Talking Meghan and Baptism

This article is an attempt to be serious about a serious subject that happens to be about pop-culture which is hard for me to take seriously. Anyway, here we go…

Apparently English Prince Harry is getting married in May. Harry is the offspring of Charles and Diana. And was born in September 1984. Harry is fifth in line to the throne so his odds of being crowned are about the same as the head of the US Department of Agriculture becoming President after an alien invasion from Mars during a full moon on a leap year.

Harry has a reputation of being a “wild child”. He was drinking and smoking pot at age 17. In 2012, He was photographed naked with a woman in Las Vegas. Note to youth that “what happens in Vegas (or Facebook) doesn’t always stay in Vegas”.  Harry “knew” in a biblical sense many women as he sewed his royal oats across the globe. Many young women are sad that Harry is finally “settling down” but most of their fathers are relived.

His soon to be bride is this Meghan Markle lady from here in crazy California. I really love how the Brits worded this: “Miss Markle’s multi-faith upbringing is not uncommon in California where she was born in 1981. ” Harry’s betrothed was previously married and divorced. Below is a timeline of some parts of their lives.

1981 Meghan born.
1984 Harry born.
2001 Harry age 17, raising hell.
2004 Meghan age 23, met future husband, Trevor Engelson.
2005 Harry age 21, he was dating Chelsy Davy.
2009 Harry age 26, broke up with Chelsy.
2011 Meghan age 30, marries Trevor.
2012 Harry age 28, photographed in Las Vegas playing strip billiards.
2012 Harry age 28, in a relationship with Cressida Bonas.
2013 Meghan age 32, and Trevor divorce.
2014 Harry age 30, broke up with Cressida.
2016 Harry age 32, confirms that he is in a relationship with Meghan Markle, age 35.
2017 Harry (age 33) and Meghan, age 35, announce their engagement.
2018 Harry age 33, and Meghan, age 36, wedding scheduled

Sources
Wikipedia: Prince Harry

Meghan Markle has Been Baptized
All quotes in green are from this article

What caught my eye about this whole affair (pardon the pun) was the story about the secret baptism of Meghan by the Arch Bishop of Canterbury.
The reason for the timeline above is to show that there is nothing remotely religious in the lives of either Harry or Meghan. Harry, despite a litany of youthful indiscretions, is going to be married in the church because that is what gentlemen do. The article tries to focus on Meghan but clearly there isn’t much to work with. Here are the quotes that caught my eye. Please note that while all are from the same article, I’m placing them in a different order.

Her father, a retired Hollywood lighting director, was Episcopalian – the main US offshoot of the Anglican Church – while her mother belonged to another Protestant denomination.

After her parents split, Miss Markle attended the Roman Catholic Immaculate Heart girls’ high school in Los Angeles, although she was not Catholic.

Her first husband Trevor Engelson was Jewish but she did not convert to his faith. The couple met in 2004 and married in 2011 but were divorced two years later.

Folks, this is the typical California Liberal family, teach no values to the child and let them decide for themselves when they get older. Guess what, if you raise your child with no religious values then you are evil, if you don’t raise them on the Scriptures you are a fool.

As you read the article, it gives you the reason that Meghan was baptized.

Miss Markle did not need to become an Anglican in order to marry Harry in church, but at the time of their engagement last November she made clear she had chosen to be baptised and confirmed out of respect for the Queen’s role as the head of the Church of England.

This paragraph is such a target rich environment that I could write a book or at least a lengthy tract on it.

Please note that nowhere in this article is Jesus, repentance, belief, gospel, or conversion mentioned. Meghan is being baptized and confirmed out of respect for the Queen’s role as the head of the Church of England.

Meghan, baptism is about a relationship with the King of Kings not your grandmother-in-law. It’s an outward sign of an inward change, one which apparently you have yet to experience.

Also, worth noting is that Harry’s dad, Prince Charles, has stated that he would refuse the traditional title of the English King as “Defender of the Faith”. This is one reason he will never be king. Charles claimed that instead he would be the “Defender of the Faiths”. Chuck’s a pluralistic weenie.

Meghan reminds me of a line from a Steve Camp song from 1988:

We’ve been treating God,
Like He’s happiness for hire,
We’ve been playing marbles with diamonds.

Tuesday’s service observed the full ritual of the Church with holy water from the River Jordan from the private Royal Family font poured on Miss Markle’s head.

