Opus 2024-039: Filtering the Noise

Where do I get my news?

The first visible step is to scan the headlines.  But something else comes first.  Before I look at the headlines to see what I might need to know I have to make sure that my foundations are solid. My foundations start with the word of God.  I consider that to be infallible and holding principles that do not change every week.  On top of the principles of truth I find there I build a foundation of common sense.

With that I add the heritage of my parents and wise people who have given me insight over the years.  There are a lot of people in those categories.  If you are like me you pick up a lot of general knowledge without being aware of it.

I then add all the knowledge I picked up in school; college, seminary, places like that, and filter that through everything before.  To be honest this is done before I start my day.  It is the accumulation of a lifetime.  

At that point I go to the Clickbait.  I look at the headlines and try to discern what might contain truth and what is just plain noise.  I can go through an entire website of headlines and never click on one.  From there I might occasionally actually click on something and begin to read but always with a serious skepticism.

It is amazing how much you can pick up by this type of informal journey.  I may not know all the details, but the people writing all the posts don’t know as much as they act like either.  

Stay awake.  Pray for guidance.  Keep you baloney meter turned on.  It may be difficult but we still need to make informed decisions.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-71, News: John McCain, Conservative?

Who said miracles don’t happen?  We have a resurrection of the dead.  John McCain is once again a conservative.  Recently the Drudge Report had a headline about the 10 most conservative senators.  If you clicked the link you found that John McCain was tied for first.  What?  Is this a humor blog? 

One of the indications that the democratic process doesn’t work and you can’t trust the American voter is the re-election of John McCain by the people of Arizona.  It wasn’t even close.  Maybe it is a case of the devil you know.  He may be a fine husband, a great father, a genuine patriot and an experienced senator, but he gave up the right to be called a conservative a long time ago.

It is time to play the laugh track.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-66, News: It’s a War, Not a Battle

Lets get our images right.  We are not trying to win a battle.  We are in a war for the future of our country.  It must be both strategic and tactical.  We will never turn things around overnight.  I am a right wing, red-necked-white-collared, narrow-minded, Bible believing, global warming denying, conservative.  There are times when I question whether Ronald Reagan was a real conservative.  What that means is I am not stupid.  I don’t get happy when someone throws me a bone.  I want the whole enchilada so I can put some aside for my children and grandchildren.  We had a great election.  Lets have some more.  At Thanksgiving I always expect seconds and left overs.

So how is the new congress doing?  I am willing to say they are making progress.  If we want it done right we need to take the time to get it right.  That means understanding some things.  First, only the House has any ability to respond to conservatives now.  The Founders set up our system so that no one branch or section of a branch can control the process.  The shows wisdom.  That makes us work with people we don’t agree with and find ways to make it work for everyone.  So lets give them time to get it right.  Oh, and hold their feet to the fire at the same time.

What are they doing right? 

Reading the Constitution
Voted to end Obamacare
Voted to defunding Planned Parenthood
Voted to muzzle the EPA on “greenhouse gases”

Most of it is window dressing because of the process involving the senate and the presidential veto but at this point it is laying the groundwork.  This is politics but that is not necessarily a dirty word.  For years the left has been moving slowly and understanding that half a loaf is better than none.  We can learn from them.  Keep up the pressure.  The American people may be ignorant and not paying attention but give it time and keep lighting candles.

Keep in mind that the media and the Rino squishes will not pass on all the news.  Good things may happen that we don’t hear about.  What we do hear will probably be twisted to the point of total deception.  No one said it would be easy, but it is possible.  Search the net.  Read between the lines.  Question and doubt.  Keep up the pressure.  Didn’t someone say, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty”?  Be the loyal opposition until we see the Republic on its way back to health.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-62, Gout Is Still a Problem?

I look through the ads that come in the junk mail.  I am looking for the offer I can’t refuse.  It is a blessing that the offer never seems to come.  I also look at how the models are dressed and coifed to see what the latest styles are.

I noticed in one folder that there were at least two cures offered for the gout.  I thought this was a condition of the past.  It has always been associated with wealthy people who ate rich foods and did little exercise.  In the past that was only the upper classes.  Today I guess it could effect most Americans.  It seems to be gaining a “foot hold” again, if you will excuse the expression.

The cause is still the same.  For most people the cure is still the same.  I am sure there are exceptions but it would seem that this is a moral problem for most people.  This would be a good indication that prayer and fasting might be in order.  I would suggest that the physical gout is often a result of spiritual gout, again making allowance for other causes.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-55, Food prices going up.

I saw a full page add in the Washington Times, National Edition by a group called “Negative Population Growth.”  I have seen it before but this time I looked a little closer.  It gives the appearance of a group that is concerned about excessive immigration, but if you go to their web site you find that they are against population growth in general.  Shades of The Population Bomb by Paul Ehrlich.  One of their concerns was what is being billed as the growing food crisis.

You have seen the headlines about the cost of food going up and the concern that major starvation is ahead.  I found a lot of reasons that called for more government control but I noticed that the problem of government control is not brought up.  Although there are natural issues, I am sure, the biggest problem is not biological, it is political.

