Opus 2019-237: Thanks Thoughts: Cinnamon

If you want to see something that is truly awesome in a historical context, visit your local dollar store.  Find the section that has the spices and look at what you can get for a dollar.  What got me going on this was the cinnamon I was adding to my oatmeal.  I could go to the shelf and pull off other modern wonders but one illustrates the point.

Before the discovery of America cinnamon was something that only the rich could experience.  Yes, I know we hear about pepper, but cinnamon came on the same ships from around the same world.  As a teacher I used to talk about the search for a short route to the East.  I would illustrate that you could send out ten ships and if one made it back there was enough profit, after expenses, to set you up for life.  I can buy it for an inflated dollar bill.

It is great to be thankful for all of the big blessings:  Family, security, health, a new video game.  Don’t forget all of the things that are now common place.  Rejoice that you live in the 21st century in America.  That is unless you enjoy oatmeal with no sugar or cinnamon.  It was called gruel and it tasted like it sounds.

So be thankful.  Make it a habit, even after Thanksgiving Day.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-236: Official Announcement

It is now official, Thanksgiving Day is over and you can listen to Christmas music. 

I know you have been hearing it in the stores for days, if not weeks.  They are playing it to get you in the mood to spend.  You will notice that I have no “tip jar” or advertising so my motives are pure.  Insert the CD, hook up your Pandora, start your Ipod, if you have them spin a record.  It is now culturally appropriate to listen to Christmas.

Enjoy. 

Merry Christmas.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-235: Hatred, by Any Other Name, Be It Oh, So Sweet..., part 5 of 5, Limitations

Should we use what we know about genetics to breed people like we do dogs and apples?  Evolutionist and atheists should be all in on breeding a master race.  It is consistent with their view of the nature of humanity.  One of the science fiction themes that comes up is cultures in which people are bred to be members of certain classes or functions.  Some are warriors; some, librarians.  If you believe in evolution then it should be a challenge to see what you could come up with.  If you don’t believe in God then you can develop the ethics to suit your current desires.  You would call it progress.

They may have moral objections but it is purely subjective.  Their opinion is no more valid than Stalin’s.  We tend to forget that the current crop of Progressives began with a group that were big into eugenics.  They had no trouble sterilizing “inferior” people.  It was for the good of the race.  Often they start with what seems logical, if you have several generations of severe retardation, why not make it so the defect cannot be passed on?  The immediate immorality is punishing people for the condition of their ancestors.  The problem that eventually emerges is a sliding scale of inferior.  The Progressives of today who control the social media have decided that being conservative is a defect.  They are trying their best to destroy that evil gene.

Why not breed people for specific results?  One of the things that stands in the way is people who believe in the God of the Bible.  We believe that we are created in the image of God.  The technical term is Imagio Dei.  We believe that life begins at conception and that God instills a unique soul into each human being.  That makes them different from the animals.  That means we are not tomatoes that can be altered to be easy to harvest or wheat that can become resistant to drought.  It puts limits on what is acceptable.  The anti-Christian crowd does not like that.

That means hatred based on superficial characteristics is not allowed.  Can you hate evil?  Yes, but keep in mind that evil is defined by God and not by the latest broadcast of the View or by your favorite celebrity.  Evil exists.  The first step to fighting it is to admit it exists.  Sometimes you can separate the person from the thing you hate.  Other times in is who they are.

Christianity teaches that man is inherently sinful.  That does not mean that they are nasty and kick puppies.  It means that they are focused on themselves instead of God.  It means that they reject the God of the Bible and want to establish their own right and wrong.  It means that morality is relative and based on consensus rather than objective truth.  Evil is a problem.  The atheist says that the cause is a faulty society and the right government programs can fix it.  Christians believe that what is broken is man himself and he can only be fixed by God, but it can be fixed.

Hatred will always be with us.  Maybe we should look at ways to deal with it, ways that really work.  You won’t find them in science or philosophy unless they are in submission to the God of the Bible. 

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-234: Thanks Thoughts: Dentists

There are times when I am glad I live in modern America.  Actually I am always glad but sometimes I think about it.  Each morning I try to start the day with a time of gratitude.  I thank God for my blessings and use objects in my room to stimulate my awareness.  Everywhere I look is a catalyst of thanks.  Thus I am reminded of the blessings of my children when I see an item they gifted me with.  I think of the heritage I have when my eyes rest on my grandfather’s desk.  Our flag leans, rolled around the pole, in a corner. 

