Halloween in Hancock

(Please scroll down for the Saturday Wordzzle Challenge.)

Hancock loves Halloween. Almost every kid is accompanied by a parent or both parents. Some Moms dress up too... no fathers that I saw dressed up, but plenty of fathers were out with their kids, which I thought was great. I think I probably had about 70 kids come to the door. All cute and sweet. Photos leave a lot to be desired, but I thought you might enjoy them anyway.

Some parents dress up too...

Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 37

This is week 37 of the Saturday Wordzzle Challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works.

Ok... got distracted by Halloween.... twice.... lots of adorable trick or treaters here. I have no idea what I wrote. Think I got all the words in. I hope so. Trick or treaters are still coming in dribs and drabs and I have company as well, so I'm a touch distracted. As always I left it until the last minute completely forgetting to factor Halloween into the equation. Yikes. I'm to blame for next week's words. Week after, I'll use up what's left from donations from Melli and Chatty. As always, I'm looking forward to reading all the creative brilliance that's out there. You are all just awesome.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: squeaky toy, perpendicular, olives, shanty, howling at the moon, soul, bow and arrow, uniform, statistics, praying mantis Mini Challenge: glamour, rocking chair, cormorant, objective, symbolism


My ten-word offering for this week:

Rover Drover Party’s Over, dog among dogs, stood howling at the moon, his favorite squeaky toy – a huge plastic praying mantis - at his feet. Although his estate was not palatial – was in fact a mere shanty with barely perpendicular walls of decidedly un-uniform size, he had a good life. His human, Bart, was a poor but honest pizza delivery man, a kind soul with a generous heart and a peculiar gift for statistics. Among other things, he could tell you the number and percentage of olives used per pizza and the percentage of each kind of pizza he delivered. Tonight he had changed from his pizza shirt into his hunting uniform – mufti and a bow and arrow. This was the one aspect of his human’s life that Rover Dover did not approve of… Hunting was anathema to him. Luckily, Bart had no talent for actually killing anything, could barely shoot and never realized that his dog’s moon song was not a celebration of their adventure so much as an early warning to his fellow creatures to make themselves scarce.


And here's my mini challenge:

It was hard to think that the crone-like old woman sitting in the rocking chair looking as much like a hungry cormorant as anything else, had once been a symbol of glamour and beauty. Although not the most objective observer, the symbolism of this decline was not lost on Hannah Smith, who had always known her mother’s beauty to be only skin deep – or not even that – simply a mass illusion to those who chose not to see the meanness of spirit that even make-up, fancy clothing and jewels could not mask to anyone who looked carefully.


And the mega challenge:

Actress Amanda Bunting was furious. She was a star, an important person, a woman of glamour and prestige… and this place, this, this… place was virtually a shanty, not the 5-star hotel she had been promised. Who ever heard of perpendicular blinds in a 5-star hotel?? “Hideous,” she screamed, “get me the manager.” And I hate the color. Didn’t my agent tell you that I could bear nothing in olive green? And what’s with all this nature crap? I hate nature. Bad enough the painting of the wolf howling at the moon, but a cormorant and a praying mantis!!! Who picked this hell hole? Whoever they are they’re fired. Oh, and I hate rocking chairs too. Make it go away. It’s all about symbolism, she ranted on. The objective of this whole trip is to enhance my image, not make me look like some deer loving, bow and arrow toting nature girl. Get me out of here now and into some posh suite with staff in uniforms. Check the statistics and find out where the five most popular actresses stay when they’re in town. Go! Now! Or you're all fired. You're all fired anyway." And then as though another person had taken over her body she turned to the small dog which had sat quietly on her side and simpered in as baby-talky a voice as opposite the shrew who had just been ranting as possible… "Pooky pup, my little squeaky toy, come to mama… You are my heart and soul you little sweetums boy… Here’s your toy baby… fetch… ooo mama loves you”


This week's vanity wordzzle used the words: oodles of noodles, Empire State Building, turmoil, aluminum foil, naval lint, posh, pixie, termite, gander, tendonitis

“Take a gander at this,” Mavis bellowed, elbowing Lois violently in the ribs. They were standing on the observation deck of the Empire State Building and what with Lois having a fear of heights, she resented even more than usual, Mavis’ tendency toward violent expressions of her excitement. “What!” she snapped, expecting some ridiculous observation about termites or posh frocks as Mavis called anything she thought she couldn’t afford. Lois gritted her teeth remembering long tedious conversations about everything from the virtues of Oodles of Noodles as opposed to Cup O Soup, to the uses of aluminum foil. And they had once discussed - at great, great length - whether or not there really was such as thing as naval lint. Trying to control her inner turmoil Lois stood poised for another nightmare conversation and wished she was anywhere but here with Mavis, kind, irritating Mavis who would do anything for anyone, who was kind to the core, and who was beyond a doubt the most boring and infuriating person Lois had ever met. Yet Lois loved her in spite of this and that was why, despite sore feet and severe tendonitis she had agreed to an “adventure” in the big city. “Mavis, dear, I’m so tired. Can’t we go somewhere and have a cup of coffee or something?” “Lois, quick!” The elbow was there again. “What IS it, damn it?” Lois snapped, her tiredness getting the better of her. “Just LOOK, would you, before it goes away?” “Before WHAT goes away?” “The pixie!” Mavis all but shrieked. “The pixie?” Lois rolled her eyes to heaven. Even for Mavis, this was a bit much. But then she turned and there, as real as the ache in her bones, was a tiny winged being, hopping on one foot and doing what Lois imagined was the fairy version of swearing. Without thinking, Lois whispered gently, “May we help you?” “Don’t talk to it,” Mavis whispered nervously. “But it’s hurt…” “Can we help you small being?” she asked again. She had decided on small being because stare as she might she could not determine whether the wee creature was male or female. The creature stopped hopping at that and looked at her intensely. “Kind of you to ask… Not many of your kind would, you know.” “My kind?” “Humans, don’t ya know,” “Oh, yes, I see. Well, I would imagine the opportunity doesn’t come up very often, though, “ Lois felt a need to defend her species. “Well, I suppose you’re right about that,” the creature agreed. “But still it was a generous gesture.” “Well, you seemed like you were in pain.” “Indeed I was. Sprained my wing, don’t ya know.” “Not really. I don’t know much about wings. How did you wind up on the Empire State Building? “Wind tunnel,” the creature replied. “Then I lost my bearings. You are quite kind. I think I must reward you.” “Oh, no, that’s not really necessary.” Mavis was nudging her in the ribs again. She was just starting to say something when the pixie her gave a quick wink and a little smile. “Ouch!” Mavis shrieked. “She won’t do that again,” the creature laughed and was gone. “Thanks,” Lois smiled. It was the perfect gift. “Let’s have that cup of coffee, Mavis.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~


Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: France, cold weather, backhoe, light and shadow, Humane society, ambivalent, “Happy Birthday, Sarah Jane,” Martians, Thanksgiving Day Parade, green eyes

Mini Challenge: she’ll be comin' round the mountain when she comes, pumpkin pie, yellow jacket, short-changed, life after 50


Thanks for playing. For those who are new, here are some guidelines to make the process more fun.

Enjoy! See you next week.

DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR NAME TO MR. LINKY!!!!!

Maybe My Last Politican Rant

Less than a week now and all the votes will be cast. Barring unforseen circumstances, this will probably be my last political post until election day or afterwards.

I do have to say one last thing about the nature of this campaign. I know there have been worse campaigns in American history but not lately. I don't agree with the McCain Palin philosophy of life but that isn't my biggest problem with their campaign. It's that they haven't run a campaign on the basis of their differences. They have campaigned on slander and hate and lies. Some of those lies, alas, are sticking in part because people are easily swayed by fear and by ways to rationalize racism. What gives me hope about this country is that they haven't stuck as much as they might have. Still, my next door neighbor said to me yesterday that she doesn't like McCain, but she's anxious that Obama has hung out with terrorists. Makes me want to scream. Makes me want to cry. If Obama wins, for some people the lies that have been thrown will continue to stick to him. For many, the "us and them" idea of America will continue to simmer. In a time of crisis, when the nation needs to pull together, Obama has campaigned on his ideas and hopes for all Americans. McCain has campaigned on smear tactics and distortions of the truth, and the idea that some of us love this country more than others. I don't expect anybody's mind to be changed at this point in time, but this ugliness has troubled me more than almost anything else. The fact that it has had so much traction is sad and troubling. The fact that it has not taken hold as the GOP hoped it would, gives me hope that America has crossed a bridge. I hope so.

Some things I'd like to see for the future in this country:

* I think it's time to eliminate the Electoral College. Stupid system in the current century.

* I'd like to see a return - I don't know how it can happen - to a news media that is impartial, informed and researches and reports with reason and impartiality. I think that the state of our news media is one of the greatest dangers that democracy faces. The fact that a non-story, like ACORN has gotten so much traction, while the greater threat of caging and disenfranchising voters gets much less significant coverage, though it is in fact the significant threat. A media which has acted in many ways as a mouth piece for gossip and slander is a danger to us all.

* I'd like to see an end to using hate, fear mongering and deceitl to manipulate people.

* I'd like to see a restoration of the law, the constitution and America's ethical compass.

* I'd like to see criminal trials for George Bush, Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales and others who have done devastating harm here and abroad and broken dozens of ethical and constitutional laws to do so.

That's my rant for the day.

Here's an interview that Barack Obama did with Jon Stewart on The Daily Show last night. For anyone who is interested, here's a good interview with Charlie Gibson too in which he talks about how he hopes to run a bi-partisan administration to cope with the problems of the nation.

Virtually Obsessed

Hi,

I've been kind of scarce the past day or so and I thought I'd just say "hi," and explain that in order to cope with my demented election obsession, I have adopted a Virtual Village and am spending time obsessing about that. They are well on their way to self sufficiency at the moment so hopefully I will return shortly. I'm still obsessing about politics but this seems to be keeping me from exploding and that's always a good thing.

It has been very cold here. Yesterday morning I took this picture of show on the mountains. Can you believe it? This morning there was snow on my back porch. Didn't get around to photographing it, though.



Anyway, I'll probably be back tomorrow. Not sure if I'll be ranting about life or politics but I think I'll be back. Meanwhile, I hope those in cold climates are staying warm and those in warm climates are staying cool.

Autism's Friend in Name Only: The Fruit Fly Controversy

My friend Linda, whose young son has been diagnosed with autism, asked me to write something about the questionable nature of Sarah Palin's alleged support for families coping with autism and other disabilities. In a recent speech - her first major policy address - Mrs. Palin apparently dismissed some of the most promising research in the field of autism (work with fruit flies) as "wasteful earmark spending." As with her research into what the job of Vice President might entail, what a precondition is, or a host of other topics, Mrs. Palin apparently hasn't bothered to learn much about her pet cause of helping families struggling with disabilities either. Glibness may be entertaining in the short term, but glibness, especially when there is little or no substance behind it, has the potential for disaster in the long run. My own knowledge on the subject autism research is decidedly lacking, but here is a wonderfully concise explanation for how far off the mark Mrs. Palin's speech was.

Families who think Mrs. Palin and Mr. McCain will be their allies might want to think twice. It seems like another thing they share with Mr. Bush is an complete absence of understanding of the meaning of words like compassion and empathy.

Check out Linda's These are the Days blog for more information on autism and this subject.

A Song for Monday

My friend Kim sent this to me this morning in my email and it's such a gloomy, cold, gray day here today, that I thought a little music might be just the thing. Hope you enjoy the song even if you're not an Obama fan.

Just in case you missed it, don't forget to check out the Obama/Biden tax calculator and see how much you'll save if/when they are elected.

One Single Impression: Gift

This week's prompt for One Single Impression was "gift." It's been a while since I participated. Too immersed in politics and feeling irritable. I have a longer poem cooking in my head but I'm too distracted to finish it at the moment. Mixed bag here, not sure there are any gifts. You can click on them to make them larger and easier to read.

I really can't wait
Surely it will be a gift
When all votes are cast
When election day has passed
And a choice - for good or ill - is made

Six Random Things about Me

I got tagged for a meme by PeppyLady and since I haven't done one in a long time and since it seemed like it might be a way to stop obsessing about politics for a wee while, I thought I'd go with it.

