The Bitpig Rant: Fixing Haiti

As we look with dismay and growing horror at the apocalypse in Haiti, we can't help but feel sympathy for the people of Port-au-Prince. Having lived through a major quake myself (Northridge '94, 6.6 Richter), I can assure you that their terror is profound, their suffering is real. It goes without saying that you all should give generously to Haitian relief via the charity of your choice.

But aid money isn't going to fix Haiti, because Haiti's problems are not economic in nature. (Nor are they related to a voodoo curse, as TV preacher Pat Robertson claimed last week.) Haiti's primary problem is the Haitian people. It's a hard saying, but I'll say it anyway: the people of Haiti — or, rather, their African/slave-derived culture — is the source of the bulk of the nation's misery and heartache. By clinging to their nation's Revolutionary culture and West African religious tradition, the people of Haiti only prolong the conditions that make their nation a world-class hellhole.

And there's no good reason that Haiti should be a hellhole. Biologically, Haitians are just as capable of building a successful country as anyone else. The country is rich in natural resources. The climate (barring an occasional hurricane) is ideal for productive agriculture. The location of Haiti is well suited for tourism, trade, and doing business in the Americas; and the potential for the growth of both low-wage labor employment and higher-wage manufacturing, technical, and service industries in Haiti is quite high, as is demonstrated by Haiti's relatively prosperous next-door neighbor the Dominican Republic. Given all of these advantages, why does life in Haiti suck so hard?

It's the culture. All the money in the world won't matter to the average Haitian until he or she (and, by extension, the society in which they live) are divorced from the anti-human, anti-freedom culture established by the genocides of the Haitian Revolution. The only way to "fix" Haiti is to effect this divorce, and replace the culture of corruption and superstition with one based upon trust and reason.

But how? History shows us that only by conquest and occupation has a native culture been superseded by an imposed culture. Perhaps Haiti needs to be conquered and rebuilt in the image of its conqueror -- for its own good. A case can be made that the best thing that could happen to Haiti would be an invasion and occupation in the style of Gen. Douglas MacArthur's culturally-transformative occupation of Japan (1945-1952).

Of course, I'm not suggesting that the United States repeat its nation-building Japanese performance in Haiti. France, Haiti's former colonial master, is the actor best suited to assume the role of benign conqueror: to take over the country, establish public order (at gunpoint, if necessary), and to root out the voodoo/slave culture that is poisoning the country. Once order is established and a culture based upon the dignity of the human person takes root (c. 10-30 years), Haitians will be free to succeed as the Dominican Republic has. Until then, Haiti will remain the basket case of the Caribbean, a body politic fatally poisoned by the toxins from an nonviable culture, immune to even heroic doses of foreign aid.

That being said: human life comes before everything, and the lives of the people who survive the quake must be preserved. That's why I ask that everyone donate to Haitian quake relief via the charity of your choice.

No, money won't solve Haiti's problems. Only French paratroopers — or a social and cultural order imposed in some other form — will begin to do that. Until the country is reborn in a form that can survive, the Haitian people will only continue to suffer — victims of a way of life that simply does not work.

Comment se aider les haïtiens / How to help the Haïtians

Dear friends:

By now you all know the situation in Haïti. I'd like to ask those of you who have the means to dig deep and contribute to Haïti earthquake relief by donating to Catholic Relief Services.

You can trust Catholic Relief Services with your tax-deductible donation. CRS was named a top-rated charity and given a rating of A by the American Institute of Philanthropy in 2008 for efficiently using the majority of its funds toward programming versus fundraising. CRS was also found by the Better Business Bureau/Wise Giving Alliance in 2008 to meet all 20 Standards for Charity Accountability, which take into account an organization’s governance, financial accountability, truthfulness and transparency. The September 2008 audit found that only 3% of the CRS's expenses were for administration, leaving 4% for fundraising and 93% for program costs, so you know your donation is going to help people in an immediate way, not to provide administrators and other paper-pushing types with big-bucks salaries.

Catholic Relief Services have a substantial presence in Haïti already, and are at this moment providing pure water, food, shelter, medical care, and other services to those in need. They need your money to keep the help coming. You can donate to Haïti relief via CRS at their secure site. Please give generously if you can, and may God bless you for doing so through the prayers of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, patroness of Haïti.

