Opus 2021-233: A Business Opportunity

In spy novels they will occasionally have a team come in and sweep a room for bugs.  Or you may have read the scenario where they go in the bathroom, turn on all the water and whisper their secrets.  In science fiction they will have little devices that project a screen around them that nothing can penetrate.  Security.  We don’t have it any more.

In case you have been living in a cave you need to know that if you brought your cell phone with you then Uncle Sugar can still hear every breath you take.  The devices are everywhere.  I remember when it was a big shocker to the general population to find out that their smart TV had a microphone in it.  It would have been a bigger shocker if anyone was paying attention.  They keep buying the TV’s.  At this point I doubt if you can get a TV that doesn’t have the technology to watch you change your underwear and listen to you yell at your dog.  Take a moment and look around.  I see my lap top, my cell phone, a stereo system, clock radio and an I-pad.  Those should be obvious.  What you don’t think about are the light fixtures, lamps, plugs in the walls and I even notice my guitar tuners.  And keep in mind that just about every square foot of any city has multiple cameras focused on it.

Not that I have anything to hide.  I am not sure that I do anything worthy of the attention of the police state and the identity thieves of the world.  At this time in my life it is the principle of the thing.  The day may come when it is more but that is for another day.

The government and big business spend a lot of money on security.  It may be time to start a company that will do this for common folk.  Maybe they are already out there, but it seems to me that it would be enlightening for a team to come into a private home and identify all the live microphones and cameras that the owners are not aware of.  Enlightening?  It might be terrifying.  What if your wife has paid someone to find out what you are mumbling about all the time?

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-232: Time to Walk the Talk

We continue to talk like Sam Adams and act like a Bob Hope character.  Maybe it is just me.  

Everyone I talk to in my little circle is upset about what they see happening around us.  At the top of the list, of course, is the power grab by the Proregressives* who want to turn the United States into the Fourth Reich.  That is a real danger and we watch the dance going on daily.  A case of friendly trespass is portrayed as a nation-threatening armed insurrection.  A mild virus is hyped as the end of life as we know it.  Our military is being turned into a bunch of girly-men.  Racism is wonderful as long as it is hatred for traditional Western culture.  

I am not sure what to do about all that.

This same group is also upset about the choke hold that the social media is developing on information.  They are upset that an ice cream company becomes rabidly anti-Semitic.  They are outraged that a popular beverage company goes totally woke and calls for race warfare against whites.  They get angry that the largest mail order company in history spends billions on left wing causes.  The rage goes on.  At the same time they continue to Tweet, Friend people, buy Ben and Jerry’s, drink Coke and shop at Amazon.  It is kind of like claiming that Carbon Dioxide is killing the planet and then flying to a conference on the subject.

I do know what to do about that and nobody is doing it.

Almost everyone I know is still frequenting the companies they admit are destroying the American dream.  When they need school clothes for the kids it seems that Walmart is the only place that has what you need.  Amazon has everything and delivers almost instantly and, of course, you need it right now.  The excuses go on.  I understand.  I really do.  I have not sworn off Walmart for the rest of my life.  When family harmony demands it I will walk through the doors if accompanied by an adult.  I continue work at buying things at other places, yes and pay more, and take the time to look.  It isn’t easy but can be done, but no one seems to be doing it.  Since I never buy Ben and Jerry’s I don’t have the right to make an issue but I have weaned myself from Coke products.

Nothing will change if we do not change.  I think that the CEO’s of social media read the protests of the Christians in this country the same way we used to read the comics in the newspaper.  We are good for a laugh.  I feel like a real weirdo when I am with “conservatives” and feel out of place when I say I don’t shop at Walmart any more.  

I need more company.

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, BLM, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Another word for swamp dwellers)

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-231: Non-Fact Checkers or Fact Non-Checkers

I enjoy the memes that some people put together.  If you enjoy that type of humor then make a daily stop at Gorges’ Grouse for a generous dose if you are not already doing so.  One of the useful niches that memes fill is alerting us to news stories that have been censored or “fact checked.”  As patriotic Americans we always need to do a little research to find out if the meme is a distortion.  Often it is not.

A recent example of this involves the claim that the test being used to see if you have the Covid virus, the PCR, can’t tell the difference between the flu and Covid.  Put that together with the seeming disappearance of colds and flu this year and you come to the conclusion that all the lock downs and panic are grounded in warm unflavored gelatin.  If this is true then the entire pandemic is just a pandeception.  

