CUTTING BACK ON BLOGGING - FOR A WHILE

Neighborhood Trees

Copyright 2018 Silver S. Parnell

The eye doctor tells me that my macular degeneration is rapidly progressing, and she is handing me over to a "retina specialist" for future care. It is expected that I will be functionally blind at some point.

Multiple physical disabilities necessitate the purchase of expensive hardware, software, systems and services so that I may function independently. I need to shift my focus to the only work I am physically able to do, which is the writing and art, neither one of which is a reliable income producer for anyone, but I do have prior experience in each field.

For the foreseeable future, I will be concentrating on finishing my book and resurrecting my painting career. I do not have the physical stamina to do this AND write a blog.

I have hidden all my previous posts because I have had some issues with harassment from internet trolls, as well as some copyright infringement of my original intellectual property.

This blog will remain in place until such time as I have the leisure to write for it - if ever again. The donation button will be active, as will comments on this blog post. Anyone that wishes to contact me may make a comment to this blog post. It won't be published, but I will read it and respond. Leave your email address for reply.

Please pray for me, as I pray for you.

Silver

Post Script: The following is the latest update to my gofundme page:

The only specialist I can afford to see is at the hospital where the indigent are served, but the clinic is BLOCKS away from where I might park my car, and I am unable to walk that distance. (The distance from the lobby to the clinic is impossible.) On the other hand, the hospital does not have any system in place to take me in a wheelchair, except for the occasional volunteer. (I waited once for nearly 2 hours, in AGONY, for a volunteer to show up and take me to my appointment, which I missed, of course. It took a week to recover from that day of stressful physical challenge.) It is critically important that I resolve this transportation issue, not only for these hospital visits, but also for other issues of mobility necessary to my independent operation. I DO have a mobility scooter, but in order to use it outside of my residence, I need to get a vehicle in which to transport it, and a padded ergonomic seat that will allow me to remain seated for a longer period of time. While I am researching the cost of the necessary vehicle and equipment, I need to somehow accumulate the necessary funds. Many Americans are under the mistaken impression that disabled and poor people get all their needs met through the government, and it is not true. Only the bottom third of poor people get any needs met at all, and there are many needs for which there are no remedies at all. One of the social workers I've talked to about this transportation problem tells me today that she has seen many disabled people struggle with unaddressed mobility issues. She will try to find some other avenue of assistance, but she was careful to make me understand that she does not hold out much hope for finding anything to help me. Without family to come to my aid, I am fairly well stranded. I ask that you please share this update and my gofundme page. I would also be most grateful for any information anyone may have with regard to the best van and lift arrangement for a mobility scooter. Thank you, and God bless, Silver Parnell

STAY CALM AND CARRY ON

Jesus Meditating in the Astral World

Available on innerpath.com

Many of my readers, friends and acquaintances have had their customary calm disturbed by the chaos and lies blasting out from the White House. It has knocked us off our pins, ruffled our feathers, triggered us, etc. However each of us chooses to label it, the general agreement is that it has not been good for our collective psyche.

After spending some time trying to insert some healing Truth into this miasma of unscrupulous politicians fronting as religious crusaders, I have come to the conclusion that the people who would most benefit by the perception of Truth in their lives are the very people who reject it.

Donald Trump, as the point man for billionaire oligarchs, has touched upon deeply significant motivators within a segment of the population that is both angry and resentful that the course of human history is bypassing them and going in a direction that they believe is not right. I am not going to discuss the details or relative merits of their collective beef(s) because my purpose lays elsewhere in this blog post. I am just giving background on my decision. I am describing it as it appears to me.

Please, for the love of God, do not write me an angry email claiming that I am insulting you individually for anything I say about Trump or the other politicians or the people who have harassed me. If the shoe fits, wear it, but if not, don't. When talking about large numbers of people there are variables. I should think that would be obvious, but for some people, intent on having an excuse to feel offended, they ignore the straightforward benign nature of the thing so they can huff and puff and stomp around on social media. This is my disclaimer.

I have determined to give up trying to reach the unreachable. I am not thereby abandoning any mission for which I am responsible because I am not an original source of facts about politics. There are journalists and investigative reporters whose job it is to get that information out into the public. Previously, I have provided a list of those sources, as well as the names of fact checking outlets from which everyone is free to gather data, should they have any interest in exploring the True, actual things that have been said and done on planet earth.

No vow is being made that I will never comment on this topic ever again. I am not saying that. It is just a shift in focus that I am taking.

The only reason I stepped into this mess is because there were (and are) people saying that "the hand of God is on Donald Trump" and that God had ordained him to be president. In doing so, these "Christians" were misrepresenting the Christian faith, and I felt duty bound to step in and defend our poor Jesus, whose message was being adulterated beyond all recognition . Surely, I reasoned, if these people only knew the Truth about what was happening here on Planet Earth, they would want to know! Instead, I have managed to embroil myself in a war straight out of the Twilight Zone.

All of us who are of good faith, and there are many, have experienced this disturbing break with reality combined with spiteful, unreasonable, illogical attacks against us. Trying to have a conversation with many of the "true believers" has been like stepping in front of an oncoming train. They do not listen. They have a continuous loop of lies running in their heads, and they're going to throw it all at us, regardless of what we say. It is best to just get out of the way.

It appears that there are some honest people on The Hill. There are jurists and officials still blessed with integrity. Somehow, they will sort this out. As much as he would like to be "president for life," (which I heard him muse, at one point), Trumpism is a temporary feature on the political stage. I hope to live long enough to see us return to some sort of calm equilibrium where facts, statistics and experts are respected, but, in the meantime, I intend to join with anyone who is interested in remaining connected to spirit while the chaos swirls around us.

I regret being unable to correct the record, so to speak, with regard to Trump's claims to Christian values, but I am being guided to a better-lit path that is more authentic to my mission.

It is my belief that those of us who are committed to Truth need to spiritually link together, so that we can become a dynamo that generates our Lord's Love, beaming it wholeheartedly into the world so that everyone may be touched with it on the mystical plane. It is an ambitious goal, but probably more attainable than trying to convey facts and statistics to people who do not want them.

In asking this of you, dear readers, I am falling back on my contemplative tradition, which is what I know and love best. It has served me well in the past, and I hope it does the same for you.

