Wednesday, November 09, 2016

I spent last night setting up a new computer, drinking heavily, and trying not to mourn the death of the republic.

Some rotten kids down the street jeered at me with their hand-drawn Hillary signs as I walked to the polls after work, and I yelled at them that they'd have to live with the consequences of their ignorant foolishness. This morning I spent writing on a project I've been working on since August, every morning more or less - get in a couple of hours, slap together a chapter, and then feed the cats. I get up pretty damn early these days.

 But I was miserably avoiding the dead elephant in the room. I was positive that it was the end of things, the death-rattle in a rictus and a pantsuit. Then I caught sight of a sniveling hipster bewailing fate somewhere online, and I looked up out of my miserable huddle.

The orange clown did it. The horrible harpy conceded. The Senate remains Republican. We may be still crouched upon the edge of an abyss I call "electoral dictatorship", but we're still on the edge. I thought for sure we were plummeting into the depths. Oh, don't get me wrong - he'll screw up from dawn to dusk, and chisel and grift and sleep around with harlots while it's dark out. It's in his nature. Trump will be a monument to bad judgment, ignorance and foolishness. But all of Washington will loathe him with all of their rotten, grasping, arrogant souls, and scheme and plot to undermine every plan, every thing he tries. They'll let him get away with absolutely *nothing*. And Republicans have a proud history of impeaching their own wayward presidents, so rejoice!

 Sing from every mountaintop!

Checks and balances have returned to Washington, torches and pitchforks in hand! I'm listening to 'World Turned Upside Down' right now.

 (I really need to stop campaigning for presidential candidates, it's apparently bad luck. My (loathed, despised, I voted for him anyway) candidate won my state for the first time since I screwed up as a college student and voted for Billy Jeff before the Clintons became a corrupt dynasty-in-waiting.)

Saturday, July 23, 2016

Myco beasties are the enemies of all orderly geneological studies.  They make a mockery of proper Linaeusian categorization and study.  The damn things refuse to acknowledge the orderly borders that allow simple speciation or even the sort of distinction that produce coherent genuses. (Genii? I forget how to plurality that...)

Saturday, June 18, 2016

So it's the Cruise again, and honestly the only reason I tolerate it is for the carnival food; they sell cheese fries in town.  I'm not really car-culture people.  Muscle cars just aren't really my thing.  They don't let you race about like maniacs outside of Long Seventies-era movies, so really, what's the point?

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

O ye children of Benjamin,
gather yourselves to flee out of the midst of Jerusalem,
and blow the trumpet in Tekoa,
and set up a sign of fire in Bethhaccerem:
for evil appeareth out of the north,
and great destruction.

I have likened the daughter of Zion to a comely and delicate woman.

The shepherds with their flocks shall come unto her;
they shall pitch their tents against her round about;
they shall feed every one in his place.

Prepare ye war against her;
arise,
and let us go up at noon.
Woe unto us!
for the day goeth away,
for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.

Arise,
and let us go by night,
and let us destroy her palaces.

For thus hath the Lord of hosts said,
Hew ye down trees,
and cast a mount against Jerusalem:
this is the city to be visited;
she is wholly oppression in the midst of her.

As a fountain casteth out her waters,
so she casteth out her wickedness:
violence and spoil is heard in her;
before me continually is grief and wounds.

Be thou instructed,
O Jerusalem,
lest my soul depart from thee;
lest I make thee desolate,
a land not inhabited.

Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
They shall thoroughly glean the remnant of Israel as a vine:
turn back thine hand as a grapegatherer into the baskets.

To whom shall I speak,
and give warning,
that they may hear?
behold,
their ear is uncircumcised,
and they cannot hearken:
behold,
the word of the Lord is unto them a reproach;
they have no delight in it.

Therefore I am full of the fury of the Lord;
I am weary with holding in:
I will pour it out upon the children abroad,
and upon the assembly of young men together:
for even the husband with the wife shall be taken,
the aged with him that is full of days.

And their houses shall be turned unto others,
with their fields and wives together:
for I will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants of the land,
saith the Lord.

