Opus 2016-351: Middle Class Morality: The Protestant Work Ethic

It is sometimes called “The Protestant Work Ethic”.  When you want to be insulting you call it “The Puritan Work Ethic” because we know what narrow minded haters the Puritans were.  In reality we should call it the Biblical Work Ethic.  The Bible presents work as noble and worthwhile.  It presents sloth as a sin.

Americans tend to work more and vacation less than people in other developed countries.  It is expected, or it used to be.  We are now seeing two extreme.  At one end we have the idle rich.  They live extravagant lives on money made by their parents.  At the other end we see the idle un-rich.  They live in a reliance on welfare and government handouts that have undermined the expectation to work.  That is un-American.  Americans are expected to work and pay their own way, not to be owned by their social worker or local party boss.

The strongest statement on this is

(2 Thessalonians 3:10 KJV)  For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.

There is provision for orphans, sick and widows.  There is none for sluggards. 

So get a job.  Be American and also be Biblical

Viva la middle class morality.

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-350: Headlines: Not Ready for the Big Time

It is a strange place to be in.  Putin is showing more international class than the President of the United States. 

In his continued attempts to weaken the United States and do as much damage as possible, Barak Obama has decided to expel Russian diplomats over the issue of hacking.  This has been in the news since before the election but now it is an issue.  He is obviously trying to cause an international crisis and show what a big boy he is.  He expected the Russian leader to respond in kind by expelling American diplomats.  This would create a crisis for the new Administration of Donald Trump. 

Surprise!  Surprise!  Putin seems to be a big enough man to say, “I will wait until the adults arrive and deal with them.”

I am thinking that Trump may only need one executive order when he gets in office:  “Everything that came out of this office for the last 30 days is null and void.”

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-349: Lite Ain’t Right

Some products in the lite version are not worth eating.  I remember diet Italian dressing when it first came out.  It was enough to swear you off salad forever.  Cheap baloney comes to mind.  You know, the kind that has grease dripping off of it while still in the package.  I meet people who eat pop-corn without salt and I ask myself, “Why?” 

Sometimes it does not make any difference.  Of course, that could be because I do not have a discerning palate.  I like broccoli.  I like my meat well done.  I like my cheese cold and my butter room temperature.  In spite of what the haute cuisine people say, I like tomatoes in my chili and on my hamburgers. 

In politics you sometimes have to go with the lite version.  I am a conservative.  I am a conservative because the positions associated with that work for a society that benefits the masses as well as the elites.  I am a conservative because the positions they take on the moral issues are in line with the Bible. 

In my faith there is not real lite version.  When you try to lower the spiritual calorie count you end up with something like instant oatmeal or fat free bacon.  Too many people who will accept the label “Christian” have removed all the vitamin content.  Real Biblical Christianity gives you the framework to live life in a complicated, crazy world.  It doesn’t make you fit in but gives you a rudder or an anchor depending on the need.  It is the difference between being a power boat with a compass and a life raft at the mercy of the current current.

Christmas and Easter.  The incarnation and the resurrection.  Great bookends for life.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-348: Headlines: Using a Baby for a Sneak Attack

Would you recognize Ivanka if she walked by you on the street with a bag of groceries in her arms?  I wouldn’t.  One of the things I have noticed about celebrities and many of the beautiful people is that if you get them out from in front of the camera and take off their makeup, they look like normal people.  They have wrinkles and blemishes.  Their hair sticks out.  Their clothes sag.  You would not look twice.

We recognize people by the frame around them.  I remember when I was in basic training and my family came to visit.  My own mother walked right by me and did not recognize me with a shaved head and ill fitting fatigues.

So how did this guy on the airplane recognize Ivanka?  He had to be looking for her.  He had to have some inside information on where she was and how she was traveling.  If I remember the article she was traveling in coach with her husband and children.  Do you walk down the aisle of an airplane staring at people asking yourself, “I wonder if that is a celebrity?”  I doubt it.  The man was looking for trouble. 

I am impressed at how the Trump offspring was traveling coach.  I doubt if it was a publicity stunt.  If the jerk hadn’t singled her out most of the people on the plane would have taken her as just another women traveling with her family.  This incident may for her to upscale.  It would be wise.  If the left wants to send a gay man holding a child to insult her in public when she is with her children I would say there is little they won’t do to get at the future president. 

For those of you who still are comfortable in the Democratic party or just in the masses this needs to be a wake up call for you.  You keep hearing about how violent and full of hate Donald Trump is and yet it was the progressives and democrats who paid all the trouble makers at his rallies.  It is the left that marched violently in the streets when they could not steal an election.  It is the gay and lesbian community that attacked a woman going about her business.

We need to make America great again not continue in the divisive tactics of the current elites.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-347: Are You Impressed?

Whose approval is important?  Whom do you want to impress?

When I think of Barak Obama I see a man pandering to the socialist elites.  He may like to play the race card and race bate but he isn’t really doing this because he wants the black masses to love him.  He is doing it because he wants the George Soros’s and the Muslim oil barons to pat him on the head and say, “Good boy.” 

To Trump it is the masses, the ones the elites are trying to disenfranchise.  Yes, he is a populist.  Yes, he knows how to talk Locker Room.  Yes, he can be vindictive.  But he really doesn’t care what the New York Times says about him or what the media pool thinks about him.  It is kind of like the experience of being a teacher.  If you goal is to be liked by the students you are putty in their hands.  They only like you when you are giving them candy or a free period.  You know when you have crossed a line and you go into reverse immediately.  On the other hand, when a student tells me, “I hate you,”  I tell them, “You’ll get over it.”  Of course I use the same line when they say, “I love you.” 

Trump really doesn’t care what the elites think.  He is wealthy.  He can buy and sell many of them.  He has been to their parties and bought their influence.  He is not impressed.  Of course everyone wants to be liked but not at the price of kissing lower dorsal body parts.

That is what makes Trump scary to the left.  It should also be a bit frightening to those on the right.  He will do what he thinks needs to be done.  Currently he seems to be on the side of the Constitution and conservative values.  Since those positions are based on facts and have been demonstrated to work I am hopeful that he will remain with us.  We cannot get complacent.  We need to keep encouraging the right people to have their influence on him.

Will he make mistakes from our point of view.  Count on it, but I am hoping that they will be honest mistakes of the moment that can be corrected with reason and facts.

It is going to be a wild ride for all of us.  If you ever get upset about something he does then you might need to get an arm band like the ones that were popular saying WWJD (What would Jesus do?) only the one you will have is WWHHD, (What would Hillary have done?)  I guarantee the contrast will make you feel better than a double dose of Vicodin.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-346: On the First Day of Christmas, My True Love...

Farewell Christmas Music.  I put it away on December 26.  On occasion a family member will protest and I will bring it out again but for me it is time to move on, at least until Thanksgiving.  When I was directing music in a church I used to bring out “Joy to the World” in the middle of the summer but that is a personal issue.

Technically we have now entered into the Christmas season, not left it.  The song “The Twelve Days of Christmas” covers the time between what we call Christmas on December 25 to what we call Epiphany on January 6.  Since I have spent Advent focused on Christmas I will spend Christmas focusing on the new year.  Since all of the labels and dates are arbitrary choices, I feel free to do that.

So happy new year.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-345: Birchers out of the Closet

I have not heard much about the John Birch Society lately.  With the current actions of President Obama regarding the anti-Semitic UN vote against Israel I am thinking he may be a secret recruiter for that organization.  They were a group that stood strong against Communism but the one image that comes to my mind are posters saying, “Get us out of the United Nations”.  When I Googled I came up with that image at the top of the screen.  That was a theme they had although a  quick look at their website didn’t have it highlighted. 

I never spent much time on the Birch Society.  At the time they were vilified by the press as right wing wacko types.  That was before I began understanding how biased the media was.  They might be poised for a new growth in membership.

One of my first thoughts when I heard what Obama did in refusing to veto the UN vote was that it was time to get out of the UN.  It has become an international joke.  I often wonder why we continue to let this organization that actively works against the interests of the United States to have their headquarters in New York.  Others around me spontaneously came up with the same idea.  They suggested moving the headquarters to Siberia.  I could live with that.  As I read posts on the web I see this is a recurring theme.  You have my vote.

So check out the John Birch Society.  Maybe we could start putting up those posters again and get some traction this time.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-344: Why the 25th? Why not?

What are the odds that Jesus was born on December 25?  I would guess about 1/365.  He was born.  He lived.  He died.  He rose again.  That you can take to the bank but we do not know the actual day. 

There are other things we do not know about Jesus.  We do not know what He looked like.  There is no physical description.  He was a He.  He was healthy enough to do a lot of walking.  Beyond that there is nothing but guesswork. 

We do not know what He liked to eat.  We do not know His favorite colors.  We don’t know if He liked traditional or contemporary music.  We don’t know if He was a KJV man or into the NIV.

