What Have I Gotten Into?

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Autobiography

As I think I said, I never thought about being a lawyer until the last year of undergrad school, when decisions about the future became urgent. After all, given the time and money, one had to have planned to do something. I, being rather new to all this stuff and after consultation with friends at school, couldn’t come up with much of anything to do with a BA  degree with a major in political science. Mostly it was go on to some kind of teaching job or well law.

Law was that universal degree that could be used for a lot of things. Since I was totally engrossed in the political realm and naive as well, law made sense. Armed with a law degree, I could go off to Washington D.C. and become part of the political scene, hobnobbing with movers and shakers, while wandering the halls of Congress. I would be one of those all important committee support people, preferably on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Oh I had high lofty goals for sure. Trouble was, the were so impossibly not attainable that had I mentioned them to anyone who actually knew something about the subject, they would no doubt have fallen over in a heap of laughter. I might as well have set my sights on being William O. Douglas’s law clerk. It would have been just as ridiculous. One does not gain these kinds of jobs after matriculating through MSU and then Wayne State University Law School. No, such opportunities are reserved for Ivy League graduates of the highest distinction.

Now I don’t mean to say that academically I was a slouch. I graduated from MSU summa cum laude. Nothing worse than a B ever crossed my academic records. But the school was essential, and WSU was not gonna pass muster. I might as well have asked to be appointed to West Point,  after high school. Not gonna happen my friend.

I learned all this within a month or so of entering WSU. I shrugged, since there was nothing much else to do, and dug into the books, assuming that something would occur to me sooner or later. Let me back up a bit, and set the scene.

Now WSU was a commuter school and there was very little housing on campus at all. It was a dreary looking place, with a building here or there, all marvelously offset in plenty of concrete and regular thoroughfare streets. It was smack dab in the city of Detroit. Detroit of course had by then acquired a reputation of being a dangerous place, given the riots (civil insurrection if you were black) in 1968. It was moreover full of slums (projects they were called) and the downtown area was beginning to fade rather badly as businesses relocated out to the suburbs.

I was 22 years old, yet my father was not about to let me go down there (Flint was north of Detroit) on my own. We scoured the to-rent ads in Detroit papers,and finally found a place in Dearborn with a “room to let.” Now Dearborn my friends is a special place. It was the private “country” of one Orville Hubbard for about as long as Daley ruled Chicago. Hubbard allowed no blacks and probably no Jews or other “others” to inhabit his fair town.

Mayor Hubbard of course was abetted by the fine residents of Dearborn who essentially agreed with him. Together they managed to avoid the law for years and kept Dearborn lily white forever. Things changed almost immediately after his death, and today Dearborn houses the countries largest collection of Arab speaking people.  So you see, Dearborn was a safe place to go live back then, abutting the dangerous city, but still safe. When I mean safe, I mean safe. Black folks who crossed the border into town were most certainly picked up by local police and followed and “probable cause” soon arose to stop them, inquire of their doings, and ultimately usher them out of town.

We found this little two family flat on a residential street, a half block from a bus stop that would take me within a couple of blocks of the university, and i signed the lease. My landlady was an elderly lady who slept on the couch of the upper flat, and let out four bedrooms, one to me of course. The guy across the hall from me had some kind of day job and drank from the minute he hit the door at night. One could hear the tinkling of bottles in a large grocery sack each morning as he took his empties out, only to return with another couple of six packs that night.

The guy next to me was a retired teacher who was sickly and was always having some sort of emergency or another. I seldom saw him. The lady across and down from me was an old fashioned cord telephone operator at a large office building down town. She arose at about 4 A.M. each morning, sat drinking coffee and went to work. She disappeared into her room after she ate her TV dinner and was in bed by 8 P.M.

They were a collection of oddities, but frankly, I saw little of any of them. Once firmly ensconced in my classes, I spent precious little time there, mostly just sleeping and showering. I seldom used my car, letting it sit for days on end. Occasionally I would use it to run to a pizza place where I could get spaghetti to go and have a late Saturday night feast in my room. I had a TV and that was about all I needed. I only lived there my first year, leaving in the spring after the last final had been taken.

I had no idea what to expect at law school. The first experience did not bode well. We were scheduled to register for classes. Now as 1st year students, this was fairly unremarkable, since we had no choices as far as I can remember on what to take. All 1st year students took the same classes, albeit not all together of course. But essentially we were assigned into either group 1 or group 2 and we shared the same classmates in all our classes that first year.

The reason why this process gave me pause as to just what I had gotten into was this: First year students registered alone, and we comprised oh, maybe 300 students. Can you tell me why it took 5 hours to register? Now I had been to MSU, which registered 40,000 students in 4 days. All but one registration there was accomplished by yours truly in under 1 hour. Go figure.

We proceeded from there to an orientation, you know, where the entire class gathers in a large auditorium size room and gets the low-down of what to expect, as well as directions to the bookstore and where we could find our list of textbooks and assignments for the first day. This was daunting and sobering in and of itself. Imagine sitting there all fresh and wide-eyed, ready to begin this adventure. A voice booms out from the podium. “Welcome to Wayne State University Law School. Take a moment to say hello to the person to your left. Now do the same to the person on your right.” We did as ordered, being good little law student soldiers. As the pleasantries concluded, the voice continued. “Remember those faces ladies and gentlemen, one of you will not be here next year. You will either flunk out or leave in order to avoid flunking out.” Our grins turned to nervous half smiles, and then sobering fear.

After being introduced to a plethora of people, places and things, we were released, classes started quite soon, and we all, well, most of us traipsed over to the bookstore to investigate. Here we searched the long aisles for things like “property” and “criminal law,” and all manner of large blue books with no pictures. Tombs they are called. Along the way we snatched up behemoths like Black’s Law Dictionary, never worth the cost, but at this point we were too scared to follow advice. Three hundred pounds of new books were soon firmly pushed, shoved and otherwise stowed into various shaped book bags.

A trip back to the basement of the law school and the ubiquitous bulletin board gave us our reading assignments for the first day. “Read and be ready to discuss pages 1-15, Bozo’s Torts.” And on down the list of the 4 or 5 classes. Well, the amount of pages didn’t seem daunting, so how hard could this be? We each scurried off to our respective holes in the wall (for those of us from out of town), the rest to their respective homes.

Open those books and read. “It was the time of assize time.” What? what the hell is assize time? Drag out the Black’s. Hmmm, English Courts? what has that got to do with property? What is a remainder? I see no math here? An entailed what? Read it again, and again, and fifteen times, and perhaps just a tiny glimmer of an idea starts. That fifteen pages is looking like War and Peace now.

And baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet. You go to this property class and this ancient curmudgeon shuffles in. His notes for God’s sake are all plastic laminated. He’s given the same blessed lecture for 45 years. You sit there quietly, notebook open, ready to set down the immortal words of this legend in his own mind. “Back in 1942, I was involved in a lawsuit regarding what is now referred to as Yankee Stadium in New York City. The plaintiff wanted. . .,” he begins to drone, and then abruptly stops, only I’m still writing frantically, having no clue if this is important or not. And then I hear it, “Mr. Rogers, where is Mr. Rogers? You? Stand up Mr. Rogers. When any one is called upon, they are to rise. Mr. Rogers, what is the holding of Banks vs. Alterman in your reading assignment?”