In future posts, I plan to concentrate on the mystical life and to assiduously ignore current events, except inasmuch as we may pray for them to become more peaceful and sane.

God bless, guide and protect us all.

Silver Rose

FRIENDSHIP

"I understood that every flower created by Him is beautiful,

that the brilliance of the rose and the whiteness of the lily do

not lessen the perfume of the violet or the sweet simplicity 

of the daisy. I understood that if all the lowly flowers wished

to be roses, nature would no longer be enameled with lovely

hues. And so it is in the world of souls, our Lord's living garden."

~ Saint Therese of Lisieux ~

My standard of friendship is the same for others as it is for myself.  Honesty, kindness and other signifiers of good character are important to me, as well as a sympathetic nature. I mourn with those that mourn and rejoice with those who rejoice, and I appreciate the same treatment from those I gift with my friendship.

Social status, wealth or poverty have no bearing on whether or not I would choose to befriend a person.

In response to Jesus' commandment to love my neighbor, I actually try to exhibit love and friendship toward whomever comes into my field  of activity. I am not perfect, and I do fail to do as well as I might toward this goal, but it does remain a goal of mine.

I firmly believe that the motives of other people should not be impugned without significant evidence, so I make a practice of assuming that, with the exception of a small percentage of sociopaths and misanthropes, no one deliberately chooses evil.

Believing that someone is wrong about a topic is not the same thing as attacking their character.

"Nothing is sweeter than to think well of others."

Saint Therese of Lisieux

Even with regard to the current political climate, I do not reject friends because they voted for Donald Trump. Adherence to my political views is not essential for friendship because I do not live on that plane of existence.

I do not impute evil motives to people who voted for Trump. Because I am pro-life, I almost voted for him. Then I researched the matter. I believe that most of Trump's supporters, if they understood the truth about him, would no longer support him. I credit most of them with being well-meaning, but misguided. They believe what he and his representatives say. I cannot account for why they are unaware of or discount the facts that are reported widely by professional journalists. I often find this frustrating, but it still is not enough to dissuade me from being friends.

A category by themselves are those who are "one issue voters" who choose to ignore or avoid knowledge of Trump's defects because they feel that the abortion issue is more important than anything else and they believe he will appoint judges to the Supreme Court who will make abortion illegal again.

I don't believe this method will accomplish the hoped-for aim. I also don't agree with the assumption that making abortion illegal is more important than anything else, but I certainly understand why some people come to that decision. These issues are complex, weighty and difficult. I choose to believe that people of good faith are doing the best they can to do the "right" thing.

Although I have never rejected a friend because of their support for a political figure or party, I have been rejected by friends and acquaintances who are mad that I don't support Trump. They are mad when I write about his lies and criminal activities. They accuse me of hate, and they break off the friendship, even though it patently obvious that Trump's words and actions are hateful. Objecting to hate is not hateful.

It has surprised me that many of these fair-weather friends have been Christians of various stripes. I perceive that what Trump does and says is the opposite of what Jesus said to do and say, and yet some Christians tell me "the hand of God is on Trump."  I am flabbergasted by the cognitive dissonance. I really don't understand it, and probably never will.

While most people around the world are disgusted by our "president," there is an Irish reader of my blog, who has several times donated toward it, who has suddenly started writing me unpleasant emails, from Ireland, of all places, where she is a big "supporter" of Donald Trump, which puzzles me. She's known since 2016 that my research has garnered my disapproval of the liar-in-chief. She can't vote for him, and his policies will not affect her, but she is so invested in him that she is mad at me for not being likewise inclined and feels insulted by what I have written about him. The whole thing is very odd.

I suspect that my so-called "Irish" reader is actually an American posing as an Irish person to hide their identity. I don't assume that my suspicion is a fact. That would be wrong. But I HAVE often wondered why that person has such a strong investment in the president of another country on the other side of the planet.

We have written to one another, off and on, for the last few years, and I was enjoying the spiritual friendship, but I really don't know who she is, whether she has given me her real name, or even if she really is Irish because, while I am pretty much transparent, here in blogland, she is using a phony email address through a service that disguises your real one. Who is she, really?

I wasn't about to take back what I said about Trump, but she was disingenuously claiming those comments had insulted her so that she could lambaste me, on the one hand, with criticisms of Democrats (with whom I do not identify and to whom I feel no loyalty) and self-congratulatory digs about having donated money, on the other hand. The chastisements were exhausting.

While I won't drop a friend because of some political affiliation, I will send someone packing who is dishonest with me or harasses me, which is what I had to do with this "Irish" woman.

"One measure of friendship consists not in the number

of things friends can discuss, but in the number of things
they need no longer mention."

Clifton Fadiman

Stepping back from this particular situation, I note that this phase in our political life has created an overall atmosphere of harsh dishonesty I find alarming, because it is fracturing relationships and sowing a general discord - apparently, around the entire planet and not just in America!  I thank God that I have a handful of kindly well-wishers remaining who, though they may disagree with me on one issue or another, are people of sterling character who do not abuse me.

If I have anything of value to offer readers about this topic, I would encourage everyone to consciously develop a criteria for friendship, based upon the values that you hold in common, rather than befriending someone because they voted for the same guy you did last time around or because they have a pleasing personality.

Silver Rose

Sannyasini Kaliprana

Satan is the Father of all Lies

I never used to be very interested in politics, but since the alt. right is promoting the lie that Trump is Christian and that his policies are Christian, I feel I have to jump in, now and then, and defend the faith. Trumpian values are the opposite of Biblical values.

I know it must be very satisfying for religious folk to imagine that our country is finally being run by a God Fearing, Bible believing Christian instead of those Godless commie liberals, but it is all a sham. Donald Trump claims to be Christian, but the church to which he says he belongs has never seen him in the five short years he has claimed membership with them. It looks very much as if Trump joined the Christian club in a cynical effort to coerce religious people to vote for him.

Why aren't Christian Trump supporters more invested in Truth? Most of them seem to just believe whatever Trump, Fox News commentators, and various "religious" outlets say about him, and the messaging is cohesive from all those sources. (Sometimes, Trump lies about things he himself has said on video previously and which can be verified, and STILL his supporters refuse to acknowledge the lie. It drives me nuts.)