There is a reason for that kind of ignorance.  It forces us to focus on the real issues instead of developing a bunch of superstitions and traditions based on fools’ gold.  Recently I heard a podcast talking about the opening of Jesus’ tomb in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.  The speaker, William Lane Craig, who is usually very scholarly was positively giddy about being able to see into this tomb.  He gave a run-down of the history of the spot and felt like it could very well be the real tomb of Jesus.  I hope not.  We don’t need another “holy spot” for the gullible to rush to for some magical cure.  If you want to read what National Geographic has to say it is consistent with what Craig had to say.

What we need to know, we know.  We do know why He was born.  It is wrapped up in His names.

(Matthew 1:21 KJV)  And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins.

(Matthew 1:23 KJV)  Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

So keep in mind what we do know and what we don’t.  What we know is important.  What we don’t is not.  If you don’t want to celebrate Christmas because the date is associated with a pagan holiday then pick a day to remember, mediate on and celebrate the incarnation.  And don’t look too deep because whatever day you pick you will probably find that pagans are doing something too.

Merry Christmas and Happy Incarnation.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-343: Book Review: Missing Ingredients

I have been reading a sci-fi series by David Weber.  It is called the Safehold series and like all of his work it is very entertaining.  The latest is called At the Sign of Triumph.  It is a take-off on Battlestar Galactica except the humans have found a planet and are hiding from the aliens.  He builds a world and culture and provides action, tension and characters.

What is hard for me to accept is the way in which he creates a religion for the world.  He recreates a parody of the Catholic church of medieval times.  It has priests, saints, angels, sin, mass, penance and a complete list of Christian accouterments.  It has a holy book and many of the quotes are paraphrases of the Bible.  It has sincere and devout believers and fanatical hypocrites.  It is much like the church today.  The one thing left out is Jesus.

People don’t seem to realize that the whole edifice comes crashing down without Jesus.  You notice the same phenomenon in our society today.  We can talk about God.  We can even use the word “lord” but the one thing that gets people shook up is when we talk about Jesus.

I find that much like modern Christmas.  We have schools that let out for two weeks and ignore the reason for the break.  We have holiday programs and ignore the fact that “holiday” is a corruption of “holy day”.  We celebrate joy for no reason.  In the end, it really doesn’t work.  It becomes a frantic search for the present in the gag gift where you keep opening boxes only to find a smaller box inside.

So enjoy the books.  Enjoy the season.  Understand that you will get a lot more out of them if you know the missing ingredient.

Merry Christmas

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-342: Legacy Building

Trump isn’t even president yet and he is already having more positive effect on the world than Obama after eight years.  Consider the Days of Countdown.

Obama is vacationing in Hawaii while he sets free hundreds of convicted criminals.  And the lame duck session isn’t over yet.  Just think how many more he can set free.  And if he gives them a pardon they might be able to vote again.

Trump gets Carrier to keep jobs in America.  I understand people are already starting to build new homes and the stock market is up.  He talks to one of our long-time allies and reassures them.  He stops a UN vote to condemn Israel, another long term ally.  He also got the snowflakes out of the house, exercising so their mommies can clean their rooms and get ready for Christmas.

(Since I wrote this, our legacy laden president has gone back to the drawing board and forced the vote in the UN that betrays Israel.  I can’t wait for the legacy to end.)

It is too soon to be sure but I am guessing that soon people will begin to wonder if Barak Obama is somehow related to Jimmy Carter.

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-341: School Assemblies

I really didn’t want to go to the holiday program but since I had children to supervise, I did.  I don’t celebrate Holiday, I celebrate Christmas.  I guess if you are technical I don’t even celebrate Christmas since that is a contraction of Christmas Mass.  I do celebrate the incarnation.

We gathered all the cherubs into the auditorium and watched a grade B talent show in celebration of the winter solstice.  It is appropriate that we celebrated it a day late.  We have been know to celebrate Cinco de Mayo on the 20th and Black History month in March.  One day is not big thing.

This is a day when I have a lot of sympathy for those curmudgeons who don’t celebrate Christmas.  On this day I will feel your pain.

Meanwhile I rejoice in the incarnation.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-340: Monday Pulpit: Creche or Cross

Okay, so it is Thursday.

I wonder which was “harder” the incarnation or the crucifixion?

On Good Friday we focus on the passion of Christ.  That is the suffering that He went through culminating on the moment that He took all our sins upon Himself.  This would obviously be a major trauma.

(2 Corinthians 5:21 KJV)  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

I am wondering if Christmas wasn’t even more traumatic.  Picture what it must have been for the eternal Son to take on full humanity.  Consider this,

(Philippians 2:6-8 KJV)  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

I am thinking that the incarnation could have been as incredible a shock as taking on the sin of the world.

Christmas is not a stand alone moment.  It is the beginning of the road to the cross.  It isn’t about babies, wise men and shepherds.  It is about redemption and hope.  It wasn’t a creche that was the focus, but a cross.

Merry Christmas, or as the pastor said on Sunday, “Merry Incarnation”.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-339: The Republic Survives

I am always amazed at how well our election process actually works.  We have some real issues and over the course of our history all political parties have had their hand in manipulating the vote.  In spite of that we have had no meltdowns.

Twice in my attention span the Democrats have made a big deal about recounts, implying that the Republicans cheated.  After the fake-news people have brainwashed the mush heads enough and the recount has begun, the issue disappears from the headlines.  Why?  Because when the votes are recounted the Republicans tend to gain ground, not lose it.

We saw that happen in the Bush Florida recounts.  We just saw it happen in the current spate of recounts.  We also saw this happening in the electoral college.  Hillary had more defect than Trump.

We need to fix what is broken.  We need voter ID.  We need proof of citizenship.  We need a paper trail instead of hacked computers.  We nee a lot of things but the good news is that the republic is still on its feet and moving forward.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-338: Headlines: Faithless Electors

It was a typical news day.  The electoral college met and elected Donald Trump to be the next president of the United States, yet most of the articles were about the protests, popular vote and faithless electors.  I even had to go to an English news source to find out the actual vote count.  Business as usual for our news manufacturers. 

I think the “faithless electors” should have a special fate but it should be political, not legal.  I don’t want any laws passed to require them to vote as their states voted.  I don’t want any jail time.  What I want is for the political parties to make sure that they are labeled “pariah” from this point forward.  If they want to be martyrs, grant their wish.  Shun them.  Ostracize them.  Don’t invite them to Christmas parties.  Don’t let them serve on boards.  Let them know that you are not happy with them.

It is amusing and typical that the Democrats went crazier than the Republicans.  If the reports are accurate, and in this day and age that is a big question, the Washington electors that should have voted for Hillary voted for a Republican who was not running and an Indian activist.  At least the defective Texas electors voted for people who had actually run for president.

But no new laws, please.  The founding fathers in their wisdom did not provide for punishing faithless electors.  Just as I bow to their wisdom in establishing the electoral college I accept that they did not see the need for criminal indictment.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-337: Monday Pulpit: Cultural Attitudes

The pastor was talking about the Virgin Mary and how she was a very young girl, possibly as young as 14.  My mind went off on a tangent.  I have worked with junior high, high school and college age children ever since I myself was in high school.  Teen age pregnancy happened but it was relatively rare in my lower middle/upper lower class world.  Christmas involves teenage pregnancy.

Today if a teen aged girl gets pregnant she becomes a celebrity.  A girl at the church I used to attend ended up pregnant.  As far as we know the child was conceived in the back of a van by an unemployable young man who has departed the scene.  The church held showers and gave a lot of gifts in an attempt to be “loving”.  I am sure that the government services are giving her a check.  I am sure you have seen her compatriots pushing beautiful strollers down the street in a group and not one wedding ring in the bunch.  There is no stigma or reproach.

That is not the way it was in the world of Mary.  She faced the possibility of being stoned to death or rejected and thrown out on the street.  She knew that being pregnant would make her a pariah in her world and destroy all her dreams.  She was an unwed mother.

Yet she knew she was innocent.  She knew she had done nothing wrong.  That is why she was able to respond to the angel’s life threatening message,

(Luke 1:38 KJV)  And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

Mary knew her heart and she knew her behavior.  She knew there was no way she could be pregnant.  She also knew that noone would believe her story.  She still trusted in the God of Israel.

It all worked out but not exactly the way modern fiction would portray it.  She did not go on to a life of luxury and notoriety.  She did not get a government check.  She continued as the wife of a carpenter, lived in a small town and had a normal home for that day.  She continued to be the same faithful servant she had been before the great announcement.

You may have some hard times in your life.  You may have tragedy.  It does not mean that you have done something to deserve it.  Only you and God know your heart.  But like Mary, you can trust Him to work His will in the big picture. 

Merry Christmas.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-336: Headlines: Partisan Politics at Its Best

Today is the day the president of the United States is chosen.  What has always been a forgone conclusion to those who believe in the rule of law and playing by the rules has become a moment of drama and tension because of the Progressives who want to rule the country by elite fiat instead of a system that has made us the most stable form of democracy for over 200 years. 