We all gasp, we all have the same sinking desperate feeling in our stomachs. Oh God, thank you it wasn’t me, but oh God is this what is going to happen? Oh God, soon enough it will be me. We look gratefully at poor Mr. Rogers,(who looks all of about 14 with acne) trembling, as he fumbles through notes and pages, “Holding? sir?” he squeaks? “Yes holding, Mr. Rogers. What does the case stand for?” “Well uh, the plaintiff sued. . .” “I know who the plaintiff sued Mr. Rogers, I asked for the holding of the case? Does anyone know the holding?” No takers Mr. Curmudgeon, nobody is offering themselves up as the sacrificial lamb quite yet.

We now sit in utter and perfect terror, hoping against hope that our name is not next, as the old fart peruses his class name list. You can almost see the saliva and spittle starting to form as he selects his next victim. “Perhaps Mizzzzzzzzzzzzz Andrews has actually read the assignment? Tell us the holding Mizzzzzzzz Andrews.” Oh Lord, Ms. Andrews is sitting next to me. That means he won’t call on me next, I pray. But I’m now fumbling with all the others trying to extract some kernel of knowledge that may be fit to feed this monster should I be in fact next.

After a class time of 50 minutes that stretched into a sweat-soaked billion minutes, finally it’s over. We gather our belongings quietly, move out the door, looking at each other as does caught in the headlights might. There is the clear lightness of being. We have entered the battle, amid bullets flying and bombs exploding and God Damn we have LIVED!!! We whisper little murmurings of encouragement, “man was that brutal.” Most of us are off to the restroom to check our pants for embarrassing signs of losing our cool.

Nothing was ever as scary as that. That class stayed scary for most of the year, but eventually we got the hang of it. We learned to take the criticism, we actually received praise here and there. We learned all those words and all those crazy cases that date from the beginning of hunter/gatherer times and still in some odd way impact how I sell a house in Maine to a guy from Vermont. The rest were a piece of cake in comparison. Some were actually fun.

But the fear? Oh that didn’t leave at all. Never for that entire first year. It scared some bad enough they quit. And some flunked out. It was as they said, one third of us were gone at the end of the first year. I was not one of them. But I learned to hate school, that I surely did.

Is God Just Pissed or What?

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Bush, Carribbean, embroidery, environment, Gardening, Iowa, Iraq, John McCain, Media, oceans, pasta, pesto, Pork, quilting, satire, vegetables, witchcraft, Women's history

Called “The Advanced Guard (the Ambush),” this piece was done by Frederic Remington in 1890. It is located at the Art Institute of Chicago. Two thoughts come to mind. I feel ambushed by the gush of water we have endured for the past twenty-four hours. I feel like I’m living on a floating flotsam of land on a sea of muck, and two, when did I start cheering for the Indians when I see pictures or movies involving Native Peoples and the Cavalry?

Oh what a holy mess. It poured buckets ALL night and the water is literally running downhill in rivers. I’m sure that we could force ourselves out if it were necessary but of course it is not, so we aren’t. We have gone from piles of snow to cold and rain for now close to six straight months with hardly a break of decent weather. It’s depressing. I fear for the garden at this point. The fact that we have a whopping two days without rain and temps in the low 80’s may save us, but I’m not sure.

The dogs are grumpy, and are stubbornly laying outside now, determined to be outside after spending way too much time indoors. My floors take a beating on days like this as 24 paws trip over the floors leaving their lovely impressions in dirty wet prints. And dogs just smell when they are wet, like old wet soggy leather. I need to make a dessert but frankly cannot get up the emotional gusto for the job. We are having hamburgers and home fries for dinner. Maybe some coleslaw, if I get up that energy! LOL. I just want to b**ch out the world today.

I’m convinced the world is nutso anyway. Dunkin Donuts cancels an ad because some wingnut on Fox Nonews thinks Rachel Ray’s scarf looks similar to the kind worn by Yasar Arafat? I mean who care what Foxthinks about anything? Has America gone mad? A Catholic priest rants like the worst kind of Telepreacher, embarrassing not only every sane Catholic but religion in general? Religion is looking awfully bad these days, no matter what type you practice. I think America is bipolar if you get my drift. I would move to a sane country if I could. I’m sick and embarrassed to be a member of this country right now. Well, let’s get to the news, it can’t be worse can it?

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Frankly the only pestos I’ve ever made were basil. I have made that several times when I had enough homegrown basil to make a big batch and freeze. This recipe from 101 Cookbooks is broccoli pesto and I thought it was a nice spring/summer type meal that can be made up quickly but elegantly as well.

This is hardly an uplifting story. It doesn’t take a big brain to conclude that global warming and pollution not only affect the air, but also our oceans. And the sad facts are that more and more “dead zones” are showing up in our seas and oceans around the world. The die off in marine life is horrid, and its not all caused by global warming either. Excessive fishing is totally changing the landscape under the waves, perhaps forever as we kill off one species after another in our greed to have it all.

I doubt that most people have any sympathy for Scotty McClellan. His allegations are undoubtedly true, and many have been saying the same for years. The problem is that Scotty’s new found attack of shame and the need to do the right thing, are well, just a tad late. But one has to admire the usual Bushite machine’s smearing of his name. It’s all been said and done before. In fact they even use the same tired excuses. In fact McClellan himself used the same excuses to smear other tell-all confessions, namely those of Richard Clarke. It is like a memo was sent out, giving the standard “talking points.”

Do you know what a nanologist is? Bet not. Feeling stitchy can tell you as well as show you some lovely stitched ones. Enjoy this little aside into embroidery fun. Your kids will love them, and weird old ladies probably will too! LOL.

Gardening Tips and Ideas has about four short reviews of new gardening books. I don’t indulge because I end up just looking at the pictures, and they generally seem awfully expensive. But many are addicted to cookbooks and gardening and crafting ones, so if you are, slip over and see if anything inspires you.

Here is a book many will be happy to spend some bucks on. Gracious Acres brings us the story of a small town guy who snapped pictures of life in Ridgeway Iowa for 60 years and never could even afford to print them. They finally have been and are collected in a book called, “Sunday Afternoon on the Porch” and are published by Iowa University Press. Make sure you take a look.

History of American Women continues to bring us stories of women charged with witchcraft in our colonial history. Today she focuses onSarah Averill Wildes. She was accused first by the sister of her husband’s first wife, then deceased. Eventually she was arrested in a sweep that included eight others and that spread from Salem to outlying towns. She was tried, convicted and then hung on July 19, 1896.

The Iowa Independenthas another profile of a Democrat running for that 4th district House seat currently held by Republican Latham. Read about Becky Greenwald and her rather impressive endorsements as she runs to win the nomination.

Inspired by Antique Quilts has some links to her favorite antique quilt makers. They are definitely not cheap but oh they are beautiful. It is delightful just to look at them. Do so if you need a visual pick-me-up today.

Jeannelle at Midlife by Farmlight has a uplifting story about how her son’s football team went to Parkersburg to help out in the tornado relief effort. The additional rain last night I’m sure did nothing to help matters a  bit. My thoughts continue to be with those people ravaged by the tornado and it’s aftermath. I cannot fathom the sense of loss people must be feeling and the strange out-of-body feeling it must engender.