I tried to do some research and ended up using Duck-Duck-Go.  The screaming headlines I found repeated that the PCR test can’t tell the difference between the flu and the scourge of covid.  The sites of the “fact checkers” say that is not what the CDC said.  Of course they did.  The American Thinker goes into it in more detail and confirms the PCR test can’t tell the difference between flu and covid.

I would recommend reading the article.  It has links to the actual CDC statements.  One of the interesting facts it brings out is that the PCR test is in the same category as the vaccines, it is not fully approved by the FDA.  It is only given emergency approval.  They are aware that it is not reliable.  By that they mean it reports a large number of false positives and false negatives.

Meanwhile, do yourself a little anti-fear therapy.  Go to the World Meter and do a little math.  From what I can see the entire country has 106,809 cases per million Americans.  Check my math but I think that works out to about 10.6 % of Americans even have the virus.  Then when you look at the deaths it comes out at 1.8% of Americans have died.  That means that this terrible scourge that is closing down the economy and driving children to psychiatrists has a 98.2 survival rate.  

Now factor is all the lies we have heard about how many actually have the virus.

Have a good day.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-230: How High Does Baloney Pile?

I wish I had a patent on baloney meters.  I keep thinking it is getting worse but I am not so sure the real situation isn’t that we are becoming more aware.  I came across this while reading Churchill.  He is quoting a cable he sent to President Roosevelt.

“I see a Reuter message, emanating no doubt unofficially from Paris, that it was agreed France should be assigned certain areas - the Ruhr, the Rhineland, etc. - for their troops to garrison.  There is no truth in this, and it is obvious that nothing of this kind can be settled on such a subject except in agreement with you....  I could of course issue something which would be a disclaimer of any loose statements made by Reuter, but you may not think this necessary in view of the obvious facts.”  pp. 252-3

We see this kind of thing going on all down through history.  I have read about how Walter Duranty wrote glowing reports about the Soviet Union while Stalin was starving millions in Ukraine.  He received a Pulitzer prize for his lies.  I keep remembering the way Walter Cronkite came on and lied about how we were badly beaten in the Tet offensive of 1968.  Which one of our recent talking heads talked about dodging fire in a helicopter.  And of course you have just about everything that comes from the CDC today.

We need to stay alert and do our best to wake up the Snow Whites around us.  If we can’t wake them up then what does the job may not be a kiss from a handsome prince.

Churchill, Winston S.  Triumph and Tragedy.  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company, 1953.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-229: Dry Faucets

Our worlds are so ego-centric.  Have you ever been in pain and felt angry that other people are still happy?  Have you ever lived with someone like that.  

Our water was off recently because of a leak.  I kept thinking in terms of the whole world being without water.  I had to keep reminding myself it is just us and a few more isolated houses around the country.  Everyone else is taking showers, washing their hands, rinsing their dishes and doing laundry.  I was not in peril.  If I was desperate I could drive to my son’s apartment and take a shower or do laundry.  If I was really desperate I could get a motel room.

We all need to be prepared for disaster.  It should be comforting to know that most cases of disaster people face involve a temporary loss of power, a broken water pipe or a flat tire.  A little preparation will go a long way.  A lot of preparation may put you in a position to help someone else.

Whatever you do don’t be like me and think my leak is a national drought.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-228: Twinkle, Twinkle Little Eyes

I just finished reading the six volume set The Second World War by Winston Churchill.  I have had the set for at least 20 years.  I tried to start it once before but quickly lapsed.  This time the tyrants, from petty to national, who locked us down and drained away our liberty kept me from using the libraries and I was forced onto my own resources.  

It has been a rich time.  

Churchill openly announces that he is writing from his perspective as Prime Minister of Great Britain.  He makes no apologies.  Much of the volume was made up of the documented communications that he sent.  

One of the surprises to me was the vision of Churchill being duped by Stalin.  I had always understood that Franklin Roosevelt had been fooled by the Communist.  That came through in these volumes.  I had been under the impression that Churchill had seen through him.  I no longer believe that.  Even at the end of things, when he seems to have had an epiphany, he was still easily swayed by the charm and charisma of Joseph Stalin.  Take this description of possibly the last meeting he had with Stalin.  FDR has died.  The war in Europe is over.  Soon the atomic bombs will be dropped on Japan and that will come to an end.  Churchill is on the verge of finding out that he has been voted out of office.  In other words, this is his final word.

