The Transformer Tried.

"29-Dec 1970 Governor Winthrop Rockefeller commuted to life sentences all 15 men on death row."  From Smith's Alternative Arkansas History 
They don't seem to be making Republicans like this anymore.  It's ironic that the very type that he fought ended up controlling the Republican Party that he helped birth.

This is the 2nd Anniversary of Barbara & Jim's 25th

I tried to get Jim to sing at least the chorus of Hard Dog, as he used to sing it to her:

"I give you my love and I give you my money

but you've got the feelings of a fence post honey.

I don't hold a grudge I just carry a torch.

You're a hard dog to keep under the porch."

He won't let me record it but Gail Davies does a pretty fair job. 

A Celebration of Life by The Sultry Sirens of Sin.

Arkansasyers and Those from Off-Properly Pronouncing Arkansas is Not Only The Right Thing to Do. It's the Law.

Arkansas Code 1-4-105. Pronunciation of state name. Whereas, confusion of practice has arisen in the pronunciation of the name of our state and it is deemed important that the true pronunciation should be determined for use in oral official proceedings. And, whereas, the matter has been thoroughly investigated by the State Historical Society and the Eclectic Society of Little Rock, which have agreed upon the correct pronunciation as derived from history and the early usage of the American immigrants. Be it therefore resolved by both houses of the General Assembly, that the only true pronunciation of the name of the state, in the opinion of this body, is that received by the French from the native Indians and committed to writing in the French word representing the sound. It should be pronounced in three (3) syllables, with the final "s" silent, the "a" in each syllable with the Italian sound, and the accent on the first and last syllables. The pronunciation with the accent on the second syllable with the sound of "a" in "man" and the sounding of the terminal "s" is an innovation to be discouraged. Concurrent Resolution No. 4, Acts 1881, p. 216 "

Thanks to Dr. Stephen Smith for his "Smith's Alternative Arkansas History" including the post for December 21st which included inter alia: 

21-Dec 1940 William Roberts and Bill Griffith arrested for distributing religious magazines Watchtower and Consolation without a city license or occupational tax under Hot Springs Ordinance 559. 

21-Dec 1944 Little Rock City Council demands to know why an indecent "hootchy-kootchy" show was allowed to operate at 114 W. Markham St. for several months before finally was closed by police.  

21-Dec 1984 Arkansas Supreme Court affirms jury award of $20,850 against Wal-Mart for false arrest, false imprisonment, malicious prosecution and intentional infliction of emotional distress of Katherine Yarbrough. 

21-Dec 1998 Arkansas Supreme Court rules that Attorney General Winston Bryant has standing under the Freedom of Information Act to request withheld records of Governor Mike Huckabee's hokey complaint hotline." Thanks also to Gale Wingate who asked Dr. Steve if there was “a law about pronouncing Arkansas as anything other than Arkansaw not Arkanasan" and again to the good doctor for providing the answer.

Perspective

Many have made fun of Kim Jong Il in the last few days.  Many others feel profound sorrow at his passing.  Why is there such a difference?  Racism is always a possibility.  Political differences also play a role.  I fear, however, that the big difference is because of the information we do or do not receive.    North Koreans hear or read only what the government allows.  Most of that was propaganda praising Kim Jong Il.
We have freedom of the press guaranteed by our constitution, but so does North Korea.  Are we better informed than they?  I think so.  We get more than one side of things.  I fear though that the cowardly nature of much of our main stream media dooms us to merely hear propaganda from the several sides.  See, Gross Failure of the Media by Cenk Uygur
Our commercial media don’t want to offend advertisers.   They, therefore,  merely parrot what each side is saying.  This practice can cause our decision making to be based on platitudes, and sound bites made by partisan talking heads.  As a result, we often vote against the best interests of ourselves and our country.

Putting Christ Back In Christmas.

Thanks to Bob.

Thanks for Your Insight and Indignation Christopher.

