Breakfast

"When the toast is burned and all the milk is turned
And Cap'n Crunch is wavin' farewell,
When the big one finds you may this song remind you
They don't serve breakfast in Hell..."

Yes, it is early in the morning, now that you ask, and thoughts of food are making their way through my brain. w00t! shirt today was Continental Breakfast:

That is actually a pretty healthy continental breakfast, I'd say. But what ran through my mind was:
PANCAKES.

I like blueberry pancakes, except if I watch "The Cry of the Owl" the night before. I didn't watch it last night, so I might throw blueberries in mine this morning. We have company, so I naturally thought of pancakes because it's a good dish to cover more than one person at a time.

Then I got started thinking: it has been my observation over the years that most people make pancakes harder than they need to be!! Aunt Jemima and Bisquick sell lots of boxes full of flour and chemicals every year to people who do not realize how simple the batter is and fail to recognize that most of their problem is not having the right thing to cook them on or to use the right heat.

A big skillet, preferable non-stick, will work for one or two at a time. Real pancake men/women use a griddle, either an electric one or a stovetop one, depending on how good they are with their stovetop. If you have a nice cast iron griddle and a gas stovetop that you use all the time, I am probably not telling you anything you do not already know. Otherwise, stick to an electric griddle. If you don't have one, buy your parents a new one for Christmas and take their old one - the old one will likely be a better, heavier griddle.

Temperature. In days of yore, the griddle was the right temperature when a drop of water would blithely dance around the surface like a woodland sprite, or some semblance thereof. I like to say 375-380 degrees F. Electric griddles like to tell you 425, because you get it that hot, throw the batter on and it cools down to around 380 while it cooks. I always stick mine a hair over 375 and have always been happy.

If your griddle is nonstick, wipe it off and go for it. There actually is enough oil/butter in your pancake mix to keep them from sticking once they are ready to turn or take up. They will stick if it is too early. Warning to tuck away for later.

But, that brings us to the batter. Easy as pie. Actually, easier than pie, or cake for that matter. Get a good sized pitcher, thrown in some milk - 3/4 to 1 cup or so, 2 tbl of cooking oil, and an egg and mix that around until it is consistent. Throw in a cup of flour, a teaspoon of baking powder, a tablespoon of sugar and a dash of salt, mix that all together and you're done. Glob out as much as you want on the griddle, and let it sit there past when little bubbles form and break, then flip them for a bit. The second side cooks a lot faster. Then you're done.

Variations - use some powdered buttermilk/water instead of milk. In that case, throw in a half teaspoon of baking soda. You don't need the baking powder, but I leave it in anyway. Add chocolate chips. Add blueberries. In either case, sprinkle the additives on after you put the batter on the griddle. Use melted butter or margarine instead of oil. Throw in a 1/2 tsp of vanilla.

Always use good syrup, too, with or without butter/margarine. Makes all the difference in the world.

Enjoy!

Is there Hope after Change?

My (?)th cousin Norma sent me the following in the email last night. It was an email from her sister, who I suppose is also my cousin but with whom I have no special contact. We share a common great-grandfather and great-grandmother; our grandmothers were sisters

Hello everyone,

Did you know that Abraham Lincoln was a candidate in 2012? How about the 'thought' that a shirt with the name of this great President and the mention of the Constitution is considered campaigning?  I was told that I either had to turn my shirt inside out or keep it completely covered with my book at all times! I think Abe must be turning in his grave!!! Only in New Mexico!!!

I am sure that, unlike many of the Scopes denied anecdotal emails we find today, this is actually true. As Marty Luther said, "this is most certainly true"?

One of my favorite pastimes is to quote: "whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness". Most people, probably 75%, tell me that is too radical an idea for them to support.

Trying to convince someone that "No freeman is to be taken or imprisoned or disseised of his free tenement or of his liberties or free customs, or outlawed or exiled or in any way ruined, nor will we go against such a man or send against him save by lawful judgement of his peers or by the law of the land. To no-one will we sell or deny of delay right or justice" is downright impossible, let alone "In the first place we grant to God and confirm by this our present charter for ourselves and our heirs in perpetuity that the English Church is to be free and to have all its rights fully and its liberties entirely."