Thanks,

Bruce

The Year We Make Contact

Charles Darwin once famously wrote of his gradual loss of ability to enjoy music or any of the other simple joys of life, post-Theory; and I must say that at times I understand what he meant. For entirely different reasons (chemical, not spiritual), I, too, often feel incapable of discerning the bright joys of quotidian life as I used to. Yet even though the smell of life's roses goes sometimes undetected by my nose, I have faith that roses still smell sweet — and that faith is enough.

So it was in 2009. Though in many ways a cherry pit of a year, it did have its flavorful moments -- some of which I was able to appreciate, others which I accepted as flavorful even though I could not taste them. In either case, I'm thankful to God that I was there to experience both.

Yuki's springtime visit was, of course, the highlight of the past year. Having my "first child" back under my roof was wonderful. Depression or not, Love always burns through the Fog, and there was love indeed at Chez Lewis when Yuki came home. I didn't know how strong love could be until I had children, and even though she is not our flesh and blood, she will always be "our Yuki" to Mo and me. Prior to having her as our "daughter", Mo and I had no real idea of what being parents would be like, and I dare say that having had her as part of our family has in some ways made our current happy home life with Hans possible.

Another big plus of 2009 was my career change. This was the first year I made my living entirely by writing instead of by working as a visual artist, and I am more convinced than ever that my decision to change careers from artist to writer was wise. I started the year with a full-time writing job, and ended it unemployed (save for freelance work -- ironically, from my former employer). In between, I learned a great deal about the craft and mechanics of writing — knowledge which is certain to expand my prospects in 2010.

I haven't given up on my first love, comics, however — and I made progress on several fronts in that regard during 2009 as well. Foremost among these was finding an artistic partner — a talented and hardworking young lady with whom to work on upcoming comics projects. We've already got a good start on our first collaborative effort, and I foresee great things for the team in the future. I've also been gifted with a new burst of creativity in terms of drawing style and storytelling technique that should enable me (health and time permitting) to put out some true high-quality comics in the coming months.

2009's fourth positive was my personal philosophical renaissance -- my "radical honesty" policy. This was the year I decided to stare Reality in the face rather than viewing it through the veil of my own wants and needs, and the change has been shocking. (It is the nature of truth to be shocking, of course.) I have had to come to grips with some hard truths — both political and personal — but I have grown as a result. This growth came at a cost, of course: I have lost friends, alienated people, and felt a great deal of pain over the past year — but the benefit of not having to play Let's Pretend any more far outweighs these costs.

There were setbacks in 2009: I lost a full-time job. I gained weight. I became more socially isolated. But these scandals were endurable when compared to the progress I made. When I add these four big positives to the basically happy nature of my everyday life with Mundee and Hans. I have to put 2009 firmly in the W column for Team Lewis.

And what of the future? 2010 has the potential to be a true breakthrough year. My policies for the coming twelve months reflect the lessons learned.

First, I intend to follow a strict STFU policy when it comes to my personal views -- keeping them for my work (both written and drawn) and off the useless sinkhole that is the Web. I once thought that a Socratic approach -- antagonizing people in an attempt to force them to face the contradictions in their own thinking -- was a worthwhile policy; I have since learned better. I'm no Socrates and never will be, and most people refuse to accept anything as truth unless it is in accord with with what they want to be true. As a result, my posting to other web fora will dwindle down to near-nil; I intend from now on to direct my inner fire and outward efforts toward attainable ends, rather than at targets I can never hit. By doing so, I hope to place my passion and intellect (what there is of it) in more effective service to the truth.

Second, I intend to continue writing -- both in terms of expanding my business as a writer-for-hire and writing for publication. I am currently beginning work on a new nonfiction book proposal, and I intend to write a novel this year as well. By doing this, I hope to increase both my income and the satisfaction I derive from earning it.

Third, I have decided to continue my education in 2010 and begin the process of finishing my bachelors degree. To this end, I have located a small, intensely Catholic private college in this area with a course structure and a cost with which I believe I am compatible.The eventual completion of this degree will not only mark a personal milestone for me, but will open for me a world of employment opportunities hitherto inaccessible -- to the benefit of my family.

Fourth: I have got to take better care of my health in 2010. I am going to restrict the consumption of all junk food and beverages to feast days and other, infrequent special occasions. I am also going to begin taking some kind of regular exercise. Although I'm healthy now, I weigh too damned much, and I need to correct this physical handicap before it begins to create a negative impact upon my health. I also intend to resume the treatment of my depression, both via therapy and, if indicated, by switching to a different prescription medicine. My wife and child need me to be functional and able to excel, not an emotional cripple.

