...in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's words about language and words that fall on ears that can't discriminate between rhetoric and truth? Will the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Bill O'Reilly be (finally) held responsible for the deceitful webs they weave when they say things like, "In Obama's America, it's now okay for black kids to beat up white kids"? They should. Next week I'll be hearing from my mother that black kids are beating up white kids all across the Union, and Obama ordered them to do it, because he's going to make sure the black people get their dues.
I guess this is the flip (and evil) side of freedom of speech - the right to say things that can cause widespread and irreparable harm to many people and not be held accountable. In otherwords, be a blabber-mouthed, ignorant ass and make lots of money and get away with it.
We have got to start boycotting these people. Choose your words more carefully and civilly or we won't watch or listen to you.
The saddest thing to me is the way in which the hopeful, beautiful mix of races and ethnicities that came together in Grant Park now seems like an impossibility and we find ourselves slogging through ignorant, racist garbage. Leave it to the right to kill hope. It's what they do best.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Monday, May 11, 2009
Saturday, May 9, 2009
Spring Observations In the Garden
I love the life pushing out of the earth!
There are two mating pairs of geese in Spring Creek. One pair has produced 10 babies. Last year I think they had a brood of over a dozen. Either they're adopting, or just very fruitful! I know they're a nuisance but I love to watch them raise their young.
My Jack-In-The-Pulpit is blooming this year; that's a fitting flower for a minister!
The woodchuck took out my Korean lilac. If I want to plant a new one, they have 'em at the garden center in Greenleaf for less than I paid for this one! The lilac reminded me of Hyde Park in Chicago, where the yards around the brownstones are often fenced by blooming lilacs in the spring.
Why did the red fox cross Hwy 10? I don't know, but he sure looked preeetttyyy....
Once in awhile, I'm sitting in the swing, enjoying the view across the "mighty fine swamp", and a white heron rises out of the grass and takes flight over the marsh. Wow.
The orioles are back, but they haven't found my jars of jelly yet. In the meantime, an indigo bunting finished up the seed in the dish feeder, and the cedar wax wings finished up the crabapples and pecked at my apple blossoms (must've been a few bugs in there?)
The orioles found the jars of jelly today (5/20).
A little sparrow tries to get a very wide stick into a little hole for her nest. I watch her try and try to poke the stick through sideways. Finally, she flips it in her beak so one end is short and the other end long, and she slides sideways into the hole with her find. I'll never consider the term "bird-brained" in the same way!
There are two mating pairs of geese in Spring Creek. One pair has produced 10 babies. Last year I think they had a brood of over a dozen. Either they're adopting, or just very fruitful! I know they're a nuisance but I love to watch them raise their young.
My Jack-In-The-Pulpit is blooming this year; that's a fitting flower for a minister!
The woodchuck took out my Korean lilac. If I want to plant a new one, they have 'em at the garden center in Greenleaf for less than I paid for this one! The lilac reminded me of Hyde Park in Chicago, where the yards around the brownstones are often fenced by blooming lilacs in the spring.
Why did the red fox cross Hwy 10? I don't know, but he sure looked preeetttyyy....
Once in awhile, I'm sitting in the swing, enjoying the view across the "mighty fine swamp", and a white heron rises out of the grass and takes flight over the marsh. Wow.
The orioles are back, but they haven't found my jars of jelly yet. In the meantime, an indigo bunting finished up the seed in the dish feeder, and the cedar wax wings finished up the crabapples and pecked at my apple blossoms (must've been a few bugs in there?)
The orioles found the jars of jelly today (5/20).
A little sparrow tries to get a very wide stick into a little hole for her nest. I watch her try and try to poke the stick through sideways. Finally, she flips it in her beak so one end is short and the other end long, and she slides sideways into the hole with her find. I'll never consider the term "bird-brained" in the same way!
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Ahhhhhh....
I got to spend a few minutes in the garden this afternoon. The sun is setting in the west, and the whole yard is washed in gold. I refilled the bird feeders, cursed the blackbirds and grackles (who eat up ALL the food) and made a mental note to go get more suet for the woodpeckers. We have every kind of woodpecker in the yard. Something chewed down my Korean lilac (I hope it comes back) and did me the kindness of trimming the raspberries while they were at it - this year's canes and last year's canes. Oh, well. They'll return. If whatever's eating them doesn't come and eat them again!
I ordered 2 yards of compost for the garden (which will be more than I need, but I'll use the difference for my earth boxes and plant pots.) I opened the garden shed to see if anything had taken up residence this winter, and all was neatly in place. Grabbed the wheelbarrow and some hand hoes. I'll put in some of those spring onion seeds, and see if anything happens. Swiped at a few dead green bean stalks (those go in the yard this year - they were a mess on the deck). I'm getting all fired up...the smell of the damp dirt, paging through a book on tree diseases at the garden center.
Last week I noticed the first of the chives pushing through the debris (the garden is full of leaves). Our first and favorite meal from the garden...potatoes with butter and chives...I can taste it now!
I plan to spend most mornings in the garden, before I write each day.
