Opus 2022-269: Lessons on Libations

Have you ever seen a historical drama or documentary where someone will pour out a bit of wine on the ground and talk about “libations for the gods.”  How did the idea get started?  I really don’t know but that won’t keep me from offering an opinion.  At least it hasn’t stopped me or the media.

Picture yourself a garden variety pagan and you are making a bowl of popcorn for a snack while you watch a bit of Oedipus Rex.  All is going well as you stir the butter around when suddenly for no reason, one kernel jumps out and falls to the floor.  Don’t tell me it hasn’t happened to you unless you always let the servants make the popcorn.  Being a garden variety pagan, I want to know why.

Or lets say you are walking across the living room with a cup of coffee in your hand.  How often does it suddenly decide to climb the side of the cup and deposit a little bit on the carpet.  I get around this by carrying the cup on a dinner plate and don’t have any problems.  It only slops when I think I am in control.  Being a garden variety pagan, I want to know why.

Have you ever gone into the kitchen after you prepared something and noticed food on the floor you don’t remember dropping.  You remember wiping down the counter and checking to see that everything is neat and clean, but there is that green bean looking at you with a twinkle in it’s eye.  Being a garden variety pagan, I want to know why.

So I come up with what a garden variety pagan would understand.  Since every rock, tree, stream, and, yes, popcorn kernel has a spirit in it, it must be the gods.  Maybe they are hungry.  Maybe if I give them a little bit of offering they won’t trip me on the way to my recliner.

And thus you have the tradition of libations for the gods.

You are welcome.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-268: Cookies and Global Warming

If you want to know why conservation will never work as well as competition then consider the humble plate of cookies.  The smell of chocolate chips and cookie dough is wafting through the house and a plate of freshly baked morsels appears mysteriously on the counter.  You do a quick count and realize that there are five for each member of the family.  It is a good day.

You practice self control and either have none or just one.  Delayed gratification is the meme for the day.  You come back the next day and find nothing but crumbs.  What happened?  You were trying to cooperate and your little brother saw it as a race.  

Cooperation is wonderful if all is supervised by someone of power and discernment.  There are certain situations where it is the only way to survive.  I remember the time my children were able to participate in the folding of the flag at Fort McHenry.  The flag is 30x40, feet not inches.  It would be impossible for one person to fold it and keep it from touching the ground at the same time.

Sometimes the cooperation and competition exist side by side.  They take turns in dominance.  Picture the drive home from work.  Certain rules must be agreed on.  The lanes are clearly marked and the speed limit is posted.  You know the rules.  Does everyone cooperate totally?  No way.  When you observe the distance between you and the car in front of you it is necessary to overlook safety at times or someone will cooperate themselves right in front of you.

When your mother is watching the plate of cookies, cooperation is a wonderful thing.  When she looks the other way, all bets are off.  Conservation works that way.  When the camera is on all is well.  We are thoughtful and careful.  But when the media looks the other way then all the people who talk conservation grab all they can get and run.  You have seen meme posters of the rich and powerful flying in their private jets to a conference to limit your use of fossil fuel.  You are aware that when congress passes laws limiting your liberty they usually exempt themselves.  You know you can go to jail for lying to the FBI but they are free to tell you all the whoppers they want.

All I can say is that each of us needs to live up to our own standards.  That may cost you a few dollars but if you are a person of integrity it might be worth it.

Or maybe not.  Be wise, not stupid.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-267: On the Street: Turtle Porn

We have a couple in our neighborhood who used to have a claim to fame because when they went for a walk they not only had a dog but a pig and a goat.  It was quite a sight.  At the time they were well behaved but the goat eventually began to get aggressive and was sent to another home.  The pig maintained his decorum until the call of the bacon became too strong.  They are now back to just a dog.

I was walking a few weeks ago and thought I heard the sound of a goat coming from their property.  When I saw them today and asked if they were rebuilding the team they laughed and said, “No, it was the tortoise.”  It seems that they now have two female and one male tortoise and it is the time for love.  File that away.  A tortoise in love sounds like a goat saying hello.

