Thursday, January 30, 2025

Still dealing with unresolved resolutions from 2024.

January gets its name from the Roman god Janus[i] who was the god of gateways and transitions from one stage of life to another.   It is often depicted as a two-faced god with one looking backwards and another looking forward.  The Romans believed that if they invoked the good nature of Janus, he would keep bad things from happening in the new year and open the doorway to good things instead.   However, bad/good things happen every year; sometimes right in the beginning of January (my heart goes out to the victims of the California wildfires) and I don’t think Janus does a good job keeping only good things happening during the new year.  Furthermore, I know invoking the good grace of some mythological two-faced god to give me only happy times is not a good idea because as I’ve been reading from St. Augustine’s “City of God”, most of those Roman gods are probably demons intent on bad things happening to me.

Still, it’s apropos that a two-faced past/future looking mythological deity gives its namesake to the month where we all look backwards and forwards during the month.  We open our January credit card statements showing how crazy we went on the December holiday spending.   We receive our W2 or 1099 or whatever other forms showing how much we earned in 2024 that we must submit to the IRS by April 15th, 2025, along with our 1040 forms.   On January 23rd, 2025, the Academy Awards [ii]announced who were the nominees for best actor, best actress, best director, best cinematographer, etc. for 2024 that will be revealed on March 2nd, 2025.     We take down our Christmas decorations and put them away while maybe seeing if there are still any Christmas 2024 items left on sale for Christmas 2025. 

And I am looking back on a list of resolutions I published on Facebook on December 31st, 2023, to see how well I kept them.

I didn’t keep one.  

It’s common for many people at the start of the year[iii] to resolve to lose weight, exercise more, give up French-fried potatoes for healthier plain baked potatoes instead, etc.   I think it’s because starting in the fall lots of us indulge in indulgent pumpkin spice lattes and mini Milky Way bars and end up chowing down on tons of nachos and buffalo wings while cheering on teams in January football playoffs with sugar cookies, hot and cold chocolates, egg nog, candy canes, and one to two all you can eat turkey feasts in between.   I even made a simple goal of just losing 20 LBs by December 2024 which I thought was a S.M.A.R.T. (Acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant or Realistic, and Time control)[iv]  goal.  I gained a few pounds instead.  That’s why I joked in my Feb 13th, 2024, Mardi Gras/Valentine’s Day/Ash Wednesday post about trying to start a diet around Lent instead of January because I know I still have boxes of Salerno Santa’s Favorite[v] anise cookies in the pantry along with lots of boxes of peppermint or other flavors of chocolates in my fridge.    However, trying to deny my cravings for pastel M&M’s, Peeps, Popeye’s chicken and biscuits, potato chips, and probably a bunch of other bad for me foods is nearly impossible. It is hard to eat healthily when temptation is everywhere, and I’m convinced a cookie or 20 is cheaper than a Prozac prescription to elevate my mood.

Maybe that’s why I set up a goal to go to church and pray more often.  I know I’m helpless on my own to deny the allure of junk food which is why I need divine intervention.   Heck, I need to indeed dig deeper into my own faith as I hopefully continue my ongoing letters to Generation Alpha (published 3 in 2024) so I don’t become a dreaded hypocrite that will turn off not only Gen Alpha but really any other generation too.    Now I do go to church every Sunday, and I frequently pray the rosary, (badly) but I’m not really putting in the extra spiritual effort to really cement my relationship with God.   Think of this way.  I walk about 200 steps to and from the laundry room in our building lifting a 30 LB laundry basket about 3 to 5 times a week where I barely burn 224 calories[vi] let alone the 770[vii] calories that can be found from a single Crumbl chocolate chunk cookie that I reviewed in May.   So just as someone in my BMI index needs to find other ways to burn off calories to lose weight, I need to up my spiritual game to ensure my spiritual life is healthy enough and my faith in God is strong enough when I attempt to get myself canceled again in June for my random thoughts on LGBTQ+ issues.  (Last June I went on about the T in the LGBTQ+ acronym although for the record I do not hate transgenders.  I will gladly use a transgender’s preferred pronouns out of love and respect for a transgender who is at least old enough to vote and is committed to living out their new chosen gender instead of making fun of mine via the slutty transvestite route.) 

