Condaleeza Rice: visiting Libya We haven't been there since 1953. After the length of time she has been in her position as Secretary of State, should we really be cheered that she has finally begun dialogue 4 months before she will likely no longer hold that office and the Administration may make a different statement of where the US stands in relation to Libya?
McCain defining himself as an agent of change: While claiming to be a maverick, he has apparently voted 90% of the time with Bush. Some reviewers described the dropping of the balloons at the convention as more exciting. The Daily Kos picks up that theme: "As Senator John McCain accepted the Republican nomination for president, he and his supporters sounded the call of insurgents seeking to topple the establishment, even though their party heads the establishment." Roger Simon, in Politico.com, also points out the balancing act that Mr McCain must perform to reach the White House. (BBC News: 9/5/08)
"If you didn't know that John McCain was a Republican, you might think he was running against the Republicans… John McCain is a maverick who has now done what mavericks almost never do: Win. And now he must lead a party while maintaining his independence from it." (BBC News 9/5/08)
"In the end, tonight's speech merely confirmed what many of us knew [all] along: McCain just doesn't have good answers to our troubled economy."
Jonathan Cohn
The New Republic
McCain as an agent of change: ST. PAUL, Minn. 9/5/08 (AP) - John McCain, a POW turned political rebel, vowed Thursday night to vanquish the "constant partisan rancor" that grips Washington as he launched his fall campaign for the White House. "Change is coming," he promised the roaring Republican National Convention and a prime-time television audience.
"Fight with me. Fight with me. Fight with me. Fight for what's right for our country," he urged in a convention crescendo.
This was all being said while his VP did nothing positive about what the Republicans would do, but concentrated on often inaccurately attacking Obama. David Axelrod, Mr Obama's chief strategist, dismissed Mrs Palin's speech as "what politicians do when they don't have a record to run on". "Mr Obama's chief strategist, dismissed Mrs Palin's speech as "what politicians do when they don't have a record to run on". © The Times, London
It is impressive to see how the Republican party is trying to reinvent itself, claiming change, while it is business as usual: Abortion forbidden, environmental issues set aside, more tax relief for the wealthy, continuation of the war in Iraq, more promises previously given and broken by the party, where do the broken promises of the party end. Does McCain really think he is the whole party? I would assume, though they may not have been at the convention, there are many who would soundly disagree with him on that delusion should he have it.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Friday, September 5, 2008
SARAH PALIN SPEAKS TO AMERCA
If there are those of you around old enough to remember when Bill Clinton anticipated the worst was over for him when he won the election, only to find he hadn't counted on next test, being accepted by the media. I particularly remember Cokie Roberts mouthing off about what would be taught him when he got to Washington, since he dared to think he could come into Washington and take over (not a direct quote), but the meaning was made clear. It was insinuated that he would learn who really runs Washington.
With condescension, Sarah Palin said in her speech, 9/3/08, "I'm not going to Washington seeking the media's good opinion, I'm going to serve the American people."
Having thrown the gauntlet to the media, she should not be surprised when they ask her to choose her weapon and meet her at dawn. Their weapon, you can be assured will be the written word. If she is impressed with herself for firing up her audience, she should be aware that theirs is continuously on the air for people to be influenced.
She got rid of the governor's personal chef, she let us know (which cannot be a significant saving for the state), adding "I can assure you five kids certainly miss her at times." (Can it be that it might be an unhappy chef trying to please the taste of all those teenagers?) She accused Obama of being worried someone won't read us our rights, causing me to wonder if the culture of ignoring the Constitution will be carried on were she to be in Washington. She goes on to say, "He wants to grow the government. Taxes are too high...he wants to raise them." She gave no indication she is even aware of the budget, what programs are essential, and from where the money will come.
Having survived the first six years of the Republican Senate, I was appalled to hear her say, "Harry Reed, head of the do-nothing Senate." She must have been too busy having babies to have been aware of how little the Senate did other than rubber stamp Bush prior to Harry Reed.
