So many Christians today are opposed to the phrase "Happy Holidays!" or "Seasons Greetings" and while I suppose people have a right to feel any way they want, I hope to provide some additional food for thought from another perspective.
One's religious beliefs are a private matter and you simply don't ask a stranger or acquaintance, someone you meet in a store or at the park, what their beliefs are. They may be Christian, most people in this country are indeed Christian, but they may be Jewish, Muslim, or perhaps they are Native American and observe the traditions of their ancestors. You simply cannot tell by looking at someone what their beliefs are or what their religious faith might be. You may even think you know, but never assume. My beliefs are so personal that I rarely even share them, in toto, with my family. In the absence of knowledge, saying 'Happy Holidays' is a friendly way to let the person know that you wish them well, without invading their privacy.
I have friends of many faiths, including some of no faith. If I say 'Merry Christmas' to everyone, that ignores and disrespects the people who are non-Christians, as a reverse example, 'Happy Hanukkah' would have little meaning to my Christian friends. Some people celebrate more than one holiday already, and some even celebrate two separate religious holidays, for example, I know someone who celebrates Hanukkah because she is Jewish, and yet her husband is Christian. Their son is being exposed to both holidays. I have friends who celebrate Kwanzaa and Christmas. I also have friends who consider themselves pagan and even a few friends who claim to be atheist. Atheists need love and attention too, it is just that their intellectual side suppresses their spiritual side, and well, I still think they deserve well wishing along with everyone else, even if they don't celebrate anything but the moment. I strive to be tolerant of everyone and be all-inclusive.
December and early January historically support many feasts, holidays and festivals. St. Nicholas' Day, Yule, St. Lucia's Day, Virgin of Guadalupe Day, Hanukkah, Christmas, Boxing Day, Kwanzaa, Winter Solstice, New Year's Eve, New Years Day, Orthodox Christmas, and Ashura among others. I'm sure I've forgotten a holiday or two. As Americans, we take pride in being the world's melting pot, and as a predominantly Christian nation, we should also show tolerance. To preach, Christ said "love thy neighbor as thyself". Follow His lead. He befriended and respected many non-believers. To that end, we should also respect the beliefs and practices of others. Of course we don't have to join in their celebration, but to indirectly recognize their celebration and practices with a simple "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings!" is what Jesus would have done, I think. Political correctness is about what society expects. This issue is not about political correctness, but about respect for all mankind, regardless of ethnicity, religion, country of origin, sex, race, etc.
To Christians, I make an additional argument for the use of Happy Holidays or Seasons Greetings. There are three branches of Christianity: Orthodox Christianity, the first Christians, Roman Catholic Christianity, and Protestant Christianity. Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas on or close to January 7th. The difference in dates reflects the Orthodox church's continued use of the Julian calendar as opposed to the modern Gregorian calendar. It is interesting to note that Orthodox Christians prefer saying "Christ is born" over "Merry Christmas". Catholics and Protestants recognize multiple holidays during this 'season'. St. Nicholas' Day on December 6th was the original day of gift giving. St. Lucia's Day on December 13th celebrates light. In Mexico, the Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe is celebrated on December 12th. In the Philippines, Midnight Mass begins on December 16th and continues until December 24th. It is called Misso do Galo-Rooster's Mass. In many Protestant churches, Christmas Eve is celebrated with communion, nativity re-enactments, the lighting of advent wreaths, caroling, and prayer. In many European countries, the day after Christmas, St. Stephen's Day, is celebrated and is even a paid holiday. Saint Stephen, for those unfamiliar, was the first Christian martyr. In fact, Christmastide is a Christian season lasting 12 days-the 12 days of Christmas-from December 24th to January 5th. In addition to all those Christian holidays in December and early January, there are also the secular holidays of New Years Eve, New Years Day, Boxing Day, and Kwanzaa.
As you can see, this 'season' which has become a melting pot unto itself, even for Christians, is more than just the one religious holiday of Christmas. Saying 'Merry Christmas' is appropriate when you KNOW the other person is a Christian and when Christmas is truly near. Saying 'Merry Christmas' the day after Thanksgiving just doesn't have the same feel or impact. "Happy Holidays" seems more appropo, especially when you are greeting virtual strangers in a mall store. I hear so many people say that the 'reason for the season' is being lost. In my opinion, saying 'Merry Christmas' out of season demeans the holiday and adds to the problem. This special day in the Christian faith is lost to convention, a convention that is the dream of retailers-to draw the Christmas season out longer to line their pockets. Ironically, Christians themselves literally buy into this, and the long term effect is that now Christmas Day is a denouement to shopping season. That's what it is, really, Shopping Season. It starts two weeks before Halloween and ends January 4th or so. If Christians want others to realize the devoutness of the day, then they should start watching their own speech and behaviors. If they feel that 'Happy Holidays' is not special, and that 'Merry Christmas' is special, then relegate tidings of 'Merry Christmas' to the proper time, place, and people, and don't over use the phrase.
'Happy Holidays' is both secular and religious. 'Seasons Greetings' is both secular and religious. 'Merry Christmas' is religious, but becoming more secular. The retailers would love to hear 'Merry Christmas' in October, secularizing the holiday even more, but I don't think this is truly what Christians, those Christians who have a problem with 'Happy Holidays', really want. 'Merry Christmas' was intended to be religious, specifically pertaining to Christianity, but over the years the celebration of the birth of Christ has expanded to include practices of gift-giving(from many festivals, especially St. Nicholas' Day), decorating Christmas trees (a pagan ritual), mistletoe kisses (pagan), Christmas lights (both pagan and St. Lucia), feasts and dinners(both pagan and religious origins), Santa Claus (again, from St. Nicholas' Day), etc. Santa's helper elves are pagan, too, as they originally were helpers of the Scandinavian god Thor .
In Rome, December 25th was a holiday celebrating the rebirth of the Sun god, Sol Invictus, who had died three days earlier(on the Solstice). The Roman holiday of Saturnalia was also celebrated after the solstice. It was a time of wild parties and gift giving and Mummers dances. Mummers sang and danced from house to house spreading cheer. It sounds a bit like what we would call caroling. Christmas was not celebrated by the Christian church until Constantine's rule, 300 years after the death of Christ, and while the Catholic Church calculated the birth of Christ as nine months from March 25, (the Feast of the Anunciation ), the exact date of his birth is unknown. Some modern Christian astronomers believe that Jesus may have even been born in September of 3 A.D. when Jupiter and Regulus were close together in the sky and might have seen as the Star of Bethlehem. For the Roman Catholic Church, aligning the Christmas holiday with other holidays already in existence made sense (the pagan masses were used to their festivals and traditions and did not want them to be forbidden), so slowly the Christmas holiday began to incorporate many traditions that did not originate in Christianity. The evergreen Yule tree, the Christmas tree, was a sign of fertility and life. Holly and mistletoe were also fertility charms. The huge Yule log burned brightly, celebrating the rebirth of the sun.
There is a resounding theme apparent to me in all of these December holidays, regardless of faith, they celebrate life-birth and rebirth, light, miracles, gifts, and historical events. They are all positive and cheerful, uplifting days. To recognize only one of those days with a ubiquitous 'Merry Christmas' greeting clouds what Christians like to call 'the reason for the season'. In our interconnected world, we no longer isolate ourselves and live only with those of like beliefs, we live in a worldwide community. To show respect for the traditions and faith of others is to show the love of thy neighbor, and a simple way of doing this is to say 'Happy Holidays' or 'Seasons Greetings' to others during the season of festivities if you don't know their faith.
Peace Be Unto You.
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label politics. Show all posts
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Monday, August 10, 2009
Onward
What to write about....what to say...
I have lots to say about the things going on in the world, but since I can't change any of those things, there is no use in writing about it, except to say that contrary to what Nancy Pelosi says, I am one of the most patriotic people I know, and it is my right and duty to protest what I feel is a misstep in healthcare legislation.
I've been busy the last week or so, mostly gardening and canning, but also house cleaning and running errands. I may go back to work soon, and I feel unprepared with a zillion loose ends here that need tying. I really thought I would have heard something by now, and I really hate waiting.
The stress of it all has sparked an RA flare-up, and every joint in my body hurts and is stiff. I keep going, else I will be like the tin man and become stiff. When my RA flares like this, I end up totally exhausted because I don't want to sit down at all. It is too hard to get up. So, I channel the Energizer Bunny and head to the garden. I'm no speed demon, but I can get things done. Today, I planted English peas, snow peas, carrots, spinach, radishes, lettuce, and onions. I transplanted Brussel sprouts. Tomorrow, I'll finish sowing my brassicas: broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collards, and cabbage. The seedlings of broccoli and cauliflower are not ready for transplanting yet. Skyguy planted more sweet corn a few days ago. It will be a close call on getting it in before the first frost. In the last week, I've also planted more butternut squashes and a few cukes. Those squashes store really well, so if I can put a few in boxes, I won't be too hungry this winter. You just never know what the future holds with the economy teetering on the edge of disaster. One trucker's strike (Hi Trevor!) or a hurricane which disrupts the gasoline flow again, and the stores will be bare within a few weeks. If we all become home-bound due to swine flu, I'll be glad that I can make a nice, velvety butternut soup to comfort me.