They seem to be concerned about the noises and the neighbors.  I am not sure what it will do to property values when it gets around that be have a tortoise bordello in our hill.  I suggested they could go on line with their own stream of turtle porn.  With all the diversity in identification out there you never know who might show up and what the financial rewards could be.  Maybe they could set up a clinic for doing surgery to change turtles into tortoises.  I would not work the other way because a search tells me that all tortoises are turtles but not all turtles are tortoises.

Life continues to be unfair.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-266: I Will Take One Utopia and a Pink Unicorn, Please

In Texas we have a competition for Governor being on between Greg Abbott and “Beto” O’Rourke.  It should be no contest.  Abbott should win going away and never needing to look back.  He is a generally conservative and competent leader.  Beto has been a national celebration of empty suitism.  No serious citizen would vote for him.  It is a good example of having two clear alternatives and when the tallies come down it will tell you where people stand on the issues.

Or maybe not.  It amazes me that people have any confusion on their choice.  I think the problem is the Utopia Compex.

Some people will not vote for Abbott because he is not perfect.  I will admit that I did not vote for him in the primary because he was not the best choice but I gave up searching for perfection in everything after I found a wife.  No politician is perfect.  No church is perfect.  No diet is perfect.  Somehow Abbott is supposed to step above that line.  Since Beto seems to promise Utopia he may be their man.

I will be voting for Abbott in the general election.  Beto represents everything that is wrong with this country so it is really an easy choice.  Abbott did not show the right leadership on the Covid nonsense.  He has been slow off the dime on the border.  He has his weak points.  I think one of his problems is that he is not a good judge of resource people, a failure he shares with Donald Trump.  

Here is hoping he will rise to the occasion.  If we bath him with prayer then he may be wiser and stronger than he really is.

Elections matter.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-265: Hunger and Hacks

Reading history can help us deal with our present fears.  I am currently reading a book called The History of the Great Irish Famine of 1847 by Canon John O’Rourke.  It is available by downlead from Project Gutenberg.  I have found that many people know about the great potato famine that drove waves of Irish emigration.  It is the events around it that I find reassuring because they reflect on the panic that so many are trying to create around the world.

The cause of the famine was not a potato blight.  That is what the books tell us and there was a problem with the potato crop.  It failed.  That failure put many people in the path of starvation but not because there was no food.  It is restated several times by the time I am a fourth way through the book but here is one,

"That the people of Ireland, in their bitter hours of misfortune, have the strongest right to impeach the criminality of the ministers of the crown, inasmuch as it has pleased a merciful Providence to favour Ireland in the present season with a most abundant crop of oats. Yet, whilst the Irish harbours are closed against the importation of foreign food, they are left open for the exportation of Irish grain, an exportation which has already amounted in the present season to a quantity nearly adequate to feed the entire people of Ireland, and to avert the now certain famine; thus inflicting upon the Irish people the abject misery of having their own provisions carried away to feed others, whilst they themselves are left contemptuously to starve.” Kindle location 1293-1298

The potato failed but there was a bumper crop of other foods.  The problem was not a lack of food but a surplus of political shenanigans.  England controlled Ireland and made it illegal for the Irish to import food that did not first get unloaded in an English port and then loaded again.  They also looked at crops like oats as a cash crop and were not about to leave them for the Irish to eat.

The government in London knew the problem and did a lot of talking but at the point I am in the book they were doing nothing but talk.  I am assuming since the famine was so bad that they kept talking and taking their tea breaks.

There were other political causes of hunger around the world.  This is just one example.

Then you have what we like to call “climate change.”  It is a common occurrence in the history of the world.  Ireland got there share.

