The Bible: A Primer for the Lumpen

Polly,

Yes, Dr. Laura does have some wingnut views. But I confess, I can support some of the views. That's because I'm both progressive and traditional. Many of us are.

While I can support the biblical references posted above, I also want to say that there are other lessons that Dr. Laura teaches that shouldn't be tossed out.

Maybe this would brand me as a 'moderate' or a 'wingnut' myself. I am not sure I can comfortably address the issues where I support her.

(anti-gay is not one of them.)

Things are heating up in the OHIO election reform movement. We feel certain that those who have the inside track on rigging will cheat
again this year, in the primaries and in Nov. Catching them in the act would give more ammunition to our proof of fraud . We have a growing body of evidence, but due to main-stream media under-reporting and people's apathy, we need to reach a "tipping point."

Getting out the vote and running good candidates--and there are many--is important, but let's not forget that underhanded and illegal tricks to stop people from voting, along with various means of fraud, will make our votes disappear, as they did in previous elections. And
yes, we do know this now. It's just a matter of getting the evidence out to the average citizen and voter.

What can you do? Many things, actually, as you have time and energy. Please forward this list.

If you are involved in Get-out-the-vote (GOTV) activities, we are going to send you, on request, a little sheet of info to pass on to the potential voters. Things such as "how to make sure I am registered and stay registered," (Over 300,000 registrations were purged in 2004 in Democratic areas. see
http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/19/2006/1832). AND how do I register (hand em a card to mail in--put stamp on it if you can, and
give them their BOE's phone number to see if they are registered.) How to register to vote by early or absentee ballot. How to check to see if
their provisional vote counted, if they are forced to vote provisionally. (And we want to know who they are so we can help them
check.) Proper ID to bring in Nov. We will have a website up soon for easy access. Meanwhile have them call their county BOE.

We will be needing volunteers for Election Protection (will work with that group that did it in 04) and will be doing parallel elections in as many precincts as we have the volunteers for. Parallel elections are like exit polls only we try to get everybody who voted to vote
unofficially again with us, by secret paper ballot. It is one of the few citizen checks we have left on ballot manipulation.

CASE_OH has several projects underway for which they need volunteers.

JoAnne Karasek has a hand-counted-paper-ballot initiative for which she is needing signature gatherers in Ohio . jakarasek AT cinci.rr.com

Stuart Wright is heading up ballot counting and observation from previous elections so we can see where the fraud occurred and is likely
to again.We are also data gathering in various counties. stuartwright AT att.net.

Join a citizens' voting rights Yahoo group, if you want to get educated. There are several in the "To" area above.

We need to get our volunteers in place for recounting. We don't doubt THAT they are going to cheat in myriad ways, so we need to be ready to block vote theft. You can volunteer with me and I'll distribute email addresses to the proper organizations. Remember, election protection is up to us. There is no government agency doing it.

Dear Polly,

The great thing about blogging when nobody else is around is that you can always be right!

But on the other hand, it's no fun sitting here arguing with yourself.

Another off-topic post...

Feingold's Censure Resolution May Pay Off
Sen. Russ Feingold's Call for Cenuring President Bush Could Pay Off With Voters
By FREDERIC J. FROMMER Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON - While only two Democrats in the Senate have embraced Sen. Russ Feingold's call for censuring President Bush, the idea is increasing his standing among many Democratic voters as he ponders a bid for the party's presidential nomination in 2008.

Feingold, a Wisconsin Democrat, insists his proposal has nothing to do with his political ambitions. But he does challenge Democrats who argue it will help energize Republicans.

"Those Democrats said that within two minutes of my announcing my idea," Feingold said in a telephone interview last week. "I don't see any serious evidence of that."

A Newsweek poll taken March 16-17 found that 50 percent of those surveyed opposed censuring Bush while 42 percent supported it, but among Democrats, 60 percent favored the effort.

Feingold's resolution would censure the president for authorizing a warrantless surveillance program, which the senator contends is illegal. Co-sponsors are Democratic Sens. Tom Harkin of Iowa and Barbara Boxer of California.

The White House argues that Bush was authorized to order eavesdropping on American citizens under his wartime powers as commander in chief.

Feingold said his sole purpose was to hold Bush accountable, but he argued that it's also good politics.

