Honesty is in the Action

What is honesty? Is it words? Words to spout at the beginning of a marriage? Words when you are sworn into government service? Or oaths as they are fulfilled in the military with the actions of body and blood? I'd like to think that those oaths are honest because they are backed up with actions. Personally, I think it is easy to lie with words. Tougher to lie with actions. In many ways I rescue animals because their actions are who they are. They can't lie. They speak through their barks, snarls, pantings, smiles, dreaming of catching mice as they sleep at my feet. Just as animals cannot lie through their actions, people who mobilize to protect others come pretty darn close to being that kind of bone pure honesty. That's why I rescue. There is a ginger cat in my townhouse community -- abandoned and declawed. Declawed cats can't survive as ferals. They just can't. I have been working with this cat for about a month. When I started working with him, he'd look at me from under my car and the run away. Slowly I got him to come closer. Now he is coming up to the front porch to get in out of the rain and eat kibble I put out for him each day along with the fresh water I make sure he gets. I an taking it slow so he re-learns trust. I watch over him. Just yesterday I saw two little boys. One of them was trying to hurt the cat by throwing something at it. As I called the cat over to me, the boys both came over to complain and justify the way they were treating the cat. "He clawed me," said the boy who'd been throwing something at the cat. My first question was "With what?" "His front claws," said the kid. "With no claws?" I asked. Then he tried shifting his story but his companion piped up in defense of the cat. Lying starts so young. Sigh. Living nobly starts so young too. I told the first kid the cat belonged to me and not to throw things at it again. Will that help? I don't think so. Did it give the other kid a reason not to be around kids who hurt animals? I sure hope so. Meanwhile, I'll keep rescuing because the honesty is in the action.

Memento Mori and the British Museum

Memento Mori...
http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/explore/highlights/highlight_objects/pe_mla/g/gold_and_enamelled_mourning_ri.aspx


The British Museum has a wonderful page on death practices. In this day of digital mourning websites, finding a literal digital (original meaning was "fingers" folks) way of remembering those who went before us is priceless and very precious.

Very Cool Chicagoist.com

Under the catagory of new things to read, be sure to check out the
http://chicagoist.com/ online ezine. It is a very easy to navigate and thoughtful website about Chicago and all things Chicago-an. Very cool.

As Cats Progress into Trust

I love working with fearful animals bringing them back into calmer behaviors. Feral cats are very shy. They just don't follow those ordinary lapcat type behaviors. Living under beds, hiding under couchs, running when they are surprised. I have two feral cats...well, semi feral. True ferals really don't like being inside. These two cats are teaching me things about human nature as well as about cats I never knew. As I type this my big guy (the singing cat above) is nestled next to me. Makes me break out in smiles. It took forever to get him to do this. And frankly it isn't me doing it. It is him. Life with ferals is a lot about checking my expectations at the door and not predicting or trying to manifest anything. Just being peaceful and the cats become peaceful. It would really be nice if it would work with people.

3D and Serenity

Seeing in 3D. Binocular vision is not a reliable determiner of the ability to see in perspective -- in 3D. As I find serenity, it is as if my eyes can see better. And now I see layer upon layer of foreground to background. My vision is not flat as it was before. I am just my normal nearsighted self but I can see so much better without fear. I don't know whether there are any studies about eyesight and fear. But there should be. Namaste

Inspiration to Serenity

Inspiration...comes from mental fields lying fallow sometimes. I would angst about writers' block if I didn't realize that I need that mental break. Breathing in, breathing out, there is a space in between where no air moves up or down. Are you alive? Are you dead? Or, are you in a state in the middle? I believe in the middle ground, the middle way, a reasoned reality. From that comes serenity.

Residuals

Residual hauntings...new phrase from ghosthunters that I find very useful. Looped energy waves repeating themselves endlessly. Unsettling but not dangerous except to those who don't know what they are. In my personal experience, residual hauntings don't always stay in one place. I have had memories of hauntings follow me around for years. Trying to make sense of them doesn't help. Trying to medicate them doesn't help. Trying to ignore them really doesn't help. Once I decided to take a huge step and consulted a reputable healer, I started on the road to recovery. Now, yes, I have memories that remain of those experiences I had as a kid. But they co-exist instead of control. And I am more at peace than I have ever been just being quiet in a quiet room. Namaste

