Opus 2018-060: Ode to Old: Wear Out or Rust Out

Part of my daily ritual involves praying for friends and family.  When is comes to some of my friends I find myself asking for health and mental clarity.  To young people those may not be a big deal but when you memory is starting to get hiccups and you body is past its prime they are important considerations.

At what age do we accept that we are getting old and wearing out?  Maybe never.  Someone said they would rather burn out that rust out.  Possibly we can keep going until, wham, it is over.  I accept the fact that I am getting old.  The body keeps ticking.  The first few steps each morning are an exercise in relearning and rebooting but so far I am moving well by the time I get to the coffee pot. 

As for the mental thing, someone else will need to tell me when that time comes.  I pray that I have the grace to accept it when they take my keys and I hope I don’t notice when they lock the door.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-059: Headlines: I Hope It Serves Them Right

Reports coming out of California often catch my eye.  You may have heard about the $1,000 fine to servers who offer diners a straw.  Now we have a suggestion for the menu for that strawless consumer.  The name of the dish sounds healthy, nutria.  In reality they are big rodents, read rats, that were imported into the country to be raised for their fur.  Since fur is out they may now be harvested for the meat under the fur. 

This could be a win for many people.  The hunters would be encouraged because the nutria will destroy the wetlands of the environmentalists.  People who protest the grain fed to cattle to produce prime rib would save even more grain by dining on nutria fillets. 

So next time you visit the People’s Republik you may need to add nutria to the cuisine you are going to sample.  Along with the nuts, flakes, fruits and sushi you can have a nutria taco.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-058: Headlines: 2020 for Democrats Looks Like 2016 for Republicans

I almost ignored the headline on Fox News about the large field of candidates looking at running for president in 2020 in the Democrat Primaries.  My first reaction was, “Who cares.”  My second reaction was, “Who cares.”  Eventually my mind got past that stage and I thought about it a little.

I think this is a really good thing.  It has the small possibility that it might move the Democrats a little back toward being Americans again.  Not much possibility, but any hope is better than none.

If you bother looking at the article and go down the list it will depress you.  It is amazing how many of the names you will know because they have been such visible fools in the last two years.  I can’t believe that Joe Biden still leads the list.  Yes, the same Joe Biden who told us to shoot through the door with our shot guns.  The same Joe Biden who voiced racial stereotypes about the owners of 7-11 Stores.  Then you have Jerry Brown wanting to bring the Miracle of Kalifornia to the rest of the states.  You have to include Elizabeth Warren identifying as an American Indian and Cory Booker doing his Angry Black Man charade. 

Eventually you get down to the names that have never made the CNN line up of socialists.  This is where the hope might be hiding.  I can’t help but wonder if in that pack there might not be one Democrat who still have some moral fiber, patriotism and statesmanship.  It would be so glorious if the Democrat Primaries actually had a choice wider that Left and Lefter. 

I can hope, but I will not hold my breath.  I don’t look good in blue when it is on my face.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-057: Headlines: Racism Is Alive and Well in South Africa

I don’t know if South Africa is on your radar but we are beginning to see Zimbabwe II played out.  Years ago, after its revolution, Zimbabwe kicked out all the white farmers and turned the land over to wannabe farmers.  As a result the country went from an exporter of food to a country in starvation mode.  South Africa is taking the first steps to go the same way according to Newsweek (H/T to Gorges Grouse).  They are beginning to amend their constitution and take out the guarantee of property rights that had been agreed to years ago.  Now they are going to make it possible to confiscate the farms of the white farmers without any kind of compensation.  Can you say “Land theft”.

The article has some interesting comments by a leader in the movement, Julius Malema.

‘Malema also said "the time for reconciliation in South Africa "is over," News.com.au reported. "Now is the time for justice," he said, adding, "We must sensure (sic) that we restore the dignity of our people without compensating the criminals who stole our land."’

The next paragraph is even more revealing,

‘Malema has been a strong supporter of confiscating land from white farmers, saying in 2016 he was "not calling for the slaughter of white people–at least for now."’

All that is disturbing enough but won’t do much to change my personal life.  What got me in regard to recent attempts at censorship was at the end of the article.  The petition referred to in the article was on something called Change.com.  I know nothing about the site but I know Leftist (Progressive, Communist, Democrat, elitist, Rino) talk when I hear it.  Here is what the site spokesman had to say,

‘A spokesperson for Change.org told Newsweek it would look into whether the petitions violate any company policies and whether the website plans to take any action. The website later added a note stating it had "received flags from some Change.org users that facts contained in this petition may be contested," adding: "You may consider researching this issue before signing or sharing."’

In other words, we have a site that is seemly there for people to advocate change and start petitions.  Being revealed as a leftist site it become clear that the desire for freedom of expression only extends to those on the left.

The battle of censorship is all around us.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-056: Headlines: Hope for Parkinson’s Sufferers

I don’t suffer from Parkinson’s but it is one of those conditions that lurk in the wings of life to make us miserable.  I found this article at Fox News to be encouraging.  I woman with severe tremors was given relief by a risky bit of brain surgery.  My hat is off to the doctors.  Also of interest is that this took place in India.  It is good to hear of breakthroughs in what has been called the third world.  I speaks to the progress everyone is capable of making. 

