November 3, 2020

Yesterday's blog dealt with the elections and endorsements (the elections part of which is happening today). Today's blog deals with yesterday, the feast of All Souls. It is also known as the Day Of The Dead in certain Spanish cultures. I don't know if the souls actually return to earth on this day, but Catholic tradition observes this time as a way to honor all the souls, those who've lived in the past, ancestors, the forgotten, etc.

I didn't have money on Sunday to honor all the departed I wanted to for the All Souls Day Mass, so I'll honor them here, in addition to my mother Patricia Faith Clarke (1942-91), who will have been passed 29 years as of this Thursday, November 5.

Donald G. Clarke (1935-95). The upcoming December 27 will have marked 25 years since his passing. I don't have anywhere near enough time or space to detail my feelings on my father here. I wonder how he would react to me being a published writer and music producer, although I can't make money off of either.

Sally Bowling (1943-2017). I didn't know until recently that she was my half-aunt, but she still is my full Godmother. She had health problems for most of the time I knew her, but she was always fun to be around. She even liked some of my music (even though she never knew that the "Memories" song was about her and my Godfather, her husband).

Larry Bowling (1941-2014). My Godfather never got to listen to my music. But he was one of 2 relatives who got me into coin collecting. When I lived in Pennsylvania at the end of 2003, I got him into attending Mass again. I didn't know until then that he was a huge fan of choir music, and it's hard to hear choir music now without thinking of him.

Rodger Barnhart (1938-2017). If it wasn't for Uncle Rodger, my parents would have never been introduced to each other. Uncle Rodger was stationed in the same unit as my father during Vietnam. My last memories of him were of the drive from Chambersburg to the Amtrak station in Harrisburg. I didn't know until then that he liked any type of electronic or chillout music. He never got to hear any of my music, but some of my recent music (especially the Therapy song) was inspired by that trip, and I got the idea for the Tribulation song right after his passing.

Hazel Stokes Clarke (1911-95). She was the only grandmother I remembered, as my other grandmother (Grace Fogal Faith) died shortly after my birth. Grandma Hazel was very eccentric. My 2015 trip to her hometown of Toronto filled in some blanks on her life (born at home, raised in an apartment above a fish and chips shop, her father's ruinous lawsuit against his brother that led to the loss of his business and emigration to Detroit). When I first got my DNA test, I wasn't sure if I was related to her. Now, a good chunk of my DNA matches (and nearly all the ones from the UK, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand) are from her branch of the family tree. Grandma Hazel also got me into coin collecting. If she were still alive, I don't know who she would be more disappointed in- me, my sister, or my estranged niece Allie.

George F. Clarke (1908-81). As he died when I was elementary school, I didn't know much about him when he died. I know his health was why my family left Colorado Springs after my father's retirement from the Air Force. I didn't know until well after he died who his parents were, his sales career, his closeness to his mother (who died before my father was born), his military career during WW2, or that he actually was suffering from ALS at the time of his death. Probably the one thing I remember most about him is a song he always sang to my grandmother. I have no idea if he wrote it himself or appropriated it from Vaudeville or Tin Pan Alley.
You'll take Grace with a bulldog face
But I'll take Hazel
You'll take Rose with a turned up nose
But I'll take Hazel
She's the kind of smarty
Who breaks up every party
Don't take Hazel, don't take Hazel
I'll take her myself, by gosh!

Richard J Faith (1915-95). The grandfather I remember most, and the soul on here most likely to still be in Purgatory after 25 years. He was good at building stuff and electrical work. I didn't know until after he died that he was into boating. I found out years after he died that he should have been a Mateer instead of a Faith (as his parents never married, and his father was drafted into WW1 shortly after his birth). My DNA test results show relation to quite a few Mateers at 3rd Cousin level and above. He was not above taking advantage of family, including coercing me to drive him to drive from Chambersburg to the bus station in Louisville, KY, when I had plans to go from Chambersburg to NYC (the opposite direction). He left his tickets to head back in my car, and it took a lot of searching in Midtown to find a FedEx to send off the tickets. About 4 years later, I ended up moving to NYC on a permanent basis. Supposedly he cheated on my grandmother Grace, but DNA tests on one of my Godmother's daughters prove that my grandmother got back at him, and he was forced to raise a daughter that wasn't his. As I am Catholic, I don't believe in Karma. But my mother, Godmother, and other aunts and uncles managed to survive their time with him.