Christopher Hitchens made us think and made some of us plumb mad.   Here are two representative views:

 "Christopher Hitchens died yesterday at M D Anderson in Houston. Now, is there anyone left to tell us the truth.  Some have said he forever raised our level of indignation about the autocratic belief systems of the world.  I sadly suspect  Nikki Giovanni (my favorite poet) is correct when she says 'willful ignorance will overpower indignation every time.'” Young Art

“Jesus has finally killed Christopher Hitchens. The delay resulted, not from lack of provocation, but from chronic absentmindedness.” Mrs. Betty Bowers

We May Become Slim, But You'll Still Be an Ass.

Merry Christmas to Cowboys & Cowgirls.

Lynn, Dena, Sheila, Martha, Le Ann, Annie, Jane, Myra Belle, Sissy, Delores, Bonanza, Debbie, Heather, Shelby, Gloria, Dale, Mike, Lefty, Roy, Gene, Rowdy, Gil, Augustus, Woodrow, Butch, Sundance, Jack, Wylie, Slim and Tex are some of the best.

Did Santa Claus Kill Jesus?

Christ is in large part out of Christmas.  That may be better than tarnishing the message by associating it with a holiday which is too often one celebrating consumerism & greed.  Take it away Kinky . . .

Prorsus Man Still Lives

There are two different species of human on the planet. People like these, who understand reality and the human adventure it implies and the rest of humanity, self absorbed and insistent upon living in a world of mythology and dogmatic beliefs. Prorsus man has been pulling humanity forward, while ignarus man, while hanging on for such benefits as are forth coming, does so with heels dug in all the way.http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/14/science/tantalizing-hints-but-no-direct-proof-in-search-for-higgs-boson.html?_r=1&src=tp&smid=fb-share

America - A tyranny of ignorance manipulated by money

I think it is terribly interesting how our current political state has come about, in which one party has become completely addicted to manipulating the insanity referenced in the humors quiz below, bringing the nation to a state of policy paralysis through political polarlization. This has come to pass not as the result of premeditated intent, but merely incidental to the process of money seeking its own interest in the political arena – Adam Smith’s invisible hand of greed at work, only delivering political perspectives rather than goods and services. 

A two generation Cold War struggle against “godless communism” laid the indoctrinal groundwork for the transformation. Though long since discredited as a realistic economic concept, laissez faire economics is the polar opposite of central planning. The commies were atheistic central planners.  America was blessed by God and believed in "the free market". In this way free market economics became a form of religious dogma in the minds of a certain demographic, a divine revelation presumed to be inherently flawless and beyond human improvement. That America had not ascended on laissez faire economics, that totally free markets hardly ever exist in reality, or the fact that total central planning does not work does not mean that none is desirable, have, under the incessant propaganda of moneyed interest exploiting this cold war artifact, been lost over the heads of those most offended by the secular aspirations of communism. The upshot, laissez faire economic theory has effectively been married with a populous pseudo American christianity to form a mindset ignorant of the inherent contradictions.

For this demographic, the flag is not a political symbol but a religious icon. America has overtly become the new promised land and Americans (at least white ones) the new chosen people. America’s military, supported by her indomitable free market economy, is the righteous hand of the lord. Her empire the cross she must bear as part of our divinely ordained destiny to suppress the unbelievers and support Israel until the apocalypse comes. God has made some men wealthy to provide the rest of us with work, we must not tax them unduly. The state has taken our children’s prayers away, provided schools that defy our bible, condemned our prejudices through its courts, seeks to marry our children into homosexual relationships, and otherwise lends itself as a tool of evil liberalism/humanism, which are just relabeled socialism and not so far from communism. Intellectuals are the carriers for all this evil and therefore can't be trusted.  


In its core form this strange theocratic construct that construes enlightment to be evil, is held only by a few. However, as the sun’s influence extends vastly beyond its physical self, so to does this nonsense taint a larger demographic. To the extent that we act as if this state of affairs is natural, and inevitable we perpetuate it. Sarcasm, is one useful tool for its condemnation. Whoever put this together is doing great works.

