drug war and murder: Mercy's side effect is death

rant moved from my main blog.


The big local news is an "amok" murder of a family by the live in boyfriend. He used a machete, and was supposedly drunk. Ah, but was he a shabu user? No news about that: alcohol alone will cause such outbursts of course, but these murders are getting more common.

so the bishop will pray for them. Good for him. What he won't do is support the drug war or the fight against corrupt usually Catholic politicians.

It's sort of like in the election after our nephew's murder (in the cross fire of a hit against a political rival by the mayor). He held a mass and had all the politicians swear off violence. And it worked: The next hit came after the election, a week after the old mayor's daughter took over. That one missed the target but killed five bystanders. But hey, the murderous political family obeyed the bishop: they waited until after the election.

and the street kids are using drugs. Nothing new: alcohol and sniffing glue or gasoline has long been the way street kids got high, but now drugs are cheap so they have switched.

In both Brazil and Colombia awhile back there were stories of businessmen just killing the street kids who preyed on them, and the civil rights people hit the ceiling, But the civil rights people didn't take care of the street kids either: the church tries, but there aren't enough people out there, and often the kid has become feral and runs away...and here, a lot of the street level thugs are being killed "resisting arrest" in the war against drugs are a similar reaction to a slow justice system.

I am sarcastic about the SJW students who tweet hatred of Dugterte (and the bishops who oppose the war on drugs).

This is also why a lot of folks (including the Pope) are sarcastic about pro life types: They ignore the unwanted children who end up on the streets, and in the third world there are millions of them. 

But not all these kids were "unwanted": Often the moms had them to try to snare their boyfriends/common law husbands into permenant relationships. And then, after that one leaves, the next "husband" doesn't want the kids, abuses them, and they end up on the street.

Sigh.

Many of the street kids are from broken families. The Catholics try to care for them, and more power to them. What they don't stress is moral living, and this Pope is making things worse, with his "mercy" approach that seems to be to affirm people in their sin instead of preaching repentance.

of course, preaching repentence against druggies and corrupt politicians/businessmen can be dangerous: Three more Mexican priests killed recently, and here a local ex priest was killed last year for fighting to stop exploitation.

In the Philippines, the family is the first line of care: you care for your extended family.

But then people move away from family ties into cities, and that social umbrella falls apart. So the Catholics have always had extensive social welfare approach for this.

But in the modern church, the stress on social welfare often just means vote socialistic, not to live ethically. And this pope is making things worse.

"who am I to judge" and the idea that "god loves me as I am" covers a lot of sins, and has harmed our family, because the sexual shennanigans goes way past immoral living into alcohol and diverting family income to the paramours, while we are the bad guys for being so "judgemental". Sigh.

But the Protestants come in and preach personal morality, so the "husband" (usually common law) quits drinking and cares for his family, including the older children from an earlier liason of his wife.

Hence, the huge increase in Protestant conversions among the middle class of South America and in the Philippines.



The local elections are coming up so they are busy confiscating guns here: 400 so far. and a businessman was arrested for possession of a fire arm for self defense.

The Sandwich generation to the club sandwich generation

UKTelegraph:

People in their forties and fifties have previously been described as a "sandwich generation" who must support their children to buy a house and their parents to pay for social care costs. But the research suggests that today's retirees face additional pressures from an extra group who require their help - grandchildren.

Yes. My brother was the one who helped the most in supporting my mother, but I supported my grandkids a bit in the past, and now I am partly supporting my granddaughter here in the Philippines.

The reason I am posting this is not to give myself a pat on the back, but to point out that the idea that families support each other is an idea deep in most societies, including the West.

The modern alternative: The "life of Julia" who is free because of all that government help is not the norm. By emphasising government programs, it leaves out her parents and child, and posits her as a free and independent person without ties (or obligations).

So liberals lament "what's wrong with Kansas" without seeing how people actually live and that they might have different priorities.

TeaAtTrianon links to an article which discuss this sociological/cultural idea in political terms:


 Liberalism and lonliness.

from the Washington Post:

As liberalism has progressed, it has done so by ever more efficiently liberating each individual from “particular places, relationships, memberships, and even identities — unless they have been chosen, are worn lightly, and can be revised or abandoned at will.”

In the process, it has scoured anything that could hold stable meaning and connection from our modern landscape — culture has been disintegrated, family bonds devalued, connections to the past cut off, an understanding of the common good all but disappeared.

And in the end, we’ve all been left terribly alone. That’s the heart of it, really. Liberalism is loneliness. The state isn’t our sibling; the market won’t be our mate. And the more either the right or left’s solutions attempt to fill in the gaps — “more markets, for you to attempt to buy back what has been destroyed! More regulations, to protect you when you can’t!” — the more obvious it becomes that the entire concept is flawed. The institution of liberalism is caving in on itself, and we each individually feel the crush. 

the problem? The liberal idea is to give a helping hand, but like Julia, it has evolved into replacing relationships: why stay with a depressed out of work husband or marry  your immature boyfriend when the government will support you and you don't have to pick after the slob?

