v6#1
January 20, 2009

Special
Hope Issue

 

        The last evil left in Pandora's box was Hope. To give hope without the means to secure that hope is indeed evil, whether you adhere to the Greeks' fatalism or not.
        Throughout the presidential election cycle, we were told that it is about policy, not race. Since the election, beginning with the lead story in the Dallas Maudlin Snooze on the very next day, I have heard nothing but race, e.g., America has overcome the race barrier, Barack Obama's inauguration is historic, the first African-American, etc. It IS about race, and they didn't tell me. I voted on his policy. I guess I just missed the point.
        All right, I didn't want McCain anyway.

---

        Hate evil, love good.
                -- Amos 5:15

---

        It is inaccurate to say that I hate everything. I am strongly in favor of common sense, common honesty, and common decency. This makes me forever ineligible for public office.
                -- H. L. Mencken

---

Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas any more.

        [The Episcopal Church USA invested Katherine Jefferts-Shori as its new Presiding Bishop and Primate in a ceremony carried out in November, 2006. One wonders.]

---

We elected WHOM as president?

        [Munch's The Scream, one of a series of "anxiety" paintings, was restored to its true owners, having recently been stolen.]

---

        Whew, the election came just in time. I have been suffering from a serious case of prospective voter fatigue.
        It should not make that much difference whom we elect. Of course, it makes a difference to them. But, to us? Why?
        The truth is, it makes a huge difference. The reason is shameful. So much of the government is patently for sale that we desperately need and require an honest man (or woman) to occupy the office. Those efforts are frustrated when one of the candidates (or both) enlists the support of a large segment of the population to do the buying.
        Obama openly invited his supporters to buy the government for him, with the promise that they would be repaid with other people's money. The rest of us better get ready to cough up.
        Freedom is, inter alia, economic freedom. Andrew Jackson had the wisdom to see the promise of tyranny in a national bank, a danger that should be plain enough to us now. Eventually, the needs and desires of that bank must be paid for. There is only one way that can be done--through taxes, diverting the wealth and earnings of the citizens from their own use to uses they would never want or need.
        Anyone who cannot see that restrictions on the disposal of one's earnings and property are at the very essence of freedom will soon get a severe lesson on that subject--we all will.
        Obama urges us all to make sacrifices--the sure and certain sign that he is asking for something we should not give him. To sacrifice something is, literally, to make that thing holy, i.e., set aside for a holy purpose. Sacrifices are made to God, not men or institutions. Only socialism blasphemously calls for sacrificing to an institution.
        Socialism is human sacrifice.

---

        Announcing the formation of

PETAEEPSOBPB

People for the Ethical Treatment of
Absolutely Everyone and Everything
Except for the Poor SOB's that Pay the Bills

        Regular meetings will be held in your home (you supply the refreshments) every Thursday.

---

        ... you shall find me well accompanied
        With reverend fathers and well-learned bishops.
                ... Richard III, Act III, scene 3
...
        Booksellers are reporting that copies of Shakespeare's Richard III are flying off the bookshelves as the parallels to Barack Obama pile up.

Shakespeare:
        Now is the winter of our discontent
        Made glorious summer...
Obama:
        Now, there are some who question the scale of our ambitions -- who suggest that our system cannot tolerate too many big plans. Their memories are short.

Shakespeare:
        Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
        Our bruised arms hung up for monuments...
Obama:
        On this day, we gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord.

Shakespeare:
        Those uncles which you want were dangerous;
        Your grace attended to their sugar'd words,
        But look'd not on the poison of their hearts :
        God keep you from them, and from such false friends!
Obama:
        In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned.

        The questions abound: Who are the murdered princes? Who will play the part of Richmond? How many Richmonds will Obama slay before the end? Will Obama offer to give up his office for a Ford Mustang?
        Keep in touch with the ongoing Elizabethan crisis, as Barack Obama traces out the tragedy of Richard III on the vast American stage!

---

        Wow! Have you heard the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under the baton of their new music director, Jaap van Zweden yet? Run, don't walk, to the next concert you can attend!

---

---

All contents © Copyright 1995-2006 by Redmon Barbry  ¶ 10:58 PM