Just a Little Off the Top?

Tags

DADT, foreign policy, GOP, John McCain, North Korea, religious right, Sarah Palin, sex, STD's, wikileaks, Women's issues

I stopped after church yesterday to get my hair cut. It’s a fancy place, La Cost Cutters. French I think. They are intent on bringing high coiffure to the average jane, so they locate in Wal-Mart.

Now let me explain that my hair grows like the worst weed you’ve ever encountered. I imagine zillions of little guys on bicycles pedaling away, spinning out my hair.

For years I solved this problem by not getting it cut and wearing it loooooong. This finally grew tiresome and I started whacking it off around the shoulders and then just twisting it up and clipping it. I am tres chic.

Finally I grew tired of this, so I decided to get ‘er done in a short style, something most old women (which I’m now approaching) finally do. I wanted it short. The first stylist did a great job. That was several months ago. Since then, I’ve had a line of stylists who seem to have difficulty with the word “cut.” They nibble around at the edges.

“Go ahead and cut it. It grows so fast that no ‘to short’ will last more than two weeks,” I encourage.

But they don’t get it. They are afraid. Or, it’s a conspiracy to get more money out of me by getting me there more often.

But what gets me is the strange questions. “Cut it about one inch,” I order, while showing them with my fingers.

They cut the crown, and then ask, “Do you want any taken off the sides?”

“I dunno,” I want to say, “does it not all grow at the same time?”

I mean if it needs an inch cut off, wouldn’t that mean all over? Or from their perch above me, are they seeing something up there that I don’t? Am I a genetic abnormal?

I probably could solve all this by requesting the same stylist. But I go on Sunday after all, and they rotate those schedules. And further more, I really don’t give a flying floozy much about my hair, just want it presentable. I like the convenience of “walking in” and have no desire to make stupid appointments.

Perhaps I have the wrong insider language. You know, hair lingo. Help me here. Am I somehow saying things wrong?

Anyway, mostly I like my hair. A quick wash, a little “do” and let it dry, and brush it. And, well, it’s good to go. All this because the Contrarian assured me that he never was with a group of men who saw a great looking woman go by where anyone exclaimed, “look at that hair-do! wow, isn’t it great?” They seemed, he noted, to be more enamored of certain other features, mostly on the front end above the waist, if ya get my drift.

My hair thanks them for this.

***

I don’t have links to this but I read it over the weekend. Someone reported that John McCain is talking about “regime change” in North Korea. Now that sends a major chill down the spine doesn’t it? Thank God he is not the CIC.  And on the DADT front, John, who cannot get anyone in the military to agree with him, came out with this nasty mean remark:

There was never anything wrong with DADT. It was working fine, until an inexperienced” candidate for President decided to mess with it. (paraphrased)

John is just the worst sort of sore loser I’ve come across.

***

I’m not sure how I feel about the “wikileaks” thing. I guess my government is more incompetent than I thought. Generally I’m not in favor of secrets. But I recognize that sometimes very sensitive negotiations require it. In the end, I guess openness all the way around works best. But I’m persuadable on this issue. What say you?

***
Another thing I noted in reading over the weekend. STD’s are way up in Southern Alaska, home of “just say no” abstinence. HIV infection is up in the South where states embrace abstinence only and other tactics to make it difficult for people to get HIV inhibitor drugs. Doncha just love the compassion of the religious right? How’s that abstinency thing workin’ for ya Sarah, as someone noted.

***

A new Palinism:

I want to help clean up the state that is so sorry today of journalism. And I have a communications degree.”—To Sean Hannity, in a Fox News interview, Nov. 22, 2010.

***

Palin continues to demonstrate her complete lack of comprehension about much of anything. She apparently recently tweeted that since she was able to stop publication of parts of her latest ghostly written book, the government should be able to stop the wikileaks. To equate her silly book and government secrets in the same breath is breathtakingly stupid. The laws and court cases governing are NOT remotely the same. But of course, she doesn’t read so we can’t expect her to know that.

