Richard C. Burriesci poses the Topic of Discussion:

RICH opens: I am not saying that a King reigning over the United States of America would be appropriate today in 2011.But when this nation was an infant I believe such a noble man as George Washington could have molded a moral productive and aspiring nation on a godly path of continued prosperity. Right away King George Washington would have freed the slaves and ban slavery 75 years before Abraham Lincoln giving this new nation true Divine strength. I do not think it was in his nature to be a tyrant and would continue to seek counsel from the founding fathers and Parliament. Eventually, I truly believe he would have molded an orderly dissolution of royal reign as Americans evolved into a spiritual balance of moral conduct and ownership. Throughout history empires have prospered even under the long reigns of benign dictators.

TRISHA replies: I agree with many of your points. so, without a civil war as well. BUT the kingship would have evolved like britain, and not sure we would be any better off, plus many presidents rule like kings regardless. I like what you wrote thanks

Patricia Poburka Grunau:

DON replies: a very pithy answer to George Washington not accepting king even with his impeccable character is we can not control future kings character 

Donald C. Burriesci:

Donald C. Burriesci poses the Topic of Discussion:

Can we blame our present social moral decay on the media i.e. TV, movies, newspapers video games, etc. or is the media simply responding to the social consciencious of the majority of Americans?

Richard C. Burriesci:

RICH replies: I am an avid fan of TV never calling it "the boob tube" and movies I choose to watch. There is an on/off button and a channel to switch stations. I am well aware that the national news and newspapers are liberally biased but as to the question posed I must say; The media is old news before midnight and many TV shows are cancelled before the first commercial. The media does try and sometimes is successful in influencing the masses of social conscious. The wholesome classic TV programs like "Father Knows Best" lasted so long is because life in the Fifties was generally innocent and dirty deeds were kept in the closet. So to me there is no doubt that the media simply responds to a population that has degenerated into moral chaos. So you can put the blame on parents, the schools and even the churches who has the charge of molding its youth.

GARY replies: I see so much of the problem, of being kept so tied up and busy, Eg the Cell Phone leash always tugging at you, Where Heavenly Father gets so tired of being interrupted while communing with us, that he just hangs up.

Gary Glenn Grunau:

GARY replies: I find it perhaps not mere coincidence that the same year this country declared its independence,and set in motion the formation of a government inspired from on high that the illuminatti was founded. Having communicated directly with Savali ? Who had come out of the illuminati, and confirmed that there was a bloodline associated with the leadership that traced their lineages back to Merrrovee thus the merovingian dynasties. The year was 1776.
What is with the head position of the illuminati head quarters being stationed in alexandria in close proximity to the National Masonic Temple?

If one will check the position of kingship was first offered to  Bonnie Prince Charles a descendant of Mary queen of scots, Grand master of the freemasons.   He declined it and the position was then offered to Washington, Who was also a master mason with royal blood lines. Who here knows anything about the Bloodline of Merovee?  Apply the principles, and give a scenario of what type of diabolical plan was launched in response to this country's founding.

Gary Glenn Grunau:

JOHN opens: To quote the honorable Benjamin Franklin who wrote his own epitaph given to Samuel Morris on August 31, 1776 in his own handwriting has my sentiments:
"The body of Benjamin Franklin, Printer; Like the cover of an old Book, its Content torn out and stript of its Lettering and Gilding, Lies here, Food for Worms. But the work shall not be lost; For it will, as he believed, appear once more in a new and more elegant Edition Corrected and improved by the Author -

Richard C. Burriesci poses the Topic of Discussion:

GIVEN THE VAST EXPANSE AND DIVERSITY OF CULTURES BOTH ETHNICALLY AND POLITICALLY, BUT MOST OF ALL, THE IMMENSE POPULATION HERE IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA ... WOULD THE WISDOM OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN  ALLOW AND EVEN RECOMMEND SUCCESSION AND DIVIDING UP THE UNION TODAY IN 2012?

