Opus 2018-252: Different Trigger, Same Gun

Some things never seem to change.  It is hard to believe.  I have found myself talking about how today’s Democrat party is different than it used to be.  There may be some truth to that but not as much as you think.  John Batchelor quotes an editorial from a newspaper called The Tribune back in 1896.  Read through it and ask yourself, “Does this sound familiar?”  The trigger issue in those days was silver as a base for the dollar instead of gold.  The trigger changes but the gun is the same.

    “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.” pages 129-130

The title of the editorial was “American Silver Communists”.  It is interesting that even in 1896 the informed were aware of the danger of Communism.  Too bad so few are informed now.  The tactic of the Democrat party was to divide the country by class warfare.  It is still their goal.

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

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-251: Who Is the Deep State?

I imagine everyone has a different definition of the deep state.  For some it is a tight group at the center of the halls of power that act as puppet masters, pulling strings and manipulating society toward a police state that they control.  For some it is rogue, unelected bureaucrats who ignore the law and advance their own personal egos and power.

I think it is much bigger than that.  I think it is a vast host of individuals.  Some work alone and others work in groups.  They may not even be aware of each other but they have one major flaw:  They think they are the exception.  They don’t need to play by the rules.  They consider themselves what Thomas Sowell calls “the Anointed.”

If you are playing Monopoly they want to be the banker or at least sit by the banker so that they can make slight-of-hand “loans”.  After all, it is only a game and suckers don’t deserve to win.

If they are a preacher they carefully select the Bible passages they use and skip any verse that might cause you to question what they say.

If they are politicians they say things like, “We need to pass the bill so we can find out what is in it.”

If they work for the DMV, IRS of OSHA they make sure that things go as slow as possible.  They are obsessed with forms and check marks.  They make dealing with the government a living hell.  They are anyone who has the ability to tell you “no” based on a technicality or minor error.  They move your application to the bottom of the pile or send it to the wrong office.  They stand in classrooms, sit behind plate glass windows.  They wear badges and robes.  They have a wide variety of incomes and live in many neighborhoods.

What they have in common is power over others that they use as their priorities dictate instead of the way the rules were intended.

Think how much better our lives would be if we did away with entire departments of the federal government.  Do we really need a Department of Education?  Do we need the government to tell us that food products must have nutrition labels?  Does your barber really need to be licensed?

November is coming.  One of the issues you should examine is elected officials who want to cut the size of government.

The Deep State wants you.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-250: Curses

I can’t find where I first saw it mentioned but you my have read about the witches coming together to throw a curse on Justice Brett Kavanaugh.  It is supposed to be focused on his mistreatment of women.  I imagine they are basing it all on a vague, unsupported accusation that he got too pushy once when he was a teenager.  I have good news for the new justice from the book of Proverbs.

(Proverbs 26:2 NAS77)  Like a sparrow in its flitting, like a swallow in its flying, So a curse without cause does not alight.

I don’t think political assassinations or publicity stunts qualify as a reason for a curse.

What is interesting to me is that it doesn’t say that curses don’t exist, just that they are worthless if not deserved.

Maybe someone has cursed all the media outlets that report fake news.  Their circulation has certainly take a nose dive.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-249: The Next Cool Look

One of the older texts I am reading on my Kindle is the Journals of Lewis and Clarke.  It is quite a slog.  Getting through the spelling and grammar is a chore.  Then you have double entries for each day, I think one is from Lewis and one from Clarke.  I am currently reading the entry for November 1, 1805.  At this point they were east of modern Portland. 

As they traveled they described the Indian tribes that they met.  One thing you learn from historical documents is that the American Indians were not a monolithic culture.  Two groups even a few miles apart could speak totally different languages and dress totally different.  Today as I read they went into the methods used to mold the heads of their children.  Not the minds, the heads.  They had previously mentioned flat heads among some tribes, now they described the method of strapping boards on the heads of the babies until the heads went to the form they wanted.

The reason I bring this up is I think we could be looking at a wave of the future.  I am thinking of the body mutilation going on in the millennial generation.  I am even seeing it in older people who must be trying to relate.  Have you seen the picture of the guy that has big rings in his cheeks and nose and you can look through his head?  Piercing and tattoos are a growing trend.  So I ask, “When you have covered and punctured your body as far as it will go, what next?”  How do you set the new trend?  I would suggest head molding for children.

I am not wanting this to happen.  I find tattoos, studs and rings to be silly at best and ugly most often but keep in mind that I don’t understand why anyone would wear a necklace either.  I am just guessing at where the next silly stage will be.  Like tattoos, once you have formed the babies head it will be that way the rest of their lives. 

Sadly, you heard it here first.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-248: Headlines: Response to Resist

We need to see more of this response to leftist violence.  According to the Gateway Pundit a member of a college Republican group was pushed around by a leftist.  He called the police and is filing charges.  It will be interesting to see if there is any video and if this goes anywhere.  This needs to be an automatic response.

This might be a good time for a group of conservative lawyers to offer their services in a pro bono or “no charge unless a claim is won” basis.  I don’t know the legal costs involved in something like that but it would seem to me that it would be money well spent.  These people will not go away unless it becomes too painful to continue acting like bullies.  If we don’t want to end up with blood running in the streets and violent civil war we should start using the tools of the rule of law while we still have a chance.

If you sheriff won’t back you up, vote the sucker out.  If your police won’t support you then it is time to make changes on your city council.  They appoint the police chief.  Even in a republic the people are supposed to have a say in their leaders and a way to hold them accountable.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-247: Election 2018: What Kind of Government Do We Deserve?

I watch the mindless, unprincipled march of the Democrats.  They could not be sitting in positions of power and working their evil if they did not have a lot of Democrats voting for them and a lot of Republicans not voting at all.  I keep wondering how so many people can be so blind.  Can’t they see what is obvious?  Have they lost their minds?  Do they have no sense of logic or morals?

Then I begin to wonder if they are saying the same things about me.  Actually they are saying a lot worse things. 

They are wrong, of course.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-246: Firsts: I Still Can’t Believe It

Part of moving to Texas is needing to begin to do my own yard maintenance.  That means I am now trying to mow the non-tree and rock free parts of our property.  I am guessing that means almost an acre.  I am getting into the swing of pushing a mower around.  I do about an hour at a time and eventually get it done.

What I was not prepared for was dealing with the machinery.  My wife brought home a used string trimmer with a two stroke-engine.  I have always avoided two-strokes.  I don’t understand them and they don’t want me to understand them.  The device slowly went down hill.  At first it was impossible to start once it was warm so I only could use it until the string wore down.  Then I needed to wait until the next day.  Eventually it started refusing to run. 

I had a choice to make.  I could keep taking it back to the guy who sold it to us and have him work his magic or I could try to fix it myself.  Since I am cheap and my manhood was on the line I decided to give it a go.  What was the worst that could happen?  I would fail and take it to him anyway.  I had nothing to lose.

So I did a search on You Tube and watched a few videos.  I ordered a kit that included everything I would need including a new carburetor.  The day came when all the parts were in my possession and I had no more excuses.  I started taking out screws and pulling things apart.  Eventually I did all I knew to do and the moment of truth came............It started.  I was in shock.

I did some trimming and then turned it off and renewed the string.  It started again.  I am impressed. 

So now I have actually fixed something.  I need a nap.

homo unius libri