"These Democratic pundits are all scared of the Republican base getting energized, but they're willing to pay the price of not energizing the Democratic base," he said. "It's an overly defensive and meek approach to politics."

Some Democrats have accused Feingold of putting his 2008 presidential ambitions over helping Democrats try to recapture the House and Senate in this year's midterm elections. Should Feingold run, his opposition to the war in Iraq, the Patriot Act and the spying program would help position him as the liberal candidate.

Many also see his effort as a distraction at a time when the Bush administration was on the ropes over Iraq and a since-scuttled port deal.

"It just takes us off discussions we ought to be having in this country on issues that really matter in people's lives," said Rep. Sherrod Brown, a liberal Democrat from Ohio who is running for Senate.

Some Republicans have been thanking Feingold for what they consider a political fumble.

"This is such a gift," Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show. The National Review came to the same conclusion. In an online editorial titled, "Feingold's Gift to the GOP," the conservative magazine wrote that Republican National Committee chairman Ken Mehlman would hug Feingold if given the chance.

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/print?id=1769200

Did Bush start WWIII?

http://www.dailynews.com/entertainment/ci_3641046

Sparrow
Just read that about Feingold - nice to read - glad to see you posted it.

You are not alone.
I'm sitting here listening to Chan Marshall (Cat Power) and Beth Orton continuously and it is NOT helping. Nothing is. We have gone in such a short time from "Most Livable City" to home of the "Zombie Party" serial killings & police are raiding a north Seattle apartment where they killer and his twin lived. I live in north Seattle. What they will be looking - his damn arsenal.

What is with all the guns in this country?!!

& streets are full of dissatisfied people lately - not hard to get into the hundreds of thousands, half a million

- Hispanic workers seeking respect not discrimination
- Thai civilians seeking respect not discrimination
- French students seeking respect not discrimination

What is the antiwar movement joined forces in a true movement of peace and justice?

I don't mean to scare you people, but I'm hearing voices in my head responding to these comments. You should hear what their saying too!

Oh well! ;)

Government offshore report becomes political hot potato House Democrats want a Commerce Dept. report on the effects of outsourcing released

http://www.computerworld.com/managementtopics/outsourcing/story/0,10801,109889,00.html

I just read that some commentator got fired for calling Condi Rice a "coon" and he had to apologise. He said he meant to say "coup"

I hope Fox News doesn't cover Seattle continuously, like they did when that girl got murdered at spring break in the tropics - the biggest prudes are the biggest consumers of sensationalism - it's called vicariously.

Polly -

my take:

http://www.classicshorts.com/stories/lotry.html

Posted by: Veritas at March 26, 2006 06:06 PM

Lovely story Veritas.

Gives new meaning to stone soup or stone cold, huh?

Posted by: Veritas at March 26, 2006 06:06 PM

Nice bedtime story for the kids.

Feingold's Popularity Surges on Censure Stand
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032606Y.shtml
While only two Democrats in the Senate have embraced Senator Russ Feingold's call for censuring President Bush, the idea is increasing his standing among many Democratic voters as he ponders a bid for the party's presidential nomination in 2008.
Excerpt:
"It just takes us off discussions we ought to be having in this country on issues that really matter in people's lives," said Rep. Sherrod Brown, a liberal Democrat from Ohio who is running for Senate.

{{{Okay, Sherrod Brown, explain what you're talking about. I know domestic issues matter, like Social Security and Medicare and education for our kids, all things that the criminals running this country have botched badly and can't be fixed until they're out of office. What "other issues" matter as much as a president LYING about getting this nation into an illegal war that is a war crime by Nuremberg standards, and illegal by all treaties and UN agreements signed by the US which has now killed over two thousand US military and tens of thousands of Iraqis??? What "other issues" are as important as a president who already admitted he was illegally spying on US citizens??? WHEN would it be more 'convenient' to discuss the illegal activities of the currently-installed pResident and his corporate goons who are making money hand over fist from US taxpayers? After he's out of power in '09? After he fabricates a criminal incident that will cause him to cancel the '08 elections and he makes himself dictator for life?!?!? C'mon... I know there are important issues to discuss (war, lies that got us into war, torture, illegal detention of people in concentration camps, illegal spying on our own citizens, how to pay for Bu$h's illegal war..., among some of the top issues), but we do need to get rid of the criminals who are running our governmnt into the abyss and costing this nation dearly in lives, money, and international trust.... Don't be a wimpy little piddling puppy, Brown. Get on board with the Democrats who support (1) censure and (2) impeachment...!}}}

I agree with Feingold:

Feingold's response, essentially, is bring it on.

