Josef Fritzl, Monster

If you have been reading the news these days you are probably familiar with the name Josef Fritzl. If you are not familiar, he is the monster that was not satisfied to rape his own daughter from age 11 until she was age 18, so he built a prison for her in the basement of his home and kept her there for 24 years. During this imprisonment, he fathered are least 6 children with his daughter, a reported 7^th child remains to be investigated. Apparently this child was a twin who died and was disposed of my Fritzl like garbage.

Three of the children that Fritzl fathered were actually brought up stairs for their grandmother to raise. Mrs. Fritzl was apparently told that her ‘run away’ street daughter had dropped them off (during an absence of some kind by Mrs. Fritzl) and they were ‘abandoned’ by their uncaring mother to be raised by their grandmother. The other three were left in the basement to live or die as prisoners of their father. I only know the ages of the three children that were locked away, they were 19, 18, and 5. None of the three had ever seen the light of day, ever! My understanding is that the three ‘free’ children were good students and lived a ‘normal’ life with their grandparents.

I can’t imagine someone being as vile as this man. To imprison his own daughter and rape her for years, to fool his wife into thinking that their daughter was a run away drug addicted street person who abandoned her children. To father his own grandchildren and then to have the nerve to bring some of those children into his home for his wife to raise. And to abandon and imprison the others he had fathered as if they simply did not matter. And worst of all, when he was caught, he showed no regret or compassion for any of them. He simply thought that he had been violated because his wickedness was exposed.

Hearing video clips and reading about this case brings out the worst in me. I find myself thinking there is simply not a place in existence where this monster can get what he deserves. I don’t want rehabilitation for him, I don’t want therapy for him, I don’t want a long prison sentence for him. I simply want this monster to suffer more than all the suffering he caused others. And yet, I can’t think of any way that would be possible.

Please offer your prayers for the elder Mrs. Fritzl, for Elisabeth Fritzl (the daughter) and for the six children. All of these people will forever have to deal with the pain and emotion that comes of their involvement with Josef Fritzl. May their lives be blessed and may they flourish somehow in spite of the pain they have endured.

Food Art, Author Unknown

Hate in America and the Larry King Murder

Hello everyone,

Today I was sent a video clip from the Ellen show. It is a clip of Ellen talking about the tragedy that occurred when 15 year old Larry King told another male student named Brandon that he wanted Brandon to be his Valentine. For those of you that do not know the story, Brandon reacted to Larry by taking his life a few days later. The clip follows:

http://ellen.warnerbros.com/2008/02/a_tragedy_that_should_never_ha.php

Throughout the history of the world, Hate has been responsible for more deaths than any other cause. Hate has been marketed in a number of different packages, but it always remains the same. How many great tragedies in history began and ended in hate, the torment of Christians by the Roman empire, the torment of non Christians during the so called Great Crusades, women and girls accused of witchcraft drowned and stoned, Jews packed off to death camps by Hitler, Serbs and Croatians killing each other when they once lived in peace together, the destruction of the trade towers by some who hate America. Each and every tragedy simply because one group hated another. And as it is true on a large scale, it is also true on a small scale.

Stephen stoned for his belief in Christ, Dr. Martin Luthor King murdered for his belief that we can all live freely, peacefully and equally, Matthew Shepard left to die in the cold night hung on a fencepost simply because two men were offended that he dared to be gay. And now, 15 year old Larry King murdered for daring to ask someone to be his valentine.

The fact is that Larry King at 15 had more courage than many gay men and women develop over a lifetime. He came to grips with his homosexual nature; he openly confronted it and dealt with it. He lived with each and every humiliation and degradation for being different, and he ultimately paid for his courage with his life.

As a consequence of Brandon McInerney murdering Larry King, numbers of lives have been changed forever. Larry’s parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins, friends and acquaintances must all live with the fact that he is gone. Brandon must live the rest of his days on earth as a known murderer and his family must deal with the consequences of raising a killer. When will it all stop?

As for myself, I have resolved to not let Larry King’s death be in vain. I will show the courage of my conviction to live openly as a gay man and I will deal with the consequences of my choice. I will openly speak about hate and the need to end it in whatever form it rears its ugly head. My question is what will you do?

Note to Larry’s Parents: Thank you so much for raising a hero. As a parent I feel deeply for your loss. I will remain grateful to you and your son for the courage you have displayed as a family.

