The Year: Thumbs Up or Down?

Another year comes to an end with mixed reviews, but the majority are not very satisfying. Political posturing resulted in little progress on the home front, and crises abroad brought the world closer to collapse. The war in Iraq ended today, that is a good thing, but the war in Afghanistan continues apace. The American economy is in shambles, as is the situation in most of the rest of the world, and the “American Dream” looks remote for many.
There were some highlights: (here I pause: just what are the good news items? Hmmm. Killing Osama? Killing someone shouldn’t be a highlight, should it? The Euro not collapsing? Damn, this is tough.) So, the highlights: (here I pause again.) Ok friends, help me out here. What do YOU think are the highlights? How about Tallahassee finally getting a brewpub.(Momo’s Pizza in Market Square.) I know: The Duggars had a miscarriage. One less mouth to feed in the world. No, you say, not a highlight.
I know: The population crossed the 7 billion mark. Lots of souls to sing “Hosanna”. Too bad so many of them are starving to death.
So friends, help me out here. I am looking for world class positives.

Image: http://geekdose.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/facebook-like-stamps.jpg
Momo’s: http://momospizza.com/market-street-brew-menu/

Santa and Christmas: Dangerous Frauds?

Ok, so you will think I am being a curmudgeon. Not so. Let’s get rid of Christmas first. The day and season specifically celebrated the birth of the Christian savior, Jesus. Nobody can convince me that it is or should be considered a secular holiday. It is pure and simple a religious festival. No doubt “merry merchants” around the world, Christian or not, are quite happy for the season. Many make a large portion of the year’s profit in the run-up to Christmas. For many people and cultures it has morphed into a gigantic sales pitch. Ooops. I have just crossed my own logic. So it really is a secular holiday primarily benefiting the “merry merchants” and banks, and putting many people deeper into debt. And for what? Did Jesus command “Go Out and Buy!!” or “Give Gifts in Memory of Me!”? If you find that in the Bible let me know. It is a bastardized mishmash of events and cultures. I say “Happy Holidays” and take the time off gladly.
On to Santa Claus. Santa is in the same category as the Tooth Fairy. Pure Fiction. An old dude in a sled with flying reindeer who carries all the gifts for the whole world made by elves at the North Pole? Give me a BREAK. This teaches kids that lying is not only ok, but can be fun. Pisses me off for a kid to be thankful to “Santa” for a bike, when her parents went without to buy the damn thing. Given the cachet of a Saint locks Santa into the religious angle of the season; putting him on a can of Coke makes him a shill. Making him a white man, though. What is that all about? Well, he started out as a white man, and as more politically correctness came on the scene people started asking for black Santas, and brown Santas and yellow Santas so children could more easily “relate”. Relate to a lie. Ahh, you ask. But what is the harm?
Listen to the Santa songs and you will quickly see the harm. The below lines are from “Hear Comes Santa Claus” written by Gene Autry:

He’s got a bag that’s filled with toys
For boys and girls again
He doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor
He loves you just the same.

Yeah, but what about the millions of poor kids that hear the song and get nothing from Santa? The drumbeat for Christmas starts in September and ends with a disappointed child, again. Now what about the song “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”?

You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not pout I’m telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town - - -
He sees you when you’re sleeping
He knows when you’re awake
He knows if you’ve been bad or good
So be good for goodness sake! O! You better watch out!- - -

Clearly Santa is spying on kids (is he a voyeur?) and making a judgment about what is nice and what isn’t. Big brother is watching you and you won’t get toys if you are bad. Never mind that no one knows exactly what “Bad” is. Just don’t be it. Santa is a kind of behavior Nazi. So in a sense we are teaching kids to be wary, secretive and distrustful. Don’t tell me we are teaching them to be nice. It doesn’t take a fat old man in a funny costume with booze on his breath to teach kids to be nice.
Kids soon figure out or get told that Santa is a lie, and most aren’t traumatized for life. These “innocent” lies just piss me off, that’s all. Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, and Sand Man. Sooner or later they all realize they have been lied to.
And what about Jews, Moslems, Wiccans, Jains and the other x-thousands of religions, major and minor? And atheists. Their kids get sucked into the Santa Scandal too. Santa, it’s time to retire and let the world alone. Oh, I forgot. To quote Tom Leher “Angels we have heard on high; Tell us to go out and - - BUY” and “God rest ye merry merchants may ye make the yuletide PAY” (1). It really is too late. We are in the black hole of Christmas and we know the “reason for the season”, don’t we. And it ain’t just a birthday any more.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas (A good history and commentary on Christmas)
1. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DtZR3lJobjw
Image: http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20061216104705/uncyclopedia/images/thumb/1/1d/BLACK_SANTA.JPG/250px-BLACK_SANTA.JPG

Santa Claus: Dangerous?

A new post coming soon on Santa Claus and the awfulness of the propaganda about Christmas. Not for believers in SC.
You might want to refresh your memory on some lyrics:
http://www.41051.com/xmaslyrics/herecomes.html
http://www.41051.com/xmaslyrics/isawmommy.html

http://www.tsrocks.com/t/tom_lehrer_texts/a_christmas_carol.html
Maybe you can see where this will be going?

Image: http://www.thetoque.com/images/mommy_kissing_santa.jpg

Barney Frank is Leaving Congress? So?

First, if you don’t know who Barney is, shame on you. Second, the “So?” is a very big deal. As an outspoken liberal, Barney was never timid about taking on anyone he believed were wrong-headed or wrong-thinking.
He is a clear voice for Liberal views and is a staunch supporter of women’s rights, gay rights and the welfare of everyone who isn’t rich. The 99%. Us.
I can only hope that Massachusetts voters elect another liberal. There are far too few already to counterbalance the massive shift to the Right. Not much chance of Florida Democrats doing anything to get rid of the conservative ideologues who they elected in the last election by NOT VOTING!!!
Ooops, I guess I just came out of the closet again.

http://www.fletcherarmstrongblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Liberal-vs-Conservative.jpg

Thank You

Not too hard to say, after all, is it? Thank you.
Say it when a wait person (PC again - don’t you hate it sometimes?) fills your water glass, or when the arm at McDonalds drive through hands you your bag of goodies. When you get change at a convenience store or when you get your parcel at a store, say “Thank You”. It really doesn’t take much energy or effort to be polite.
Thankfulness comes in many forms and from many directions. During these very trying days of local regional worldwide problems there are many things I am thankful for. Putting aside the angst of the past for a moment, let me just observe this: every day I wake up in my home, next to my wonderful wife, looking forward to the day I am thankful. Not to any particular source, not to any specific power that/who has granted me the day. To the farmers, truckers, sailors, merchants, construction workers, doctors of people and animals, teachers, police, fire fighters, public employees, students, engineers of all stripes, veterans, soldiers, talkers, listeners, readers and the list goes on. Each of us is beholden to these often faceless and nameless people who make our lives a bit better and safer.
I got a hug from a homeless guy in Boston for a small donation. I gave him less than the cost of a pint of good beer, and got a hug. “Thank you man”, he said. I told him “No, thank You for the hug.” As was said in Dances with Wolves, “good trade”.
So for the moment, put aside the angst and worry, and just say “Thank you” to whomever you want. Give somebody a hug. It really feels good, and it goes a long, long way in a world weary of angst.
Image: http://images.mylot.com/userImages/images/postphotos/2171375.jpg