"I welcome their attempt to make a campaign issue of the question of whether there will be accountability for the president's breaking the law," he said. "They will remind people every minute that the president thumbed his nose at the law."

Scalia: 'US Detainees Have no Rights'
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032606X.shtml
The Supreme Court this week will hear arguments in a big case: whether to allow the Bush administration to try Guantanamo detainees in special military tribunals with limited rights for the accused.
Excerpt:
The Supreme Court this week will hear arguments in a big case: whether to allow the Bush administration to try Guantanamo detainees in special military tribunals with limited rights for the accused. But Justice Antonin Scalia has already spoken his mind about some of the issues in the matter. During an unpublicized March 8 talk at the University of Freiberg in Switzerland, Scalia dismissed the idea that the detainees have rights under the U.S. Constitution or international conventions, adding he was "astounded" at the "hypocritical" reaction in Europe to Gitmo. "War is war, and it has never been the case that when you captured a combatant you have to give them a jury trial in your civil courts," he says on a tape of the talk reviewed by NEWSWEEK. "Give me a break." Challenged by one audience member about whether the Gitmo detainees don't have protections under the Geneva or human-rights conventions, Scalia shot back: "If he was captured by my army on a battlefield, that is where he belongs. I had a son on that battlefield and they were shooting at my son and I'm not about to give this man who was captured in a war a full jury trial. I mean it's crazy." Scalia was apparently referring to his son Matthew, who served with the U.S. Army in Iraq. Scalia did say, though, that he was concerned "there may be no end to this war."

{{{Okay. In other words, if Scalia's son had been captured by 'the other side' in the Iraq war, then 'the other side' would have had the right to detain his son in a jail indefinitely, and torture his son against Nuremberg and UN treaties, without benefit of trial, without notifying his family where he was.... In Scalia's and Bu$h's good christian world of 'do unto others as you would have them do unto you,' that means what we do unto others, we can fully expect them to do unto us, and we have no right to complain if others break laws while treating our people badly, just as Scalia seems to think other people have no right to complain if the US treats people badly or invades another country illegally.... What an elitist, hypocritical SOB!!!}}}

Iraq Redux
“When a stupid man is doing something he is ashamed of, he always declares that it is his duty.” ~ George Bernard Shaw
By Dom Stasi
Today, only slaves to their personal biases cling to the myth of might is right, Go W, These Colors Don’t Run, Power Of Pride, and God Bless America. Which god might that be? Which America would he deign to bless?
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12476.htm
{{{Grab a cuppa; this is a long read. I happen to like Stasi's writing, so the time spent reading was worth it for me....}}}

War Making 101 - A Users Manual
By Stephen Lendman
Here's one definition of a dictator or at least one practicing to become one. It's a head of state able to decide alone with unchallengeable authority whether or not to take a nation to war for any reason. Here's an add-on to that definition. If a leader does it for any reason other than to respond to an attack by another nation or clear evidence an attack is coming, that leader is also a war criminal.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12479.htm

Jason Miller: Democratizing the World: One Torture Victim at a Time :
Psychological torture, sleep deprivation, brutality, severe sexual humiliation, and murder summon visions of a dank dungeon in a remote region of pre-invasion Iraq, Iran, or North Korea, replete with evil inquisitors and hooded executioners. However, those manifestations of horror did not spring forth from the Axis of Evil. They are actually drawn from official post-9/11 US policy.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12477.htm

Irony?

Hypocrisy?

These folks nail it. Please help them out!

TELL THE SENATE THERE IS NO MILITARY SOLUTION TO IMMIGRATION ISSUES

ACTION PAGE: http://www.millionphonemarch.com/hr4437.php

They have turned the people of Iraq into our enemy. Now they want to do the same thing with the entire immigrant population of our own country.

This week we heard of a man in Afghanistan sentenced to death because he converted from Islam 14 YEARS ago. Will they now roust people in this country who have been paying taxes for a decade and throw them in jail?

