lovers of money,
boastful, proud, have nothing to
do with such people

In my Bible today I read this admonition in 2 Timothy, Chapter 3 1-5.

But mark this: There will be terrible times in the last days.

People will be lovers of themselves,

lovers of money,

boastful,

proud,

abusive,

disobedient to their parents,

ungrateful,

unholy,

without love,

unforgiving,

slanderous,

without self-control,

brutal,

not lovers of the good,

treacherous,

rash,

conceited,

lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God — having a form of godliness but denying its power.

Have nothing to do with such people.

That pretty much seems to take care of Congress.

Our elected officials.

Most anyone in the current news cycle, for that matter.

Puts me in mind of the type of people, and there didn’t seem to be any in the recorded history, who would have tried to steal the 1st Class dining room silver … on the Titanic.

As for those elected folks, we voted them in there.

How did Obi Wan put it?

“Who is more foolish? The fool or the fool who follows him?”

Come on everybody, time to grasp at straws and go attack the Death Star.

are inflexible
on policy, flexible
on morality

Three days after the House elected Johnson speaker, Mike Pence dropped out of the Republican presidential primary. The most recent Republican vice president had become a polling afterthought, and the reason isn’t hard to discern. He’s every bit as faith-forward as Johnson, he was every bit as loyal to the Trump policy agenda as Johnson, and yet — when push came to shove — he could not participate in the Big Lie. He paid an immediate and permanent price for his honesty, with his approval among G.O.P. voters plunging after the attack on the Capitol.

This is precisely indicative of the political ruthlessness that’s overtaken evangelical Republicans. They are inflexible about policy positions even when the Bible is silent or vague. They are flexible about morality even when the Bible is clear. One Christian man tells the truth, and it kills his career. Another Christian man helps lead one of the most comprehensively dishonest and dangerous political and legal efforts in American history, and he gets the speaker’s gavel.

From the NYT opinion piece, ‘MAGA Mike Johnson’ and Our Broken Christian Politics by David French.

According to the NYT, David French is an Opinion columnist. He is a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom and a former constitutional litigator.

This is precisely indicative of the political ruthlessness that’s overtaken evangelical Republicans.

They are inflexible about policy positions even when the Bible is silent or vague.

They are flexible about morality even when the Bible is clear.

I don’t understand this one bit.

I reminded of the passage, Matthew 7:15-20.

Watch out for false prophets.

They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.

By their fruit you will recognize them.

Do people pick grapes from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles?

Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.

A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.

Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.

politics itself
mass of lies, evasions, folly
schizophrenia

In our time, political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.

The inflated style is itself a kind of euphemism.

A mass of Latin words falls upon the facts like soft snow, blurring the outlines and covering up all the details. The great enemy of clear language is insincerity.

When there is a gap between one’s real and one’s declared aims, one turns as it were instinctively to long words and exhausted idioms, like a cuttlefish squirting out ink.

In our age there is no such thing as ‘keeping out of politics’.

All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.

From Politics and the English Language (1946) by George Orwell as it appeared in the book, Shooting an Elephant and Other Essays. These essays were written during the period 1931-1949. While they have been published individually, they were published together in a Collected Works in 1968.

This essay, was written in the year after the end of World War 2, by the author of the book, 1984.

A time perhaps more hopeful as good triumphed over evil and at the same time more despondent with the advent of the atomic bomb and the revelation of the holocaust.

Mr. Orwell writes, “A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks.”

Chicken or egg?

Signs of the problems were evident to Mr. Orwell in the way folks used the English language.

As in 1946, so today, … political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.

The new Speaker of the House has spoken out on he is guided by his Christian Faith and that, despite the evidence, feels that the 2020 election was stolen which means countless witnesses and courts are all part of the lying.

And when the new Speaker defends the indefensible, watch his use of language.

The defense of the indefensible.

Watch for long words and exhausted idioms.

Mr. Orwell does offer some hope or a sign of hope.

Continue to look at the use of language.

Mr. Orwell writes, “The slovenliness of our language makes it easier for us to have foolish thoughts. The point is that the process is reversible.

 If one gets rid of these habits one can think more clearly, and to think clearly is a necessary first step towards political regeneration.”

Once CAN think more clearly.

To think clearly is a necessary first step towards political regeneration.

Boy howdy, but I cannot for the life of me think of the last time I heard or read anything having to do with Government, elections or candidates that in any way referenced the concept of ‘thinking clearly.’

As Big Bill put it … ’tis a consummation devoutly to be wish’d.”

And we can take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing end them.

Just watch your language.

gift of hope remained
through his misfortunes his hope
was proximity

The gift of hope had remained with Pat through his misfortunes–and the valuable alloy of his hope was proximity.

Above all things one must stick around, one must be there when the glazed, tired mind of the producer grappled with the question ‘Who?’

So presently Pat wandered out of the drug-store, and crossed the street to the lot that was home.

From The Complete Pat Hobby Stories: Pat Hobby and Orson Welles by F. Scott Fitzgerald, Esquire Magazine, May, 1940.

I so so so want this news cycle to end.

There is a name of a person in the news I would pay cash money to never hear again.

There is a story told during the era of FDR of a rich man who arrived at his office everyday, got out of his limo and bought a paper from the nearest paper boy, looked at the headlines and handed it back.

“What are you looking for Mister?” asked the paperboy one day.

“An obituary,” said the rich man.

“But Mister,” said the paperboy, “Obits aren’t on the front page!“

“The one I am waiting for will be.“

I am slowly becoming hardened to the fact that I may not live to see a resolution of this news cycle in my favor.

But the alloy of my hope is proximity.

Above ALL THINGS one must stick around.

One must be there.

I tell my kids (quoting Jim Harrison though they don’t know it) that the list of folks who get fired for being late to work is as long as my arm.

STICK AROUND.

BE THERE.

As the State of South Carolina license plates say, While I Breathe, I Hope!

‘Scuse me while I run out and buy a paper.