While thinking about the blessing of living in modern times in a land that still has some liberty my mind went on a tangent that brought dental care to mind.  Could you picture living in the ages when the only dental care available was a pair of pliers in the hands of someone willing to pull?  There were no fillings, root canals, implants or free tooth brushes.  There also were no reliable anesthetics.  Just the thought of pain in the tooth is enough to make me swear off time travel forever.

So be thankful.  Make it a habit.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-233: Hatred, by Any Other Name, Be It Oh, So Sweet..., part 4 of 5, Should We?

Are different groups of people actually different?  It is a question that we don’t seem to want an answer to.  How much does it matter about differences?  We confuse difference with value judgement.  If your unit of measurement is thin or fat and your value centers on size of feet then your measurement has nothing to do with your hierarchy.  If we can accept that individuals are different then why do we have a hard time accepting that groups of people are different. 

We acknowledge that breeds of animals have certain characteristics.  I am not an animal person so I really have no insight into most but I have noticed a few things about dogs.  We had a beagle.  We only had it for a short time because the beagle had only one purpose in life, to get out and seek the impossible dream.  If the door was open a crack the beagle was gone.  She was a good dog in a general sense and got along with us just fine but she was a roamer.  Later we got a lab.  She was our dog.  If she somehow got left outside she would sit by the front door waiting to get back into our aura.  Were these characteristics of the dog breeds?  I think so.

Can you say the same thing about people?  I really don’t know.  Most subcultures of North American Indians were nomads or semi-nomads.  Was this a racial characteristic or just a stage.  You had a few tribes, such as the Pueblo, who were stationary.  In Europe you had tribes that started out as nomads and eventually settled down.  Could you breed for wanderlust in people, you know, make them beagles.  It would be a long range project because people live so long and take so long to develop.

We have seen increases in how tall people are in a few generations.  We can see that some genes are combined and others remain a selection.  What could be bred for?  How much of what you see is learned and how much is genetic?  And of course the big question that science forgets to ask, “Just because we can does that mean that we should?”

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-232: Hatred, by Any Other Name, Be It Oh, So Sweet..., part 3 of 5, Reasoned Prejudice

We all have prejudices.  Sometimes those are based on past experience and make sense to us.  Back when Cadillac was the luxury car of choice I had a hard time accepting people who drove Cadillacs.  I considered them snobs and spendthrifts.  Then one day I got to know a couple that drove a Cadillac.  I was forced to reevaluate my prejudice.  I still have no use for Rolex, but give me time.

What is one man’s prejudice is another man’s reasoned response.  I hate liver.  I am sure I have said that before.  It is not a prejudice, it is a reasoned response.  I was forced to eat it as a child.  I have smelled it for years.  I know of what I speak.  When people tell me I have just never had it prepared right I give them a recitation on the role of the liver in the body.  When I see bins of chili peppers in a Latino market I am interested but leery.  I will admit that my previous experience with peppers have not always been pleasant so I am a bit prejudiced.  Does that mean that I reject the peppers?  No, it means I proceed with caution, willing to learn.

When I see a guy with tattoos out the wazoo I have the same concerns.  If I see him in the park pushing a two year old on the swings I realize my prejudice needs to be adjusted.  If I see him wearing an Antifa shirt and carrying a stick I have a different reaction.  A man of reason can recognize his prejudices as emotional reactions and compensate for them.  That is the way most of us are made. 

We need to understand the difference between prejudice and sound judgment.  One is based on emotional reaction and the other is thoughtful response. 

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-231: Hatred, by Any Other Name, Be It Oh, So Sweet..., part 2 of 5, Viva la Difference

Are there differences based on race?  It is a question that needs to be asked.  The simple and obvious answer is, “Yes”.  People with dark skin tend to resist sunburn more than light skinned people.  I understand that some groups have differences in their teeth so that skeletons can be identified.  I had a doctor tell me that some have different ways in which their muscles connect to their bones.  A better question is, “Are there any differences that should make a difference?” 