WHAT AMERICAN NEEDS NOW IS MORE FRIENDS, NOT MORE ENEMIES

The proposed immigration bill, HR 4437, which the Senate will begin considering March 28th, at best has selective prosecution written all over it, and would at worst pave the way for sweeping entire neighborhoods and dumping otherwise law abiding people into concentration camps.

Instead of fostering the cooperation we need in the immigrant community to weed out a couple isolated real border threats, this bill would create the kind of hostile militarized atmosphere where real intelligence would dry up, just as in Iraq where their people KNOW who the terrorists are and where they are, but would never tell us because of their growing hatred for America. If they can't enforce the immigration laws we already have, they will never be able to enforce this one in any kind of just way.

(NonnyO - didn't you post something not long ago about internment camps being built by companies such as Halliburton?)

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1176081-1,00.html
Global Warming Heats Up
The climate is crashing, and global warming is to blame. Why the crisis will hit so soon—and what we can do about it

I got the above link from a cousin in an email with the message: "Keep it in mind when you vote." I had to wade through some kind of ad thing, then when it got to the page with the story, I just got it to the print page and copied and pasted the whole thing into an email and sent it out with my own message:

Today's ABC's Sunday morning talking head show with George Stephanopolous had him flying over glaciers in Montana's Glacier National Park with someone else pointing out how small the glaciers have become, if they haven't already melted. There are only a few glaciers left there now, and with the accelerated rate of melting, there may be no more glaciers in Glacier National Park in a few short years.

The thing that has amazed me is that our Cluless Congress has done nothing (I expected nothing from the Cluless Cretin who was installed in his office by SCOTUS in 2000). I remember when Carter was president and told Americans we must cut back when oil prices started to rise. He told us the truth, no one listened, and he was a one-term president for telling us the truth. As a whole (with individual exceptions) we are a childish, greedy, selfish, and wasteful nation for not having listened to Carter. Instead of cutting back on fossil fuel consumption, instead of continuing to make cars that had a higher mpg rating and emission control filters (smaller, more economical to use, too!), instead of concentrating on research and development for alternative sources of energy, our nation built bigger gas hogs that produced more pollution. Today, auto dealers are begging people to buy the big gas hogs, and I notice GM is ready to go bust. You'd think auto manufacturers would have had a clue all those years ago that economical cars would be more valued in the future....

Instead, we now face peak fossil fuel sources, and the corporatocracy in power got us into an illegal war to control the oil resources in Iraq - not to mention the Iraq Oil Bourse was closed as a result of Dumbya's illegal invasion and war, and now the Iran Oil Bourse is set to open (but it's been put off a few months instead of opening on Mar. 20 as it was scheduled to do) and trade in Euros, not dollars, which will decrease profits for oil corporations since the Euro is worth more than the dollar, which is why Dumbya and Dead-Eye Dick, et al., want to start a war with Iran to control their oil resources, too, and keep their oil prices based on dollars, not Euros. (We have Nixon to thank for a dollar-based economy that prints out paper money faster than a counterfeiter; he is the one who took us off the gold standard.)

We have sown the seeds of our own destruction. Whether or not there's even a harvest depends entirely on whether or not we elect "leaders" who can reverse our suicidal race to the abyss....

What did I learn from the Bible? I really don't know for certain, but I think we can all agree that it has taught some valuable lessons about how we should try to live in a civil way with each other. Does the Bible have some ridiculous commmentary? Of course, it does. All we have to remember is that there were people like Pat Robertson involved with "creating" the Bible. There are many parts of the Bible that are contradictory, but that doesn't make what in essence is a manual for how people should learn to co-exist a worthless piece of trash. Rather it can be admired for what it tries to do: teach humans to live together with mutual respect.

It is the people, such as Dr. Laura (though I rarely have heard her speak and have never read any of her writings) who will use the Bible to further their own agenda. I am not really sure what her agenda is however. If it is one of intolerance as is suggested in the thread head, then claiming absolute certainty betrays a complete ignorance of the Bible.

(NonnyO - didn't you post something not long ago about internment camps being built by companies such as Halliburton?)
Posted by: DiAnne at March 26, 2006 07:56 PM

Yes, DiAnne, I did. I think I found the stories in ICH and/or Truthout, and I posted the links (I think a total of three?) somewhere on this blog, but it was at least two or three weeks ago, and I no longer remember the titles or authors.