"’In the beginning of November, 1739, the weather,’ says O'Halloran, ‘was very cold, the wind blowing from the north east, and this was succeeded by the severest frost known in the memory of man, which entirely destroyed the potatoes, the chief support of the poor.’[17] It is known to tradition as the ‘great frost,’ the ‘hard frost,’ the ‘black frost,’ etc.”  Kindle Location 445-448

Then we have another familiar story.

“To add to the miseries of the people there was a great drought all the winter and spring.”  Kindle Location 471-472

And then they went through torrential rains that rotted the potatoes in addition to the blight.

Does any of this sound familiar?  It should.  It is very similar to what we are going through.  There is nothing we can do about the weather except accept that it is part of the natural cycle of the earth.  The politics also seem like we are being run into the ground.  Do what you can on that.  If nothing else, wake up to people you have voted for that are backing the current politics of the Progressives.

I think it fits into Solomon’s statement,

(Ecc 1:9 KJV)  The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-264: Ode to Old: Better Than a Dog

Spending time with our children and grandchildren has different urgency for me and my wife.

For her it is a necessity.  It is like vitamin C.  If she does not get enough she will get emotional scurvy.  The need is more acute now that they are living in the same town.  Have they changed?  Do they still remember Grandma?  Why haven’t they called?  Keep in mind they are 2 and 4.

For me it is a luxury.  If I can’t have it, at least I can dream about it.  The memories and anticipation can be gratifying.  I have pictures that I can look at that bring a smile.  That surprises me.  I have never been a big one for pictures but now I find myself suggesting them for Fathers’ Day and such.

If you have grandchildren you probably know of what I speak.  If you don’t then at least you have your dog.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-263: Share the Joy

What would be fun would be for DeSantis and Abbott to get into a contest to see who could come up with the most creative destinations for the illegals.  Other governors might get in on the act too.

There are other rich, white, liberal enclaves that need a chance to embrace diversity.  Some of the ski resorts in Colorado would be nice.  Maybe Jackson Hole.  Kaanapali needs to get involved but it might be hard to get a bus there.  How about dropping off a bus load outside some Democrat conventions or planning sessions.  Maybe a service to local ACLU offices.  It might also be interesting to take some of them and drop them off in Canada.

This could get interesting.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-262: Hope and Roses

It is time to wake up and tend the roses.

Trimming,

Watering.

Fertilizing.

Pulling the weeds.

It isn’t enough to smell them any more.

The roses are getting desperate even if they don’t know it.

Don’t forget I Peter 3:15.

(1Pe 3:15 NAS77) but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence;

Make them ask.  If you have the hope Peter is talking about you are a giant step ahead of the people around you.  In spite of that they probably won’t want to hear what you say.  Listen for potential open doors that are accompanied by minds and hearts.
 

Answer with kindness.  Accept the fact that when it comes down to it, they may not be interested in the answers.

Love them enough to be willing to try.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-261: Shadows of Gulag: Prophecy

I have finally finished The Gulag Archipelago.  It was a long slog.  Solzhenitsyn is a good writer.  He uses humor along with revelations of his own inner thoughts.  There are times when it seems a bit choppy but that was due to the conditions of trying to write in a police state.  He tries to explain this.

“I must explain that never once did this whole book, in all its parts, lie on the same desk at the same time!” (Emphasis in original) p. 526

I would highly recommend that all read it for the first time like I have just done or re-read it if you did it years ago.  It is often like reading the newspaper today, or would be if the newspapers were into reporting the news.  I hope I can get the energy and organization to go through and reflect on what I saw and others should see.

Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr I.  Translated by Thomas P. Whitney.  The Gulag Archipelago, Vol 3.  New York:  Harper & Row, Publishers, 1976.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-260: Dating the Straw

We like dates.  They give us a feeling of security and make things clear, even when they shouldn’t.  We just went through the anniversary of 9/11.  It is really one of many steps in a progression, but it is the one we look at.  I look at it as a declaration of war on America.  This is true if you are a conspiracy nut, a minion of the deep state or simply a patriotic American.

It is true if George Bush was in on the whole plan.