One can only hope that as America stumbles around in its current darkness it will come across the torch of the enlightenment that it carried for humanity to such great effect for its first two hundred years and upon that rediscovery will come to realize that ignorance itself, in alliance with and empowered by the interests of money itself, are what has been pulling it down; the same forces that have held most of humanity down for most of human history, forces uniquely rejected by the founders as evidenced by the quotations in this little piece and inherent in the constitutional prohibition regarding church and state. 

This alliance of greed and ignorance has brought a tyranny upon the nation, it is the road block to the future. Forgive me if I render too serious something so light but there is often humor in tragedy, enjoy: http://www.bettybowers.com/founding.html

Labor is the superior of capital

Alan Grayson scores yet again!

"What Lincoln Said, 150 Years Ago Today."

During my two years in Congress, I heard an awful lot of speeches. Some of them were delivered by some of the finest public speakers in America today – like Barack Obama, Neil Abercrombie, John Lewis, Anthony Weiner and Alcee Hastings. But none of them was as profound and poignant as the one that I’m about to share with you. It was delivered to a Joint Session of Congress by President Abraham Lincoln, exactly 150 years ago today. The focus of the President’s speech was, of course, the Civil War. But President Lincoln took a short detour, and with a few bare sentences, he summed up an issue that remains with us to this day.

This is what President Lincoln said to Congress, to America, and to us:

"It is not needed, nor fitting here [in discussing the Civil War] that a general argument should be made in favor of popular institutions; but there is one point, with its connections, not so hackneyed as most others, to which I ask a brief attention. It is the effect to place capital on an equal footing with, if not above, labor, in the structure of government. It is assumed that labor is available only in connection with capital; that nobody labors unless somebody else, owning capital, somehow by the use of it induces him to labor. This assumed, it is next considered whether it is best that capital shall hire laborers, and thus induce them to work by their own consent, or buy them, and drive them to it without their consent. Having proceeded thus far, it is naturally concluded that all laborers are either hired laborers or what we call slaves. And further, it is assumed that whoever is once a hired laborer is fixed in that condition for life.

“Now, there is no such relation between capital and labor as assumed, nor is there any such thing as a free man being fixed for life in the condition of a hired laborer. Both these assumptions are false, and all inferences from them are groundless.

“Labor is prior to, and independent of, capital. Capital is only the fruit of labor, and could never have existed if labor had not first existed. Labor is the superior of capital, and deserves much the higher consideration. Capital has its rights, which are as worthy of protection as any other rights."

If I were still in Congress, I would have repeated President Lincoln’s speech on the Floor of the House this week, in the same spot where he rendered it 150 years ago. “Labor is the superior of capital.” And we must not “place capital . . . above labor in the structure of government.” Thank you, Mr. Lincoln. If I had to sum up my job as a Congressman in 25 words or less, that would do it.

I realize that for a statement as profound as this one, it is “far beyond [my] poor power to add or detract” (as Lincoln himself said, two years later, at Gettysburg). But I’ll try anyway, recognizing that “the world will little note, nor long remember, what we say.

I find it startling to read something like this, and realize how timeless these battles are. As the French say, “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.” (“The more things change, the more they stay the same.”) In fact, you can hear echoes of Lincoln’s words in what Elizabeth Warren said just ten weeks ago: “There is nobody in this country who got rich on his own. Nobody.”

Now, admittedly, capital is wealthier, better organized, and far more powerful today than it was in Lincoln’s time. Capital gorges on Republican tax cuts for the rich, on bailouts, on government contracts and corporate welfare, on free money from the Fed, and on monopoly profit. Capital treats politicians and whole political parties like puppets. Capital creates and perpetuates a system where Labor is unemployed, where Labor is in debt up to its eyeballs, where Labor cannot see a doctor when ill, where Labor is pitted against Labor. There probably are plenty of well-meaning people who realize this, throw up their hands, and say, “if you can’t beat them, join them.”

And then there are us. People with a head, and a heart. People who want to occupy Wall Street, occupy K Street, and occupy America with the simple concept of justice for all. People who understand that the very fact that this fight has been going on for 150 years or more, and will continue after you and I are gone – that very fact – makes this a fight that is worth fighting for.

And gradually, things do get better. I know, I know -- two steps forward, one step back. But then two more steps forward.

