Wednesday, October 31, 2012

Happy Halloween!

Dee Dee's Halloween pumpkin. Click for a larger view. Dee Dee helped me scrape it out the pumpkin guts. Dad did the cutting.

c0 Halloween 2012 - Dee Dee with her Jack-o-lanternc0 Halloween 2012 - 2012-10-29_18-23-55_604

c0 Halloween 2012 - 2012-10-29_18-27-58_915Dee Dee's Halloween Pumpkin - 2012-10-29_18-27-40_798

c0 Halloween 2012 - Dee Dee with her Jack-o-lantern puppet from Holy Spiritc0 Halloween 2012 - Dee Dee with Jack-o-lantern - anyone in there

c0 Halloween 2012 - I tired to get some good low-light pictures, but the Droid wasn't coopperatingc0 Halloween 2012 - 2012-10-29_18-27-25_697

 

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Started: 2012-10-29

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party

We had Dee Dee's 4th birthday party Sunday. Mouse over the pictures to see captions. Click to see larger.

(I had an icing malfunction with the cake. It was an ice cream cake. Delicious. But after I'd written Happy Birthday on it, the #4 candle fell over. Lifting it back in position caused permanent icing damage. Maybe I'll do better with MiMi-Kayla-Marie-TeeBeeDee.)

c0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - birthday cake

c0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - the party's startingc0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - 2012-10-28_13-22-54_425c0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - 2012-10-28_13-19-40_745

c0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - blowing out the candles 2c0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - blowing out the candles 1

c0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - blowing out the candles 3c0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - Dee Dee and Abby

c0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - Charlie and Little Truc0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - Dee and Abbey

c0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - Matthew, Star and Owenc0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - Dee Dee and Little Tru Sekora

c0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - Mark and Rickc0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - opening presents 2

c0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - Matthew, Tru and Mariac0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - opening presents 1

c0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - Repunzelc0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - opening presents 3

c0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - opening presents 4c0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - Seth, Owen, Christine, Rain, Dee Dee, Abby, and Star


The party's over...

c0 Dee Dee's 4th Birthday Party Oct 28, 2012 - the party's over

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Monday, October 29, 2012

Go Shout at Someone Who Needs Convincing

1
Go Shout at Someone Who Needs Convincing

c0 angry mobAngry good scholarship is just as offensive as angry bad scholarship. I no more wish to hear "America's founding father's weren't Christian!" than "Evolution leads to atheism!"

You may be very right, but if you're shouting at me, or even holding an obviously more intransigent position than your words convey, I'll stop listening.

If I think you're incorrigibly wrong, there's no sense in me listening further. If I think you're incorrigibly right, go shout at someone else who needs convincing.[1]

[2010-10-27]

 

2
Neither More nor Less

c0 a puzzle with a piece missingA careful writer neither includes nor excludes anything without reason. His goal is to present a product that in some way would be diminished if anything were added or removed.

That's why the subtitle of "The Thumb Lottery"  is "A Short Story in 4 Acts," but only has three.

Always assume something is there for a reason.

You may sometimes correctly assume something is missing for a reason, too, though the class of "what's not there" is infinite, so that is a risky business, but can be equally interesting.

[2012-10-27]

 

3
Where old socks go when they die...

c0 Erma Bombeck"For as long as there have been washers and dryers, women have been plagued by the Bermuda Sock Triangle. For every pair of socks put in the laundry, only one is returned. .. I told my kids the other sock went to live with Jesus."

--Erma Bombeck, in Crockpot Sock, March 20, 1990

I read Erma Bombeck every day in the Erie Daily Times when I was a kid, along with Dear Abby, the editorial page, and the comics.

[2012-10-24]

c0

[1]
Operative word here is "incorrigible." When a person has lost all willingness to listen to opposing views and refine their own, we've moved from dialog to diatribe (which at one time was a classical rhetorical structure but now means one-sided attack).

A lot of progressive talk is getting this way. So is a lot of conservative posturing. I don't think Ann Coulter is right about much of anything, but she is a good example if intransigent conservatism, which I'm sure is perceived as a compliment:

Ann Coulter talks about Sununu's race remark and her tweet calling President Obama a "retard" on October 26 Piers Morgan

 

 

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Unfortunately, there will always be those who listen, and in great numbers, which is why the world gets their undies in a bunch when Ann Coulter's thumbs lose their connection with civil discourse.