Here are the rules (I'm ignoring #s 4 & 5):

1. Link to the person or persons who tagged you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post and link to them.
5. Let each person know they’ve been tagged and leave a comment on their blog
6. Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Yikes... Now I have to think of something to say. Hmmmm... Ok... This is hard....

Random Thing # 1: I love rocks. When I still lived in NYC and when I was still able to leave the house, my therapist's office was right across the street from a place called Astro Minerals. They had a back room where you could get some pretty cool rocks for almost no money. And because I visited them every week and often talked other people into buying stuff, they were very fond of me and gave me really good deals. Best deal ever. My amythyst geode which I got at cost. I have dragged its gorgeous tonnage from New York to Arizona to Lake Huntington, NY to Narrowsburg, NY (up a flight of stairs) to Callicoon and now to its and my own (I hope) final resting place here in Hancock. I made a collage of some of my rocks. It didn't come out very good but it did take me almost all day. Agh. It's huge. If you click on it, you can see it in all it's enormosity. (I know enormosity is not a word, but I think it ought to be.)

Random Thing #2: I have a half written children's book that I'd really like to finish. It's called AMANDA AND THE COOKIE WITCH and is aimed at pre-teen girls. I also have a couple of books for younger children that star Charlie and Sadie, my Cindy's dogs and their magic hole. So far they have visited China and Hawaii. I have a visit to Africa half finished and about two sentences of a visit to Australia. I need inspiration. I need ambition. I need an agent. If anyone has a daughter that age or is just a glutton for punishment, I'd love some thoughts on whether I'm on target for that age group.

Random Thing #3: I love books, but I recently decided to give away a great many of my books to the local school library. So far, Mrs. Law, the delightful librarian from the school, has taken about six boxes. I gave her all my parents art and nature books, all my Hermann Hesse, the Ring trilogy and a host of other items. In the next round, I will probably give her my Harry Potter's, though my inner child is kind of pissed about that. I'm not likely to read most of my books again and I'm not physically able to care for them properly. It just seems right that they should be in available to the young (or old) and curious. It's interesting what books I can't let go of. Chaucer, PG Wodehouse, most of my poetry books and much (but not all) of the more esoteric things. I was really thrilled that Mrs. Law was open to pretty much everything I had to offer. Cool.

Random Thing #4: My really, really kind friends, Nate and Dan are going to give me some new furniture. Nate's sister is giving them furniture so they are giving their furniture to me. My current decor is a not very comfortable sofa that I found on the porch when I moved into my apartment in Callicoon, an oversized end table that somebody else didn't want and an oversized chair (that I still love) from my old days in NYC. I desperately want a new TV. Even if I shouldn't, if I can possibly swing it, I REALLY want a flat-screen TV. I'm going to put it into my center bookshelf. I had a 22 year old TV which needed 30 minutes to warm up before the picture came on and flickered oddly and wasn't very good. Nate and Dan again came to my rescue with something the neighbors were getting rid of. It's old too but not as old and more importantly, it works. So I'm very lucky. Still, I REALLY want a digital, flat screen TV.... and maybe to move up from 20 inches to 26. Wouldn't that be awesome! We will see. I'm hoping that the prices will go down significantly in January or February. Of course the economy may kill my dream, but maybe not. I'll just keep dreaming it.

Random Thing #5: I was a music major when I started college. Major on the clarinet, minor on the piano. I flunked out of music in part because I was too shy to have anyone hear me play (some musician). What I did get out of my time as a music major was discovering that I'm not a tenor but a soprano. I sang with the New York Choral Society at one time... lasted through the concert with Peter Paul and Mary at Carnegie Hall before my self doubt again conquered the joy of being part of something so delightful. I was lucky enough to have a piano for most of my life until I moved to Arizona. Now I am without one. I miss it.

Random Thing #6: Six of my favorite movies (probably) are Babette's Feast, A Passage to India, The Shawshank Redemption, Dead Poet's Society, The Majestic, and Sense and Sensibility. And bunch of my favorite books are: Harry Potter Series, PG Wodehouse's Jeeves books, A Hundred Years of Solitude, Mother Night (well all of Vonnegut), Jane Austin's books, Cry the Beloved Country, Herman Hesse's books, Chopra, Louise Haye, Immanuel's Book, ok... it's a long, long list... that's more than enough.

So... this is way more than anybody needs or wants to know, but I figured if I was going to share, I might as well share for real and not tell you six things you have probably already figured out about me. So that's my meme entry and I'm not looking back. (eeek.) I'm refuse to tag anyone, but if anyone feels like tagging yourself, please let me know so I can visit and read. Which reminds me of a seventh random thing about me. I'm an awful visitor. It's not because I don't care. I'm just not very well organized so there are two or three people whose blogs I have set up in my side-bar and my head and I visit them all the time and others whose blogs are wonderful who I don't. It's not because I don't care. I'm just badly organized and easily distracted.

Very Cool: Obama Tax Calculator

Isn't this nifty?

For more information on the Obama tax cuts, you can check here.

Interesting

(Please scroll down for the Saturday Wordzzle Challenge.)

I've been listening to a lot more news than I usually subject myself to and I hadn't heard this story. Or I had heard the thing about voters being tricked into registering as Republicans, but not the McCain connection. Hmmm. There goes that liberal media again, favoring the Democrats.

Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 36

This is week 36 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. Thanks to Chatty, Melli and my friend Shannon for this week's words. I still have some left over from all of you, but I was too lazy to dig them out so I just made up a bunch of my own for next week. I don't know if I'm just weary from thinking about politics, but I'm having a harder and harder time every week squeezing these things out of my brain. As always, I look forward to the many brilliant things that the rest of you have come up with. Oh... I'm going to add a picture this week. My friend Shannon's build-a-bear critter, Kia. I posted Kia small, but if you click on her picture, you can see her full glory. She's really cute.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: build-a-bear workshop, man bites dog, opulent, disparaging, lipstick stain, preponderance, smoky quartz, clothes pin, meticulous, falling leaves

Mini Challenge: moisturizing, pickles, seat belt, flip-flop, Chicago

Here's my ten-word offering for this week:

Margaret Louise Horowitz, who was an extremely meticulous child, looked in horror at Kia, her build-a-bear workshop cheetah and was mortified to see her stuffed friend’s opulently decorated blouse smeared with a hideous lipstick stain. “Mother,” she exclaimed, with a disparaging look in her mother’s direction, “you have been kissing Kia again and you have ruined her beautiful smoky quartz colored shirt with the falling leaves made out of rhinestones. How could you?” “Margaret, beloved child,” Mrs. Horowitz, replied, rolling her eyes, “the idea of me kissing your stuffed toys is about as likely as a man bites dog scenario. That lipstick is your grandmother’s shade, not mine. Now stop fussing and find me some clothes pins, so I can hang this silly shirt up after it runs though the washing machine and we can restore Kia to her former sartorial splendor.”

And here's my mini challenge:

Ella Sanderson buckled her seat belt and checked her map. Though she was not looking forward to the drive to Chicago, where she hoped that the new moisturizing lotion she had invented using pickles and sour cream would put her on the road to riches. This, she thought, is so much better than my inflatable flip flops. They won’t laugh at me this time.

And the mega challenge:

With the onset of autumn’s falling leaves, Martha thought sadly that it was time to put her flip-flops away and begin to prepare for the chilly days of winter which lay ahead. Much as she loved the opulent colors of the season, she did not look forward to Chicago’s bitter winter, a season during which no amount of moisturizing lotion kept her skin from becoming a ravaged dry desert and no amount of layers kept her warm. If she had her druthers, she and Sam would return to the warmer climes and memories of her beloved North Carolina where it got neither too cold or too hot. She smiled thinking of how, despite the mock disparaging looks of his father, as a child, Kevin, had called the sharp mountain curves clothes pin turns instead of hair pin. It actually made just about as much sense. Buckle your seat belt she would say and he would laugh uproariously. Kevin had been such a happy child, who would laugh at just about anything, from a silly man bite’s dog joke Sam had played with Pickles, their dog, to the delights of creating his own meticulously dressed build-a-bear workshop teddy bear. When he had left for college, he had insisted that she put a big lipstick stain on Freddie Teddy’s worn collar so he would always have his mother’s kiss to comfort him on darker days. Quickly touching the smoky quartz heart at her throat, the last gift Kevin had given her, it seemed impossible to her that he was gone. He had been so vital, so full of life. She was grateful that the preponderance of her memories were of Kevin laughing, grateful that he had had a happy life. Remembering her lost son, she longed more deeply for happier times and for days when her husband’s smile was as bright as his son’s. She thought a trip home might heal her husband’s broken heart as she knew it would her own. Perhaps the coming of winter would persuade Sam too, that they were meant for warmer climes.

This week's vanity wordzzle used the words: sortie, moonstruck, dandelion, sprinkler system, broccoli, birds feeder, tuxedo, Montana, midnight

Broccoli, the handsome tuxedo cat who shared Martina Montez’ home stared hungrily at the bird feeder which was swarming with tasty morsels just outside his reach. Martina, for her part, was trying to figure out the instructions so she could set the elaborate new underground sprinkler system which she had just had installed to run for two hours starting at midnight. The instructions made no sense to her and she wondered what had possessed her to invest in a sprinkler system for a lawn which was mostly dandelions, anyway. Nothing was going right today. She was a failure at everything. Love, motherhood, and now even painting. She had been trying for hours - no, for days and weeks - to capture the memory of her first sortie into the Montana wilderness and the moonstruck feeling of being under that big dark sky with the wind and the wild flowers and the wild creatures lurking, almost, but not quite, visible in the moonlight. There had been one magical moment when she had felt totally connected to the universe and she wanted desperately to get it on canvas. But how was she to do that with an absent husband, angry children and a sprinkler system that made no sense. Life stunk. But then, like a gift from heaven, sweet, wicked old Broccoli sidled up to her, and after rubbing himself gently against her leg a few times, looked her straight in the eye made her a speech full of such passionate intensity, that she knew it would all be ok. The children would still love her, Harry would probably return home with flowers and a sheepish grin, and the painting, the painting too would find its way from her heart to the canvas. Thanks Brocc. You’re a gift from God.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: squeaky toy, perpendicular, olives, shanty, howling at the moon, soul, bow and arrow, uniform, statistics, praying mantis

Mini Challenge: glamour, rocking chair, cormorant, objective, symbolism

Thanks for playing. For those who are new, here are some guidelines to make the process more fun.

Enjoy! See you next week.

DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR NAME TO MR. LINKY!!!!!

Think Twice Before Voting for McCain

Ok, I was thinking this morning about - what else - politics and decided that I'd share a list of reasons (above and beyond policy matters) why I think people should think twice (at least) about voting for John McCain and Sarah Palin. This is a quickly gathered list and incomplete list, but I hope there is some food for thought here.

Sarah Palin. More important than Mrs. Palin's fundamental lack of experience is her lack of gravitas and intellectual curiosity. You should be concerned when someone running for such a high office can't accurately tell a third grader what the job entails. You should be concerned when she thinks that preparation and preconditions are the same thing. You should be concerned when someone a heart-beat away from the presidency can't answer a question about the Republican platform on abortion and birth control with any specifics and instead launches into a bunch of gobbeldy gook about standing on strong planks. You should be concerned that someone that fundamentally ignorant, even though she's clever and pretty, is a heart-beat away from the presidency. You should be concerned that someone who thinks and speaks in terms of good Americans (those who agree with her) and bad Americans might take high office and might become the President of all the people. Mr. McCain is not young. He has had cancer multiple times. Mrs. Palin very well could become president.

Judgment. First, despite a claim of putting country first, he chose an ill-equipped running mate as kind of political gimmick. It's hard to tell most of the time who's the head of the ticket. In addition, Mr. McCain - with and through his surrogates - has run a campaign of slurs and slander with very little substance and a great many lies repeated over and over. The only time he has put a reign on hate speech and character assassination was when confronted with it face to face. In that instance he had little choice but to correct it the kind of confusion his campaign has encouraged. The highest paid staffer in the McCain campaign is Mrs. Palin's make-up artist (just read that this morning). In addition, Mr. McCain has shown a penchant for quick inaccurate pronouncements on subjects from international affairs to the economy. He may be able to backpeddle as a candidate, but as a president, such actions could have international ramifications.

