My Own Man.

Perhaps a controversial post regarding the last US election.  We have all and are all getting a little tired of it.  It seems that so many armchair political analysts are coming out of the woodwork to give an opinion.  To be clear, I am not a political ‘expert’ nor do I aspire to be one. 

Let’s be clear.  I don’t know Donald Trump.  I have never met him, I really don’t wish to meet him, nor do I wish to have a beer with him.  I don’t nor do I enjoy his twitter feed or his persistent outburst which are crude, and classless.  That being said, I do not subscribe to the constant media bashing, Hollywood ‘holier than though’ approach of left of centre millionaire social justice warriors crying at full blown crazy level.  My question for all out there remains this.  Like most people, I  thought Trumps’ candidature was a reflection of the state of politics in the US, but then came the Wikileaks dumps.  My opinion on who was worse changed.  Who is worse, Donald Trump, the sociopath and most probable ‘character’ that he plays on TV, or George Soros, the billionaire communist funding the Hillary Clinton/Obama machine?

All this talk about Russia, takes our eyes off the ball.   Whether or not Russia interfered in US elections does not change the fact that the content was clear.  As a Catholic, there was overwhelming evidence with regard to an infiltration orchestrated by the Clinton camp to subvert the Catholic Church at Her highest levels, initiate a Catholic ‘spring’ and finally topple Her, leaving a socialist/communist machine in its wake.  That is not to say that I’m a conspiracy theorist/’truther’ who denies 911, I am though a person who like any other human being is naturally curious and hard wired for Truth. 

The whole fake news issue has been around since the beginning of time.  We as human beings, through technology have gotten better at it.  Mafia leaders, politicians to philanthropists and special interest groups have constantly tipped the ‘media’ and balance of power in order to ensure that their preferred candidate or option comes out looking good.  Sooo,.. As much as Trump and the mainstream media are screaming Trump’s links to Russia, what about alternative right media’s discovery of an elite pedophile ring with ties to heavy duty politicians advancing a globalist agenda?  We can’t deny this, and the fact that social media is discovery this, the people who run the social media sites are also trying to curtail these stories.  Think about it this way,.. Milo Yiannopoulis had to resign from Breitbart because of controversial comments regarding pedophilia.  I agree 100% with firing him or forcing him to resign.  What he said was utterly disgusting and should be punished.  My question is why did not the same mainstream media come down on George Takai, who basically advanced the same opinion?  Couldn’t be that Milo who is nationalist must be punished while Takai, who is globalist gets a free pass?  This should make us all think…

The world is changing and gone is the traditional ‘right’ vs ‘left’ dichotomy, leaving in its wake, Nationalism vs Globalism.  The example of Britain’s exit from the European Union comes to mind (Brexit.)  Perhaps all is not what it seems to be and perhaps we have been granted a time of Grace? Who knows?

What am I saying?  To paraphrase the song from the California Raisins,. ‘Heard it through the grapevine,.. ‘believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see!’ – I’ve always been an independent thinker, neither ‘right’ nor ‘left’ but instead celebrating my independent ‘thinking’ self.  I don’t know all the answers, but I will never be a sheep to ideology one way or another!  I watch CNN, ABC, CBS, FOX, CBC, CTV, and Global.  Still I will supplement my information by watching online sources such as Rebel Media, Lifesite News, Mark Dice, Alex Jones Infowars, Church Militant TV, Next News Network  Joe Rogan podcast, and Steven Crowder.  After gathering all my ‘sources’ I will form an intelligent ‘opinion’ taking into account the sourced material being referenced.  I still will never call it Truth, simply because I will never know all the facts essentially because I am still receiving them 3^rd party.  In this light,.. Pontius Pilate’s quote to Jesus comes to mind,.. ‘Quid est veritas?’ 

I won’t post links, but instead invite all those who can critically ‘think’ to do just that.  If you find yourself on the ‘left,’ you find out that although the Christian refusing to bake a cake for a gay couple is a contrived media plot, considering that Steven Crowder proved that it is much harder to get a Muslim baker to bake such a cake!  (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgWIhYAtan4)  If your on the right, you may find out that Iraq had no weapons of ‘mass destruction.’ (I believe history has already proved this point,..).  What is the desired result is that you develop an independent thinking brain.  Devoid of all influence and instead is to be informed(So that you may form) by all these news stories, sites and opinions!  (Yes I posted one link, because well,.. its funny! :P )

God bless!

Ocram, from Bizzaroland speaks!,.. (He is mad at Marco,.. in a non judgemental way though!)