About every three days or so, I can small batches of tomatoes. Because my stove doesn't get that hot anymore, and because I am too lazy to fire up the outdoor propane burner just yet, I've been hot water bath canning in my large, flat-bottomed Dutch oven. I can process 4 pints or 3 quart jars, about half as much as the rippled-bottom canning kettle. Because the Dutch oven heats quickly and more efficiently than the ripple bottom kettle, I can process two batches in the same time as one kettle full, so it doesn't slow me down much. I've canned stewed tomatoes, pizza sauce, plain tomato sauce, and tomato juice. The mixture of this year's tomato varieties has resulted in a very tasty sweet sauce, but the pH is right at 4.0, so it is safe to can. Yeah, the chemist tests sauce pH with pH paper strips-what can I say.
I've never grown sweet peppers. I do not like bell peppers, but I just love chili peppers and devote my garden space to the chilis. However, someone gave us a few banana peppers and they are pretty darn good. They smell like the little hot peppers you get with your Papa Johns pizza(I call those pepperoncini), but they are not hot at all. It is the strangest thing because they smell hot but don't taste hot. They are large, some are 6 inches long, and they look waxy like Hungarian Wax Chilis. I'm not quite sure what to do with them. Should I slice them and pickle them as pepper rings, or should I cut them into strips and maybe freeze them for use on pizzas??? Decisions, decisions. I may have to save the seeds from these-they are definitely interesting and not what I am used to eating. I wonder if they are really supposed to be hotter, but due to some soil condition or some other variable, they are super mild? Could that be?
Change of subject...
Snakes are crawling here in valley. Skyguy hit a big timber rattler on the way home from work a few days ago. He drove on home, picked me up, and we went back up the road to get a better look. That puppy had 11 rattles and a button and was as large as my arm. There was another dead snake on the road near here that was almost as large as the one Skyguy hit and killed. There seems to be a lot of snakes this year, but perhaps it is just that the neighbor's logging and tree thinning has stirred them up. The machinery and logging is in an area known for legendary-sized rattlesnakes. Habitat destruction is real and local.
I have lots to say about the things going on in the world, but since I can't change any of those things, there is no use in writing about it, except to say that contrary to what Nancy Pelosi says, I am one of the most patriotic people I know, and it is my right and duty to protest what I feel is a misstep in healthcare legislation.
I've been busy the last week or so, mostly gardening and canning, but also house cleaning and running errands. I may go back to work soon, and I feel unprepared with a zillion loose ends here that need tying. I really thought I would have heard something by now, and I really hate waiting.
The stress of it all has sparked an RA flare-up, and every joint in my body hurts and is stiff. I keep going, else I will be like the tin man and become stiff. When my RA flares like this, I end up totally exhausted because I don't want to sit down at all. It is too hard to get up. So, I channel the Energizer Bunny and head to the garden. I'm no speed demon, but I can get things done. Today, I planted English peas, snow peas, carrots, spinach, radishes, lettuce, and onions. I transplanted Brussel sprouts. Tomorrow, I'll finish sowing my brassicas: broccoli, cauliflower, kale, collards, and cabbage. The seedlings of broccoli and cauliflower are not ready for transplanting yet. Skyguy planted more sweet corn a few days ago. It will be a close call on getting it in before the first frost. In the last week, I've also planted more butternut squashes and a few cukes. Those squashes store really well, so if I can put a few in boxes, I won't be too hungry this winter. You just never know what the future holds with the economy teetering on the edge of disaster. One trucker's strike (Hi Trevor!) or a hurricane which disrupts the gasoline flow again, and the stores will be bare within a few weeks. If we all become home-bound due to swine flu, I'll be glad that I can make a nice, velvety butternut soup to comfort me.
About every three days or so, I can small batches of tomatoes. Because my stove doesn't get that hot anymore, and because I am too lazy to fire up the outdoor propane burner just yet, I've been hot water bath canning in my large, flat-bottomed Dutch oven. I can process 4 pints or 3 quart jars, about half as much as the rippled-bottom canning kettle. Because the Dutch oven heats quickly and more efficiently than the ripple bottom kettle, I can process two batches in the same time as one kettle full, so it doesn't slow me down much. I've canned stewed tomatoes, pizza sauce, plain tomato sauce, and tomato juice. The mixture of this year's tomato varieties has resulted in a very tasty sweet sauce, but the pH is right at 4.0, so it is safe to can. Yeah, the chemist tests sauce pH with pH paper strips-what can I say.
I've never grown sweet peppers. I do not like bell peppers, but I just love chili peppers and devote my garden space to the chilis. However, someone gave us a few banana peppers and they are pretty darn good. They smell like the little hot peppers you get with your Papa Johns pizza(I call those pepperoncini), but they are not hot at all. It is the strangest thing because they smell hot but don't taste hot. They are large, some are 6 inches long, and they look waxy like Hungarian Wax Chilis. I'm not quite sure what to do with them. Should I slice them and pickle them as pepper rings, or should I cut them into strips and maybe freeze them for use on pizzas??? Decisions, decisions. I may have to save the seeds from these-they are definitely interesting and not what I am used to eating. I wonder if they are really supposed to be hotter, but due to some soil condition or some other variable, they are super mild? Could that be?
Change of subject...
Snakes are crawling here in valley. Skyguy hit a big timber rattler on the way home from work a few days ago. He drove on home, picked me up, and we went back up the road to get a better look. That puppy had 11 rattles and a button and was as large as my arm. There was another dead snake on the road near here that was almost as large as the one Skyguy hit and killed. There seems to be a lot of snakes this year, but perhaps it is just that the neighbor's logging and tree thinning has stirred them up. The machinery and logging is in an area known for legendary-sized rattlesnakes. Habitat destruction is real and local.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Wishful thinking doesn't make it so...
After my 'Say What??' post, my friend Rob posted a comment suggesting an essay along the same vein, that is long but that I believe is worth your time to read.
http://www.securityaffairs.org/issues/2009/16/peters.php
This line sticks with me, "Even the most successful war yields imperfect results." His example is the Civil War, where slavery was abolished, but equal rights did not come along for another hundred years.
http://www.securityaffairs.org/issues/2009/16/peters.php
This line sticks with me, "Even the most successful war yields imperfect results." His example is the Civil War, where slavery was abolished, but equal rights did not come along for another hundred years.
Monday, June 01, 2009
Sotomayor, Strike One for President Obama
It's been a while since I blogged about Obama and politics in general. I know most of my friends and readers just love the guy, so I try to hold my tongue, but every once in a while, I just have to talk about it. His recent nomination of Sotomayer to the Supreme Court requires discussion, a lot of discussion. First though, I thought I would see how my views aligned with the rest of the country. I took these latest poll results from Real Clear Politics:
President Obama Job Approval
Approve 60.5%
Disapprove 32.5%
Congressional Job Approval
Approve 35.7%
Disapprove 54.7%
Direction of Country
Right Direction 45.0%
Wrong Track 47.7%
I find it interesting that people support Obama, but not Congress. I wonder why that is? They are all the same party-all pushing the same agenda! In this case, Congress is the hand of the Presidency...he speaks, they 'make it so'!
Before I get to Sotomayor, I read a few days ago that the Obama administration and the Pentagon are now saying that troops will stay in Iraq for as long as ten more years, despite the agreement with Iraq that said all troops would be home by 2012. Of course, we all remember Obama's pledge on his trip to Iraq last summer-to bring the troops home in 16 months. That's what he told the troops-that they would be home in 16 months, in other words, by Christmas of 2009. If you cut him slack and start the 16 months from January, then the homecoming will be in April of 2010. Obama is still saying that combat forces will be home then, but that other troops might have to stay until 2012. I think this is a promise broken, but we will see. I'm not fond of his word games. "Troops" become 'combat forces', "new jobs" becomes 'saved jobs", etc. We now have 139000 soldiers in Iraq an 52000 in Afghanistan. Obama will send 21,000 more combat forces Afghanistan this year. In one breath, he says that he doesn't expect to send more to Afghanistan after that, yet in the other, he claims that's where the fight is, that Afghanistan is
more important than Iraq for troop victory. He also said he would close Guantanamo, but 5 months after that announcement, he is now backing up and reinstating some Bush Admin orders, contradicting his own executive orders issued right after the inauguration. Closing Camp X-ray at Guantanamo Bay was one goal in which I supported Barack Obama. I'm not sure what the answer is now, but surely we could figure out a way to maintain security and meter justice to those being held. The months tick by, and Camp X-Ray is still holding enemy combatants.
I read an AP article about Obama's plan to create jobs. The results are rather scary. This is a good example of politics affecting how quickly the economy recovers. The Associated Press reviewed 5,500 projects nationwide and found that the government will spend 50 percent more per person in areas with the lowest unemployment rates than in places with the highest. For example, The AP says Elk County, Pennsylvania, which has about 14 percent unemployment, is getting no money. But Riley County, Kansas, which has a jobless rate around 3.5 percent, will get $56 million to build a new highway. The reason is because Riley County already had a plan. The worst hit areas don't have the finances to set up projects in advance, so only the municipalities that have not been hit too hard and have projects ready for the bulldozer are getting funded. There is still a lot of pork in the system, but I'm sure it will all spin out looking rosy.
