Opus 2018-159: Baby Talk: Not What You Think

It occurred to me that some people might get the wrong idea about the title “Baby Talk”.  No, the title does not mean these posts have ideas on how to talk to Democrats.  It comes from all the ideas I get when I am talking to the baby.

I can see how someone might understand this as about talking to liberals though.  There are certain similarities.  Talking to a 10 week old infant can be pleasant when they are in a good mood.  They will respond with smiles and all kinds of fun noises.  It doesn’t mean they understand a word you are saying.  You can say the same words and make the same faces and it they are in the wrong mood it results in blank stares, grumpy faces, loud screams and if you time it right, gas.  This is, again, like talking to someone who voted for Hillary. 

Did you ever think that maybe the liberals are mad because they have poopy diapers?

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-158: Headlines: Deadly Desk Job

The recent shooting in Annapolis was a tragedy waiting to happen.  Hindsight is always better than the risk of a lawsuit but this guy had “trouble” written all over him.  You can read his long history of rejection and harassment but that is not what hit me as I was reading the reports.

I came across a jarring statement.  If you have never fired a shotgun it might not have stood out to you but it shows how ignorance can cost lives.  One if the reporters wrote this,

'There is nothing more terrifying than hearing multiple people get shot while you're under your desk and then hear the gunman reload.'

The key point is this, the killer had to stop and reload.  That is a process that can be slow and difficult in a shotgun.  Most shotguns carry three or five rounds and after that you need to force the new shells through a hole on the side.  It does not always go well.  Perhaps this guy had his shotgun well broken in and it went like clock-work.  The key is that at that moment the people hiding under the desks waiting for the police to arrive had a chance to deal with the problem.  They didn’t.  They stayed in hiding hoping that the next person shot would not be them.

Think back to the guy who shot up the Wafflehouse.  He was taken down by an unarmed man who went for him while he was reloading.  Lives were saved by someone with a little bit of courage.  Okay, someone with a lot of courage.  He did not huddle down while the killer prepared for the next round of mayhem.  This could probably be said of most mass shootings.

By all reports the police were on this very quickly.  They did their job and I have read no reports of them hiding behind their cars while the shooting continued like happened in Florida.  It still wasn’t fast enough to save any lives.  I don’t want to be too harsh on the guys under their desks.  Who knows.  I might have been one of them.  What we need to learn is that it is not always the safest place to be when a killer is intent of killing.

I hope I never need to demonstrate the courage needed in this event but I hope the lesson comes home if I ever face such a threat.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-157: Baby Talk: Geek Diapers

High tech has come to diapers.  I am getting used to it.

My children were raised old school.  Throw away diapers were available and you could also sign up for a diaper service.  We went with traditional cloth diapers except when we were traveling.  We may have been old fashioned, but we were not stupid.

Cloth diapers have the advantage that you can reuse them.  For the neophytes out there you had to wash them between uses.  They were all natural and if you did your job as a parent, safe on baby’s bottom.  They were also great for playing games with.  I don’t know how many sessions of hide and seek I played.  If you did it right they would also protect you from having your son squirt you in the eye.

Diaper pins were a challenge but gave you a sense of pride when you learned how to do them.  You also had to learn to fold the diapers correctly.

All of that is passe with today’s babies.  They come pre-folded.  It is more challenging to get them spread out than it was to fold the clothe ones, but it can be learned.  They come in an endless supply.  You buy them by the carload at Costco and throw them away after one use.  They have some kind of sticky tabs instead of pins.  It isn’t velcro but it works well. 

None of that is really the high tech.  What they have is a strip that turns blue.  On the diapers we were using there was a vertical yellow strip down the middle.  As long as it was yellow, life was good for you and the baby.  When it turned blue, you knew you had a problem.  Actually it was the baby that had a problem but when baby ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.  It saves you from the process of sticking a finger down the diaper to find out if it is wet. 

It also doesn’t tell you if you are dealing with a number one or a number two.  It is like playing baby roulette.  You never know what you have until you open the package.  In the two weeks my granddaughter was here I changed my share of diapers but we had an understanding, or at least I did.  If it came out a number two I would pass the child on.  I must live right because I never had that kind of surprise.

Welcome to the 21st century.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-156: Headlines: Misplaced Euphoria

I would not get too excited about Justice Kennedy stepping down. 

Everywhere I see that the left is going into the Blue Screen of Death mode and the right is giggling themselves silly.  They assume that President Trump will nominate a judge who believes in the Constitution and will interpret it instead of advancing their own personal opinions.  I believe he will try.  I believe the judge nominated will meet those requirements.  I don’t believe that it means a lock on the future.

I don’t want to rain on our parade.  I have high hopes.  I am expecting a sterling selection.  Then we have to get it past the Flake on the Judicial committee and the McCain on the floor.  Both are big challenges.  We can deal with the Democrats.  What we have trouble with are the RINOs.