Once Upon a Feast has a presto pasta roundup of recipes from around the net. If you can’t find one you like out of this array, then you don’t know pasta! LOL. I found more than a few that I would like to try. Pictures of each are a bonus along with the links to all the recipes.

McCain has made a point of appearinig to promote policies designed to stem global warming and aid our worn environment. Course, as many  of us suspected, it more talk than anything else. He misses the votes in Congress when they come up and fails to support the best bills, instead favoring those that are more in line with the Bushite desires. The Mav is a skunk it seems smelling up the biosphere with the usual rhetoric sans action.

I don’t know about you, but the Contrarian and I never miss an episode of either the Daily Show or The Cobert Report. We get some of the finest biting commentary on the news from them, something not available in the mainstream. It continues to amaze me how very influential they are becoming, and Steven’s “Cobert Nation” seems willing and able to do just about anything asked of them. The Salon offers a great little post on the influence of the satirists on politics.

Do you shuffle when you walk? Why if so, you are but doing as our ancestors may have done. Researchers claim that it is possible that bipedalism began with a shuffling motion designed to conserve metabolic energy. Okay, makes sense to me. Read about it at Science Digest.

This is an atypical recipe for me, but one I think I will give a go to. It’s called Pork Mango Picadillo and is a Caribbean treat. I think it would make a fine addition to any “international” dinner plan. Sounds great to me. Since it’s from Simply Recipes, you know it will be a fantastic one.

John McCain has made claims that while he disagrees a good deal about how the war in Iraq was prosecuted, he sees no alternative now since we are there, than to finish the job. But do his earlier pronouncements equal this new stance? The Nation in a well researched report, suggests the answer is a resounding NO, and that McCain has supported and echoed the Administration line from start to well, finished it still is not. Read about what he ACTUALLY SAID throughout the war years and make up your own mind.

I must say this little post just made me laugh. Bush doesn’t intend to read Scotty’s book! Is this a joke? Does he read any book? Too too funny and just the knee slapper I needed today.

Veggie Gardening Tips has some ideas about growing heirloom tomatoes. I’ve done a lot of this, mostly growing from seed. They have done okay for the most part, but remember, most of these plants are very much more susceptible to disease, and if you put up a lot like I do, you learn to appreciate the nice round blemish free tomatoes from the more modern hybrids. But for pure pleasure eating, the heirlooms are wonderful.

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“There’s an old saying about those who forget history. I don’t remember it, but it’s good.” Stephen Colbert

“Life is a moderately good play with a badly written third act.” Truman Capote

“I’m living so far beyond my income that we may almost be said to be living apart.” e.e. cummings

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Just dumb things said:

I think the team that wins Game 5 will win the series. Unless we lose Game 5.”
– Charles Barkley, NBA Basketball Player

“China is a big country, inhabited by many Chinese.”
– Charles De Gaulle, former French President

“Most lies about blondes are false.”
– Cincinnati Times-Star, headline

“If you give a person a fish, they’ll fish for a day. But if you train a person to fish, they’ll fish for a lifetime.”
– Dan Quayle, former U.S. Vice President

It’s time for the human race to enter the solar system!”
– Dan Quayle, former U.S. Vice President on the concept of a manned mission to Mars

“I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix.”
– Dan Quayle, former U.S. Vice President

“Sit by the homely girl, you’ll look better by comparison.”
– Debra Maffett, Miss America 1983

“We don’t like their sound. Groups of guitars are on the way out.”
– Decca Records Rejecting the Beatles, in 1962

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John McCain repeated his assertion that Barack Obama should visit Iraq to really learn about the country. When asked for how long, Senator McCain replied a three- or four-year tour of duty should take care of it.

New York Governor David Patterson has announced that the state will begin to back same-sex marriages from elsewhere. Rudy Giuliani immediately countered with the argument that marriage should be between a man and a woman, and then another woman, and then the other woman.— Janice Hough, Palo Alto, Calif.

NASA says the toilet on the international space station is clogged. Until now, what’s always been the worst problem for restroom facilities in zero gravity? Remembering to keep the lid down. – Alan Ray, Stockton, Calif.

Eye of the Storm

Tags

American History, Barack Obama, Benjamin Franklin, bible, bonsai, Crafts, crochet, Election 2008, Father's Day, founding fathers, fundamentalism, Gardening, gay rights, immigration, Iowa, Iraq, Jewish Messianics, John McCain, Media, Military, Muslims, Myanmar, PTSD, religion, Veterans

Rene Magritte did this exceptional painting in 1928, oil on canvas. It is called the “False Mirror.” It is found at MoMA. I am going to need some pondering time on this I think.

Well a dark and dreary morning and it’s been a pretty constant shower since. But this has been that kind of spring it seems with only a few nice days in all. The Contrarian was hoping to do some more planting of peas and beans but alas that option is out, and neither of us feels like shopping in the rain. Tomorrow doesn’t look a lot better, but we shall go in any event.

It’s delightful to be in a sparkling home again. It lifts my spirits a good deal all by itself. I shall soon have to think about starting the painting. We have everything ready to go, so I really cannot delay. I’m planning on essentially repainting the entire house mostly by the end of the fall. Dinner is awaiting a warm up in the oven. I did a Tex-Mex dish of black beans, ground round, onions, chipolte sauce, tomato sauce, jalapenos, and pepper jack cheese all to be ladled over corn chips with sour cream, salsa and avocado. No fresh cilantro or I’d make more homemade salsa as well.

I don’t know much about this Digg button. If you hit it, it takes you to my post on Digg but I think you must register to diggit or post a comment, so I don’t know if it’s worth it. I guess I’m obsessive or something. I sometimes feel I’m spending a lot of time to no effect. I seem to have reasonable visits, but few comments any more, so maybe I have substantially over estimated my own value, LOL. But i realize how time consuming it is just to read things, commenting takes even more time and I know that most days, I can do little more than 5 or 6 myself.  I recall that blog advisers suggest that you cannot have a very accurate understanding of how well you are doing until a good year has gone by, and I’m only three months into it. I need patience and in some things, I have very little.

I digress. Let’s get on with the news:

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Sandi’s Crochet Blog has a cute little purse and the pattern to make  from rainbow yarn. That’s what I call it anyway. It’s yarn with about four colors so you get this really neat self-striping. I’ve sent you to the main page and you can access the pattern from there.

While California and Massachusetts have moved into modern times on the issue of homosexuality, and New York we hear, promises to honor legal gay marriages, Oklahoma seems intent on taking us backwards into bigotry. Alternet informs us that xenophobia is alive and well in that state as right-wingers continue to force legislation through an apparently willing state legislature. It is not just anti-gay legislation either, but anti-Muslim, anti-immigration, and even backs students carrying guns. Things have gone off track as Republicans have their way and timid Dems sit and watch. Thankfully middle of the road Christian leadership is refusing to obey the extreme anti-immigration laws. Read it and weep friends.

Benjamin Franklin might best be described spiritually, as a seeker. He flirted with polytheism, deism and others over his life time. American Revolution Blog has an impressive report on this man, one of our favorite founding fathers. He was complex and opinionated and thoroughly brilliant. Drop by and learn more about the singularly talented man.

I am old enough to remember the Mickey Mouse Show when it was original with Annette and Bobby and all the rest. But I don’t remember the ditty about proverbs. Britannica Blog has a fun little post on how true parables actually are. I think you might get a kick out of it.

