Monthly Archive

Lots of opinions, lots of anger and lots of hatred infect all issues surrounding the current all conflict in the Middle East.  We can argue over the origins of the violent conflict, but in the end it comes to tolerance.  No, I don’t mean that stupid politically correct “tolerance” that actually isn’t.  That, correctly defined, is a fit, yes, a fit.  The kind that a little child has when it doesn’t get it’s way and when it is denied sweeties.  Tolerance as used today really means that YOU must accept ME at all times and in all ways and refuse to challenge ME at all about anything.  If you do, then you aren’t tolerant.  I, however, can rag on YOU about anything I want to, because you must tolerate ME.  If YOU have any standards of behavior or a moral code, by definition, YOU can not be tolerant.  All bets are off if you are currently a white Christian, you are intolerant before you ever open your mouth, period, don’t bother.

Actual tolerance is really the biblical virtue inherent in the second commandment as defined by Christ, “Treat your neighbor as yourself.”  Which means being respectful of someone being who and what they are, NOT accepting and conforming to their belief system without question, but allowing a difference to exist, just the fact of a difference.  It also means that when I have a difference with you that can not be overlooked we approach in peace and discuss how to handle the difference, how to mediate or how to part amicably.  It doesn’t mean that hard things can’t be said, that relationships aren’t broken.  It means that HARSH and VILE things are not said, and that no one ends up dead.  Saying hard things is often the only way truth can come out, subtlety is usually wasted, no one ever gets it.

So, while I sit here a world away from the flying insults and rockets of the Middle East, I will pray for peace, but an actual peace, and for wisdom and truth to rule.

More to come…….

I’m sitting here watching Dean Martin in The Wrecking Crew.  This has to be one of the worst movies ever.  I’m super cereal!  The plot, at least that’s the technical term for the drivel I’m forcing myself to watch, is entirely about a bunch of young, sexy women falling in lust with Mr. Martin.  They fall over him, swoon over him, commit treason, commit adultery, commit bad acting.  One even gets herself blown up. (that gave me hope for the movie, but no one else has exploded, spontaneously combusted or even gotten a paper cut.)  It seems more a morality play on the effects of smoking your arch supports.

Do I buy that these young ladies find Dean Martin irresistible?  Yeah, um, not so much.  He could sing, but I think the French made the better choice in the duo when they fell in love with Mr. Lewis.  At least he’s funny.*  Maybe it’s just the jadedness of me being me, but he’s just not all that.

I’ve found that there aren’t many movies from the 60’s that I like and that the ones I like all seem to have Yul Brenner, Clint Eastwood or Steve McQueen in them.  Now, THOSE were sexy men.  I just can’t buy a bunch of babes falling all over Dean Martin.

Plus, The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape and A Fistful of Dollars actually had plots.

Did I mention that the soundtrack and costumes have given me a ripping headache?  I was thinking it might be preferable to stick pins in my eyes.

Anyway, blech on The Wrecking Crew.
(*I was kidding about Jerry Lewis and the French.  I don’t think he’s funny, it was a moment of self-pitying weakness that made me envy the French.)

I’m not a crazed environmentalist that believes everyone should be forced to go see Al Gore’s new movie.  Actually, from what I’ve read, it’s a lot of fiction anyway.  I believe that we are currently in a warming trend, that humans impact on the climate can’t accurately be measured, that global warming is a new conventional wisdom that has become a doctrine and is therefore no longer open to scientific questioning.

I also believe that according to scripture we are to care for our world in such a way as to be counted a steward and not a slob.  So that means caring for wild spaces, treating animals humanely, being as organic as possible in farming, supporting business ventures that are ecologically sound (i.e. tagua nut products).  Where reasonably possible, we should be careful of our world because it is a gift to us from a God who loves us, to trash that gift wantonly is sin.  In no way do I think we should worship the earth though, it is not “alive” in and of itself and does not have a spirit, though surely one could think so when observing volcanoes, earthquakes and Hawaiian waterfalls.

I also think we should find new sources of energy and use the ones we have excellently.  Which brings me to the real reason for this writing.  Energy sources.

In order to lessen our dependence on foreign oil specifically, and oil in general we have to source our energy from somewhere.  Coal can be as polluting as anything, but we still use it and it can be found in our own backyard.  There are wind, solar and ethanol options.  But none have as much promise as nuclear energy.  It’s cleaner than coal and oil, produces less waste than either too.  It is efficient and the spent uranium/plutonium  can be recycled.  Carter-era policy regarding recycling would have to be changed, which would also solve the Yucca Mountain issue, and frankly should be changed, it’s wasteful to bury what can be reused simply out of fear.

