THE YOUNG AND THE OLD

There are some 'shoulds' that do well to be ignored.  Society has a tendency to demand such things as 'respect', 'apologies', 'that one should not think certain kinds of thoughts', and many more rules that make little sense.  Respect is earned, not granted by demand.  Apologies only have meaning when granted without request or coercion.  One has no control of the kids of thoughts that pop into one's head nor of obsessive sumination.

As a senior, I have certainly lived life more fully than young people,  compared to  one in their late teens or twenties. We all operate from a very different history which has molded us.
As we grow older, the knowledge we have accumulated often becomes obsolete.  A student of technology may take a robotics course as a freshman; but it is probably  obsolete by the time they are seniors,

While older people likely to have had more life experience,  how useful is it if much of what they know has now been replaced by better procedures, technology, and usefulness.  As a grandmother I could pass a bit (though not very much) useful information about what to do with babies to my daughters.  As a great grandmother my experience is as useful as trying to get someone to understand what a 78 is and what machine might have played it and changed it in less than 3 minutes for each song.  Seat belts and child safety seats had not been invented or thought of when my children were babies and toddlers.  Therefore, why should I expect respect for anything but my actions and not what I know?

A major key in familial relationships, for harmony, is to accept the people around you for who they are without the illusion that you can make them be who  or what you may WISH them to be.  A happy life is when a person can accept who they are  through all of life's stages. 

TEXAS GOVERNOR RICK PERRY; DOES HE THINK THE STATE HAS SECEDED FROM THE OTHER 49?

Gov of Texas - Rick Perry

In my several decades of following American politics and government, I am not able to recall a time when governor's of the state have acted like dictators.  Rick Perry's decision, as governor of Texas,  on 7-7-11, refused to follow American law and signed treaties on an international level, and had an inmate on death row put to death.  He did not allow the man's country to help him as required by treaty or though our laws dictate that it should have happened.  Death cannot be undone which means that the consequences of Perry's decision also cannot be undone.  The cost to our reputation in the world means that now we cannot claim that any American citizen in another country who is accused of a crime, may also have the United States reach out in any consular way.

There has been much discussion as to whether this execution should take place and yet Perry decided to ignore requests for a stay until issues could be ironed out as to foreign ramifications, he refused a stay and the man was executed at 7 PM. An article in The Atlantic writes: " If Governor Perry were president of the United States, responsible for protecting the interests of all Americans when they travel abroad, he would see this issue very differently," said John Bellinger, a lawyer at Arnold & Porter in Washington who served as legal adviser for the State Department in the second term of the Bush administration. Bellinger said the Bush administration took a long and hard look at complying with the international law before finally taking an unpopular position to do so, especially because it involved Mexican nationals convicted of committing heinous crimes."  The article contains extremely interesting views of the entire problem.  Click here.

It seems that ther4e are several Republican Governors today who do not act as though they are part of the country and not an autonomous state.  It is hard to believe that people will vote them into office again,,,,but will they have done enough irreparable damage by then to really have messed us up more for years to come?  What part of United States is he misunderstanding?

MEDIA MORALITY AND BEYOND

If Rupert Murdoch and his staff is to be believed, News International is totally innocent of the accusation that his people hacked into the phones of murder victims.  If that is not offensive by itself for the intrusion, it is further claimed that evidence was erased that interfered with the work of the police.

Henry Chu of the Los Angeles Times, on 7/5/11, wrote that the phone hacking scandal involving a kidnapped girl was roiling Britain.  Murdoch staunchly supports Rebekah Brooks, his CEO.and confirms that she is doing all that is possible, with his support, to investigate this claim.


Where did good journalism go to die?  It is too late in a world of technology to bring it back to daily papers delivered to your door so that you can eat breakfast and read the news that happened yesterday.  Now you can watch it on TV as it happens or Google it and get the sources that tell you all about it.  In order to keep TV news outlets surviving on ads, viewers must be pleased.  When readers prefer to watch weeks of slow moving testimony in a court case in Florida to decide whether a young woman already imprisoned for three years before any judgment of guilt or innocence should be put to death, I shudder at people's priorities.


Now, media has resorted to illegal invasion of telephone privacy by hacking phones.  As if that was not diabolical enough, they actually deleted information that might have been used as evidence in court trials.Tampering with evidence is not looked on as something benign.  And what was the service for which it was done?  It seems it was just to please the audience with exclusive information.


It would appear that, today, no one can expect the media to respect their personal grief, ardor, achievements, failures, or any part of the personal life.of their prey.  For those of you who read 1984, the lack of privacy is quite similar.  There are cameras everywhere and they are watching you!

 

CASEY ANTHONY: NOT GUILTY!

Casey Anthony

There seem to be few of us who are pleased with the 'not guilty' verdict.  I, for one, do not see that our country would be safer and better off if this young woman had been put to death.  Friends have told me that I am unqualified to comment since I did not stay glued to the TV for weeks watching the judicial farce and legal narcissism evidenced on the media.vying for ratings.

One friend told me she would be found guilty because there were more mothers on the jury and mothers, I was told, do not like women who hurt their children.  I was told I was too opinionated for someone who hadn't watched all the proceedings as carefully as I might watch white sauce needing to be stirred in a pot on the stove.  I didn't watch the proceedings because whatever happened was beyond my control and I don't like watching a trial where guilt or innocence is secondary to needing to win a case, especially with the world watching on TV.