Of course I have told you this before, but I can understand if you were not quite sure it was believable. You see, fundamentalism comes in all relgiious flavors. And Judaism is no exception. It seems that some Jewish messianic types in Israel recently got caught burning a whole lot of New Testaments. Blue Girl Red State has the story. So you see, crazy wingnut religious types are not just the province of Muslims and Christians. The Jews have their own nut cases to contend with. Perhaps the same can be said of Buddhists and Hindus as well, but I have yet to see any evidence. Enlighten me if you can.

Catholic Anarchy has a fine review of Danial Berrigan’s latest book, The Kings and Their Gods: The Pathology of Power. Berrigan’s real talent is in drawing comparisons between biblical stories and today’s world. The review seems quite positive. I’ve seen this book mentioned a few times now, have not sought it myself, though I may, but I would urge you to take a look at the review and decide whether you think its worth your money. I think it well may be.

Sally’s Gardening Tips has a downloadable book for those who love bonsai and always fail at it. I’m told that that is part of the business of trying to grow them. I have seen some of  the most exquisite plantings imaginable and I would very much love to do them. I might just try this download myself though undoubtedly it will take ages for me. Read the post and decide whether you wish to enter the beautiful world of bonsai.

Ezra Klein reports that 111 countries have signed on to ban the use of cluster bombs. The Vatican too pushes the ban. The US?  Not so much. As Klein points out, at a time when our foreign policy is in shambles, and our reputation abroad reeks, wouldn’t this be a good time to get on board with issues that are humane and have the support of most civilized countries? Oh and Obama is on record favoring their ban, Hillary, unfortunately not.

Kevin Miskell is running for the US House seat held by Republican Latham in the 4th district in Iowa. Iowa Independent has a interview with him. Stop by and learn a bit about this candidate if you will be voting in this district’s election. Miskell is up against other Democrats for the right to oppose Latham of course.

Sunni/Shi’ite relations appear no better today than they have been, though there was hope a couple of months ago that Sunnis would return to the government they have been boycotting. This step has been vital to US policy, but insiders suggest that such a reconncilation  will not do nearly as much as it is claimed in terms of national reconciliation needs. The Political Animal has the story for you in full.

Well it isn’t as if we didn’t already know. We got lousy journalism in the run up to the war in Iraq. Everybody knows it, the “journalists” for the most part try to deny it, but we know it. CNN’s Jessica Yellin tells all to Michael Calderone. Yellin worked at ABC during the critical time and said media execs made it clear that journalists should not f**k with the WH in this time of “high patriotism.” Since news is owned by the Entertainment industry now, do you THINK WE DIDN”T ALREADY KNOW THAT? I just love the hypocrisy of these dolts. A much more detailed report on the subject can be found at Glenn Greenwald’s blog, at the Salon.

Myanmar continues to reject a vast amount of the aid being offered to it for relief from the cyclone that hit there weeks ago. The loss of life due to the intransigence of the government is simply obscene. The ruling Junta suggested it’s people could stand on their own, which means they are doing fine, and the people be damned. When do crimes against a people become so heinous that the world community responds? I have no clue, but it doesn’t seem we have reached a level of outrage sufficient yet. Pity, I did weeks ago.

While I respect the horrific experiences of John McCain as a POW during the Vietnam war, I’ve grown increasingly tired of his use of that status to avoid discussion of issues. “I was otherwise engaged in another country if you remember,” he points out time and time again. American Prospect has an article on the subject, exploring the idea of when too much is well, too much. See what you think. I think the campaign is using the POW think exquisitely to their advantage, all the while letting McCain claim he is above that sort of thing.

The Art of the Possible gets into the fray over who Obama will pick for his VEEP. Lots of talk these days on Jim Webb, and of course, once that idea really gains steam, then others explain why it’s a bad idea. Enjoy all the speculation if you must, I’ll kindly sit it out and wait until Mr. Obama makes it official. I’m sure it will be someone I can get behind.

Big Brown, latest media love object and best bet in a long time to win a triple crown, has been mostly silent in these last days or weeks or minutes before his scheduled Belmont appearance. He’s what’s known in the trade as a silent athlete. Read more if you dare.

It’s thoroughly disgusting when VA officials play down the seriousness of PTSD, calling it an overblown problem. The fact is, according to Pentagon sources, its a huge problem and growing. PTSDis not something one gets over with a “little counseling” or some job training. It is not of course equally devastating for all returning vets. For many it is, however, a lifelong disability. It is as some realize, a “war wound” no different than any other observable physical injury. Think Progress has the story.

Tip Junkie has more ideas and more tutorials for Father’s day gifts. Slip over and run through another lengthy list. Many I think are things kids can do with supervision to make Dad that special gift on his special day.

Urantian Sojourn pokes fun at McCain’s continuing refusal to come on board the Webb New GI Bill wagon, preferring his own watered down version. Resorting to the bible to prove McCain’s position is simply ludicrous is NOT FAIR Urantia person! LOL. Enjoy this one folks, it’s a logical traipse through the mixed up mind of old Mac. It’s the first post called Paying the GI Jackson.

The Macster gave a foreign policy speech on March 26. A lot has been written about it, mostly about the nuclear aspects of it, and how well, 20th century his thinking still is. However Blackadder over at Vox Nova is clearly disturbed that McCain has visions of kicking Russia out of the G8 group. Many many people are getting quite frightened of Mac’s sabre rattling. I am one of them. You should be too.

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“It’s so much easier to suggest solutions when you don’t know too much about the problem.”  Malcolm Forbes

“What this country needs is more free speech worth listening to.” Hansell B. Duckett

“It is better for civilization to be going down the drain than to be coming up it.”  Henry Allen

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Puns you say?

Doctors tell us there are over seven million people who are overweight. These, of course, are only round figures.

There were two ships. One had red paint, one had blue paint. They collided. At last report, the survivors were marooned.

Where do you find giant snails? On the ends of giant’s fingers.

Why is Saudi Arabia free of mental illness? There are nomad people there.

A guy walks into the psychiatrist’s office wearing only Glad Wrap shorts. The shrink says, “Well, I can clearly see you’re nuts.”

Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused his dentist’s Novocain during root canal work? He wanted to transcend dental medication.

I get enough exercise just by pushing my luck.

I was having dinner with Garry Kasporov(world chess champion) and on the table was a checkered tablecloth. It took him 2 hours to pass me the salt.

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In his new book, former Bush press secretary Scott McClellan says he was left out in the dark. You know what, Scott? Us too. But you were standing next to the light switch. – Will Durst

New York Governor David Patterson has announced that the state will begin to back same-sex marriages from elsewhere. Rudy Giuliani immediately countered with the argument that marriage should be between a man and a woman, and then another woman, and then the other woman.— Janice Hough, Palo Alto, Calif.

Are YOU Listening?

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Asteroids, baseball, Breads, Breakfast rolls, Bush, chicken, chocolate, church/state, Civil War, Condiments, Constitution, Coolidge, Crafts, Desserts, eclipses, economy, Election 2008, environment, Father's Day, foreign policy, fruit, fundamentalism, Gardening, gay rights, greed, Iowa, lobbyists, Media, medicine, morality, pie, potpourri, quilting, SCOTUS, sin, witchcraft, Women's history, world history

After having done the laundry room yesterday, I can sure say I’m glad that I don’t have to do my washing outdoors like these women. This is listed as women washing from North Dakota 1900-1910 from the Fred Hultstrand Photo collection, located at the Library of Congress.