It is true if it was simply Islam attacking the great Satan.

There have been many steps moving toward that moment.  There have been many since.  There are definite parallels with the American Revolution.  There we look at July 4, 1776.  It was the day of official declaration.  It was just formalizing what had been going on for a long time.  Are you aware that the Battles of Lexington and Concord were a year before the Declaration of Independence?  Are you aware that a colonial army had laid seige to Boston and driven the British out before the Declaration?  9/11 was a bit like July 4.

It is also a question of whom was declaring war.  Obviously it was part of the Jihad against the West that Islam has been pursuing for 1,300 years.  It was also cheered on by the people who are now trying to bring the republic to an end.  The Progressive Left is marching hand in glove with Islam to weaken and destroy the United States as a land that gives the common man a chance at prosperity and security.  The Progressive war goes back at least as far as Woodrow Wilson and some take it back to the Civil War.  The war of the elites against the common man goes back to the first guy with big muscles.

What is the key date for the demise of our Liberty?  Was it the election of FDR?  Was it the fraud that brought in Joe Biden?  Is the straw that broke the camel’s back still ahead of us?  I think we still have time to recover but I am not sure we have the will or the moral base that we need.

It is going to be interesting.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-259: Whom Are You Going to Believe?

Phil said...

Oprah said...

Tucker said...

The list goes on.  We insist on having gurus.  They serve a dual function.  For some it is just having someone do the thinking for them.  For others it is finding the guru who echoes what you want to say but no one is listening.

We often forget that truth is a matter of truth.  Too often we are impressed by the person speaking rather than the truth of what is said.

Be careful what you use as a source of truth.  When I was a kid I accepted what my parents and teachers told me.  It wasn’t long before I realized that the teachers were not above lying.  It used to be we thought we could believe what we read.  At this point in my life that is only the case when I read a Bible that uses a word for word translation philosophy.  It is sad that when you joke about how it must be true because you read it on the internet, people will nod their heads and you are not sure if they are joking or empty headed.

Keep thinking for yourself.  Check out the facts.  Double check them.  Run them by a source that does not change with the cultural whims around us.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-258: On the Street: Special

It is going to be a rough week.  When I was checking the grocery ads I saw that there was a coupon for 50 cents off on Twinkies.  I will try to be strong.

I have not had a Twinkie in years.  I can’t remember when I binged last.  The junk food junkie in me is still alive.  I have visions of buying several boxes if the ones they have are not big enough.  I can taste them now.

No, I will be strong.

Life keeps throwing first-world curve balls at me.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-257: Mind Magic

My mind becomes like the Magic Eight Ball, things just emerge out of the murk.  Do you remember the toy?  You would ask it a question and turn it over.  After a few moments an answer would appear through the window in the bottom.  It got some laughs.

Were they really random?  (Play spooky music here)  Was this really a modern version of the Ouija board?  Some people felt that the Ouija was actually occupied by demons and if you threw one in the fire they would scream.  I tried it and got no screams but that could have just been because they were away on vacation.  

In the Magic Eight Ball is the suspension making choices?  What if we had one that changed the colors of the answers to indicate veracity.

All of which is another tangent.  I have ideas that seem to emerge from the murk just like the toy.  How much attention should we give to those thoughts that emerge unsummoned?  I know that if my mind didn’t go on weird tangents I would have a lot less to write about.  I would also have much shorter lists of ideas.  Maybe that would be a good thing.

The mind is a real mystery.  It makes connections.  Sometimes they make sense sometimes they don’t.

I don’t need the hearty “Amens”.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-256: The Major Weakness of the Constitution

The reason our system is not working any more has nothing to do with the law or documents.  It has to do with the Marxist approach to both.  For them rules are not written in stone but in the mind of the tyrant.  You don’t need to look far to find how this worked in the Soviet Union.  Keep in mind that the masses starved, beaten and worked to death had written rights that said none of that could happen to them in the Workers’ Paradise

Our Constitution only worked because we had leaders who believed in the principles and the God behind those principles.  There was a shared belief that the kind of republic they wanted and the liberties they wanted guaranteed could only work with a people bound by moral principles that were grounded in the Bible.  They were not all devout believers but they agreed on what was necessary for a culture to work.  And they genuinely wanted it to work and for the average citizen to have the opportunity to do well and prosper.  They were not greedy for only their own future.

