His First Name Was Wire.

Annie Graham, Another of Scotland's Finest.

Annie is originally from the Isle of Harris.  Her first language is Gaelic and she has a wealth of knowledge about Scotland and life in general.  Annie, now of Oban, opened her home to Cousin Jim showing him hospitality,  giving him wonderful food, and sharing her knowledge and stories.  She makes the best Scottish Lamb around, and is a pretty fair hand in the garden.  Jim would have stayed if he could have.   See also, Donnie Graham, One of Scotland's Finest.

Thank you Annie for being you and for showing cuz such  a wonderful time. 

The Fine Art of Negotiation & Compromise.

On This Day in 1882 The Knights of Columbus Organization Was Established.

During the same year, the Indian Rights Association was formed.  The reasons that the two groups didn't form as one or, at least merge, are unclear, but communication was always a problem in them days.

Pump Prices Shump Prices.

Our leaders are so myopic and tradition bound, they can't think outside the box. If we would simply go to the metric system, as most of the rest of the world has, we would get instant relief from the high prices at the gasoline pump.  It worked in England, (see picture) and it can work here.

Priorities

"If everyone demanded peace instead of another television set, then there’d be peace."- John Lennon
Thanks to Rev. Sandi

Lucy: "Your ignorance is appalling." Linus: "Most ignorance is."

 ". . .PPP asks Republicans in Alabama, ‘Do you think Barack Obama is a Christian or a Muslim, or are you not sure?’ Guess how many say Christian? 14%! Among the remaining 86%, ‘Muslim’ slightly leads ‘not sure,’ 45%-41%. (‘Not sure’ may by the demographic Rick Santorum is reaching out to when he accuses Obama of peddling a ‘phony theology.’)
But the Alabama Republicans are a thoroughly trusting lot in comparison with their Mississippi brethren. Among Mississippi Republicans, just 12% say Christian, 52% say Muslim, and 36% aren't sure.
The poll also finds that two-thirds of the Republicans in both states do not believe in evolution. Two-thirds of Alabama Republicans also believe interracial marriage ought to be legal, compared with 54% of Mississippi Republicans. Progress!” Obama Still Muslim, Report Southern Republicans By Jonathan Chait
 I don't like piling on the South. I bet the results are representative of that brand of Republican so blinded by hate, anger, and fear that they vote against their own interests wherever they are.  BTW, the sign pictured here is in Colorado.
Thanks to Gary.

Join Me For Lunch at the Y.

Homo Erectus

Pro-Life

Thanks to Bob.

Wealth

Thanks to Bob.

The “Very Poor” Romney’s Not Concerned About.

"’Very poor’ means those having an annual income under $200,000.00 & a net worth of under 2.4 million.”

Something progressives, liberals and environmentalist should read.

It is my view that America has lost its commitment to reason.  The left is guided by emotion and the right by belief.  Reason resides in neither.  One can doubtless fault the following but there is a great deal of truth stated here.  Few will read it, though they may read about it, because the modern American attention span is about as broad as the wave length of blue light and we are all too busy to be bother with what is really important.  If anything does not instantly stimulate our emotions or our beliefs, as the case may be, if it requires nuanced consideration or calculation, we turn it off.  Still I commend it none the less.  (P.S. I do not claim exception.  I too skimmed parts, when I knew where he was going.  The point is to absorb and consider the argument.)

http://activistteacher.blogspot.com/2007/02/global-warming-truth-or-dare.html

I Wish I'd Said This, But Glad Portia Did Since I Didn't.

"The quality of mercy is not strain'd.

It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven

Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest:

It blesseth him that gives and him that takes."

Portia

Thanks to Dick & his Mother.

Eureka

20-Jan 1986 John Fuller Cross, President of Bank of Eureka Springs, refused to close his bank on Martin Luther King Day, saying it would only encourage Jews, women, Mexicans and homosexuals to demand a special holiday for them, too.

20-Jan 1987 Eureka Springs Ministerial Alliance denounced “Pass the Ammunition” to be filmed at Eureka Springs, as full of nudity, sex, obscenity, perversity, drugs, vulgarity, racism and violence.

                              

From Smith's AlternativeArkansas History.

Getting the Creeps.

 See, Newt Gingrich creeping up on Mitt Romney in a creepy way by David Horsey in the Los Angeles Times

Canada for President? An Option Worth Considering.

Thanks to Linda.

So Many Good Times, So Many Good Bye's.

Take it away Lacy:

I like your record-the best to you dear.

Thinking of the World as Existing in Relation to the Mystery of God

"Our present ecological crisis, the biggest single practical threat to our human existence in the middle to long term, has, religious people would say, a great deal to do with our failure to think of the world as existing in relation to the mystery of God, not just as a huge warehouse of stuff to be used for our convenience." - Rowan Williams
Thanks to Reverend Sandi.

The Good Old Days When The Air Was Clean and Sex Was Dirty.

Apparently, it was ok to be gay but not nekkid.  “8-Jan 1954 Fort Smith radio preacher Braxton B. Sawyer claimed to have recordings of youths admitting to "immoralities" at a nudist camp at Dunn's Spring near Evansville.”  Smith's Alternative Arkansas History & Thanks to Orve.

An Albanian Anthem with Thanks to Alabama.

There she is sitting there
Out behind the smoke house in her rocking chair
She don't do nothin'
She don't say nothin'
She don't feel nothin'
She don't know nothin'
Maybe she's crazy I don't know
But maybe that's why I love her so

Her papa was a midget
Her mama was a whore
Her grandad was a newsboy 'til he was eighty four
Man don't you think I know she hates me
Man don't you think I know that she's no good
If she knew how she'd be unfaithful to me
I think she'd kill me if she could
Maybe she's crazy I don't know
But maybe that's why I love her so

I'm not afraid of the greywolf
Who stalks through our forest at dawn
As long as I have her beside me
I have the strength to carry on

Today we will be married
And all the freaks that she knows will be there
And all the people from the village will be there
To congratulate us
I will carry her across the threshold
I will make dim the light
I will attempt to spend my love within her
But though I try with all my might
She will laugh at my mighty sword
She will laugh at my mighty sword
Why must everybody laugh at my mighty sword?
Lord, hep me if you will
Maybe we're both crazy, I don't know
Maybe that's why I love her so 

A Wedding In Cherokee County by Randy Newman