No Guts, No Balls

This morning I heard a well presented rational discussion of the origins of the current “debt crisis”. Not surprisingly the conclusions of conservative and liberal analysts were consistent with common sense: The initiation of two wars without any revenue increase to cover the costs, and the massive tax cuts which failed to stimulate the creation of jobs to cover the reduced income to the Federal Government are the direct causes of the ballooning debt. The legacy of these two actions remains with us today. Further, they agreed that if the Bush era tax cuts are not allowed to sunset on schedule, an additional minimum of 2.5 trillion dollars in debt will be piled up in the next ten years. That is IN ADDITION to the already substantial increase projected as a result of the weak economy.
The causes and results are clear, and the action needed to correct the problem is also clear: cut spending where possible, increase taxes from the current low rate to higher rates, and let the tax cuts expire.
The problem is this: congress doesn’t have the will to act. “Why” is a more problematic question. I think the answer lies in the corrupt relationships between members of congress and the very powerful financial interests that fund their reelections in the case of people like the Koch brothers, or threaten to oppose them in the case of Grover Norquist and his ilk. In other words, many in congress have no balls, no guts and no concern for the electorate. Only themselves and their handlers.
What a sad and poor way for a wonderful country to fail.
Image: http://www.lpstuff.com/shop/images/uploads/535congressmen.JPG

Sexual Abuse of Children. Again

It has probably always happened, is happening and probably will always happen. That doesn’t make it right. It is always wrong. WRONG. Get it? Wrong.
My thoughts on what should be done to those adults who abuse children are not the point here. I have very strong views on that, and may talk about them at a later time.
No, my point here is based on the attorney interviewed the other day msnbc. This guy represents at least one victim of the Penn State scandal. And here, in a nutshell, is my issue: the victim is expressing feelings of guilt about the effect of his revelations on the football program. ON THE FOOTBALL PROGRAM!!!. This man, once a child who was abused is worried about the god damn football program when his life has been indelibly changed by a predator when he was 10 or so years old. He and many others were repeatedly raped and fondled by this predator. He is the victim. Guilt for victims of sexual abuse goes with the territory and it is hard to deal with. But come on people. Guilt for the football program?
Ahh. But I understand this, I think. I have had many friends over the years, and some now, who think the football programs of their chosen Universities, not necessarily one they attended, are somehow the most important aspect their lives. They hang on every game, every play, every utterance of the coaches and players. They don’t seem to care when massive numbers of players get arrested for felony crimes, or when coaches ignore cheating scandals while at the same time milking the academics of millions of dollars. (I know, the old “Football is a profit center” crap. Personally I don’t buy it but that too is for another time.) The coach gets millions and the President of the University gets a few hundred thousand. Bullcrap.
Football becomes so important that anything that might threaten it brings on anger and guilt. Comments like letting JoePa finish the season make me sick. How many children were abused because JoePa failed to protect them? Finish the season my ass. He should have been shot. (Ooops. Shouldn’t let my emotions out.)
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45286628/ns/today-today_people/
Image: http://www.sexualfuturist.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/child-abuse2.jpg

Beat them, Train them: God wants you to do This.

I just watched the video of Hillary Adams getting the beating she “deserved”, to quote her father, JUDGE Adams.
No Child deserves this level of punishment. This isn’t punishment in the sense of a spanking: this is torture. Time and again he hits her HARD in the legs, arms back and butt. Hard. Over and over.
Michael Pearl and his wife wrote the book “To Train Up a Child” which advocates hard punishment from the beginning to “train up a child” as God intended. Switching a 6 month old for discipline. Don’t spare the rod. Is there a connection between Adams and Pearl? I don’t know, but they obviously believe in the same way of “training up” a child.
I suggest all these monsters get picked up for child abuse and that we “train them up” using the same methods they advocate and practice. Who will give the first lick?
BTW, you can order “To Train Up a Child” on Amazon.com for only $7.95. Here is one of many similar reviews:

"My mother was given this book while I was a child. Wanting to raise a well-behaved child, she would spank me with a belt. She is proud of me. I am a senior at Princeton University and practicing Catholic. However, today my mother would tell you that I am these things in spite of the teachings of "To Train Up a Child," in spite of the self-loathing and insecurity caused by whippings which would not end until I could pretend to be content. Pretend to embrace the necessity for my own torture. I was abused. Please do not look to this book for guidance."

What the hell is this country coming to when this 'how to torture your child' crap is sold on Amazon? It is all about the money. Period.

Read this for fun: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/pastor-corporal-punishment-advice-scrutinized-child-deaths-160004793.html
Image: http://thedamnedoldeman.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/300px-Sexually_Abused_boy.jpg

Just another brick in the wall?

Years ago a revolution was upon us. We were out in the streets. We were arrested, gassed, beaten, spit on and worse. We were killed by our own brothers. We won. We were no more than more bricks in the wall. But we won.
Another wall, more bricks in the wall, and another revolution. We are out in the streets. We are arrested, gassed, beaten, spit on and worse. We may be killed by our brothers. We are no more that more bricks in the wall. But we can win. We will win. We are the bricks that the wall is made of, and without us, no wall at all. We are everywhere. We will win.
Pink Floyd: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZbM_MIz4RM
Roger Waters: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqtNvgzWsis&feature=player_detailpage
Image: http://26.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lt2zlkhZ0c1r0wenlo1_500.png

Word Creep: Lame, Gay and Asshole

I got my tail good and yanked by a friend the other day. I used the term “lame” as in “that was a lame excuse”. She pointed out in no uncertain terms that lame means “unable to walk normally”. So of course I looked it up (1) and found the above definition. I also found another definition, this from the Urban Dictionary: just plain stupid, un-original, or lifeless (2). This is the way I had used the word.
Now I didn’t and don’t want to get into a pissing contest with her for a couple of reasons. She is a published author and knows more about using words than I ever will. She has MS and is lame in the first sense and crippled in the same sense. Not handicapped, mind, just crippled by MS. Another reason is I respect her opinion and agree that the creep of meaning can lead to ugly connotations for words. “Gay” once meant happy, then crept to meaning “homosexual” and then became pejorative, so now when you say you had a gay time, what exactly do you mean?
You see, being Gay (also a girl’s name) is OK to be as in “He is a Gay”. But saying something is “Gay” can be an insult depending on what you mean and even who said it. Confused yet?
My point is this: over time, the meaning of many words has changed. Some end up keeping one, two, three or more meanings while others simply lose one and gain another. During the transition from one to another there is sometimes some dangerous language to navigate. And not all of us are that good at navigating. I apologized for the inappropriate use of the word “lame” and promised to be good. My other point is this: words change meaning all the time and not everyone is aware of the prejudice that sometimes comes with the changes.
So here is my recommendation: Don’t use words that have double meanings, especially those that might hurt someone inadvertently. Many words have multiple meanings, and that is the problem. Selecting the word and using it correctly may be impossible, since meaning remains firmly in the brain of the beholder. After all, we all need an asshole, and most of us have an asshole, but none of us want to be an asshole. See?

