The Sunday Morning Muse, September 27, 2009

Bought the Sunday paper today, and sat down on the livingroom floor to read it. As I hunched over to read a story near the top of the paper, I realized my back doesn't like this position much, and I picked up the paper to try to read it that way instead. After a few paragraphs, the story continued on page 8. Finish this story now? Read the rest of the front page, and read it next? Read pages 1 - 7 and try to remember the story I started reading page 1?

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Decisions.

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Distracted by the comics. Realized I don't read any of the comics much. Well, maybe Dilbert. Started reading that instead.

Saw pages and pages of local G-20 coverage. Glanced at some of it. Knew most of it already, having watched the local news all week.

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Read a story about an organist, Cameron Carpenter. Amazing guy. So interesting that I went to the computer and looked him up on YouTube.

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Of course, the lure of the computer could not be resisted. I watched three other videos, checked facebook, and bought three books on Amazon before I realized that the Newspaper was still on the floor waiting for me.

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At this rate I may not ever finish it.

Pittsburgh Survived the G-20

Well, the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh is just about over. Whew! Luckily, it didn't get near as crazy as it could have, and I must say the city looked really nice. I hope the participants appreciated all the effort. Not just the big Redd Up campaign, but all the security that had to be put in place, all the police protection, etc. Was it worth it? Who knows. Most of the protesters were peaceful people, walking the street or assembling in the parks. Yeah, some anarchists got out of hand and smashed a few windows in Oakland, but it wasn't Armegeddon.

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My favorite part was the Greenpeace crew putting up the banner over the West End Bridge. Yeah, it was against the law, but at least they didn't break anything and no one got hurt. They sure got a lot of publicity for an event that only lasted a few hours.

Thomas Edison Said...

Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages. -Thomas Edison

The Sunday Morning Muse, September 13, 2009

Sweet Pea, my beloved little tuxedo cat, loves to hunt. So much, that in the winter when she doesn't get outside as much, she tore out most of her own fur out of frustration. Numerous vet visits were for not. It was anxiety. She couldn't get out and defend her territory. Even Prozac was offered for her, but I chose not to give it to her.

Then spring came, and the cat was outside more and all the fur grew back. Sweet Pea, just in the past month has killed three baby rabbits, several birds, mice, rats and moles that are too numerous to count. All promptly placed at my doorstep to admire and dispose of.

Which brings me to this weekend. Coming home from my birthday festivities, I open the front door and spot a mouse as I flipped on the light. YIKES what now! Then my next thought: I have the perfect solution! Sweet Pea will earn her keep. She LIVES for this.

I left the house overnight with her inside, came back in the morning expecting my present--and sheesh... nothing. A blank stare from the cat. Had she lost it?

She rolled over and I petted her anyway, all the time telling her we can't do this all day when there is a mouse to catch somewhere. And as if on cue... not 10 feet away from us...there it was! With quick feline agility she jumped up and sped after the mouse chasing him into my computer room. Aha, I thought. I'll shut the door and leave them both in there and it will be survival of the fittest.

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An hour later I came back and slowly opened the door. There was Sweet Pea in the middle of the floor in the sun licking herself. And the mouse was under this very computer desk.

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"Get the MOUSE! GET IT!!" I yelled at Sweet Pea. And I got no satisfaction. She wanted OUT OF THE COMPUTER ROOM, and wanted nothing to do with the mouse. Just yowled at me and headed for the door.

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I resolved to remove this creature myself. It didn't look so frightening up close. Eventually I was able to get it into a tupperware and close the lid.

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The crisis was over. With no help from the great hunter.

Eight Years Since September 11th Attacks

Funny how the terror alert levels haven't gone up since Bush left office. Not that anyone paid any attention to them while he was there. Right after September 11th everyone was a bit on edge most of the time anyway. Orange alert or not. Now I think we have settled into a routine again. Too occupied with the affects of a bad economy and our own personal troubles-- not to mention the death of Michael Jackson and the breakup of Jon and Kate. Whew. So much to handle.

My point in all this is, yeah, we remember what happened on September 11th, but we have moved on. The families who had personal connections to the deaths that day will always have it rough, but the rest of us? It's almost lip service now that eight years has passed. The urgency of putting up memorials and remembering....now has become not all that urgent. Squabbles over how much to spend and what to build became eight years of nothing significant done.

And what's to say about the tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis who are dead now because of the actions this country took in the aftermath of the plane crashes? Let's remember their families, too. And hope that in the coming years keeping the peace will prevail over going to war.

