“The house always wins,” or “The house never loses” if you prefer. As a boy living in Las Vegas the expressions became familiar to me, and my stepfather at the time, Jim Blaine who was a disk jockey for a local radio station, explained it to me. All gambling, not the Devil’s euphemism “gaming,” was designed keeping the odds in favor of the casinos no matter what “game” you chose. And so, no longer living in Norman Rockwell’s America, the America I recall that fought and won WWII, I look about and reflect on what has become the “Devil’s House,” an America in which the odds have been rigged to favor Satan. While that is a matter of personal theological speculation only, few would disagree America is in the hands of evil rulers intent only on their own power and wealth, not with the welfare of America as a sovereign nation or We the People.

It is really quite laughable to hear and read the self-professed “liberals” harrying and haranguing about the “religious right” as though this were a real bogeyman of which to be frightened. It is only when people like Bush, the Clintons, Kennedy, Jackson, Sharpton and those of their ilk choose to talk about their “faith” we have cause to be frightened. When it comes to matters of faith these are the real monsters that threaten us. None of the Devil’s servants really care about America, all they care about is serving their master, who rewards them with power and wealth. A wealthy Kennedy or Bush, there is no moral distinction; each will do what they can for the sake of ever growing power and wealth.

Not being a gambler, I would often watch those that did gamble. And whether in Las Vegas as a boy or Lake Tahoe and elsewhere as a grown man I noticed there was a distinct sameness to the people that gambled. Most showed an intent focus that would shame many church-goers. Easy riches were never far from the mind of the true believers worshipping in casinos. I know the kind of people that can actually watch poker games on TV, something the rational mind rejects as a waste of time at best. But for true believers, it is a form of worship.

The most disquieting thing to me, given my theological opinion, the world itself as the Devil’s domain. But to focus only on America as the largest, most gaudy and attractive of “casinos” in the history of the world and my not being a gambler and therefore excluded from the “action” is to watch with curiosity as the crowds are taken in by the promise of easy riches. Admittedly I don’t credit Bush with the intelligence to construct the empire of his imperial dreams, this requires the evil genius of those like Kennedy and Cheney that differ neither in degree nor kind to promote such a thing.

Like Atticus Finch refusing to fight with the evil Ewell, it isn’t the fear of a fight but the fact I’m now too old to get into the ring and mix it up with the Devil physically. And knowing that America is now the Devil’s House with a leadership of his servants that cares nothing about sacrificing men, women, and children, Americans or otherwise, to their evil dreams of empire I am now only an observer, taking time occasionally to express my thoughts about an America going to hell, an America that no matter how you place your bet is fast losing to the Devil, fast losing any distinction as a nation with a heritage, culture, common language or secure borders, those things that distinguish all other nations of the world and without which no nation can possibly survive.

Unlike religious institutions, casinos welcome everybody with money irrespective of their color or beliefs. When it comes to being a “uniter” rather than a “divider” the Devil knows his business. But he unites on the basis of the very worst traits among human beings, not the least of which is the trait of the unproductive demanding bread of the productive. And so America having become the land of “bread and circuses,” or in the case of America “drugs, bread, and circuses,” this great House of the Devil, this great casino of his called “America” will keep paying off like a slot machine. And never mind the games are rigged so the house never loses, those that buy into the Devil’s game know they have to win eventually; that is the mindset of those addicted to the Devil’s promise of easy riches. And the appellation “One-armed bandit” only applies to the losers, those who believe they can play by the rules of honesty and integrity, the chumps the casinos do not need in any event.

When my grandfather took my brother and me to the Fox theater in Bakersfield to see “Cabin in the Sky” as a morality play I was too young to realize the fascination gambling could have for people. What really had my attention was the Devil and “Junior.” I seem never to have forgotten the way the Devil plays his hand, of how the game is always rigged to favor Satan and heed the warning.

One of the first hints children get that life is not fair is when they ask why they can’t have a pony in their bedroom and the parents unreasonably answer “Because you can’t.” What seemed a perfectly reasonable request on the part of the child is too often balked by the obvious unreasonableness of parents who refuse to give satisfactory answers to their children and by force of tyrannical position and power will not let the child prevail.

But as I have mentioned in previous writings We the People are not asking Bush and Congress why we can’t have a pony in our bedroom. We are asking reasonable questions only to be treated like children, expected to submit to those with tyrannical positions of power rather than have our questions answered. And since those in power will not answer the reasonable questions of We the People, we can only believe the “adults” holding power in America are intent on making our nation into the world’s greatest and gaudiest casino, treating We the People as children and promising easy riches to all that will buy into the Devil’s game. However, as Jesus cautioned Satan is not divided against himself, he is only a divider between those that believe they can win playing his game and those that refuse to play his game. But Devil or not, it is apparent the game is rigged.