In order to answer that you need to learn a little about statistics and the used of data.  You need to understand the difference between stereotype and generalization.  Stereotypes can be accurate but usually are used to reach erroneous conclusions.  As an example look at the popular statement that women are more emotional than men.  Someone said that.  It wasn’t me.  I am just repeating what I heard.  Don’t get upset ladies.  The fact is that it is true but doesn’t really have much application in things like hiring taxi drivers or engineers.  Stereotypes are usually used to manipulate and control.  Don’t get them confused with generalizations. 

Generalizations are useful statements of trends.  They are statements that are true over a large group of people but are useless in application to individuals.  Thus men are taller than women but it does not mean that any one woman is taller than any one man.  They might be useful in deciding how many bathrooms to install but not in determining quotas in hiring nurses.

We need to stop being afraid of differences.  There are so many variables in life that we get really confused if we think a few superficial similarities are significant.  There is nothing wrong with liking people that like what we like.  And even that changes.  I have met people that I could have a great conversation with over coffee but if we were near a bar I would want nothing to do with them.  I had a friend that was always trying to get me to learn a song by Nirvana.  He made the mistake of giving me a CD with the lyrics inside.  One look at the words and I lost all interest in his music.  He was still a friend as long as he didn’t try to play his music. 

Why are things like skin color so significant?  They aren’t unless you happen to be a racist or very simple minded.

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-230: Hatred, by Any Other Name, Be It Oh, So Sweet..., part 1 of 5, Grow Up

One of the hot buttons today is what is called “racism”.  One way to shut someone up and make them go into denial is to yell, “Racist!”  It is similar to touching the eye stalk of a snail, boing, it is gone.  I believe racism is like gluten intolerance, autism, ADHD and Democrats with integrity:  It exists but not near as much as claimed.  With racism, the ones making the accusation are usually the most guilty.  You know the old line about not pointing your finger because there are three more pointing back at you.

One of the hypocrisies of the left is that they accuse people of being racist while they are blatantly anti-Semitic.  Al Sharpton, Mr. Race Baiter himself, has the hubris to talk about racism.  Remember how he stirred up riots targeting Jews on a false story.  While there are still a few Democrats who recognize the moral difference between a freely elected government in Israel and the PLO, the party as a whole is joining with the voices of Islam.  They seem to hate Jews.

Anti Semitism is a misnomer.  It is really Jew hatred.  Technically the Arabs are Semitic.  It is more than one group of people but the term caught on and is now part of the meaningless jargon of the left.  Like so many important focal points in life we tend to mimic them as if they really had something to say. 

It seems to be perfectly fine to hate white males for being white but racist to arrest black men committing crime on black men.  We need to be able to have a discussion of race without all the name calling.  A place for many of us to start is to approach the discussion like adults.  We need to ask ourselves, “Am I a person who automatically puts people of different color in a category lower then myself.”  I didn’t ask if you like menudo or rap music.  I didn’t ask if you can polka.  We are entitled to our personal opinions and preferences.  That does not make us racist.

Once you get that question out of the way is where being a grown-up comes in.  Grow a pair.  When someone tries to silence you by yelling “racist” you need to react the same way you would if someone said you had cooties.  Their accusation is about on the same level. 

To be continued...

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-229: Will the Real Trump Please Stand Up

Is President Trump our David, Ahab or Tiglath Pileser?

I come to this question because I am currently reading through the life of the Biblical David in First and Second Samuel.  I read this with another phrase in mind that comes from the New Testament.

(Act 13:22 KJV) And when he had removed him, he raised up unto them David to be their king; to whom also he gave testimony, and said, I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.

David is called a man after God’s own heart.  As I read his life I find that a genuine mystery. 

David does not stand out as a paragon of virtue.  One of his early acts as king involved adultery with Bathsheba and the following murder of her husband.  He had people killed in what we would consider murder.  He looked the other way when a son raped a daughter by a different wife.  He was a miserable example of a father. 

And yet God thought he was special.  God used him as the leader of Israel. 

Ahab is best known as the husband of Jezebel.  She was a notorious piece of work.  Literate people today still know that being called a Jezebel is an insult.  Tiglath Pileser was instrumental in bringing down the Kingdom of Israel.  They don’t get much good press but David is lifted up as a great man of God.