RICH opens: I believe the time has come and long overdue that wisdom and history prevails to parcel out this huge continent.  This nation is far too large in numbers and area to be one union.  The Roman emperors realized this almost two thousand years ago when The Roman Empire was a third the size of America in area and population.  In light of our recent election we may never see a republican president again because the swing states are no longer swing states but now are confirmed democrat arenas.  English no longer prevails the national language and political polarization are universes apart.
What the founding Fathers had in mind for this new nation was a  band of independent countries united in war and an amicable economy.  They too, like Lincoln if he were president today, that the time has come to divvy up the best we can making it easy to travel within a Federation without a passport.

ED replies: My answer is no, whether Lincoln or anyone else. Why? Because the ethnic and political divides don't lie across geographic lines, and if you're going to cut the Union in half it would have to be done along a physical boundary.

Ed Micca:

Keith Van Allen:

KEITH replies: I hope the HELL not-THIS IS MY COUNTRY..LAND of MY BIRTH!  Send a lot of the Mexicans home ,not because I don't like them but because of what they did, just MOVING in, those that stay, become AMERICAN like everybody else,none of this forcing spanish culture on us. What if we went to mexico and did the same thing ? How would they like it? We got a right to OUR Culture same as everybody. Too much diversity is anarchy.Ever nation has its culture and identity and should be a good NEIGHBOR with the other countries. That works for everyone, thats FAIR and RIGHT. However the poverty thing and oppresion is a big part of the equation and that comes from where ? The RICH class of Mexico that pays their people a DOLLAR a DAY! Its Modernday Feudalism down there. Why doesnt somebody talk about them? And the trouble is,nobody down there does anything about it (other than periodic outlaw style revolution that settles nothing.There is a movement down there now to increase business and economic health and I greatly applaud that and say we should help as much as possible.But hey I"M a NFATA CASUALTY! I had an opportunity to produce Chester Cheeto commercials for South America thru a Mexican company. I eneded up nearly killing myself because of the crazy aggrivation from their ad agency that didnt understand animated cartoons, finally learning like others to charge more or walk away. But Thing is I learned, was Mexico basically has 3 classes of people, The Conquistadors, the old money Spanish who control the wealth , the Peons, the hard working poor who get a dollar a day (they need a minimum wage, Unions and other things), and the 3rd Class are the Banditos, who flaunt the rules and sell drugs kill, do what they want so they can have a bigger piece of the pie. Now, I found the Rich people (my clients ) to be Very Nice and polite, I liked them, the Peons ,some I met and a driver who drove me for a dollar a day very nice too (I gave him a big tip) and they are polite to each other too Just like OLD TIME FEUDALISM! Everyone accepts their place, a hang over from the old days thats very wrong in todays world. BUT The Rich class likes the status quo, keeping their wealth and gentillity, while also not doing their job of ruling by controlling the Banditos in their PLUNDER, which, like the Peons who come here looking for better opportunities, also spills over into America, and they are glad of it.This is not Fair, its taking advantage of OUR generous nature. THEY the Conquistadors descendants are the ROOT CAUSE of all this and THEY should fix it, hopefully at the demand of the once-Peons who came to the U.S. learned something about capitolism, democratic rule of law and how it works  and maybe go back to their homeland to build it anew and better. But don't push all that diversity on me about Latino this or that. WE have our OWN LEGITIMATE AMERICAN DIVERSITY, which is Root Races that built and sweated and died here, the Native Americans, The Europeans, the Africans, over a period of close to 400 years , plus all the later LEGAL IMMIGRANTS who came, worked hard by the rules and became AMERICAN too. TIME is what builds a culture, and while a certain spanish influence is natural and welcome, (when Latinos first started imigrating in the 90s I welcomed them gladly) But Fair is Fair and UNFAIR is UNFAIR.And the BULK of the BLAME goes to the RICH of LATIN AMERICA, and they need to get their house in ORDER. We'll work with them on a fair basis, but enough of this the poor neighbor taking advantage of the rich neighbor next door. We've been more than indulgent. Fair is Fair ,and good fences make good neighbors