I am not mad about the election results; I'm not feeling like a spoiled kid who had his candy taken away; I'm sincerely afraid. Truly a government big enough to give you anything you want is strong enough to take away everything you have.

My brother Mike was a career Air Force officer and, while he was in, finished a bachelor's in history, a master's in public administration and, after retiring, his law degree.  He won the Elks "What Freedom Means to Me" essay contest when there was one, and in Wyoming where freedom is and was appreciably different.

In our lifetime the country we know has slowly disappeared, taken bit by bit until it has been completely stolen by the forces we sought to defend ourselves from for years. Nikita Khrushchev was right - they will bury us. Dire Straits had it right - Money for Nothing (and your chicks for free - I always thought that was a strange line from a gay Mark Knopfler until I realized they were laughing at someone else's conversation).

I went to bed early while there was still question. I haven't yet looked at all of the election results. It may be time for us to change our name and move down with our cousins in the southwest. More likely it is a good time for Constitutionists to move to New Mexico or Arizona and open carry their firearms.

{Footnote - I actually saw a man open carrying his automatic in the grocery store the other day. I coveted the piece - a really nice stainless over black Kimber. Strapped in the holster but locked and cocked, undoubtedly one in the chamber - I like to remember this: Warning shot? Slide racking? The last sound the perp should hear is you clicking off your safety!}

I pray that my fears are unjustified and wrong. But, if 1/10 of what I see happening actually happens, the world is changing forever.

The Message (MSG)

26-28 Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

I once wrote about being 8:28'ed to death.  http://jimpondering.blogspot.com/2012/06/decisions-and-contentment-or-828ed-to.html,
as a matter of fact. So, here I am again, writing about it again, prompted by Dr. Stanley, http://www.intouch.org/Content/27938/LP110626.pdf, again.  This actually all started because I thought it would be something good to pass on to my friend Stephanie; she never needs to be 8:28'ed, she has had more trials in her life than you can shake a stick at (where did that phrase ever come from, any way? Oh, never mind for now). I've talked with her about it ad infinitum ad nauseum. still ...


Digging past the 90%+ of most theological/practical/homilistic interpretations you get around to the concept of being prepared to do something really important. Where we all typically fail AND where we most need to help each other is to figure out how, where, why to apply what God has prepared in each of us.

So, when life stinks (we say stinks instead of sucks because it is a more socially acceptable word choice, eh?) we can search for the way to deodorize it; it's usually right there in front of us, too.

Look at Chuck's notes. They pretty much say it all. Again.

Fun and Games with the Emergency Room

So, last Friday (a week ago today) I sat around from around 11 am on toying with the idea of calling 911. I was having what I guess is best identified as shortness of breath. I could breathe fairly deeply and rapidly, but still did not feel like I was getting enough to breathe. If that isn't "shortness of breath", then call it what you want; but, that's what I had. Also, it felt like someone had a wide belt around me just at the end of my breastbone and was gently pulling backward. This was not the classic elephant on the chest syndrome, just a minor discomfort. Finally, I had an ache, quite akin to and later attributed by my doctor as being due to a pulled muscle, from under my left ear down the carotid/jugular region to the clavicle, across the clavicle to the ac joint (achromioclavicular, if you wish) and down the front and middle of the bicep to my elbow. Not a shooting, yes mildly warm and somewhat characterizable as burning, mostly an aching. Periodically from 11 on I felt a bit woozy, and I don't think my brain was clicking on all cylinders through there.

So, when Peg called at 5:30 to see if she needed to stop at the store I told her no, but I'm about to call 911 unless you think you want to take me.

On the way out to Methodist West, she asked why I had not called 911 or her earlier. Here my sarcastic, skeptical, cynical (true?) nature came out. Quote: "Every time I go with symptoms like this, they put me in the little room, give me an IV, give me nitroglycerin, do some tests, tell me they don't know what's going on and send me home. I thought I'd skip the middle man this time and stay home."

