Christmas 2011 Is GONE

I spent today taking down Christmas and packing it in boxes.  Normally that would mean wrapping each ornament in its own piece of tissue paper.  I simply could not do that again.  I know some of that tissue paper is as old as I am.  That's some forty-seven year old tissue paper whose time has come, to go to tissue paper heaven.  It had to be done.

I could see my mom cringing at the way i was sorting and putting things in new packages, and wishing I had just done things as they have always been done.  There are a lot of things worth being traditional about, tissue paper is not one of them.  I know if she could have gotten up out of that chair, she would have and chased me as I ran around the house with her forty-seven year old tissue paper.  For the record, the Christmas memories you have accumulated over the years are not in the tissue paper.

You ever done the job of taking down all the decorations with your parent watching and they sit there and try to direct you?    "You missed one", "No I didn't, I am taking down all of one size at a time".  "There is a hook on the floor", "No, there are several hooks on the floor, I am accumulating them there.  Maybe we should get your eyes checked."  After a while I just gave her the look when she tried to direct, and she gave me the look back.  The same look her mother used to give.  I was just waiting for the, "Oh, horrors" (when I was a kid I thought it was, "Oh, whores".) that went along with it.  In the end, she saw and appreciated the logic of it all.  

Politics in 2012

It's 12:08 am here in Indiana.  You would think this would be a pretty quiet place considering there are only 30K people in our town, but there are guns and fireworks going on all over the place and the new dog is climbing the walls.  Literally.

I'm hoping this year is better than last year, for everyone's sake.  Here in the States, I think we all should be able to line Congress up against a wall, walk down the line and smack them all in the head and ask them, "What the hell were you thinking?."  

Note to Democrats:  If you don't stop sitting on your hands like scared little boys and girls, and back your President like you are supposed to, there are a whole lot of people out here who are fed up with it and we will make damn sure you don't get re-elected.  

Note to Republicans:  We are not nearly as stupid as you think we are, and if you paid attention BEFORE you started going after Occupy Wall Street people, you would have noticed that plenty of your own people are out there.  People with jobs standing up for those who don't, people with college degrees who can't get jobs, and people who are fed up with the greed and criminal behavior of Wall Street and the big banks.  You are right to be scared of them, you should be very scared, because we are all coming after your asses.  Not just for all the stupid stunts you have pulled this year, but because you have made the whole country look bad.  A lot of us don't have much tolerance for stupid people.

NOTE TO REPUBLICAN SUPPORTERS:  Unless you are part of the 1% or damn near close to it,  your leaders are leading you astray.  They have convinced you that it is a good idea to vote against your own economic best interest.  They won't tell you that, but that's what they are doing and they are laughing behind your back because you don't see it.  They are telling you the same things they have always have to keep you in their pocket.  They will tell you that the 2nd Amendment is in jeopardy, but its not.  I'm as much for that one as you are, we might want to raise up against our government if one of your guys makes it into office and you see what they are really about.  They are scaring you by telling you that Obama is trying to take away your religion, but he's not.  Think about it people!  You are the one who decides what your religion is to you, no one can take that from you.  The Republicans tell that to you, because they know that is one of the most important things to you.  Is calling Christmas a holiday REALLY going to change how or what you celebrate?  No.  It does however make people of other religions feel included in that time of year, because most religions have a holiday around the same time.  Does that really threaten you?  If it does, then where is your faith?  Is it really as strong as you say it is if you let something that includes people instead of dividing them, make you feel threatened?  I understand your views on gays and abortion, I don't agree with them, but does it make it right for you to force your beliefs on other people?  God gave us all free will to choose as we wanted, you may not like what some people choose, but that is for them to answer for if and when the time comes, not you.  Jesus didn't force his beliefs on anyone, and neither should you.  Quit letting the hypocrites dictate to you how you should vote.  Until the lot of them can get their own lives and depravities under control, they really shouldn't be advising anyone.  Keeping yourselves from forcing your beliefs on people is as much a test of your faith as referring to Christmas as Holiday.  When you hear all these politicians using God to help further their cause, just remember what happened to the moneymakers in the temple.  Another thing you might want to consider when your leaders start talking about the EPA and reducing the number of regulations.  Just how happy do you think God is at seeing the Earth and all he created, destroyed for the sake of money.