More thoughts on FLDS

I have been watching the story regarding the removal of children from the Fundamental Latter Day Saints compound. While I do truly empathize with some of the mothers involved, those who may only know that lifestyle or may be afraid to leave, I still find the whole situation frustrating at best. This is not an issue about Religion or about cultural lifestyle, it is an issue about abuse, plain and simple.

To me, it really is all about choice and about respect for the law, not so much about the life they choose. The issues here are not about people choosing to live a more simple modest life. They are not about a culture where polygamy is accepted. They are not about the freedom of people to choose a religion and to act within the boundaries of that belief system.

The fact is that there are a number of subcultures that exist peacefully within our society. The Amish, many Native American Tribes and the Shakers (the Shakers are a small dying religious sect in the New England area). All of these groups have varying opinions on how to live their lives, on how to educate their children and on how to practice their religious lives. The fact is that they are different from mainline America, but they exist and even thrive within their own culture.

The difference here is that these other groups also share a basic respect of humanity. They do not force women into loveless marriages with random men. They do not throw their teenage boys onto the streets without a home to lessen competition for young pretty brides. They do not subject young girls to being raped by middle aged men in the guise of ‘spiritual marriages’.

The fact is I don’t think that most Americans would care one bit about their polygamous lifestyle as long as it was something chosen by consenting adults and not forced on young girls by older stronger men who can abuse and control them at will. In fact, I would welcome making their marriages legal so these men would have to be responsible for their children rather than letting their wives run to the local welfare office and claim they do not know who the children’s fathers are to collect welfare benefits that you and I pay for.

Americans in general would not care about how conservatively they raise their children if the children were properly cared for and properly raised. But again, the issue here is not that they are raising their children differently, the issue is that they are using their ‘religious freedom’ to abuse these children.

They rape teenage girls and expect these girls to bear the children of their rapist and live as a spiritual wife to their rapist. They throw their own sons out on the streets for minor offenses to ensure that there is less competition for child brides, with no regard to what happens to these youngsters once they have been cast to the roadside. They abuse their children in a wholesale manner and do it all in the name of God.

I have seen recently that this group has set up a website trying to solicit donations from mainline America. They are trying to get you to use your dollars to allow them to continue in their reign of terror over women and children. Interestingly enough, they have a donation link and are happy to take your funds, but they do not offer a comment link to hear your opinions. Please do not be fooled by the emotional video’s that they display, please keep in mind that they do not take the time to video the 13 year old brides of 60 year old men after their ‘honeymoon’. They are using emotional pleas to cover the darkness and wickedness of their lifestyle, DO NOT BE FOOLED INTO GIVING THEM YOUR FUNDS SO ANOTHER CHILD CAN BE RAPED OR LEFT BY THE ROADSIDE!

Cartoon from John of AllFaith

For more about John and his minsitry visit: http://allfaith.

com/Grace

Sexual Racism, Yes or No??

Like many of us, I belong to several web based groups. In one of those groups, someone brought up the topic of Sexual Racism. The topic centered around people submitting personal ads looking for either short term lovers or for long term partners, however these ads featured race limiting comments. No Blacks please, no Whites please, only Asians please and so forth.

I am curious to see how people here feel about this issue. Is it racist for someone to express a desire to meet only people of certain ethnic groups when considering a romantic interest? Or, is it simply a matter of personal taste and attraction? Or, is it somewhere in between?

While it is on a slightly different subject, I am a large 51 year old man, single and dating. I find that many people have no desire to date someone my age or my size or both. Does that make them prejudiced, or do we all simply have preferences? Are our preferences a manifestation of our bigotry, or are they simply attractions? Have we as a society become so extremely concerned about bigotry, fairness and equality that we have forgotten that people simply have preferences about how they want to live their own personal lives?

Please take a moment to add a comment to this article and to tell us what you think. Simply click on the comment link at the end of this note and add your thoughts. I am looking forward to hearing from you all.

A response from Jeannie

I appreciate your comments. So many of the bashers we deal with daily seem to have no knowledge of the history of Gays and lesbians in the ministry. In fact they have little knowledge of how the Bible came into being. They seem to think Moses carried it down the mountain with the Ten Commandments.
they are completely convinced that there are no errors, no additions and definitely no mistranslations.
I can't remember the number who have have gasped in horror as they exclaim "...But it's the word of God..."
No the Bible plainly tell us that Jesus is the Word of God. Hebrews 1:1-10. In Genesis I:1 We read that "...In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth. To carry this thought a little farther, God said, (Jesus in action) Let their be light. There was light. the Bible hadn't been formulated yet.
this is not Bible bashing. It is all we have of Jesus Thoughts and Actions.
So I'll sign off now and maybe write a little more later.