I do remember this from the repetition in the stories: Halliburton has an "open-ended $385 billion dollar contract" to build a "detention center" in California "for illegal immigrants" (one story had singular, the others had plural "detention centers").

I remember being horrified that Halliburton is building concentration camps right here on US soil - off-shore concentration camps at Gitmo and wherever else is horrifying enough (I just can't prettify the name by calling them detention centers), and I think I expressed my dismay about it at the time.

"Open-ended" contract... what the hell does that mean??? How many concentration camps is Halliburton going to build???

The Bible is one interesting book out of millions.

The true beauty of Polly's words is that they speak the reality of what is going on in America today. I understand confusion in religion - the Bible's interpretation has always been subject to the individual. But there are really only two tenents of all religions that are important:

1) Love THY God above all others; and

2) Treat thy neighbor as thyself. (the Golden Rule)

If all "religious" folks would embrace these two tenents, the world would be a much more tolerant place for all of us to cohabitate.

Posted by: oncall at March 26, 2006 08:10 PM

Oncall,

Dr. Laura is a conservative jew. (I think.) At anyrate, she is very strict and traditionalist. Yes, she is anti-gay as you can see. However she's also anti-shacking up, anti-abortion, anti-deadbeat dad (or deadbeat mom), anti-premarital sex. Her philosophy is that if you chose to have sex then you deal with the consequences of it; or another way of saying it is that you know ahead of time that the risk of having sex--even protected sex--is pregnancy. So therefore, if you chose to take that risk, then you owe it to that child to be a parent for the rest of that kid's life. (I don't believe she is against abortion if raped.) She is not against women working, but definately gives high kudos to men or women who chose to be stay at home moms (or dads). She strongly feels that the child deserves both parents.

She has a few books: one is something like: Things women do to screw up their lives. Another is for guys...

She takes a moralistic approach to things and is definately the stern parent personality.

I don't disagree with everything she says. But I do agree with some of the stuff listed above. And of course all of you know I'm not anti-gay.

Sparrow - if your observations are correct, then Dr. Laura is not living in reality. It appears that she is both an orthadox and a conservative Jew - which means she wants it both ways. She wants the world to be of her vision. But, reality is just that - many things happen to us that are not our fault and we have to deal with them. Maybe she grew up in a sheltered environment but most of us did not. Shame on her for doling out advice without basis.

She is not against women working, but definately gives high kudos to men or women who chose to be stay at home moms (or dads). She strongly feels that the child deserves both parents.

Posted by: sparrow at March 26, 2006 08:24 PM

Well, actually...she's against outside daycare. So in effect, she believes if both have to work, then family should watch the baby (children). AND she would advocate either parent being responsible for the daycare. (ie. a stay at home mom or dad, or if both work then take opposite shifts.)

As a former daycare provider, as well as a person who worked in a daycare center, I can actually understand this view point.

But as I said...I'm sure on some of these things, my viewpoint isn't a typical liberal view point.

Should I run and hide now that I've admitted that?

I think the reason WHY migrant workers (legal or illegal) are vital to our economy escapes the thought processes of many people. Many immigrants (legal or illegal) are doing what most people (especially young people) don't know how to do: grow and harvest and preserve food for our tables. Almost everyone goes to their local supermarket to get food - veggies, meat, dairy products, whatever. Some children in our schools don't even know where milk comes from, other than in milk cartons at the supermarket.

If global warming causes long-term droughts here in this country, how would the young people today survive if they don't have any elder family members who remember what it was like "in the old days" when people still grew their own food, harvested their own food, and preserved their own food? They don't know how to grow their own food, or when or how to harvest vegetable crops, or how to preserve food.

The people with a distinct advantage in surviving disaster will be the the country dwellers, people who still live on small farms and grow their own food, and immigrants who have lived close to the land. People who have never known anything but apartment-dwelling and suburban homes where lawns are perfectly groomed - but where no vegetables were grown in the back yard - will be at a distinct disadvantage.

I'm of an age I remember helping my parents plant the garden, weeding the garden with my brother, and picking ripe veggies and helping my mother clean and cut up veggies to preserve in jars (later, we also had a freezer, so some veggies were frozen while others were preserved as usual). Kids on farms who complained of being bored were sent to do chores outside, whether it was weeding the vegetable garden or feeding animals or mowing the lawn; there was no time to be a juvenile delinquent and commit crimes out of 'boredom.' That was all in the days before TV and video games and computers and the internet. I can still remember the taste of a carrot pulled from the garden, washed off, and eaten fresh, and the taste of fresh green peas as a snack while shelling them in preparation for canning.

