Opus 2017-254: A Lesson in Thrift

A moment for the lament of a married man.  Yesterday I received a stern lecture on thrift and wasting money.  My sin?  I had left the light and ceiling fan on in my room when I went to the front door.  Mea Culpa.

So explain to me why we went to lunch at Cheesecake Factory and spend $42.00.  Of course that included tip.  And I didn’t gag.  Maybe I am missing something here.  This was no birthday celebration or anniversary.  This was lunch.  And we had to drive 30 miles each way to get there.

Can you calculate how long I would need to leave my light off to pay for that lunch?

I guess they didn’t cover that in my college classes.  Maybe it is a male thing.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-253: Digging into Deuteronomy: Biblical Borders of Israel

(Deuteronomy 2:5 KJV)  Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth; because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession.

Even today this area of the world is in turmoil.  One of the mantras of the Muslims is that the land is theirs and Israel has no right to exist.  The Bible obviously gives Israel to the Jewish people.  You may not like it but if you believe the Bible is the word of God, deal with it.  The real question is not the validity of Israel but the location of the borders.

This verse tell us that there are certain areas of the Middle East that Israel is not to have.  Mount Seir is a term used to designate Edom.  If you look at an atlas, possibly in the back of your Bible, you will find that Edom is on the southeast corner of the land given by God.  In modern terms it would be located in Modern Jordan below the Dead Sea.  It is not in any of the areas in dispute today.  Later on, in verse 9, we find that Moab, and in verse 19 Ammon, were also not to belong to Israel.  Moab was just above Edom.  Ammon was to the east.

Israel was granted a land by God.  It was denied other areas.  David and Solomon may have expanded into areas greater than the basic Israel but there is a heartland that was divinely granted.  We need to keep that in mind as we watch the news.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-252: Election 2018: Rino List 1

It is really hard to keep track of all the Rinos who are more concerned with their personal power than the good of the country or the stated goals of the Republican Party.  They are intent on ignoring the voting public because they believe we have short memories.

We do.  So I am going to begin a list for my own good and share it as I update it.  We need to watch as, on issue by issue, Rinos come out of the closet and show their true colors.  The first list I gave to you in paragraph form.  Now I will repeat it as a list.  I will put them alphabetically and try to relate the issue that exposed them.


Lamar Alexander of Tennessee        Repeal of Obamacare
Shelley Moore Capito of West Virginia    Repeal of Obamacare
Susan M. Collins of Maine            Repeal of Obamacare
Dean Heller of Nevada            Repeal of Obamacare
John McCain of Arizona            Repeal of Obamacare
Lisa Murkowski of Alaska            Repeal of Obamacare
Rob Portman of Ohio                Repeal of Obamacare

The Washington Times helps me add to that list as a “bipartisan” bill is introduced to make it hard for Trump to deal with the Mueller witch hunt.  Today I will add to that list:  Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

You might want to read the article with your brain turned on.  It states that the Senate,

“...wrote the bill to create a judicial review should a president try to remove a special counsel.”

Historically the first president to face impeachment was Andrew Johnson.  His offense?  He dared to fire one of his cabinet members.  Deja vu anyone?  Just who does Donald Trump think he is, the President of the United States?

The second hat you need is your Constitutional scholar hat.  In the article it says,

“The bill would write into law current department guidelines governing who can fire a special counsel, and make them retroactive to this year’s appointment of Robert Mueller,...”

Does the phrase “ex post facto”  ring any bells?  Let me share with you a phrase from the Constitution, Article 1, Section 9:

“No bill of attainder or ex post facto law shall be passed.”

The phrase means “after the fact”.  It forbids congress from making laws retroactive. 

These are dangerous times.  We have the Democrats who don’t care what the Constitution says and we have an unknown number of Republican in Name Only frauds who also don’t care.

Vote the suckers out.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-251: DEFCON: About Those Voting Machines...

I was on the road Monday but by the time I went to bed two people have told me that DEFCON made the news.  It seems it only took a casual group of hackers 90 minutes to compromise some voting machines.  I pause to look for a news article about it....

No headline at the Washington Times.  Same with the Telegraph and Fox News.  Let me check Drudge....  Nothing.  So I will Google it, and there I find stories that seem to have made no lasting stir.  I will check out the one on USA Today since that is written at the middle school level where I used to teach.

This is not the first time DEFCON has approached this topic.  I have attended sessions in the past where the concern was expressed.  Contrary to the article this was not caused by the “Russia” obsession of the MSM.  It has been a worry for hackers for years.  In the past the sessions focused on similar machines being used in elections at universities.  Hackers, not wanting to go to jail, steered clear of actual machines you might see at the polling station.