Oh say can you see, by the dawn’s early light,
What so proudly we hailed, at the twilight’s last gleaming.

When Lincoln spoke, 150 years ago today, his time was the twilight’s last gleaming. And today, you can see the dawn’s early light.

Can you see it?

Courage,

Alan Grayson

Paid for and Authorized by the Committee to Elect Alan Grayson

8419 Oak Park Road, Orlando, FL 32819

If you do not wish to receive further email from Congressman Grayson, please elick here to unsubscribe.

It Don't Get Any Bettern This.

This culinary delight was Thanksgiving dinner for Kim & Cecil.  For dessert, the Pokes won 20-19 on a last second field goal.

Yearning For The Good Old Days

You Can No Longer Hire A Rhino to Decorate Your Home. So Long Friends.

"Africa’s Western black rhino has officially been declared extinct and other subspecies of rhinoceros could follow, according to the latest review by a leading conservation organization."  Western black rhino is declared extinct By Alexandra Zavis / Los Angeles Times
"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were. Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee..."    Devotions upon Emergent Occasions Meditation 17 by John Donne

How Far Back Do They Want to Take Our Country Back?

Justice was swift when she was young.

 9-Nov 1928 Little Rock Police Chief Burl C. Rotenberry raided the American Association for Advancement of Atheism office at 710 Main Street and arrested Charles Lee Smith on charge of blasphemy.    
 
10-Nov 1928 Charles Lee Smith was convicted of blasphemy in Little Rock Municipal Court trial before Judge Harper Harb, fined $100 and sentenced to 30 days in jail.
 
From Smith's Alternative Arkansas History.

Memory Verse.

I wish I'd known about this back when I was using John 11:35 every week.  "There she lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses."  Ezekiel 23:20  Thanks to Judge C.

Big Big Love.

". . .a lot of people  . . actually feel sexier and more self-confident when they are bigger . . . For some people, it’s as simple as the fact that when you’re fat, especially when you’re fat to a certain degree, you know from the get-go that you’re not going to fit into all of these idealized versions of what bodies are supposed to look like, and so you just stop letting that register on your radar. You can just concentrate on enjoying your body and enjoying your partner.

Another thing that comes up for a lot of people is that fat bodies are really sexy and sensual. There are a lot of textures and there’s a lot of skin and surface area, and a lot of sensory nerves. Everything that you’ve got on a thin body you’ve just got more of on a fat body."  The joy of fat sex By Tracy Clark-Flory  
I have to agree.  I like women who can put the hay in the barn.  Rubens trumps Twiggy every time.
Thanks to MacGraham

Running the Government Like a Business.

One way we could balance the budget is to eliminate costly elections and confirmation fights.  It would be frugal and efficient to delegate to the CEO's of the two largest corporations in each state, along with the head of the Chamber of Commerce the responsibility of choosing our leaders and judges.   They're making most of the decisions anyway.  Why not make it official and save some money?

There will be resistance to change.  Nattering nabobs of negativism such as the Arkansas Times will have to be dragged into the twenty first century. 
 “It could happen in Arkansas, the way it's happened elsewhere. Rove, the Republican Party strategist and lead handler of George Bush, helped business interests unseat a Democratic chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court who was believed soft on plaintiffs. He's done similar work in his home state of Texas.
Over the last decade, the Chamber of Commerce has poured millions of dollars into state Supreme Court races around the country, seeking — usually successfully — to get rid of justices who've displeased corporations by ruling against them in lawsuits.”  Reforming judicial elections in Arkansas Task force at work. by Doug Smith
Big deal!  If Doug Smith is so damned smart, why ain't he rich?

Thanks for the Memo.

A clean office is a happy office.  Gentle reminders such as the one below I obtained from a local office are sometimes necessary.

From: Managing Partner
To: All
Subject: Kitchen
Gentlemen:

Kindly refrain from placing your fucking peanut shells (or anything else that might put the garbage disposal out of commission - citrus rinds, apple cores, etc.) in the sink and use the trash can instead.  Not only does this behavior piss me off, it costs time and money. 