Whether it means outsourcing jobs in industry to other countries, or paying low wages to immigrant workers (legal or illegal) right here in this country, America exists on the labor of the poor to benefit the corporations who only look at profit margins.

But the fact of the matter is, if global warming causes the sea level to rise, the cities already on the coasts will disappear, there could be droughts in significant areas of this country and the rest of the world, and only those people who still know how to plant seeds and harvest and preserve their own food will survive.

Nonny - I grew up much as you did, in Southern Jersey. We grew our own veggies and caught our own fish and seafood. We baked our own bread stuffs, too.

Only the strong survive (and are willing to help their brethern).

Posted by: abqjohn at March 26, 2006 08:41 PM

Her reality is basically black and white. Also, how many things on that list do we as parents teach our kids?

Don't have sex... or be protected BUT accidents happen. Take responsibility for your actions.

Don't throw away your life for just any-ole-guy. Self-respect. You don't shack up with someone and/or have relationships with abusive people--give yourself some respect. (And give them respect too.)

http://www.drlaura.com/main/

Posted by: NonnyO at March 26, 2006 08:46 PM

Not to stereotype too much as well, but some of the Mexican constuction workers have impecable craftsmanship. (Trying to be tactful here!)

HER reality may be black-and-white but life is in living color.

Post here for Truth please.

http://www.democracycellproject.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=1047

Posted by: abqjohn at March 26, 2006 08:52 PM

I never did learn how to bake bread like my mother did (I have recipes of hers for most everything else), but I can still remember the taste of homemade bread, especially molasses bread, fresh from the oven with butter my brother and I had shaken from cream, melting into the sweetness....

The buttermilk left over from making butter was made into fresh homemade pancakes that were as light as crepes. Yes, I have the recipe, but I'll be danged if I can figure out how to cut the recipe in half or a quarter. The first ingredient is a quart of buttermilk, three eggs.... ;-) Pancake mixes still taste like the smell of wallpaper paste to me, so I never eat them. The one advantage to my mother's recipe is that any leftover pancakes can be spread with butter and sugar (or jelly), and they can be eaten cold the next day. (And to a person raised on a farm, butter means butter, not margarine!).

Our family did go fishing in the summer sometimes, but I never enjoyed it (ugh, putting worms on the hook freaked me out). Others in the family still enjoy fishing and we ate what we caught. Meat from animals raised on farms (no chemicals added to the feed) are still better once the horrible task of killing them and preparing them for the table is done.

While I thoroughly appreciate the convenience of getting things at a supermarket, I also think there is much merit in having a small plot of land and raising one's own food and living close to the land. One knows one can survive as long as one can plant seeds and harvest the food and preserve it for winter.

Posted by: abqjohn at March 26, 2006 08:52 PM

Oh, and in the 'helping one's bretheren' category, you would have appreciated my grandparents.

They put up with a LOT of teasing from the family after they became an old couple and still planted huge gardens, although there was just the two of them. Every fall once gram canned enough for the two of them, they put phone calls out to family and friends and begged people to come and pick the veggies they couldn't possibly use. They never did learn how to raise a small garden! :-) And, yes, they gave that food away so it wouldn't go to waste. They were not only children of immigrant ancestors, they had survived the Depression, and the idea of food going to waste was more than they could stand.

Nonny - your post brings back so many good memories. I used to bake all my own bread, grow and can/freese most of my veggies, fish for flounder and bluefish, but the meat I left to an expert. I used a butcher who had a "package" of . . say 2 beef roasts, 5# chicken parts, 5# hotdogs, and 3# ground beef. I raised my two boys by myself for over fove years by doing this and they loved it!

Posted by: sparrow at March 26, 2006 08:56 PM

Many immigrants from different countries bring their talents with them. In this particular region, a few of the original hewn log houses built by Scandinavian immigrants are still standing a hundred or more years later. They built things to last!

Posted by: abqjohn at March 26, 2006 09:45 PM

Sounds like your kids are fortunate! There's nothing like a nurturing parent to make good memories, and most of those memories involve food, preparing food, and sitting around a table enjoying a meal and conversation! There's just nothing like a cozy, warm kitchen....

