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.

Trade-Offs

Those of you who read these pages -- you know who you are -- understand that I live for rescue. I drive 30 to 60 miles each weekend getting to and from the Friends of Homeless Animals Shelter and the cattery I love. Each time I drive out, I think about things. Life, work, not work, cats and death. I can't help thinking about death because the side roads are littered with dead deer, racoons, skunk, squirrel, crows and turtles that get hit. The untold toll of hit-and-run accidents with wildlife is huge. And this weekend, in particular, I thought to myself about the trade offs of life. The fact I can get around so much is due in no small part to inventors like Henry Ford. But there are trade offs to being mobil. The dead animals are one part. The soldiers who died for the gas in my tank is another part. The environment is a third part. The cost of being mobil is not cheap. Gas in my area is over $4.05 for regular. Daunting. The prices have cut into the number of people who come out to the shelter to see the cats or who come out to volunteer. Trade-Offs. Eastern philosophy calls it ying and yang. Male and female energy. Medieval philosophers likened it to the wheel. You are up and you are down. Personally, I prefer the Buddhist analogy which is short, sweet and easy to understand..."life is a bumpy road." To which I would add, the view of the world from the top of the bump as you gasp for breathe is worth the sore behind. But that's just my view and if I could, I would figure out a way to save all the animals who didn't ask to be bumped by progress, environmental pressures, and cars. May all beings be blessed....

Ah, Mrs. Malaprop

I finally had to break down and ask my go-to word person if there is a word to describe what happens when I use a word that sounds like the word I meant to say but means something radically different. Relief is spelled malaprop.

Fiddler on the Roof -- or in my case -- Floor

Flow with whatever may happen and let your mind be free;Stay centered by accepting whatever you are doing. This is the ultimate.-Chuang Tsu
Monk in the City
This is today's reading from Buddhist Wisdom. Completely on point for me with signing my severance papers and looking at the empty spaces in my life at home. The experts say to always have a hobby to prepare for retirement. I have several but no money to fund my life, my cats, my rental unit, my gas, etc. It is a challenge but reading the quote above reminds me that like a fiddler on the roof it is all in the balance at the still point.

Charm City Cakes - Cake Disaster Recovery Show

There was a segment on Ace of Cakes tonight that absolutely restores my faith that I can continue to deal with life on life's terms.  One of the guys dropped a cake and totally destroyed it.  He told the customer he'd be back in 5 1/2 hours with a new cake.  And he did.  This is just like so much life my life right now.  The 'come back' kid.  Just pull myself together, no more feeling stuck in the old job and the new anger at the situation.  The old ways don't work.  So now to find ways that do work.  Life takes action, beauty, passion.  The glue for the heartbreak?  The scissors for cutting the cord?  The picture below says it all.  Keep on fishing.

Brandenberg Concerto and Syncopation

Syncopation...the upbeats of music.  The hand of the conductor rises as he/she signs to the orchestra.  Loss is a lot like syncopation, I think.  It makes me stop, watch the conductor and breathe before attacking the next phrase of music or the next phase of life.  Be blessed

Good Grief...is there such a thing?

I say yes, grief is good in some instances. Grieving (really good grieving) involves letting go of prior assumptions, prior jobs, prior relationships, prior life experiences that become habits. Like me having coffee before I go to sleep. Habits. Letting go of midnight coffee? Unthinkable. Impossible. I would be so sad to have to do that. It would be tough. And yet that is such a small thing for me to get used to considering that my friends and I have been laid off from the law firm I worked at for 15 years. 15 years. The grief is hitting me on many levels. The habit of going into work. The habit of having friends at work I won't be seeing anymore. The habit of having cash handy for things like cat food and rent and gas for my car. Letting go of the assumption that if I work hard and stay focused, management will value me. Letting go of the fallacy that having longevity would protect me from being let go. But it is 'just business.' Nothing personal. To someone reviewing the law firm financial sheets, I am just red ink on a ledger. Not worth the heath insurance, not worth the salary, the overtime, the carrying cost of paying for vacation that I hardly ever take. A few years ago, this assessment by strangers who didn't have my interest at heart would have devastated me. Today? It is a bump in my road because I know I am so much more than a blot of red ink on a page. I am worth so much more. To myself, to my family, to my cats, to the cattery, to my dreams. So I redraft myself into what and who I am. A dreamer, an artist, a writer, a creative soul. Stay strong, stay in the game of life, continue to be .... the bee. Buzz.

How To Become a Holistic Veterinarian | eHow.com

How To Become a Holistic Veterinarian | eHow.com 

Creativity or Standing Out to Stand Up

You wouldn't know it, perhaps, from the fact I keep a blog online to rant and rave in and lament and giggle at the events of the day. But, basically, I am a shy person. Not given to accepting the notice of others easily. Staying under the "radar" is tough though. I have a small gift of putting together words and images that I create. When I step out of the way and let a drawing or a phrase come through...now those are the ones I find the easiest to stay true to. To do quickly to completion. A thought, a line on a page, a breathe, and done. So far, so good. When I show my creations to others, though, that's another story. Creativity sets each of us apart. Some people are creative in how they walk, talk, live, think. Creativity isn't about art, poetry, sculpture ... Creativity is about being. And that's a gift all of us have. No one teaches us that in school so we don't value it in ourselves. So when people "oooh" and "ahhh" at cards I make or sayings I coin and say I am creative, I cringe. I am not any different than they are....they have just been trained to think they are ordinary. We are all menches. http://www.answers.com/topic/mensch We are all wanderlings in our own world -- as separate as the moon from the earth and as needed to maintain balance as we spin through life. A zen buddhist page I go to often has a listing on this aspect of ourselves. http://www.geocities.com/the_wanderling/nutshell303.html