I’m not going to comment on the water used for the ceremony being from the Jordan River except to say that this is overindulgence and conveys no merit to the recipient.

Meghan Markle has been baptized into the Church of England in a secret ceremony with Prince Harry at her side.

Juxtapose this with the Bible

Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

Matthew 10: 32

Also I say unto you, Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God:

Luke 12: 8

Meghan my Baptist alarm is screaming in my head when I read stuff like this and I haven’t been a Baptist in over three decades! Baptism is a public profession of faith. I’m not saying that you need to buy time on the BBC and broadcast live from the banks of the Thames but secret ceremony. Bah.

Folks, these guys including the Arch Bishop, are as clueless as the Pharisees were in the time of Christ. Meghan, this article makes you the posterchild of the slogan that Christianity is a relationship not a religion. Your works, upbringing, and marital status don’t save you or anyone else. If your faith and marriage are not built upon Christ, then get out now because you will never be fulfilled apart from Jesus. I hope God does a work in your lives because the deck is really stacked against this marriage lasting.

21 to Buy a Gun?

Ok, I simply don’t get this at all. Why is it that the same generation that forced a Constitutional Amendment to change the voting age from 21 to 18, is the same group demanding that a person now be over 21 to buy a gun?

Back when I was a kid in the 1970’s, the Vietnam War was in full swing and the Draft was a way of life for the youth of America. Those wishing to avoid the draft could get a deferment by going to college or Seminary—which is one reason that the clergy in many churches are so damn liberal and don’t believe in God. As a last resort, many sought refuge by fleeing to Canada.

As it went on, Vietnam became a very unpopular war; the number of casualties and shear number of draftees increased all through the 1960’s. A tour in Vietnam was one year so those drafted at age 18, could serve their time and return to civilian life before they were old enough to vote in most states. This became part of the argument against the draft and was summarized in Barry McGuire’s Eve of Destruction:

You’re old enough to kill but not for votin’,

You don’t believe in war, but what’s that gun you’re totin’,

Known in my youth as “the footprint of the American chicken”.

As result of Vietnam, the 26th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was introduced and passed in a record three months and 8 days. It was ratified on July 1, 1971.

Flash forward a few decades and now these same people and their voting aged offspring want to go in the opposite direction. Now they want to be able to vote that they are too immature to properly handle a weapon. Do you not see the irony of this?

Back in the day, carrying a weapon and voting age were proclaimed to be synonymous; their linkage went hand-in-hand, but now…

Truth Claim #1
When it comes to guns, 18 is too young to understand the consequences of your actions and thus you should refrain from the behavior.

Truth Claim #2
Isn’t this the mirror image of the logical fallacy that abortion supporters use?

When it comes to sex, Liberals proclaim that you should engage in the behavior all you want regardless of age but if there happens to be any consequences, we can remedy that…

A woman uses bad judgement and gets pregnant but somehow her choosing to abort the baby is praised as the most mature and loving decision that she can make. Liberals claim this is her rite to make with no input from family, clergy, or others. And please don’t give me the line about this being a decision between a woman and her doctor. That is a bald-faced lie. Most woman have never met their abortionist before and unless they need another abortion will never see the guy again. This is doubly true because a large segment of abortionists are not properly licensed to practice real medicine. Being “baby butchers” is the only gig many can get any more.

Liberals want a national standard that you can’t purchase a gun until you are 21 unless you join the Army and then its ok to kill strangers in faraway places when you are only 18. Why is this solution better than in 1969? Didn’t “the people” solve this in 1971?

Sorry but there is no age limit in the Constitution related to firearms. The Second Amendment is not about hunting, it’s about using deadly force for self-defense. Hunting is just something to do with the weapon when you don’t need it for other things.

Our laws send mixed messages. How can a twelve-year-old in California legally shoot a deer and not be able to buy a gun? If purchasing and possession are different under the law, then what good is having an age limit? Some people can handle a weapon responsibly and others can’t. Our society relies of our use of self-government to make that determination. Training and experience are primary factors in the use of firearms, age is secondary.  I killed my first deer at age 10 and my uncle killed his first Japanese soldier in WWII when he was 15 years old.

So, if you’re not mature enough to buy a gun until you’re 21—which is the same rule many states have for alcohol purchases—why should you be allowed to vote at 18? Voting wrongly—like for Democrats—can harm more people for a longer period of time than any Columbine wannabe. Democrats believe in genocide for the poor—abortion* , enslavement of generations not yet born due to irresponsible fiscal policies, euthanasia for the sick and elderly, and one set of rules for the rich & ruling class and another for the rest of us.

