Given the number of serious terrorist attacks in the past few weeks, I've been really worried about the huge gatherings of Americans at 4th of July celebrations today. If I were Isis what could be a better target than an 'Independence Day' fireworks in a major city.
It's after 11 p.m. Eastern time and nothing yet.
So, here is what I want you to ponder: how effective is our anti-terrorist and security in the US?
We'll never know what the NSA and others are doing to keep us safe.
I just hope they keep doing it.
And I have a great debt of thanks to all the people--Federal, State and Local--who look out for us.
I am a socialist and left wing nut. And, I want whatever is being done to secure us to continue to be done--even though much of it might offend my political views.
So, I've said it.
And I stand by it.
And believe it.
Keep us safe all you alphabet groups, by doing what you need to do to do that.
Just that.
Monday, July 4, 2016
The 4th the way it should be
We were home by nine p.m. It's an hour later and only the occasional 'boom' outside yet. It will get more frequent. believe me. One lucky thing, we have a dog who is oblivious to fireworks and thunderstorms, couldn't bother him in the least. One of Jack and Sherry's dogs, Vivian, was already wound a little tight from a couple of firecrackers nearby.
It was just 7 of us--Jack and Sherry, Brandy, Sherry's sister, Mike, their next door neighbor we know well, Maureen from Sherry and Bern's women's group and Bern and me. The table in the back yard has 8 chairs...one for the bucket of grilled corn and one for each of us.
Jack did some amazing New Orleans shrimp to put on toast. I made my famous deviled eggs (requested by Sherry, so at least famous with her and she always is at our house for Easter when I do the eggs). Cheese and red/white and blue braunswieger (sp--my spell check is down: liver cheese with red, white and blue stuff on it) hot dogs (withe every imaginable topping), corn, Mike's potato salad and Jack's American flag cake with blueberries, cherries and pineapple smothered in whipped cream.
Parties in the neighborhood spilled sound over. One group was playing basketball after several beers--not a bad way to celebrate our nation.
But we were quite and all hate Trump and like Hillary and can't explain why we have to have an election if Americans (who celebrate their independence this day) are smart enough to deserve this country.
Great food, good friends, wine and bourbon and breezy weather and three dogs (2 Jack and Sherry's, one Mike's) and two new kittens for Jack and Sherry, and being free to do what we want.
It doesn't get much better than that. And going to bed before the real fireworks--which I can sleep through, believe me...a perfect way to honor our nation.
It was just 7 of us--Jack and Sherry, Brandy, Sherry's sister, Mike, their next door neighbor we know well, Maureen from Sherry and Bern's women's group and Bern and me. The table in the back yard has 8 chairs...one for the bucket of grilled corn and one for each of us.
Jack did some amazing New Orleans shrimp to put on toast. I made my famous deviled eggs (requested by Sherry, so at least famous with her and she always is at our house for Easter when I do the eggs). Cheese and red/white and blue braunswieger (sp--my spell check is down: liver cheese with red, white and blue stuff on it) hot dogs (withe every imaginable topping), corn, Mike's potato salad and Jack's American flag cake with blueberries, cherries and pineapple smothered in whipped cream.
Parties in the neighborhood spilled sound over. One group was playing basketball after several beers--not a bad way to celebrate our nation.
But we were quite and all hate Trump and like Hillary and can't explain why we have to have an election if Americans (who celebrate their independence this day) are smart enough to deserve this country.
Great food, good friends, wine and bourbon and breezy weather and three dogs (2 Jack and Sherry's, one Mike's) and two new kittens for Jack and Sherry, and being free to do what we want.
It doesn't get much better than that. And going to bed before the real fireworks--which I can sleep through, believe me...a perfect way to honor our nation.
Sunday, July 3, 2016
Interdependence Day
Tomorrow is July 4--the birthday of our nation, though it was quite a bit smaller and less complicated back then. It is called, far and wide: "Independence Day".
That seems like a misnomer to me. First of all, the slaves in this country weren't "independent" in 1776. And women, back then, what would they say to know they wouldn't vote until the 20th century.
The second reason it doesn't work for me is that what this country (or any nation) needs is 'interdependence' not 'independence'.
What I would call 280 million (are there that many of us? I think so) 'independent people' would be CHAOS written in all caps.
What we need, as a people, a tribe, a nation, is to recognize how dependent we are. We are dependent on the rule of law, on the people who make our laws, on federal and state government and local government and other entities to handle the multitude of issues that we can't handle on our own. We can't build our own roads or pump our own water or have our own schools (though some people think they can!) or generate our own electricity (except for people with solar panels--can't have them in a 'Historic District'), deliver our own mail, create our own internet, be in charge of our own radio and TV stations, run our own hospitals, be our own lawyers, protect our nation without an armed force, police our own streets (which the town or state built), make our own paper, grow all our own food, make sure there is oil in our furnace---I could go on and on and on and on with this list.