I did a quick Google/Bing search as to how often people who make resolutions keep their resolutions.   Per an article I found on Psychology today 80% of those who start New Year’s resolutions abandon them by the time February rolls around[viii].    The article cited things like goals being unclear like my goal to get my apartment cleaned up enough to have a pet dog live with me and my husband.    It sounds simple enough-clean up an apartment.  However, the reality is far from that.   I would best describe my apartment as cluttered.  Both my husband and I are a bit pack-rat-ish.  There are bins and boxes of stuff my husband and I have yet to go through with the Marie Kondo philosophy in mind that have been untouched since he and I moved here.   Another article I read in the Rocky Mountain Collegian[ix]  explained that motivation is hard to maintain when you’re trying to make life changes.   In my husband and my case, it is hard to change our standard habit of wanting to crash after our respectful stressful days at our work and let our mind go numb binge-watching NCIS episodes on Paramount+.    Furthermore, my husband is working two jobs to help us make ends meet and well, well I’ll explain more about my job situation in a bit.   Let’s just say I am exhausted; my husband is exhausted and it’s hard for us to have the energy to cook and clean up the dinner dishes at night let alone go through boxes of old pay stubs or other financial items that may not be needed in my life or other old junk that we have no use for.     Even on our one mutual day off together, Sunday, we often turn the day into a day of literal rest as both of us try and catch up on the sleep we missed out due to one or both of us keeping the other awake with our snoring.   In other words, most people are lazy, and they really need some sort of game plan to ensure they are implementing and practicing new habits instead of falling back on their bad old habits.   And yes, I would qualify my slothfulness as typical of most people.

Which leads me to my 4th resolution for 2024, to spend more time with friends and family.  Now, I did spend some time with friends and family in 2024.  Of course, there are holidays and birthday get-togethers and the occasional dinner out, but I’m not communicating with them as frequently as I should.  I recently watched this video that pretty much called everyone of working age a liar because we’ll often say our friends and families are our top priority, when it’s really our jobs that are top priority[x].  This makes sense since we must pay for the roofs over our heads, the groceries in our panties and fridges, the heat/cool needed against winter/summer weather extremes and other necessities of life and certainly those things have gotten more expensive in 2025.   I know of course I track everyone on Facebook and check in on their lives.   However, I have often heard Facebook is to actual social interaction what McDonalds is to food.  Sure, a McDonalds Big Mac will satisfy your hunger for a short time, but it’s not the most nutritious way to get your daily protein and vitamins with tons of fat and sodium in the way.[xi]  So too we need genuine social interactions to feel connected to one another.[xii] 

I primarily check in via Facebook on my friends’ lives to see how they are doing, but I’m only getting a rough sense of how they are doing not how they are actually doing.  Rarely is anyone posting on Facebook or other social media platforms how badly they or their lives may suck at the moment. [xiii]    To find out how they are really doing it’s better to hear their voices over the phone or meet them face to face.    I know one of my best posts on Facebook last year had nothing to do with this blog.   It had everything to do with a friend and former co-worker who decided to move her family to Orlando Florida in 2024 and I posted a picture our get together before she moved away.   I’m a bit jealous about the fact she and her kids can now go to Walt Disney World anytime they want.  Right now, I can’t afford a $5 ride on a rickey shoddily constructed tilt-a-whirl from a summertime traveling carnival like I referenced in my 4th of July post now let alone a trip to one of the most expensive places to enjoy temporary happiness here on earth.

Because those co-workers of mine I referenced in my 4th of July post, well let’s just say I have had to add the title of “Former” to a lot of them in 2024.

The company I work for is in the process of going out of business.  They closed several of the furniture stores down and there are more closures to come.    I know I am not in any position to be unemployed for any length of time and the stress of trying to carry the workload the company has shoved on my shoulders while trying to find another job to ensure the income I need to pay my bills is still coming in is stressful.   I think I may have vented a lot of anxiety about my future upon poor Lewis Black’s shoulders as I attacked him for attacking undecided voters in 2024.  I’m sure the media, (social and legitimate) didn’t help my fears when they played out the election of 2024 as the election that could end or save democracy in America.    Then again, it’s also my own lazy fault I didn’t pursue my idea to start a write in campaign for Nicki Haley for president that I proposed in March 2024 either.    Maybe if I had the election would have been quite different.  