Okay, so my fascination with this train wreck continues. I find her laughable, but I also find her dangerous should she continue to manipulate the public for her own personal aggrandizement. AlterNet provides you with some provocative reactions to Sarah’s testing of the waters.

***

If it comes as a surprise that the GOP has so many women in the mix these days, think again. This doesn’t mean that women are finding their voice in the GOP. They are there because they assist in the Repucklian plan to reduce women to the stay at home little non-entities they think they really are. Read the Republican War Against Women.

Related Articles

• Conservatives comment on WikiLeaks release (riehlworldview.com)
• John McCain Compares Sarah Palin To Ronald Reagan (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
• GOP Senator Graham Asserts Not Enough DADT VOTES; (lezgetreal.com)

The Wacko Right Has Lost it’s Giblets

Tags

American History, Dream Act, fiction, food politics, free press, Gunter Grass, immigration, Korea, Media, Poetry, right wing wackos, Thanksgiving

The first couple  six times I read posts about this, I ignored it as the work of some nut case in Hoboken or Alabama. But then I started seeing more, and I realized that this issue has legs!

The wacko religious right is at it again. You see, when you decide what the bible means, then you cram, twist, turn-inside-out, turn-upside-down, and otherwise thoroughly alter reality to fit your notions. Then the world is okay. See? History agrees with ME.

Not content to trying to believe that our Founding Fathers (FFs) set up a Christian Nation upon a high hill in Plymouth Massachusetts, they are now trying to involve the poor Pilgrims in their revisionist ideas of what really happened.

It should come as no surprise that Rush-me-some-Oxycoton-Limbaugh is onboard. Ditto, Glenn-bend-you-mind-around-me-Beck. Singing the praises is nutjob-wannabe, John Stossel. Soon to be climbing upon the Silly Express will no doubt be Michele-which-way-to-Bellview-Bachmann and Sarah-worshipin-my-bank-account-Palin.

It goes, (the NEW and improved history) sumpin’ like this:

For reasons unknown, the pilgrims upon landing decided to engage in socialism. So they pooled all their stuff and lived in a big old commune, takin’ from each, and givin’ to each as was their due. This, bein’ unGodly, and most unbiblical, brought the wrath of the One Truest God down upon their heads, and they was a close to starvin’ come winter time. The dear Indians came to their rescue and saved ’em.

Well, that was enough of that. The Pilgrims stopped that socialism stuff, and discovered capitalism and free market economies and they became fat, rich and sassy and lived happily ever after, until that Muslim black man came along and tried to undue all their Godly work.

That’s it in a nutshell, though why you would want it in a nutshell is not before us today and seems slightly weird. Perhaps so it could be hid away and protected from destruction from Godless socialists.

Well, none of it is true of course. In fact Stossel just changes the dates of the first Thanksgiving in an attempt to make it appear more in line with his bilge. Rush has been runnin’ this crap for some time it seems, but now it’s caught on, which just goes to show you that lies, damnable lies, have a viral impact and are catchin’.

Crooks and Liars has a fine refudiation of the urban myth and some actual facts about the earliest of our settlers, coming from actual and real historians and not the fake ones Foxy and it’s brigands unearth.

***

It is reported that the Dems will be making another attempt to pass the Dream Act during this lame duck session. Border Explorer has an excellent piece on the truth of what the Act is and is not. Please read and familiarize yourself with the facts so that you can explain it to your more limited friends and neighbors. 

***

I read a book review of Nobel Laureate Günter Grass’s latest book, The Box.  After reading what Adam Kirsch from Slate has to say, I think you might take a look. A serious book, but perhaps a very good one. You decide as usual. I seriously need to read more fiction!

***

A topic of conversation for some time now, has been the unhealthy and unfortunate state of our media. While I don’t in the least subscribe to the right-wing blather than the MSM is liberal, I do subscribe to the belief that it has become mostly awful. Newspapers and serious magazines are on the wane. Can we trust our democracy to untrained folks like me to keep people somewhat informed?

