Items to Make You Queen of the Watercooler Next Week

Tags

brain, dinosaurs, education, evolution, GOP, humans, life, meaning, philosophers, physics, quantum mechanics, teabaggers, War, what you should read, words

See that’s me. I mean, imagine a woman instead of a man, and that’s me. I’m spend hours reading just so that you don’t have to. I mean you can if you want to of course. God forbid that fine education goes to waste, but I have burned up the Intertubes in an effort to find all the news that you missed.

And I read it all. And some of it was crap upon further inspection, and so I ditched it. And the rest, well you gotta know this stuff. Especially if you want all your friends and aunt Tilde to think you are just a real smart ass. (meant in the kindest way of course)

So, let’s get to it, in no particular order.

Paul Krugman has a fine op-ed in the NYTimes detailing the crazy party, AKA, the GOP. What he says is very true. The GOP argument for deliberately toying with the very health of our economy goes something like this: I have put a gun to your head and demanded your money or your life. If you refuse to give me your money, it’s your fault that you’re dead. I gave you the option to live after all!

On the other hand, this may all go to prove that one can actually get admitted to Harvard and get through it with flying colors and still be utterly and profoundly stupid. Ted Cruz may be set to be one of the most spectacular blazing super nova that sputtered out in record time in the history of horses asses, err, super novae.

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If it is true that humans have an individualized predisposition to violence, is it equally true that humans in community have a predisposition to violence in the form of war? It seems many assume this to be true. But evolutionary biologist, David P. Barash argues that this may in fact not be true. The latter may be only a capacity rather than an adaptation. Want to learn more? If you don’t think it matters, think again. We base our defense systems on assumptions of what other groups are likely to do. If we assume all people are driven to war to achieve ends, we build a different defense system than if we do not. And we’ve sure got the tax bills to reflect that.

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I know that most of you are just thrilled every time you get a chance to read about quantum mechanics, I mean what self-respecting grease monkey or grocery check out lady  isn’t obsessed with the working of the universe at the extra-tiny scale? Ever heard of an aplituhedron? I bet not. It all means that all the complicated mathematical twists and turns are eliminated as well as the super computer to do the computations. Now little Bobby can explain the most complicated sub-particle interaction with nothing more than a pencil and paper again!

If you are going, uhh, okay so what? Well, you all know that physicists have been since the beginning of time, trying to join the big universe with the small universe (macro and micro forces?) and it has just never fit well, and well, the don’t call it the elegant universe for nothing. Everybody who knows this stuff figured the answer would eventually be simple. This might be it. I’m not a physicist as you might have guessed by now.

I mean this is simply delicious early fall reading. Get to it.  🙂

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Now I know you will love this one. There is a new book out there that you probably will want to get. I can imagine about half a dozen of you will be on Amazon in moments. It’s called Holy Shit: A Brief History of Swearing, by Melissa Mohr. Colin Burrows review of the book is worth the reading. Now read it your grouthead gnat snapper!

Steven Pinker from Harvard has written a book that details how we are becoming less violent as societies over time. He also argues that the world would be better led by science than by the humanities. Some beg to differ. A great essay from The Berlin Review of Books, and Gloria Origgi, A Reply to Steven Picker’s Scientific Manifesto.

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Love words? Lots of words? Okay.

The American Scholar has a fun essay called Is There a Word for That? Words are being made up all the time, but you knew that. Want to know who created some words we now take for granted? Who is responsible for katydid? Or neologize ? Or Anglophobia? Blurb? Gerrymander? Bromide? Oh I bet I got your attention now.

Similarly, if you have ever remembered the quote but not the quoter, and the more you looked the harder it got? Who Really Sad That? You would be surprised at how often we get the attribution wrong. Amaze your friends by correcting their quotes!

“Whoever is not a socialist when he is 20 has no heart; whoever is not a conservative when he is 30 has no brain.” Usually attributed to Churchill. Actually? Nobody knows.

Enter the fine world of WAS–Wrongly Attributed Statements.

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I betcha thought that the human mind created the gear, that round thingie that has “teeth” and meshes with other objects similarly constructed? That together makes things turn and other things go up and down and maybe side to side? You would be wrong. Scientists have found a gear in nature for the very first time. And YOU are some of the first non-specialists to know that, so don’t you feel so very proud?

A cute little guy called a planthopper (he has a very important scientific name you need not memorize) has a couple of gears in his back legs that mesh together and then when he calls on them to, spin backward sending him off on a leap across the earth that looks pretty fun. I’m sure it made sense to him too in terms of escaping predators or getting up as high as he wanted to feed. It’s called evolution folks. There is a little embedded video so you can watch him go!

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Must a life be meaningful in order to be happy? Do we prefer meaningfulness over happiness if we can’t have both? They are not the same by the way. Happiness in part is getting what you want or need in life. Meaningfulness can have zero to do with this. Similarly happy people report that health is essential, yet health has nothing to do with meaningful lives. Happiness is apparent in the now, while meaningfulness tends to be a future assessment. This is a long article but one that raises lots of questions to think about. Well worth your time.

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Nautilus brings us the ever-beloved essay on dinosaurs. The discovery and explanation of our bird predecessors have had a varied history as scientists working from small numbers of bones, continually revised their thinking of these creatures over time. As is usual, it is the unsung tiny dinosaurs that have done the most to correct our understanding over time of what these cuties looked like and how they lived. For the kid in all of us, this article will satisfy. I still wish there had been Brontosaurus, they were so neat!

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With the advent of all the cute devices we have now from phones to tablets to readers to computers, all with calendars and reminders of one sort or another, there is less and less reason to have to memorize things. Nobody has to write down a phone number or address. The call is registered, switch it to contacts and it’s saved forever. Enter an address in your Google maps app, and you don’t need to record that address again. And maybe, just maybe that’s a good thing. Memorization may be a much over-rated thing. Curious? Read on.