Please feel free to share this gentle message with the kitchen board that meets on Tuesday nights, if you feel they would benefit from it.

Your cooperation in this matter is genuinely appreciated.

Regards,
M.P.

Cuz Tickled Pink. Thanks Hillary.

How Bout Them Cards!

Myra called me Friday morning and said she had an extra ticket to game 6. After a bit of fretting I canceled appointments & drove to St. Louis in time for the game. It wasn't the best played game I've ever seen, but it was the by far the most exciting,  I have the best sister & brother in law in the world.   Thanks Myra & Garry.  On the left Freeze muffs a routine pop fly which led to a Ranger run. The lads seemed to have forgiven him though.  Redemption is a wonderful thing.

(Post written by Cousin Jim)

Government for who?

"Were our government for the people, we would have the best education in the world, universal health insurance, a decent way of financing elections, and a massive commitment to sources of clean energy." William Sloan Coffin

I Don't Remember It, but Some Obviously Think They Can.

Thanks to Bob.

You Can't Make This Up-I Hope, at Least, The Gods Are Amused.

It is legal to posses & sell:

1, Alcohol

2. Tobacco

On the other hand,  doing the same with mushrooms, which have been used safely in religious rites all over the Americas for thousands of years, can get you Five to Twenty years.

"Many individuals who took a single dose of psilocybin -- the active ingredient in what the drug culture calls "magic mushrooms" -- showed alterations in personality characteristics, largely for the better, that persisted for more than a year, a prospective scientific study showed.

Participants who reported "mystical experiences" during the hallucinogen sessions tended to show increases in the personality dimension known as openness, according to Katherine A. MacLean, PhD, and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University.

They found no adverse effects from the drug exposure."

Magic Mushroom' Drug May Improve Personality Long Term By John Gever in MedPage Today.

Thanks To Dr. Mike.

Wexford & Kilkenny Are 2011 All Ireland Champs.

CAMOGIE:

Wexford 2-7 Galway1-8 in a thriller.

HURLING:

Kilkenny 2-17 defending champion Tipperary 1-16 - The Cats' fifth title in six years.

Getting Some Space.

http://www.newyorkerstore.com/2011/title-another-way-to-keep-an-empty-seat-beside-you-on-the-train-a-man-wears-a-shirt-that-says/invt/137403/
WARNING: THIS WILL NOT WORK WITH FOLK WHO CAN'T WAIT TO TELL YOU HOW WRONG YOU ARE.

Thanks to Judge C.

Thecla, a Lioness, and Women of Antioch Team Up to Stifle Misogynists.

"A sketch of an episode from the apocryphal 'Acts of Paul and Thecla'. Basically Thecla, a groupie of St Paul, is thrown into the arena in Antioch. [Because she wouldn't couple with Alexander.] A notoriously fierce lioness, rather than making a meal of the Christian virgin, behaves more like a kitten. The next day in the arena the lioness fights against the other beasties in defence of said Thecla, which is all rather miraculous. 
Thecla had a bit of a rough ride, really, earlier on her own mother tried to have her burned to death! And Paul refused to baptize her, the sod, because she was too good looking and might yet yield to temptation! Anyway, she lives to get her clothes back and praise the Lord another day, unlike most of the real life Christian martyrs. I'm not sure the lioness has quite such a happy ending, and according to conventional theology it wouldn't even have gone to heaven."

Thecla and the Lions by ~dashinvaine

Thanks for Livin Joe. We Ain't Dead Either.

Coptic Christian.

How Bout Them Hogs?

How Sweet.

"A man traveling across a field encountered a tiger. He fled, the tiger after him. Coming to a precipice, he caught hold of the root of a wild vine and swung himself down over the edge. The tiger sniffed at him from above. Trembling, the man looked down to where, far below, another tiger was waiting to eat him. Only the vine sustained him. Two mice, one white and one black, little by little started to gnaw away at the vine. The man saw a luscious strawberry near him. Grasping the vine with one hand, he plucked the strawberry with the other. How sweet it tasted!"
 From Zen Flesh, Zen Bones

Sing Along & Learn a Language

Nina Has The Touch.

