Speaking of wars... here's what happened the other day...

The other day, my wife and I were shopping in the local Market Basket, when lo and behold, we ran into a great lady friend of ours.  We talked for a short while, doing a little reminiscing, and planning for a get-together in the near future.

She knows that I'm a Vietnam veteran, so she wanted to relay to us a pleasant, uplifting experience she recently had while shopping in a local thrift store.  It seems there was a gent wearing an article of clothing, probably a hat, indicating he was a Vietnam veteran and served in the Marines.  My lady friend then said she knew a friend (me) that was also a Vietnam veteran, and then thanked him for his service.

What a nice thing to tell that vet!   She then thanked me too!

It will be fifty-one years ago this coming December, that I went to that conflagration known as Vietnam.  And over those fifty-one years, I can count on one hand the number of good folks that thanked me for my service.  I have to admit, that, I too, sometimes fail to thank other veterans for their service, but when I come across a Vietnam veteran, I have a special feeling in my heart for the experiences we might have had in common, and the sacrifices made in order to keep the Communists at bay for over ten years.

I also remember when I first came home just before Christmas of 1968, I wanted to remain incognito regarding my Vietnam service.  But not anymore.  I am proud to have done my little part in trying to keep the South Vietnamese people free and safe, though our efforts were sabotaged by a leftist media and cowardly politicians.  I just hope that some day, those traitors will face justice for their actions.

My main purpose in writing this short piece, is to say thank you, and WELCOM HOME to all my brother Vietnam veterans!

Gene DeLalla

Wars and rumors of wars...

What a mess!

When I say wars, and rumors of wars, I'm not just referring to the battlefield of opposing armies, or the secret covert, or even the overt operations that we are involved in, in so many parts of the world, expending so much of our blood and treasure.

And for what?

To spread a corrupted version of what we feel is democracy?   A democracy that is foreign to most other nations?  Isn't it time we brought our military back home, and take care of our own problems first and foremost?

But there are other wars and rumors of wars to be fought, and these wars are within ourselves, our families, our neighborhoods, our cities and towns -- our country.

Look at the mess of what is currently going on in society... Let's take just one example: the examination of the newest nominee to the Supreme Court, Judge Kavanaugh, before the senate judiciary committee...

I suspect that Mr. Kavanaugh is a pretty decent guy; learned and smart; he knows the ins and outs of the court system as well as legal workings of the Constitution.  The hearings, so far, have been filled with disruptions, attacks on his character through innuendo; the same questions asked over and over again.

What is the purpose of this tactic?

It is to delay, besmirch, and maybe wear the good judge down to the point that he just gives up and walks out.  I wouldn't blame him if he did.  In fact, his two young daughters had to be escorted out of the hearing room because of the scandalous treatment of their father right before their eyes.

How sad that is!

And I'm sure that Judge Kavanaugh is a moral man; a good husband and father; charitable to his neighbors; church-going, etc.

But when questioned by the hard-left, liberals on the committee, I was discouraged to hear his responses that, seemed to me, to be beating-around-the-bush, especially when it concerned his views on life issues, mainly, abortion.  This seems to me to be the most important aspect of his future judgeship if he is to be seated on the Court.  Make no mistake, the haters of the right to life, want assurances from Kavanaugh that he will uphold Roe v Wade, no matter what.

If Judge Kavanaugh were to simply state that he will make his judgements based on the Natural Law, and apply the Natural Law to the Constitution, he would have been deemed totally unfit for the position, and attacked, ironically, as a killer of women!

That's right: a killer of women, as some on the left have said again and again if this man is confirmed to the Court!

Think, for a moment, about the insanity here!

Abortion: IS the REAL WAR ON WOMEN!

This is the overriding "concern" for these loony politicians: to keep the killing of the pre-born "legal" and available, come hell or high water.

So, why can't Judge Kavanaugh come right out and say what he really feels about the right-to-life of the pre-born?

This a rhetorical question: I know the answer; I have already stated why, but I ask this out of frustration.  Where is the guts of this man?   Why doesn't he just tell these supporters of death what is right and what is wrong according to the Natural Law?

Again, I know the answer, but if he did, at least he would be true to himself -- and his young daughters -- to show them the importance of being a soldier for morality and real justice.

As I stated earlier, we have wars and rumors of wars: armies against armies on the battlefield, but also the war for our souls and the soul of our nation.  We cannot continue to make war against our most defenseless, the pre-born, and expect God Almighty to "bless" us, and our country.

I also know, that if we do stand up and defend the right to life of the pre-born, we will be viciously attacked as aliens to "progress" and "rights" of females to terminate the baby developing in the womb.

