Poor Rip Van Winkle!

 

 

Sometimes I think that I relate the most to the legendary character Rip Van Winkle who fell into a magically tinged drunken stupor to awaken 20 years later in a completely different world.  When I read news and current events articles, or watch TV I really feel like a man who has been comatose for half a lifetime.  I truly don’t recognize the world around me anymore.

The truly amazing thing about the self-proclaimed “progressive” is that just when you think that they can’t get any more bizarre, they do something so bizarre that it boggles your mind!  I mean, it just doesn’t matter how insanely stupid their last lunacy was – somebody in that movement will figure out a way to go even crazier.  I keep seeing the little squirrel yelling. “It’s not a competition! We’re all crazy!”  Out there on the left – and it isn’t even very far left anymore – it really does seem to be a competition to see who can come up with the craziest position, idea, or thing to be offended by.  Really hard to believe – it seems like when I feel asleep people tried very hard not to appear overtly stupid or crazy in public, and now they freaking parade their stupidity and insanity proudly in public!

Poor Rip Van Winkle!  When he drank the magic moonshine people would go to great lengths to keep their perversions and rampant insanities secret.  He wakes up in a world where perversions and grotesque examples of insanity parade publicly, and where politics and popular culture celebrate and reward it.  When he fell asleep that afternoon in the Catskills, no middle – aged man would ever parade around wearing a baby doll dress, pretending to be a woman.  He wakes up in a world where one has been elevated to be the assistant Secretary of the US Department of Health, and advocates in a Senate hearing for allowing 5-year-old children to choose their own gender!

Poor Rip Van Winkle!  When he fell asleep, his country had struggled mightily to give girls and women full access to all aspects of economic and social life.  In those long-ago days before his stupor, public schools and colleges had been encouraged – some even said that they were forced – to develop all girls teams in almost all sports to give young women full access to athletic self – expression.  In the bizarre world that he finds on awakening, the federal government has “decreed” that males “who identify as women” can compete in women’s sports.

Poor Rip Van Winkle!  He is baffled to learn that the great children’s books written by Dr. Seuss have been banned RVP thinks of the generations of children who learned good life lessons from odd looking, rhyming characters.  Rip is lost, adrift in a world that seems to be careening at breakneck speed toward a collision of catastrophic proportions.  He thinks that if there were some sort of stated goals or sense of direction and purpose, he might not feel as lost.  He remembers that there seemed to be purpose and direction in the world he knew – expanding opportunities in our society – but, all that he sees here is a society careening out of control, running Pell Mell into ever more societal disarray.

Poor Rip Van Winkle!  As if the assault on Dr Seuss was not enough, the baffled time traveler stumbled across a headline in today’s news stating that the old cartoon character Pepe Le Pew, the incurably romantic French skunk “perpetuated rape culture.”  Poor old Rip!  Nothing, it seems is sacred from the attacks of the totally deranged “progressive” assault on normal American society. Rip remembers watching the old cartoons and thinking that he didn’t want to be like Pepe.  He didn’t want to smell bad and chase the girls away.  He also remembers that by the time he knew what rape was, he had forgotten all about Pepe le Pew.

Poor Rip Van Winkle!  He is wishing that there could be some reason returned to the world that is careening rapidly into chaos..

The Folks Who Make ItHappen

We have a tendency, as a society, to overlook the “little guy”, the laborer, the stock clerk, the janitor.  It’s easy to think that the pro-athlete, the celebrity, the elected official, or the rich guy somehow has more value than the logger, the hard rock miner, or the truck driver.  We fawn all over any pronouncement that the movie star utters, but won’t ask the garbage man for his opinion.  Bill Gates, of Microsoft fame, says incredibly stupid things, and they are repeated as Gospel across the news and social media.  Just because he is the richest man in America doesn’t make Mr. Gates an expert on the China flu, vaccines, or world population.  We assign celebrities unmerited expertise at our own peril.

We’ve heard so much about those “essential” workers during this China flu fiasco.  We paid lip service to those laborers whose labor was necessary for our people to have food, clothing, and shelter throughout it all.  I say lip service because none of these folks got pay raises, none of them were first in line to get “help” from the government, and nobody offered the stock clerks or the hard rock miners first refusal on the vaccine.  And as the economy tries to shake off the asinine government restrictions, our appreciation for those essential workers seems to be diminishing, as once again, they fade into the background of our community life.

Sometimes, we can get so wrapped up in this “class” identity stuff that we forget who we are and from whence we came. It is easy to come into a rural area like our Redbank Valley, late in the first quarter of the 21st century and take for granted the roads, railroads, schools, churches, the neat and ordered villages, boroughs, and cities and forget that it wasn’t always this way.  Go 3 or 4 miles back off the hard roads and remind yourself of who we are and from whence we came.