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How many late night gab fests have lingered long into the night over the ever-present question– Why was Spinoza excommunicated anyway? I mean this guy was ostracized with a big O, like in members of the congregation being order to be no closer that four cubits to the man. That’s some serious excommunication! Worse, payment of a fine served to dissolve most bans. Spinoza’s was life long. Spinoza himself never spoke of the harem, most of his works and fame came long after it. What is as interesting as why is by whom: Jews who had escaped forced Catholicism in Spain and Portugal and once free in Amsterdam, practiced a form of Judaism that was anything but normative. All in all, quite fascinating.

Happy reading everyone, and to all a good day!

We’re Gonna Make A Dinosaur, We’re Gonna Make a Dinosaur

Tags

dinosaurs, GOP, Humor, Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, science, Steve Jobs, The Blaze stupid headlines

You remember the theory behind Jurassic Park dontcha? Mosquito bites dinosaur, falls into tree-sap, and after a kazillion years becomes amber. Break open the amber, get the mosquito, extract the dinosaur DNA from the blood sucked in?

 Well, no, that actually probably won’t work.

Turns out DNA breaks down too fast, and we could probably not get enough “pure” DNA to clone the T-Rex of our dreams.

But Jack Horner, who has been more right about more things dinosaurish than just about anyone, thinks you might be able to de-evolve a chicken back to what it used to be. And some biologists think he could be right, and some are actually working on it with him.

It’s a fun read, and it’s Friday, so go on and read the fun story about how having a dinosaur pet can still be your dream.

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I thought this was sweet. It’s from LOLGod.

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Question of the day:

What do you have when you put Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Louis Gohmert,  and Steve King in a locked room?

An all-out knock-down dragged-out fight for the only brain cell in the room.

Who will referee? Ann Coulter, Glenn (what happened to you?) Beck, and Rushed Limpy, all looking under a toilet seat for where the brain cell is hiding.

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What the pseudo-journalists at Blaze are trying to brainwash the trailer-trash with today:

• Glenn Beck’s roll call of “marxists” who are trying to re-distribute the wealth. Hint: Obama is one of them of course.
• Shocking video that Francis Pivens and other profs are busy teaching the WS Occupiers how to do street violence.
• That this whole Occupy Wall Street is all organized by left-wing organizations and the Obama Administration. Oh and never forget George Soros is in the middle of it.
• Lawrence O’Donnell (from hated MSNBC) was unfair to Herman Cain when he interviewed him.
• Rush Limbaugh says Obama is organizing riots in the streets in New York. And of course George Soros is in the middle of it.
• Majority leader Reid uses obscure rule to kill minority rights in the Senate. (The forgot to tell you that Trent Lott used it first, years ago against the Dems.) Blaze deems the usage by Reid “shocking.”

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Increasingly they call it ABR: anybody but Romney. I always feel bad when I’ve learned that “somebody doesn’t like me.” Wonder what it must be like to know that millions don’t like you?

I don’t have any personal reason to dislike Romney. What I dislike is that he has proven himself over the years to be obsessed about becoming president. That’s troubling enough, for you wonder just what kind of demons are thrashing it out in his head.

But what is disturbing, and an obvious deal-breaker for me, and I’m certainly not a Republican, is that I have no idea what if any principles he actually has. He has changed them so often and so violently, that I frankly think they are non-existent.

Romney seems to order his handlers to poll on every issue, and then he adopts that position. At least to the degree that he needs that segment of voters to add to his election winning strategy. That’s why Republicans are nervous. What he says ain’t necessarily what he will do. He seems frankly up for sale to the highest bidder.

And if you don’t agree, well even the National Review seems to agree with me. So far the GOP in various configurations,  has begged Mitch Daniels, Chris Christie, Rick Perry, Jeb Bush, Eric Cantor, Sarah Palin, and Paul Ryan to save them from eating their vegetables. It is a bit pathetic isn’t it?

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Speaking of which, people dislike Romney so much that some of them have gone to the extraordinary length of actually forgetting they ever knew him. A new poll suggests that only 27% of the electorate knows who he is. This is down from 30% in 2007. Or it could just be that knowing who he was, was so traumatic that 3% of those who knew just died from the agony.

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Jon Stewart pointed out something last night that, well it’s actually what we would expect from the Great Grifter, aka Sarah Palin.  Stewart suggested that Sarah had kept on shilling for money for her own SuperPac right up to the moment she announced that she wouldn’t run.

Stewart remarked that while not illegal, it might be termed unethical (since Palin can and does use the money for her own personal self-promoting purposes) if indeed Ms. Moosesilla knew she was not opting in for some time.

Stewart went on to smile, and say, “well, we can’t conclude that can we?” But then there was this pesky little piece of tape with Daughter #1 BristleBrush, saying like in JUNE, “oh she knows what she’s gonna do, but it stays with the family for now.”

Best Grifter of the Year: Sarah, although Newt is a close second.

Related articles

• How To: Make a pet dinosaur (boingboing.net)
• Amber Finds Indicate Feathered, Fluffy and Colorful Dinosaurs (pinkbananaworld.com)
• Bringing dinosaurs back in the form of chickens (news.bioscholar.com)

What a Difference a Day, errr, Month? Makes?

Tags

AFA, astrology, Bryan Fischer, DADT, dinosaurs, evolution, gay rights, Glenn Beck, GOP, homophobia, Huckabee, Media, Obama, Palin, polling, right wing extremists, Romney, science, Tim Pawlenty, voters

Well, slap me with a wet noodle. You remember me? Mad woman. Not literally mad, as in certifiable, but angry mad, ready to dump a sitting president and turn the page? Yes, you do remember.

Well, it’s hard to admit that at 60 years old, I’m still an idiot a lot of the time. Moreover, I spent some under grad years studying the fine art of politics as well as living through lots of political times. You’d think I would know better.

It appears that the brilliance of Barack Obama once more is most apparent to most of the people. This has not happened over night, and certainly isn’t a result only of the speech of a life-time in Tucson. The polls were edging upward before then.

But, things have changed, and one can but cast a bemused look upon Republicans who are looking at empty hands and wondering, “has it indeed slipped from our grasp once again?” Riding high in November, the GOP is beginning to mutter. To be sure, nothing is set in concrete yet, and given the fickleness of the public, it would be unwise to assume that “it’s in the bag” for 2012. Not at all.

