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