United States Declaration of Independence

"Bless me, Father, for I have sinned. I confess to Almighty God, and to you, Father. It is (how long) since my last confession. Since then I have ... (tell your sins) ".

When you have finished telling your sins, you should say: "For these and all the sins of my past life, especially for my sins of ___________, I am truly sorry."
http://saintlawrencethemartyr.org/How_to_make_a_good_Confession.html

The no-see-ums attacked me again last night. Been a year.

There are some 'gaps' in the living room screen and when the night brings that certain temp along with that perfect relative humidity...well it's all over!

If I have ten little irritating results from the feeding frenzy these invisible creatures had upon my body, I have a couple of hundred! One actually bit me in the back of my throat!

I feel like I must visit the local vet and get some shots and a flea collar!

I think of these invisible buggers as memories of past coming back to bite me. If these bites just occurred on my ass I would be better off, HA!

It's the bite on my eyelid; the bite in the back of my throat; the bites on my pate that really get to me!

You know what I think depression is?

Depression is when you find yourself in a funk and the invisible furies attack you with memories of everything you ever did wrong in your life when you are most vulnerable and are unable to recall the good that you might have accomplished.

Oh, the commercials tell us that depression is some chemical reaction and if you take some other chemical internally, all those memories will go away; all those aches and pains of yesteryear will go away; all those mistakes will disappear magically!

Well then why no go all the way and try some heroin? 

MERCILESS INDIAN SAVAGES AND THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/alison-owings/a-radical-suggestion-exci_b_888897.html

Huffpo has kind of an interesting squib concerning our Declaration of Independence. Alison Owings reminds us that the Declaration of Independence has more than one phrase, one paragraph and one sentiment.

Just as an aside, every culture has sacred documents; whether these 'documents' are made of stone like the Code of Hammurabi or these documents are made of parchment like one of the several Magna Carta's.

Well, if you wish to accent the positive you might list those provision of Hammurabi's statutes that highlight the best of mankind; loving your neighbor and such and ignore those mandates involving the stoning of those who take false oaths.

Or you might selectively focus on phrases occuring in the Magna Carta discussing rights and such without understanding the context of the Magna Carta. I mean the aristocracy was attempting to stem the power of the king not provide any security to some peasant!

If you insist upon accentchuating the positive, the negative accentchuating furies might return someday to bite you in the ass.

Here is a longer reference to the portion of the Declaration of Independence than provided by Alison Owings; in this section Jefferson is attacking King George III:

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burned our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow citizens taken captive on the high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare, is undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

Forgetting that both sides in the French & Indian Wars made use of the Noble Savage for a second, Ms. Owings is pointing to one of our nation's most mortal of mortal sins.

Of course some Amerindians were savage in their treatment of the immigrating Europeans; but the immigrating Europeans were not always civil in their dealings with Amerindians either! When our germs did not decimate the original Americans our creativity with firearms sure the hell did the job.

Franklin insisted of course upon editing Jefferson's first draft by omitting Thomas' reference to slavery whereby the Brits were blamed for our 'slave problems'.

The repubs recently, demonstrating their patriotism upon reaching a majority in the House of Representatives decided to recite the entire Constitution.

The entire Constitution with the exception of two paragraphs:

Article I, Section 2

Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States which may be included within this Union, according to their respective Numbers, which shall be determined by adding to the whole Number of free Persons, including those bound to Service for a Term of Years, and excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons. The actual Enumeration shall be made within three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress of the United States, and within every subsequent Term of ten Years, in such Manner as they shall by Law direct. The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative...

Article I, Section 9 of course:

Section. 9.

The Migration or Importation of such Persons as any of the States now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited by the Congress prior to the Year one thousand eight hundred and eight, but a Tax or duty may be imposed on such Importation, not exceeding ten dollars for each Person.

So certain Native Americans and all slaves were to be counted as being 3/5 of a human being.

And slave traders were guaranteed their right to pursue their livelihoods until 1808.

Now why on earth would the repubs make these two mistakes? How could they have omitted these two sections from our sacred texts as they demonstrated their abiding love in our Country?http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/01/how-much-will-it-cost-republicans-to-recite-the-constitution-on-the-house-floor.html

There is simple denial of course. Denial is a part of human nature.

As Barth points out, Jeff Davis (President of the Sons of the Confederacy) denies that slavery had anything to do with the Civil War!

Bachmann denies America's Original Sin!

Denial is one thing.

The psychotic invents his or her own universe. You cannot ascribe truth to a psychotic in the first place so how can you fault them for ignoring reality?

Pointing out the truth to a psychotic is a waste of time!

The psychotic has turned his back on reality; seeking an Elysium that does not exist in a material world.

But when we simply ignore our sins; when we know the truths and pretend to forget them by accentchuating the positive and ignoring the negative.

When we choose walk on upon the sunny side of the street ignoring that the shade is only a few yards away, we might end up being punished at a later date!

Life is a process. We have our successes and our failures to be sure. We have times when we sin, when we show cowardice, when we take the easy way out. We have times when we reach epiphanies; when we demonstrate heroic behavior; when we are victorious.

What is a good confession according to the Holy Roman Catholic Church anyway?

What is necessary to make a good Confession?
Five things are necessary for a good Confession.

1. Examination of conscience.
We should make an earnest effort to call to mind all the sins we have committed since our last worthy Confession.
2. Sorrow for our sins.
We should have sorrow for our sins because sin is the greatest of all evils. It gravely offends God and mortal sin shuts us out of heaven and condemns us to the eternal pains of hell.
3. Firm resolution never more to offend God.
We must resolve not only to avoid sin but also the persons, places and things that may easily lead us into sin.
4. Confess our sins to a Priest.
We must tell all our mortal sins to a Priest, their kind and the number of times we have committed each one.
5. Say the penance that the priest gives us.

http://saintlawrencethemartyr.org/How_to_make_a_good_Confession.html

Now this is only the half of it. What the HRCC omits is any reference to the sunny side of the street!

The ritual should include a recitation of the good things we have done during the month or the year prior to the confession.

We would have had to contemplate those good things as well as the bad things.

And the priest might have a better context with regard to our human failings.

Without getting to existential here, sometimes we reach great heights by accident; we achieve great victories doing the 'wrong thing'.

Sometimes we are punished for our good deeds.

But when we examine ourselves we must look toward the sunny side and the dark side of ourselves.

Or we may never know who we truly are!

I love my country because of its losses and because of its victories, because of its sins and because of its graces, because of its weaknesses and because of its strengths.

Because I think I know something about this country!