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Sunday, October 28, 2012

Suitability and Propriety

1
We work out our moral sensibility through sitcoms.

c0 Marty Morrison played Jack De Leon on Barney Miller, one of the first recurring openly gay characters on TV.I remember seeing many TV episodes in the 70's that dealt with women who had posed for men's magazines and were struggling with the pictures coming out after they'd achieved some notoriety, or were marrying a man that was getting some notoriety, like a politician.

Invariably the story portrayed the woman as young, naive, needing money, and just making a poor judgment call; other characters would sympathize and tell the woman not to be ashamed, the human body is a beautiful thing.

Popular media is often a reflection of popular sentiment, and the 70's saw a lot of debate on pornography; episodes like this captured our anxiety and tolerance of the infant porn industry.

Those story lines were edgy for their time, but now seem naive, like Mrs Brady finding a pack of cigarettes in Greg's jacket, or Sheriff Taylor teaching Opie how to box so he can defend himself from a bully, or Barney Miller arresting a gay man and less enlightened characters thinking they can "catch" whatever he's got that makes him gay. [1]

[2010-10-26]


2
Say something else in that ear.

c0 Clarence talks to George after he pulls him out of the water. George is suddenly able to hear with an ear that's been deaf since a childhood accident. George says to Clarence, "Say something else in that ear." Clarence replies, "Sure. You can hear out of it.""God in his infinite wisdom has at every turn thwarted my attempts to gain an exaggerated sense of self-importance."

--Clarence 0ddbody

[2010-10-23]

 

3
Dress Codes

c0 Is there a metaphorical reason why many mannequins don't have heads?My office is business casual. Like most modern businesses, it has a very generous dress code that allows comfort and flexibility and conceals a cultural discomfort with certain parts of the human body.[2]

One of the rules is that you cannot wear jeans except on special days; these days are rare and often associated with large sporting events or business goals.

You can, if you wish, wear denim above the waist. Just not below.

I mentioned this fashion bipolarity many years ago to some colleagues that are no longer with the company. One responded with a good-natured laugh.

He saw the irony, but not the absurdity.[3]

[2012-10-23]

c0

[1]
I'm not gay, but had an abiding sympathy for characters like like Jack De Leon on Barney Miller, played by Marty Morrison. I didn't laugh at them, and they weren't scary; I wanted to get to know them; they somehow seemed gentle and safe. Perhaps there was a gay man in my youth that sensitized me to this; I don't know. There was no homophobia in my house, just as there was no racism or intolerance of other kinds; there was, however, a strong sense of right and wrong, and homosexuality was considered a sin. I do not share that view as an adult.

[2]
Social anthropologists 1,000 years hence will have a very clear picture of what those parts are by analyzing these rules. They have enormous cultural and linguistic value; they reveal how weather affects our dress, for example (which is practically unnecessary in a climate-controlled building), and how we use euphemistic language to refer to things we're uncomfortable addressing directly.

[3]
I suspect, but cannot be sure, that the prohibition against jeans stems from the large number of business leaders who rose from modest means and associate denim with manual labor. I believe my Grandpa Grandy, LaVerne E Grandy, probably fell into that category; as you may recall, he went from farm boy to SVP of GTE in the 1970s.

If you asked Grandpa why jeans shouldn't be worn to work, he might say something to the effect of, "Well, I don't know, probably for the same reason I don't wear my dress slacks when I'm gardening." It would be a matter of suitability, not propriety, at least not most of the time.

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Saturday, October 27, 2012

The Thumb Lottery

The Thumb Lottery: You Can't Live If You Don't Play
(A Short Story in 4 Acts)

c0 two hands, one showing thumbs up, th other showing thumbs down. The thumbs up hand is missing a thumb.A society is so overpopulated and resources so scarce, everyone has been praying for a disaster to control the population, but year after year, decade after decade, they live in peace with no plagues or earthquakes or famine to even take the edge off the exponential population boom.

But even though food and water are plentiful, space and jobs are not, and those with more and enough to spare don't share with those that have none.

c0 an image showing thousands of people crammed into a cityRealizing they cannot solve this problem by increasing their resources or teaching folks how to share, the entire country agrees to hold a 50/50 lottery. Each person above the age of 18, or upon turning 18, will go to a central location in each city and will press a button with their right thumb. The machine will respond by either A) indelibly tattooing the thumb with a red X, or B) doing nothing at all.

Half get a red X, half don't.

This becomes known as the Thumb Lottery.