For from the least of them even unto the greatest of them every one is given to covetousness;
and from the prophet even unto the priest every one dealeth falsely.

They have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly,
saying,
Peace,
peace;
when there is no peace.

Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination?
nay,
they were not at all ashamed,
neither could they blush:
therefore they shall fall among them that fall:
at the time that I visit them they shall be cast down,
saith the Lord.

Thus saith the Lord,
Stand ye in the ways,
and see,
and ask for the old paths,
where is the good way,
and walk therein,
and ye shall find rest for your souls.
But they said,
We will not walk therein.

Also I set watchmen over you,
saying,
Hearken to the sound of the trumpet.
But they said,
We will not hearken.

Therefore hear,
ye nations,
and know,
O congregation,
what is among them.

Hear,
O earth:
behold,
I will bring evil upon this people,
even the fruit of their thoughts,
because they have not hearkened unto my words,
nor to my law,
but rejected it.

To what purpose cometh there to me incense from Sheba,
and the sweet cane from a far country?
your burnt offerings are not acceptable,
nor your sacrifices sweet unto me.

Therefore thus saith the Lord,
Behold,
I will lay stumblingblocks before this people,
and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them;
the neighbour and his friend shall perish.

Thus saith the Lord,
Behold,
a people cometh from the north country,
and a great nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth.

They shall lay hold on bow and spear;
they are cruel,
and have no mercy;
their voice roareth like the sea;
and they ride upon horses,
set in array as men for war against thee,
O daughter of Zion.

We have heard the fame thereof:
our hands wax feeble:
anguish hath taken hold of us,
and pain,
as of a woman in travail.

Go not forth into the field,
nor walk by the way;
for the sword of the enemy and fear is on every side.

O daughter of my people,
gird thee with sackcloth,
and wallow thyself in ashes:
make thee mourning,
as for an only son,
most bitter lamentation:
for the spoiler shall suddenly come upon us.

I have set thee for a tower and a fortress among my people,
that thou mayest know and try their way.

They are all grievous revolters,
walking with slanders:
they are brass and iron;
they are all corrupters.

The bellows are burned,
the lead is consumed of the fire;
the founder melteth in vain;
for the wicked are not plucked away.

Reprobate silver shall men call them,
because the Lord hath rejected them.

Monday, May 23, 2016

Run ye to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem,
and see now,
and know,
and seek in the broad places thereof,
if ye can find a man,
if there be any that executeth judgment,
that seeketh the truth;
and I will pardon it.

And though they say,
The Lord liveth;
surely they swear falsely.

O Lord,
are not thine eyes upon the truth?
thou hast stricken them,
but they have not grieved;
thou hast consumed them,
but they have refused to receive correction:
they have made their faces harder than a rock;
they have refused to return.

Therefore I said,
Surely these are poor;
they are foolish:
for they know not the way of the Lord,
nor the judgment of their God.

I will get me unto the great men,
and will speak unto them;
for they have known the way of the Lord,
and the judgment of their God:
but these have altogether broken the yoke,
and burst the bonds.

Wherefore a lion out of the forest shall slay them,
and a wolf of the evenings shall spoil them,
a leopard shall watch over their cities:
every one that goeth out thence shall be torn in pieces:
because their transgressions are many,
and their backslidings are increased.

How shall I pardon thee for this?
thy children have forsaken me,
and sworn by them that are no gods:
when I have fed them to the full,
they then committed adultery,
and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots' houses.

They were as fed horses in the morning:
every one neighed after his neighbor's wife.

Shall I not visit for these things?
saith the Lord:
and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?

Go ye upon her walls,
and destroy;
but make not a full end:
take away her battlements;
for they are not the Lord's.

For the house of Israel and the house of Judah have dealt very treacherously against me,
saith the Lord.

They have belied the Lord,
and said,
It is not he;
neither shall evil come upon us;
neither shall we see sword nor famine:

And the prophets shall become wind,
and the word is not in them:
thus shall it be done unto them.

Wherefore thus saith the Lord God of hosts,
Because ye speak this word,
behold,
I will make my words in thy mouth fire,
and this people wood,
and it shall devour them.