1. Google definitions
2. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=lame
Image: http://www.archiedunlop.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/uranus1.jpg

Last Man Standing

Murph. Depue. Max. Anne. Janet. Linda. Wendy. Me.
The core gang. We hung around and got ready for life. We made mistakes, had fun, got in trouble, got drunk together, fished, drove, skated, swam, laughed, cried a little sometimes. The heady days of high school. There were others in and out of our gang, but the core of guys was pretty tight. The girls were on and off girlfriends and mostly just friends.
The missing: Linda, Janet and Wendy.
The dead: Murph, Depue, Max and Anne.
The survivor: Me.
When we sat around the fire on the beach, or in the snow on the pond, or in the basement or in the “Apple Tree”, every once in a while someone would ask “I wonder who will be last?” I can now answer that question: Me.
The missing may be living or dead. Women change names and get hard to find, and in the ramp up for the 50th reunion serious looking happened. Some of the class of ’58 just dropped off the radar. Missing and presumed married.
So, effectively, I am the lone survivor of that august group. Occasionally I lift a glass or have a thought about those days and those friends. My job is to remember them. My guess is that most of the gang is remembered by their families or other friends, but who knows the fun and sometimes dark tales of us collectively? No one. Just me. So it may be time to write more tales of those days and those friends. Some are not so pretty. Some are already written. Some, a few, never will be.
Image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/2/26/And_Then_There_Were_None_US_First_Edition_Cover_1940.jpg

Celebrate Life and Death

An old friend died a few days ago and I should be happy!!!
When did you ever hear a conversation start that way? Probably never is my guess. But wait and think a moment: She was in great discomfort and pain for the last several months of her life. She had strong core religious convictions that guaranteed her a place in Heaven (hers) and she is no longer suffering. Why shouldn’t we be happy for her? Her religious friends believe that she is in a far better place than here, and with their God, whatever that means. And I believe she had a good life lived well and at the end was very sick and suffered and had no hope of recovery.
So why shouldn’t we be happy for her?
We are sad to lose a good friend sister aunt cousin, but the feeling of relief on her behalf should overtake those feelings and replace them with a sense of all is now well with her.
So celebrate the life of the departed, remember the good times and laugh at the foibles, but don’t be sad. Be happy.
By any measure, she is.

Image: http://www.jjchandler.com/tombstone/

Lady Anne de Bivalve Part Two

Lady Anne de Bivalve died last night after a long and unsuccessful battle with cancer. Her actual name was Anne Schwiebert, and got the “Lady Ann” moniker from years of working at the Horton Point Light House for the Southold Historical Society (http://www.southoldhistoricalsociety.org/lighthouse.htm) as a docent and board member. She was instrumental in saving the structure and turning it into the fine museum it is today. She was called “The Lady of the Lighthouse”. She was also addicted to clamming in the pond behind her house, thus the “Bivalve”.
We went back all the way to 1950 and grew into teenagers together. Never boyfriend/girlfriend, always just friends. Her father was a fairly prominent radiologist with a very healthy sense of humor. I remember one time I was having trouble with my hotrod and she and her dad were across the street raking leaves. I called her and asked her to come over to help me check my spark plug wires. Her father started laughing, knowing what was coming next. I put the wire in her hand and told her to tell me if she could feel anything, and hit the starter. She flew back on her ass, and was not amused. Her father and I were very amused. Just a practical joke and she took it well. It was one of those things that you keep coming back to when you meet up in later life.
She was an artist and weaver and sailor, and a passionate lover of light houses. She always thought of light houses as safe harbors, safe places.
Rest in peace, Lady de Bivalve. You are in a very safe place. And you are missed.

Image: http://toddatteberry.com/New-York/East-End-of-Long-Island/Horton-Point-Lighthouse-and/779295843_f3P3C-L-1.jpg

WTF?

Here is an interesting story: Mississippians will vote soon on Prop 26 which defines a fertilized egg as a person. That means killing a fertilized egg is murder. So no IUD’s please, and no termination of tubal pregnancies thank-you-very-much, and no morning after pills, and of course no abortions of any kind for any reason. Why? Because we want to get Government out of our businesses and our lives, except we want Government to control all aspects of a woman’s reproductive process.
Men want this badly for some reason. And for the life of me I don’t know why women fall in line and help these sick bastards pass dangerous and misogynous crappy laws. Are women just so docile that they say “Yes Sir!!” to any man that wants to regulate her reproduction? Why not just vote in Sharia Law and be done with it.
Two things piss me off today: Democrats by NOT VOTING put Republicans in office. Women by not THINKING and VOTING put men in charge of their bodies.
As an Aussie friend once said “WTF Mate?”
Image: http://images.paraorkut.com/img/funnypics/images/w/wtf_mate-12876.jpg

Life and Death: What FUN!!

Time this morning for a bit of writing. But what to talk about? Politics? Too depressing. Religion? No point - - - believers believe and the rest of us don’t. Climate change? No point either - - - too late to do anything. Death? Ahhhh. Death.
There probably are few things in life more certain than death. It stares you in the eye the day you are conceived, and yes, life begins at conception or before. The sperm and egg are both alive don’t forget. But YOU are not alive until conception, and YOU are not a person until much later. Many embryos are formed imperfectly, and fail early on. Miscarriages are nature’s way of eliminating the “unlikely to succeed” category of conceptions. So the live births represent the most perfect, or at least the least defective among us. Down syndrome for example is a minor genetic aberration since the bearer survives.
Anyway, all through life the specter of death is always just a heartbeat away. For some the moment comes with pain; for some with fear; for some without any feeling at all; for some a moment of clarity. Whatever the experience, it is the final experience.
Now here is where opinion diverges: life ends with death or life after death. Think about that tiny phrase: Life after Death. Makes no sense does it? No one yet has been able to reanimate something seriously dead. So the life after death must be on another plane of existence. The trouble is no one has ever found or demonstrated that there is another plane to exist in. It exists in your head, not in your sky.
The point here is this: You can bet on Death as a reality and you can bet on Life after Death as a theoretical or you can bet on both. In any case the only strategy for life that makes sense to me is to live it while you are living, and don’t wait to “live life” after you die. There is likely nothing there after you die. Have fun now. Have friends now. Have love now. Have beer now.
IPA in heaven? I doubt it very much.
Image: http://www.metal-archives.com/images/4/3/6/2/43621.jpg

Smiley Found

Last week I wrote about our faithful friend Smiley. I mentioned that I couldn't find any pictures of him and an old friend, Stewart, came to the rescue! Last year Stewart took a series of portrait photos of old Smiley and he sent several to me. Thank you. This one is typical of the look on Smiley's face when he was looking at you. See? He really does smile!

Image used with permission of Stewart.

Sometimes They ALL WIN!!