* Worldwide, Democrats and their fellow travelers kill 50 million children every year via abortion and yet somehow, they are regarded as champions of the poor. This is so illogical as to be farcical. Margaret Sanger said that she founded Planned Parenthood to “eliminate poverty by eliminating the poor” and called black people “weeds”. For those that can’t see the inherent problem with these truth claims try this: poor people voting Democrat is like Hindus thinking McDonalds and PETA were the same organization because both claim to serve beef.

Concerning raising the voting age, why stop at 21? Let’s require that you must hold a steady job for four years plus be say 40 years old and have a family and then maybe you’ll vote more responsibly. If you are young enough to confuse government handouts with Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny then you are too young to vote.

A national law mandating age 21 to purchase guns is stupid, but its even more stupid to have all public property be “gun free zones” except of course where the lawmakers work and they have armed security, metal detectors, and x-ray machines—things they won’t let the rest of us have.

Creation: Open or Closed System

My question is this, is the world that we live in an open or closed system. This sounds outside of the type of categories that we normally use to define or discuss reality; however, I think it has some significant implications. For those philosophy nerds out there, the discussion below uses generalizations to move the discussion forward without pursuing every conceivable rabbit trail that one may encounter on this topic.

Closed System
This idea is that the world around us is mechanistic. The nature of the mechanism is much debated. At one extreme are the Darwinists that think Chaos, Randomness, and Time are the only real rules of the Universe. Any honest observers can see that there is Oder and Purpose to much of what we observe, so the other extreme of the closed system is the clockmaker of Deism. If there is a god, he made the system and we can debate whether he occasionally tinkers with it or not. In this group you will also find Eastern ideas of pantheism, cyclical rebirth, and Yen & Yang.

Open System
This view is found in Jewish and Christian tradition. God is Personal, Loving, and Knowable. He governs the Universe in regular, knowable ways (Natural Laws) but God is not a mere observer, He tends His Creation as one might tend a garden.  Nothing happens outside of God’s will. The debate within this view is does God allow things to happen or actively cause them to happen? Within an open system, people believe that they can genuinely pray and ask God to change the direction of an event—large or small—and if it is His will, He will respond to our petitions to make alterations.

A closed system is without hope. Nihilism and helplessness are the lot of men. The law of tooth and talon reigns supreme. Some folks in the East even think we get to do it all over again until we achieve perfect nothingness. What a dismal prospect.

An open system explains the things that have no basis in a closed system. Love, joy, compassion, purpose, intelligence, and design are all aspects of our Creator and since man is made in His image, we also share in a small way in His nature. Man is imperfect but still retains the marks of our Creator, his fingerprints on the clay so to speak.

The Problem of Sin
Because of sin, we are not in a right relationship with God. Furthermore, we are powerless to correct the problem. The Bible speaks of our attempts at good works to earn God’s merit as “filthy rags”. Folks this phrase is loaded with much content that doesn’t come thru even in King James English. The “filthy rags” are the unclean rags that result from a woman’s monthly cycle. The Bible is stating that your best efforts are rubbish only fit for the fire.

Man’s natural state is one of rebellion and separation from God. Only God can repair the separation of this relationship. It cost the life of His Son, Jesus. Only thru His death and sacrifice—dying in our place—was the penalty of sin paid. Only God’s remedy can restore our relationship. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, the Life. No man comes to the Father but by me.”

Some folks might ask why God—whom Christians claim is all knowing and all powerful—doesn’t just do away with evil, suffering, death, etc.? There are many ways to answer the question, but Jesus directly addressed the issue in this way:

The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
Matthew 13: 24 – 30.

Simply put, to root out evil by force will adversely affect the righteous. While all men are tainted by sin, not all will be redeemed. It is better that both continue to grow side by side until the harvest. As they mature, it will be apparent which are weeds and which are good grain. C.S. Lewis spoke of this as over time each will become consistent in its nature, the bad becoming more evil and the good becoming more righteous.

God is not evil but is able to use evil and rebellion against Him to bring His will to fruition. We are not told how He does this just that He does. Some questions about the “why” and “how” are beyond the scope of what has been revealed to us. At some point, we must trust. Some things can be called a “mystery” while others are just not revealed to us. As Lewis states in his Narnia books, they are not part of your story (and the clear implication of this statement also carries with it the idea that thus they are none of your business). Lewis believed that God’s revelation was on a need to know basis, if we don’t need it to know Him then it is not revealed to us.