August 15, 2017

Today is the feast of the Assumption, a Catholic religious holiday that honors Mary and her life (and after-life). I managed to attend the Assumption Mass at the Basilica on my first weekday off work in a while, while also signing up for uninsured health care at the local Catholic hospital, St. Mary's. I also removed my last vestige of Texas residency by finally switching the Taurus's license plates over to Maine for about $150.

Most Catholic holy days that honor Mary are supposed to be days of peace, but peace is in short supply in this world right now. The white nationalists and nazis are at it again, protesting and causing havoc, most recently with a white nationalist rally turned terrorist attack in Charlottesville, Virginia, on August 12. Their main protests right now are over the removal of monuments that honor a 150+ year old defeated secessionist movement. Normal countries that survive civil wars would never allow widespread worship and remembrance of the defeated enemy, but this country allowed it. For 152 years. Now that the overwhelming majority of Americans (including most Republicans, despite what the leftists say) want these monuments to the proprietors of enslavement and the end of American unity gone.

The irony is that America is waking up to these mistakes at the same time it is splitting apart again. The battle lines this time aren't over enslavement of Africans (thankfully the Confederate defeat in 1865 ended that), but over the role of government, the value of life of the unborn, and cultural insanity (i.e. the left's political correctness) versus cultural common sense. While the US is at war with itself, one of its most annoying adversaries is threatening nuclear war against it. North Korea has made similar threats before, but President Trump has figured out the status quo isn't working and is threatening to nuke North Korea if they attack the US. Kim the Insane already has the capability to wipe out South Korea, Guam, Hawaii, Southern Alaska, and California. Kim the Insane has already pissed off his Communist Chinese allies (who seem to be more afraid of Trump's actions than Kim the Insane is). I'd guess there probably will be war between Kim the Insane and the US in the near future. Millions of Koreans and Americans could die in such a war, which could easily dwarf the American casualties of the Civil War and World War 2. North Korea would lose, but what happens after Kim the Insane is nuked to Hell is what would could turn this war into global Armageddon. China could attack the US if what's left of Korea unifies into a pro-American government. Russia could get involved. Al Qaeda and Daesh could end up with black market North Korean nukes and start using them on the West. It's a scary new world.

November 5, 2016

This might be my last blog for a long while. 25 years ago today, my mother died. She had been suffering from lymphoma for about 3 years by that point. She was at the (since-shuttered) Baptist Downtown Hospital in Memphis, TN, for an (at-the-time) experimental stem-cell treatment. She died about 12 hours before she was scheduled to get out of the hospital. My mother's death destroyed what was left of my family. My father and grandmother died 4 years later, and my mother's family in Chambersburg rarely communicated with my father after that.

For about the next 80 hours, the country I currently call home faces the most divisive Presidential campaign in the last 156 years. The votes should be counted by late evening of Tuesday the 8th. By the following morning, the world should know if the next so-called leader of the free world is a billionaire idiot with some good ideas on fixing corruption and replacing Obamacare- or a corrupt leftist female canine who is anti-male, anti-Catholic, and under FBI investigation. Regardless of who wins, I see a lot more civil unrest in America's future. This election has caused deep rifts in America. Democrats blame it on Trump's caustic personality. Conservatives blame it on the corruption of the establishment. Some people believe in and advocate racial divisions (i.e. minorities against "Whitey"). Many believe in affirmative action, a deliberate form of racism. Some believe law enforcement is evil. Many believe infanticide should remain legal and be expanded. Most Democrats support government funding of Planned Parenthood, the nation's biggest infanticide provider and an organization created to prevent inferior (i.e. minority or disabled) people from reproducing. Some people believe racial diversity is a bad thing. Some think thoughts should be controlled. Some think the government should control everything and punish those who defy or oppose government regulations. Some think male nature has to be changed. Some think women are too uppity for their own good. Some think women should be beaten or killed for defying a man. Some people think guns should be banned. Many disagree, and the vast majority of those aren't criminals. Many of both parties think people of my faith (Catholicism) don't belong in the public sphere. Indeed, some of Hillary Clinton's allies (including John Podesta) advocated "infiltrating" the Church to make it more left-wing American, while others (including Andrew Cuomo) have advocated their relocation outside their political jurisdictions.