Then, too, in 2001 I went in, they even did an angiogram, told me they couldn't find anything wrong. They did not, in retrospect, do an ultrasound of my gall bladder, like the one they did only 2 weeks later in Orlando where I ended up in the hospital for 8 days and never saw Disneyworld. So, skepticism and cynicism? Yeah, maybe¿

So we got out to Methodist West, they did an EKG, blood tests including cardiac enzymes, hung an IV, had me chew baby aspirin (still as  yucky as they were when I was a kid), and put a nitroglycerin under my tongue. Then they asked if the nitro helped, and I was foolish enough to respond "maybe", so they wrote in my chart that nitroglycerin had made a big difference in relieving pain. Since, at the time, I had not been in pain and had noticed little if any effect, I find that a remarkable comment. The cardiac enzymes said none of the muscles had been beaten up yet. But, there was this thing called a d-dimer. I always thought that would be somebody who saved 10-cent coins made at the Denver mint. Lo and behold, we significantly increased the sum total of man's knowledge with a quick trip to Wikipedia:

• "D-dimer is a fibrin degradation product (or FDP), a small protein fragment present in the blood after a blood clot is degraded by fibrinolysis. It is so named because it contains two crosslinked D fragments of the fibrinogen protein. D-dimer concentration may be determined by a blood test to help diagnose thrombosis. Since its introduction in the 1990s, it has become an important test performed in patients suspected of thrombotic disorders. While a negative result practically rules out thrombosis, a positive result can indicate thrombosis but does not rule out other potential causes."

 So, I had a positive d-dimer, and they did a spiral cat scan to check for a pulmonary embolism or thrombosis, aka a blood clot in the lungs, like Captain Phil on "Deadliest Catch".

Nope. Couldn't see anything.

But, they decided I should be their guest for the evening, ran me upstairs, wired me up and then did another round of blood tests at midnight, just after I was asleep (of course). I fooled them in the morning though - I was already awake when they came in to poke me at 6.

My doctor was actually the duty doc for Iowa Clinic, so she came in, and we agreed that after they finished negative enzymes I should go home, since cardio don't work weekends unless it's like an emergency bypass or whatever, and get set for a stress and an echo outpatient. But, then slightly after noon I turned white as a sheet, apparently, and my telemetry showed junctional rhythm phasing in and out of sinus bradycardia (look em up if you want to) and a low pulse rate and blood pressure. Great. What-e'ver. The nurse didn't want to send me home; Dr. Taylor told her send me home anyway. I came home.

So this time it was more than 4 hours, the hospital food was pretty much OK but nothing to write home about, and I knew very little if anything more about my health after than I did before.

They said cardio would call on Monday. I'm still waiting. I have felt poopy about half the time this week. Who knows what's going on? We'll see next time.

Guns

This should be a simple post; but, it won't be. I am trying to make a simple statement; but, it can't be. However I put this, someone will take offense or exception or opposition; but, here I go anyway.

For historical background: I learned to shoot when I was 6 with my Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. But, you "Christmas Story" fans, before I could shoot it at all, I had to be able to show my father, WWII veteran of the US Marine Corps, all the parts that were visible and explain their function. If you could have field stripped a Red Ryder I would have had to do so, and put it back together blindfolded, I am sure. I only shot at a target set up in the garage on a backstop built according to Daisy and NRA design standards. [I remember going to the lumber yard, since we had those back then, with mom. She had the plans and the materials list. The two guys at the yard were either bored or took pity on a woman, both highly likely in Oklahoma in the 50's, fired up their 12" radial arm and cut to specification every piece of wood required in the backstop, for free of course, and loaded 'em into the back of the car.] My brother and I each had a Daisy BB air rifle, my Red Ryder and his pump. The only thing we saw was NRA official targets up through Pro-Marksman, Marksman, Marksman First-Class bar, Sharpshooter, all 9 (yes, nine) Sharpshooter bars, and the Expert Rifleman, 15-ft air rifle class.

Although I never made it, my brother, nearly blind as a bat with no depth perception and astigmatism that would cause an elephant to turn his head, made Distinguished Rifleman. That required what seemed like a half a zillion perfect targets to achieve. Nothing at all for Mike.

We got a .22 single shot next. We only shot it at the outdoor range set up on one of the Standard properties near Oklahoma City, a recreation area for employees only. Again at targets.