Note: Jeannie, thank you so much for your response! Mickey

Message from the Mission of Saints Sergius & Bacchus

Do You Know Jesus?
A Reflection for the Fifth Sunday after Easter
Acts 7:55-60, Psalm 31, 1Peter 2:2-10, John 14:1-14
By Rev. Robert Johnnene OFD
Mission Saints Sergius & Bacchus
A ministry of the Franciscans of Divine Mercy , RCCI
www.MissionStSergius.org
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/EverlastingLoveOfChristMinistry
http://groups.yahoo.com/Divine_Mercy_Franciscans

Jesus said; “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you know me, you know my Father too. From this moment you know him and have seen him.’(John 14:) These words taken from today’s reading are very important in my way of thinking. They are important because it seems that Jesus is telling us, in very plain language, that if we recognize and accept that Jesus is the only begotten son of God, the creator of all things, we are on our way to return to God, Our Father.
Further along in the reading we hear Christ tell Phillip; “Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak as from myself: it is the Father, living in me, who is doing this work. You must believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; believe it on the evidence of this work, if for no other reason. I tell you most solemnly, whoever believes in me will perform the same works as I do myself, he will perform even greater works, because I am going to the Father.”
When we consider this teaching found in John along with the teaching found in the second reading for this Sunday from 1 Peter 2:4 - 9 where Christ compares Himself with the “Living Stone” or as we more commonly call it “The Corner Stone” we can begin to realize that What Christ gave us is a roadmap to heaven.
The Lord is the living stone, rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him; set yourselves close to him so that you too, the holy priesthood that offers the spiritual sacrifices which Jesus Christ has made acceptable to God, may be living stones making a spiritual house. As scripture says: See how I lay in Zion a precious cornerstone that I have chosen and the man who rests his trust on it will not be disappointed. That means that for you who are believers, it is precious; but for unbelievers, the stone rejected by the builders has proved to be the keystone, a stone to stumble over, a rock to bring men down. They stumble over it because they do not believe in the word; it was the fate in store for them.
But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a consecrated nation, a people set apart to sing the praises of God who called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. (1 Peter 2:2-10)
Within the passage from Peter is an interesting and ominous warning: “but for unbelievers, the stone rejected by the builders has proved to be the keystone, a stone to stumble over, a rock to bring men down. They stumble over it because they do not believe in the word; it was the fate in store for them.”
If you have ever tripped over a stone and fallen, as I have on several occasions in my life, you know how painful it can be and also how often, the pain remains for days after. So too, I believe is the pain we endure we re reject or refuse to abide by what Christ has instructed us. Often, when we reject Christ’s teachings and go off on our own merry way, we trip, fall, and commit sin.
Christ made it very easy for us to gain eternal salvation by summing up all the commandments when asked by a scribe in the following; "The foremost is, 'HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.' "The second is this, 'YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.' There is no other commandment greater than these." The scribe said to Him, "Right, Teacher; You have truly stated that HE IS ONE, AND THERE IS NO ONE ELSE BESIDES HIM; AND TO LOVE HIM WITH ALL THE HEART AND WITH ALL THE UNDERSTANDING AND WITH ALL THE STRENGTH, AND TO LOVE ONE'S NEIGHBOR AS HIMSELF, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices." (Mark 12:29-33)
Now the question we must ask ourselves is; “How do we show our love of God and of our neighbor?”
The answer is quite simple; we do it by claiming our place in the Mystical Body of Christ given us in Baptism, and by living our lives in a manner consistent with Christ’s teachings.
To do this we need to fully partake in the Sacraments especially the Eucharist, pray often giving thanks to God for all He has given us and petitioning Him for our needs, and we need to be acutely considerate of the needs of the poor and marginalized as the early apostles were in today’s first reading. The poor and needy were a major consideration of the early church fathers, so much so, that they appointed Stephen, Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus of Antioch, a convert to Judaism to serve the needs of the entire community of followers regardless of what group they belonged to.
If we believe in Christ, then we need to act like a “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy. (1Peter 2:9-10)
God’s infinite Mercy and love for every one of His children is unlimited is given freely to those who seek it. That is what we can expect when we really know Jesus and attempt to live our lives in accord with His teachings. That is the root and essence of my Franciscan order and of the message to St. Faustina in Christ’s appearance as Divine Mercy.
In knowing and living as Jesus instructed, we also know the Father and show honor, glory, praise and thanksgiving to Almighty God, The Father. AMEN

LIFESAVERS

Think Before You Act!