We are interdependent and that is what we should celebrate tomorrow: how much we depend on each other to make it through the day.
Some people have suggested that 'individualism' in the American psyche is a problem.
I would agree.
To quote one of the candidates for President: "it takes a village to raise a child". That wasn't Trump, if you're wondering.
Trump actually appeals to the enormous lie of "individualism". People are pissed off about 'their lives' and not much worried about anyone else's life. I see the Tea Party folks who protest from time to time in front of the Town Hall during drive time about "getting the Federal Government out of our lives".
So, handful of older men (seldom women, pointing out that they are not only the 'fairer sex', they are the 'smarter sex'!) holding signs like that and signs like "Obama is a socialist" (oh, I wish!) how many of you sent back your SS check this month? How many of you protected our homeland this month? How many of you built the street you're standing on? How many of you enlisted in the Navy this week? How many of you inspected meat and other food or did research on diseases or guarded our boarders or provided a school lunch or a college scholarship or built a fighter jet in your life?
What we should celebrate tomorrow--and I will--is the interconnected community that is our nation. We need each other. Everyone of us. And we should make it easier, not harder, for people who want to be interdependent here to become citizens.
This is the greatest nation in the history of the world. I--a left-wing nut--would say that. But what I would point to as our 'greatness' is that we 'lean on each other', not that we are 'individuals'.
Everyone counts. Really.
Happy Fourth of July. Eat the burger. Drink the beer. Light the sparkler. Watch the fireworks. None of that would be possible without the web of interdependence that is our nation and, really, our world.
Liberty, Justice, Freedom and Interdependence....Community. Happy birthday USA.
That seems like a misnomer to me. First of all, the slaves in this country weren't "independent" in 1776. And women, back then, what would they say to know they wouldn't vote until the 20th century.
The second reason it doesn't work for me is that what this country (or any nation) needs is 'interdependence' not 'independence'.
What I would call 280 million (are there that many of us? I think so) 'independent people' would be CHAOS written in all caps.
What we need, as a people, a tribe, a nation, is to recognize how dependent we are. We are dependent on the rule of law, on the people who make our laws, on federal and state government and local government and other entities to handle the multitude of issues that we can't handle on our own. We can't build our own roads or pump our own water or have our own schools (though some people think they can!) or generate our own electricity (except for people with solar panels--can't have them in a 'Historic District'), deliver our own mail, create our own internet, be in charge of our own radio and TV stations, run our own hospitals, be our own lawyers, protect our nation without an armed force, police our own streets (which the town or state built), make our own paper, grow all our own food, make sure there is oil in our furnace---I could go on and on and on and on with this list.
We are interdependent and that is what we should celebrate tomorrow: how much we depend on each other to make it through the day.
Some people have suggested that 'individualism' in the American psyche is a problem.
I would agree.
To quote one of the candidates for President: "it takes a village to raise a child". That wasn't Trump, if you're wondering.
Trump actually appeals to the enormous lie of "individualism". People are pissed off about 'their lives' and not much worried about anyone else's life. I see the Tea Party folks who protest from time to time in front of the Town Hall during drive time about "getting the Federal Government out of our lives".
So, handful of older men (seldom women, pointing out that they are not only the 'fairer sex', they are the 'smarter sex'!) holding signs like that and signs like "Obama is a socialist" (oh, I wish!) how many of you sent back your SS check this month? How many of you protected our homeland this month? How many of you built the street you're standing on? How many of you enlisted in the Navy this week? How many of you inspected meat and other food or did research on diseases or guarded our boarders or provided a school lunch or a college scholarship or built a fighter jet in your life?
What we should celebrate tomorrow--and I will--is the interconnected community that is our nation. We need each other. Everyone of us. And we should make it easier, not harder, for people who want to be interdependent here to become citizens.
This is the greatest nation in the history of the world. I--a left-wing nut--would say that. But what I would point to as our 'greatness' is that we 'lean on each other', not that we are 'individuals'.
Everyone counts. Really.
Happy Fourth of July. Eat the burger. Drink the beer. Light the sparkler. Watch the fireworks. None of that would be possible without the web of interdependence that is our nation and, really, our world.
Liberty, Justice, Freedom and Interdependence....Community. Happy birthday USA.
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Front porches/back decks
I live in the 'historic district' of Cheshire, so most of the houses have front porches--some of them quite large. But almost none of them are ever used. John, down the street, uses his for a party on Memorial day--but his house doesn't have a back deck!