Moe over at Whatever Works has a good piece that is an eye-opener for sure. The US ranks something like 21st in having a free press. Yes, 21st. It turns out that those countries that rank highest, subsidize their free press, something we don’t. It’s worth the time to look at this and perhaps follow a few links.

***

I’ve found a new poet that is really special. I invite you to see the works of FadedRomantic.

***

I don’t know about you, but I’m watching carefully the goings on in the Korean Peninsula. It is mildly chilling to watch the cold-dead eyes of Kim Jong Il, and the even colder eyes of his chosen successor, child-man Kim Jong Un. This IS a time for Sarah to shut her damn mouth, as well as all the politics-first GOP. The situation is just too tense. So please, for once in your sorry lives put the country first.

***

Since food has been the focus of the week, I thought you might be interested in this new book, Empires of Food. You can read a review of it at History Today Magazine.

Speaking of which, oh the leftovers yesterday were sublime. Just like the original meal, and sometimes even better. Today it’s work on the sides, but we are having turkey sandwiches with (for me at least) swiss cheese, lettuce, slices of green pepper, paper-thin onion slices and mayo.

One of the best items was a new recipe for shredded Brussel sprouts. It was a surprise hit. I’ll probably write out the recipe in the next day or two. I do love to try at least one new thing every year, and this will definitely be a repeat!

Off to nosh.

Related Articles

• Stossel: Pilgrims Failed At Socialism [Video] (realestateradiousa.com)
• China must push North Korea harder: U.S. military chief (reuters.com)

Thank God for the Alcock-Paczynski test!

Tags

airport security, astronomy, dark matter, environmentalism, feminism, GOP, Mike Huckabee, money laundering, religious right, Sarah Palin, science, terrorism, Tom Delay

At last, perhaps I can get a good night’s sleep again! I haven’t had one since that dark (pun) day in 1998, when I learned the awful truth: the universe seemed to be expanding at a faster and faster rate! My once cozy pulsing home was threatening to shred itself and leave me forlorn in an ever darkening sky as old friends rapidly flew off into a cold inky black.

Well, no more worries. It appears not to be happening. That demon “dark matter” is a truth we must accept, but it appears that the Alcock-Paczynski test may well prove that our universe is “flat” or what we used to call steady state or static. Just enough gravity, just enough dark matter to keep it in a comfortable rocking to and fro.

I know we just finished Thanksgiving, but this is a whole-nother-level of thanksgiving. I will never not see my beloved Orion, my dippers, my Pleiades. Oh sweet God, I knew you would come through. Let’s have a party!

***

Speaking of Thanksgiving, hope your’s was a good one. Mine turned out most excellently. The meal was sublime, and we feasted until we could force in no more. We liked it so much, we are gonna do it all over again today! And Saturday, and Sunday. You see the method to my madness?

***

I confess! I really do, or did, and am going to continue. I was simply delighted when I learned that “the Hammer” got hammered and may be heading for the slammer! Tom DeLay was convicted in that old state of Texas (good for something!) for money laundering.  I don’t think they execute for that, money is God in Texas along with football you recall. But here’s lookin’ for some good old time for the man who thought he ruled the world when he was in Congress. Oh let the sentence be fair: LONG. (H/T to Crooks and Liars for the link)

***

I have to give it to WordPress. The new linkage system is up and running, and they have added a few new features that don’t concern readers, but are certainly nice. One of which I think is not so new, but I just found out how to do it, and it sure speeds up my game. I can now reply to comments through e-mail which is soooo much faster than publishing replies again and again and waiting for it to refresh. Hurrah!

***

Again from Crooks and Liars we get a link to Whiskey Fire and a post on our Sarah. It’s not what you might expect, but it’s an interesting take. I’m not sure how I feel about it. Are Dems the ones who have missed the chance to have a salacious babe mouthing their talking points? I would hate to think so. Yet the point is made, much of Sarah’s following has zero to do with policy or politics, it’s pure sexy appeal and the “it” factor.