My name is Ocram, and well, I don’t believe in freedom.  Soooo many times I hear Marco, (who is nothing more than a chauvinistic alpha male/mysogenist) speak about Faith, weight training, fighting and,.. I can’t believe I’m gonna say this but gun ownership!  In Canada!  When hearing stuff like this, I need to run to my safe space where I pet kittens and baby seals for an hour.  Why?  Because this ‘triggers me!’ 

What is Marco’s deal with Catholicism?  I mean I like Jesus and think He was a special teacher!  He is equal to Guru Namako Muhammed Al-jafar, or still no religion, just spirituality,.. Unless its Gaia, the goddess of ecology and feminism!  The Church is archaic and backward!  I mean how dare Jesus rise from dead any more than any other wise ‘spirit teacher?’  That is male dominated and closed minded!!!Women too should rise from the dead!!!  Sheeeesh!!!  Back to the safe space to blow bubbles! 

Why does Marco always speak about ninjitsu or judorate or whatever promoting violence to young kids?  I mean if no one knew these things, or how to fight, the world would be so much better,.. I mean imagine dialoging with that guy who wants to mug you?  You know that he is most likely a white man (and Trump supporter!)  We could sit and have tea, then he would most certainly know the error of his ways!  Gaia bless him! 

Why does Marco support ‘freedom’ which naturally leads to ownership of firearms!,.. As in GUNS!  (Wait I need to get to my safe space in order to handle some play doh, and blow some soap bubbles while petting some kittens,.. Phew!,.. K,.. Better).   Imagina a gun free zone?  We could put up a sign indicating that this zone is gun free and well,.. criminals are not welcome!  (Marco thinks this that criminals would call this zone a ‘target range’ but what does he know?!) 

I have said my piece, and now, I’m gonna sip my Mocha Late Frappacappaccinespresso,. While listening to Moby and preparing some vegan food,.. 

Gaia be blessed,.

Ocram.

Sunshine and Creepy hippies,...

 So the summer camp is over and my experience will be chalked away and evaluated.  Have I grown? Not sure...I will say that the call to serve Our Lord as His priest is consistently on my heart.  For that I give thanks, especially to the Blessed Mother for sustaining me through this adventure as well as all the kids, my fellow seminarian confrere (Word up Catman!) and especially the monitors would stuck with an inexperienced co-coordinator who really had no clue what he was doing!  I'm speaking of course of me!   These monitors, mostly in their late teens and early twenties taught me more than I taught them.  First off,..for kids in their early twenties,..they were,..RESPONSIBLE!  Who were these kids?  From what planet did they come from?  Hard working, efficient and all around responsible!  I love all you guys and girls, you monitors are forever 'my kids.' (and hearing '2 seconds' will never be the same for any of you! lololol!!!) Thank you for the experience.  All in all, by the grace of God, we made it!

Now on to some Optimusmastro bizzzzness!  I have hobbies.  That is no shock.  My hobbies do not include flowers, ballet, opera, theatre, or any other activity whereby men prance around in spandex (unless its WWE!).   I have never judged these people, however they love to render judgement on me!  You see when I get together with my cousin on my Mom's side, we like to shoot guns, hunt, fish, etc.... This doesn't bode too well with the weirdo 'Jesus, for me is like watching a sunset' crowd.  Soooo, in the spirit of the moment, may I present you a little something!

Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati,.................................ora pro nobis!

Our Book First!

As Catholics, we have a treasure and that treasure is God's written Word, the canonized 72 Books of the Holy Scriptures,..The Bible!  Why is it then, that we (Catholics) don't truly appreciate and unlock its treasures by meditating upon Sacred Scripture daily?  Well that is a post for another day,..Right now?  We need an Optimusmastro venting session as only Optimusmastro can do!  (Aaaaaand when I vent,..I can easily make Micheal Voris look like a cuddly baby harp seal...)  One thing about Vatican II, (You hear that whack a doodle sedevacante nutjobs who also believe in aliens, sasquatch and Elvis??!?!?!?) is that it opened us, the Catholic faithful, up to the treasures of the Bible,.so much, that practically the entire canon of the New Testament can be read in 3 yrs,..(provided you attend Mass every Sunday...)

The protestant 'reformation'(okay, deformation,.) of the 16th Century had Martin Luther essentially divorce the Scriptures from its proper place,.the Liturgy.  The Result?  Private interpretation resulting in a constant division and subdivision within Christianity, all claiming that their version of it is true.  Where to begin?  On the issue of the Old Testament, it is important to once again contextualize our thesis.  There was no set defined Old Testament canon until about AD 90 at the Jewish Council of Jamnia.  Before then, the 'educated' language of Palestine was Greek, and they, (Jesus and His contemporaries) used a version of the Scriptures known as the Septuagint.  So the protestant version of the Bible which uses the Hebrew Scriptures, is,..well,.. missing a couple (7) books!