“Then a very odd thing happened.  My formidable guest got up from his seat with the bill-of-fare card in his hand and went around the table collecting the signatures of many of those who were present.  I never thought to see him as an autograph-hunter.  When he came back to me I wrote my name as he desired, and we both looked at each other and laughed.  Stalin’s eyes twinkled with mirth and good-humour.  I have mentioned before how the toasts at these banquets were always drunk by the Soviet representatives out of tiny glasses, and Stalin had never varied from this practice.  But now I thought I would take him on a step.  So I filled a small-sized claret glass with brandy for him and another for myself.  I looked at him significantly.  We both drained our glasses at a stroke and gazed approvingly at one another.”

It seems to me that Churchill is still not willing to admit the evil in Stalin.  It is also a good reminder that just because someone is the epitome of evil, you cannot assume that they have no social skills.  

Remember that when you are evaluating political and business leaders in our day.

Churchill, Winston S.  Triumph and Tragedy.  Boston:  Houghton Mifflin Company, 1953, p. 669.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-227: New Improved GMO

The vaccines being pedaled as your salvation are just another example of GMO.  What is interesting is that the same people who are horrified at GMO corn in the flakes are quite alright with a GMO vaccine in their cells.

The concern over GMO is legitimate.  Scientists take genetic material from one form of life and introduce it into another and see what comes out.  I understand that they cross over the kingdom divides and will even put animal genes into vegetables.  You can see the attraction.  What if you could develop a tomato plant that the insects would not eat?  What if you could get fish that produced bacon?  How about mashed potatoes that don’t make you fat?

The problem is ethics.  The age old question is, “Just because you can, should you?”  Scientists have proven that they are no better than the politicians or business tycoons who are only out for fame and fortune.  The distorted research and outright lies of the scientists in the field of climate research is notorious.  The deception involved in the panic over a virus is criminal.  I am coming to believe that the testimonies of scientists are on the same level as the experts who sell cures on late night TV.

Now we have the vaccines.  There are many reports of the dangerous side effects and deaths related to the vaccines.  The censors of the government, news media and social media are doing everything they can to silence any dissenting voices to the accepted mantra.  My guess is that the side effects are like the virus, some people will have a terrible response but for most people neither presents any big threat.  It is like Russian roulette.  The deaths from the virus are exaggerated for political reasons.  The dangers are downplayed for the same reasons.  It is a sad statement about the rich and powerful.  

Read between the lines.  Do some simple math about the numbers.  Remember that neither side on the issue is to be taken as gospel.  Be responsible, if they will let you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-226: The Threat of Dihydrogen Monoxide

One of the most insidious actions of MSM and social media is the filtering of information.  People form opinions and make choices based on what they think they know.  If you warp the narrative then you can control the way they think.  It is easier and more common than you think.  Let me give you an illustration of how it works.

Take Dihydrogen Monoxide.  Some of you recognize what it is.  Don’t play the spoiler.  Let me quote the opening paragraph from DHMO, a site that reveals the dangers we all face.  Let me quote the opening paragraph,

“Dihydrogen Monoxide (DHMO) is a colorless and odorless chemical compound, also referred to by some as Dihydrogen Oxide, Hydrogen Hydroxide, Hydronium Hydroxide, or simply Hydric acid. Its basis is the highly reactive hydroxyl radical, a species shown to mutate DNA, denature proteins, disrupt cell membranes, and chemically alter critical neurotransmitters. The atomic components of DHMO are found in a number of caustic, explosive and poisonous compounds such as Sulfuric Acid, Nitroglycerine and Ethyl Alcohol.”

Sounds serious, doesn’t it?  I understand that there have been city councils and educational groups who have tried to pass laws banning Dihydrogen Monoxide.  They feel like total fools when someone explains to them that DHMO is just water.

Now let’s go back to the original concern about manipulating the flow of information.  Nothing in the quoted paragraph is false.  At the same time by using unfamiliar jargon and withholding basic facts you can cause a panic in the masses.

This is what goes on with global warming, covid, guns, hate speech and an endless list of causes that the Proregressives* are trying to use to destroy our liberty and our republic.

It is a serious issue.  The Bill of Rights is under attack.  The rule of law is being destroyed.  It is time to recognize the problem and begin to speak up.  

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, BLM, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Another word for swamp dwellers)

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-225: Snuggles

I would never wish illness or grump on my grandchildren, but let’s consider the silver lining.

When my grandson gets up from his nap he is always grumpy.  He doesn’t want to sleep any longer but he doesn’t want to be awake either.  This creates some marvelous times.  He is ready to be held and comforted.  It is awesome.  At first he will struggle a little but if you hold him tight he will gradually relax and just lay there with his eyes open.  The other day he even went back to sleep.  