Some say the electoral college is a relic of the past and should be done away with.  Strangely enough the same people feel that way about the Ten Commandments too.  Just as they put themselves above the Constitution they put them selves above the Bible.  At least they are consistent and understand the import of God blocking the tree of knowledge in the Garden of Eden.

(Genesis 3:5 KJV)  For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

But enough of theology. 

This is a day where we can glory in the robust nature of our republic.  We are a nation where liberty has promoted and nourished the ability to express our stupidest opinions freely.  We can agitate and demonstrate until dinner time.  We can live with out mommies and still think of ourselves as adults.  You can disagree with me and I can call you a fool.  It is called partisanship.  It is called freedom. 

In once sense I would welcome a significant number of electors to be faithless as long as they don’t pull off a coup.  I fear the results of such treason but I don’t expect it.  A serious defection from integrity and law would be a wake up call to the nation and possibly get us thinking again.  Jefferson talked about the blood of martyrs and tyrants watering the tree of liberty.  Perhaps if we get stirred up a little we can irrigate a little without the extreme of shed blood.

We should welcome the controversy.  It will hopefully stir the mush headed masses to start thinking because it will finally get their attention. 

Enjoy the spectacle.  You won’t see its like in Russia, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, China or any other place you have the word republic without the freedom to be partisan.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-335: Plow and Crown: Protecting the Masses from Themselves

There will always be a group of people who run things.  They are the ones with power and influence.  Along with that is wealth.  It has always been that way.  It will always be that way.  The rulers can be called elders, kings, presidents or Big Dog.  The name doesn’t matter, only the reality of the position.  Down through history there has always been a struggle between the ruled and the rulers.  A call it the plow and the crown. 

We have lived in a brief time in history where the masses have had access to power.  The United States has been at the top of the pyramid of liberty.  The reason is that a group of outstanding men, seeped in Christian values chose to live what they lectured on.  The English heritage from the days of the Magna Carta had slowly evolved to give the common man a voice in his destiny.  It has not been a smooth slope but it has been continually upward if you are one of the masses.  In ancient history you have the Pharaohs being God.  You have the Roman emperors being deified.  You have the Pope as God’s representative on earth and the divine right of kings.  In Asia you have the mandate of heaven in China and the emperor as a descendent of the Gods in Japan. 

We now are in one of those downward slumps of liberty.  Warlords, Mullahs, bureaucrats, and local sheriffs are all taking a big bite out of the hard won freedoms of the past.  We are watching this with the current election.  The elites of America are out to throw the republican form of government under the bus.  They want a system that makes all kinds of promises but always delivers what the annointed think is best for the common fools of the country.  If they think they will lose in the Electoral College then the Electoral College needs to go.  The electors need to be suborned.  The masses must be overruled.  Of course it will be for their own good.

Donald Trump was not my first choice but he became my only choice.  I don’t expect him to do everything my way but I understand that he won the election fair and square, or at least as fair and square as you can win any election. 

Anyone concerned about liberty and the rule of law needs to do everything they can to stop the Progressive elites from destroying the republic in their lust for the crown.  We did not have a revolution when Clinton took over.  We did not have one when Bush won.  We got past it with Obama.  It is time for the Nanny Staters to step back, take a deep breath, read the rules and try to find more fools to vote for them next time. 

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-334: First Christmas Present

I am getting an early Christmas present.  It is a trip to the dentist. 

Why is that making me celebrate?  I was able to schedule it on a Monday.  On Mondays at our school the kids go home early and every second Monday we have a meeting planned and run by our fearless leaders.  If you are a woman or man who likes to share your feelings and have no discernment about the big picture these are safe spaces for educators.  If you think Common Core is a bunch of nonsense then these are times of cruel and unusual punishment.

It used to be that we could leave early on days like this and get in a dental appointment.  Now they get legalistic with us and threaten to take an entire half day of sick leave.  Okay.  I can live by the rules.  Now I take a day off, sleep in, go to the dentist and miss the meeting.




(For those of you who do not work for the government you may not even know what dental insurance and sick leave are.  I understand.)

Merry Christmas.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-333: Words Matter

As I was listening to Christmas music on my I-Pod I was singing along with Joy to the World and got the words to the third verse wrong.  Actually I got them right.  The singers got them wrong.  They left out the third verse.  I have noticed this trend all my life.  If a song has four verses the director will skip the third.  I don’t think it is a plot but we miss a lot of solid teaching that way.  Actually Christmas carols do a lot of teaching about who Jesus is and why He came.  That is why they are being sifted out of the playlists on radio. 

Consider the opening words to “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus”:

Come, Thou long expected Jesus,
Born to set Thy people free.
From our fears and sins release us;
Let us find our rest in Thee.

This is a message that the world rejects.  We are sinners.  We need deliverance.  It can only be found in Jesus.  That certainly puts rain on the self-esteem parade.

So, let it rain and let Him reign.  Stop and consider the words to the music you might know how to hum but have trouble singing.  Music has a message.  At Christmas it is the message that

(Galatians 4:4-6 KJV)  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.  And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.

And let the pagans grumble.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-332: Keep Dreaming

One of the principles that capitalists like Henry Ford understood was that if your employees can’t afford your product then your market is very limited.  Increased sales means more profit.  He figured out that if you sold one Cadillac and made $500 it was less than if you sold 1,000 Model T’s and made $1.00 apiece.  Find the balance of paying as well as you can, selling as low as you can and making money on volume.  That is capitalism at work.

We need to apply that to the third world.  Much is being made about Carrier and Trump.  I take it all with a grain of salt but there is an opportunity we need to take.  We need to find ways to raise the economic level of the average Mexican so that they can buy American made air conditioners.

One side of that is raising their income.  That will never happen without political reform in Mexico.  I was talking to a man from Mexico and all he could talk about was the corruption of the government and how rich the politicians were.  There must be a peaceful way we can encourage liberty and free markets in that country.

A second side is to lower the cost of A/C so that everyone can afford it.  We need a Henry Ford of air conditioning.  Why have we lost the ability of dream big.  It used to be the American way.  Now the American way seems to be snowflakes in the street having social tantrums.

A third leg is cheap energy.  That could be atomic.  It could be hydrogen.  It could be something we haven’t thought of yet.

The future has so much potential if we would get rid of the Progressive mind state that tells us we need the government to take care of us and the EPA to keep us safe from ourselves.

Keep dreaming.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-331: Monday Pulpit: Joy to the World?

I think I am going to need to move to the front row if I want to be able to worship.  The other people in the congregation are very distracting.  It isn’t because they are standing on  their heads or picking their nose.  Usually it is because they are doing nothing.  Sunday we were singing “Joy to the World”.  I was into the words, “No more let sin and sorrow grow...” and I glanced to the left where a group of high school students were standing.  There were six of them.  None of them were even trying to sing.  There were six sets of eyes, glassed over and staring at nothing.  This during “Joy to the World” on the third Sunday of Advent.

I work with kids.  I see them bumping and jiving at the more boring drum beat.  I see them going through the entire routine of a music video that is making the rounds.  And here stand six young minds of mush with vacant faces in the midst of the celebration of the incarnation.  That got me looking around and I noticed how many adults were just standing there like someone was trying to sell them life insurance.  I could understand that look while a very mediocre choir worked through a dull piece of music.  I could see it during the offering.  I could even see it during “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day”.  I can’t understand it during “Joy to the World”.

I continue to enjoy the Christmas season.  I sing along with the songs I know and rejoice that in the fullness of time, God sent His son.

Consider,

No more let sin and sorrow grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground.
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as the curse is found.

If that doesn’t rock your boat maybe it is time to start bailing.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-330: Should-a-Beens: A Disclaimer

It just occurred to me that in my previous post I wrote the words, “So shoot me.”  For any liberals, millennials, snowflakes, drones or sheep out there (Yes, I know that is redundant), that was not meant to be taken literally.  It was used as a figure of speech.  Do not feel threatened.  Do not imagine that anyone who is intelligent enough to go through the process of buying a gun will actually take it as literal permission.  Those not that bright would shoot me anyway with their stolen gun.

Maybe I should have said, “So sue me” but that would have encouraged the same people who are threatened by what I did say.

So, as I used to be forced to say to the math teacher on my team at school, “Joke, Irene, Joke”.  To which she would reply, “Oh.”

So, joke snowflake, joke.  And all the snowflakes said,......

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-329: Firsts: A Time for Coffee

I am finding there are times in life when the bells and whistles actually get used.  My word processor has more little adjustments and buttons than I have time to look at, let alone figure out.  I can “create a redacted document”.  Not only do I have doubts if I want to, it sounds vaguely immoral.  Under legal I have a button for a “pleading paper”.  But occasionally something calls out to be experimented with.

For years I have been aware that I could program my coffee maker to start the brew before I got up.  Since I rarely set the time on my coffee maker that wasn’t too practical but as I started getting up earlier and earlier and trying to figure out ways to streamline my morning, I gave it a try.