Meanwhile, legitimate journalists provide reams of proof, in video and in writing, consistently presenting the actual facts, but Trumpists don't typically read anything that doesn't have a positive slant on Trump. (Personally, I read everything and then fact check all of it.)

Most concerning at the present time is Trump's insistence on bleating out fantasies that contradict everything our intelligence agencies are saying, and then criticizing those agencies in his infernal tweets, in a blatant effort to get his base to avoid any information that will reveal the truth.

As time goes on, and Trump's enemies list grows, his slanderous statements find targets in all the agencies upon which Americans have, until now, depended for the administration of justice. His vulgar taunts are leveled at judges, senators and even the wives and children of people he hates.

If I were to list all the dangerous, repulsive, treasonous, NON-Christian activities and statements that Trump is making on a daily basis, I would have to write a book, rather than a blog. All I can do is plead with people to please, for God's sake, PLEASE, do some actual research, and stop mouthing the slogans and fake stories invented by the Alt Right for the purpose of inflaming its base. Don't be a tool in the hands of anyone else.

With regard to researching factual matters, the most important thing to do is evaluate one's sources. Opinion is not news. This blog is not news. Why? "News" is the presentation of facts. Who, what, when and where are factual. "Why" is not factual. It is commentary. While some commentary is often necessary to put facts into context, the "why" of a thing must not be presented as factual without specific proof of causality. Proving causality is no simple matter.

One of the classical fallacies of logic (which, apparently, is not widely taught in American schools) is "post hoc ergo propter hoc." The translation is something like "before, therefore because of." The meaning is this: Just because something happened just prior to another thing does not mean that the first thing caused the second. In its more ridiculous form, it would appear thus: "I ate a banana for the first time this morning, and this afternoon I had my first auto accident, therefore bananas cause auto accidents."

Everyone's opinion should be based in fact and truth. If it is based on anything else, you are standing on shifting sand, and anyone interested in the Truth is not going to give you any credibility at all.

Things to keep in mind:

1. Anecdotal stories are not proof of larger statistical issues. If you knew one disabled person that you suspected of cheating the government, that does not mean that a lot of people cheat the government. If you read a story about an "illegal alien" committing a crime, it doesn't mean that illegal aliens commit crimes to a greater degree than American citizens. As a matter of fact, it has been proven, over and over again, that undocumented folks commit appreciably fewer crimes than citizens! (Don't believe me. Check it!)

2. "News" programs produced by religious or philosophical or political groups are biased in nature, do not adhere to accepted journalistic standards, have no oversight and are explicitly partisan. Watch them all you want, but think of them as entertainment rather than purveyors of fact. They should be honest, but frequently aren't, skewing the "news" to suit philosophical wishful thinking. EWTN, CBN (Christian Broadcasting Network), Church Militant, Lifesite News, The Heritage Foundation, and other organizations that exist to support and promote a particular point of view are included in this category of biased programming and writing.

If you are really concerned about "fake news" - stick to the actual news, rather than a political, religious or philosophical organization.

Just because a television program expresses opinions that reflect your own does not mean that those opinions are  based in fact. You're just listening to yourself talk.

3. News outlets that hold to traditional journalistic standards are generally the most reliable. Usually, these outlets require that facts have more than one corroborating witness. This isn't to say they are perfect. Nothing is perfect, and mistakes are made by everyone, but generally speaking, these outlets are reliable, since they specifically intend to present the truth, as opposed to outlets that intend to present a philosophy. The Atlantic Magazine, CNN, The New York Times, and other reputable journalistic endeavors that I will list below, can usually be relied upon to tell the truth. To be clear, I am talking about the facts they present. I am not saying that commentary needs to be believed, except insofar as that commentary is built on truth.

Identify the relevant facts in every article, analyze the source(s) and fact check the claims on Politifact, Snopes.com, or Factcheck.org. Reuters is also a great source. For the longest time, news agencies got their news, initially, from Reuters. Reuters does not do "commentary."

4. Compare journalistic outlets to one another to assess the truth. I include Fox News in my collection of news sources, but I often find that its "news" disagrees with all the other outlets, and I dismiss them as a result. Here is why: It is irresponsible and illogical to think that hundreds of thousands of people involved in all the other news outlets are somehow in cahoots to tell lies and present a false narrative. The philosophy behind "Akim's razor" holds true here. The simplest explanation is usually the "right" one.

Another way of looking at this is with the saying that "when you hear hoof beats, think horses, not zebras. Conspiracy theories are fascinating zebras and are titillating to imagine might be true, but rarely rarely are.

5. The further away from primary sources, the less reliable the information. If I read an article in some tiny little "newspaper" or blog that has an "anonymous" source, but that anonymous source is not pinpointed as a member of a group that has first-hand information, I ignore it. For example, if an article references a source "that works in the Justice Department," I will give it more credibility than a source that is just "anonymous."

6. Fact check your sources. If you read an article that seems a bit too inflammatory, check it with politifact, snopes.com, factcheck.org and/or Reuters to make sure that the writer is not just trying to get more internet 'clicks.'

Here is a list of news purveyors I read or watch daily:

• Network news programs: ABC, NBC, CBS
• The Atlantic Magazine (Published for more than 164 years)
• New York Times
• L. A. Times
• Albuquerque Journal
• Washington Post
• USA Today
• Huffington Post
• The Guardian
• PBS:
• Democracy Now
• BBC World News America
• Amanpour & Company
• PBS News Hour
• New Mexico in Focus
• To the Contrary
• Nightly Business Report
• Washington Week
• Report from Santa Fe
• Firing Line
• The Open Mind
• Focus on Europe
• Rachel Maddow
• Face the Nation
• CNN News
• The New Yorker Magazine
• EWTN
• Fox News
• Keith Olberman
• MSNBC

There are more, but I can't recall them right now. Remember to add:

FACT CHECKING SITES:

• Snopes.com
• Factcheck.org
• Reuters
• Politifact

Don't take my word for anything. Research for yourself. I feel confident that, once everyone is educated on the facts, we will all be closer in opinions than we are currently.

God bless us all

Silver "Rose"

WHAT IS YOUR VISION FOR THE FUTURE?