That’s the hardest thing about goals.   John Lennon once sung in “Beautiful Boy”[xiv] how “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”.     No one can truly predict what happens from one moment to the next.   Heck, I know I had a private goal of trying to publish more of these blogposts in 2024, but I’ve published less.  I’m trying to understand why I prefer to watch someone else’s hard work of entertaining me instead of putting forth the hard effort myself to entertain others, like the other spec script I outlined in February for “The Chosen” after I saw the first three episodes of season 4 in the theaters.  Part of me at the end of the day would rather watch YouTube like Lindsey Ellis’ epic exploration of the romance of John Lennon & Yoko Ono with Ono becoming akin to multiple wannabe Ahabs' white whale after Lennon's death. [xv].   My goal was to link that video with a quote from St. Augustine that I posted underneath that video in the comments.  At first glance the quote appears to be a weird non sequitur to the video, only I would have explored why the superstars and media stars of today are no different than the empty idols St. Augustine vehemently protested in his City of God.  Unfortunately, I’m still trying to make my way through that dense philosophical tome to find evidence to prove my thesis that human nature hasn’t changed their need for some sort of easy-going theology to ease their own souls like the worship of modern false idols.  Not to mention, I may be reading the wrong St. Augustine book anyway.  (Original quote came from Confessions).      I know for the moment I need to put my writing skills into cover letters going on and on of why XYZ company is great, why I’m great and how it would really be a great idea for them to hire me.

So, I’m hoping to write more in the future.  But nothing is guaranteed.  I’m hoping this isn’t my last blog post but may be my last for a while.

 

    


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Sunday, November 24, 2024

An open letter to Generation Alpha part III: Rediscover Jesus now and you will be wise.

Here is something every kid like you know, but maybe you don’t realize it yet.  You are born to learn.   Every human being starts out as a tiny helpless baby inside of their mother’s womb.  Even Jesus began his human life as a tiny baby that grew inside of his mother Mary’s womb.   Your body spent 9 months developing in your mom’s womb, and when you were ready to come out, you were born.  Now, there are some things that you are born knowing how to do like breathing air in and out of your lungs.   This type of knowledge is known as an instinct since no one taught you how to fill your lungs with air and then push the air out of your lungs.   Your body automatically just knows how to breathe.   If it didn’t, you’d be dead.  

But, other than knowing how to breathe in and out, knowing how to sleep and what hunger felt like, and maybe knowing how to poop and pee bad stuff out of your body, you as a newborn baby didn’t know anything.  Everything else you had to learn or taught how to do by someone else.   You maybe knew your mommy’s or daddy’s voice as a baby, but you had to hear them talk with you almost every day before you recognized them as your mom and or dad.    Eventually you not only learned who your mom and or dad were, but you learned how to call them mom or dad when you learned how to speak back to your parents after hearing them talk with you.   Some of you were even blessed to learn two languages as a baby as your mom and or dad may have come from another country and they spoke the language they knew how to speak to you, but you were raised in the United States and heard everyone else around you speak English and learned both languages.  Most kids learn to speak languages by the age of 3 [i] and the older you are, the harder it is to learn a 2nd language[ii].   Your first language is so engrained in your brain as an adult you’ll have a hard time trying to remember how to say "¿Dónde está el baño?" if you suddenly have a need to pee or poop in a Spanish speaking country because you haven’t worn a diaper since the age of 2.      

The reason why learning is so easy for you as a kid is because like your body your brain is growing and changing at the same time.   The skills you learn as a kid become ingrained in your brain so you can draw on them for the rest of your life.    When you learned your ABC’s as a toddler, you then learned how those combinations of letters of the alphabet are creating the words I write to you in English. 

 Let’s use a common question you probably have heard as a kid from an adult to show how now is the important time to learn skills you need for the rest of your life when you grow up which is-  “What do you want to be when you grow up?”     If you want to grow up to become a famous pop star like Beyoncé, then you’ll need to learn how to sing do re me fa so la ti do.  You’ll not only need to learn how to properly sing do re me fa so la ti do, but you’ll also need to learn the variety of the musical keys do re me fa so la ti do can be sung in.   You’ll need to learn how to recognize those do re me notes on a piece of sheet music and how long you’re supposed to hold each note depending upon the time.   Moreover, once you learn how to sing do re me fa so la ti do on pitch for each and every musical scale in your vocal range, you’ll have to practice them day in and day out along with the words to the notes that are substituted for most songs unless you’re singing “Do Re Me” from “The Sound of Music”.    You’ll also have to learn like Beyoncé to harmonize your singing with others like she did with Kelly Rolland and Michelle Williams in Destiny’s Child[iii].  You might even have to develop physical exercises to increase your lung capacity to hold those high notes Beyoncé can sing.    You might also have to learn how to play a musical instrument like a piano or a guitar so you can hear how those notes sound as you practice them.  So, if you want to become a famous pop star like Beyoncé, now is the time to learn those skills that will help to make you famous. 