Did I tell you I’m totally blessed with a wonderful husband? The Contrarian has graciously taken on the task of some housework and cooking today as my digestive issues returned with a fury last night. It’s the most confounding disease, and you can never peg how long it will last and how severe it will be. The last time, hardly a week ago, was a cake-walk. This morning I awoke feeling beaten to a pulp and I’m still belching up a storm. Sorry for being so graphic. I’m just tired mostly and so this is the perfect place for me; a long session traveling the internet in search of the stories you can’t live without. So let’s get to it.

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101 Cookbooks has a most interesting dessert recipe made with cream cheese and tofu and chocolate. It sounds a bit weird but Heidi promises that it’s a real taste sensation. It’s called Heavenly Pie. Drop by and take a look and see what you think. She changed up some of the ingredients and I suspect you can do the same.

I think sweets are on my mind today. Abby Sweets has a delicious sounding recipe for  Pecan Honey Sticky Buns that I think might peak your interest. It sure did mine. This is the perfect brunch item for those lazy Sunday mornings, lolling on the terrace with coffee and the paper. Okay, sitting in a lawn chair, reading a good novel and swatting flies and trying to keep them off your buns!

First off let me say that I very much admire Tiger Woods. Even though I basically despise golf, we cheer him on in every contest that I am forced to watch. I find him a terrific roll model for kids and frankly a roll model for us all by and large. That said, I found this article disturbing. Does Mr. Woods owe us some kind of moral response to wrongs in society? Read about his partnership with Chevron and see what you think?

The sickening cesspool of Iraq seems to be sucking our money faster than water drains from a tub these days. In another stunner, a Pentagon audit finds 15 BILLION dollars unaccounted for. That’s your money and mine folks, and it’s intolerable as I see it. When oh when is somebody(s) going to be held accountable? It seems the only people doing well are Halliburton and Blackwater.

First Lady of Baseball? Oh I bet you wonder who that might be. It will be a surprise I can tell you, most unlikely. Travel to the American Presidents Blog and get the answer and a nice little vignette about the president’s wife who had a passion for the game.

I talk long and hard about the misuse of history to further personal agendas. No one is more guilty of that than David Barton, alleged historian and distorter of all that is history. Mr. Barton, head of “Wallbuilders” is on a crusade to prove that America is a Christian nation and he lets no facts get in the way of that mission. Read a scathing but accurate report from American Revolution Blogand Lindsay Shuman. We first heard of Mr. Barton on a skimming of the religious cable channels. He was doing a series based on his book before two evangelical preachers, who nodded and oohed and ahhed at his every “revelation.” Pure utter nonsense, but to the unlearned sounds mighty fine no doubt.

No one who reads this blog regularly has any real question about where I stand on most issues. I am pretty vocal. I am appalled a the idea that McCain could have the opportunity to continue the reorganization of SCOTUS to reflect an ultra conservative agenda which tramples on individual rights, protects business excess and promotes majority rule over protection of minority rights. But sometimes, I figure you are entitled to both sides, and I especially enjoy giving you that when I can send you to a place that gives you intelligent, fair coverage of both sides. Bill Moyers Journaldoes just that. Read the discussion of “How strictly should the Constitution be followed?” featuring Jeffrey Toobin and Thomas Sowell. Yes, Sowell writes for NRO, and mostly I think he is a wingnut, but read on and see what you think.

Say what you will, the Bushites continue to at least provide plenty of hysterical fodder for water cooler giggling. The latest is storming the airways and blogosphere today. Scott McClellan, former WH press secretary has a book out and boy is it causing a stir. The WH is exclaiming, “this ain’t the Scott we knew.” It’s a hoot I tell you, and everyone is talking. Read Blue Girl Red State‘s humorous biting take on the media frenzy that is just starting up. As I ran though a dozen or more stories about this, it seems apparent that the WH has joined ranks and officially are pretty much proclaiming that poor Scott has obviously lost his mind. To a person they say, “This can’t be Scott, something has happened to him.”

Still looking for more and better excuses to imbibe? Wine I mean. Well Britannica Blog has more for you. It actually may help prevent certain types of liver disease, and don’t we all want to do that? So sip away, and know that you are doing your heart and your liver good.

For some this is definitely too much effort period. But think again. Making hamburger buns homemade will surely set you apart, create lots of talk in the neighborhood and make lots of women hate you for being so, well, super! I suspect you will find that they, like most things, taste ever so much better than the gluey tasteless things we get from Wonder Bread. Coconut & Lime has the recipe.

Of course with the summer grilling season just underway, we are all looking for new recipes to wow friends and neighbors. Nothing gets more tiresome that the usual, ribs, barbecue chicken and brats, so take a look at Citrus Chicken under a Brick and do something new and exotic to boot. Thanks to Epicurious for this one. I love to butterfly chicken and weight it down like this. It just works wonderfully.

Lucy Rebecca Buck was a diarist, and if you are interested on her take on the Civil War as she lived through it, be sure to make it to Civil War Women and read her mini-biography of this woman. Different from her usual nurses, this lady wrote daily of what life was like for her during this period. I find these accounts simply fascinating. A snapshot of another world in another time and place. You come away with an entirely different feel for history and you undoubtedly realize how little we have changed over time.

Gardening Tips and Ideas has a great post on creating your own potpourri from your own garden. She gives you all the information you need to create your own jars of aroma. Just a few things will be purchased, the rest comes from your own lovely roses and herbs. Enjoy this crafting delight.

Garrison Keillor has a post on soldiering. A bit late, but certainly with so many of our young men and women still in harm’s way, it’s still topical. Mr. Keillor has a wonderful way of putting things in perspective and giving us a good ponder. Somehow I don’t think Harley Davidson will be offering Garrison a contract to promote hogs any time soon.

Monday in my Editorial, I alluded to the politics of yesterday promoted by Bush/McCain–one shall not speak to those we are opposed to. I find it more dangerous that the rational approach suggested by Mr. Obama. A couple of history profs tend to agree with me it seems and find that other US presidents also did as well. Read “Must We Ever Fear to Negotiate” at History News Network.

History of American Women features a lady accused of witchcraft back in our colonial time. Elizabeth Jackson Howe was born in England and immigrated to the colonies as a very young child. Things went bad in Ipswitch and poor Mrs. Howe was accused of causing illness through witchcraft. She was tried in Salem in 1692. Convicted, she was hung on July 19. A sad blot on our history indeed.

Are you sick of the media frenzy that we encounter daily on so-called gaffes of the candidates? I sure am. Inside-Out the Beltway has a fine post on being fed up with non-news and the increasing case that the media at large has lost its ability to report NEWS.

If you have a moment, drop over to inspired by antique quilts and get a look at the lovely butterfly motif quilt she has done. It’s simply lovely and perfect for a girl’s bed, or your own certainly. A wall hanging would be fine also. It certainly looks homey and comfy and just makes me feel warm all over on this still chilly day.

Sister Joan Chittister has a great post about how we are again losing our way in this election cycle. Much like Inside-Out the Beltway, she decries the non-news that the media remains focused on and finds again, that women take the brunt of the slams. Read her always interesting takes on the world, and politics today.