"When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not

invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives

or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return,

and repayment come to you. But when you give a

reception, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame,

the blind, and you will be blessed, since they do not

have the means to repay you; for you will be repaid

at the resurrection of the righteous."

~Luke 14:12-14~

Jesus told us quite clearly that He expects us to distribute his largess, but humans continue to disparage other humans and to say, directly and indirectly, that the poor are not "worth" helping, or that they aren't really poor, or that they do not deserve any assistance unless they are as poor as the poorest person in the world.

The Trump administration wants to give a black mark to any immigrant who receives assistance, so that when it comes time to decide on his application for citizenship, he will have a major hurdle to overcome. Trump has made it clear that he doesn't want to receive anyone from "shit hole countries" and he'll do almost anything to discourage them, including taking their children and incarcerating them.

"The poor man has one plea, his want and his standing

in need: do not require anything else from him; but

even if he is the most wicked of all men and is at a

loss for his necessary sustenance, let us free him from

hunger."

~ St. John Chrysostom~

The continuous message with which we are being pounded is that poor people are less than others. Poor people are criminals. Poor people are addicted to drugs. Poor people are responsible for whatever is lacking in the economies of other people.These ideas are fueled by the propaganda of scarcity. This lie is promoted by greedy people who have far more than they need. Something like 27 Americans own as much of our country's wealth as the rest of the millions of others. They spend a lot of money advertising the philosophy of scarcity and cutthroat competition. Every one of society's ills are blamed on the poor, the sick, the brown, the different.

I reject that false vision of the world.

"[Commandment to kings.] Open your mouth for the dumb,

for the rights of all the unfortunate. Open your mouth, judge

righteously, and defend the rights of the afflicted and needy."

~Proverbs 31~

What I want is for everyone's circumstances to rise to the level where we all have yummy, healthy food, safe and comfortable housing, good medical care, comprehensive education, and the joys of art and culture. No one would feel the need to have an abortion. All children would have a loving, happy family life.

Rather than demanding that our poor live as poorly as those in the poorest banana republic, I think God wants everyone to be lifted up. Instead of complaining that our poor people have cell phones, why not aspire to every poor person having a means of communication? Instead of looking down on poor people who are saddled with addiction issues, why not aspire to everyone having access to rehabilitation?

In short, my vision of the future is an egalitarian vision of love. It's God's explicit vision, as consistently revealed in the words of Christ and his saints.

"If there is a poor man among you, one of your brothers,

in any of the towns of the land which the LORD your

God is giving you, you shall not harden your heart, nor

close your hand to your poor brother; but you shall

freely open your hand to him, and generously lend

him sufficient for his need in whatever he lacks."

~Deut. 15:7~

What is YOUR vision?

Silver "Rose"

A PERSONAL NOTE

Garden photo, during a year

when we had some rain.

copyright (c) 2014

I am furiously working on all my creative projects in anticipation of the day when I will be too blind to do them. There are several conditions that are causing me to lose my sight, very gradually and, while I hope to stave it off as long as possible by protecting my eyes from the sun and avoiding strain, I want to do as many of my imagined projects as possible.

Currently, I am having real trouble even seeing that big 40 inch television that was given to me. I have to squeeze my eyes very tight, and even then, I can't make out very much of what is on the screen, though it is not far from my chair.

As most of you probably realize, Medicare doesn't pay for eyeglasses or dental work. Eyeglass insurance doesn't come anywhere near to giving me what I need.

Because of the complexity of my issues, I need three separate pairs of eyeglasses: One for computer work, one pair of really dark sunglasses, and one for daily activities and reading. The last two would be progressive lenses, while the computer glasses are measured according to how far from the screen I keep my eyes.

Each pair will cost about $250. I may be able to reduce the prices if the optometrist allows me to use some old frames that I have kept from years ago. Sometimes they don't want to do that, and they will not guarantee that they won't break them. I hope to use the old frames for sunglasses, at the very least.

Once I get the eyeglasses, I will need to campaign for some dental work, which I'm not looking forward to doing - but one thing at a time.

I realize there is a lot of need in the world at this time. So MANY people are suffering now! If I had any resources, I would definitely use those, but I don't. If you can give a bit toward my eyeglasses, that would be great. Please donate through the Paypal link on this page (above my profile picture.)

If you are unable to give, please consider telling your friends and/or posting my blog to your Facebook. I also have a gofundme page, if you'd like to use that. Just attach a comment to this post, and I'll figure out how to direct you to the right page on the gofundme site.

God bless you all!

Silver Rose

COSMIC POO POO

My living room shrine table

Silver Parnell

copyright (c) 2018

I am politically schizophrenic. I fall on the "progressive" side when it comes to protecting the rights of the vulnerable, feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and being kind to the prisoner, but I fall into the "conservative" camp when it comes to abortion, euthanasia, and the strength of the family as the crucial pin upon which all the cogs of society are attached.

I am not at home on either side of the progressive/conservative divide, except in regard to specific policies. My fractured political leanings are informed by my very cohesive and deliberate religious orientation. I try, to the best of my ability, to adhere to the commandments of Jesus. Whatever Jesus said was a positive good is what I vote for. It can be a challenge, as should be obvious.

My friends and associates are every color of the rainbow, but one thing has made itself obvious. Both conservatives and progressives have developed x-ray vision when it comes to the thoughts and motivations of other people. Isn't that remarkable? (Sarcasm.)

I read a conservative post this morning in which a conservative claimed that "the Left" hates the Constitution and basically wants to destroy America. All lefties are commies. Every progressive cause is funded by George Soros.  I don't know who he is, but will someone tell me his email address so I can get my check? Seriously. I want my check. If you know this topic well enough to be so sure that he is funding all the progressives, you'll have his email address.

A conversation by mostly left leaning people, on the other hand, claimed that the motivation of conservatives is that conservatives want to stop abortions, for instance, because they want to control women! It is all about the subjugation of women. Excuse me, but I know that to be crap. Just crap. Of course, there ARE personalities in the world who like to control others, but that's a different topic. 

In my experience, conservatives want to outlaw abortion because they want to save babies from being killed. They are coming from a position of love, though claiming love as a motive while excusing cruel governmental policies at the same time puzzles progressives. It seems hypocritical. I don't know the answer to that one because this is a complex issue.

