"TIS THE SEASON

Let's turn away from all the political rhetoric, the increasing military troops, right wing, left wing, depression, recession, obsession, and celebrity insanity for just a minute. How about some "8x10, colored, glossy photos complete with circles and arrows on the back of each one describing what it was" to get in the holiday spirit. (My apologies to Arlo Gutherie's "Alice's Restaurant". Those of you who are of-a-certain-age will understand.) These are from Metamora, Indiana, a small old place in the middle of nowhere, where each year there is a joyous, old fashioned, friendly celebration until January. Just imagine the smell of popcorn, hot dogs, horses, evergreens, and hot chocolate. So simple.

MS. PALIN and TOUCH DOWN JESUS

No, I'm not being blasphemous, folks. I just wanted to "touch base" as it were, on totally out of line goings-on in this country these days. I'm not saying that the right wingers have a lock on stupid and poor taste, but I've got to wonder about the intelligence level of some of these people.

"For at least the past 10 years, the megachurch evangelical movement has been telling its parishioners that Jesus wants them to get rich. That fit rather nicely with the triumphalism of Bush/Rove & Co. as it built its "permanent majority" with their votes, testifying that it was their all-American duty to trample the environment and the poor, and to kill Afghan and Iraqi Muslims, on the way to God's kingdom. In imitation of the way Bush paid for his wars, many of the devout simply loaded themselves up with debt, buying SUVs and McMansions in spanking new developments.
Since the capitalist collapse, of course, that debt has become toxic. Now, in their dismay and confusion over having supported Bush--one of the first governors, by the way, to declare an annual state "Jesus Day"--evangelicals are left with a terrible anger. And they desperately don't want to turn that anger inward.

And now we have the Great Unraveling. As the waters recede, what's left behind are follies like the "Drowning Jesus" (a/k/a "Touchdown Jesus"), a 62-foot-high sculpture of Christ set chest-deep in a reflecting pool at the Solid Rock Church in Monroe, Ohio, one of the non-coastal states Palin is visiting on her book tour. And who's to blame for that embarrassing excess, constructed in 2004?
I know: ACORN." (from an article sent to me)

http://www.roadsideamerica.com/story/9786

I hope you've gone to that link to see what I mean. I live not too far from there. It's mind boggling.

CATEGORIZE, SCHMATEGORIZE

I'm getting a little overwhelmed and confused these days. Left wing liberal. Right wing conservative. GOP= Party of NO. DEMS=socialism. Sarah Palin= right wing goddess. Nancy Pelosi=left wing spawn of the devil. Bush=the decider. Obama=the ditherer. Abortion=right wing values, slap-down of women's rights. Abortion= celebration of women's rights, proof of left wing ungodliness. I'm caught in a morass of contradictions. No matter what I believe in, I'M WRONG.

I don't ever remember such vileness, divisiveness, fear mongering, truth stretching, slandering, pushing-of-religion for political purposes "in all my born days" as I used to hear said as a child. (I know, that was many years ago...) But we have been treated to a show of such lack of decorum, manners, respect, insult to intelligence, and shenanigans that would make Oral Roberts and P.T. Barnum blush. We all are not generalizations. We don't all live and die by the POLLS. We all don't swear by FOX news. Some of us actually THINK and go by our gut feelings to know what is right or wrong. Most of us are caught in the middle: we hear all the mumbo-jumbo put out by "our" side or the "opposition", and we agree with a little of both. But, NO, that's not acceptable. You're either for us or agin us, by golly!!

I believe in God, a higher being, a plan for each of our lives. I don't believe that all organized religions have a lock on goodness and yours, just because it is different than mine, is bad. I know that the Bible is a guide for leading a good and selfless life. But I also know it is a collection of writings that over time, have been rearranged, edited, added to and condensed to suit whatever purposes that particular group of scholars had in mind at the time. I believe there NEEDS to be a separation of church and state as was written by our forefathers when founding this country. I don't believe any religion-Catholic, evangelical, atheist, Jewish,-needs to be pressing their agenda into this country's politics. Nor do I believe that money from any of these organizations should be accepted for any purpose. I believe this country was built by people of all colors, creeds, nationalities, classes, education, and sexes. If it's OK to to use these same people in your factories, fields, homes, stores, and restaurants, they need to be afforded the same rights as everyone else, as long as they know what their responsibilities are as citizens. I believe NO ONE should have the right to tell me what to do with my body. I don't condone abortion as a method of birth control. I've never had one: but I don't believe any self-righteous man is going to tell me or any other woman in a dire circumstance that they can't have one. (I've worked more than 20 years of my life with OB/GYN's. This is not spoken callously.)
I believe in helping my fellow American citizen, or any person for that matter. I expect everyone to work for what they want to achieve in life: there's nothing wrong with succeeding in what you do. Money is not the root of all evil, LOVE of money is. It's when you don't use what you have (money or talent) in helping others do the same that the selfishness and greed sets in. It's when the looking down on others as "lazy, ignorant, waiting-for-hand-outs, and inferior" begins that turns me off.