As I go through life, I find each person more and more unique. Sure, some like Ted Kennedy and Bill Buckley are way up in the stratosphere. Theodore Rilke and the psalmists are beyond the beyond. But ordinary folks are not ordinary and should never be counted out. So when critics say that no one stands up anymore for the good in a community or no one gives as much as "they" do, or no one is as smart or as "whatever" it is they are, they do us all a dis-service. We all stand up. In our own ways, in our own lives, in our own selves. We reach, we totter (sometimes when we stand) but we get there. In our own time, in our own way, we all get there.
Be at peace today....

I love my auditory process

http://www.ldonline.org/article/8056

My hearing is wacky. I hear 5 by 5. However, what I hear is often not what is said. Case in point was a story from c-span yesterday. I heard "slaw" but the reporter was talking about the flaws in the political system today. It costs enormous amounts of money to get elected and once elected, each representative or senator is caught up in a web of needing money and not having time to dedicate to the job of representing the voters -- aka the rest of us. Oh, the reporter didn't say that directly but my mind heard the word "slaw" and "flaw" simultaneously and my impression comes from the comparison of those two words. Actually given the politics of this election, "slaw" is probably the right way to describe what is going on. After 18 months of electioneering, I feel like I have been through a coleslaw chopper. I have a fall back candidate I will vote for no matter what. But it is not a fun campaign anymore. It is just as grim as the clouds in the sky over Myamar (also known as Burma) or the after shocks plaguing China. This was a classic mishearing on my part. I have had them many times. For me, mishearing is a way to enlightenment. For others...well, each takes information in their own way. Some read newspapers and remain covered with newsprint but uninformed. They spout facts like fountains spout water. And some of those newsprint covered people are awesome. They rise above the facts to see what all those facts are hiding. I muddle along in my own way, gathering facts and hearing dissonances. From slaw to flaw, I leave you with a wish for peace today.

Energy Saver Saying of the Day

When other beings, especially those who hold a grudge against you, abuse and harm you out of envy, you should not abandon them, but hold them as objects of your greatest compassion and take care of them.-

His Holiness the Dalai Lama
From "The Pocket Dalai Lama," edited by Mary Craig, 2002. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Boston, www.shambhala.com. '

Got this in the mail today. If I held onto all the grudges I have had, I would be 3 feet underground just trying to carry them around.

May all beings know peace,

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Saved....by Listening

One of the reasons I turned to Judaism is to become pro-active in my spirituality. Not needing rescue. Wrestling with the ways of the angels and G*d. Wrestling with who I am in a world where we are defined by our names, our national identification numbers, what party we vote for, what gender, what size, what age... Mayahanan Buddhism and also with that Zen Buddhism is less wrestling and more listening and perhaps that is why I am gravitating to those views more and more. Less is more. Listening for the Buddha calling back to me as I say the amidah. Listening to the rain patter on my roof. Listening to the semi-feral fox coming onto my porch to eat food I put out for feral cats. Listening.....

You have got to watch this on YouTube. The guy is an amazing singer. Truly awesome. Kaspar Ny

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tna3VNja2yk&feature=Responses&parent_video=T2NEU6Xf7lM&index=0&playnext=1&playnext_from=RL

Coming Late to the Party

Guam

Why do we still have these protectorates? Guam certainly looks lovely but ... if it is such a strategic prize, why haven't we made it a state?

Senator Obama and Guam--on Guam

Here is a link on Guam. http://www.nps.gov/archive/wapa/indepth/extContent/wapa/reed/sectiona-4.htm

my particular favorite quote from this link is

(in 1901; pressed by the new American administration to wear clothes, they moved up to Saipan).

I dunno which I find funnier...folks leaving because they were told to wear clothes or the language about being "pressed" to wear clothes. I have an mental image of a person being run through the old fashioned 'mangle' of a washing machine to wear clothes. No wonder those Guam-ians ran. Here is a link to a mangle which contains a picture of what I am talking about. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mangle_%28machine%29

Quotes for Comfort

Sometimes I find pure poetry on line....http://www.soulofthegarden.com/quotes11.html

Living for ...

Do not go after the past, Nor lose yourself in the future. For the past no longer exists,

And the future is not yet here. By looking deeply at things just as they are,

In this moment, here and now, The seeker lives calmly and freely.

You should be attentive today, For waiting until tomorrow is too late.

Death can come and take us by surprise--How can we gainsay it?

The one who knows

How to live attentively Night and day

Is the one who knows the best way to be independent.

-Bhaddekaratta Sutra
From "The Pocket Buddha Reader," edited by Anne Bancroft, 2001. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Boston, www.shambhala.com.

Thank God for YouTube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qp-yRI_HJoM

Why is it a good day?

Why? Because I found some old Abbott & Costello gags today. Who's on First?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPrm6luPmME and then learned about a classic I'd never heard before called the Susquehanna Hat Company. Here is the link http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSp0sMHVEpQ

It is a good day

I could write about how the US will invade Iran before the 2008 elections. But with luck many others will wake up before then. There is no sense in this nonsense we call the United States anymore. None. But the good news is that it is a lovely spring day outside. Robins are nesting. Cats are catty. And through the miracle of immune supplements, I am finally feeling human -- instead of the scum on top of ponds. It is a good day

B-Stuff

Sometimes I am the fly, sometimes I am the swatter.