Moral Relativism. Mr. McCain's campaign is being run by the same people who savaged him and his wife in 2000. This alone says something sad about his character. The very heart of the Palin/McCain campaign has been to focus on Senator Obama's brief working relationship with a teacher who did something terrible when Obama was 8. Although the Obama campaign has stayed above this kind of ugly and nonsensical politics, it is worth noting that Mr. McCain has over the years and very recently rubbed extremely cosy elbows with G. Gordon Liddy, one of the Watergate criminals, and a man who currently advises is listeners on how best to kill Federal Agents. Mr. McCain could praised him on air. This no more makes McCain a terrorist than knowing Mr. Ayers makes Mr. Obama a terrorist. Mr. McCain has a penchant for rationalizing his own bad behavior because things didn't go his way. Asked in the debate about the smear tactics, he explained that they were justified because Senator Obama didn't agree to town hall meetings. Huh? What else will he justify? Is this how he was able to rationalize his part in allowing Mr. Bush and Cheney to repeatedly violate the US Constittution?

Temperament. Mr. McCain is a shoot-first ask questions later kind of personality. With the weight of world peace in the balance, I question whether that's who we want in a position of great power. Repeatedly during his campaign. Mr. McCain has tended to blurt out the first thing that comes into his head and then back-peddle until he found something that was better. That will not fly well in volatile international relations.

Military views/experience. Mr. McCain seems to believe that his years as a POW make him a military expert. Clearly it takes a level of courage to survive what he survived, but it hardly makes him a military expert. In fact, I think his Vietnam experience makes Mr. McCain - already prone to voilent, military solutions - less willing to negotiate and willing to let many more young men and women die to satisfy his need to have a victory in Iraq that he didn't get in Vietnam. I don't know that we can have a victory from the unjustified invasion of another nation. In addition, Mr. McCain is very fond of saber rattling. I'm not sure how he will fight all the wars he wants to get into. Our economy is in ruins and our military is already stretched to the breaking point. I actually think there is as much or more danger of Mr. Biden's projected "test" with Mr. McCain than with Mr. Obama. I don't think Mr. McCain is up to the job. Just walking around saying "I know how to do that," doesn't make it so. I have yet to hear Mr. McCain explain what he means with that statement. I have to wonder what army Mr. McCain plans to use to wage his wars. The one we have is profoundly overextended at the moment. The nation's failing economy also impacts our failing military's ability to recover from it's misuse at the hands of the present administration. On how many fronts does Mr. McCain expect our exhausted troops to defund us?

Lies. Both Mr. McCain and Mrs. Palin seem quite comfortable telling lies. We have had 8 years of that and it has proven to be disastrous for the country on many levels. Name some lies, you ask? "And I just said no to that bridge to nowhere." Although the Troopergate panel found the following: "Unlawfully Abused Her Authority," Mrs. Palin responded that she was grateful to have been cleared of all wrongdoing. I couldn't find the quote, but it was surreal, as is much of what she says. Then there's the campaign's repeated insistence that "Obama is going to raise your taxes." Patently untrue. "Acorn is a threat to the fabric of democracy." Barack Obama "pals around with terrorists." The chill that ran down Cindy McCain's spine only ran down it when Mr. Obama voted down the same bill that her husband voted down in another form.

Hate speech and divisive language. Mrs. Palin has been the mouthpiece for this, but Mr. McCain has not backed away from it. The claim that Mr. Obama "doesn't think like we do" and "pals around with terrorists." The implication that McCain supporters are Pro-American and that the rest of us are not... Mr. McCain and Mrs. Palin seem to operate on the concept that those who disagree with them are less patriotic than they are. Again we have had 8 years of patriotism weighed on the basis of agreement with an inept, dishonest president. We don't need 8 more years of division.

Stupid claims. Living in Alaska gives one foreign policy experience. "She needed clothes," as an explanation of $150,000 spent spiffing Mrs. Palin up. The poor and the Democrats are to blame for the current financial crisis.

The Environment:

And a little humor to end a serious discussion:

Relative Expenses

Relative spending.

Someone sent me an interesting article by Gary Kambia from Salon in my email this morning. It was a bit long in getting to it's point, but it's point is pretty telling. Bob the Banker, alleged author of the piece is outraged because he makes $280,000/year and will be a victim of Obama's socialism. He then goes on to break down the cost to him. This is STUNNING in how insignificant it is. By the way... according to the article, the source of these numbers is an interview with Gerald Prante, an ecnomist at the nonpartisan Tax Foundation. Here's an excerpt from the article.

The numbers don't lie. So here they are.*

So, as I said, I make $280,000 annually after business expenses. I'm married and filing jointly. Under Obama, my itemized deductions would actually increase slightly — I'd get $49,420 in itemized deductions, while under McCain I'd get $48,975. But my personal exemptions would increase slightly under McCain — he'd give me $6,911, whereas I'd only get $6,132 from Obama.

That leaves my taxable income at $213, 766 under Obama, $213,433 under McCain. Now we have to factor in the bracket cutoff, which for 2009 is $208,850. Anything below that figure for married couples filing jointly is taxed at the fourth tier, 28 percent. Any income above it, until you get up to near $400,000, is taxed at the fifth tier. And this is where the raving income-redistribution scheme of Barack Robespierre Obama kicks in.

As you can see, my taxable income is about $5,000 higher than the cutoff. McCain is going to tax that $5,000 at the current rate, which is 33 percent. But Obama's crazed plan calls for raising that rate to — get ready for it — 35 percent.

And here's what this means. Under McCain, my total tax bill would be $48,254. Under Obama, it would be $48,511.

That's a difference of $257. I'll say it again: Two hundred and fifty-seven dollars.

That's not two hundred and fifty-seven dollars I, or America, can afford.

So the right is outraged that someone earning $280,000 might have to cough up an extra $257.00/year... and the rest of us will pay less. Amazing.

On another front...

If we want to look at some of the financial inconsistencies in this country, here's another one that impacts lots of people. I hope that if/when Senator Obama wins, some of these numbers will come under review also. Most of you know that I'm disabled and get a very small SSD allowance. Out of that money, I pay $93 and change each month towards Medicare Part B. And I'm profoundly grateful to have SSD and to get Medicare. I'm luckier than most people in this country. My poverty is pretty genteel. But I got curious about the rates though because my stipend - about $14,000/year is low enough that initially the government waived the $93 fee. Then they decided last year that I get $8 too much each month and re-instated the $93 fee. As I said, I'm grateful to get the insurance so I'm not complaining really. But in the course of a conversation with someone I looked up the rate breakdown. These are the figures for last year. I find the way the fees breakdown across the economic horizon nothing short of insane.

Math is not my strong suit (to put it mildly), but by my calculations, those at the 80,000 end of the equation in my $93.50 category are paying less than 2% of their income towards Medicare versus my 8%. The low end of the $80-100,000 category pays 1.5% of their yearly income and the upper end pays about 1.25%. Moving to level three, the bottom level folks pay 1.5% and the upper level folks pay 1%... Level 4, the bottom rung pays about 1.15% of their total income and the top end pay less than 1% (.085 or some such thing). Those at the bottom of the top range pay under 1% (.097% approximately). For someone with $500,000 in annual income the percentage is about .004%...

In this system, someone making $200,000 - or even $750,000 pays only $814 more/year for insurance than someone with a yearly income of $14,000. Doesn't that seem a little nuts? Surely we can come up with more categories and a somewhat more balanced fee system than this.

So those are just some random money thoughts for the day.

Hate Speech vs Peace Speech

When I posted Colin Powell's endorsement of Barack Obama the other day, I mentioned my distaste for the tenor of Mr. McCain's campaign and I used the phrase "hate speech." Dr. John, in a comment, asked me three questions: "what is hate speech," "Is it only hate speech if it's directed at your candidate and not hate speech when directed at the other party," and is calling something hate speech a form of hate speech. I left a response in the comments section, but I've been thinking that this is an important topic and maybe worth trying to discuss at more length.

So, in answer to Dr. John's questions:

I would define hate speech as language and statements designed to feed the fear and divisive feelings in a community or society. Such statements as "he's not like us," particularly coupled with the suggestion that "he hangs around with terrorists," have little purpose other than to stir up fear and the worst aspects of human nature. Declaring that some Americans (McCain voters and small town residents apparently) are pro-America and the rest of us are somehow anti-American is as ugly and incendiary as it is untrue. Such language, such statements have little or no purpose other than to rouse crowds to your side by stirring their meanest passions.

Hate speech is hate speech no matter who it is directed at. I have not heard hate speech come from the Obama campaign. They have not implied that Mrs. Palin or Mr. McCain are unpatriotic, they have not made comments about the people they hang out with, nor have they ever implied that those who are voting for Mr. McCain are lesser Americans or unpatriotic. Are hateful things said by voters in crowds on both sides? Yes. The world has an abundance of nasty people in it. The difference is what the campaigns themselves are doing. Mrs. Palin in particular has stirred and encouraged these feelings by the nature of the campaign she is running. And other than one moment when he was face to face with someone spewing nonsense, Mr. McCain has done little to discourage it.

When Congressman Lewis - a black senator, not part of the Obama campaign - illadvisedly compared the danger of this to the tenor of George Wallace, Mr. Obama and his campaign both immediately stepped up and decried the comparison. Mr. Lewis also apologized. Mr. McCain has not done the same. Given the opportunity of a bully pulpit during the last debate, he chose instead to say how great his supporters are. And most of them probably are. Given the opportunity to tell those among his supporters who are confused that hate and bigotry are not the way, Mr. McCain chose to remain silent. Lighting a fire in the woods and doing nothing to bank it, is a good way to start a forest fire. Sewing the seeds of us and them, pro and anti-American in a time when people are angry and looking for a place to vent their fear is inviting trouble.

I would draw a distinction between hateful statements and hate speech... at least what I mean by it. I think many of us make hateful statements from time to time in the heat of passion. Hate speech in my definition is a conscious and consistent effort to appeal to and fan the flames of the worst in us.

Obviously I don't think that calling something hate speech is itself hate speech or I wouldn't be doing so. If I was meeting hate for hate, that would be hate speech, but I'm not.

I'm believe that the kind of language and comments Mrs. Palin is making fan the flames of distrust and hate which I think is both wrong, ugly, and socially irresponsible. Language has power. I think it is the job of every citizen and every thinking human being to speak up in the face of such things. Had more Germans spoken up sooner in Nazi Germany, perhaps things would not have gone so far. Had the citizens of Rwanda said "no more" as racial hatred was spewed with increasing venom, perhaps the Rwandan holocaust would not have taken place. I don't think America is on the brink of a holocaust, nor am I comparing Mrs. Palin to the Nazis, but we are in a perilous time, the kind of time when toxic speech seems to have extra potency. It is at such times that people are most prone to put their better angels on the shelf and fall prey to "us and them" thinking.

I disagree with pretty much everything about the McCain/Palin ticket, but I don't think they are out to ruin the country. I don't think they are un-American for their beliefs. I don't want to demonize them and likewise don't want them to demonize me for my beliefs, to say or imply that I am less of an American than they are, or to call my candidate names. These are seeds being planted in the soil of our psyche. They will still be there if Mr. Obama wins. At a time when this country needs most to pull together, poisoning the well. Absurd over the top statements like Mr. McCain's suggestion that Acorn (and by his inference Mr. Obama) is perpetrating "one of the greatest frauds of voter history in this country, maybe destroying the fabric of democracy in this country" feed fear and distrust. Mr. McCain has supported Acorn himself. He knows quite well that they are no danger to Democracy. This is fear-mongering and planting the seeds for people to distrust the results of the election should Obama win. This is ugly in it's blatant dishonesty but also in it's disingenuous pouring of poison onto the results of the election and potentially the future presidency. That's one of the reasons I think it is important to discourage it.