I see possible parallels with President Trump.  He has a lot of sin in his life.  So did David.  He rubs a lot of people the wrong way.  So did David.  Yet I think in his heart of hearts he is a man who loves America and is committed to doing his best for her.  I believe that it is possible that he recognizes his flaws and is working on them.  That is between him and God.  I obviously am not a part of the conversation.

Yet it is that heart that might match up with David.  Both are a long way from perfect and yet each has a heart that is committed to what is right.

Possible? 

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-228: Chick-fil-a Goes Progressive

I first picked up the Chick-fil-a story in a Power Line post.  I traced it back to the next step at the Daily Wire but it went at least one more layer.  The final link was to an article at a site called Bisnow.  I am now convinced that it is true:  Chick-fil-a has taken the first step in what will be a “progressive” move to the left.  If you have not heard, they are stopping contributions to charities that have taken a stand against the homosexual agenda.  Two big names that are being crossed off their list of gifts are the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and The Salvation Army.  Chick-fil-a still has a way to go but the first step is the hardest. 

The Chick-fil-a chain was established and built by S. Truett Cathy.  I had always assumed that he was a serious Christian because of the obvious “closed on Sunday” decision.  Evidently he also required employees to agree with some of his moral positions.  He was still alive when the homosexuals and liberals targeted his stores with a boycott.  For those paying attention it became clear that the boycott was a joke because the lines at the restaurant got longer.  I believe that his no-compromise stand on moral issues was a large part of the growth of the company.  His attitudes permeated the chain.  If you went to a Chick-fil-a you found a higher caliber of employee and the best service you can image. 

Or at least you used to.  I think that is going to change.  Truett Cathy died and the torch was passed.  It seems that in the passing it was snuffed out.  It is no longer a business run by people with Christian priorities.  Now it is a successful business running on the good will accumulated among a lot of families.  That good will is going to begin dissipating.  The new attitude was found in an interview with Bisnow about the decision.

“There’s no question we know that, as we go into new markets, we need to be clear about who we are,” Chick-fil-A President and Chief Operating Officer Tim Tassopoulos said in an interview with Bisnow.

It was a business decision.  It seems that there was some question about who they are.  People thought they knew, after all they closed on Sunday, but evidently Cathy was not able to pass on that awareness to the people now in control.

“But after years of “taking it on the chin,” as a Chick-fil-A executive told Bisnow, the latest round of headlines was impossible to ignore. This time, it was impeding the company’s growth.”

It was a bit misguided but still a business decision.  It ignores the surge in profits when the company took a strong stand on moral issues and sells its future in the hope that the homosexual community and their allies will suddenly become fans of a chicken place that has made its mark on families as repeat customers. 

We have seen it before.  Many of the early businesses that became family words were started by Christians on Christian principles.  Somewhere along the way the first generation dies and the next just didn’t get the message.  I don’t expect to see an overnight transformation in Chick-fil-a.  I do think you will soon see them opening on Sundays.  It will start in the airports and one day you will realize they have all followed suit.  More obvious will be a decline in the quality of the employee. 

The anti-Christian lobby has another notch on their revolver.  They will not be satisfied.  They will soon be demanding quotas of gays, lesbians, transgenders and any other group that the left has in their pockets.  The Chick has been filleted. 

Who will be next?

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-227: Monday Pulpit: Sick Excuses

The pastor looked around the sanctuary.  He commented on how many people were not with us.  He said something to the effect that he hoped people were not missing because they were sick.  I am not sure I agree with the reasoning.

If people are absent because they are sick then they had a legitimate reason to be home.  When I was teaching it was called an “excused absence.”  It is good to stay home when you are sick.  Not only does it speed your healing but it keeps things that are infectious from spreading of others.  Staying home is thoughtful and considerate.

Other reasons are not so good.

Sometimes people are gone because of an emergency.  It could be anything from car trouble to a death in the family.  In many cases I would prefer to hear that they had chills and fever than that one of their children was rushed to the hospital.

Sometimes people are just skipping worship to pursue personal interests.  They may have had some shopping to do.  Perhaps there was a sporting event they watched or went to.  Maybe they decided to mow the lawn.  None of these are evils but when they come as more important that corporate worship it is not a good sign.

So, no, I actually hope they are sick.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-226: What is a moderate?