Still, one has to be amazed at the resilience of the President. Today, he beats Romney and Huckabee in mock match-ups and slaughters the grifter, Palin. The big switch is the Independents who have moved to the Obama column. This poll straddled the Tucson tragedy, and has some impact but doesn’t include the speech given by Obama. There is only a 6 point differential between those who think we are on the right track-wrong track, down from a 24 point differential a couple of months ago. Obama’s approval rating has moved up to 53%.

We shall see what the future holds. But clearly most of us who were ready to move on were simply wrong. Obama has played his poor hand extremely well, and has accomplished much in the lame duck session.

The GOP will have a tough time selling a “NO” or repeal everything scenario I suspect with voters. The polls, dang ’em, just keep getting in the way of the agenda.

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Speaking of agenda, the Extremist Right didn’t take civility on as a mantra for long. Once they realized that nobody except them viewed the President’s speech as a chastisement of the Left, they went back to their usual ranting. One, I”m told, said, “but the President must have been pointing to the Left, there is nobody on the Right who needs such a chastisement!”  Delusion lives on it seems in the rock heads of the Extremist Right.

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Proof that nothing changes, Tim Pawlenty, who on Jon Stewart, the other night, refused to agree that there is something new in the vilification of Obama that has not been present in American politics before. Stewart suggested that painting the President as  Hitler, as a Socialist, as not an American, and as not a Christian didn’t reflect true beliefs but were being used as political ploys by certain GOP members and sympathizers. Pawlenty continually feigned ignorance of Stewart’s true meaning and kept pointing out that there was vitriol on both sides.

Now Pawlenty has appeared with Bryan Fischer, of American Family Association fame, and claimed that he would re-institute DADT if president. It’s not so much that he said this, bad and deluded as that is, but that he appeared with hate-monger Fischer at all. Fischer is a virulent homophobe, one who decries giving the Medal of Honor to a “defensive” action instead of a killing hero. As to DADT, Fischer has vowed to over turn it and has claimed that McCain would lead their forces. McCain has repudiated any such notion.

Pawlenty, who for a moment, suggested he would not have acted as Palin, seems unwilling to stand up for any real principles, but again, simply plays to the lowest common denominator of the Republican base. His chances of being the nominee are nil.

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Efforts are underway to induce Fox Noise to fire Glenn Beck. Jewish Funds for Justice submitted a 10,000 name petition to the News Corp, calling on them to end their association with the hate-mongering extremist. I admit that we try to watch Beck from time to time, just to see, but frankly, after ten minutes, it’s so awful you just can’t. He parades a slew of pseudo-scientists, historians, economists, etc., to “prove” his wacky mean and dangerous conclusions, all to a live audience of nodding automatons. It’s surreal.

The petition included some of the more egregious accusations of Beck, which makes references to Hitler some 400 times in eighteen months. His comments are widely regarded as anti-semitic and a distorter of the Gospel. For instance he claims that social justice issues are a perversion of the Gospel message of Jesus Christ.

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Don’t know if you heard this, but the darn earth moves. Okay, so you probably knew that. But it moves in relations to the stars, and THAT is a damnable thing. If you are into astrology. Which I’m not, but still. I’m an Aries, and so is the Contrarian. At least we were. I don’t know what he is, being an April 8. But me? I’m a April 15, and that now makes me a Taurus. I don’t like it. I am trying to figure out who to complain to. Is nothing sacred?

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Warning: the following may be hazardous to the mental health of closed minds. Others read on. A new dinosaur has been found! A small guy, but pretty darn mean. Read all about Dawn Runner, who hails from Argentina, at PBS’s Rundown Blog. He’s most primitive.

Related Articles

• Pawlenty, Stewart spar over rhetoric (politico.com)
• Whatever It Takes (talkingpointsmemo.com)
• Tim Pawlenty Wants To Return To The Days Of DADT (lezgetreal.com)
• Jon Stewart To Tim Pawlenty: ‘Why Is The Right So Fearful Of Tyranny?’ (VIDEO) (huffingtonpost.com)
• From Palin to Pawlenty, GOP Presidential Prospects Grapple With Arizona Massacre (politicsdaily.com)

Wiping the Lint From My Brow

Tags

American Idol, bible study, chicken, creationists, dinosaurs, Ellen DeGeneres, fundamentalists, GOP, health care reform, Italian, Joe Wilson, life in the meadow, Obama, sand burrs

I keep turning around and looking behind and below. Surely my stuffing is coming out as I move about my day. So it seems at least, as I’ve suddenly become prone to losing stuff.

I’m a fairly organized person, as you know. I usually know where things are, in general. “It’s somewhere in the house!”  Actually, I’m a bit better than that.

But lately my life has gotten increasingly complicated or scheduled, and I’ve not put in place the filing, organizing plans to insure that all the papers I collect are properly divided and located with others of their kind. Thus today, I find myself unable to locate the minutes of last month’s library committee meeting, and have had to issue a call for someone to bring a copy with them to the meeting today.

It’s disconcerting to be so scatterbrained. I’m not familiar with it. I feel uncomfortable. Kind of like that dream where I’m walking down the school corridor and wearing only my undies. How did I leave without my clothes?

It isn’t like I’ve never been busy before. I used to be really busy, often visiting multiple courts, with twenty or more clients and court appearances a day. Sometime in multiple cities. Often with shopping trips interspersed or after. I seldom screwed up, and lawyers are great at having networks of “stand-ins” for just those scheduling nightmares.

I wouldn’t change things. The Contrarian continues to be highly supportive. I was at my EFM meeting last night. They are different than previous educational experiences I’ve had. Fascinating in its conception, and I’ve already learned things about the Hebrew Testament and canon that I had not known, and so far I’m just at the introduction.

In a couple of weeks I start a month long Adult Formation class that I’m facilitating. We don’t like to use the word “teach.” I’m just  the one who will read the background material and push the conversation. I’m doing the lectionary section on Job, one of my more favorite books of the Old Testament. (I know, I know, that definitely says something weird about me.)  There are concurrent readings I think from Mark. I’ll be interested in how they interplay. The second year EFM students are doing Mark, so perhaps I’ll glean a few insights from them.