Go back in the wilds where the 2nd and 3rd growth hardwood forests are reclaiming the land one more time.  Go back off the hard roads to where the hills tumble down from the sky to the shadowed, bounding brooks; to where Time has no meaning, except in the changing of the seasons.  Get back to where the rocks and the slopes guard the potential riches of the land, to where all that you can hear is the wind in the trees and the high, far away, scream of a hawk.  Go back off the hard roads and remind yourselves what our ancestors found when they first came into this land – a rich land that would only yield its riches to men who were harder than the land itself.

When our people first came into this country, they had to wrest their very existence from the steep, wooded, rocky land. They didn’t negotiate, litigate or debate with the land.  They cut the trees, they hammered the rocks, they pushed off the hillsides to plant gardens and crops.  They delved into the hills to dig the coal, the sand and the clay.  They dammed the rivers so they could float their wares to market.  They leveled the land for roads and railroads. There was nothing here – they built it all from nothing, wresting all that we have today from a hard, unyielding land.

Song writer Arlo Guthrie came close to describing the working folks in the Redbank Valley in his song “City of New Orleans” – “And the sons of pullman porters, And the sons of engineers, Ride their father's magic carpets made of steel”.  We may be more the grandsons and great grandsons of the loggers, the miners, the farmers, and the rivermen, but our people built this land and we should not let them be forgotten.

We should not forget the laborers, the working men and women, the waitresses, the truckdrivers, the loggers, the miners, nor any of the people who keep the lights on, keep the roads repaired, stock the shelves, and do all of the other little things that ensure our modern way of life.  Rush Limbaugh called these folks, “the people who make America work” and theses are the important people in our society.  These are the people, “the sons of pullman porters and the sons of engineers” who carry on the strength and vision of the settler people who conquered the wilderness.  If I found myself on the edge of nowhere and had to survive on the land, I know the folks that I would want to have with me.

Thank a worker today.  They earn our respect ever day.

Stupid Language Nazis

 

As the “winter of our discontent” deepens into China Joe’s “dark winter ahead of us”, there doesn’t seem to be much to laugh about anymore.  Trying to find real humor in lockdowns, masking, social isolation, and virtue shaming is running thin and those jokes have evolved into something between self – preservation and thinly veiled rage.  The antics of the Clown in the White House and the Jesters in Congress would be hilarious, except for the incredible damage that are doing to our country, our economy, our society, and the Constitution. There’s really nothing funny at all going on in Washington.

Yet hope springs eternal in the human spirit, and in all the darkness and discontent, I am continually looking for humor as laughter, honest laughter, truly is the best medicine.  Just the other day I came across a news item that brought real laughter to my lips for the first time in weeks. According to the folks over at PETA – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals- (not to be confused with “People Eating Tasty Animals”) – have determined that commonly used words and phrases must be “cancelled” from our language because they represent “speciesism, whatever the hell that is.

According to Merriam – Webster, Speciesism is: “1: prejudice or discrimination based on species especially : discrimination against animals 2: the assumption of human superiority on which speciesism is based”

That definition gets a paragraph all to itself simply so you, Constant Readers, have a moment to fully appreciate the vast, incredible, sweeping, panoramic lunacy of it!

According to the piece that I read PETA wants us to show more respect to our animal brethren by not using animal terms to describe negative human traits.  Instead of calling someone a “chicken” we should call them a “coward”, instead of “rat” use “snitch”, “repulsive” instead of “pig”.  Not content to just cancel marvelously descriptive words, the language Nazis want to remove long used phrases as well. It is no longer “acceptable” to say “beating a dead horse”  we should, instead say, “feeding a fed horse”, instead of “bringing home the bacon”, we should “bring home the bacon”, and instead of “taking the bull by the horns”, PETA would have us “take the flower by the thorns”.

With all due respect, “grabbing the flower by the thorns” just doesn’t conjure up the same image of courage in the face of danger that “grabbing the bull by the horns” does – I’m just saying.

The purpose of language is to effectively communicate thoughts and feelings between human beings.  Language – speaking and listening and writing and reading – are “hot” or active forms of communication.  Speaking, listening, writing, and reading require that all parties to the communication be mentally actively involved in the exchange.  How well you convey your thoughts or feelings depends upon your ability to create mental images with words and upon the listener or reader to create similar mental images.  Our cultures and society, and the long repeated use of descriptors and descriptive phrases provide commonly held points of reference.  Eliminating these, only serves to make communication between people less effective and serve to further segment and disrupt our culture and society.

