We gather together, to ask the Lord's Blessing;
He hastens and chastens, His Will to make known!
Let Thy Congregation escape tribulation;
Sing praises to His Name, He forgets not His Own!
I personally am very fond of that old hymn. Strangely, however there are some people around here who are not. There is a group called the Washington Ethical Society who celebrate Thanksgiving by holding a "stone soup supper". More about that later.
Here at the Alexandria Daily Poop we are aware that many of you readers think that I am feeling less than thankful this particular year. What with Obama winning a second term despite his abyssmal record and this horrible economy, the Middle East boiling over yet again; with "sequestration" looming and poised to decimate the Defense industry which is the engine driving the economy here in Northern Virginia and the rest of the region; still I am strangely at peace with it and find much even in these dire circumstances for which to be thankful.
The Democrats are getting more and more over-confident. They think they can blunt the inquiry into Benghazi (and criticism in general) just by having black and/or female members of the Obama administration and the Democrat leadership run their mouths about "racism". But these people are poltroons. They are strident and sound like complete idiots. Trying to blunt an inquiry into conflicting statements made by the (black female) Ambassador to the United Nations by characterizing that inquest as "a bunch of old white guys beating up a black woman" and other tactics are transparent efforts to change the subject and attack, and the voters see right through them.
I am thankful that, had the Electoral vote been split in each State by giving the two Electors representing the Senators to the overall popular State winner but awarding the electors for each Congressional district to the candidate selected by that district, Romney would have gottten 285 electoral votes. The retention of the House of Representatives by the Republican Party shows the desire of the citizenry to have a check thrown on Mr. Obama and his henchmen.
I am even thankful for the approaching "financial cliff" and the Defense sequester. The leftist leeches who have turned Virginia ever more purplish mostly depend either directly or indirectly on the Defense industry to make it possible for them to live in Virginia. Virginia may begin to resemble Ohio economically, and as it does these leeches and the hordes of unskilled illegal immigrants who help drive up the cost of housing by filling up rental units will go elsewhere looking for money. There is a solid conservative core of Virginians who have been here 35 years or more, most of whom have family roots going back even further; who will stay behind and bring Virginia back very quickly once the crisis has passed. As a bonus, maybe a good downsizing will lead to that monster building off I-395 being closed or converted to some kind of warehouse or convention center.
I am thankful that God is in complete control of all matters large and small. No matter the circumstance and no matter how dire the situation may appear; for me and for every Believer "Jehovah Girah". On the Mountain of the Lord it shall be provided.
Which brings us back to the Washington Ethical Society. These folks are basically a bunch of atheists who think that the human race has no need of God, since humans can posit their own ethics. Many of them see especially Christians as "arrogant" because they cite God and the Bible as the source of "ethics" and morality. This is rather strange, since most of these folks arrogate to their own selves the authority of declaring what is "ethical".
I've spoken to one of these types, and she assures me that "no one person" dictates "a set of rules" but that everything is arrived at by "common consensus". Pretty much how the Bolsheviks and the National Socialist German Workers Party arrived at their version of ethics, but never mind. Obviously the Washington Ethical Society is truly ethical because they are much better people than the Nazis. We know this because they have arrived at a common consensus and have made it known, I suppose.
As I said in opening, the Washington Ethical Society's little imitation of Thanksgiving is their "Stone Soup Supper". It's based on the old story of three soldiers coming to a village and looking for something to eat, only to encounter villagers who have been hoarding food - made scarce by wartime conditions - away from each other and not about to give any to three soldiers. So the soldiers ask for only a huge cauldron and enough water to fill it.
The soldiers set the cauldron over a fire and when it begins to boil one of them produces a "soup stone", which he puts in the pot. After a while, as the scoffing of the villagers dies down, one soldier puts in a spoon and takes a taste; and says that just a bit of salt is needed.
Then a tad bit of pepper is requested, and then a cabbage or two, then a few carrots. When the soup begins to develop some flavor, they invite a few villagers to have a taste and suggest what might improve the soup. Soon every single villager has his own idea of what might make a magnificent soup, and eagerly contributes to show what a master of cuisine he is. In the end, a wonderful rich stew is bubbling in the pot, enough to feed the soldiers and the entire village with enough left over to tide the villagers over until help arrives and they can get back on their feet.
Now this is not a bad story at all, and there's a point in there about human nature. But by the lights of such as the Washington Ethical Society, the moral is that "people are basically good" and need only the guidance of a small group of elites to nudge them toward their "better angels". That small group of elites is of course the Washington Ethical Society.
So every year, all the members of the Washington Ethical Society have a gathering in which the children of all of the members who are not homosexuals who haven't yet adopted a child to corrupt yet borrow a few rocks from their parent's heads and put them in the pot, and then suggest to the adults what might make a great soup.
And so they have their "Stone Soup Supper". They don't call it "Thanksgiving" because, I suppose, it would be silly and immodest to thank one's self for one's own good circumstance. I guess they thank the kids. Whatever. Just a silly bunch of nimrods I suppose. I wonder who they thank for the kids? The makers of Viagra, maybe?
Happy Thanksgiving, everyone.