So I guess I"ll continue down the road as an independent, not-so-middle-class-anymore, women's rights, spiritual, humor-loving, cancer-surviving, left-leaning, family-loving, commonsensical (is that a word?) kind of person. For those of you I irritate, I apologize. For those of you I amuse: at least I've accomplished something.

MY ENGLISH TEACHER IS NOT HAPPY

I found this fascinating quote today:

OK, so, maybe that's a bit extreme; but anyone who lives in our household has probably gotten used to hearing me growl, "fewer!" when some talking head -- especially on the news -- uses "less" when the proper term would be, well, "fewer." For example, a report on the state of the U.S. economy that aired not too long ago mentioned that the economic stimulus plan had generated less jobs than expected. (It's painful even to type that...) No, no, NO!!! The plan has created FEWER jobs!!! Sigh. Generations of English teachers must be spinning in their graves...Fr. John McCuen, Observations from an Empty Well, Nov 2009

A man after my own heart! I just about lose it when I hear these so-called journalists go on in their somber tones about serious topics, and they don't have a clue that they have lessened it's effect on me because they have mangled the delivery. I'm left sitting, yelling at the television or screaming at the radio, correcting the bad grammar. I've totally ignored the message: I'm skewering the messenger. My kids are used to it by now.....they're adults, with kids of their own. But two of my daughters say that now when they interview people for positions, or have employee meetings this little buzzer goes off in their heads: "Oh, that doesn't sound right. Mom would not like that at ALL."

I know you're busy, so I'll just condense my usual rants about the Fall Of The Correct Usage Of Grammar and The Dumbing Down Of America. My family has heard it already. Several times.

1.) TROOP refers to a specific association of people (more than 1) such as a Boy Scout troop, Brownie troop NOT an individual person ie: twenty troops were killed today in Iraq.
2.) REGIME is sort of a political overthrow of government, not a REGIMEN. My exercise regimen leaves a lot to be desired, but we won't go there.
3.) Using MYSELF instead of ME or I in a statement. "Sarah Palin and myself will be at the book signing at Costco today." Of course, saying Sarah and I would be anywhere together is a fantasy and very dumb.
4.)I HAVE GOT to tell you that in English-classes-past this was a definite no-no. Any form of these two words used together was incorrect, but now has morphed into acceptable. I still cringe.
5.) As in the case of FEWER and LESS, the correct usage of MOST and MAJORITY has also taken a hit. It has to do with numbers: most of the class would agree, but the majority of the thirty students have come to accept it I guess. Did you get that?
6.) I'm not letting this one go: not only using MYSELF incorrectly, but placing it/me before everyone else you're discussing. "Myself, John, Betty, and Mary are going out for lunch today." Apparently you're hungrier than the rest of your friends or you would have said "John, Betty, Mary, and I are going out for lunch today." Of course, you're treating, aren't you?

Aftermath...from a Military Family's Perspective

This is a beautiful piece.
the-reaction.blogspot.com/2009/11/collateral-damage-after-fort-hood.html

Please, please read this. For me, and for your country.

OUTRAGEOUS OUTRAGE

Now that makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? A bit redundant. Maybe even overkill. But that seems to be the reaction of a lot of right wing, flag waving news personalities of late. Especially those of a religious bent, speaking from their paid-for-by-me pulpits.

On his 700 Club TV show yesterday, Pat Robertson claimed that Islam is "not a religion," but "a violent political system bent on the overthrow of the governments of the world and world domination":

ROBERTSON: That is the ultimate aim. And they talk about infidels and all this, but the truth is that's what the game is. So you are dealing with not a religion. You're dealing with a political system. And I think we should treat it as such and treat its adherences as such as we would members of the Communist Party or members of some fascist group. Well, it's a tragedy. Our hearts go out to the families who suffered. But those in the Army should be held on account for the fact they let this man loose.


That is from the blog THE REACTION, which is a must-read for thinking people. Why do we condemn a whole group of people for the irrational acts of one man? Can I rightfully say that all Baptists or evangelicals are insane murderers because one blew up a clinic and killed a doctor who performed abortions? During WWII we rounded up, put in concentration camps, and tormented Japanese/American citizens because they might be spies. Yet we get extremely indignant and outraged (there's that word again) when an American citizen is singled out, ridiculed, or prosecuted by another country, rightly or wrongly. America: home of the free and the double standard.

