Messages From After Earth

To Be Or Not To Be? (That is REALLY the question)

This morning on the way to work, I heard 97.3 KLLC radio personality Hooman Khalili talking about the new movie, After Earth. I recently saw a promo of the movie and being a Sci-Fi/Action movie sort of guy, it really looked interesting. Of course, being a Will Smith fan only made the movie more appealing to see.

For those who may not be familiar with the movie, it’s set 1000 years from when mankind was forced to abandon Earth after a series of unknown cataclysms. The population is moved to a nearby extrasolar world know as Nova Prime. The movie centers around a crash landing back on Earth.

Getting Ourselves Off The Hook Q&A

In this piece, I will attempt to address questions, concerns, and statements made by individuals who voiced objection to the Sandy Hook essays and/or other remarks I have made regarding 2^nd amendment rights and the debate over the ban on “so called” assault weapons.

I have elected not to mention names out of respect for their privacy, even though I do not hide my identity.

I some instances I was forced to extract a question from comment(s), a somewhat subjective process. However, I tried to use the exact language used by the poster whenever possible.  As more questions come in, I will add them to this post.

Getting Ourselves Off the Hook Pt 5

The Right Firearms and the Right to Self Defense

Go to the Introduction

Go to Part 2 The Common Good and the Dignity of the Human Being

Go to Part 3 The Militia. An Antiquated Term?

Go to Part 4 The Problem with Governments

Part 5 -Ignorance from Firearms

For those who know little about firearms, self-defense, and use of force dynamics, it’s easy to see the assault rifle as excessive; but, they are far from it. The term “assault rifle” itself is a misnomer in any case.

Getting Ourselves Off the Hook Pt 4

The Right Firearms and the Right to Self Defense

Go to the Introduction

Go to Part 2 The Common Good and the Dignity of the Human Being

Go to Part 3 The Militia. An Antiquated Term?

Part 4 -The Problem with Governments

We must be honest. Governments do go bad. In fact, our nation was born from this sad fact. We shouldn’t delude ourselves into thinking this can’t happen in the U.S.

The founders of our Republic were sending a message to future generations when they penned our nation’s founding documents.

This message is the clearest. I fear it has been clearly forgotten. For clarity’s sake, I will be clear here:

The history of man is MORE a story of governments gone bad than those that have not.

Getting Ourselves Off the Hook Pt 3

The Right Firearms and the Right to Self Defense

Go to the Introduction

Go to Part 2 The Common Good and the Dignity of the Human Being

Part 3 - The Militia. An Antiquated Term?

For the average American, it’s generally inconceivable to consider ourselves vulnerable to foreign invasion or attack. We think our military can never be defeated.

Think again. Historically speaking, no nation has ever been able to make that claim ex post facto. Although, many have certainly believed that pre facto. We are fools if we think we are an exception in this sense.

If our military was ever defeated, who will be left protect us from the horror and genocide that may follow?

Getting Ourselves Off the Hook Pt. 2

The Right Firearms and the Right to Self Defense

Go to the Introduction

Part 2 -The Common Good and the Dignity of the Human Being

Governments are created to serve the common good of man.

But, the common good must be held in balance with the dignity of the human being, which is its foundation.  The common good should never crush that. When it does, the human being is deprived of its truer nature.  The common good, which seeks the best for all men, is no longer attainable because the fundamental aspects of humanity are undermined.

Getting Ourselves Off the Hook

The Right Firearms and the Right to Self Defense.

Introduction

Perhaps too much time has passed since the horror of Newtown was seared into our memories. Anyone could see what would come of this. Rather than recognize this as a terrible and unexplainable tragedy, those in power, those with dark agendas, would seize this as an opportunity for Americans to vote away their freedom for a greater level of perceived security.

This is occurring now- “Let’s take another look at that troublesome 2^nd amendment.”

Google Everything…And, I MEAN Everything

These are some very useful services offered by Google that you may or may not know about. You might find some of them interesting. I am never astonished enough when I consider the sheer volume of information now available at our fingertips. It is at the same time wonderful and frightening too. Like so many things of this nature, we should pause and reflect on the proper use of raw information. It brings to mind some thoughts and quotes from several great thinkers:

“Information is Not Knowledge.” -Albert Einstein
“Knowledge is Power (scientia potentia est.)” -Sir Francis Bacon from Meditationes Sacrae 1597
"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." – Lord Acton.
“With enlightenment, comes mission.” – a lesson from the allegory of the cave in Plato’s “Republic.”
 "To whom much is given, much is expected.” - Luke 12:48

The source story can be read by clicking on the link below. One should read the article so you can learn, in more detail, on the capabilities and limitations of these services.

FOXNews.com - The Undiscovered Google: 7 Services You Need to Try

I have taken the liberty to list some of the links to these services below. Enjoy.

Google Books. An attempt to digitize vast tomes of books and magazines.
Fast Flip. An online news source and compiles currents news from multiple sources.
Life Images. Millions of images from Life Magazine and many other sources.
Goog 411. A free 411 service. Interesting.
Product Search. Formerly Froogle, search for millions of products, prices, comparisons, etc.

LA Sheriff Tells His Troops to be MORE Careful

There seems to be some disagreement over the good Sheriff’s intention and how that will translate into effectiveness.

I agree with the Sheriff to a point. Nevertheless, being a cop is not a life that lends itself to caution. We need to be really honest about that. As a retired police officer I can attest to this from personal experience. There were times that I was too cautious and sometimes regrettable consequences followed. There were times that I foolishly threw caution to the wind and ended up coming out of it ok (probably by the grace of God in some instances and dumb luck in others.) I lost a friend and fellow officer when he was ambushed while conducting routine search. I will always feel the pain of that loss.

Portending the Loss of Common Sense and Liberty - The Green Police

I understand that many find this funny; in some superficial sense it is. This video actually gives me the willies; it is fraught with portend. While the style is humorous, the content is sinister. This is another example of how style and substance can be misconstrued resulting in a message that can be used to deceive. Are we being subtly desensitized into accepting an Orwellian existence?

Unfortunately, there are many among us that would like to see this type of intrusion in our lives or at least would turn a blind eye to it. I can agree with taking a reasonable approach to keeping our environment clean and safe. However, outside of an act committed with the intent to harm the environment or some gross act of negligence, all action must come from free will. Using the force of law for such petty concerns is draconian. It is just another example of how the Marxist has no faith in the human being.

We actually have the pre-cursor to this type of governmental intrusion in our lives right here in the SF Bay Area. Did anyone notice that we could not use our fireplaces this past Thanksgiving and Christmas because it just happened to be a spare the air day? (I prefer the term “scare the air.”) What a coincidence. Common sense would dictate that those days should be exceptional due to the traditions surrounding these events. There are actually people driving around looking for smoking chimneys ready to issue a citation. What is worse, they have neighbors ready to call and turn us in!

Pathetic.

Resident Evil –Portal to Misology

Should Mt. Diablo be re-named?


There is small and inane debate popping up over whether Mt. Diablo should be re-named Mt. Reagan after the former President Ronald Reagan. The concern over re-naming the mountain originates from a local resident who believes we should not have a mountain named after the devil, Satan.

The Immorality of Suspicion by Fr. Paul

Another terrific article by Fr. Paul.  A must read.

Editorial (01/27/10)


The Immorality of Suspicion

The amount of damage done to souls, to priests, to parishes, to apostolates because of loose tongues is impossible for any human mind to calculate. One of the components of uncharitable speech is, very often, suspicion. Perhaps the suspicions arise from pride, or insecurities, or whatever, but we’ll leave that aside and in this week’s article, we shall focus on the question of suspicion itself.