It works.

Now I can stumble a little longer without needing to count out scoops of coffee.  Since I don’t have what anyone in my family would call a discerning palate, it doesn’t bother me if the coffee is “stale”.  So shoot me.

You are never too old to learn, just too old to remember what you learned.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-328: On the Street: Sneak Attack

I gotta get out of this place.

Today a panhandler hit me up at the cash register.  I had ordered my bread and coffee.  I was taking advantage of a free pastry and looking forward to it on Saturday morning.  While in the process of paying a young lady walks up to me and asks me to buy her some food.  She was hungry.  I never give money to panhandlers but I don’t want to turn away people who are hungry.  I keep extra snacks in my car so I can give it to people who are really hungry.  So far no one has been hungry enough to accept what is good enough for me.  I have never been accosted inside a restaurant before.

I was tempted to buy her a piece of bread.  After all, if it was good enough for the old man who had not eaten since last night it would be good enough for her and she probably would turn it down.  I had a better idea.  I did not need the pastry.  It didn’t cost me anything.  So I had the clerk give it to her.

I am trying to tell myself it was a win/win but I am still amazed at the nerve of people who refuse to get a job and support themselves.

Welcome to California.  It is time to leave.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-327: New Terms: Polytetrafluoroethylene President

We have all heard about how the media called Ronald Reagan the Teflon President.  I have often wondered why the term is never used for Democrats.  Think of Bill Clinton, Barak Obama and the potential president, Hillary Clinton.  None of the refuse of their lives seems to stick.

I propose calling them Polytetrafluoroethylene Presidents. 

It actually means the same thing but it sounds so much more noble.  Polytetrafluoroethylene is the technical name for Teflon. 

All Hail to the Chef.  May he produce successful recipes. 

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-326: On the Street: No Beat

One of the interesting things I learned from a fellow teacher at our faculty meeting on Monday was that Peter, Paul and Mary have no beat.  This was the response of a young teacher, entrusted with molding the next generation, after we had listened to “Leaving on a Jet Plane”.  Each week the fearless leaders play some music and have us guess who’s music it was.  They call it “team building”.  I call it a waste of time but since I was approached in the hall and asked for some favorite music I came up with Peter, Paul and Mary.  On reflection I could have suggested the Platters and “Great Pretender”, Smokey Robinson doing “My Girl” or The Nutcracker Suite by a guy who has a name I can’t spell.  P,P & M bubbled to the top.

It was amazing how much everyone got into the song.  Where most of the time they sit like zombies during this segment of the faculty meeting, this week half of them were singing along.  You can always tell what is good music by how many people sing along.  Alas, I was informed that they had no beat.

That is the level of culture and intellect inhabiting your public schools.  Next I expect to find out that they don’t have any melody or harmony either.  If we also eliminate vocabulary words of more than one syllable we have the kind of music that the music critic must have liked.

Until then, on the downbeat...

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-325: Remember the Alamo?

Think of all the events in history that have caused people to remember.  And then they forget. 

How many of you have spent any time remembering the Alamo?  I cover it every year in my U.S. history class.  It was a defeat for the Texans.  The men who died there knew they would be defeated.  As they heard  “El Deguello” they knew that they would die.  It was a bugle call that warned defenders no prisoners would be taken.  So what was the point?  It slowed Santa Ana down so that the rest of the army of Texas could pull it together for a later victory.  How many remember?

The revisors of history are beginning to deny the Jewish Holocaust.  The denial is common in the Muslim world and gaining ground among socialists in the academic world.  One of the phrases I heard associated with it was “Never Forget” yet when you Google it the main idea is that the words are a generic political phrase.  What is really amazing is the number of Jewish voters that continue to be loyal to the Democratic party as it sells Israel down the drain. 

Today we are supposed to be commemorating the “day which will live in infamy”.  That is how FDR labeled the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.  It was the foolish move of the Japanese which drew us into the second world war.  It woke up the “sleeping giant”, a statement attributed to Admiral Yamamoto.  If you have seen the movie “Hacksaw Ridge”, read the book Unbroken or learned about the Bataan Death March,  you begin to understand that Pearl Harbor was mild compared to the atrocities that were to come. 

The list could go on.  We could remember the Battle of Tours, Waterloo, Lexington, Saratoga, Valley Forge, Gettysburg, D-Day, 9/11 and so many others.

Whom we are as Americans has been molded over centuries.  People have stood tall and been buried deep.  Pearl Harbor Day is not a day to remember the perfidy of the Japanese in 1941.  It is a day to remember that eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.

Remember Pearl Harbor

 homo unius libri

Opus 2016-324: Morning Pulpit: One Gram at a Time

I am not sure what the reference was that Alistair Begg was preaching from but a phrase he used caught my attention.  It may not be exact because I could not write it down while driving in rush hour.  It went something like this:

“It might not be much, but it is what made the difference.”

I think he was talking about prayer and the influence it has.  The principle applies in most of our lives.  Few of us will be the leading character in a successful TV series.  We won’t make it into the history books.  No one will remember us but we all make little contributions that keep things going. 

In the morning when I am having my bread and coffee and celebrating my own personal Eucharist I often look at the bread and think of all the hands that went into putting it in front of me.  It runs from the guy who put the bolt on the wheel of the combine to the employee behind the counter that put the bread on the plate.  All it would take for my plate to be empty is one level of hands to not do their small bit.

So cheer up.  You make a difference.  The only question to ask is, “Am I a positive difference or a negative difference.”  If you leave the eggs out overnight it doesn’t make much difference.  If you leave the ice cream out it changes everything.

I am counting on you doing your part.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-323: Liberty Means a Half Loaf

Politics is about power and a republic is about compromise in power.  We tend to forget that.  In politics the only way you get everything you want is to be a total tyrant and care nothing about anyone else.  It is usually a scenario that ends violently.  We need to understand it is okay to go for the whole enchilada as long as we don’t expect to actually get it.  One person's freedom is another person's limitations.  Liberty only exists in compromise and constraint.

Trump was not my first choice and for a reason.  Many of those reasons are still there.

Trump was my final choice and for a reason.  Those reasons are still there.

We are watching the process of putting together an administration.  There are names for everyone to feel good about.  There are names for everyone to worry about.  It is a process in which no one gets everything they want.  The Founding Fathers set it up that way on purpose.  They understood that the more voices you had at the table the less chance for tyranny and despotism. 

Remember that none of us will get a whole loaf, even Trump.  And be glad. 

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-322: Is There Hope?

I believe Donald Trump has declared himself to be a Christian.  Ultimately that is between him and God.  I don’t think he is trying to lie,  I also don’t think he has a clue to what the question is.  He is a business man, not a theologian and he attended a church that preached more positive thinking than the gospel.

We need to be cautious about depending on Donald Trump’s spiritual condition if we are hoping for the country to get back on track.  Donald Trump is not a prophet and Americans are not the chosen people.  Both will be used by God but make sure your hope is in the right place.  If Trump’s administration is actually able to pull us back from the abyss it will not be because of Trump.  It will be because there has been a faithful remnant.

Take the example of the discussion between Abraham and God about the destruction of Sodom.  Let me set the tone by a couple of verses.

(Genesis 18:23-24 KJV)  And Abraham drew near, and said, Wilt thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked?  Peradventure there be fifty righteous within the city: wilt thou also destroy and not spare the place for the fifty righteous that are therein?

And God’s response,

(Genesis 18:26 KJV)  And the LORD said, If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sakes.

And as you know the bargaining continues all the way down to 10 righteous.  We are not Sodom, yet.  I am certainly not Abraham.  But God is still God.  Jesus called us salt.  I have to believe that as long as God’s people are being faithful salt, He will hold back His wrath.

Are you part of the problem or part of the solution?  Your faithfulness may have more to do with our survival as a nation than what Donald Trump does.  God was able to deal with Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar and Cyrus.  The trouble He had was with the children of Israel and their rebellion.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-321: On the Street: Patterns and Habits

I am getting better at remembering my phone. 

We get used to certain patterns.  I always pat my pocket to see if I have my keys, even when I am at home and just going out for a few moments.  My wife likes to lock doors and I don’t like to be on the wrong side of her security.  I can’t remember when I walked out the door without my keys or wallet.  The phone doesn’t have such a good record.

But I am getting better.  It is becoming a part of my hand or a weight in my pocket.  I am beginning to sense that something is missing.  I had that feeling the other day as I started down the steps to the car.  Something was out of balance.  I had my phone.  I had my wallet.  I had my coffee and lunch.  Then I realized what I was missing was my rolling case with my work in it.  Habits can be good things.

About the time I get used to something they will come up with a new shinny.  It is called progress but I would question that assumption.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-320: Headlines: California Wants to Secede

I can understand that feeling but I want them to wait until I am gone from the state.  Once I get out I will be ready for California to get out of the United States, but it presents some problems.  You will not find those problems at the Yes California website but you can take a quick look through their rose lenses if you want.