Thanks to Dr. Mike.

Congress Passes Social Security Reform.

Thanks to Judge D.

Rien N'est Change.

"But what then is capital punishment but the most premeditated of murders, to which no criminal's deed, however calculated it may be, can be compared? For there to be equivalence, the death penalty would have to punish a criminal who had warned his victim of the date at which he would inflict a horrible death on him and who, from that moment onward, had confined him at his mercy for months. 
Such a monster is not encountered in private life". -Albert Camus

Thanks to Judge C.

It's good to read

Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut can now be read by students in the Republic, Mo school thanks to the school board ruling making it available as independent reading.

Mark's Not in Arkansas Anymore

Our own Mark Howell helped fight off the recent Taliban attack.  He's shown here about the 2:30 point firing from a standing position (somewhat forward and toward the left), with his left side toward the camera and standing atop a blue container. Please be careful buddy.
See also Congratulations Mark Howell.

Not All Campbells Are Evil.

I’m as mad about Glencoe as the next guy and have periodically blasted the Campbells for their breach of hospitality.  In fairness, though the leader was a Campbell, only about 4 of the other soldiers who took part were Campbells.  Let's not paint them all as evil.  There have been good ones including Dr. Jenny, Craig, the 13th Duke Argyle, Kathryn Campbell Grover, and Rob Roy MacGregor's mother. The clan also had some great music.

A Hangman Without Conscience.

"Perry's willingness to execute a man who was almost certainly innocent comes uncomfortably close to regressing to the days of human sacrifice. Sacrificing an innocent man won't prevent other houses from accidentally catching fire and killing the innocent people inside, but it's clear that Perry will not hesitate to pander to voters who cling to hopes that periodic blood-letting will somehow save us all."

Rick Perry executes justice, Texas-style-Perry may have lost no sleep over Texas's 234 executions during his tenure, but the death penalty panders to crude bloodlust.  By Amanda Marcotte in The Guardian

Standing By.

Thanks to Chad

Why Pundit Picks Perry in Primary.

                       

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Oh My God, Rick Perry Is Going to Be Our Next President - Second Installment
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor & Satire Blog The Daily Show on Facebook

Thanks to Myra Hellen

                    

Two Ole Boys That's Favorites Wherever They Go.

“Quite honestly, I couldn’t put it down,” Satan wrote.  ‘It was almost like a book I would have written myself.’
In what could be construed as minor criticism of the book, Satan admitted he was ‘miffed’ that Mr. Cheney took total credit for the idea of invading Iraq, but added, ‘We were such close collaborators at the time, it may be hard for Dick to remember whose idea was whose – half the time we were finishing each other’s sentences.’”  Cheney’s Book Features Foreword by Satan ‘Couldn’t Put it Down,’ Says Prince of Darkness -The Borowitz Report
Thanks to Young Judy via Young Art

I Miss the Old GOP. Really.

“Both parties are rotten - . . . But both parties are not rotten in quite the same way. The Democrats have their share of machine politicians, careerists, corporate bagmen, egomaniacs and kooks. Nothing, however, quite matches the modern GOP.

. . .  the Republican Party is so full of lunatics. . . .[and] is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and becoming more like an apocalyptic cult, or one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th century Europe. . . .
John P. Judis sums up the modern GOP this way:

   ‘Over the last four decades, the Republican Party has transformed from a loyal opposition into an insurrectionary party that flouts the law when it is in the majority and threatens disorder when it is the minority. It is the party of Watergate and Iran-Contra, but also of the government shutdown in 1995 and the impeachment trial of 1999. If there is an earlier American precedent for today's Republican Party, it is the antebellum Southern Democrats of John Calhoun who threatened to nullify, or disregard, federal legislation they objected to and who later led the fight to secede from the union over slavery.’"  Goodbye to All That: Reflections of a GOP Operative Who Left the Cult by: Mike Lofgren, Truthout.com
Thanks to BD.

It's Better Than It Was and than It Will Be If You Swallow the Hook.