Those that do not receive a red X may, at any time after turning 18, be eliminated by those that do have a red X.

Any person with a red X may at any time have an unmarked person killed, even for no other reason than because they cut them off in traffic, or gave their child a bad grade in school, or looked cross-eyed at them.

There arises a great black market in red X thumbs, because they can be removed and sewn on someone else.

Initially, anyone without a right thumb is considered safe, for it is assumed that they once had a thumb with a red X that was cut off by black marketeers. But eventually, to avoid being eliminated, people start removing their own right thumbs and say that their red X was stolen.

100 years later....

The population begins to adjust. Not everyone with a red X decides to kill another person; society is accustomed to many people with and without red X's living side by side. Occasionally, quietly, those without a red X will disappear, but this is done discretely and tolerated.

One day, a nonpartisan group decides the Thumb Lottery has met its goal and proposes they no longer force anyone to go through the lottery.

But there is wide protest, especially among those with red X's. "I went to the Thumb Lottery like everyone else," they say, "I pressed that button and I received my red X and I want to keep the rights that go along with it." Many without a red X agree because it sounds so reasonable and it's been the law for so long.

Then there is a great famine, and nearly all the people die.

1,000,000 years later...

c0 Emerald CityThey sky and oceans and rivers are clear. Vast tracts of wheat and corn separate large cities.Streets are airy and festive. Through a window we see a man having dinner with his family. It's a nice house, well lit, spacious, spartan, futuristic and otherworldly. As he raises a fork to his mouth, you notice he has no right thumb. He looks like any ordinary 21st Century man but for the missing thumb. He talks to his wife and children. They are all eating too. And as they raise their forks and drink from their cups and wipe their mouths and laugh as all families do, even a million years hence, you see that none of them have right thumbs, either.

Started: 2012-10-26

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Friday, October 26, 2012

Live the Dash

1
Into the Abyss

c0 This is the Lethal Injection Chamber at Nevada State Prison, in Carson City, NevadaLast night [2012-10-22] I watched Werner Herzog's riveting Into the Abyss, a documentary account of a triple murder in Conroe, Texas and the subsequent execution of one of the accused killers.

The former Death House Captain, Fred Allen, who was in charge of the team that strapped down the condemned, talked at some length about the execution of Karla Faye Tucker and his role in it. (He participated in 125 executions and resigned after that, forfeiting his pension, because the toll had simply become too great to bear any more.)

c0 this a closeup of two dates on a tombstone and the dash between them.The "dash," BTW, is everything that appears between the date of birth and date of death on your tombstone. It's a metaphor for life.

I remember the Karla Faye execution in 1998 well ( read more > ). It was the first execution I opposed along the development of my sensibilities regarding life and death (which are still developing). I didn't oppose it because Karla Faye found Jesus and deserved to be spared (everyone on Death Row finds Jesus[1]), but because by all accounts of those that knew her, the person being executed was not the same one who committed the crime.

If ever there was a defense of mercy for those that repent and reform, Karla Faye was it.

And we killed her.

And then-governor George W Bush, who denied her clemency, would later smirk and joke about it (source > ).[2]

Learn more about Into the Abyss here >

[2012-10-23]

2
They say you can tell a lot about a person by his bookshelf.

This is mine:

c0 the most important books in my small collection

Well, it's not a shelf so much, but a collection with bookends. I used to have a lot of book shelves, built into the wall of my study in my previous home. I dreamed of one day handing over thousands of volumes I'd read and studied to someone who wanted to care for them. But since I was a student of more classical periods that have long since fallen into the public domain, the digital age made paper books unnecessary, and so I have saved only those that have sentimental or financial value. There are more elsewhere in the house, but Capote was such an enormous influence on me, his books (and those related to him) have a special place on my desk.

The bookends are onyx and came from Millcreek Mall in Erie, PA back in the 1970's. There was a fellow selling Mexican onyx at a kiosk; he also sold chess sets, tikis, jewelry, and such. These bookends were actually a gif to Tom from Mom and Dad for Christmas, but somehow they wound up with me. I got a pair too, they were green. I don't know what happened to them. I bought  a green onyx chess set at the time from the same kiosk, very pretty but very impractical. It chipped and broke easily.

[2012-10-24]

c0

[1]
Is that surprising? No. Is that bad? No. Dire circumstances have a way of refining our perspective.

[2]
Mr Bush went on to renew the war in Iraq that resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and not a few Americans.

