More on Ted Kennedy

Sarah Vowell's opinion column, in today's NYTimes, talks about the effect Ted Kennedy's work in the Senate has had on her.

I like this excerpt especially:

I paid my way through Montana State University with student loans, a minimum-wage job making sandwiches at a joint called the Pickle Barrel, and — here come the waterworks — Pell Grants. Thanks to Pell Grants, I had to work only 30 hours a week up to my elbows in ham instead of 40.

Ten extra hours a week might sound negligible, but do you know what a determined, junior-Hillary type of hick with a full course load and onion-scented hands can do with the gift of 10 whole hours per week? Not flunk geology, that’s what. Take German every day at 8 a.m. — for fun! Wander into the office of the school paper on a whim and find a calling. I’m convinced that those 10 extra hours a week are the reason I graduated magna cum laude, which I think is Latin for “worst girlfriend in town.”

Twenty years after my first financial aid package came through, I have paid off my college and graduate school loans and I have paid back the federal government in income taxes what it doled out to me in Pell Grants so many, many, many, many times over it’s a wonder I’m not a Republican.

But I would like to point out that my perfectly ordinary education, received in public schools and a land grant university, is not merely the foundation on which I make a living. My education made my life. In a sometimes ugly world, my schooling opened a trap door to a bottomless pit of beauty — to Walt Whitman and Louis Armstrong and Frank Lloyd Wright, to the old movies and old masters that have been my constant companions in my unalienable pursuit of happiness.

I’m a New Yorker now. Every now and then when I have time to kill in Midtown, I duck into the Museum of Modern Art to stare at Van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” I love looking at the picture, but I also love looking back on when and where and how I first saw it — on a slide in a first-year art history course in which some of my fellow students were ranchers’ sons who wore actual cowboy hats to class. It was a course I paid for, in part, with a Pell Grant, a program always and as ever championed by “my senator,” Ted Kennedy, a program so dear to Barack Obama’s heart that increasing the maximum amount of Pell Grants for needy students was the first bill he introduced upon arrival in the United States Senate.

Pell Grants are named after the 6-term Democratic senator from Rhode Island, Claiborne Pell, but Ted Kennedy worked alongside Pell to establish the original bill, called the Basic Educational Opportunity Grant, in 1972. Subsequently, Kennedy's own website notes that he was a key supporter for Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 and the Direct Lending program in 1993. These have allowed so many, including Xtreme English and her children, to get an education.

Living in the District of Columbia means we don't have a voting representative or senator in Congress. I relied on Senator Kennedy from Massachusetts to represent my concerns, and he did so admirably. I'm happy to have contributed whatever small funds, if any, I had at the time whenever I received an email from Senator Kennedy pointing out a person or group with a particular need.

Senator Kennedy came from a wealthy, illustrious, close-knit family, whose support he was able to take for granted all his life. He was given much, and in return he gave unstintingly to others to the end. He would be the first to admit that his actions have not always been those of a perfect human being. But to his everlasting credit, he did not allow his failings to drive him from public life or stop his work on behalf of those who need the help of a community.

Today's Writers Almanac notes that it's the birthday of Molly Ivins (rest in peace, too, Molly). WA cites a biographical blurb she wrote about herself that says "Molly Ivins is a nationally syndicated political columnist who remains cheerful despite...politics. She emphasizes the more hilarious aspects of both state and national government, and consequently never has to write fiction."

addendum: Photo of Funeral procession from US Capitol to Arlington Cemetery.

The Lion Sleeps

May he rest in peace.

a great and necessary conversation

Please read this conversation that was posted last weekend by Cosa Nostradamus. I agree with what he says: the level of discourse has sunk so low in recent weeks that it's time the grownups in our government (if there are any) put a stop to it.

SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY

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POLITICS MAKE BEDFELLOWS STRANGE

OUR POLITICAL MARRIAGE OF CONVENIENCE IS FALLING APART

Republicans Are Guilty Of Fostering Irreconcilable Differences

Another great post from Ms. Willpen, formerly of the Borough of churches, synagogues, mosques, temples and Junior's, now the budding conscience of the Left. While it might not bother some of us to crack some Nazi heads, there are many here among us who feel that life is too precious to pollute or endanger with bloodshed, even in a worthy cause. So, nu, we wrestled with the better angels of our nature and this is how it all came out. As Honest Abe, our second Jewish President (Madison was "passing;" named after a street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan --His wife: Dolly, HELLO!!!) put it,

"We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield and patriot grave to every living heart and hearthstone all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature."

The post that launched a thousand megapixels:

WILLPEN'S WORLD
"Pay it forward…"
The beginning of the post that started this conversation.

' I have been feeling so depressed and upset and tense lately regarding all the craziness that has been going on in this country. We are at each others necks ready to strike the first blow for what we believe in. Instead of fighting against each other, we should be reminding each other how much we all love this country regardless of our political leanings. We should not be at war with our fellow Americans. So I thought that it would be a nice thing to pay it forward. Watch this video and pass it on. Post it on your blogs. Pass it on to someone you love and someone who bugs the crap out of you. Pay it forward until it has reached around the country and reminded each and every one of us that we are all fighting for the same things. '


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MY RESPONSE:
.
I’d have to disagree on this one. We are not all fighting for the same things. We are all fighting each other over the same things.

Moderates, liberals, progressives and democratic socialists all believe in human rights, equal justice under the law, a strong social safety net, limiting the use of force and violence in general, a truly democratic government of the people and not of the corporations.

“Centrists” (Blue Dogs), libertarians, conservatives, corporatists and Fascists believe in the opposite of all that. They are who and what we are opposing. They have made it very clear that there can be no compromise, no middle ground, no accommodation. All of our efforts to achieve consensus with them have simply led to nothing being done on healthcare, climate change, equal rights, control of corporations, fair trade, etc. Not only have they held us, the majority, back for many many years, they have trashed this country just to fill their own pockets and empty their own bile sacs.

All this is out in the open, now. There are no more “moderate” Republicans. They are all in the thrall of the extreme right-wing. Even silver-haired millionaire old-money Senators talk like crazed illiterate thugs about our government and our polity. This is no time for compromise. You cannot show weakness to bullies. That’s what happened to the Weimar Republic. If you think I’m being hyperbolic here, folks, go to the library and read up on it. It’s not just that there are parallels between the early Nazi Party and what the Republicans are trying to do today. They are actually using the Nazi playbook as a day-by-day guide to strategy & tactics right now in America.

Not that the Right hasn’t always done this. But there has rarely ever been this level of hatred, violence and hysteria among ordinary citizens, without a word from anyone in the media or government. Those who have forgotten the days of mass rallies of the Bund in NYC’s Madison Square Garden (1930’s) and KKK political assassinations in broad daylight (1970’s & 80’s) will perhaps recall the era when John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King and Malcolm X were all assassinated without any satisfactory investigations into who was behind it all. The net result was Nixon, and forty years of corrupt, incompetent conservative Republican & DINO rule, a disaster for the American middle class.

So go ahead and make nice with the Nazi’s if you want to, folks. They will never respect you for it. You’ll just be making it easier for them to stab you in the back. After all, they’re the minority; they can’t win fairly in a democracy.

(continued)
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WILLPEN'S WORLD
"willpen August 12, 2009 at 2:32 pm"
Comment in response to mine, above.

' Now we are having a dialogue.

While I wholly respect and understand where you are coming from, I have to say that I have been doing a lot of thinking about this lately. After the stuff that has been going on here for the last few days, with some crazed and pent up person using me as their whipping post, I have been observing the behavior on both sides.

I suppose that I am trying to be the devil’s advocate here, trying to push everyone just a bit in order to open up a conversation. I really think that is what is missing.

I read a very interesting article at the Huff Post this morning: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-leo-rangell/understanding-conversatio_b_257037.html
It talks about what I have been trying to say here.