Sarah Palin seemed, in her speech, to be totally oblivious to the issues of the 48 states down below her. She offered nothing but a pipeline and mentioned helping Ohio with raising employment there and another key State in the election. Her speech, though delivered emotionally and touching the fervor of the ramped up audience, had little to indicate that she could withstand a debate on world crises with Hillary Clinton (as a woman) or Barack Obama as the Democratic choice to be presidential candidate for 2008. It always saddens me when the bar to Office of the Presidency is lowered to the ridiculous. It is as disheartening as it was to hear of the Catholic Church's failure to protect its young people from predator priests by lowering its standards for priestly behavior.
Will we next find Internet colleges giving online courses on how to prepare yourself to be the next President? Indeed, that is what she is quite likely to be if she is now voted in as VP with a record of 1 out of three US VP's becoming President before the elected President's term of office has expired.
With condescension, Sarah Palin said in her speech, 9/3/08, "I'm not going to Washington seeking the media's good opinion, I'm going to serve the American people."
Having thrown the gauntlet to the media, she should not be surprised when they ask her to choose her weapon and meet her at dawn. Their weapon, you can be assured will be the written word. If she is impressed with herself for firing up her audience, she should be aware that theirs is continuously on the air for people to be influenced.
She got rid of the governor's personal chef, she let us know (which cannot be a significant saving for the state), adding "I can assure you five kids certainly miss her at times." (Can it be that it might be an unhappy chef trying to please the taste of all those teenagers?) She accused Obama of being worried someone won't read us our rights, causing me to wonder if the culture of ignoring the Constitution will be carried on were she to be in Washington. She goes on to say, "He wants to grow the government. Taxes are too high...he wants to raise them." She gave no indication she is even aware of the budget, what programs are essential, and from where the money will come.
Having survived the first six years of the Republican Senate, I was appalled to hear her say, "Harry Reed, head of the do-nothing Senate." She must have been too busy having babies to have been aware of how little the Senate did other than rubber stamp Bush prior to Harry Reed.
Sarah Palin seemed, in her speech, to be totally oblivious to the issues of the 48 states down below her. She offered nothing but a pipeline and mentioned helping Ohio with raising employment there and another key State in the election. Her speech, though delivered emotionally and touching the fervor of the ramped up audience, had little to indicate that she could withstand a debate on world crises with Hillary Clinton (as a woman) or Barack Obama as the Democratic choice to be presidential candidate for 2008. It always saddens me when the bar to Office of the Presidency is lowered to the ridiculous. It is as disheartening as it was to hear of the Catholic Church's failure to protect its young people from predator priests by lowering its standards for priestly behavior.
Will we next find Internet colleges giving online courses on how to prepare yourself to be the next President? Indeed, that is what she is quite likely to be if she is now voted in as VP with a record of 1 out of three US VP's becoming President before the elected President's term of office has expired.
Thursday, September 4, 2008
LIFE MY WAY
This blog was never intended to be a personal diary and I shall never make it such. Yet it is difficult for me not to share some of the important things I have learned, and am learning on the route to the ultimate conclusion of my life.
First, I learned that you can get your back clean without another person around to do it. It took only eight years of widowhood to finally figure that one out. I have had brushes, scratchers, and all kinds of other tools, but they have never equaled this simple tool. I bought a wonderful piece of thick, waffle like material with two loops on the end. Sticking my hands into the loops after soaping up the middle and throwing it over my head, I was able to feel a REALLY clean back for the first time in years. Since I have always been a 'latest gadget' explorer, I wonder how it was that I missed this one all these years. I figured it might be because I rarely stop in stores. Proof that often the simpler, is really better. It made me start to think of all the other things in my life I might simplify.
Trying to make my life less of a blivet, I think (as I open kitchen drawers) why have I not gotten rid of some of the clutter in them? I no longer cook as I used to when my husband and I were feeding the extended family every holiday. I am totally unable to throw away still-useful things. I know I will never go to the trouble of having a yard sale. There are charities and halfway houses that could probably use lots of the things I no longer need and I have been planning to find them for years.