Why the sarcasm?  Why the attitude?,..Well,.because if I answer one more email from our beloved separated brethren on this issue,..I might develop carpel tunnel syndrome, in my brain!  God bless you,..I really mean it.  You guys (Evangelicals and Open minded FundaMENTALists..) are incredibly on fire for Jesus and I truly respect that, but to accuse the Catholic Church of being 'anti' Biblical, or still hiding the Bible, or corrupting it, adding to it, heck,.even painting it green,...the entire point is that it(the Bible, all 72 books,. not your man-made edit job of 66) is our Book!!!!!  It belongs to our Liturgy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Arghhhhhhhhh!,.........Feels good to vent once in a while,...

St Thomas Aquinas,........................ora pro nobis.

The Fruits of Selfishness

I, Marco/Optimusmastro the Cybertronian for years used condoms.  I was a product of the contraceptive mentality instilled by even my 'catholic' elementary school.  Oh sure, we were told that the ideal was chastity, (wink, wink,..) but as a precaution in came Sr Tai Chi McRaindance from the congregation for Ecological Native Spirituality to teach us sex education.  We've all been there, the banana, the lesbian nun with the brushcut and pantsuit that looks like it came right from the set of 'Goodfellas'...You know the scene where the wives are gossiping.  Thank God for my conversion, thank God for Grace, thank God for Theology of the Body, thank God for my mother,(a true St Monica..)...

Why the harsh attitude you ask?  Well, the stage has finally been set, we, the 'West' have finally driven the bus right off the highway and now all we can do is lessen the impact of our crash landing.  The US is supposed to lead us, the free world, and what we are witnessing now is the final decline of the Empire, and with them follows us, Canada, the great future muslim North....  It has happened before all throughout history, a breakdown of the family and traditional values sets up the stage for an economic collapse.  You think I'm sounding 'theological' or 'fanatically religious?' Fine, then let's go the secular root shall we?  The contraceptive mentality, you know sex without consequences, kinda like chewing but not swallowing, (makes perfect sense..) turns out has consequences after all!!!  Well whaddaya know!  The west, depending upon what stats are coming out is not producing children.  If we don't produce children, then there are no future tax payers subsidizing social insurance or social security as our neighbours to the South call it.  Therefore pensions will cease to exist, because there are no people to pay into them.  You figure the average family needs to produce 2.1 children JUST to stabilize.  One child to replace the mother, one to replace the father, and the '.1' is in the case of an accidental or unforseen handicap, death or sickness.  Well we haven't been doing that...sigh...In some cases, the birthrate for western children has been 1.3!!!!!!!!!  But don't worry, because the muslim family down the street, you know the one with 4-5 children, they will replace you!!!!!  (Hey they may even replace our laws with Sharia!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaayyyyy!)  Isn't that multicultural?  Look how tolerant the Middle East is,..Sudan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia,  true tourist destinations!....You get my point.

So Mr President, sadly I can't vote you out, but you have to be the most dangerous man is the world.  Your population control nonsense, H1N1 (Yup I went there...) tax payer Obamacare funding abortions,...Can the American people please stop drinking the cool aid?  If I get called 'rascist' Canadian one more time in an email,..I'm gonna scream! (along with personally fly down to either give you an education or if need be a serious lobotomy!!!!!!  If you seriously think a family, a normal family can be defined as two men in so-called marriage and a dog..then we need our heads examined.  Abortion is the norm?  So now the new thing is sex orgies, professional people engaging in them, a truly selfish society turning itself inward where the ultimate goal is to please the 'me' the 'I' and forget everything else.  As a history buff, I can't help but draw comparisons to the Roman Empire....sad really... Freedom begets choice and choice has consequences!  God has used other people to chastise His own,...Allahu Akbar,..it is coming,  wake the f@#$ up! 

Our Lady of Akita,.......................ora pro nobis!

Grumpy Old Men Give Me an Idea!