The classic idea is someone who is not extreme, in the middle.  We have a lot of people claiming to be moderates whom are anything but.  The issue is how you determine the middle.  Statistics has three different ways of determining that spot:  Median, mode, mean.

Median is what I would consider the best way to determine the middle in politics.  To find the median you need three positions.  You start by identifying the farthest points on the left and right.  Then you find the middle.  That is the moderate position.  If you have a spread of incomes and the top income is a million dollars and the bottom is twenty thousand dollars then the median is $520,000.  That is the average I think of when I say I am right of center.  I know I am not a moderate.  I also know I am not at the extreme.

What the liberals mean when they say moderate is the mode.  The mode is a type of average that says the middle ground belongs to the largest group.  The liberals in this country actually seem to think that most people agree with them.  It is certainly true that all members of the fourth estate and academia agree with them.  To them that means that they are in the center and thus moderate.  In this example if you had one millionaire and his servants then the mode would be the servants wages.

What pollsters mean is what most people think of as the average.  You take all the responses, add them together and divide by the number of responses and it gives you an average.  It is possible that no one is even close but it is the middle.  If you have someone with a million dollars and another with none then the mean if $500,000.  True but meaningless if you will.

So what is a moderate?  It depends on how you are figuring your idea of average.  It is another case of distorting without actually telling an untruth.  And there is also the assumption that you are seeking to communicate truth.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-225: Then There Were Three

We have always had lots of liberals and Calvinists.  Often the only thing they have in common is denial.  It is almost impossible to get people to admit they are liberals.  They are sometimes so isolated that they call themselves moderates.  The ones who know they are liberal are going with Progressive now.  The same type of behavior is found in Calvinists.  They like to call themselves Reformed now.  Visit a church where it is clear that you cannot fall from grace and the will deny they are Calvinists.  The pastor will make all kind of statements about how you had no choice in being saved and deny he is a Calvinist.  It is kind of like the person who keeps telling you they lost three pounds but doesn’t tell you they gained five the week before.  There are still a lot of liberals and Calvinists.

Now we can add the Never Trump crowd.  They don’t seem to exist either.  A few might admit it but there are large numbers of people who see every imagined flaw in Donald Trump and believe it no matter how much he does that agrees with where they claim to stand.  They may even act like they are being positive about him but the “but’s” overwhelm the narrative.  I recently wrote a comment about a mistake I felt Trump made.  You might miss it because it was a simple opinion, not a major indictment.

I can think of others that might never admit to what they are.  RINOs come to mind.  We might add reporters to the list.  How about scientists?  I better stop there or my title will become meaningless.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-224: Baby Talk: Curiosity

Curiosity does not denote intelligence.  We think so in a child.  When they are always sticking their nose, fingers and entire body in places where they do not belong we talk about how they are curious and learning about their world.  I know it is true of my granddaughter but I am not sure about yours.  Being curious does not mean you learn anything.

Take the cat for instance.  It is always getting into every opening and gap.  It does things over and over and, to be honest, never seems to learn a thing.  It certainly does not get more intelligent.  Of course this could just be the fact that I am not a cat lover but how many times does a cat have to jump on my feet in bed before it learns it cannot fly?

Intelligence is what makes it possible to learn from experience.  My hope is that someday I will learn not to walk through the house in the dark.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-223: Vigilante Horizon

Is the day of the vigilante scheduled for a rerun?

Vigilantism is a scary prospect.  What often starts off as citizens trying to subdue crime and violence has a tendency to segue into kangaroo courts and personal vengeance. 

The problem we are facing is that much of our justice system is turning into a long running joke.  “Lawmakers” seem to be in competition to find reasons to let convicted criminals out on the streets again.  Even President Trump has bought into the concept.  Federal judges are ordering people released.  Daily we see headlines about murders committed by illegals who are out on bail or released for humanitarian purposes.  What it does is put violent criminals back on the street. 

What are law abiding people to do?  We have depended on the police and other law enforcement to protect us.  We have expected the courts to deal with criminals.  We build jails to keep them away from the general population.  Yet here they are out on the streets.

Why are left wing mobs like Antifa allowed to continue their reign of terror?  Why are so many Trump supporters worried about being vandalized if they put up a yard sign or a bumper sticker?  Why do liberals feel free to attack anyone wearing a MAGA hat?