From my FB page: While many are grieving in awful shock to the horrible events in Connecticut , and we all join in "heartfelt" condolences, it's time for the rest of us to get Mad, at the wide spread tone in Pop Culture ,TV,and especially video games that inspires such horrific behavior. Yes it does. I can trace back all my influences that shaped me and my creative endeavors to the shows and books I read as a kid
and teenager, plus my family. But the largest amount is Pop Culture, the shows the movies the comedies the dramas and tales of the fantastic as well as satire.but there was an underlying rock of foundation and underpining beneath even the wildest of my youthful influences. Truth and Good always prevailed ,even if it was in tragic, there was a positive residual lesson to be taken away. Today, so much "morality " has been turned on its ear in the ever increasing attempt to amuse by shock or being different. It's mostly a young man problem, but really its all of us. While Feminist and New Age notions (both of which I have at one time or another been enthusiastically part of) have morfed into an Oprah or Dr. Phil Style of a "hug will solve anything", or "that's just wrong" without saying why, (since old style religion is also unfavorable), there is no "rock" of teaching, especially for young men, who are seathing with power, desires, a need for adventure and a rite of passage thru which to prove their manhood, while also learning right from wrong and what to do with all the strange new challenges. Over the ages their have been "elders" of one form or another to teach them, and if they're lucky today there still are.But too often today it's just super violence or humour that while funny,is at it's core sick. (This allows Family Guy Peter to trick his wife into being elbowed thru the wall.This is funny, and Seth Mac Farlane makes millions on it. Of course its not supposed to be taken seriously. But I know what its like to be an intense young man, seething with wild feelings that lead me of "vision quests" to soak up al sorts of "neat "material on which I was building my adult psyche. Fortunatly today I'm able to look back on most of these influences as classic and good stuff,which they for the most part were, and we Boomers today fondly find them on youtube and share them on Facebook, and it is good. But I wonder what todays generation will be nostalgic over? Games that blow guys heads away while destroying place after place ,explosion after explosion? "Hey man , remember that one?" "Yeah, just like that mass murder in that school.." Yeah sure, Brave New World indeed. What's needed is for these kids to watch "The Rifleman" (on TV daily here ) But they won't because its old,"yeech that old stuff" But what happens in that show daily is the process that young men (like Mark) NEED growing up. Teaching of how to deal with a Mans world, and to respect and understand the Feminine world as well, and the over all beauty and goodness therein, and that while there are "bad things", storms on the horizon of life, theres a good way of standing up, being brave (and a successful man) and dealing with them,but that the over all good abides. But today the Female side talks to itself, overly froo froo and good feely, and the Male side talks to itself, laughingly violent and fart worthy as an escape from the overly froo frro stuff thats constantly foisted upon them with no
Add to this all the problems of an over crowded modern techno society and yes, we are IN an apocalypse of sorts. BUt it wasn't always this way. While the Reader's Digest Walt Disney, TwilightZone, Phil Silvers, Dick Van Dyke, Star Trek, (lets just say it, Me TV world wasn't perfect, by comparison it was far more healthier in a social and psychological sense than today, and much can be learned there from and I'm thankful it all got recorded. But back then from the 60s on we were constantly "tearing down" old moralities to expose their faults. Today we make fun of leave it to Beaver- why? Have you watched it? Its quite realistic (to my child at least) and full of human imperfection presented in well written and acted realistic comedy.But Eddie Haskell, great creep that he was, would never have DREAMED of mowing down little kids with a gun. There was a strong Underpining of male authority to teach him (as far as he could grasp it) Otherwise, and society bopped along on a pretty good track where life could take place. These old "values" as they refer to them today (whatever "values" means) are eternal truths that apply to all times and civilizations. What WE have to do is work out the new styles to encompass eternal truths and teachings ,revalent to todays world, and expressed thru Pop culture as well as at home for young people to "get into". /Keith Van Allen
On Dec 15, 2012, at 2:33 PM, Richard C. Burriesci wrote: understanding from the P.C. media,with no positive adventursome outlet for maleness.Little girls buy overly extreme Pinky castle things while Boys get Overly violent mindless head blowing games. All this stuff used to be more intigrated, just look at the toys of old, the movies of old.