When I grew up back where I came from, the 'back deck' hadn't been invented. People sat on front porches and talked to neighbors walking by, or the neighbors on either side or across the street who were on their front porches. Walking along you might be invited to come up and "'bide a spell" by half a dozen folks. To 'bide comes from the verb 'abide' and really just means "be with" for a 'spell'--a while. You might get tea or not. You might get conversation or not. But you would surely just sit for a time with the folks on their front porch, watching the world go by.
On back decks, you don't watch the world go by. In fact, by definition, a back deck faces your back yard and not the world. There are neighborhoods in Cheshire where none of the houses have front porches. There are a few steps up the the front door, but the socializing place is the back deck.
We can see parts of our neighbor's on either side back decks--but not all of them. And there are trees and fences and interrupted sight lines. We can all be out on our decks and not really see each other.
I'm hard pressed to make a choice, though ours is obvious. We have no front fence and a dog that would run out and most likely bite people walking by, so our front porch isn't really an option! But, in a perfect world, I would like a front porch where I could sit and say hello to folks passing on foot.
In the back, we don't have to say hello to anyone. It is a weird suburban privacy--the back deck. People only see it when invited to. Everyone sees front porches.
What really bums me out is when someone on our back deck is using a social media device. One more remove from encountering each other. Being on the back deck is the first remove, though.
Maybe I'll put a gate on our front porch (if the Historic District Commission lets me!) so I can sit out there with Bela.
But because Bela would be there, I couldn't suggest folks come 'bide a spell....
When I grew up back where I came from, the 'back deck' hadn't been invented. People sat on front porches and talked to neighbors walking by, or the neighbors on either side or across the street who were on their front porches. Walking along you might be invited to come up and "'bide a spell" by half a dozen folks. To 'bide comes from the verb 'abide' and really just means "be with" for a 'spell'--a while. You might get tea or not. You might get conversation or not. But you would surely just sit for a time with the folks on their front porch, watching the world go by.
On back decks, you don't watch the world go by. In fact, by definition, a back deck faces your back yard and not the world. There are neighborhoods in Cheshire where none of the houses have front porches. There are a few steps up the the front door, but the socializing place is the back deck.
We can see parts of our neighbor's on either side back decks--but not all of them. And there are trees and fences and interrupted sight lines. We can all be out on our decks and not really see each other.
I'm hard pressed to make a choice, though ours is obvious. We have no front fence and a dog that would run out and most likely bite people walking by, so our front porch isn't really an option! But, in a perfect world, I would like a front porch where I could sit and say hello to folks passing on foot.
In the back, we don't have to say hello to anyone. It is a weird suburban privacy--the back deck. People only see it when invited to. Everyone sees front porches.
What really bums me out is when someone on our back deck is using a social media device. One more remove from encountering each other. Being on the back deck is the first remove, though.
Maybe I'll put a gate on our front porch (if the Historic District Commission lets me!) so I can sit out there with Bela.
But because Bela would be there, I couldn't suggest folks come 'bide a spell....
Thursday, June 30, 2016
June slips away
June, we hardly knew thee!
I realize I was out of the country for a slice of it--but how did June just slip away?
If I rated the months in order of my liking them it would be something like this.
1. September
2. April
3. October
4. May
5. June
6. November
7. March
8. December
9. July
10. January
11. August
12. February
So, my number 5 month just got away from me.
My list, I realize, reflects my childhood in the mountains of Southern West Virginia. Anawalt, West Virginia, where I spent the first 18 years of my life, is further south by maybe 40 miles than Richmond, Virginia. But the altitude is 1793 feet above sea level and surrounded by mountains another thousand feet up.
Because of the altitude, the seasons went like this: Winter: January and February; Summer: July and August; Spring: March, April, May, June and Autumn: September, October, November and December.
All my 8 favorite months are in Anawalt Spring and Fall. The four least favorite are Winter and Summer.
Notice, March and December fall in the bottom half since winter could come a tad early or stay a tad too long.
People from Anawalt tend to use the word "tad" a bit. Just like they use the word 'bit' a tad.
June, you're gone in just over 2 hours. Sorry I wasn't paying a tad more attention and didn't notice you a bit more.
I realize I was out of the country for a slice of it--but how did June just slip away?
If I rated the months in order of my liking them it would be something like this.
1. September
2. April
3. October
4. May
5. June
6. November
7. March
8. December
9. July
10. January
11. August
12. February
So, my number 5 month just got away from me.
My list, I realize, reflects my childhood in the mountains of Southern West Virginia. Anawalt, West Virginia, where I spent the first 18 years of my life, is further south by maybe 40 miles than Richmond, Virginia. But the altitude is 1793 feet above sea level and surrounded by mountains another thousand feet up.