People do not speak to each other but past each other, do not absorb and process what others say but pick and choose that which serves their own inner purposes. This 24/7 phenomenon, which plays a ubiquitous part in human life from Wars to broken friendships, was discussed in depth at a Round Table on “The Closed Mind” held at that Congress.

I too am angered to the point of frustration. I know deep in my heart that when the tables were turned I may have been angry and upset, but I never reverted to the tactics that are being used now against the duly elected establishment. But I also know that we cannot continue this way. There has to be someone who just yells "I CAN'T DO THIS ANYMORE". Someone that has to start to try and turn things around. I see us slipping back in history and I fear a racial undercurrent simmering below the surface, such as the Rosa Parks poster that was torn out of a woman's hand at a Claire McCaskill town hall meeting. We have to be the cooler heads that prevail. I must follow the same instincts that I follow in business, which is the road to success is best paved by a slow and steady march.

I know that there will be times when my head will want to explode again, but I am trying to get the better of my demons to stop and think before it does. '


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MY RESPONSE:
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Agreed.

The thing is, they have NOTHING to fear from us. We’re not Stalinists. We’re barely liberals by any objective measure of international politics. And we’re mostly pacifists; all of us are certainly against unnecessary violence.

We have a great deal to fear from them, as recent history and current events show. This isn’t a conversation any more. It’s a battle, by their own definition, and they started it. And now they’re getting violent. You can’t reason with violent, armed lunatics who won’t even talk to you.

As to hearing what they have to say, how can I avoid it? They own the media. I’ve had them screaming in my ear all my life. It’s the progressive majority that has no voice, that isn’t being heard. It’s the Right who will not listen, who mischaracterizes everything we say.

In business, you can always walk away from a bad deal. Usually. There’s always another deal. Usually. In our civic life, not so much. You can’t just walk away from under-funded schools, non-existent healthcare, brutal police, an empire-building military, and a rising corporate medieval State. And they have no reason to “hondle” with us, the majority. They hold all the cards. Except one. We’re the majority. It’s time we started acting like it, while we still can.

Yes, it may not be all that pleasant or warm and fuzzy. Wars rarely are. But brutal occupations aren’t, either. That’s what we’ve had for forty years. That’s our choice: A short painful non-violent political fight, or an endless painful accommodation with these violent Nazi-wannabees.

We really do not have a third choice. That’s their doing, not ours. We are the reasonable ones, always. But often in life, it’s the least reasonable people who win. They know that. Hence these tactics. We cannot allow them to succeed. This is only the beginning of their insanity. Have we forgotten what happened over the previous eight years? How many died? How our good name was lost? How our rights were trampled on? Look where they’re STARTING this time! Does it take much vision to see where they’re headed?

Never again.
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WILLPEN'S WORLD
"willpen August 12, 2009 at 5:10 pm"
Comment in response to mine, above.

' Cosa,

I agree with you 150% but I also feel like I have been losing my sanity. I feel a rage inside of me that I don’t like. I have visions of blowing some of these people’s brains out while smiling about it. My life has been turned upside down financially because of what has been done to this country for the last 8 years and then sometime before that.

I am trying to rationalize this all like a RATIONAL person, not a screaming banshee. I don’t know what more to do, so trying the approach of offering an olive branch is what I need to try now, because if I don’t, I don’t know how I can continue reading and watching what is going on in this country without wanting to blow my own brains out.

I am frankly scared shitless that this is all gonna end in some kind of tragedy. Something that we can’t take back. Something that is more than words.

I need to add something else here. I hate having to be filled with hate and rage. I despise the feelings that these people are making me feel. I spent most of my formative years protesting against the Vietnam War and government abuse. I may have gotten rowdy at times and boisterous, but I was young and passionate and I learned from it. I learned that hating is a bad thing and it was so difficult for me to have to deal with Bush for 8 years. I could never even bring myself to listen to anything that he had to say. I hated the sound of his voice, but I kept it to myself because it was what was needed to do. So I understand the rage that you and so many others are feeling now. '


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MY RESPONSE:
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Don't let them get to you. You exist at a higher level of consciousness, and represent a higher moral standard. Nothing they can do will ever change that, Willpen, and if there were such a thing as a Judgment Day, I think we all know who could stand without fear and who should be trembling.

Personally, I don't think there is a Judgment Day, except for the one every day here on Earth. I think that all decent people of any faith or no faith try to live their lives in as just and righteous a manner as they can, and treat one another with respect and generosity of spirit Those who do not are simply not decent human beings.

I really do not feel rage toward them, just outrage. I don't care how they live their own lives, though I feel sorry for the people around them, especially their kids. But people with such warped and twisted values as those militating loudest on the Right these days simply cannot be allowed to prevail or predominate in our public discourse. They are blindly or deliberately in the wrong and doing wrongs that are not excusable or ignorable. They are like out-of-control adolescents who will just keep pushing until somebody gets hurt. We have no choice but to be the adults and stop them before that happens.

That's why I say we simply have to say "ENOUGH!" right now, before there is another great historical tragedy and derailing of our polity. The assassinations of the 1960's seemed to come out of nowhere, though there was plenty of general turmoil at the time. The constant ratcheting up of the threat level by very visible figures on the Right today is an obvious warning that we cannot help but perceive. It does not require that we respond in kind or engage in some extra-legal measures. We just have to demand firmly but peaceably that our government put a stop to this before it becomes any more violent.

It's not your job or mine to physically oppose these thugs. All we need to do is let our government know that we support any reasonable action that will stop the escalation of violence before it becomes any more physical. Call it "reading the riot act." Give them fair warning right now that they have already crossed almost every line ever drawn on political conduct in this country. Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Lincoln, Wilson, Roosevelt all took action against sedition and potential violence well before there were any major tragedies. It's time for Obama to do the same. Not in the name of partisan politics, but in the name of public safety and defense of our democracy.

I would recommend that everyone who feels strongly about this write the White House and maybe their representatives in Congress, and demand that they take action against the worst of these thugs now. That includes the Fox News and Clear Channel networks. Johnson and Nixon never hesitated to let the broadcast Net's know when they had crossed a line. Hints were even dropped as to possible suspensions of FCC licenses, for mere trivialities compared to the violent craziness being broadcast now. The 'Nets backed down rather than risk losing their sweetheart licenses. Something similar could be done now. I think it is time for that. Let's ask for it now.

The thing about bullies and their toadies is, they're cowards. Like dogs, if you stand your ground they will withdraw. If you show fear, or turn and run, they'll tear you apart. Limbaugh, Beck, and the rest of them need a rolled-up newspaper across the snout, right now. I'd like to see it come from some unassailable American hero, maybe even a conservative. I'd like to see a Mr. Welch stand up in Congress and say, "At long last, have you no sense of decency?" It's time.

So write that email to your candidate for Voice of Reason. And keep the pressure on. But don't let these dweebs get to you. They're pathetic, at best. Take comfort in knowing that decent folk outnumber them, and are universally appalled by them. It's only a matter of weeks at most until the backlash takes them down. All the conservatards are really doing right now is digging their own grave. It's going to be a LOVELY symbolic funeral! See you there!

Remember, you're not alone, folks. You're not losing this battle, they are. We're going to continue winning and making this world a better place. We're unstoppable. All we have to do is stick together and persevere in being decent human beings. You're doing a great job at that, Willpen. Take comfort in that, and in the vast community of like-minded people who are all together in this.


TO BE CONTINUED...
(Further dialogue with any civilized person is welcome.)


(cross-posted at blog me no blogs by cosanostradamus)

If you liked school, you'll LOVE work....

I'm still thinking on how my life has changed since retirement--the question put forth by Time Goes By last week. Once again, the whole idea has tossed me back to my childhood, when I more or less hated school for years. Many. Years. I didn't begin to like school AT ALL until my first year in college. I thought, "Where have they been hiding THIS??"

