Sigh

Bush never had an original idea. Don Imus, an infamous shock jock, back in 2000 was actually looking forward to have Bush just because it would be easy to make jokes about him. Imus is long gone off the air because of racsist remarks to a college womans' basketball team. 3 pages for a bailout of Wall Street is an insult to the intelligence of the electorate and the house representatives and senators on Capitol Hill. It makes me shake my head.

McBush and the White House Screw Up

You cannot run the country on an empty ATM machine. You cannot run a country when not only the ATM's are empty, but the parties who represent the voters are running on empty as well. This latest debacle is disgusting, scary and wholly unnecessary. McBush is a danger to the country. Obama is the only one in the public who has a clue. Obama is working for everyone to "win" whatever they can from this situation. But just watch who gets the blame when someone has to bear the weight of the financial fall. It will be the democrats.

McBush, sorry McCain, needs to take a break, debate Obama, have his VP girl debate Biden, and work on getting the folks in the hinterlands to believe in him as he is now. Not as a war hero. But as someone who can negotiate. My view from this end of the screen is that McCain can't, won't and is the ultimate blame game player. After all, it was the Republicans who suggested the Mississippi debate site, no doubt hoping to throw Obama off his game. Hoping Obama would find it threatening to be in Oxford, Mississippi at the University of Mississipi, being on the campus that was one of the first to integrate the college with some really tough situation in a really tough time. Talk about an attempt at intimidation.

McCain and the Republicans must get to work to regain my trust. Over taken by the Dixiecrats, they are as defunct as the dodo in my book and finally others are seeing the same things I am. I ask, "Why 4 more years?" My opinion is that 4 more years of the same is going to put us into a many year long depression. Not recession. Depression.

Until peace, Know Peace

It's the Economy, Stupid

Yesterday's intrusion by John McCain into the financial crisis was disgusting. Playing politics in a situation this severe is nothing but political grandstanding. McCain did this when Hurricane Gus hit New Orleans, cancelling the first day of the convention on the specious excuse that he is for America first instead of politics first. He needs to attend to his party. He needs to get the Republicans to step up to their first responsibility of representing the people instead of trying to derail the process. He can't have it both ways -- either run for president or represent the people who elected him. The economy is under enough stress.

Amazon.com: Panasonic Network Camera and Pet Cam (BLC1A): Electronics

This might be an option for having folks see the cats in this natural environment

Amazon.com: Panasonic Network Camera and Pet Cam (BLC1A): Electronics

Hurrying towards Happiness

As a society, though, we are all in too much of a hurry to let happiness happen with animals who can't talk. A shelter worker at one of the best shelters I know once told me that the cats who can't adapt to being in a shelter situation with the noise and people get put down first. Put down before they have a chance to learn to trust. Put down before they have any chance at all.

And that is exactly what happens in politics and real world economics. We want what we want when we want it without going through the steps in between. If the law firm isn't bringing in enough money, we don't think about making an unpopular decision and telling the partners that they will not make as much money as they did in years' past. We just fire the people in the law firm who can't bring the partners to judgment. We fire the secretaries, the IT professionals, the Office Services people. We fire those without a voice.....just like the cats getting put down. We don't give a chance to those who don't have a chance otherwise.

We hurry towards the bottom line of happiness and then wonder why we aren't happy.

Oreo

In August, a semi-feral cat named Oreo came into the shelter to stay overnight. She was coughing and generally not feeling well. Oreo is a tiny tuxedo cat who has taught me a lot about feline time. When she first decided to come in, I was one who picked up her up from the outdoors and survived without a single scratch because she felt so bad. As soon as she felt better though she would hiss and growl at anyone who cleaned her cage. This lasted for a month. Then last Saturday she let me scratch her head while I was cleaning out the cages, so I made a note to go back after all my chores to see if she would like to be held in an old quilt. And she did. She settled right in and all you could see were her two eyes over the patchwork. She was happy, content and warm.

Bliss is a happy cat.

Feline Time

This is the first week I can remember not getting scratched by the cats out at the cattery. I don't mind getting scratched. It is part of what being a cattery person is all about. Rehabilitation, hugs, nail trimming, brushing, putting contrary kitties into carriers to go to shows... Cats don't always agree with our sense of time, though. And that's why I get scratched. I hurry too fast getting cats to do what needs to be done. But over time they have taught me that a hurried cat is an unhappy cat. And sometimes, if I stop and watch and wait, they will do what I want them to without scratching or getting upset. All it takes is setting my own internal 'hurry up' watch to "feline time." And not having scratches that itch makes working on feline time worth the effort.

Until peace, know peace

Take overs or Take out

Today saw the government takeover of the two premier financial institutions in the U.S., Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Those institutions were perhaps the first to be privatized and, as with other privatized organization, they were systematically looted. My question is whether taking over the banks was such a good idea. I mean as a country we are busy printing money to back loans and institutions when we don't have the money to back up what is in circulation. When private people pass fake money, they go into jail. Hmmmm, I wonder what happens when a country prints bad money...does it go to jail? We need to take out the folks in charge and elect people who are not neo-conservatives who believe that they can control everything if they just find the right spin-meister. Until peace, know peace

Hurricane Mondays

Hurricane Hanna is history...at least for this area. But if hurricanes generate tidal surges, I believe they also generate emotional surges. I have never seen so many angry people on the road, in the stores and other areas of my life. It is weird. I really should see if anyone else has noticed this phenomena.