The latest twitter news has Kevin Nash calling out The Ultimate Warrior to an MMA style shoot match.  Wow,..your thinking it must be a slow news day!   Actually I will tie it in to the Church a little bit later,..So the backround,..a tweet to Warrior asking why he doesn't dye his hair and come back to WWE,..Warrior responds, that 'He's not a dic*head looking to steal the limelight from younger wrestlers.'  Diesel fires back on Warrior's twitter challenging him to an MMA match!  Here's the kicker, not the fact that these two are wayyyy past their primes, but that none of them have any backround in MMA fighting!  (Nash's would tear his quad getting into the Octogon!)  Warrior?  Well, I admire his views, intensity and lifestyle, but C'mon!  First off, wrestling wise, he wouldn't know a wrist lock from a wrist watch!  They'd probably mutally guillotine each other and pass out!  Seriously, Nash, though a street fighter, I think would lose to Warrior,..Warrior has a lower centre of gravity, and thus I could see Warrior on his back allowing Nash to tackle him.  From the guard position, Warrior key locks or Kimora Big Daddy Cool, and big Diesel, will be parked on the side of the road out of gas!  Again, this scenerio only occurs if both know what the hell there doing!  They'll no comebacks or shaking the ropes to regain strength after you've taken a legitamite ass-kicking.  Though its receiving a lot of publicity, I think the only cool thing about it would be the build up,.and maybe the 'entrances!' ;)

Now, as this issue was taking place, it got me thinking,..hmmm (lightbulbs flashing,..) what if someone in the orthodox Catholic world were to call out a heterodox?  I could just see it now,..Cardinal Mahoney calls Cardinal Burke,..'Closed minded' on Twitter,..Cardinal Burke responds calling him out!  Not to an MMA fight,..but to an actual 'dialogue!' (their words..)  Y'know one that would actually culminate in a settled issue!   Better still what if Michael Voris called out Richard McBrien!  I definetly would love to see that debate!  My friends, as much as can have fun with these issues,..we need to take them seriously!  We are at the crossroads and not only is our Church at stake,..but so are souls. 

St Michael the Archangel,...................ora pro nobis.

Philosophy Bedtime Story for Dummies,..

So it finally happened this past week!  I was called an 'idiot' for being Christian aaaand 'if I would open my eyes to the great scientists and thinkers' of today's modern era, I would see that God doesn't exist, it was all just a fancy made up story!  Weeell, all I can say is WOW!!!!!!!  Where do I begin?   A couple of weeks ago I was in the whore of Babylon by a well meaning evangelical who sincerely thought I over-intellectualized my Faith, and now,..according to this one person, I happen to be a well meaning 'idiot' for believing in God!  Talk about extremes!   'Can you demonstrate in a simple way,..the rationality of God?'  Here goes,..

So okay kiddies,..one day, a long time ago in a galaxy far far away,.(Earth) there was this dude named 'Thales' who came from Miletus(Turkey..).  He sat up and said to himself,..what caused me?  hmmm,..after speculation he concluded, 'Water!'  Up to bat next and from the same part of town was another guy named Anaximander, this dude was taught by that Thales guy, but he disagreed that water was the cause of all things, because well,.water itself must be caused so he(Anaximander,..don't wanna lose you now,..) proposed the idea that everything stems from a 'boundless infinite.'  Now Anaximander had his own pupils, who's names were Anaximenes and another super ultra cool guy named named 'Pythagoras.'  (At this point there eyes lite up because that name sounds kinda mathematical..)  Anaximenes, differed from his teacher again and concluded that 'air' is the cause of everything!   These guys are called the pre-socratics and they were searching for the 'Arche' or material cause of everything, because, well simply put, the greeks couldn't put up with babylonian mythology anymore, the idea that its raining so the 'gods' must be crying didn't fly..Now of course there were others, Heracletes, Herodotus and Xenophanes to name a few..  Okay kiddies, time to go for a peepee break!

So now that these people had tried to use their brains to figure out just what the hell caused us, there came this guy, and we can call him the Vincent K. McMahon of Philosophy!  His name was Socrates!   This dude was an Athenian and is largely credited as the father of western philosophy!  The thing is, he didn't write anything but instead relied on his star pupil Plato,..(you heard of him?  good job!) to write his thoughts down.  The Socratic dialogue or 'conversation was born whereby an athenian stranger would ask, object and inquire about life, the pursuit of happiness and justice and virtue!  It was sooo cool because well, all the objections were laid out, and Socrates would answer them!  His desire for a just society though, led him into what we call today Socratic paradoxes, namely that no one desires or does 'evil' willingly yet we are almost pre programmed to do so! (At this point flashbulbs should be going off,..'original sin' anybody?)  The end of life saw him accused by his society of corrupting the youth and blasphemy by introducing false 'gods.'  Socrates did not fear death, and instead drank the elixir of poison after delivering his apology.

