Heart Happy

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Wednesday brings the new Publix sales circular, which I can view internetially, paper-free, and see what new BOGOs await.

I'm easy to please like that.

Wednesday is also the day for the new Garrison Keillor column in the Trib, and this one made me chuckle enough to bust out of my funk. For now at least.

This bit sounds like he was commenting to my last post:

"Well, that's just how it is. You can't go through life without making some people angry: Keep that in mind and you'll save yourself a lot of misery. So when people hiss at you, smile and wish them a good day."

But here's the money paragraph:

"Somewhere, someone is furious at the Dalai Lama. Probably there were people in Calcutta who thought Mother Teresa was a showboat. Back in 000 A.D., some people looked at the Infant Jesus and said, "What's with the ring of light around his head? Why should we capitalize his pronouns? The little bugger loads his pants same as any other kid."

When I was 11, I asked my elders if Our Lord did defecate and was there such a thing as holy excrement, and that upset them and there was anguished discussion about whether I was perhaps unsaved and bound for perdition, and then they decided to ignore the whole thing and put supper on the table. Food was how we solved a lot of problems. Supper was grilled cheese sandwiches and Hormel chili from a can. A wonderful meal, and it took the edge off their anger."

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/columnists/chi-oped1209keillordec09,0,1006361.column

Some people know what they know, because they know it, and I am jealous.

Call them values or ideas. Call them articles of faith or first principles. We all have them; I know I do. And it feels so right. In the privacy of my own mind and heart it is all so clear. But whenever I take my shiny idealism out to share with others, it gets tarnished.

Here's a case in point: I recently read a post here on LiveJournal in which a pastor, based on a couple of paragraphs from a book written by Martin Luther King Jr., concluded that the man had not, in fact, been a Christian.

Now, I should know better. I actually DO know better. But sometimes I can't help myself. So I responded. And I was polite, if outraged. And of course my ideas made nary a dent in this pastor-poster or his commenters.

The ideas I hold sacred are used (on a regular basis) to exclude people, to hurt their feelings, to excuse reprehensible behavior. And there isn't a thing I can do about it.

Almost as bad, those ideas I love are regularly dismissed as silly, or ignorant, or insincere. We have become a nation in which he who scoffs the loudest gets heard.

I have so much to share, but nobody wants to hear it. I start to understand why Zarathustra kept going back up his mountain. Why should I lay myself out there to be rejected?

See, the thing is that so many people are SO sure of themselves that there's no point in talking to them. I long for an equal sharing of ideas. That sounds nice, doesn't it? It isn't. It's damned dangerous, actually. What if the religious proseletyzers knocking on your front door were equally willing to be converted themselves as to try to convert you? Who would take such a risk? Very few, indeed.

Fewer still see that this isn't a zero-sum game. I can retain my core values and still find something to learn from those who are different from me. In theory, anyway. It might work if I could find someone different from me who was equally willing to learn without losing their own identity. Dunno where I'm going to find those people, especially when there's already such a vast separation between my way of thinking and that of many people who profess the same faith that I do.

And so I withdraw. The circle shrinks. It's sad, but with work and parenting I don't have the time to seek out new friends. And I am so tired.

This article from Huffington Post.... it proposes that we, the people, feel the sacrifice of war. Only then will we ask the questions that need to be asked.  This is really needed....

Today Congress may vote on an independent Consumer Financial Protection Agency. After all the injustices wrought by Wall Street, it's time we have some protection. Contact your representative because every vote counts.

It's 21 degrees (F) with a wind chill of 11 degrees (f).... that is cold. Woke to spitting snow, not quite a flurry, snow level at 1500 feet. Last night there was wind, with 60 mph gusts, nothing like feeling the house shake. I discovered every little place the cold could get in, so some weatherization will continue.

It is cold....

Thanks to lesliepear

Got a lot of wind, and if it wasn't well nailed down, it is now flapping. Rain is horizontal at times. They still say we will see snow overnight and the snow level is dropping to 1500 feet. I'm at 4000 feet.