Lo,
I will bring a nation upon you from far,
O house of Israel,
saith the Lord:
it is a mighty nation,
it is an ancient nation,
a nation whose language thou knowest not,
neither understandest what they say.

Their quiver is as an open sepulchre,
they are all mighty men.

And they shall eat up thine harvest,
and thy bread,
which thy sons and they daughters should eat:
they shall eat up thy flocks and thine herds:
they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig trees:
they shall shall impoverish thy fenced cities,
wherein thou trustst,
with the sword.

Nevertheless in those days,
saith the Lord,
I will not make a full end with you.

And it shall come to pass,
when ye shall say,
Wherefore doeth the Lord our God all these things unto us?
then shall thou answer them,
Like as ye have forsaken me,
and served strange gods in your land,
so shall ye serve strangers in a land that is not yours.

Declare this in the house of Jacob,
and publish it in Judah,
saying,

Hear now this,
O foolish people,
and without understanding;
which have eyes,
and see not;
which have ears,
and hear not:

Fear ye not me?
saith the Lord:
will ye not tremble at my presence,
which have placed the sand for the bound of the sea by a perpetual decree,
that it cannot pass it:
and though the waves thereof toss themselves,
yet can they not prevail;
though they roar,
yet can they not pass over it?

But this people hath a revolting and a rebellious heart;
they are revolted and gone.

Neither say they in their heart,
Let us now fear the Lord our God,
that giveth rain,
both the former and the latter,
in his season:
he reserveth unto us the appointed weeks of the harvest.

Your iniquities have turned away these things,
and your sins have withholden good things from you.

For among my people are found wicked men:
they lay wait,
as he that setteth snares;
they set a trap,
they catch men.

As a cage is full of birds,
so are their houses full of deceit:
therefore they are become great,
and waxen rich.

They are waxen fat,
they shine:
yea,
they overpass the deeds of the wicked:
they judge not the cause,
the cause of the fatherless,
yet they prosper;
and the right of the needy do they not judge.

Shall I not visit for these things?
saith the Lord:
shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?
A wonderful and horrible thing is committed in the land;

The prophets prophesy falsely,
and the priests bear rule by their means;
and my people love to have it so:
and what will ye do in the end thereof?

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

If thou wilt return,
O Israel,
saith the Lord,
return unto me:
and if thou wilt put away thine abominations out of my sight,
then shalt thou not remove.

And thou shalt swear,
The Lord liveth,
in truth,
in judgment,
and in righteousness;
and the nations shall bless themselves in him,
and in him shall they glory.

For thus saith the Lord to the men of Judah and Jerusalem,
Break up your fallow ground,
and sow not among thorns.

Circumcise yourselves to the Lord,
and take away the foreskins of your heart,
ye men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem;
lest my fury come forth like fire,
and burn that none can quench it,
because of the evil of your doings.

Declare ye in Judah,
and publish in Jerusalem;
and say,
Blow ye the trumpet in the land:
cry,
gather together,
and say,
Assemble yourselves,
and let us go into the defenced cities.

Set up the standard toward Zion:
retire,
stay not:
for I will bring evil from the north,
and a great destruction.

The lion is come up from his thicket,
and the destroyer of the Gentiles is on his way;
he is gone forth from his place to make thy land desolate;
and thy cities shall be laid waste,
without an inhabitant.

For this gird you with sackcloth,
lament and howl:
for the fierce anger of the Lord is not turned back from us.

And it shall come to pass at that day,
saith the Lord,
that the heart of the king shall perish,
and the heart of the princes,
and the priests shall be astonished,
and the propets shall wonder.

Then said I,
Ah,
Lord God!
surely thou hast greatly deceived this people and Jerusalem,
saying,
Ye shall have peace;
whereas the sword reacheth unto the soul.

At that time shall it be said to this people and to Jerusalem,
A dry wind of the high places in the wilderness toward the daughter of my people,
not to fan,
nor to cleanse,

Even a full wind from those places shall come unto me:
now also will I give sentence against them.

Behold,
he shall come up as clouds,
and his chariots shall be as a whirlwind:
his horses are swifter than eagles.
Woe unto us!
for we are spoiled.