Every time something like this happens I wonder if it will be the last time.  It reminds me of the time before he could walk where I was watching him and it was time for his nap.  It was a similar pattern except he fought harder to stay awake.  Then you could almost feel him take a big sigh and relax.  I have a vision of that little head with a smooth cheek just begging to be stroked.

Great times.  In the midst of national chaos I am truly blessed.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-224: Noses and Welcome Mats

I was going through my morning priority of being thankful for my blessings.  I am in the final days of a bad cold and one of the things I am thankful for is the marvelous immune system that God designed.  It comes as standard equipment.  We all have it.  I am being healed as I write.

Being me, I am never willing to let well enough alone.  I started asking, “Why didn’t He design it to work a bit quicker?”  Why are we even susceptible to a virus or evil bacteria?  Why do we have tetanus?  Why did God make mosquitos?  Once you start down that line the questions become endless like a five your old asking, “Why?”

The target I seemed to be working toward is one that appears in so many discussions of why God did things a certain way:  Free will.  Why did God allow sin to be an option for Adam and Eve?  For the same reason that a robot dog will never be a true companion.  If you have no choice then the choice is meaningless.  In order to have a choice, you need options.  The system that the Communists use is not choice.  The system of open primaries that is becoming popular in blue areas does not allow choice.  For human beings, created in the image of God, real choices must exist.  That means that you can make the wrong choices.  That means in the material world things are going to go wrong.  Tires go flat.  Bolts give up the battle with metal fatigue.  Rain happens at the wrong times.

We are visiting our grandchildren.  If the door was equipped with a fancy door bell which said, “Welcome!” every time the button was pushed it would not even compare to a granddaughter pressing her nose against the window and squealing with delight at the sight of grandma and grandpa coming up the walkway.  

This principle is one of the reasons why welfare becomes so destructive when it becomes an entitlement instead of a temporary emergency plan.  Too often when you do something for someone that they can, and should, do for themselves, it weakens them.  The weakness is physical, psychological, emotional and spiritual.  You see this in the increasing number of spoiled brats inhabiting our world today.  Most of them are the children of privilege.  This is true even if their parents did not have a lot of money.  I would guess that a lot more food is wasted at a buffet than in a cafeteria.

God has given us free will and real choices.  It doesn’t always work out the way we planned.  It is better than the alternative.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-223: On the Street: Off the Street

I have been on the road.  That makes blogging a real challenge.  Part of it is the drain of travel.  Part of it is the brain numbing ubiquitous TV.  Part of it is the joy of grandchildren.

The TV is stuck on HGTV and the Hallmark Channel.  Hallmark has something going on that they call Christmas in July.  The Hallmark formula is standard fare.  That does not change much.  What I am finding discouraging is the interpretation of the meaning of Christmas that I find coming across the tube.  Hallmark talks about family, hope, joy, giving, and all kinds of warm fuzzies.  What they are completely ignoring is the real reason for Christmas.  It is like an early form of Kwanza.  They completely ignore the birth of Jesus.  That makes the whole series meaningless.

As I write I am home.  I have my man cave that is far away from any TV.  I hope to get back to being productive, or at least feeling like I am productive.  There is more to life than romantic formula and infomercials.  

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-222: What Would Karl Do?

One reason I read the book was to find out if the title was satire or sincere.  Who would write a book called,  Ain’t You Glad You Joined the Republicans?  A guy named John Calvin Batchelor, I guess.  It was billed as a history of the Republican party but was more a political commentary on the time the Republicans have been around.  I take notes as I read.  That would be a waste of time if I didn’t think I would refer to them again some day.  This is one such day.

On pages 129-30 he quoted an editorial from a newspaper called The Tribune, written in the winter of 1896 called “American Silver Communists”.  It is a bit long but sounds like it was written today.  The issue then was the use of silver to back the dollar.  They would have called you insane if you told them about the Infrastructure Bill in congress today with nothing backing the money being printed.

