Opus 2015-53: Headlines: Why Don’t Moderate Muslims Speak Out?

Let’s assume there are moderate Muslims.

Let’s assume they do not approve of the violence perpetrated in the name of Mohammad.

Why don’t they speak out.

For an explanation go to the Website for Fox5NY and read about the blogger who was hacked to death in India for speaking out against the violence.

You will find a similar story on Powerline.

The man was hacked to death for daring to speak of tolerance and freedoms that we take for granted.  His wife almost died in the same encounter.  He was not a Muslim.  He was not in a Muslim controlled country.  He was in India that is predominantly Hindu with a large group minority of Muslims and Sikhs, and a few Christians. 

It was the Muslims who sought him out and executed him.

And you expect someone to speak out against the violence in a country run by the violent?  Do you still leave things under your pillow for the tooth fairy?

They are quiet because they know what a “religion of peace” Islam really looks like.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-52: Bumper Sticker: Einstein Strikes Again

I noticed a bumper sticker in a parking lot recently.  It said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge” and was attributed to Albert Einstein.  This is an example of why you should not listen to a mathematician for advice about life.

I have a pretty good imagination.  I need it to go into the class every day thinking that I can make a difference.  The problem is that my imagination keeps running into reality.  Remember when you were a kid?  Remember all the dreams you had?  I remember all the times I sank the winning basket from half court as the buzzer went off.  I remember the pass I intercepted and returned for a winning touchdown in the last play of the Super Bowl.  I remember I actually got a date.

Not really.

I could certainly imagine it.  I just could not make it happen.

We are developing a culture that is forgetting the value of hard work and perseverance.  You can just go so far with natural gifts.  You may go further than I will but you will never go as far as you think.  A computer programer wannabe may have a great imagination but it he does not have the knowledge to write it down he is destined to flip burgers and play games that other people developed. 

The person who knows where the treasure was buried is better off than the one who imagines the treasure.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-51: Election 2016: A Primary Change

I continue to think about how I always end up getting a “hold your nose” candidate for president on the Republican ticket.

It is going to happen again.  I have not been able to examine and compare at this point but we have Scott, Rick and Rick, Carson, Carly, Ted, and Bobby.  And those are just the ones I recognize. 

The Democrats have two crazy women and a foot-in-the-mouth man. 

They may win again by divide and conquer. 

Maybe we could change the primary system to demand a majority to get the delegates from a state.  That would require run offs but could be done.  We could have the initial primary on one day and the next Tuesday have a run off of the top two candidates.  Do you really believe we would have ended up with the same people the last three times if that had happened?

Maybe that is the reason it is an empty wish.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-50: School Lunch Suggestion

I have a suggestion about school lunches for Michelle Obama

I have been watching and I notice middle school students seem to thrive on a strange diet.

Gum is a constant.  Candy substitutes at times.  Those are just common sense and easy to see.  The hidden ingredient in the middle school diet is staples.  Yes, those kind of staples.  They pull them out of the wall and put them in their mouths.  They ask to borrow the stapler, start discharging staples into their hand and begin to eat them.

Strange but we are talking about middle school children.

So I would suggest that the campaign emphasize a portion of staples in every meal. 

You are welcome.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-49: Election 2016: Pick a Card, Any Card

I am afraid that people who want less government and more liberty are going to shoot themselves in the foot again.

We have a plethora of great, conservative candidates lining up to take a shot at being the Republican nominee for president.  We had a similar rich pool four years ago.  Instead of getting one of them, we got Mitt Romney.  He is a good man and would have made a better president than the current disaster, but he was not a conservative.  He began to win because he had the moderate money behind him and we split the conservative vote.  He continued to win with pluralities.  In the general election millions stayed home because they didn’t like the choices and were tired of needing to hold their nose when voting.

The conservatives need to agree on one person and back him.  I would suggest that everyone who is running as a conservative meet at the same restaurant, go into the banquet room and not come out until they agreed on who would go for it.  Better yet, meet at a place that has no food available and stay in the room until they can agree.

That would give us a genuine choice in 2016.  It would also give the country a real choice.  We would find out if conservatives can get elected or not.  Remember that Reagan was a conservative.  George W. Bush ran as a conservative.  They won.  Dole, McCain and Romney were moderates and proud of it. 

They lost.

The country lost.

Rent a room, people.

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-48: Ode to Old: Visions of Headstones Dancing in My Head?

As I get older I feel my aches and pains more.  I move slower but am blessed to be moving well for my age.  Since we live in a youth culture it is easy to begin feeling like there is little left for you to do in life except collect Social Security and run up hospital bills.  I thought the following was interesting as I was reading recently.

“For many years we seemed to be beating the air here; but a few months since, God so blessed the preaching of poor John Bredin, just tottering over the grave, that we have now a lively society, swiftly increasing both in grace and number.”  p. 368, Thursday, April 19, 1787

I am not quite “tottering over the grave,” in spite of what some of my students may think, but I can see the headstone in the distance.  Of course, with my vision, it may only be a USP truck.

It is good to know that in the year that the Constitution of the United States was written an old man was fanning the flames of revival in England.

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

homo unius libri

Opus 2015-47: A Beautiful Blessing, Not Lightening

It has come to my attention that I have been misspelling the President’s name.

I have been using Barak and it seems to be Barack.

Apologies are in order.  It would seem that Barak comes from the Hebrew and means “lightening.”  Barack is listed as being African and means “blessed.”  Personally I find that strange since, according to Nations Online, there are between 1500 and 2000 languages in Africa.  All of them have the same meaning?  Other sites attribute it to Arabic in which it also means blessed. 

Since our president seems to be doing everything he can to destroy Israel it would seem out of line to lay the Hebrew spelling on him.

Hussein, his middle name is listed as a baby boy name meaning “beautiful.”  It is also identified as being of Arabic origin.

I regret the error. 

homo unius libri