AlterNet also has a nice piece on Sarah about her brand of “feminism” which amounts to nothing more than narcissism-namely hers. If it affects her, then it matters, if it doesn’t, than as the article says, “women suck it up and be strong”. Which explains why women don’t cotton to the Moosilla Maven so much.

***

Speaking of snake-oil sales persons, I’ve decided that the “know what we are doing” crowd consists of Palin, Beck, O’Reilly, Coulter and probably most of the house and senate wacko-heads. Those that are seriously stupid include Hannity, Bachmann, O’Donnell. The aforementioned know they are bilking the US for as much as they can for as long as they can. The give not a rip about anyone. Bank accounts matter. Your list?

***

Ahab at Republic of Gilead has a great post of a lecture he attended on Christian escatologies and environmental issues. It is really an eye-opener if you are puzzled why some sects of Christianity continue to literally ignore the damage we are doing. These don’t deny it’s happening so much as they don’t care and believe that we should not waste our time to help the planet heal. It’s an amazingly good read.

***

And 180° it is. I’m going back to my original position on the airport patdowns. After watching Fox and jerks like Huckabee all malign the administration for this “outrage” I can but conclude that this is nothing much more than “any way at all to make Obama look bad.” Huck has demanded that Obama submit his family for this search if it’s all that good.

I guess Mikey was just trying to protect his son who got caught carrying a GUN in his luggage at Little Rock National Airport. What his son needs a concealed weapon for, (being a son of a preacher man) is beyond me, but we see where Mike is coming from.

While I conclude that there may be legitimate reasons why these searches aren’t as useful as they might be assumed, I’ll stick with support as long as the idiots at Foxy are trying to take down a President via this means. And something like 70+% of the public is behind the TSA on this. It was higher, but the rightwing (those bastions of security) has done its thing again.

Enough for now. Time to hit those leftovers again and watch a little more football.

Related Articles

• Dark energy on firmer footing (nature.com)
• Dark Energy Theory Gets a Boost From New Galactic Measurements | 80beats (blogs.discovermagazine.com)

Reflections in the Pool

Tags

editorial, Inspirational, Iowa, life in the meadow, prayer, Thanksgiving

Okay, so I re-read yesterday’s post, and I thought, wow, that woman is a little O-C. Ya think?

But, I’m not. Really. I mean it.

It’s just that this is a complicated meal, and I don’t have a professional kitchen. And I don’t like to be frazzled and freaked. So I plan it like a major military operation.

I don’t do it but once a year. I swear.

See at Christmas, we don’t make nearly the fuss. In fact we often have left-over stuffing and cranberry sauce. Anything that freezes well and is not eaten by Sunday following Thanksgiving. I might do a duck, or it might be steak. We definitely don’t make a big deal of it.

Why? Have no idea. Mostly I suspect it’s because I have very specific ideas of what Christmas should be, and it can never live up to those expectations, so I don’t try to force it. So call me whatever.

Anyway, I’m done with the prep and cooking for today, and all turned out well. I expect tomorrow to go along smoothly. The turkey feels like it’s defrosted. There is plenty of room in the fridge for stuff.

But that’s not what I have to say today. You see, through all the busyness, all the wafting odors of pumpkin pie and Italian sausage and onions sauteing, my mind was somewhere else. Thankfully not so far afield that I put  poultry seasoning in the pie, or oranges in the dressing. But, I guess I was offering prayers to all those I know who are having a tough time these days for diverse reasons.

As I babble about relish trays and gravy, I am all too mindful that friends of mine, Internet ones who live in various parts of the states, are suffering. Some are having financial woes and some are having health issues, or family disturbances. The holidays won’t be of concern to them. But they will be in pain from the loss of joy that they are supposed to be having, and aren’t.