Fifth, I'm going to read more, and read better, in 2010. This is hardly a sacrifice, but it does entail the curtailing of "junk reading" -- mostly on the Web -- in favor of reading more "nutritious" fare. By this, I hope to improve my mind and nourish my spirit, thereby becoming better suited to my task of being a husband and father.

Most important of all: I am going to resume the course of my spiritual growth in 2010 as well. I have slipped badly in my practice as a Catholic, and the suffering which has resulted is too much to bear. My only hope for becoming capable of truly loving others (and myself) is immersing myself in the Sacraments and Mysteries of the Church. This I firmly intend.

And so one year ends, and another begins. I look forward to this year as a time of challenges to be met and frontiers to be crossed, and hope that by my efforts and the grace of God that I may become less of an isolated, self-focused human being and more of a loving, God-and-fellow-man-directed human person.

To this end I ask for your prayers and your support.

On behalf of Team Lewis, I offer all of you our prayerful best wishes for Anno Domini 2010.

Merry Christmas 2009

Freue dich, freue dich, O Christenheit!
Christkindchen komm in unser Haus,
Leer deine schönen Sachen aus,
Stell dein Eselchen auf den Mist,
Daß es Heu und Hafer frißt.

+ + +

Rejoice, rejoice, O Christendom!
The Christ-Child to our house has come.
Bring now forth thy treasures fine,
Lift thine ass-colts from the mire
That they on hay and oats may dine.

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From all of us at Chez Lewis
to all of our friends here...

+ + +

JOYEUX NOËL
FRÖLICHE WEIHNACHTSENZEIT
FELIZ NAVIDAD
MERRY CHRISTMAS
キリストの誕生日、おめでとうございます
Kiristo no tanjoubi, omedetou gozaimasu

...and a Happy New Year!

In Memoriam

Franklin Patric Willeford

HN3 USN

NAVY CROSS

Born Lawton, Okla., March 17, 1943
Died December 14, 1968 at Quang Nam, Republic of Vietnam

Vietnam Memorial
Panel 36W, Row 021









Citation

The President of the United States takes pride in presenting the Navy Cross (Posthumously) to Franklin Patric Willeford (3537852), Hospitalman, U.S. Navy, for extraordinary heroism on 14 December 1968 while serving as a Platoon Corpsman in Company C, First Battalion, Fifth Marines, FIRST Marine Division (Reinforced), Fleet Marine Force, in Quang Nam Province, Republic of Vietnam. As Hospitalman Willeford's platoon was participating in a company-sized sweep through an area, the lead element came under intensive automatic-weapons fire which wounded and trapped one Marine in very close proximity to one of the enemy bunkers. Seeing his comrade fall and subsequently receive another hit from a grenade, Hospitalman Willeford unhesitatingly left his position of relative security and moved forward to the side of the mortally-wounded Marine. Hidden from the enemy positions by the tall grass in the area, he found the Marine bleeding severely and in no condition to be moved. Hospitalman Willeford raised himself up and into the grazing zone of hostile fire in order to administer a heart massage and mouth- to-mouth resuscitation, continuing his desperate attempts to save the Marine until all hope of life had expired. Only then did he begin the slow return through the fire-swept zone to the trench line, bringing with him the body of his comrade. As his platoon again started through the area, the enemy opened up with intensive small-arms and automatic-weapons fire, wounding and trapping the three lead Marines. When two Marines started to move out of the trench line to retrieve the casualties, one was mortally wounded and the other critically wounded. Disregarding the intense danger, Hospitalman Willeford again moved forward to aid his fellowman. Finding the first Marine mortally wounded, and realizing the impossibility of trying to move him back to a secure area, Hospitalman Willeford stayed with the Marine, rendering what aid and comfort he could, until the Marine succumbed to his injuries. After he had informed the remainder of the platoon that the Marine had died, he proceeded deeper into the fire zone toward the second Marine, and drew fire from an enemy bunker a short distance from the wounded man. With full knowledge that the enemy was now concentrating their fire upon him, Hospitalman Willeford forged his way through the tall grass to the wounded Marines' side and began administering aid. While treating the fallen Marine, Hospitalman Willeford was also struck and mortally wounded. His courageous actions were an inspiration to all who observed him and were in keeping with the highest traditions of the United States Naval Service.