O Jerusalem,
wash thine heart from wickedness,
that thou mayest be save.
How long shall thy vain thoughts lodge within thee?

For a voice declareth from Dan,
and publisheth affliction from mount Ephraim.

Make ye mention to the nations;
behold,
publish against Jerusalem,
that watchers come from a far country,
and give out their voice against the cities of Judah.

As keepers of a field,
are they against her round about;
because she hath been rebellious against me,
saith the Lord.

Thy ways and thy doings have procured these things unto thee;
this is thy wickedness,
because it is bitter,
because it reacheth unto thine heart.

My bowels,
my bowels!
I am pained at my very heart;
my heart maketh a noise in me;
I cannot hold my peace,
because thou hast heard,
O my soul,
the sound of the trumpet,
the alarm of war.

Destruction upon destruction is cried;
for the whole land is spoiled:
suddenly are my tents spoiled,
and my curtains in a moment.

How long shall I see the standard,
and hear the sound of the trumpet?

For my people is foolish,
they have not known me;
they are sottish children,
and they have none understanding:
they are wise to do evil,
but to do good they have no knowledge.

I beheld the earth,
and,
lo,
it was without form,
and void;
and the heavens,
and they had no light.

I beheld the mountains,
and,
lo,
they trembled,
and all the hills moved lightly.

I beheld,
and,
lo,
there was no man,
and all the birds of the heavens were fled.

I beheld,
and,
lo,
the fruitful place was a wilderness,
and all the cities thereof were broken down at the presence of the Lord,
and by his fierce anger.

For thus hath the Lord said,
The whole land shall be desolate;
yet will I not make a full end.

For this shall the earth mourn,
and the heavens above be black;
because I have spoken it,
I have purposed it,
and will not repent,
neither will I turn back from it.

The whole city shall flee for the noise of the horsemen and bowmen;
they shall go into thickets,
and climb up upon the rocks:
every city shall be forsaken,
and not a man dwell therein.

And when thou art spoiled,
what wilt thou do?
Thou thou clothest thyself with crimson,
though thou deckest thee with ornaments of gold,
though thou rentest thy faith with painting,
in fain shalt thou make thyself fair;
thy lovers will despise thee,
they will seek thy life.

For I have heard a voice as of a woman in travail,
and the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child,
the voice of the daughter of Zion,
that bewaileth herself,
that spreadeth her hands,
saying,
Woe is me now!
for my soul is wearied because of murderers.

Monday, May 09, 2016

They say,
If a man put away his wife,
and she go from him,
and become another man's,
shall he return unto her again?
shall not that land be greatly polluted?
but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers;
yet return again to me,
saith the Lord.

Lift up thine eyes unto the high places,
and see where thou hast not been lien with.
In the ways hast thou sat for them,
as the Arabian in the wilderness;
and thou hast polluted the land with thy whoredoms and with thy wickedness.

Therefor the showers have been withholden,
and there hath been no latter rain;
and thou hadst a whore's forehead,
thou refusedst to be ashamed.

Wilt thou not from this time cry unto me,
My father,
thou are the guide of my youth?

Will he reserve his anger for ever?
will he keep it to the end?
Behold, thou hast spoken and done evil things as thou couldest.

The Lord said also unto me in the days of Josiah the king,
Hast thou seen that which backsliding Israel hath done?
she is gone up upon every high mountain and under every green tree,
and there hath played the harlot.

And I said after she had done all these things,
Turn thou unto me.
But she returned not.
And her treacherous sister Judah saw it.

And I saw,
when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away,
and given her a bill of divorce;
yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not,
but went and played the harlot also.

And it came to pass through the lightness of her whoredom,
that she defiled the land,
and committed adultery with stones and with stocks.

And yet for all this her treacherous sister Judah hath not turned unto me with her whole heart,
but feignedly,
saith the Lord.

And the Lord said unto me,
The backsliding Israel hath justified herself more than treacherous Judah.

Go and proclaim these words toward the north,
and say,
Return,
thou backsliding Israel,
saith the Lord;
and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you:
for I am merciful
saith the Lord,
and I will not keep anger for ever.

