HE DID IT!!!!

Master Sean Denson is now the proud owner of a degree (Hons) in Computer Science from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, UK. Need I tell you that he has worked LONG and HARD for this, and at long last, it's in his hands!!! Congratulations, Sean!!! Nobody deserves it more than you. NOW I hope you and Laura will tie the knot!!!

(Note the classic academic's "What's that smell?" pose)

New Meme: Technology during Your Life Span at 10-year Intervals....

A Little Red Hen stopped by to see her cousin, Hen Pink, and commented about "thinking 10 years ahead at our age."  There are many ways to consider what one's life will be like ten years from now.  But that got me thinking about what life has been like in the past--especially vis-a-vis technology. My grandmother died at the turn of the previous century--1900. She was 43 years old and never saw a motor car or an airplane (I want to spell it aeroplane...ha) or a radio or a telephone or electricity or indoor plumbing (although in Germany, the family lived ABOVE the cows, so the cows, at least, could tinkle in the house). Not to mention TV, computers, WIFI, cell phones, video cams--you name it. It all came after she died.

So...anyway, here's technology in 10-year intervals as I experienced it over my life span PLUS one heretofore unknown bit of technology I predict will be part of everyday life 10 years in the future!

1st 10 years: automatic transition in cars or portable radio--meaning you could lift it off the ground.

2nd 10 years: television!  (yeah....i was a junior in high school when TV arrived in the Dwyer home in Fargo)

3rd 10 years: stereo or LP records or color TV

4th 10 years: computers! The computers at work were room-sized. My first computer-related job was proofreading data cards before they were inserted into the computer to be tallied.

5th 10 years: personal computers 

6th 10 years: cell phones or portable video cameras or lasers.

7th 10 years: cochlear implant or Kindle or Nook or iPad

8th 10 years (THE PREDICTION): houses and cars go solar--all of them--or gene repair (curing illnesses by tinkering with or replacing genes)

I'm leaving out a lot of things like automatic coffee makers and washers, electric clothes dryers, crockpots, nylon/orlon/polyester fabrics--things we didn't have when I was very small but are ubiquitous now. Cars have gotten swankier and fatter and hungrier, but there's not been a whole lot of change in their basic operation (burn fuel to go).

Make your own list...it's fun to think about these things. Find a way to share it with the rest of us.

MAW has her troubles...

Spring 2010....eventful, hot, rainy here.  I am trying to get back into drawing the cartoons that occupy my thoughts.  BUT, seeing as I am not a professional  cartoonist, I'm having troubles that only a rank amateur would have--and this apart

from the actual DRAWING.  

F'r instance, I have LOST the memory card for my all-in-one printer-fax-scanner.  Even if I wanted to scan something, where could it go? 

Thus, after drawing the cartoon, and not being able to scan it, I decided to take a picture of it with my cell phone and forward that to myself.  I doubt that any pro cartoonist has to resort to this kind of thing just to get something published.

But I am just a beginner at this.  Malcolm Gladwell in OUTLIERS states that to become really good at anything--drawing, skating, pitching baseball, whatever--requires no less than 10,000 hours of practice. That's about 10 years' worth if you practice 2-3 hours a day. I don't think I practice ANYTHING for 2-3 hours every single day, unless you count eating.  I'm VERY good at that.  

It seemed, also, that Blogger itself was going quietly nuts.  Things were no longer what they seemed to be even last month.  Wot???  I figured this out, though.  If I use Firefox, everything--how to add new blogs or a new photo (as in my Garden Watch)--is OK.  If I use Google Chrome, it's way strange.

What, indeed, in MAW's universe has not been strange this spring?

thanks, Whoopee

I'm dedicating this You-Tube-bearing post to Whoopee in thanks for her recent post on her two bee children (also for the one on Caligula).  It's not easy taking care of two lively small children, with the new baby weighing almost as much as most kids do when they're much older.

So here's a little entertainment for when all else palls....I look forward to future posts after you and Ian and the children have learned how to play the fiddle and the other instruments.  Here's "Diga diga diga" by the Luminescent Orchestrii...(yeah, that's how they spell it)

Everyone's on hiatus these days....

Many of my most faithful readers are taking a break from blogging for a few weeks this summer: Kay's Thinking Cap, Darlene's Hodgepodge--even bloggers I read all the time, though they probably don't read XE much--like Whoopee (though not officially--she's just sidelined while her woman's bits heal after the birth of Caligula the Destroyer, aka Oscar).

Well, I'm not on hiatus...I'm just doing lots of dreaming about what to create next and running out every few hours to see if anything's up in my various gardens.  So I decided, for sheer bloggy pleasure, to go back to drawing cartoons for a while.  I thought of a good one today, and as soon as I finish editing a loooong piece for a client, I'll get cracking on it.  Watch this space......

I want to confide in my readers about something, too.  My housemate took it upon herself to dig up a second 4'x4' garden plot in the back yard this afternoon, but instead of removing the dirt from the sod and then tossing the sod along the fence where it can regrow, she just stirred it back into the plot again--with copious water.  So now there is a gigantic mud pit out back filled with very healthy-looking grass turned upside down that'll take a day or two to dry out enough to plant something in it.  I have memories of our Victory Garden back in Fargo in the 1940s, when we'd harvest potatoes and radishes speared with grass roots if we didn't get rid of the grass well enough.  And reading gardening pamphlets from NDAC about how grass and other weeds consume the nutrients needed for the veggies.  So....while I'm very grateful for her strong back and the speed with which she dug up the second plot, I think she should remove the growing matter and also add some good potting soil for the top layer as I did for the first plot, but she insists that the grass will add organic matter to the garden.  The ground is so warm now that the seeds practically burst open after just a few hours in the ground.  I'm feeling very conflicted about this.  It's nice to inspire others to plant a garden even if they don't do it the way I think it should be done.  But on the other hand, what the hey difference does it make?  If she wants her own plot, she can buy the seeds and water them, too.  I confess to feeling very selfish about this garden space--even though it's not even my own lawn--and upset that I feel this way, goldammit to hell anyway!

Tomato tower

Well, today would be my mother's 113rd birthday if she were still walking among us. She'd be just a few years older than Mary McGowan. Anyway, it was a lovely day..."What is so rare as a day in June? Then, if ever, come perfect days." Some poet wrote that...and if I weren't so lazy, I'd look it up. OK OK, I did...it was James Russell Lowell.


I saw a new bird today. Must be a warbler of some kind. Kind of like a white sparrow with a black cap (but not a black-capped chickadee). The bird songs here are practically symphonic. And I noticed that the trees by the metro tracks--the ones that have the beautiful white flowers in the spring--are locust trees. Nice to know.  Mom taught me by her example to pay attention to the beauty around me.  It was a gift that keeps on giving.


I planted a tomato tower in the back yard today. I'm taking bets on whether it actually will produce a tomato!

"Whacking the old folks...."