Posted by: NonnyO at March 26, 2006 09:46 PM

exactly! And they created such beauty too.

The 2 topics - I'll weigh in

Immigration - My ancestors made their way over here because their potato crop was destroyed. Some of them "homesteaded" so got cheap land in exchange for working it. This is a land of immigrants but also a land with slavery and plantations in its history. Which do we want to carry on?

Sex roles - I did not know the sex of my child before he was born and bought all baby clothes unisex and after as well. My husband and I did 50:50 work/childcare so everything was equal. There were times when I did more work because I had more training and I still make more money but I also had the initiative to get more training. My husband is a really good father. There is so often the assumption that the mother will stay home if anyone does. That is so sexist in these days when women can do anything men can do. It's just tradition. It's still true that men on the average make more money but it's not fair, when families are smaller & technology should have levelled the playing field. I think that things have backslid over the last 3 decades in terms of the consciousness around gender and equality, & truly do not see the progress I would have hoped for racial equality either, here or in most other countries. Sad.

Speaking of sexism, Dick and I are watching a James Bond double-feature, and remembering when such sexually suggestive and violent altercations cross-culturally were innocent...or at least, more innocent than they can be today.

These films seem almost quaint, given how far we have come down the path of brutality.

As for us, vacation's over, and back to work...we have lots to fight this week.

Karen
Oh I was a James Bond lover - the old Sean Connery ones.
Sure the women were running around in bikinis but they knew karate and were double agents & all that. & the neat cars that had hidden features. Loved them. Recently we've been watching alot of old Hitchcock with our son & I was amazed how those weren't really as creepy or scary as I remembered, but very creative psychologically. Like "Rear Window" - it doesn't really show any violence & is more like a dark comedy play. Lately he's watched things with us like some of the David Lynch and also "Fargo," and those are a little rougher but still, they're kind of a good (but exaggerated) commentary on certain dysfunctional features of (some) American culture!

Our spring vacation is underway. After too many visits to Disney (3) and not enough trips to national parks, we (my wife and my three children, ages 13, 11, and 8 and I) are going to the "big city" - New York. We leave tomorrow. And as the conversation has focused on "family", I can honestly say that this will be one of the best times of my life.

After waxing nostalgic, I'm posting links to stories about the criminals in our nation's capitol - again. Oh, and the last one is a bit of humor....

Abramoff Probe Widens to Murder
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032606A.shtml
A judge has approved subpoenas for former lobbyist Jack Abramoff and an ex-business partner to answer questions about the mob-style slaying of the owner of a gambling fleet they bought.

Bush 'Model Iraqi City' in Peril
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032606B.shtml
At last, President Bush had news he could use from Iraq. He devoted an entire speech in Cleveland last week to the story of how the town of Tall Afar was wrested from Qaeda control and has become a model for defeating the enemy. The only problem is that it isn't quite true.

DeLay Aide Got Nearly $1M From Nonprofit
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032606C.shtml
A top adviser to former House Whip Tom DeLay received more than a third of all the money collected by the US Family Network, a nonprofit organization the adviser created to promote a pro-family political agenda in Congress, according to the group's accounting records.
{{{IMHO, if/when anything more is done with "campaign finance reform" in Congress, one of the most flagrant violations that must stop is influence peddling and campaign funds going through these fake charities!!!}}}

Retribution Charged Against Election's Whistle-Blower
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032606F.shtml
The maverick elections supervisor in Leon County, Florida, last year helped show that electronic voting machines from one of the major manufacturers are vulnerable, according to experts, and would allow election workers to alter vote counts without detection.
{{{So, what would be wrong with going back to paper ballots???}}}

Greg Mitchell | What if 'Wash Post' Hired Bush as Blogger?
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/032606I.shtml
With Ben Domenech forced to quit his new blog, The Washington Post says it is looking for another conservative to replace him. Obviously, experience as a journalist is not required. Greg Mitchell explores what might happen if the paper's web site went all the way and hired George W. Bush.

NonnyO
Why doesn't the Washington Post hire Bush's nephew, Pierce Bush?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x691890

Bush Caught Lying Again.

Last week he responded to a Helen Thomas question by saying that he didn't want to go to war in Iraq. But these memos just keeping showing up....