The bottom line is that the prayers of His children will be answered but only to the extent that our petitions are in accordance with His will. The good news is that God is always active in his creation and incrementally redeeming it as we move closer to the promised harvest.

Billy Graham

Today is the funeral of Rev Billy Graham.

I wanted to briefly discuss how Billy Graham touched my family and affected my relationship with God as a result. I thought this a fitting tribute. While my beliefs don’t perfectly align with his, I wish this blog to accentuate the positive on this occasion.

As a condition of being married in the Roman Church, my dad was required to sign an agreement with the Church that he would allow his children to be raised Roman Catholic—my mom’s faith. Just over a decade later, in the 1970’s, I was transitioning from a private Catholic elementary school to a public junior high.

At this period, my mom watched Billy Graham on a local television broadcast. She knew about Jesus but felt distant from him. As Graham spoke, she felt her need to have a more lively faith and walk with Christ. As Graham asked his audience to pray with him, so did my mother.

Graham’s basic message included the concept that it was not our works—the things that we did or did not do—that got us into heaven but that our works were inadequate to gain salvation. Our sin separated us from God. Only the work of Christ dying on our behalf could get us into heaven. We must acknowledge our sin and ask Christ to forgive us and enter our hearts. It was not the external that related us to God but the renewing of our hearts that cause our regeneration (in Graham’s terminology, being born again). To this end, it was Graham’s practice to conclude his sermons with a call to get into a right relationship with God. As such, he would ask that people pray with him as he recited “the sinner’s prayer”.

 

This prayer caused a change in my mother and she began to explore other places to worship. As a result, we ended up attending a local Baptist church. A few months later, my sisters and I attended a summer camp sponsored by the new church. At camp, we also made a commitment of our lives to Christ.

As a result of my camp experience, I was a different person. I had a hunger for reading the Bible and learning about God. I had a lively faith and wanted to share it with others. Over the years, I have continued my walk with God, sometimes closer than others. I have moved beyond the Baptist ways and found a way to make peace with the Roman Church as well.

I am grateful to the ministry of Billy Graham for the difference that has been made in my life.

Issues That Are Never Solved

There is an old saying, “he who frames the issue wins the debate”. But what is supposed to happen is that after the debate, (eventually) the issue is solved or voted upon and then we move on. However, sometimes that doesn’t happen. Did you ever wonder why?

Before I proceed on this topic, please understand that I am the messenger. I wish to have readers look at my examples not in terms of agreeing with one side over another but as a political analysis.

I wish to begin with two topics that seem to have no solutions: abortion and immigration.

Abortion
Abortion opponents say that they wish to have government support life and will stop at nothing short of the human life amendment.

A Human Life Amendment can be both a unifying strategy for individuals and organizations and a powerful political tool to discern the true pro-life convictions of our elected officials.
The ultimate goal of the pro-life movement

Abortion supporters want unlimited abortion on demand through all nine months of pregnancy—this is the status quo under Roe v Wade. Plus, they want you to pay for them with taxpayer dollars. Many see abortion—or the absence of child bearing—as the only way to have real equality with men.

As you can see, there is no room for common ground, compromise, or any other of the usual political maneuvering using such a binary equation.

Immigration
Some folks want to allow everyone that can get inside the borders of the United States to come and then once here, they wish to unilaterally confer upon them all rights and privileges of citizenship without them even asking for it. No assimilation is required. This includes voting, employment and education. Think California once Gavin Newsom is sworn in as governor.

Other folks say they want to deport everyone here illegally. For them, Trump’s wall is just a symbol of the protectionism necessary to insure United States sovereignty. They wish to keep illegals from accessing any of the programs or opportunities available to our citizens. Only those who followed the established path to Green Cards and citizenship are welcomed.

As you can see, there is no room for common ground, compromise, or any other of the usual political maneuvering using such a binary equation.

Yes, there is a segment of squishy people in the middle of both these issues but the people driving the issue tend to be on one side or the other.

My question is why can’t a political solution be found for either issue? My answer is simple. Neither side wants it solved. They would rather have the issue to get votes in the next election than fix anything. 

Remember Obamacare and the Republicans? Republicans wanted the issue for campaigning but really had no plan to “repeal and replace” even though they campaigned on that promise for eight years. When they got the chance with majorities in the House and Senate plus a supportive and friendly President, they could pass no legislation because there was no plan.