I am mindful that millions are subsisting, barely in Haiti and in Pakistan. That millions more are victims of genocidal attack and famine. I am mindful that some are living in war-torn lands, never safe. I am thoughtful of those who exist in vicious regimes where they are treated as little more than fodder for the demagogues who rule them.

I am thinking of animals who are mistreated and who have no loving home, those whose habitats are being erased while they are eliminated as pests. I am thinking of all our oceans and rain forests under attack by a humanity that is more filled with greed than sense or compassion.

I ache for a planet under assault through indifference and deliberate rape.

And I pray to God to heal all that are in need. And that would be all of us. Our need of healing is broad and deep. It is physical and mental and emotional and psychological. We are mean, selfish, stricken with disease and burdened by the vagaries of aging. We are scared, angry, and melancholy for a time that in truth never existed but which we think did, when things were okay.

We are luckier than we think, and sadder than we realize. We are a mass of contradictions, and slave to forces that we barely realize. We identify enemies where there are none, and haven’t the presence of mind to recognize the enemies that are real.

We have more than most any people on this planet and we do less with it. We waste, and we consume and we ignore any responsibility for the tragic mess we leave behind as we gaily proceed down the highway toward some Disneyworld future. We will never get there, and we are unable to stop trying. We are careening headlong over a cliff and we cannot stop.

Stop if you dare, for a moment or two, and look around you. Make no comparisons with those who have more. But do compare what you have to those who have less. Those who have nothing. Hug the people around you who, come what may, have thrown in with you to take this journey. Pet the dog and cat. Look at anything living around you and give thanks.

For you are alive through no act of your own. It is way better than the alternative. Give thanks to whatever thing you believe in, and while at it, think about what you can do on a regular basis to make this world, or one person in it, just a little warmer, better, saner, or happier than before you drifted by.

And give thanks every day, EVERY DAY. Happy Thanksgiving to all of you, whom I so adore.

Amen

How to Manage the DINNER

Tags

life in the meadow, Thanksgiving, Tips for Thanksgiving

If you are reading this, you are already preciously late!

No matter, I’m late in posting it, and well, you can use it for Christmas.

Seriously, I was checking out at the grocery Sunday and the young woman scanning my stuff mentioned that she was hosting her first Thanksgiving. I would have liked to help her through the terrors, but of course the time and place were wrong.

So I thought I’d give some tips to make that first or forty-first big dinner a little easier on the old heart and blood pressure.

Make Lists

• First, make lists, multiple lists, covering all the stuff you can imagine. This matters whether your guest list is two or twenty-two. Setting the meal aside, list the beverages you wish to offer, how much, any decorations, napkins, candles. No matter how obvious you think some things are, list them, because you will find in the heat of the moment you will forget the most minor of things! We have already established that I forgot my precious pearly onions, so I know of what I speak.
• See where you lists overlap. Combine by stores or by areas of shopping, whatever makes most sense to you. Get what you can ahead of time, store in ONE place, so nothing is lost. Plan out when to shop, where, being mindful of storage, availability and so forth. Where are you gonna put that bird until you are ready to defrost it?

The Grocery List

• Collect all your recipes, even the ones you think you know by heart. Add every item to a master list, even if you have some on hand. Take no chances with running low or out of something as silly as flour or salt. Check it twice. I wish I had. Do the best you can to estimate amounts you will need for the group you are feeding.
• Choose your shopping day carefully. You do not want to be in the grocery story on WEDNESDAY, God forbid, getting last-minute items. You don’t want to go so early that your spring onions have wilted and started to turn brown.
• Group your food items by location in the store. Nobody likes racing back and forth across the giganticus Piggly Hog Store that is an acre in size.
• Upon arrival home, keep all the non-perishables together if you can, even in a couple of bags that you store in a closet or pantry. It will save a lot of time, especially in finding that poultry seasoning at the last minute.