Nuclear energy is also much more efficient than wind, solar and ethanol.  None of those technologies can offer the kind of power for your buck that Nuclear energy can.  Ethanol doesn’t necessarily show much promise except in small applications because of the land required to grow the crops to turn into ethanol.  I believe that it would actually do more damage to our world to try to grow enough to make the switch from petroleum products to ethanol.  The cost in fertilizer alone would be prohibitive and damaging to our waterways.

The real question is will Americans get over their fear of nuclear energy to allow new plants to be built?  Will we allow them in our backyard?  We should.  If we want to change the balance in the need for energy, the cost of gas, the price of heating and cooling our homes we will enthusiastically embrace nuclear power plants and happily build them all over the place.  That is one area that the French have done so much better than the US.

That’s hello in Lithuanian, which I’m desperate to learn as I’ll be going there in a minute. Well, in a little more than a month. Yeeee Haaaaaaaa!

Dad and I are going with my brother, Fred, and his lovely wife, Rasa, to introduce him to her Lithuanian family. We are in the process of planning an Eastern European tour, so we may go to Russia, at least the little bit of it that’s trapped on the Baltic Sea between Lithuania and Poland, and we will be going to Poland. The thing about Russia is that we will need a tourist visa and a letter of invitation. Both are pricey, so we probably won’t go, but I’ll work on it.

I’ll get to see castles and stuff. One place I want to see is the Hill of Crosses. Fred and Rasa have promised we will go there. I adore travel, and getting to see bits of the world is fascinating.

I will add more as I get it, but hopefully, I’ll be posting from there. I plan on taking my computer and sending photos and updates here on my travels. YAY!!!

Pretty much the evidence speaks to fluffy carpet rather than killer beast.  She lays about most of the day, sometimes on her back.  Her belly is very fluffy.  She loves to kill her toys, they die often, but I don’t get any of the satisfying blood from them.  Moxie is an indoor cat.

My other cats, Poonie, Otis and Sir were all outdoor cats until Sir got hit by a car and died.  Then Poonie and Otis had to stay inside.  Poor kittens, they never got over that.  Before they were confined to the house, my cats were wonderful killers, each with a speciality.

Sir killed birds, Mom hated that.  He would lurk beneath the bird feeder just waiting for a bird to offer itself to him, then BAM! he’d jump and snag it.  Once a cardinal managed to save itself but flew away wobbledy without any tailfeathers.  Sir turned to look at me with a grin of red feathers hanging out of his mouth.

Otis was an expert mole killer.  She could wait outside the hole of a mole for what seemed like hours, just waiting, ears pricked forward, listening.  She’d catch them, then somehow the other two cats knew that she’d caught a new toy.  They would sit on the patio passing the poor dying mole between them, some times tossing it in the air, some times sadistically letting it go only to delight in catching it again.  Then they would kill it and eat the entrails.  I’d have to go clean it up.  Once Otis caught a 17 year Cicada during it’s season.  Those are big bugs.  She managed to get it nearly all in her mouth and tried to get in the house.  I wouldn’t let her in, then the thing started to buzz.  She freaked out, that thing was vibrating like crazy, her eyes were darting back and forth, but she would not let that thing go.  She tried even harder to get into the house, finally she did spit it out.  Watching her try and figure out how to clean her own tongue was rather funny.

Poonie was the all around killer.  She’d come back with just about everything.  Her favorite trick was to hide her prize from Mom until allowed in the house and then VOILA! she would produce whatever bleeding half alive creature she had.  Once, when I was napping Mom let her in with a snake.  Poonie jumped up on my chest and woke me up with her little “Pprrrrup!” and a pat on the face.  I didn’t really wake up until I heard the muffled nature of the purr and then felt the thing drop onto my chest and begin to slither away from her.  She promptly caught it again, at my expense, I jumped up, she jumped down and then sat there with this snake hanging out of her mouth with these sad yellow eyes that seemed to say “I can’t believe you don’t like this lovely snack I brought you!  You have no idea how to live.”

All three of those great cats are now gone.  I’ve got Moxie, the gray fluffy carpet of a cat.  I’ll have to think about taking her outside.  Maybe she will hang out in the garden with me.  I think she will be more fun outside.

I heard Cindy Sheehan say she would prefer to live under strongman Hugo Chavez in Venezuela rather than the US.  Frankly, I don’t care where she lives, but she might want to reconsider.

She forgets that visiting someone at home is VERY different from living with them.  VERY.  Sure she’s been welcomed in Venezuela in general and by Chavez specifically.  I’m sure he was a charming host.  I’ve heard that he is very charming.  Almost irresistibly so.  Which makes me twitchy.  Charming leaders don’t inspire a high level of trust in me.  Hitler was irresistible to dogs and children.  Napoleon was compelling, as was Alexander the Great.  Charming men don’t necessarily make the best leaders, they just make convincing ones.