    “Man and blind hatred of property, hatred of those who appear more fortunate and seem to have easier lives, notions that all men ought to be equal in income and expenditure and tastes and engagements, as well as legal rights with a passionate desire to tear down the existing state of things if it cannot be made to suit such a fanaticism - that is the desperate and dangerous force which only uses the silver issue as a means of striking at all property and all the prosperous.
    “Does anybody ask how such a brainless craze came to exist in this free country?
    “The Democratic party cultivated it laboriously and patently for twenty-five years, especially in all the Western and Southern States, as its only hope of defeating the Republican party.
    “Every day and every night it appealed persistently to the mean hatred of success by those who do not succeed, of property by those who have none, of employers by employed, of capital by labor, and contrived at last to create a communistic spirit in free American which is as ignorant, as stupid, as vindictive and madly destructive as that which lightened the torch and danced around the corpses in Paris.”

The party names are the same.  The stated issue has changed.  The actual goal of the Democrats has not changed.  I am not really shocked that years before the Communist Revolution the Democrat party was already Communist.  That makes me wonder if Karl Marx was really a Democrat.

There was a fad of wearing a bracelet that said WWJD (What Would Jesus Do).  The Democrats today should be wearing T-shirts that say, “WWKD” (Substitute Karl).  America needs to spend a little time considering the history and thinking about the modern phase of attack on the Land of the Free.

Batchelor, John Calvin.  Ain’t You Glad You Joined the Republicans?  New York:  Henry Holt
    Company, 1996.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-221: Roots of Renewal

When people ask me if there is hope I usually say yes, but only if there is revival.  By revival I don’t mean a renewal of patriotism or a clean up in government.  Those are results of revival, not a cause. I mean a spiritual revival that takes place as people turn toward God.  That involves listening to the Holy Spirit, repenting of their sins, trusting in the cleansing offered in the blood of Jesus and having the change of heart that effects the government, schools, media, business and city councils.  

Historical American values of right and wrong have been based on a shared sense of Biblical standards.  I am not saying that all Americans have been the kind of Christians I described above but they at least acknowledged the moral structure spelled out in the Bible.  The consensus has been evaporating over the years and I don’t lay the blame at the feet of the pagans.  It has been the fault of the church.  The church has evolved in too many cases into just another pagan social club.  That is why the site Maddogs Lair could say,

“Even the evangelical church is now corrupted mostly by the tax code and the corrupt system of tax dodges, credits, and deductions.”

It is time for a revival it needs to start in the church.

The church has historically had a safety valve for the inevitable corruption that will set in eventually.  It is called schism or, in everyday language, church splits.  People tend to look on divisions in the organized church with horror.  They should count their blessings.  It was the Mother of All Church Splits, the Protestant Reformation that not only caused spiritual revival in northern Europe but compelled the Roman Catholic church to embark on the Counter Reformation, bringing revival to the Catholic church.  Another well documented split was the Methodists from the Anglican church.  Many historians will admit that the Wesley revival brought England back from the verge of a revolution similar to the one that had terrorized France.  While Wesley remained an ordained Anglican minister until his death, his followers eventually left to start their own denomination.

It could happen again.  It needs to happen in the church.  In needs to happen in lukewarm believers.  It needs to happen in you and me.  So I have hope.

The option is oppression and dark times.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-220: Headlines: The 40% Majority

By now most people have seen the headlines about the exodus from San Francisco, at least I have seen it in multiple places.  It always surprises me when people say they are not aware of certain links on the internet, but then I don’t know the latest skinny on the current hot celebrity either.  I refer to the “study” which showed that 40% of the people living in San Francisco are planning on moving out because of the quality of life.  Again, if you are paying attention, certain things come to mind such as feces in the street, free drug needles and the current ban on arresting shoplifters.  

I have two questions for the 40%.  The first is, “Why are you still there?”

The second is, “Are you a registered democrat?”  If the answer to this is yes then I would be in favor of a law making it a capital crime for you to go outside the city limits.  If we can lock down the country for a minor virus it would seem to me that quarantine for people suffering from terminal stupidity would be in order.

Do a little thinking about numbers.  According to the San Francisco Department of Elections there were 503,899 registered voters in the city in 2020.  Round that off to 500,000 and the city population to 800,000.  The voter turnout was roughly 61%.  Now comes the hard part.  If 40% of the population are unhappy and 61% voted, why were the same people, or class of people, reelected?  Is it a stolen vote or an attack of the stupids?  Do the math.  61% voted minus the 40% unhappy.  That leaves 21%.  The 40% of the population would have outnumber the ones who liked it there 2 to 1.

The mindless woke mobs that inhabit our cities remind me of the apartment dwellers who move regularly because the trash is piled too high in their apartment for them to get to the refrigerator.  And then they complain about the poor living conditions.  It reminds me of the middle school kids I worked with who would drop their trash all around the can but never in.  The problem is that all they can see is the shiny and clean where others live and feel like they are entitled.  They are a living example of that terrifying slogan, “Coming to a theater near you.”  