This is the defining moment for Judge Kavanaugh; either he will defend the Natural Law, and be rejected for the seat on the Court, or he will give in, and we will be saddled with another phony "conservative" on the bench for 25- or 30-more years, potentially wiping out another generation of American children.  

Pray for this man, and pray for our country..

Gene DeLalla

We get what we deserve...

Or said in another way: we reap what we sow.

We all have free-will, so if calamities befall us, who do we have to blame but ourselves?

If our actions, or inactions (omissions) have consequences, then we must accept responsibility for those very same actions or decisions we make.  It is futile to point our fingers at someone else for what we have done.  I realize, though, it is only "normal" to shift blame away from ourselves.

What is the point here?

Look around us and see what is happening in society, not only in this country, but in the world in  general.  In all my 71 years on this earth, I can't remember a more unsettling, anxious time, save for my time in Vietnam.

Things have pretty much gone downhill from there.

Not to sound pessimistic, but reality has to be faced.

We cannot, as a society, or even as individuals, be amoral; we cannot sit on the fence, so to speak, we have to choose sides, right or wrong, and go with it.

If a decision turns out to be a disaster, then we can right that wrong, and make good any damage that was done, or at least try...

One of the major problems or causes for the ills in our personal lives, as well as in the country as a whole, is the almost complete dependence on ourselves to get things done, instead of submitting our wills to God.  When we shut out the good, we, sometimes unwittingly, invite evil to fill the gap.

And when the court system overlooks, or outright rejects the Natural Law in favor of some twisted sense of what individual "rights" are, then the killing of the pre-born is accepted (and "legal"!).  Or take another horrible example, that of sodomite "marriage."  These are some of the rotten fruits of a Godless society when mankind decides to act on his own and kicks God out of the public sphere.

If nothing else, we adults must consider the enormous scandal to impressionable children and adolescents when we -- again, as a society -- expose them to what is now considered as normal and accepted.  How will they grow up to make the mandatory, righteous decisions, decisions that will affect their own eventual families, and the world they will be confronted with?  Who, or what will they lean on to make those decisions if mankind is now considered his own little god?

Will we let the snowball continue to roll downhill, and grow into an unstoppable avalanche, smashing and devouring everything in its path?

Isn't it our responsibility to reverse this disastrous course as soon as humanly -- and divinely -- possible, not only for our own sakes, but for our offspring and the future of our country as well?

As I always say, pray for our country, and pray too for the proper discernment to recognize our dependence for every breath we take, not on ourselves, but on our Creator.

Remember, we get what we deserve...

Gene DeLalla   

 

More on HEROES -- but this time, of the early, and present-day Church..

I can hear it now: Church?  What Church?  I don't believe in God!

One doesn't have to believe in God to recognize the historical facts of what the early Christians suffered for their beliefs.

Either those men, women and children were under some type of mass hallucination, or what they believed was true, and the One they followed really did exist and walked the earth about 2,000 years ago.

Before I go any further, let's look at the word that seems to cause so much angst among non-Catholics or non-believers these days: catholic.

What does that word mean?  The lower case word, catholic, means universal, or everywhere.  In fact, there was a bishop of Antioch by the name of St. Ignatius.  This elderly man was consecrated bishop of Antioch by St. Peter himself.  Then there was another bishop, of Smyrna, by the name of St. Polycarp, consecrated bishop of Smyrna by St. John the Evangelist.

Pretty heavy company, I would say...

Well, these two men were considered a threat to the paganism of the then Roman Emperor, and were condemned to death by being thrown to the wild beasts in the Coliseum.  But a strange thing happened on the way to their deaths, at least one -- St. Ignatius of Antioch, was allowed to preach and teach to those that would listen, as well as the newly formed little congregations of Christians.  Some of the letters that St. Ignatius wrote back at the end of the First Century still exist to this very day!!

Providential?

In some of those letters, he uses the word "catholic" to indicate that he found the nascent church everywhere, universally.

So, the word "Catholic" -- upper case -- shouldn't raise any red flags or cause the angst that I mentioned a bit ago.

But these two early bishops were not the only ones condemned to death for their beliefs.  As history points out, close to 11 million Christians were martyred over the 300 year period from Christ's death, to about the year 315 A.D.  There were additional martyrs over the centuries at various times and for various reasons, up and until this present day.

If one looks at some of the ways those early martyrs suffered and died, it just might make some folks sick to their stomachs, literally.  I'm not saying they weren't scared when they faced their deaths, but they endured to the end and now wear the crown of eternal life; they were -- are -- real HEROES.

I ask again: were all those Christians under some mass hallucination, or, was what they believed really true and the Christ that walked the earth was really one of the Trinity sent to redeem mankind?
Some of the most early Christians saw, with their own eyes, Christ, as He preached, taught and worked miracles.  But those that followed Him, that did not see Him, still believed, and because of that, were blessed with the fortitude and courage to live their lives and eventually meet their end.  Are we so blessed with fortitude and courage to meet even our daily trials?