Mercury -- not just a Planet

Mercury is a poison that I grew up with. It was in thermometers and I am sure other items. For as many dangers as we were exposed to it is amazing the kids of the 50s survived to reproduce. But I digress. One of the cool facts about mercury is that droplets move together easily to form bigger drops. I used to break those old thermometers (actually bite through them) when I was tiny so that the mercury would come out and my mom would explain how the mercury was poisonous but cool because of the attractive quality of the substance. Ummm, this is a circuitous way to get to my topic tonight. I think the way the mercury gathers is the way that big business is gathering together these days. Merger after merger after merger is hitting law firms, cell phone companies, electric grids. And that aggregation of power is just as poisonous and attractive as mercury ever was. Why is bigger better? I just don't understand. I am a fan of small unique one off systems which support rather than control prices and are inimical to the populace. My hometown had its own electric plant back in the 1950s. It worked just fine. No brown outs. No outages. Just steady power. Reasonable ... low tech. Nothing special. And that nothing special is what I look for today. No spin, no rationalizations, no "if you just understood the circumstances," language like Alberto Gonzales uses in Congress. The mercury/poison is out of the box, out of the thermometers and has covered the U.S. today. We have moved beyond the original concept of representative government into a badly administered and not so benevolent executive privilege era. It goes against my grain to call the U.S. what I fear it is but that surely is why I have become so disillusioned with Congress and its' newest crop of politicians who have lost the guts to pull the country back together. So tonight when I heard the news casters talk about Pakistan's need to nurture its' democracy, I had to think to myself...."why help them with their nascent democracy when we have surely lost the representative government over here." Mercury rising...

Drooling and Jewelery...

Is drooling an obvious manifestation of lust? Or overheated conditions in cats and dogs? Or somewhere in between feline/canine and human connections? If it is lust then I am guilty. I just turned up a marvelous auction website for antique jewelery and am grateful the auction is months over. Here is a link to their auction brochure.
http://www.specialauctionservices.com/Auctions/07Mar_Jewellery_SAS.pdf

What would Jane Austin Say About Abramoff?

Jane Austin was before her time. Or let's just agree that Jane Austin accurately reflected public and private faces of her day. Oh, boy, she would have a field day with what is scandalous in the U.S. but never made public. From the secretary at a downtown law firm who moonlit as a call girl and set up her madams' agencies' tricks using the law firms' email server to the less daring Congressional bribery scandals. The reality checks around here bounce sky high but there is seemingly no penalty for bad behavior. Look Jack Abramoff got caught but what about the Congressmen/women he bribed? Sauce for the goose is generally sauce for the gander but not in D.C. Here is an article about this old situation that is rapidly being forgotten.

Jeffrey H. Birnbaum - Change Is Coming: The Question Is Just How ...
In their conspiracy to bribe lawmakers, Abramoff and Scanlon acknowledged that campaign contributions were one of the emoluments that they provided. ...www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/08/AR2006010800727.html - Similar pages - Note this

From Neuroethology to the Womens' Movement.

Damn. I love the web. I find wonderful organizations and areas of study I never knew existed. Like this one today....neuoethology. It concerns the study of animals: Neuroethology - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Neuroethology is a branch of neuroscience that emphasizes the study of neural mechanisms of natural behavior. This is in contrast to other approaches to ...en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuroethology - 24k -

http://nelson.beckman.uiuc.edu/courses/neuroethol/model_systems.html My generation started the practice of giving dolls to boys and guns to girls on the theory that aggressive behavior which allows men to dominate in the work place and salary situations is caused by nurture. I agree, it is stupid. But it was all the buzz in womens' magazines in the mid-1960s. The womens' movement was so spectacularly wrong on so many things. I speak as a woman of that time as well. The women with $$ and rich husband's told the rest of us that we too could do everything they did. Well, no, ahhh, that wasn't true. But those of us grunts in the job trenches in the 1970-80-90s sure didn't twig to the truth until pictures and the history of Gloria Steineim started surfacing. One of the ancillary outcomes of the womens' movement is the no-fault divorce so useful to those who married and don't have kids. But one of the no-fault movements bigger issues is that it opened the way for divorcing couples write in non-support clauses or decide to have joint custody where each parent is liable for the basic support of the kids. Sounds reasonable but in practice one parent pays more. It just is what happens. And generally it is the one who for all sorts of reasons will not ask for reimbursement from the one who is not paying as much. So, no, there is no parity in this.

Jam Cams

Sightseeing without Borders. Otherwise known as traffic cams here in the US and bless 'em, Jam Cams, on BBC webcam page. I just love the "cut right through the nonsense" approach Brits take to their language. Jamming ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/london/content/webcams/546530.shtml

The Ouchs of High Heels and Being Seen

Foot doctors tell women that high heels hurt their feet. I gotta agree. Mostly though the tireder my feet the weaker my knees. Today was no exception. The taller I stand the more often I fall. Weak feet...weak knees. However high heels really can't be beat when a smaller woman has to stand tall. There is no way a woman 5 foot nothing can make an impact without heels. Red clothes just look aggressive. So until nonsense makes sense,
namaste.

