collateral damage? Global responsibility

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Continuing to catch up on October… A couple weeks post the Hamas terrorist attack in Israel on Oct. 7, Israel continues to hammer Gaza with air bombardments, in preparation for a ground invasion as well. Because of all the Palestinian innocent citizen deaths in this phase of the war, it, indeed, looks like “collective punishment.” Americans watch this from a distance, and think it has nothing to do with us. It does. What’s come to light (and was pretty much already clear) is that Palestinians live in, perhaps, the most densely populated place on the planet, and some 57% live below the poverty line in the Gaza Strip. We in the First World could have been doing so much more in the way of sacrificing to help these people. And the tremendously stepped-up aid, the tremendously stepped-up global caring, might have helped short circuit what is now exploding. Our foreign policy would spin around the latter paradigm. See…

In their “Wheelhouse;” LSO’s; heat event?

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The Wheelhouse …photo by Joe

Catching up on the month of October… I did a series of stories on “The Wheelhouse (…a Christian Bicycle Cooperative.” Started some five years ago, the group of volunteers here have just crossed the 1,000-mark for bicycle rehabs. The Wheelhouse, in turn, gives the bicycles (including a helmet and lights) to people in the area homeless shelter, at the addiction recovery halfway house, and so on. These people, often, don’t have cars, much less driver’s licenses, but they need transportation to get to work, to get around the neighborhood, and so on… I also wrote an article about a local high school graduate who has now been in the Navy the past 10 years. She is a “Landing Signal Officer” on a U.S. aircraft carrier. These LSO’s used to use bright flags to guide fighter jets onto the deck, now it’s the Fresnel Lens Optical System, which utilizes a series of light beams to let the pilot know if they are coming in too low, too high, or off center… I also wrote a column titled: “Sodom and Gomorrah Part II?” I note that recently it’s been reported archeologists found the ancient cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. And what’s more, all archeological evidence point to those civilizations experiencing a major “heat event.” Hmm. I note that our global society is, most likely, way more evil than those two cities at this point (wholesale abortion, gender fluidity, euthanasia…). And I wondered in the column how close we are to experiencing a global “heat event”…

Debate aftermath: And now… the whole truth

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me

Okay, the next few entries will be a series of thoughts in the aftermath of the 2nd Republican Debate last night… First, several candidates said variations of: “…we live in the best country on earth!” Erroneous hubris. When Mother Theresa came here, she called it the most “spiritually poor” country she had ever visited. When Pope John Paul II visited here, he said our nation embodied “a culture of death.” Some 4,000 abortions a day; gender fluidity; transgender mutilation; a culture now awash in extremely sinful media entertainment; a culture now awash in constant violence; absolutely terrible environmental stewardship that too, now, is leading to deaths… And I’m just scratching the American ‘sociological surface.’ Wouldn’t it have been refreshing if someone had told the whole truth last night at the Debate? Problem is, I sincerely don’t think any of them know the whole truth — on either side of the aisle, for that matter. Here’s the whole truth, in my Declaration Speech audio…

gas hike (sorta); natural farming; 1,000 miles

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circa the early ’60s

I just interviewed a 78-year-old man, for a local newspaper article, who worked at this gas station when he was a junior and senior in high school. He said, among other things, that a good number of people grumbled when gas went from 17 cents to 19 cents. This was also, apparently, before Ralph Nader released the consumer report on the dangers of Corvairs. For a look at our position paper on transportation in the modern era, see… I also did a story on a local farmstead where they do everything naturally, no artificial pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers… One of the farmers said that the “food chain web,” and natural bio-systems in general, exist for a reason. And using some of this artificial stuff can throw the balance of nature off. We’d agree. For a look at our position on modern agriculture, see… I also did a story on a local man who had a high school friend killed in Vietnam. One day, he got on his motorcycle and traveled 500 miles to the Vietnam War Memorial Wall in D.C. Once there, he went to his friend’s name, took a piece a paper and a pencil and etched the name. Then got on his motorcycle and traveled 500 miles back. First stop: His friend’s mother’s house, where he gave her the paper with the name on it. For our position on the military, see…

Painting and Performing

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“joe the painter”

While the Republican candidates are buzzing about in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, I have made a strategic campaign decision to stay in: Ohio. Call it a hunch, plus I have to pay for rent. Populace painting. I am currently painting this railing at a local nursing home, while gathering stories to write for the local weekly newspaper. I just got done interviewing “The Music Man,” as he colloquially refers to himself as. During Covid, even though nursing homes were hardest hit with lockdowns, senior isolation, and the like, he would continue to play at these nursing homes throughout Northwest Ohio. How? He got a special amplifier, and went window to window (even in the rain, in the snow…) doing mini-concerts for “…an audience of one.” A pretty heartwarming story, actually.