I got creative with dinner. Sauteed some chicken breasts, then sauteed onions and fresh tomatoes, garlic and some jalapeno, a bit of wine, salt and pepper. Chopped the chicken roughly and let it sit until a warm up, then add capers and olives. Serve it over spaghetti. My favorite kind of cooking is Italian. I love garlic and onions.

I’ve got the agenda set for the library meeting. Not so easy with no minutes from last month. We are having our re-opening at the end of the month, and we are pretty well set. It’s been an amazingly satisfying job. So many people worked hard. We fairly drooled over the new books added, more than 200, and all top notch biblical and theological works. I could read for years non-stop there now.

I missed the President’s speech last night because of the EFM class, but the Contrarian taped it for me, and we watched it when I got home. Powerful, competent, intelligent. The polls suggest the president hit a home run. Who would have doubted that? Put to rest are all the utter cow dung idiot arguments. Perhaps now we can have an adult discussion now that the hair-brain flights of fancy of the Palin/Gingrich et al contingent have been put to rest. Let us hope we can shush the children with their personal agendas of destruction. We deserve it.

Best moment: Joe Wilson (you lie) resulted in his opponent raising something like $200,000 to date. It was exactly what we hoped would happen. The rational people in America react with disgust, and the Rethug agenda of politics before reform takes a hit.

I find it humorous that because Obama is an inspirational speaker, he is disdainfully referred to as the Messiah, and we are his followers. Interesting, because most of these brain dead opposers claim to be born again Christians, and shouldn’t the Messiah be followed? But what can you expect from confused thinkers who have long since given up remembering what that thing between their ears is for.

Ellen DeGeneres has been named as the new judge on American Idol. I think it’s probably a good thing. She’s brightly funny. We don’t watch it that much, but Paula was always painful to watch. Ellen just came over to ABC and her daytime show is now at 9 am here. Gone are Regis and Kelly. I don’t know where they went. I liked Kelly but Regis was never my cup of tea.

Back to Wilson, ya see, I’m not all shocked and stuff. I don’t think the dude should resign. It is just symbolic of the general wingnuttery of the Republicans these days. Party of the certifiable. There is a pretty good analysis of this at HuffPo. Read it if you enjoy beating dead horses. I do from time to time. Just ask me about fundamentalists!

I’ve been hooting for a day or more at my re-meeting with creationists and the wacky world of dinosaurs and man kumbaya’ing through the amazon forest. Brings back memories of the Flintstones. Come to think of it, perhaps the creationists took that literally too. Anyhoo, I realized I had another A number 1 reason why evolution must be true:

SAND BURRS, SAND BURRS, SAND BURRS, SAND BURRS, SAND BURRS, SAND BURRS

I mean seriously, no loving God would create such a torture device.  Having no, and I  mean no use whatsoever, except to cripple and maim the unwary, it can only be the product of evolution. I repeat, NO loving God would deliberately dream this up.

My poor pups are limping every day. Fully a block long of the lane has these Inquisition worthy plants scattered around, dropping these lethal barbs in the sand.

It is unsafe to walk indoors without shoes, since both cats and dogs lay down and patiently pull the needle sharp orbs from their feet and hair. You have not lived until you have driven one of these babies into the ball of your foot at full deliberate step. The screams and curses can echo for miles.

Let me get organized, I have a dinner to finish, a meeting to conduct, and more things to lose before day is done.

Lil Bits of Rancor or Not 10/03/08

Tags

bailout, Barack Obama, bible, dinosaurs, economy, Election 2008, evolution, foreign policy, fundamentalism, GOP, Iowa, Italian, Kissinger, McCain, pasta, religion, soup

Well, a bit of an abbreviated post today. It has been a hellish day, one that has you cursing. Since the Contrarian is still taking meds for strep throat and is going to an farm auction tomorrow, I talked him into staying home while I trucked off to Independence for shopping. This in the end turned out to be a good thing, though at one point, it seemed to be a very bad thing.

Anyhow, I got my groceries and was putting them in the back of the Bronco when a man walked up and announced, “Ma’am, do you know you have a flat tire?” Well, no, and of course I scurried around to look, like perhaps he was playing some cosmic joke on yours truly. No such luck of course, the dang thing was flatter than the proverbial pancake.

Said manworthless person, asked if I had a phone. “No,” I said. No phone was offered. “Well do you have someone to call?” “No,” I lied still holding out the hope that said person would do the chivalrous thing and offer to change the tire. No such luck. “Well, just wanted you to know so you wouldn’t drive off with it flat.” Gee that was helpful I wanted to yell, I’d surely have driven 25 miles on the flat without that alert.

I rummaged through my purse and found four quarters the outrageous price of a lousy phone call, and prayed the Contrarian was not on the internet. He was not, but then, the phone barely worked. I could not hear him, all I could do was yell out my predicament. I faintly heard, “I’ll be right there,” and a click.

About 35 minutes later, with my ice cream no doubt in a bad state, said husband arrived. Half way there, he pondered whether I had gone to Independence or had gone to Cedar Rapids, but luckily, picked the right direction.  After about ten minutes of cursing, jumping on the tire iron trying to release a lug nut, he announced, “Start moving the groceries into the truck.” Hmmmmm, this looked far worse now than anticipated.

“I’m sorry, I truly am.” “Not your fault babe,” he replied. “Just life.” A plan was hatched on the way home. We got the groceries inside, he called his closest friend and working buddy, and now both are on the way back up with more manly tools. Steve had four nearly new tires that we were thinking of buying, and so that deal was now struck. So I guess I’ll have brand new ones for Sunday and church.

Anyway, disruptions such as this always put me into a foul mood. I don’t like changes in my routine a lot, and we have had two major ones in a week. But, all in all, things could definitely be worse. The Contrarian dreams of the day when he has a flat and can call someone and dump the whole issue on them. I recall years of being single and facing this nasty problem more than once alone and at the mercy of some mechanic type who charged me a full months wages no doubt for the simple task. (NO I DON’T INTEND TO LEARN TO CHANGE MY OWN TIRES, SO DON’T ASK.)