Over nonexistent weapons of mass destruction.

If Americans had paid attention to the levity with which the governor had dismissed Tucker's execution, this world might be shy one war right now.

c0

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Nuns on the Pill

1
Nuns on the Pill

c0 Sally Field as the Flying NunWow, now here's a conundrum ... "Doctors call for nuns to be given the Pill"

Not knowing the official reaction, I would guess that because the pill is not being used for contraception and is just a chemical like any other medicine, the Church would find nothing wrong with it.

But it is ironic. And to be sure, a health advantage for the celibate is coming by way of a practice condemned by orthodoxy.

[2012-10-24]

 

2
c0 Clarence talks to George after he pulls him out of the water. George is suddenly able to hear with an ear that's been deaf since a childhood accident. George says to Clarence, "Say something else in that ear." Clarence replies, "Sure. You can hear out of it."Say something else in that ear.

"You can no more capture Santa in a picture or a movie or a book than you can the taste of a candy cane."

--Clarence 0ddbody

[2012-10-15]

 

3
You know you're getting old when....

c0 a pair of socks... after getting out of the shower, you spend a minute looking around the room for the clean socks you put out and then realize you already put them on.

[2012-10-11]

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Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Schizochronistic

1
"Too much Alice cooper, too little Alice Faye."

c0 Kiss Destroyer album coverThat's a a line from the 1976 Paul Lynde Halloween Special with guest stars Kiss, Witchiepoo (Billie Hayes) and The Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton), among others.

Kiss was not allowed in my house when I was a boy. My brother Tom and I did try to watch this when it aired in 1976; when Kiss came on to perform their first number, Mom said "Turn it off. I won't have that in this house."[1]

c0 Paul Lynde doing his introductory stand up on his 1976 Halloween TV special.I just watched this same Paul Lynde special with my almost-4-year-old daughter Dee Dee, who liked seeing Margaret Hamilton dressed up again as her favorite witch. She said Kiss looked like scary monsters.

If you don't have a fondness for the era, it may fall a little flat, but you can watch the entire show here:

The Paul Lynde Halloween Special (1976)

If you can't watch the whole thing, at least watch this:

KISS 1976 - King Of The Night Time World

I played Kiss's "Destroyer" so much I wore the printing off the cassette tape. (Head phones let me rock 'n roll all night.) Believe it or not, at one time, Kiss was as big as Justin Beiber, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, and Ke$ha all rolled into one. Bigger.

Oh, and the two Alices didn't appear in this special. I like them both, in different ways and for different reasons. Phil Harris and Alice Faye are at the top of my list of Old Time Radio favorites. You can listen to a little of them here on a radio episode of their show, "Talented Children's Screen Test".


c0 Alice Cooperc0 Alice Faye

I'll coin a word for my condition: schizochronistic.

[2012-09-29]

 

2
c0 Clarence talks to George after he pulls him out of the water. George is suddenly able to hear with an ear that's been deaf since a childhood accident. George says to Clarence, "Say something else in that ear." Clarence replies, "Sure. You can hear out of it."Say something else in that ear.

"The spiritual connection one generation has with its own music is rarely shared by the next.

Just as every person who falls in love thinks no one else has ever felt that way, so each generation thinks no music has ever sounded or will ever sound as sweet.

--Clarence 0ddbody

[2012-10-09]

 

3
c0 Jesus on the crossOverheard

Q: Why did you convert?
A: It was late and I heard my mother calling.

[2012-10-20]

c0

[1]
My Grandma Grandy (Mom's mom) told me once of having the same reaction to Elvis swinging his hips on Ed Sullivan. But during the same period my mom was falling asleep listening to Love Me Tender on the radio; she thought Elvis was dreamy. Grandma Grandy also felt George Burns was behaving shamefully by having Vegas chorus girls hanging off each arm in the 1970's. She thought it was disrespectful to the memory of Gracie, George's wife and partner in vaudeville, radio, and TV for many years. That was one of the few times I saw sincere disappointment in Grandma Grandy.

He was devastated by the loss of Gracie. There is a clip of him being assisted by Jack Benny and others at the end of the committal at the cemetery. I can't find it, but it often appears in retrospectives.

Burns spanned a century, 1896–1996. He died at the age of 100, of pneumonia as I recall. He had been booked to perform for the Queen of England on his 100th birthday but was too ill.

c0

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

No DLE

1
Story Idea: No DLE

c0 Campbell's Soup canA man frequents a cafeteria that serves Campbell's soup out of vintage pots. The contents of each pot are handwritten on small chalkboards that hang from the pots.