Anyway, why am I thinking about skool dayz? Well, one of the things you're supposed to do when you retire is keep your mind busy, and lots of retirees take classes. No problem. My mind is plenty busy--most of the time occupied with negative, discouraged, pissed-off thoughts about Republicans (not to mention my own Plains States' Congresspeople--Grassley and the so-called Blue Dogs Nelson, Baucus, and *gag* Conrad) and the outrageous crap they're pulling now.

I also think a lot about what I'm going to EAT next--or rather, what I want to cook. The current movie "Julie & Julia" has driven me to the bookstore and my laptop to look up recipes. And it's brought me a whole new favorite BREAKFAST FOOD: toast fried in oil & butter with chopped fresh tomatoes and basil chiffonade on top. OMG that's good! Not only does this keep my furnace stoked until mid-afternoon, but it makes me HAPPY for that long, too. Granted, in the movie this was one of Julie's creations that she seemed to come up with apart from Julia, but who cares?

Anyway anyway, school had its moments--I LOVED second grade, even though I made a hash of my first BIG assignment. The teacher asked me to do a book report on "Doctor Dolittle," so I got up early and MEMORIZED the book. About halfway into the second page or so, my classmates started groaning and complaining, so the teacher said "We just wanted a summary, M.E." "But there's lots more," I said, and started to continue. The teacher, Miss Elofson, held up her hands. "That's fine, M.E., you can stop now." "Yeah, gee...." said the other kids.

Work was kind of the same as skool: Long hours, bossy people, no room for creativity at all. I was very happy to retire. My sleep cycle recovered, I could wear what I doggone pleased, and I didn't HAVE TO do anything but what I wanted.

Everyone says this is all wrong, of course. You're supposed to DO THINGS. Significant, socially redeeming things. The questions started: "How is retirement? Are you going to travel? How are you spending your time? Any volunteering?" Etc. Etc. To me, the time to travel is when you've got a job and can pay for it! It's good to get away when there's lots you need to get away from. And I volunteered A LOT when I was younger and had a car and the stamina to do all of that.

Last week, I got an email from the University of Pennsylvania's (note to Ben: the University of Pencilvainya!!) College of Liberal and Professional Studies. They are offering a noncredit online course this fall called Foundations of Positive Psychology. It's about HAPPINESS and stuff like that. That sounds like something I could a) benefit from and b) possibly enjoy. So I signed up. I will have lectures and assignments to fill my thoughts in place of the sound track from Faux News Hell i've got going now.

I'm feeling pretty proud of myself, actually. I'm actually going to be DOING SOMETHING the AARP and that ilk recommend. It may cut into my bike riding and naps, but it'll fit perfectly with my visits to the WIFI watering holes. And get this...many of the assignments will be to BLOG something to share with the faculty, admin., and other students! Is this gonna be a piece of cake (mmm...yellow cake with chocolate icing and orange filling) or what?

"How Would You Fix the Economy?"

Usually my friends send me forwarded jokes, never-fail prayers (IF you send them on to X number of people within X minutes of receiving the forward), and cutesy-poo pictures of puppies, kittens, babies, et al. Today I got this from one of my better sources:

This is from an article in the St. Petersburg, FL Times newspaper
on Sunday. The Business Section asked readers for ideas on "How
Would You Fix The Economy?" I think this guy nailed it!
*********************************************************************

Dear Mr. President:

Please find below my suggestion for fixing America's economy.

Instead of giving billions of dollars to companies that will
squander the money on lavish parties & unearned bonuses, use the
following plan.

You can call it the Patriotic Retirement Plan:

There are about 40 million people over 50 in the work force.

Pay them $1 million apiece severance for early retirement with the
following stipulations:

1) They MUST retire. Forty million job openings. Unemployment fixed.

2) They MUST buy a new American CAR. Forty million cars
ordered. Auto Industry fixed.

3) They MUST either buy a house or pay off their mortgage. Housing
Crisis fixed.


It can't get any easier than that! If more money is needed, have
all members of Congress & their constituents pay their taxes.


If you think this would work, please forward to everyone you know.

If not, please disregard. Then shoot yourself. One job opening.

I think that last one is harsh. We're just assuming the person who is disregarding this message is EMPLOYED. And also, How about including the folks who are already retired--with the stipulation that they MUST pay for their own health care, wherever they can find it?

For those who don't WANT to buy a car, they MUST contribute the equivalent of the cost of a car plus two years' worth of insurance and gas to their local transit agency.

life changes

I wrote this comment on another blog, Time Goes By, which a few of you probly will never see...so here it is. the topic is how our routines have changed since retirement:

"I seem to have gone back to childhood since I retired. When I was a kid, I used to count--1000andone, 1000andtwo--to time myself in the summer to see how fast I could get dressed and out of the house in the morning. I didn't like breakfast, so unless my mother caught me and made me eat, I could be up, dressed, and out of the house in TWO minutes!

I'm not that speedy now, but I generally bathe at night--I read somewhere that the Jewish day begins the night before, and that was a revelation. Looking at it that way, the first part of the day belongs to you and not to some effing job. I wake up with the sun (haven't used an alarm clock for almost 20 years--always hated it, so I trained myself to wake up on my own), take my drops (weird remedy that keeps my arteries clear) in 2 oz of fruit juice, and most of the time go back to bed for another 40 winks or so. Then I get up, make a green smoothie--fresh fruit, lettuce or kale, flax oil, packet of EmergenC, scoop of soy powder (though when that's gone, i'm going back to whey powder...like it better). I haul a big glass of this out to the living room and read news, blogs, e-mail. I skip the meditation and yoga I did for years. I feel bad, but the major stumbling block that I don't quite understand is that I just don't like to do it any more.

About 8:30 or 9, I call my BFF to plan our day. Sometimes I go with her when she takes her dog for an off-leash run in the cemetery, sometimes we meet at a Wifi spot to work (she corrects papers or writes, I write or edit or read), sometimes she comes here to work, sometimes I go there. Most days we either walk or ride our bikes for several hours.

As Rachel Maddow describes her wardrobe, I go for the "kindergarten look": shorts or jeans, T-shirt, sneakers. No makeup other than carrot cream to smooth the rough spots.

This present time seems like a transition from working in a difficult, mostly unrewarding (other than monetarily) environment to a very different, unpressured, spontaneous kind of life.

Today we rode our bikes along the river and along the mall to see "Julie and Julia." On the way back, I felt filled with joy that we live in such a beautiful place. When we stopped for a drink of water, I said, choking a bit in surprising emotion, "This is our Paris."

This getting choked up embarrasses me, but it's happening lots. My heart and eyes just spill over. A Monarch butterfly flew beside me today for quite a ways, and I said, "Hi, there" and got choked up again.

At a red light, I waited next to a pedicab driver, and I asked him how he liked his job--was it fun or was it gruelling and hard? The light changed, and as he pushed off up the hill on Constitution Ave, he said, "I love every single thing about it."

R.I.P. Les Paul

Les Paul died yesterday. He was 94. When I was in high school in the 50s, "Waiting for the Sunrise," by Les Paul and his wife, Mary Ford, was one of our favorite tunes on the radio. Paul invented the solid body electric guitar, which according to Wikipedia "made the sound of rock and roll possible."

Who can forget this?

Did you miss this one??

Wonderful as always, John Stewart on Glenn Beck & health care:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Glenn Beck's Operation
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Spinal Tap Performance

I Write Letters....

DC Crime Bill 18-151 was just passed by the City Council. One of its provisions is upping the penalty for a third conviction for prostitution to a FELONY. There is so much wrong with this, the organization 51st State NOW sent out the following email, which arrived this morning, and I quote:

Sex trafficking is a horrific crime whereby a person is forced or coerced to take part in sexual acts in exchange for something of value. In Washington D.C. such abuse of women and children is not uncommon. Unfortunately, in many cases a person who is sex trafficked is treated as a criminal rather than a victim who is unable to escape the physical abuse and psychological coercion to which she is subjected. Now, the D.C. Council is poised to vote on legislation, entitled the Omnibus Crime Bill 18-151, which includes a provision that will make a third arrest of a prostituted person a felony level crime. These penalties are far too stiff for the prostituted person, will do little to address the instances of prostitution or sex trafficking in D.C., and may cause further damage to trafficking victims.