The same holds true for almost any grown-up occupation.    You want to be a big-time chef like you see on TikTok, learn how to cook/bake and practice those skills each and every day.   I have heard it said it takes 10,000 hours of practice to master any skill [iv] and when you are a kid, you have lots of time to practice until you’ve mastered the skill. 

There are also things that to paraphrase Yoda from Star Wars’ “The Empire Strikes Back” you learn as a kid you may have a hard time unlearning as an adult.  He was telling this to a fully grown Luke Skywalker who Yoda felt was too old to learn how to be a Jedi since Yoda knew he had to get those padawan Jedi learners when they were still his height so they could master the correct Jedi skills from the beginning.  So, Luke Skywalker knew he could use the force to move smaller objects from one place to another.  However, as a grown adult Luke had a hard time believing he could move his massive X wing fighter with the power of the force alone.  Yoda, on the other hand, knew how powerful the force was and even though he was shorter than Luke Skywalker and certainly a lot smaller than Luke’s X-wing fighter, he could use the force to get it out of the swamp of Dagobah before it sank.    This is also a reason why adults may force you to eat lots of bitter vegetables like broccoli or spinach so those vegetables can help you grow strong instead of being hooked on sugary fatty junk food like I am and being weak.  Believe me I’m struggling to learn how to hate McDonalds French fries and hamburgers that the Hamburglar and the French fry guys taught me how to love too much that I know is hateful to my physique. 

All of the skills and things the rest of the world can be summed up with the word knowledge as in you know how to sing like Beyoncé or bake like a TikTok-er.    But wisdom, which may seem like a synonym of knowledge, is something completely different.    Wisdom is the ability to use the knowledge you have for the best possible result.   For example, maybe you know how to make a cake thanks to an easy bake oven someone in your family gave you.   You might even know you don’t have to use the pre-packaged mixes that are sold on Amazon and maybe you know how to mix those cake mixes from scratch.   But you are also wise enough to know that if you want to bake a cake that the entire family can enjoy and not just you or one other person, you have to borrow a grownup oven and have to know how to be cautious taking that cake pan out of the hot oven if you are old enough to do so without burning yourself.    Otherwise, you have to be wise enough to listen to your parents and people who are older than you to stay away from something that is so hot it can burn your skin like an oven.

And to be honest with you, I think you kids need to know how to be wise because there is a lot of information/knowledge to be had at your fingertips thanks to the internet age, with artificial intelligence to help you,  but you have to know which knowledge to use and which knowledge not to use and which images are created by computer robots and which are created by real artist. There are websites stating the earth is flat[v] when the ancient Greek mathematician Erathosthenes[vi]  discovered how the earth was round by measuring the shadows cast by a stick in two different cities over 2,200 years ago.  There is so much misinformation out there that can sound truthful, but in reality, it’s a lie that people keep trying to convince you is true.  Think of a toy that may have seemed really, really cool on a commercial only to not be so cool in person.  This is where you may need to turn to a higher wisdom who is the ultimate master of the forces that operate the universe, God and his son Jesus who is the truth, because sometimes God can give you wisdom beyond your years and beyond what a grownup might think you know otherwise.

In fact, one day a young Israelite boy king asked God for wisdom and God granted it, in abundance.

But before I bring up that young Israelites king named Solomon, let me catch you up on more of salvation history.