Since the cafeteria serves the same soups day after day, it uses the same signs day after day, and the signs become smudged as they are bumped by patrons ladling soup.

One of the pots holds chicken noodle soup and the second "o" in "noodle" has been brushed away by hundreds of shirtsleeves brushing it each day.

The hero of the our story sees this every day and comments every day: "I'll have the chicken with no DLE. Ha ha ha!"

c0 vintage Campbell's Soup delivery truckLater in the story, the hero gets hit by a Campbell's Soup delivery truck. When the EMTs arrive, he looks up at the truck and whispers, "No DLE, no DLE," and then he dies.

One EMT says to the other, "Did you get that? What do you think... a name? An address?"

The other replies, "I guess we'll never know," and pulls a blanket over the dead man's face.

2
Religion... [and] economics... both grow out of the nature of human societies

"Everyone grows up inside some tradition, under some authority and given some revelation – those are three things that every parent provides for their children, and which children will always find, even if they have to create it. ... Religion is not something imposed on us by priests any more than economics is imposed on us by bankers. Both grow out of the nature of human societies."
--Andrew Brown guardian.co.uk

3
Say something else in that ear.

c0 Clarence talks to George after he pulls him out of the water. George is suddenly able to hear with an ear that's been deaf since a childhood accident. George says to Clarence, "Say something else in that ear." Clarence replies, "Sure. You can hear out of it.""Americans are in love with voting. They don't care much what they're voting about."
--Clarence 0ddbody

 

c0

[1]
I once worked at a big retailer that had a cafe that served soup in this manner. I remarked a number of times, "Why is that soup missing DLE?" The cashier never supplied the missing "o," nor even a humorless smile.

Started: 2012-10-11

Monday, October 22, 2012

Another reason why abortion matters so little to so many...

c0 baby in womb sucking thumbWhy is abortion acceptable to so many people? It's someone else's baby.

We are evolved creatures; there are many examples in the animal kingdom of one member of a species killing the offspring of another member of the same species. I suspect we have some of that left in us, and are only seeing the application in a new context and on an industrialized scale.[1]

However, we rely on ethical frameworks to manage our health and safety, individually and corporately. The same sensibility that gives me a free flu shot each year also establishes laws against jay walking. I am given opportunities every day to protect myself and others by adjusting my behavior. Guidelines around these opportunities are based on a set of shared values regarding human life, safety, privacy, decency, etc. (Eg, we don't we sell liquor and XXX materials near schools and churches.)

That is only prologue to this: Deciding what is alive and not, and who lives or not (sterilization, abortion, euthanasia, capital punishment, etc), are moral and ethical discussions. And if you're going to have these discussions, you have to listen to religious perspectives you may not agree with.

The presence of a deity in a perspective doesn't invalidate it any more than an absence legitimizes it.

An evolutionary perspective doesn't explain why some mothers are not repulsed at aborting their own babies. I believe that is a modern psychological phenomenon that's grown out of refusal to fully acknowledge that conditions have obligations and actions have consequences (so sex is divorced from procreation, procreation from parenthood, parenthood from nurturing, family from community, etc.).[2]

(Many who've had an abortion are actually terribly distressed; I think the public anger from some women may in part be an attempt to mask that. The anger from men I've addressed elsewhere - "Why Some Men Support a Woman's Right to Abortion" .)

c0

[1]
I.e, indifference may be programmed into us. I've not seen this idea anywhere else, but it seems too obvious not to have been observed before. Of course, you certainly wouldn't find it used as a defense of abortion, since most on that side of the debate wish to retain other moral standards that a purely evolutionary defense would remove.

I find it personally reassuring to believe aborted children have a life elsewhere that they were denied on earth.

[2]
How do conditions have obligations? Good Samaritan laws, for example, or being charged with accessory even if you didn't commit a crime. Communities recognize that we have some responsibilities when we find ourselves in some situations; ignoring that can range from rudeness to criminality.

c0

Started: 2012-10-21

Sunday, October 21, 2012

How dare you. (Or: We need some stairway speeches.)

c0 spiral staircase; imagine the conversations you could have with a politician if you could bend his ear from top to bottom.I finally threw in the towel on the issues this election year. I was watching a TV ad on Prop 2 in Michigan[1] and couldn't take it anymore.