As to the debate, I was hoping for a Palin melt down and a pretty much end of the election. Of course, I knew that would not happen, somehow that woman feels comfortable before millions and freezes up with a single human being interviewing her.  She is still dumber than the dirt I shake off my shoes, and it appears she changed no minds for the positive. Those that liked her, still do, those that don’t still don’t. Biden was fine, and substantively beat the pants off her. If you like giggles and winks, and inane grins and slopping pronunciation, she’s your girl.

So on with the news I picked up during the week.

Let’s start off with something good. Baking Delights  often gives us the best recipes, and today is a copycat one. Bennigan’s Baked Potato Soup. As the days and the nights continue that downward trend, this is just the thing to come in for after time outside cleaning up the yard. If you do that sort of thing, which I don’t, but hey, soup is still the best!

Another recipe that looked mighty good to me was this one from Coconut & Lime,  Baked Ziti with Rapini and Chicken Meatballs. I think you can substitute out the Rapini if you can’t find it, with spinach say, and the meatballs can definitely be other meat as you desire. I love to make casseroles that just have to be popped in the over an hour or so before dinner. I’m definitely a morning chef!

At the debates, at one point, Obama claimed that Kissinger agreed with some level of negotiations without pre-conditions. McCain said he was wrong, and later, Kissinger backed him up. Both were wrong and Obama was right, as Factcheck.org suggests in the actual transcript of Kissinger’s remarks. Read it at Democrat Dave’s Weblog.

Episcopal Cafe  reports that 33 pastors from the expected wingnuttery right have decided to actively urge their congregations to vote for McCain. In this, they are forcing a show down with the IRS which disallows political preaching in Church, especially endorsing candidates. It seems they think it a good idea given the current SCOTUS. Another reason Obama’s election is necessary, to stave off the reactionary appointment that a McCain win would almost necessarily bring.

Boy Garrison Keillor  is always good, but sometimes he is down right preacher, bible thumping good. Don’t miss his take this week at the Salon on the Wall Street mess and how McCain deserves so much blame. It’s a cutting and rip-roaring good read.

It is pretty much a political axiom that VP candidates in the end don’t matter. History News Network has a very detailed and interesting post on VP picks of times past and how those tickets did, and more importantly the impact of the second choice. It’s fascinating to see that, well maybe Sarah does matter. If she does, it assuredly won’t be good for McCain.

One thing is evident in the mess of the bailout. The Republican leadership leads nobody.That means Boehner has no authority, certainly Bush doesn’t and alas, poor John McCain has none either. But what is worse, behind the scenes Newt Gingrich was apparently playing both sides, publicly saying he was for the bailout, and behind the scenes working furiously to scuttle it. One can only surmise his purpose, but the Republicans are a mess as is their candidate.

There is evidence that some dinosaurs breathed like birds. This of course increases the likelihood that dinosaurs are related to birds, something that dinosaur investigators have been saying for some time. Turns out, much to my surprise, that birds don’t breath like mammals. Although they have lungs, they have these things called air sacs that somehow transfer air into the lungs without the usual in-out method that we use. This explains why birds can fly faster and higher than bats, I am told. Live Science  has all the particulars to read further.

Fareed Zakaria  is one of the smarter people on the block in Washington. His opinion is worth taking a look at. He has finally weighed in on the Palin effect.No doubt most people are sick of Palin and so I am tending to not put up that much new stuff, but Zakaria is a true journalist, one that is reasoned in the way of William F. Buckley and George Will. You won’t find better analysis than this.

If you haven’t had a chance to get to Out of Nowhere, you really should. Some very excellent writing. You may find this one particularly good. It’s on money and how we relate to it. How did Jesus? And if that one isn’t enough, another exceptional post is about the Gospel from last Sunday, the parable about the Kingdom, in Matthew 21:23-32. This one will be posted at Hear I Am Lord later this week.

McCain, meanwhile has been in Iowa. I don’t know why, since he has been far behind in the state for months now, and there is little if any possibility that he can win it. Nevertheless, he was here, and granted an interview with the Des Moines Register. By all accounts, it went badly with McCain getting pretty angry whenever his motives are questioned. Did ya know all his ads are 100% true? And don’t even suggest he’s wrong. He doesn’t like being told he’s wrong. There are some excerpts over at Political Animal,  and linkage to a full video of the interview.

Meanwhile, again, Glenn Greenwald takes on the neo-cons and their penchance for well, rewriting history. Everything that has gone wrong is somehow the fault of liberals again. This given their near stranglehold control of the presidency and for six years Congress. Oh, yeah, right. It’s quite a nice little piece and I urge you to take a look and laugh.

In general, if you don’t already, skip over to the NRO. Even Kathryn Parker is backstepping a bit from her “resign Sarah” stance. Seems she got so much hate mail from the belligerent and vicious right wing rednecks that she’s at least willing to hope that Sarah does well. The thing about NRO is that their pundits change their mind about Palin like every other week. As soon as they criticize her, then within days they are back to trying to blame it on the “liberal” media. These folks are wingnuts of the first order.

That’s Food for Thought

Tags

Catholicism, chicken, cookies, crochet, dessert, dinosaurs, fruit, fundamentalism, interfaith dialogue, Iowa, Iraq, Limericks, meat, salad, sociology, world history

This photograph was done by Lewis Hine and is entitled “Newsies at Skeeter Branch, St. Louis, Missouri, 11 a.m., May 9, 1910.” It is from the MMA.

We often bemoan that our children grow up too fast these days. I wonder if that has not always been the case. These boys seem to feel quite grown up wouldn’t you say? I assume they are newsboys. I wouldn’t try to cheat them out of a nickel, would you?

Spring cleaning is going well. The bath is nearly done, just the floor to do by hand tomorrow, getting into all those corners that the mop hasn’t reached for several months. And then it’s on to my office/craft room. I hope I don’t lose interest when I finish it! Oh I checked out that site, “flygirl.net” or something to that effect. What an anal retentive site! I’m sure that some can benefit from it, being told exactly what to do, but it was a bit too dictatorial for me! I still intend to spend more time there since I want to examine her “zone” cleaning ideas.