During the Great Depression our government destroyed food when people were hungry.  Why?  to keep the price of food up.  Political.  I found several references that Muslim Militias were destroying food in the Sudan, one from a U.N. Source.  Political.  I have heard rumors that in India they government burned food on the docks sent by relief agencies because they were afraid it would undermine local farmers.  Political.  I live in California.  Drive through the central valley and see all of the once fertile farm land growing nothing but weeds.  Why?  Because the environmentalists have cut off the water.  Political.  The cost of moving food is going up because the United States does not drill for oil and keep the price of gasoline down.  Political.  Farmers are taking corn that used to feed people and animals and turning it into ethanol thus causing an increase in the price of corn.  Political.

Are food prices going up?  Yes.  The problem is not a lack of production capacity.  The problem at its heart is political actions of people who desire to control everything and in the process will kill millions.  The law of unintended consequences strikes again.

Do we as Christians need to examine our consumption and self indulgence?  Yes, but not because we are causing a shortage of food for others.  That is more a matter of how we have been voting than how much we have been eating.  Discipline and self control are spiritual goals but eating less will put farm workers out of a job more than it will put bread on their plates.  Voting for people who push a government controlled economy will not only put no bread on their plate but take away the plate too.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-33, Dawkins on the King James Version

I came across an interesting quote of Richard Dawkins.  If you are not familiar with the name, then bless you.  He is a professional atheist and advocate of evolution.  It seemed strange that he would be quoted in an article titled “The 400-year reign of the King James Bible” by Mark A. Kellner.  I found it in the Washington Times National Weekly, January 3, 2011, p. 14.

Dawkins is quoted as saying:

“Not to know the King James Bible is to be, in some small way, barbarian.” 

I don’t know why anyone wanted his opinion on this topic, but it is good to know that there is at least one place where I can agree with the man.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-31, Label It Nonsense

I came across an opinion piece in my Washington Times National Weekly, January 10, 2011, p. 29.  It is titled “Out-of-Control Labelers” and written by Angela Logomasini. 

It seems that the Nanny State Elites want to put nutrition labels on beer and wine.  Okay, I guess that is consistent with requiring it on my Snickers bar, that is to say, nonsense.  I don’t drink at all so it won’t effect me directly.  Indirectly it will extend the tentacles of the government monster and make it more powerful. 

What I thought was typical was the logic that these control freaks used.  A group of nine college students ended up in the emergency room because they drank too much.  Most of us would shake our heads and say, “Kids these days!”  Some might volunteer to be designated drivers.  Not these folks.  They say it was ignorance.  If the kids had just realized how much alcohol was in the drinks they would have known when to say “no”.  I quote:

“Maybe if the standard drinks per container had been required to appear on the labels, they wouldn’t have made that mistake.”

Right.

The author has more smarts than this entire group of experts.  She responds,

“It’s more likely that college students would use such labels to select drinks with the highest levels of caffeine and alcohol.”

The two organizations that are National Consumers League (NCL) and the Center for Science in the Public Interest.  You might want to stop by their websites and share how you feel about their concern.

homo unius libri

Opus 2011-22, Ban the Prius

There are many tragic events going on in the world from flooding in Australia to the murder of Christians in Egypt.  In the midst of this, much of our attention is focused on the shooting in Arizona.  A staggering number of people were killed by a maniac with a gun.

And as expected, the problem was the gun.  I don’t want to take away from the tragedy.  People were murdered for no reason.  This is not a reason to rewrite the Constitution and allocate billions of dollars of tax money for body guards to protect politicians. 

What if he had done the deed by driving a Prius through the crowd?  Think about it.  A maniac driving a car into a crowd of people.  Turning around and driving over them again.  Killing and maiming men, women and children.  Using the logic of our times we would have people urging the banning of the Prius.  Perhaps we would sue the manufacturer, after all they knew that their car could kill people.  Perhaps we could ban the driving of cars within 1,000 feet of any member of congress.

Oh, wait.  Something like that did happen.  You remember the story.  A young Muslim drove his SUV onto campus, made his way to a place where students would hang out, and tried to run them down.  He did it for the glory of Allah.  Fortunately he was not a very good driver.  I am surprised that colleges have not banned cars from campus.  Maybe that is the real reason behind all of the hostility to SUV’s. 

Some people mock the statement the “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people.”  I could put a gun in a box at a school for 1000 years and as long as no one opened the box no one would be hurt.  On the other hand I have seen students picking up books and throwing them.  Maybe we could ban books from the classroom.  I can no more blame the gun than I blame the car.  People do nasty things and have incredible creativity in finding ways to express their nastiness. 

I guess that is considered twisted logic today.

Opus 2011-5, On the Street: 1,000,000 Muslims Murdered

Yesterday my wife was in line at a local Walmart and got into a conversation with a Muslim lady.  I don’t know what led up to the revelation but this lady told my wife that the Israelis had murdered 1,000,000 Muslims in the last year.  She questioned the lady on that but the woman was adamant.  So you heard it first here.  Why has the media killed this story?  Why are we not shouting from the roof tops.

Of course the documented murder of Egyptian Christian Copts over the last week has also gone much ignored.  And the murder of Christians in Iraq is continually ignored.

I wonder how the news media is covering this up.  According to one internet source the population of Gaza is about 1,500,000.  According to this lady the Zionist pigs have murdered enough people to remove 2/3 of the population of Gaza and no one noticed.

Of course you need to take this in the context of other reports I have heard.  I knew a Palestinian who claimed that Jesus was not a Jew.  I heard about a Muslim college student in a friends class who claimed that the stories of Islam being spread by the sword was a myth.  I was also told that somehow the Easter bunny lays eggs.

Don’t believe everything you hear that other people know.