Opus 2014-75: The Malaysian Red Herring

Where is the airplane?

I don’t know.  In the course of history it is not a major issue.  It isn’t even the key concern of our world, or it should not be.  Let the agencies do their job.  There is a more important thing we keep forgetting in the rush for ratings and sound bites.

The purpose of terrorism is not to eliminate an airplane but to paralyze a culture.

If some emotionally stunted group of fanatical haters announce that they are going to blow up a plane somewhere in the world on December 1 and I am flying on December 1 I need to get on the airplane and go.  If I don’t, they win.  I don’t want them to win because they will run the world based on their current arbitrary hate.  All of their targets will eventually include me because I am a Christian and because I believe in liberty. 

911 was not primarily a tragedy of death and destruction.  It was a declaration of war.  It was not war against a country but against an idea.

Yes, it was devastating to the families of the murdered.  Yes, billions of dollars of damage was done.  Step back and get a perspective.  In the Civil War at the Battle of Anteitem, 30,000 casualties were chalked up.  It was only one battle in a long war.  We lose more people to drunk drivers, and now pot heads, than we lost in the twin towers.  We don’t have checkpoints at every freeway entrance because us it.  We don’t outlaw wine or close all the bars in the country.  We get on with life.

Don’t let the Muslim crazies win with terror.  If you are a Christian remember the words of Paul.

(Php 1:21-3 KJV)  For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.  But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not.  For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:

Death is not as scary as disobedience.

Not a Christian?  Then take words often attributed to Emilio Zapata.  One translation would be,

“I would rather die on my feet than live on my knees.”

Don’t give in to terror.  Don’t let the government take your freedom in the name of security.  That way the crazies win.

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-74: Boom Goes the Earth

I think earthquakes are a hoot.

I must confess that I have never been hurt by one and never lost a loved one.  I have never had financial loss or seen ugliness.  I have seen panic and reactions that are a bit extreme.

Last night I got another ride.  I was sitting, minding my own business when there was a rumbling, a boom and the chair I was in started rocking.  The lights flickered off and back on.  I remember worrying about my drink spilling as the soda sloshed.  As the rocking diminished, I stood up and started toward a doorway.  The floor was still moving. 

Then all too soon it was over.  I looked outside.  The street lights still seemed to be working.  The world had not stopped.  We talked about it a few minutes and went back to what we were doing. 

You can have your blizzards, tornadoes, floods and tidal waves.  I will miss the earthquakes when I am finally able to get out of California.

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-73: Intelligence vs Wisdom

Are you impressed that the president is associated with Occidental, Columbia and Harvard?  Are you willing to fly in the face of all evidence and accept the label of “very intelligent” that the media have bestowed on him?  Then you need to think about this statement by Thomas Sowell:

“Intellect is not wisdom.”

He was not writing about Barak Obama.  He was writing about the elite class that feels they have the duty to bleed off our liberty and make decisions for us.  They are the intellectuals (aka liberals, Democrats, Rino’s, socialists, communists and Progressives) that want to move us to a nanny state.  Of course it will be for our own good.

Sowell is reminding us that just because someone is smart does not mean they have the breadth of experience and moral foundation to make good decisions.  If you are the parent of bright children you know this.  If you are the child of someone with great artistic gifts you may have seen it in action.  The problem is that we forget it in everyday activity.  Although wisdom usually comes with age, grey hair is no guarantee.

Let me give an example.  Recently the People’s Republik of Kalifornia has passed a law that is usually referred to as the Transgender Bathroom Law.  It is much bigger than that, but titles need to be catchy.  It says that students have the right to declare whether they are male or female and they cannot be denied access to facilities that suit their sexual orientation.  When I am screaming about this to the other teachers, they look at me like deer in the headlights and ask, “What child would want to declare themselves something they are not?”  It came up in my eight grade class and all the guys start cheering because they realize it means they can go into the girls locker room and get an eye full.  In this case thirteen year old boys have more wisdom than a legislature full of “adults” and a governor in his seventies. 