Well, the feeds were alight today, so it may be a long one and I have still to make some macaroni and cheese and something or other for dinner. Anybody got any tips on how to design a good menu planning system to avoid my daily moan about “what am I gonna fix for dinner?” The Contrarian now claims that if I say that twice in a day, I have to make gravy for dinner! Hehe, he is crazy I told ya.

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Abby Sweets starts us off with a real winner of a tart, French Lemon Tart. I am a lemon fan, and make lemon meringue pie a few times a year. This is a nice little substitute that avoids the meringue. Get you a piece and then continue reading blogs!

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I am, on thinking about this, wondering why this day is not a holiday. I guess because the losing side wouldn’t have agreed. But today is the anniversary of the day the Civil War ended. All came to an end at Appomattox Courthouse when Lee surrendered to Grant. Read about it at American History Blog.

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It is also the anniversary of the death by assassination of the Emperor Caracalla in Rome. That was in 217 C.E. I wonder of Grant and Lee remarked on the event in their meeting at Appomattox?

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Sandi’s Crochet Blog has a butterfly that you can crochet into a square for an afghan or make the square and then cross stitch it into the block. I think it’s probably quite lovely, but I think it might also be hard to do. I’ve never been able to figure out how they do designs in knitting or crochet without a lot of messing around. I have never had the gumption to try it myself. Given Sandi’s excellent instructions, I bet I could succeed at this one.

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Civil War Women brings us another biography, this one about a nurse by the name of Miss Hattie Dada. Mattie, as always, does an excellent job of researching and writing about these mostly forgotten women who played important roles in our nation’s history. Enjoy her latest offering.

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Copycat Restaurant Recipes has a good one today. Exotic, it’s Kroger’s Thai Chicken Salad. I really liked the list of ingredients and plan on giving this one a try when I get to the store again. It was a bit off putting, the Kroger thing, but hey, its the end product that counts, not the name right? Note: the bacon bowl and picture is not a look at this salad I don’t believe. There are no tomatoes in the recipe.

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I’m not a huge fan of meat and fruit together. I don’t care for ham with pineapple rings all over it for example. This recipe looked quite tempting however, so I thought I would share it with you. It’s from the ever wonderful Epicurious and is Grilled Pork Loin with fire Grilled Pineapple salsa. I hope you think it worth a look see.

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Lynda at Essential Estrogen has the remarks of Iowa congressional representatives, Harkin, Braley, and Loebsack prior to the hearings for Petraeus and Crocker. Check them out so you know what they are saying and if you agree with them or not. The Contrarian who follows hearings much closer than I, says that Braley is really a sharp cookie. I’ve written to Loebsack who has yet to reply to my e-mail. I wish Braley represented me. I think he does a better job frankly, but that’s another story.

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It’s always a delight to find that Garrison Keillor has given us another of his little gems. This one is about our urge to compete. And he is most correct. I find myself doing it constantly while I decry the competitive nature that prevents us from truly coming together to work for the common good. One begins to wonder just how genetic this trait is? Keillor points out the downside of “Midwest manners” too, so I don’t know what to do now! This post is one of his best ones, so don’t miss it.

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Russell has a nice tribute to the young man honored posthumously with the Medal of Honor yesterday. I saw a bit of it myself and was also moved. I wondered what his parents really thought of the war, I wondered how many more must die in this senseless tragedy that we have been forced to engage in. Then I remembered that it was our failure of diligence, our failure to hold the White House’s feet to the fire that enabled this travesty to occur. We relinquish our responsibilities to a bunch of politicians for whom this is but a job, and a media industry that now counts dollars before facts. I feel ashamed as I watch parents, wives, husbands and friends bear the real cost as they bury their dead.

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The “scientific” theory behind Jurassic Park, as you may recall, was the DNA of dinosaurs found in insects trapped in amber. Now scientists today find that an unlikely possibility, but they have made one grand advance. Eighty percent of the amber found is opaque, and therefore anything inside cannot be seen. By using hocus pocus machines and techniques, they are now able to find them, and it seems that this opaque amber is just full of critters who lived among the giant creatures we are so fascinated with. They so far has discovered 356 different living beings in the amber they have tested. Read more and be amazed as I always am.

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Mad Kane has another limerick and you know you are addicted to them. She is so very good. She nailed it once again.

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Maureen Dowd has a clear, no nonsense post on the hearings yesterday and the state of woe this country is in as regards the country of Iraq we are so desperately trying to remodel into a temple of democratic rectitude. It is not working, never did, never will, and what the heck are we going to do? Both Petraeus and Crocker seemed like deer caught in the headlights yesterday, doing their best but wishing for sure to be nearly anywhere having a root canal rather than in that hearing room.

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Susan Jacoby writing for On Faith, the forum on religion for the Washington Post and Newsweek, has a thoughtful post today about Catholicism and the quest to convert the world to the one “true” religion. Yes, that is the case unfortunately. It is not something bandied about by most Catholics but a small fringe believes this vehemently. Such a stance, is of course, not productive of interfaith dialogue. Such a stance is not productive in democratic societies either. Read her interesting article about how proselytizing seems to consume Christianity and Islam.

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I came of age as it were in the 60’s, graduating in 1968. Wow that seems like forever ago now doesn’t it? I have always thought our beliefs and goals were laudable. I thought we were well read, well educated, knew our politics, and were among the first to really see that this was one planet wherein cooperation and assistance should be our watchwords. We got that we were not divorced from the ecosystem we lived in. Plenty since then, have done their level best to make the 60’s a time of only wretched excess in sex, drugs and rock and roll. The Salon has a wonderful look at the subject through examining the latest book on the subject. See what you think.

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Wouldn’t you know? I am the victim of my own genes. Or at least it may be so. It seems that new studies link back pain to genetics rather than any activity. This makes perfect sense to me, since I can recall lower back pain at least since my mid-teens. It ebbs and flows, but never is completely gone. It’s never a constant pain, but it’s quite apparent when I move, especially in bending. And standing for any length of time also is misery. The details can be found at Science Daily.