Most of the weather is coming from the south, so it is a bit sub-tropical so no snow, even though they are predicting about 2" overnight. The wood stove is warming nicely. I got about a half cord of oak left from last season, and can easily find more.  Such is life on a rainy Monday in Anza.

The wood fire is burning.... the house is warm. I made a soup, and it is good.  The snow is now rain, the temps are around 33 degrees (F), and we still might see more snow, but for now its rain and mud.

Happy Monday....

It's snowing outside. and it will be cold.  I'll sit at home and watch the weather on the television and as it happens in my neighborhood.

The weekend is past, the week awaits. I'll be glad I'm not commuting tomorrow, it will be hell. Will I see snow? Will I see rain? Yes, it will be cold, very cold here. I got the cooling system serviced on the truck today, so it won't freeze. I got a few things to do during the day tomorrow, wrap faucets, drain lines, etc. Tomorrow awaits.

( You are about to view content that may only be appropriate for adults. )

I sometimes read the National Review Online and this article seems to sum up what is happening with words and politics...

clipped from www.southernstudies.org Additional number of American troops President Obama plans to deploy to Afghanistan: 30,000 Total number of U.S. troops that will be there after the deployment: 98,000 Number of private contractors working for the U.S. in Afghanistan as of September 2009: 104,101 Percent by which that number grew between June and September: 40 Percent of the Defense Department's workforce in Afghanistan accounted for by contractors: 57 Number of conflicts in U.S. history involving a higher percentage of contractors: 0 Percent of the U.S. presence on the ground during the Vietnam War accounted for by contractors: 13 Percent of the Defense Department's 2008 budget devoted to contracts and grants: 82 Estimated value of Defense Department contracts in Afghanistan awarded to Texas-based Fluor and Virginia's DynCorp: $7.5 billion Amount Fluor's PAC contributed to federal candidates in 2008: $305,499

clipped from www.smirkingchimp.com Barack Obama is not the type of guy who agonizes over sending soldiers into battle. This isn't Lyndon Johnson, after all, who paced the Oval Office night after night, quaffing Bushmill's and dreading the next troop deployment to Saigon. Obama is more in the George Bush "What-me-worry" mold. He has no problem clowning around with the same cadets he'll ship off to the Afghan killing fields just weeks later. No worries. Maybe, that's why this week's speech at West Point was such a bust; it lacked the empathy that one expects from a leader who's sending his fellow countrymen into war. Yes, there was plenty of the usual rhetorical fanfare, but nothing that vaguely resembled genuine concern or--dare we say--compassion. That's just not part of Obama's repertoire. Here's Obama channeling George Bush to his captive audience, invoking the same stale imagery, the same demagoguery, the same flawed logic as his reviled predecessor. "9-11, 9-11, 9-11." Oh, and did I mention, "9-11."

The Los Angeles Times writer of an article about a couple of Screen Actor's Guild members who are calling for the Academy to take back Al Gore's Oscar used this phrase to describe "for a notorious cable news channel named for a three-lettered, wily, wild animal that often seems to revel in debunking liberal shibboleths"

Gray skies, no sun. It's 40 degrees (F) outside. Rain is in the near future, very near future from the appearance of the low clouds. One day at a time, that is all I can do, so it will be.

clipped from www.commondreams.org by Ralph Nader Misusing professional cadets at West Point as a political prop, President Barack Obama delivered his speech on the Afghanistan war forcefully but with fearful undertones. He chose to escalate this undeclared war with at least 30,000 more soldiers plus an even larger number of corporate contractors. He chose the path the military-industrial complex wanted. The “military” planners, whatever their earlier doubts about the quagmire, once in, want to prevail. The “industrial” barons because their sales and profits rise with larger military budgets. A majority of Americans are opposed or skeptical about getting deeper into a bloody, costly fight in the mountains of central Asia while facing recession, unemployment, foreclosures, debt and deficits at home. Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), after hearing Mr. Obama’s speech said, “Why is it that war is a priority but the basic needs of people in this country are not?”

test to see something or other Peace