It is a piercing noise...

I have always had a love-hate relationship with social media. Through social media, I have met a number of very good people and a select few role models (living saints) who, by example, encourage me to be much better than I am. Social media unfortunatly feeds my disordered desire for human respect, it feeds my curiosity, it swallows my time... It leaves a "ringing in the ears" when I yearn for Quiet.

The stream that appears in my Google+ (don't get me started on Facebook or Twitter) account is the definition of psychotic. One moment I am reading of the heroic virtues of St. Joseph, reading about true acts of Charity, discussing the beauty of our Catholic Liturgy, reading of the spiritual life, being encouraged to pray and fast for a complete stranger, praying for the soul of a departed one, or learning of the unchanging Truth as taught by the Doctors of our Church. It is reality. The next moment I am reading blasphemy presented as humor, hedonism presented as a lifestyle, modernism (and its endless developing flavors) promoting mind rot, blocking a profile for displaying rancid pornographic images, or getting pulled into mindless squabbling with fellow Catholics over slothful semantics. It is insanity. (For those wondering -- yes, I uses 'circles' judiciously.)

Reality insanity reality insanity insanity insanity.

Often, the noise is deafening to the senses. All of us living in this world trod through the muck of "insanity" hopefully striving to have a firm hold in the "reality". We all deal with living in the world in varying degrees regardless if we participate in social media. I do believe that in comparison to "real" social interaction... social media amplifies the strength and quickens the pace that the "insanity" is offered for consumption.

I am not puritanically condemning social media as some intrinsic evil. I am not planning to go sit in some enlightenment spawned self help circle where I dub myself an "addict of social media" and swear never to use it again. I am not off to live in a cave... not today anyway.

This morning I was ready to delete my accounts and take a social media vacation for a few months. After some discussion with those who know the beard behind the blog, I decided to leave the accounts alone and come back to them at some point in the near future. I do not have good reason for removing past posts today, but I will be cleaning up certain items in the next couple weeks.

For now I am restricting my cooperation with social media, and eagerly looking forward to the vacation from it. There are some important things that require attention.

A Fortnight Later...

In 1521 Henry VIII was declared "Fidei Defensor" by Pope Leo X for his pamphlet accusing Martin Luther of heresy. Thirteen years later Henry abandoned Rome completely through the Act of Supremacy. That same year Parliament also passed the Treasons Act which made the king the "Only Head of the Church of England on Earth."

Those were guilty of treason who:

"...do maliciously wish, will or desire by words or writing, or by craft imagine, invent, practise, or attempt any bodily harm to be done or committed to the king's most royal person, the queen's or the heirs apparent, or to deprive them of any of their dignity, title or name of their royal estates, or slanderously and maliciously publish and pronounce, by express writing or words, that the king should be heretic, schismatic, tyrant, infidel or usurper of the crown..."

Anyone who denied in thought, word, or action that Henry VIII was the "Supreme Head of the Church in England" was guilty of treason, punishable by death. St. John Fisher was the only English bishop who refused to swear to the Act of Supremacy. St. Thomas More also joined in committing this praiseworthy act of treason.

Before their deaths, the stripped, emaciated bodies of both St. Fisher and St. More shocked the crowds at the scaffold. They had suffered utter destitution during their fifteen months in the Tower. St. John Fisher marched towards death courageously and was executed on June 22nd. (Interestingly, his sentence and death by beheading greatly paralleled that of his namesake whose feast was the very next day.) A fortnight later on June 6th, his body was laid beside that of St. Thomas More who had been executed earlier in the day.

Both saints serve as a model of courage and strength during these odd political times. Both saints had practiced mortification from early manhood. They had disciplined their bodies with fasting and other penitential acts. They had strengthened themselves with a devout prayer life. These virtuous habits prepared them for the political persecution they endured, and helped them to accept their eventual imprisonment and execution.

In today's world that encourages over indulgence, we run the risk of being weak in times when strength is required. As seen in the example of today's saints, mortification and prayer bolsters our human nature, and cuts out diseases wearing on the soul.