I ordered 2 yards of compost for the garden (which will be more than I need, but I'll use the difference for my earth boxes and plant pots.) I opened the garden shed to see if anything had taken up residence this winter, and all was neatly in place. Grabbed the wheelbarrow and some hand hoes. I'll put in some of those spring onion seeds, and see if anything happens. Swiped at a few dead green bean stalks (those go in the yard this year - they were a mess on the deck). I'm getting all fired up...the smell of the damp dirt, paging through a book on tree diseases at the garden center.
Last week I noticed the first of the chives pushing through the debris (the garden is full of leaves). Our first and favorite meal from the garden...potatoes with butter and chives...I can taste it now!
I plan to spend most mornings in the garden, before I write each day.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
What Are They Thinking?
Having negotiated the roundabout of government social services - and I want to say up front that folks I dealt with were kind, courteous, informed and helpful - I still have to shake my head. How does someone without funds or resources manage to get what they need?
If you have a pay-as-you go cellphone - and limited money for minutes - how can you call in and leave a message and be available - and hope your phone won't die? If the car you've got is broken down and works sporadically, how can you drive to a job interview? If you need the high-risk health insurance but you don't have $$ to put in a down payment (it stands to reason if you're losing your health insurance you probably don't have an income, so where in the heck are you supposed to find three months' worth of insurance premiums?) what do you do? Not to mention the complexity of it all.
I called yesterday on my Social Security "ticket-to-work" - to find out if I qualified, through DVR, for assistance with tuition at Lakeshore Tech. All they offered was a list for me to go through (they put it in the mail); now I have to figure it out. Honestly! How does someone without an advanced college degree manage to sort through all this????
I literally spent the entire day yesterday dealing with insurance and health and income issues. It's practically a full-time job in and of itself. I apologize for whining, but then I think someone not as privileged as me, or as educated, would have a really difficult time with all of it. It needs to be simplified. (And I will testify that the Social Security Administration does a much better job of keeping house than my "for-profit" disability insurance company. Mutual of Omaha could learn a few things.)
If you have a pay-as-you go cellphone - and limited money for minutes - how can you call in and leave a message and be available - and hope your phone won't die? If the car you've got is broken down and works sporadically, how can you drive to a job interview? If you need the high-risk health insurance but you don't have $$ to put in a down payment (it stands to reason if you're losing your health insurance you probably don't have an income, so where in the heck are you supposed to find three months' worth of insurance premiums?) what do you do? Not to mention the complexity of it all.
I called yesterday on my Social Security "ticket-to-work" - to find out if I qualified, through DVR, for assistance with tuition at Lakeshore Tech. All they offered was a list for me to go through (they put it in the mail); now I have to figure it out. Honestly! How does someone without an advanced college degree manage to sort through all this????
I literally spent the entire day yesterday dealing with insurance and health and income issues. It's practically a full-time job in and of itself. I apologize for whining, but then I think someone not as privileged as me, or as educated, would have a really difficult time with all of it. It needs to be simplified. (And I will testify that the Social Security Administration does a much better job of keeping house than my "for-profit" disability insurance company. Mutual of Omaha could learn a few things.)
Monday, March 23, 2009
Cosmopolitan Iowa
I have a theory that Iowans seem just a bit more sophisticated, a bit sharper around the edges, than your average midwesterner - because I-80 runs through the center of the state.
Driving home from Grinnell, after a really pleasant weekend (day) with my daughter, I checked out license plates as I headed east/northeast home to Green Bay. "New Mexico"..."Texas"..."Oregon"..."Arkansas". I-80 is the great leveler - fancy car, rusted out junker, all pass along I-80 to get from here to there.
All this diversity has had its impact on the good Dutch Christians in the land of corn and hogs. They are accustomed to strangers; they, in fact, welcome them by placing comfort stations at least five miles from the highway (a clever ploy to get us to drive into the center of town and buy our gas from locals! Those Iowans are smart!)
You can preach a sermon and quote Wendell Barry and they'll know who you're talking about. They don't ask "who's Paul?" and wonder when he joined the church. No, they know who Paul is. And these hog-and-corn farmers know who John Updike is, too. It's scary.
A person has to be on top of things when hostessing all this diversity, what with the scholars and the truckers and the Wal-Mart checkers finding their way across the state. So Iowans stay sharp, keep watch, and direct us to the way station in a way that makes everyone happy. Go, Iowa!
Driving home from Grinnell, after a really pleasant weekend (day) with my daughter, I checked out license plates as I headed east/northeast home to Green Bay. "New Mexico"..."Texas"..."Oregon"..."Arkansas". I-80 is the great leveler - fancy car, rusted out junker, all pass along I-80 to get from here to there.
All this diversity has had its impact on the good Dutch Christians in the land of corn and hogs. They are accustomed to strangers; they, in fact, welcome them by placing comfort stations at least five miles from the highway (a clever ploy to get us to drive into the center of town and buy our gas from locals! Those Iowans are smart!)
You can preach a sermon and quote Wendell Barry and they'll know who you're talking about. They don't ask "who's Paul?" and wonder when he joined the church. No, they know who Paul is. And these hog-and-corn farmers know who John Updike is, too. It's scary.
A person has to be on top of things when hostessing all this diversity, what with the scholars and the truckers and the Wal-Mart checkers finding their way across the state. So Iowans stay sharp, keep watch, and direct us to the way station in a way that makes everyone happy. Go, Iowa!
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