That is why I blame the church and feel that revival is the only answer.  The church as a whole has abandoned the moral values of the Bible.  Specific values that have been papered over are represented by the acceptance of homosexuality.  General values that are laughed at are those based on absolute truth.  The Bible has a lot to say about how our sexual relationships should be carried out.  It has a lot to say about business principles.  It clearly defines what justice is.  All of this has been left in the basement behind locked doors by most churches.

I found myself listening to Jordan Peterson interviewing Dave Rubin.  I did not know anything about Rubin.  My wife had mentioned the name but I wasn’t paying much attention.  Evidently he is a practicing homosexual who identifies as a conservative and has quite a following.  I listened for a while.  When they started talking about a homosexual couple adopting children as if it were mainstream I knew we were lost.  

I have felt that Jordan Peterson is searching after truth.  I still think that is possible.  The question will be can he accept truth when it is clearly laid out in front of him.  He has already taken stands that were attacked by the elites.  It remains to be seen if he can put the puzzle together or whether he stays on the fringes.  It reminds me of the Gentiles that hung around the Jewish synagogues because they sensed there was something there that they wanted.  The law kept them away because they didn’t want God enough.

This is why we may not be able to work with some people.  If they are not grounded in the eternal then they serve the conditional.  I am not sure we will be able to get them to separate the two.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-255: Fertilizer of Fear

We need to be careful about living in fear.  It is the goal of the disguised Marxists who want to become our overlords.  One of their strongest weapons is fear.  Fear will keep us silent.  Fear will keep us sitting down.  Fear will keep us at home.  It works.  All you need to do is look at how a small cadre of Bolsheviks were able to bring the entire Russian nation to its knees.

Take the fear of Covid and the fear of the jab.  The first couple of weeks with the shrieking of the CDC and media it was natural to feel some genuine concern.  The unknown is fertilizer for our fear.

In neither case was there any reason to panic or do more than take precautions.  The most effective barrier against the virus was a healthy immune system based good genes and a reasonable life style.  The second was simply washing your hands.  

Then we have the chemicals being injected into people thinking they are real, researched and tested medications.  Sorry to say none of that was the case.  Politics and money played a bigger role than any research that might have been done.  Just the speed of the production should tell you that the cure might be worse than the disease.  My personal opinion is that the cures are more dangerous than the problem.  I don’t base that on full scale research but neither did the drug companies.  At least I observed and sought truth which puts me ahead of them in my insight.

Yes, people died.  Now the death rates are up as a result of the poison being pumped into people.  In the midst of the concern keep in mind that the statistics are just statistics.  A 300% increase in a certain cause of death is a genuine statement about the “vaccine” but in the scope of 350,000,000 Americans it is a blip that should not keep you from living free of fear.

The same goes for the IRS weaponizing.  Yes, they will double their size but when you consider the quality of the recruits you might relax a little.  If you are one of the targets it sucks to be you but the chances of your life being ruined are nothing to stay awake over.

Keep a perspective.  Understand statistics.  A 300% increase can be a description of 1 case becoming 4.  It doesn’t mean you need to stay home and quiver.  Consider the sudden deaths of athletes in top physical shape, the sudden announcement of a new condition called Sudden Adult Death Syndrom, an upsurge of doctors going to that great operating room in the sky.  It would seem there is much to worry about.

But what do they all have in common?  It is safe to say that most were vaccinated but why them and not millions of others?  Did they all toke weed?  Were they smokers or drinkers?  Did they consume too much tofu or sushi?  Did they pick their nose as a child?  No one is asking.