The Preparation Week

• Do your decorating at least 5 days in advance, as far as you can. Depending on how fancy you are, with name cards and specially made napkin holders, at least collect these in a common place so they are ready to do. Same with linen for the table. Go through china and wash if necessary. Gather all the pieces. Go through your menu and gather together special plates, serving dishes and so forth. Clean the silver (you are insane of course). Make sure you have the right serving materials for the actual menu items. You still have time to shop if you need a relish tray.
• Make more lists. This time the lists should be by day. What needs to be done when. It’s a lot harder to create dried bread crumbs on Thursday morning than it is on Tuesday. When to start defrosting the turkey, planning room for it, when to make cranberry sauce. Each day of the final week should have a to-do list.
• Make someone else do the housework! Okay, at least ask them.
• Make sure that you are having low maintenance meals this week. You have plenty to do, and you don’t need leftovers, so cook accordingly. Eat out if it’s more convenient.

The Last Two Days

• More lists. Take your to-do list for the last two days. This is the Dinner-eve and Dinner day. Prioritize your list, by setting up the order of doing. Your goal is to get it done in the shortest most efficient time. Think about recipes and what they need. Cranberries need to cool before adding things. Don’t add nuts until just before serving, they will go soft. Do chop your nuts and put in a small plastic bag and store in your community food area.
• On the big day. Your cooking order is critical. If you want stuff coming out in some rational, all done, all hot way. Know your oven size. Can you get the turkey and the dressing in at the same time? What about the roasted squash? Turkeys, once done, are good to stay fairly hot for nearly an hour. You can warm dressing and roast squash after taking it out if necessary.
• How many burners have you? This determines the order of on-stove cooking. Gravy is usually the last to be made because you need the cooked turkey juices, but you can make the roux ahead of time. The point is, break down everything as much as possible and do ahead what you can.

The point of all this is simply to get the dinner on the table in good order, pleasing and hot. And of most importance, that YOU aren’t frazzled by the experience.

Here is an example of my final days prep and ordering:

Tuesday

• Cube bread and cornbread and lay out to dry on trays

Wednesday

• 1. Make pie
• 2. Make cranberry sauce
• 3. Clean onions and radishes and bag
• 4. Shred and blanch Brussel sprouts and bag
• 5. Cook 1st five ingredients for dressing and refrigerate

Thursday

• 1. Remove hot pepper from freezer
• 2. Remove and cook giblets
• 3. Soak Turkey for 30 min.
• 4. Construct dressing and set aside
• 5. Construct relish tray and set aside
• 6. Roast Turkey (shoot for 11 am.)
• 7. Warm dressing in oven w/Turkey (last 30 min)
• 8. Remove turkey and rest (it not you)
• 9. Roast squash and  onions, with dressing
• 10. Boil potatoes
• 11. Saute Brussel sprouts
• 12. Heat bread(everything is out of the oven now, but bread)
• 13. Mash potatoes
• 14. Make gravy
• 15. Carve turkey

That’s it. Hope you have a great day Thursday. Hope this helps somebody out there who is obsessing on the work ahead!

Related Articles

• 10 Mouthwatering Thanksgiving Recipes On YouTube (socialtimes.com)
• Three days to Thanksgiving feast (eatocracy.cnn.com)
• A nearly all-American Thanksgiving (salon.com)
• My Favorite Thanksgiving Sides (wholefoodsmarket.com)

Untangling Threads

Tags

airport security, Benedict XVI, Catholicism, condoms, economics, Entertainment, foreign policy, GOP, Iowa, Justin Bieber, Kyl, life in the meadow, Russia, sex, social class, START treaty, teabaggers, terrorism, TSA, wealth

Whenever your darling asks you to sup with him “on the town” and the restaurant is named “La GGG”, all I can say is beware.

GGG, in case you were unaware, stands for Gas, Groceries and Good Eats. I can assure you, they are lying about two.