One reason it isn’t a good idea is that it will require a much longer wall to be built.  If you look at a map, the border between the United States and Mexico is only about 140 miles across the southern boundary of California.  If we had to build a wall on the eastern border it would be over 1,000 miles through some very mountainous territory and we would still need to go across the top. 

We would also lose some vital ports in San Diego, Long Beach and San Francisco.  If California is allowed to leave I would suggest that those areas and a few miles around be retained as U.S. Territory with an easement through to reach them by land.  Think of how Guantanamo is American territory in Cuba.  Think of the way in which Berlin was located in Communist East Germany but trucks and trains were allowed access.  This would keep them from charging huge tariffs on goods brought in from Asia and keep us in the world of trade.

I am not sure it would work but we might also keep the first mile from the coast and the right to the oil in the water.  That would make California a land locked nation but still let the majority of socialists in those coastal counties to not be Americans.

Secession would cause problems in education.  We would all need to relearn the highest and lowest points in the continental U.S.  Since American students are so bad in geography this would not require much besides changing the Wikipedia sites. 

Probably the biggest reason it would not be a good idea is that it would not work.  California could not make it on its own.  It reminds me of the adolescent who wants to live his own life but doesn’t want to move out and get a job to do so. 

California leaving is like going into a fast food place, ordering a hamburger and expecting it to actually look like the one in the advertisement.  Pleasant thought but it ain’t gonna happen.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-319: Cornerstone Considerations: Viva la Electoral College

As I had this on the back burner others were writing about it.  One of the best I found was at Gorges Grouse.  He approaches from a different direction and has a lot of easy to understand numbers.  I would recommend you check it out.

The cry to do away with the Electoral College is being heard again.  The losers want to go to a popular vote instead of the current system.  That still won’t solve their problem of losing.  Keep in mind that if we go to a popular vote we should also demand a majority.  A plurality won’t do it.  In most of the current elections that would mean a second election with just the top two vote getters.  As of the last count I could find Hillary only had 48% and Trump 47.1% of the popular vote.  That means 4.9% of the country is not included in those counts. 

How would that 4.9% vote?  If you look at third place it is usually the Libertarian Party.  How would those people vote?  Would they bother to vote if they could not go third party?  Libertarians tend to side with the Republicans on economic issues, the Democrats on moral issues and all over the map on other things.  There are no guarantees.

Would people bother voting a second time?  Would they change their minds?  Would the loser still complain and demand a two out of three election?

Then consider that the campaigning would also change.  Bribes and corruption in the big cities would get even more dramatic and destructive.  Even more dead people would vote.

Do away with the Electoral College?  Be careful what you wish for.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-318: Immortal Quotes: “A Different Drummer”, part 2 of 2, The Step

How have the church and Christians become social clubs and nice people?  It is an almost irresistible force and happens repeatedly through history. 

During my life I have seen the transformation of marriage.  I have witnessed the gradual acceptance of divorce.  I don’t mean the obvious cases of adultery and abuse.  I mean the large number of “incompatible” and “no contest” splits.  What used to be rare and frowned upon has become mainstream and cool.  It started as an attempt to be loving and compassionate and has gone a long way toward undermining a foundation of society.

We are also redefining marriage.  We are silencing our minority of people who still claim that marriage is between one man and one woman.  Today the force behind it is the homosexual community.  Tomorrow it will be the Mormons and Muslims.  In the process we are redefining what family means.  No longer is it bound by blood and marriage.

The sexual revolution has become the status quo.  We have begun to accept fornication and out of wedlock births.  When you accept the tenants of evolution it is amazing how easy it is to accept animal behavior as “natural”.  It is amazing how often people claim to be followers of Jesus and yet they are living in physical intimacy that God reserved for the marriage bed. 

Discipline has gone out the window in the name of self esteem and caring.  Corporal punishment can lead to court cases.  The death penalty is rejected.  Both of those are clearly endorsed by scripture.  What does it mean when people who claim the Bible teaches salvation by faith refuse to read the parts that teach the death penalty?  Protestants talk about cafeteria Catholics when the term applies equally well to the one doing the pointing. 

Wealth has blinded our eyes to balance and stewardship.  In Proverbs the excellent wife dresses her household well, feeds them well and runs a business.  Jesus wore a seamless cloak which was not cheap.  Quality clothing and good food are not condemned and yet somehow I find it hard to justify a closet full of shoes and a steak dinner that costs more than a week’s groceries.  At the same time we have large numbers of illegal aliens working in sweat shops at substandard wages.

I am sure if you are thoughtful you could add to the list.

We need to act like we are in the locker room at half-time and the coach is saying, “Listen up, you clowns.”  The drummer is beating.  We should get in step.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-317: Immortal Quotes: “A Different Drummer”, part 1 of 2, The Beat

One of the phrases that I find coming to mind frequently is “march to a different drummer”.  I find it applies to many choices I make and priorities I set.  I feel it should apply to believers and the church.  I decided I should look up the full quote and learn who I am quoting.  It comes from Thoreau.

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.  Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”  — Henry David Thoreau, Walden

For Christians that drummer is God and too often no one is listening.  This is expressed by the apostle Paul.

(Romans 12:2 KJV)  And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

I have always enjoyed J.B. Phillips paraphrase of this.  He says,

“Don’t let the world squeeze you into its mold.”

One of the great tragedies of history is that Christians keep getting squeezed.  Often they seem to seek the squeezing.  We are like hot Jello poured into our culture instead of fire-hardened vessels from the Potter’s hands.  As such we become worthless.  Worthless to God and ignored by our world.

What are some areas where we allow ourselves to be molded to the standards of the world?

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-316: Discernment Watch: CCC Matures

Common Core Curriculum (CCC) keeps getting mentioned.  Trump’s alleged pick for the Department of Education, Betsy DeVos, is being questioned by the conservatives because of supposed support for CCC.  Like most government programs, it will not go away.  “It isn’t a government program,” the left says.  Right.  If it looks like a duck....

Keep in mind that CCC is not really about curriculum in the sense of what will be covered.  It is about how it will be covered.  It is simply the latest evolution of what the Progressives (socialists, elitists, Democrats, left wing) have been pushing for decades.  It was being pushed when I came into education 30 years ago.  The names keep getting changed to protect the guilty but it continues to be pushed.

CCC is about group think.  It is about the Great Mediocrity.  It is about stifling anyone who might raise their head in individual excellence and actually move our culture ahead.  It pushed group work, cooperative learning, collaboration and anything that keeps the bright kids from achieving.

I had a recent revelation on this.  When I am gone I leave work for the substitute that I might not do if I was present.  I can’t count on the substitute doing much more than taking role and keeping the kids out of my desk.  So I leave prepared worksheets.  I often come back and find that students who do no work when I am there have completed the assignment.  At first I thought that maybe the sub had reached them in ways I couldn’t.  I discarded that almost immediately.  My latest theory matured recently based on my “honors” class.

This is a group of nice kids.  They are above average at our school which would make them about average when I was their age.  One of my problems is to get them to stop copying each other.  They are bright enough but they are also lazy.  They have been together for about 8 years and people keep telling them they are really smart.  They were also continually taught to work collaboratively.  They have been taught to copy.  When I am with them I keep stomping on that behavior and meet fierce resistance.  The sub just lets it go.  So when I was going over their work I noticed that people who had never completed an assignment for me had the entire page filled out. 

Will this group come up with the next generation of innovation that will revolutionize the world?  I seriously doubt it.  There are a few that might surprise me.  They will be good at working on committees and boards but we know how much work committees get done.

We are teachers.  We are molding the future.  Be afraid.  Be very afraid.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-315: A Non-Snowflake Tantrum

I want my welfare check.  I am ready to go on public assistance.  Where is my EBT card?

Don’t worry, I am not serious.  It is just my version of a snowflake attack after being off work for a week and the requirement that I get back in the harness.  Today I am going back to the classroom.  I don’t want to go.  I am too used to getting up when I feel like it and having all day to get a few things done.

I know, I know.  Most of you only had Thanksgiving day off and maybe Friday also, but I am a teacher and spoiled by all the government largess that comes my way.  Most of you get two weeks vacation a year and I just got one for Thanksgiving.  Think about that next time schools want more money.

Okay.  My temper tantrum is over.  I won’t be going to the streets and burning police cars.  I will simply be trying to get your children to think. 

That is my revenge.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-314: Headlines: Vaya con Diablo

I hope I didn’t see you on the TV, dancing in the street over the death of Fidel Castro.  Keep in mind that he has now crossed that line and is already well on the way to his eternal destiny.  I would not wish it on anyone but if there is a select list of modern people who are getting what they deserve, he is on that list.

If I were a Cuban exile in Florida I might be dancing.  If you are a Cuban exile in Florida I can understand.  But keep in mind the poison he excreted is not gone with his passing.  There is still an infrastructure of evil that will continue long after he can’t sign any death warrants.  It is time to pray for the people of Cuba.  They will only find relief when enough of them decide they have had enough.