We can emulate them when we are faced with the tribulations of everyday life, or even the more life-threatening events that affect our families and friends, whether sickness, accidents, or loss of a job, depression, drugs, etc.  I speak not from naivete, but from life experience; some good, a lot not so good...

Today, we see more HEROES of the present-day Church.  Yes, there really are HEROES of the present-day Church, especially, those good men and women of the clergy and the religious orders who buck the trend of worldliness and corruption, to live lives of service and loyalty to that very same Christ of 2,000 plus years ago -- and today!

The "bad guys" are being rooted out, and hopefully, they will be brought to justice, but if not in this life, then in the next.  Now, we should -- and must -- support the "good guys," and with them, and those faithful to God, we will win back the holy, perfect Church, and steal it from the sinful, human elements that currently occupy that very same Church.

Remember, it is not the Church that is corrupt, but the human element of the Church.  For Christ, the Head, cannot be attached to a rotten body, but to a perfect body only!  This distinction must be made in order to properly interpret the scourge encircling the mystical body of the faithful.  The gates of hell will NOT prevail against IT …  We have that promise from Christ Himself!

Pray for our country, too...

Gene DeLalla

 

What constitutes being a real HERO?

As many have heard, the word "hero" has been tossed around lately and applied to a certain individual -- a prominent senator -- that recently died; a war hero, some claim because he was a POW (prisoner of war) in Vietnam for some years after being shot down in his fighter jet.

Of course I'm writing about Sen. J. McCain.

Beating a dead horse after he's no longer with us, is not my style, but some things should be cleared up and made right regarding his "heroism," and what constitutes being a real hero.

First, I find it amazing how McCain's former enemies have practically canonized and almost deified this fallen human being at this funeral, while behind the scenes, they hate him.  A strong word, hate, but hate nonetheless.  I call these morons hypocrites, plain and simple.

But this is part of the playbook of the hard left, hypocritical mainstream media -- who hated him while he was alive, and now cannot praise him enough, sound familiar?   There is a reason for this undue praise: to contrast their version of what a hero is with that of President Trump, attacking him daily with words seething with malice and death threats.

By the way, why isn't the Secret Service and the Justice Department investigating these numerous threats?  After all, threatening the president is a federal crime!

I am a Vietnam veteran, but thank heaven I was never a POW.  But does "just" being a POW make one a war hero?  Maybe, maybe not.  There are plenty of examples of what a real hero is, and I'll give some examples shortly...

One of the problems I have with McCain's actions during his years as a senator, is that he consistently short-circuited any legislation to look into credible reports of sightings of POWs left behind after the 1973 accords with Hanoi.  In addition, his documented treatment of the families of those POWs was nothing short of despicable, as they approached him in person, begging for his support in trying to find out the status of their loved ones, still POW or MIA (missing in action).

Second, you would think that someone who's been a POW for many years, and survived, would detest war and the consequences of the mayhem and suffering that is part and parcel of the opposite of peace.  But no, McCain was a war-hawk.  What I call a war-monger.  He could never resist the temptation of involving us in war after war, invading and occupying other sovereign countries under false pretenses, and in so doing, bolster the military industrial complex by the sale of arms and ammunition.   And he often sided with the "rebels" as apposed to government forces of a particular nation, allowing civil wars to drag on for years, causing so much death and destruction of the peoples, and infrastructure, it will be years for recovery to take place, if it ever happens.

In short, he was a traitor to his Republican Party, a traitor to the pro-life movement, a traitor to the Natural Law in general, with little consideration or care for the scandal and misery he caused by his actions or inactions while in the military or during his time in the Senate.

And now, here are my thoughts on what constitutes a real hero...

The average "Joe" who goes about his daily business, working to support his family, paying the bills, showing charity to his neighbor.

The average "Jane" who goes about the business of being the heart of her family, sacrificing for her children, keeping the "wolves" at bay.

A fireman taking risks every time he is called out to fight a fire, and rescue people, cats and dogs from certain and horrible deaths.

A police officer who puts on the uniform in the morning and leaves home to serve the community.

Blood donors, the "quiet heroes".

Those in the military protecting our country (not imposing our version of democracy on other nations), but protecting OUR country from foreign AND domestic enemies.

The good priests that serve their flocks from the attacks of the evil one; who baptize the newborn, who performs marriages, and buries the dead.

Men and women fighting and coping with debilitating diseases every day of their lives.