Only acknowledge thine iniquity,
that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God,
and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree,
and ye have not obeyed my voice,
saith the Lord.

Turn,
O backsliding children,
saith the Lord;
for I am married unto you:
and I will take you one of a city,
and two of a family,
and I will bring you to Zion:

And I will give you pastors according to mine heart,
which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

And it shall come to pass,
when ye be multiplied and increased in the land,
in those days,
saith the Lord,
they shall say no more,
The ark of the covenant of the Lord:
neither shall it come to mind:
neither shall they remember it;
neither shall they visit it;
neither shall that be done any more.

At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the Lord;
and all the nations shall be gathered unto it,
to the name of the Lord,
to Jerusalem:
neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.

In those days the house of Judah shall walk with the house of Israel,
and they shall come together out of the land of the north to the land that I have given for an inheritance unto your fathers.

But I said,
How shall I put thee among the children,
and give thee a pleasant land,
a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations?
and I said,
Thous shalt call me, My father;
and shalt not turn away from me.
Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband,
so have ye dealt treacherously with me,
O house of Israel,
saith the Lord.

A voice was heard upon the high places,
weeping and supplications of the children of Israel:
for they have perverted their way,
and they have forgotten the Lord their God.

Return,
ye backsliding children,
and I will heal your backslidings,
Behold,
we come unto thee;
for thou art the Lord our God.

Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills,
and from the multitude of mountains:
truly in the Lord our God is the salvation of Israel.

For shame hath devoured the labour of our fathers from our youth;
their flocks and their herds,
their sons and their daughters.

We lie down in our shame,
and our confusion covereth us:
for we have sinned against the Lord our God,
we and our fathers,
from our youth even unto this day,
and have not obeyed the voice of the Lord our God.

Sunday, May 08, 2016

Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying,

Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying,
Thus saith the Lord;
I remember thee,
the kindness of thy youth,
the love of thine espousals,
when thou wentest after me in the wilderness,
in a land that was not sown.

Israel was holiness unto the Lord,
and the first-fruits of his increase:
all that devour him shall offend;
evil shall come upon them,
saith the Lord.

Hear ye the word of the Lord,
O house of Jacob,
and all the families of the house of Israel:

Thus saith the Lord,
What iniquity have your fathers found in me,
that they are gone far from me,
and have walked after vanity,
and are become vain?

Neither said they,
Where is the Lord that has brought us up out of the land of Egypt,
that led us through the wilderness,
through a land of deserts and of pits,
through a land of drought,
and of the shadow of death,
through a land that no man passed through,
and where no man dwelt?

And I brought you into a plentiful country,
to eat the fruit thereof and the goodness thereof;
but when ye entered,
ye defiled my land,
and made mine heritage an abomination.

The priests said not,
Where is the Lord?
and they that handle the law knew me not:
the pastors also transgressed against me,
and the prophets prophesied by Baal,
and walked after things that do not profit.

Wherefore I will yet plead with you,
saith the Lord,
and with your children's children will I plead.

For pass over the isles of Chittim,
And see;
and send unto Kedar,
and consider diligently,
and see if there be such a thing.

Hath a nation changed their gods,
which are yet no gods?
but my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit.

Be astonished,
O ye heavens,
at this,
and be horribly afraid,
be ye very desolate,
saith the Lord.

For my people have committed two evils:
they have foresaken me the fountain of living waters,
and hewed them out cisterns,
broken cisterns,
that can hold no water.

Is Israel a servant?
is he a homeborn slave?
why is he spoiled?

The young lions roared upon him,
and yelled,
and they made his land waste:
his cities are burned without inhabitant.

Also the children of Nophe and Tahapanes have broken the crown of thy head.

Hast thou not procured this unto thyself,
in that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God,
when he led thee by the way?

And now what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt,
to drink the waters of Sihor?
or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria,
to drink the waters of the river?

Thine own wickedness shall correct thee,
and thy backslidings shall reprove thee,
know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter,
that thou hast forsaken the Lord thy God,
and that my fear is not in thee,
saith the Lord God of hosts.