We could write tomes about this, but suffice it to say that this is just simply nitwittery.  But let’s jump to the basic premise of speciesism, that there is a discrimination against animals based on the assumption of human superiority.  Philosophically, we can find the basis for human superiority in the earliest part of the Bible. Genesis, Chapter 1, verse 26 says “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”  It is, therefore, Mankind’s God given Right and authority to raise and hunt animals for food.  It’s right there in the Bible.  Pragmatically, we can look at nature and see that many animal species eat other animal species in order to survive. It is as natural as the snow coming up in the East.  It just is what it is. And, keep in mind that other species of animals consume species of plants to survive.  Where does PETA draw the line?

Keep in mind, now, whilst you are masking up, and isolating yourself that we must be kind to our animal brethren.  Yes, there truly is room for all of God’s creatures – next to the mashed potatoes!

You Go Your Way and I'll Go Mine

 

I am a Human Being.

I am a Christian.

I am a Freeborn American.

I am a man.

I am white.

I believe in the Constitution as written.  I am a Conservative, Libertarian, registered Republican who voted twice for Donald Trump only because I understand that his positions were better for America than those of his opponents. 

I am NOT a racist, bigot, nor a White Supremacist.  I am not a Nativist nor a Xenophobe.  I am not a Fascist.  I am not a Cultist.  My political positions are based on thoughtful analysis of political and economic theory, my life experiences, and a lifetime of observing the American condition.  As a Freeborn American I have the God given Right to my opinions AND the Right to express those opinions peacefully, as does every American.

I do not make assumptions about people based on their race, sex, religion, or national origin.  I do judge people by what they say, what they do, and how they treat others.  It is very likely that how you treat me and others will determine how I interact with you. I have preferences, likes, and dislikes that are based in my life experiences – every individual has the Right to their likes, dislikes, and preferences.

You may choose to dislike me because of my words and actions.  You have that Right.  If you choose to dislike me because only because I am a Christian, white, man who believes in the Constitution as written, or voted for Trump you are being prejudiced.  If you want to silence me because I disagree with you, you are a totalitarian Fascist.

I will respect your Rights to the expression of your ideas, in the same manner and to the same degree that you respect mine. 

In America we cherish the Rights to Freedom of Thought and Freedom of Expression.  There was a time when we respected one another and welcomed different opinions.  We followed the Golden Rule, we believed in “live and let live.”  We have become incredibly intolerant of different opinions.  We seem to be dangerously passionate in our belief in the absolute rightness of our positions, even though we can all be wrong at different times. I’d like to see our society return to a state of Grace where you are free to be you and I am free to be me.  Let the chips fall where they may.

Ghostly echoes of “the antenna of our age”, “a friend of us all, Mr. Bob Dylan”:

“Then the time will tell
           Who has fell
                     Who's been left behind
                                When you go your way and I go mine.”

You go your and I’ll go mine.  Walk as Free People.

A Mind Full of Questions and a Heart Full of Despair

If anyone had told me, a year ago, how totally messed up 2020 was going to be, I wouldn’t have believed them.  I truly never thought that I would live to see a time such as this.  The loss of freedoms and fracturing of our society is something I could never have conceived.  How could any of us have imagined the governments closing businesses just because they could, causing an economic collapse on a par with the 1929 crash?  Could any of us have foreseen the anger, the intimidation, or the virtue shaming and accompanying physical violence that is splitting our communities and our families?  And who would have believed, even a year ago, that the Democrats could openly steal a presidential election and that the court system would endorse that steal?

I never thought I would live to see these things.

It is not my purpose to list or chronical the abuses and attacks upon our individual, God – given, once Constitutionally guaranteed rights and liberties.  We each have suffered them, to varying degrees and to various personal conclusions. Rather, I want to raise the question of where do we go from here?

The complexion of the abuse has increased over the months.  In the beginning, the authorities used our willingness to comply to get their foot in the door.  They mistook our willingness to help for weakness.  The threat of “legal action” force quickly followed which gave way to conflicting mandates, confusing changes, and rampant abuse of our liberties.  Most damning, most frightening, and potentially most destructive to our nation and our society is the fact that so many of us have given into the virtue shaming, reporting our neighbors, and taking “give no quarter” positions.

It is one thing to contemplate resistance to tyrannical governments, but how are we deal with those Nazi – like neighbors who are more than willing to strip us of our liberties and our humanity?  When – if – all of this is over, how are we to reconcile with those who are so vehement and vitriolic against us?  Am I just to pretend that you called me selfish and vile because I won’t mask up?  How can we heal?  You can’t un ring that bell.

We can retake our governments through elections or resistance, but how do we heal the families and communities that this un Godly need to control has split?  How do we reconcile those who love liberty more than life itself, with those willing to deny you all liberty in the name of “the common good”?   What is a good compromise between liberty and slavery?

I don’t have any answers, just a mind full of questions and a heart full of despair.  I don’t know if America can, or will, survive.  America was the last, best hope for Mankind on earth.  There’s no place left to run to.

