BLOGGING HERE AT BLOGGER

2007 HAS BEEN A good and kind year for me. It has brought me a series of very simple joys despite the travails of a mid-life crisis, particularly of my being laid off from work. For that, I am thankful I have all the time in my hand.

I get to have more quality time with myself and my family that I haven’t had the opportunity to do so before. Also, I get to have more personal conversations with Him -- who is my personal Lord and Saviour; and get also to do things that I haven’t had the time to do like home carpentry, writing, wood carving and chopping firewood leaving me emotionally-, intellectually-, spritually- and physically-fit and strong.

The year 2007 has given me an opportunity of unobstructed use of the Internet and introduced me to an experience which I have not had thought of before -- blogging! I shopped and looked for different free sites where I would want to blog on and so, last March, I tried Multiply and I have “Slippery Trails...Heavy Backpacks” as the title of my community-oriented personal blog there and another one at MyOpera titled “RiversideCROSSings”, which is faith-based.

I have tried Zorpia, LiveJournal, PerfSpot, Wordpress, Friendster, Tabulas and even in the Greenpeace website but there was something or some feature that I was looking for that all the following could not afford to give space to -- AdSense!

I have a Gmail account registered last January yet. Then I activated and tried incorporating my AdSense account, which is one of Google’s valued features, into all of those sites, but all to no avail. It’s because, in order activate AdSense into my chosen sites I have to be a paying member. Bad break. I could not afford one since I am jobless and, unknown to me at that time, Google’s Blogger feature is capable of accepting AdSense into its site since they are of the same outfit.

I registered with Blogger only last August 23 and tried testing with the copy-and-paste rule on its site and found it easy. Ditto with uploading pictures and images. I temporarily named my blogspot as “RiversideCROSSings” and posted my first entry, a poem about Mount Manunggal. Then on September 4, I inserted a second article about Cebu’s dancing inmates, which has four embedded YouTube HTML, and Blogger absorbed that one without a problem.

Last October 8, I posted my third blog entry regarding my gunless society advocacy and I decided to change the look of my blog and renamed it “Merely My Opinion”; which actually is my late grandfather’s title of his daily column in a local newspaper, the Cebu Daily News, of the 1950s*. As I was doing so it happened that AdSense is a free feature for Blogger so I incorporated my existing AdSense account into it without a hitch.

A week after that I opened my AdSense account and I discovered, to my delight, I have a balance of US$0.32 into my account where, for several months before that, it was a big fat zero! Better late than never. I have 49.68 dollars still more to go to receive my first paycheck! So I’ve finally came home and discovered the real threat of what good blogging really is which I found in Blogger (or Blogspot), by way of my Gmail account. Thank you Google for AdSense!

By the way, this is the first officially-authored entry for my enhanced personal blog here in Blogger, although the previous three would still be incorporated herein. I will now update my entries twice or thrice monthly, even weekly, for good regularity and, hopefully, God willing, I would be able to churn out quality articles to cultivate a good readership attention. Thank you Lord for the blessings!

Document done in RoughDraft 3.0, Trebuchet MS font, size 12.

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* My late grandfather, Atty. Gervasio Lavilles, wrote his daily column being Editor-in-Chief and Associate Publisher of Cebu Daily News, a Cebu City daily newspaper owned by the late Cebu Governor and City Mayor, then later Senator Sergio Osmeña Jr.

BE AN ADVOCATE OF A GUNLESS SOCIETY OR BE AN ADVOCATE OF THE DEVIL.

IT IS ONCE said in the 19^th century: that the gunpowder is the devil's most destructive invention ever and that guns were the offspring of this vile instrument of death. Ever since Samuel Colt created and mass-produced the first sophisticated weapon in the world in 1860, there had been far more many mortalities of humans and animals alike in a short span of roughly a hundred and fifty years when modern guns, cannons, bombs and similar contraptions were used than those that happened in and around 2,000 years of human aggression history. It tamed the wild West, participated in two world wars and aided in numerous pockets of conflict and ethnic cleansing.