I wonder if this could have been done in the United States.  We have so many laws and regulations and so much fear of law suits that I think there is a lot of progress that is not made.  It may be that this procedure was so risky that Americans in their safe spaces need not apply.  The doctor who performed the surgery said that even a small mistake could lead to a major stroke.  I am not sure of the odds.  There also was no discussion of the long term effects of the surgery.  Would the tremors come back?  How soon?  Would it be worse if they return?

I am guessing that the woman operated on was willing to take the risks.  It could be that being willing to be a human guinea pig is a noble calling.  It could be foolish.  We need to have that discussion in a mature way.  I think of people dying with AIDS who are denied treatment because the drugs have not been fully tested yet.  The same with cancer patients.  Everywhere you look there are federal officers and salivating lawyers waiting for a mistake or a coloring outside the lines.

It is a difficult discussion because once the line of experimenting is crossed the question of coercion and manipulation comes into play.  Would it be a case of wealthy sick people paying large sums to get poor people to submit to experiments?  Would that necessarily be a bad thing?  Ethics is not a strong suit in American decision making.

Hard questions.  Meanwhile, in India, a woman has relief from Parkinson’s. 

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-055: Grow Up, Move On

While we are on the subject of reparations let’s apply the principle logically and consistently.  We hear the word in relation to slavery in America and all of the nasty things done to black people over the years.  Discrimination of the bad kind was too common and justice of the good kind was too rare.  In modern thinking slavery was an evil institution.  Segregated drinking fountains were a slap in the face of people who deserved more.  We have heard about it so many times that we think what we are hearing is the whole story.  We need to get out of our shells and look at history.  If we are going to get into a memory game and demand that past evils be made good we have a lot of digging to do.

What got me on this topic was thinking about the Middle East and the Arab/Jew conflict.  We need to keep in mind that this conflict goes back a long way.  The earliest record I am aware of was around 1,500 B.C. when the Egyptians (Arabs?) made slaves of the visiting decedents of Abraham (Jews).  It seems the slavery went on for 400 years.  So with compounded interest, how much does Egypt owe to the Jews of the world?

Did I mention slavery?  Keep in mind that historically slavery, until recently, was a normal part of life.  As far back as you go in time people accepted slavery.  They generally did not like it if they were the slaves although there were exceptions.  If you were the master it didn’t seem to be such a bad deal.  What has always amazed me is that warriors who were captured in battle would then submit to being slaves.  They would even become the bodyguards of the person who enslaved them.  There was a mind set that said, “I lost fair and square.  I deserve this.”  We don’t understand that because with the advent of Christianity it became necessary to look at your slave as your brother.

If we are going to look back on history and try to right all wrongs there will never be any peace in the world and civilization will come to an end.  I wonder if there is any self identifying group in the history of the world that could not find something to feel they needed to be reimbursed for.  Take the Irish.  They were pushed into Germany by some other group.  Then the Germans pushed them to France.  The Franks pushed them to Britain.  The Saxons and Norsemen pushed them to Ireland.  The English pushed them to the United States.  Here they were discriminated against by just about everyone.  Who are they going to get paid off by?  Everyone.  When?  Never.

So grow up and live your life.  Take responsibility and play the cards dealt you.  You can’t change the past but you can influence the future.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-054: Being Paranoid

The Nanny State is at work.  I don’t know if you pay any attention to the attempts to shut down Alex Jones and Infowars.  CNN and Google seem to be working to isolate him from his audience.  I am not a fan but he is a needed balance to the nonsense we get in the MSM.

The Nanny State includes all of the deep state people who are working for a World Government, with them in charge of course.  They are doing it for our own good.  Since the elites are, well, elite, they know what is best for us and are working hard to bring us into the promised land.  One of their greatest enemies is the First Amendment to the Constitution.  You have heard about it.  It is the part of our law that says we have the right to speak freely, worship how we want and hand around with whomever we want.

It also says that people can publish whatever they want.  Last time I looked it did not have a qualifier saying only people on the left could speak freely and everyone else needed to be censored.  The left does not seem to accept that.  Even Bloomberg, a source I would never consider conservative, get the point.

The problem is that Google and You Tube are setting themselves up as thought police and trying to filter the content you can reach.  They have always done this.  If you have ever Googled you find adds at the beginning of the list and even the ones who are not labeled as “ads” still paid something to be at the beginning of the queue.  That is business and free enterprise.  Now they are trying to keep political voices that they don’t like from expressing opinions that conflict with their own.

This is probably touching you but you are not aware of it.  A few years ago a site I had visited on occasion was forced off the internet.  I became aware of it because other sites were screaming about it.  It is still gone.  Yesterday I went to one of the political sites I frequent, The Daily Gouge, and was told that it was “temporarily unavailable”.  It told me that if I was the owner of the website to “log in” for additional information.  Did they forget to pay their annual fee for the site?  Did they ask out the boss’s daughter?  Did they say something that the Nanny State did not approve of?  I don’t know and may never know.  My fear is that I am seeing the opening moves of the Google censorship program.  (Now two days later it is back but the content is a week old.)

If my sites disappear or stop posting it could well be that I finally got old and died.  It could also be that the mysterious forces that have removed 1984 and Animal Farm from the schools has gotten around to me.

I should be so important, right?  What about you?

homo unius libri