Special Olympics: People with disabilities participate in athletic events. We used to call them mentally retarded, then mentally challenged, then intellectually disabled and who knows what next. It is hard to keep up with the “political correctness” police. Some of us just call them “Special” and let the rest go fly a kite.
Anyway, my special son John was born with a severe mental deficiency. He never completed normal brain development and you can’t measure his IQ because he can’t understand the questions or formulate the answers. He is assigned an IQ of 20. But man, can he run. A regular Forest G. He doesn’t understand competition, though, or winning.
In his first Special Olympics entered one of the distance runs, I don’t remember which, but a quarter or half mile or so. He was lined up with the other guys and when the starter said “GO” he just stood there talking to the starter. He finally figured out he was supposed to run so he took off and soon passed all the others. Then he stopped, walked to the crowd and tried to talk to someone (he doesn’t make much sense, but this crowd understood that.) The folks in the crowd got him running again and once more he passed the field. Then, stopped and waited for them to catch up and he just ran along with them and was talking a mile a minute. In the end he finished near the back or maybe the back, but with a roar of approval from the crowd.
Believe me when I say it: John WON! And in every Special Olympic race since (he no longer does this) he won in exactly the same way. Good Old John.

Photo of the Search Boys (A few years ago) L to R: John, Hal and Matt.

Hops Strikes Again!!

Sitting in a quiet empty bar in Englewood finishing a nice pint of IPA. Suddenly, a drop of water comes down from the ceiling and hits my glass. Bugger!!! Maybe it’s a sewer leak? Or a sprinkler leaking? Or sweat from the AC? F**k it. This is an IPA. No worries at all.
Sal is pouring water out of her nose and her eyes are red. She is getting a cold. I said approximately (this avoids quotation marks) good thing you have a pint of IPA (she has one too.) Here is why: IPA hydrates because it is 94% water; it anesthetizes because it is 6% alcohol; and, it cures because hops is medicine. The perfect combination when you are sick.
I told Sal the next time I get really sick, get a 5 gallon keg of a good hoppy IPA like Hop Otten IPA or Terrapin’s Rye PA and let me drink that exclusively. Got to get better, and if not, I would be pre-embalmed. Win-Win. A total no brainer.
Image: http://www.ratebeer.com/beerimages/full_size/16690.jpg

Another old friend gone. انه مكتوب

As we were getting ready to leave for Asheville, we got a call from our Vet. Not good news.
When I dropped Millie and Smiley off at the Vet for boarding while we were away, I mentioned that Smiley had been sick for the last few days and asked Ivan to check him out. The call back was not good news. Smiley had an intestinal blockage that was inoperable due to position and his age. We were at the airport waiting for our flight to be called. We had to decide, not if but when, to euthanize our old friend.
Years ago we had a place that was fenced to keep our dogs in and stray dogs out. Our dogs started barking like crazy and I went to see what the hell they had. Crap. A dead dog someone tossed over the fence. Just lying there with fly eggs on its head. Sticky stuff all over its body. I went and got Sal and we took an old towel to roll the corpse on to take to the field to bury. As we rolled him over, he opened his eyes, curled his upper lip, and smiled at us. So began the extended life of Smiley. He had heart worms and every other kind of worm dogs get. Ivan cleaned him out and we cleaned him up. He thrived and smiled often. He was a consummate digger. One day we came home from somewhere and he had dug 40, count’em 40, holes in the backyard. FOURTY!!! The usual number was 15 or 20. What a pain in the ass. But he smiled and was forgiven. Later in life he got heavy and had a hard time running around. He mostly just ate and slept. Then the fatal blockage. He was in constant pain by then, and nowhere to go.
Maktoob. It is written.
So we authorized the euthanasia. We have been with all our dog friends when they died, but old Smiley was with his Vet friend. His ashes will be sprinkled over the dozen craters he dug at the new house.
I could not find a single picture of Smiley. Anybody got one?
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_IFpg2m9UrgY/SZOTdez41hI/AAAAAAAAELc/o4-FDrfC

Lady Anne de Bivalve

I just got an email from an old friend who has been battling a malignant cancer for quite a while. She has discontinued treatment in favor of the most peaceful end possible. This decision took great courage and I only hope that she will find peace with family and friends. We met in 1950, and have been in contact off and on since. We had laughs together and some interesting times, but went our own ways in 1958.
A year or so ago I wrote an essay about doing the “hardest thing I ever did”, and I will add this to the list. I hate that she didn’t get the therapy needed to reverse the disease. I hate that medicine can’t get to all cancers in time. I just hate all of it.
She is a good woman with core religious beliefs, and will go to her heaven when the time comes. She won’t go kicking and screaming either. She will go with dignity and with a smile. She will be an example for us all.
Damn you Cancer. Damn you.
Image: http://www.nature.org/idc/groups/webcontent/@photopublic/documents/media/prd_023218.jpg

Steve Irwin: CRIKY!!

If you ever enjoyed Steve Irwin, take a few minutes to watch this video of end the memorial service, filmed at his home base crock farm. And listen to the song of John Williamson, a balladeer of great power.
I was writing a story about Uluru and the rain and wanted to link to John Williamson’s song “It’s Raining on the Rock”. Why? Because it’s raining here, now, and that brought me to Uluru. So I went to YouTube and whilst there rediscovered the Steve Irwin video. I couldn’t help myself. I opened it, listened and watched, and had a tear as well.
At some level thus guy was a real nutter, playing with crocks, dangerous snakes, spiders and sting rays. At another he was a consummate entertainer, and at another he was a master of showing us another world. And he died the way he probably wanted to. But probably too soon, if you could ask him.
So I watched the video and thought about all the people I know who have never heard John Williamson or his songs and though “Hell, why not?” Why not indeed. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7rdyVP95XiE&feature=related
Look into my eyes. Watch it. And whatever you do, DON”T MISS THE END!!!
Image: http://www.funnyheck.com/funnypicture/steve6.jpg
Image: http://www.johnnyleeclary.com/images/irwin_steve_snake_cp_10666737.jpg

There is Something Rotten in the State of Alabama: Tomatoes.

(Before you read further, notice that the sign says “my body my choice” etc.? Yeah? Try to “choose” woman’s health services in Kanas and see who owns your body, lady.)
You gotta love some state legislators. Alabama passes a terribly strict “immigration” policy and as a result on September 28th, thousands of migrant workers stream out of the state. Then the farmers find out that local people won’t work for the wages or the back-breaking labor, so crops all over the state are rotting in the fields or on the trees. Brilliant.
Watch Florida next. A massive use of migrant labor for a multi-billion dollar agribusiness, and the assholes in the legislature want to pass a “tough” immigration bill like Arizona and Alabama. If they do, they demonstrate once again how far out of touch they really are, and what morons they are. In fact, if they pass a bill like that and it gets signed into law, Morons would be embarrassed to have them join the club. We shall see. They are now busy trying to kill the “Obamacare” program, climbing into the uteri of the women of the state, and getting divorced because gay marriage is a danger to us all. Oh yeah, and breaking up the public school system with universal vouchers, privatizing prisons and killing state workers with more job cuts and security cuts (abolition of tenure for colleges and universities) which will take our already not-world-class-anymore universities down another notch or two.
At least we got a bunch of good workers from Alabama for the moment.
Image: http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSASvnkcElJhgFRGCoL9muN_6ylWae9CLamSc9rUSLVfUfyXBGTyj_st7dW

Throw The Bums OUT!!!