In many of these cases the victim, who has been forced or coerced into prostitution, even at the age of just 18, will have a litany of arrests or convictions for prostitution both in DC and other jurisdictions. This demonstrates the transient nature of the pimps’ operations. Arresting the prostituted person does little to deter the trafficker/pimp or provide relief or rescue for the prostituted person. In fact, if enacted, this provision may cause further victimization as well as present increased obstacles as a woman with a felony conviction attempts to rebuild her shattered life.

Sex traffickers and pimps are motivated only by money, and the people they prostitute are easily movable, disposable and replaceable. Therefore we urge you to join with us and ask the D.C. Council to oppose the overreaching penalties for prostituted persons, and consider focusing their attention on the pimps and purchasers of sex or "johns".

51st State NOW strongly supports the increased penalties for johns proposed in this bill. Johns exercise meaningful choice when they engage in commercial sex transactions, so efforts to deter their activity will have a greater impact in reducing prostitution and sex trafficking, which are inextricably intertwined.

I agree, so I sent the following letter to our mayor:

Dear Mayor Fenty:

Please send this crime bill back to the council so they can remove the excessive criminal penalties for persons arrested for prostitution.

I don't know what's going on in DC, but for a community of sinners, we are being very hard on the women involved in one of the oldest professions.

Perhaps it's because we don't want to arrest the MEN involved or charge them with a felony for their third conviction. If we did that, my goodness...half of Congress, not to mention the City Council, would be in jail.

Whatever the twisted reasoning, it makes no sense at all to charge women, who often are coerced into prostitution, with a felony for this "crime."

I would also suggest you encourage the Council members to get over themselves.

Sincerely yours,

NAME,
ex-nun, mother, grandmother, and soon-to-be [well, within the next 5 years, I suspect] greatgrandmother

Peace in the World

The news/bafflegab has seemed too crazy today: commentators on national media calling our president a Nazi, senior citizens receiving Medicare railing against government programs (aka, in their case, Medicare), the former governor of Alaska claiming the president's health care program will kill her Down's Syndrome child....it goes on and gets worse by the hour, it seems.

My respite has been to read the marvelous blog Esther Garvi aka Ishtar News. Today she posts about seven Rhodesian Ridgeback pups who were born back home in Niger during her trip to Sweden. She took a photo of each pup today to celebrate their turning 4 months old. Each pup has a name and a personality to match.

The previous post shows a 7 month old filly, one of the many creatures gracing Garvi's Eden Foundation in Niger.

And the post before that shows her marvelous photos of the weather and climate in Niger, and the challenge of drought and starvation her family established the Eden Foundation to meet--and the miraculous trees they've planted to provide cover and sustenance to the families in their region.

Garvi lives a simple life in Niger, physically a desperate place. Despite the starkness of the life, it seems so peaceful there--no hateful commentators on radio or TV egging on totally misguided citizenry being manipulated by corporate greed. The dust storms seem beautiful and welcome by comparison.

t r u t h o u t | Thirteen in Congress Control Health Care Debate

t r u t h o u t | Thirteen in Congress Control Health Care Debate

Shared via AddThis

Here we go...don't blame President Obama if health care goes wrong. Blame the obstructionists in Congress who are in thrall to the health insurance companies. We fought the good fight to elect nonwingers in 2008. We can't rest on our laurels now. What's to be done about this?

The Kettles go to the Four Seasons....

This weekend, BFF and I went to the Four Seasons to recoup from a long bike ride on the Capitol Crescent Trail. The bike path ends a few short blocks from the Four Seasons, which makes it a very convenient collapsing point. Until this weekend, the Four Seasons in Philadelphia had been my favorite hotel in the US of A, but I didn't know the Four Seasons franchise had extended to DC--specifically, Georgetown. Actually, the bus stops right in front of the place, but I'd never paid attention to it in all the many times I hung around there waiting for the Georgetown Shuttle or the Circulator (with bike rack in front). "Be Here Now" may be my favorite mantra, but it's clear I have a ways to go before I get the hang of it.

Anyway, we get there and walk to the Concierge Desk to sign in. So wrong. The Concierge kindly points us to the Reservations Desk, which is identically unmarked but close enough to hit with a paper clip if the Concierge wanted to toss one. Heh. You try not to act like a bumpkin in the Four Seasons, but that's my normal m.o.: bumpkin. We share a quiet laugh about "The Kettles Go to the Four Seasons." Some of you will remember Ma & Pa Kettle from the early days of TV. Ma was played by Marjorie Main, one of my mother's favorite actresses.

Of course, BFF should not be identified as a "Kettle." It's me who's the country mouse here, but I don't think that's a bad thing. Country mice are pretty, sleek, and smart, and they only come inside when the weather drives away their food supply. They can mix metaphors, too!

After dinner, we walk back to the room, where the TV is on, displaying the evening's program schedule. BFF asks, "Where's the remote?" I look around and find something on the shelf under the (big, flat-faced) TV. It seems pretty HUGE for a remote, but it has a big POWER button on it. (It's a keyboard for the laptop also under the TV.) (Kettles and laptops and mice, oh my!!)
BFF finds the remote under her newspaper and shuts off the TV.

I am too tired from the ride to undress, so I kick off my shoes and crawl under the covers. I realize the light is shining in my eyes. I can't move and ask BFF if she would pretty please turn it off. "I don't see a switch," she says, and I don't, either. "Just smash the bulb with the remote," I say and fall sound asleep.

When we wake up to broad daylight, we go down to the spa for a swim. Philadelphia's Four Seasons spa has a bigger pool and is all on one level. But here, the multiple staircases--two flights down to the spa, another flight down to the pool, and in another direction, a flight up to the women's locker room--form their own fitness challenge. But the brunch was amazing. There was one whole table filled with tiny little plates offering a whole slew of amuse-bouche made out of watermelon! My favorite was the wee glasses of watermelon gazpacho, but the salad of tiny cubes of goat cheese, black olive, and watermelon was good, too. Although I can't say I like goat cheese at all, apart from the wonderful aged stuff on Capri. It reminds me too much of goats. There are some downsides to being a country bumpkin.

minicards

My keychain is full of little plastic tags that double as minicards for various merchants: Best Buy, Borders, Comfort One Shoes, CVS, DC Library, Giant, Utrecht's Art Smart card. This list doesn't include all the cards that I've signed up for but that have fallen off when the thin area of card around the hole breaks. And it doesn't include the ones that I carry around in my billfold and do not string up with my keys: BooksAMillion, Blockbuster.

I'm coming to the conclusion that there's really only one of these cards that is worth the annoyance of lugging it around: Safeway's. Not only do I get a discount on house brand specials every time I swipe my Safeway card, but also after so many visits, depending on how much I've spent, I get a free GAS CARD, worth about $6 at a BP gas station. The store specials are worth a lot of $ day to day on items that I actually buy there. Unlike store coupons, which are mostly good for stuff I never buy (Oreos, hot dog buns, Cap'n Crunch), Safeway gives its card-carrying customers deals on things like fruit, vegetables, chicken, steak, frozen peas, toilet paper, dish soap, mouthwash....you get the idea. It saves real money on real food and basic needs.

Other cards give me a foot or two of receipt tape with specials for things I never buy: cosmetics and shampoo come to mind. It's not that I don't wash my hair. My hair is so fine and thin, using plain old Ivory soap kind of bulks it up.

One card, which shall be nameless, is totally annoying. You never get any discounts when you use it. If you want any price breaks, you have to read the receipt and then go to their website and print off coupons, which you then have to haul back to the store. Hello, merchant, baby....it costs me money to print those coupons. Put them on the receipt!! Or better yet, just give me a little discount every time I buy something, no matter what, at the store.