The last time such differing and incompatible ideologies competed in the national sphere, the result was the Civil War from 1861-65. For obvious reasons, unless the elements of American politics that are openly hostile to my beliefs and existence are dealt with defeat and permanent obsolescence, I don't see a future for myself in this country. I don't believe in government over-regulation. I don't believe in legalized infanticide. I don't believe in discrimination against people of different races, and I don't believe in government sponsored discrimination in legal or hiring or immigration or educational practices. I don't believe in the government telling me I have to pay more for health care than what I presently pay in rent, and that I have to pay a huge percentage of my income in government fines if I don't get their mandated insurance. I don't believe in stifling competition. I don't believe in throwing people out on to the street and denying them shelter (partially because that has happened to me before, most recently in January 2015). I don't believe in being branded a traitor or worse because I can't support or defend a country that is at best hypocritical and at worse a growing threat to the world and trying to become as much a part of the Axis of Evil as the mad mullahs of Iran, North Korea, Putin's Russia, the Chinese Communists, and Daesh/ISIS already are.


For probably the last time, here are my election endorsements for this Tuesday:

President:

I ended up voting for Trump, not because I agree with his stands on Immigration or trade or celebrity treatment of women, but because unlike McMullin or Gary Johnson, he actually stands a chance of defeating the one candidate who will make me defect somewhere else (Hillary Hildabeest Clinton). Anyone idiotic and stupid enough to vote for Clinton should contribute to the GoFundMe page I plan on activating November 9 (if Clinton wins) to pay for my international relocation, Obamacare fee, and renunciation of American citizenship fees (approximately $2-10K, $1-2K, and $2-4K, respectively).

Congress:

District 35: Susan Narvaiz over liberal Lloyd Doggett. What idiots in Austin thought it was a good idea to put SE Austin and the east side of San Antonio in the same district?

District 23: Will Hurd over Pete Gallego. At least Hurd has campaigned against both Trump and Clinton, while Gallego spews the DNC anti-Trump line.


And I would recommend Canada, Ireland, and the UK for potential expatriates regardless of ideology. Ireland and the UK are a bit more conservative than the US, while the current Canadian government is more liberal. But all 3 are far less likely to explode into civil war than the US is right now, and all 3 are freer than America.

February 12, 2013

I'm still not used to writing 2013 yet, even though it's been more than 6 weeks since the year started. I am still in Colorado Springs (for now), and since the start of the year I have moved twice. At this point, I don't know if I could ever live in a place with roommates again- my last encounter with that resulted in me going back to a FEMA hotel in Briargate on January 4. When the hotel voucher expired on January 12, I moved back to my previous (from 2010) temporary motel lodging on the West Side. Due to financial considerations, I have to move out of there on Sunday the 17th. I could barely afford Rockaway which was costing me $150 a week pre-Sandy. Where I'm staying now is costing me $160 a week, plus tax. I have no more FEMA funding and get $176 every 2 weeks in unemployment.

So much for 3 job interviews that were arranged before I moved back to the Springs, as well as 2 warehouse position offers, 1 call center job offer, 1 stock clerk job offer, 2 applications at 2 different Lowe's, 1 sales job offer from an insurance company (still not sure how they found me, as I didn't inherit the Clarke sales gene), and at least 30 other applications and job contacts since Christmas 2012..

I don't know if I should stay in the Springs after this weekend or go with an offer from my old employer Randstad to work out in Texas.

About the only things I did accomplish since I moved back to the Springs were my first dental visit/work since the 1980s, getting unemployment (although it was based on my last Colorado job because my last job in NYC never bothered to pay taxes or unemployment), and climbing to the top of the Manitou Incline on February 8, 2013.

The above picture were taken from the top of the Incline. I was too busy struggling and praying to remember to photograph my journey to the top, but the first (unsuccessful) time I tried to climb the Incline, I took the following (dated January 31, 2013)..

And something I never thought could happen happened yesterday. Pope Benedict XVI announced he will resign the Papacy on February 28. This is the first time since 1415 that a Pope has resigned. As far as I know, Benedict XVI and Celestine V are the only ones to resign for health reasons. The last Pope to resign (Gregory XII) did so to end the Avignon/Rome schism that threatened to destroy the Catholic Church. Benedict IX resigned twice (one of those times, he was paid to resign), and lived a life so dissolute that it was almost certainly a factor in the Church later mandating celibacy for priests.

So in the next few weeks, I should have a new residence (maybe in Texas) and hopefully a new job, and the Church will have a new Pope, and hopefully Benedict XVI can retire in peace.

November 22, 2012

Today is Thanksgiving Day. This uniquely American holiday is used to celebrate thanks for the gifts God has given us. For some people, those gifts are obvious- a loving family, a good job, a nice home. Some celebrate their many gifts, some are internal, some are spiritual, and many are material. Others are thankful they escaped the recent Hurricane with their lives. I guess I should be thankful that I survived Hurricane Sandy with all the major stuff safe and dry, and with a FEMA grant that will allow me to move to a place that actually has electricity and heat (although I don't currently know whether I will stay in NYC after the hotel voucher expires in 9 days or else move to Colorado Springs, Texas, or Nebraska). I guess I should be thankful that I'm spending Thanksgiving with relatives in Chambersburg that I haven't seen in years. But it still doesn't mean there is a lot to not be thankful for, indeed to be irate at.