After 40 years of wandering in the desert the Israelites finally were ready to enter the promised land of Canaan as lead by the successor of Moses, Joshua.   Joshua brought the Ark of the Covenant that held the 10+603 commandments God gave to Moses that all of the Israelites had kept for 40 some years to the river Jordan and the waters of the Jordan river parted like the red sea.     God then had all of the Israelites march for 7 days around the Canaanite city of Jericho and suddenly the 13 foot walls[vii] of Jericho fell[viii].     Eventually all of Canaan was conquered by the Israelites and the 12 tribes of Israel settled in various parts of Israel[ix] but that didn’t mean the Israelites had it on easy street.   Several Canaanite tribes were still around to cause problems for the Israelites like the Philistines who began picking fights with the Israelites.  So, from time to time God would tap someone among the Israelites to become a judge.[x]  Now, don’t think of an Israelite judge as someone with a black robe and a gavel trying to determine who is guilty or innocent.   Think more like a military general or warlord who would lead Israel against their attacking enemies.   The most famous of the Israelite judges was Sampson who was an Israelite superhero given super strength thanks to his belief that as long as he kept his hair lusciously long, then he would be all powerful.   Sure enough, when he encountered a Philistine woman named Delilah, who gave Sampson a haircut while he was passed out, [xi] suddenly Sampson became a wimp and was able to be captured by his Philistine enemies.   While some of the Israelite Judges were good, most of them were bad or horrible.   Read the book of Judges to find out what happened but let’s just say after awhile Israel was sick of these bad judges and actually disobeyed God’s laws a lot.

So, God heard how his people was complaining and 1st sent them a kid prophet named Samuel.  Samuel was a kid living with an Israelite priest named Eli who heard God calling him.  In fact, Samuel didn’t realize it was God who was calling him but thought it was his master/teacher Eli.[xii]  Samuel grew up in the time of the Judges and was recognized as a messenger of God who still had to deal with the Philistines.  At one point in battle with the Philistines the Philistines managed to capture the ark of the covenant! (Don’t worry, the Israelites got it back after God sent a plague to the Philistines)[xiii].    The Israelites then realized that maybe to keep themselves protected against all of these Philistines they needed to get themselves a king like the Philistines and other tribes surrounding the Israelites.  So, reluctantly Samuel talks to God about this whole king situation and God agrees to give the Israelites a king named Saul.  Saul does OK in battle except he begins to disobey God (Read 1st Samuel for the details) and Samuel regrets putting Saul in charge of Israel.  God then tells Samuel[xiv] to go to a little town in Israel named Bethlehem (Yes, the same town as Jesus’ birth) to anoint another king for Israel named David. David was the youngest kid of 8 brothers and had the job of watching the family’s smelly sheep when he got anointed by Samuel as king of Israel even though David wouldn’t become the actual king of Israel until he was fully grown. 1st Samuel goes on to explain how David as a small kid slew the Philistine giant Goliath with a slingshot.  Eventually, David became Saul’s chief general, but Saul also became jealous of David success as his general. Saul threatened to kill David, forcing David into hiding until one day Saul is killed in battle (Read 1st Samuel for more) along with Saul’s son Jonathan.  David then became the king who unites all of Israel with the new capital of Jerusalem.

Now king David was humble.  He also, per tradition wrote a lot of those psalms in the book of psalms, and was devoted to God to the point where he decides he’s got to build a temple for God’s ark of the covenant.  But by no means was King David perfect.   The 2nd book of Samuel goes on to explain how King David broke the 6th commandment with a woman named Bathsheba who was married to a man named Uriah (and I think David may have had a wife or some wives) and then to cover up his affair with Bathsheba he ordered the death of Uriah in battle.   Bathsheba then bore David a son named Solomon who, while still a young kid or possibly a teenager, took over the entire kingdom of Israel from his father King David when David died.

Now I’m sure king David make sure prince Solomon had an education to know all 613 laws of the bible as well as things like math and reading and other things that could give him the ability to be a king even at a young age.     The problem is Solomon was suddenly in charge of 12 different tribes with different ideas on how things should be done and Israel was still recovering a civil war started by Solomon’s half-brother Absalom when declared war on their father David because of the disobedience of God’s 5th &  6th commandment with his mother.    So, let’s just say many in Israel felt that Solomon shouldn’t be king. 

So, God knew Solomon was in over his head as king of Israel.  The Lord appeared to young Solomon in a dream, and said, “Ask for whatever you want me to give you.”

 Solomon answered, “Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David. But I am only a little child and do not know how to carry out my duties. Your servant is here among the people you have chosen, a great people, too numerous to count or number.  So, give your servant a discerning heart to govern your people and to distinguish between right and wrong. For who is able to govern this great people of yours?”

