Confirmed Again: I Am Not Running

On a conference call with (no) close supporters and (fewer) media representatives today, I confirmed that I am not running and that I still do not intend to run.

I cited health reasons, age and lack of motivation as the main reasons for my decision. I also stated that I want to keep the pathway clear for other quality people to run.

Online, I posted remarks to that effect, which participants on the call confirmed were an accurate reflection of the statements I made to them. I told all (zero) supporters that I believe I could have had a successful run this time around, but it is time to let others take the field.

I reiterated that I enjoyed my noteworthy runs in 1992 and 1996, and a few brief attempts in between and since, so it is always possible that I may run again at some future juncture. But it is not in the best interests of anyone right now for me to be out there on the trail with such a packed field of those currently running.

I extended my best wishes to those running or seeking to run, and I promised my support behind the runner who eventually clinches it.

I closed the conference call with thanks to backers and well wishers and promised that all contributions (totalling nothing) would be returned. Then I walked, not ran, back to my room here at the Peacful Rest Clinic, assisted by my two closest supporters in their nice white coats.

--- Reporting by Victor Mowery and Vic Mowery, with additional editing by Victor E. Mowery. (C) Copyright 2015 by V. Mowery Syndicate.

Armed Citizen Stops What Police Could Not

Click here for story at KCTV 5
An armed citizen put a stop to what police could not yet stop - a string of armed robberies by four thugs intent on violence and mayhem.

There are two sad facts in this tragic story.  The first, and foremost of course, is that the hero Jon Bieker lost his life protecting his store and the life of his wife.  The second sad fact is that it took an armed gun store owner to stop these heathens - not an armed convenience store owner, an armed customer or an armed bystander.  If more citizens availed themselves of their lawful right to keep and bear arms, these kinds of low-life scumbags wouldn't feel so brazen.

The signal this story sends to other scumbags is, "Don't rob gun stores."  Well duh.  Everybody knows that except these four morons.  A better outcome, not only for this story but for future crime prevention, would have come from the message of "Don't rob convenience stores," if the first robbery they pulled at Fast Stop had ended in their demise, instead of at least their sixth robbery.

Criminals are more brazen than ever.  They are so high on drugs, or so in need of drugs that they don't care what happens.  They are certain that the punishment will not fit the crime and they will get off easy like last time.  They have been raised in a generation that views self as more important than anyone or anything else, so nothing gets in the way of what they want.  And they have lost all feeling or empathy for their fellow human beings.  There are millions of these wild, untamed and untameable animals running loose in the American jungle.  They are in, around and among us, just waiting to strike.

The hands of police, despite their best intentions and tireless sacrifices, are more tied than ever due to political correctness run amuck and the ne'er-do-well idiots in places like Ferguson and New York.  And the court and prison systems are more bogged down than ever before, leaving scumbags out on the streets for long periods of time on bail and parole, where they carry on with the only lifestyle they know: harming others for personal gain.

Did you ever ask yourself, when they are hunting a suspect in the latest felony and they don't even know where he's at, how they can show you his high-resolution close-up photograph on the news?  It's always his mug-shot from the last time they caught him!  Did that every dawn on you?  It's almost every time!  They can't keep him locked up any more, and he is out on the loose looking for his next victim.  Will it be you or your loved one?  There are millions of them out there.

Now, if even a gun store is not safe, then how safe are you at home, in your car, at the grocery store or on the street walking your dog?

It is past time, way past high time, if you do not yet carry a weapon, to get yourself thoroughly trained, get safely and legally armed and then don't leave home without it.  If by God's grace you never have to use it, like most never will, then praise His holy name.  But be certain that your life, your living and your family may very well one day depend upon it.

What's more, society is depending on it.  Your community is depending on it.  This message needs to pick up critical speed and start sounding loud and clear nationwide: Average, every-day Americans are always armed because they care about their communities.

You cannot depend any more on the system.  You cannot count any more on the goodness of your fellow man.  You cannot trust your neighbors or your location to protect you.  You have to start taking responsibility for your own safety.  It needs to become an all-day, every day practice.

Yes, those who belong to God can rely on Him.  But trusting in God for your safety does not absolve you of your own responsibility for it:  "The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the LORD."  Proverbs 21:31.  That is, as one man has put it, "Trust God, and keep your powder dry."

A prudent man foreseeth the evil, and hideth himself: but the simple pass on, and are punished. - Proverbs 22:3, Proverbs 27:12.

If a thief be found breaking up, and be smitten that he die, there shall no blood be shed for him.  - Exodus 22:2.

But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.- Matthew 24:43.

When a strong man armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace - Luke 11:21.

Keep your goods, your health and welfare, and that of your family and your community in PEACE.  Arm yourself.  Do it NOW!

VM

The Builder

Once again, I reprint from "The Projector," this time from Volume 18, No. 2, Spring 1989.

THE BUILDER

An old man traveling a lone highway
Came at evening cold and gray
To a  chasm deep and wide.
The old man crossed in the twilight dim;
The sullen stream had no fear for him,
But he turned when safe on the other side
And built a bridge to span the tide.

"Old man," said a fellow pilgrim near,
"You're wasting your strength in building here.
Your journey will end with the ending day,
You never again will pass this way;
You've crossed the chasm deep and wide,
Why build you the bridge at eventide?"

The builder lifted his old gray head.
"Good friend, in the path I've come," he said,
"There followeth after me today
A youth whose feet must pass this way.
This chasm that was as naught to me,
To that fair youth may a pitfall be;
He, too, must cross in the twilight dim;
Good friend, I am building the bridge for him."

--Anonymous

Lord, Keep Me True

The following is reprinted from "The Projector," Vol. 13, No. 2, March-April, 1984, where it was published without an author attributed.  Current and previous issues of this wonderful publication can be found here, where you can also email and ask receive it for free (the sign-up form seems broken so use their email link): http://www.theprojector.org/index.htm

LORD, KEEP ME TRUE

Lord, keep me true when days are glad and free,
When all is well, and men are praising me;
Remind me, Lord, these blessings come from thee--
And keep me true, Lord Jesus, keep me true.

Lord, keep me true 'mid disappointments sore,
When heartache, loss, or failure be my store;
Help me to lean upon thy breast the more
And trust in thee, dear Lord, to keep me true.

Lord, keep me true though sickness come my way,
Though death invade and loved ones steal away.
Then Lord, oh, then, grant me thy strength I pray,
And keep me true, dear Saviour, keep me true.

Lord, keep me true though others prove untrue;
Help me stand among the faithful few
Though scorned, imprisoned, or should death pursue--
Whate'er the cost, Lord Jesus, keep me true.

Lord, keep me true; O keep me true, I pray,
Whate'er my lot may be from day to day.
My strength is small; be thou my constant stay.
I trust in thee alone to keep me true.

---- AMEN!