St. Thomas More, St. John Fisher, pray for us so that we may be prepared for what trials God permits us to endure.

Prepare for Warfare

Our Lord was led by the Spirit to be tempted by the devil. Why did he allow himself to be tempted? So that he might, as our mediator, help us to overcome our temptations, not alone by assisting us, but also by His example. Christ entered the desert with courage and fortitude. He shows us how to fight temptation by his example.

Prepare to engage in war, a war for your souls, so that you may enjoy the Beatific Vision. Please listen to the Audio Sancto sermon: "Merit is Gained Through Temptation".

Need and Want...

Here we are the day before the holy season of Advent begins. Here we are the day after "Black Friday". The reports of materialism driven shopping violence fill the media headlines. I recognize the desire of people to be frugal and to make their dollar stretch, but I see the "Black Friday" sales as a psychological gimmick that also happens to be very telling.

The masses who participate in the madness to gain mere gadgets and gizzmos provide a glimpse of another possible scenario. Imagine a situation where these people are not salivating over iPods and plasma screens... but instead are starving from lack of nutrition and thirsting from lack of clean water. If our fellow man can act as they do over their "wants" how might the act over "needs" if the resources for them are lacking?

I am not criticizing all of the people who went out shopping yesterday. I am not criticizing those who purchase electronic devices, or spend money on entertainment. I only desire to point out the danger of forfeiting even simple common respect for our fellow man for worship at the altar of materialism.

Pius XII wrote:

45. But the world, which today affords so many justifiable reasons for pride and hope, is also undergoing a terrible temptation to materialism which has been denounced by Our Predecessors and Ourselves on many occasions.

46. This materialism is not confined to that condemned philosophy which dictates the policies and economy of a large segment of mankind. It rages also in a love of money which creates ever greater havoc as modern enterprises expand, and which, unfortunately, determines many of the decisions which weigh heavy on the life of the people. It finds expression in the cult of the body, in excessive desire for comforts, and in flight from all the austerities of life. It encourages scorn for human life, even for life which is destroyed before seeing the light of day.

47. This materialism is present in the unrestrained search for pleasure, which flaunts itself shamelessly and tries, through reading matter and entertainments, to seduce souls which are still pure. It shows itself in lack of interest in one's brother, in selfishness which crushes him, in justice which deprives him of his rights -- in a word, in that concept of life which regulates everything exclusively in terms of material prosperity and earthly satisfactions.

48. "And I will say to my soul. the rich man said, Soul, thou hast many good things laid up for many years; take thy ease, eat, drink, be merry. But God said to him, Thou fool, this night do they demand thy soul of thee."

49. To a society which in its public life often contests the supreme rights of God, to a society which would gain the whole world at the expense of its own soul and thus hasten to its own destruction, the Virgin Mother has sent a cry of alarm.

This Advent, consider prayers and fasting against materialism as one way of preparing for Christmas.

Wheat from the Chaff...

Chaff:
–noun

1. the husks of grains and grasses that are separated during threshing.
2. straw cut up for fodder.
3. worthless matter; refuse.

Growing wheat on a small scale is a labor intensive process that can make one appreciative of the inexpensive five pound sacks of delicious silky flour that can purchased in a grocery store. Putting aside the topics of planting seasons, weeds, soil conditions, and the birds / rodents that consume the seed in mass quantities before it has a chance to germinate... harvesting by hand is an endeavor that stands above them all.

Each wheat stalk produces a spike with rows of wheat seeds / berries. The wheat berries are covered with a thin husk and are firmly attached to the stalk. One method of separating the wheat berries from the spike and stalk is to literally beat and thresh them off. Various tools, sticks, and containers can be used... but each involves pummeling the wheat so that the chaff is detached. The process is vigorous and requires some effort to accomplish.

What remains is the desired edible wheat seed intermingled with the fragmented husks and straw. The chaff is easily separated by even a light breeze as the wheat is poured from one vessel to another. The heavy dense wheat is collected and refined while the undesirable chaff is blown away.