So let the crazy people of the world celebrate the way they did on 911 and when the people were massacred in San Bernardino and Paris.  It may be necessary to deal harshly with evil but we don’t need to make a circus out of it. 

The world is a slightly better place today but get ready for the Castro t-shirts that will soon go on sale.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-313: Thanks Thoughts: Technology

It is the day after “Thanksgiving” and I am beginning to play Christmas music.  It makes me thankful for modern technology.  A combination of CD’s, lap top and I-Pod make it possible for me to collect all my Christmas music, legally purchased, and shuffle it so that I can listen to the joy of the season without the pollution that is passing for Christmas music today.

I don’t know if you ever tune in to the radio stations that are claiming to be all Christmas music.  I used to tune in and get enough good stuff to keep listening.  Every year there is less music celebrating the incarnation and more informing us of some tragic love affair in December.  Not only is it musically handicapped but it is morally vapid.  Because of modern technology I can go anywhere and listen to pieces that are worth listening to.  I currently have enough to listen to 1.2 days of music without repeated.

Merry Christmas.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-312: Today, Thanks; Tomorrow, Carols

Thanksgiving is a part of my ritual every day before work.  Breakfast is bread, butter, coffee and thanks.  I began celebrating the Lord’s Supper each morning by reading over the passage in I Corinthians dealing with this sacrament.  One verse begins with “And when He had given thanks, He broke it...”  So I have thanksgiving at least five times a week.

That doesn’t take away from a day of communal thanks.  Worship is more intense when we are with other believers.  It is more than addition, it is multiplication when we sing to the Lord together.  Today is a day of feasting and worship even for those who don’t believe in much of anything.

I am thankful when I think of all the times that potential disasters ended up as minor inconveniences.  About a month ago a had a hard fall down some stairs on a dark morning when the lights were not working.  Nothing broke or got torn.  I had a few days of stiffness and sore spots but I was miraculously not in need of healing.  I went to the doctor for my annual physical and he thought my heart was acting weird.  That began a series of tests and monitors that came up with, drum roll.........., nothing. 

Then there is the overwhelming blessing of No Democrats in the Family Syndrome (NDiFS).  It is a condition that does not exist in every home.  It makes for boring conversations but fewer fights.

So enjoy the day.  Thank God that you live in America in the 21st century.  Rejoice that all of your problems are first world.  And remember the one ironclad rule of Thanksgiving:  You can’t start the Christmas music until after dinner.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-311: The Democrats Will Block California Secession

Without California the Democrats are dead as an influence in the federal government.

Look at the current numbers for the last election:

Electoral College:  Trump 290, Hillary 232
Popular vote:   Democrats 64,223,958
        Republicans 62,206,395
Senate balance:  Republicans 52, Democrats 48
House balance:  Republicans 238, Democrats 194

Consider what they would be if California were allowed to leave:

Electoral College:  Trump 290, Hillary 177
Popular vote:   Democrats 56,861,468
        Republicans 58,290,186
Senate balance:  Republicans 52, Democrats 46
House balance:  Republicans 224, Democrats 155

So don’t get too excited about the idea that California will pull out.  That door was closed back in 1865 and the Democrats can’t afford to have it opened again. 

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-310: Headlines: False Conflict

The headline in the Washington Times read, “Donald Trump, police union at odds over ‘sanctuary cities’ funding”.  I am not sure that is an accurate summary of the article.

In the first paragraph it points out that the largest police union endorsed Trump even though he had a campaign platform with this position.  Then it says he plans to do what he promised.  The next paragraph is where the focus is lost. 

“But in recent days, mayors and police chiefs in major cities across the country have pledged to stand behind their sanctuary city policies in defiance of Mr. Trump’s plans.”

This is supposed to be a major conflict but is really only saying that apples don’t taste like oranges.  On almost every issue the mayors and police chiefs in major cities are on the opposite side of the issue from the rank and file.  So where is the news?  Mayors and police chiefs in major cities are political positions.  They are probably Hillary Democrats.  Of course they oppose anything that Trump stands for.  The rank and file are a bit more diverse.

If you read the entire article you can find the balanced statements, toward the end.  Things such as,

“While some big-city police chiefs have criticized Mr. Trump’s proposed crackdown, some law enforcement organizations say it ultimately will benefit the safety of civilians and officers.”

It then goes on to mention several organizations that are just fine with what Trump wants to do.

I am disappointed in the Washington Times.  In theory they are more balanced that the NYT and LA Times but there are times when I question that theory.

Let us hope that President Trump will follow through on the pledges of Candidate Trump.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-309: Election 2016: Pure Democracy at Work

I was a hard sell when it came to plastic bags.  If given a choice I would always ask for paper.  I got over it.  I found that I could actually carry more and still unlock the front door.  I also didn’t need to fold them to store them for reuse.  I found a zillion ways to reuse them.  To my knowledge I never threw them away when I came home from the store.

Now they are taking them away from me.  Soon they will be taking them away from you.  The enlightened electorate of the People’s Republik of Kalifornia have voted to ban free plastic bags in the grocery stores.  Now we are given a choice.  The first choice is to pay 10 cents for a bag that costs less than a penny and used to included in the price of the groceries.  Or if you prefer you can bring your own reusable bag, encrusted with crud, infested with germs and laden with disease, and put it on the counter where my food will pass.  How did we get to this?  It is a good example of why the founding fathers were leery of big government and double leery of government that was in bed with big business.

It started with a small, vocal group agitating to do away with plastic bags at grocery stores.  I think it was environmentalists concerned about plastic not decomposing in a land fill.  I understand that rocks don’t decompose in a land fill either but I have not heard about a ban on rocks.  They managed to pressure a few city governments into banning plastic bags.  From there it went to the county, outside of cities.  Now the entire state has gone that way.

You can say it was voted on by the people.  It is a good example of why pure democracy does not work.  Keep in mind this is the mindless masses of the left coast.  Look at the last election.  The country as a whole was a dead heat between Hillary and Trump.  The People’s Republik went 62/33 for Hillary.  That will give you a feel for where our minds are and how different we are from the rest of the country.  In the same election the welfare classes of the left coast voted billions of dollars in new debt and legalized marijuana. 

Today it was plastic bags that were declared anathema.  What will it be tomorrow, plastic bandages?  Plastic pens?  Republicans?  White males? 

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-308: Election 2016: And the Whimper Is...

Ever since the election we have seen all the people protesting Trumps election.  One of the popular themes is “He’s not my president”.  That is true in some meaningful ways.  First, it is being reported (and I speculate earlier) that a large proportion of these mob members did not bother to vote.  Since they don’t vote it is true that no president could be theirs.  Second, a large number of the rioters are illegal aliens.  Their presidents live in Mexico, Guatemala, Venezuela, etc. 

A silent and “noble” protest has also been going on among the teachers of the land.  They are protesting by passing their distaste for Trump on to the children entrusted in their care.  They disguise it as “concern” and “sensitivity”.  I have yet to be at a gathering at my school where someone does not express concern for the anxiety of the students.  What is strange for me is that I have seen no anxiety in the students.  I began to wonder if I was living in an alternate reality.

Then I had an insight.  The whimpering of the students is a reflection of the whimpering of the teachers.  One of the mantras of education is that if we expect high achievement we will get high achievement.  Maybe the teachers need to transfer that to our form of representative government.  If you whimper and expect whimpering then guess what you will get?

All the snowflakes are not in the street.  Many of them are standing in front of classes of impressionable children.  Many of them are administrators spreading their panic to teachers.  One of the subconscious fears of educators is that the public will wake up to the fraud they are perpetuating and cut off funding for the social conditioning that is going on in the public schools.  Do those of you who live in the real world realize that I, as a teacher, have the entire week of Thanksgiving off?  Do you realize that I have two weeks off over Christmas and New Years?  That I still have Cadillac health insurance?  That I am paid more than you are when I only work 39 weeks a year?

I keep hoping that someone will realize that the Department of Education needs to go.  That thought will set off a lot more whimpering and anxiety attacks.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-307: Discernment Watch: GMO Worship

I wonder if people who are worried about GMO are as worried about seeker friendly worship.

The GMO Apocalypse crowd are worried about our food sources becoming malignant because the genetic makeup of the DNA has been altered.  For instance, it might look like a tomato but in order to make it grow quicker some crazy scientist has grafted in the DNA of a pig.  So are you eating a tomato or are you eating a pig?  This could be an important question to a Jew, Muslim or Vegan.  It could also be an important question to the rest of us. 

The question is a good one.  When corn is genetically modified does it damage us in ways we won’t see for generations?  I am not sure it is a matter of basic health.  For all of the fears expressed about so many things, people are living longer.  It also seems to me as a public school teacher that they are getting dumber, but that might just be old age on my part.  Do you blame it on GMO, Common Core or Sesame Street?  Maybe all of the above.