We talk about terrorism as a given,  and a growing crisis in the world. Certainly a number of folks, mainly McCain and the warmongering Bushites play on our fears almost constantly, mostly to hide their own ineptitude and personal agendas. However, what is the real state of terrorism today? Fareed Zakaria points out that the idea that terrorism is on the rise is flawed, and suggests that the culprit is, you guessed it, the American government. See how the Simon Fraser Study, done in Canada, sets the record straight.

The subject is greed, remember the movie with Michael Douglas? Greed he said was “good.” Well, we have been greedy haven’t we, we in the US that is, and we collectively in the West. How’s that doing for for ya now? On Faith takes on the subject with the posts from a the panel and plenty of comments. Weigh in on this fascinating moral, economic topic of the day.

George Will on Sunday’s George Stephanopolous show said in regards McCain’s cleaning house of his lobbyist bloated campaign, “he honestly believes it doesn’t matter since he is honest.” Well bully for him. I don’t buy it. I can swim with the slime but not get slimed is a poor way of convincing me for sure. It just makes me crazy to think that he proposed legislation some years ago to ban what he got caught doing to such an extreme that he instituted a “new” policy to do what he tried to legislate years before. Uh, what? Okay, let me start again. He introduced legislation I’m told to disallow candidates from hiring lobbyists for their campaigns. That didn’t pass so he then fills his campaign with lobbyists? And when the press called him on it time and again for their sleazy associations, he then institutes a “new” policy banning all lobbyists from his campaign. Is he nuts? Anyhoo, go to Political Animaland read Kevin Drum’s latest scoop from MSNBC. Seems McCain’s national campaign co-chair was working for a Swiss bank lobbying Congress about the mortgage crisis at the same time that he was advising McCain on economic strategy. McCain is obviously suffering from dementia.

I guess eclipses still cause a minor flurry of excitement around the world today. Solar more so than lunar certainly. Did you know that they have stopped battles and induced truces on the spot historically? Rogueclassicism has a nice piece on eclipses over history and how they effected the lives of those who witnessed them.

I believe that for the first time, polls in California suggest that the electorate there by a slim margin now favor gay marriage. This will come as a shocking thing to the reactionary right who claims they are the arbiters of all things moral. I can hardly wait to check out the forums where there will be much gnashing of teeth no doubt.

Oh and in case you missed it, McCain and Bush were scheduled to hold an open fundraiser a few days ago, which is why McCain couldn’t make the vote for the Iraq funding or the new GI Bill (convenient of course). Trouble is and was, that there were so few tickets sold, they turned it into a house party, and closed it, afraid that more protesters would show up than supporters. It’s too too funny. Seems the Mac is between a rock and hard place these days.

Glenn Greenwald has another of his killer posts on journalists and their desire to find themselves innocent of lazy work during the run-up to the war. Only Katie Couric it seems even suggested that the media could have done a better job. Most defended themselves saying they asked a lot of questions. LOL. It’s an excellent post, and one I suggest you should read. This is why blogging has taken on greater importance. Anyone who knows history knows that a free often belligerent press is what helps keep us free. These people cave in at the first threat of loss of access and its despicable.

Well ya can’t say that Iowa isn’t in the forefront of important stuff. Researchers at the University of Iowa are setting up the Asteroid Deflection Research Center to bring scientists from around the world together in the development of new technologies to protect the planet should we face an impeding killer asteroid strike. I feel a good deal safer knowing that, and I’m sure you do as well.

A strawberry rhubarb terrine? Oh that sounds mighty fine to me. I adore rhubarb as I might have mentioned once or twenty times. Simply Recipes has a great summery treat to make.

Are you addicted to Taco Bell’s hot sauce? Well probably not, but then again, maybe you are. Anyway, Secret Recipe Bloghas the copycat recipe for you. And hey, making your own taco sauce is not a bad thing, and it’s probably way cheaper than buying the bottled stuff. I may well give it a try when the jalapenos are ready to harvest.

This posting caught my eye, because, well frankly I think the dude is right. I’m outraged about torture being done in my name by my government. And if you peruse the blogosphere, plenty of other people are as well. But I don’t frankly see a lot of media attention being given to the subject. Believe me, if the media smelled in the lightest whiffs of a breeze that the public cared about this subject, they would be covering it daily. The Nation asks, “Where is the Outrage?” and I have to say, yeah, exactly where is it America?

To the seven deluded people in America who don’t think that McCain is just another Bush in disguise,the proof would tend to be in the voting record would it not? Obama will surely have a field day in arguing that McCain voted for Bush policies 100% of the time in 2008 and 95% of the time in 2007. So much for distancing! Think Progress gave us the news.

Tip Junkie has a number of links to sites with ideas for crafters who want to make something special for that man in your life for Father’s Day. There is quite a long list with plenty of variety, so get busy and make something special for Dad this year.

We linked you to a bio today of a woman hanged in Salem after being convicted of witchcraft. We look upon these things as horribly misguided actions by people who were backward in thinking. Amazing as it may seem, 15 women have been executed in Africa for just that offense recently. Kenyan mobs have done this, sad to say, rounding up “offenders” in villages and burning them to death.  Our thanks to Women of History for the story.

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“Unprovided with original learning, unformed in the habits of thinking, unskilled in the arts of composition, I resolved to write a book.” Edward Gibbon

“Men live in a fantasy world. I know this because I am one, and I actually receive my mail there.”  Scott Adams

“We don’t see things as they are, we see things as we are.” Anais Nin

“My mother buried three husbands, and two of them were just napping.” Rita Rudner

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More crazy product warnings:

Earplugs
These ear plugs are nontoxic, but may interfere with breathing if caught in windpipe

Mattress
Warning: Do not attempt to swallow

Fix-a-Flat
WARNING: Do not weld can to rim.

Rain Gauge
Suitable for outdoor use.

RCA Television Remote Control
Not Dishwasher Safe

Road Sign
Caution water on road during rain.

Road Sign
Cemetery Road. Dead End

Children’s Superman Costume
Wearing of this garment does not enable you to fly.

Rowenta Iron
Warning: Never iron clothes on the body.

Nabisco Easy Cheese
For best results, remove cap.

Japanese food processor:
Not to be used for the other use.~~~&&&~~~&&&~~~

 

The cruise liner Norwegian Spirit crashed into a Manhattan pier. The entertainment director tried to spin it positive. “Today our ship photographer will take your photo in front of some ruins. – Alan Ray, Stockton, Calif.

According to a new study, teenage girls whose boyfriends are gang members are nearly twice as likely to become pregnant as girls not dating boys in gangs. This study was conducted by Dilmore University of Hoboken (DUH).

A 77-year-old man has become the oldest person to reach the summit of Nepal’s Mount Everest. He made it by repeating over and over to himself, “I haven’t fallen so I CAN get up.” –– Paul Seaburn, Spring, Texas

Hillary thanked NASA profusely for the encouragement and vowed to fight on now more than ever after Phoenix’s photographs of Mars revealed there is as much life there as in her campaign. – Eugene Cappuccio

Both George Bushes have been accused of being in bed with the Saudis for years. But when they ask for a favor — more oil — they get a resounding no. I guess they just aren’t very good in bed. – Charles Almon

Spring Cleaning–Done, Done, Done

Tags

blogging

Well loyal readers and new ones should there be any, it’s been a quiet and peaceful couple of days. The weather was mostly lovely but the tornadoes were horrible for sure. Our alerts went off Sunday night about 45 minutes after we went to bed. We turned on the TV and discovered that the area of concern was past us to the east. Still I think we both slept rather fitfully.