Intellectuals.  You can’t live with them and they won’t don’t think you can live without them. 

(Thomas Sowell is one of my favorite non-fiction writers.  I have more books by Sowell than any other living writer.  He has a new book out about intellectuals that I have been too cheap to buy so I went to the library and checked out one of his older works, Intellectuals and Society.  I quickly found that I wanted it for myself so I went to Amazon and found he had revised it.  I bought the Kindle version.  This post will reference pages in the printed version.  Some later post will switch to Kindle references.

Sowell, Thomas.  Intellectuals and Society.  New York:  Basic Books, 2009, p. 1.

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-72: Toilet Seat Covers

Toilet seat covers are a comment on our modern culture.

Have you noticed that they automatically rip in all the wrong places and resist where they are designed to give way?  The paper in those little connectors seems to be stronger than the entire width of the pattern.  It gets very frustrating.

You would think that a civilization that could walk on the moon could design a toilet seat cover that works.

You say we aren’t walking on the moon any more?

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-71: Wide but Not Deep

Have you ever felt out of the mainstream?  At this point in my life I am used to it.  I can find someone who agrees with me on almost any topic but few who agree with me on many.  John Wesley saw this.

“The stream here spread wide but is not deep.   Many are drawn, but none converted, or even awakened.  Such is the general method of God’s providence:  Where all approve, few profit.”

Wesley is saying, “Get used to it.”  Most people are sheep.  They don’t think, they follow.  Often what seems to be individualism is just an oblivious animal who wandered away from the heard by accident.

The best way to find out the wrong way is a public poll.  The kids at school wanted to talk about the crisis in Ukraine.  They were all excited and had their own opinions.  They wanted to express their opinions.  I pulled down the map and asked anyone to show me where Ukraine was located.  No one could even come close.  If you don’t know where it is, how can you understand what is happening?

Most people don’t know enough to express an opinion.  If they have one is was discovered on twitter and the opinion runs out when the 140 characters is reached. 

Are you out of the mainstream?  Then unjoin the crowd. 

Wesley, John.  The Works of John Wesley, Volume III, Third Edition.  Kansas
          City:  Beacon Hill  Press of Kansas City, 1979, p. 485.

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-70: Simple Truth

Alistair Begg was talking about fools.  He said being a fool is not an intellectual issue but a moral issue.  I like the way he puts it.  I have always said being a fool is not acknowledging God.  Consider the words of Solomon.

(Pro 9:10 KJV)  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.

Real wisdom is rooted in a knowledge of God but this points out why our culture has such trouble with real wisdom.  They reject God because God demands moral behavior.  They are not stupid, just sinful.

What is wrong with our culture?  Why don’t our schools work?  Why is there so much hatred?  Why do people drive the way the do?

It isn’t lack of education or poverty.  It is not a lack of government leadership.  It isn’t the wrong political party in control.

It is sin.

homo unius libri

Opus 2014-69: I Am Safe to Fly

I am now officially not a terrorist. 

We flew to Texas over the spring break at my school.  As I was hurryng to get in line for my confrontation with the TSA I noticed a sign that said “Pre Screened” or something like that.  I had heard about this but had never bothered to file the papers to qualify.  When I was starting through the line I was waved to a different line.  This is the second time it has happened.  In the new line I did not need to take off my shoes or belt.  I left my computer in the case.  I walked through the old-fashioned metal detectors.  It was like turning the clock back 20 years. 

I thought it was because they felt I was too old and feeble to be a terrorist.  When I looked at my boarding pass later I saw two words I had not noticed before.  The magic words were “TSA Pre.”  Evidently some nanny state guru has decided that I am not a threat.

I am not sure whether I should feel vindicated or insulted.  I can be sure that I am better than you though. 

I think it is a temporary pull back by the oppressors.  The water has been getting hot too fast.  People have been waking up to creeping tyranny.  They will pull back a little, let things cool down and then ratchet it up again.

It is scary to think we have the government we deserve.  It is comforting to realize that I am not represented at any level by anyone I have voted for.

homo unius libri