The Obama administration is spending money right and left. There is no way to know if the programs will be effective. Much of the spending seems to have nothing to do with economic stimulus or recovery, but it seems to have been on a Democratic Wish List for decades. However, I will say that Wall Street seems a bit more stable and I heard that housing sales are increasing, so perhaps he has at least stopped the panic over the economy. Much to my surprise and joy, he has reversed his position on raising taxes, and now has moderated his plan to basically sound like John McCain's. LOL! Who would have thunk it?
I think what has happened is that he was a bit naive in the beginning, thinking that is popularity would allow him to change everything. As he finds out that change isn't quite as simple as he thought, he has to back away from his initial promises(Guantanamo, taxes, new jobs, etc.). He's doing a lot of backtracking. In some ways, it is moderating action in a way that I actually approve of, but it is only a matter of time before he angers his adoring populace. One of the reasons I did not like Obama to begin with was that I thought him horribly naive, and yet people bought into that. His naivety extends to his foreign policy decisions, and in that arena, I think he is walking on thin ice and putting the country at some risk. I dislike Dick Cheney and never thought I would be agreeing with him, but I do think Obama is not showing the world that America is strong by his constant apologies and his lack of a firm stand on torture-the interrogation/waterboarding issue-I mean, is he or isn't he backing Pelosi? I fear that we will soon be tested in a way that we never have been before. If we appear weak, there will be enemies that will take advantage and test that weakness. I hope I am wrong, but I fear that I am not.
I'm about tired of the word 'historic'. Everything Obama does is historic. If race really did not matter in this country, the word historic would have been put to rest months ago. Now, he has announced that Hispanic Appellate Judge Sonia Sotomayor is his choice to replace Souter on the Supreme Court. He says she has 'empathy'. I am not sure I would call it that. In 2001 at the University of California at Berkeley, Sotomayor said “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” She doesn't think that a judge should try to rise above race and gender, and she is on the record that there should be more women and Latina judges. Sotomayor is a very well educated and qualified woman. Obama is right in that her story is definitely compelling. There is no doubt about that. What bothers me is that she is doing the very same thing that is criticized if a white person does it. I really think the effect will be a disservice to women and minorities of all backgrounds due to the backlash from her comments. If a Caucasian American judge, or even a African American judge, said that her own experiences would allow her to reach a better judicial conclusion that a white man or a Latino man or a Hispanic Woman or whoever, we'd call that bigotry and it would be condemned. If a White male judge said the same thing, that the richness of his experiences would allow him to reach a better conclusion than a Latina woman, we'd call that racism. Obama doesn't seem to call it bigotry or racism though. Instead, he paints it positively with the word "empathy" and that bothers me. It seems to me that to Sotomayor, gender and skin color are more important than intellect, experience, compassion and education. This is the exact opposite of the lessons we teach our children about equality for all. Maybe there should be more women judges. To remedy that, we don't need to appoint the unqualified, we need to encourage little girls to learn critical thinking and analysis, we need to encourage teens to become politically active and care about SCOTUS decisions, and we need to encourage young women to go to law school instead of getting master's degrees. We are making progress-it is certainly better now than when I was a kid, but we still have a ways to go. As the Hispanic and Latino populations grow, so will the number of judges representing those ethnic groups. When Sotomayor promotes her own gender or ethnicity in this way, talking about seats and positions that should be filled, she is saying that not only does ethnicity and gender make a difference, but she thinks it actually makes her better than other genders or ethnicities. In my opinion, that's wrong. If you think I am reading in too much, I challenge you to read some of her quotes. IMO, she clearly thinks that she, as a Latina, is better than a white man, not because of her education or experience, but because she is a Latina. The sad thing is that I believe she is qualified for the job and would probably serve justice well in spite of her bigotry. As a woman myself, I'm quite sure she has fought her way into this position and put up with a lot of abuse over the years. My hat is off to her for that. I also read that she may have trouble in the confirmation process due to her combativeness and emotional responses. I feel for her in that regard as well. I, too, become combative and emotional when on the defensive.
I got a call from the NRA about Sotomayor the other day. It seems that Obama’s nomination Sotomayor is being painted as a declaration of war against gun owners and the Second Amendment. You will recall that Washington DC banned all guns. Recently, there has been much debate as to whether or not the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, applies to states. The Bill of Rights was meant to limit the Federal government, not states or cities or other local governments. If a part of the Bill of Rights is part of the Fourteenth Amendment, then it would apply to the states. There are a couple of other judges who have made similar rulings, and in fact, the split is about 50/50 for those who think states have the power to ban guns vs. those who think that states do not have the power to ban guns. Judge Sotomayor thinks city or statewide gun bans are perfectly acceptable. President Obama has said that he has nothing against guns, however, soon he will be taxing ammunition and serializing it. If you fire a round at a tree, the powers that be will be able to determine what kind of round it is, who purchased it, when and where it was purchased, etc. The Second Amendment says nothing about ammo, does it? Gun owners, in their fear of the future, have created a ammunition shortage that has not eased in the last 8 months. If you need a job, try to find an ammunition factory, because they are working around the clock trying to keep up with demand. I can only hope that Sotomayor doesn't get approved, but I see nothing to stop her. Democrats are in control of Congress. That was my biggest beef as to voting Obama into office. The US Government operates on checks and balances. With Obama in office and a Democratic Congress, there are no checks and balances. With this appointment, the Supreme court will take a left turn as well.
If I sound a bit ambivalent, criticizing one moment and 'empathizing' another, well, I am. When I take various quizzes and such, I'm always labeled very conservative, way right of center. However, I don't think I am that far to the right. I do believe in personal responsibility and accountability and that usually registers as anti-entitlement which puts me right of center. But, I am not totally against entitlements. There are people who need disability and unemployment, but there is so much abuse and misuse in the system that it is distressing. I am definitely pro-choice, and I definitely believe there should be separation of church and state. I don't want to see the Ten Commandments hanging in the lobby of the courthouse, but if a judge wants to display them on the wall of his private chambers, I have no issue with that. I say all of this as a counter to the notion that I am a right wing nut job. I actually think I am rather moderate. I'm not a fan of Obama, but then, I wasn't a fan of Bush either. I believe that I have been very critical of every president since Reagan, and then I was more or less following his wave of popularity in the way that so many younger folks are cheering on Obama today. I just want everyone to take a hard look at what is really going on. Sometimes what we personally want or believe is not what would be best for this country. I may not agree with the decisions that left leaning Supreme Court Justices hand down, but I believe that those justices are needed in the Court. We have to have balance. We have to try to represent as many views as possible. It is by understanding and listening to a viewpoint different from our own that we grow as a nation and as human beings. I want fairness. I want my Justices not to necessarily agree with me, but to look at all sides and consider people as equals, because we are all equal. I'm afraid that Judge Sotomayor doesn't think we are all equal. I believe that she thinks that Latinas are superior, and that belief has no place in the SCOTUS. Of all people, our President should understand the dangers of bias based on ethnicity and gender.
President Obama Job Approval
Approve 60.5%
Disapprove 32.5%
Congressional Job Approval
Approve 35.7%
Disapprove 54.7%
Direction of Country
Right Direction 45.0%
Wrong Track 47.7%
I find it interesting that people support Obama, but not Congress. I wonder why that is? They are all the same party-all pushing the same agenda! In this case, Congress is the hand of the Presidency...he speaks, they 'make it so'!
Before I get to Sotomayor, I read a few days ago that the Obama administration and the Pentagon are now saying that troops will stay in Iraq for as long as ten more years, despite the agreement with Iraq that said all troops would be home by 2012. Of course, we all remember Obama's pledge on his trip to Iraq last summer-to bring the troops home in 16 months. That's what he told the troops-that they would be home in 16 months, in other words, by Christmas of 2009. If you cut him slack and start the 16 months from January, then the homecoming will be in April of 2010. Obama is still saying that combat forces will be home then, but that other troops might have to stay until 2012. I think this is a promise broken, but we will see. I'm not fond of his word games. "Troops" become 'combat forces', "new jobs" becomes 'saved jobs", etc. We now have 139000 soldiers in Iraq an 52000 in Afghanistan. Obama will send 21,000 more combat forces Afghanistan this year. In one breath, he says that he doesn't expect to send more to Afghanistan after that, yet in the other, he claims that's where the fight is, that Afghanistan is
more important than Iraq for troop victory. He also said he would close Guantanamo, but 5 months after that announcement, he is now backing up and reinstating some Bush Admin orders, contradicting his own executive orders issued right after the inauguration. Closing Camp X-ray at Guantanamo Bay was one goal in which I supported Barack Obama. I'm not sure what the answer is now, but surely we could figure out a way to maintain security and meter justice to those being held. The months tick by, and Camp X-Ray is still holding enemy combatants.