So we have concerns about our food because we are playing Russian roulette with the basic makeup. 

Why are we not concerned about the GMO worship that we see.  Our fearless leaders in the church are concerned about being “seeker friendly”.  They don’t want anyone feeling uncomfortable.  They want to adapt the church to our culture.  They are doing an effective job of adaptation.  We don’t hear much about sin but we do hear about diversity.  We don’t hear about reconciliation with God but do hear about reparations for anyone who can find a grievance.  We reject the clear teachings about marriage and grab hold of whatever the latest cool vibe is on the slippery slop of the thrill seeking elites.

Might I suggest that we face the same danger in our spiritual lives that we face in our diet.  When you monkey with the building blocks established by God you take risks that could be very serious.  You might also make things better.  It is best not to go forward blindly using expedience and popular opinion to set the standards.  In vegetables a little testing can find out if something is dangerous.  Feed it to a few generations of rats.  If they start growing two heads you know you have a problem.  In the church you have some clear standards in the Bible that need to be followed or you risk eternal damage.  I feel like I am seeing a lot of spirituality with two heads.

Sometimes in a raging storm you paddle faster.  Sometimes you drop an anchor.  Sometimes you head for shore.  Some times you inflate your life vest.  Sadly, sometimes you die.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-306: Headlines: The Brainwashing Continues

It seems that there are two names that Donald Trump has mentioned as he looks to forming his leadership team.  Neither one of them are household gurus to me but one of them I am aware of.  That would be Steve Bannon but my awareness is limited to the fact that he headed up Breitbart and used that site to support Trump.  That in itself is the reason for the hysteria we are hearing about the man.

We are hearing that Bannon is a racist, bigot and an anti-Semite.  I keep hearing the gullible news people on conservative stations repeating the accusation as if it had some validity.  I don’t pretend to deep knowledge but I do know a couple of things:  The sources of the “information” and the intent of the reporting.

You usually need to read through the articles to find what a bunch of slander they represent.  At the beginning you see all the breathless accusations and how terrible this could be.  Toward the end you find the source of the accusations.  It seems that Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are the architects of this expose.  If you feel you can believe anything these two say then I might suggest that you apply for an EBT card and subsidized housing because you obviously are in need.  The claim that he is anti-Semitic was made by his ex-wife.  I assume it was part of a bitter divorce where she was trying to get more alimony.  Not exactly gold standard sources but typical of today’s news reporters.

As for the intent; it is obvious.  Keep the big lie going.  Smear Trump with any vicious gossip you can come up with.  It doesn’t matter if there is any factual evidence, smear. 

Again, I say I don’t know much about these people but if the left wing press and the anti-American politicians are so worried about them they must have something the country needs.  Maybe we will get some real reporting eventually.

I trust that Trump will continue to mock these so called “news” people and get on with business.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-305: On the Street: America Goes to Work

Don’t worry about the snowflakes in the street, America is on its way to work, millions of us.

I dropped my wife off at the airport yesterday morning before 5:00 A.M.  Then I took the freeway and headed to work.  It was amazing.  At 5:00 A.M. when I stopped to get a cup of coffee at an AM/PM I had a hard time finding a parking place.  The working people of America were getting caffeined up for the day.  When I entered the freeway it was moving at about 50 mph but already heavily loaded with traffic.  At a few points we came to a full stop.  At 5:00 A.M. 

These people were not on their way to protest an election.  Since this is California I am sure that a majority were not happy with the results but they were still on their way to work.  They had jobs, families to support and taxes to pay.  They did not have time for whining.  They might complain but they still had to keep the country moving.

So let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.  America is still on its way to work.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-304: Headlines: Snowflakes Have a Temper Tantrum

This is a news story that isn’t.  You have all seen the footage of the angry violent people in the streets calling for love and concerned about the anger and violence.  It is kind of like public schools talking about high standards and rigor as they dumb down the vocabulary in the books they are still buying.

If you are a parent or an observant human being you have seen this before.  I saw it when my son was 13 and wanted to get a lawyer so he could divorce the family.  The cause?  I think it was requiring him to clean up his room.

Let me make some guesses about the “masses” in the street.  90% had EBT cards.  90% did not have full time jobs.  90% do not pay any income tax.  75% are still living with Mommy and complaining when the refrigerator doesn’t have the craft beer they like.  (The number is lower than 90% because some mommies have gotten fed up and thrown the snowflakes out.)  99% went to public school where they were promoted without knowing anything.  90% have received a trophy for participation.  90% did not bother to vote.  99% have cell phones while 10% own cars.  90% need a shave, face or legs.

You get the point.

Some of the “crowds” had fewer people in them than the line at the DMV or the ladies restroom at Disneyland.  Most of the crowds were anchored by people paid to be there.  Let us get a life, stop watching the networks and move on.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-303: Firsts: Absentee Ballot

I finally voted absentee.  My wife has been after me for ages but I have always gotten a certain satisfaction of walking into the polls and doing my civic duty.  This time we were not sure where we would be on election day so I took the plunge.

It was not too painful and I didn’t need to stand in a long line.  I understand that voter turnout in the People’s Republik was down so I may not have faced a long line like the rest of the country.  It was that voter surge that brought Trump out on top.  Even I know people that had not voted in ages who made sure they were registered and got involved.

Kalifornia did not get so excited.  Why bother to vote when it is a done deal?  Why take the time to vote for president when you know your candidate will win with 2/3 of the vote?  Why vote for the Senate or House candidate when your choice was between two Democrats.  It is kind of like asking a European to chose between Stalin and Hitler if the EU had been around in 1939. 

It is time to remind the last American out of the People’s Republik of Kalifornia to turn out the lights and bring the flag.  Actually that won’t be necessary because they will have run out of electricity already and the snowflakes will have burnt the flags.

Warning:  As California goes, so goes the nation.  May it never happen.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-302: Slow Good, Fast Evil

When the Bible talks about God’s blessings the picture I get is a gentle rain.  A withdrawal of that blessing is often not noticed at first.  When it talks about His wrath I see storms, earthquakes, floods and hail.  I am trying to think of a time when the gifts of God are seen as overwhelming.  God tends to work slowly. 

This would follow a pattern I have seen in life.  It usually takes a long time to build up the good things but they can be destroyed in a moment.  Think of spending 30 years raising godly children and having them murdered by a drunk driver.  Think of spending a summer bringing a crop to maturity and having it destroyed by a hail storm.  Think of a life doing good deeds but refusing to bend your knee to the God of the universe.

It seems like I can gain 10 pounds over a few weeks of feasting and it takes me the rest of the year to get it off.  The key to weight loss though is not the number of calories in a meal but the decision before the meal to choose restraint or hedonism.  That decision is what every smoker ignores when they say, “I can quit any time I want”.  It is what the obese denies when they say, “One more won’t hurt”.  It is what the sinner ignores when they say, “Later”.

We age one second at a time.  When I saw myself in a video recently I wandered who the old man was.  Seriously, I could not recognize myself even though I look at myself in the mirror every day.  It creeps up on you.  We destroy or build our lives one decision at a time.  God is patient.  That means that we will have sixty chances every minute to change our minds.  We will have sixty minutes every hour to change our destinations.  The glory it that is it is almost never too late.

Almost.

Live the day in light of tomorrow.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-301: Election 2016: What Happened to the Other Shoe?

I am still waiting for the other shoe to drop.  I can’t believe that Hillary is going to let this go without an endless series of lawsuits in an attempt to bring down the Republic.  Maybe she is sicker than anyone will admit.

Maybe she is aware of how many ways she tried to rig the election and she still lost.  Think about all the voting machines that were hacked.  Think about the voters that were intimidated.  Think about all the dead people who voted.  Think about all the illegals that voted.  Think about the ballots that disappeared.  She still lost.  Knowing tha,t she may have decided that the only way she could keep out of jail was to play nice and act like she cares about something besides her own pocketbook and power.

Every day without the other shoe makes it harder for it to drop. 

I live in hope.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-300: Firsts: Smart Washing Machine

The load was off balance.  The computer chip kept turning it off and doing whatever it was programed to do when it was off balance.  It was not working.  Okay, I can deal with that.  I have dealt with it in the past.  The one thing I was not expecting was the nanny state mentality of the machine design.

The computer chip had also locked the lid.  The machine could be paused but that did not unlock the lid.  That was probably to protect me from hurting myself.  I appreciate their concern but it makes it hard to fix what was broken.  It is in the same category as my wife telling me that the clothes I put on did not match but waiting until I was walking out the door to express her opinion.

I am sure there was a solution but not being a geek or a government official, I could not figure it out.  My solution was to turn it off completely, readjust the load and start it up again. 

I feel safe.

I feel frustrated.

I want the nanny state to be reigned in.