At the age of 11 or so, we could take the BB guns to our grandfather's farm and hunt pigeons and sparrows. Had we nailed a mockingbird, our grandmother would have skinned us alive. We also got to go squirrel and quail hunting with our grandfather. This is a Winchester Model  74 semi-automatic rifle in .22 short. It was my grandfather's, it was manufactured in 1939, and it is an example of fine American craftsmanship. My grandfather, quite literally, could have driven nails with this at 100 yards with open sights. When my cousin, Bill, brought it out one day and gave it to me saying that Grandpa and Grandma had specifically told him to give it to me, I cried. [It is, by the way, on the shop wall with the spinning rod my dad bought me when I was 6 and my dad's spinning rod and his favorite bass plug].

"Daddy Bill" hunted quail, rabbits and squirrels for the most part - occasionally maybe a dove or two and, at the time, a blackbird (4 and twenty in a pie, you know?) - for food. If you were an annoying wild dog or cat or a wolf (yep, still had them in OK in the 50's) or coyote, you didn't want to get within 200 yards of the house. Not only Grandpa, but my grandmother was known more than once to lay that Winchester across the window sill and pop anything that had been chasing her mockingbirds. She didn't miss, either.

Now, the point of this post: under the definitions as proposed by good old Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi and Harry Byrd, this is an assault rifle. It is magazine fed and hold 20 shells at a time, so it is capable of firing 20 rounds in far less than a minute. Probably more like 10 seconds - as fast as you can pull the trigger. I saw today in the Facebook posts from the National Association for Gun Rights that a 92-yr-old WWII veteran had used a .22 to protect himself from 3 intruders. They came in through the basement, he heard them, called 911, and sat waiting with his .22 pointed at the basement door. The last thing the first intruder heard after kicking in the basement door was the report from the slug that hit "center mass", as we say, and nicked some blood vessel quite near the heart. His two buddies dragged him out, took off in their car, and were found, a couple of blocks away, shaking in their seats with their then-dead companion in the back seat.

I guess that makes it an assault rifle, too. It can kill people. I have a daughter who is quite against guns, and, as she points out, guns are made for one purpose and this is to kill. Some folks will argue about shooting targets, but hey, what is the purpose of becoming a marksman? So you can kill trees? I think not. Animals, including people - that's what guns are used to shoot.

If my wife, children or grandchildren (or me, I suppose) were being threatened bodily harm by someone, I would not hesitate to use a gun if I had one to protect them. My dad also taught that if you always fight to win or you don't bother to get in the fight. I suppose those are also separate debates.

My son claims he had met Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold before (obviously before) Columbine, lived in Littleton at the time. I went to Virginia Tech and had classess in Norris Hall, home of my major in environmental sciences and engineering. We have a good friend who lives 6 blocks away from the theater in Aurora. It's a small world. That doen't mean we are any more or any less safe. It just points out that evil wanders all around and when you least expect it you're elected.

My brother was an attorney. He had two Glock 10mm semi-automatic pistols, an M-1 Garand rifle, a Saiga semi-automatic shotgun, and heaven only knows what else. None of these were designed for hunting game, and he would admit it. They were to defend himself and his family AND (here it comes) for the real reason that the right to keep and bear arms shall not be abridged:

when a government becomes destructive of the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it

and Mike was always quick to point out that the driving factor of the 2nd amendment is to ensure that "we the people" can protect ourselves from the government. It took me a while to understand this. Now I completely agree with him. And, in that event, the people need military weapons. [Somewhat arguably, I believe that the founding fathers never even gave a second thought to hunting weapons. It would have been assumed that everyone needed their hunting rifle and shotgun. I believe they specifically addressed the right, and the necessity, of the citizenry to have access to arms to protect themselves from oppression. Period.]

I could go into a long rambling (like this isn't already?) discussion of "when guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns", the un-worth of gun-free zones, why banning guns is a poor idea, etc. etc. But I shan't. I am just going to say that I see a LOT on the line through this election. If you don't know or care about the UN gun treaty, I won't bore you for now - google it and see what it is and how people other than "we the people" can subject us to laws we didn't ask for.

Well, anyway, that is it for now. Very simply - we all have the right and, if you were my brother, the obligation to keep and bear arms for military purposes and for self defense. I shall speak more of this later, I just wanted to dump some of this out there today. Thanks for reading, if you do.