Web Radio

I first found web radio out of desperation. No, I wasn't trying to drown out co-workers. I was trying to find out information the morning of September 11, 2001. That day the news, cell phones and just generally emotion circuits were so overloaded that I webbed over to BBC and started listening to the news they were getting out. And consistently it was more accurate than the national news we had here which was not surprising given the trauma. Since then, I have searched far and wide for interesting websites that have music. Here is one of them. Enjoy!!!

Get The Mix for your profile Click Here.

Lasagne and the Human Genome Project

Geriatric genetics...not sure I am fond of the concept. The human genome project may have started something ugly or beautiful. I can't decide. I find the information a little disturbing. On a par with trying to (operative trying not succeeding) log into my bank account using the numbers the bank sent me but only getting error messages with the happy advice to call the bank. Why would I call when I want to log in but there you go...modern life is a lasagna of layers of things to do. Not as simple as it sounds. But I digress. Apparently what has excited the genome wonks is the fact that the geneticists can now accurate say (not predict) how long someone (specifically say me) can live if I follow whatever health protocols are called for in my condition. This leaves aside the practical idea of free will. And the other phrase that sticks in my head -- "man proposes, god disposes." Congratulations genome wonks!!! Truly!!! It is amazing progress. But the world is like my bank account on line.....lots of layers and not all of them will work to improve their own individual lives....even if they were able to financially, insurance-wise, doctor wise, mental and emotional wise. The Buddhist koan of "holding with an open hand," and it's western counterpart of "you can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink" come to mind. Until nonsense becomes sense, may all beings know peace.
Namaste

Google Earth, Clearly A Better View

Good grief, I just found a new gizmo to explore...google earth. Again, I know I am way behind the times but I am just fascinated by this technology. I can zoom anywhere and stay right here. Metaphysically it makes my head hurt. Physically and fiscally, though, it is a marvelous conservation of resources. Now if only I could go to work just zooming there by the google earth program and either step through the screen into the office or some other ingenious way..... That would certainly be a huge savings of time for me. Worth a few bucks as well.
Until then, peach (if you are from Georgia) or peace

Free the Crabs

It's a highly creative day for you Crabs, but you must work with others as equals instead of trying to control or protect them. Your coworkers are sensitive to your current conflict between rebellion and security, so don't get defensive. Instead, just be truthful. If you share your discontent, your brilliance will be received more openly.
Friday, July 20, 2007 more from tarot.com »

Meet Me and Hubris

Me and Hubris. Honestly, I have trouble some days understanding that I am the bug on the windowshield of life and not the nut behind the wheel. Just now, I caught myself writing to Congress to make a modest proposal on how to bring our troops home. It would never happen and I am sure the representative has been deluged by similar proposals already. So I tore up the letter. What makes me do these things? Hubris. Good old fashioned hubris. Look it up here. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubris And for a book on Iraq and presidential hubris, look no further than Amazon.com. http://www.amazon.com/Hubris-Inside-Story-Scandal-Selling/dp/0307346811 One of these days, I'll pen the lyrics to me and hubris as sung to that classic: Love and Marriage, love and marriage, go together like a horse and carriage. But until then, peace.

The Mouse in the Water

Scottish photographers are amazing. Here is a photo of a mouse getting a drink of water from the BBC Scotland site. Makes me think of an old Beatrix Potter illustration although I am probably getting confused and remembering Peter Rabbit hiding from mean Farmer MacGregor under a watering can. Poetry in stories is wasted on kids. We grown ups need to allow ourselves the magic more often.

Faith and nonsense

Ah, the go bag returns. It is worse than Lord Voldemort. At least Voldemort is fictional. The go-bag is just as much an illusion as Voldemort is. Having a go-bag is as ludicrous as hiding from a nuclear attack in the school halls in the 50s. The U.S. news outlets (useless pieces of junk that they are) yesterday and today began warning us to the possibility of a new attack. I think the attack is already here and it is in the executive building next to the white house ... and in the white house itself. Go-Bag. Hah!! The Senate dems are filibustering to force an up or down vote on when to pull troops out. And now this bogus (or maybe not) attack is brayed about by the asses in power. I fail to find continuous alerts at all comforting. What would comfort me is having my own state's national guard home. What would comfort me is having the Senate and House de-fund the white house and cut george's food and drink budget. What would comfort me is having a president of true peace instead of one who is trying for a mid-east peace title by brokering (hah!) a deal between the adversaries of Israel. What would comfort me is having faith in the U.S. again. And I don't see that happening for another 50 years or so. I will be long gone by the time we restore our national image. Pax,