Multiplier Effect: When you spend a buck somewhere, that buck gets spent again and again, so the effect of you spending causes more spending. Look, say you hire a painter to paint your house. You pay the painter, who then gets his car fixed. The mechanic then buys a new tool, and the tool company buys material to make more tools. That is what every government does every time when there is a downturn in a country’s economy. Except the Tea Party Republicans. They insist on cutting spending. So the result is less money in people’s pockets, less spent, and less multiplier, fewer jobs, longer recession.
Almost every economist knows that in recession the government spends, and in boom times it pays off debt. Not the other way around. Reducing spending will only drive the economy in the wrong direction. Down. One more reason to use the “moron” appellation on the Tea Party and throw the bums out next election. Yeah.
http://news.yahoo.com/p-500-enters-bear-market-europe-worries-142523281.html
Image: http://img1-cdn.newser.com/square-image/106892-20110331180345/bernanke-were-ready-to-spend-more-to-prop-up-economy.jpeg

"Water, water, every where, Nor any drop to drink"

And so goes the "Rime of the Ancient Mariner". I think everybody knows this poem, or parts of it anyway, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. There is a good discussion about it on the Wikipedia citation below. I remember reading it decades ago and thinking that the one thing we would never run out of was water. I didn't figure on the massive population growth, the unprecedented destruction of the ecosystems of the world, or the disastrous climate changes that would plague us in the decades following the reading.
I guess most of us didn't either. But here we are. Not enough drinking water in places in Florida, Georgia, Arizona, California, New York, Africa, Australia, China, and the list goes on. And not enough water for agriculture in may places either. So crops fail, people starve etc, etc. etc.
I read a comment of Facebook this morning by a writer I don't know:

"Borden Beck: ‎"we" are apparently planning to pull water from the Columbia to replenish an already depleted aquifer in NE Ore so that life can continue... Where will Nevada get water to replenish this groundwater? Answer = nowhere... they are planning on the rapture or armageddon or the apocalypse to make concerns mute."

And you know what? I think Borden Beck may be right. There have been murmurs for years about the policy shifts in America to favor the "endtimes" and bring on the end. I have always dismissed these as lunitic fringe conspiracies. Now I am not so sure. About the conspiracy I mean. The longer the world plunges into the freefall of global disaster, the harder it will be to stop the fall and pull back. I don't see any real effort in this country to do that. Pull back I mean. Sad. Very. Bloody. Sad.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rime_of_the_Ancient_Mariner
Image: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/80/Gustave_Dore_Ancient_Mariner_Illustration.jpg/220px-Gustave_Dore_Ancient_Mariner_Illustration.jpg

Starvation 2008, 1998 and TODAY!

August 9th, 2008: Mark Hawthorne writes that meat production is a major contributor to world hunger. Here is an example he cites:
Jeremy Rifkin, president of the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, DC, states it succinctly: “People go hungry because much of arable land is used to grow feed grain for animals rather than people.” He offers as one example the Ethiopian famine of 1984, which was fueled by the meat industry. “While people starved, Ethiopia was growing linseed cake, cottonseed cake and rapeseed meal for European livestock,” he says. “Millions of acres of land in the developing world are used for this purpose. Tragically, 80 percent of the world’s hungry children live in countries with food surpluses which are fed to animals for consumption by the affluent.”
It is now 2011, and nothing has changed except there are even more people starving to death every day. I heard a guy on NPR the other day being interviewed and when asked what could be done to help the current starvation, and he said that many more tons and tons of food would be needed. But here is the kicker: he ended with this “but it is never enough. It will never be enough.” This from an advocate of feeding the starving masses.
Just what the hell will be enough, you ask? Will you give up meat and cheese because they are feed intensive? Beer uses grain. Will the world stop brewing and drinking beer? What about vodka? And bourbon. And Scotch whisky? Dog and cat food? The list of products that are not strictly needed and are made from grain of some kind goes on and on.
Now add to the problem the propensity for humans to reproduce every time they get a full belly and “it is never enough” comes into sharp focus. What is really needed is a dramatic drop in population coupled with an increase in world cooperation in food production and distribution, all without corruption. How likely is that? (Think the Catholic church, the Church of JC of LDS, and the rest of the churches that think more is better, and ignorant people who say stupid things like “we just wanted 4 to even out the family” and crap like that.) OK, so not very likely. What is the alternative? A slow degrading of the ecosystem of the world in an effort to produce ever more food for the ever more people ending with an environmental and political collapse of horrendous proportions.
Then we start again. Hopefully in a world not glowing from nuclear (pronounced new-cle-er not new-que-ler) fallout and freezing in nuclear winter.
Image of family in 1998: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/1998/387/sudan2.jpg
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Feast-or-Famine-Meat-Prod-by-Mark-Hawthorne-080808-523.html

Nicaragua: Don't blame the Monkey

Meanwhile, back at the Villa Paraiso all hell was breaking loose. Several men were running around, some climbing the building, some going in and out of upstairs rooms, obviously looking for something. But what?

The Villa Paraiso had a few animals in cages in the back, including a strange kind of wading bird that held it's head straight up to effectively hide amongst the reeds. And a monkey. This was a Capuchin, one of two species we saw on Omotepe. Now remember that monkeys are smart, have hands and don't like to be in a cage. This monkey, lovingly named by me "That F**king Monkey" loved to escape. The funny thing, though, is that it didn't just disappear into the jungle. Instead, it ran all over the hotel property breaking things that were loose. The week before we got there it smashed a Dutch tourists very expensive camera. On purpose. Just picked it up off a table and threw it hard on the ground. Mean little bastard really.

So anyway, these guys were running all over the place trying to catch the monkey, again. It looked like a French Farce. They finally cornered it, caught it and locked it up, again.

When we got back to our little villa, there, on the ground, was one of the interesting pots we bought from a local potter. Smashed by "That F**king Monkey". That's how it got its name.

Sally reminded me not to blame the monkey. A free animal, now caged, taking out its rage on the captors. Not its fault.

What I can't figure is why it just didn't melt away into the jungle across the road. Maybe payback was more important than freedom. Or maybe it was raised as a babe and didn't know about the jungle. Whatever the case, if you visit the Villa Paraiso, keep your stuff inside, and don't blame the monkey if you forget and something gets "accidentally" broken.