I read an AP article about Obama's plan to create jobs. The results are rather scary. This is a good example of politics affecting how quickly the economy recovers. The Associated Press reviewed 5,500 projects nationwide and found that the government will spend 50 percent more per person in areas with the lowest unemployment rates than in places with the highest. For example, The AP says Elk County, Pennsylvania, which has about 14 percent unemployment, is getting no money. But Riley County, Kansas, which has a jobless rate around 3.5 percent, will get $56 million to build a new highway. The reason is because Riley County already had a plan. The worst hit areas don't have the finances to set up projects in advance, so only the municipalities that have not been hit too hard and have projects ready for the bulldozer are getting funded. There is still a lot of pork in the system, but I'm sure it will all spin out looking rosy.
The Obama administration is spending money right and left. There is no way to know if the programs will be effective. Much of the spending seems to have nothing to do with economic stimulus or recovery, but it seems to have been on a Democratic Wish List for decades. However, I will say that Wall Street seems a bit more stable and I heard that housing sales are increasing, so perhaps he has at least stopped the panic over the economy. Much to my surprise and joy, he has reversed his position on raising taxes, and now has moderated his plan to basically sound like John McCain's. LOL! Who would have thunk it?
I think what has happened is that he was a bit naive in the beginning, thinking that is popularity would allow him to change everything. As he finds out that change isn't quite as simple as he thought, he has to back away from his initial promises(Guantanamo, taxes, new jobs, etc.). He's doing a lot of backtracking. In some ways, it is moderating action in a way that I actually approve of, but it is only a matter of time before he angers his adoring populace. One of the reasons I did not like Obama to begin with was that I thought him horribly naive, and yet people bought into that. His naivety extends to his foreign policy decisions, and in that arena, I think he is walking on thin ice and putting the country at some risk. I dislike Dick Cheney and never thought I would be agreeing with him, but I do think Obama is not showing the world that America is strong by his constant apologies and his lack of a firm stand on torture-the interrogation/waterboarding issue-I mean, is he or isn't he backing Pelosi? I fear that we will soon be tested in a way that we never have been before. If we appear weak, there will be enemies that will take advantage and test that weakness. I hope I am wrong, but I fear that I am not.
I'm about tired of the word 'historic'. Everything Obama does is historic. If race really did not matter in this country, the word historic would have been put to rest months ago. Now, he has announced that Hispanic Appellate Judge Sonia Sotomayor is his choice to replace Souter on the Supreme Court. He says she has 'empathy'. I am not sure I would call it that. In 2001 at the University of California at Berkeley, Sotomayor said “I would hope that a wise Latina woman with the richness of her experiences would more often than not reach a better conclusion than a white male who hasn’t lived that life.” She doesn't think that a judge should try to rise above race and gender, and she is on the record that there should be more women and Latina judges. Sotomayor is a very well educated and qualified woman. Obama is right in that her story is definitely compelling. There is no doubt about that. What bothers me is that she is doing the very same thing that is criticized if a white person does it. I really think the effect will be a disservice to women and minorities of all backgrounds due to the backlash from her comments. If a Caucasian American judge, or even a African American judge, said that her own experiences would allow her to reach a better judicial conclusion that a white man or a Latino man or a Hispanic Woman or whoever, we'd call that bigotry and it would be condemned. If a White male judge said the same thing, that the richness of his experiences would allow him to reach a better conclusion than a Latina woman, we'd call that racism. Obama doesn't seem to call it bigotry or racism though. Instead, he paints it positively with the word "empathy" and that bothers me. It seems to me that to Sotomayor, gender and skin color are more important than intellect, experience, compassion and education. This is the exact opposite of the lessons we teach our children about equality for all. Maybe there should be more women judges. To remedy that, we don't need to appoint the unqualified, we need to encourage little girls to learn critical thinking and analysis, we need to encourage teens to become politically active and care about SCOTUS decisions, and we need to encourage young women to go to law school instead of getting master's degrees. We are making progress-it is certainly better now than when I was a kid, but we still have a ways to go. As the Hispanic and Latino populations grow, so will the number of judges representing those ethnic groups. When Sotomayor promotes her own gender or ethnicity in this way, talking about seats and positions that should be filled, she is saying that not only does ethnicity and gender make a difference, but she thinks it actually makes her better than other genders or ethnicities. In my opinion, that's wrong. If you think I am reading in too much, I challenge you to read some of her quotes. IMO, she clearly thinks that she, as a Latina, is better than a white man, not because of her education or experience, but because she is a Latina. The sad thing is that I believe she is qualified for the job and would probably serve justice well in spite of her bigotry. As a woman myself, I'm quite sure she has fought her way into this position and put up with a lot of abuse over the years. My hat is off to her for that. I also read that she may have trouble in the confirmation process due to her combativeness and emotional responses. I feel for her in that regard as well. I, too, become combative and emotional when on the defensive.
I got a call from the NRA about Sotomayor the other day. It seems that Obama’s nomination Sotomayor is being painted as a declaration of war against gun owners and the Second Amendment. You will recall that Washington DC banned all guns. Recently, there has been much debate as to whether or not the Second Amendment, the right to bear arms, applies to states. The Bill of Rights was meant to limit the Federal government, not states or cities or other local governments. If a part of the Bill of Rights is part of the Fourteenth Amendment, then it would apply to the states. There are a couple of other judges who have made similar rulings, and in fact, the split is about 50/50 for those who think states have the power to ban guns vs. those who think that states do not have the power to ban guns. Judge Sotomayor thinks city or statewide gun bans are perfectly acceptable. President Obama has said that he has nothing against guns, however, soon he will be taxing ammunition and serializing it. If you fire a round at a tree, the powers that be will be able to determine what kind of round it is, who purchased it, when and where it was purchased, etc. The Second Amendment says nothing about ammo, does it? Gun owners, in their fear of the future, have created a ammunition shortage that has not eased in the last 8 months. If you need a job, try to find an ammunition factory, because they are working around the clock trying to keep up with demand. I can only hope that Sotomayor doesn't get approved, but I see nothing to stop her. Democrats are in control of Congress. That was my biggest beef as to voting Obama into office. The US Government operates on checks and balances. With Obama in office and a Democratic Congress, there are no checks and balances. With this appointment, the Supreme court will take a left turn as well.
If I sound a bit ambivalent, criticizing one moment and 'empathizing' another, well, I am. When I take various quizzes and such, I'm always labeled very conservative, way right of center. However, I don't think I am that far to the right. I do believe in personal responsibility and accountability and that usually registers as anti-entitlement which puts me right of center. But, I am not totally against entitlements. There are people who need disability and unemployment, but there is so much abuse and misuse in the system that it is distressing. I am definitely pro-choice, and I definitely believe there should be separation of church and state. I don't want to see the Ten Commandments hanging in the lobby of the courthouse, but if a judge wants to display them on the wall of his private chambers, I have no issue with that. I say all of this as a counter to the notion that I am a right wing nut job. I actually think I am rather moderate. I'm not a fan of Obama, but then, I wasn't a fan of Bush either. I believe that I have been very critical of every president since Reagan, and then I was more or less following his wave of popularity in the way that so many younger folks are cheering on Obama today. I just want everyone to take a hard look at what is really going on. Sometimes what we personally want or believe is not what would be best for this country. I may not agree with the decisions that left leaning Supreme Court Justices hand down, but I believe that those justices are needed in the Court. We have to have balance. We have to try to represent as many views as possible. It is by understanding and listening to a viewpoint different from our own that we grow as a nation and as human beings. I want fairness. I want my Justices not to necessarily agree with me, but to look at all sides and consider people as equals, because we are all equal. I'm afraid that Judge Sotomayor doesn't think we are all equal. I believe that she thinks that Latinas are superior, and that belief has no place in the SCOTUS. Of all people, our President should understand the dangers of bias based on ethnicity and gender.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
The Obama Organic Kitchen Garden
I've followed the 'Eat the View' campaign since late October. I did not sign the petition, but I was hoping they would be successful, and of course, they were. I give the President 'props' for doing the right thing, my gripe is that I think the Obamas are blowing this opportunity!I think the idea is one of leadership. The Obamas want to set a good example for the country, and more specifically, according to Michelle, she wants to teach low income families that they can eat healthily and that it is just as easy to grow and eat organic vegetables as it is to buy prepared foods. What??? Is she kidding? She obviously hasn't done her own shopping in years. Labeling with the word 'Organic' doubles the price of the food. It is much cheaper to buy boxed food, however unhealthy it is, because the starch and sugars satisfy hunger and you get more full stomachs for the buck. It is sad, but true. For about $1.50, I can add a can of tuna to a box of mac and cheese and have a starchy meal that will fill up a kid, or, I can spend the same amount and get maybe two servings of organic broccoli. It's been a while since I've been to the inner city of a major city like Atlanta, but the last time I was there, I don't recall seeing a decent grocery store, certainly not one that would have any kind of choice in organic vegetables.