How dare you manipulate the facts and then hold me accountable for making an informed decision at the polls.

I hadn't heard about this issue until a few days ago, and now both sides of this debate are dancing like a couple preschoolers that have to go to the bathroom.

The presidential race is no better.

I went straight through disgust and into indignation, where I am comfortably seething and will continue to do so until I walk into the voting booth.

c0

For crying out loud, tell it like it is and let your constituents use their brains to make a choice. That is what it's about, isn't it?

c0


c0 detail from the movie poster for No, that's not what it's about. It's about focusing on irrelevant or peripheral facts ("Mr. President, have you looked at your pension?") to avoid examining something more complicated and interesting ("My mega gabillion dollars are handled by a blind trust. Did you hear the word blind? That means I'm not responsible for what others do with my money.")

At one point in the second debate, both Romney and Obama had the chance to discuss HHS and they both blew it. Obama says Romney is anti-contraception and all Romney can say is "No I'm not, no I'm not, you stop saying that."

It took CNN, God bless 'em (sometimes), to point out from a conservative woman's perspective that HHS is not about preventing women from getting access to contraception, but about the constitutional protection of religious conscience. Period. BIG period.

But you won't hear Obama say that. He'll allow a misunderstanding that assists him.

And you won't hear Romney say that, because... well... I don't think he understands it. Too bad, he's got a winner there and doesn't know it. But my guess he's better skilled at hearing a host of elevator speeches and making an executive decision, not crafting a good elevator speech.

I think we need some stairway speeches - long-winded knock-down drag-out stairway speeches, 10 flights at least - where both of these candidates tell me enough of the truth so I can make up my own mind.

c0



c0 shredded constitutionNPR, commenting on the contraception debate, used a soundbite of a woman who said something to the effect "we have more important things to worry about," but the story was meant to give insight into what was important, not if it should or should not be important, so there was no editorial comment.

By which the listener may assume the issue really is unimportant. If you dismiss something, even by editorial omission, you can get others to dismiss it too.

And someday, when enough people want to make another exception to the Constitution, it just may be something more of us do think is important.

The beauty of a constitutional democracy is that at any one point in time, it doesn't matter what popular opinion is, it matters what the law says. It survives shifting opinions, which are more often the face of competing agendas, not nationwide consensus.

c0

Vote Yes on Michigan Prop 2


Vote No on Michigan Prop 2

c0


Related:
Study links 45,000 U.S. deaths to lack of insurance . Source >

About four in 10 American pregnancies are terminated by abortion. From 1973 through 2008, nearly 50 million legal abortions occurred. Source >

A vote for either Romney or Obama will elect a man who will directly contribute to the deaths of those who are too weak, poor, marginalized, or small to protect themselves.

That is not a choice.

c0


c0 yard full of political signsThe sad fact is that those running for office don't care what I think, as long as there are enough folks who aren't thinking.

It's a numbers game. It's not about you or me or aborted fetuses or the poor schlemiel that doesn't go to the doctor until it's too late because he can't afford it.

When I see a yard full of political signs I see someone desperate to belong to something bigger than themselves and manipulated into thinking they do.

c0

[1]
Ballot Pedia article on Michigan "Protect Our Jobs" Amendment, Proposal 2 (2012)

c0

Started: 2012-10-19

Saturday, October 20, 2012

A 7th Grade Memory: Calories


1
A 7th Grade Memory: Calories

c0 This building held both Bethel Bethel Baptist Church and Bethel Christian School back in the 70s. It resided at 737 E. 26th Street in Erie, PA. The building is still there but it has a different address. I think 737 belonged to the parsonage, which has since been torn down.In 7th grade science class at Bethel Christian School (back when it was at 737 E. 26th Street in Erie, PA) , we were studying nutrition in Mr Rodney Blystone's class. Calories were being discussed that day.

I was confused. I raised my hand and asked, "Since no one likes calories, why don't we just take them out?"

A classmate enlightened me in front of the others.[1] But I still didn't understand at the end of the hour. If calories are something "in" something else, why we can't just take them out?

I did understand the concept of attributes and qualities, so it wasn't incomprehensible to me.

I think perhaps because that era saw the beginning of low-calorie, reduced-fat, fat-free etc, I presumed there was a process for removing the offending attributes rather than creating the product without them in the first place.

It's not the only time my sensitivity to word formation has incorrectly informed my understanding. It can be a little embarrassing.