Jim

Pro-death vs. Anti-choice Politics, or Parenting?

In my Town Hall email today, I learned about a baby who should have been aborted, according to her obstetrician, and when the parents said no, he refused to continue to treat the mother and daughter-to-be.
http://pearljoybrown.wordpress.com/

http://townhall.com/columnists/marybethhicks/2012/09/05/given_a_fighting_chance_little_pearl_thrives/page/full/

This really is not anything new in the world, it is just a reminder, and a reminder coincident with a Presidential election during which these things have been made political when they are anything BUT politics.

They were not political to my nephew and his wife when their daughter was born at 21 weeks. Now, Mark has a big hand, admittedly, but still it's a hand - and Grace was still smaller than his hand. Historically, and legally, there have been parents and hospitals who would have tucked her in one of those clear hospital baby holder thingies in the corner with no attention, instead of the incubator and constant attention she got, and waited for her to turn from a live baby to a dead blob of tissue (sorry if you read this Mark - it's about the concept, certainly not about our miracle).

They were not political to my classmate Stephanie when her daughter was born at full term, bounced around healthy as could be, and suddenly became the "case in point" that introduced too many of us to Group B Streptococcus. I don't like strep throats anyway; but, this is a strep spine and brain. As Stephanie and Travis watched helplessly but lovingly, Baby Thumper, aka Samantha, went from absolutely "normal" (a meaningful yet worthless concept) to having her brain completely and literally devoured by bacteria. This is not just having a sore throat - this is watching MRI's progressively showing more and more void space in her head until the brain was 80% gone and Sammy no longer had the electrical activity to stay living. Stephanie is a Director of Christian Education and Travis is a Pastor, so their trip has been heavily faith affected. You can find Stephanie's blog, the pictures as previously linked, and a Caring Bridge detailed story if you write to Stephanie for the link.

These are two wanted children with different outcomes. Pearl Joy Brown now enters the same arena. What can you do for her? What would you do for her? How would you treat her or have treated her if she were yours? Why? How do you feel?

Oh, by the way - I don't know who is Republican and who is Democrat here. All I know is who are parents.

Protect and Defend Your Right to the Establishment of a Religion, and the Free Exercise Thereof – Part III

Protect and Defend Your Right to the Establishment of a Religion, and the Free Exercise Thereof – Part III

I was listening to an Andy Stanley sermon on iTunes this afternoon when the doorbell rang. It was Chris Hagenow, my state representative, doing the door-to-door thing for this fall’s election. Now, I don’t know if Chris is Republicrat or Democan, and I don’t care. He emails his constitutents, I email him, he always writes back, takes what I talk about and explains how he is carrying the views of his constituents into the snakepit Iowa House of Representatives. At least it isn’t the Iowa State Senate where he has to put up with dingbat Gronstal on a regular basis.

But, I digress. Yes, I am going to vote for him again and would recommend you do so too if you have the opportunity. But, as we were talking, he mentioned that he hadn’t seen a new blog from me for a while. Just knowing that anyone else reads these things inspired me to go ahead and get back on the keyboard. And, knowing it was Chris kind of puffed me up and pepped me up.

This is the third in a series. It is longer than a typical blog, because this is a really detailed topic that I feel very strongly about. Very simply, it is time for all citizens, let alone all Christians, all Disciples of our Lord, to fight for the right to establish their religion and to exercise thereof freely.

Let’s get clear on this. Please, understand completely from the outset how strongly I feel here. This is what Doug Giles had to say that kicked my mind in to “prolific writing” status:

The Church needs the biblical rebel spirit of our founders injected back into the evangelical mix instead of this squishy, pusillanimous, ignoble and compliant crapola that’s currently cranking through our indolent pulpits and pews. God help the Church to lose its cowardly, effeminate bent in these critical days. Amen. – Doug Giles

I always said that, when the revolution comes and they are lining up people who they try and find to be guilty of Christianity, they would grab me, stab me and slab me without a trial, that there would no need to find evidence, that my true colors are clear. You shall know we are Christians by our love, and there are a lot more reasons that you should know I am a Christian.