The library thingy is handy, although there's no money changing hands. I can't remember that long, complicated library card number every time I check out a book.

You must be from North Dakota if...

Well, the Wisconsin post proved so controversial/popular, that I decided to look up similar items for other Midwestern states. I'm starting with North Dakota. The mother lode of these ND kernels of wisdom is Plainsfolk.com. Check it out....there's LOTS more than the following:

You might be from North Dakota if....

People borrow things to you.
You have as many Canadian coins as American ones in your pocket.
You refer to the blessed union of an ELCA Lutheran and a Missouri Synod Lutheran as a "mixed marriage.
Your favorite hors d'ourve is little cocktail wienies in BBQ sauce served in a crockpot.
The idea of snow in June doesn't surprise you.
Your husband thinks sexy lingerie is a flannel nightgown with only eight buttons.
Your Easter bonnet has ear flaps.
You say "headbolt heater" and even a two-year-old knows what you're talking about.
You go to Miami on vacation in July and take along a jacket, just in case...
You don't think it's cold unless your nose hairs stick together when you breathe.
You realize that lefse and tortillas look alike but all similarity stops there.
Your transplanted uncle in Oregon asks you to bring a bottle of Everclear when you visit.
You need raisins for a recipe and there is NOT ONE RAISIN IN TOWN, so you pick them out of the Raisin Bran.
You refer to hair as "hairs" ("I can't do a thing with 'em!")
Your address is 67th St SW, and you live on a farm two miles south of Carson.
You can leave your purse wide open on the bar when you go to the ladies room.
You call the Capitol and the Governor answers.
If last year's New Year Baby in your town was born in June.
If you knew how to drive a tractor before you could read.
You don't think of the Bible when somebody talks about the Great Flood.
You can get fresh fish delivered right to your door in Fargo every spring in the original water.

TGIF!

Here's a good laugh to pass around at happy hour....(thanx and a tip of the papal mitre to Darlene)

An old country preacher had a teenage son, and it was getting time the boy should give some thought to choosing a profession. Like many young men his age, the boy didn't really know what he wanted to do, and he didn't seem too concerned about it. One day, while the boy was away at school, his father decided to try an experiment. He went into the boy's room and placed on his study table four objects.

1. A Bible.
2. A silver dollar.
3. A bottle of whisky.
4. And a Playboy magazine.

"I'll just hide behind the door," the old preacher said to himself. "When he comes home from school today, I'll see which object he picks up.

"If it's the Bible, he's going to be a preacher like me, and what a blessing that would be!
"If he picks up the dollar, he's going to be a business man, and that would be okay, too.

"But if he picks up the bottle, he's going to be a no-good drunken bum, and Lord, what a shame that would be.
"And worst of all if he picks up that magazine he's going to be a skirt-chasing womanizer."

The old man waited anxiously, and soon heard his son's foot-steps as he entered the house whistling and headed for his room. The boy tossed his books on the bed, and as he turned to leave the room he spotted the objects on the table.

With curiosity in his eye, he walked over to inspect them. Finally, he picked up the Bible and placed it under his arm. He picked up the silver dollar and dropped into his pocket. He uncorked the bottle and took a big drink, while he admired this month's centerfold.

"Lord have mercy," the old preacher disgustedly whispered. "He's gonna run for Congress."

If you grew up in rural Wisconsin....

If You Grew Up In Rural Wisconsin:

* You know how to polka, but never tried it sober.

* You know what knee-high by the Fourth of July means.

* You know it is traditional for the bride and groom to go bar hopping between the reception and wedding dance.

* You know the difference between 'Green' and 'Red' farm machinery, and would fight with your friends on the playground over which was better!

* You buy Christmas presents at Fleet Farm or Farm and Fleet

* You spent more on beer & liquor than you did on food at your wedding.

* You hear someone use the word 'uff-da' and you don't break into uncontrollable laughter..

* You or someone you know was a 'Dairy Princess' at the county fair.

* You know that 'combine' is a noun.

* You let your older siblings talk you into putting your tongue on a
steel post in the middle of winter.

* You think Lutheran and Catholic are THE major religions.

* You know that 'creek' rhymes with 'pick'. [Note to snobs from the East Coast]

* Football schedules, hunting season and harvest are all taken into
consideration before wedding dates are set.

* A Friday night date is getting a six-pack and taking your girlfriend shining for deer.

* Saturday you go to your local bowling alley.

* There was at least one, if not several, in your class who had to help milk cows in the morning. And/or smelled like it.

* You have driven your car on the lake.

* You can make sense of 'upnort' and 'baatree'.

* Every wedding dance you have ever been to has the hokey pokey and the chicken dance.

* Your definition of a small town is one that only has one bar.

* The local gas station sells live bait.

* At least twice a year some part of your home doubles as a meat
processing plant.

* You think that the start of deer season is a national holiday.

Hello....

So the NYTimes has a mini debate today in its editorial pages about "Legalizing Marijuana." I think LEGALIZING is the wrong focus. Of course it should be legal. What we should be focusing on in these days of recession/depression is TAXING THE SALE OF marijuana. This might save a good chunk of California's bacon all by itself. Instead of closing its beautiful parks and laying off teachers, Calliforneeya (that's how youknowwho says it) could be closing down prisons and converting the sentences of former pot-related criminals by putting them to work picking up roadside trash in the parks and cleaning the beaches.

A guy I know last week said he thought it was good that marijuana was not legalized. He said "Too many people would be high." Sweet jebus...they're high already....but mostly on likker, which is legal and taxed and regulated. You can get a nice buzz on with beer, for example, but you can't drive when you're buzzed or be drunk in public, etc. There are rules, and they work pretty well, too.

Prohibition didn't work. So let's quit fooling around with pot and make that legal, regulated, and TAXABLE. No reason to make all the crooks rich.

Bailey the Unknown Reindeer

Real Age, my favorite health site on FaceBook, had this dandy post this week. Wotta dog! The video was taken in Bailey's owner's yard after a heavy (!) snowfall in Ward, Colorado. The first time I played this, I didn't have my processor hooked up so I couldn't hear the song. I like it almost as well without.


Source: www.youtube.com

"It shouldn't be this expensive for Americans to get health care...."

Truthout today reprints a wonderful article by Bill Moyers and Michael Winship.

They quote a number of very rich insurance executives, who are predictably up in arms against any change in the status quo on health insurance, but also Dr. Regina Benjamin, whom President Obama has just nominated for Surgeon General.

"It should not be this hard for doctors and other health care providers to care for their patients," Dr. Regina Benjamin said when she was nominated this week. "It shouldn't be this expensive for Americans to get health care in this country."

Friday Miscellany

From Darlene:
FASCINATING!!!! JUST FASCINATING! Enjoy - BEFORE WATCHING VIDEO:
Read below for background information.

In a Chinese modern dance competition on TV one very unique couple won
one of the top prizes. The lady, in her 30's, was a dancer who had
trained since she was a little girl... Later in life, she lost her entire
left arm in an accident and fell into a state of depression for a few years.

Someone then asked her to coach a Children's dancing group. From that
point on, she realized that she could not forget dancing. She still
loved to dance and wanted to dance again. So, she started to do some of
her old routines, but, having lost her arm, she had also lost her balance.
It took a while before she could even make simple turns and spins
without falling. Then she heard of a man in his 20s who had lost a leg
in an accident. He had also fallen into the usual denial, depression
and anger type of emotional roller coaster. But, she was determined to
find him and persuade him to dance with her.. He had never danced, and to
dance with one leg....are you joking with me? ??"No way!"

But, she didn't give up, and he reluctantly agreed thinking, "I have
nothing else to do anyway." She started to teach him dancing. The two
broke up a few times because he had no concept of using muscle, how to
control his body, and knew none of the basic things about dancing. When
she became frustrated and lost patience with him, he would walk out.