 One sour note back in January, when we were celebrating President Barack Obama's inauguration, was his quiet announcement that there would be NO cost of living adjustments for Social Security for two years.  Xtreme English complained a little bit at the time, but hardly anyone else made a peep--especially our favorite insurance peddlers, AARP.  The announcement landed on a soft cushion of indifference, possibly calculated.

Yesterday, the June 7, 2010 issue of Nation magazine arrived with THIS alarming lead paragraph:

In setting up his National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, Barack Obama is again playing coy in public, but his intentions are widely understood among Washington insiders. The president intends to offer Social Security as a sacrificial lamb to entice conservative deficit hawks into a grand bipartisan compromise in which Democrats agree to cut Social Security benefits for future retirees while Republicans accede to significant tax increases to reduce government red ink. 

The author, William Greider, goes on to discuss the commission, its purpose, and its membership, noting, "The people, once again, are kept in the dark." Greider's "excellent take on Social Security" also appears in an article by Trudy Lieberman in the May 25 issue of Columbia Journalism Review. 

Greider goes on, "What's extraordinary about this assault on Social Security is that a Democratic president is leading it. Obama is arm in arm with GOP conservatives like Wall Street billionaire Pete Peterson, who for decades has demonized Social Security as a grave threat to the Republic and has spread some $12 million among economists, think tanks, foundations and assorted front groups to sell his case." 


Here's another paragraph in the Nation article (emphasis mine), about half way through the article:

Obama's initiative rests on two falsehoods spread by Peterson's propaganda—the notion that Social Security somehow contributes to the swollen federal deficits and that cutting benefits will address this problem. Obama and his advisers do not say this in so many words, but their rhetoric implies that Social Security is a big source of the deficit problem. Major media promote the same falsehoods. Here is what the media don't tell you: Social Security has accumulated a massive surplus—$2.5 trillion now, rising to $4.3 trillion by 2023. This vast wealth was collected over many years from workers under the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) to pay in advance for baby boom retirements. The money will cover all benefits until the 2040s—unless Congress double-crosses workers by changing the rules. This nest egg does not belong to the government; it belongs to the people who paid for it. FICA is not a tax but involuntary savings.

Can us old folks do anything at all about this?  Can we at least get the President and his Commission to say what they're up to BEFORE the elections later this year?  Greider says, 

Citizens can win this fight if they mobilize smartly. We can do this by arousing public alarm  

right now, while members of Congress face a treacherous election and before Obama can 

work out his deal. Some liberal groups are discussing a "take the pledge" campaign that 

demands senators and representatives sign commitments to keep Hands Off Social Security 

Benefits. If politicians refuse to sign, put them on the target list for November. Barack 

Obama is standing on the third rail of politics—let's give him a warning jolt.

We get email....

This arrived from LRH on the left coast yesterday, and in honor of Memorial Day, 2010, I'm posting it here:

To Naomi's friends across the country,

Many of you have already made your statements about ending the wars, so why forward this? Ron and I think much about the future for our 4 grandchildren: Memorial Day needs a NO WAR effort. Thanks

The occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan are making us poor. Right now, America spends $159 billion on contingency operations for the occupations of Afghanistan and Iraq. That’s enough money to eliminate taxes for everyone who makes under $35,000 a year, while cutting the deficit.

Progressive hero, Congressman Alan Grayson, is once again leading the charge to put an end to this disastrous spending. I signed the petition to support 'The War is Making You Poor' Act, an act that would cut waste, fraud and abuse in the disastrous occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Join me and sign the petition at www.TheWarIsMakingYouPoor.com

Join me in signing it, too.  Happy Memorial Day Weekend, everyone--yes, you, too, Mr. President.  You took office in January and (a) inherited a mess and a half from your predecessors and (b) had the pleasure of being in charge when some feckless oilmen befouled the Gulf of Mexico--and ultimately the planet--with their greed and misjudgments.  About now, you must feel your election was a ticket to hell. Hang in there and enjoy Chicago, that toddlin' town!!! It'd be nice if you, Michelle, Malia, and Shasha could find time to go out to Wishbone and have some corn pancakes!

Uplifting Sight!

This is something I have never even heard of or seen before. This woman lives in a Hummingbird fly zone. As they migrated, about 20 of them were in her yard. She took the little red dish, filled it with sugar water and this is the result.

The woman is Abagail Alfano of Pine, Louisiana - she had been studying them daily and one morning put the cup from the feeder (with water in it) into her hand. Since they had gotten used to her standing by the feeder they came over to her hand.

She says in touching they are as light as a feather. Abagail also said if she had known her husband was taking pictures she would have put on makeup!!

--You look very pretty, Abigail...don't need help from the factory, as we say where I come from. :)

These pictures are amazing. I hope you'll send these pictures to your Friends and family.

Robert Schumann's Widmung--one of my favorite liede

One thing I used to love, back when I was fully hearing, was singing in a choir.  My own voice was neither strong nor beautiful, but when blended with others', it grew powerful and nourished my spirit.  This is a song we sang for the spring concert when I was at St. Benedict's.  "Du meine Seele, du mein Herz"--you are my soul, you are my heart....so wonderful.  The young singer with the amazing voice is Lena Belkina, a native of Tashkent. She was not yet 21 years old in this video.
 
Friedrich Ruckert wrote the original German love poem:

Du meine Seele, du mein herz, 
Du meine Wonne, o du mein Schmerz, 
Du meine Welt, in der ich lebe, 
Mein Himmel du, darein ich schwebe, 
O du mein Grab, in das hinab 
Ich ewig meinen Kummer gab. 

Du bist die Ruh, du bist der Frieden, 
Du bist der Himmel mir beschieden. 
Daß du mich liebst, macht mich mir wert, 
Dein Blick hat mich vor mir verklärt, 
Du hebst mich liebend über mich, 
Mein guter Geist, mein beßres Ich!  

Here is an English translation by iGoogle mixed with a few 

phrases from the formal translations by Bertram Kottmann

and Brian Cole:

Thou my soul, you my heart,

You my bliss, you my pain,

You are my world that I discover

My heaven you, in which I hover,

You my grave, in which I gave

My eternal sorrow.

You are rest, you are peace.

You are summoned from the sky to me.

That you love me makes me worthy

Your gaze has transfigured me.

You raise me lovingly above myself,

My good spirit, my better self. 

A mother speaks.....

Peggy sent this to me last weekend, and I haven't had time to post it until today.  Here's the link to the article in case you want to pass it on yourself:  http://www.andrewtobias.com/newcolumns/000504.html
 And congratulations to Sharon Underwood, the mother and author of the following letter.  It's especially sad to know homophobia thrives among persons who consider themselves authorities on morality and who pass their ignorant, misguided attitudes on to their children, who then make life miserable for those they either know as, or consider, gay.