She also forgets that she is newsworthy and valuable precisely because she is an American going overseas making treasonous statements in hostile foreign countries.  Once that status changes she will no longer be a pawn, which is exactly what she is to Chavez, make no mistake.  When she is no longer profitable she will no longer be courted.

She forgets the history of Communists.  One that she shouldn’t considering that Chavez is getting ready to visit the Puffy-Haired Nightmare (Puffy-H) in Pyongyang.  She forgets that the cult of personality that allowed Stalin to murder millions, Mao at least 30 million in his “Great Leap Forward”, Pol Pot murdered one million of his country men and women, one fifth of Cambodia’s population and Puffy-H is currently starving his people to death.  It’s so bad in North Korea that the people there are escaping to the relative freedom of China.  Everywhere communism goes, suffering and brutality surely follow.  Chavez is no different, we just haven’t seen the worst yet.  He is currently setting himself up as a people’s man.  He claims to have the workers and the poor in mind, but the murder rate in Venezuela has risen alarmingly under his rule, and he has aligned himself with several of the most repressive regimes in the world (his friendship with Castro and new found BFF Puffy-H)  If you listen carefully to him, he is encouraging class warfare.  When that comes, he will be the only winner.

She has forgotten in her grief over her son that he signed up for this.  He chose to join the military, with that choice comes a certain group of fair assumptions, one being that death in the line of duty is a distinct possibility.  She can be sad, I would be.  But her son chose to be a soldier, he knew what he was doing.

She also forgets that had her son stayed home there is no guarantee that he would have lived.  There is no guarantee that I will see the morning.  None.  I hope so, but stuff happens.  People are murdered here too.  Often.

But since mine is in July, I never get to.  This year my lovely sisters planned a fantastic blowout for me.  Yummy wine, incredible cheeses, fruit, vegetables and chocolate filled chocolate cupcakes.  Very elegant and very fun.

One thing about birthdays that I can’t stand is the stupid song.  It’s terrible, awful tune is hard to sing, and very hard to sing well.  So I refuse to sing it well.  This time the twenty odd people did a fine stand up job defiling that song for me.  Their rendition was awful, raucous, loud, out of tune, ugly and ear piercingly hideous.  I loved it.  The only thing I regret is that I didn’t record it so I could share it with you.  Really, it was the WORST I’ve ever heard any group sing it.

Hopefully I’ll post a list of the wines and cheeses soon.

I’m having a birthday soon.  *sigh*

So here’s a list of what I want.  It’s not comprehensive, and some of it is fantastical, please don’t assume I’m thinking anyone will get it for me.  I’m just saying I want it is all…

1. The Inside Man Soundtrack: rockin’ music  Got It!!!
2. Clinique Happy or Happy Heart ; I haven’t smelled the new one, Happy in Bloom yet, and I wasn’t fond of Happy To Be.
3.  Tuberoses, Hollyhocks, Foxglove, Bells of Ireland and Violets.  I’m not picky about colors, though I’m fond of unusual stuff.  I mean plants, not cut flowers.  I’d like to plant these lovelies around the yard to enjoy them year after year.
4. Bhangra, Original Punjab Pop.  I have no idea what they are saying, but I love the music.
5. Copper Pots & Pans, yes, all of them.  eventually.
6. A Cruise.  But the one on the 16 passenger sailing yacht.   Really, what’s the point of being at sea if you can’t hear, see and smell the ocean.
7. A Safari.
8. Nigella Bites, How To Eat, How To Be A Domestic Goddess
9. Anything by Elizabeth David
10. Tomb of the Golden Bird, paperback preferred.
11. Life at the Bottom & Our Culture, What’s Left of It
12. A good pepper grinder.  Of course I’d love an antique looking copper one, but really, just one that works.
13. God in the Dock.  I gave this book away to a heathen I hope is saved now, but I miss it dreadfully.
14. The De-Moralization of Sociey
15. Linen Sheets, In Cilantro
16. Donations in Mom’s name.  And Here too.
17. These Chocolates.  I’m dying to try the Absinthe truffle
18. Gnome Be Gone, garden sculpture at it’s best.
19. Frog Prince
20. A castle, preferrably with a dragon Got the Dragon.  Hopefully I’ll figure out the picture part of this world and will show you.  It’s cool.  Now if only I can get the Castle.
21. A trip into outerspace.
22. A ceiling fan for my bedroom

I’ll add more later.