For of old time I have broken thy yoke,
and burst thy bands;
and thous saidst,
I will not transgress;
when upon every high hill and under every green hill thou wanderest,
playing the harlot.

Yet I had planted thee a noble vine,
wholly a right seed:
how then art thou turned into the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me?

For though thous wash thee with nitre,
and take thee much soap,
yet thine iniquity is marked before me,
saith the Lord God.

How canst thou say,
I am not polluted,
I have not gone after Baalim?
see thy way in the valley,
know what thou has done:
thou are a swift dromedary traversing her ways.

A wild ass used to the wilderness,
that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure;
in her occasion who can turn her away?
all they that seek her will not weary themselves;
in her mouth they shall find  her.

Withhold thy foot from being unshod,
and thy throat from thirst:
but thou saidst,
There is no hope:
no;
for I have loved strangers,
and after them I will go.

As the thief is ashamed when he is found,
so is the house of Israel ashamed;
they,
their kings,
their princes,
and their priests,
and their prophets.

Saying to a stock,
Thou art my father;
and to a stone,
Thou hast brought me forth:
for they have turned their back unto me,
and not their face:
but in the time of their trouble they will say,
Arise,
and save us.

But where are thy gods that thou hast made thee?
let them arise,
if they can save thee in the time of thy trouble:
for according to the number of thy cities are thy gods,
O Judah.

Wherefore will ye plead with me?
ye all have transgressed against me, saith the Lord.

In vain have I smitten your children;
they received no correction;
your own sword hath devoured your prophets,
like a destroying lion.

O generation, see ye the word of the Lord.
Have I been a wilderness unto Israel?
a land of darkness?
wherefore say my people,
We are lords;
we will come no more unto thee?

Can a maid forget her ornaments,
or a bride her attire?
yet my people have forgotten me days without number.

Why trimmest thou thy way to seek love?
therefore has thou also taught the wicked ones thy ways.

Also in thy skirts is found the blood of the souls of the poor innocents:
I have not found it by secret search,
but upon all these.

Yet thou sayest,
Because I am innocent,
surely his anger shall turn from me.
Behold,
I will plead with thee,
because thou sayest,
I have not sinned.

Why gaddest thou about so much to change thy way?
thou also shalt be ashamed of Egypt,
as thou wast ashamed of Assyria.

Yea,
thou shalt go forth from him,
and thine hands upon thine head:
for the Lord hath rejected thy confidences,
and thou shalt no prosper in them.

Saturday, May 07, 2016

 The words of Jeremiah the son of Hilkaih, of the priests that were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin:
To whom the word of the LORD came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.
It came also in the days of Jehoiahim the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the end of the eleventh year of Zedekiah the son of Josiah king of Judah, unto the carrying away of Jerusalem captive in the fifth month.
Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.
Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.
But the LORD said unto me, Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak.
Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee, saith the LORD.
Then the LORD put forth his hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, Behold, I have put my words in thy mouth.
See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.
Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, Jeremiah, what seest thou? And I said, I see a rod of an Almond tree.
Then said the LORD unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I will hasten my word to perform it.
And the word of the LORD came unto me the second time, saying, What seest thou? And I said, I see a seething pot; and the face thereof is toward the north.
Then the LORD said unto me, Out of the north an evil shall break forth upon all the inhabitants of the land.
For, lo, I will call all the families of the kingdoms of the north, saith the LORD; and they shall come, and they shall set every one his throne at the entering of the gates of Jerusalem. and against all the walls thereof round about, and against all the cities of Judah.
 And I will utter my judgments against them touching all their wickedness, who have forsaken me, and have burned incense unto other gods, and worshipped the works of their own hands.
Thou therefore gird up thy loins, and arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee: be not dismayed at their faces, lest I confound thee before them.
For, behold, I have made thee this day a defenced city, and an iron pillar, and brasen walls against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, against the princes thereof, against the priests thereof, and against the people of the land.
And they shall fight against thee; but they shall not prevail against thee; for I am with thee, saith the LORD, to deliver thee.

Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Primary Day in Pennsylvania.  If you're registered Republican, get out there and vote for Ted Cruz, and your district's Cruz delegate slate.  It's important.

Wednesday, April 13, 2016

So, the Centre County GOP sent the following information this afternoon, which is supplemental to what the Tribune-Review reported last week:
Delegate Candidates 

The information presented below was gathered from each candidate's response to Centre GOP's inquiry, discussions with another candidate(s) for Delegate and/or from TribLive.

Candidate names within each category are listed in the order in which they appear on the ballot. 

Will Vote for the Winner of the 5th Congressional District

Joyce Haas
Scott Schreffler
Shelia Fitzgerald Sterrett
Ash Khare
C. Arnold McClure 

Will Vote for Ted Cruz

Richard Chura
Lyle Stewart
Barry Kroeker 

Will Vote for Donald Trump

James Feuer Klein 

For additional information about each candidate, visit www.centregop.org

Lyle Stewart is an additional Cruz delegate-candidate, which makes for a complete slate for the Fifth Congressional.  I don't know what to think about that, Haas has given me a reason *not* to vote to send her to the convention, which seems somehow fundamentally unfair.  

Oh, well, politics ain't beanball.

Tuesday, April 05, 2016

For your information, the Pennsylvania presidential primaries on the Republican side are a "beauty contest", the actual votes that count are for the individual delegates.  There's a primer here that claims to have interviewed all of the delegate candidates, most of them say "support whoever wins the congressional district's popular vote", but there's a few verbally-committed candidates in each district.

Monday, April 04, 2016

Just as a reminder for y'all, the Pennsylvania primary is April 26th, three weeks and change from today. The primary campaign is almost always decided by the time we vote, but not this year.  It's absolutely down to the wire this time, and trench-warfare at the convention itself.  Your vote matters this year.

So don't throw it away on a narcissistic idjit like John Kasich.  He has zero chance of winning the nomination, and is only running for the high and the off-chance that somebody might bribe him out of the race.  Nobody has time for that, and it's technically illegal, so he just keeps chugging away, feeding his ego and making messes.  To heck with John Kasich.

And Trump? How many times do you have to be told - Donald Trump is a con man, a grifter, a scammer.  He was born on third base and thought he hit a triple. He's a terrible businessman, an awful human being, and doesn't bother to do his homework.  He recently bragged about how he liked to surround himself with losers, because the way they hang on his stories makes him feel like a winner.  His version of conservative pieties sounds suspiciously like a liberal's fevered imagining of what they think conservatives believe in their hearts of hearts.  He lies like he breathes, and generally can't be bothered to align any given set of lies with any previous set of lies he might have said on a previous occasion.  He divides the world into marks and fellow grifters.  He flatters his audiences that they're in on the con, they're going to be junior partners in his grand confidence game.  But remember - the heart of the con is to flatter your marks that they're your partners.  Trump's current set of marks is his prospective voters.

Don't be a mark.

Now, I know that for a lot of Pennsylvanians, someone like Ted Cruz is a bit of a stretch.  He's a strict-constructionist conservative, ideologically rigorous, and damn churchy.  But the wonders of strict-constructionist conservatism is that the Constitution, when strictly constructed, is all about *LEAVING YOU ALONE*. It's about limiting the damage that do-gooders and fussbudgets and post-modern Puritans can do to their fellow man through the strong arm of the government.  Are you a fussbudget, do-gooder, or post-modern Puritan?  Then the wonders of federalism means that you are free to pester your fellow citizens within your state, commonwealth or polity to the limits of the law and your state or commonwealth's constitution.  Laboratories of democracy!  But a republic at the national level, so that we your neighbors can always damn you to hell and move to Texas, without making a federal case of it.

We've had seven years and counting of intrusive, big-business corporatism with the Obama administration.  The big-government corporatists have had their day, and then some.  They've dragged the captive nations behind them while feeding borrowed money to their cronies, their clients and the corporations.  Everyone has fed deep at the troughs for seven fat years.  There is one true anti-corporatist small-government candidate on offer, and that's Ted Cruz.  Give the swine at the trough their seven lean years!

They could use the diet.