At any rate, each side believes the other has evil motives and intentions. This is ridiculous and it has to stop.

I DO know of a few sociopaths who would be delighted to destroy the world, or just enough of it to ensure that only they and their servants are left. That does happen. (I have one in the family, and she scares the crap out of me.) It isn't that these type of people don't exist, it's just that their numbers are small, thanks be to God.

Devotion to the truth, alone, should dissuade us from imputing evil motives to half the population of America. My personal experience, with both the left and the right, have convinced me that nearly everyone wants the best for America. We disagree on method and particular vision.

So, how did this happen? It is probably due to political messaging. Politicians energize their base by stoking animus against their opponents. They claim evil motives. They throw some lies in there to excite our fear or loathing about the other candidate, and we fall for it.

If you only talk to or listen to people who already share the same ideas about the methods of best running the country as you do, you're just sitting in an echo chamber. It might feel good to have your views echoed back to you all the time, but it isn't good for you. 

So, what do we do? Well, I suspect that the first thing is that everyone who is attached at the hip to a particular politician or party needs to attach themselves to Truth instead. Truth has gotten a terrible beating over the last few years, and I'm not just talking about all the gibberish that comes spilling out of Donald Trump's mouth. Truth is not always readily evident, and we have to invest some energy in digging it out from all the social noise. Don't just listen to one radio station or one personality or one group of people.

There is something uniquely peculiar in the case of Fox News, for instance. Donald Trump watches hours of television every day, and he reacts with twitter rants as a direct result of whoever is talking on Fox at the moment. Sometimes, he even announces policies in response! Before the shutdown, he had agreed to sign a funding bill that had already passed the House and the Senate, but when someone criticized him for it on Fox, he reneged on his agreement. That's why we have a shutdown.

Meanwhile, many of his supporters ALSO watch only Fox News and they don't read newspapers - so there is this echo chamber of ideas bouncing around inside that little bubble. Fox is not just "biased." It barely qualifies as news. It is telling the president of the United States what to think. It is telling his supporters what to think. Fox News is running the country.

The odd thing is that what happens on Fox is not reflected on the rest of the news outlets. Some conservatives say that all the journalists in those outlets can't be trusted because they are "biased" and therefore not truthful. Upon examination, it is obvious that this CAN'T be true. You're talking about millions of people having to be "in on" the conspiracy to report something OTHER than the real news. It's just not feasible. And some of the newscasters that Trump says are "liberal" are actually conservative, but they disapprove of his many questionable activities.

I am not saying you should stop watching Fox. I watch it, selectively, but I can't say I get much factual information from it. Most of it seems to be a cheering section for Donald Trump and the Alt Right. Just remember that "news" consists of who, what, when and where. If the outlet is giving you a lot of "why," it is commentary, not news.

I watch many different newscasters, including Fox, and I read quite a few newspapers daily. You may not have the time for quite as much as that, but you can develop your own version of absorbing information across the spectrum.  One day soon, I will write an article about my research techniques. I DO truth-test just about everything I post on Facebook, for instance. 

In the meantime, I suggest that, instead of pretending to be Madam Zelda with the crystal ball who knows the motives and thoughts of millions of people, take the time to talk to someone in the opposing party - not with the idea of converting them, but just in the interest of information gathering.

Now, this will be difficult, because most of us are so angry now that we often fall back onto griping about the other side. I would suggest asking the person what they want for America. What is their vision? Ask people about their motives. Don't assume. Ask.

I will be so glad when this phase has dissipated and I can take some attention off the topic of politics. If the right wing hadn't crowned Trump with the (false) crown of Christianity, I wouldn't be doing this now. It has put a crimp in my peaceful meditation time, and I look forward to eliminating the distraction, but I just can't stand idly by while Jesus is misrepresented so heinously.

I just encourage all of us to devote ourselves to Truth with reverence and discretion, and behave accordingly.

God bless us all.

Silver Rose

What Will History Report?

Winter in Old Town Albuquerque

Copyright (c) Silver Parnell, 2018

It has been a rough few weeks, and I have been knocked off my pins. Two days ago, a robber tried to steal a bicycle near my house, and we were in lockdown for the entire day, while the police and their swat vehicles and boats and horses and all kinds of armored this and thats were camped out in the middle of the street. They didn't catch the guy. For someone with PTSD, this is a particularly stressful situation.

I was already feeling somewhat pressurized because of the misogynistic, bigoted, xenophobic government being pressed into place by the current "leader" of our country, along with his fawning sycophants in the shockingly transformed Republican Party.

Last month, I wrote about how a supermarket employee expressed hostility toward my disabled status, telling me that, "I believe in Trump's law. Unless you've got two arms cut off or two legs cut off, you're not handicapped!" It took several weeks to call him to account for this outrageous verbal attack and, although he was suspended from work without pay for some time, I was left with the stress of having been the recipient of Trump's disgusting animus, through one of his MAGA nuts. I continue to remind the skeptical that the supermarket employee sailed into his diatribe without my having said anything even faintly political. When the president of the United States sneers at, mocks and criticizes disabled people, this is what happens. None of the MONEY trickles down, but the insults and the prejudices sure do!

~Trump mocking a disabled man during a pep rally~

I have had people tell me that I should just ignore what Trump says, that it doesn't have anything to do with me and does no good to say anything, but they are dead wrong. My life has already been directly affected by his nauseating comments and behaviors. He has emboldened and encouraged hateful people who, in turn, inflict their vile bigotry and ugliness on me and others like me. Fat, female, senior, disabled; I've got four strikes against me, in the mind of the Trump supporter who feels entitled to torment me and others like me. In addition, I live in low income housing, and, if it is discovered, is yet another mark "against" me because the alt right wackos claim that all the social programs are rife with fraud (which is a lie.)

Trump supporter

We're in the middle of a government shutdown that is costing 800,000 Americans the loss of their income and is risking their basic survival of food and housing. Our Federal lands are being vandalized and trashed. TSA workers are calling in "sick" at double the customary rate because they aren't being paid for what is, at the very best of times, a stressful, physically demanding job, which makes it all very unsafe for travelers.

