In the devil's funhouse, only the devil has fun.

Ego is a snare and a delusion. But worse is its power to distort and pervert. A gun is a physical thing. A simple machine for making its bearer lethal. The machine has no intention. The naked ape has no lethality. The combination of the two conjures and alters, borrows from the depths of hell, a power the ego desperately craves but the mind is not competant to use.

Questions of safety and protection seen only through the lens of self, the perspective republicans exploit well, are seen backwards. No amount of rationally weighed factual information counters the view in that sick fun house mirror image of security that the presence of a weapon you think of as your tool makes you safer.

How to tell if your empire is rotten

The powerful pay no price for telling huge lies but the common and poor people may pay with their lives for believing the lies, or with jail time for making up little lies of their own.

If you tell a whopper, you are either more likely to get away with it or you may get a good laugh.

Confidence game

Confidence is not a given in the characters of lovers. It may in fact be the outcome or reward of love honestly pursued and won. If it is present a priori, then it is dangerously attractive.

Therefore

Beware of lovers who attract you with their cool confidence. Even if not feigned, it means you play on an uneven field.

If you meet the truth, annihilate it

Gay marriage looks silly to those who cannot admit to the myths and the flaws of design and execution in their own marriage.

you can't break a rule you don't know you are obeying

We work within the limits of our ability out of necessity but mostly we work within the far more confining limits of our habits.