Authority: Navy Department Board of Decorations and Medals

The First Amendment Suicide Pact

Pamela Geller in Human Events, 1 December 2009:

The vise is tightening further on Rifqa Bary, the teenage girl who converted to Christianity from Islam and then fled to Florida from her Ohio home in fear for her life. Now she is in foster care in Ohio, in imminent danger of being returned to her family, and the Ohio authorities, at the command of the Barys’ lawyer, continue to isolate her.

Rifqa Bary has been in Ohio for well over a month and still there is no “approved visitation” list of friends who are allowed to see her. How can this be? How can it be that friends who request a visit, and whom Rifqa requests to visit, are repeatedly told that “there is no approved visitation list”? Is it not the very mission by objective of children’s services to protect the health and welfare of a child? Why has this one child in particular been denied visits from friends?

Rifqa has also been deprived of access to the phone and Internet. She has also been denied “pastoral guidance.” Convicts, murderers, rapists, and pedophiles all have access to “pastoral guidance.” Rifqa’s close friend and fellow ex-Muslim, Christian pastor Jamal Jivanjee, explains: “If you are incarcerated in an American prison today, you have the right to have a visit from a Pastor. Rifqa Bary does not have this most basic right that most criminals have today.” Is that how powerful and influential Islamic supremacists have become in the state of Ohio -- that one young girl is starved of spiritual nourishment so as not to insult Islam?

Jivanjee experienced this firsthand when he was in Columbus and learned that Rifqa wanted to see him. Jivanjee notes that this young girl is under unique pressure: “Unlike most girls her age, Rifqa wonders how long she’ll be in a safe home, or how long before the Ohio court system extradites her back to her parents custody that she fled from out of fear for her life. Many expect that she’ll be taken back to Sri Lanka immediately if that is the case. Because of Rifqa’s apostasy from Islam and conversion to Christianity, a woman’s prison, forced marriage, or even a death sentence await her back in her native land.” Yet despite her obvious need for encouragement and support, Rifqa was denied the opportunity to see Jivanjee. “It seems,” he said, “that Ohio has effectively put her into solitary confinement.”

Jivanjee asks the basic questions that every American should be asking: “How can this be good for Rifqa? On what grounds can they keep her from the most basic of privileges that are afforded to common criminals? Why has Rifqa Bary been in Ohio for almost one month, and they have still yet to approve a visitor’s list for her? Is this not an outrage?”

Has everyone gone mad?

No, Ms. Geller, everyone has not gone mad. What we are seeing here is the inevitable finale to the founding fathers' attempt at creating a secular republic.

Madness may be defined as an obstinate refusal to accept reality. In that sense, the United States Constitution—specifically, its First Amendment—is an act of supreme madness. Thanks to that constitutional requirement, the government of the United States must be and is officially neutral towards religion. The reality, however, is that no nation founded upon a religiously neutral form of government can long survive.

We of the West cannot face the truth, and the truth is that people of different faiths cannot live side by side in peace. In every society, one religion, one culture, must and will eventually become dominant. Christian government was once established in all of the countries of Europe and each of the American States, but over the centuries these established Christian governments have each been replaced by a secular government — and these officially secular governments have fostered a culture of secularism among the majority of the people. (The last Western state to have an official State religion in the sense I mean here was Franco's Spain -- and you've all been brainwashed into thinking of him as a villain instead of the hero that he was.)

Although most Americans and Europeans are nominally Christians, the truth is that most Americans and Europeans believe that individual liberty, not obedience to Jesus Christ, is the ultimate good. "Freedom above all things" is our motto; Christianity is still practiced, as long as it doesn't interfere with our "right" to do whatever we want as long as nobody else gets hurt (or nobody gets caught).

Our Islamic immigrants, however, still believe that submission to God is the greatest good, and their faith — however heretical — is now rushing in to fill the void we created when we abandoned God to worship Reason and Liberty.

Europe and America could still be saved. The various constitutions could be amended making Christianity the official State religion in each nation. Laws prohibiting the practice or advancement of any other faith could be written. Those of other faiths could be stripped of their citizenship and deported, or made subject to brutal taxes and penalties.

But we won't do any of those things. Our precious "freedom" means more to us than our nation does. We'd rather let the Muslims colonize us and expand rather than admit that the whole Enlightenment fantasy of a secular society just doesn't work. We'd rather fill the void in our lives with More Stuff and More Fun than admit that Reason and Liberty are the gods that have failed.