Sunday, April 30, 2000
By SHARON UNDERWOOD
For the Valley News (White River Junction, VT)

Many letters have been sent to the Valley News concerning the homosexual menace in Vermont. I am the mother of a gay son and I've taken enough from you good people.
I'm tired of your foolish rhetoric about the "homosexual agenda" and your allegations that accepting homosexuality is the same thing as advocating sex with children. You are cruel and ignorant. You have been robbing me of the joys of motherhood ever since my children were tiny.
My firstborn son started suffering at the hands of the moral little thugs from your moral, upright families from the time he was in the first grade. He was physically and verbally abused from first grade straight through high school because he was perceived to be gay.
He never professed to be gay or had any association with anything gay, but he had the misfortune not to walk or have gestures like the other boys. He was called "fag" incessantly, starting when he was 6.
In high school, while your children were doing what kids that age should be doing, mine labored over a suicide note, drafting and redrafting it to be sure his family knew how much he loved them. My sobbing 17-year-old tore the heart out of me as he choked out that he just couldn't bear to continue living any longer, that he didn't want to be gay and that he couldn't face a life without dignity.
You have the audacity to talk about protecting families and children from the homosexual menace, while you yourselves tear apart families and drive children to despair. I don't know why my son is gay, but I do know that God didn't put him, and millions like him, on this Earth to give you someone to abuse. God gave you brains so that you could think, and it's about time you started doing that.
At the core of all your misguided beliefs is the belief that this could never happen to you, that there is some kind of subculture out there that people have chosen to join. The fact is that if it can happen to my family, it can happen to yours, and you won't get to choose. Whether it is genetic or whether something occurs during a critical time of fetal development, I don't know. I can only tell you with an absolute certainty that it is inborn.
If you want to tout your own morality, you'd best come up with something more substantive than your heterosexuality. You did nothing to earn it; it was given to you. If you disagree, I would be interested in hearing your story, because my own heterosexuality was a blessing I received with no effort whatsoever on my part. It is so woven into the very soul of me that nothing could ever change it. For those of you who reduce sexual orientation to a simple choice, a character issue, a bad habit or something that can be changed by a 10-step program, I'm puzzled. Are you saying that your own sexual orientation is nothing more than something you have chosen, that you could change it at will? If that's not the case, then why would you suggest that someone else can?
A popular theme in your letters is that Vermont has been infiltrated by outsiders. Both sides of my family have lived in Vermont for generations. I am heart and soul a Vermonter, so I'll thank you to stop saying that you are speaking for "true Vermonters."
You invoke the memory of the brave people who have fought on the battlefield for this great country, saying that they didn't give their lives so that the "homosexual agenda" could tear down the principles they died defending. My 83-year-old father fought in some of the most horrific battles of World War II, was wounded and awarded the Purple Heart.
He shakes his head in sadness at the life his grandson has had to live. He says he fought alongside homosexuals in those battles, that they did their part and bothered no one. One of his best friends in the service was gay, and he never knew it until the end, and when he did find out, it mattered not at all. That wasn't the measure of the man.
You religious folk just can't bear the thought that as my son emerges from the hell that was his childhood he might like to find a lifelong companion and have a measure of happiness. It offends your sensibilities that he should request the right to visit that companion in the hospital, to make medical decisions for him or to benefit from tax laws governing inheritance.
How dare he? you say. These outrageous requests would threaten the very existence of your family, would undermine the sanctity of marriage.
You use religion to abdicate your responsibility to be thinking human beings. There are vast numbers of religious people who find your attitudes repugnant. God is not for the privileged majority, and God knows my son has committed no sin.
The deep-thinking author of a letter to the April 12 Valley News who lectures about homosexual sin and tells us about "those of us who have been blessed with the benefits of a religious upbringing" asks: "What ever happened to the idea of striving . . . to be better human beings than we are?"
Indeed, sir, what ever happened to that?

I [Andrew Tobias, author] had the chance to speak with [Sharon Tobias] yesterday. Her son is doing fine now, the first in his family to graduate from college.


If you have friends who think Jesus would have been a Republican -- on the side of billionaire Pat Robertson, et al., in opposing Hate Crimes Legislation, opposing the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and, yes, opposing Vermont's extension of economic benefits to same-sex couples -- please feel free to forward this column to as many of them as you like. Can't you just see it? Jesus arm-in-arm with the NRA trying to maintain the gun-show loophole? Stumping the Holy Land in favor of a massive tax cut for the rich, while opposing a hike in the minimum wage? Somehow, I think not.

Syttende Mai, Stoughton, Wisconsin

Syttende Mai, Stoughton, Wisconsin

Mors dag, Rehoboth Beach, 2010

You can't vote because you have car pool??? or it's raining? or you have to pick up the dog from the vet?

This email with photos arrived today from A Little Red Hen out there on the left coast.  She is not the author, but she passed it along to me.  Sad to say, this is something I know very little about.  1920 was the year before my parents were married.  It's not so long ago.

This is the story of our Mothers and Grandmothers who lived only 90 years ago.
 
Remember, it was not until 1920
that women were granted the right to go to the polls and vote.

The women were innocent and defenseless, but they were jailed
nonetheless for picketing the White House, carrying signs asking
for the vote.














And by the end of the night, they were barely alive.
Forty prison guards wielding clubs and their warden's blessing
went on a rampage against the 33 women wrongly convicted of
'obstructing sidewalk traffic.'



















(Lucy Burns)
They beat Lucy Burns, chained her hands to the cell bars above
her head and left her hanging for the night, bleeding and gasping
for air.

(Dora Lewis)
They hurled Dora Lewis into a dark cell, smashed her
head against an iron bed and knocked her out cold. Her cellmate,
Alice Cosu, thought Lewis was dead and suffered a heart attack.
Additional affidavits describe the guards grabbing, dragging,
beating, choking, slamming, pinching, twisting and kicking the women.

Thus unfolded the 'Night of Terror' on Nov. 15, 1917,
when the warden at the Occoquan Workhouse in Virginia ordered his
guards to teach a lesson to the suffragists imprisoned there because
they dared to picket Woodrow Wilson's White House for the right
to vote.
For weeks, the women's only water came from an open pail. Their
food--all of it colorless slop--was infested with worms.

(Alice Paul)
When one of the leaders, Alice Paul, embarked on a hunger strike, they tied her to a chair, forced a tube down her throat and poured liquid into her until she vomited. She was tortured like this for weeks
until word was smuggled out to the press.

So, refresh my memory. Some women won't vote this year 
because--why, exactly? We have carpool duties? We have to get to work?
Our vote doesn't matter? It's raining?

(Mrs. Pauline Adams in the prison garb she wore while serving a sixty-day sentence.)

Last week, I went to a sparsely attended screening of HBO's 2004
movie 'Iron Jawed Angels.' It is a graphic depiction of the battle
these women waged so that I could pull the curtain at the polling
booth and have my say. I am ashamed to say I needed the reminder.

(Miss Edith Ainge, of Jamestown, New York)

All these years later, voter registration is still my passion. But the
actual act of voting had become less personal for me, more rote.
Frankly, voting often felt more like an obligation than a privilege.
Sometimes it was inconvenient.