God was pleased that Solomon had asked for this.  So God said to him, “Since you have asked for this and not for long life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your enemies but for discernment in administering justice,  I will do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and discerning heart, so that there will never have been anyone like you, nor will there ever be.  Moreover, I will give you what you have not asked for—both wealth and honor—so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings.” [xv]

 And it’s true.  Solomon became one of the wisest kings to ever have lived.  He also was very wealthy. Furthermore, Solomon also became one of Jesus’ ancestors and also wrote some of his wiser thoughts in the books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and some Psalms as well.    You read some of those books of the Bible you’ll be wise as well as you realize like Solomon how wisdom, in particular the kind of divine wisdom God is willing to give you, is far more valuable than gold or diamonds especially in this information age. 

 

 

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Sunday, November 3, 2024

Lewis Black, the election rant is due to you!

Dear Lewis Black,

I recently saw a YouTube clip posted by “The Daily Show” where you[i] were ranting against undecided voters at this point in the 2024 electoral campaign season.    You pretty much referred to those undecided voters as a “very special group of morons”.  [ii]

Let me tell you Mr. Black, not everyone who is undecided is a moron.   Many know our democracy is at stake in this election. Some believe your average Joe (or Jo, or José) would be a moron to come out publicly in favor of either Kamala Harris or Donald Trump without Taylor Swift’s fame and bank account to protect them from either the psycho MAGA sycophants who would string them up alongside Mike Pence for not accepting Donald Trump as the second coming of God.  Or the schizoid woke cancel culture mob who believes they have no right to exist for all eternity just because they fear Kamala Harris will take away their lawful 2nd amendment cache of AK-47 rifles they’ll need to protect themselves against the zombie apocalypse.   There is a reason why most voting booths are micro tabletop cubicles that shields your ballot from your neighbor’s nosiness.  Additionally, there’s no line asking you to sign your name on the top or bottom of the ballot to certify these are the political bozos you’re entrusting to take care of the petty governmental issues you’re too busy to deal with like trash collection, fixing potholes or making sure your kids get an education.   You have the right to keep whom you voted for close to your chest and that is OK.   I’m sure many have made up their minds that they are doomed no matter who they vote for president and just trying to figure out which way they and this country’s democracy will die.       

I myself have moved to the “Undecided” category mainly because my previous stance, (See MTKPeterson blogpost from March 2024) where I recommended everyone write in former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s name for president, is indeed a throwaway vote.  This election I must have my vote count for someone who has a 50/50 chance of become president, and I feel former Governor Haley betrayed me and herself by endorsing Donald Trump at the Republican national convention earlier this year.  So, this basically leaves me with the choice of do I condemn myself to Hell for all eternity if I come out in favor of Kamala Harris or do I condemn my country to the hellscape of a Donald Trump dictatorship!

Now, if you have taken a moment to read my March 2024 MKTPeterson blogpost you know I’m no fan of former president Donald Trump. I listed several reasons why he was a lousy president that I’m sure most voters are aware of.   Heck I even echoed the media echo-chamber statement of how the MAGA president wants to be the USA’s Adolf to the point where part of me is wondering if I caused Thomas Matthew Crooks to grab his rifle and use it against the pro-gun politician[iii].      As a good Roman Catholic, I believe in everyone’s fundamental right to life even for someone who is responsible for 1.2 million American Covid 19 related deaths [iv].   I do not want Trump dead at all.   Part of me has an evil desire to send Trump to GITMO (if GITMO is still open/has War on Terror prisoners of that war still) since he clearly showed on January 6th, 2021, he was a far greater threat to our country’s democracy than some Muslim extremist jihadist Trump tried to block from entering the country in 2017[v].  I probably have to march myself to the nearest confessional for that bad thought against Trump.

Trump does not embody the Christian religious principle of welcoming the stranger.  True God-fearing Christians welcome the stranger because when you do you are welcoming Jesus[vi] (Actually probably a whole lot of Jesuses since I hear that’s a common Hispanic name) I don’t want mass deportations of anyone since I know most of those immigrants (illegal or otherwise) are willing to work the at times literal crappy jobs for crappier hours and the crappiest of pay that anyone who was born and/or raised most of their lives in the USA have become too diva minded to take but absolutely positively need to get done to have a thriving society.  If an immigrant wishes to subject himself or herself to the great American immigrant hazing ritual (See MKT Peterson blogpost March 17th, 2023 to learn what that is) so one day their great great grandkid can rant about all of these Snefurians, who are literal aliens from outer space immigrants from the planet Bruzindkin, are taking all of the genuine American jobs meant for genuine born in the USA Americans and eating all of the pet hamsters while running for president, then whom am I to stop them or tell them to go back home.    