So that's what I have to say about hate speech. I probably have a lot more to say but that's where I'm leaving it.

On the other side of the coin from hate speech is the wonderful twice annual Blog Blast for Peace hosted by Mimi at Mimi Writes. Twice a year Mimi asks all of us in the blogosphere to post a banner and add our words and energy to create a massive international prayer for peace. The next event is on November 6th. I hope many, many, many, many of us will put our thoughts to peace and love and post a Dona Nobis Pacem post on the November 6th (two weeks from tomorrow). We can use words to divide or to unite. I know I don't always succeed in using them to unite, but that is my goal. I hope you will all join in on November 6th and share your highest vision for this nation and the world. My banner is at the head of this post and will reappear on the 6th. Please click on the icon below to find out how to get and create your own banner and to sign on for the big day.



Peace be with you, with all of us, now and always.

The Truth About Acorn

I think this speaks for itself.

Important Information for All Voters

I received something in my email this evening which I initially thought must be a hoax, but apparently it isn't. You can check out this link at snopes.com for details.

So what is the warning? This applies to Republicans and Democrats.

Apparently, some states have a category or box for those who wish to vote a "straight ticket." What is not made clear is that in some states, although the ballot doesn't indicate it - the Snopes report cites North Carolina - the office of President is distinct from the straight ticket category. In other words, if, as a voter in North Carolina you vote "Straight Ticket" and think you have voted for the President, you are mistaken. You have only voted for all other offices. The vote for president must be cast separately. You must mark, click, whatever your presidential choice AND straight ticket. This apparently varies from state to state. I don't remember ever seeing a straight ticket option on the New York ballots, but it may be there.

I really think we need major election reform in this country. Such things simply should not be possible in this day and age. We really should be able to trust that our vote will be counted.

Addendum to original post: My niece Diana lives in North Carolina. She said that the ballot is in fact set up this way. She voted yesterday and said that in her district, at least, the ballot is clearly marked. They have paper ballots and you can double check and correct your ballot if you make a mistake. I was glad to hear that.

Unbecoming a Democracy

Is this what our democracy is turning into? This video isn't very good, but it tells its tale. The people screaming are McCain supporters heckling and protesting the votes of early voters in Fayetteville, North Carolina... allegedly because it was a Sunday. Given the prevalence of McCain/Palin signs I would have thought this would be illegal electioneering so close to the polling place. In any case, it's pretty ugly and disgraceful.

I also noticed a report that at least six voters in West Virginia have reported that their votes flipped to the opposing candidate. Everyone should be as vigilant as possible at the polls.

In Celebration of My Niece Cynthia

I realized that most of the pictures of Cindy I had downloaded onto the computer

were zapped when it crashed a while back. This is one I stole from her blog. It's
one of my favorite pictures of her with Annika and Trevor.

Today is the birthday of my beautiful niece Cindy. Cindy is my sister’s middle child. Cindy is kindness incarnate. I started to say that she’s sweet – and she is – but not in a vapid or saccharine way. She’s witty and smart and creative and inherited her own mother’s gift for parenting. She has two brilliant and incredible children: Annika and Trevor. They are awesome… like their mother.

Cindy has been generous to me. When I first got sick, she offered me refuge in her home in Arizona. It didn’t work out so well in the end, but I did get the great thrill of experiencing my great niece’s first year of life and I have some happy memories of Starbucks mocha frappuchinos on our Friday morning grocery shopping outings, of sitting in the dark, listening to music and watching one of Arizona’s amazing lightning shows, of practicing my driving skills in an empty parking lot while Cindy was mega pregnant, of meeting her many wonderful friends, of stamping parties and reading Harry Potter. And I have a memory of Cindy knocking on my door on the morning of September 11^th, saying, “Aunt Kathie, I think something terrible has happened.”

Cindy has been through some hard times in her life, starting with losing her mother 18 days before her 16th birthday and on to other difficulties in more recent days. She has a remarkable strength and a determination to find and expand on life’s positives. She is a keeper of records and photos, the one among my sister’s children most interested in holding our memories. She artisitic and funny and loving. She is a remarkable friend who has drawn an incredible number of truly wonderful people into her life.

For some reason – I think I was sick or in some one of my life dramas at the time – I didn’t write Cindy’s birth poem until her first birthday. I can be kind of compulsive about things sometimes and I think that probably because I didn’t have it written within days of her birth, I went into “I failed” mode and it took me a year to work through it and come through with her much deserved, if inadequate poem.

TO CYNTHIA ON HER FIRST BIRTHDAY

Cynthia Ellen, fair lady of one

How fast the time's gone since your life was begun

You're singing and talking with so much to say

Your smiles and your gentleness brighten a day

Your walking's unsteady -- but still, it's a start

And you truly have captured this old auntly heart

I wish now, as always, that your life will hold

Limitless happiness to make you quite bold

In living and loving and dreaming new dreams

Of the joys and the beauty with which the world teems

I wish I had power (instead of bad rhyme)

To give to you magic; but magic's not mine

It lies in your smile, in the love you can give

In seeking and dreaming as long as you live

I hope that time treats you with gentle concern

That you prosper and grow and continue to learn

That your life is quite full of good people and true

And that you remain always wonderful you.

- I Love You, Aunt Kathie

Cynthia, beloved niece, I admire your wisdom and your generosity of spirit, your imaginative and inspired parenting and your goodness. On this your (number of your choosing) birthday, I wish you love and peaceful contentment. I wish you inspiration and appreciation. I wish you abundance and the house, the work and creative expression, in sum, - the life of your dreams. May your sorrows from now on be only memories and your joys continue to multiply.

I Love You. Happy Birthday!

Colin Powell Endorses Obama

This is Colin Powell's very thoughtful endorsement of Barack Obama. Speaks for itself.




I just reposted this because even though it was Colin Powell when I first posted it it somehow switched to being a Keith Olberman clip. I have no idea how or why that happened, but just in case it happens again, you can find the clip here for sure.

I just discovered this wonderful clip as well... Some very wise comments on the nature of the campaign, including a rebuke to the Congresswoman from Minnesota who actually suggested that liberals are un-American and that her colleagues in Congress should be investigated. Mr. Powell doesn't say this, but I'll add my thought that hate speech - particularly in times when people are frightened and looking for ways to dissipate their fear - is toxic and powerful - and it's what's really unAmerican in my book.

Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 35

This is week 35 of the Saturday Wordzzle Challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. I have had an AWFUL time this week. AWFUL. No more words from Melli... (just kidding... keep em coming... and thank you very much for coming up with this week's challenge.) Once again there is a mysterious black line that I can't get rid of. At least it feel in a sort of convenient place, I guess. Ok... on to my tragically convoluted and forced entries. Looking forward to seeing how everyone else did.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: blinking, cellulite, crescent, ship-shape, homonym, suffering, packer, wind chime, scissors, necklace And for the Mini Challenge: static, floppy hat, penguin, cinnamon, alphabetical,

Here's my ten-word offering for this week:

What a pain it is to see that broken pane in my otherwise ship-shape house,” Sarah chanted. “I do love homonyms.” She wondered if she could call having the electric company “sell you light” a homonym for cellulite. That was as far as Raven could get with the words. Yet again she was suffering from a sense of profound defeat as the words taunted her with an unwillingness to put themselves into sentences in her head. Nibbling on a yummy crescent roll as she waited for inspiration, she was beginning to worry that some synapses in her brain had gone packing. Typing that sentence she wondered if packing was close enough to packer to count. She wasn’t sure, so the computer’s cursor continued its relentless blinking, taunting her with her inability to move forward. Outside her window a wind chime seemed to be mocking her and she was tempted to pull out her scissors and silence it for good. Is that all of them, she wondered? Damn. Still have to use necklace. Whose idea was this stupid game, anyway?

And here's my mini challenge:

Aaron Anderson thought that sometimes it paid to have alphabetical order put you at the front of the list. Mostly, he preferred going last, but in this case… His girlfriend, Cinnamon, wanted that goofy penguin in the floppy hat that the radio station was giving away. “I’ll name him Static,” she had cooed lovingly, and he knew in that moment that his future happiness was tied to securing that penguin at any cost.

And the mega challenge:

Cinnamon the beautiful orange cat with the crescent shaped white mark on her forehead, sat blinking with contented pride in her recent decorating efforts, oblivious to the fact that her thick fur was standing on end with static electricity. Her human’s once ship-shape bedroom was no longer suffering from its formerly boring and tidy state. Cinnamon hoped that Person would be pleased with the improvements that she and her brother Packer had made to the rather staid décor. Packer, who had exhausted himself in his efforts to bring down the floppy hat Person wore to do her gardening, was curled up on top of it with his favorite penguin toy gripped in his paws. Around the room an assortment of books and papers lay in various states of shredding by the teeth and scissor-like claws of the two ambitious felines. The once alphabetical book shelf sat empty except for a small volume on How to Get Rid of Cellulite and the Big Book of Homonyms. Cinnamon’s favorite touch was the all the wonderful little pearl balls that she had finally freed up from that silly necklace. They were so much fun to play with that she could not understand why her otherwise creative human had kept them so foolishly tied up together. The familiar sound of the wind chime alarm system that person had hung over the door announced her return home. As sometimes happens with great artists when the throws of creativity pass, Cinnamon was suddenly not quite so sure of how warmly her efforts would be received.

This week's vanity wordzzle used the words: Smiley face, keys, stuffed parrot, fringe, molecular engineer, tribe, mist, undertow, forgotten

Wearing a black shirt with a big yellow smiley faces on it, a tricorn hat, a black eye patch, and carrying a large stuffed parrot on his right shoulder, John Jones always made quite a sensation when he visited the youngsters at the children’s’ cancer ward of St Mary’s Hospital. “Aye, matey,” he would bark in his best Long John Silver pirate voice, “I be Smiley Jack Jones, scourge of the seven seas. Who be ye?” And then Smiley Jack would regale the children with wonderful stories of his adventures on the fringes of the known world, trudging through steaming hot jungles or climbing into the mysterious mists of remote mountains to find exotic tribes of forgotten peoples and live among them. He would describe strange customs and sometimes even demonstrate special healing dances and rituals. Or he would tell the story about how once, on a tiny island in the Pacific, he had been caught in a strong undertow only to be rescued by the native, who having saved him, had, by tribal law, to adopt him as their own. Then he would take out his bag of test tubes and needles and explain to them how he was empowered to make them blood brothers as well. And even those children who were usually frightened of needles came eagerly forward to give their blood. Then at the end of the session, Smiley Jack would pronounce the world of initiation and there would be hugs and smiles all around. Only the next morning, bag full of samples, would Smiley Jack become again John Jones, molecular engineer and cancer researcher and go back to work hoping that somewhere in these children’s blood he would find the keys that would save them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Many thanks to Chatty, Melli, and my young neighbor Shannon for next week’s words. I stuck in a couple myself.

Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: build-a-bear workshop, man bites dog, opulent, disparaging, lipstick stain, preponderance, smoky quartz, clothes pin, meticulous, falling leaves

Mini Challenge: moisturizing, pickles, seat belt, flip-flop, Chicago

Thanks for playing. For those who are new, here are some guidelines to make the process more fun.

Enjoy! See you next week.

DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR NAME TO MR. LINKY!!!!!

Debate and Political Ramblings

Warning: This is really jumbled and disjointed and full of typos. I have such a lot to say and I'm pretty peeved and I just had to get some of this out. I'm sorry it's such a mess.


Twice last night I tried to write something about the last of the three Presidential debates. I guess I want to write not about the difference in issues between the two men but rather the difference in temperament, character and fundamental substance... from my perspective. I know there are others who see this differently and will vote differently than I have already done.

I am exteremely liberal, far more so than Mr. Obama, so my difference on issues with the McCain/Palin ticket is strong, but far more than issues, perhaps ultimately more important - is the difference in character between the candidates on the two tickets. Again, some will see this differently. That is their right and choice.