In the same way, abortion is not about killing or not killing babies, its about votes. Democrats view being pro-abortion as a winning issue for them and most Republicans view being pro-life as being to their benefit. Again, this is just posturing.

I have been told by Liberal Republicans that they wish the pro-lifers would go away because social conservatives have ruined the Party. My response is “simple, get the taxpayer money out of the issue. If you do, abortion will no longer be a political issue.”  Think about it, both sides have built their respective fortresses on the issue of “to fund or not to fund”. Yes, there are moral issues involved but without taxpayer money, it is a mute topic at election time for the vast majority of folks.

Immigration is a more complex issue but given a choice of fixing a defective and broken system or having the issue at election time, politicians of all stripes would rather have the issue than fix it.

Conclusion
This ladies and gentlemen is the real gridlock in Washington.  Both teams are happier playing “prevent defense” than winning. To strike a decisive blow for your side is to risk galvanizing the opposition. Think of it as trying to steal the other guy’s honey without being stung by their bees in the process. Get as much as you can and still make a clean getaway. This is what passes for modern statecraft.

Or to use a different analogy, we have entrusted our economic harem to the eunuchs in Washington hoping that they won’t screw us too badly.

Unarmed Trump Really Has Pursued Bad Guys

Someone once said “it ain’t bragging if you can do it” or words to that effect. President Trump got roasted by the media yesterday when he said that he would run into a school to stop a shooting even if he wasn’t armed. The Left had a cow but guess what? He’s actually done something very similar before…

Trump’s lightly-educated critics ignore history, including a 1991 incident in which The Donald rush to stop a mugging in New York and chased the armed assailant away, despite lacking any weapon himself. As James Rosen reported at the time in the New York Daily News, “When he saw ‘a big guy with a big bat’ bashing another fellow, Donald Trump did what any self-respecting billionaire would do: He ordered his driver to pull over.” Trump confronted the armed assailant, who recognized him and claimed not to have done anything wrong. Trump reportedly asked the mugger, “How could you not do anything wrong when you’re whacking a guy with a bat?” The mugger then ran away.
FLASHBACK: Donald Trump Rushed To Stop An Assailant In 1991 Even Though He Didn’t Have A Weapon

Trump the Negotiator

By the way, what even happened to the idea that a hero runs into a building when everyone else is running out?

J.M. Smucker Co Recalls Pet Food? HUH?

A headline caught my eyes this week and I knew I had to do more in depth research, “JM Smucker Company announces global pet food recall.”  Ummm, why is a jam and peanut butter company recalling pet food I wondered aloud?  I’ll get into this a little more later.  As I continued reading the article I figured the dog food may not have been heated/mixed/prepared correctly…wrong, they added pentobarbital….yeah as in the lethal injection death penalty drug.  For those of you in Soviet California, other states use lethal injection to wipe clean the earth of scum, you guys just let them out of jail with a slap on the wrist.  But back to my point, how in the world does pentobarbital get introduced into the food supply of a huge company?  I mean I thought the point of buying dog food was to keep Fido alive not kill him/her or if you’re in California your gender neutral dog.  The brands recalled were; Ole Roy, Kibbles n’ Bits, and Gravy Train, all wet dog food products only.  Besides the fact that wet dog food is basically processed diarrhea I still honestly wonder how in the world pentobarbital was introduced to the supply chain.  What was it even doing in the factory?  I will explain below.

The FDA has this to say regarding ingesting pentobarbital “Consuming high levels of pentobarbital can cause coma and death. However, pentobarbital present in the withdrawn products is at a low level unlikely to pose a health risk to pets.”  You should feel much more assured now, it was just a low dose so likely nothing would happen to your dog.  What a line of crap.

Editor’s Note: Our readers in the Orient should understand that this FDA pronouncement does not consider the cumulative effect of consuming dogs or canine products over a long period of time. Participants in the recent Winter Olympics were unlikely to have been exposed to enough canine products during their time in South Korea since each athlete was issued 37 condoms by the International Olympic Committee and thus are presumed to have been too occupied doing other things to suffer ill effects of canine exposure.

Smucker had an even better one, get a load of this “We take this very seriously and are extremely disappointed that pentobarbital was introduced to our supply chain,” Barry Dunaway, President of Pet Food and Pet Snacks said in a statement.  “We will continue to work closely with our suppliers and veterinarians to ensure the ingredients used in our products meet or exceed regulatory safety standards and our high-quality standards,” Dunaway continued.  “Above all, we are a company that loves pets and understand the responsibility we have in providing high quality food for the pets our consumers love.”