Experts

Experts will tell you that 3 male cats cannot live together without marking and making a mess of the house and of each other. I don't think the experts have met my three male cats. Mine lie near each other, play together, swipe each others toys and food almost with impunity. And yes, like all cats they have some accidents. But to impute the accidents to the living together is unwise. It is much more likely that cats have medical issues that need to be dealt with when this happens, especially if it happens a lot over time. I am not a fan of experts because I don't know what their credentials are. Just becauase they put themselves forward as an expert, doesn't make it so. And that brings me to the talking heads on the news and on the radio. I grew up with the likes of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite who not only wrote and talked news, they went out and found it. In today's world of conglomerates, there are few who do it. Amy Goodman, Christiana Amanpur and others. But these 'in-country' talking heads? I'd rather watch Amy and Christiana talk than listen to self proclaimed experts. After all, anyone can say they are an expert. I am a novice in cats but ... I do know what I know from first hand experience and can only advise on that knowledge.

Cat Purrs and Living with An Open Heart

All I have learned in the past (almost five years) is from my cats. Contemplate the ups and downs of life whilst cleaning litter pans and putting out food and walking through clusters of hungry cats is my way to serenity. I have tried 'sitting' meditation. But the walking through cats practice helps much more. Clearing the debris of the present clears the clutter of the past ...

Namaste

Listening

Listening to others is a lost art....at least for me. I have talked incessantly about myself for years. "I" is a whole universe of words in my lexicon. Lately, however, I've been turning the "I" off and letting others be their own "I". And it is a fascinating development for me. I am learning that others out there are a lot like me. They go through harrowing experiences with jobs, health, loss and they survive. Well done. So if the posts here are a little sparse these days, it is because my "I"-ing is taking a step back and letting life be ... well, what life is....

A bumpy road. With crickets chirping if you listen hard enough.

Peace

Bill Moyers Journal 9-5-08

Hurricane Hanna brings up vivid memories of Hurricane Katrina for me and I am sure for many others. Certainly, Hanna's predecessor Gustav, was a timely reminder for all of us of the failure of the Bush administration to deal with disasters. And I will be charitable. Bush had a lot of help. However, one of the things he could have helped was to keep the National Guard at home and not send them over to Iraq to fight in a war they were never trained to fight. The National Guard was trained to deal with civil disturbance and natural disasters and certainly Katrina posed challenges in both of those areas. But because Bush and Cheney wanted to look like they knew what they were doing, they sent a minimum number of regular troops to do a job that needed a lot more feet on the ground. They backed the troops up with National Guard (who may not have been counted in the regular Pentagon budget because National Guard and Pentagon don't calculate souls and soles the same way). And then they employed Blackwater and other firms who were not calculated at all in that hard math of war. Companies we have learned about like Blackwater and Cheney's old firm, who don't have to answer to military law at all because they are not bound to use the military rules of engagement. Bill Moyers' Journal tonight discusses the New Jersey National Guard deployment. Fully one half of the entire NJ unit is being sent to Iraq in the next week. If New Jersey takes a direct hit from Hanna tearing up the coast will there be enough National Guard to take care of the devastation? I hope so. I really do but at what cost to the Guard members and to the people who need saving? Worse, the last I heard on C-Span is that the Guard is not being treated equally in their health care and after battle demobilization. In fact, they are not being treated well at all. Guard members and their families are an uncounted cost of this conflict. As a nation, we need to come back to basics, take care of our own people who have taken care of us. We really do.

Peace Now, Shalom Aschav

Publish Post

Keeping it simple

I rearranged my furniture tonight to get more space for my cats and to clean the carpet before the electricity goes out with this storm coming through. The weather channel says that Hanna is going to be very windy. I hope not so very windy that it damages the cattery or my place but I don't deal well with waiting so I rearranged my furniture to pass the time. And I discovered all over again that my main room which is a square of about 20 x 30 and is broken into a living, office, kitchen and dining area is about the size of one of the rooms of where I used to live. Downsizing with a vengeance. So, yeah, I am pretty down about that but I console myself that if it were larger, I'd have more to lose in the storm. Keeping it small truly is all about keeping it simple.