My thoughts on Polygamy and the ACLU

The following is a quote from a CNN news article posted at approximately 11:30 pm Sunday April 20, 2008. The article is about the ACLU’s comments regarding the removal of over 400 children from the Fundamental Latter Day Saints Yearning for Zion compound in Texas. While there is no question in my mind that the ACLU has done a good deal of valuable and necessary work to protect the rights of poorly represented Americans, I simply think that they have crossed over into the Twilight zone on this issue. The quote follows:

“The ACLU said it had a representative at the court hearing and the organization was concerned about human rights violations.

"While we acknowledge that Judge Walther's task may be unprecedented in Texas judicial history, we question whether the current proceedings adequately protect the fundamental rights of the mothers and children," Terri Burke, executive director of the ACLU of Texas, said in a written statement.

"As this situation continues to unfold, we are concerned that the constitutional rights that all Americans rely upon and cherish -- that we are secure in our homes, that we may worship as we please and hold our places of worship sacred, and that we may be with our children absent evidence of imminent danger -- have been threatened," Burke said. “

I find it hard to believe that the ACLU wants to get involved because they believe rights have been violated and that the children were in no imminent danger. If I understand what happened correctly the state of Texas pursued an anonymous call telling them that there was a teenage girl who had been married off to a man in his 50’s. When they went to the compound to investigate, they found several teenage girls, either pregnant or already mothers, claiming to be married (if not legally, spiritually) to older men.

Again, I fail to see where there is a violation of someone’s rights. The state was given a tip about certain unlawful activity on this compound and they found exactly the issues that they were tipped off about. Hmm, let me think. I have an idea that will maybe help those in the ACLU to understand the imminent danger.

In order to make their decision easier we should first select all of the females who work directly for the ACLU or women who are married to men who work for the ACLU. Next, we will bus them down to the Yearning for Zion compound and have them assigned as wives to some of the men there. It would be best if we could have them assigned to men who are not perceived to be in good standing with the cult so they can be reassigned to other men when their spiritual husbands are kicked out of the group. After all, we would not want them to miss out on heaven for eternity because they are not in service to a man, would we? Maybe loveless marriages to men who perceive a woman’s place as a servant and sex toy will wake them up.

But if it doesn’t, we will also allow these women to bring their children along. The women will have the firsthand experience of watching their new husbands train their sons to expect women to act as servants for them and learn that it is perfectly ok for a man in his 40’s, 50’s, 60’s to take a 13 year old girl as his 5^th or 6^th bride. The women will also be able to partake in making the decision as to which middle aged to geriatric man will be the appropriate spiritual husband to their own pubescent daughters.

Well now, let’s see. Anyone in the ACLU want to take me up on this offer and make the pilgrimage down to FLDS compound Yearning for Zion? I am sure that they will be able to make a much more enlightened decision regarding representing the cult when they have taken part in it!

Garden of the Gods
Can you see why I miss life in Colorado?

Somebodys Hero

Yesterday, my grandson, the strikingly handsome young man in the picture (he's older and wiser now) stole my heart once again. I was getting up and ready for work and the little guy ran up to me with his arms stretched out and gave his Pepae (pronounced sort of like Renae, only pep-ay) a huge hug. He made me feel like a hero, the way my own children did when they were small and they would be excited to see my car pull up in the drive, they would run to me for hugs and kisses and to tell me the day's events. Some days, life is just good!

I work in a Call Center...Need I say more???

“Cartoons by Randy Glasbergen, used with special permission.”

I work in a call center for a telecommunications company. It is an extremely stressful environment. First there are the demands of the company. To work in a tech support environment, an employee must learn (literally) dozens of software systems and programs, they must display the ability to be flexible enough to handle calls on numerous different phone brands and models. They must be able to handle several calls per hour and must be able to identify, access and resolve both complex and simple issues in the course of a few minutes on the phone. The employee must also meet quality standards and must meet goals that the company has assigned to them. Many centers also have sales requirements and require employees to take ongoing training to be able to keep up with the needs of the growing industry. And, as most of you know, in the modern wireless environment, phones are not just instruments used to call people. They now offer radio, television, picture and text messaging, computing, gaming and software packages, cameras (both still and video clips) and a variety of other services.