[2012-10-12]

2
Life

c0 Mathuran BuddhaDoes "life" have an attribute apart from size, intelligence, self-awareness, etc that adheres to all creatures that possess it?

Is something lost at the death of an insect that is in some way identical to something lost when a human dies?

There is a story told of the Buddha (IIRC) whose enlightenment was sparked by seeing the destruction of a termite hill; he pondered something similar.

[2012-10-19]

3
Overheard

"Well done, though stupid and faithful servant."
--Fr John Riccardo, 2012-10-19, taped broadcast.

[2012-10-19]

c0

[1]
Jerry Beers, whom I found and lost online some years ago and respected a great deal. He became a minister; Wesleyan, I believe. He was a very good storyteller and told me when we reconnected all those years ago that he was known for that still.

Jerry Beers from Bethel Christian School in Erie, PA, if you're still out there, look me up here >

c0

Friday, October 19, 2012

Your First Something

1
My Grandpa Cairns's tie clip. He got it after 30 years with Loblaws.

c0 My Grandpa Cairns's tie clip. He got it after 30 years with Loblaws

[2012-10-18]

2
A cardinal that decorated my father's casket as part of a floral arrangement.


c0 A cardinal that decorated my father's casket
[2012-10-18]

3
Say something else in that ear.

c0 Clarence talks to George after he pulls him out of the water."Your first something is always special, even if it's a cheap something."
--Clarence 0ddbody

 

 


c0 a 1969 Dodge Dartc0 vintage elementrary school teacherc0 an old beat up biblec0 a child's plastic rosary

[2012-10-18]

Thursday, October 18, 2012

A 7th Grade Memory

1
A 7th Grade Memory

c0 I will not be a dunce, I will not be a dunce, I will not be a dunce...I went to an evangelical Christian school grades 7-9.

My 7th grade English teacher, Miss M, was commenting on some poem or other and asked rhetorically if God lived in outer space.

My resounding "noooooo" must have risen above all the other "no's" rising from the class, for she looked at me directly and said, "Mr Oddbody, did you know that astronaut So-and-So met Jesus on his Apollo mission?"

Oh boy. She played the trump card. She used "Jesus" in her rebuttal.

I tried to explain that my "no" meant that God obviously didn't "live" anywhere in particular, but it was too late, I could tell by the dismissive stares of my fellow 7th graders that I had lost that one, and so I stared at my desk, upon which I imagined myself repeatedly banging my head, dummy dummy dummy...

[2012-10-17]

2
Dislike Button

c0 inverted Facebook Like Button, or a I wish you could unlike something on Facebook without liking it first, sort of a thumbs down option.

[2012-10-09]

3
So Much Depends upon a Red Wheel Barrow

c0 picture of an old red wheelbarrow in overgrown grass, from http://fineartamerica.com/featured/old-wheelbarrow-susan-leggett.htmlI saw this poem at my neighborhood post office. It had been scribbled down on a piece of paper and slipped under the protective glass at the counter.

so much depends
upon
a red wheel
barrow
glazed with rain
water
beside the white
chickens.

The poem is by William Carlos Williams. It is so delicate and small, like a little filigreed locket. Learn more about the poem here > .  It reminded me of Robert Frost, whom I regret never learning to appreciate as much as I should.

[2012-10-13]

c0

Wednesday, October 17, 2012

Just His Way: A Grandpa Grandy Story

c0 coffee and donutsA long time ago, I helped paint Bethel West with my Grandpa Grandy and other men at the men's Saturday morning prayer breakfast. This was when Bethel Baptist Church had two locations, one on the east side of town at 737 East 26th Street in Erie, PA, and one on the west side, at 1781 W 38th Street in Erie, PA. We were painting the one on the west side, which is now Bethel Baptist Church's only location.

c0 This is H & K Do Nut Shop at 3712 W Lake Rd in Erie, PAThe breakfast was donuts and coffee. Grandpa was in charge of picking up the donuts. He always went to H&K, which was on the way, and is still in the same spot, 3712 W Lake Rd in Erie. Erie, PA . (The name on the sign is "H & K Do Nut Shop"  )

After a donut and some chit chat, the men took their coffee with them into smaller prayer groups. As I recall, there was a brief time set aside to collect and update prayer requests, then the leader would say a short prayer and then pause. The pause was an invitation for another man in the group to pray aloud. After a few men prayed, a long pause would indicate no one else wished to pray aloud and the leader would close, adding an A-men, which was always saved until the end (sometimes folks had to be reminded of that), so the experience could be shared as as single prayer.