Then again, more from the CBC

Ah, that's right. CBC=Crazy Bitches Club. My score today is 45%. So stress level? Issues? Get your bitch on here.

Clear light

Remember the clear light, the pure clear white light from which everything in the universe comes, to which everything in the universe returns; the original nature of your own mind. The natural state of the universe unmanifest.Let go into the clear light, trust it, merge with it. It is your own true nature, it is home.-Tibetan Book of the Dead//From "Teachings of the Buddha," edited by Jack Kornfield, 1993. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Boston, www.shambhala.com.

There are echoes of Emerson in this...'simplify, simply.' But unmaking a life...especially these days when everything is interwoven...is a daunting task for me. Releasing an old pattern of behavior that, chamelion-like, lurks in plain view but remains unseen requires special vision. And remaining Still enough to catch the littlest movement so I can realize what it is I am doing. But really very rewarding once I have deciphered the movement and connected it to the behavior. On that score, realizing that my not eating had more to do with not having time to cook and not wanting to stand one second more, finally made me realize that local groceries have just the place for people like me....deli stands which actually serve what I consider food. Pot roast, chicken, potatoes, even waldorf salad. That just goes to show that when the blinders are on my nose, even the (gasp) obvious answers escape me.

namaste for now

Swimming

"It is easy to keep things at a distance. It is harder to be aloof of them."-Bunan
From "The Pocket Zen Reader," edited by Thomas Cleary, 1999. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Boston, http://www.shambhala.com/.

Today's quote reminds me of the ancient Jewish list of what parents are obligated to teach their children. It is a long list. One of the most important things on that list is swimming. Now considering the list was written when the Jews lived in the desert, it may seem strange that swimming was so important. I believe it was a practice of how to teach faith when events start to crowd and drown the spirit. Swimming is all about trusting the water to hold you up. Life is all about trusting the almighty to hold you up even though the Red Sea threatens to crash around you as you walk through tremendous tribution and fear. Aloof-ness is a tough quality to learn and impossible to achieve without trust and faith.

That being said, May all beings know peace today.
Namaste

Thought for the Day

Arguing with a fool proves there are two.
- Doris M. Smith

This is a handy reminder for those who live and work near D.C. Around here it is impossible to avoid the folks who have strong opinions and incessantly share them with you. The trick is to seem to agree with them without agreeing one way or the other. If you tell them that they are nuts, you are doomed to a 2 hour conversation about why they are right and you are wrong. A fate akin to the Prometheus legend where the hero gets his liver torn out every single day because he brought fire to folks who didn't live on Mt. Olympus. Go figure and then make peace with the fact that you don't have to prove yourself to these people.

Must be Channelling My Inner ...

Today's score on the bitch quiz was significantly higher than last time.

I am 32% Asshole/Bitch.
http://www.fuali.com/test.aspx?id=dd4c0ca6-a554-4cbe-b0e7-bc17462a412e"> src="http://www.fuali.com/testimage.aspx?img=f8828b94-f1d9-424a-b2d8-9b47d093da27.gif" alt="Part Time Asshole/Bitch." border="0" style="margin-top:5px">
I may think I am an asshole or a bitch, but the truth is I am a good person at heart. Yeah sure, I can have a mean streak in me, but most of the people I meet like me.

Take'>http://www.fuali.com/test.aspx?id=dd4c0ca6-a554-4cbe-b0e7-bc17462a412e">Take the
Asshole/Bitch Test
@ FualiDotCom

I must have been channelling my inner hippie last time.

Be Water -- Bruce Lee Quotes

http://www.fightingmaster.com/masters/brucelee/quotes.htm

Above is a link to quotes from Bruce Lee. They help me get through the week when it is tough to let go of anger. He is a balancing point and shames me to write better.

Life in the Pale at Passover

Passover brings out the best and the worst in people. If you need a pound of chopped chicken livers, you immediately are in competition with everyone else who needs a pound of chopped chicken livers. And if you think life got ugly for that chicken, it gets uglier for the hapless fellow who promises to bring chicken livers but fails to deliver because he was beat to the head of the line. I put my reservation in early but stay tuned. I'll keep you posted on how getting said chicken liver works out. (Chicken liver update--Whoo Hooo. I got the goods for the second seder. Look out, heartburn, here I come!!!)

Daily thought from the Buddhist Beliefnet email I get...very timely in this sad anniversary of Virginia Tech.....

Take heed that when effort is too strenuous it leads to strain and when too slack to laziness. So make a firm determination that you will adopt the middle way, not allowing yourself to struggle or to slacken, but recognizing that faith, energy, mindfulness, concentration, and wisdom are the fruits of a calm and equable way.-Theragatha


From "The Pocket Buddha Reader," edited by Anne Bancroft, 2001. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Boston, www.shambhala.com.

When It Rains, It Pours (Pre-Passover Thoughts)

http://www.buddhanet.net/d_cermon.htm

When it rains it pours wisdom. The link above says a mouthful. It is about death practices (if you've been reading my blog regularly you know I have this thing about death). In particular, the death practices of the Buddhists in Japan. This is a link to a story in the Zen Sect tradition.

Like I said, when you read it, you'll know why I posted to it.

Namaste.

Suicide Seeds

http://www.etcgroup.org/en/materials/publications.html?pub_id=635

Welcome to Earth Day, folks...from the land of the terminator genetic seeds that overwhelm farmers' crops everywhere. Puts new meaning in the line, "I'll be back."