Total eclipse can lead to total (spiritual) insanity

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Lima, Ohio Observatory

Hundreds of thousands of people will descend on northwest Ohio April 8, 2024. This area is in the “path of totality” for viewing a relatively rare total solar eclipse. (There is one every 18 months, or so.) People will come from all over the world, with the entire event lasting about two and a half hours, and complete totality lasting no more than three and a half minutes. I just interviewed a local astronomer who said some astronomers from the eastern part of Ohio recently came to Lima to visit the observatory here. He said they told him they had traveled to Australia to view the last total solar eclipse. More than 10,000 miles and $2,500 to get there. The Lima astronomer said that for some, a total solar eclipse is like a “spiritual experience.” You know, I just wrote something to help raise funds for a solar, clean drinking water pump to go in in a rural village in Tanzania. Some one billion people, worldwide, are without clean drinking water. The plane tickets to Australia, for the Ohio astronomers combined, could have paid for one of those pumps. And in my book (the Bible), that would have been a much more meaningful “spiritual experience.” And sort of a: ‘…total eclipse, or change, of the heart’?

Warning (sun) flares across our bow?

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…temperatures rising!

In the last post, I talked about abortion. Just in America alone, we are rapidly approaching the 100 million abortion mark. It’s a Holocaust of epic proportion! Concurrently, I believe, God is allowing the ‘heat’ to be turned up considerably in our country, as a warning about the eternal destination for many participating in abortion, on any level. And that’s just one sin. Note: Today, news agencies are reporting that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has undertaken a 18 city study in American cities around heat domes, and such. The acronym for the agency: NOAA, pronounced: “Noah.” Coincidence? Yes, God said he’d never again destroy mankind through a flood, but, well, what about fire? The, now deceased, people of Sodom and Gomorrah could tell you that’s still a possibility. And maybe, just maybe, these are the warning shots, er’ warning (sun) flares, across our bow.

Ohio abortion battle heats up…

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Ohio Right to Life CEO Peter Range …photo by Joe

I attended this talk, which revolved around a Special Election for “Issue 1” slated for this August. And a crux of the talk also revolved around pro-abortion lobbies trying to enshrine abortion into the Ohio Constitution with an amendment to be voted on this November. Six left-leaning states already got versions of the latter passed in their states during the 2022 Mid-Term elections. And all eyes are now on Ohio, because it would be the first conservative leaning state to pass the amendment. (While Ohio is the only state that this is up for a vote in this year, Mr. Range said it’s expected some 14 states will attempt the same next year, in tandem with the 2024 Presidential Election. Pro-life and Pro-choice people have been fanning out across Ohio to make their case. Mr. Range claimed that the amendment, based on an analysis by his organization, would: eliminate parental rights and consent; eliminate the 24-hour waiting period in the state; eliminate the Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act; allow late term abortions on demand; force pregnancy centers to refer for abortions…

Marijuana and Mass Shootings?

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…leads to schizophrenia?

I just wrote a newspaper column that connects some scary dots. A study out of Denmark showed heavy marijuana use can tip people over into mental disorders, including schizophrenia. Schizophrenics hear “voices,” that is: auditory hallucinations. And they are, indeed, often distressing voices, frequently compelling the sufferer into suicidal or violent actions. And because these voices are that ‘dark,’ in some Christian circles, sometimes (not always) this would also be equated to demonic oppression and/or possession. (*See bestselling author M. Scott Peck, M.D.’s book: “People of the Lie.”) The question I pose is, how many of these mass shootings, that our society seems saturated with these days, are driven by these “voices” these schizophrenics, and others, are hearing? Looking at this one-dimensionally as, primarily, a gun control issue is tremendously myopic. What’s more, given the Denmark study, how quick should we be to keep legalizing marijuana from state to state? Answer: Not very.

Getting tougher…

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Boy Scout camp scene

The character of boys in this society, overall, continues to get softer and softer with more and more screen time in temperature-controlled homes. Conversely, I just interviewed a man who, as a boy, could have been considered a ‘Navy Seals’ Boy Scout. He got every merit badge imaginable, was a team leader for years, and said the program’s focus on toughness and survival skills (the camp in the photo was a weekend one in February in Ohio) was tremendously invaluable to him… I went to Mass here to start off the 4th of July yesterday. The priest said that we had freedom, yes. But, ultimately, it comes down to the ‘freedom’ to do God’s will, or not. I then spent part of the rest of the day, updating our position paper on gender fluidity, and such. This would, from my faith’s spiritual perspective (Catechetical teaching), be a case where more and more in society are choosing not to do God’s will. The Catholic Church labels, as an example, homosexuality as “intrinsically disordered,” and a “grave sin” (to act out sexually on this, that is). In fact, the Catholic Church has developed “Courage” support groups focused on helping people with same sex attraction stay chaste.