To the Barricades With Glad Hearts, O My Brethren!

I see a sense of desperation all around me. Well, okay, maybe it's just me, but I keep flashing on the new symbol of America, the waterboard, and figger it's only a matter of time.

So I paid particular attention yesterday when a minister of the gospel of Christ started quoting scripture about what all us dissidents need to carry in our hearts as we stumble forward into some terrific sorriness to come. (This particular minister of the Gospel was quoting these passages even as Madame Virginia Foxx was disappearing in a cloud of salt particles after telling a large crowd of her constituents that they'll get no answers from her on anything, not ever.)

The overriding question in 2006: Are we going to sit by and allow our nation, our Constitution, our sacred honors to rot under a tyranny cynical enough to claim the special blessing of God? (Foxx wrapped herself and the Iraq War in Jesus-talk yesterday morning at the Mountain House.)

The two passages quoted yesterday (and let their resonance echo):

[Jesus said] "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men; for they will deliver you up to councils, and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake.... When they deliver you up, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say; for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour." (Matt. 10: 16-19)

"Is not this the fast that I choose; to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard." (Isaiah 58:6-8)