Fortunately most of these people will never get up the nerve to leave.  If they cared enough they would change it where they are.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-219: Reminders: #4: Immortal Quotes: Taxes

There are certain topics I have written about.  They are worth repeating.  I need to revisit them to refresh my memory and enhance my thinking.  Others need to be reminded.  There is a constant bombardment of ideas that clutter our minds.

“The power to tax is the power to destroy.”  It looks like this was originally a statement made by Daniel Webster in arguing against the taxation and repeated by Chief Justice John Marshall in approving the law.  I originally wrote about this ten years ago but felt I needed to address it again.

This principle was always presented as one of the reasons that churches were tax exempt.  If churches could be taxed then the government could bring them down and violate the First Amendment.  We probably should have understood that it applies to the individual citizen also.  

The reason for runaway taxes is not the profligate habits of the ruling classes.  It might have been in ancient times but there is much more wealth today.  The reason is the entitlement attitude of the masses.  There comes a point where the masses who produce nothing will expect more than the workers can produce.  What you start doing is eating your seed corn.

Seed corn is a concept we have forgotten today.  Before the modern hybrids were common the farmer would set aside enough grain after the harvest to be able to plant the crops next year.  It did not matter how bad things got, you did not eat your seed grain.  If you ate it there would be no harvest the following year and you would starve.  If you read your Bible you will find other instructions, even though it is not a manual on farming.  The land must be allowed to lie fallow.  You only passed through to cut the grain one time.  You plowed in the fall to aerate the soil.  There are probably other things mentioned that I am to citified to see.

When you have high taxes that suck away the seed grain from the producers, the production falls the next year.  When those working see the slothful being provided for at the expense of the workers, they have less inclination to work so hard next time.

And the ramp only runs one way.

The goal of the Proregressives is to destroy the productivity of the free market.  Taxes are an effective tool for doing that.  Keep in mind that they think because they are the elite that they will get plenty because they deserve it.  The ones who will be destroyed are you and me.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-218: Hope or Less

I have two sources of hope.  One is a guarantee, an assurance.  The other is a possibility held out to us.  I tend to need to be reminded of both.

One could be summarized in Proverbs 3:5-6

(Pro 3:5-6 KJV)  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

It is stated many ways and in many places in the Bible.  In the days of the Founders the word used was “Providence.”  My wife likes to say, “It’s a God thing.”  Either way, I have confidence in the future.  That confidence is not necessarily in the future of the United States of America.  The US is not mentioned in the Bible.  Americans are not the chosen people.  We have been blessed because we have had a significant number of people who believed the teachings of Jesus and an even larger number that accepted the basic standards of God.  

Israel and Judah both went through destruction and deportation.  Through that there remained a faithful remnant.  Take this statement to Elijah when he was in despair at the condition of the Israel, the northern kingdom,

(1Ki 19:18 KJV)  Yet I have left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him.

Those who remain faithful will be part of that “seven thousand”.  It requires a vision of eternity instead of a fixation with today’s comforts.

The other hope is found in MAGA.  I was reminded of this as I cruised through my morning routine of internet sites.  I came across some items about Trump and I was reminded that the one thing that unites people behind him is his belief that America is redeemable.  He is not talking in terms of Biblical salvation.  He is saying that if we will get off our duffs and get to work, the old principles that have lifted people out of tyranny and oppression for centuries will still work.  He believes that the people of America can pull it off.  Although I get discouraged at times, I still feel there are large numbers of people in this country who believe in the values and principles that are found in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.  

Because of my first hope I can face the future with confidence.  Because of the second, I can look for places where I can be the difference.  Keep in mind that the straw that broke the camel’s back has an antithesis in the bean that fell off the load.

Stay off the radar and I will see you on the other side, although I am not sure that both are possible.  So stay off the radar until it is worth getting picked off.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-217: Beyond Reform

The Daily Wire has a regular feature called Education Insanity.  I must confess that I don’t read them.  I was a public school teacher for 29 years.  I observed enough insanity during that time.  I guess you could say I paid my dues.  It is a good thing I got out when I did or they would have got me out.
 

People talk about “education reform.”  Modern education needs so much reform that we might as well start by destroying the system.  It is that corrupt.  To be honest I would include most private and Christian schools in that bubble.  When you see the often repeated picture of an androgynous young person screaming at the sky, you get a picture of the logical product of modern American education.  With Critical Race Theory we see the final strokes on the canvas that will destroy generations for any useful life beyond standing in line with their hand out.