Stay safe

Tooth-some

Toothsome, I always thought, meant sweets or something desirable. I was right. Here is the link to Merriam-Webster. http://www.merriam-webster.com/cgi-bin/netdict?book=Dictionary&va=toothsome. But I must say that after this weekend, I have discovered that I am toothsome to the cats at the shelter. I prefer thinking of it as toothsome rather than as a chew toy but in looking at the ferocious battle scars from clipping toenails, I must admit chew toy fits the bill better. From twin claw marks on my face (I'll be wearing goggles the next time I hold a cat for toe clipping) to bite marks on my forearm, I feel like I have been in a duel. Only the cat and I can say which of us won, however. I am sure from the cat's point of view, he won because I decided that maybe his toe nails could just be left for another time. And certainly from my point of view, I won because I still have my eye that he clawed towards when he was trying to get away from trimming. Thank goodness I wear glasses is all I have to say. So, all in all, an education. I won't so blithely say that I can't get hurt. It is obvious I can. But I do feel really good about the fact that I faced several cats before that one who let me trim their nails and that in facing that one I have faced down a fear I kept denying I had...one where I can and will be hurt by an animal I am trying to help. Now if only I can find serious leather gloves made to fit my hands. The only ones we had there were made for someone with a seriously large hand. My mini-mitts just don't work on those.

Happyness

Happy-ness isn't about being happy, I've discovered. It is about being. Just being and being and being. And sometimes, like tonight, I get surprised by the affect my being has on people around me. Tonight I got happy-ness given to me as an award for just being me. Who knew? Not me, obviously. But a very good sweet day...

The Notebook

Wonderful film. Being an old softie, I am really fonder of the parts of Jim Garner playing the husband stubbornly reminding his forgetful wife who she is and who he is. It is a truly an amazing film. Poignant ...

defalcation - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

defalcation - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

 

Look to the words people use before  believing them.  If a caller to C-Span uses words this obscure and believe me folks, I am a master of the obscure word, then what is it they are trying to make us believe.  Are they making themselves out to be better and more believable than the rest of us by using mind-crunching words.  Defalcation is a word I have never heard in my 20+ years as a legal secretary and with my BA in Humanities/English.  This word specifically refers to the Bankruptcy Code.  It dates from the 15th century.  I would rather look to the archaic meaning of making a deduction to conclude fact but the current meaning is failure to meet a promise or expectation or embezzling.  When this term is applied to Senator Ted Stevens we need to find out why the caller felt qualified to judge.  And in judging, who knows whether he is correct or not.  All I can tell you, is that using words like this without simple English is misleading and wrong.

On Pain of Health Care

I understand all about pain. All over pain and specific. Last year, I gave up and went to an Apple computer to see if the smaller keyboard would help. What a waste of time that is.... I love the Apple because it is so portable and small but it does not help with the pain. I know I don't have arthritis because of the many visits to the rheumatology doctors. But good grief....the less I type, the more it hurts. This time off with no regular typing is making me far more sensitive to the pain I feel in my right palm. And that's new. The good news is that I am getting the rest I have needed for such a very long time. I am debating with myself on whether I need to go back to work full time or if a part time job would be good enough to handle the expenses and health concerns. I really should have a sign made up...Will Work for Health Care. What will happen, I wonder, if we get universal health coverage? Will employment figures go up? Or will they decline as people realize they don't have to make themselves sick with employers who don't believe that a worker could possibily be in such pain that working is a daily challenge? Personally, I think universal health care would free us up to be more involved in what we want to do -- rather than what we need to do. But that's probably an idealistic view because no matter what health care, we all need the money for essentials. Food for woman and beasties gets more expensive with the cost of transportation, gas gets more expensive due to government malfeasance and incompetence in following through on Energy Independence started by the Department of Energy back in the late 70's and early 80's. And with energy continually rising, everything else becomes more expensive. Back yard mower companies I use have a surcharge on their services to pay for the gas they need to work. And I cannot begrudge that at all. Meanwhile, employers are cutting back on the people they have on staff because they want to cut back on high health costs. Which is what I believe ultimately put a lot of us old timers at my former firm out of a job. Downsizing due to economic reasons....bah, humbug. It was simply a really good excuse to get rid of secretaries over 40 who used health care and who were dedicated to the firm. The two most untalked about issues in the current election are these ... health care and energy. Lots of lip service but no real gut understanding that the decisions made by law makers insulated by their own health care will never understand. And energy decisions cut off at the beginning of implementation by Presidents from Ronald Reagan to the present who make deals but are blinded by the soothsayers in Wall Street and the Fed who say limiting the possibility of energy cartels and companies to make a profit will cause a downturn for investors. If the government is for the people...just who are those people? Investors or voters? It is just a puzzlement to me.

On Matters of ...

Faith is expensive here in Northern Virginia. Building Funds, prayer book fees, temple security fees, not to mention religious school fees. Nothing to sneeze at. Indeed, don't get sick. You might be charged for a visit from the members on the Sick Committee. I mention this because for the first time in 20 years, we as a family are free to wander away from our first temple. Our children are out of religious school and their friends scattered to the four winds. So we decided to look around and check out options nearer to home. Gas is at such a high price that it just makes sense to worship closer to home. But at the prices I am seeing? It is a hummer. I just don't know whether it makes fiscal sense. The price of gas will not be going up enough to balance the cost of an 800.00 building fee for new members. There are no special discounts in membership for single parents or for singles who are over 29 at all. I will keeping looking but as I said earlier, faith (at least organized) is expensive here in Northern Virginia.