Eventually, they came back together and started training seriously.
They hired a choreographer to design routines for them. She would fly
high (held by him) with both arms (a sleeve for an arm) flying in the air.
He could bend horizontally supported by one leg with her leaning on
him, etc. In the competition, as you will see, they dance beautifully and
they legitimately won the competition." When I watched this I didn't even
realize that she was missing an arm because I was focusing on the guy with
only one leg.

Really quite amazing!

"Look! The United States!!"

There's a certain spot on the Jersey Turnpike going toward NYC when the road rises and you can see the NYC skyline like a distant City of Oz. When Sam was 5 and saw it for the first time, he said, "Look! The United States!"

This photo does not capture that moment, but it's the NYC skyline as we saw it on July 5, coming in from Glen Ridge to take Annie to orientation for her summer class and pick up Laura, who was flying in from the UK.

On July 4, there was a parade in Montclair:





MORE TO COME

Happy Canada Day!!

Many (well, at least TWO) of XE's most faithful readers live in Canada, and since today is their grand national holiday, here's wishing both of them a very happy Canada Day!!

Canada is a fascinating place.
It has the highest quality of life of any nation in the world!!

I love Canada. I don't know what they include in the quality of life measure, but it's always seemed to me to be a VERY CIVILIZED PLACE!!

Welcome, Brenda!

My popular, energetic former co-worker at FNMA, Marilyn Olson, is affectionately known to one and all as "Mo." She and her late husband, Lyle, had one child, Brenda, and during my 10 years at Magids, I enjoyed hearing about Brenda's exploits as she got through elementary and high school and went off to college (Iowa State at Ames, I think). Then Mo and I lost touch until Mo, retired now, popped up on Facebook this spring, some 20+ years later. It's been great getting brought up to date on Mo's amazing schedule. Mo always arrived on Monday exhausted, then picked up steam as the week progressed. I was the opposite. I was fresh as a daisy on Monday and wiped out by Friday.

Mo just introduced her Facebook friends to Brenda's wonderful blog on life in small-town Iowa. How coincidental is this that her oldest (and youngest) daughter blogs about life in rural (well, that's most of the state) Iowa, and my oldest daughter, Peggy, blogs about life in rural Scotland?! Brenda and Peggy both have self-deprecating humor when it coms to naming their blogs. Brenda is no more boring than Peggy is lazy.

Gentle readers, please enjoy Brenda's Boring Blog!

Thank God, It's SENATOR AL FRANKEN, D-MN!!!!

I googled "Al Franken's best quotes," and here's a remarkable collection from "Al Franken Sense, the Al Franken Forum." Al is the kind of Democrat I can relate to. He's also funny.

A sample of the wit & wisdom of Chairman Al:

In many ways I'm still a Hubert Humphrey Democrat -- someone who believes in afflicting the comfortable and comforting the afflicted. A society is judged by how it treats the elderly, the sick, the impoverished. To me it's a matter of ethics and compassion.
- Al Franken, Playboy interview

No Child Left Behind is the most ironically named act, piece of legislation since the 1942 Japanese Family Leave Act.
- Al Franken, in response to the 2004 SOTU address

Oh, What Doesn't Kill You Can Have Lingering Aftereffects!
- Al Franken, Oh, the Things I Know, chapter title

Read the rest, too....

Yeah, them too....

The "Money" section of the NYTimes today has a great headline: "Et tu, AARP? Good Guys Cut 401(k)s, Too". The article, by Ron Lieber, may be good, but the headline stopped me in my tracks. It's clever, but the headline writer was too charitable.

AARP sold us out to Big Pharma with the Medicare Drug Act. My prescription prices DOUBLED way back when that little piece of legislative jiujitsu passed, and I quit AARP on the spot. "Good guys"? I don't think so. I haven't been able to bring myself to forgive them, either, despite their wonderful magazine.

But that's ok. Clarissa Pinkola Estes has a great section on forgiveness in her intriguing book, Women Who Run with the Wolves. Without trying to find the book in this place so I can look it up (a three-day job), this is the main thing I remember her saying about forgiveness: It happens in stages. You can't just "forgive" someone and feel all better all at once. Estes says the first stage of forgiving an injury is to quit obsessing over it. Just quit thinking about it endlessly. Makes sense to me. I guess I was getting past stage one with AARP, too. I'd pretty much forgotten all about them.

Except, since retiring, I've started to notice all the goodies you can get now with an AARP membership. About all an AARP card used used to get you was senior rates on movies and a 10% discount at certain hotel chains. Nowadays the senior rate on movies is the same as the matinee rate for everyone else. You have go to go a movie after 6 p.m. if you want the old folks' discount. That's too LATE!! I rarely go out after supper.

Still, there's lots more now for anyone with an AARP membership: you can get special prices or discounts on everything from cruises to cell phones to tow trucks.

Well, too bad. They still sound like their main goal is watching out for #1, never mind their constituents OR their workers. Fooey.

Chicken ala Carte

Thanks to Darlene for sending this today....TGIF!

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

Same old same old

Nobody wants to pay for a transit system in DC, especially the pols who love to meddle in our business--like the gun nuts making sure DC can't ban handguns. Meanwhile, nine people, including the young mother driving the train who fought valiantly to stop it with its worthless brakes, are dead because the Metro put off not just replacing the cars but fixing the brakes.

And the bullets are flying where I live, but that doesn't bother them. They don't live here, and neither do their constituents (who nevertheless flock to DC with their chidren whenever school is out--and ride our metro).

Robert McCartney, reporting in the WashPost, has a great column this morning. Salient sentences (love the sound of that....ha):

There's no good alternative to renovating Metro, given the need to reduce traffic and greenhouse gases, and to move around the 2 million new residents that the region is expected to attract by 2030.

...

Last year, Congress authorized $150 million a year for Metro after the District, Virginia and Maryland promised to match it: $50 million from each jurisdiction each year.

Maddeningly, however, the Obama administration's budget for the fiscal year starting in October did not include the money. One factor was federal unhappiness with squabbling among the three jurisdictions over an issue regarding the Metro board. Getting that money this year should be a top priority for the region's congressional delegation.

Hey, Mr. President....You live here, too. We can't all send our kids to school in cars driven by the Secret Service. The rich bankers got theirs, and the Pentagon gets billions to kill people, other countries' and our own. What about the rest of us? Please get with it on public transportattion.

Deadly Metro collision at Ft Totten on DC's Red Line--UPDATE

[UPDATE: Three more bodies were found inside the trains last night. Death total now stands at 9. Blogger Red Nose's husband, Joe, was on one of the trains yesterday. Most likely causes now are seen as failure of automatic warning and braking system or operator error or both.]


About 5 pm, two Metro trains on the Red Line collided at Ft. Totten. Many have been injured, and so far, 6 people are confirmed to have died.




I rode the Red Line from Dupont Circle to Ft. Totten this morning. After I transfer to the Green Line at Ft. Totten, my stop is the first one down.

This is only the third major accident in Metro's history and by far the worst. I love the Metro. For all its minor faults, it's a splendid system. Our hearts go out to all concerned.

Stand with Dr. Dean

Let me quote from the email he sent this afternoon:

Even while Republicans fight tooth and nail against allowing Americans the choice of a universally available public healthcare option; the American people continue to show overwhelming support -- 8 out of 10 Americans in the latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll.

But for-profit insurance companies and HMO's are working hard to strip it from any upcoming healthcare bill. They don't want Americans to have a choice because they know they'll have to lower costs and provide better care. They will stop at nothing to kill real reform and there are a lot of Senators in Congress looking for ways to help them.

Republicans have insurance companies on their side. We have the American people on ours. Now that we have the momentum for real reform, we need to make it clear we won't accept anything less than a strong public option.

Pleaee add your name to the petition.

Happy Birthday, Lu--and congratulations, Ben! - UPDATE

UPDATE: Here's Ben with his masters thesis. Thanks to Lu, there's an update on his age when he wrote his essay on Benjamin Franklin. I guessed 7 or 8, but he was younger--a testament to his Montessori school.