First, although neither campaign has been completely free of nastiness - the McCain/Palin campaign has been the ugliest I've seen in my 40 years as an eligible voter. It has been packed with lies - about themselves (and I just said "no thanks..." I was "completely exonerated" in troopergate,") or about Mr. Obama (pals around with terrorists, plans to raise your taxes, voted to teach sex to kindergarteners... the list goes on and on...).

It was fascinating last night to watch Mr. McCain last night - the man whose ads and campaign have been spewing around words like terrorist and liar and "who is this man" who "doesn't feel about our country the way we do" - try to make himself the victim. It was fascinating to watch him blame the ugly tone of his campaign on the fact that Obama refused to have a series of town all debates with him. Given how poorly he fared in the one they did have, you would think he'd be grateful. But there was something pathetic in watching him sit there and try to justify a campaign of smears and lies because he didn't get his way on something else. What does one have to do with the other? He sounded like a petulant three year old to me, not a candidate for the Presidency of the United States. I get to cheat because you wouldn't play by my rules.

On the issue of judgment. We can start by looking at Mr. McCain's choice of a barely vetted, inexperienced, running mate. Although anyone can die in office for any number of reasons, Mr. McCain is the oldest ever candidate for president and has a history of aggressive melanoma cancers. His choice of a running mate is perhaps more significant that that of others. And he chose a woman who thinks living in a state that borders Russia and Canada gives her foreign policy experience. He chose a woman whose, maverick brand apparently includes violating the ethics laws of her state during a short 18 months in office, a woman who (while she questions other's business association with hippie radicals who have become college professors) is married to a man who is or was for a period of time a member of a group called the Alaskan Independence Party (AIP) which advocates secession from the Union. Besides expressing open hatred of the US, this group has been known to promote violence and at one time aligned itself with Iraq in order for it's leader - who was later murded by another member - to gain access to the UN. Besides just palling around with her husband, Mrs. Palin, attended a few meetings herself. Oops. Shall we question her patriotism? Her loyalty to her country? Her judgment? I'd point out that Mrs. Palin isn't 8. She and her husband were involved with these people in their adulthood and quite recently.

I've mentioned it before, but it bears repeating. Mrs. Palin's relationship to the truth seems quite shaky to me. We can start with the "I just said thanks but no thanks to that bridge to nowhere." Well, not really. First she lobbied for the money and the bridge and abandonned the BRIDGE project when Congress said she couldn't use the money on such a wasteful thing, but she did take the money. So she lied about both the bridge and taking the money. The there was her response to the results of the Troopergate investigation. She blithely announced to reporters that she has been cleared of all wrongdoing. Well, no, not really. The investigators decided that while the firing of Mr. Monegan was technically not illegal, but that she had "unlawfully abused her power" in violation of state law. There are other ethical issues, including use of public funds, which are still under investigation. But enough about Mrs. Palin, whose foreign policy experience equals mine since we both live in states that border foreign countries. Maybe I should run.

But let's look at some of Mr. McCain's own affiliations. Recently it came out that one of his lobbyist campaign managers did public relations work for Saddam Hussein. Using his campaign's litmus test for patriotism and judgment, is he qualified? Then there's his friendship with and appearances on the radio talk show of one G. Gordon Liddy, the Watergate burgler who had laid plans break into offices, commit murder and possibly fire bomb a building... and who currently advises is listeners to shoot Federal Marshalls in the head. Here's some information on this connection. And another article by Carl Bernstein. Unlike Mr. Obama, who has renounced the crimes Ayers committed when he (Obama) was 8. Read the two articles I posted. Mr. McCain seems comfortable with his terrorist friend who is actively inciting others to violence right now today. But I rant.

Let's look at the question of ACORN - a 38-year old organization which has worked tirelessly to register and enfranchise the poor - but which according to Mr. McCain, is "destroying the fabric of democracy." ACORN pays the poor to register people and sometimes their volunteers get over enthusiastic and cheat so they will get more money. ACORN monitors this as well as they can, turning in anyone they catch cheating and flagging fake or suspicious forms. They are required by law to submit any registrations turned in, whether they are bogus or not. Fake registrations are a headache but they are not a threat to democracy unless someone tries to vote. It would be illogical and self-defeating for ACORN to submit hundreds of very obviously fraudulent forms. They have been in operation for 38 years. They are not stupid. Where is Mr. McCain's concern about the Diebold machines and the efforts of members of his party to disenfranchise voters using a variety of dirty tricks. Unused fake registratios don't threaten the vote. Preventing qualified voters from casting their ballots and rigging voting machines does. That's where the threat to democracy lies. Mr. McCain isn't concerned about that because it works in his favor. I don't for a minute believe that he actually thinks ACORN is a threat either... or that he thinks Barack Obama has secret terrorist leanings. But he wants to be elected so badly that he's willing to slander his opponent and feed the fears of his most ignorant followers. But I rant yet again. I'm really trying not to but it isn't easy. Dishonesty and slander piss me off big time. But let's move on.

The Maverick Brand - Well, there was a time when Mr. McCain was something of a maverick, although something of a one-note maverick. After his involvement in the Keating Five scandal he got a bit of religion on certain campaign spending issues. It got him a reputation for being a maverick which he is clearly very proud of. It seems to be pretty much the only issue on which he is a maverick, though. He stood by Bush on 90 or more percent of budget votes and with rare exceptions on most issues regarding the invasion of Iraq and the execution of the war in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Not so much a maverick there. The man who allegedly hates lobbyists has a campaign which is largely run by them. He made friends with a man who slandered him 8 years ago in their competition for the presidency and has hired onto his own team the same men he excoriated then. I don't know if I'd call that being a maverick. Nor do I think that bucking the crowd just because is necessarily a virtue. Then there's the question of what is it your maverick-ness stands for. Are you fighting for what's right or for the wrong thing? In Mr. McCain's case, I'd say much of the time - except on his one issue - he has fought for the wrong side. And I've read that he and his lobbyist advisors have found every loophole they can in the ethics laws he is so proud of. Uh... is that mavericky of him? Or is it a betrayal of his own pet cause.

Ok... now let's talk about taxes. Another lie mantra from the McCain camp. "Obama is going to raise your taxes." Well, he's going to raise McCain's taxes but not the taxes of the bulk of the population. Mr. McCain knows this but keeps repeating his lie over and over. Mr. McCain is a trickle-down guy. Trickle down is a bit like Marie Antoinette's "Let them eat cake." Leaves the poor starving and the rich well fed. But I said I wasn't going to talk about issues and this is already really long and I've said my piece on taxes way back when here.

There was something really odd that I haven't heard mentioned much in last night's debate. It's a petty thing, yet seems significant also. Mr. McCain twice mentioned Mrs. Palin's autistic child and what a gift this makes her to parents. But Mrs. Palin's son isn't autistic - or if he is, he's too young to have been diagnosed. He has Down Syndrome. She does have a nephew with autism. Perhaps that's what he was referring to. Her record - and McCain's - on their compassion for the parents of such children, well...

Then there was Mr. McCain's distortion - of Obama's record on abortion. Obama corrected that. As for military spending, did Mrs. McCain get the same "cold chill down her spine" when her husband also voted against the same bill in a different form? Or was it ok when her husband did it?

Ach, I'm ranting again. There's more and more, but I think I've rattled on for too long as it is.

But, presumably you may see a pattern here and it's not a nice one. It's a comfort with not just exaggerating - I don't like that either and Democrats are as guilty as anyone of doing it - but of flat out lies and - worse... way worse... of slander and hate mongering lies. We have had 8 years of lies and fear mongering. Eight years. As a result of that we are an unhappy, divided nation, disliked across the world, involved in two wars, one of which we were deceived into. As a result, we have had our justice system perverted, we have spied on our own citizens, we have thrown the Constitution in the dumper, our government has allowed and condoned torture, we are trillions of dollars in debt and hanging over a financial abyss. Lies and fears have not served us well. Mr. McCain may think he isn't Bush, but he has voted with him and supported his wrong-headed policies. He opposed him on torture briefly but then backed off on that. Sadder still, he has given over whatever ethics he might once have propelled himself by and put himself into the hands of Bush's "handlers."

It has been fascinating over the course of this campaign to listen as McCain makes accusations about Obama which are actually direct statements about what he and his own campaign have been doing. It is as though he is projecting is own sins onto his opponent. Watching him twitch and blink and grimace with seeming anger and barely concealed disdain during the debates, I can't help but wonder who it is he is really angry with. Whether it is Mr. Obama or himself, he seems ill equipped in the areas of judgment, honesty and temperament to hold such high office in such dangerous and uncertain times.

Took me a long time to get even this much written down. I'm not going to proofread.

Ruby Tuesday: Fall Foliage in Red

Maryt/The Teach over at Work of the Poet hosts a meme called Ruby Tuesday which features all things red.

Well this being the most beautiful autumn I can ever remember, I am kind of overdoing it with pictures of fall foliage (scroll down for several other posts besides this one!). I'm afraid these aren't that good and some are probably kind of repetitive, but.... Believe it or not there are about a gazillion more pictures here at my Picasa page.

HAPPY RUBY TUESDAY!

Other fall foliage posts:
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#4

Foliage, Foliage and More Foliage - Yellow Tones

Since Ruby Tuesday is coming, I thought I'd post foliage in two color categories. There's still red in these but they are some of the shots that favor the brown, green and yellow range. I know some of them are repetitive but I only have one small yard and there are certain views that look so pretty to me that I take them over and over... and apparently post them over and over too. Sorry. For the foliage starved, you can look at all the gazillions of pictures, good, bad and ugly, that I have taken at my Picasa page































Other fall foliage posts:
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#4

The Theft of the 2008 Election

This is a BBC investigation of fraud at American polling places. Citizens of either party should be concerned about this. Greg Palast has been trying to raise American consciousness about this issue for a long time against the indifference and deafening silence of America's media. Each segment runs a little over 7 minutes. Worth watching no matter what party you favor.





I had just posted the Palast videos when Jay Simser over at Bailey's Buddy send me this one via email. I can't resist sharing it. It's very partisan, but if you leave the tag-line off the end there's some truth in it for how both parties advertise and how absurd the standards we PRETEND to hold our politicians to really is.

An Obama Answer to the Question of Who He Is

Please scroll down for the Saturday Wordzzle Challenge...

The Obama campaign has offered this video in response to the question of who he is. It's about 15 minutes long.

More Fall Foliage - Installment 3

(PLease scroll down for the Saturday Wordzzle Challenge.)

Well, I have gazillions of pictures of foliage. What I lack in quality, I make up for in quantity. Even with their imperfections, I think those of you in foliage free zones can see what an extra-ordinarily beautiful season this is. The economy may be a mess, the political speech may be ugly, but Mother Nature is giving her all to heal the heart and eye. I don't think I have ever seen so much lavish color in all my 61 years. At any rate, I am taking joy and comfort in the beauty and sharing it as best I can. I wish you could see the real thing, the sun coming through the leaves of the 10th picture down is like rubies in the sun. I've tried over and over to capture it and can't get the real beauty. But I'll keep trying. Meanwhile I hope these give you pleasure.
































Other fall foliage posts:
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Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 34

This is week 34 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works.

This week we have a new participant who doesn't have her own blog, so I have posted her submission below my vanity wordzzle in a separate color. I haven't read it yet, but I know she has gone political. I pretty much controlled myself this week. Only a tiny little bit of politics. Special thanks to Melli for next week's words and to Chatty for this week's. My young friend Shannon has given me four or five for a future week. She spent some time with me today while her father ran some errands, so I didn't have much time to write or proof-read. Not sure I have made any sense. Also, there's a big black line in the middle of everything. I don't know where it came from and I can't seem to make it go away. Sorry about that.

Oh... also... PLEASE remember to add your name to Mr. Linky.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: bluebottle, puppy love, livid, misanthrope, torrid, apathy, erudite, catalyst, hockey puck, parakeet And for the Mini Challenge: totalitarian, moronic, boondoggle, tycoon, insipid

Here's my ten-word offering for this week:

Bluebottle, Hortense Hooligan’s great dane, was in the grips of a desperately torrid and literal case of puppy love for the neighbor’s beautiful, golden-haired Irish Setter. He alternated between tragic apathy and the canine version of hysteria whenever he saw her. The catalyst of this passion, alas, gave him no more attention than a duck hunter would have given to a parakeet. Hortense’s erudite but misentrhopic neighbor was not amused by this tragic case of unrequited love and complained to everyone within earshot about the dog’s noisy love-lorn behavior. Hortense, for her part, could not contain her scorn for this lack of compassion. “That man is a hockey puck,” she whispered to the poor lovelorn Bluebottle. “Don’t you pay any attention to him.”