Bear is shy of thunder so he was a constant companion most of the night as well. Other than being soggy on Monday, we had a pleasant day with ribs on the grill and potato and pea salads for dinner. As usual, an enormously longer time is spend preparing than eating and that always distresses me to no end.

The blogging has been erratic because I got to a point in the cleaning where I just wanted it done, so I pushed hard to finish. I had the kitchen done by sometime Saturday which was so nice. It was delightful Monday to do the cooking in for sure. I didn’t do anything yesterday other than throw up the blog editorial and mess around with DIGG. I have no clue if it will help build traffic but I’m hopeful. Given the time I put in, I’d like to see my traffic increase, but that of course depends on whether what I write is of interest to anyone.

This morning I was determined to finish the laundry/pantry. It was a nasty business but the Contrarian pitched in and we moved the washer and dryer and the rearranged things a good deal. I moved the potato/onion bin to the laundry room and we moved the pantry shelving to the kitchen area, and it’s super now. That was the Contrarian’s idea and so all that thinking is worthwhile. He’s also going to build me another shelf over the washer/dryer which will sure be helpful. I am however, pooped! Just a marinated steak for dinner with the salads is all we are having.

So please be patient. I’ll try to get back on track with the usual blog tomorrow. We will be going to town again this week, but I don’t think it will be tomorrow, but probably Thursday. Just a lot of things to do at this time of year, and we have to catch up on things that we neglected all winter because we were so snow bound. I try to get around to those of you who blog several times a week, and comment so you know I’m not neglecting you, but time is scarce these days with the planting season in full swing. I don’t have my flowers done at all or my herbs yet either. The lousy weather today doesn’t encourage me to do much either.

So stay warm and dry and keep up the good fight, or not as the case may be! Some sun would be nice!

A Fitting Memorial Day?

Tags

Sunday Editorial, War

It seems wrong to say “Happy Memorial Day.” Such is not the proposed tenor of the day certainly. It is more a day of sadness for those who recently have lost loved ones, and a day of reflection for the rest of us. It is particularly sobering given the tragedy of Parkersburg yesterday.

Last night the Contrarian and I watched a movie entitled “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” and it got me to thinking.

This is probably not better than a B type movie, and so I’ll give you a short synopsis of the plot.

The Emperor Napoleon is exiled on St. Helena, and as history claims, died there. The movie is a “what if” changling wherein we suppose that Napoleon loyalists help foster a duplicate impostor to stay on the isle while the real Napoleon is spirited back to France for a proposed retaking of his throne. Of course things go awry.

The impostor, a Eugene, grows to like his status and privilege as a British captive and refuses to claim his impostorship as required. Bonaparte has made his way to France and is living in the home of a widow of one of his now deceased loyalists. He resurrects her failing business and love blossoms as he waits impatiently  to explode back onto the scene as the people’s beloved Emperor. Unexpectedly, Eugene, the false Napoleon dies of excess gluttony and Napoleon sets out to announce who he really is. The widow and none of his new friends believe him, rather they think him mad and set out to show him that the nation is in fact full of crazy people with Napoleon complexes.

Napoleon becomes angry and frustrated. He dresses up in his familiar uniform and presents himself before the widow Pumpkin and bellows, I am Bonaparte. In exasperation at his refusal to “let it go,” she retorts in anguish, “I hate Napoleon, you hear me, I hate him. Paris is filled with widows who have lost husbands and sons to him and his insatiable desires for conquest.” 

Truer words were as they say never spoken. I wondered at that moment how many women and men feel that same hatred at George Bush and his monomaniacal desires to out do daddy and make an independent name for himself. Napoleon was a brilliant commander so they say, he just over-stepped. Bush is no commander at all, has never known a day of combat and isn’t even good at surrounding himself with talented men and women warriors. Bush will be nothing but a cipher in history, while we remain intrigued by the likes of Napoleon.

I know there was a time when we were without war. It  stands to reason; once survival required the concerted efforts of all in cooperation. But at some point in time we achieved sufficient security to start thinking about what we would “like,” and the concept of war was born. War is nothing but the selfish self-centeredness of the human psyche. For when we want something that someone else has, often the only means of acquiring it that we can see is to take it, whether it be land, possessions or resources.

Yet war is popularly portrayed as the means of ending some threatening behavior of another. And undoubtedly in some contexts it is. In the US we like to think that we never engage in wars of aggression for desires we have. This of course is untrue. From its inception the US has engaged in wars of aggression toward others with better “title,” in the name of “manifest destiny.” We ironically “purchased” a huge chunk of what is now US land from a country which had no ownership rights in the first place, France. And we fought a war against Britain to obtain ownership of land they did not own. Only the Native Peoples seem to have understood that.

War has never ended war, though one war is still referred to as the “war to end all war.” It did not of course, in fact another, and equally devastating one occurred within 30 years. Wars have raged for 100 years and have solved almost nothing, or as little as 6 days and still solved nothing. War doesn’t end war, it just changes who is angry and who wants revenge and who is top dog for a while.

War kills people probably better than any other force in nature. It is almost unfathomable to us today how many died during civil war battles, WWI battles, Iwo Jima, Battle of the Bulge, Guatalcanal, and Napoleon’s retreat from Moscow. The numbers are staggering. We usually don’t see numbers of that caliber today, but war remains, nonetheless, horrific in its scope. It’s path of destruction remains broad and largely uncaring of class, age, innocents, gender, or much of anything.

The toll of war on the fighters is slowly beginning to seep into our minds. This is a relatively new thing. I shall never know what formed the strange person who was my father. What had the greater impact, his mother or his war experiences? They say that the veterans of WWII did not talk of what they saw and endured, and that was certainly true of my father. That does not mean they were not deeply and negatively affected by the experience. In days past they called it shell-shock and battle fatigue. Today we know it as PTSD and know that it is a life-long affliction.

The rates of homelessness and suicide among veterans is a dirty little secret that is being told largely through the internet blogosphere. The Vietnam Vets already knew this and could have told us, but we weren’t listening very well then. We couldn’t see why it would be any different for them than those of WWII, and we didn’t hear of those guys suffering upon returning home. We thought, I guess that the Vietnam Vets were whiners or something. Iraq is setting that record straight. We are seeing the damage, both physical and mental and many now fight to bring this to the forefront of the American psyche.

Can we imagine the harm being done to civilians around the world who are caught in the middle of this horror? These are victims in every sense of the word too. Can you imagine facing death just by walking to the market for bread today? They do in Baghdad, Beruit, Darfur, Jerusalem, and a host of other cities around the world. Do you not think that such stress and pressure changes a person inside? Do you not expect damage to the mind of such people? Can you not see that the desire for simple peace and safety can drive people to extremes of thinking and acting? Do you not expect that this impacts in a huge way the way they raise their children?