"But behind closed doors, the president was certain that war was inevitable. During a private two-hour meeting in the Oval Office on Jan. 31, 2003, he made clear to Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain that he was determined to invade Iraq without the second resolution, or even if international arms inspectors failed to find unconventional weapons, said a confidential memo about the meeting written by Mr. Blair's top foreign policy adviser and reviewed by The New York Times."

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/27/international/europe/27memo.html

How this buffoon could think, based on his life experience, that he had the right to be certain about anything, much less the launching of an optional war, is beyond me.

Polly-what about stoning lepers to death?
I mean, that's what God has said. It's right there in the Bible!

Posted by: oncall at March 27, 2006 12:45 AM

Have fun, oncall!! When I was there a year ago with my son, we had a great time! Do Ground Zero, Manhatten, China Town, Little Italy (Awesome Cheesecake there), the subway trips, Wall Street, the Statue of Liberty and the Harbor! There is the elegant steak houses and fine dining houses uptown, and Broadway!!! They'll never forget it, and I want a full report when you get home, okay?

Have Fun!!

Posted by: mkh at March 27, 2006 05:20 AM

That's O.T.

Nothing about that in Jesus' teachings. That's why he came. To try to teach people how to stop being so mean.

Posted by: battlebob at March 26, 2006 08:23 AM

Dear BB,

Workman's comp does not cover this kind of injury because it was done on my lunch 40 minutes. I went flying through the air with the greatest of ease. Diagnosis:

Patient has multiple lacerations on face, hands, knees, and elbow. Facial contusion (?) whatever that is, and facial fracture.

I am okay after a couple of days on meds that make you feel real happy, but I still like lots of attention when I am hurt. LIke cards, flowers, chocolates, teddy bears, and money. Make that lots of money. LOL.

My sister, who goes by the email addy winddancerwoman, is calling me Graceful Princess broken nose.

Because I see this as a golden opportunity to milk attention, please see the link in the forum Suz posted. If you don't have alot of money, pictures of money will be most appreciated. You can post them next to the Teddy Bear, but I am hoping for pics of the Chippendale Hunks to be posted there any minute.

Carry on, oh, mindful slaves of mine!! :-)

\

Posted by: Truth Shall Prevail at March 27, 2006 05:52 AM

Truth Shall Prevail
That's not fair! (Workman's comp not covering on lunch break)
You wouldn't be there if it weren't for your *&%$#@ job!! I think our lunches should be paid anyway - same reason. Especially if you ever eat with co-workers who will not stop talking about job-related matters constantly!!

Hope you're getting better fast, but milk it for all it's worth!!

You know the worst thing about the bible-nuts is their belief that laws designed thousands of years ago, have relevancy in todays world. They don't!!! perhaps their only relevency is in an abstract form of social philosophy, or guidelines.

To truly understand the bible, new and old testaments, you have to understand the cultures from which they came. the old testament ,for the most part, is a record of jewish history and law. on particular issues the law is there for the survival of the people(i.e. prohibition of homosexuality, i.i.e if everyone is gay there will be no babies, if you sleep with your sister, your child will be retarded, and so on ad neauseum(yeh i know, i can't spell......so sue me)

the new testament is ,for the majority, a propaganda piece, designed to turn happy-go lucky pagans into dour servants of the church(just like christmas and easter, which just happen to fall on an old roman holiday and the pagan celebration of the spring equinox.....subtle huh?)

you'll also find that the majority of people who "quote" scripture do so out of context and twist the meanings to fit their agendas. christians ,muslims ,and jews are all guilty of this purposeful misinterpretation. here is an example: next time you are at church ask the preacher how he feels about marijuana?(just an example....don't read too much into it!!!!!) most likely he will tell you it is evil and against god......then quote to him the passage in genesis which states "all the plants and seeds of the earth" and watch his reaction! if he tries to justify his position in accordance with the word of god, just call him what he is....hypocrite and heretic. ask them if women should have the right to vote, or choose their husbands, or have any rights at all, their answers most likely will go against the biblical laws.

my point being, the ancient ways are static and inflexible. it is the ability to adapt and grow that allows the human race to continue. to revert to obsolete indoctrinations and strict social orders will only lead to stagnation and death. as jun fan put it best "if you cannot bend, you will break"