“This is the first time such an open and large-scale hacking of voting machines has been attempted, because until October of 2015 such efforts were illegal under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. An exemption by the Librarian of Congress now allows good faith efforts meant to find vulnerabilities, leading conference organizers to launch the event.”

Until very recently it was illegal to investigate the weaknesses of the system.  On one side that makes sense.  It is also illegal to shoot people but keep in mind that most gun violence takes place in venues where guns are banned.  Criminals are criminals because they ignore the law.

So DEFCON has your back.  Voter fraud is possible, which means it is common.  Somehow I don’t think the DNC or the Hillary camp have been saying, “We can’t do that because it isn’t nice.”

Most hackers that I heard were in favor of paper ballots.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-250: Plow and Crown: Elites and the Unwashed Masses

It used to be “as California goes, so goes the nation”.  I hope that is not true any longer.  We should change that to “If California goes, let them.” 

In reality, with the progressives so deeply rooted in our government agencies what we need to start realizing is that “as Europe goes, so goes the nation”.  That is not a good thing.  What got this going was a quick stop at the English Newspaper Telegraph.  I did not bookmark the article but it explained how Great Britain was taking steps to make it impossible to own a private vehicle.  They are proposing a special tax on diesel and gas powered cars in certain cities and on certain highways.  The stated goal was to do away with automobiles.  Today there was a second article saying it couldn’t work because they did not have enough electrical capacity.  Keep in mind that the lack of evidence for global warming does not keep them from taking away your options in order to fight it.  They will continue to press no matter what the facts say.

Be warned.  The elites want the common people to be taxed out of their cars and onto mass transit.  People that rely on government for transportation are easier to control.  It is easier to take away their options.  You will be forced to shop in local stores that will be more like 7/11's than Walmart Superstores.  You will only be able to live in small apartments because everyone will need to live within walking distance of a bus stop or train station.  If you want a feel for what that would be like, go to IKEA and look at some of their cute little living spaces that are around 600 square feet.

And it will allow more room for their estates and country homes.  They will always have their chauffeured limousines and security details.  They won’t need to rub elbows with the unwashed masses.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-249: Moons and Creation

I was rereading an old science fiction book, written in 1954.  The author was explaining how a space station could stay in place.  He explained how satellites maintain orbit.  For people having trouble visualizing it he used the moon as an example.  This struck me as possible evidence for the hand of God in creation:  The number of moons that seem to exist. 

What are the odds of this many large masses existing at just the right spot to balance the pull of gravity and the push of centrifugal force?  I am aware of the theory that the cosmic soup first congealed in stars and then specific masses came together as planets.  The moons were one more step in that process.  But really, what are the chances of all the factors being so perfect that you have all these moons. 

If it were just the earth I could see it, but look at the frequency.  According to a quick Google question it seems that Jupiter alone has 67 known moons at this point.  I am afraid it is just one more example of the laws of probability working against the naturalist explanations.

It makes more sense to accept that God made it happen.

homo unius libri

Opus 2017-248: DEFCON: Deprivation

We were on our way to dinner with a couple and lamenting how expensive is was in Las Vegas.  I am old enough that I can remember when meals and rooms were cheap and served as an attraction for people to come and gamble.  Now most of the well know places are for high rollers or people who think they are high rollers.

In the discussion the subject of Disneyland came up and how much it cost to go.  One of the people in the car suggested how the high prices were causing the poor children of today to be deprived.  I think the inference was that it wasn’t fair and the Disneyland was listed somewhere in the Bill of Rights as something that everyone should be guaranteed.  This reflects the difference that has been emerging at DEFCON.  When I came to my first con 16 years ago it was a gathering of rebels.  Hackers kind of felt it was them against the man.  I noticed that beginning to change a few years ago.  As the hackers have aged they have grown up into mortgages and children.  It makes a difference.

But Disneyland as a basic human right was beyond me.  I worked in public schools with a large percentage of the students on some kind of poverty program.  Most kids got free or subsidized lunches.  Almost all of them made regular trips to Disneyland.  Even in the poor classes there is always money to do the things that are important.  I suggested that public libraries were still free and that if they were deprived from not going to Disneyland maybe they could visit the library instead.

I think they assumed I was joking.  Sadly for them, I wasn’t.

So remember that now being able to go to Disneyland is a basic human right.  Welcome to America in the 21st Century.

homo unius libri