Passover Reading Material

As we head into the Passover period, this link, http://www.ahealedplanet.net/war.htm#sweden is extraordinarily interesting. It is an essay on pogroms and the holocaust. The author obviously has several axes to grind but all-in-all, it is an extremely well written and informative piece of work. And with the season of survival upon us, a valuable read.

Technology....and the plus side of eMail filters.

I used to dread checking my email address. All the junk mail in the world seemed to hit it. I am too soft hearted to filter emails from folks or businesses I'd contacted before. No more, though. I have become a thoroughly modern email user -- junking all unsolicited emails as they arrive. The wonder of it is that now my email box is easier to go through and the emails in there are more or less relevant to what I am planning to do. Technology can be my friend, instead of my fiend.

Reasons to Rescue (aka volunteer)

An even better reason for why I volunteer for rescue.

http://by119w.bay119.mail.live.com/mail/mail.aspx?wa=wsignin1.0&n=1226001797

Why?

I am looking for a sign that I can operate from the steering wheel to tell tailgaters they are dangerously close to hitting me. I suspect all the ones that spring to my mind are probably too crude. But perhaps just a large red neon sign asking "Why?" might slow down the super-charged motorists on the highway around here. Perhaps not. But it would certainly ease my anger at not being able to do anything when the steamrollers (disguised as BMWs and Cargo Vans) start sitting on my bumper. (Sign update: I have hand printed a sign saying "drive safe." It is a complete rip-off of a hand printed sign I saw last week saying the same thing that was on a car from Michigan. Being an Ohioan at heart, I growl when I see most Michigan-der cars because of the grudge between the states dating back to the Toledo War. But when I see a good idea I don't care where it is from ... I use it too. Besides, us Ohio/Michigan types have to stick together here on the east-coast. And the driver had dog rescue stickers on the car as well as peace now bumper stickers. So a kindred soul.)

Watery Thoughts who how to live

In that marvelous movie about two guys escaping from Chicago mobsters, they went to Florida and played in a girls' band. "Some Like It Hot" is one of the classics. I think about it now as I think about the watery waiting to engulf the Gulf. One of the songs, "By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea..." The thought I have is for NASA to have a submarine city in addition to the space station. If we are going to be engulfed, we need to have another avenue of living.....

Post Glacial Rebound Cheasapeake Bay Region

Variations in Sea Level
Tide gauges around the Chesapeake Bay indicate that the relative sea level in the ... The sinking of the land from postglacial rebound is still going on, ...www.ngs.noaa.gov/GRD/GPS/Projects/CB/SEALEVEL/sealevel.html - 12k - Cached - Similar pages - Note this

This is something I have seen around Lake Erie. We are told up here by Huron, Ohio, that the bottom of the Lake tilts. I used to think the folks who told me that were the same who believed in Big Foot. Now, I know better. Here is a far better explanation about this issue. And because I now live in Virginia, it becomes far more important. The heck with the tuvalus islanders or the other folks escaping the wrath of the sea. What are we going to do with the folks from Ocean City or New York or Baltimore? Fairfax County is big but can't begin to absorb these in-country refugees. And Homeland Security will likely be the ones who will declare the county as a place for everyone to move into to weather the storm. We are all going to have to learn to live together -- not a pleasant thought with resources here from the road systems to the housing as stretched as they are now. Warming heats up.... Let's try to figure out before hand how to cool down the tempers of the 21st century. Peace now!

Glacier Meltdown

http://jrscience.wcp.muohio.edu/Weather/PaperProposalArticles/Glaciermeltdown.html


This is a link to an article about melting glaciers in the United States mountain ranges. It notes the significant loss of ice in the 1980s. For those who remember Mt. St. Helens' explosion, my puzzle is whether global warming is caused by us or by the increased geothermal activity. When I looked at the pictures on the History Channel this morning, I saw additional trees growing where ice was before. And this is a bad thing? What is the bad thing is the massive affect the warming will have on the weather and the landmasses. Those folks who wanted a room with a view of the sea will need to move inland. Those folks who were born on islands will have an especially tough time of it because those nations that have land will not be willing to bring the people escaping from climate change on board. If we as Americans are as angry about illegal aliens from Mexico, how on earth will we be magnanimous enough to open our borders for the folks from the smaller Pacific Islands that are sinking even now. From Tuvalu to Bangladese leaving because of climate change, this mass migration will cause a terrible disruption between the HAVES and HAVE NOTS. All of us need to be thinking about how to bring these people into our lands...now....before it becomes too late.

The Word of the Day for Me

The Word of the Day for Me is Lagniappe...added extra--a bakers' dozen. That added goodwill gift of a merchant to a customer. It is a word that connotes hospitality without the burden of responsibility of ownership. As I often say in regard to puppies for sale, 'if you don't make the customer pay enough for a puppy, they won't respect it or treat it well.' It is just a fact of life. We don't value what we don't work for. That extra child in a family. That extra piece of candy you eat because it is offered to you. Although, candy sticks around longer than the extra dog who drains the family or the child the parents had unexpectedly. That classic children's' story, Hansel & Gretel, reflects the trend in the Little Ice Age where the extra children were put into the forest (exposed) to die so the family could live on the straitened resources of the era. And it is no surprise that there was a gingerbread house and witch in the forest either given the human need to find a culprit for the disastrous weather. These days we have illegal immigrants to blame things on or global warming on the cars or whatever else we think of. Back then, they blamed witches for their troubles. The History Channels (both History and History International) have been critical on showing how Ice Ages have affected history in playing the 'blame game'. From the United States drinking of hard liquor and beer to the witch trials to the weather's defeat of the vikings in Greenland. Here is the link on that....[PDF]
1 THE HISTORY CHANNEL® PRESENTS: Little Ice Age: Big Chill An ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - View as HTMLIn this program, The History Channel® will decipher fact. from fiction and reveal all there is to know about the Little Ice Age. Little Ice Age: Big Chill ...a614.g.akamai.net/7/614/2201/v001/aetn.download.akamai.com/2201/thc/classroom/guides/ice_age_study_guide.pdf - Similar pages - Note this