[First posted on June 15, 2009] This past week--or if you want to get picky, tomorrow--is my niece Lu's birthday. It's a major demographic crossover, too! A number of years ago, she gave me a copy of this essay by her son, Ben, who was maybe 5 years old.* Ben, who is now grown, just got his masters degree in environmental engineering this spring. So here's Ben's essay about his namesake, showing all the promise in two very bright young men. To see the document in life size, just double click each page.

* [Quote from Lu: "I'm not sure - with the spelling I would say he was about five. That's how they taught them to write at the Montessori school - it was more important to get the thoughts down, sounding out the words...."]

Benjamin Franklin Was
born january17, 1705
in Boston Massachusetts.
When Ben Was Born the
american Colonies
Were Owned by England.
When he was older he
helped the colonies
become free, this was the
Start of the United States
Of america. he was
one of our countries
Founding Fathers.

Ben Had Many jobs
During his life. he was
a printer, publisher, statesman,
Diplomat & an inventor.

When Ben Was 12 he went
to Work for his his brother
as a printer. Ben wrote
Many books and papers
and he printed them
him self.

in 1751 Ben Started
a school in Philadelphia.
This school later
became the University
of pensilvanea.

Ben pubishd americas
first Magazine and [?]
in 1751, Ben
was the first
publisher of poor
richerds Almamac.
this almanac is
published eveary year
even today.
franklin was a statsemen
and diplomat he spent
a lot of time in
England and france.
FRanklin was a great
inventor here
is a list of some
of his Inventions.

Ben's Inventson's
1 franklin stove
2 lightning rod
3 Eletric Batery
4 smoke less chimney
5 byFocal glasses
6 copy Machine
7 a musical instument

Ben did Icsperaments that
proved lightning Was Electrisity
The most important
thing Ben did was to help
write the constitution
and help make our
country free.
he died april 17 1791.

Single Payer Health Care!!

Darlene sent this today. Marcy Winograd is co-founder of the L.A. chapter of Progressive Democrats of America.

Pass this along!

Glad Midsommar!!!

Midsummer Eve has long been my favorite day of the whole year. It's the longest day of the year in the Northern Hemisphere, but most people know it simply as the first day of summer. This day enjoys the most sunlight (not necessarily sunshine...it's cloudy and overcast here in DC); the sun will not set until after 8:30 tonight. Actually, here in DC, today and the next two days--June 20-22--will be exactly the same length: sunrise at 5:43am and sunset at 8:37pm. On June 23, DC will lose a minute of precious sunlight in the morning: sunrise at 5:44am...and thus darkness will increase bit by bit until after December 21, when the hours of daylight again begin stretching a minute or two at a time each day.

When we visited Door County in the summer years ago, we learned about the Swedish Midsummer Festival and Door County's famous fish boil and cherry pie. If I can find some whitefish in these parts, I intend to make this. The stove top recipe is basically 8 quarts of water boiling in a big pot, 2 CUPS of salt (one cup goes in first when the water boils and you put in the potatoes, and the other cup goes in about 25 mins later when you add the fish), 12 pieces of whitefish fillet, and 12 potatoes. Not fancy. Note: most Door County recipes caution you not to do the OUTDOOR fish-in-a-big-pot-over-the-bonfire trick of burning off the fish oil with kerosene!! You just skim it off with a big spoon as needed. You serve the fish and potatoes with melted butter for dipping and, if you wish, slices of lemon for people to squeeze on the fish. Proper Door County cherry pie requires cherries from Door County, but we make do....

ANYWAY...

On this day of greatest light, Xtreme English has included a link to Esther Garvi aka Ishtar News. Esther Garvi is a young woman born in Sweden who has lived in Niger for more than 20 years as an unpaid volunteer for the Eden Foundation.

The Eden Foundation in Niger, West Africa, was established in 1985 by Garvi's parents, Arne and Bettan Garvi. The Eden Foundation's philosophy is explained in this foundation newsletter published in 2008:

There are 250,000 known plant species in the world, but only 20 of them provide 90% of our food. Eden believes that the key to prosperity for the poor lie in underexploited, edible trees and bushes - the lost treasures of Eden.

The young couple and their three children moved to Niger and started to work. I encourage you to read this blog and enjoy their story.

Esther Garvi's work, joy in life, and writing skill make her a worthy role model, and her blog is a real find. So...while we celebrate the glorious sunlight and admire the beauty of Sweden, whose residents cherish the sunlight and throw a festival to welcome summer, XE would like to mark the occasion by including a link to Ms. Garvi's blog.

Snob Syntax

XtremeEnglish does not pretend to be an expert on anything. But she has lots of experience not only as an editor and writer, but also (especially) as a reader. XE learned to read at the age of three, so that's almost 70 years spent often in libraries, bookstores, and elsewhere with her nose in a book. That's a long time to develop radar for pretentious language.

Here are a couple of recent arrivals that make her grit her teeth:


-Hydrate. As in "La-de-dah...I have a personal trainer who tells me I need to drink lots of water."

-My tax dollars. As in "If I deign to live in your silly town/state/country, I get to say exactly what you do with the money you collect to provide me with the services I need." When did this odious expression start, anyway? 1980 or so? It's not so much your or my tax dollars as it is OUR tax dollars. It's a fact of life in, like, a community.....

Bye, WaPo

The Washington Post appears to be going the way of its Moonie counterpart across town. Word has it they've fired Dan Froomkin, easily one of their top writers and most quoted bloggers. Glenn Greenwald in today's Salon has the story

As Greenwald notes, Froomkin stands apart from the Post's darlings of the rightwing, Charles Krauthammer and Bill Kristol, as a real journalist.

It's no secret that I have disliked the Post. But now I refuse to even READ it, even if it's lying on the table at Starbucks, left behind by a previous coffee drinker. Or on the dining table at my best friend's house!!!! (yes, you, dear...)

Wotever is in the DC water these days? Even George W. Bush has come out of his self-impossed silence on his predecessor to criticize President Obama's handling of the cleanup of Bush's mess. Memo to former president: STFU, Dubya. Stuff the WashPost in your mouth if you get another urge to say anything.

God is great!

I am proud of the Iranian people. After it seems they have had an election stolen from them, they are rioting in the streets, marching, shouting, braving gunfire and death so that their votes may be counted.

In 2000, our elected president was taken from us, and a miserable puppet installed in his place by none other than the U.S. Supreme Court.

And what did we do? MANY of us marched in protest in subsequent days, but at the time, everyone was very polite. Even our elected president, Al Gore, demurred when the imposter told him "you don't have to be snippy about it."

History would be very different if, in that far off yesterday, we had shown the passion and courage the Iranian people are showing today. One news commentator earlier today said that the students and elderly and women were not alone in their protest. That several of the most influential Ayatollahs were backing them. This is why Ayatollah Khomeini has asked for an investigation of the election. This is why they have not been herded into prisons.

There is hope. And until they have satisfactory answers, the residents of Tehran have spilled out into the streets and told the world what they think.

God is great! And God bless the Iranian people.

don't be so FORWARD....

this just arrived from sally as a forward, and i couldn't open it. so i googled the title "mom arriving with cake video" and got it!

My Bad....

Shammy's comment on my post "A Few Rules for American English," made an excellent point. I said "its" was a possessive adjective. Not so. Possessive pronoun was the term I wanted. Other possessive pronouns like his and hers (and yours, mine, ours, theirs) don't have an apostrophe, either.

Tsk. The motto on my office door used to read "Often Wrong, Never in Doubt."

Thanks, Shammy. At least one of us is a lert. (joke!)

A few rules for American English

XtremeEnglish started out as an outlet for the blogger (with nearly 30 years of experience as an editor, most of them in management) to express her love for the English language. After several YEARS of diversions and distractions, she's going to return briefly to her original intent and list a few constructions she sees many bloggers mangle.

ITS....is the possessive pronoun.
Example: The dog licked its paw.