We don’t always get what we want.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-299: Election 2016: A Call to Prayer

There are so many things that can be said about the election, the results and where do we go from here.  I will probably say many of them but the key thing I think Christians need to remember is that we need to be more zealous in prayer than ever before.  An often quoted statement that evidently predates Thomas Jefferson is “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.”  I don’t recall off the top of my head a snappy Bible quote to back that up unless it is,

(1 Thessalonians 5:17 KJV)  Pray without ceasing.

I believe we are to be involved in the political process.  One of the dangers of that is believing that real answers will be found in politics.  God has worked through every political format.  He will continue to work that way.  He can harden hearts and enlighten minds.  He can knock people down and lift them up. 

Donald Trump will need our constant prayers.  His advisors and choices will need divine intervention.  Rejoice or mourn at what happened last night, the future requirement is clear.  To that end let me add one more verse.

(Galatians 6:9 KJV)  And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-298: Election 2016: Tomorrow

Get ready for tomorrow.  There will probably be a long string of accusations and law suits, no matter who wins.  We can count on Hillary’s machine coming up with new ways to cheat.  The electronic voting machines are totally unsecured.  The Republican machine will make no wave about that but Trump will.

Relax.  This is nothing new.  The only thing different is that you will only hear the liberal spin and you will hear it quickly.  American elections and the democratic process around the world is full of examples of fraud, deceit and deception.  Expect it.

It is part of the price of liberty.  I don’t think anyone ever contested an election in a country that was not free.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-297: Election 2016: Long Live Partisanship

Today is the day we have all been looking forward to with dread and anticipation.  While the polls have been open for early voting in some locations I think they are all closed after tonight.  It has been a long and fiercely contested process.  Some in the media would have you believe that this is unusual but if you believe that then you also believe in global warming.  You need to be careful what you believe and who told you.

Elections have always been raucous.  Partisanship is what freedom is all about.  Close elections are what keep the winners on their toes.  The only ones calling for togetherness and mindless unity are the censors of the elite.  They are the ones who have been sending violent “protestors” to Trump rallies and then accusing him of generating hatred.  They are the ones who have caused extreme reactions every time a conservative voice tries to talk on a college campus.  They are the ones trying to control the internet.  They are out to shut us up.  Most are on the left but the “right” also has its share.

Rejoice in the partisanship.  It means that the spirit of democracy is alive and well.  Be glad you don’t live in the People’s Republik of Kalifornia.  I had a choice for the senate this year, a choice between two Democrats.  I had a choice for the House of Representatives this year, a choice between two Democrats.  Partisan politics has disappeared in the People’s Republik because the progressives are in charge.  It is like living in the Soviet Union where you can vote for anyone as long as it is the one Communist on the ballot. 

Fear peace and harmony at the cost of liberty.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-296: Thanks Thoughts: Turnabout Is Fair Play

I may have touched on this before but it came home to me again this morning.  Alistair Begg was talking about agape/love and forgiveness.  He was sharing how God will remember our sin no more.  I was reminded of how the definition of love in I Corinthians 13 is not just a lesson in how we should love but a reminder of how God loves.

My wife and I have been married 41 years.  It has not been easy.  The word “divorce” has been heard.  Yet here we are.  Much of it comes from the application of God-given agape, the ability to love.  I have been wronged.  I have been sinned against.  I have been victimized.  Yet I keep coming back for more.  I am sure that my wife could say the same.

God himself has modeled this behavior.  I am thankful for that.  It would have been so easy, and so deserved, for God to throw a few lightning bolts, generate a bit of leprosy, cause a building to fall on a few heads or not allow that car to miss me.  Yet He hasn’t.  He demonstrates love.

(1 Corinthians 13:4-5 NAS77)  Love is patient, love is kind, and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered,

Thus I am called to forgive in marriage.  I trust I have done so.  I assume I will continue to do so.  Any time I start thinking I have reached the end of my rope I should be reminded of how often God has thrown up His hands at my behavior. 

But He keeps hanging on.  Thank you, Lord.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-295: Election 2016: Spin Cycle

Who is going to win?  No one knows, especially the media and pollsters.  There is so much spin and outright deceit going on that it is impossible to read.  People are afraid to say they are for Trump in certain venues.  I do straw poles at school and I can see them looking around and not expressing any opinion.  Then you have the ones who are messing with the media.

I recently read a piece that talked about how there was going to be a massive Latino turn out that would win this thing for Hillary.  That is based on the elite’s racist assumption that they have brainwashed the Latino vote the way they have the black vote.  The upset-the-donkey-cart reality is that their lock on the black vote is not as solid as it once was.  We may have a large Latino turnout but a significant portion of them may also vote for Trump.

My wife was out at a yard sale.  She was the only Anglo in one yard and got into politics with about seven Latinos.  It seems that they all claimed they were voting for Trump. 

Who is going to win?  We probably won’t know until Wednesday morning and possibly not even then because there will be so many cases of Democrats cheating that the election may be tied up in court and investigations.  It won’t be the first time.  If you have the time check out the election of 1876 on Wikipedia.

The country has survived contentious votes before.  I assume we will again. 

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-294: Election 2016: Shot or Hung? Your Choice

Have you heard the line, “Where am I and why am I in this handbasket?”  We have the feeling that things are going down hill.  Part of that is just because we are tired or had a personal conflict.  Part of it is because it is true.  Our liberty is being slowly surrendered as the Nanny State keeps building fences and riveting chains to keep us safe.  Think seat belts.  Think bicycle helmets.  Think compulsory education.  Think the war on drugs.  The chains take many forms.  All are designed to shelter us from making decisions or shield us from the repercussions of our stupid ones. 

Even with all the erosion of liberty I still think I live in the best country.  I am, however, not content with living in the best when I know that it is not as good as it used to be.  We may be the best but we are not what we were.  That brings us to our current election.

You have the chance to do something about it Tuesday.  The is the good news.  The bad news is that you have a choice of being shot or hung.

The choice is clear in a murky kind of way.  You can either vote for Hillary and guarantee that the light at the end of the tunnel is an approaching train or you can vote Trump and hope that in private when there is no bluster and ego on the line his advisors will help him make the right decisions.

And ultimately for believers we need to understand that God has already controlled Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Cyrus, and Balaam’s ass.  Think of the string of miracles that brought Hitler to his knees.  Think of the growth of the church in Communist China.  Get some context.  He can also control both Hillary and Donald.  Will we win the election?  Impossible.  There is no good choice.  Can we elect the least worse candidate in our eyes?  Certainly.  Will God still be on the throne?  No question.

So vote but remember you really only have two choices that have any meaning.  One for certain evil and one against certain evil. 

And relax.  American has been a delightful blip in history.  The end must come sometime.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-293: Ode to Old: As I Remember

I don’t know if you have spent much time around people who have reached the age where their memory is more imagination than fact.  Some are very good at hiding it and if you don’t know them you think they are still firing on all cylinders.  Have I joined that crowd?  I find myself questioning my memory and I find my wife questioning it even more. 

She was talking about some event in our past.  I can’t remember what it was but I do remember that the experience she was relating did not seem to be the same moment in history that I had lived through.  More and more often I find that the past she details does not reflect the past I experienced, or should I say thought I experienced.

Is she embellishing or am I editorializing.  Is it both?  I guess the bigger frame for the question is, “Am I losing it?  Is she losing it?  Are we both losing it?”  If it is me, I might need to retire immediately because I am not sure it is safe to have me in charge of children.

Will I still have internet access when they lock me away?  Will you know the difference?  Will I know the difference or just think I have already posted for the day?  Am I already locked away but I just don’t realize it?

You do not need to answer any of those questions.

homo unius libri

Opus 2016-292: Discernment Watch: Luxurious Poverty

The greens want us to go back to a preindustrial existence.  It would be deadly.  There is no way we could feed the world with that level of technology.  There would be a massive die-off but that doesn’t seem like a bad thing for the extreme environmentalists.  They assume there will be enough peasants around to make sure that they have the good wines and cheese to go with their bean sprouts.  They assume tofu will survive. 

For those of us not in the elites and managing to survive, it will be incredibly boring.  Think about two glorious things we take for granted that would have been miracles before cheap electricity.

Hot showers
Cold apples

Two modern marvels are involved.  The first is hot water on demand or, if you want to go another step, clean water on demand.  Because of the modern infrastructure you don’t need to chop wood, dig peat or haul coal.  Then you face the challenge of starting the fire.  You don’t need to stomp through the snow, break the ice and hope that the rope doesn’t break as you draw water that you then must tote back to your drafty, insect infested house. 

And how about them refrigerators?  You think your Brussels sprouts go bad quickly now then how fast do you think it would happen without the old ice box?  For ice you push a lever.  You don’t need to go out in the middle of the winter and saw blocks of ice out of the local pond, pile it in a big hole you dug and surround it with sawdust, hoping that it won’t melt before your 4th of July party. 

That pretty much says it all.  You could multiply this list endlessly but simply put, “Would you rather have cold showers and room temperature apples?”  The poor people of America live at a level that was beyond the reach of kings in the old days. 

That is poverty I can live with.

homo unius libri