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Palmiers are cookies and I think they are fabulous and so easy to make. Just a simple puff pastry and some nice sugar and away ya go. Simply Recipes has the recipe, but does not include the puff pastry recipe, which is the bulk of the work in the first place. Odd, but you can find one anywhere on the net. Note, at the end she has some great links to other Palmiers. Enjoy, this is a very fast recipe to make.

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It’s Wednesday and that means another installment from Susan Posner’s Fundamentalist, the never miss post on the religious right and their nefarious plans to take over the country. It is simply the best.

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Another must see article at American Prospect is one by Paul Waldman. He claims that John McCain has placed his hopes on America being right of center. There is seldom an article in this publication that is anything but good, but make your own judgment here. I think he raises some excellent points. Can the Democrats convince the public that they can do better?

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The Inadvertent Gardener had me laughing as she described sitting in the corner as the snow fell yesterday. I just stomped around in utter disgust and told the Contrarian that this was going to go on until at least May in this upside down seasonal joke of a Spring.

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Another of those fabulous chicken recipes we cannot do without. This one is a bit more complicated, but not much. Uncommon Artistic Endeavors offers us Savory Chicken Triangles, made with puff pastry. She used store bought, but of course, you can make it quite easily yourself. Give it a look see and see what you think.

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“I’m a born-again atheist.” Gore Vidal

“Thank God men cannot as yet fly and lay waste the sky as well as the earth!” Henry David Thoreau

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If there is not one hair-brained idea per minute I’d be surprised. Do people just stay up nights thinking of possible ways to do something not done until their feeble and ill-fitting brains come up with it? All I can say, is that’s a lot of ice cream to ingest. One wonders how the boat can be big enough to hold the growing ice-cream eating idiot that thought this one up. Well, its not that bad, I guess it floats and they have good intentions. Could have accomplished the charity side of it with a good deal less effort though. Visit Dave’s Daily.

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Well, I was unaware that Bob Dylan is a comic. Seems he is, if this from Vanity Fair is any evidence. The link is from Laugh Lines, the NYTimes funnies.

“My friend’s wife is a really bad cook. I broke a tooth on her coffee.”

“I once had a friend who said liquor will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no liquor.”

“A giraffe can go a long time without water. But he wants to see a menu right away.”

“I gave a bald-headed friend a comb. You know what he said? ‘I’ll never part with it.’”

“I don’t condone [blonde] jokes. I just repeat them in the public interest.”

“I want everybody to go out and paint their cars red and white tonight. We want a PINK CAR NATION.”

Whew, Dividing my Mind into Segments

Tags

Barack Obama, cake, chicken, cookies, crochet, dinosaurs, Easter, election, Gardening, grains, herbs, Iraq, knitting, sides, spying, vegetables, Women's history

Today, we display a lovely work by George Caleb Bingham. Done in 1845, it is called, “Fur Traders Descending the Missouri.” It is hanging in the MMA.

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I hope you certainly had a lovely peaceful Easter. Today, it appears we have a lot to look at, so let’s begin.

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First off a bit of housekeeping: Today we have a 2 parter, the second part is the next post. This is necessary, because my blog is so weird that I have a lot of tags (so I can find my own stuff again). Blogger for insane reasons, no doubt, doesn’t allow tags whose total is more than 200 letters. I kid you not. So, I’ve been running out of tag allowance about twice a week, and it’s annoying having to pare down my list, and thus make it harder to find stuff. Since I know how to redate things on this platform, I simply do this one and when the red light flashes and I’m past my tag allotment, I peel off the last tag and accompanying blurb and save and open a new post. Smart ain’t I? LOL.. We shall see how it works.

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Sandi’s Crochet Blog has another of her lovely filet crochet banners, this one of rabbits and carrots. It can be framed undoubtedly, but also incorporated into another piece such as a quilt. She of course always gives you the pattern. So don’t miss it. She also has a pattern for a bookmark which is truly lovely. It would make a nice mother’s day gift perhaps, or for a friend who loves to read.

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There are those in the country who find the increasing polarization of groups within this country a sure sign that we are reaching a crisis. Will that crisis result in actual armed conflict? Some suggest it may, though I certainly think we are a ways from that. In any event, it’s most important we understand the underlying reasons for our defining conflict, the revolution. The American Revolution Blog tells us about the infamous Stamp Act and how its passage got the ball rolling in the Colonies.

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I am always struck each spring by the amazing numbers of green one can see in even the most casual of looks about the landscape. It seems I’m not alone in that. An Iowa Garden, explores the idea with appropriate verses from Tolkien, and pictures of wonderful Springtime to boot. On these mostly cloudy gloomy days, it’s exactly what we need. Enjoy.

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I contend that the day should never go by without periodic chocolate breaks. It’s true, it’s essential to good health, mental if no other. Of course you know its actually good for your heart as well, so dive in with gusto! This recipe of course would catch my eye, and will be added to my list. When you reach that point in the early gardening season of “Can I spread zucchini on the lawn as decorative art?” well you know what I mean. The vegetable that will not stop producing has found another means of use! Try Chocolate Zucchini Cake, compliments of a link by Baking Delights.

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We have another entry by Civil War Women, and as usual, its a wonderful eye-opening post. Don’t miss Maggie’s study of Lydia Parrish. Her nursing activities during the war were extensive. She worked in both hospitals and in the camps, attending to the needs of wounded soldiers. She helped organize the Ladies Aid Society in PA and helped as well with organizing volunteer nurses. Read more about her selfless service.

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Most women, faced with the daunting task of putting a decent meal on the table every day, think there can never been too many chicken recipes. And of course, there is no end to inventiveness. So here is a nice fruity addition, called, Carribean-Style Mango Chicken. This undoubtedly would also work well in the summer on the barbecue. Thank Coconut & Lime for this one.

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Copycat Restaurant Recipes has a promise to add a recipe a day and give away a cookbook, so it’s best to go through the list and pick what you may like. I’m joining. Today’s offering is Olive Garden’s “Capellini Pomodoro” which is a very basic and fresh tomato pasta.