(Berthe Arnold, CSU graduate)

My friend Wendy, who is my age and studied women's history,
saw the HBO movie, too. When she stopped by my desk to talk
about it, she looked angry. She was--with herself. 'One thought
kept coming back to me as I watched that movie,' she said.
'What would those women think of the way I use, or don't use,
my right to vote? All of us take it for granted now, not just
younger women, but those of us who did seek to learn.' The
right to vote, she said, had become valuable to her 'all over again.'


HBO released the movie on video and DVD . I wish all history,
social studies and government teachers would include the movie in
their curriculum I want it shown on Bunco night, too, and anywhere
else women gather. I realize this isn't our usual idea of socializing,
but we are not voting in the numbers that we should be, and I think
a little shock therapy is in order.

 











(Conferring over ratification [of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution] at [National Woman's Party] headquarters, Jackson Pl[ace] [Washington, D.C.]. L-R Mrs. Lawrence Lewis, Mrs. Abby Scott Baker, Anita Pollitzer, Alice Paul, Florence Boeckel, Mabel Vernon (standing, right))

It is jarring to watch Woodrow Wilson and his cronies try to persuade a psychiatrist to declare Alice Paul insane so that she could be permanently institutionalized. And it is inspiring to watch the doctor refuse. Alice Paul was strong, he said, and brave. That didn't make her crazy.


The doctor admonished the men: 'Courage in women is often mistaken for insanity.'

Please, if you are so inclined, pass this on to all the women you know.


We need to get out and vote and use this right that was fought so
hard for by these very courageous women. Whether you vote democratic, republican or independent party - remember to vote.

(Helena Hill Weed, Norwalk, Conn. Serving 3 day sentence in D.C. prison for carrying banner, 'Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.')


Register to vote…

XE update: This movie is available on DVD, and you can get it from Amazon or Netflix. 

"I'm a U.S. Citizen Because my Ancestors were Immigrants"

Look up the Facebook group by the above name (I'm a U.S. Citizen Because my Ancestors were Immigrants). It's the jolliest site around. We're ALL immigrants. Where does the governor of Arizona get off? Most of the immigrants in Arizona are white people.

Interesting Bloggers

Please welcome Duchess Omnium and also Margaret and Helen. The Duchess stopped by XE last week, and I just spent an hour re-reading M&H. DO lives on a houseboat in the UK--wotta life, huh?--and M&H live in *cough* Texas. I've missed Molly Ivins, but M&H have her feisty, unabashed way of expressing their displeasure with Republicans and other vacuities.

Also, Whoopee, another UK blogger and one of my favorite writers, had a wonderful post recently about her new baby, Oscar, who arrived weighing almost 10 lbs at birth and created wreckage on the trip. I was tempted to tell her that my sister-in-law's first baby weighed about that much, and they had to break his collar bone to get him out. Anyway, here's the post.

Do It Yourself....

I recall seeing two old farmers in the Jack & Jill store in Bismarck years ago. Their cart was empty save for some big cans of Welch's grape juice (not frozen, just plain juice), a bag of sugar, and a few packages of yeast.  It didn't take a brain surgeon to realize they were going to make wine with all of that.

Thus, here's a handy little video to show you how they might have done it.  You can make white wine, too....just use white grape juice. The white wine recipe calls for using champagne yeast, but Whole Foods has some good German yeast that might work just fine.  And here's a link to the WikiHOW article.

We made our own red wine once--gallons of it from all the red grapes that grew in the Missouri river bottomland south of town. That wild grape variety has the worst reputation among home wine makers, but we forged ahead. Peggy and Sally were just tots, but they went along on the grape picking venture with our friends the Bergers and all their ambulant kiddies.  Katie and Tom had not arrived on the planet.

The process was more complicated than the video shows: we had to squeeze the grapes and mix it with the sugar and yeast in a big ceramic crock until it was ready to sit in the fermenting containers--big glass jugs obtained from the Big Boy restaurant east of town. We kept it downstairs next to the furnace while it fermented, and it produced a LOT of wine.  We bottled some of it, but we left most of it right in the glass jugs. I gave a bottle to my parents, and we threw away the rest when we moved out of that house to the log house.

It was pretty raw, and besides, nobody was into wine in those days. It was several decades before restaurants began having wine lists.

Anyway, my parents took the bottle of wine home and put it in the cabinet over their refrigerator. And there it sat for a few years.  When my mother had a heart attack, I went down to visit her and stay with Dad. I decided to make Shrimp Newburg for lunch one day, and I needed some wine. I remembered the wine over the fridge, so I got it out, opened it, took a sip....and whoa....it had lost all of its raw edges and was clear and beautiful. So that's what happens when you age a good wine! Alas, there was no more around after that bottle was gone.  C'est la vie....

Monday musings

my dreams have been most enjoyable of late. last week i dreamt about my art, and last night, i dreamt one of my kids came to visit me. they don't, usually. so it was a nice surprise. then i woke up. hot and sneezing. couldn't open the window, had no kleenex. so i got up, took a shower, and got dressed for the day.

two weeks ago, i found my grandpa's billfold. it still has the photo of my grandma in it. i never met either of them. but i know she could sing and play the piano, and he both provided and cooked the meat (usually wild game) for supper every night--he said she had enough to do taking care of their seven children without a lot of feather plucking or skinning on top of it. when there was no pheasant or duck or fish, he'd go out and shoot a few squirrels or rabbits. his billfold used to have a receipt from the grocery store in it, too. that's gone. don't know where.

In Which We Attend a Tax Day Tea Bag Event...

[Volunteers wearing day-glo shirts and caps in front of the Tea Bag enclosure in the background]

Yesterday, April 15, was "Tax Day," and the furious tea baggers were out in force here in the City of Satan. Well, there were several hundred, maybe even close to a thousand. The WaPo, ever eager to inflate the opposition to a legally elected Democratic President, said it was "thousands." The paper enthused that "more than 50 tour buses" poured into DC for the event. When was the last time YOU were on a tour bus? Did you count the seats? You do the math.

Anyhoo, on the same slope by the Washington Monument that had been COVERED, elbow to elbow, with protesters during one of the antiwar gatherings during the Bush 2 administration, the tea baggers gathered in a fenced-in area. Inside of this, the speakers' platform was set up so that--the cameras not being able to see the empty space behind--it might actually look crowded. Two park police were out by the sidewalk near Constitution Avenue (in full sight of the traffic) trying to manage their fidgety horses. By the time we left at 7 p.m., there were FOUR cavalry waiting to run down troublemakers--which apparently were both of us old girls plus a bunch of very young folks.

It was pretty evident just who was there. Take a look at the photos. Tell me if I'm wrong when I say that I perceived most of these people to be older, white, and lower middle-class.  About half a dozen nonwhite persons were there, but they were selling flags and buttons and t-shirts in an effort to capitalize on the market.

Yes, they had their hateful buttons and signs, but this time they were mostly manufactured, not hand-made, and all meticulously spelled!!  But boy, were they pissed off! One older gentleman refused to read my little handout ("Thank you, Obama, for these tax cuts!" followed by a listing of all the tax cuts us little folks (i.e., taxpayers) have received this year.) "Nah....I've been workin since I was 10 years old and I never took a penny from anyone, and I got 17 children and...." at which point, he turned and stomped away.  I called "Thanks for your good example and hard work!" But he didn't turn around.  And I got to thinking...17 kids!  I wonder if he's my cousin!! I should have asked him if he was from South Dakota.