To all the big corporations out there:  As Peter Gabriel so fondly said, "The eyes of the world are watching now", and you would do well to pay attention to that.  You would have done well to have the Republicans leave the EPA regulations alone, because now everyone realizes that there weren't enough people to enforce them, so you weren't adhering to them anyway.  Brilliant move on your part.  And, especially to bp, its pretty bad when your own country won't allow you to operate plants there anymore.  You can run all the commercials in the world to promote tourism and pat yourself on the back in the Gulf, you are still making messes all over the damn place, and we all know it.  If we put money into hiring a bunch of EPA enforcers (omg, that creates jobs) and had them enforce the regulations we have on the companies who have not been adhering to them, we could probably afford to let that 1% keep their tax break.  They would need it because we would be taking the money from their companies, which hurts most of them more anyway.

Note to Wall Street:  I really don't know how so many arrogant stupid people have have managed to be so lucky up to this point.  Sorry to tell you, but that luck will start running out.  The mess you have made playing with derivatives is catching up to you.  People who put money into their pensions and thought they were safe, but lost them due to your arrogant stupidity, are kind of pissed off.  You see, they EARNED their money, they didn't steal it like you did, and they want it back.  So, hold your, "WE ARE THE 1%" signs up while you can.  I think your chances of being there in the next few years are going to be pretty slim.  Maybe then it will hit home what you have done to the 99%, because you will be one of them.

Note to the big banks:  You are the dumbest people I have ever seen.  You took the bailout money, which you could have used properly to make yourselves come out looking like heroes, and instead used it to expose you arrogance, greed and criminal behavior.  Fannie and Freddie did not make the housing mess, you did.  No one forced you to give loans to people who could not afford them, all they said was that you could not refuse to give people loans based on their location alone.  YOU chose to give out loans to people you knew could not afford them, because you could just foreclose on them if they couldn't keep up with the payments.  Most of those people were first time home owners wanting a piece of the American dream and you told them they could afford it, when you knew they couldn't.  You say they knew what they were doing, but we all know they didn't.  You can say it was all there in writing  and they could have read it before they signed, but a whole lot of people sign those papers without really understanding them.  When you got the bailout money, instead of using it to give out loans to small businesses who could afford them, as you were intended to do, you just bought up the smaller banks and cried that you had to follow the rules and keep a certain amount of money in the banks.  How gracious of you to finally follow a rule.  You think you have made it through it all free and easy, but just remember, once Obama is elected to a 2nd term, he doesn't really have to care what people like.  He can't get a third term, so he can start prosecuting the hell out of each and every one of you, as he should.  Hope that works out well for you.  And, especially for Goldman Sachs, I hope every country whose economy you have screwed up makes sure you don't do business in their country again, and prosecute you wherever they can.  It couldn't happen to a nicer group of people and I would like the rest of the world to get some justice where you are concerned.

Note to President Obama:  Dude, you know I love you, but you have made some mistakes.  You kept people on your staff who wouldn't listen to you, much longer than you should have.  I know you have started cleaning house, but I think you probably have a few more to weed out.  I know this first term has really sucked for you.  Who would have thought that the Republicans would rather take the country down into a deep, dark hole and embarrass us in front of the world, rather than let you accomplish what you set out to do.  And they call themselves patriots.  They don't know the meaning of the word.  You have given into them a few times too many, but I understand you had to do certain things that went against the grain in order to have an easier time getting re-elected this next time.  Just promise me that when you get the second term, you'll take the gloves off and give as good as you get.  With OWS scaring the hell out of the Republicans, they are making stupid mistakes and will make more and bigger mistakes once OWS can come back full force in the spring, when the weather warms up.  Let OWS do what they do best, let the AG do his job with the voter suppression that is running rampant, let your volunteers do what they did last time, and you just focus on sticking to your guns on policy.  It might get to be a little tough out there, but we will get you through.

Funny But True

Exercising when you are cold (like slapping on the iPod and dancing yourself crazing, with no coat, in the dark, in the middle of the back yard at 2 a.m.) burns twice as many calories than if you were not cold.


A Puffer Fish can hold more water (in relation to its body mass) in its mouth than any other fish.  (Courtesy of the 11 yr. old marine biologist.)


If you haven't painted in years, and you suddenly go out and buy paints and canvasses, you will stare at them for days before you actually touch them for fear you will find out you don't know how to paint anymore.  I'm getting closer to it.  I'm not sure, but I think I am.


I am staring at them right now .....

It Takes A Country

In the realm of political debate, I hear so many people complain about how big government is and how it should do less for people.  They think all the government is doing is giving money to people who are too lazy to help themselves.  They judge people without knowing a thing about them; what they have been through and fought through.  They are labeled lazy simply because they get assistance of some kind, whether it be food stamps, cash assistance or healthcare.