This post is somewhat of a follow up to Monday's post on being prepared. If you are not prepared to accept persecution, or prepared to move with the Will of God, your soul is at risk for being blown away like the chaff. We are all given the same directives; there is no protection if none is sought. One only has to look around to see the chaff being separated... sometimes in scandalizing ways.

Pray for the Church, our Holy Father, the bishops, and priests. Pray for your fellow man. Prayers and fasting. The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.

Prepare for Persecution to Avoid Apostasy

Would you offer a pinch of incense to an idol to save your life and the life of your family? Would you approach the altar of the false idol with fear and confusion as to what you might do? Would run to embrace the false altar ready to denounce your faith? What is the greater tragedy... the mass death of those martyrs who kept the faith, or the mass apostasy of the cowards who left it to save their materialistic lives?

Is your faith solid and built on rock, or is it simply a veneer? If your faith is simply an act for those around you, or a faith that changes with the winds of difficulty... you are at great risk to losing your soul when persecution is placed on your shoulders. Laxity will certainly lead you to a faith that is only skin deep. Standing up for the faith will certainly lead to persecution.

Please listen to the Audio Sancto sermon titled "Prepare for Persecution Lest You Become an Apostate"

Talking points for discussing the TSA full-body scanners

BACKGROUND

There is a plan afoot to market X-ray devices for use in all transportation checkpoints and eventually at football stadiums and schools until they become ubiquitous. This is being done to make money for some government insiders and must be resisted at all costs. It's dangerous and unnecessary. People are also being forced to step into these devices under threat of an onerous and invasive government frisking. The following are talking points to debate the use to abolish of these machines. And when you are at the airport, please opt-out, these machines are indeed dangerous.

POINTS TO ADDRESS WITH FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND NEIGHBORS

• Why did we go from spot checking to everyone getting X-rayed? What changed?
• It's all about the marketing. They want to sell more and more of them.
• Michael Chertoff is behind the machines. His consulting firm helped develop the marketing scheme. Do you think that's right?
• Next thing you know they will put them in schools. Do you want your child X-rayed daily?
• Most experts agree that X-rays at any dose are unhealthy and cause cancer.
• X-rays cause cancer. Minimum exposure levels are just suggestions.
• Physicists and medical experts at UCSF Medical Center say the government is wrong about the safety of these machines. Others agree.
• These machines have not been fully tested. Just the idea has been tested, the machine themselves have not.
• Radiologists do not run the machines. Why not?
• The TSA workers are not allowed to wear dosimeters to check for X-ray exposure... Why? What are they hiding?
• What happens if a machine malfunctions? What happens if you are in it?

ADDITIONAL POINTS REGARDING THE MORE RARE MILLIMETER WAVE MACHINES

• These machines are not proven safe.
• The effect of millimeter waves are still being investigated
• Current evidence shows that millimeter waves cause DNA damage.

Avoiding the Lemming Effect...

Lemmings. Small soft furry rodents with short tails found in the North. Some species of lemmings migrate in large groups and get themselves in trouble when encountering bodies of water or other similar hazards. Many are familiar with stories about large groups of lemmings mindlessly following each other off cliffs committing mass suicide.

The lemming effect is often used to refer to group-think and those people who mindlessly follow popular opinions, newest trends, or latest fads.

When you see everyone else quickly being led a certain direction stop and look where you are headed and why you are being led there.

The titillating WikiLeaks information being unleashed on the public should not be dismissed, but it also should not be accepted with open arms. When information suggests the potential for some serious consequences, a moment of pause should be taken to examine the possible outcomes more thoroughly.