And for men: why marry a lady who tricks you by getting pregnant, or who gets old and doesn't cater to your narcissitic wishes, when the government will take care of her so you are free to go your own way, no questions asked.

but of course, this is only "true" of the superficial elites: Ordinary folks don't think or act that way.

The "missing fathers" lamented by the sociologist often but care and worry about their offspring, even when they are in jail or living far away from the kids.

The single mothers often sacrifice careers to care for the kids, and remember: A million older folks are the caretakers for their grandkids or other relatives whose parents can't care for them, often because of substance abuse, which of course is normalized and glamourized in the media.

So the next time you read about all those "old people" who are selfish because they are on social security, remember: some of us "retired" to care for a disabled spouse and some of us help support our extended family.

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related item: Legalizing marijuana analysis by the CDC.

remember, marijuana, unlike alcohol, has a long halflife, and they worry about safety issues in users. But the data is unclear, partly because the test for using Marijuana is not very good (long half life might show positive for subclinical amounts, and technical difficulties in doing the test), and also because many accidents that reported marijuana positive people showed that the person also had other drugs in their system.

14% of workers have smoked it recently according to the survey.

Not a big deal if it is your waiter, but what about if they are your nurse in the hospital, or if they drive a truck or schoolbus, or are working at a construction site?

but maybe they shouldn't worry too much because of this snippet deep in the article:

Of those respondents, 10,169 (54.5%) indicated that they were employed or had been out of work for less than 1 year.

Uh, do you mean 46% weren't working? well, maybe it was this high because it was a telephone survery, but we don't know anything about their drug use in this survey.

but that high percentage calls to question the low unemployment in Colorado statistics that pro drug sites have trumpeted all over the place.

the trouble with "unemployment" statistics is that they tend to use numbers from those collecting unemployment compensation and seeking a job, so miss those who are not looking for work, are too sick or old to work, who are not working in the marketplace but caring for children etc. in the home, or who are too lazy/high/drunk to find and keep a job.

The Pope has issued another letter (that no ordinary person will read, of course) and his minions and even the "conservatives" love it.

But slipped into the text: If you believe in God's laws, you are bad/rigid. Conscience is king! If you think it's okay, well who am I to judge? (so in a world where sociopathy is king, who dares to preach morality? A Canadian Jungian psychologist echoing Marcus Aurelius... duh.)

If you seek silence to find God, you are bad, (so get rid of Christian contemplation, never mind the thousands seeking this with gurus good and bad).

 and of course, abortion isn't as important as allowing poor refugees young men who are not refugees but M13 gang members/ISIS members to immigrate into your town.

Divorce is taboo, says Jesus? Well, the Pope says it depends.

I have seen terrible marriages that led to divorce, but instead of analyzing that there should be an annulment because from the beginning the marriage was a sham: e.g.one of the spouses was crazy (my husband's first wife)/lying (my uncle's first spouse and my son's first spouse both of whom married and left them quickly, admitting they had no plans to actually be a spouse) /an abusive addict (my aunt's first husband).

But here, the Pope is just saying: nah, if you get tired of the bitch and found a good looking chickie, just divorce her, like the Kennedys do. (Yes I know: Trumpieboy. But last time I looked, he isn't Catholic).

FatherZ quotes a book review that explains what's wrong with this.

Of course, if the church was in error on communion for the divorced and remarried, it meant that the previous popes were in error, that previous councils were in error, that the English martyrs were in error, that not only the Church’s moral teachings but also her ecclesiology and sacramentology were wrong, and that there were no principled reasons to reject communion for cohabitating couples or sincere homosexual couples. That is, this was not a matter of pastoral accommodation but a revolution calling into doubt the very meaning and existence of the Roman Catholic Church. It also meant that untold millions of Catholics had struggled to resist sin, and to confess when they failed, for no reason. It had all been in vain, a ridiculous hang-up without cause. (One bishop even suggested that Jesus himself had been wrong and unmerciful to reject the Mosaic law permitting divorce.) ….

here is a talk from a far right group that summarizes the problem:



ah but then we have our Lady of Akita. The Jesuits tried to get this ignored, but the bishop approved the apparition (unlike Lipa, where the Bishops were threatened with excommunication and caved in).

The work of the devil will infiltrate even into the Church in such a way that one will see cardinals opposing cardinals, and bishops against other bishops. The priests who venerate me will be scorned and opposed by their confreres...churches and altars sacked; the Church will be full of those who accept compromises and the demon will press many priests and consecrated souls to leave the service of the Lord. The demon will be especially implacable against souls consecrated to God.