zil

Wait, is this my ex!? Who let you back in here?!

Clearly she was insane.

Also depressing because that's gotta be a bad way to die (for the poor goldfish).

Yeah, chocolate-covered ants. Mmmmm. (Yes, I'm joking, no, I've never eaten chocolate-covered ants, though I watched a friend do it...)

Somebody needs some happy thoughts sent his way! Try reading the Revelation of St. John... No, wait, that's not the one.... Ummm.... Try Luke 2, that oughta cheer you up!

How many books are in the shelter? Cuz if there are enough books, I'm goin' in! No books? I think I'll give up now. PC is taking this waaaay too seriously.

At least it wasn't your wife telling you that was the plan...

In case anyone is interested, the letters were well received. Thus far I've gotten texts from my sister-in-law asking questions on behalf of my youngest niece - with photos, a texting conversation from the oldest nephew - with a photo, an email from my sister-in-law, and letters from my nieces today (one consisting of a drawing, the other a letter). I'd say we're off to a good start. Thanks the all the ideas - I'll implement them as we go and as I'm able!

So in a pinch, you can use them to make soap?

If that's necessary, the world is in worse shape that I thought, cuz I've never killed or dressed an animal, but I have know for as long as I can remember (from childhood) that meat is parts of dead animals - e.g. hamburger, steak, and liver came from cow, chicken and turkey were birds, pork chops came from pigs.... I'm reasonably certain I learned this from my parents. Quite possibly related to scriptural animal sacrifices, but I really don't remember.

Hey! A cow from Ork! Who knew they had cows there too! Also, I figured they called themselves Orkians, or Orkites, or Orki, Orkans, Orkish, basically anything other than Orkers, but I guess they can call themselves anything they want, right?

As mentioned once before, it's not "Daylight Saving Time" - it's "Daylight Shifty Time" - cuz nothing is saved, but something is definitely shifted. Further, last Sunday, it was revealed to me that the current DST rules for the US were designed by Satan to try the saints... Stay with me here... 1) DST starts on the second Sunday of March. On the day DST starts, we go from 01:59:59 to 03:00:00, thus losing one hour, making that Sunday only 23 hours long. 2) DST ends on the first Sunday of November. On the day DST ends, we go from 01:59:59 back to 01:00:00, thus gaining one hour, making that Sunday 25 hours long. 3) The first Sunday of the month is fast Sunday, when we must go without food for 24 hours (or 2 meals at least) and when we do NOT have to prepare or eat food, thus giving us spare time (and a strong desire for time to move faster). On every other Sunday, we want time to slow down so we have time to do everything we need to before church. 4) A merciful God would have given us one less hour on one fast Sunday a year, and one extra hour on anything other than fast Sunday. But no, the DST rules are exactly opposite - forcing us to endure a 25-hour fast once a year, and denying us an extra hour on any other Sunday when it would have been a great blessing. Clearly, this DST a demonic plan.

It also discourages the best in us: hard work, generosity, selflessness, honesty, etc. And encourages the worst: laziness, greed, selfishness, lies, corruption, etc. That is evil.

Maybe he wants to keep the moths away as long as possible...

I'll make a leftie of you yet!

It's not hard to make someone look like what they are, wingnut!

Did you say *unions*?! I don't think I can take any more shock tonight. (It probably means you're a total geek. )

Next you'll be wearing pink(o)! (just joking)

Which is why I'm opposed to all forms of tax except retail sales tax. At the end of the day, the individual pays all taxes anyway (either directly or because the cost of taxes is passed on to him), so cut the bureaucratic nonsense, make it all transparent, and charge just this one tax - yes, the tax amount would be far higher than the item's price, but it already is. Plus we can fire lots of people who work in tax collection and payment and let them go do something productive. (I would even say that no one should pay taxes to the feds except the state - and only one entity collects the taxes - maybe it's the city or county or state, but nothing larger than that.) Done correctly, costs of government, business, and life should all go down purely because it's simpler to manage. Of course, it'll never happen, because complexity is far easier to corrupt than simplicity; and government loses a lot of its power when things are transparent and simple.