I love books and have, to the amusement of many of my friends, too many of them. It is why I usually buy what I want to read rather than borrow from a library, because I rarely sit down and read a book through (unless it is an exciting novel, which I also rarely read). Finally, they are going into a database; first, to know what I have, and secondly, to make it unnecessary to hunt through the whole house only to realize that I probably gave it away or lent it to someone who failed to return it. If I have not read it, or have read it but want a refresher re-read , it stays around as do gift books, for the persons who gave them to me to read when they visit. While consumables are appropriate for seniors, I request that they not do that since I don't eat the munchy kind of stuff as much as in the past. Family has grasped that humor is always a good gift.
At the top of my priority list is to choose one tool to crush garlic, instead of the several that I have. Meanwhile, I more often whack the clove with the side of a flat, wide knife, throw the peel off, and dice it quickly. When I realize why I don't use any of the others, an enormous sense of shame overwhelms me (not actually, but it sounds better that way)and it is clear that I don't use them because they have been lost in the maze of unused tools in the drawer and i can do it quicker by my own hand. The conclusion makes me wander off shaking my head as I look at my priority list. Well, I guess I will just have to live longer than I had planned, to get to the bottom of the list.
First, I learned that you can get your back clean without another person around to do it. It took only eight years of widowhood to finally figure that one out. I have had brushes, scratchers, and all kinds of other tools, but they have never equaled this simple tool. I bought a wonderful piece of thick, waffle like material with two loops on the end. Sticking my hands into the loops after soaping up the middle and throwing it over my head, I was able to feel a REALLY clean back for the first time in years. Since I have always been a 'latest gadget' explorer, I wonder how it was that I missed this one all these years. I figured it might be because I rarely stop in stores. Proof that often the simpler, is really better. It made me start to think of all the other things in my life I might simplify.
Trying to make my life less of a blivet, I think (as I open kitchen drawers) why have I not gotten rid of some of the clutter in them? I no longer cook as I used to when my husband and I were feeding the extended family every holiday. I am totally unable to throw away still-useful things. I know I will never go to the trouble of having a yard sale. There are charities and halfway houses that could probably use lots of the things I no longer need and I have been planning to find them for years.
I love books and have, to the amusement of many of my friends, too many of them. It is why I usually buy what I want to read rather than borrow from a library, because I rarely sit down and read a book through (unless it is an exciting novel, which I also rarely read). Finally, they are going into a database; first, to know what I have, and secondly, to make it unnecessary to hunt through the whole house only to realize that I probably gave it away or lent it to someone who failed to return it. If I have not read it, or have read it but want a refresher re-read , it stays around as do gift books, for the persons who gave them to me to read when they visit. While consumables are appropriate for seniors, I request that they not do that since I don't eat the munchy kind of stuff as much as in the past. Family has grasped that humor is always a good gift.
At the top of my priority list is to choose one tool to crush garlic, instead of the several that I have. Meanwhile, I more often whack the clove with the side of a flat, wide knife, throw the peel off, and dice it quickly. When I realize why I don't use any of the others, an enormous sense of shame overwhelms me (not actually, but it sounds better that way)and it is clear that I don't use them because they have been lost in the maze of unused tools in the drawer and i can do it quicker by my own hand. The conclusion makes me wander off shaking my head as I look at my priority list. Well, I guess I will just have to live longer than I had planned, to get to the bottom of the list.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
GOOGLE'S NEW WEB BROWSER
Google is launching a new web browser, open source, to compete with Internet Explorer and Firefox. While the bottom line always have to be the money it earns (in this case through ads) Chrome, as it is named, is another Open Source browser. First tests are showing that, while it is faster and safer, it also has many embarrassing glitches that need to get worked out.
The Chrome browser is designed to automatically update itself without user approval, Google said. Those who set up websites for people are frequently aghast at how differently each browser displays pages. Websites are not simple to get results that would look the same on everyone's computer. I f you think seeing a row of TV demos all set to the same channel is funny, hang around.
If I were a soldier, I'd never want to be on the front lines; for the same reasons, I am not a beta tester. I will wait until it is in a more presentable state and avoid frustrations when I am just beginning to forget the pain of signing on with Verizon. Staff writers and wires write: "Brian Rakowski, group product manager for the browser project, highlighted the significance of offering a faster browser and forcing greater competition in the market".