Recently the Contrarian invited me to Chez Troy Store Restaurante for lunch. Ahh, we went in and sat down, finding the seating ample, (no one else was there) and took a seat overlooking the corn field.

Out rushed a cook, (I should say, the cook) and announced: “Oh we don’t serve until 3 now, economy and all. But I can get you pizza or fried chicken or a sub?” Two of those come from those display cases that keep the food warm with lightbulbs. We demurred and walked across to the Dam Bar (yes that’s what it’s called) and ordered the usual saloon fare: something fried or deeply so.

So, it should come as no surprise when last night in the middle of Nature, I cried, “oh damn!”

“Whaaaa?” the Contrarian started from his dozing, muttering, “I am not sleeping, just resting my eyes!”

“I forgot the pearl onions for Thanksgiving!”

“Can I get them at the Troy Store?” he queried.

Yes, he actually said that, asked it, I mean.

With a look of utter disgust, I pouted, “NO, you can barely get an onion there.”

“How ’bout at Sherbon’s? I could run over there,” he offered.

“No, no, she won’t have any either.”

Sherbon’s is a step above Troy, having no gas station and not purporting to offer dining pleasure, but it’s a long way off from being a GROCERY store too.

“How ’bout Center Point Store?” he whimpered.

“No,” I sighed, “they won’t have them either. It’s hopeless.

There was no offer to drive all the way to Cedar Rapids of course.

Such is life in the meadow. You either remember or you do without. I will sure miss my carmelized pearl onions though. Send me some if you can ship it FedEx overnight, okay?

***

I guess I’m doing an about-face on the whole patty down at the airport thing. I  still think it’s mostly silly whining perpetrated by testosterone-laden young men and old ladies whose junk is so old that nobody would want to if they didn’t have to, touch it.

But I heard an argument that made some sense. He (unknown speaker on MSNBC) suggested that it’s good we are questioning just what we are willing to give up in the name of “terrorism.” This is a good conversation, proving we are not so insanely scared that we are hiding in our holes, only coming out with full military protection.

Perhaps, he asks, we might start questioning all that stuff about unauthorized wiretaps, waterboarding, and all those other dark and evil practices that we kinda figure are going on but about which we really would rather not know. There’s a point there I think. I later found the same argument here.

***

The Pope, Benedict XVI is very busy backstepping his way out of the “condom issue.” Some saw some slight movement in his latest remarks that in some cases, such as male prostitution, it might be allowed, as a step in “taking responsibility”. Today the Vatican is claiming that there is no change at all in the position of the Church as to condom use. I suspect that is true. If the fiasco over the pope’s comments about condom use while last in Africa, didn’t bring about a change, then I suspect nothing will.

Odd, how all those who have tons of advisors to, well, advise them, still cannot avoid the sticky wicket. Spiritual Politics has their own take here. If you want to know more, (and you probably don’t) go to Enlightened Catholicism.

***

The bad the worse and the ugly, i.e., the GOP continue to stonewall on the START treat ratification. Editorials across the land, the support of dozens of old line GOPers and revered State Department and Military leaders from of old, have failed to move, so far, one Sen Kyl from AIR-headZona.

One wonders how long the GOP is willing to take the heat to promote their only real goal: the downfall of Barack Obama. Crooks and Liars has a nice post, featuring a roundtable held by Christiane Amanpour.

***

Thomas, at Living Next Door to Alice sends us a must read post from 3quarksdaily. It’s about us, politics, and our doom. While we play at politics, the rich are taking this country for themselves and leaving us to be their servants. We are coming to be a permanent underclass. And that can only lead to one thing.

***

But if the above article is too long, well, this next says basically the same thing and in just a couple of sentences: Justin Bieber was the big winner at the AMA awards last night, beating out Usher. The world has ended, you just haven’t heard the explosion yet.