Image:http://gb.fotolibra.com/images/thumbnails/29626-monkey-in-cage-ometepe-island-nicaragua.jpeg

Dining in Nicaragua: Spiders

We got to Ometepe Island in the late afternoon, got off the ferry (?) and drove to the Villa Paraiso. Check in for the group, around 14 or 15 was the usual firedrill, but we got settled. We probably had supper at the hotel, drank a lot of Tona` or Victoria and plenty of Flor-de-Cana 7 year old dark rum. BTW, this is a magnificent rum, among the best if not the best I have ever had. World class. Anyway, the next morning when Sal and I walked the path to the patio for breakfast we noticed a lot of spider webs across the path. We used the old "sweep your hand in front" trick and had no more trouble. I noticed a few webs around the table.
The next morning when we went for breakfast the damn path was really webbed, so we picked up a couple of sticks to clear the way. On sitting down I noticed that the silverware and everything else on the table was webbed down to the table. Then I noticed that I was webbed to the chair, so was Sal, and so was everyone else!! Nobody had seen a spider, but when we looked, as they say down this way, real close, there they were. Thousands of the tinyest spiders I ever saw. Busy running all over the place, webbing everything to everything.
The next morning, more of the same. When we left that morning I looked back at the hotel and the entire roof was solid web. I couldn't see the tile or thatch. Just web. The owners told us that sometimes they have an outbreak (read that a hatch) of these harmless spiders. Just an annoyance. I agree. We didn't get bitten or anything, and we had good breakfasts, but what a feeling to be webbed to your chair, arms, legs, shoulders, the whole Guapote.
I couldn't find a photo of the building, but here is a tree covered in webs. Imagine a whole building, but so dense you couldn't see through it. It was GREAT!!!
Image: http://igniteaparty.gigxl.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/flor-de-cana-grand-reserve-7-year.jpg
Image.http://cdn.webecoist.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/worlds-largest-spider-web.jpg

Mexico: Model for the Future?

What is needed for your town to get to the place where Acapulco finds itself today?
Extortion and killing have made this once popular tourist destination a nightmare town. The latest atrocity discovered yesterday is a sack containing 5 human heads left outside an elementary school. The note inside warns specific drug traffickers of the same treatment. Now, the unanswered question asks are these heads of drug traffickers, killed by rival groups, or the heads of teachers who have been threatened with death if they don’t “donate” half of their salaries to the cartel.
Other heads and corpses with and without heads are found daily in many parts of Mexico. All of these are presumably drug cartel executions. Maybe there is the odd murder for gain, hidden in the avalanche of bodies, but mostly these are drug killings.
Corruption of officials at all levels lets this massacre go virtually unpunished, except by the law of the jungle. Could this happen in your town? Did it happen in Chicago in the early 1900s? Did it happen in New York? In Miami? In Los Angles? Could it happen in Tallahassee? In Thomasville? In Managua?
Friends, we are inching closer to this level of violence and criminal control every day in many places in the world. When we cede control of public functions to private enterprises we lose control. Then we open the door to corruption and criminal activity. There are credible reports that the US Government is contracting with the cabal that manages the Conficker network for access to botnets to infiltrate hostile governments. The cyber groups that run the Conficker network are criminals with criminal intent. So the infiltration of crime into government is already an established pathway.
Get real. We are not that far from Acapulco.

Image: http://i.huffpost.com/gadgets/slideshows/191819/slide_191819_376178_large.jpg
Graphic slide show: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/27/acapulco-severed-heads-mexico_n_984263.html#s376187&title=Recent_Violence_In
http://www.npr.org/2011/09/27/140704494/the-worm-that-could-bring-down-the-internet

Who Wrote the Bible? Who Wrote the Book of Love?

(Disclaimer: I think religion is very important and often does very good works. I think many people believe in some religion and benefit (some more than others). I also think it is fundamentally flawed.)

The girl (Pamela Foreman, aka tamtampamela) on this (1) YouTube video has been around for a while making videos about god. She made one where she says that god came to her in a dream and told her to tell everybody in Massachusetts to vote for Scot Brown OR ELSE!!!
Now for me, this kind of statement defines a wacko. So when she posts about another dream that prompts her to ask atheists “Who Wrote the Bible” and expect the obvious answer to be her god (Duhhh!) she just adds to the wacko-ness of her persona. The answer, substantiated by evidence, is that MEN wrote the Bible. In the First Council of Nicaea in 325ce MEN sifted and began to choose which books to include and which to exclude, and during the dark ages Monks and Scribes, all MEN, wrote and rewrote the Bible, picking and choosing what to leave in, what to throw out and what political slant to portray at any particular time. Then, MEN had the book that emerged from the dark ages translated into other forms by MEN, and so it went up the present.
I may be incredibly naïve, but it looks like the answer to her smugly asked question is MEN. I don’t see god anywhere. Oh yeah, the “god directed the men and the men wrote down what he (see, god is a MAN too) wanted” argument always appears here. Divinely guided I think is the usual phrase.
I think it was rather Manly guided, to produce a work of contradictory rules and bizarre scenarios to serve the MEN that were doing all the work.

Oh, and the “Book of Love”, that’s easy: The Monotones (2).

Image:http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/TUsgUPX8Pho/default.jpg

1. Bible: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-ijRn6JORs&feature=related
2. Book of Love: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YvQdsfzVa4

Thanks for the Memories

Research conducted in the 1930s by Sir Frederic Bartlett (1) put a new and amazing face on memory. In short, Bartlett described a process whereby some factual data are placed into storage by association and missing data points are constructed by the brain on demand. As time passes, the factual data may fade or disappear altogether and the brain will fill in the missing data by assuming what should be there, based on experience and other similar memories.
This is a recipe for disaster, isn’t it? What this means is that memory is at best suspect and at worst entirely made up. In view of this well documented theory of memory, how valid do you think eye witness accounts of something are? Especially after some time has elapsed. Personally I wouldn’t want to be on the chopping block because of someone saying “I remember perfectly”.
I wonder about my own memories, the times of trial, bliss, terror and exhilaration. The remembered stories of youth, of adolescence, of growing up in strange places and of growing into the person I currently am . I write often about something I “remember”, and go on to draw all sorts of conclusions based on that remembrance. I reviewed dozens of my postings from the last three years and found many to be reminiscences of one thing or another. Stock car races, guns, bombs, abuses and others. And I stick by them to the word. Yet - - - yet I suppose there will always be that doubt of memory.
Anyway, that is one of the many reasons why people “journal” and “blog” isn’t it? To etch the memory in a place where it can reside with some permanence? Where it can be retrieved when needed? And of course, while journals are usually personal, blogs are hung out there for someone to read for some reason. Maybe just to stir the pot a little, maybe to express outrage at some current event, or maybe just to educate. And, yes, maybe to provide a memory, unchanged in content, as best as can be, umm, remembered.
1. http://books.google.com/books/about/Remembering.html?id=WG5ZcHGTrm4C
Image: Sal and Woody in Venice. (I remember it well)

“Now” is More Important then “When”

Sal and I travel quite a bit, both for professional jaunts and to see the world. We have been to lots of exotic places and enjoyed Nature and the World at its best. We have been lucky in that we have not seen the worst of both first hand.
Looking ahead to the next few trips it occurred to us that these represent a really good cross section of our travels. We are going to a family gathering in Asheville, a marriage reaffirmation, a week in the Georgia mountains for hiking and camp-fireing, and a week in Amsterdam without a car. The Amsterdam experience without a car is a first. I love to drive the new places.
Then we go to Newfoundland, Canada for a week of hiking, seafood and relaxation. And in there somewhere is a week in the Keys for fishing, relaxing and going to Geiger Key Marina, the funkiest place in the keys, for food, beer and good folks.
Travel is a perk of getting to a place in life where you either have the time or TAKE the time to get out and see the world. Go to new places and do new things. Traveling should be done when a person is young enough to really take what the world has to offer and swallow it whole. We do that, and then some. As the end of life approaches and the world changes (for good or bad is a judgment call) time runs out for going places and doing things. So we do. Plenty of time later for sitting around the fire helping each other remember “when”. What is important at this time is “now”.
Image: http://www.geigerkeymarina.com/gallery/images/z1a.jpg
Image: http://beautifulplacestovisit.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Amsterdam_Netherlands_031.jpg

Titus Lucretius Carus and Woody.