Because of the altitude, the seasons went like this: Winter: January and February; Summer: July and August; Spring: March, April, May, June and Autumn: September, October, November and December.
All my 8 favorite months are in Anawalt Spring and Fall. The four least favorite are Winter and Summer.
Notice, March and December fall in the bottom half since winter could come a tad early or stay a tad too long.
People from Anawalt tend to use the word "tad" a bit. Just like they use the word 'bit' a tad.
June, you're gone in just over 2 hours. Sorry I wasn't paying a tad more attention and didn't notice you a bit more.
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Jesus on Virtual Reality
I just read on line that soon the story of Jesus' life will be available on 360 degrees virtual reality--you know, those glasses you put on (you, not me!) to be in a virtual world.
Could the Prince of Peace, the Babe of Bethlehem, the Savior of the world, the Son of God have imagined you could watch his life in virtual reality?
Well, since he was God Almighty, all-knowing, member of the Trinity, perhaps he could have foretold that.
I'm not willing (anti-media guy that I am) to even imagine, must less experience Jesus in Virtual Reality.
Jesus in Reality is good enough for me.
Just me talkin'....
Could the Prince of Peace, the Babe of Bethlehem, the Savior of the world, the Son of God have imagined you could watch his life in virtual reality?
Well, since he was God Almighty, all-knowing, member of the Trinity, perhaps he could have foretold that.
I'm not willing (anti-media guy that I am) to even imagine, must less experience Jesus in Virtual Reality.
Jesus in Reality is good enough for me.
Just me talkin'....
Still wondering
This is now the 3rd most viewed post ever on my blog. I don't know why.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Toradh caithimh tobac--ba`s
That's what it says on the Malboro Gold Originals I've been smoking for
two weeks. I bought a carton at the Duty Free Shop at the Dublin
Airport. If I'm doing the Euro-Dollar exchange anywhere near right, the
ten packs of cigarettes cost about $4 a pack, less than half what they
cost in Cheshire.
That I still have a pack plus some others after two weeks tells me I don't smoke nearly as much as I feared. Most smokers, when they count, are horrified that they smoke more than they thought. So, give me a break on that, OK?
Yes, I KNOW I shouldn't smoke. And I do. OK? Leave me alone. I'm a priest, I stand with the oppressed and the most oppressed people in the Western world are smokers. I'm just standing with my people....
But since absolutely everything in Ireland has both Irish and English on signs, notices, directions, etc., 'whatever', each pack of cigarettes has the warning "Toradh caithimh tobac--ba`s" on it. The English translation is below: "Smoking kills". You have to admire a language that requires 22 letters to say what 12 say in English. And such wondrous words! When I try to pronounce them (which I can't for the life of me) they sound like Klingon. But if an Irish speaker said them they would sound like a bird song, really. I've listened to Irish a lot and it is a language to be sung, not spoken. English is so mundane in comparison.
No wonder the Irish love song and poetry and story so much--it sounds like birds.
I'm listening as I write this to Maggie, our parakeet sing along with the classical music station we always have on beside her cage.
With a little practice, I believe, Maggie could speak Irish. All birds, it seems to me, are Gaelic in their bird souls.....
That I still have a pack plus some others after two weeks tells me I don't smoke nearly as much as I feared. Most smokers, when they count, are horrified that they smoke more than they thought. So, give me a break on that, OK?
Yes, I KNOW I shouldn't smoke. And I do. OK? Leave me alone. I'm a priest, I stand with the oppressed and the most oppressed people in the Western world are smokers. I'm just standing with my people....
But since absolutely everything in Ireland has both Irish and English on signs, notices, directions, etc., 'whatever', each pack of cigarettes has the warning "Toradh caithimh tobac--ba`s" on it. The English translation is below: "Smoking kills". You have to admire a language that requires 22 letters to say what 12 say in English. And such wondrous words! When I try to pronounce them (which I can't for the life of me) they sound like Klingon. But if an Irish speaker said them they would sound like a bird song, really. I've listened to Irish a lot and it is a language to be sung, not spoken. English is so mundane in comparison.
No wonder the Irish love song and poetry and story so much--it sounds like birds.
I'm listening as I write this to Maggie, our parakeet sing along with the classical music station we always have on beside her cage.
With a little practice, I believe, Maggie could speak Irish. All birds, it seems to me, are Gaelic in their bird souls.....
What I'm wondering is why this is now the third most viewed post of all time--within 50 of the second most viewed and within 150 or so of the most viewed.
Anyone want to tell me why this has become so popular? Email me at Padrejgb@aol.com or post a comment. I just don't get why this took off.
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