The people they are trying to set an example for live in small spaces, apartments or inner city lots where ground space is limited. The Obamas should be teaching square foot gardening or container gardening and intensive planting, but I'll bet you'll see rows. They'll have nice wood-sided raised beds-that'd be showy and 'organic-looking', but I think they have missed the boat on the opportunity that is present before them. Did you know that the Clintons actually had a small container garden on the White House roof? There was no hoopla that I can remember over that, and I have to admit that my opinion of the Clintons rose a few notches with that revelation.
There is always a next year or a next season with gardening, so maybe they will heed my advice and practice some alternative gardening techniques that would be applicable for those who don't have 1100 square feet on the South Lawn. Those of us who do put in a garden know that that is rather small for a family of 5, so really this is a showplace garden. From the published
diagram, all I see are greens and peas, but it is early Spring and I'll be interested to see how they transition throughout the season to a summer garden. There's lots of lettuce and green leafies, but I don't see any carrots, broccoli, Brussell sprouts, cauliflower, or cabbage. It would seem that those would go in now if they intended to grown them.I hope we will see Michelle really get out there and get dirty, but it's not going to happen. I think she's always been a diva, a Princeton co-ed. She admits she's never had a vegetable garden before. I was surprised to hear that though as I thought that might be why they purchased that little strip of land from Rezko back in 2005-they wanted a garden so the girls could have heirloom tomatoes. ;) Michelle will be out there with the kids for pictures, but the staff will be doing most of the work. I think if you are going to set an example, then you should set an example. Show people that it is tough, don't be elitist and delegate the hard work to the staff.
In the clip I saw on TV, she was dressed inappropriately for the task at hand, wearing stylish black boots no less. I saw her lay a shovel down and rake the grass onto a shovel with her hand, then lift the shovel and move the grass. There was no dirt, no sod, just grass. It was laughable-especially for someone who claims to work out and has such 'toned arms'.(If I've heard the media ooh and aah over her arms once, I've heard them a thousand times) Michelle and the school kids couldn't break the sod with their shovels. All those little plants that they bought to transplant for Insta-Garden were wilting away because they couldn't clear the sod. So they brought the chefs out to help. They were wearing white, always a great color for gardening. Then, Michelle ordered the cameramen to put down the cameras and grab a shovel. The whole thing was hilarious and I hope Michelle got the message that gardening is hard work: It takes time and muscle. It is not something that is squeezed into the day between 2:00 and 2:15 like picking up the dry cleaning. I just love the picture I'm posting. Lots of gardening was done that day! BUT, they did have shovel-shaped cookies and cider for the kiddies. As I look at the picture, I can't help but wonder how much all those brand-new kid-sized mini-shovels added to the tax bill. I'd lay odds that some White House gardener broke out the tiller after dark, too.
My biggest beef to this whole thing is that they can call their garden the "White House Organic Kitchen Garden". Organic?? Since when is the White House Lawn organic? I don't believe it for a second. Are they claiming that the finest lawn in the country is pesticide and herbicide free? Why do the Obama's get to call their garden "Organic" if we can't? Just because the seedlings and transplants are organic doesn't mean that the food will be. Those lettuce roots go down pretty deep-some to 18", some to 60", either way, it will reach far deeper than the depth of their raised beds. Again, this is another educational opportunity lost. I suppose the thing that impresses me the most in this whole venture is the beehives. The White House Carpenter is also a beekeeper, and he will be tending two hives to bring the Obamas honey. That is a great move to help Malia's allergies. As a lifelong allergy sufferer myself, I sympathize with the kid.
I'm glad that the First Family is emphasizing healthy eats and gardening. I just wish that it would be given a more realistic presentation. I hope that in the future, either this summer or next year, while the media remains enamored of them, that they will use this platform to truly help city dwellers develop community gardens or container gardens or even aquaponic gardens. I also think it would be a good idea to bring in experts, someone like Martha Stewart or Mel
Bartholomew, every week or so to teach them how to garden in a small space, in a healthy way, and develop affordable practices like seed saving and starting your own seed vs. buying trendy organic transplants. There could be a different lesson each week. Week one might be about beneficial insects, week two might be how to make good compost, week three, companion planting. Since the Obamas have never had a garden of their own, they could be the star pupils in the gardening class, and even the President could get in on the learning; it would certainly make him more endearing to me. He *is* the one who touts education, and if he and Michelle could admit that they have a lot to learn, it would certainly help his elitist image. I want to see Barack turning the compost. I want to see Michelle take off her boots and play in the dirt for real. I want to see Sasha and Malia plant tomatoes. I want it to be real, not for show. I was hoping for real leadership, real change, real work. I don't see it yet. It is still smoke and mirrors for me, but I continue to have hope that 70 million people saw something genuine in Barack Obama that I haven't been able to see. For me, it seems that he talks a good game. He is certainly a good salesman, especially when it comes to selling himself. I just don't see the substance that others see. Time will tell.
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/white-house-garden-is-not-exactly-shovel-ready/
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Fascism and Socialism
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/17/vets-group-blasts-obama-plan-private-insurance-pay-service-related-health-care/
Obama’s willing to give taxpayer money to corrupt corporations like AIG as a bailout, yet, in a weird turn of events, he expects private insurance companies to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs for care of vets? What?? That makes no sense at all! In my opinion, when someone volunteers to serve his country, and pays a price for that service, then the Federal Government is morally and legally obligated to pay for any medical expenses that are incurred due to that service. I agree with the veterans organizations on this one. It seems that in the last year or so, the federal government's domestic policy parallels it's foreign policy in that there is no set rule or guidelines to play by and things are handled willy-nilly on the fly.
It seems that the government will merge with and bailout corporations it feels it can control for power or profit, and yet throws other corporations to the wind. The government has reduced itself to the corporate level of action. According to the former Fascist dictator of Italy, Benito Musselini , this is fascism. Consider his words:
“Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power.”
“State intervention in economic production arises only when private initiative is lacking or insufficient, or when the political interests of the State are involved. This intervention may take the form of control, assistance or direct management.”
“Democracy is talking itself to death. The people do not know what they want; they do not know what is the best for them. There is too much foolishness, too much lost motion. I have stopped the talk and the nonsense. I am a man of action. Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy. You in America will see that some day.”
I’ve been doing some reading-call it continuing education, because in high school and college, I was a math/science person, and had zero interest in history or economics. I know that I am not alone, so I will pass on ideas or quotes like the above that impact me, and hopefully it will impact you, so if I am way off base in your opinion, feel free to throw in your own ideas.
I’ve been studying the difference between Fascism and Socialism and Communism and how a country succumbs to these oppressive regimes. It doesn’t happen overnight; it is not a goal of revolution, and there is not usually a mass wave of fascism that sweeps a populace. My interest in this was piqued when a former friend (sadly) of mine once referred to the Bush administration as Fascist, and that precipitated my curiosity about it. Of course, since Obama has risen to power, many have said he is a socialist, or would lead the country to socialism. It was all rather confusing. I think our destiny is a bit more complex than simply the ideology of the President. Mismanagement of oversights and corruption within the Congress for more than 10 years has weakened our economy and created a mess blamed on the Bush Administration, but they only share partial responsibility because it was the Congressional Democrats (Dodd, Frank, Pelosi, Kerry) that created the economic time bomb out of personal greed. When it all fell apart, the action taken by Paulson changed us from a capitalist republic to a socialist republic. Many had great hopes for Obama’s economic plan, but now, after even more bailouts, I wonder which path we are really on. I think the problem goes beyond party politics. We got into this mess because of greed. IMO, Paulson, Dodd, Frank, Pelosi and Reid are the Madoffs of the administration, and care more about lining their own pockets than about the welfare of the country they were sworn to serve. It is criminal.
But I digress.
Consider this quote by Frederick Hayak on the rise of Fascism in Europe and the rise of Nazi Germany to power, in his book The Road to Serfdom(bolding is my emphasis on keywords):
“What, then, caused these views held by a reactionary minority [Fascists] finally to gain the support of the great majority of Germans and practically the whole of Germany’s youth? It was not merely the defeat, the suffering, and the wave of nationalism which led to their success… On the contrary, the support which brought these ideas to power came precisely from the socialist camp. It was certainly not through the bourgeoisie, but rather through the absence of a strong bourgeoisie, that they were helped to power."
In this case, the bourgeoisie is the production class, those workers that actually create a product. Here, today, our middle class is not only weak, but disappearing. With Obama’s share the wealth tax plans and socialistic plans for education of ‘youth’ from birth and through adulthood-an agenda that will push a leftist ideology and create a homogenous, socialized serfdom-society, I can’t help but wonder are we setting the stage for a future dictator like Musselini, to rule a country where the people are at the mercy of the corporations of the government? Are we already there? Does anyone know? Does anyone care?