This in only a short list; there are many more examples, I'm sure.  But these folks rarely if ever get their names in the newspapers, or are rarely if ever interviewed, no, these folks bear their crosses and pray for strength and perseverance.

And I bet they also pray for their country.  Will you?

Gene DeLalla

 

Words have meaning..

When a word is spoken, it has a certain meaning that the one speaking it attempts to create a picture that that word should convey in the mind of the one hearing it.  This is completely normal, if this were not the case, then why speak at all?  Or write at all?

But today, we hear words that have been co-opted by the radical, hard left to intimidate or completely eradicate any sense of the true meaning of words.  So let's look at some words that today are used to change the lexicon of American speech.

First -- and foremost? -- gay: merry; bright and lively.  Today: gay: homosexual.

What??

I know many people who are gay; they are happy and upbeat!

So let me see if I understand this: gay now refers to sodomites?  I guess that's why Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed.  Certainly not because they were "merry," or "bright and lively," but because they turned from the Natural Law, and lowered themselves to the level of the jungle.

Racist: discrimination based on race.  Today: racist: anyone who disagrees with the leftist agenda, and has differing opinions of those leftists.

Antifa: a political protest movement comprising autonomous (?) groups affiliated by their militant opposition to fascism and other forms of extreme right-wing ideology.

Isn't this an oxymoron?  These anarchists are fascists themselves.  Their goal is to suppress free-speech and opinions that differ from theirs.  As an example, they say they are opposed to "extreme right-wing ideology," but in reality, they try to stifle conservative speech and opinions that contradict their own extreme left-wing ideology. 

There are many more examples, to be sure, but these are just a few to illustrate the fight we are up against.  We can never give an inch to these miscreants.  Not one inch!

Pray for discernment, and pray for our country.

Gene DeLalla

Atomic Veterans are dying..

An excerpt from an article from "Reveal"...

"In the aftermath of World War II and during the height of the Cold War – between 1946 and 1962 – the U.S. detonated more than 200 above-ground and undersea nuclear bombs."

When I was in Vietnam, there was a chemical that went by the name of Agent Orange.  

Many of my brother Marines, Army and Air Force troops were exposed to this deadly agent.  My only -- possible -- exposure was a sweep (a search and destroy) of an area on one of the bases I was assigned to during my tour.  The trees and shrubs in that area looked burned out; defoliated; nothing was left; completely lifeless.

After the vets returned to the U.S., some of them began to have various health problems.  In fact, some of those health issues were transmitted to their children.  Some vets developed cancers, or other debilitating diseases.  When the vets presented themselves for treatment or some type of compensation, the government, in the form of the VA (Veterans Administration), denied that Agent Orange had anything to do with their claims.  This outrageous denial went on for many, many years.  Finally, the horrendous effects of that deadly chemical were acknowledged, and some compensation and treatment was allowed to the suffering vets.

Now, I want to describe another incredible event...

Recently, I saw a video of British "Atomic Veterans" gathered for a reunion, their numbers quickly dwindling; many had died of cancers of various forms.  Their description of what they saw and went through was almost unbelievable to anyone with a sense of justice; a sense of true patriotism.

These soldiers and sailors were exposed to, not one, but many nuclear blasts over the course of several years.  Their government did not explain the threat to their health and well-being.  These men were not given sufficient equipment to help protect them from the initial blast as well as from the radiation fallout that followed.   

After watching this video and listening to their touching stories, I got angry, very angry.  These men were used as guinea pigs, plain and simple.  

I knew that American soldiers and sailors too were exposed to nuclear bomb blasts, so I decided to do a little research on the matter...

Well, the American GIs were also used as guinea pigs, but the numbers of Marines, soldiers and sailors that went through these horrendous tests, were much more numerous than the British vets.   Many thousands more.  And many more bomb blasts, most of which were exploded on some of the Pacific Atolls, and some under water, as well as in Nevada.

Again, their descriptions during the blasts and after, were almost too hard to believe, but true nonetheless.  

As with their British allies, they were given no protection, and no information as to the dangers of being exposed to the blast as well as the aftermath and the possible detrimental side effects to their health. 

If you look at those videos, you can see with your own eyes, the nuclear blasts and the troops very close to those blasts, some as close as 3,500 yards from ground zero, with no protective clothing or just simple googles for their eyes which did nothing to mitigate their eventual suffering. 

These vets did what they were ordered to do.  But those in government knew -- without a doubt -- what terrible effects those nuclear bombs would have on those men.   This was proven when the bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, not only killing so many thousands at once, but also the long-term effects of radiation poisoning in the form of cancers and birth defects.  And yet, our government allowed their own citizen soldiers to be exposed and many eventually die from these diabolical experiments.  

Please pray for these "Atomic Veterans" and their families, and pray for our country. 

Gene DeLalla