Trump is holding us ALL hostage, really. Despite the fact that illegal immigration over the Southern border is at its lowest since the 1960's, most "illegals" are in this country on VISA OVERSTAYS, and the drugs are coming through the standard ports of entry - not smuggled illegally across the border, Trump is fixated on having a WALL, which is a decidedly low-tech method, even if the problem WAS illegal border crossings! But it isn't.

[Note: The source information for this chart comes from the U.S. Border Patrol.]

The problem with this particular issue is that, instead of leaving the method up to the experts, Trump has slapped them aside and is insisting that everyone accept his opinion about the proper method of fixing a problem. The underlying defect, of course, is that, although he bleats constantly about a "crisis" at the border, there isn't one. Illegal entry over the Southern border is the lowest it has been since the 1960s.  Sure, it happens and it has to be dealt with, but there are a variety of measures that the experts recommend.

So, Trump wants to spend billions of dollars for a low-tech solution to a nonexistent problem, and that bit of crazy is why we are all on tenterhooks - conducting our lives under a bleak, dark cloud of foreboding. I'm afraid Trump will start a war, in order to distract us from his crimes, or simply because he bungles his way into it because he doesn't have a clue about how to be presidential and refuses to get counsel from anyone. His followers don't respect experts either. I have given up responding to their hysterical, overblown comments on social media. I just block them when I see another overwrought, lie-filled comment. I can't deal with it.

Our constant sense of apprehension or anxiety is well founded. We have been here before. Trump's fascist, authoritarian tendencies are easily compared with those of dictators like Hitler, who, as I've mentioned before, was also fond of calling the press "fake news" ("Lugenpresse") and was prejudiced against the same minority groups, with the exception of the Jews, who are the darlings of a segment of the electorate that identifies as Christian.

Yesterday, Nancy Pelosi and other representatives were about to board a plane to go to Afghanistan and, at the last second, Trump issued an edict to Pelosi telling her that none of them may go because they should be staying home to negotiate with HIM. Pelosi already did her job and passed legislation through the House that temporarily funds the government until border security issues can be resolved, which then passed the Senate and Trump refused to sign it. There is a remedy for that, but Mitch McConell refuses to follow procedure. Other Senators have tried to bring it before the Senate (again) and McConnell just objects. You get the picture. Trump is acting like a 12 year old. McConnell and the GOP enable him.

A flood of information about Trump's Russian connections continue to flood in from the various cases that have been turned over to the Department of Justice. Although Trump keeps bellowing "no collusion" every time he is the same room as a reporter, we also have a lot of quotes from him from the pre-presidency years when he and his sons bragged about all the money they were getting from Russia. What does this have to do with me?

Well, Russia is the enemy of democracy. It is run by oligarchs who steal all the money they can from their people, and they murder anyone who gets in their way. It looks very much as if Trump is just another "convenient idiot" through whom Putin originally thought only that he would launder his money, but now that he is president, they are making greater use of him.

Trump's longtime attorney has recently testified that Trump ordered him to lie to Congress. One of the many articles about that can be found HERE

Russia would be thrilled if America would leave NATO (which Trump wants us to do) and, I don't know about you, but I rather like democracy and I do not want it messed with.  But it has ALREADY been messed with - during the last elections. It has been confirmed by OUR intelligence agencies, and they are a lot more credible than Trump.

I am astonished that more people are not alarmed, stressed and anxiety ridden. Our entire way of life is under threat.

Winter in the neighborhood

Copyright (c) 2014

So, I don't feel like writing blissful little tomes about the beauty of meditation and prayer this week. Certainly, I am praying and meditating a lot lately. I am in constant communication with the Lord - but He is the Lord of free will. He doesn't force his will on anyone. Occasionally, He chastises. Sometimes He heals. Sometimes He appears. Sometimes He sends his angels. But He doesn't usually force Godless oligarchs to stop attacking democracy, and I am not so surrendered and sanguine that I am oblivious to the dangers.

Christianity is not magic, folks. God doesn't manipulate Heaven and the world in favor of Americans, as if they were His chosen people. We are expected to behave a certain way. Perhaps all of this has been visited upon us because our Christianity has become a sham. I really don't know, as I do not speak for Him, but I do dread the punishment that may come our way.

Know that I am praying, but I hope you are praying also - and also DOING. Spread the word of God's goodness and mercy, yes - but also spread the word about what He expects of us.

God save us all.
Silver

ABORTION

Some people are so preoccupied with the topic of abortion that they talk of little else on social media and elsewhere. Nearly every political and cultural conversation gets hijacked onto this topic, due to the tunnel vision of the abortion-obsessed, and I am tired of continually taking that detour, so I have written this statement of my position on this issue. From now on, every time someone tries to wrestle a conversation from the price of cilantro at my local market to THE HORROR OF ABORTION, I am posting a link to this blog entry and moving on without further comment.

I do not like abortion

I am not in favor of killing babies. I do not "support abortion." Abortion is horrible. DUH.

Nor will I abandon every commandment of Christ in order to vote for people who say or insinuate that they will make abortion illegal. Making abortion illegal was never a successful method of eliminating abortion. When you make it illegal, you only make it less safe. Because abortion has always been available to women and they will resort to it if pushed.

If we really want to eliminate abortion, we could make our country more family friendly and follow the examples of the rest of the industrialized world by making maternity and paternity leave available as well as free child care. Instead, we behave as if each one of us is in competition with every other American. We behave as if we hate one another and must fight each other to the death for limited resources.

We do not have limited resources. It is just that all the resources have been handed over to a tiny number of people while the wages of the workers that create the wealth are suppressed. When asked, women say that they get abortions because of MONEY. They can't afford to raise a child. It is IMPOSSIBLE. Most workers in our country do not receive a living wage.

The right wing uses abortion as a lure to capture voters when their real agenda is to accelerate this enrichment of the wealthy while they torment, starve and further impoverish the poor.

For instance: In the two years Donald Trump has been in office, Planned Parenthood, the biggest abortion provider in the U.S., has been funded by the government something like 9 times. He's seated one truly wretched supreme court judge, whom I firmly believe DID sexually attack Dr. Ford during a party. (In addition to my customary research, I watched all the videos of the hearings.)

The GOP treated Dr. Ford shamefully and, indeed, as I watched the debacle on television, I felt I was witnessing a second rape.