I was reminded just yesterday of the Epicurean philosophical school by a discussion on NPR (where else?) of Lucretius centering on his epic poem “De Rerum Natura”. The title is variously translated as “On the Nature of Things” or “On the Nature of the Universe” and is considered to be an effective portrayal of the Epicurian ideas.
This morning I read over some reviews of “De Rerum Natura” and a few articles on Epicureanism and there, squarely in the middle of it all, is my philosophy. Dead center. I wish I could assert that as a young academician I was profoundly affected by these ideas, but in truth I can’t remember reading much philosophy at all. Sure, the obligatory Philosophy 201, and some skimming of ideas from all over the place, but strong influence? Doubt it.
Yet, there are my thoughts neatly summarized. And I really have to wonder about something: were the seeds of my mechanistic view of the universe, and my convictions about a natural system that requires no gods to make it or make it run, and my ideas about death planted decades ago in some hot classroom in Miami and slowly germinated as I grew older? Or, as I have asserted on occasion, are a sub-set of humans born without the need for supernatural explanations and therefore freed to think differently? I suppose both may be true.
In any case I now have a new short-term goal: get and read “De Rerum Natura”, bone up on Epicureanism and see where they lead.
Ain’t retirement wonderful?
Some background: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucretius
Image: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41uEbJjsheL._SL500_AA300_.jpg
NPR: http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2011/09/19/140533195/lucretius-man-of-modern-mystery

Sunshine Superman (1)

“Sunshine came softly through my a-window today
Could've tripped out easy a-but I've a-changed my ways”
Donovan wrote and sang that way back. I loved it. Hummed it. Tried to sing it. But something about it always bothered me a little bit. FM 106.1 played it today while I was on the road (“On the Road Again - - - -“) and I started digging it. Then the old lingering doubt crept in again. So, when I got home I looked up the lyrics. Got it. Misogynist. To the core.

He says about himself:
You're gonna be mine, I know it, we'll do it in style
'Cause I made my mind up you're going to be mine
I'll tell you right now
Any trick in the book now, baby, all that I can find

Then he says about her:
When you've made your mind up forever to be mine
I'll pick up your hand and slowly blow your little mind

So he made up his mind to bonk her, but she has to make up her “little mind” to commit forever. What crap! What an insult to women. And it took me all this time to get it nailed down. Oh, Donovan, WHY?
Ahh. Acid, and the times (same thing?) I think. He was an asshole and so were most of us. But what a talented asshole.
And, if you are a fan of acoustic BASS you will love the bassist in this old recording. Don’t miss it.
Old video of Sunshine Superman: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-25karWrXw&feature=related
1. http://www.lyricsdepot.com/donovan/sunshine-superman.html
Image: http://cinematicpassions.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/donovan.jpg
Older Donovan Image: http://node2.bbcimg.co.uk/iplayer/images/clip/p00h782j_640_360.jpg

GOP Debate Crowd Boos Gay Soldier Serving in Iraq

Listen to a gay soldier in Iraq being BOOED by the Tea Party audience when he asked a simple question. And Listen to Santorum’s pledge to REINSTATE DADT if elected. If you are not ashamed to hear “Real Americans” react thusly, them I am ashamed of you.
Image; http://towleroad.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c730253ef014e8bc2c261970d-800wi
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiXhKJqen-A&feature=player_embedded

Blogger Takes on the Tea Party

One of the blogs that I follow is called "Half Wisdom, Half Wit " by Mary Matthews. She is an occasional blogger, a confirmed Christian and a wonderful liberal. This posting takes a not-so-subtle poke at the disgusting utterances and puttative positions of the Tea Party conservatives. She took an old Viet Nam era protest song called "Bring 'Em Home" and reworked the verses. The first origional verse is:

If you love your Uncle Sam,
Bring them home, bring them home.
Support our boys in Vietnam:
Bring them home, bring them home.

Mary's first reworked verse is:

If her cancer’s hard to cure,
let her die, let her die.
If your grampa’s not insured,
let him die, let him die.

Definitely worth a look to see the others. And, if you are inclined to add verses, she will consider adding them. Take a look around her site for a good couple of hours and you will find yourself on her list of followers. And if you are a fan of Pete Seegar, you will remember that he sang this song at many peace rallies. The recent version on U-Tube is Seegar in his dotage, and is sad to hear. U-Tube has older versions by Seegar, and in them you can feel the fire.

Mary's blog: http://witwisdom.wordpress.com/2011/09/21/tea-party-campaign-song-for-2012/
Petes origional version:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4-w2FYIJbw
Image:http://www.greatprotestsongs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/bring-em-home3.jpeg

Adam and Eve Real?

A very interesting discussion, loud at times, between a Christian scholar and the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) missed the point entirely. And, the arrogance of Albert Mohler, SBTS president, was truly astonishing. In one loud assertion he not only articulated the Christian belief that the resurrection of Christ was central to the very being of Christianity, but that doubting it was in and of itself tantamount to heresy. These are my words, not his, but they convey my perception of the intent of his utterance.
And I agree with him. What? Yup. To question the resurrection does question the entire reason for Christianity in the first place. So I agree. And I not only question it but am as certain as I can be about anything that it is a fine story, intended to add elements of the supernatural to the early attempts of the religion to gain authenticity, followers and to separate itself from other competing religions.
But the point that I think he entirely missed is more basic than that. Namely that humans and the world are innately evil, were born into sin and will therefore suffer without a savior. That concept has no rational basis what so ever, has no credibility what so ever in the context of the real story of the origins of human, and is as much a fairy tale as “Goldilocks”.
The other point he misses is that Christianity isn’t the only religion in the world. Far from it. There are hundreds of them. All claiming to be the right answer to whatever question or problem they posit. The very fact that none, read that none, have come out with an unfalsifiable truth is evidence enough for me to conclude that none of them are right. In fact, I think they are all wrong. The whole idea of religion, any kind of religion, is nonsense. You will see what I mean when you die. Oh, I forgot. You won’t see what I mean, because you will be dead. Gone. Forever. Period.
Now, for the believers out there, convince me I am wrong with evidence. You can’t because there isn’t any. Period. Remember the bumper sticker: “God Said It, I Believe it and That Settles It:”?
Here is my version: “There is No God, There is No Evidence and THAT Settles It”.
Image: http://skepacabra.files.wordpress.com/2008/08/scientist-use-in-case-of-emergency.jpg Discussion: http://www.npr.org/2011/09/22/140710361/christians-divided-over-science-of-human-origins

Roseanne Roseannadanna

I was just thinking about Gilda Radner. Why? Hell if I know. Just one of those random thoughts that pops up to the old cortex every once in awhile. So, I U-tubed her. She hasn’t lost a thing over the years, except her life. Ovarian cancer. A brilliant comic. She died in 1989 of ovarian cancer. Before some of you were even born. Take a moment to look at her, and see if she wasn’t really good. Loud, but good.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4kLEnrc4yHA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g6DW6VRWz0&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6g6DW6VRWz0&feature=related
Image: http://s11.lucyphotos.com/images/orig/6/e/6e0z5ic95mskz0ik.jpg

Did you sleep well last night?

