23 July is my birthday.

The Scorpion and the Frog is a fable about a scorpion asking a frog to carry him across a river. The frog is afraid of being stung during the trip, but the scorpion argues that if it stung the frog, the frog would sink and the scorpion would drown. The frog agrees and begins carrying the scorpion, but midway across the river the scorpion does indeed sting the frog, dooming them both. When asked why, the scorpion points out that this is its nature. The fable is used to illustrate the position that the behaviour of some creatures is irrepressible, no matter how they are treated and no matter what the consequences.

Variations commonly include a farmer, youth, turtle, or fox in place of the frog, and a snake in place of the scorpion. The Farmer and the Viper is a specific variant that can be attributed to Aesop. There is also a variation in which the final words of the scorpion are "It is better we should both perish than that my enemy should live." -- Wikipedia.

I am 59 today. A milestone of sorts.

Today, well, yesterday now, I had a meeting with some folks and learned a very interesting piece of the Gunwalker puzzle. All of a sudden, everything clicked into place. Another milestone if it proves to be true.

Tonight, for the first time since the Gunwalker Scandal broke in December of last year, I slept with a borrowed semi-auto pistol under the pillow next to me.

I am not scared for my safety. My fate has always been in His hands.

I am scared that now -- even knowing what we know -- we still might fail.

And we cannot fail, for these people are evil beyond measure. They are, in a very real sense, scorpions who care not who they sting and who they kill.

All for evanescent power.

Say your prayers, folks, The Coalition of Willing Lilliputians is going to need every one of them in the coming days.

And Tuesday approaches.