Most people don’t understand economic theory, and even those in power, like a President, will often put trust in one or two people, but do we really know their agenda? Is Wall Street the shiny thing that distracts us from government corporations? We watch Wall Street and the Dow, but who was watching when AIG gave bailout money as bonuses? With education floundering, do people know or care that we are moving towards fascism, or are they too busy with social networking or gaming or other self indulgent activities to look at anything but the shiny thing? Clarence Thomas is right on target when he states this our generation doesn’t know how to sacrifice. We give lip service to it, but that is all. We will put a bumper sticker on our car that says we support the troops, but how many of us volunteer to help those who return with injuries, or help the families of those lost in the wars. Our culture is about self aggrandizement, and while we are all admiring ourselves in the mirror, the world around us is collapsing, and soon the trance electronica state will disappear, because with Fascism comes oppression. Privacy and freedom are almost illusions as it is. Every day, I read about how many cameras follow our daily actions and how many electronic signatures we leave as our mark on the world. Everything is falling into place for the next great dictator. The technology is there, the support is there, the only thing missing is the dictator himself. From the beginning, my concern during these past elections has been the lack of checks and balances in government, and now President Obama is consolidating even more power in the Executive Branch. With ACORN’s ‘help’ in the 2010 census undertaking, the Fed will soon be able to manipulate the states as well.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/17/lawmakers-concerned-role-acorn-census/
I want to be very clear about this. While I believe it is obvious that I lean towards the right-more conservative than liberal, I do not have an axe to grind with Barack Obama. IMO he's done some good things already, but I feel that our President, like the President before him and the one before him, etc. are simply puppets who are led down a path that is pushing our society ever closer to collapse in order to promote a one world government, one currency, one economy, etc. This process began many years ago, but I feel that we are now in the final preparatory days.
Obama’s willing to give taxpayer money to corrupt corporations like AIG as a bailout, yet, in a weird turn of events, he expects private insurance companies to reimburse the Department of Veterans Affairs for care of vets? What?? That makes no sense at all! In my opinion, when someone volunteers to serve his country, and pays a price for that service, then the Federal Government is morally and legally obligated to pay for any medical expenses that are incurred due to that service. I agree with the veterans organizations on this one. It seems that in the last year or so, the federal government's domestic policy parallels it's foreign policy in that there is no set rule or guidelines to play by and things are handled willy-nilly on the fly.
It seems that the government will merge with and bailout corporations it feels it can control for power or profit, and yet throws other corporations to the wind. The government has reduced itself to the corporate level of action. According to the former Fascist dictator of Italy, Benito Musselini , this is fascism. Consider his words:
“Fascism should rightly be called Corporatism, as it is the merger of corporate and government power.”
“State intervention in economic production arises only when private initiative is lacking or insufficient, or when the political interests of the State are involved. This intervention may take the form of control, assistance or direct management.”
“Democracy is talking itself to death. The people do not know what they want; they do not know what is the best for them. There is too much foolishness, too much lost motion. I have stopped the talk and the nonsense. I am a man of action. Democracy is beautiful in theory; in practice it is a fallacy. You in America will see that some day.”
I’ve been doing some reading-call it continuing education, because in high school and college, I was a math/science person, and had zero interest in history or economics. I know that I am not alone, so I will pass on ideas or quotes like the above that impact me, and hopefully it will impact you, so if I am way off base in your opinion, feel free to throw in your own ideas.
I’ve been studying the difference between Fascism and Socialism and Communism and how a country succumbs to these oppressive regimes. It doesn’t happen overnight; it is not a goal of revolution, and there is not usually a mass wave of fascism that sweeps a populace. My interest in this was piqued when a former friend (sadly) of mine once referred to the Bush administration as Fascist, and that precipitated my curiosity about it. Of course, since Obama has risen to power, many have said he is a socialist, or would lead the country to socialism. It was all rather confusing. I think our destiny is a bit more complex than simply the ideology of the President. Mismanagement of oversights and corruption within the Congress for more than 10 years has weakened our economy and created a mess blamed on the Bush Administration, but they only share partial responsibility because it was the Congressional Democrats (Dodd, Frank, Pelosi, Kerry) that created the economic time bomb out of personal greed. When it all fell apart, the action taken by Paulson changed us from a capitalist republic to a socialist republic. Many had great hopes for Obama’s economic plan, but now, after even more bailouts, I wonder which path we are really on. I think the problem goes beyond party politics. We got into this mess because of greed. IMO, Paulson, Dodd, Frank, Pelosi and Reid are the Madoffs of the administration, and care more about lining their own pockets than about the welfare of the country they were sworn to serve. It is criminal.
But I digress.
Consider this quote by Frederick Hayak on the rise of Fascism in Europe and the rise of Nazi Germany to power, in his book The Road to Serfdom(bolding is my emphasis on keywords):
“What, then, caused these views held by a reactionary minority [Fascists] finally to gain the support of the great majority of Germans and practically the whole of Germany’s youth? It was not merely the defeat, the suffering, and the wave of nationalism which led to their success… On the contrary, the support which brought these ideas to power came precisely from the socialist camp. It was certainly not through the bourgeoisie, but rather through the absence of a strong bourgeoisie, that they were helped to power."
In this case, the bourgeoisie is the production class, those workers that actually create a product. Here, today, our middle class is not only weak, but disappearing. With Obama’s share the wealth tax plans and socialistic plans for education of ‘youth’ from birth and through adulthood-an agenda that will push a leftist ideology and create a homogenous, socialized serfdom-society, I can’t help but wonder are we setting the stage for a future dictator like Musselini, to rule a country where the people are at the mercy of the corporations of the government? Are we already there? Does anyone know? Does anyone care?
Most people don’t understand economic theory, and even those in power, like a President, will often put trust in one or two people, but do we really know their agenda? Is Wall Street the shiny thing that distracts us from government corporations? We watch Wall Street and the Dow, but who was watching when AIG gave bailout money as bonuses? With education floundering, do people know or care that we are moving towards fascism, or are they too busy with social networking or gaming or other self indulgent activities to look at anything but the shiny thing? Clarence Thomas is right on target when he states this our generation doesn’t know how to sacrifice. We give lip service to it, but that is all. We will put a bumper sticker on our car that says we support the troops, but how many of us volunteer to help those who return with injuries, or help the families of those lost in the wars. Our culture is about self aggrandizement, and while we are all admiring ourselves in the mirror, the world around us is collapsing, and soon the trance electronica state will disappear, because with Fascism comes oppression. Privacy and freedom are almost illusions as it is. Every day, I read about how many cameras follow our daily actions and how many electronic signatures we leave as our mark on the world. Everything is falling into place for the next great dictator. The technology is there, the support is there, the only thing missing is the dictator himself. From the beginning, my concern during these past elections has been the lack of checks and balances in government, and now President Obama is consolidating even more power in the Executive Branch. With ACORN’s ‘help’ in the 2010 census undertaking, the Fed will soon be able to manipulate the states as well.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/17/lawmakers-concerned-role-acorn-census/
I want to be very clear about this. While I believe it is obvious that I lean towards the right-more conservative than liberal, I do not have an axe to grind with Barack Obama. IMO he's done some good things already, but I feel that our President, like the President before him and the one before him, etc. are simply puppets who are led down a path that is pushing our society ever closer to collapse in order to promote a one world government, one currency, one economy, etc. This process began many years ago, but I feel that we are now in the final preparatory days.
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Sugar Sugar
I bought some stevia at the store last week. It is the stevia extract sold in packets like sugar and sugar substitutes. I've grown and used stevia before, so I felt like I knew what I was getting, however, the extract, while sweet, does have a bit of taste to it. I don't recall the leaf having a taste like this, so it must be from the extraction process, maybe even the solvent. It is not unpleasant, not bitter, but I can tell the difference between this stevia extract and table sugar in my coffee. I bought it simply out of curiosity, as stevia does not adversely affect one's blood sugar levels the way sucrose, table sugar, does. I have family members with diabetes, and you just never know what health surprises the future might hold.
Table sugar is historically made from sugar cane (see photo) or from beets, natural plants. Chemicals like saccharin and aspartame are not plant derived, and even though High Fructose Corn Syrup *is* plant derived, I think it borders on being evil. I learned recently that in Mexico and in other countries around the world, Coca cola is made with sugar, not high fructose corn syrup(HFCS) like here in the states. The fructose from sugar cane is actually sweeter than the the HFCS, so you use less and the result tastes better. Most people don't realize that before 1985, Coke was made with cane sugar. When New Coke failed and Coke Classic emerged, it really wasn't the same formula as the sugar had been replaced with high fructose corn syrup. Due to tariffs and trade barriers, HFCS is cheaper than sugar.
In every two liter bottle of soda, there is the equivalent of one bottle of Karo syrup in it. You do know that Karo is corn syrup, right? From a health perspective, this presents multiple problems. Because HFCS is less sweet, you need more of it to satisfy taste, and it seems that it is now in everything you buy-they are even putting it in honey now, so be sure of your honey source! Mostly the corn used is GMO corn. That alone is a reason to stop drinking soft drinks. There is even evidence that the process used to make HFCS taints the product with mercury. HFCS also contains more carbonyl compounds than cane or beet sugar. These substances are often cytotoxic, meaning that they kill cells in the human body, and are often the cause for diabetic ulcers and poor circulatory effects.