"If you get tricked into thinking that Obama has made things worse and that we should go back to what we were doing before Obama -- tax cuts for the rich, giving giant corporations and Wall Street everything they want -- when those are the things that caused the problems in the first place, then we will be in real trouble." Three Charts to Email to Your Right-Wing Brother-In-Law by: Dave Johnson 

Thanks to Karen

Practice, practice, practice

"Our true home is in the present moment.
To live in the present moment is a miracle.
The miracle is not to walk on water.
The miracle is to walk on the green Earth in the present moment,
to appreciate the peace and beauty that are available now.
Peace is all around us--
in the world and in nature--
and within us--
in our bodies and our spirits.
Once we learn to touch this peace,
we will be healed and transformed.
It is not a matter of faith;
it is a matter of practice." Thich Nhat Hanh

Myra's Retirement.

 

She was a little bored. It was hard to find something to do at first, but now she's having fun and feeling young again.

Cookie Monster

A CEO, a Tea Partyist, and a union worker are sitting at a table with a plate of a dozen cookies. The CEO takes 11 cookies, leans over to the Tea Partyist, and says "You better watch out for that union worker, he wants your cookies."  Thanks to Bob.

Another Sign From God.

Thanks to Young Art

Texas Taliban Led by Mullah James Richard Perry.

“Prior to 9/11, the Taliban government in Afghanistan did not register very much on American radar screens, with one notable exception: when it blew up two colossal images of the Buddha in Bamiyan province in early 2001. But destruction of treasured artifacts isn't just limited to the Taliban. There's a right-wing politico-religious presence centred in the US, but with a global reach, engaging in similar practises, destroying religious and cultural artifacts as a key aspect of its ideology of ‘strategic level spiritual warfare’” (SLSW).  From, America's own Taliban by Paul Rosenberg

Thanks to Bob

Presidents' Vacations & Such.

You Might Be A Conservative If… 

1: You’re irate over the president taking so many vacation days on the taxpayer’s dime (61 thus far), but you thought George W. Bush earned every minute of his leisure time (196 days at the same point in his presidency).

2: You’re happy with your 40 hour work week, paid vacations and company-provided healthcare, but you’re strongly anti-union, because those commies haven’t done anything for you lately.

3: You strongly support the First Amendment and it’s guarantee of religious freedom to all, but you don’t think Muslims have a right to build an Islamic Community Center in Manhattan.

4: You believe Ronald Reagan was a devout Christian, even though he hated going to church, but any president who spends twenty years going to the same Trinity United Church in Chicago must be a Muslim.

5: You believe when a Republican governor creates a healthcare package with an individual mandate for everyone in his state, that’s a good idea. But when a Democratic president does it, suddenly it’s unconstitutional.

6: You’re so enthused about demonstrating your Second Amendment rights, you can think of no finer place to brandish your pistol in public than at a presidential rally.

7: You believe Bill Clinton was responsible for Osama bin Laden’s escape ten years ago, but thankfully George W. Bush caught up with him and killed him in Pakistan.

8: You believe in putting American jobs first, except when president Obama rescued 1.5 million GM and Chrysler autoworkers, because that was socialism.

9: It angers you that you can’t communicate with the Mexican busboy at your local Olive Garden, but when you took a vacation to San Francisco’s Chinatown, you thought it’s quaint that so many Chinese-Americans are holding fast to their traditional language. Because that’s America!

10: You deny that the lunatic who tried to murder Gaby Giffords was a conservative, even though he targeted a Jewish, pro-choice, pro gay rights, Democratic Congresswoman.

11: You thought it was perfectly normal that every president in history had an untethered right to raise the debt ceiling when warranted, but when Obama asked the GOP held congress to do it, you thought it only natural that it be tied to cutting Social Security and Medicare.

12: When the new 112th Congress was sworn in, you swooned as they promised to focus on “Jobs, jobs, jobs.” But when they pivoted, and went after NPR, Planned Parenthood and gay rights, you cheered.

13: You accuse president Obama of raising your taxes to the highest point ever, even though they’re lower today than at any time since 1950.