And here's my mini challenge:

The insipid moronic George W. Bush made a boondoggle disaster out of everything he laid his hand to, from wars to economic devastation for a once great nation. All the greedy tycoons who fed like pigs at the trough of his generous tax breaks were now dining from another trough. As for civil liberties, Mr. Bush seemed quite comfortable dismissing the Constitution and the law and operating like the dictator of a totalitarian nation. The worst shame of it was that the Congress and the nation let him do it.

And the mega challenge:

Martha Jane was livid, positively livid. Her moronic, insipid, hockey puck of a brother-in-law was running the once proud and happy Bluebottle wine company like the misenthrope he was, thinking that made him some kind of tycoon. His unhappy employees, ruled like peasants in a totalitarian dictatorship, were increasingly restless and unhappy, alternating between torrid rage and restless apathy. Like a parakeet – or was it a canary – in a mine shaft, their restless muttering and angry faces should have warned him that trouble was brewing, but he was oblivious. His latest boondoggle – catalyst of the current strike - was an effort to prove himself erudite, with an absurd new product called In Vino Veritas, a ridiculous product that only he though was a stroke of genius. The man was an egotistical birdbrain and it was all her sister’s fault, Martha grumbled to herself. Maggie and her stupid puppy love romances with one idiot after another had finally culminated in marriage to the dumbest one of them all and the potential failure of the family's beloved winery. Of course, in her sister’s defense, they had all been stupid enough to put him in charge, so perhaps they were as much to blame as she. In any case, it was time, she decided, to call a family meeting and depose a tyrant.

~~~~~~~~~~~

This week's vanity wordzzle used the words: Cholic, tristes, pusillanimous, hubris, flatulation, torment, coursing, deity, patter, intrepid

Tristes Flagherty had long ago learned to live with the strange name which his mother, who loved all things French, had, in a moment of fancy, bestowed upon him. Having from childhood endured the torments of his schoolmates, Tristes had developed a rather fierce demeanor. His mother, whose strange way with words had not deserted her after naming him, insisted on telling people that he was cholicy, which, of course, only added to the poor young man’s troubles. By the time he reached adulthood, Tristes had developed a number of coping mechanisms. Out drinking in the pubs, he adopted a truculent attitude which often led to fights. “Which one of you ugly pusillanimous, fart-faced bags of unrelenting flatulation,” he would scream after several beers, “thinks he can make fun of my name and get away with it? I’ve got the blood of heroes coursing in my veins.” Which of course was one of his other coping mechanisms: hubris. Tristes had long ago convinced himself that his strange name was a sign that he was descended from royalty. Somewhere in his childhood he had invented the idea that Tristes was a sacred name given to “his people” by an ancient and forgotten deity in what he romantically called “the forgotten times.” He had created a whole mythology about an intrepid hero king driven from his lands by barbarian hordes. It was all very noble and tragic. But when he was at his best, with those he loved and trusted, Tristes had invented a little patter which he would croon in a sing-song voice: “Oh, Tristes Flagherty is my name, For that my mother is to blame. Although I’m sure she meant quite well, She’s put me through unholy hell. No son of mine shall ever face, this kind of miserable disgrace, No, he shall bear a name quite true, like Michael, Patrick, John or Drew. He’ll never hear in idle chat, “Say, how’d you get a name like that?” No, he will have a simple life, Free of shame and free of strife. Yes, Tristes Flagherty is my name. And yes, my mother is to blame. But I’m the last who’ll bear this curse. And that is how I’ll end this verse.”

Anna Norden doesn’t have her own blog so I’ve agreed to post her contribution here. She did the mega this week.

Parable of Rooster Paulson

Rooster Paulson began to swagger around the barnyard. “The sky is falling. The sky is falling,” he crowed with aplomb. No one paid much attention to his gloomy prognostications since it was just such hyperbole that had been the catalyst for a series of disastrous policies in the past. Everyone remembered how rooster’s best buddy, Bluebottle Bushton had frightened everyone to death with his overblown stories about the evildoers who lived in Lower Mongoose County.

A pack of mercenary juvenile raccoons had been recruited for the odious task of “teaching them a lesson”. The motley platoon was given a generous disbursement of oats and vegetable scraps in exchange for making nightly raids. After five years of unprecedented cruelty and plunder, the residents of the barnyard were livid with the toll that this boondoggle had exacted on their community and deeply saddened about the casualties and displacement they had visited on their neighbors.

The trouble was that everyone was preoccupied with their own lives. So even though they were well aware of Bottlenose’s misanthropic impulses and suspected that this new scheme was deeply flawed, the animals plodded along, noses to the ground, desperately trying to keep their respective broods healthy and intact.

Effusey Goosey was up to her downy wings with the juvenile antics of Barbette. What started out as innocent puppy love with Zander’s second gander, Elvis, had hastily ripened into a torrid affair. Meanwhile, Sogsy Hogsy had lapsed into supplementing his rations with too much overripe fruit to remain effective in debunking unscrupulous gambits and refereeing family squabbles.

There was an ominous pall that descended on the barnyard. A breakaway group of sheep gathered on the hill. Deeply suspicious of “presugared slops” in the ”hedges”, they stood by their parsimonious principles. Like a Choros of ancients, they brayed, “eeeeeeet as you go. Reeeeeep what you sow.”

Rooster Paulson strutted pompously across the fields, shrieking his apocalyptic rhetoric. The ever moronic Bottlenose spouted insipid aphorisms meant to reassure the masses.

Zenny Henny was so flummoxed by this display that she screeched, “For clucking out loud. I am so mad. I could hit him over his cockscomb with a hocky puck. She bewailed the barnyard’s incremental slide into tyranny as they had been defrauded of their winter grain by a cabal of treacherous tycoons and profligate players. She concluded by reminding her neighbors that “everyone does better when everyone does better.”

I t certainly wasn’t because of apathy or resignation that the situation had degenerated to its current distressed state. 80% of the denizens of Brown’s barn were convinced that Paulson’s plan would be another crackpot move that would ultimately drive the barnyard into destitution. A representative group was quickly dispatched to consult the venerable council of crows.

The erudite council deliberated for 3 days and 3 nights. When they emerged, they told the story of how a deranged misanthrope had brought about a millennia of totalitarianism in the avian dactyl era. Memory, the Matriarch Mariah warned, is deceptive, because it is colored by today’s events. She paused for a moment, then observed that an empty stomach is not a good political adviser. Everyone returned home to a hearty meal and reconvened on the new moon. The forest clearing was in an uproar. No one knew what to do to preserve the sanctity of the barn. As usual, there were various positions fervently espoused by inspired individuals and devoted sects. The koan that emerged from the grand council was that “ everything should be as simple as it is, but not simpler.” The animals scampered back to the barn to digest the events of the evening. They tended to their business, inhaled the salty autumn nights for a fortnight and reassembled under the luminous full moon. A group of proselytizing goats, intoxicated with homilies of an itinerant cleric, insisted that the end times were near. They dug their hooves into the pliant ground and petitioned the group to repent. A penetrating “caw” deftly subdued the evangelistic faction. “Nonsense.” Katerina Crow flapped her thick black wings in rebuttal. Once we accept our limits, we can go beyond them. The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.

There would be many restless nights spent beneath the flicker of the dangling bulb and the animals would gather daily to deliberate about the crows’ council and the barnyard’s common plight.

Meanwhile, a neon green parakeet loosed from the main house trailed a ticker that insipidly proclaimed “mission accomplished.”

Next episode: colony collapse comes to Farmer Brown’s.

This story is based on actual events and the characters are inspired by real life persons.

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Many thanks to Melli for next week’s words.

Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: blinking, cellulite, crescent, ship-shape, homonym, suffering, packer, wind chime, scissors, necklace

Mini Challenge: static, floppy hat, penguin, cinnamon, alphabetical

Thanks for playing. For those who are new, here are some guidelines to make the process more fun.

Enjoy! See you next week.

DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR NAME TO MR. LINKY!!!!!

Rising Above Ugliness and Hate

I'm continually struck by the dignity and decency of Senator Obama and his wife. Even in the face of the kind of obscene, slanderous and racially tinged smears which seem to be all that there is to the Palin/McCain ticket, Michele and Barack Obama refuse to get in the mud or respond in kind. I admire how they have the strength and wisdom to remain above it. They are both so thoughtful and intelligent, so well spoken.

The first clip is Mr. Obama speaking with Charlie Gibson regarding "palling around with terrorists." The second two are an interview Michele Obama did with Larry King last night. I found her very impressive.

I was tempted to post some words from Mrs. Palin or Mr. McCain for contrast, but their ugly, slanderous crap has gotten too much coverage as it is. It fascinates me that those on the far right like Mrs. Palin and McCain (although he has only recently become a born-again friend to the powerful religious forces of the right and his conversion seems more pragmatic than spiritual), seem to think that the moral high ground is made of hate and the bodies of "enemies," - enemies being anyonefrom Jews and Muslims to gay people, to "liberals," to anyone who disagrees with them about anything. When Sarah Palin and John McCain ask themselves the question "what would Jesus do," they apparently come up with foment fear and racism. Maybe they read a different Bible than I did.

Then there are the two people you listened to (hopefully) above. What a difference from people who smile or laugh when someone in the crowd they have incited to ugliness yells "Kill him," in reference to their opponent. In my book, these two people - Senator and Mrs. Obama - are true Christians in the deepest meaning of that word. They don't just talk about what would Jesus do, they live it... and they live it in the face of ugliness and lies that make me as an innocent by-stander wince with pain and grief and anger, all three.

More Fall Colors

I thought I'd take a break from political ranting and post some more fall foliage photos. It's extra hard to do the beauty of the trees and colors justice especially when all your pictures are taken through dirty windows, but hopefully these give a sense of the beauty for those who don't have their own colorful trees to look at. This year the colors have seemed exceptionally colorful and beautiful to me.

Hypocrisy and Lies.... Physician, Heal Thyself

For a very mild mannered and good-natured person, I'm spending a lot of time these days being irritated. There are big things like the political battle going on and lots of little things that go on in that context.

The media folks keep quoting something from the Bush campaign along the lines of "now they are going to start going negative." Uh. I live near Pennsylvania. The McCain campaign has been negative from the get-go, running a campaign of lies like the idea that Obama supported sex education for kindergarten children. I think that's a pretty ugly negative lie. The McCain teams lies ARE getting more intense and slanderous and even more dishonest in the crap they are peddling, but why is the media once again letting them control the story and allow them to act as if they are just now beginning to get negative? Agggh.

What makes me happy a bit is that the negative campaigning seems to have backfired on them. Obama has a big lead in Pennsylvania. Maybe virtue really will win out for a change.

That "sweet soccer mom" Sarah Palin's has been spewing venomous slander for the past couple of days, accusing Senator Obama of "palling around with terrorists," and distorting the meaning of a very serious (and accurate) comment about the situation in Afghanistan and then impugning Mr. Obama's patriotism, saying it "disqualifies" him for the job. The McCain campaign is also running an add called "dishonorable" using this same half of an out of context quote. Here's factcheck.org's analysis. What Obama was actually saying was that we need more troops to avoid the kinds of civilian deaths that have been occurring. Mr. McCain said much the same thing about troops in Kosovo in 2000. Is he dishonorable? Disqualified? Does that means Sarah gets to run alone?

For a "what would Jesus do?" kind of person, who is allegedly motivated by her faith, I find Mrs. Palin's capacity for telling lies to be very incongruous with who she thinks she is. Equally disturbing and sick to me is that the crowds she talking to seem to be eating the lies up and spewing phrases like: "Treason," and "Kill him... "

What are the facts? Check this article for detailed rebuttals. But suppose the facts don't matter to you, let's look at why this is supposedly important. McCain/Palin claim that Obama's casual acquaintance with Ayers, the so-called "terrorist," (whose crimes were committed when Obama was 8 years old and who is currently a highly respected citizen) speaks to his judgment. Given that logic, what does McCain's deep personal involvement with Charles Keating say about HIS judgment? What does it say about his integrity? He used his narrow escape from being convicted himself in this scandal, to create a reputation as a maverick, but learning the story of the Keating Five in this vide0, reading more biographical material about McCain (I highly recommend this article), makes me doubt very much that McCain is anything more than a man who will do and say anything to further his own interests. Another member of the accused Keating Five, Senator Diconcini, recently said that he felt McCain's Keating connection should be open to scrutiny.