My fear is that people will begin to take the law into their own hands.  I am not worried about criminals and corrupt officials being killed.  What I worry about is the fact that there is rarely any happy ending to such violence.  If it were an irate father who gives the murderer of his child their just reward and fades into the neighborhood, then civilization will resume.  If it is someone defending themselves and their family from home invaders, by them some more ammo.  If it is large crowds pushing what borders on revolution, then everyone loses.  Revolution and civil war usually destroy more than they remedy.

There is a reason why laws are to be enforced by a duly established government with due process and checks and balances.  There is a reason why the wheels of justice grind slowly.  It keeps the balance and allows justice to be done without destroying the weak.  Our problem is that so many of the people in positions of punishing evil have become evil themselves.

I hope the judges, clerks, police officers, politicians and anyone else with a responsibility to serve the public and advance justice wake up before we see vigilantes again because street justice will not stop with the rioters.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-222: Headlines: The Star Chamber

I saw it again today, a reference to “Star Chambers”.  Those of you who are lacking in a sense of history may think this has to do with Luke and the force.  No.  It is also not that dome in the observatory where you go to watch the show about the planets.  It actually goes way back in our struggle against the forces of fiat power.

The Star Chamber was one of those political ideas that started for a useful purpose and became a tool of tyranny.  It started in the late 1400s as an assist for a king who felt he was overloaded with all the appeals to justice.  It was a council that could hear cases when he was not available.  It ended in 1641 because of the abuses of James I and Charles I of England.  The reason those names are significant is that they were the monarchs that drove the English people into civil war.  Think of Oliver Cromwell and the Puritan Roundheads opposing the Cavaliers of the soon-to-be-beheaded Charles I. 

The Star Chamber became a secret court with no checks or balances.  They would drag people in and proceed to railroad them.  If you are familiar with the concept of Kangaroo Court then imagine one with absolute power, meeting in private with no responsibility to report to anyone except the king.  People would just disappear into the night.

The term is now coming up with regard to the Democrats impeachment proceedings.  They are being held in secret with arbitrary rules.  In this case Nancy Pelosi replaces the king.  The reason we should worry about this is because it sets aside all of the checks and balances that we fought the American Revolution to establish and puts an unelected aristocracy in power. 

Fear the Star Court of Impeachment.  Keep in mind that today they come for the president.  If they can destroy him in secret just imagine what they can do to you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-221: Baby Talk: Squirrel

Baby watching fills a lot of cracks in the day.  Maybe it should be called “Toddler Watching”.  Her attention span reminds me of a lot of adults I know.

Baby’s are easy to distract.  That is one of the great points when it comes to dealing with a tired toddler throwing a grump.  We get her to look for her kitty.  We ask her where her baby is.  She totes a doll around with her all the time.  She rocks it, wraps it, pats it and does everything to it that has been done to her in her 18 months.  Recently we got her going to get baby and suddenly, “Squirrel”, she saw something shiny and forgot all about baby.  You could see the transformation of focus.

We see this in our adult world.  Remember the movie “Wag the Dog”?  The idea was to distract the public from a presidential scandal by faking a disaster or military attack.  If you notice, every time the Democrats are faced with any kind of scandal that the news can’t ignore there is a new announcement that tells us Donald Trump is meeting his downfall.  And the general public looks.  They forget about baby and focus on shiny.

I have hopes that the toddler will develop a longer attention span.  I am not sure about the general public.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-220: Reform Illusion

I love it when famous people agree with me.  Jonah Goldberg writes (before he became a Never Trumper),

“Those yearning for a ‘Muslim Martin Luther’ don’t realize there are Muslim Martin Luthers all over the place, and they’ve been fomenting religious oppression and cruelty in the Middle East and terrorism abroad for generations now.”  p. 238

I have always been mystified by people who call Islam a religion of peace.  They obviously have only read the Readers’ Digest translation of the Koran which was prepared by undercover Muslims for gullible snowflakes.  The only peace that Islam offers to the world is a peace based on submitting to slavery or accepting death.  The idea is that the grave is very peaceful. 

And I have wondered what carousel people fell off of when they claim that Islam needs to be reformed.  That is what the “kill the infidel” of jihad is all about.  Those involved in the violence are the reformers.  They feel that Islam has drifted into the state that Christians feel about the United Methodist Church.  They think the average Muslim is a Muslim in name only and a clone of the dominant culture.