14: You believe the wealthiest Americans are “job creators,” and they are — but it doesn’t bother you that all the workers in those positions are in India, China and Malaysia, and they’re doing the jobs that our fathers once did.

15: You believe gays are anti-American, because their lifestyle is a threat to the children… unless they’re married to Tea Party-backed presidential candidates from Minnesota.

16: You strongly defend individual freedom, but that freedom doesn’t include a woman’s right to decide her own healthcare needs.

17: You believe corporations are people too, and are deserving of the same rights as the rest of us. Just not the same obligations to pay personal income tax free of corporate loopholes, or penalties for massive criminal behavior and tax evasion. In these matters, corporations are deserving of special rights.

18: And since corporations are now people too, you must believe in their right to a driver’s license, the right to marry, to adopt children, etc. These rights shall not be denied to Exxon, Halliburton and BP (but still immune from the right of the People to try, convict and sentence to death any corporation that conspires to commit a felony… because at that point, they’re suddenly not people again.)

19: You still believe Climate Change is a myth, and the recent record highs, lows, floods and droughts around the world coinciding with climate scientist’s predictions are all an amazing coincidence. Oh, and Al Gore is FAT!

20: You believe when George W. Bush took the national debt from $5 trillion to $11 trillion, it was necessary for him to do so to keep America safe. But when Barack Obama added to it by trying to rescue the country from a second Great Depression, he was deliberately trying to destroy America!

21: You believe America is a God fearing country, and that the Almighty protects those who believe just as you do. But it’s never crossed your mind that the majority of tornados, hurricanes and floods all occur in the Bible Belt.

22: You believe that no matter who’s in the White House, the office, if not the man himself is deserving of your respect. The only exceptions to this rule, are if his middle name sounds Muslim, and if he’s not at least as white as that black guy who works down in the mailroom at the office. 

You Might Be A Conservative If… By Bruce Lindner in Addicting Info
Thanks to Bob

God Bless Rev. Stone & Heartsong Church. Jesus is Proud.

“Rev. Steve Stone was just trying to be a good neighbor.
Two years ago, the pastor of Heartsong Church in Cordova, Tennessee, on the outskirts of Memphis, learned that a local mosque had bought property right across the street from the church. So he decided some Southern hospitality was in order.
A few days later, a sign appeared in front of the church. ‘Heartsong Church welcomes Memphis Islamic Center to the neighborhood,’ it read.
That small act of kindness was the start of an unlikely friendship between the two congregations, one that made headlines around the world. Members of the mosque and church have shared meals together, worked at a homeless shelter, and become friends over the past two years. When Stone learned that his Muslim friends needed a place to pray for Ramadan because their building wasn’t ready, he opened up the doors of the church and let them hold Ramadan prayers there.
Critics said that Stone was a heretic for allowing people of another faith to pray in his church building. He says he’s just doing what Jesus taught him to do. ‘Jesus told us to love our neighbors,’ Stone told Sojourners. ‘These people are actually neighbors.’” Excerpt from God's Politics A Tennessee Church Welcomes its Muslim Neighbors by Bob Smietana 
See, also, Welcoming Muslims for the LOVE of Christ By Mahmoud El-Yousseph
Thanks to Rev. Sandi

A Choice Between a LDS & Dominionists? Jesus Christ!

"Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry . . . have deep ties to a fringe fundamentalist movement known as Dominionism, which says Christians should rule the world.
With Tim Pawlenty out of the presidential race, it is now fairly clear that the GOP candidate will either be Mitt Romney or someone who makes George W. Bush look like Tom Paine. . . . If you want to understand Michele Bachmann and Rick Perry, understanding Dominionism isn’t optional."

From, A Christian Plot for Domination? in the Daily Beast.

Thanks to J.S.

Childwhisperer.

Lynn Larimore Stanberry took Cuz's 6 year old grandson from not wanting to be near a horse to riding by himself in an hour and a half. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. She's really good with horses and kids. For those of you who don't know, Lynn started barrel racing while in college & rode a bronc on her 30th birthday. Thanks Lynn