The thing that probably troubles me most - more - or at least as much - as the McCain/Palin approach to governing the nation... feed the rich and screw the poor, non regulation except for women's bodies and peoples right to marry... It's so odd. The places they most want to interfere are places where I think they have no business being. But I digress.. Lies really bother me. Conscious intentional lies that distort truth and are an effort to slander another person or to mislead and frighten voters bother me. I'm not talking about fibs, or areas where two people can see the same thing and interpret it differently - I'm talking about lies. Lies, I repeat bother the heck out of me. I was going to write a big list and defend against them, but you can go to Factcheck.org for that. They call the Democrats on their distortions and occasional lies too. Here's another good piece from the New York Times offering some fact checking.

Then there's the reported threat that the Republicans are going to raise the specter of Obama's former pastor the Rev. Wright. Perhaps before they do that, they should examine the demented folks they call pastors. Here's some information from a reporter who writes regularly at Huffington Post, Cenk Uygur:

Rudy Giuliani's priest has been accused in grand jury proceedings of molesting several children and covering up the molestation of others. Giuliani would not disavow him on the campaign trail and still works with him.

Mitt Romney was part of a church that did not view black Americans as equals and actively discriminated against them. He stayed with that church all the way into his early thirties, until they were finally forced to change their policies to come into compliance with civil rights legislation. Romney never disavowed his church back then or now. He said he was proud of the faith of his fathers.

Jerry Falwell said America had 9/11 coming because we tolerated gays, feminists and liberals. It was our fault. Our chickens had come home to roost, if you will. John McCain proudly received his support and even spoke at his university's commencement.

Reverend John Hagee has called the Catholic Church the "Great Whore." He has said that the Anti-Christ will rise out of the European Union (of course, the Anti-Christ will also be Jewish). He has said all Muslims are trained to kill and will be part of the devil's army when Armageddon comes (which he hopes is soon). John McCain continues to say he is proud of Reverend Hagee's endorsement.

Reverend Rod Parsley believes America was founded to destroy Islam. Since this is such an outlandish claim, I have to add for the record, that he is not kidding. Reverend Parsley says Islam is an "anti-Christ religion" brought down from a "demon spirit." Of course, we are in a war against all Muslims, including presumably Muslim-Americans. Buts since Parsley believes this is a Christian nation and that it should be run as a theocracy, he is not very concerned what Muslim-Americans think.

John McCain says Reverend Rod Parsley is his "spiritual guide."

Then there's Sarah Palin's spiritual guide from Wasilla, Pastor Kalnins, who in 2004 told his congregation that critics of President Bush and supporters of Sen. Kerry would be "banished to hell," and who preaches that the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Iraq conflict are part of a larger war "contending for your faith," that Jesus "operated from that position of war mode," and that damnation awaits critics of the Bush administration's handling of Hurricane Katrina. I don't know, but if I was hanging out with the above quoted people, I'd be careful about throwing stones at anybody else's pastor.

But then all of Mrs. Palin's new attacks are tinged with subtle and not so subtle racist overtones. That, however is a topic for another day.

It has taken me all day to finally get ready to post this. There is SO much ugly dishonesty and slander coming out of the McCain camp that I don't know how not to be repulsed and angry. And the thing about slander is that it's hard to correct. First, people who want to believe lies will believe them. Second, there is so much crud and lies and counter-lies to dig through that it becomes difficult if not impossible to actually sort through and find the truth. One of the sources CNN was using to fact check the Ayers story is someone who I read in another source is one of the people who wrote some of the original inaccurate and distorted stories. Great fact checker.

And just for closing.... Because he has wit and I like him, here's Keith Olberman. He says this much better than I could have and points out some very interesting terrorist skeletons in the McCain and Palin closets. Oops.

My instinct - the traditional "liberal" instinct is to be polite and take the high road. I don't think this post is the low road, but it's a lower road than I like. Still. Time the liars got called on a few things. Here's one last article - by Joe Klein in Time. He says in much fewer and clear words what I was trying to say here.

Fun Monday: Word Game

Well, my apologies to Mommy Wizdom who is hosting Fun Monday, a new meme for me. She chose to create a variation on my Wordzzle exercise and I promised to participate and then had a brain fog day and completely forgot about it until about a half hour ago. Anyway, here's her description... I'm off to read what other's posted. I must say a wordzzle that I don't host myself seems much more relaxing to me...

The assignment:

Your job is to write a story (true or made-up), poem, song, letter... whatever strikes you ABOUT one of the three themes. You must INCLUDE all 10 words. Wild cards words may be used in addition to or in place of the main 10 words.

A couple of tricks to this are: If you get stuck on a word use it as a title for something or a name. You may use any derivation of the word or put words together. Your imagination is the limit.

Themes to choose from:

A visit by your mother in law

Bedtime Stories

Raising a Teenager

The words: Ostrich, goosebumps, magazines, soup, cats, lethargic, noodles, tequila, doorknob, biscuit

Wild card words: prehistoric, Jedi Knight, cactus, periscope, humor

And here is what I came up with at the very last minute... Whew! Not proofread... no time... must rush...

Bedtime Story

Aunt Kathie sat beside her nephew's bed rubbing her chin and scratching her head. The family's two cats lay in lethargic heaps on the end of the bed which was decorated with pictures of funny looking ostriches in different poses. This seemed to Aunt Kathie a bit incongruous with the Star Wars figures who adorned the mural on the wall, but she was no longer seven and lacked the creative expansiveness that went with youth. Much as she adored the energetic young boy who had run her ragged all day, she was beyond exhausted and trying desperately to come up with the promised bedtime story which would hopefully send him off to sleep and free her for the chicken and noodle soup, biscuits, and bottle of tequila which was calling her from down below. Still, eager as she was to see him off to sleep, it gave her goosebumps just to look at him, she loved him that much. So, she said, finally... a story, eh? What should it be about? Dinosaurs, he replied without a moment's pause. Dinosaurs? Hmmm... OK. Once upon a time a Jedi Knight named Marcellus discovered that he could travel through time using a magic doorknob. That's stupid, her nephew piped up. Well, stupid it may be, she replied, but that's how he did it. He went to many times and places. His first journey was to a beautiful desert full of many-branched cactuses, much like the desert here in Arizona where you live. On his second time travel adventure, he found himself on a submarine in the Atlantic Ocean and spent many happy hours watcing whales and yelling "Up periscope," to an increasingly irritated crew. His favorite, but alas his last, trip had been to prehistoric times where he saw many dinosaurs, t-rexes, brontosauri, pterydactyls.... these creatures were awesome and took his breath away even just remembering them. Alas and much to his dismay, one of the pterydactyls had gone and stolen his magic doorknob and although very fortunately he made it safely home, he was never again able to travel in time. And luckily for her, since she was now completely out of ideas for how to end this story, the eyes of her young nephew were closed and he was sound asleep. I love you she whispered. You have sweet dreams and I will have tequila and read some good humor magazines until your parents return home from the movies.

Whew. Got it done before midnight!

Calico Madness

This week's One Single Impression prompt was "serendipity," and I haven't yet come up with any inspiration for it but it did make me think of another kind of coincidence, I wasn't fast enough with my camera to get a really good shot so this is a composite of two not so good ones pasted together. Still, to those of you who doubt my stories about Angel's gift for trouble.... I will just say that this was probably her most minor accomplishment among dozens this week. She has been on an Act Out For October Spree. Anybody want a sweet little calico cat?

Important Speech on an Important Topic

AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka speaking - I'm not sure where or to whom - on the role of racism in the 2008 election. I think this is an important speech and topic. I haven't heard it discussed much. Like the alcoholic family's "elephant in the livingroom," it is there, though. I thought this was an excellent speech. I hope it gets more coverage and discussion. No doubt it won't.

Some Fall Foliage for the Fall Deprived

I wanted to share some fall foliage with my niece Cindy, who lives in Arizona without posting a huge long collection of sort of mediocre photos. So I merged them into two mediocre collages. These are HUGE files. I wasn't sure blogger would even accept them. If you click on the you can hopefully see the photos closer to full size. Fall has come early and is flashing by this year. I wish I had better photos to share but hope these offer some enjoyment to Cindy, her friend Linda (also in AZ) and others.

HAPPY FALL!!!!

A Hodge-Podge of Political Stuff

(Please scroll down for wordzzles.)

What ever side of the fence you are on (but especially if you are for Obama), please register and please VOTE! Your vote really DOES matter.

Among the things - besides the Presidential vote - that you'll find on your ballot is Proposition 2, which deals deals with the issue of animal cruelty. Something to think about.

And although, I'll try to avoid a rant about the VP debate, I will say that although Palin (as I expected) didn't make a fool of herself in this format (unless you count all the winking), I (biased I confess) felt it was further evidence of how shallow/non-existent her credentials are for such high office. I may like the folks who live next door to me - male or female - but being personable doesn't qualify you for world leadership unless it also comes with substantive knowledge of the law and the Constitution. Being personable, isn't a substitute for being capable of reasoned thinking. Nor is being slick. All politicians stretch and bend the truth. I think that's unfortunate. Palin, much like George Bush, is much too comfortable for my taste, with out and out lies. Her repeated mantra about "thanks but no thanks," is patently false. She campaigned actively for the bridge to nowhere and only changed her tune when it became a national scandal. And although it didn't go to building the bridge, the Mrs. Palin took that earmark money and spent it. Yet she has comfortably repeated this falsity over and over as though it is gospel.

Then there's the question of taxes. Mrs Palin - and the McCain campaign - continue to harp on the totally false claim that Obama will raise our taxes. Here's a comparative assessment of the actual truth of who will ease the tax burden of most of us. It isn't John McCain. Obama does raise taxes on those at the very top of the heap. About time.

Living here on the border of PA, where the airwaves are literally bombarded with McCain commersials, I continue to be disturbed and troubled by both the dishonest and the ugly tone of the ads. Seems like the old repeat a lie long enough and loud enough method of persuasion... Many of you know where that came from. Interestingly, I think that ugliness may have been backfiring on them. I've noticed in the past few days that the tone of ads has shifted.

I don't think Obama and the Democrats are perfect. I don't think they never stretch the truth. They do. They are politicians an unfortunately that seems to be par for the course. Still the nature and tone of Obama's ads is much different from McCains.

I think what upsets me most - almost more than the candidates - is the failure of our media to do its job. Some study in the Midwest rated the negativity of the two campaigns and declared that Obama was more negative. This has been reported widely. But what was the criteria on which they determined negativity? Content? Nope. It was mentioning the other guy's name. This seems like an insane measure of negativity. In fact it makes no sense, but it has been cited repeatedly without qualification. The media's almost complete abnegation of responsiblity for doing their job is criminal and tragic. One Sunday talking head show in an effort at so-called "balance," talked about the dishonesty of one of McCain's ads and then invited Rudy Guliani to close the discussion with a convoluted lie-filled rationalization for it. That's balance?

Even the debates have turned into exercises in extended soundbite exchanges. Is pertness really what we are looking for in someone whose decisions may change our lives for good or ill? I think one of the reasons the Republicans are keeping Sarah Palin farily low on the radar scope - besides her penchant for stumbing on the answers to relatively simple questions - is because winky perky cheerleader wears thin pretty quickly. I just wish the media would do a better job on confronting the lies rather than simply reporting them.

I got interrupted half way through this for about three hours. Probably a good thing. It might have been even longer and more rambling than it already is.