Take Chief Justice Roberts as an example.  He met all the criteria when he was selected.  We were overjoyed.  We felt we were holding our own.  Then he stabbed us in the back on Obamacare.  How many other justices have been nominated because they believed in the Constitution but the kool aid they serve in the Supreme Court lunchroom started to do its work?  I could see Roberts stepping into Kennedy’s slot as ego building swing vote.

So don’t stop praying for a Justice to reign up.  Don’t stop being salt and light.  Don’t stop agitating and demanding either, if that is your strong point.  Keep in mind that a faithful remnant can keep God from giving up on the United States.  If not, we face the Sodom Solution.

And as several bloggers say, “Pass the popcorn.”

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-155: Baby Talk: Babies from YHWH to Moloch

I was holding my sleeping granddaughter and admiring the smooth flow of her cheek.  She is one cute kid.  Then my eye drifted up a few inches and I saw the arm of an old man with old man skin, sagging muscles and grey hair.  What a contrast.

Think about it.  Someone was once holding me and seeing the same contrast.  She will hold a baby some day and possibly notice the same thing.

We think human beings have so much in common.  And we should but there are people and possibly entire cultures that don’t look at it that way.  The Romans saw no problem with taking a child that did not fit into their plans and leaving it exposed on the Forum tiles to die or be picked up by someone looking to raise inexpensive slaves.  The religion of Canaan when Israel entered the land practiced throwing their first born into a blazing furnace to satisfy their gods.  Modern liberals have no problem with late term abortions where the baby is born alive by some miscalculation of the “doctor” then allowing the baby to die from lack of attention.

I rejoice that I follow a God who became human in the form of a baby born without a silver spoon in His mouth.  I rejoice in the knowledge that even this little child was conceived in the image of God.

Suddenly it is time to change a diaper.  Daily life interrupts the philosophical muse.  Let’s hope it is a number one and not a number two.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-154: Election 2018: Enforce the Rule of Law

The left is doing everything is can to incite violence.  They keep pushing the envelope.  The past few weeks have seen a rash of abuse on Republicans as they go about their daily lives.  Maxine Waters has openly called for violence.  It is building and there is a temptation we face as conservatives.

We have this feeling that we are the problem and if we will just give them what they want they will go away. 

It doesn’t work that way.  They are demonstrating the classic bullying behavior that keeps thugs in control of neighborhoods.  It is the standard form of negotiating from the progressives.  They demand half of your loaf.  You give it to them and hope for peace.  They realize you are not going to resist so they again demand half of what is left.  You think that will do the trick so you give it to them.  Then they want more.  It goes on until one of two things happen, either you punch the bully in the nose or you are destroyed.  It is part of the bully code.

So the right will have to stand up to the bullies sometime.  They are going to keep pushing until we respond vigorously.  This week Paul Ryan gave the Department of Justice a deadline.  When they did not meet it he blinked and extended the deadline.  It is time to lower the hammer while it can still be done without violence.  The conservatives need to start using the courts and due process to bring the bullies into line.  We need to put the fear of the rule of law in their hearts.  We need to write it loud and long.  We need to not give up until they turn and run and then we need to make sure that they did not hide anything we missed.

The way we can guarantee violence is to keep giving in until we either have no other option or we lose our collective minds.  When you have crowds spitting on government officials have them arrested and file charges.  Such behavior is not allowed.  When a loud group surrounds a conservative as they are trying to watch a movie, call the police, file a complaint and make them hire the lawyers.  When a judge lets his personal prejudice overrule the law, impeach.

And vote the suckers out.  If it is Republicans who want to play nice, let them look for other jobs.

homo unius libri

Opus 2018-153: Baby Talk: Cute

Why do people think babies are so cute?  They don’t have to take them home.

Babies are like those guys demonstrating the cleaning products at the county fair.  It works great and looks easy.  It isn’t.

If you want to know what a baby is like read “Doctor Jeckle and Mr. Hyde.”  That might be a little extreme since the baby can’t roam the streets broadcasting evil but there are parallels.

On the one side you have the public face, the advertizing baby.  When my granddaughter is in that mode she is the cutest, sweetest thing you ever did see.  Big smiles and attempts to share baby wisdom get even mature adults smiling and talking back as if the infant could really understand.  The scrawny neck is stretched out and the head is turning around with wide eyes and chubby cheeks.  It is like a magnet in the sand drawing iron hearts her way.

This bundle of joy can quickly transition into that old cranky boss you once worked for.  The head is hunched down in the shoulders.  If you are lucky, she is asleep but usually you are not lucky.  Either way she looks like Winston Churchill on a bad day.  This is the time when grandparents usually hand them back to daughters and grandfathers go looking for grandmothers.

Watch the crowd dynamic sometime.  If the baby is exhibit A people are drawn in.  If she is exhibit B they are all finding somewhere else to be.  May you never be trapped on an airplane behind, in front of, or beside an exhibit B.

homo unius libri