So, I hear you ask, how does lagniappe have anything to do with this? Because good weather is a gift we don't ask for but take for granted. Never take anyone or anything for granted is the message I am writing about today. We are all unique, distinctive and...well, human. Never forget, never take for granted, always see life -- with every blink of the eye -- as a gift. You don't need to hate your parents for being jerks for having you and treating you as an afterthought or a lagniappe. You need to just see them as the way you got here to life. So know that as you breathe, blink, be.....you are the gift you give yourself.

Making Peace with Aging

Making peace with my inner crone this week/year. I have heard that we all have three parts of life. At least that was the Sphinx's puzzle. What walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon and three legs in the evening? Why we all do, of course. All of us. It is the letting go of the noon phase which I have lately found so difficult to do. But mid-to-late 50's, making peace with the three is imperative for my serenity. Cutting back, cutting down, finding serenity in the lessening of vigor, is easier to say than to do sometimes. In my case, health has made me face this sooner than I expected to. And, truly, that's a good thing.

I am 44% Geek.
http://www.fuali.com/test.aspx?id=2c7d8bff-7f9d-4e46-a4e5-dfd101d894cc"> src="http://www.fuali.com/testimage.aspx?img=08177bbc-6ff8-46bb-b111-2797ae150b3c.gif" alt="Geek? Yes, but at least I got social skills." border="0" style="margin-top:5px">
You probably work in computers, or a history deptartment at a college. You never really fit in with the "normal" crowd. But you have friends, and this is a good thing.

Take'>http://www.fuali.com/test.aspx?id=2c7d8bff-7f9d-4e46-a4e5-dfd101d894cc">Take the
Geek Test
@ FualiDotCom

Simply Marvelous Test

I am 19% Asshole/Bitch.
http://www.fuali.com/test.aspx?id=dd4c0ca6-a554-4cbe-b0e7-bc17462a412e"> src="http://www.fuali.com/testimage.aspx?img=41ed3826-0fbb-4c02-8e23-501693e6baf3.gif" alt="Not an Asshole or a Bitch." border="0" style="margin-top:5px">

I am not an asshole or a bitch, more like an asshole and bitch target. I have no backbone, and fold at even a slightly insincere look. I need to stop crying, I am such a wuss.

Take'>http://www.fuali.com/test.aspx?id=dd4c0ca6-a554-4cbe-b0e7-bc17462a412e">Take the
Asshole/Bitch Test
@ FualiDotCom

Those are my results. Conjure with them at your peril!! I may be a cupcake but I am a stubborn cupcake. And I have friends who score higher!!!

What are the Odds?

I just found this website today. http://www.co-cure.org/ And along with a hefty article on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Clinical Working Case Definition, Diagnostic and Treatment Protocols by Bruce M. Carruthers, et al. http://www.cfids-cab.org/MESA/ccpccd.pdf. I must say that I am much encouraged. Validation at last. The article was published just around the time I was struggling getting a doctor to pay attention to this "Rodney Dangerfield" of pain syndromes. Myofascial Pain Syndrome sufferers don't get no respect. Even my own doctor (whom I adore) downgraded (or upgraded) me to Fibromyalgia. Medical professional just get discouraged by chronic pain patients. But this article gives me hope that I am not crazy -- even as I sit here pretty effectively blocking out the small meows of ouchs that I have no matter what I do. Meanwhile, I sit here and read. http://www.cfids.org/about-cfids/default.asp

Welcome to the Next Chapter

Life is all about beginnings and endings. Welcome to the next chapter. I am not sure whether it is a long chapter or not....but it is going to be interesting.

Why

Why I rescue and belong to groups who are against hate crimes and who pulls cats who are sentenced to be put to sleep because they are ... well ... cats? I do it because that's who I am. A rescue person.

Peace Now

http://www.peacenow.org/roundup.asp?rid=&cid=287
The link above is to the american version of the Israeli movement founded many years ago when Israel first started flexing its muscle in the 1980s. I was over in Israel on a belated honeymoon in 1983 and heard the ads then pressuring the government for peace. The settlements are a huge mistake. The problem for me as a Jew is that it is unclear whether the Israelis were to blame originally or whether the United States had hidden agendas and strings attached to their support of the Israelis. Israel under Golda Meir was a much better country. Getting it back to that will not be possible with this generation of Israelis who feel entitled because ... they have been told so many false things so many times that they believe them to be true. 1. Israel is such a small nation it cannot absorb the palestinians who will swamp the country because they reproduce more than the israelis do, 2. Israel needs to have a defensive posture because everyone hates them, 3. Israel is right no matter what, 4. it is OK for Israelis to shoot rockets in response to Palestian provocation, 5. it is OK for Israel to starve populations who cannot escape. These are all hogwash arguments. It is not ok to starve populations. Jews who do this are no better than Dachau guards. It is not ok to rocket trapped populations. Warsaw ghettos were wrong and so is this policy. Yes, it is right that Israel is a tiny nation but it does not give them the right to be so racists. Yes, 1948 was an awful year that gave birth to a nation with a troubled pysche. That nation needs to deal with their pysche and deal with it constructively by bringing in the palestinians. But it is way too late for that now. Yes, giving land is a bad deal. Yes, giving up water rights is a worse deal. There will be no good answers after the intifada. But we can hope for the best by looking for mutual solutions. We can't give up.