IT'S....is always a contraction of IT IS.
Example: It's true, whether you like it or not. If you see an apostrophe in its, it's a verb form.

COMPRISES means "includes."
Example: The zoo COMPRISES striped and spotted animals. "Comprised of" doesn't make you sound smart, no matter how many overeager graduate students or befuddled academics use it.

TOWARD....is correct.
Example: "She ran toward the door." "Towards" is very Harry Potter. Move to the UK if you can't get it right.

Here are two great books you can add to your library:
Clean, Well-Lighted Sentences: A Guide to Avoiding the Most Common Errors in Grammar and Punctuation
and
Words into Type, Third Edition

XE writes letters....

Here's one I sent this morning to HealthReform.gov, which is collecting our stories on health care reform:

Dear Mr. President: You don't have to be paranoid to be a senior citizen in this country, but it helps. I'm recently retired, and a week ago I had cataract surgery. The co-pay was $200! This is 4 times what it was when I had the other eye done a couple of years ago. And the co-pays for my prescriptions have gone up, too. Could it be that the insurance companies, fearing they'll be put out of business if the US passes single-payer health insurance, are doing their best to grab all the money they can? This is on top of the news that those of us on Social Security will get NO COLA this year or next year! We need some kind of reform, that's for sure. Health care is a great place to start. Please be assured that I'm committed to backing you in everything. Please don't let the bankers get big bonuses and high salaries while you turn off the faucet on the only source of income for retirees. Sincerely yours, M.E. Carew, registered Democrat

If you've got your own horror story on health care, click the link in my opening sentence and tell the president all about it.

Socked by the Hamster...again

Here I am the day after my second cataract surgery. The nifty little shiner is the work of Plavix, which I take to keep my stents clean. Peggy said I look like I've been socked in the eye. I agree...socked in the eye by a hamster.

Old age for me has meant I am increasingly dependent on spare parts: the two plastic lenses, the three stents, the cochlear implant, the partial plates (false teeth to you...or, as Whoopee's 2.5 year old might say, the false "tits").

As they say, "after 60, it's patch, patch, patch....."

Dangerous, Ugly Rightwing Extremism among Us - Updated

In April, 2009, the Department of Homeland Security issued a report warning against anti-Semitic violence. Even the title is chilling:
"Rightwing Extremism:
Current Economic and Political
Climate Fueling Resurgence in
Radicalization and Recruitment"**

Huffpost today carries the story of the Republican reaction to the DHS report two months ago--before the murder of Dr. George Tiller in Kansas and today's shooting of a security guard at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC.

Huffport quotes what RNC chair Michael Steele said about the report on Fox News:

"This is the height of insult here," Steele told Fox News. "I mean to segment out Americans who dissent from this administration, to segment out conservatives in this country who have a different philosophy or view from this administration, and labeling them as terrorists and then to call into question the service of the men and women who are right now standing on that wall defending our freedom and linking them to terrorism while you refuse to call the terrorists -- the real terrorists -- terrorists, to me it's the height of insult."

Whatever got into the Republican party that has made their leaders and spokespersons so ignorant, so lacking in self-knowledge, so hateful, and so downright creepy that they are incensed when anyone points out the possible dangers and consequences of rightwing thinking?

**The Huffpost story has a link to the 10-page report, which is available as a .pdf download.

UPDATE: Salon Editor, Joan Walsh, says all of this much better in her Salon post. She calls out the whole ugly crew, including Mr. Bouncy.

the perception of the truth is often more important than the truth itself

From 1978 to 1988, I worked for a company that did survey research for TV, radio, and print (newspapers & magazines). We conducted audience surveys for some very major players in the mainstream media. A couple of mottos formed the bedrock of our work:

1) "The perception of the truth is often more important than the truth itself" and

2) "Perception becomes reality in its consequences."

Related to this is the old old saw, "a picture is worth 1,000 words."

So why do I get so upset when I see pictures of Limbaugh, Gingrich, and Palin plastered all over everything? Including the Huffington Post? Because just seeing their faces on the evening news or the front page of the newspaper or website by itself gives viewers and readers the perception that they are newsworthy.

And it's not just the MSM.

The hotair industry of cable news has HOURS of programming devoted largely to a) rebroadcasting over and over again the outrageous comments of people like Limbaugh, Gingrich, and Palin and then b) rebutting them usually by chatting with guest "experts." 24/7, it's Limbaugh, Gingrich, Palin, Limbaugh, Gingrich, Palin, McCain (Cindy and Meghan now), Cheney (Liz and Lynne, too)...on and on...blah blah blah. And in case Countdown focuses on something ELSE, Keith Olbermann has "Mr. Bouncy" ready to insert into the corner of the screen lest we forget about him. (If you've watched KO, you'll know who Mr. Bouncy is.)

As if these people had any faint idea of how (or any inclination at all) to solve the world's problems.

And as if there were nothing else we citizens in the world's largest democracy need to be concerned about.

Mercifully, the only Bush we're likely to see or hear about these days is Laura, who says mostly sensible things. It makes me wonder which focus group told broadcasters and publishers that quoting Laura Bush saying something sensible can help make folks outside of the tight little Republican base relax their hatred of the Republican party and the gormless Republicans in Congress. (You don't have to be paranoid to live in Washington DC, but it helps!)

My solution to most of this is to NOT WATCH (TV) and NOT BUY (newspapers). I'm thinking of cancelling my cable-phone-high speed internet service and maybe *gasp* even my blackberry.

The only way to fight these people is to boycott their products and their sponsors' products. And to let them know why. Tell em you want real, solid news. Send em a tweet, for pete's sake!

5 word speech

Arianna Huffington has been asking for entries to her "5 word speech" contest that ended tonight.

I can think of one:

NO MORE SARAH PALIN, PLEASE!

let her go back to slaughtering defenseless animals from airplanes and setting back rational sex education for young people and gazing at russia from her kitchen window.

can't we just forget this woman, please? she's not news. she's a disaster.

Back to the Future.....

Is it just me, or are you finding yourself completely fed up today with the media's incessant and unwavering harping on the possible Republican candidates for president in 2012!!!????

Can we come back to 2009? We've got four years of hard slogging to do to repair the damage of the Republican malfeasance over the past eight years.

So, please, Media Masterminds...Let Governors Sanford and Palin play out their acts on the local level. Stop forcing them down our throats! We don't CARE about these people or their precious far-right conservative base. Were you awake during the last election? As President Obama reminded you earlier this year, "YOU LOST!"

I lasted approximately four minutes into "Countdown" tonight. If I want to hear what a Washington Post reporter has to say about anything, especially about who's going to run for president in 2012, I'll buy the paper....NOT!

Happy Birthday, Bill Moyers!

Moyers turned 75 today, and he can still mop the floor with punks from Fox. Way to go, Bill! I found this gem on "Cheers and Jeers" by Bill in Portland ME in today's Daily Kos.

Genug, already!

Glenn Greenwald's column in today's Salon make the cogent point that if Israel wants to continue to receive tens of billions of US dollars in aid, plus military equipment and unwavering diplomatic support, it can just quit building those freaking settlements in the West Bank!

As Greenwald notes, the whole world sees this as Israel taking away Palestinian land--the whole world, that is, except Israel, which blunders on.

Greenwald also notes that US presidents, including Bush 1 (who, the more you hear about him, seems FAR superior to his gormless elder son), have gotten themselves in all kinds of trouble when they tried to get Israel to quit with the settlements. Their biggest opponent has been the pro-Israel lobby, AIPAC. He quotes Andrew Sullivan regarding Obama here: “What Obama faces in the Middle East, if he is to move the peace process forward, is a very powerful force against him. It's called AIPAC."

Meanwhile, we struggle on here in the US, trying to find $$ for universal health care, education, rebuilding US industry and manufacturing, on and on...you name it, we need it badly.

So why should we be lavishing money on Israel, which seems to be very happy to tell us to go jump in a lake when we tell them to stop the settlements now??? The settlements are NOT in U.S. interest.