I have little respect for the credentials of experts.  Read one of the articles about the failure of the electrical grid in California.  The experts say all cars must be electrical.  Then they tell people not to charge them except in the low usage times of day.  They refuse to build new power plants and try to import their energy from other states.  They seem oblivious that the energy they are importing is generated with fossil fuel.  You see the same train of thought, or non-thought, being followed in climate change, crime, forest management, firearms, water quality, the list just keeps going on.  These are a bunch of implosions caused by experts.  

At the same time we need to be careful not to throw out the baby when a hose will do what the bath water could not achieve.  We think we need to educate people.  Actually that is buying into the entitlement mind set.  We have this habit of letting the left define the argument.  What we need to do is make it possible for people to get an education if they really want one.  We don’t need a day care system.  We need to do away with compulsory education and weed out the ones who are there for the baby sitting and social connections.

The first step is to get the government out of the education business.  They certainly have failed so far.  What do they say in commercials for financial instruments?  “Past performance is no guarantee of future results.”  It is too bad that is not true of education.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-216: Cornerstone Considerations: D of I, Standing SWATS

We are so used to the United States military being a major factor in world peace that we forget it is a recent phenomenon.  Before World War II the tradition of our country was to keep a small cadre of active duty soldiers and use them to train an army if the need ever arose.  Every adult male was considered a part of the militia.  Knowing how to shoot a rifle was common.  After 1945 we never got back to normal.

I don’t think that is what we have to fear today.  Note the sentence in the Declaration:

     “He has kept among us, in Times of Peace, Standing Armies, without the consent of our

            Legislatures.”

Today almost every federal agency has an armed response team, a SWAT team.  They are heavily armed, hightly trained and have armored vehicles.  Now I ask you, “Why would the Department of Education have a SWAT team?”  Good question, do they?  Read the article at the Heritage Foundation if you doubt it.

What is the purpose of such teams?  If a law is broken you have warrants and due process.  That is not good enough for the tyrants in government trying to help you do the things that are good for you.  What says “I care” like a squad of armored goons breaking down you front door in the middle of the night just because someone told them to.  What says “Know your place or get squashed” better than the Health Department Gestapo coming for you based on information provided by Facebook?

Yes, our overlords once again have standing armies.  They are filled with people who have no regard for the Bill of Rights or you as a citizen.  If we are ever forced to Nurnberg trials again they will be the one in the box.

The only thing that keeps history from repeating itself in a destructive way is alert citizens.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-215: G7 Is More to Be Feared than G5

Conspiracy theorists worry about G5.  While I accept that radiation is a problem, I am not sure how this is going to rot our brains any more than our cell phones.  They need to worry more about G7.  Our overlords are consumed with taxing everything that moves.  The latest being reported is that the G7 group has declared they need to tax multinationals.  

Why are the elites so set on taxing?  They have to know that there is a level that discourages profit and prosperity.  We have reached that, maybe gone past.  They don’t care.  What people don’t seem to understand is that part of the mentality of the elites is that they will always be on top and thus will always have steak.  Go through history and look at the classic famines.  Did people starve and die?  Yes.  Did the leaders starve and die?  No.  In fact they probably gained weight.  Some, like Marie Antoinette, may have been just ignorant.  The answer to those who can get no bread is of course, “Then let them eat cake.”  After all, that is what the elites do.

The Proregressives* really want it that way.  They consider themselves smarter and assume that they will be the ones making the decisions and getting the big pieces of the pie.  They assume that you will submit to being reduced to peasants and serfs again.  They hate capitalism that generates enough profit for them to skim it off with enough left for the common people to live in comfort and have choices.  They love socialism that lets them simply steal from the masses and leave them to struggle to keep starvation and freezing away with whatever is left.  

The socialistic way of looking at things assumes that the elites will have all the power and will take what they want at the point of a gun.  They assume they deserve no less and you deserve no more.  If they can do it to a law abiding people, such as we have been, then they will tax until the turnip runs out of blood.  Then they will kill the golden goose.  Then they will pass laws against hoarding or keeping cash under your bed.  Better yet they will do away with cash and keep track of what you deserve in a central digital depository.