DNA

I love acronyms. Wonderful shorthand. The most important for me currently is the rescue acronym alerting shelters not to adopt to a person. They are called "DNA" lists. Here is a website for those who are interested.

http://www.dnapets.org/about.aspx

Free Burma--Canadian News Article Below

Go to Google News
Related News
Burma draft constitution bars Suu KyiGuardian - 21 hours ago
Burma constitution leaked amid 'No' vote pushTimes Online - Mar 31, 2008
Proposed Myanmar charter bars Suu Kyi from officeReuters - Mar 31, 2008
Full coverage »

Myanmar's draft constitution bars democracy leader and cements military role...

And the hits keep on coming, folks. As a totalitarian government run by a military junta...Myanmar (or to those of us oldsters - Burma) is getting lost in the diplomatic shuffle. Bush doesn't seem to want to get involved. And the rest of the world is caught up in the Tibet situation. Tibet is really bad. But then again, so is Burma. If we stand as a democracy, and after our actions in Iraq and elsewhere, I am beginning to doubt it, then we need to stand up for both of these embattled countries.

I have links above for those who care.

Peace please

Actions Speak Louder than Words

Adopting an attitude of universal responsibility is essentially a personal matter. The real test of compassion is not what we say in abstract discussions but how we conduct ourselves in daily life.-

His Holiness the Dalai Lama, "Imagine All the People"

Copyright Wisdom Publications 2001. Reprinted from "Daily Wisdom: 365 Buddhist Inspirations," edited by Josh Bartok, with permission of Wisdom Publications, 199 Elm St., Somerville MA 02144 U.S.A, www.wisdompubs.org.

In Sickness and in Wealth

Health care in what 'used to be' the most powerful and advanced nation in the world is not good. Here is an article more specific than I can be at the moment. It is too infuriating to be at the mercy of whether you actually have a job with health benefits. It is stifling. It is dangerous economically to strike out on a new career path. It is even dangerous changing jobs because last hired=first fired in this country. http://www.psychologicalscience.org/observer/getArticle.cfm?id=1420

Saying

Sometimes I find what I need when I am looking for something completely different. Yesterday was no exception. I was looking for articles on FiV in cats and discovered an article on grief more profound for me than anything I have read so far. http://www.healthypet.com/library_view.aspx?ID=8&sid=2 It is applicable to letting go on all levels.

Stages

The stages of grief ... from houses sold to relationships left to death. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/27/garden/27letgo.html?ex=1364356800&en=2770ec217ef40022&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

Death of the physical body or death of the assured understanding that everyone reads English as well as I do. Case in point is the article with the New York Times. Each word in there is linked to a dictionary which defines it for readers who don't know how to read English or who read but don't understand the word they see on the page. But dictionaries, while good, do not give a whole story. They can't. They only define and pin a word to a page like a butterfly to a display board. Words live in the culture. And without context, all that anyone writes are just ... words. Shakespeare said it best in MacBeth....

There would have been a time for such a word.To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to dayTo the last syllable of recorded time,And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!Life's but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more: it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing.

SCENE V. Dunsinane. Within the castle.

More than just a pose

Serenity is more than just a pose of calm ... it is an interior way of being.
Peace now

Bug Pictures

It is official. We are Buggy!

Fallout

I thought at the time we went into Iraq it was a monumentally bad idea. I thought at the time of the door to door fighting that this was an even worse idea. I thought the failure of the Veterans Administration to treat the returning soldiers for post traumatic stress disorder or other psych problems to be criminally negligent. And now I read that a returning soldier who served in the Iraq theatre is accused of murdering a girl in Georgia. Georgia - Mother of Student Murder Supect Offers Apology COLUMBUS, GA (AP) -- The mother of the man charged in the killing of Auburn University student Lauren Burk has offered an apology to Burk's family for the ...
Why do I care? Because there are tons of stories about the murder of the North Carolina coed and hardly any mention of the murder in Georgia. Why? I find that disparity oddly reminiscent of "spiking" a story that copy editors do when they know it will be unpopular for their readers. Is it because of the Iraq connection? Is it because the victim is Jewish? Is it because the murder is in Georgia? Is it because it isn't a 'sexy' story. Murder does sell but uncomfortable facts don't. Nothing can convince me that the victims' families wishes can keep the reporter vultures away after a murder. So that probably isn't why it isn't getting much coverage. I think it is because the alleged murdered is an Iraq vet and the victim a Jewish girl in her freshman year at college. She hailed from a Jewish family in Georgia. http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-10-unc-investigation_N.htm?csp=34 As a Jew, as a Buddhist and as a antiwar 'watcher', I am not surprised by this fallout. I am surprised that the coverage is so bad and that the situation is so sad. Peace please!