Another way to avoid the fear is to have a genuine faith in Jesus.  It may not keep you alive but it will remove the fear of the grave that seems to cripple so many non-believers and people who claim to be believers.

As my son said when he was in college and going in to have a brain tumor removed, “What is there to worry about?  If I die I get to be with Jesus and I don’t have to take the final.”

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-254: Back to School

People continue to live in La La Land.

Sunday the issue of school starting came up.  Soon I wanted to scream.

The group acknowledged the issues with public education.  They know about the grooming going on.  They know the kids are being brainwashed.  They know they are being taught to hate America.  There did not seem to be any issue that they were not aware of.

They will send their kids back anyway.  Well, since most of them are older it was their children sending their grandchildren back into the pollution.  I have other discussions with other parents who have their children turning against them and everything they believe in.  They look bewildered and wonder how this could have happened.  And their grandchildren are getting on a bus this week.

There are lots of fantasies that are shared.  They claim they are going to keep on top of it.

They claim they have no options.

Wrong.  Wrong.  Wrong.

They will not keep on top of it.  The schools are well trained in deceiving parents.  The teachers are committed like only Communist rank and file can be committed.  They will continue.  And they will get well paid with the taxes you pay as they brainwash your children.  Keep in mind that they define truth as anything that advances their agenda.  They will tell you anything to confuse and distract you.  You will leave with a smile on your face.

The parents will relax and get lazy.  What could go wrong?  The teachers know they are on to them and will be watching.  Except they aren’t and they won’t.

In the future when the children ask for a Che Guevara shirt the parents will wonder where they went wrong.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-253: Progressive Happiness

I have not yet had the honor of being banned by any of the social media.  One big factor in that is I am not involved in the popular forms.  If you don’t join you can’t be unjoined.  Probably a bigger factor is I am not important enough to make them worry.  Or maybe I have not written anything worth worrying about.

Take you pick.

The day is coming though when the government will get directly into the act.  They have computer algorithms that can pick up on having a flag in your background.  They can probably read the titles on the shelf behind you.  When they get to cancelling it will be in the Soviet model where they show up with a paddy wagon and toss you into the back.  It seems to be the goal of the present Proregressives*.

They will not be happy as long as anyone they can’t control is happy.

Speak up while you can.

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

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-252: Assault on Common Sense

I just saw a brief snippet of President Biden sharing his goal about getting rid of all assault weapons in this country.  He is actually doing a good job if I understand the multiple reports about raiding America’s defense stockpile to send our “reserves” to Ukraine.  I would guess that he included all of our assault weapons for the Ukrainians to lose to the Russians.

Actually what got my attention was that he is not after our privately owned assault weapons.  That would be like appropriating our own personal IRS agents.  You see, what Americans own are not assault rifles but defense rifles.  When I went through basic training we learned how to use the M-16, an assault rifle.  When in Vietnam I was issued an M-16, an assault rifle.  There are significant differences between an M-16 and an AR 15.  It goes beyond the black color and hand grips.

It is comforting to know that when they come for us most of the competent warriors will have been driven out of government service.  We have these nightmares of Seal Team Six showing up at our front door.  In reality it will be more like the Keystone Cops or Gomer Pyle and friends.  If there are enough of them they could do some damage but it is a good bet that they will get lost on the way to your house.  

I hear there are pink stocks you can get for your long guns.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-251: Party Animals

There are different types of people in any culture.  I want to compare two cultures that are living side by side in the United States.  One was imported from the Ango-Saxon Tradition, the other from the frustrations of Karl Marx.

We have always had two main political parties in the United States.  Most people only remember the Republicans and Democrats.  Those are still the official names for the two organizations but in reality the allegiance has gotten a bit murky.  Some are referring to a group called the Uniparty.  It is a cross party lines group that works together behind the scenes to bring about power for the elites.  There are still two types but they don’t conform to D and R.  I think it would work to label the antagonists as the Communists and the Patriots.  