I did. And, I didn’t. Sleep came easy and lasted long. Dreams happened and went away. But I awoke with a lingering sense of something not quite right in the world. I have tried to figure it out during the day, and think maybe I have.
It is the world at large that is bothering me. The destructive rhetoric in the middle east, the continued violation of women’s rights in many parts of the world, the taking into slavery of women and children, the rape of the land. The list is long, and getting longer. The thing that is getting me is this: I don’t see much getting better. I hope it does. I wish it would. But to quote my old bard Eric Bogel “If wishes were fishes we’d all cast nets into the sea”. (1)
Just listened to the song again. You should too.’Nuff said.

1. eric bogel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEY9kA3OYNE
Image: http://lh6.ggpht.com/_ZH013M4QWaY/S1tEozxvw-I/AAAAAAAAAa8/E5P-5Zcpfqc/video721063747904%5B2%5D.jpg

WOMEN - ARE YOU ASLEEP?

In this morning’s news is the continuing saga of Texas MEN and their assault on the women of the world, starting with Texas women. In an absurdly twisted pair of moves, the MALE dominated legislature defunded most of the free clinics that supply routine health care to poorer women and increased funding to “Crisis Pregnancy Centers” that provide no health care at all, just information on adoptive services. The care provided by the free clinics defunded included regular health visits for diabetes, hypertension, breast cancer screening, cervical cancer screening, STD screening and treatment and a range of other services. The clinics also provided birth control information and products.
A Texas legislator, Rep. Wayne Christian (R-Nacogdoches) (I don’t make these names up, folks) is quoted as saying: "Well of course this is a war on birth control and abortions and everything, that's what family planning is supposed to be about,"(1)
So the legislature has gutted the provision of health care for poorer women, students and others in favor of advice centers that try to talk pregnant women into adoptions. Only 2-3% of the women counseled choose to put their babies out for adoption. The remaining either seek abortions elsewhere or have the babies. All of this is done in the name of cost savings to the taxpayer and moral right-ness.
It has been calculated that “In San Antonio alone, unplanned children born to teens would fill 175 kindergarten classrooms each year.” Now somebody please tell me which taxpayers will have to foot the bill for all those “next generation” children?
Does anyone out there understand why I think the legislators in Texas and other states like Texas are Morons?
Image: http://transfeminisms.files.wordpress.com/2011/02/feminism-radical-notion-t-shirt-1294f1.jpg
1. http://www.npr.org/2011/09/20/140449957/gov-perry-cut-funds-for-womens-health-in-texas
Background information: http://www.nationaljournal.com/daily/is-there-a-war-on-birth-control--20110907

Semi-patulous Eustachian Tube: I Got It!!

For several years now I have been bothered by my Eustachian tubes opening and staying open from minutes to up to several hours. This is very annoying. I can hear my breathing from the inside of the mouth, loudly hear myself talk from the inside of the mouth, and have trouble modulating my voice. And my already compromised hearing gets worse during these episodes.
For a teacher this is a real problem. In the middle of class, the damn tubes pop open, stay open and all hell breaks loose. Can’t hear my students, can hear myself talking and lower my voice to compensate, and then the students can’t hear me talking. A real mess.
It happens when I take a hike, or walk on the treadmill, too. Exercise induced. Caffeine induced. Weight loss induced. And at last a name: Semi-patulous Eustachian Tube. SPET. None of the problems get better knowing the name of the beast, but the tolerance gets better. Thousands of others also suffer, mostly without knowing what is wrong.
Ah, but the treatment. Some surgical, some chemical and best of all this: Reduce caffeine, reduce or cease exercise and gain weight. So, no coffee, no exercise and no diets. My cardiologist would agree with me that the second and third are non-starters, so I’ll go for the first. OMG, what will I do without my morning coffee? Hear better, that’s what.
Image found at: http://www.eustachian-tube.net/EUSTACHIAN-TUBE.html

Black Bear and White Squirrel

Man, was that a great morning walk.
Sal and I woke up just before sunrise and could see the glow behind the pine trees from our perch in the camper. We decided to go for a walk before coffee, about 2 miles up and back along a gravel road bordered on one side by the occasional house or shed, and the other by woods. About a quarter mile along the trail a young black bear crossed the road, left to right, and entered the woods. The youngster was very, very black. Velvety black. It (he or she we didn’t know) turned about 30 yards in the woods and walked parallel with us for most of the mile to our turning around point. What a treat!! We looked at each other from time to time, but neither felt anything but interest. No fear from either perspective. Just a kind of sharing respect.
On the way back down the same road we passed a big live oak and heard a loud rustling in the branches. Looking up, we saw the leaves of a palm tree that had grown up into the oak shake vigorously several times and finally a grey squirrel popped out and walked along a branch. What the hell was that squirrel doing, we asked each other? No answer. Then, as we were turning to walk away something caught my eye: DAMN!! A solid white squirrel was coming towards us up in the canopy of the oak. Solid white. “What a treat” we exclaimed again. We watched for a bit, and then walked on.
In that scant two miles, nature certainly put on a show for us. Black bear and White squirrel. Almost makes me wonder about the nature of the spirits out there. A message? I don’t know, but we certainly enjoyed the experience.
Image:http://naturalsciences.org/microsites/education/treks/swans_09/images/Black%20Bear%20crossing%20road.jpg
Image: http://i1.trekearth.com/photos/102041/white_squirrel.jpg

Drink Wine, not Koolaid

I think I used a pejoratively charged word. An if I accidentally insulted any real morons out there I am truly sorry. If fact, I am sorry as hell, but we won't go into that. I have over the years accused all kinds of people of having a "hot button" (for example, get a group of conservative christian voters together and murmur "gay marriage" and the place explodes with all kinds of angst). It never occurred to me that I had a hot button, and it was getting very easy and predictable to push. The mention of any conservative politician and "god" in the same sentence elicited a Pavlovian response from me that bordered on rabid.
Well, no more. In fact, (thank you Rhett) "Frankly my Dear, I don't give a damn". I finally figured out the no matter how much I rant and rave, the end will be the end, and will have very little to do with me or my pin-prick of a rant. But it does get my blood pressure up, and my cortisols up, and my angst level up, and none of that is good.
So, screw the political system. I'm going to vote for whom I think will do the best job under the circumstances, and you can do the same. No more day by day diatribes. Just pleasant essays on humming birds, and the new one coming soon on black bears and white squirrels.

Image: http://www.blackrockvineyards.org/img/Vinum-Pejorative-2007.jpg