Swallowing Camels (American Revelation XXII, Five.)

Then spoke Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,

Saying The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat:

All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.

For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men's shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.

But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,

And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,

And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.

But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.

And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.

Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.

But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.

And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows' houses, and for a pretense make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.

Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!

Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifies the gold?

And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever swears by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.

Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifies the gift?

Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, swears by it, and by all things thereon.

And whoso shall swear by the temple, swears by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.

And he that shall swear by heaven, swears by the throne of God, and by him that sit thereon.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cumin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.

Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchers, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness.

Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.

Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchers of the righteous,

And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.

Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.

Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.

Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

~Matthew 23:1-33

I saw this several days ago. I've been intending to write about it.

"Abolish Abortion, Ban All Porn, Put Jesus First."

But then, I've been busy.

My partner got a house, well, mobile home, but to us that's still a house.

So starting a week ago I was organizing and packing stuff and literally stuffing the car. Moving heavy book-boxes while mumbling "I love you, honey." I took the stuff down on Tuesday 'cause that's when we were both gonna have the time and she'd had to work that day and the day after. I had to work Monday night myself. I did, then came home, got three hours of sleep and got on the road.

I went my normal way down, to Mount Pleasant where we used to live and both worked at the casino, so I could pay my car insurance and add full coverage to her car. She lives out in the country again and is terrified of hitting a deer. So I told her I'd do it. Then I headed across to where she's at now, not as far as she was before, though, and it's an area I know for the most part but where she lives wasn't one of those places.

So anyway when I got closer to her new place I had to use Google Maps and on literally the last turn Google Maps did me dirty, not telling me to turn until I was half a car-length past it.

There was a tan Pontiac behind me, and I thought it might be my partner so I'm like "Please let that not be her, please let that not be her" ad infinitum. I let the car turn and then backed up and turned myself, of course Google sent me around the loop even though I could see where that car had parked.

It was her.

I got out, went and knocked on the door, it opened and I'm immediately greeted with "ARE YOU THE FUCKING DUMBASS THAT WAS STOPPED IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD?!?!"

I look at my shoes "Yes, honey."

"GET YOUR ASS IN HERE, I WANNA GET MY STUFF!"

So I go in, she smiled "I'd tell you to pull up a chair but there aren't any, I don't get most of my furniture until tomorrow." I went to use the bathroom and by the time I got back out there she and the kiddo, who I hadn't seen before, had already started unloading the car. When they got the stuff in, they started unpacking with a fury. 

My partner was literally weeping tears of joy unpacking her books including her personal Bible and Vet Tech textbooks. The kiddo, happily taking her pick of other stuff that I brought and the Monsters and snacks I'd packed.

We hung out for a few hours, she showed me around the house and we went into town and went to Walmart and the grocery store and the tobacco shop. After that, just a quick embrace and a kiss and I told her it was only right to leave her to her space for a bit before she had to go to bed.

You can take a lot of things away from a man. Cigarettes, the gym. You can take his freedom, his legs, but not his feelings. Not his feelings. A man loves a woman. Don't matter what kind of man he is, if he loves her, he wants her. He wants her body. He wants her to want his. So you say to him, "you can never make love again. You will never touch her in that way again. This is the last time. The last time. Forever." If that's not cruel and unusual punishment, I don't know what is. ~Augustus Hill, from the HBO series Oz, S1.E2 "Visits, Conjugal and otherwise."

Then I got on the road headed home. This trip was about her, getting her some stuff and getting her needs met, we can have fun later when she doesn't have to get a house set up while also working. It was good to see them, good to see them happy.

I know a lot of these Republicans will never appreciate or understand the simple joy of seeing a book girl unpacking her books.

And it pisses me off. It pisses me off that these assholes keep making life harder for people like us.

I mean, what's the damn point of having a family, of having partner, if you don't have TIME to spend with them? 

Isn't that WHY people do this??

She got the rest of her furniture yesterday and was so tired she overslept by an hour this morning.

