Opus 2021-307: Monday Pulpit: Trembling Fear

The pastor had just come back from vacation and did not appear to me to have had time to prepare what he was going to share.  I tend to get hyper-critical so it may have just been me, but it seemed like he was flying by the seat of his pants and they were the wrong pants for the passage he was looking at.

For some reason he got off on fear.  He said that if God is using you then nothing can touch you.  His point was that God can, and will, protect us in order to see His will done.  My issue was not with his basic statement.  It is true.  We can trust in His providence.

My problem is that we don’t live like it.  I looked around and everyone was nodding their head and a few were saying, “Amen.”  I asked myself, “Is this the same group that was wearing masks, sitting six feet apart, afraid to hug and refusing to shake hands?”  The answer was, “Yes.”  If that is the case we have a bit of dissonance.  I don’t know if it is cognitive dissonance but it is definitely dissonance.  

I find people who talk big about faith and trusting God getting all tense when they have a runny nose or cough more than once.  They get that wild eyed look and ask, “Is it the COVID?”  The brainwashing of the media, CDC and medical profession has taken hold even in people who know better.

Don’t get me wrong.  I wash may hands and have plenty of Lipton Noodle Soup on the shelf.  I also believe in having food stocked up and that you can never have too much ammunition.  I have no problem with being prepared and taking precautions.  The conflict is when we are afraid to be with friends and family or we get all tense about going out of the house.  We should remember that as the holidays approach.

If God wants us alive and frisky then we will stay alive and frisky.  If He has decided it is time for us to move on to eternity then no amount of social distancing or chemicals injected in our veins will make any difference.

Walk in faith, not in fear.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-306: Firsts: Pork Bellies

I have always heard of pork bellies in reference to investing in futures.  I was only half way convinced that there was such a thing.  I put it in the category of headlight fluid and left handed monkey wrenches.  It turns out that there is such a thing and I approve.

A friend of my son is into smoking and such.  He has one of those Big Green Eggs or whatever they are called.  For him it is a master at work.  He knows that I like my meat on the level of jerky so he set out to work some magic on pork bellies.  He brought them to perfection.  They are hard enough to bounce and the centers are still moist.  The fact that everyone else in the world would think they were beyond redemption does not matter.  Noone said you had to eat them.

I am almost ready to invest in pork belly futures.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-305: Headlines: More than a Picasso

I keep seeing the headline that Hunter Biden’s paintings sell for more than some works of Picasso.  My basic response is, “So what?”  I do think that there should be some investigation about laundering bribes but other than that, who cares.  Everywhere I look I see people wasting money.  Some are so well supplied that they are still able to pay the mortgage.  Others run into a wall.  That is because of their choices.  I still wonder if a Rolex is supposed to make the day shorter or longer.  There must be some reason for the cost.

Keep in mind that I am not an art critic.  Well, I am, but not in a formal sense.  I have always wondered why Picasso’s work was supposed to be so marvelous.  I wonder that about a lot of famous artists and writers.  I think it is an in-joke where the elites are trying to lord it over their subjects by their superior taste in all things.  It reminds me of a joke we used to tell about a polar bear on a chunk of ice yelling, “Radio.”  The point of the “joke” was that there was no point and you kept track of who laughed like it was funny.

I must also confess I have not spent a lot of time looking at the works of Hunter Biden.  Nor have I carefully studied the works of Picasso.  My taste runs more to Remington.  I do have a link to a site that has Monet’s works and find him interesting but I have better things to do with my time.  Neither man’s work rates a second look in my opinion.

Some would say the same about my opinions.  I would be glad to give you one for $100,000.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-304: Celebrate Real Diversity

We will never know how many lives have been trashed because educators have convinced everyone that they need to go to college.

I wonder how many men are sitting on welfare or working dead end jobs because they were convinced that they had no worth if they did not have at least a BA.  I don’t know if it applies to women the same way.  Women may have been robbed of joy by being told they needed a career instead of children.

There are people who get joy out of the work of their hands.  I think of one man I know who sneaks off to the garage to work on mechanical things every chance he gets.  He has some college, I keep forgetting how much.  He is intelligent and well informed on the issues of the day.  He goes into almost depression when forced to work in an office.  He is a hands guy.

There are those of us who get no joy from such.  I am not good with my hands.  No matter how hard I tried when I was working construction, I could not cut a board straight and the length came out wrong.  It wasn’t a refusal to measure twice and cut once.  It was a matter of measuring numerous times and still cutting wrong.  I am not sure if I am not good with my hands because I don’t like that kind of work or I don’t like that kind of work because I am not good with my hands.

I can get things done.  I have crawled through the attic to install support for a new ceiling fan to replace the light fixture.  I have removed a pocked door and installed a frame and swinging door.  I have rewired lamps.  I have repaired busted copper pipes.  I could make a list but it would prove nothing.  It takes me much longer than any body I know, numerous trips to the hardware store and no satisfaction at the end.

Think about differences.  Have you ever met someone who loves working outside in the heat?  To me they are crazy and they return the sentiment.  They can’t understand the appeal of getting something done at a desk.

We need to move our thinking back to the original concept of America that all men are created equal.  That means that the farmer is just as noble as the lawyer, the carpenter is just as important as the clergyman.  The nobility is in the work, not the degree on the wall.  Encourage your descendants to pursue the trades and crafts if that is their joy.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-303: Book Review: The Communist Manifesto, part 9 of 9: You Are on the Radar

Most beneficiaries of Western culture are in the Live-and-Let-Live camp.  Western Europe seems to grasp the idea of some form of the things that come under the pursuit of happiness.  Up until recently the United States was peopled by groups that expected to live their lives the way they wanted and were willing to allow others to be strange.  It was a two way street.  That is changing.