Nevertheless, when fast Internet connections meet tired old servers, not even FIOS can save the day for speed.
If you are very daring, download the new Google Chrome (BETA) for Windows.
The Chrome browser is designed to automatically update itself without user approval, Google said. Those who set up websites for people are frequently aghast at how differently each browser displays pages. Websites are not simple to get results that would look the same on everyone's computer. I f you think seeing a row of TV demos all set to the same channel is funny, hang around.
If I were a soldier, I'd never want to be on the front lines; for the same reasons, I am not a beta tester. I will wait until it is in a more presentable state and avoid frustrations when I am just beginning to forget the pain of signing on with Verizon. Staff writers and wires write: "Brian Rakowski, group product manager for the browser project, highlighted the significance of offering a faster browser and forcing greater competition in the market".
Nevertheless, when fast Internet connections meet tired old servers, not even FIOS can save the day for speed.
If you are very daring, download the new Google Chrome (BETA) for Windows.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
DAY AFTER LABOR DAY
Labor day has come and gone. It its wake it leaves a memory of the summer we had, coexisting with the memory of the summer we wish we had. We might be lucky for some Indian summers. We get notice from the furnace suppliers...time to reorder your furnace filters. White clothes are now no longer worn, unless they are 'winter white' and unbearably hot material until mid-winter (though I intend to thumb my nose at the rule by people who sell clothes). It will get darker and darker, earlier and earlier, until sometime between 12/20 and 12/23 gives us the shortest day of the year.
By then Seasonal Affective Disorder will make lots of us low (bring out the light boxes, please); lower as we watch our friends take their Florida, Caribbean vacations and other sunny spots where they, as tourists, will feed the local economy. Lawn mowers will be replaced by leaf blowers and then by snow blowers. Air conditioning costs will be replaced by heating costs.
We will all, one day, realize that the clothes we reach for will not keep the chill off our bodies and frantically hunt for the winter clothes that got put away somewhere for safe keeping...we just need to remember where that 'somewhere' is.
Our food will gradually get warmer and heavier. Those of us who are still on an early evolutionary path will start putting on weight for the winter, wondering where this horrendous, constant appetite has come from. As in past years, we will hopelessly try to fight the pudge of fat that just seems to find its way to our body, and vaguely remember that it will begin to come off again in March or April (providing we work very hard at it and can manage to reverse the appetite valve).
Let us hope the snowboarders and skiers have a more optimistic view of the months to come than I do.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
THINKING LIKE THE RELIGIOUS RIGHT
First the disclaimer: I do not believe the thought and behaviors of a large group causes God (whoever or whatever that may be)to cause innocents to suffer.
If I were thinking like some Evangelical Pastors who, in the past, have blamed those who deviate from their beliefs for all the major disasters in our society, I would have to ask the question, if that thinking is accurate, how do they justify the weather forces that are keeping the Republican convention a bit off kilter since they are not able to have the President and Vice President in attendance? How do they account for the deaths and distress to Evangelicals as well as the rest of us, the sinners who believe in equality and that all mankind is created equal in the eyes of God. It is just one of those puzzles in my mind......is there anyone who can explain how this works?
If I were thinking like some Evangelical Pastors who, in the past, have blamed those who deviate from their beliefs for all the major disasters in our society, I would have to ask the question, if that thinking is accurate, how do they justify the weather forces that are keeping the Republican convention a bit off kilter since they are not able to have the President and Vice President in attendance? How do they account for the deaths and distress to Evangelicals as well as the rest of us, the sinners who believe in equality and that all mankind is created equal in the eyes of God. It is just one of those puzzles in my mind......is there anyone who can explain how this works?
DO WE HAVE A PARALLEL WORLD?
From Wikipedia: The multiverse (or meta-universe) is the hypothetical set of multiple possible universes (including our universe) that together comprise all of reality. The different universes within the multiverse are sometimes called parallel universes.