 REGARDING THE SANDY HOOK MASSACRE IN CONNECTICUT

The horrific massacre that took place December 14th in Connecticut is beyond a tragedy,  it is absolutely insane!  However, to entertain the rhetoric of how and why this could be possible in these desperate and hopeless times particularly among our youth is also insane!  The Media headlined their newspapers "The Slaughter of the Innocents" was first used in the original advent season when King Herod ordered all male children two years old and under to be slain in order to sabotage the promised Messiah from unseating the Edomite from his throne.  The Magi began their journey to Bethlehem much earlier than four weeks before that first Christmas, perhaps even years!  The prophets proclaimed centuries earlier of the coming of Jesus and like many Christian evangelists today, are proclaiming the imminent advent return of Jesus Christ.  Jesus, just shy of two thousand years ago prophesied the signs of the last days that would herald His Second Coming to create a new heaven unseating the King Herod of these times in the form of the Antichrist who is in charge of a new world order.  "Woe to those living in these times when even the believers pray that their days be shortened"  Jesus even warned us of things that were beyond comprehension parents against children and children against parents to the point of killing one another would happen in epidemic proportions.  Yesterday a 20 year old just barely a man, hated his mother so much he shot her dead in their home and then stormed into her kindergarten classroom armed like Rambo and proceeded to kill twenty of her beloved little angels!  It is certain that before God's little children could fathom just what was taking place they found themselves in the protective arms of their Heavenly Father in an eternal paradise where Walt Disney greets them and Mickey Mouse is real not a cartoon.  The only thing not seen in this Utopia is computers and video games!  Of course, no more evil and mental disorders.  Why is this?  It is because God is more than Love,  God is the essence of WHOLENESS!  We become COMPLETE as Our Creator designed us to be.  And for the record, not just the little children, but to His Children that died at age 100 or older.  When Quasimodo died and stood before the Throne of God he asked God to take away his hunchback and God instantly replied, "What hunchback?" for disease and pestilence is remembered no more in a kingdom that is our destiny.  Scars of life and torment vanish without a trace and we receive RESTORATION because this was promised! 
The end of the world is always going on due to the fact that someone, somewhere dies every second, so many of them violent deaths and persecution.  Keep in mind that it is a Divine promise in Revelation 21:4

"And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes for there will be no more death nor sorrow nor pain for the former things have passed away." 

RICHARD C. BURRIESCI originated this article

"THE SLAUGHTER OF THE INNOCENTS!"

ED MICCA opens:  Some years ago I read The Italians by Luigi Barzini, an Italian journalist. His aim was to describe what Italians are - culturally, etc. At the time I asked a sociologist if there was similar literature on what a Long Islander is. The Island is home. Without hesitating, she said LIers segregate, stay to themselves more than people in most areas of the country. Community activities, something as simple as neighbors gathering on a Friday night to enjoy each other's company, have largely disappeared compared to what they were as recently as the 50's.   Long Island, New York is pretty much a 120 mile long suburb. It has the largest plains east of the Mississippi but you'd never know it because of the explosion of residential and business construction. The movement of vehicles has been made more important than the movement of pedestrians, greatly cutting down on the casual meeting of people walking through a village to do business. We leave our homes to get in cars, I see this engineered isolation as just one example of why communal activities have fallen off.  This weekend I spoke with my best friend of over 60 years. His father is failing. In the 50's, the man was a second father to me as were all the fathers to all the kids on the block. My identity was inseparable from the context of my neighborhood. Today on the street where I grew up, the houses have expanded, family size has shrunk, cars glut the street we played on while today's kids are closeted away in rooms, their own universes, noses glued to screens, oblivious to the social possibilities of talking to the kid next door, let alone playing with him.

Edward Micca poses the Topic of Discussion:

IS IT THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF OUR CIVILIZATION?

Thank you, Ed, for your encouraging others to read my blogs on Ensuring the Well-Being of Our Nations Children. 
I do hope that my attempts to draw attention to the plight of children in our country today will get a dialog going and then spur people to action on behalf of all children. As Robert Putnam has so vividly pointed out in Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, the social net and community spirit in our country has deteriorated significantly since the 1950's, leaving children in particular without a social safety net.
Although my parents were middle-class, not poor, if it were not for the safety net that St John's Seminary provided me during my troubled pre-teen and teen years, I hesitate to think of where I'd be today.
I do share my blog with other groups (educators and writers, for instance) but I have high hopes that those who benefited from the love and support of the Friars of the Atonement when they were young, may be even stronger in their dedication to ensuring the well-being of our nation's children.

Thanks again,
Mike  http://michaelrconnollyjr.weebly.com/

(in response to a blog by Michael R. Connolly, Jr. of the SJAS group)