So don’t root for the reformers of Islam.  They want sharia to be your next experience in law.

Goldberg, Jonah.  The Tyranny of Cliches.  New York:  Sentinel, 2012.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-219: Baby Talk: Monkey See...

It is amazing how much children see and how much they mimic our actions.  Our granddaughter sees us taking a tissue and blowing our nose.  She grabs anything including the hem of our clothing and makes the noise with her mouth.  She then will wad up the receptor and throw it on the ground. 

The one that got me yesterday had to do with the dishwasher.  When I am through putting things in I will use my foot to raise the door up to old man stoop level.  As I was pushing in the racks and getting help from the toddler I was ready to close the door when she raised up her foot under the edge.  She didn’t catch the entire effect so she did not move the door but she was obviously doing what she had seen the monkey do.

Children watch us.  I don’t think it ever stops even when they grow up.  People watch us.  We need to live like it makes a difference because it does.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-218: Karma Questions

As a Christian I must confess that I do not understand Buddhism or its teachings.  One of the beliefs is called “karma”.  What brought this to mind was this quote from The Tyranny of Cliches,

“Under karma we are rewarded for our good deeds and punished for our bad ones, in this life and our next lives as humans or grasshoppers or carpet mold.” p. 256

I think the basic idea is that your current life in the cycle of life is a result of how you lived your previous life.  In a nutshell, you get what you deserve.  That is as objective as I can be about the doctrine.

My mind goes on tangents whether it is engaged by a sermon, an advertisement or Buddhist doctrine.  So I ask myself, “How would you evaluate the life of a grasshopper to determine if it would move up or down the order of life in its next incarnation?”  What is right and wrong to a grasshopper?  Do Buddhists debate such things?

My life is not going to be transformed by the answer.  I don’t wait on pins and needles.  In fact I will probably move on as soon as I exhale, but for now it is a genuine question that I have no idea what the answer could be.  I expect that a Buddhist would feel the same way about the trinity.

Goldberg, Jonah.  The Tyranny of Cliches.  New York:  Sentinel, 2012.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-217: To Poll or not to Poll

Should we participate in polls?

A few times in my life I have received a phone call asking if I will participate in a survey.  Usually it is clearly a sales gimmick and I routinely hang up.  I am polite but I hang up.  We need to remember that as hard as it comes, be polite.  Once it seemed like a genuine survey so I started to answer questions.  It didn’t take long to once again politely hang up.  After a couple of questions I could tell what the results were going to be by the wording.  I tried to reword the question but they were having none of that nonsense.  I tried to explain how loaded the questions were but got no where.  They were the anointed reading their script to the unwashed masses. 

I used to think we should put in our opinion so that they poll would not be so skewed.  After paying a little attention I realize it is pointless.  They know what they want to declare and you cannot get between them and their conclusions.

So my answer is generally, no.  I also don’t bother filling out those questionnaires from the RNC asking my opinion.  The only part they are interested in is the contribution form at the end.  If they didn’t know what I thought they would not have sent me the form.

I have more productive things to do like take out the trash.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-216: Should-a-Beens: Want Ads

Wouldn’t you like to see it?  “Wanted, Investigative Reporters”

I keep wondering why the wealthy conservatives don’t get their act together and start a news source that stays reliable.  Maybe they could buy a local paper in a medium size town and start to build a following.  Drudge had a moment.  Fox made a try.  Both have gone to the dark side.  The anointed of the internet seem to have a set agenda of manipulating the dialogue.  I think there is a lot of pent up desire for a voice that links facts with truth.

This will require a new type of staff.  I can see three types of employees who will gather the news, each with a different focus.

Class A:  Basement Geeks (BG) to follow links and arrive at truth.

These would be your stereotype computer guy who does not get out much.  It needs to be someone who likes to follow links and look for obscure connections.  He lives to click.  This is necessary because so much of what is presented as news is just boilerplate that comes from a single source and then is spread around so it looks like it a trend.  It doesn’t matter if this guy has piles of pizza boxes around him.  It is okay if he lives of Soylent.  He has the skills.  Let him use them.  Reward him with more Soylent.