The employee must also deal with the wants and needs of the general public. Every day, I handle large numbers of calls dealing with the issues people experience with their cellular service. Most of those calls are from regular decent working people who just need a little help to get started or some assistance with a device feature that may be a little tricky to operate. Most are polite courteous and cooperative in helping the technician identify their needs and guide them to resolution. Some are frustrated and need time to vent or even on occasion to cry. And some simply have limited ability and need someone who is more skillful to help them get up and running. The vast majority have legitimate issues and just want a little help to resolve those issues. And of course, they all want to be treated with dignity and respect. But then, there are the others.

Everyone who works in a call environment knows who 'the others' are. They are the people who believe that bullying and attempting to intimidate technicians will somehow enhance their service experience. A couple of nights ago, I had a call from one of the others, let me share how that call went.

I greeted the customer in my standard friendly way. Before I could even finish the greeting and ask what his issue was, the Neanderthal was shouting and screaming vulgarities in my ear. I had apparently somehow managed to insult him by welcoming him to the center and asking how I could assist him today.

I generally allow a customer to vent and do not become particularly rattled when they use profanity, unless they direct the profanity at me and start to make personal attacks, which is exactly what this guy did. As I checked the account notes, I discovered that his pleasant attitude was widely known and recorded by several other technicians in the call center, in fact, there were 5-6 calls earlier that very day and they all ended the same way, with the technician disconnecting Neanderthal after deciding that his abuse was just not worth being made subject to. Every time I would try to break into his dissertation and ask him to identify his issue so I could assist him, I would be called incompetent and would have to again listen to a long string of profanities that would make a sailor, or worse yet, my mom blush! Apparently, I was supposed to pick his issue out of the ozone and resolve it before he had to call in, I was about to tell him that I had forgotten to bring my magic wand to work today when I snapped to reality and realized that my call may be monitored for quality purposes and that I had to be polite and handle this in a professional manner.

I again struggled to get him to calm down a bit and identify his issue. Neanderthal responded by starting his pre rehearsed litany of vulgarities and abuse. Finally I decided that enough was simply enough. I told the Neanderthal that if he could not speak to me without using profanity and if he would not identify his issue so I could assist him that I would disconnect the call.

I had no idea that Mr. Neanderthal was also a constitutional lawyer. He informed me that he wasn't about to allow the likes of me to violate his right to free speech. At this point, I truly had to hold back the urge to laugh, but I think it is sad that our right to free speech has degraded from the protection to speak new and different thoughts and ideas to protecting the vulgar profanities of garden variety thugs. I struggled to stay cool and told Mr. Neanderthal that I had no desire at all to violate his right to free speech, in fact, I defended his right to speak that way as long as he wants to, even until his voice gives out. However, I was not going to allow him to violate and disrespect me in that manner.

I then informed him that he had a choice to make, he could either continue the call in a civil manner and he could provide the information necessary to identify his technical support issue or I would disconnect him and he could call back, wait in the queue and see if another agent was willing to tolerate his abuse. I also informed him that I had been recording his call as he was speaking, that I had read the notes documenting how he had treated other agents and that my employer also defended my right to disconnect calls from abusers. I wanted to make sure he knew that his ugly manner was well documented.

Neanderthal again tried to argue the issue. I let him know in no uncertain terms that this was not a debate, he had a choice to make and he would not be given any more time to abuse, he could either clean up his act or disconnect. He opted to clean up his act just long enough to get his issue out. When I identified his issue, I realized it was something that would take only a few seconds to fix for him. I politely asked him to hold for just a moment as I fixed the problem (I did not put him on hold, I just asked him to hold so I could look up the data needed to make the fix.) Neanderthal responded with a litany of new vulgarity and hung up. I did not have the time to fix the issue before the next call came in, and frankly, I am happy that I did not have the time.

Neanderthal, if you (or others of your tribe) are out there, I have a simple lesson for you that my mom and dad taught me. You can draw more flies with honey than with vinegar!

A friendly hello to get thngs started.

Hello Everyone,

I really don't know that I have anything especially profound or enlightening to say, but I wanted to take my shot at sharing life from my perspective. A brief introduction about me, I am a 51 year old man living in the tidewater area of Virginia. I am pretty much a regular working guy, divorced with three grown children, a couple of wonderful daughters-in-law and a grandchild that is the center of my world! Like everyone else, I have my own opinions about the world around me and about how I view that world and the events in it. I am of the mindset that even the simplest person has a story and that those stories are worth sharing. So, at risk of being labeled the simplest, I will share my stories and my opinions hoping to stir thoughts and opinions from your perspective. Please feel free to respond to my posts and to share your opinions here.

It's late and I am tired, so I will keep this little introduction short. Thanks for stopping by and I hope to hear from you soon!