All this resides at the doorstep of war. All this and much more. The wasting of resources, the loss of economic vitality, the wreckage of a standard of living, and the fomenting of continuing repressive war mongering dictatorships. War brings a heavy price for that momentary “victory” sign we so joyously wave.

I live in a Utopian dream, I admit. I know  that someday we will progress beyond this insanity. I know  that someday we will actually turn our weapons into plowshares. Some day our collective consciences will awaken and we will look at human history’s affair with war as unspeakably barbaric. We will wonder how our ancestors could have been so backward and so unconscionably evil.

 Alas, that is not today, but at least we can ponder these things in our hearts. We can begin to wonder why we claim that a person who broaches the very idea of talking to those we oppose is “dangerous.” We can begin, today to wonder is it not the one saying that who is dangerous? It’s just what I got to thinking about today.

Co-ordinating Color in My Life

Tags

Autobiography

I was raised in a racist home, quite plain and simple. It did not particularly matter what ethnic background one was, most all were equally suspect. The “N” word was common, mostly from my father, my mother was not sufficiently aware of anything beyond her tiny world to have an opinion.

Mexicans were called “spics” and Jewish folks were well called Jews, but one was clear they were out to steal you blind. I recall once as a child i was sent to the corner market to pick up bread or something. I returned and gave the change back, and my mother realized I had been “shorted.” My father as I recall, referred to the store owners as “filthy jews.” I have no idea whether they were or not. Asians were uniformly referred to as “Japs.” Native Americans were “dirty.”

I have no clue where all this came from. I know of no family stories of any encounters with any of these peoples which turned out badly. I know of virtually no contact whatsoever in fact. But I can say that my fathers bigotry seemed not extraordinary among either family or neighbors. No one gasped in dismay or frowned in consternation at his language.

Of course this was always justified on the theory that only inferior people would let themselves get into such a fix. This properly applied to Blacks, Jews and Native Americans. They had all been overcome by the white  Christian world, and this undoubtedly meant that whites were superior. This was simply a given. Nothing in any class in history I ever took up through high school ever dispelled this conclusion. Oh there were statements of the horror done, and how wrong it was, but the issue of inferiority/superiority was not delved into with any seriousness. Much of American history was based on our glorious triumphant “taking” of what we wished. Firmly ensconced in “survival of the fittest,” my social studies teachers made the basic assumption that this was the way of the world.

Still, there was a severe hierarchy of inferiority. Blacks were first on the list, and even friendship would be frowned upon. These things were not dictated, they were simply understood. Probably Asians were next, and Jews next.  This may be simply the “foreignness” and unlikelihood of encountering any of these strange and different folks. Mexicans weren’t encountered in daily life either, and Native Peoples only at the lake up north where they owned the souvenir shop.

As far as i knew, there were nothing but Christians in my childhood. I recall no “others” at all. None. Not from grade school on up. Nary a one. We saw blacks of course, here and there, at the shopping center. I recall one day when I was perhaps 11 or so being with friends at K-Mart, then the bastion of the working poor. We kids were just wandering through the stores examining things, seldom buying anything. I recall an older black woman going through a table of some clothing articles. I recall saying something derogatory and using the “N” word. I recall her tightening mouth, but she uttered not a word. My friends laughed and pretended shock. But they laughed. My father would have been proud. I have never forgotten it all of my life, and I still cringe inside when i recall my vile behavior.

I never met a black person and talked to them until I was in junior college. There, in one of my business classes, I became friendly with a black girl. I felt oh so very modern and superior, having set aside my given prejudices and befriended this girl. I was shocked when she ignored me when I saw her in a hallway surrounded by other blacks. I think I probably took a step back in my new found open-mindedness. Later I got a kick out of announcing to my dad that I was study partners with a black guy at the library. He grimaced and grumbled, “just don’t think of bringing one home.”

All my roommates in college were white, and I would say that blacks were still more rare than usual on campus. But of course, I was in a new milieu. Racism was our parents, we were open-minded, modern, forward looking, inclusive, equality driven college kids. We were Utopian in outlook. We were getting ready to burn bras and declare utter equality for all. We were in the early 70’s and such things were “in.”

The same held true in law school. There were few blacks, but by then I was fully adoptive of my new found fairness to all. Of course one of my idols had been Bobby Kennedy, and his special closeness to the black community was something I could not ignore. There was only one other episode of which I was sorely ashamed during all this time, and I’m not sure I realized the shame of my behavior until years later.

I was in college, home on summer vacation and working at the unemployment office. One of my co-workers, a fine young guy who was also a college student, and I became friends. I think we were flirting a lot around the office as i recall, when we worked together that is. Certainly during lunch hour. For reasons I no longer recall, though I had a car and could have met him anywhere, I agreed that he could come over to the house. As I recall my dad and grandmother were both at the lake and I was “home alone.” I think I recall that he pushed to do this, perhaps testing my true “liberality.”

In any case, he did come over. I made sure the porch light was off, and I pulled all the drapes. I was desperate that no one see him and “report” back that a black person had been in the house. I don’t recall that we did much if anything but a little light necking. I don’t recall that anything further ever came of it, whether that was due to his intense recognition of how I had tried to “hide” him or that the summer ended soon after and we returned to our respective schools is anybody’s guess at this point.

My travels and struggles with racism took a long time to work themselves out, and in truth they did not until I was employed at the Defender Office in Detroit, working for a black man and with many other black attorneys. I learned a lot from Myzell and George, two of the biggest names in African American jurisprudence in Detroit. George’s dad was a US Representative after having been one of the first African American’s on the bench in Detroit Recorder’s Court. I had the privilege to practice before him before his retirement to politics and his was a keen legal mind. George III, his son and my co-worker was a friend, a short-time lover, and a great mentor to me as well. 

In fact, I dated a number of black men during those years of the 70’s and early 80’s, and it was in some respects the “in” thing to do. One of my best friends, our office manager, ended up marrying a white guy whom I had worked with for years. There were other well known examples in Detroit of interracial couples. Two other colleagues of mine married after he, the black, successfully ran for judge. She and he were the “couple” not to be outdone. He was tall, muscular, handsome, and an excellent lawyer. She was simply one of the most beautiful women I had ever known, and one of the nicest too.  Her clients adored her and with good reason. She was also an excellent attorney. They made a striking couple to be sure.

I recall during a time in my life some years later when finances were worrisome for me, that i felt the old call of racism. It is all too easy to blame one’s situation on high taxes fostered by “social programs.” And we all know who gets the benefit of those social programs don’t we?  Certainly my experiences with Detroit did nothing to lessen any remaining threads of racism that certainly still inhabited my soul. My homes were violated any number of times by thieves. My cars were stolen. I represented for the most part a totally black clientele, and most of them were guilty, and as most criminal defendants are wont to do, the first means of attack when one hits the jail cell, is to blame the attorney.

No, I was to fight racism for a good many years. Detroit provided me the window into how upper middle class blacks lived and conducted their lives, but they also reinforced the usual stereotypes, expressed through my clients. Somehow, I managed to find my way through the morass and emerge I think relatively bigotry free. I don’t know, one still feels the prick of an old prejudice now and again. In this I recognize I am very normal. Few realize how deep seeded these feelings are, and often how very unaware we are of them. I suspect my adoption of Christianity had more to do with eradicating most of the remaining prejudices from my heart than anything else did. For that I am and will always be eternally grateful.