Tax Day 2010

Today, April 15, used to be the most exciting day of the year--the day I drove past the Minneapolis Post Office at a little before midnight to drop our tax return into a bag held by one of many postal employees out front. The postal employees wore vests with reflective tape, warm hats (it was only April, after all), and carried flashlights to help our aim in the dark. Tout le monde, it seemed, was out there dropping off tax returns. Police officers directed traffic so the lines moved along without tieups. It was an event! The only other event that came close was Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve. That, too, took place around midnight, and it also gave us the same feeling of sauves par le gong.

And then we discovered accountants. Even though we had to pay $100 for an accountant back then (out of a total income of less than 5 figures), we always got that $100 investment back and more when tax refund time rolled around. No matter how scrupulous I was at counting every possible deduction, the accountants always knew more and better.

Years passed, and I moved to one of the five boroughs of NYC. I was divorced by then and my income had climbed to the low five figures, though I also had quit recently to go to grad school. (That was retirement #2--you could cut a pretty good deal if your employer a) had a good investment plan for its employees, or b) wanted to cut down the number of employees, or c) both.) But back to the borough...walking down the main street to the wonderful, enchanting bookstore (and no, I'll never buy a kindle...you'll have to pry my book out of my cold, dead hands), I'd pass an accountant's storefront shop.

One day in the end of January after my W2 form had arrived for the previous year, I walked past the accountant's and thought, "What the heck?" I walked in, talked with the accountant, who was sitting right there at a desk, and went home to get my W2. The accountant had all the other forms right there. I returned, handed over the goods, and got a quote for the accountant's work in preparing and filing my taxes: $75! And I would get several thousand back!! What was not to like?

I'm still using that blessed accountant. He files my taxes electronically now, and any returns--state and federal--appear in my checking account in less than two weeks!! This is all accomplished usually by what we used to call in the convent "Progress Day": March 4th (say it out loud). His son has joined the business now and manages investments. If I had a dime to invest, I'd give it to him.

Recently when the owner of a new storefront tax business approached me on my new main street with a coupon for discounted tax prep, I just smiled and said "I'm all finished!" In fact, I've been finished for so long it always amazes me that people still have not filed their tax returns for last year by midnight, April 15.

Thank you, Digby, for posting this

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/working-together.html

In case you're wondering, it's about jobs and fairness and cleaning up the mess wrought over the past decade by greed and selfishness. Not funny? Sorry. But it's necessary. Please read this.

Goody...more bargains!!

All my favorite cooking websites are having humongous sales these days. Here's a small appliance sale ad I got today:

OUR FIVE FAVORITE COUNTERTOP APPLIANCES!!
Blender:$548.95
Coffee Maker: $305.00
Mixer: $349.95
Food Processor: $298.95
Toaster Oven: $129.95

Yup...that's right. 500 bucks for a blender, 300 for a coffee maker ON SALE! Thank God we have Starbucks!!! With SALE prices like these, we can't afford to make our own coffee!

Who needs Conan, Dr. Oz, or Oprah? We've got Darlene!!!

Darlene emailed this valuable and timely advice to her subscribers yesterday. I'm sorry I didn't post it immediately, but I had to make sure I had enough supplies for the week.

Please share this with the important women in your life:


Important Women's Health Issue:

Do you have feelings of inadequacy? Do you suffer from shyness? Do you sometimes wish you were more assertive?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, ask your doctor or pharmacist about Margaritas.

Margaritas are the safe, natural way to feel better and more confident about yourself and your actions.

Margaritas can help ease you out of your shyness and let you tell the world that you're ready and willing to do just about anything..

You will notice the benefits of Margaritas almost immediately and with a regimen of regular doses you can overcome any obstacles that prevent you from living the life you want to live.

Shyness and awkwardness will be a thing of the past and you will discover many talents you never knew you had. Stop hiding and start living, with Margaritas.

Margaritas may not be right for everyone. Women who are pregnant or nursing should not use Margaritas. However, women who wouldn't mind nursing or becoming pregnant are encouraged to try it.

Side effects may include: Dizziness, nausea, vomiting, incarceration, lustfulness, loss of motor control, loss of clothing, loss of money, table dancing, headache, dehydration, dry mouth, and a desire to sing karaoke!

IMPORTANT WARNINGS NOT ON THE LABEL: The consumption of Margaritas may make you think you are whispering when you are not. The consumption of Margaritas may cause you to tell your friends over and over again that you love them. The consumption of Margaritas may cause you to think you can sing. The consumption of Margaritas may make you think you can logically converse with members of the opposite sex without spitting.

Please share this with other women who may need Margaritas.

Darlene knows....it's never too late to be funny!

I wanna bangerbur*!

It's Saturday afternoon, the day before Easter Sunday. I think they called this Holy Saturday, who knows? What I remember most about it was that the Lenten fast used to end at noon on this day. My dad would have a good sandwich for lunch, with probably a glass of beer and a cigarette, too. He used to give up smoking and drinking for Lent every year, but at noon today, it was back to his normal diet. I just remember feeling THRILLED about it, even though nothing much culinary changed for me. I was just glad for my dad. Mom was, too. He suffered the most from fasting, though I think he could have done ok without the food. It was the highball before dinner and the cigarettes that he missed.

He wasn't a big drinker...he saved his quarters in a little metal bank that looked like a book, and when he had enough, he'd buy another bottle of Jim Beam. He paid for his Pall Malls the same way.

There's been no fasting in Casa Maria Elena for many years, and I quit smoking in 1979. So this is simply remembrance of things past. One thing that used to amuse me about Canon Law was the fact that you could get around just about any church rule with it. For example, if you were fasting, you could still drink as much as you wanted--tea, coffee, water, and yes, beer and booze, too. And if you were drinking an alcoholic beverage, you could have a snack so that you didn't get drunk. And Bob's your uncle....(in my children's case, true!)

But it just occurred to me that i really, really WOULD like a hamburger right now. I don't fast for spirichal reasons, but I'm laying off meat cuz it's a) so expensive and b) i can't afford it. Hmmmm.... Maybe a nice turkey burger?????

*This is what our small neighbor Jeffy Berger used to call this delicacy.

Hub Man!!!

Germany bus is on the far side of Dupont Circle--to the right of the fountain and beyond the folks in red and white.

Germany bus is going north on Connecticut Avenue....

Hub Man and little Mr. Bendy.

Who says DC is not full of promise? The German Embassy here has sponsored a "Spot the Bus" contest for a couple of years. The first contests awarded winners a chance to fly to Germany. This year, the winners (those who spot the bright blue "Germany bus" on the streets of DC and send the contest a photo of it) get their choice of "German gear."

I picked the techie option, and I collected my prize at the PO today:
A little bendy toy and something they call "Hub Man"--you plug it into your USB slot, and it provides FOUR slots for things you might want to power via your computer.