Watching Kavanaugh sputter and riot his way through a decidedly partisan, voluminous defense, his puckery red mouth, wet with the spittle of his outrage, made me want to retch. I vowed never to vote Republican ever again, when everything was said and done. Will Kavanaugh deliver the promised abolition of abortion? He is dishonest enough to renege on his subtle promise in that regard, but he WILL likely save Trump from being thrown into prison for criminal wrongdoing. The whole vile mess makes me sick.

Catholics are not required to vote Republican

The Republican Party, as it is currently constituted, stands for positions that are directly in opposition to everything Jesus advocated. The only quasi-Christian position on their platform is the supposedly "pro-life" position, which actually boils down to a very weak anti-abortion position that only makes it illegal, when illegality has never prevented abortions. It only prevented SAFE abortions.

Anyone that claims that Catholics "have" to vote Republican is lying.

Pope Benedict clarified this during his term as Pope. (See the quote below his picture.)

A catholic would be guilty of formal cooperation

in evil, and so unworthy to present himself for holy

communion, if he were to deliberately vote for a

candidate precisely because of the candidate's

permissive stand on abortion and/or euthanasia.

when a Catholic does not share a candidate's stand

in favor of abortion and/or euthanasia, but votes

for that candidate for other reasons, it is considered

remote material cooperation, which can be permitted

in the presence of proportionate reasons.

~Pope Benedict~

My opinion: Criminalizing abortion does not solve the problem

There is no corroborating research or statistic that supports the idea that making abortion illegal is a working method because, as history has borne out, women get abortions, whether legal or not.

American laws, generally speaking, reflect the will of the majority of the people, in concert with the guiding principles laid down in our Constitution.

Abortion is legal, but it is not mandatory. This isn't china, where parents are only allowed to have a certain number of children and are thereafter forced to abort subsequent children.

If no one wanted an abortion, we could have an abortuary on every street corner and they would be empty, and this fact relates to my central position.

The remedy must address the needs of both mother and child.

Pro-lifers and pro-choicers are equally vehement in their insistence on the rightness of their respective positions. Pro-lifers are advocating for the babies. Pro-choicers advocate for the mothers. It is a furious pitched battle between them, which is why we need a nuanced approach that advocates for BOTH.

How can we do that? Well, first of all, stop obsessing about whether or not abortion is legal. Even when illegal, is it STILL available, and pretending otherwise is just naive and unrealistic.

We must evangelize the culture

As religious people, we need to stop behaving as if we can (or should) try to force other people to obey our moral laws when it comes to sexual behavior.  Sexual immorality and the pregnancies that may result from it are beyond the pale of what Christians can expect to manipulate. We need to remember that Jesus did not force anyone to follow him. He invited them.  We should do the same by working to evangelize the culture to gain the hearts and minds of a majority, which is absolutely within the mandate given us by Jesus.

Thirdly, we have to be realistic about the limitations of the American legal system when it comes to impressing Christian norms on it. The separation of church and state has been a fundamental criterion from the very foundation of our country and, while I agree that the founding fathers probably did not anticipate that many Americans would one day belong to non-Christian religions (or no religion at all), the overriding conception of individual freedoms can't be ignored.

In the arena of abortion, even if the law were to recognize the rights of the unborn child, you cannot divorce the baby from the mother until it is born. The law will never again allow the rights of the unborn baby to circumvent the rights of the mother, regardless of whether or not we believe that an abortion murders a child. That ship has sailed.

If you want to make laws, enact laws that support moms and babies.

It is not logical to stand in the way of legislation that financially supports poor moms and their babies, either through direct money or services such as free day care, and at the same time pretend that we care about the babies that suffer because its parents are poor and we refuse to fund their relief.

Babies need food, shelter, utilities, clothing, transportation and day care. If a young woman does not have the income to give a child those basic things, abortion will be the only way out. Forget adoption. Most women know they couldn't give up their child, once they've given birth, and if they don't have the money to support a child, they don't have the money to get themselves through a pregnancy either.

Women do not "want" to kill their children, either through abortion or, in the alternative, through poverty, illness and disease. They are forced into this decision because financial difficulties are the primary reason women cite for choosing abortion.

Legislation doesn't solve every human issue

People who resent tax dollars being earmarked for the poor are resentful because they are selfish, first of all, but in the case of the American Christian, it is often the mistaken belief that supporting illegitimate babies will 'encourage" young women to have lots of children they can't afford. There is no proof of that and, even if it were true for some, the number would be quite small.

I would remind my fellow Christians readers that if there are a few "extra" babies in the world, it's not a bad thing. Right?

Hear this: There is nothing you can do about anyone else's larcenous heart or grifter tendencies. There will always be a small percentage of people who are like that. You can't do anything about it.

There is also nothing you can do about lazy people. I know a young, healthy woman, only 20 years old, who refuses to get a full time job. She says part time is "enough." When I ask her what she'll do if she has an emergency, she asserts that her mother will have to pay the bill! I wonder if she got her mom's agreement to that? (I know her mother. She has one full time job and one part-time job. I'm guessing she's not happy about any of this.)

In any case, nothing is perfect, and we cannot sacrifice a great good because it can't be perfect. Someone will take advantage of our generosity. Someone will steal. Someone will lie and cheat. We have to do the best we can. Here is what Saint John Chrysostom says about it:

"The poor man has one plea, his want and his standing

in need: do not require anything else from him; but even if 

he is the most wicked of all men and is at a loss for his

necessary sustenance, let us free him from hunger."

~St. John Chrysostom~

Obviously, a baby is entirely innocent and, even if I agreed with you that it is a bad thing to encourage immorality by supporting moms who are having sex outside of marriage, for instance, we would still have to support the babies, right? Part of supporting the babies necessitates supporting the mothers. You can't separate the two.

Don't scream at me.

Now, I can hear people screaming at me already, and I haven't even posted this yet. There are some of you who are singularly focused on the fact that abortion is murder, and you can't SEE anything but that, you can't HEAR anything but that, and you can't TALK about anything but that. Just know that, as long as you refuse to see, hear or discuss anything but the fact that abortion kills a baby, you will be a miserable failure in your attempts to win people over to your way of thinking. You cannot sway people over to your side by hitting them over the head with a hammer. That approach does not work.