God made man in his image, but he didn't make us all carbon copies. He made different nationalities and put us in different countries where various social and religious mores exist. He didn't leave a list stating that one was better than the other. He gave us all brains, but he didn't give us all intelligence apparently. It seems as if this great melting pot has become a boiling cauldron. Time to turn down the heat, I say.

Outlook On Life

"I always take life with a grain of salt...plus a slice of lemon...and a shot of tequila."

by darthstar on Tue Nov 10, 2009 at 01:07:09 PM PST on Daily Koz

What more needs to be said?

The Wedding Rundown

In our years of shooting weddings, we have come to know firsthand the stresses of the modern wedding day. The anxious bride. The overbearing (sometimes) mother. The commander-in-chief wedding planner. The clueless dad. The I'm-only-here-for-the-party groom. All the relatives with impossible suggestions and comparisons of weddings past. And sometimes the overbearing but clueless bride herself.

But you know, the hardest job of all is being the scene-stealing flower girl.

IMPENDING BACKLASH?

Yesterday a horrible event took place: a killing of 13 people and wounding of 31 at a military base. The perpetrator was an American citizen of the Muslim faith, and a military officer. The exact reason has yet to be known. What is known, though, was that in the past this person had been ridiculed by fellow military men and others about his name and religion. We all know that being a person in uniform is no easy task. Sometimes the training, the mindset, the listening to horror stories of soldiers returning form Afghanistan, Iraq, Israel and Pakistan is overwhelming. Especially if people in these countries we are fighting, or even trying to help, are the people of your heritage. Americans can be cruel, also. Maybe not intentionally, but our coarseness, brusqueness, our get-to-the-point attitude has been mistaken many times for arrogance and uncaring. Oftentimes this feeling of low self worth, ridicule, and "not belonging" can be exploited by larger groups for a sinister purpose. Or we ourselves just can't take it anymore.

Right wing radio and television---ok, Fox and the 700 Club for sure---have already started the questioning. The backlash has begun. More trouble will start. It works so well for getting the teabaggers together.

"Just what makes this a "Muslim problem?" Maybe it's a "male problem." Maybe it is a "gun problem." Or an "Army problem."

Timothy McVeigh was Catholic. Was the bombing of the Oklahoma Federal Building a "Catholic problem?" Hitler was a Catholic. Another "Catholic problem?" Serial killer Ted Bundy was Mormon. Was that a "Mormon problem?" The Son of Sam was a baptist. Dylan Bennet Klebold, of the infamous Columbine shootings was Lutheran. A "Lutheran problem, perhaps?"

In reality, this is a "Bigotry problem." And those people full of hate are happy to make an issue of it."................from Huff Post.

The above response to an article this morning hits the nail on the head. Try to keep some perspective in all of this. If there are cooler heads among us, let them prevail.

SOME PEOPLE GET IT

"You know, this was an interesting article and kind of at the heart of why I started voting Dem. I don't agree with every Dem program and sometimes I think they are trying to be almost too liberal (in many programs), but that's ok because I'd rather err on the side of over-helping your fellow citizens then under-helping. If I'm tagged a "socialist" because I believe in assisting people (felow Americans) in their time of need, then so be it. 40 hour work weeks, overtime pay, paid vacation, unions, medicare, social security, the EPA, clean air clean water, food inspections and a zillion other programs to benefit us, the people, initiated by Dems.

The largest benficiaries of the repubs are big business, who used to be totally connected to America, but are now multi-nationals who have zero allegience with any country, only the never ending quest for more money (regardless of the pain it causes). When this happens you have lost jobs, lower wages and basically a race to the bottom, which is the end result of free market fundamentalism. 400% and climbing is the ratio of the top pay to the average worker. Thats just sad.

I remember a day when the rich still got rich, the middle class was envied the world over and the working poor had a better than even chance of getting out."............................. by RedneckDem

This quote is in response to an article I read this morning on Huffington Post. I could not have put it as eloquently. Where have we as a nation gone wrong? Have we totally lost all compassion? Has greed become our sole purpose for living? Is it all about ME? Do we let our political leaders and big business hypnotize us into believing that they are there to look out for our well being? That it's OK for them to make all these ungodly amounts of money behind our backs, receive all these atrocious perks mostly with our money---and we're to believe it'll trickle down to us? Have we become that complacent and stupid? Are we mostly fools who put on a show for their benefit like the "tea baggers"?

If that's the case, as a once great nation, we are in trouble.