Surely, you wouldn't feel secure having people around you toting guns, would you? And, conversely, you do feel secure having a gun with you, don't you?. What for? Protection? Or empowerment of your ego? Human nature, whether we like it or not, are prone to fits of aggression and that impulsive behavior associated with the greed for more power, territory and domination.

Guns are a commodity which everyone has access to nowadays provided you have the moolah to procure one. In the process, every one individual is assumed to own a gun, legit or not, it doesn't matter at all how they use it for their own benefit or ends. Society has never been so unsafe as before and the authorities, with prodding from middlemen and from gun lobbyists, have tolerated the proliferation of controlled and loose firearms in the guise of the constitutional “right to bear arms” (as if we lived in a medieval age) and for profit. Big profits, of course!

You don't need special skills now how to blow away to smithereens your perceived enemy. Hide behind a corner, just close one eye and squeeze the trigger. Effortless. Clean. Masterful. Forget the sound effects and ignore the stench of burnt cordite. It comes with the package. If you miss once, you have five or more chances and, surely, your prey could not outrun the ballistics you let loose at 400 feet per second? You liked it the first time and you crave for more. More blood, that is. Go make an enemy of your wife, your mother-in-law or your school teacher or whomever you think is a threat. Choose your targets well. Master your firing position. I just could not imagine, in the end, your bullet will come back full circle at you as you take aim at your own mouth in a fit of self-annihilation. Well, it happened at Columbine High. At Virginia Tech. In the Middle East, they do it much grander and with more public participation. By dying as “martyrs” with bombs strapped to them.

Legitimate gun owners have been carping about gun ethics and responsible ownership. Rubbish. Ethics apply only to them as they see fit that benefited them – as a tool to skip around gun-control laws. I don't see any reason perfecting your craft for years just by shooting at cardboard targets that don't shoot back. Obviously, behind that hobby, as a pistol-shooting enthusiast, is a primeval instinct of aggression that is veiled and unharnessed yet, but, in due time, as opportunity would permit, would use that honed skill against a hostile adversary in a traffic snarl or against an unwelcome intruder of property or home. The urge for the first kill is first and foremost of every gun holder's mind.

Firearms or guns, if by chance be allowed of use to, should be limited only to those who composed the tactical units of the police and the military and should be strictly monitored and accounted for. Not only that, they should pass regular and strict neuro-psychiatric tests and other behavioral evaluations. In this way, it is understood that these individuals are highly-trained and competent in the use of guns and its derivatives and, therefore, will give the assurance that they are fit to carry weapons.

Private individuals who opted to pursue the privilege of possessing licensed firearms should be screened tightly and strictly, limited to possess only short firearms of a firepower not exceeding caliber .32 (Magnum .22 is not included) and inside residences only for a period of one (1) year. He or she has the option to re-apply. The permit to carry guns outside residence should be discouraged and rebuked.

Criteria for issuance of gun permits should be evaluated to the following: threats to life, retired military or police personnel, personal or VIP security personnel, corporate and bank security, local executives tasked to enforce the laws and to those persons who administer areas or territories which have no assigned police or military personnel. Special transit permits is accorded to those who comprise the national shooting team and legitimate gun club members.

It is important to note that private vehicles should not be made as an extension of one's home which many gun holders have found it convenient as loopholes against gun control statutes. Collection of guns as a hobby should be considered unlawful despite being defanged of firing pins and other mechanisms and it is not advisable either to display guns in a museum or the like for it promotes a culture of violence. Ditto with staging of gun shows.

Bearing firearms is not a right but a privilege that can be stripped of anytime.

It is interesting to note that here in the Philippines, one man has the courage to advocate for a Gunless Society despite the sheer number of oppositors and the threats he received while waging this unpopular campaign. He is Nandy Pacheco. I never met him but I heard of him. I only lent and add my voice to his, hoping some of us can make a difference with the advocacy of a gunless society in this gun-crazy country.

And lastly, “There's no honor killing people using guns. It's a cowardly thing.” (from the movie, The Hunted).

Document done in OpenOffice 2.1 Writer, Trebuchet MS font, size 12.