Recently, Pepsi announced that it is considering a return to using cane sugar in it's soft drinks. I've always been a Coke fan, (growing up in the Atlanta 'burbs you can't be anything but a Coke fan!) but perhaps I will give Pepsi another try if they make the switch. For the most part, I have cut back on soft drinks, but I do love a coke every now and then the way some folks like a beer on a hot day or at the ball park. Old habits die hard. I'd rather consume Mexican Coke with sugar than American coke with HFCS.
Obesity and Diabetes are out of control in the United States. This was not the case 50 years ago. Is our gluttony, industrial substitutes like HFCS, or physical inactivity to blame? Perhaps it is bit of all three for most of America. We used to walk across the living room to adjust the volume on the TV or radio, now can even turn on lights, ceiling fans, and air conditioners with remote controls. Some people might be pre-disposed genetically, but mostly I think it all boils down to personal responsibility. Triple E. Educate yourself about food additives and food itself. Eat with your lifestyle in consideration (manual laborers need more calories than office workers), and Exercise as much as you can. I'm wiggling my feet as I type since I am still 30-40 pounds away from my goal and officially 25 pounds overweight.
Chef Jamie Oliver, AKA the Naked Chef, suggests that President Obama tax sugar. What needs to be taxed is High Fructose Corn Syrup. If manufacturers would eliminate HFCS from food products, the health of this country would improve in less than 5 years, I think. Not only could the tax generate income for health care, but long term, diseases exacerbated by obesity would dwindle and reduce the need for expensive treatments. It the loss of sales from HFCS might even put a dent in Monsanto's pocket.
I think I will send our President a letter. Feel free to join me. His newly appointed and confirmed Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack (D), is pro-GMO corn-the former governor of Iowa-the nation's leading corn producer. Nothing will change if we don't speak up. Vilsack certainly would not be in favor of a tax on HFCS.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Panem et circenses
The subject of the economy and President Obama's speech came up on one of my email groups. It got me thinking about the way things are, so today, I am posting a rant here in response.
She wrote:
I figure if we owe nothing, no matter what he does we'll be o.k.
I do wish the voters had actually gone out and done their homework! Now all I can do is light some candles, burn a smudge and hope to whom or whatever that the Chinese don't call the loans due!
I never thought I'd say it but I think we have actually gone from the frying pan into the fire! Dumbya had our grandchildren and great-grands in debt. This circus is going to have 7 generations in debt OR MORE!
I'm fed up. FED UP with the status quo. I know a lot of people are as well. I don't know who to be angry with, who to complain to, or what good any action in isolation will do. I don't think things will be okay for everyone. I used to think that as long as I stay out of trouble and pay my debt, I'd be left alone and I could be as eccentric as I wanted to be... No mas.
Electing McCain/Palin would have been jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Maybe we could have put the fire out after that administration left office. I think the damage done would have been mitigable. I think electing Obama/Biden landed us right in the blast furnace. There is nothing I can do about the generations of debt that will have to be paid as a result of the dishonesty in the upper echelons of government AND private corporations. The damage is done, and thousands of people are laughing all the way to the bank. I just have to hunker down and try to pay off my own debt as quickly as possible. With my additional $13/week, I suppose the best thing to do is to buy seeds. I'm feeling pretty pessimistic about things today, so take that into consideration for what is coming. Sometimes, I find myself actually hoping that 2012 really is the end of the world as we know it, because the world as we know it sucks and it's getting worse, not better. Perhaps we will all have the option of crossing into a parallel universe, one where the concept of greed doesn't exist.
By non-conforming, am I making myself a target for surveillance? By expressing my opinion, am I setting myself up for censure or worse? Am I over-reacting, responding to some Brave New World paranoia? I don't think so. I've heard stories of dissident relocation camps for years. I think I might have even seen one. If such things do exist, I'm bound to end up there one day because of my views. You can call me crazy-I heard that back in the 1980's when I was talking about genetically engineered animals and food. Twenty five years later, it is ubiquitous, the problem is that no one knows it, so I am still the crazy one who sees GMO's everywhere.
There are people that referred to the Bush administration as Fascist. Is the current administration really better, or does it just use a different approach? The Bush Administration produced the Patriot Act to spy on us because 'we must protect ourselves against the terrorist next door-it's for the public good, for safety'. The Obama Administration produces the Smart Grid(11 billion appropriated in the stimulus package) and wants to use Enhanced ID to qualify for his social programs. That is spying on us for 'our own well-being and for energy conservation and the public good-for safety'.
If you ever saw the movie "White Knights" with Mikhail Baryshnikov, you know that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics monitored it's citizens. Neighbors were encouraged to rat on neighbors, and it led to genocide ...65 million or more. The Nazis also spied on their own people....more death followed.
In fairness, this issue goes beyond party politics, really. For half a century, we have been consistently giving up our rights for the sake of safety or convenience. We talk about Big Brother and the government usually during the Republican administrations because it is during those years we look outward at the world and deal with security and foreign policy. Usually, during Democratic administrations, the focus is more on budgets, the economy, healthcare and other domestic issues. The Obama administration is on new ground, mixing the two. Big Brother is now Super Brother after the largest increase in the size of government in American history. The red states and the blue states are all in the same situation. If we are still around in eight years, we certainly won't have any privacy left. The Enhanced ID allows tracking of individuals and now with the Smart Grid, GE food, and control of the banks, energy, and homeland security, the American people will be in a full out guillotine choke. The powers that be, the PRO government (Pelosi, Reid, Obama) just hope that the people won't notice the loss of privacy and personal rights, or if we have been properly brainwashed and conditioned, we won't care, because it is for the good of all. It is worse than more of the same; the escalation in our loss of individualism and privacy is non-linear. Americans are in a Brave New World, but other countries have preceded us.
The Initial Decrees of the Bolshevik party were really similar to the promises we hear today....I realize that most folks these days apparently want socialism, but what road are we traveling?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolshevik_Initial_Decrees
1. The Decree on Peace outlined measures for Russia's withdrawal from the First World War without "payment of indemnities or annexations".
To me, that sounds a lot like Obama saying that we will get out of the Middle East and honor his commitment to veterans by expanding the VA and increasing pay.
2. The Decree on Land outlined measures by which the peasants were to divide up rural land among themselves. It advocated the forceful dissolution of many wealthy estates by peasant forces.
When I read that, my first thought was "Share the Wealth" I recall that story about homeless people squatting in foreclosed McMansions...
3. The Workers' Decrees outlined measures for minimum wage, limitations on workers' hours, and the running of factories by elected workers' committees. This consolidated Bolshevik support amongst the working classes in the cities, where they had taken power.
We are raising wages, encouraging unions, and giving tax cuts to the working class.
If you have some time, you should read some of these decrees. It's not so different from where we are today. It's a bit unnerving considering the latest accusations of power grabs by the Executive Branch and the Democratic Party(e.g. census matrix, new appointments, etc. etc.)
Where are we headed??
Speaking of circuses...
… iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli uendimus, effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat, panem et circenses.
… Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses
(Juvenal, Satire 10.77–81) Roman poet, almost 2000 years ago, still relevant today.
She wrote:
I figure if we owe nothing, no matter what he does we'll be o.k.
I do wish the voters had actually gone out and done their homework! Now all I can do is light some candles, burn a smudge and hope to whom or whatever that the Chinese don't call the loans due!
I never thought I'd say it but I think we have actually gone from the frying pan into the fire! Dumbya had our grandchildren and great-grands in debt. This circus is going to have 7 generations in debt OR MORE!
I'm fed up. FED UP with the status quo. I know a lot of people are as well. I don't know who to be angry with, who to complain to, or what good any action in isolation will do. I don't think things will be okay for everyone. I used to think that as long as I stay out of trouble and pay my debt, I'd be left alone and I could be as eccentric as I wanted to be... No mas.
Electing McCain/Palin would have been jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Maybe we could have put the fire out after that administration left office. I think the damage done would have been mitigable. I think electing Obama/Biden landed us right in the blast furnace. There is nothing I can do about the generations of debt that will have to be paid as a result of the dishonesty in the upper echelons of government AND private corporations. The damage is done, and thousands of people are laughing all the way to the bank. I just have to hunker down and try to pay off my own debt as quickly as possible. With my additional $13/week, I suppose the best thing to do is to buy seeds. I'm feeling pretty pessimistic about things today, so take that into consideration for what is coming. Sometimes, I find myself actually hoping that 2012 really is the end of the world as we know it, because the world as we know it sucks and it's getting worse, not better. Perhaps we will all have the option of crossing into a parallel universe, one where the concept of greed doesn't exist.
By non-conforming, am I making myself a target for surveillance? By expressing my opinion, am I setting myself up for censure or worse? Am I over-reacting, responding to some Brave New World paranoia? I don't think so. I've heard stories of dissident relocation camps for years. I think I might have even seen one. If such things do exist, I'm bound to end up there one day because of my views. You can call me crazy-I heard that back in the 1980's when I was talking about genetically engineered animals and food. Twenty five years later, it is ubiquitous, the problem is that no one knows it, so I am still the crazy one who sees GMO's everywhere.