And they are antagonists.  Gone is the common understanding of what America is all about.

Communists are loyal to the party or the state.  They believe in the rule of government, guided by an elite inner circle.  The people are subjects who are expected to obey.  Government will take care of you and will do it better than you can because you, being a peasant, don’t know what is good for you.

Patriots are loyal to the Constitution or the Republic.  They believe in the rule of law, guided by the Constitution.  The people are citizens who are expected to be responsible.  The goal is to give the greatest spectrum of choices for each individual so that all can pursue their dreams.  For this group on the individual really knows what they want and what is best for them.

You can imagine how this is causing friction.  These two groups are only a part of the population.  If you look at the time of the American Revolution you have a similar scenario, or so I have been told.  One third wanted to stay part of England, one third wanted to break away, one third just wanted to be left alone.

Our largest group today is the Wake.  Not the woke, the wake, as in what is sucked into the back of a ship passing by.  Or an invitation to view a corpse.  They can be nice people but they are limited to their little worlds.  You could also call them weather vanes or farmers windmills.  They survive by not offering any resistance.  It is amazing that they manage to reproduce but when they do they send their children to the government brainwashing academies.  

Where do you fit in?  

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-250: Headlines: Of Whom Do We Speak?

How do you tell a Never Trumper who is still hiding in the closet.  Out of the closet it is often what they say.  When they are still keeping their head down it will be in what they don’t say.  Powerline has one such person who is actually playing both sides of the fence.  When I read one of his posts and Trump is mentioned I just wait and eventually there is a backhanded slap at the man.  You are familiar with the concept of damning with faint praise.  I don’t even need a drum roll.  I am getting to the point where I don’t read his stuff when Trump comes up.

I thought I was safe because he was writing about the energy debacle taking place in what used to be the free world.  Here it was a clear case of Trump-phobia.  Notice this section,

“Meanwhile, here in the U.S., we had energy independence–not just independence, but dominance–only a few years ago. It took a concerted effort by the Biden administration to screw it up.”

Now, let me ask you, who was president just a few years ago?  What country did not have energy dominance before that un-named person because president?  Would it have hurt to mention the name in giving credit where credit was due?

I am beginning to wonder if Never-Trumpers are like Communists.  They don’t seem to be able to change.

homo unius libri

Opus 2022-249: Visions of Too Many Sugar Plums

The infinite wisdom of the You Tube algorithm has finally decided I would like to hear from Alistair Begg.  I am good with that.  I used to listen to his broadcasts and pod casts on a regular basis.  The one that got my attention seemed to be a final session in some conference where he was fielding questions.

The first question had to do with his habits for keeping healthy.  The short answer was he didn’t have any, but at one point he made joking reference to his appearance.  Since I think he is older than I am I could relate to his, “Just look at me” comment.  It got me thinking about how most older guys have some common sense about dressing.  I have not seen many gold medallions and hairy chests lately.  We follow his model.  Long sleeves and full length pants.  Only the top button of the shirt undone.  Reasonably loose fit.  I dress that way because I am self conscious and have never felt like I was great to look at.  In my concern for others I have never wanted to subject them to what I had to see in the mirror.

I wish others would return the favor.

If God and discipline has blessed you with a great package then feel free to show it off.  If you lost a lot of weight then sport that too small T-shirt.  If you have been working out then indulge in a muscle shirt.  If you look good in high heels then wear them and walk careful.  Let those graceful arms hang from your spaghetti straps.  

If, on the other hand, you have taken the basic model God gave you and driven it into the ground, please have mercy.  I don’t want to have the vision of a living walking Michelin Man and his soul-mate jiggling down the sidewalk.  Talk about needing a trigger warning.  One of the cruelest statements of the modern era is, “What has been seen cannot be unseen.”

Always try to understand the concept of good taste.  That means modesty, style (not fashion) and other people’s hang-ups.

I thank you.  Alistair thanks you.

homo unius libri