Stop spreading superstitious lies about pro-choice advocates and talk to them instead.

I am sick of watching the right and the left fling insults at one another and lie about each other. The right says the left just "wants to kill babies." The left says the right "just wants to control women." They are both off base. Instead of imagining the motives of the other side, it is time to listen. Get on the same page somehow and start using the same language to have the discussion.

At present, the pro-choice people are just as disgusted with you as you are of them, and it isn't because they are, supposedly, evil. it is because the anti-abortion people refuse to see the issues that bother those on the left.

The peculiar quandary in which we find ourselves is that both sides think they are arguing for the greatest good and that the other side is malicious. This is an impossible impasse that we must overcome if we are to make any progress in lessening the numbers of abortions.

Somehow we have to arrive at solutions that respect and dignify every human person. The rights of the mothers and the babies have got to be supported at the same time. At present, the pro-choicers advocate for the rights of the moms while the anti-abortion crowd speaks for the babies. We need a comprehensive approach that supports both.

God save us all

Silver Rose

SAINT PASCHASIA AND DONALD TRUMP

WINTER IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD

When I was a nun in the Hindu convent, we didn't have a television or a radio until shortly before I left. A well-meaning devotee gave us an old television on which to watch educational things, and for some of us, it was a problem.

Lunch at the convent.
No television in the dining room!

It was a great, heavy ugly box, and the picture wasn't too good because this was in a big, crowded city and we had no cable for reception - just the rabbit ears. One of the middle aged nuns could not resist the temptation and was often found ghosting around the library, waiting for an opportunity to watch it. It was a real problem when we had overnight guests, because their bed was in that room, and every once in a while a guest would go back to the room to take a nap mid-day, only to find this random nun lolling about.

I never watched that television. I was so in love with the life of being a nun, devoted to God. I couldn't imagine taking my mind off bliss and onto commercials. Now, although I am no longer part of an institution and there is far more quality programming available on television and other screens, I am STILL highly selective. Last night, however, I had to tune in to what what I anticipated would be something embarrassing, at least - and horrifying, at worst.

Trump, during his address to the nation

January 8, 2019

Despite his continuous slander of American journalists, Trump exhibits no shame or sense of hypocrisy when he requests special, prime-time media coverage so he can start his bid for re-election in 2020 with a misinformation campaign calculated to gin up his "base."

Typically, a president will address the people on prime time when he actually has something to announce - something real, but last night, I watched in disgust as Trump lied his way through a smarmy announcement that appeared to serve no perceivable purpose, other than to terrify the unwitting and gain enthusiasm for a wall on our southern border. 

Trump announced a "humanitarian crisis" that doesn't exist and ignored the actual crisis that Trump himself started. He shut down the government in an effort to hold us hostage and force Americans to pay for the wall that he insisted MORE THAN 200 TIMES that Mexico was going to pay for. 800,000 government employees are not receiving their wages because of this. THAT is the "crisis" which threatens to destabilize our economy while it takes food out of the mouths of families and endangers their housing.

Most of us are appalled by all of this, but Trump's supporters resolutely listen only to him and swallow his penny-dreadful, melodramatic version of life, without suspicion or fact checking. He said it. It must be right.

Well, it isn't right by any stretch of the imagination. Wedged between his self-inflated and bogus tales of how he marvelously comforted scores of Americans who've supposedly had their family members murdered by hordes of illegal alien terrorists in gruesome fashion, he inserted some "statistics" that were already disproved by his own government's data! Instead of tens of thousands of terrorists captured at the southern border, there was actually only SIX (6) persons that were suspected of having terrorist ties. I would be embarrassed for him, if he wasn't such a deliberate con artist - which has been  his reputation his entire life.

I long for the days when I could afford to ignore what was happening in our government, when I could proceed through my days with paintings and prayers, while leaving the business of governance to our expert representatives, confident that they would carry out the mandates given them, more or less. Now, I can't help but watch as this political version of a daily 10-car pileup happens on the freeway of American life, because I have to be better informed and prepared for the letters and emails that I thereafter must send to the few government officials who haven't entirely lost their minds in this insanity.

I have a theory that it is much harder to become a saint these days - partly because of all this media: television, kindles, computers, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon. There is a lot of distraction, combined with a rather high degree of comfort. It makes it more difficult to focus than in the early days of the church, for instance.

The Martyrdom of Saint Alban

by

Matthew Paris

If we'd had television or even a printing press when Saint Paschasia was alive, then we might know more about the saint I have chosen for today. There are at least ten saints we celebrate on this particular day, as there are more saints than there are days in the year, so they all have to share.

Saint Paschasia, yet another young virgin martyr for Christ, was killed for her faith in Dijon, France toward the end of the second century. Saint Gregory of Tours later mentioned her, when she had been a saint of constant veneration for many years by that time. Other than that - bupkiss. She was evidently well known, but her fame was spread by word of mouth, and people don't live forever. Eventually, the history of her life fell out of the mouths of the people. It can't be helped. We had the written word, but it was expensive, being hand lettered on animal skins.

Saint Gregory of Tours

stone

by

Jean Marcellin

We take "the media" for granted, but there were more than 1,400 years between the birth of Christ and the invention of the printing press, which was just a faint portent of "the press" that Donald Trump rebukes daily.

There ARE some media outlets, like Fox News, that have a definite corporate agenda, but not all of them do. The really professional news outlets tell us who, what, when and where, i.e., the facts of the matter, and they do try to be as reliable as possible, relying upon proven data and statistics that has been fact checked in several ways before being published. 

Historia Franconum

by

Saint Gregory of Tours

(30 November, 538 - 17 November 594)

If you avoid the cultish purveyors of conspiracy theories and sample all of the big reputable outfits, you'll find the truth about a topic and can feel fairly sure of your conclusions. This is how I know that Trump was lying like mad throughout the entire broadcast last night. I read and watch a wide variety of media offerings these days, and proof of his lies are regularly trotted out for inspection on the news programs that Trump tries so hard to discredit.

We live in an alarming era and I can't afford to ignore the news while I float around the hermitage, singing and praying. The news that I ignored while I was in the convent was not scary news like we have these days.

Silver Rose