And therefore in the end we will have neither liberty nor reason, nor indeed our nation. Our sons and daughters will not have the luxury of ignoring Islam that we now enjoy. They will instead be given three choices: convert to Islam, live as slaves, or die fighting. (Most will convert -- "go along to get along" is the American Way.) And they'll be limited to those choices because we the people decided that "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof".

We Americans, and our European cousins, are about to find out the hard way the consequences of worshiping Reason and Liberty instead of casting our crowns before the throne of the God That Is.

See you at Covadonga!

How Liberalism and Libertarianism Destroyed Liberty

The passage of sweeping national health care legislation by the U.S. House of Representatives has set the stage for the greatest intrusion of the State into the everyday lives of the American people in the nation's history. Across the Web, the groans and cries of the free-marketers, capitalists, and libertarians have begun to echo in response. Surprisingly, many of these voices condemn the Catholic Church for its "socialist" commitment to feeding the poor, caring for the sick, and doing the other things Jesus Christ commanded of us. "Without the support of you bleeding-heart Catholics," the refrain goes, "this socialist nightmare could never have passed."

An element of truth exists behind this complaint. A pious Catholic's heart does bleed for the sick, the aged, the destitute, the lame, and the suffering; in this, it mimics the Sacred Heart of our Lord Himself, who gave all He had, including His life, for the sake of the suffering.

But is the Catholic Church "socialist"? Impossible. Socialism is a materialist doctrine with a dialectical and teleological basis that is utterly incompatible with the word and example or our Lord. As such, it has been repudiated specifically in the teaching of the Church, most notably in the encyclical Rerum novarum (1891) of Pope Leo XIII, which states

the main tenet of socialism, community of goods, must be utterly rejected, since it only injures those whom it would seem meant to benefit, is directly contrary to the natural rights of mankind, and would introduce confusion and disorder into the commonweal. The first and most fundamental principle, therefore, if one would undertake to alleviate the condition of the masses, must be the inviolability of private property.¹

But if the Church is not socialist, neither is it capitalist. Capitalism, like socialism, is both philosophically materialist and ethically libertarian -- and libertarian thought (which is just Liberal thought with a different name) is completely in opposition to the teaching of Jesus Christ. Our Lord is not a free marketer, a capitalist, an entrepreneur, or a salesman. As the ultimate altruist and counter-example of rational self-interest, He stands at the opposite end of the ideological spectrum from Rand's Nietzschean superman John Galt. Jesus Christ is a King, not a CEO*, and He commands His servant Church to uphold the Natural Law, which proclaims that every human being is a Child of God -- and as such, is deserving of food, medical care, and the other basic hallmarks of human dignity.

The Church is called upon to provide these social services. The State has no just role in pubic life except to keep the peace, protect the borders, establish justice, and preserve the national patrimony. In a Christian social order, the State officially recognizes the Church's special role in the life of the nation, and protects and support the Church in its provision of social services. This was the pattern of social organization throughout Christendom until the advent of the Lutheran heresy, which proclaimed the cult of individual Liberty and its separation of Church and State.

By destroying the proper relationship between Church and State, the "libertarian" Liberal movement invited the State to overstep its ordained bounds and intrude into areas of life within which it has no just business. In a post-Reformation representative republic such as our own, which pretends neutrality in matters of faith, the State cannot fulfill the role of Protector of the Church given to it by God; as a result, over time, popular demand forces the State to assume the provision of social services which in a Christian social order would be provided by the Church.

Human beings have the positive and Divine right to daily bread, health care, and other aspects of human dignity. In his Luciferian quest for individual Liberty, however, Western man has destroyed the Divinely-ordained social order under which the Church provided these goods. As a result, the heavy hand of the State will now intrude into every aspect of public life in its futile attempt to build a just society. Ironically, the worship of individual liberty instigated by the "reformers" of the Church and the secular counterparts of the "enlightenment" has destroyed the liberty under God that individuals once enjoyed as organic parts of the Catholic and medieval social order.

Nationalized health care is a fact. Soon, the power of life and death will rest entirely in the hands of the State. And as the smothering blanket of socialism settles slowly across our land, I invite libertarians to quit their whining. In their quest for freedom from the Church, they destroyed the institutions that kept the State in its proper place. Libertarians made this bed; we are now all going to be forced to sleep in it.

*That was L. Ron Hubbard's gig.