One last thing... Apparently the McCain campaign - the media reports is "going to go negative." Living where I do, it's hard to imagine how much more negative they can go. Maybe they will mention Obama's name more in their ads. Bizarre.

Saturday Wordzzle Challenge: Week 33

This is week 33 of the Saturday Wordzzle challenge. Anyone new to the process can refer back here to find out how it works. Thank you again to Chatty for offering words. WOW, were these tough! If I weren't the host, I think I might have thrown in the towel this week. When you get to my mega, you will see that I chose to be wickedly cheaty. I hope it entertains you as much as it entertained me.

As always, I'm looking forward to reading what everyone has to offer. We have a new participant who doesn't have a blog and plans to post her exercise in the comments, I think, so make sure you check back there. She posted something in last week's comments too. I haven't said so for quite a while but I'm open to posting such exercises here as long as I receive them by Thursday afternoon or Friday morning.

The words for this week's ten word challenge were: tattletale, homogeneous, flighty, cornucopia, plethora, militant, lovelorn, myopic, digitalized, mute And for the Mini Challenge: washing machine, cholesterol, blatantly, Birdman of Alcatraz, poltergeist

Here's my ten-word offering for this week: It's really long. I just couldn't get it done without running on and on... and I got just at touch (!!) political. Sorry

Sara Johnson sat mute with horror and rage as she listened to what euphemistically passed as news coverage. She was militantly pro Obama, pro anybody who was not Republican really. She was repulsed by the barrage of lies uttered in smarmy tones that issued from her TV. She was repulsed by the ugly dishonesty of the Republicans. She could forgive them thinking differently from her. She could not forgive the lies which were far and beyond the normal political lies. They were whoppers and ugly whoppers directed at Obama. She was repulsed by the pathetic flighty – well flighty wasn’t the right word – fake, folksy, fatuous, fanatical, pseudo feisty… she needed to move from the “f” words…. Hypocritical, hopelessly unprepared, horribly dishonest… well there was a plethora, a veritable cornucopia of unflattering descriptives that suited the woman. She didn’t understand how anyone could bear that voice and all the winky grimaces or the incoherent convoluted sentences, responses that seemed clearly more programmed than thought out. And then there was her comfort with lies about her opponents – and about her own and her running mate’s records. She had NOT said no to the bridge to nowhere. She had campaigned for it and had taken the money to spend on something else. And what was with that kind of tattletale, whiny nonsense that it was some interviewer’s fault that she had made an ass of herself… She felt herself starting to spin out of control. I must stop myself she muttered. I’m getting too upset. I just feel like a tragic lovelorn heroine who is gazing myopically in to the distance wishing my beloved country would come home to me. I don’t want this mutant homogenous Stepford America that the right is trying to impose on me where everyone is supposed to fall in lock step and disagreement is treason, where we don’t like foreigners any more. I want my real country back. She was spiraling back into a rant, trying desperately to pull her mind away from her anger and frustration, her fear for her nation’s and her child’s future. She was not succeeding. And then mercifully, her young son came in book in hand. “What’s this word, Mom?” And suddenly she was grounded, back to her normally calms self again. “Digitalized,” she replied, heaving a sigh of relief.

And here's my mini challenge:

Enjoying a gloriously massive dose of bad cholesterol in the form of a double cheeseburger and fries with a blatantly foolish disregard for her doctor’s advice, Madge Simmons sat in front of the TV watching The Birdman of Alcatraz and drinking sipping the first of several cans of beer she had lined up on the table in front of her. In the background the ancient washing machine in the basement rumbled and rattled like a petulant poltergeist. Madge had thought about taking a sledge hammer to it earlier in the day as she put the 4^th load of laundry into it’s gaping maw, but had opted instead for slow suicide by cheeseburger. When this mood passed, she could compensate for the cheeseburger, but a new washing machine would be beyond her grasp.

And the mega challenge:

“Who on earth came up with these words,” Raven muttered to herself, glad she could be a tattletale and lay the blame squarely on Chatty, who had generously offered a wonderful cornucopia, a veritable plethora of impossible and challenging words for the weekly game. I haven’t a clue what to do with any of them. Myopic? Certainly can’t accuse her of having offered a boring homogeneous words and phrases to deal with. Two movie titles - Poltergeist and Birdman of Alcatraz – maybe I can do something with those. But what? I have no idea what to do with digitalized. I looked it up and it doesn’t mean what I thought. Something to do with digitalis. Can I put that together with cholesterol somehow? Lord, I need a medical degree. I know – this whole paragraph is a blatantly wicked exercise in cheating, but I’m quite enjoying myself. Ok… Marigold, the flighty, lovelorn, militant mute stood gazing out the window pining for the return of her beloved Walter. Now what do I do with washing machine? I am stumped. Chatty is responsible for next week’s words too. I hope they are easier than this week’s were. Whew. Cheating can be fun, especially when you are running late.

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This week's vanity wordzzle used the words: Colander, abracadabra, sciences, shenanigan, eyebrow, subway, island, mountain, prayer, silver

"Abracadabra Abracadabra!! Abracadabra-do!" chanted Alonzo the Great. "Ladies and Gentlemen. Prepare to be astonished! Prepare to be dazzled! Prepare for miracles which science cannot explain. Prepare, kind friends for magic in its highest form. Ah, sir, madam, I see your eyebrows twitch in disbelief. Alonzo, you think, is a charlatan, full of shenanigans and fancy sleight of hand. But you are wrong. Alonzo is no trickster, like penny-ante magicians you see on the street or in the subway. Alonzo knows the reality of mystery, the power of spirit and prayer. Those of you who react only with scorn and disbelief have minds like a colander, so much runs out, so much is lost to you. Of course sometimes a colander is useful -- you want to drain the water from spaghetti. But would you drain your soup? No. Use discretion. You must always be open to new possibilities. Who says gold is better than silver? Black than white? Each has its own value and the value of one is enhanced by the other. Sometimes I dream of nothing more glorious than a tropical island and a soft breeze. Other days I crave the high vistas of a mountaintop. Should we live in a world of only mountains or only islands? Of course not. No more should we live in a world where all there is is science and the provable, for much of what is now "science fact" was once mere fantasy. So, I bid you all, open your minds, open your eyes, and open your hearts. The magic is all around you! Abracadabra! Abracadabra! Abracadabra-do!

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Many thanks to Maggie-beth R. aka Chatty for next week’s words.

Next Week's Ten Word Challenge will be: bluebottle, puppy love, livid, misanthrope, torrid, apathy, erudite, catalyst, hockey puck, parakeet

And for the Mini Challenge: totalitarian, moronic, boondoggle, tycoon, insipid

Thanks for playing. For those who are new, here are some guidelines to make the process more fun.

Enjoy! See you next week.

DON'T FORGET TO ADD YOUR NAME TO MR. LINKY!!!!!

Running Late on Wordzzles

Got unexpected company who stayed a bit longer than expected... and new company has just arrived too. I've got the vanity wordzzle chosen but haven't had a chance to start my own. Hope to get something posted by 8:30 or 9:00. Apologies for the delay.

Carole

Twenty years ago today, my older sister was murdered.

Twenty years ago today my phone rang late in the evening and I heard my father's voice. Given the hour, I knew this was not a good news call. My mother had been sick for a long time and I expected him to tell me that there was some emergency regarding her health. Instead he said, "Carole's dead." I think it took a while for those words to sink in. I don't remember much about the conversation. I don't know how much my father knew at that point. I'm sure he knew that she had been stabbed to death while putting groceries in the car. I don't think he knew much else than that she had died quickly shortly after arriving at the hospital. I don't remember if I called my brother or if my father had already spoken to him. I know I called my brother-in-law, who was in shock and not sure what to do. I think I advised him to talk to Carole's pastor about making funeral arrangements. At some point I called a friend of mine. Most of my conversations with her tended to be one-sided with me listening and her talking about herself. Old habits die hard and I didn't want to be rude. I listened for a while and when she finally took a breath, I told her that my sister had been murdered. I don't know why she was the first person I called after family. She was always stunned that I let her talk and then told her. I don't think I was really very aware of anything really.

I remember that the next day I had some kind of errand I had to do for my parents in preparation for going up to my sister's house and the funeral. I have no idea what it was any more. What I remember is feeling as though everything was strange and like I was walking under water. Even though it didn't make any sense, I wondered how everyone on the bus could be acting so normal - could be laughing and talking and arguing - when my sister was so suddenly and violently dead. The next day my brother and my parents and I drove up north to Carole's house. My brother and I were fairly recently estranged. I remember the added horror of having to be around him. I remember being angry that he was alive and my sister was dead. I don't often talk about my brother. It's a long, complicated story and not a happy one.

To write the whole story of the next days would take too long. I had never been to a funeral before. My sister's body was in an open casket for the wake. I had always thought funerals and wakes were foolish, but in this case, I think it made it all more real. It allowed for some kind of goodbye. I know it helped my sister's children. My niece Diana has written beautifully about it. What I remember about that moment was my sister's hands. The body/face - so still - didn't look like my sister to me. But her hands - which were always in motion when she talked - were hers. Because Carole's death was a murder the funeral had the surreal air of a pagent... I don't remember much about it. I remember that our car broke down on the way to the burial. My father was in a panic that we wouldn't get there. We did. I think someone gave us a ride.

I walked under water for a long time. I went through a phase where I had (literally had) to tell everyone I met that my sister was dead and that she had been murdered. I'm not sure why. Maybe to make it real. Maybe as a way of processing it. I've written a number of things about it which you can read here if you would like to.

But let me tell you a little bit about Carole. She was a wonderful person. She was a wonderful mother and her children are a reflection of her goodness and her capacity to love. They didn't have a perfect life - who does - but I think they always knew they were loved.

Carole was 10 years older than me. There's so much to say about her but there isn't really room or time in this format. She was a very good big sister. She gave me my first real book, KING OF THE WIND by Marguerite Henry. I have very few memories of my childhood, but I remember my sister sitting on the end of my bed and reading that book with me. She had a funny way of helping me correct my grammar. Every time I would say "Me and you" or "me and whoever," instead of the correct "You and me," she would pretend to cry and say "You called me mean." For some reason that turned into her being the Mean Queen. When she went away to college, she wrote to me often and many of her letters were from the Mean Queen. She encouraged my writing. The rest of the family encouraged me by criticizing me and telling me not to quit my day job. Carole bought me books about how to get published.

In later years it was my job to try and get my sister out of bed in the morning. This was not an easy task. "I'm awake," she would moan, clearly not the least bit awake. "I'm up."

Carole was passionate about politics and history and music and ideas. She introduced me to The Weavers and Odetta and to many others whose names won't come to me at the moment. She gave me books to read like John Brown's Body (worth reading the preface even if you don't read the rest) and Cry the Beloved Country and the poetry of e.e. cummings. She took me to Europe with her when I was a sophomore in college. How many big sisters would do that? And she gave birth to three people who are among my favorite humans on the earth. I didn't always (often, ever?) feel acceptable to my parents. I think I knew that they loved me in their way. But Carole loved me. She opened worlds to me and she saw me and she liked me anyway. I loved her very much. I miss her still. And yet she is very much a part of me. It's hard to believe that it has been twenty years since she died.

I'm writing this too late at night. October 2nd caught me by surprise this year. I guess that's a good thing. I have always tried to recognize the day by doing something I consider to be "life affirming," so that I celebrate the life of the beautiful soul who was my big sister rather than wallowing in the ugliness of how she died.

Today is also Gandhi's birthday. I like that. I like that the anniversary of my generous, passionate, compassionate, intelligent, thoughtful, peace-loving sister's death is the birthday of someone who stood for peace and non-violence.

I was going to go to bed early tonight and then I realized that it was October 2nd and I suddenly had to write this. Why it couldn't wait until morning, I don't know. It's 3:00 am. I'm not going to re-read it. I'm just going to post it and hope that it honors my sister as it is meant to. Maybe I'll fix it in the morning. But for some reason I need to post it before I go to sleep.

I miss you Carole. I love you. You were the best sister anyone could have had.