There is still poverty. Jesus said "The poor will always be with you" (Matthew 26:11). But then that passage does not denigrate the poor, it is meant to show compassion and the Christian need to care for those who cannot help themselves. Too many people cannot help themselves anymore. They need help, but the type of help they need is subject to debate. As someone who spent 8 of the last 19 months in homeless shelters, I can argue that you don't help the homeless by building cardboard boxes to "show solidarity" with them (as a report this morning on WHP-TV suggested), but by getting them off the cold streets, getting them into indoor shelter, and helping them find meaningful work so they can afford real housing.

There is still injustice disguised as "help"- Obamacare being a prime example. This program that was intended to get more people to get health insurance does nothing to control health care costs. Indeed, it shifts some of those costs to the lower middle class who cannot afford health insurance and make too much for Medicaid through the insurance penalty tax. It is driving up operating costs for small businesses and franchises (who now are forced to pay for costly insurance) (see: Denny's, Papa John's). To avoid those costs, businesses are reducing hours for employees and hiring fewer employees. It doesn't take an economist to know what that will do to the unemployment and underemployment rates. And by re-electing President Obama, the American public has approved of his undeclared wars on the unborn (by increasing aid to the eugenics loving, abortion profiting Planned Parenthood) and the Catholic Church (by the Obamacare/HHS mandates that force the Church to pay for anti-Catholic health care practices).

For many, the solution to poverty seems to be by throwing money at those who have none. Yes, part of the problem of being poor is lack of money. Just giving a block grant to someone who has no idea on how to spend that money for needs is like burning that money in a fire pit. A block grant that qualifies as poverty in New York would be a middle class grant in Middle America. Many doesn't even know how to budget- something that should be taught in schools. Too many teachers are focused not on educating their pupils, but on their pay. There is so much bureaucracy and waste in some school districts that taxpayers are paying near 5 figure property taxes for schools that pay their administrators and janitors more than their teachers and the students who do graduate know more about President Obama's personal life and Spongebob than about Algebra and Science.

There is still general insanity- the sausage making nature of American politics, the left wing activism creeping into the American education system, the various wars throughout the world, the Satanism that pervades Al Qaeda and radical Islam, disease, hate crimes, NBC News, materialism, and the worship of money which is in full bloom this time of year. But I'll leave those discussions for other blogs at another time.

August 17, 2008

Wow.. 5 weeks in Staten Island. It beats the shelter, but some of my housemates can be annoying. Especially the anonymous one who broke that Foreman Grill I bought just before I left Colorado Springs. At least I am getting a new grill out of this mess.

Work is still work. While most of my deliveries either originate or go to Chelsea, I have had a few deliveries that are going to the Upper West Side- especially around W 98th and West End Avenue. One of my old friends from Kentucky, Lane Gold, grew up in that part of town. And now I am getting a lot more e-mails from him. I haven't heard as much lately from the other Kentucky friend who usually e-mails me (Steve Peak). And in a probably coincidental move, local drugstore Duane Reade is marketing a new iced tea called Gold Peak. If Steve and Lane do sue Duane Reade for illegally using their last names to market their new beverage, I'd like some of the proceeds since I did point out the atrocity to both of them. And I still have a car and a student loan to pay off.

Apparantly my Olympic Boycott isn't working. Normally 4th place National Bull Crap (NBC) is having record ratings from the Beijing games. But they will be back in the cellar once the games are over and when Michael Phelps starts hawking his medals for Lord knows what on North and Guilford in Baltimore.

And in other news, the Catholic Church is agreeing in principle with Judaism and banning the proper name of God at Mass. Most Jews won't even fully spell out God, in favor of G-d. But for centuries, Catholics have gone to attempting to pronounce the whole Tetragrammaton, usually as Yahweh. They are now urged to replace the Holy name with Adonai, which means "my Lord", but supposedly doesn't cheapen the name. But "Adonai, I Know You Are Near" doesn't rhyme quite as well as "Yahweh, I Know You Are Near". And now, a lot of Catholic song books are going to have to revise their lyrics. But since the name Lord or God is used instead of the Tetragrammaton in the non-singing part of Mass, the basic Mass format won't change.