (El Salvador, Ethiopia, Biafra…) First” paradigm. One much more in line with the Gospel message — if anyone is reading the Goslpel anymore, that is. Apparently, Trump (…and many of the ‘Trumpian Puppet Republicans’) aren’t, much.

Fill ‘er up? Not.

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old Ohio service station, circa 1925

I recently wrote a newspaper article about an old area service station. The interview subject said his father used to work on Model T’s and Model A’s “…back in the day.” The Model T was billed as the first “…mass-affordable car in America.” But should we have hit the “pause” button before producing these. Our position paper on transportation makes a good argument that we should, indeed, have paused — and approached it with much more prayerful discernment, like the Amish did. Also… In the last couple weeks, I also wrote an article about a mayor in a small town close to here, who has been mayor 49 consecutive years — second longest serving mayor in the country. I also wrote an article about a woman who was in the Navy squadron that carried out the ill-fated “Eagle Claw Operation” to rescue the 53 US Embassy hostages in Iran in 1980. And… I wrote another newspaper article about a small-town village administrator who was retiring. The amount of multi-tasking with a job like that is pretty extensive. You’re orchestrating street improvement projects, water tower projects, water treatment plant workings, the village road crew, parks projects… What’s more, you’re continually interfacing with contractors, village officials, the public… If done right, it’s all pretty impressive. Note: The current USA mantra: “America First.” The age-old Biblical mantra (so to speak): “The first shall be last.” Salient spiritual question: Will ‘last’ coincide with being stopped, and turned around, at the border of Heaven?

charismatic species and not so charismatic ones

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giant carrion beetle

I just read a National Geographic article titled: “The Conservation Popularity Contest.” The crux is that advocacy groups have a tendency to focus on saving “charismatic species,” like the panda, the polar bear, koalas… Yet there are other species that are not that glamorous, or attractive even, but need saving just as much because of their roles in the overall eco-system web. For instance, the American giant carrion beetle — described as the “…vulture of the insect world.” This beetle is currently assessed as “critically endangered,” due to habitat loss and pesticides. The article notes that there are now some 35,000 endangered species. It would be our administration’s take that God set up this complex, creative, interdependent eco-system. And being good environmental stewards means doing everything possible to maintain that eco-system being as healthy as possible. That simple. For more on our stance on the environment, see…

Manifest Destiny 2.0?

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guidetogreenland.com photo

In the early weeks of his administration this time, Trump has talked about purchasing Greenland; taking the Panama Canal back; turning Canada into America’s 51st state… One pundit labeled all this as: “Manifest Destiny 2.0.” Lest we forget, our first “Manifest Destiny” led to the genocidal killing of 20 million Native Americans, more then 800 broken treaties, and nothing short of cultural genocide with the Native Americans. During our research travels, we followed the Oregon Trail and did extensive writing on all the latter. What’s more, instead of rushing madly forward with Manifest Destiny 2.0, including now attempting to “conquer outer space,” we would do well, extremely well, to instead make Manifest Destiny 1.0 right — on multiple levels. And to see what our administration proposes with that, see our Native American position paper… Note: The position paper was used in a Cengage Learning college textbook titled: Social Justice.

mass production, or production by the masses?

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The Industrial Revolution was wrong. Yeah, we had the technological smarts to do it. But should we have? The Amish, for instance, go through considered prayerful discernment before adopting a new technology. We didn’t. We just rushed madly ahead. [*And, incidentally, we’re doing the same thing with the Fourth Industrial Revolution — with all things digital, including AI most recently.] In this book (above), the author wrote that mass production is a “…sophisticated, highly capital-intensive, high-energy input dependent, and human labor-saving technology.” Clunk! Or Ghandi’s take was: “The poor of the world cannot be helped by mass production, only by production by the masses.” Translated: We would be way better off going back to individual, quality craftsmanship within a framework paradigm of: “Local Production for Local Consumption.” How? Our position paper proposal for a New Economy explains...

“Liberty” that leads to self-indulgence? …on immigration

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My “If I were president…” (*see home pg.) colleague, Shane Ian Hoffman, sent me the above after our most recent podcast, which was on immigration. Indiscriminate mass deportation is underway. But should it be? Indiscriminate, that is. Case in point, which was cited during our podcast: The New York Times headline was: “Fleeing Gangs, Children Head to U.S. Border.” The article started with a 13-year-old boy who had gone missing in a San Pedro Sula neighborhood in Honduras. The boy’s seven-year-old brother went looking for him, starting at a local gang hangout. Two days later, both boys were found tortured to death. “The first thing we can think of is to send our children to the United States,” said a tremendously distraught mother in that Honduran town. And so, some parents do. Distance: 1,600 miles — often unaccompanied. Sometimes they come as families. But now we are “indiscriminately” turning these people away at the border, or sending them back if they’re already here. While we continue, for many of us, to live privileged, and often relatively safe, First World lifestyles. It would be best to read the above graphic, closely. If we don’t adhere to what’s written there, think of the high wall many of us might be met with at the border of Heaven. For a look at a position paper on immigration, that would align with the “liberty” talked about above, see…