It would please God to supply me with bread

At noted this quote of the day on survivalblog.com recently:

I foresaw that, in time, it would please God to supply me with bread. And yet here I was perplexed again, for I neither knew how to grind or make meal of my corn, or indeed how to clean it and part it; nor, if made into meal, how to make bread of it; and if how to make it, yet I knew not how to bake it. These things being added to my desire of having a good quantity for store, and to secure a constant supply, I resolved not to taste any of this crop but to preserve it all for seed against the next season; and in the meantime to employ all my study and hours of working to accomplish this great work of providing myself with corn and bread. It might be truly said, that now I worked for my bread. I believe few people have thought much upon the strange multitude of little things necessary in the providing, producing, curing, dressing, making, and finishing this one article of bread. - Daniel Defoe (1661–1731), Robinson Crusoe

There is no true common ground with liars

There is no compromise with that which is wrong or evil. Talk of "common ground" is how those with liberal agendas grab a foothold when they are being backed into a corner. Those with liberal agendas count on indifferentism (under the guise of tolerance) in order to gain this "common ground."

Who owns your mortgage?

By now you should have heard about the foreclosure fraud. Keep in mind that even if you are not risk for foreclosure this may still effect you. These "documentation problems" have the potential "to cloud title on not just foreclosed mortgages but on performing mortgages."

The mortgage is still owed, but there's going to be a problem figuring out who actually holds the mortgage, and they would be the ones bringing the foreclosure. You have a trust that has been getting payments from borrowers for years that it has no right to receive. So you might see borrowers suing the trusts saying give me my money back, you're stealing my money. You're going to then have trusts that don't have any assets that have been issuing securities that say they're backed by a whole bunch of assets, and you're going to have investors suing the trustees for failing to inspect the collateral files, which the trustees say they're going to do, and you're going to have trustees suing the securitization sponsors for violating their representations and warrantees about what they were transferring.

The SEIU currently has a webpage that helps you to create a form letter to send to your mortgage lender. I would not recommend submitting your personal data to the SEIU, but the form letter generated is well written.

To: Mortgage Lending Department
Subject: Request for original mortgage note and additional information

Dear [NAME OF LENDER]:

This is a qualified written request under Section 6 of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA). I own the property at the address listed above, and your bank services my mortgage.

Over the last several weeks there have been many stories documenting the problem that banks are foreclosing on homes without proof that they own the loan. I have learned that in many cases, banks like yours do not even know who owns the loans you service. Employees at several leading banks have admitted to rubber stamping tens of thousands of foreclosures every month, without even checking to make sure that the bank had a legal right to proceed with foreclosure. In some cases, banks allegedly falsified mortgage documents to cover up their mistakes. There have been reports of two banks trying to foreclose on the same home, banks foreclosing on homeowners who were current on their payments, and even of a bank foreclosing on a home where the homeowner had never taken out a mortgage to begin with. This is not merely a "technical problem"--it is the difference between having a warm bed at night and being out on the street.

As a homeowner and a customer of your bank, I am horrified. I had always believed that it I played by the rules, I would be protected, but now I know that banks like yours think the rules don't apply to them.

To protect myself and my family, I need to know who owns my mortgage. Within sixty days, I would like to know the name, address, and phone number of the bank or investor that owns my mortgage. Furthermore, in light of the recent allegations of foreclosure fraud, I demand to see the original mortgage note proving ownership over my home loan. If you fail to produce a mortgage note proving that you have a right to collect my mortgage payments, I will be forced to consider all options available to me to ensure that my family and my home are protected.

I ask that I receive my response in writing. I understand that under Section 6 of RESPA you are legally required to acknowledge my request within twenty business days and must try to resolve the issue within sixty days.

Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Guaranteed Retirement Account

Most of you are familiar with Aesop's fable The Ant and the Grasshopper. The story is about the hard working ants who prepare for the hard winter, while the grasshopper plays and sings. Winter comes and the grasshopper starves to death.

Today's fable is slightly different. The ant still works hard in preparation for the winter. The honey bee is added as a character to the story. The honey bee is like the ant... working hard in preparation for the winter, but as Fall approaches, the honey bee's winter stores are robbed leaving hardly enough for winter survival. The ants comes by unscathed from robbers, but harvest was light. The grasshopper is still focused on playing and singing with little care to the upcoming winter... but it is because he knows that the ants and the bees will be required to share with him.