We have a lot of adventures ahead of us if the group now in control of our governments can maintain power and Balkanize the population.  Stay alert.  Speak up while you still have a chance.  Vote the suckers out if they have not totally corrupted your local elections.  If they have done so then research the Battle of Athens.  It doesn’t take too much awareness to see how HR1, HR5, AFT rulings and Supreme Court weaseling and the direction things are being pushed.  Let us hope, pray and act in such a way that the push does not succeed.  

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, BLM, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Another word for swamp dwellers)

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-214: Cornerstone Considerations: D of I, Dissolving Manly Firmness

The Declaration of Independence is written as if the King of England was the whole problem but the Founders were aware that they were being ruled by a Constitutional Monarchy.  That meant that the king had many limitations put on him by Parliament.  In fact, the members of the Continental Congress considered themselves loyal to the king and tried to go around Parliament to get his support.  A year before the Declaration of Independence they sent the Olive Branch Petition stating their loyalty and asking for him to step in for them.  They were rejected because they were considered inferior colonists who needed the guidance of a king and Parliament.  

I say this because I want keep that in mind with this part of the Declaration:

“He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly Firmness his Invasions on the Rights of the People.”

Consider that the tyrant seeking to humble the American people is not one man.  Ask yourself is the destruction going on just the work of one political party.  What we have is a few people standing up and trying to make a difference “with manly Firmness” and we see many different methods being used to “dissolve” them.  Think of the people incarcerate for the events of January 6 for nothing more than trespass.  Think of one woman shot for no reason by a cop that has yet to be identified or prosecuted.  Think of a duly elected congresswoman who is kicked off of all committees.  Think of other elected officials having sudden accusations against them.  Remember how congress wanted to pass a bill making it impossible for Donald Trump to run again for any office.

I think we see a government committed to the destruction of the Rights of the People.

Keep in mind that you might be the next one to emerge on the Deep State radar.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-213: Immortal Quotes: Whatever Weakens Your Reason...

I heard a quotation that I thought was attributed to John Wesley and I wanted to find it.  I have the works of Wesley on disk.  I did a search and the words just were not there.  Finally I did an on line search and found that it was actually from his mother, Susanna.  It was an awesome definition of sin.

“Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, takes off your relish for spiritual things, whatever increases the authority of the body over the mind, that thing is sin to you, however innocent it may seem in itself.”

    Letter to John Wesley, June 8, 1725 from his mother Susanna

Most people tend to think of sin as a list of things like telling lies, stealing, murder and such.  If you are a liberal who is confused enough to think you are a Christian the list would include voting for Donald Trump.  Most of us have a legalistic view that keeps us from living life to its fullest.

I like what Susanna Wesley had to say.  Many sins are cut and dried.  Adultery is a sin.  Drunkenness is a sin.  Also not taking a Sabbath is a sin.  There are also many activities and actions we can take that are either good or bad depending on our motive or whether we exercise moderation.  While sex is a divine blessing in marriage, withholding affection from you spouse for petty reasons is not.  There is a big difference between a social drink and drinking to excess.  Enjoying a good meal is just a few portions away from gluttony.  

The Christian life is full of nuance.  Live it to the full and sin not.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-212: Dependable Methodology

One of the facts that keeps emerging about our recent overkill on the virus front is that the CDC has been doing a lot of shuffling and lying in order to get the panic they wanted.  In this case it was to undermine Donald Trump and gain power for the administrative state.  As I was browsing through my reading notes I came across some interesting statements by David Harsanyi in Nanny State.

On page 19 he said that in March of 2004 the CDC announced 400,000 deaths because of overeating.  That seems a bit extreme but they are the experts, right?  Evidently the the AMA did not get the message because “The Journal of the American Medical Association said 25,000, April 2005", page 22.

Evidently Fauci, the NIH and the CDC do not have an exclusive on fraud.  Do you remember all the noise about second hand smoke and the deaths it caused?  The EPA reported certain numbers in 1992 and declared second hand smoke a class A carcinogen.  In 1998 that was thrown out.

    “The judge found that the EPA had manipulated the agency’s ‘standard scientific methodology’ and acted in ‘complete disregard of statutory procedures.’  In addition, they had cherry-picked data, evaded review by outside experts, and altered methodology during the course of study.”  pp. 118-119

In other words the EPA used the exact same strategies of corrupting data that they have used in the China Virus fiasco.  

There is a reason that thinking Americans are either part of the problem in government or are leaning not to trust the government in any area of life.

Stay off the radar.  They may come for you next.

Harsanyi, David.  Nanny State.  New York:  Broadway Books, 2007.

homo unius libri