Asked how I felt about it as the judge read what he was required to read to the jury as instruction, all I could think of was that few people can remember more than an hour's worth.  Had I been on the jury, I might have zoned out frequently, from the boredom of it all.  But I wasn't on the jury.  My only opinion had nothing to do with Casey Anthony.  I am in favor of capital punishment where there is not question or doubt.  If there is clear video evidence as well as a confession that the defendant will kill again (by his own declaration), as well as other indisputable forensic evidence, I do not see why I, as a taxpayer, should pay to house and feed him for the rest of his natural life...even if it does cost more to the public to have someone put to death.

Instead, I am against the death penalty when all evidence is circumstantial.  I do not like it when 'professionals" gauge that a person is not remorseful by the look on his face.  Don't people realize that in many trials, innocent people have to be given anti-depressants to make them able to sit in the courtroom without breaking down?  Has no one ever heard that flat facies are a symptom of depression? Whether this young woman is guilty or innocent is not for me to decide, even after evidence presented.  Who knows the real story?  All I know is that she was never accused of anything serious or violent before; has spent three years of her life in prison for something she may or may not have done, has been made a national spectacle and will always be considered guilty by some.  For whose benefit?  For all the people who enjoy looking into other people's keyholes, in my humble opinion.

PATRIOTISM RISES LIKE A PHOENIX ON JULY 4TH IN BOSTON

The country's birthday celebration at Hatch Shell in Boston on the Esplanade brought out more flags, hats, stick on tattoos, other decorations and patriotic songs than I have seen since WW 2.  It was even more than were visible after 9/11.    

A question in my mind:  Were those waving the flags really aware of the greatness of our country before is was hijacked by the greedy groups? Perhaps he could get some cooperation from the House of Representatives if he could get them to sing patriotic songs before each session.

Obama is the strongest backer of integrity and unity in today's politics.  He refrains from personal slurs about Bush and Republican insulting, lying,Norquist puppets. When we we, the American public, get to hear who has really been running our lives during the past ten years?  Republicans have tried to make Obama as impotent as the current mayor of Pontiac Michigan but hadn't bargained on the intelligent and dedicated man he is to his fellow citizens as compared to Mitch McConnell, Eric Cantor, Boehner, Rove, Limbaugh and the rest who have made it clear that their goal is to make Obama a one-term president while they have offered not one suitable candidate to replace him.

We need to do more than wave flags, paint our faces, put on crazy sponge hats and sing songs.  We need to get more active to push for exposure of the forces leading us astray; we need to file suit against the Wall St. atrocities perpetrated on us.  The TeaPartiers chant about taking back our country.  No, they do not and never had it.  They need to support the country we have, not continue to hijack it.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO OUR TROUBLED COUNTRY

HAPPY BIRTHDAY.  AMERICA

MANY HAPPY RETURNS OF THE DAY

 

 

MY, HOW FADS DO CHANGE!

Some of us remember the days when one did not put a wine bottle with label on the dining table.  Instead, the wine was poured into an artistically designed decanter, often made of hand blown crystal,   I'm not sure when it changed but I assume it was when wine became more popular than hard liquor and became  chic.for connoisseurs

Cocktail parties are not what they used to be either.  Luscious and innovative appetizers replaced a meal as they were plentiful and filling and could be eaten standing up, holding only a tiny plate and a wine glass. They contained all the ingredients necessary to the daily diet in tidy little bites. Few people throw large 'cocktail parties' these days.  When they do, driver's don't drink.or announce themselves as 'the designated driver' and thus avoid the constant offers of alcoholic beverages.  AA people just avoid alcohol keeping the AA motto in mind:  "Let Go And Let God"

Julia Childs

Another change happened when our eating habits became healthier.  We all remember our beloved Julia Childs who cooked up French meals with butter, heavy cream, wine, and a gazillion additional, tasty calories in each bite.  There seem to be fewer home dinner parties.   It is far easier to coordinate a group to meet at a restaurant, each couple taking care of their own meal. Everyone gets to choose their own meal and a hostess is rescued from having to guess each person's taste, allergies, and idiosyncrasies while their children crowd around having to be told to get to bed throughout the evening. Perhaps, by now, you are saying as I am, "Gee, I haven't missed any of that."  

You might be lauded if you had the foresight to sell any of these fad tools at a yard sale while someone had yet to give up the fad and couldn't pass up your bargain (which probably sits in their basement, unused for the last forty years.  The last fad I will mention is that of the 'fondue'.  We made cheese fondue and let people grab a  fondue fork and drip melted cheese all over the place.  They also used a fork to dip strawberries in melted chocolate.  ( Actually, I think large versions of these can still be seen at weddings and similar functions at a dessert table but rarely at someone's home.). Worse, yet, were the fondue pots that held boiling oil in which people dipped thin sliced varieties of meat to be cooked at the table accompanied by sauces to dip in after the do-it-yourself cooking..


This hopefully proves there are some things which fade out for good reason and no one complains about wanting them back with the 'good old days'.