As a Disciple of our Lord, you might ask, what is it that I fundamentally believe. Lots of things are variable and optional among those I know to be Disciples and those who profess to be Christians, but the salient points of import to me are:

1.       The Great Commission – found in Matthew 28:16-20

It is our job, directly commanded to Disciples by the Lord, to go into the world and preach the gospel to everybody. Not just the ones who want to hear it, not just where we want to go, not just where they want us to go. It’s like Stansfield in The Professional screaming”I MEAN EVERYBODY!!!”

2.       One Way – found in John 3

Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

3.       One End – found in Revelation 21:

Conquerors inherit all this. I’ll be God to them, they’ll be sons and daughters to me. But for the rest—the feckless and faithless —for them it’s Lake Fire and Brimstone. Second death!"

Conveniently, Doug Giles then brought up 4 points that he proposed as talking points. Then he did not do a lot of talking. Silly boy. That leaves room for me to talk, right?

Point, the First

Some dainty saints of today think rebellion against tyrants is disobedience to God, when the converse is actually true.

One of the greatest learnings of a Disciple is discernment; that pretty much either follows or leads to willingness to buck the flow, another key ingredient in life according to the Voice of Truth.

The “unknown epistle writer” tells us in the letter to the Hebrews in the 5^th and 6^th chapters:

By this time you ought to be teachers yourselves, yet here I find you need someone to sit down with you and go over the basics on God again, starting from square one—baby’s milk, when you should have been on solid food long ago! Milk is for beginners, inexperienced in God’s ways; solid food is for the mature, who have some practice in telling right from wrong. So come on, let’s leave the preschool fingerpainting exercises on Christ and get on with the grand work of art. Grow up in Christ.

Practice in telling right from wrong. Easily said, difficult initially to discern. God makes it pretty clear to me in His Word that right is right and wrong is wrong; but, the world of today, post modern as it is, has phased to a state of relative truth. Relative analysis is dangerous, because what we end up with what I think is right may be wrong for you, what I think is wrong may be right for you, and we both are right and wrong at the same time.

Sol Davidson, who was pretty much regarded as the smartest man around then and could have given Hawking , Freud, Kant, Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and Einstein a run for their money, in the 29^th chapter of his book of witticisms says:

  1 For people who hate discipline and only get more stubborn, There’ll come a day when life tumbles in and they break, but by then it’ll be too late to help them. 2 When good people run things, everyone is glad, but when the ruler is bad, everyone groans. 3 If you love wisdom, you’ll delight your parents, but you’ll destroy their trust if you run with whores. 4 A leader of good judgment gives stability; an exploiting leader leaves a trail of waste. 5 A flattering neighbor is up to no good; he’s probably planning to take advantage of you. 6 Evil people fall into their own traps; good people run the other way, glad to escape. 7 The good-hearted understand what it’s like to be poor; the hardhearted haven’t the faintest idea. 8 A gang of cynics can upset a whole city; a group of sages can calm everyone down. 9 A sage trying to work things out with a fool gets only scorn and sarcasm for his trouble. 10 Murderers hate honest people; moral folks encourage them. 11 A fool lets it all hang out; a sage quietly mulls it over. 12 When a leader listens to malicious gossip, all the workers get infected with evil. 13 The poor and their abusers have at least something in common: they can both see—their sight, GOD’s gift! 14 Leadership gains authority and respect when the voiceless poor are treated fairly. 15 Wise discipline imparts wisdom; spoiled adolescents embarrass their parents. 16 When degenerates take charge, crime runs wild, but the righteous will eventually observe their collapse. 17 Discipline your children; you’ll be glad you did—they’ll turn out delightful to live with.

My first thought to discuss that popped immediately out of this is: “When good people run things, everyone is glad, but when the ruler is bad, everyone groans.” True then, true now, shall be true forever.  And, another line worth noting especially is “A sage trying to work things out with a fool gets only scorn and sarcasm for his trouble.” And, finally, “Discipline your children; you’ll be glad you did—they’ll turn out delightful to live with.”

The same principles are equally or moreso true with respect to tyrants and kings.

Next time:

Point, the Second

A lot of evangelicals would rather live as government slaves than live and die as free men.