Class B:  Street Smarts (SS) to do physical investigation

This is your classical reporter.  He is expected to go out and talk to people, go through physical files, interview, observe and so forth.  This needs to be someone who is the opposite of the basement geek.  He needs to like people and getting around.  Previous experience as a reporter should ring alarm bells but would not necessarily disqualify him.  I understand that somewhere in North Dakota there is still an honest reporter.

Class C:  Office Nerds (ON) to put it all together

This is what used to be an editor.  It could still be an editor but it needs to be someone who is not pre-programed to present only one slant.

Think about how this could effect the public.  I don’t know if you stay in hotels a lot but many of them have piles of USA Today in the lobby for free consumption.  I notice that there are big piles even at the end of the day.  The reason is that they are not worth reading.  They are written at an elementary school level and tend to toe the progressive party line.  If I could find something like USA Today with genuine reporting I would subscribe.  I would buy it even if each page was divided in two columns and one side was liberal. 

We tend to accept the popular wisdom.  We accept that newspapers are doomed.  I keep hearing how books are going out of style.  We are warned that Amazon will put the box stores out of business and the box stores put mom and pop out of business.  It does not have to be.  Books keep being published.  Small stores that provide excellent service still survive.  I think that a newspaper that actually supplied news could do very well.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-215: Baby Talk: Here, Fido

Those of you that have pets are familiar with the magic of the shaken food bowl.  It can be a life saver with cats who don’t want to come in from the cold.  You stand at the back door and rattle the food bowl and it is amazing how often the independent minded cat will come running.

It works on toddlers too.  No, I don’t shake the cat’s food bowl to get my granddaughter’s attention.  What we do is rattle the pacifier.  It is amazing.  She is totally deaf one minute and the next comes running.  I would not believe it if I did not see it.

I am sure that there are political applications.  I will leave those up to you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-214: Pollish Jokes

I keep hearing about polls in which people express their desire that President Trump be impeached and removed from office.  It doesn’t mean a thing as long as people are expressing a wish.  It is the implementation that becomes a danger to our republic. 

If I had been asked a carefully phrased question about removing President Obama from office I would have been in favor of it in an emotional way.  The idea was a fantasy.  If the Republicans had tried to impeach him because he played too much golf I would have laughed at them for their foolishness.  He won the election.  It may not have been fair and square when you take into consideration all the voter fraud and media bias, but he won under the rules in play and the Republicans did nothing to resolve it under the rules in play.  We lost.  We lived with it.  Like it or not he was our president.

The polls on impeachment don’t really represent a democratic movement to impeach.  They are a Democratic fantasy that cannot be fulfilled in a free society.  I would hope, and my fear is it is a vain hope, that if it came to a real vote most of these dreamers would wake up and smell the elites desire to destroy the liberty we have by suborning an election.  The reason it is a real threat is because the left has brainwashed a generation and we are reaping the results.   And don’t forget that the polls said Reagan had no hope and that Trump didn’t have a chance.

Freedom cannot exist if the only rule is “Head I win.  Tails you lose.”  That is where the left is today. 

Freedom cannot exist if we allow ourselves to be swayed by public opinion.  Part of the problem is that the public tends to be ignorant and the other part is that the media that informs you about public opinion took their poll in the newsroom.

Freedom cannot exist if the Republican party does not grow a pair and start enacting the rules of law that we are supposed to be living under.

So don’t worry about the polls.  All they do is give you a window into the dreams, and nightmares, of the Democrats, Socialists, Communists, snowflakes, elites and RINOs of the world.

I don’t care if the polls show strawberry is the favorite flavor.  I prefer rocky road if they still make it.

homo unius libri

Opus 2019-213: Headlines: Shocker, Democrat Resigns

By now I am sure you have heard that Congresswoman Katie Hill has resigned.  This is a shocker, not because of what she did but that she resigned.  It must have been much worse than the media is letting us know.  Keep in mind that she is from California and a Democrat.  What would it take to shame such a person?  She is leaving while Pelosi, Schiff and Feinstein remain. 

Before you get excited keep in mind that she may be replaced by someone picked by the governor of the land of fruits and nuts, Gavin Newsom, or by a special election among the same people who elected her.  If you think the warm-up act was good then buckle up for the main show.

I am tired of getting the government that other people deserve.  I read that somewhere and I agree with whomever said it first.

homo unius libri