Literally this Dunaway has admitted nothing other than they are embarrassed; yeah like a child sorry they got caught, not sorry for what they did. Then he goes on, but don’t worry we will work closely with our suppliers (sounds like you should terminate the contract), veterinarians (But notice not the Vet you will be taking your sick dog too) and they still love your dog (they love your $$$ and hope their ignorance doesn’t kill it).  Clearly Smucker’s legal team wrote the press release and Dunaway signed his name. The kicker is this waste of human flesh is a president of the pet food division, like he actually has major responsibilities.  Apparently, there is no brain cell requirement to hold a high-ranking position at JM Smucker Co.

The over laying issue here is about 10 companies control 90% of the market on most food and other essential products we use in our lives.  Best examples; you hate Pepsi because they are evil and their soda causes diabetes, so you reach for Aquafina or Quaker Oats instead…PepsiCo makes those products.  Gatorade, Tropicana, or Lays….yup all owned PepsiCo.  Coca-Cola makes Coke, but did you know they make Dasani bottled water?  Or Fairlife milk?  Campbell’s Soup tastes awful, so I will grab a V8 instead…both owned by Campbell’s.  MARS, the maker of M&M’s also owns Banfield Pet Hospital…yeah.  I am attaching a graphic to show the depth of this.  The point I’m trying to make isn’t about a monopoly or anything it’s that the Stock Market/Wall St. are so demanding that companies have no choice but to buy other brands.  As William has said, it’s a 90 day cycle you need to beat last quarters numbers, or the same quarter from last year’s numbers and if you don’t there are consequences.  These consequences sometimes result in buying of other brands, most often though layoffs occur.

Click here for full-sized infographic

You may remember the old Campbell Soup plant in Sacramento, its closing had nothing to do with productivity, it was closed because it was old and the County wouldn’t pony up major tax breaks so they left. Mondelez International moving Oreo production from Oregon to Mexico had nothing to do with streamlining of the company it had to do with the input costs are less in Mexico then the USA.  These are done to appease Wall Street investors and big banks and investment firms.  Uncle Pennybags and his brethren want their quarterly divided or there will be hell to pay.

Back to my point, when one of these conglomerates buys a brand, they destroy it in the name of saving a few dollars.  Look at Annie’s, it’s an organic line of food designed for children, it was bought by General Mills, they stripped out the natural ingredients and now the product is trash.  Look at McDonalds, what used to be an all-beef patty, is now a frozen hockey puck of mystery meat, and a bad tasting one at that.  These examples underscore that when you live in a 90 day cycle and anything necessary to drive profits can and will be done.  Look at what Coke did years ago, replaced cane sugar with corn syrup, the effect has been great, it was more addictive and tasted the same, and sales soared.

Enough rambling, back to Smucker; the problem now is companies used to actually make their products now they just mix ingredients together and package them.  A good example is Campbell Soup, I used to know an employee there, and he told me the ingredients were all locally sourced (within 5 hour drive) and were mixed and cooked at the plant.  That practice ended a decade ago.  I’m sure it is the same at Smucker, their ground meat is from one country, the gravy from another, the bits from another, they show up on a flatbed truck, in unlabeled boxes, you throw them into a mixer and voila!  Ole Roy wet dog food is created, can it, label it and it’s off to the local market.  Not sure where the pentobarbital gets mixed in but it’s in there somewhere.  The bigger issue is corporations like this have numerous suppliers for the same product so there could be 5 that supply the gravy mix, and it all comes in unmarked boxes making it impossible to know what supplier/country of origin it came from.

The point of this article isn’t to scare you, most all corporations make food that is completely healthy and safe to eat, but “hitting the numbers” causes corporations to use lower quality ingredients or layoff the food safety inspectors, and this is where these problems lie.  Conagra Foods, maker of Chef Boyardee, laid off most of their food safety inspectors, and hmmm 2 months later issued a global recall of 100k cans of pasta, just saying.

Til next time,

X

PS Mark Cuban had a bad week…….maybe time to dance on his grave!

 

School Shootings: What Will It Take?

Following the recent school shooting in Florida, many folks are asking, “what it will take to end such senseless violence?” I wish to address this question but not in the way that the George Soros types are expecting.