***

There be times I wish I had me one of them big balls that you do stretching on. But I’d sit on mine as I read Internets. ‘Specially when I read about da stoopid Rethuglians and their being pulled mightily in two directions at once. The FC’s (fiscal conservatives) vs the SC (social conservatives) are trying to direct the old party hacks who give a damn about neither.  Priority One-McConnell and Don’t you dare touch my junket Boehner, are being stretched over the fence and, well, personally instructed to do their respective biddings.  And I’d be bouncing on my ball, sippin’ my soda, and giggling.

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Peering into the Darkness

Tags

blogging, emotions, meaning, writing

I guess that sounds ominous, but I don’t mean it to be. I’m just being a bit reflective today. Not pensive, no melancholy. I am guilty of that sometimes.

 I once described my mood to the Contrarian as being melancholy with a dash of pensive. It sounded intellectual without being  pedantic, yet appropriately pretentious?

I was pleased to note a couple of days ago that I had hit 1000 posts here. There have been few days when I posted more than once, so it’s a fair accomplishment I guess. I never would have thought that I could find so much to say.

Most of it is utterly forgettable, some is worthy of posterity I think. I’m not sure which ones. I have no desire to dig through them. Occasionally when I get a comment on a very old post, I reread it. I’m sometimes surprised. “Did I say that?”

Pope Benedict XVI has had a say about the Internet. I haven’t seen the substance (I heard about it on Stephen Colbert), but I understand he finds has reservations about it. Probably the porn, but probably also the isolation it can lead to.

Roger Ebert wrote on this subject  and I linked to it. Sorry, but I can’t give it to you because WordPress just upgraded the linking mechanism, and of course now it doesn’t work at all. Sigh…

Anyway he suggested that for many people who might otherwise be utterly isolated, the Internet serves as a means of communicating with the world. Of course, both options are possible. Everyone understands that kids, and many adults substitute online relationships in lieu of real one.

And that’s not really fair. I have a few online friendships that I truly cherish, and if it were not for the Internet, I would not know these people at all. We live hundreds of miles apart. Whether we ever meet or not is not nearly as important it seems to me as what we feel able to share of ourselves.

What we share can be as broad or as narrow as any relationship. We all know people we see regularly and chat with at work, church, or other activities, yet we know little about them, and we share little with them. Others know us in much deeper ways.

The Internet fails in one large area and that is in conveying tone and inflection. Plenty of bad feelings occur for this reason. Said face to face, we would surely know when someone is teasing, or being serious, whether one is acidic in their comment or mildly chiding. Whether one is deadly serious or pulling our leg. Satire is often mistaken for meanness and intentional mockery.

It happens. We are all guilty of misunderstanding from time to time. I guess we’d be better off using more emoticons if they were available.

But then, great fiction seems to always convey emotional meaning. So I guess it’s more in the caliber of the writer. On that standard, I’ve got a long way to go.

I truly wrote my first post not at all sure what I was doing or why. I figured to get a few things off my chest, and then I expected to shrug and stop. I never expected much in the way of anyone reading my prattering. I never expected to learn how to write better. I’m not sure I have. No doubt I’ve deeply embedded some awful practices. I use too many adjectives I know.

I like adjectives. I like words. The Contrarian’s book was named “Ordinary Words,” and I always thought it a good title. I like certain words better than others, though I’d be hard pressed to tell you which ones off the top of my head.

Anyway, writing is part of who I am now, for better or worse. I suppose it’s always for the better, since no one is stuck with me should I become too predictable and too lame. Lame in the teenage sense of being I think old-fashioned or well predictable, and not unstable as one becomes when they limp. Funny words, used in so many ways.

It’s why Christianity  will remain forever divided. Same words, different meanings, different interpretations of the myriad of definitions available. The most dangerous word in the English language is Thesaurus. We learned that lots of words can mean almost the same thing, thus no word means exactly only one. Damn the Eskimos and their dozens of words for snow!

I wonder if sign language allows for all the nuances of spoken language?

Now you know what melancholy with a dash of pensive means, doncha?

Have as good a day as you can!

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