Despair

I meet so many remarkably wonderful people who care deeply about the way the world is going. There seems to be an Ozone Hole in the Soul - not only in the sky above us. So I worry for all of us who are sensitive to what is going on in the world today. How much psychic scarring happens in a soul before despair sets in? That is such a deep well for me and often I dance on the edge of it when I am tired and just want to give up. So the best I can do is talk with others like me, talk with cat rescue people, admire my girls, and write in my blog. I am trying as well as I can to keep myself centered and grounded in this world using buddhist readings and other spiritual practices. Even got back into meditation more since my flirting with it in the 1970s with the wave of Transcendental meditation that swept through the college scene. I often wonder whether I opened chakras back then that are rampaging about now with the fibromyalgia because I didn't know I needed to shut the meridians down after meditation and do other after care like grounding myself. Sigh. We live and we learn (if we are lucky). I guess Dickens' comment "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times," will be my mantra today to maintain perspective. Because truly duality is all over the place. It just depends on whether we are looking up the mountain and are stuck at the trees we see or we are looking down from the top and can see all the horizons and richness around us.
May we all be blessed as we follow our hearts today.
Namaste,

Elegies

The shortest one for me would be
Hugs from Down Here.

Longer ones ...

An Elegy for Trees and Me...
Bury me near the gumdrop tree so sweetness falls nearby
Though a snowball tree would be nice for fun
or a dogwood to keep me warm,
But best of all is the pussy willow which grows straight and tall
and Fluffy like my thoughts which to wander around in the month of May
... Hugs from Down Here
****

How to be a Swan

Shucks! Sitting pretty is easy, acting pretty is hard. And it is in the execution where the duckling becomes a swan.

So always reach out to help the ones who fall on their backs.

C-Span and USAToday Report More Failures

I write today to discuss a childhood memory about the fluoride scare of the 1950s and 1960s. Jan. 25, 1945: Fluoridation — Better Teeth, or Commie Plot?
Grand Rapids, Michigan, fluoridates its water, beginning a controversy that remains unsettled to this day.

Fluoride was added to the water supply to deal with cavities. However, it was the height of the "red" scare and every time it was proposed for water supplies, we had lectures about how it was a commie plot. Well, ve don't need no stinking commies these days. We have lax water inspections, lax laws and lax cleanup so that prescriptions for Joe down the street are getting into the water for Jane who lives in another town or for drugs to get into the water supply of feedlots. USDA and FDA claim they don't have enough inspectors to make foods or drugs safe. They blame the lack of inspectors on the Congress. I say, nay. It is the job of the USDA and the FDA to make sure we have enough competent inspectors to check on the quality of water and slaughter houses. And that is not what is or has been happening. Third party investigators from the Humane Society and AP are the ones who alert the public to these irregularities and outright abuses. I find this even more troubling than the fact that now the water can kill me because I am deathly allergic to penicillin. And yet, the Administration claims that if we want a safe society, we must and give up our rights to phone privacy, email privacy and general privacy. If that is the case, then for that sacrifice, don't we deserve a safe society that isn't potentially being poisoned by these chemicals that are in our water? When security isn't secure, can the phrase freedom isn't free make any sense at all?

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-03-10-drugs-tap-water_N.htm

Mom-nesia and the Lasagne Effect

I was listening to a pop station this morning and heard the term "Mom-nesia" for the forgetfulness that occurs after women have children. I have lived with this for many years -- it is not a short term condition. Thank god for google because I have a fighting chance to type in a word that I remember that may be tangentially related to the nagging fact lurking in the shadows of my mind. This week's fight, for instance, was about Abraham. IDK why I was reminded of him precisely. All I know is that it had to do with picking up stakes and going to a new land. There was some really good parallel I planned to use in a blog entry. Gah.

Mom-nesia, indeed. I used to call it the lasagne effect....to pun on the many layers of the mind a parent needs to have. There is only so much storage in a brain, after all. So the way my mind stores facts is in layers. If I ping one layer with Abraham, then eventually I will remember why I wanted to use him in a blog entry. It is just a question of getting through all those other useful layers held together by that cheesey substance called the Mind.

Electronic Frontier Foundation Banner

This just makes sense.

Bush League Government

I hail from the Great Lakes region and just discovered this information on line when I was looking for who is in charge of the recent ricin incident in Las Vegas, Nevada. This is more important though because it is just so typical of the Bush Administration to keep information away from the public eye. More than 10 years ago, a group was organized to take a good look at the water quality of the Great Lakes. Their report was issued last July and was not released for 7 months. Suppressed is the exact word used in the report. It still hasn't been published into the public realm. The Washington Post wrote an article about it 2-29-08. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/29/AR2008022900324.html

Here is the link from PublicIntegrity.org which has portions of it on their website. I urge you to take a look and then download the report because I don't know how long it will be available. http://www.publicintegrity.org/GreatLakes/index.htm

Duck

In the interest of yesterday's election results, I feel we all need a good laugh. Feel free to use this with candidates, political parties or just generally when feeling bugged. Enjoy!

The caption of this photo is mine, the photo was emailed to me:

Beware:
The following folks are deemed Duck:
Write names here:

______________________

______________________

______________________

New Cool Word Alert

BBC Scotland just used this word "Gazumps" in their top story out of Edinburgh.