~~Wow, serendipity is at it again. Did I just say zucchini? Here’s another recipe you might want to tuck away for you know when! It’s Zucchini Rice Gratin, a recipe from Gourmet. Enjoy and as usual a big thanks from Epicurious.
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Essential Estrogen has another important post. It seems that the U of I Library in Iowa has opened its Iowa Women’s Archives online, well, online. This looks like a wonderful collection and will be of use to teachers, researchers, and students alike. What a lovely way to celebrate the ending of Women’s history month!

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I know its past Easter, but you can never be too early to collect patterns for cute stuff for next year. Link to this and you will have a cute bunny to make next year. Okay, if you are driven, make it now, and save it until next year. It’s a bunny pattern with full instructions for making from Revoluzzza, compliments of feeling stitchy.

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Free Sample Forager has a free poster, and I always like that. Make a frame or decorate a cheap one, and voila, you got wall art! This one comes from the USDA, and is a nature poster. It is free, although it does not appear so, but after you fill out the mailing information, there is no request for a credit card. So, send away.

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Mr. Green Fingers has taken on a daunting task. He is intent on teaching you virtually everything you want to know about starting up a garden. Over the weeks and months he’s going to gather all types of gardens together in one spot for your convenience. It certainly looks like it will be a helpful reference blog to use again and again. If you want one all-purpose site to meet most all your gardening needs, this would be the one I would pick for sure!
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As you may have guessed, since I’ve made it no secret, I support Hillary Clinton. Yet, I have no anger or dislike for Barack Obama, and intend to support him if in fact he becomes the nominee. I thought his “race” speech was excellent, but I fear he convinced those that needed no convincing. In reality, I believe he lost some white males whom he barely had convinced. This made them jump off again, and I doubt they will ever return. If anyone can be convinced however, I would suggest a good place to start is with this excellent post by Jeremy Cameron Young.

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Home and Garden has so many articles of interest that I just gave you the link to the main site. Scroll down and find help on setting up a herb garden, plant care, a Tuscan flair, drought plants, for starters.

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Iowa Grasslands has some nice photos of Grant Woods paintings. He is an Iowan and much featured in any Iowa museum. The photos are accompanied by Russell’s informative prose. Sorry about that Drake’s loss, Russell, what a nail biter and a heartbreaker for sure! The tournament this year is getting pretty crazy, and it appears the brackets were not very well set this season.

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I cannot crochet or knit and watch TV at the same time. I can listen of course, but not watch. Apparently the talented lady from knitting dragonflies can do both. Lucky her. Stop by and see how her sweater is going. The pictures suggest its going well. I want to do socks and don’t have the right needles and figure in all likelihood it’s gonna be much harder than I think.

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I truly love science. Can’t follow it beyond a certain point of course, but I love it, and can always find something that amazes me and dumbfounds me, often at the same time. I knew you were concerned out how the Large Hadron Collider was coming along. When completed in Europe, the contraption is hopefully going to tell us “secrets” about the universe. That certainly sounds exciting to me. While it looks like an eye to me, and well, in a sense it will function as one, scientists are jumping for glee. Scientists always jump for glee, or didn’t you watch those moon shots back in the 60’s?

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On the other hand, if dinosaurs are more your cup of tea, read about the oldest plesiosaur found in North America. Okay, first of all they aren’t really dinosaurs, but reptiles. They were monster reptiles and looked really mean if you look at those jaws. So quibble if you must about the correct term. This one was found in Alberta. Why do they get to have all the fun?

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Dave Berry is one of the funniest people around. I was thinking last night that I am pretty good at this, a few slick words, a giggle or two, and I’m off to a new topic. I can do this kind of writing standing on my head, and do it day in and day out. I’m sort of amusing, sort of witty, and I can write a decent sentence if I have to. Dave Berry produces one of these a month or so, but I couldn’t do what he does if I had twelve months. He suggests we deal with the Florida/Michigan primary problems by “Let’s hold the Nation’s first texting primary.” Read it and well, weep through the laughter.

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I found that several weeks after discontinuing my strictly political blog, that there was at least one source I missed a lot. And I just had to return to it, since, well it just tickles the dickin’s out of me. Never has the world accumulated such a collection of brain defectives in one place. No wait, the present White House has dibs on that world record. But it’s pretty impressive still. The Republicans, AKA, Bushie boy, wants the FISA bill passed, and the mean old Democrats are keeping it off the floor. And of course, all manner of bad guys are busy doing “bad things” (we should assume it of course without any objective evidence) and that makes the Democrats responsible for that as well. The post is so full of nonsense as to be not believed, which you shouldn’t. The FISA bill is off the floor because the House will not cave in and give Bushie his amnesty for the telecoms period. The National Review strikes again!!!!
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Niki has completed a quilt and offers it up for a silent auction. Bid on this really pleasant looking quilt at her site. She is always finding great links to great spots to check out. Niki’s Ventures always have something to offer us. Thanks!

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Stanley Fish has a most interesting post on the issue of “Denouncing and Renouncing” the media led circus we find ourselves in with candidates these days. Do the candidates have a responsibility to vet all their potential supporters ahead of time and ask those who pose a problem to go away? Or keep quiet? Dr. Fish suggests it is not the candidate job at all. I tend to think he’s right, though I have pointed out again and again McCain’s failure to speak directly about the Hagee endorsement. I do admit that some of these issues are dissimilar, but I’m not sure yet what guidelines I’d attach to determine what is fair game. I’ll let you know if I do. One would probably be, did the candidate know of the endorser’s proclivities and did he actively seek the endorsement. Under this McCain is fair game.

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We of course knew this story was coming for a week or so. Still its most sad to report and contemplate, that the 4,000th US service person has died in the war. It is in some ways almost eerie or foggy that during the Vietnam debacle, deaths of course reached hugely larger numbers and over a shorter period. I think that given the “we won we won” declared mere weeks after its inception, made it all the more horrible when the “we won” turned into “we are stuck” and they are killing us like ducks at a carnival game. In the meantime, what was touted as success in Iraq is now turning back into not so successful. As we are dragged screaming into a 6th year of this awful war of choice, Anbar province is beginning to simmer again. You see it’s not just cessation of killing that makes success. It was always supposed to be followed by political improvements in the Iraqi government. And those improvements have simply not occurred.

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