I wish they still gave away trips to Germany. My mother was born in Germany, and lately I've begun to want to see where she arrived on the planet. Hmm....

Anyway, the first two photos above have glimpses of the Germany Bus--by the time I got my blackberry out and ready to take a photo, the bus in both shots was far away. But close enough to win Hub Man and the little bendy figure.

The HAT!!!

Here's the hat in more of its glory....

Now, ladies and gents, I have to ask you...how many 18-year-olds (the age when Karen's and my contemporaries usually got hitched right out of high school) would  have had the stones to put this on their heads and march down the aisle?  Karen has become my new hero. 

Ha...When they were saying their vows and got to the part where they said they would "Grow old together," she just unthinkingly paused and looked out at the congregation and thought, "We already ARE"--and everyone, catching the look on her face, all laughed at the same time.

A Hat Called "It's About Time!!"

My delightful longtime friend Karen (or Connie, to which she also answers) Morrissey just got married for the first time this past November to Jim Schumacher. She's just a year younger than I am almost exactly, and she grew up in Jamestown, same as Martha. She and Jim now live in Colorado and while unpacking from the move are preparing for a trip to Ireland.

She sent me this email about her wedding hat:

A friend of years, Vivian, and I went to a super art fair on the lower grounds of St. Kate's this summer. One of the tents had a hat maker, so I stopped. While looking I found a beautiful garden hat she created with a small pink bird in next to the crown, pheasant feathers, some stripped and crumpled corn husk, some netting, everything including the hat has been treated with a stiffening agent. I tried it on and liked it so much I decided to wear it for my wedding. Smiling, the designer asked if I would like to know the name of the hat. As I nodded she showed me the tag on the hat, which said:　IT'S ABOUT TIME!!　

Congratulations, Jim, for finally chasing down one of the last, best holdouts!  And best wishes, Karen!  You've been a wonderful writer, teacher, social worker, and friend, and now you're a vibrant bride!!  Have a swell time in Ireland. If you find yourselves in Limerick City near the jail, raise your caps (hats?) to my relatives....

Golly....

Two of my favorite bloggers--Kay of Kay's Thinking Cap, and Darlene of Darlene's Hodgepodge--picked Xtreme English for a "Sweet Award."  Thanks, Kay and Darlene! I appreciate this more than I can say.  It's always a bit of a shock to me that anyone pays attention to my bloggy ramblings and ravings. The award is VERY SWEET coming from you two. No matter what else calls for my attention, I always read your blogs.

Kay gets by with being outspokenly outspoken about everything that drives her batty in retirement, medical care, and modern politics, and her audience loves her for it.  Darlene writes long, thoughtful posts about serious topics and laces her communication schedule through with light and fun. I can never complain as well as Kay. People think she's dead right and hysterically funny--they just think I'm embarrassing. Darlene makes those of us who are still way younger than her look like doddering foofs when it comes to expressing complicated matters simply and directly--at at length, too. And she sends out the funniest Maxines!!

Kay's and Darlene's awardees have to pick ten things that make us happy, and then we have to nominate ten more bloggers for the award.

(And after that, we're supposed to have a good, stiff drink and practice throwing tomatoes at pictures of politicians from Texas, Wyoming, Ohio, and Arizona--or the state of our choice. I pick Minnesota, North Dakota, Virginia, and Nebraska. Also Montana.)

Anyway, here are ten things that make me happy:

1. Trees
2. Dandelions
3. My bicycle
4. Grandma Carew's recipe for chocolate chip cookies
5. My children, grandchildren, nieces & nephews, and grandnieces and grandnephews
6. Flying to Paris overnight
7. WIFI
8. Pictures of the Obama family
9. Safeway
10. My Mac

And, as every recipient of this award has said, "This is the hardest part"--Here are the ten bloggers I nominate for this award. I'm pretty sure most of them will not give this a moment's thought, but I have to tell the world how much I enjoy their blogs:

1. Peggy of Lazy Gardener
2. Esther of Ishtar News
3. Sherwood of SherWords
4. Antonia of Whoopee
5. The Prince of Prince of Petworth
6. Claude of Photoblogging in Paris
7. Susan V from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen
8. Susan M from Major Reader
9. Peteykins from Princess Sparkle Pony's Photo Blog (scroll down to Wednesday, March 24)
10. Naomi from A Little Red Hen

Thanks, all.  While three-fourths of Xtreme English's readers today are in the US, and another good chunk come from the UK and Canada, intriguing small numbers have visited recently from Germany, France, Egypt, Australia, the Netherlands, India, Finland, Philippines, Chile, Hungary, Ireland, Argentina, Czech Republic, Russian Federation, Turks & Caicos Islands, Turkey, South Africa, Mongolia, Luxembourg, Singapore, Columbia, Malaysia, Azerbaijan, Dominican Republic, Greece, Malta, Europe (??), United Arab Republic, Norway, Romania, New Zealand, and Pakistan. My most popular posts are a curious mix: "La Petite Godin" (about our woodburning stove in Iowa), "Hell explained by a chemistry student," "Deaf operated KFC in Cairo," "Pivetta Muir Trail" (about my favorite hiking boots--also Peggy's), "Michael Pollan's 12 Short Food Rules," and "Tuna hotdish."  And you thought it was my scintillating commentary on current events all along?  Ha.

YES WE CAN!!!! Boner is sinking fast....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpOUctySD68

Almost Friday....

Have I got ten things that make me happy this week?  Hmmm....

1) Alice Walker has a new book: WE ARE THE ONES WE HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR.
2) The neighbors' daffodils are up and blooming!!!
3) Alice Walker's book has a chapter "Crimes Against Dog," which says "Dogs understand something I was late learning; when we are mean to anyone or any being it is because we are temporarily not ourselves. We are somebody else inhabiting these bodies we think of as us. They recognize this.'My mommy's not in there at the moment. I'll just wait until she gets back.'" This, dear readers, has been the story of my life! If I had a dog....
4) Pillsbury's ready-made pie crust dough is not so bad, but you can't make apple pie with lousy apples.
5) The first friends you make are the best. At least mine are: Jane, Jim, Mary, Mary, Joanie, Judy, Michael and Marcia, Diane, Kay....
6) I love mashed potatoes.
7) The sky is glorious, no matter what else is going on.
8) Good haiku are great. Here's one:
Sitting quietly
doing nothing
spring comes.
 9) Old friends are the best, esp Jim and Mary and Mo.
10) Bus drivers are saints.

Yippee!!

The health care bill passed in the House of Representatives! It's not perfect--how could it be with all the wrangling in Congress over this and that? But it's a reality now....About all that remains is for the President to sign it into law.

And the first person to get a pen from that signature should be NANCY PELOSI!!! The first notice I got last night that the bill had passed was an email from "Nan," the San Francisco liberal who managed all the fractious Democrats and got the deed done. (Is that grammatical? Who cares?) (Or maybe that's syntax, not grammar...whatever)...