 So, if I clearly do not want to see several million people thrown out of the country just because Trump wants them out of the country I have to vote for Kamala Harris.  According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops Voters Guide[vii]  Harris checks off several of the boxes that I as a responsible Catholic voter should consider this election like caring for the undocumented immigrants which Harris is in favor of reforming even though she’s gone along with the Biden administration’s tightening up of political asylum requests[viii].    She’s willing to tackle the growing economic gap between the rich and the poor and I know she’s the better candidate for poor Americans.[ix]  The fact she wants to ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines should in theory make this country safer[x] at home.  She will keep the US safe from threats from abroad by not sucking up to evil dictators like Vladmir Putin[xi] and Kim Jong Un the way Trump did throughout his administration.  I know that Harris is probably the candidate that will promote the general welfare of all of the United States, and she will swear to uphold and defend that preamble phrase and other parts of the US Constitution on January 20th, 2025.

The problem is the growing gap between rich and poor, the undocumented immigrant crisis, and keeping our country safe is #4, #5 & #6 on that Catholic Voter’s issue guide with #1 being abortion, #2 being religious freedom and #3 being the redefinition of marriage from the form that existed ever since Ug and Uggette merged their paleolithic caves together to become a mutually exclusive hunter-gatherer team to ensure Ug Jr and his sister had plenty of mammoth bone stew to eat.   Which means Harris’ pro-abortion positions places a ten-foot-tall asterisk on my endorsement of her.     

As I said before I am Roman Catholic and pro-life.  Pro-Life Roman Catholics accept the well-established scientific fact, proven 8.2 billion times and counting[xii] , that all human lives begin at the moment a man’s sperm and a woman’s egg come together in the act of conception.  By science, I mean if any one of those 23 & me DNA tests certify one is 99.9% homo-sapiens then they count as a human being.   Since, it’s a well-established scientific fact that human life beings at the moment of conception, this means according to Enlightenment philosophy and the words of US founding father Thomas Jefferson on the USA’s birth certificate that all of those lives are equal and have “Inalienable” rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” endowed by their creator even if you believe you owe your creation to some thoughtless mindless random roll of the dice of the cosmological craps game that’s been going on for 13.7 billion years[xiii].     As you may recall from your US civics class the Declaration of Independence goes on to say “to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Meaning that it’s in the government’s best interest to preserve human life because you have to be alive in order to enjoy the freedom to pursue whatever you think will make you happy.

 So, when something like the Covid 19 pandemic hit a lot of states shut down non-essential things like comedy clubs and insisted that everyone who ventured outside their houses keep 6 feet apart from each other and wear masks to prevent the spread of a potentially lethal version of the common cold.   Then the government gave out free Covid 19 vaccines to everyone to ensure that the elderly won’t die if they hug their 2 year old grandchild.     This is a good thing.    Except might I remind you how during the 2020/2021 pandemic the anti-vaxers and anti-mask-ers co-opted the Pro-Choice mantra of “My Body My Choice”?  These anti-vaxers anti mask-ers felt their freedom to freely breathe everywhere mattered more than keeping other human beings alive.     

So, a pro choice candidate feels a woman has a right to abort the process of turning that fertilized egg or zygote or developing fetus into what will eventually become a human baby with rights the minute they are born if the baby is kept for 6-9 months inside of her womb.  How does it make sense to anyone who is pro-choice how one woman will coo-coo over an ultrasound image of a 12-week-old human fetus, while another feels that same potential human being will ruin her life forever if she has it.   I know some may not view an unborn baby as fully human.  However, even that potential human being in the womb or even in some cryogenic fertility clinic freezer could be the ones to discover the next cure for some lethal disease or current lethal diseases like heart disease and we need to protect that life and keep them alive.   