There are people that referred to the Bush administration as Fascist. Is the current administration really better, or does it just use a different approach? The Bush Administration produced the Patriot Act to spy on us because 'we must protect ourselves against the terrorist next door-it's for the public good, for safety'. The Obama Administration produces the Smart Grid(11 billion appropriated in the stimulus package) and wants to use Enhanced ID to qualify for his social programs. That is spying on us for 'our own well-being and for energy conservation and the public good-for safety'.
If you ever saw the movie "White Knights" with Mikhail Baryshnikov, you know that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics monitored it's citizens. Neighbors were encouraged to rat on neighbors, and it led to genocide ...65 million or more. The Nazis also spied on their own people....more death followed.
In fairness, this issue goes beyond party politics, really. For half a century, we have been consistently giving up our rights for the sake of safety or convenience. We talk about Big Brother and the government usually during the Republican administrations because it is during those years we look outward at the world and deal with security and foreign policy. Usually, during Democratic administrations, the focus is more on budgets, the economy, healthcare and other domestic issues. The Obama administration is on new ground, mixing the two. Big Brother is now Super Brother after the largest increase in the size of government in American history. The red states and the blue states are all in the same situation. If we are still around in eight years, we certainly won't have any privacy left. The Enhanced ID allows tracking of individuals and now with the Smart Grid, GE food, and control of the banks, energy, and homeland security, the American people will be in a full out guillotine choke. The powers that be, the PRO government (Pelosi, Reid, Obama) just hope that the people won't notice the loss of privacy and personal rights, or if we have been properly brainwashed and conditioned, we won't care, because it is for the good of all. It is worse than more of the same; the escalation in our loss of individualism and privacy is non-linear. Americans are in a Brave New World, but other countries have preceded us.
The Initial Decrees of the Bolshevik party were really similar to the promises we hear today....I realize that most folks these days apparently want socialism, but what road are we traveling?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolshevik_Initial_Decrees
1. The Decree on Peace outlined measures for Russia's withdrawal from the First World War without "payment of indemnities or annexations".
To me, that sounds a lot like Obama saying that we will get out of the Middle East and honor his commitment to veterans by expanding the VA and increasing pay.
2. The Decree on Land outlined measures by which the peasants were to divide up rural land among themselves. It advocated the forceful dissolution of many wealthy estates by peasant forces.
When I read that, my first thought was "Share the Wealth" I recall that story about homeless people squatting in foreclosed McMansions...
3. The Workers' Decrees outlined measures for minimum wage, limitations on workers' hours, and the running of factories by elected workers' committees. This consolidated Bolshevik support amongst the working classes in the cities, where they had taken power.
We are raising wages, encouraging unions, and giving tax cuts to the working class.
If you have some time, you should read some of these decrees. It's not so different from where we are today. It's a bit unnerving considering the latest accusations of power grabs by the Executive Branch and the Democratic Party(e.g. census matrix, new appointments, etc. etc.)
Where are we headed??
Speaking of circuses...
… iam pridem, ex quo suffragia nulli uendimus, effudit curas; nam qui dabat olim imperium, fasces, legiones, omnia, nunc se continet atque duas tantum res anxius optat, panem et circenses.
… Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions — everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses
(Juvenal, Satire 10.77–81) Roman poet, almost 2000 years ago, still relevant today.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Red Burgundy Onions
I planted some onions today, 'Red Burgundy' from seed. I usually put out sets, but have often tried to grow the wrong onion type. Thanks to Rob W., I now understand long, short, and neutral day types, and I realize that I was probably planting long day onions in the South, which is fine if you want 'green onions' but not if you want bulb onions. Last November I planted a bunch of onion sets that were simply labeled 'yellow onions'(from Bonnie's, I think). If they were indeed short day onions, they should show some bulb growth now, I think, since we have 11 hours of daylight, but they really aren't too much larger now than when I planted them, if at all. So today, while at Home Deposit spending our tax refund on a new water heater(note that I had to fight not to say hot water heater) I also grabbed some zinna, German chamomile, garlic chives and onion seeds. Yeehaw!
I planted the onions in a flat-intensively spaced about an inch apart, so that I would be able to easily prick them out and transplant them to the ground later. I planted my Yukon Gold potatoes today, and I'll put these onions in the ground right next to the potatoes when they are ready. If I have excess, then I will interplant my strawberries, which are due to arrive next week. The third spot will be the lettuce bed. Onions are good companions to potatoes, strawberries, and lettuce.
I'm really excited about getting strawberries again. It has been a few years since I grew them. I had a nice tiered bed made of rocks and stone, but it was outside the garden fence and I could not protect the berries from the critters. Lesson learned. This time last year, I built another tiered bed, this time with metal siding like my other monster beds INSIDE the garden fence. It should hold 25 strawberry plants (~6x4) so I got 12 Tristar and 12 Tribune plants from Stark Bros. I'll be happy if I get enough to make 6 or 7 pints of jam and some strawberry shortcake!
The garden is coming along, and it really helps that DH is getting involved this year. I am rather excited about the kitchen herb garden bed he is creating. I'll write more about that later as plans finalize. When I was in town yesterday, people at H&R Block were making jokes at Obama's expense, rhetorically asking if he would pay their taxes, and then later, at the local feed and seed store, more disgust was heard when people were looking at seeds and planning their larger than usual gardens. The fact that I was there on the day that the ever so unpopular economic stimulus/porkbarrel bill was passed was probably the determining factor, but I can say that people are angry with the leadership in this country, and that anger bridges party lines, and government/corporate lines. There is definitely a general unrest brewing in the working class. My guess is that the media will absorb the brunt of this anger, but only time will tell how this plays out. Of course, rural Georgia is Republican, and I realize that I am only seeing a local phenomenon, but I can't help but think that this anger is a seed that will grow if Obama doesn't turn things around quickly, and quite frankly, he is off to a rough start with all his Clinton era and or failed appointments and nominations and this stimulus bill. What happened to CHANGE?
I planted the onions in a flat-intensively spaced about an inch apart, so that I would be able to easily prick them out and transplant them to the ground later. I planted my Yukon Gold potatoes today, and I'll put these onions in the ground right next to the potatoes when they are ready. If I have excess, then I will interplant my strawberries, which are due to arrive next week. The third spot will be the lettuce bed. Onions are good companions to potatoes, strawberries, and lettuce.
I'm really excited about getting strawberries again. It has been a few years since I grew them. I had a nice tiered bed made of rocks and stone, but it was outside the garden fence and I could not protect the berries from the critters. Lesson learned. This time last year, I built another tiered bed, this time with metal siding like my other monster beds INSIDE the garden fence. It should hold 25 strawberry plants (~6x4) so I got 12 Tristar and 12 Tribune plants from Stark Bros. I'll be happy if I get enough to make 6 or 7 pints of jam and some strawberry shortcake!
The garden is coming along, and it really helps that DH is getting involved this year. I am rather excited about the kitchen herb garden bed he is creating. I'll write more about that later as plans finalize. When I was in town yesterday, people at H&R Block were making jokes at Obama's expense, rhetorically asking if he would pay their taxes, and then later, at the local feed and seed store, more disgust was heard when people were looking at seeds and planning their larger than usual gardens. The fact that I was there on the day that the ever so unpopular economic stimulus/porkbarrel bill was passed was probably the determining factor, but I can say that people are angry with the leadership in this country, and that anger bridges party lines, and government/corporate lines. There is definitely a general unrest brewing in the working class. My guess is that the media will absorb the brunt of this anger, but only time will tell how this plays out. Of course, rural Georgia is Republican, and I realize that I am only seeing a local phenomenon, but I can't help but think that this anger is a seed that will grow if Obama doesn't turn things around quickly, and quite frankly, he is off to a rough start with all his Clinton era and or failed appointments and nominations and this stimulus bill. What happened to CHANGE?
Friday, February 13, 2009
Stimulus or Pork? Promises Broken
Today is Friday the 13th. It may turn out to be a sad and unlucky day for the country. More and more I find myself at odds with what is happening in America. Whether it is Branjelina, OctoMom, or Obamamania, I honestly do not understand why the majority of my fellow citizens cannot see truth through the media's love affair with celebrity. Celebrity should not dictate the future of this country. Today, the Senate, passed a so-called stimulus bill, a 1000+ page document that supposedly spends almost 800 million dollars(or more) of our tax money in an effort to stimulate the economy, create jobs, and help state budgets. Obama is to sign it on Monday. The problem is, that by most accounts, it will do none of what it was designed to do. It is pork, plain and simple. Worse, the senators that passed the bill never even read it. There was less than 10 hours between the time the bill was made public and the time the bill was passed(11pm on 2/12 to 9am on 2/13). It is physically impossible to read the largest spending bill in US history in that amount of time. I believe that what is happening to politics in this country borders on criminality. There is no honesty or accountability, words and promises mean nothing. Transparency? The administration is not 3 weeks old and has broken many promises already, the latest being that they would publish bills 48 hours before a vote so that all of America could read and then weigh in with their Reps and Senators-that even though they would have a majority, that all would be fair, just, and above board. HA! Meanwhile, Obama smoothtalks America as if he is still campaigning. I really hoped to be proven wrong regarding my judgment of our President, but so far, he is not impressing me.