Please note, also: NOT ONE REPUBLICAN VOTED FOR IT IN THE HOUSE. They think they are going to call on their Tea-bagging wingnut troops and win big in November. Let's work on that, fellow libruls.

The BFF and I had the misfortune of sitting next to two Teabaggers yesterday at Starbucks. The woman was talking on her cell phone: "Yes, we're right across from the White House"--a bald-faced LIE. They were right across from the cupcake shop, which is almost a mile from the White House. Then she hung up and turned to point at all the exhausted families walking past, wending their way home from the Mall, where they were part of the huge pro-immigrant rally.
"Look at that!" the woman said. "You'd think you were in South America."
The BFF replied, "They're good people! You people disgust me. I can't believe I'm sharing this country with you."
Then the woman's husband said, "Run along. We don't want you here."
I considered offering to break his arm, but the BFF, seeing my thought processes, pulled me away. "Don't you dare say anything."
Gee...I'm still sorry I missed a chance to rumble with those unspeakable Teabaggers--the ones who have been calling out racial and homophobic epithets and spitting on members of Congress. They have been clogging the metro here all week, it seems like. Don't they have HOMES to go to?
Here's a poster on my bus stop at the metro. It says,
"The immigrants work for the prosperity of America -  Justice for all the workers!!"

Let's work on that toilet seat law!!

Michael Moore has a wonderful article in today's Huffington Post.  Here's a nice, long quote:

If Stupak were truly pro-life then he'd vote for this bill. Right now, a mother in the U.S. has a ten times greater chance of dying in childbirth than a mother does in Ireland. If you really wanted to reduce abortions, you'd have to ask yourself this question: Why does godless France, where abortion is nearly free (it's covered by their universal health insurance), have 20% fewer abortions per capita than we do? What's even more amazing about that statistic is that you can't even get an abortion in America in 87% of our counties because there isn't one single doctor in those counties who will perform one! 87%!! The Right has scared them to death -- sometimes literally -- out of performing an otherwise legal, safe procedure. So, you can say women have "choice" in this country, but the reality is the "choice" doesn't exist in the majority of the nation. "Right to Life" has essentially won this battle. (My personal position: I don't get to have a position -- I don't have a uterus. If a Senate that was 90% female told me I couldn't have a vasectomy or made it a crime to leave the toilet seat up, I guess I might object.)
What is "life"? An egg is life, a sperm is life. Those sperm aren't running on a battery pack. They are living creatures, as is a fertilized egg. But they're not "human beings." A human being is something that can exist outside the womb of a mother. If you think a fertilized egg is a human being, then I respectfully ask you to go down to the DMV today and have them change your birthday on your driver's license to 9 months older than what you've been telling everybody.
So back to my question. Why do we have an abortion rate 20% higher than France's (and more than twice as high as Germany's), especially considering most doctors here won't perform them? The answer is any country that has universal health care, where contraception is free, where child care is free or inexpensive, where there is less poverty because people don't become bankrupt over medical bills -- those societies are simply going to have fewer unplanned and unwanted pregnancies.
And there the mask gets pulled off the Bart Stupaks and the "Christians." If the statistics show that countries with government-provided universal health care and nearly-free abortions are, in fact, the countries with the fewest abortions, then why on earth wouldn't the Right be the first in line to support universal health care?

And the answer is...

Because it isn't about "universal health care." It's about controlling women, period.

TGIF....

Also, TGI...(fill in any other day of the week as the spirit moves you).

I've decided to try being happy for a change. Somebody wrote recently about changing our focus from those things that worry, grieve, and annoy us to those things that make us happy. So, here are ten things that have made or are making me happy this Friday, March 19, 2010.


1) March 19 is the feast day of St. Joseph, and since I once was a candidate for membership in the Sisters of St. Joseph, this day has many powerful, happy memories from my youth. As I recall these, I realize most of them have to do with my friend Martha: Martha sharing a smuggled bottle of orange soda after Grand Silence on our first night at 1890 Randolph; Martha loading a wheeled cart with dozens of cookies to transport them to the storeroom but first stopping at her locker to deposit a dozen or so for herself; Martha stacking a pile of Liber Usualises, the big, heavy Gregorian Chant books, on a veil spread out on the pew ahead of her as its wearer was kneeling in prayer--and when the wearer went to stand up, the Libers had her veil firmly anchored, and she sort of flopped around making (forbidden) noise. So knowing Martha--with her brilliant mind, musical and artistic talent (she taught her granddaughter Ruby how to play the recorder and the violin), and profound knack for mischief--has made and is making me happy.

2) The sun pouring into this house. It's warmer outside than it is in here, so I've got the door open.

3) In the front yard, the big old tree is suddenly covered with RED buds--is it a maple? The tree is falling apart, alas, losing its branches, but....

4) ...as I was outside sweeping up twigs and bark from the sidewalk, a long line of school children walked by two by two across the street with their teachers, and they were all singing! I don't know what they were singing, but they all knew the song by heart, and it sounded soulful and uncomplicated. Not anything like "Old McDonald"--maybe a Beatles song?

5) According to today's MR website post, the bakery downtown is doing very well, drawing in people from all over the area for its cupcakes and sweet potato cakes (pies?). Best of all, the woman who owns it is old, like me, and she's been baking all her life.

6) Day before yesterday, my BlackBerry fell out of my pocket, and a woman found it in the street, where it had been run over. She was able to call Cathy with it, and the woman turned out to be just half a block away from where we were. She didn't want any money for returning it or calling us. The BlackBerry was squashed, though, and it had to be replaced. Luckily, all the memory cards were still good.

7) My tulips are still presentable on the kitchen counter. (See the photo at the top of the post.) They look so natural in the big square lucite container (a wastebasket from BB&B), and even though they're nearly gone, they're still beautiful.

8)  I still have enough leftovers from St. Patrick's Day's corned beef and cabbage feast for tonight's supper!

9)  Peggy and Tom both chatted with me on Facebook in the wee hours of this morning.  Tom had an earache and couldn't sleep, and Peggy was up for the day in her time zone.  Sally sent an email yesterday, too. Such wonderful children.

10) The school kids just walked back to school, and they were still singing. 

Holy Toledo just got bypassed....

For years, one of my favorite expressions of awe and wonder has been "Holy Toledo!" That's straight out of Batman comics, although I think it was Robin who said it so often...not Batman.

Anyway, Texas has surged to the front of Holy Places here in the US of A, and Toledo isn't so holy any more--at least not as holy as Austin or...lessee...Crawford?? The 15-member Texas School Board have taken upon themselves to rewrite US history (so far, that's all...just the US's, but wait...) according to their idea of a "Christian" (Cruschin) perspective.