According to the freedictionary.com it means to fleece, cheat or otherwise deceive folks. We need words like that here for the political process.



gazump

The Reining in of Corporate Power

Corporate power runs everything in the U.S. From who gets elected to how much their corporations have to pay in tax to how much they can charge for their products. It is obscene. We are seeing a rebirth of the Robber Barons but the landscape is very empty of folks like Teddy Roosevelt either in his trust busting years http://www.sparknotes.com/testprep/books/sat2/history/chapter14section2.rhtml or in his second run for the office as an independent candidate of the Bull Moose Party. He even gave a speech just after being shot by an anarchist in a planned assassination attempt. The first link is just a quick history of the attempt but the second is T.R. himself commenting on the attempt not more than 5 minutes after being shot. http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/turningpoints/search.asp?id=1506
http://www.theodoreroosevelt.org/research/speech%20kill%20moose.htm

We need a bodacious leader like that for America who can take on Wall Street, oil companies, a rejuvenating Russia as the economy sinks lower and lower. Someone who can make the presidency a bully pulpit to get things done. Not like Bush who slams his hands on the table when he speaks with reporters about the FISA Act and how important being in Iraq is. He acted in yesterday's press conference (2-28-08) just like a kid with a tantrum. As a citizen, it is deeply embarrassing to hear such behavior on C-Span. Don't believe me? Here is a link to another news blog's commentary on it. http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14740.html

Gah! Peace now.

Learn History

A caller into C-Span this morning asked the guest whether GW was the worst president in history. The guest skated as inoffensively as he could past this question by referencing the Hoover administration. Gah! I completely disagree. He should have mentioned President Warren G. Harding whose massively corrupt administration spawned numerous scandals. Here is a link: http://hnn.us/articles/550.html And much like Enron, there were plenty of distractions -- prohibition, mobsters, the roaring 20s -- to keep those who were not directly involved complacent about the ripple effect. It pays to pay attention.

Sometimes Serenity resembles beads on a string

The more I write, the more I create with my cat studies and the more I wriggle out of zipped up jackets, the more beads of serenity gather together.
Peace

Vitamin C and Me

Lord knows, I have tried all the nostrums available on the internet and through my doctors for pain. What I just discovered is that Vitamin C seems to help with the energy level so I can keep going on even though I hurt. What a gift! The book I used to help focus my search is called: http://www.doctoryourself.com/vitaminc2.html. I am still taking low-ish doses of Vitamin C but it is working which is much more than other medicines do. And I can sleep which is impossible when I have to take pain killers which give me a buzz that keeps me awake. Bliss!

Getting Stuck

I got stuck in my zip up coat this morning. I bring that up because, like so much in our lives today, getting stuck happens all the time. I was able to wriggle out of the coat and then realized that I could do that because I stayed calm. Serenity truly is a state of calm awareness of the transitory world and an acceptance that sometimes I get stuck...whether in traffic, in a zip up coat, with work, with life in general. The trick is staying in a state of calm awareness and moving forward. Peace

Study cat 3: Reflections

I may actually try to do this cat the way he appears here--reflecting on things. He adopted me -- not the other way around. I hear that those are the best cats. IDK. I love 'em all.

Study Cat #2

This is the face of mischief. My next cat study centers on this character. So my challenge is to find cool poses for him to get into. My bet is that the project will show him on top of the aquarium drinking out of the water filter. He does this just because he can get away with it. I laugh too much.

A big cat photo

Unearthed a picture of my big cat. I am doing a study of him for an upcoming embroidery project and this shot will help me capture his features. I am not the best quick draw artist. But I am pretty good when I have a drawing or a photo to work from. So currently I am going through all my photos and then all the books I have of Japanese art. Talk about digging in scraps.....
Peace.

Interesting

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/02/080206162301.htm

Very Young Found To Process Fear Memories In Unique Way
ScienceDaily (2008-02-18) -- Very young brains process memories of fear differently than more mature ones, new research indicates. The work significantly advances scientific understanding of when and how fear is stored and unlearned, and introduces new thinking on the implications of fear experience early in life. ... read full article

Is it real or is it Memorex?

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/02/video-pentagon.html

Carpetbaggerreport.com Wow!!

And just when I thought I was the only one writing about Bush and being angry about the Iraq War, etc., etc., and in complete disbelief that the military could shoot down a school bus sized space object with one shot, here comes my newest resource. All I can say is, Wow! I am fascinated.
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/14600.html

Just when I thought I'd ache forever

This is a reflexology book for relieving pain by applying pressure to points on the hands. There is a complementary book for feet but it looks much more complicated chart-wise. Very Cool.

http://www.dorlingkindersley-uk.co.uk/nf/Book/BookDisplay/0,,9781405315654,00.html

Lois McMaster Bujold: Feminism and the Gernsback Continuum in Recent Women’s SF

Lois McMaster Bujold: Feminism and the Gernsback Continuum in Recent Women’s SF

Playing with Words

My website, http://www.skyscraps.com/, focuses on how to find serenity. There are many ways. Playing with words is something I love to do. Today's venture is "serenity drops." Serenity is a common word. Pairing it with "drops," makes me think of rain falling into a calm pond, cough drops, rain drops or the verb, to drop. So I am happy with it.

SkyScraps
Serenity Drops

Until then, peace now.

Boy, Can She Right!

http://www.dendarii.com/reviews/kelso.html
This link sums up Bujold's work better than I ever could Read it and enjoy....
I only echo the comment of Anne McCaffrey on Bujold..."Boy, Can She Write!"

Look into Style

http://www.fineliving.com/fine/favorite_things_essentials/article/0,1663,FINE_1426_1543811,00.html

Seriously, Now

http://www.ehow.com/how_2032670_taken-seriously-women.html To be taken seriously, take yourself seriously.