So, Needle, which of these political systems would you like Calgon to take you to? FEUDALISM: You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk. PURE SOCIALISM: You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. You have to take care of all the cows. The government gives you a glass of milk. BUREAUCRATIC SOCIALISM: You have two cows, which are cared for by ex-chicken-farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took from the chicken farmers. The government gives you as much milk and eggs as the regulations say you should need. FASCISM: You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them, and sells you the milk. NAZIISM: You have two cows. One of them denounces the other for "Non-Aryan Ruminations". STALINISM: You once had two cows but nobody seems to know where they are now. PURE COMMUNISM: You share two cows with your neighbors. You and your neighbors bicker about who has the most "ability" and who has the most "need". Meanwhile, no one works, no one gets any milk, and the cows drop dead of starvation. RUSSIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk. You steal back as much milk as you can and sell it on the black market. CHINESE COMMUNISM: You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk. You steal back as much milk as you can and sell it on the open market. PERESTROIKA: You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the Mafia takes all the milk. You steal back as much milk as you can and sell to the Chinese government. GLASNOST: You have two cows. They emigrate to Israel. CAMBODIAN COMMUNISM: You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots you. CAMBODIAN DICTATORSHIP: You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you. PURE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors tell you who gets the milk. REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY: You have two cows. Your neighbors pick someone to tell you who gets the milk. PURE ANARCHY: You have two cows. Either you sell the milk at a fair price or your neighbors will try to take the cows and kill you. BUREAUCRACY: You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. Then it pays you not to feed them. Then it shoots the cows to keep them from starving. Then the government requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows. NEW-DEALISM: You have two cows. The government takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. MCCARTHYISM: You have two cows. The government investigates you for "Animal Husbandry". REGULATED CAPITALISM: You don't have any cows. The bank will not lend you money to buy cows, because you don't have any cows to put up as collateral. FREE CAPITALISM: You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull. SURREALISM: You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons. LBJ NEW SOCIETY: You don't have any cows. The government gives you a lot of bull. REAGANOMICS: You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government milks them and takes the milk. Anything that trickles down onto the barn floor is yours. CLINTON TOWN MEETING: You have two cows. One of them is actually quite attractive.

My favorite bit was when he described the number of hits he got on facebook as usually reserved for "pop stars and kitten videos". Which just shows how far gone we are - that posts about pop stars would get as many hits as those about things that are actually worthwhile...

That doesn't mean we aren't going in the wrong direction - we are, and we should turn around and run in the other.

We are nowhere near it! Yes, we have corruption beyond anyone's knowing (except those in it), and we have lots of other problems, but we are nowhere near as bad off as the average Russian was when I was there.

Actually, my experience is that things will be a bit different. I base this on what I observed while working (as a contract employee for a US company) at the US Embassy in Moscow, Russia for three years in the early 1990s (how's that for blowing my anonymity?). 1) There will be die-hard believers who tolerate their miserable existence (they go to work and do a mediocre job - cuz doing better would look bad and doing worse would be unpatriotic; they live in dingy conditions, their government is totally corrupt - though they may not believe this; etc.). They think anyone who is better off than them is a criminal and thief. They'll stand in line at the government stores and complain that it's some evil person's fault when supplies run out before they get to the front of the line, but they won't do anything about it - because that's the government's job. This will be the majority. 2) There will be those who recognize the stupidity of it all and want something better, so they turn to "crime" to get better things: they'll work at the auto-manufacturing plant (for example) and steal pieces of a car one at a time until they can assemble it for themselves or for sale (cuz the only other way to get a car is connections or other corruption). They'll work _hard_ (a cardinal sin in the communist world - you don't work harder, you don't work less, you work exactly as you are expected - least common denominator stuff); they'll find things, make things, sell things that you can't get anywhere except the black market. There will be comparatively few of these people. 3) There will be those (just like in our own country) who lust for power, they want to be part of the elite. They will do anything to be part of the elite. They will either rise in government (usually through abuse of power and brutality, sometimes through other crimes, never honestly); or they will become a crime boss (often using force to get control over the people in #2 above). These people will use their power and influence to live _far_ above all the rest of the population. 4) There will be the few who see and try to fight the evil with integrity. They may excel at their work (they'll be hated by co-workers and punished by "superiors"). They may try to make political changes (they'll be thrown in prisons, insane asylums (trust me, death would be better than these places), or gulags). It will end when the economic power of crime takes over the controlling power of government. Then it will go through other phases of power struggle. It will go on for a long, long time. I'm not sure yet how it will end, except that the good news is, one day, the world will end. Anyone who _wants_ to live in a mortal*, communist state, doesn't have any clue what they're talking about (or they're a lazy bum who is satisfied with the bare necessities (which are sometimes too long in coming), and want someone else to do all the thinking). *Some people rightly desire the kind of bounty and equality which will exist in the celestial kingdom, and there's nothing wrong with this. But they seem under the delusion that mortal man can make that happen without it being governed by the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's just not possible.

I cannot begin to guess why Carson would endorse Trump. It makes me think my original judgement of Carson was wrong. Meanwhile, we'll see if this works. Attached is a graphic of a spreadsheet my brother is maintaining as the primaries occur. While Trump has won the most and has the highest percentages, there are still more than enough delegates for someone else to win.