Let’s be real when it comes to the abortion issue.  The vast majority of abortions are not because the woman has been the victim of a horrific crime or the baby that is growing inside of her has become akin to a cancer tumor that is jeopardizing her physical life. [xiv]   Most of the unwanted pregnancies are the result of wanted sex aka the method evolved multi-cellular animals reproduce their species.  I know I’ve heard the argument just because you have sex with someone doesn’t mean you want to become parents with them.   Which is true.  It’s also true that if I choose to do something crazy like jumping out of an airplane, the sky-diving company I’m using for this nutzo potentially life ending decision will make sure they have my signature on a legally binding liability waiver protecting them from any lawsuit that would result from my decision to trust their parachutes to protect me from severe bodily harm if gravity suddenly wins over 200 square feet of silken surface area and nylon threads.     

And if you don’t think that Abortion isn’t murder in the 1st degree track down the Planned Parenthood exposed videos by Live Action[xv]  Harris as then attorney general of California instigated a lawsuit against pro-life investigative journalist David Daleiden[xvi]  for videos of abortion doctors talking about baby body parts[xvii] they could get for medical experimentations.  Heck, Harris placed into California law crisis pregnancy centers,[xviii] centers that allow a woman to give life to her baby and have a life for herself as well, had to post places where a woman could get an abortion instead.   To me, that’s akin to forcing Popeyes to post a sign in their restaurants telling everyone how KFC’s chicken is finger licking good.    

So, yeah, I don’t feel comfortable voting for a woman who feels it’s a woman’s right to murder another potential woman or man that just so happens to be growing inside of her.   Not to mention the fearmongering that liberals cited with the Supreme court ruling of Trump V United States[xix]  giving Trump almost unlimited power if he becomes President again, could also easily be used by Harris to force Catholic hospitals to perform gender reassignment surgeries on 12 year-olds that may not be a good idea at all even if it’s what the kid is demanding.[xx]   I mean I’m sure 12 year kids would love to have a swig of the tequila I’m drinking but we don’t allow that to happen either.   So, I can’t vote for Harris either.

Man, I feel like Vizzini in that “Princess Bride” movie trying to figure out which cup had the iocane powder in it and feeling like I’m swallowing poison either way.[xxi]       

Now I majored in broadcasting in college, so I know all about the edit bay and its power to make other people tell your narrative.   They obviously chose the group voicing their indecision 2024 without clarifying if they were all talking strictly about president of the United States.  There are plenty of other candidates whose names will appear on the ballot in November that I have to make a decision on and yes, do a little research.  In addition to the office of president of the United Sates I have 11 other political offices to figure out plus 4 ballot initiatives.  Sure, Trump has been the media “darling” for about 9 years of the 24/7 news media networks and Harris has been nationally known since she tried to be the 2020 democratic candidate against Trump.   So, the general public knows them verry well.      But what about my local Congressional race?   Remember, every 2 years we have to figure out which local Congressional candidate we’ll shove into the Washington partisan quagmire where everyone is grandstanding on C-Span instead of doing the things that will actually make America grand again.  For Illinois Congressional District #6 part of me really wants an alternative because Sean Casten (D) verses Niki Conforti(R) is a political mini-me version of the dilemma I’m facing in the presidential race and my mind is blanking out on who to write in the blank space instead.    What about more local positions like county coroner who uses the latter’s idiom inevitability of life to deal with the first inevitability of life.[xxii]     The names Judith Lukas(D) and Richard Jorgensen(R) are barely known in DuPage county let alone on a national scale.  Most of the issues plaguing the national campaign are meaningless on a local level.  But whether DuPage county should have an in-house CSI worthy lab to determine causes of death, an idea Judith Lukas endorses, or it’s more important to have a coroner with an extensive medical background to recognize a cause of death without the hi-tech machinery, something Richard Jorgensen has, that’s something I have to think about before casting that vote. [xxiii]    Heck, I like the polite debate I heard from the two candidates for my local DuPage Forest District representative where they’re trying to figure out how to connect and expand the nature preserves in the area.  [xxiv]   

So yes Mr. Black, I am still “Undecided” but I’m doing my duty to vote for the candidate I feel will be best for the office and examining the pros and cons of the ballot initiatives on my local ballot.   I have a brain, and I will use it on election day.  I am taking a bit more care than maybe your average voter but by no means am I a “Moron” nor do I see my fellow undecided voters as needing the special ed version of US civics.   We know what we must do, we’re just not sharing it with you and the general public at large.  We’re just going to share our decision with the ballot box and leave it at that.    

 


[vi] Mathew 25 Verses 35 and 40. 


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