The group that I call the Proregressives* are taking over and they have no intention of leaving you alone.  They have come for your children.  They are working on your property.  They want to close down your churches.  They want you to line up and follow orders.  It is for you own good.  They are committed to this and are not worried about the label as long as they win.

“The immediate aim of the Communist is the same as that of all the other proletarian parties: formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat.”  Kindle Location 230-231

For the past 200 years people from all over the world have flocked to the United States to get away from these groups that wanted to run their lives.  They embraced the American dream and became Americans.  That is why we see a concerted effort to do away with national boundaries.  You may have heard of the New Word Order under the United Nations.  If you are a Christian you are aware of the prophecies that predict such a thing.  The Communists should consider themselves an instrument of fulfilled prophecy.

“The Communists are further reproached with desiring to abolish countries and nationality.”  Kindle Location 319-320

The wording should be interpreted as guilty as charged.  One reason that Stalin and Hitler had issues was because Germany had a vision of National Socialism (Nazi) and the Soviet Union was looking at International Socialism.  Countries have to go.  The United States must join the New World Order.  The Constitution must become just an meaningless piece of paper.

Marx was not shy about declaring his goal.  This kind of thing mystifies me.  We have a long line of tyrants who want to subject the world to their will.  They broadcast their goals.  Americans keep saying, “But they don’t really mean it.”

“The Communists disdain to conceal their views and aims. They openly declare that their ends can be attained only by the forcible overthrow of all existing social conditions. Let the ruling classes tremble at a Communistic revolution. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains.”  Kindle Location 558-560

Believe me, they mean it.  That is why American Cities like Portland have been decimated while the ruling class sits in their gated communities with private security.  They mean it.  If we don’t wake up and stop it they will be coming for you.  I urge people to read certain books.  One of the is the Communist Manifesto.  It is short and well written.  If you don’t believe me then maybe you will believe Karl Marx.

Marx, Karl.  The Communist Manifesto, 1848, Project Gutenberg download

*(Liberals, educators, the media, socialists, communists, crony capitalists, elites, Rinos, Democrats, leftists, Never Trumpers, Antifa, BLM, MSM, Deep State, etc.  Synonym for swamp dwellers)

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-302: Headlines: Alec’s Law

I read the headline and several articles about Alec Baldwin killing a woman behind the camera in his latest movie “shoot”.  I did not read it with shock or surprise.  Things happen in life that we wish didn’t.  I am sure he feels the same way.  As many people on the right have said, I have no use for Alec Baldwin but I would not wish this on even him.  Too bad our “friends” on the left don’t have the basic humanity to extend the same compassion to us.

What I did find interesting was that he was not arrested and no charges had been filed.  That may have changed by the time this is posted.  That is what we call “elite” privilege.  He still walks free without posting bail because he is a liberal celebrity.  Based on what I have read so far, I would say this is the right call.  That is the way it should be.  

Too bad it isn’t.  In the classes I have taken dealing with firearms I have been told that if I ever have the unfortunate experience of shooting someone, I should assume that I will be arrested and need to spend $5,000 to $10,000 getting myself out, even if it is a clear case of self defense against a violent ax killer.  That is the way the law works, or so I have been told.  Evidently when it is a left-wing celebrity law enforcement can act rational.

I am not calling for Alec Baldwin to be arrested.  It sounds like the kind of an event that would can expect on a movie set that needs pictures of someone shooting a gun at the camera.  It was negligence but life, and death, happens.  I am calling for the rational understanding of the law apply equally to those of us who are part of the unwashed masses.  That is the point of the rule of law.

Maybe something good can come out of this tragedy.  Again I would advise you, don’t hold your breath.

homo unius libri

Opus 2021-301: New Terms: Reality

At our bi-weekly Baby Zoomer meeting I have been hearing repeated references to something that I think is called “The Amazing Race”.  I finally had to stop and ask, “What is ‘The Amazing Race’?”  The simple answer is, another reality show.  I suggested that they needed to get library cards.  They didn’t get huffy but they came close.  Several showed me their library cards.  Of course they also admitted that they had not used them in a long time.  To give you an idea of how long, one guy talked about handing his books to the librarian at check out.  If you don’t know how old school that is then you need to update your card and get out a little more.

But I digress.

What gets me is that we have labeled these things “Reality” Shows.  Where is the reality?  I broke down and watched the trailer I found on You Tube for this show.  It looked like a remake of Around the World in 80 Days.  I liked the short shot of a guy racing down a river with a camera man taking a close up.  It takes a lot of reshooting to make a staged moment look like reality.  I guess they do a good job.

How do you film spontaneous moments in a mad race?  The only clue I could find without actually watching the show is that it is broken down in segments.  I suppose that is so they can post thousands of cameras along the possible route to catch millions of shots to chose from.  If they were making a reality show out of the Indianapolis 500 they would probably keep restaging the crashes until they got the lighting right.  I get the feeling that these shows are as spontaneous as an Obama speech.

I have three library cards.  I have to renew them every year.  At one library all you do is have the computer scan your card, lay your books on the tray and decide it you want a receipt.  The librarians are hiding behind plexiglass, wearing masks and looking at you with fear in their eyes because you might ask a question on your way out.  Or maybe you might read a book that makes you think.

That is my reality show.

homo unius libri