Kinky is Running for Governor, Again

The Sunday Morning Muse, Sept 6, 2009

Labor Day weekend. Fall is here no matter when it starts on the calendar. That means it is time to come up with some kind of fall wardrobe. In my case fall is actually a hybrid of my winter and summer clothes. (Although I do ditch the white shoes after Labor Day and most shorts above the knee.)

I read an article at Yahoo about a woman who wore the same black dress for a whole year. That's EVERYDAY. But she accessorized it differently to make it casual, formal, everyday...etc.

If you peek at the story, you see she is a young, tiny little wisp of thing with a funky look. If I wore even one of those styles... wild colored pantyhose or bright blue shoes or some vintage hat, I'd get laughed out of work, so the best I could come away with was perhaps I could pull out some of the colorful scarves that don't see the light of day that often, and raid my jewelry box a bit more to be creative.

So today I'm raiding the closet for items to use as accessories to my normal bland stuff. Not pairing it with a black dress everyday, but using things I don't normally wear to brighten up the darks and neutrals I get so sick of. It can't hurt to try. It's all about being frugal and being creative at the same time.

One last thought: Wasn't last year the year that Brown was the new Black? Or was that two years ago? Does anyone really care?

Why I am Not a Republican, Part 458.

Ronald Reagan: “[I]f you don’t [stop Medicare] and I don’t do it, one of these days you and I are going to spend our sunset years telling our children and our children’s children what it once was like in America when men were free.” [1961]

George H.W. Bush: Described Medicare in 1964 as “socialized medicine.” [1964]
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Barry Goldwater: “Having given our pensioners their medical care in kind, why not food baskets, why not public housing accommodations, why not vacation resorts, why not a ration of cigarettes for those who smoke and of beer for those who drink.”
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Bob Dole: In 1996, while running for the Presidency, Dole openly bragged that he was one of 12 House members who voted against creating Medicare in 1965. “I was there, fighting the fight, voting against Medicare . . . because we knew it wouldn’t work in 1965.” [1965]

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So Impressed with Vicki Kennedy

I watched practically the whole funeral of Ted Kennedy, and also the brief remarks afterward at the Capitol. I just have to say what a class act Vicki Kennedy was. Despite the most stressful and saddest of circumstances...all in public view, she held up wonderfully. I don't know how she did it.

Ted Kennedy, Jr.'s speech, which is available on quite a few sites if you missed it, was also a big highlight for me. This family has been through so much. My thoughts are with them.

The Sunday Morning Muse, August 30, 2009

I was sitting in a restaurant looking out the window when a church van went past. It said Holy Covenant Evangelical Presbyterian Church. Quite a long name for a church. Took two lines on the van, an I'm not sure if I missed a word or two because it went by so fast.

I can't judge a church by it's name. Because the names are meaningless to me. I haven't taken a serious study of what Presbyterians believe versus Evangelicals, let alone Evangelical-Presbyterians. I don't know the difference between the Baptists and the Methodists. The Catholics change what they do so often it's hard to recognize the Catholics now-- as opposed to the old Latin masses of not so long ago, but I had a grasp on their views at one time.

The point in this muse, if there is one, is that I don't know of anyone else who knows the differences either. Oh, there may be a scholar out there, someone who put their own religious views in perspective by actively learning about other religions in a scholarly setting. And perhaps coming to terms with what they believe in that way. But it would be a lifetime task if you include the other religions, too, not just the Christian ones. I picture this silly graph with basic beliefs... and some perspective congregation member ticking off blocks...(mumbling) Yeah I believe this, no-- I don't believe that. This sounds good, this sounds hard to imagine, etc. Until... at the bottom, eureka! The person discovers they are a Presbyterian with methodist leaning tendencies, who likes Jewish customs, but can't give up pork.

Silly I know.

I read somewhere that most people just stick with what their parents taught them. Whatever family they were born into.... luck of the draw really, in terms of what they believe. When you think of it that way, it seems somewhat haphazard. I would think if your religion mattered that much to you, the fate of your very soul, that one would examine the options out there carefully to ensure the best possible outcome. This muse is probably to some extent an extension of when I was a kid and used to feel sorry for people in faraway places who didn't hear about Catholic teachings and would certainly not go to Heaven. We were taught the Catholic religion was the one true religion. Where would they go? I asked.

The point then was to just get The Word out somehow.... and one way was to raise money for the pagan babies. I never gave my change to the pagan babies but this is something the Catholic kids were told to do, fill up these little books with money, in order to name a pagan baby. (The money went to mission work, or perhaps a new Gargoyle for the Vatican, I was never sure.)

I don't fear the Pagans anymore. No one should. Many of the actual customs like the celebration of Easter and Christmas were actually copied from them. But they didn't teach that in Sunday School.

It pays to shop around.