Plato.  The man,..whooo!  If Socrates is the Vince McMahon, then Plato is the Hulk Hogan of western thought!  Plato's relationship to Socrates was that he was Socrates's student and it is alleged, one of the youths that Socrates corrupted.  He was a wrestler(woohoo) and proposed theories on Mathematics, ethics, logic as well as superb metaphysics.  Plato's philosophy proposed a 'world of universals' or 'forms.'  He argued that there must exist two worlds, one of 'form' so that we, being rational thinkers(unlike a dog or a cat) already have an understanding of 'things' as they are in perception.  To see a chair, I already have an understanding of 'chairness' or 'sitting' from the world of 'forms.'  (Uh oh,..remember these Greeks didn't have the Revelation of God yet, but already our minds are being 'lifted up shall we say?) Plato believed that it was not rational to not believe in an immortal soul, because of the whole idea of the body as we see it.  A great insight into his thought process, is the 'Cave,' whereby he illustrates man's prison inside the cave only seeing what perception allows him to but the, once he gets outside,..the real world, 'forms' become truly present!!!  The 'sun' representing the ideal of the 'good.'   Okay,..peepee break number two!,..

Now on to the next dude,..Hey all you tired atheists, have you figured it out yet, that in fact it actually takes more 'faith' to be an atheist than to have a belief in Go--(oops, not there yet,..) a 'higher life power force, Vector sigma, the Matrix,..whatever you want to call 'it.'  Now as much as Plato concerned himself with the world of 'forms' or 'ideas' in the end he was a dualist,..remember the cave analogy, well, he also applied it to the human body, that the soul was trapped in it, thus the body was a 'prison.'  Okay, enough about that Plato guy,..let's turn our attention to his student,..Aristototle!!!!!!! (Glass breaks,..hit the music,..)  Aristotle, (The Stone Cold Steve Austin of Philosophy) rejected his master's universe of ideas, and instead declared that all truth can be perceptively grasped in the now, and 'things' are the in themselves there own reason for existing!  Four elements made up everything and they were earth, water, fire and wind!  (The fifth one he proposed was Aether, which he claimed that the stars were made up of,..and thus incorruptible,..Hey!  No one ever said he was perfect right?)   He, obeserved that these earthly elements were corruptible and thus subject to 'change' sooooo,.he declared 'mobile being' as divisible by substance and accident, matter and form, essence and exostance and finally potential and actual!  Ex,..I,.Marco am going to a big room.  "I' the substance,.(Me) and in potential (going) to a big (accidental) room, (actual,..but always in potential,..).  So,..Plato concerned himself with the heav--(oops,..'other world',..) and Aristototle concerned himself with temperal things.  Now if everything is cause and effect,..this can't go on forever, right?  He proposed 55 levels each attracted to the other and ultimately a final/first cause as the immobile motor!  What was that???  Logic, Thought, les Pensees!  Boooyaaaa!!  (is this all making a little sense to you??)   Not for anything,..but the Gospel of Saint John and the 'LOGOS' should be firing off in your head right about,.......NOW!

Now, throughout salvation history, God decides to reveal Himself to Moses on the mountain,..What is His name?  'I AM WHO AM'  Perfect pure Act, Pure being, no Potential,..this puzzle should be comin' together for ya,..right?  So now, Jesus comes and completely reveals God to man, reconciling ourselves to Him,..remember that predetermined 'original sin' nugget from earlier?  There were other thinkers along the way, including Epicurus, Augustine and the reigning heavyweight champion, St Thomas Aquinas!  His Summa Theoligica, although never finished, perfectly synthesized thought, creating the Catholic school of thinking known as Aristotelico-Thomist.  Truth is Truth!  Plain and simple, whether you get there by Faith or by reason, we are all going to the same beginning.

I realize that this blog post was superficial and condescending, but I believe it needed to be done in order to serve a purpose.  St Paul cites,.(Romans 2:14)   (Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law,)...I think every human being on the planet longs for God,..whether they know it or not.  Again, I didn't expand on the idea, of souls being vegetative, sensitive or rational but I believe the Atheist really has no grounding whatsoever.  As far as his great scientists go,..Hawking, Dawkins,..they all propose theories rooted in subjectivist thinking!  A base philosophical precept states that 'something must come from something, something cannot come from nothing.'  The product of the enlightenment simply divorced reason from Faith,..and is a direct result of the protestant revolt,..(sorry prots, but it is the Truth!)  To the dude who called me an idiot,..remember as Catholics we are the ones responsible for the very idea of the university,..I'm not exactly Kirk Cameron trying to proove God using the banana, as well meaning as he is,..

God Bless,..sorry,.may the 'force' be with you.