While my blood simmers on the back burner as I ponder WHO IS PUBLISHING THIS CRAP--the object of my next call to BOYCOTT--I found two good commentaries on Cosmic Navel Lint, and I'm posting the links here:

The first is Cosmic Navel Lint's link to Jeff Schneider's of Demagogues & Dictators' "An Open Letter to the Texas Board of Education: David Bradley Owes Someone $1000 Bucks", which contains this gem:

I fear when bias gives way to propaganda -- and when that propaganda is taught as fact. In my textbooks I learned that

"Through clever and constant application of propaganda, people can be made to see paradise as hell, and also the other way round"

That is from Mein Kampf -- p. 376

And the second is Cosmic Navel Lint's St. Paddy's day post, Revisionism: The Texas Brain Saw Massacre, which starts out like this:

In a move of which Josef Stalin and his henchmen would have been proud, the Texas Board of 'Education' has now allowed itself to become a laughing stock in the realms of Western democratic academe. Indeed, future pupils who, on their résumés and curricula vitae, cite Texas as their alma mater have just been handed an additional hurdle in making progress in the world.

'Tain't funny, McGee"....

While we're at it.....

In addition to pope bashing, this column enjoys sharing posts on conservative fantasies, such as the accomplishments of Ronald Reagan. Here's a post from Cosmic Navel Lint about the Reagan Myth. Enjoy....

A few quotes:

Reagan did not reduce the size of government; indeed, the number of people on the federal payroll went up significantly under his leadership, which destroys another Republican/Teabagging group psychosis claim about them being the party of minimal federal government. A myth indeed.

...

At the time that it happened, Americans did not credit Reagan with the fall of the Berlin Wall. A USA Today poll 4 days after the fall of the Berlin Wall (in 1989) gave 43% of the credit to Gorbachev, and 14% to Reagan; the figures were 70% and 2% among Germans.

...

Finally, nowadays, whereas any self-respecting Republican, or at least those now scrabbling to be cast in the Reaganite mould (and they are legion), routinely claim to be a deficit-busting 'fiscal conservative', a term rapidly becoming a devalued currency for its claimants, interesting then that, according to former Treasury Secretary Paul O’Neill, former Vice President Cheney claimed during a cabinet meeting that “Reagan proved deficits don’t matter.” Which prompts the question: then why do these self-same people bitch and whine non-stop about "the deficit", whilst seeking, feloniously, to paint the deficit as something which is Obama's fault, when he wasn't even in power during the previous eight Bush years which actually created it?

...
You get the idea....

Oh, please....

I keep running into good things from Katha Pollitt this week. Pollitt has published an article on feminism in Democracy Journal: "What Happened to Women?" The subhead reads "Instead of moving to the center, liberalism should try embracing people who are actually liberals—starting with women."

Meanwhile, right on cue, the Pope and the Vatican are in the news this week, too. Not about their offer to open the church's coffers to taxation (kidding!)--just (a) another sex scandal involving one of the Pope's "Gentlemen" (ceremonial usher) and a hunky member of the Vatican choir who were found to be part of an all-guy prostitution ring, and (b) Randall Terry's delegation to the Vatican to see if the Pope really meant what he said about denying Catholic politicians the Eucharist if they support abortion.

Where would the Roman Catholic Taliban be without women to either pretend they don't exist or push around?

Good Advice

cathy says she's seen this, but i never have. too funny.

1. Do not walk behind me, for I may not lead. Do not walk
ahead of me, for I may not follow. Do not walk beside me
either. Just pretty much leave me the hell alone.

2. The journey of a thousand miles begins with a broken fan
belt and a leaky tire.

3. It's always darkest before dawn. So if you're
going to steal your neighbor's newspaper, that's the time to do it.

4. Don't be irreplaceable. If you can't be
replaced, you can't be promoted.

5. Always remember that you're unique. Just like
everyone else.

6. Never test the depth of the water with both feet.

7. If you think nobody cares if you're alive, try
missing a couple of car payments.

8. Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in
their shoes. That way, when you criticize them,
you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

9. If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for
you.

10. Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach him
how to fish, and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

11. If you lend someone $20 and never see that person
again, it was probably worth it.

12. If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember
anything.

13. Everyone seems normal until you get to know them.

14. The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in
half and put it back in your pocket.

15. A closed mouth gathers no foot.

16. There are two theories to arguing with women. Neither
one works.

17. Generally speaking, you aren't learning much when
your lips are moving.

18. Experience is something you don't get until just
after you need it.

19. Never miss a good chance to shut up.

20. Never, under any circumstances, take a sleeping pill
and a laxative on the same night.

Lookin in the Magazines....

I get a bunch of magazines every week despite my best efforts to stop subscribing to everything that appeals to me. I do love magazines, though. They're cheaper than books, EASIER TO CARRY on the metro, and recyclable.

Recent good magazine offerings:

From the march 8, 2010, issue of The Nation: "What Ever Happened to Candidate Obama?" in Subject to Debate by Katha Pollitt
--

I'm still glad I supported Obama over Hillary Clinton. If Hillary had won the election, every single day would be a festival of misogyny. We would hear constantly about her voice, her laugh, her wrinkles, her marriage and what a heartless, evil bitch she is for doing something--whatever!--men have done since the Stone Age. Each week would bring its quotient of pieces by fancy women writers explaining why they were right not to have liked her in the first place. Liberal pundits would blame her for discouraging the armies of hope and change, for bringing back the same-old same-old cronies and advisers, for letting healthcare reform get bogged down in inside deals, for failing to get out of Iraq and Afghanistan--which would be attributed to her being a woman and needing to show toughness--for cozying up to Wall Street, deferring to the Republicans and ignoring the cries of the people. In other words, for doing pretty much what Obama is doing. This way I get to think, Whew, at least you can't blame this on a woman.

I'm not even sure how much of it you can blame on Obama. We've had ample evidence of how little power he has over the Democratic barons of the Senate--so little that he had to bribe Ben Nelson and Mary Landrieu with great big haunches of pork to get their votes on a healthcare bill that would benefit millions of their constituents. He is trying to bring some of the Guantánamo prisoners to trial on the US mainland, and Democrats like Jim Webb* have sold him out. The Republicans have made clear their intention to obstruct his every move, and thanks to antidemocratic customs like the filibuster and the Senate hold, they've done a pretty good job so far. These are basic features of the landscape.

*Note to self: IGNORE yesterday's letter from Webb asking for funds in which he never ONCE mentions that he belongs to the Democratic Party. But I digress....

From the March 5 2010 Entertainment Weekly in Putting Movies First by Stephen King:

If you don't know about Turner Classic Movies' 31 Days of Oscar,you're missing the hands-down best value on basic cable. The colors are vibrant, the sound is crisp, and the wide-screen films are properly letter-boxed. The black-and-white movies are even better, the prints looking as fresh and clean as the day they were struck.

From the Jan-Feb'09 Utne Reader in The People's Professor by Courtney E. Martin...and yes, this ran last year, but i found it when i moved:

Their eyes alight, students spoke of a political science professor who preached the importance of finding one's Platonic arete,or calling. They talked about a professor who freely gave out his home phone number and the questions to the final exam prior to administering it--his own little rebellion against grades. They described a man who filled their heads with theory, but no less than he filled their hearts with love.

Lots of goodies in just a few pounds of paper....

for fenella, ronniecat, and all the other Canadian hockey fans!!

WAY TO GO!!!