• First, the shooter was not a current student.
• Second, all of the non-violent, touchy-feely stuff like “See something, say something” was followed.
Months Before Massacre, Cops Told of Cruz Threats With Weapon
• Third, did you know there was an officer on the campus when the shooting started and he did nothing but hide until it was over?

Sheriff Scott Israel during a press conference Thursday said video showed Peterson arriving at the west side of the building where the shooting took place. Peterson, Israel said, took up a position but “never went in.”

Peterson was armed and in uniform during the shooting, but never entered the building despite “clearly” knowing a shooting was happening, Israel said.

The sheriff said he believes Peterson remained outside of the building for four minutes, while the shooting in total lasted six minutes. Israel said the officer never fired his weapon.

Deputy assigned to Florida school ‘never went in’ during shooting, sheriff says

Unless Tom Cruz really wants to setup the Pre-crime Unit from his movie Minority Report, nothing of substance could have been to the gunman prior to walking on the campus with his guns. (And no, you can’t lock people up because you think they’re crazy, the U.S. Supreme Court killed that idea in the 1980’s. What do you think caused the epidemic of homeless people?)

Sorry but Pre-Crime Unit is Science Fiction

What should have happened is that the cop on campus or some teacher “packin’ heat” should have ended this thing before it ever got started. If the coach that died shielding students had been able to use deadly force, then the tragedy could have been avoided entirely. But Liberals would rather that we all were defenseless sheep rather than potential deterrents to crime.

Calling 911 Won’t Save You
If you think that calling 911 during an active shooter event will save you then you are a fool. Never has a call to 911 prevented an active shooter situation. The police take too long to arrive to be of any good and will wait outside until they know they have superior numbers before entering the building. This time is measured in hours not minutes.  Here are a few random examples

Orlando Florida School Shooting: June 2016
Delay in Orlando police response to massacre examined

Las Vegas Shooting: October 2017
Don’t believe me, look at the Las Vegas shooting. Cops waited an hour after the last shot was fired before entering the suspect’s hotel room.
Here’s a timeline of the Las Vegas shooting — with the crucial detail police left out last time

Parkland Florida: February 2018
In this instance, the shooter left the school with a group of students and before law enforcement was ready to enter the building.

Authorities said the alleged gunman, Nikolas Cruz, stopped at a WalMart, a Subway restaurant and a McDonald’s immediately after carrying out the second-deadliest mass shooting at a public school in US history.

“The suspect crossed fields and ran west along with others who were fleeing and tried to mix in with the group that were running away, fearing for their lives,” Broward Country Sheriff Scott Israel told reporters.
Florida Shooting Suspect Visited McDonald’s, Subway After Killing: Police

No news story directly addresses when police entered the school but they were setting up a command post for an active shooter situation about an hour after said shooter arrived on campus via Uber and a half hour after he had fled the campus.
Florida school shooting timeline

 

Schools aren’t the Only Soft Targets
I happen to work for the State of California. Where I work is supposed to be a “gun free zone”. Even if I had a conceal carry permit, I still wouldn’t be allowed to bring a firearm to work. If I did, I could be prosecuted by the State. While he’s really busy filing lawsuits against President Trump and the United States government, Xavier Becerra would gladly take time out of his schedule to bury me in a deep hole for daring to defend myself and coworkers against bad guys.

Nevertheless, we have mandatory training for active shooter situations. We are supposed to run, hide, or fight back; in that order. Let’s examine these instructions.

Option 1 Run
We are supposed to outrun a bullet or at least the guy with the gun; after all we are trained to do that. Yeah, right! If this is such a great idea then answer me this, “So how many state workers have you seen in the Olympics?” None. Most State workers feel fortunate if they can run to the breakroom fast enough to catch a donut because someone is celebrating their promotion.

Option 2 Hide
I work on the second floor of a building with two stairwells as access points. If two guys each took a set of stairs or disabled the back door before acting then everyone here would be trapped in the building. We have a few conference rooms built of metal studs and sheetrock in an otherwise open floor plan. A bullet would easily travel the whole distance across the room until it strikes a solid object which would likely be a person. Only if the gunman was interested in a quick hit and run would you have hope of surviving.

Option 3 Fight Back
Picture this, a bad guy brandishing his semi-automatic loaded with a clip of hollow point bullets versus me throwing my tape dispenser and stapler while yelling loudly to intimidate a guy with murder in his heart. That outcome seems rather stacked against me seeing another sunrise.

The State wants me to be happy that I’m a target. After all they are giving me a paycheck in exchange for workplace free of violence.