Twenty nine (29) versions of stories based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice have appeared before my eyes. Each has taken some dialogue and characters from the original but that is as far as the similarity seems to go. One seemed to be the same book in someone else's words. Some describe the sex life of Elizabeth and Darcy, which modest, unmarried Jane Austen (writing in the early 1800s) would never have written. Others are a sequel about the next generation. Whatever they may be, most of them are interesting and vary in how compelling is the reading expedience they induce. Some are, as my musician friends would have called, B-flat, or in another metaphor, 'vanilla'.
The above paragraph, somewhat descriptive of content, does nothing to describe what happens to this reader after reading 29 of them, (after the original), and several versions of movies that have been made over the years. (There are many more books to read.) It seems that movies took great liberties with the original, many of them made in the 80, 90s and this decade. License was not only taken with costuming, script, events in the book, but have taken on the movie interest's license. what will sell at the box office (in the mind of someone who has little knowledge, usually, of what that means. The story, while entertaining, barely resembles the original. Those of us who have read the book before the movie, first find that all too often to be the case; Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings being exceptions.
Finally, in order to keep straight in my mind what this particular version is about, I have taken to reading each one straight through in a day. This has not been at all easy to arrange. I start late in the evening and read during the night when I am undisturbed and suffer only the lack of sleep the next day. However, I can keep the details straight for that book until I am through.
Multiples have been written by a single author and each takes a different route.
Some books make their focus interesting on a 'what if....'. For example, if Elizabeth and Darcy had not left Hunsfield but had stayed there longer, what might it have been like? Impulse and Initiative is about Darcy not allowing himself to be stopped by her refusal, but seeking her out at Longbourn and trying to win her love and respect. These are the books that challenge my 'parallel world' thinking. There should be more than one way to deal with anything, should there not? Maybe in each parallel world all these things have a different outcome. What joy it would be to know some of the possibilities. This is what some of these authors whom I have disparaged as plagiarists, (with my apologies for not seeing the further merit of their attempt in writing),offer.
With the indulgence of my readers, I may comment again after reading the three that are yet unread in my possession.
Twenty nine (29) versions of stories based on Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice have appeared before my eyes. Each has taken some dialogue and characters from the original but that is as far as the similarity seems to go. One seemed to be the same book in someone else's words. Some describe the sex life of Elizabeth and Darcy, which modest, unmarried Jane Austen (writing in the early 1800s) would never have written. Others are a sequel about the next generation. Whatever they may be, most of them are interesting and vary in how compelling is the reading expedience they induce. Some are, as my musician friends would have called, B-flat, or in another metaphor, 'vanilla'.
The above paragraph, somewhat descriptive of content, does nothing to describe what happens to this reader after reading 29 of them, (after the original), and several versions of movies that have been made over the years. (There are many more books to read.) It seems that movies took great liberties with the original, many of them made in the 80, 90s and this decade. License was not only taken with costuming, script, events in the book, but have taken on the movie interest's license. what will sell at the box office (in the mind of someone who has little knowledge, usually, of what that means. The story, while entertaining, barely resembles the original. Those of us who have read the book before the movie, first find that all too often to be the case; Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings being exceptions.
Finally, in order to keep straight in my mind what this particular version is about, I have taken to reading each one straight through in a day. This has not been at all easy to arrange. I start late in the evening and read during the night when I am undisturbed and suffer only the lack of sleep the next day. However, I can keep the details straight for that book until I am through.
Multiples have been written by a single author and each takes a different route.
Some books make their focus interesting on a 'what if....'. For example, if Elizabeth and Darcy had not left Hunsfield but had stayed there longer, what might it have been like? Impulse and Initiative is about Darcy not allowing himself to be stopped by her refusal, but seeking her out at Longbourn and trying to win her love and respect. These are the books that challenge my 'parallel world' thinking. There should be more than one way to deal with anything, should there not? Maybe in each parallel world all these things have a different outcome. What joy it would be to know some of the possibilities. This is what some of these authors whom I have disparaged as plagiarists, (with my apologies for not seeing the further merit of their attempt in writing),offer.With the indulgence of my readers, I may comment again after reading the three that are yet unread in my possession.
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