Say goodbye to your retirement accounts. If to date you managed to miss the effects of the economy stealing a large portion of you nest egg, the government now plans to utilize your funds for the sake of the rest of the community.

In a nutshell, under the GRA [Guaranteed Retirement Account] system government would seize private 401(k) accounts, setting up an additional 5% mandatory payroll tax to dole out a "fair" pension to everyone using that confiscated money coupled with the mandated contributions. This would, of course, be a sister government ponzi scheme working in tandem with Social Security, the primary purpose being to give big government politicians additional taxpayer funds to raid to pay for their out-of-control spending.

From written hearing testimony (PDF / HTML) submitted by Economic Policy Institute (EPI) Vice President Ross Eisenbrey:

We need a comprehensive solution that addresses interrelated problems. For example, a system that places most of the burden for retirement saving on individuals will always have to wrestle with the problem of pre-retirement loans and withdrawals (simply plugging these leaks will not work, because many workers would stop contributing to the system). A system that relies on tax incentives to promote individual retirement savings will necessarily tend to favor high-income workers who can afford to save more and who benefit the most from these tax breaks. Conversely, a truly universal system would need to shield low-income workers from out-of-pocket costs or wage cuts. EPI has published and advocated what we feel would be an excellent national supplemental retirement plan, the Guaranteed Retirement Account which was authored by Prof. Teresa Ghilarducci, Director of the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis at the New School for Social Research.

If you would like to read more on the topic see New Lame Duck Threat to Bailout Union Pensions.

A country paying off its debt

This coming Sunday (October 3rd, 2010) Germany will pay the last of its debt / war reparations from World War I. On June 28th 1919, the Treaty of Versailles was signed to end the war between the German Empire and the Allied Powers. Articles 231-238 of the Treaty involved payment reparations to certain countries. In 1919, this amount totaled approximately $31.4 Billion. Compared with today's dollar value, that amount can equate anywhere from $1900 Billion ($1.9 Trillion) to $5000 Billion ($5 Trillion).

To say the least, this impossible amount of debt had an impact on the German economy. One solution was for the government to print its way out of debt. In a few short years German banknotes had lost so much value, that they were used as wallpaper. This Hyperinflation combined with the effects from the American Depression sent the German economy in a downward spiral.

The German Workers' Party that had formed at the end of World War I changed its name to the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei) in 1920. The conditions of war torn Germany and its failing economy set the stage for this Nazi party's rise to power.

Anyone reading this should be able to recognize parallels with our current governments economic actions, and what road this may be leading us down.

The Basics of Resilience

Chris Martenson presented a seven part article entitled What Should I Do? The Basics of Resilience. Martenson writes:

It can feel pretty personally overwhelming to learn about all the economic, environmental, and energy challenges in store for us for the rest of this century. There's plenty of work to be done by governments and businesses, sure—but what about preparing yourself and your family for this quickly changing world? The choices seem overwhelming. Where does one begin?

[...]

This article is part of a series on personal preparation to help you answer the question, "What should I do?" Our goal is to provide a safe, rational, relatively comfortable experience for those who are just coming to the realization that it would be prudent to take precautionary steps against an uncertain future. Those who have already taken these basic steps (and more) are invited to help us improve what is offered here by contributing comments, as this content is meant to be dynamic and improve over time.

The seven part article is divided up by the following topics:

• Part 1 – Getting Started
• Part 2 – Water
• Part 3 – Storing Food
• Part 4 – Growing & Preserving Food
• Part 5 – Health & First Aid
• Part 6 – Heat, Power & Communications
• Part 7 – Protecting Wealth

Be Prepared

Estote Parati - "Be Prepared" is a logical concept that is difficult to challenge. It is such a universal concept that this motto has been adapted to languages world wide. The application of the motto can range from standard every day tasks such as driving your vehicle and attending a meeting to extreme circumstances such as preparing for judgment.