But if this is such a great policy why do they get metal detectors, armed California Highway Patrol guards, and armed drivers who are sworn officers?

Elected Officials have guns nearby for protection but not us

Beslan
Beslan has been called Russia’s 9/11. Over 330 people died in a school siege that you’ve probably never heard of. Here’s the short version. On the first day of school, over two dozen terrorists descended on an elementary school in a town of 35 thousand people. They took over 1,100 people hostage. They herded them all into the school gymnasium. They placed explosives on all the doors, confiscated all cell phones, and then executed the men and boys that they felt might have the physical ability to fight back. Three days later the Russian Army raided the school.

A documentary called Beslan: Three days in September is well worth viewing. I saw this years ago on Netflix but it is no longer available from them. In fact, I can’t find it for sale anywhere; however, it is available via streaming from CBS News. It is on their page for the news program, 48 Hours.

Streaming Beslan: Three days in September
Click here to Stream Video

Further reading
Wikipedia Article Beslan school Shooting

IMDB: Beslan: Three days in September

I think it will take a similar incident in our country to make meaningful changes in our public debate. As always the debate is do we begin to defend ourselves or cede freedom to the central government in exchange for the illusion of safety?

Society Hits a New Low with the TIDE POD CHALLENGE!

Loyal readers your humble correspondent has finally found a piece of legislation with which he agrees and it’s coming from New York nonetheless.  Yes, a bill moving through the legislature there will force Tide’s manufacturer, Proctor and Gamble, to redesign their Tide Pod product.

Proctor and Gamble—Satan’s Chemical Company

If you’re a Tea Party or CRA member (are there any left?), live in your parent’s basement, or just have bad hygiene then you might not know or care that Tide started making laundry pods about 5 years ago to simplify the laundry process.  Rather than measuring a cup of liquid or powdered detergent you could simply throw a pod into the wash and Voila, your clothes were magically clean and nice smelling.

  All was well, until it was discovered that children were trying to eat the pods since they looked similar to candy and smelled good as well.  Tide has responded by coming out with child proof bags, etc. but they’re not working because…well, parents are dumb. Once they reap the consequences of a biological act of momentary gratification, these parents are not interested in watching over their offspring. Instead, they allow their young ones to fend for themselves and some eat these toxic little pods. Said offspring are then rushed to the ER seeking medical attention.

So yeah, go ahead CRA members; tell me how I am in favor of big government (or anti-business) because I want Tide to change the color and scent of their pods, so they are not as inviting to children. If the pods tested like broccoli or cauliflower, think of all the lives that would be saved. Just remember that there are some parents out there who are irresponsible enough to leave these poison packets around within reach of their children and in such cases, government can make a difference.

If you are under 10 and eat a Tide Pod, I feel bad because you were brought into this world by horrible parents.  Such parents should even be prosecuted for child endangerment.  (I know CRA folks; I’m a big government guy.)  Face it, some people in this world, (it’s a very large and growing number) have no business having children at all, let alone at an early age.

However tragic pods may be for young children, the news about them does not stop once they are old enough to know better. Let me turn my fire on to a new, disturbing, and flat out ridiculous new trend among the youth in our country, the Tide Pod Challenge.  In this “challenge” you eat/ingest a Tide Pod, then film the aftermath.  Apparently, these videos are very viral on YouTube and other sites like Facebook.  Essentially you film yourself-foaming at the mouth, choking up blood, or even better…dying!

Why do I say even better dying?  Remember the old axiom of journalism, if it bleeds, it leads. In a world where popularity is measured in hits, clicks, and views such videos are a measure of your success. Too bad you won’t be around to see how it turns out.

In closing I will say this, I don’t understand this Tide Pod challenge thing, I likely never will.  It’s very sad but I believe legislation is required to get the company to change their packaging for the sake of protecting young children from their parents.  It’s even sadder I’m considering visiting my local Costco and buying these in bulk to sell on the streets late at night because this sounds like a legal means by which to make extra money.  What happened to the good old-fashioned trying to eat 10 saltine crackers in 5 minutes challenge or hold ice cubes in your hand for 5 minutes challenge?  Now the challenges are deadly or worse case could leave you with debilitating side effects for the rest of your life.

Reminder, Tide takes grass stains out of clothes, it is highly toxic, and warns about it being ingested.  Doesn’t sound too appetizing to me.

Til next time,

X

PS. 1 Tide pod for $2 or 3 for $5