It has always been the the response of such people that it should be left to churches and the private sector to see to helping these people.  The truth is they don't.  Not in the way they should.  Not in the way they could.  They hand pick those they are willing to help, and some will only help you if you vow to become an active member of their religion, and that means showing up every week for church.  For some that might work just fine, but what if you are a Catholic getting help from the Jehovah's witnesses, or a Buddhist getting help from a Catholic church.  And, if the government didn't help people, there would be millions who fall through the cracks, that don't get the help they need.  Our government can send billions to other countries to help them with poverty, but for some reason it has become despicable to help people in our own country.  I have heard some people say the government needs to help our own people instead of giving so much to immigrants, and yet in the same breath, that people don't have jobs because they are lazy.  Where in the Bible does it say you should only help people who are of your own faith?  Is that what Jesus did?  Yes, I know it says somewhere in the Bible, "God helps those who helps themselves", but it also says, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.'  People want God in their government when it suits them, but they went to forget about him when it doesn't.

People in hundreds of different situations need help for hundreds of different reasons.  Unless you are privy to someone's private life, don't judge them for it.  I think there is something about that in the Bible, too.  People need to quit thinking it is beneath them to help someone by way of the government, because they can't pick and choose who they help.  Yes, there will always be people who will take advantage of any system of help, but the majority of people shelve their pride because they have no choice but to ask for help, and they don't do it because they are lazy.  Some would rather die than ask for help.  People lose their jobs and their houses and their families and a lot of times its through no fault of their own.  What is so wrong about collectively helping people who need it?  I wonder sometimes if people were this way during The Great Depression; if it was so easy to look the other way and say, "its not my problem".

I'm not a Socialist.  If you want to call me a 'tree hugger' or a liberal, then I am glad to accept that title.  But really, I'm just a human being.

(If this wanders a little, sorry, I have been awake too many hours)

We Are All At Fault

                                      My nephew, Brian 


There was a time in this country when family was the center of all that was, it was everything.  'Was' being the operative word.  Family knew you better than anyone else.  Making sure you knew your manners was one of your mother's main objectives.  Everyone at the table every night at the same time for dinner was something you didn't stray from unless you were dying.  Having dinner at a friend's house wasn't something you did every day, you did it on rare occasions.  Homework was done without you having to be asked because you knew if you didn't want privileges taken away, you kept your grades up.  People actually hand wrote letters in cursive and sent them through the mail on a regular basis.  Really they did, I'm not lying.  Kids didn't have their own cars when they got their licence, and if they did, it certainly wasn't new.


It seems like what we gained with technology, we lost socially.  First there were computers that were nothing more than glorified typewriters, but damn they were cool.  We thought playing text games were coolest thing ever. No pictures, no sound, just words and commands.  Pagers came along and it was great that people could make contact no matter where you were or what you were doing.  They paged you and you called.  It was a life saver if you had an emergency and needed someone.  It was later when pagers became cell phones and computers opened the world to us, that we began to isolate ourselves from each other.  People now call you anytime they want, and if we have a cell phone we answer it just to be sure we aren't missing anything.  In the old days (damn, I never thought I would use that phrase), we actually had down time.  Now, we constantly have phones in our hands, whether we are talking on them or texting.  Time we used to spend with family, is now spent on the computer in isolation.  Kids don't play outside anymore, they play on computers.They don't climb trees, or build forts just to tear them down and build them again somewhere else.  There are no more conversations over the inner table because everyone has a different schedule.  We wrapped ourselves in technology and lost sight of what was most important.  


When we quit watching, when we quit talking to each other, the world spun out of control without our realizing.  When we quit watching, we forgot about the wars that our people were fighting.  I don't think the people who are fighting in these wars for us were doing it so we could play on computers and ignore the fact that our country was spinning out of control while they were brave enough to do it.  When we quit watching new laws were being made and new bills were getting passed.   We were blissfully ignorant of it all.  Okay, some of us knew, some of us were aware, but were we putting all those pieces together?  Were we so committed to inspecting each piece that we lost sight of the tragic picture they were creating?  


What kind of mess are our the troops coming home to, and didn't we owe it to them to take care of things here while they were over there fighting?  Did you know it takes a year and a half for a soldier to get a medical discharge?  A year and a half of sitting around and waiting for papers to be shuffled around.  This problem has persisted for years. Did you know that while they are waiting for those medical discharges, they can't go to school.  They are losing their homes and becoming homeless.  Many of them need help but are too proud to ask for it.  


So, what are the rest of us going to do about it?  What are we going to do to help them return to some semblance of normalcy so that the families they have dreamed of returning to, don't fall apart?  They deserve to have that picture of what family used to be in order to have a safe place to fall when they come home.