(It wasn't the end of the world if someone uttered a premature "A-men"; wasn't like the prayer didn't count or something; it was just sort of a "fellowship faux pas".)

We met and painted for many weeks. I learned a great deal from those men. I was the only boy in the group and they chose their words with some care, hoping, I suspect, that I would be influenced well by my time there.

They were all church members, regular goers, upstanding men. Not a one was any different painting the church than they were sitting in a pew on Sunday morning, except they dressed different.[1]

(Baptists are that way. If you meet a good Baptist, you've met the real deal, whether you're working or playing or worshiping.)

Now the reason for this entry: There was a man who didn't pray with us. He had a cup of coffee, ate a donut, talked with all the other men, then when it came time to split up into prayer groups, he got a paint brush and can of paint and went to work alone.

I asked my grandpa, "Why doesn't that man pray with us?"

He said, "Oh, it's just his way."

That is probably the single wisest observation my Grandpa Grandy ever made in my presence. It's loaded with sensitivity, restraint, tolerance, respect, and grace.

Many Christians would have used this man as an object lesson on prayer or fellowship, but not Grandpa.

It said to me, among other things:

* I'm not going to judge that man
* You don't have to pray with me to earn my respect
* I have an opinion but I don't need to share it
* I am happy he's here helping, there's a lot of work to do
* There are days I feel that way too
* Cut others some slack when you don't know what they might be going through
* Other folks have different ways and deserve the space to practice them.

Grandpa Grandy said many other good things, and I will share some more here someday, but this one thing is likely more significant to me than any other.

c0

Grandpa Grandy retired as senior VP of General Telephone and Electric. He was a very important man, but also very private. No one knew his accomplishments and the respect his peers had for him until after he died and the family went through his papers. I have some of those and will post them as time permits.

c0

[1]
I was very young and don't remember who all those men were, but these men were among them:

LaVerne E Grandy (my grandpa)
Hoddy Bierer, Dana Bierer, and Dana's younger brother, Brad
Russ Amendola
George Nicewonger

There were many men that joined us, 20 or so on a good morning. My father worked, or he would have been there too. Saturday morning in the grocery business is a busy time.

c0

Started: 2012-08-27

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Why Christmas is starting earlier and earlier (and earlier)

c0 Dee Dee Jean  Cairns, Christmas 2009There are two reasons (at least):

1. Retailers are constantly looking for ways to increase year-over-year sales. One way to do this (there are many) is to start a season earlier and run it longer. That part isn't rocket science.

2. The other occurred to me today [2012-10-09]: Christmas is an emotional fix losing its effectiveness in the modern age; each year, we need a little more a little earlier to attain the same high.[1]

The Christmas season recalls childhood and simpler times, allows one day of hope for unlikely things like a world hug, and grants one moment, however brief, in which we have no other responsibilities than satisfying ourselves to excess and cleaning up afterward.

c0 Santa's Rx for a silent night.Why is this emotional fix losing its effectiveness?

1. We have a cultural memory that something ought to be at the center of this annual celebration.

2. But that memory is of a religious belief long since discarded.

3. So we look in vain to find it, and unable to do so, invent something we think can take its place.

4. But it doesn't, so we try harder, and retailers, as much a part of the cultural memory as we are, offer to help us.

We chase a shadow unawares in and out of yesteryear.

We read about Scrooge, who learned to keep Christmas well; we watch George Baily restored after learning what life would be like if he'd never been born; and we listen to Linus tell us "that's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."

Year after year.

And we still don't get it..

Instead we spend and overspend and outspend, thinking we can buy it.

And we can't.

It's not for sale.

c0 the happy Grinch, after he discovers the true meaning of Christmas"Maybe Christmas," he thought, "doesn't come from a store.
Maybe Christmas - perhaps - means a little bit more."
--The Grinch

c0

When How the Grinch Stole Christmas was written, Dr Seuss didn't need to declare openly what Christmas really meant; viewers knew why the Grinch's heart grew three sizes that day. That was almost 50 years ago. Lest there be any doubt: Christmas is about the birth of the Jesus, who grew up to die for the redemption of mankind.

c0

[1]
This is repeated on a miniature scale with breakfast cereals that promise a happy new day, cars and beers and deodorants that make men irresistible to women, and presidents that are going to fix the world.

c0

Started: 2012-10-09