We ain't your slaves, Republicans.

For Fuck's Sake, I have a partner specifically BECAUSE I love her and enjoy hanging out with her, we've known each other for 20 years, dated 3 times and our days of sexual athleticism are long past. Companionship is the damned point.

I contribute A LOT to my partner and the kiddo because I can and because I want to, because she shouldn't have to work as hard as she DOES. Hell, I've already got my Amazon cart full of stuff for them for next week.

Anyway...

"Abolish Abortion, Ban All Porn, Put Jesus First."

How does any of that crap help somebody like me or my partner??

We're both already Christians. Hell, our early experiences of and with each other were heavily inflected by that mutual church background.

I don't have to bother with porn, I have her. Or at least I do when she feels like it. I already know from back in the day that she likes a lot of the same stuff I like because she's bisexual and we have similar tastes. She is who she is, a delightfully and wonderfully made Creation of God...and that includes her sexuality.

And as for "Putting Jesus First??"

I have a feeling we already do that more than These Fucking People do.

Of course we're not their kind, obviously.

We're Christians who believe in things like democracy and freedom and science. We both have a conservative background that reflects not what that crap has become...but what we were taught when we were young.

I'm entirely not gonna lie, I haven't been Evangelized by some random Evangelical since the spring of 2017, they're always talking about Trump now.

There is only one sin, only one. And that is theft. Every other sin is a variation of theft....When you kill a man, you steal a life. You steal his wife's right to a husband, rob his children of a father. When you tell a lie, you steal someone's right to the truth. When you cheat, you steal the right to fairness. ~Baba, from The Kite Runner.

Because they have killed the Prophets and replaced them with Trump.

You can hate abortion or porn or claim Christ all you want. If you worship Devils and Idols of Gold, much less immoral Men, you're already going to Hell.

You either love your neighbor, your family members (biological and chosen alike) or you can love this crap ideology...and the Antichrist that is Donald Trump. I've seen too many people choose Trump over their own blood kin. Yes, even in this situation.

If you are a Christian, you either follow the risen Lord, Jesus Christ, or you don't.

If you are an American, you either believe in freedom or you don't.

And either you're willing to fight for it, or you aren't.

But first? Exist. Resist. Take time to care for your freaking self and those you love because at the end of the day that's what really matters. At the end of Life nobody's gonna be judged for how much money they has in they bank account.

But Jesus, He gonna ask the Least Of These in your life, the people you ain't get no benefit from treating right, and what you done.

Even if I wasn't a Believer, a former conservative who remembers what I was taught, or a veteran who swore to protect the Constitution we already have or a man steeped in the culture these motherfuckers want to overthrow? I love my Partner and our daughter, and neither of them deserves, needs or profits by this bullshit. If I had nothing else to choose, I choose them over any political ideology or wealth or any other goddamned thing.

And I will fight for them and their right to live unmolested by these assholes.

I'm tired of this ridiculous shit.

These fucking people would rather swallow Camels than leave other people the fuck alone.

This is going to come down to a fight.

It's really that simple.

Слава Україна!

And so tomorrow, as we take the campaign South and West, as we learn that the struggles of the textile workers in Spartanburg are not so different than the plight of the dishwasher in Las Vegas; that the hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of L.A.; we will remember that there is something happening in America; that we are not as divided as our politics suggests; that we are one people, we are one nation. And, together, we will begin the next great chapter in the American story, with three words that will ring from coast to coast, from sea to shining sea: Yes, we can. ~Barack Obama

Four

Freedom is never more than one generation away from extinction. We didn't pass it on to our children in the bloodstream. The only way they can inherit the freedom we have known is if we fight for it, protect it, defend it, and then hand it to them with the well fought lessons of how they in their lifetime must do the same. And if you and I don't do this, then you and I may well spend our sunset years telling our children and our children's children what it once was like in America when men were free. ~Ronald Reagan