We Can't Fight Alone Against the Monster

 It seems to that our once loved, once honored, once great nation is suffering mightily in this “winter of our discontent”.  Between questionable government mandates, social and economic disruption, and a stolen Presidential election, our nation – and we as a people – are reeling.  If one is watching, one can see our liberties, our freedoms, our God given rights being stripped away while we cower behind our useless face masks.  The forces of authoritarianism consolidate their control and we can only watch helplessly.  I am afraid for my country.

It would be easier to fight this if it were simply governments trying to enslave us, but the evil behind this has used the fear that is stalking us to divide us into warring classes.  It is no longer simply a case of standing up to THE MAN, but many of our neighbors are also on the side of the authoritarians.  It isn’t black booted, government thugs enforcing these illegal mandates, it is our neighbors willingly doing the bidding of the totalitarian Masters and taking away our freedoms and liberties.

How are we to heal as a nation and a people when the divide between us is so vast and the Left offers no position on compromise?  What is the compromise when your position is “abortion on demand” right up through birth?  Where do we come together when their only stand is open borders and unlimited immigration?  What is the balanced position when you blame an entire race for all the evils and problems in the country?  How do we compromise between standing up for America and appeasing nations that seek our demise?  What deal is there between law and order and defunding the police?

Even in our response to the so-called Pandemic, there seems to be no room for compromise, nor tolerance of differing points of view.  One group demands total compliance with an orthodoxy that has no basis in science, reality, nor recent national experience.  Their position is absolute – no give, no compromise, no yielding.  It is all or nothing – agree with the lockdowns, the masking, the total authoritarian control or be shamed and shunned.  

Somehow, we have lost the ability to analyze, to think critically, to discuss, and to reason. The “science” has become politicized to the point that even ideas that are totally inaccurate are now accepted as truths.  Cloth and paper masks cannot filter viruses, but don’t go out in public without one.  Contact tracing shows that 75% of new cases seem to come from home and social gatherings, with less than 2% from restaurants – yet restaurants are closed again. Children rarely get sick with the Covid, yet schools remain closed.  Small businesses are being crushed by rules and restrictions that do nothing to stop the spread of the Covid. Nine months into it, and if you believe the government and the news media, the “pandemic” is just getting worse. But still, the total authoritarian mindset dominates and brooks no opposition.

We were once willing to live and let live, to accept differences of opinion and different ideas.  There was a time when we could express ourselves and be ourselves if we did not interfere with another’s rights and freedoms.  There was a time when America – and Americans – were big enough for a wide range of attitudes, opinions, and thoughts.  It seems as if she – and we – are no longer big enough for men to be free.

America was once “the last best hope for mankind”.  Now,  I am afraid that She is a memory fading rapidly on the winter wind.

Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled

“Let not your hearts be troubled”.  

I know that many of you are saddened, disillusioned, heartsick, and maybe even angry at what is going on right now with the blatant election fraud that is going on around the country.  You turned out, you voted by the law and, you did your Duty.  You have no control – yet – over those people in government who are spitting on their Duty. It is frustrating, it is maddening, and it is pushing us to our limits.

We have no control over what others choose to do, nor over much of what happens to us in life; yet, each of us has total control over how we choose to react to others and to situations.  We each must choose how we will react.  Circumstances may force us to come together and react collectively.  Let us pray that hour does not come.

Let us take stock of our reality on this autumn afternoon.  The sun came up this morning and will set this evening.  We all woke up this morning.  We’ll be hungry, thirsty, and tired before the day is done.  We’ll talk, we’ll laugh, we’ll think about things that we like.  And most of us will go to sleep tonight with complete Faith that the sun will come up again tomorrow.  To paraphrase the marvelous classic poem, “In Flanders Fields” “we will live, feel dawn, see sunset glow, love and be loved before we lie in Flanders Fields”.  In other words, God is still on His throne and all will be well.

Don’t fret the election count right now.  It’s ok to be concerned, but don’t let your concern take over your life. Don’t let your anger, if you are angry, steal your joy.  In this moment, this time which may be a calm before the storm, hold on to your loved ones, count your blessings, thank God that you are alive in the greatest country in the history of the world.  Thank God for his mercy, grace, and redemption.  Pray for calm, pray for strength, pray for America.

“Let not your hearts be troubled”. 

 

The time may be approaching when good men are going to be forced to do hard things.  The days may get very hard and very dark, but, even if they do, God will still be on His throne and those who confess will still have salvation.  Don’t worry about the days to come.  Let’s just help one another through each today as it comes.  

“Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself: sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.”  We’ll deal with tomorrow when it comes.

Pray for peace. Pray for America. Pray for strength and patience.