A Simple Smiting Will Suffice, Please! -- a prayer

Dear God,

Here we are in 21st Century America, and there is a huge group of people that just don't get it about the Word of God, err, your letter to your people. Your children don't seem to want to read your word. The reality is that the reality of the Bible is forgot in all the hype and hoopla surrounding the election, err coronation, of a new leader for the body politic. And one group goes on and on about how wonderful it would be to have Armageddon in our lifetime, all while doing everything in their power to do exactly that. Make the world blow itself to kingdom come.

Now, this wouldn't be Your Armageddon. It would be our very own, self destructive, burn the earth to a toasty crisp, Armageddon. Billions would die, and all the beautiful places in the countries of the currently richest and most powerful nations, would be uninhabitable for Millenia, not just generations, or eons, to come.

Don't they know? Armageddon is Your Plan, not our own? And the fire of Armageddon, done Your Way, might not be a nuclear holocaust?

These people, self anointed with the power to run the country, seem also to forget that You control the timing. And You will determine, You alone, will decide when it is right to send Jesus back to earth.

It is not in our power, nor is it our right, to usurp Your power, to muddle in Your plan. It is our right, as your people, only to have dominion, not domination, over the earth. It is our duty only to love one another as You love us. That would be your kind of loving, not destructive, burn the Earth, or render its inhabitants Krispy Kritters.

Some of these folk even proclaim they know the sequence of events, and that You will "Rapture" them out of here, sending them to Heaven on "clouds of glory". All of this "flying away" will happen before Armageddon gets really dicey down here, and before Jesus comes back. Except, when one reads your Letter to Your People, AKA the Bible, it's not quite like that in those pages. The Rapture clearly comes after Jesus comes back, the false Jesus. And AFTER all the suffering of Armageddon begins in earnest.

Those are the folk who think it fine to use up the Earth, destroy it if necessary, so that they can get all the power and money and glory they are able to accumulate, in Earthly terms, all while allowing, encouraging, and making possible, the greatest possible suffering of the Billions here on Your Earth.

They have been in charge of slipshod levee systems, have allowed drowning of a huge
American city, been negligent in seeking peace, been activists in seeking war, have lied nations into battles, have encouraged the waste and killing, of millions, have declared a War on all who don't believe what they believe, even as what they believe is not even in Your Word, Your Letter to Your People, Your Bible.

Now, I don't have a doctorate in theology. I don't have a degree in ministry. I do have a deep and abiding love of my God, and Your People. All of them. I also love the Bible, and I love the Jesus of love, the one that corrects lovingly, that puts and keeps us on the correct path, by following the Great Commandment -- to treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves.

But sometimes God, a simple little smiting is required when things are going so far out of control that there is no way for humans to get a grip any longer.

It's Been Too Long

Nearly eight years ago, we were faced with the choice of a guy you'd like to have a beer with, or the leadership of a person with a real, functioning brain between the ears. We chose, or it was chosen for us, to get the beer drinking buddy.

Now, we are in the position of electing one whose record as resident of a prison camp, a senator who is a follower in the vein of Bush, a cookie cutter leader, with a cookie baking Mom at his side, or a law professor, with some experience in state and national governments.

The fact is, neither candidate is attending to the Constitution, and both have participated in the undoing of the Bill of Rights. The law professor, who was possibly only an adjunct member of the faculty of one of the best law schools in the country, should know better. The former POW should know that the Bill of Rights, if present lawmaking trends continue, will result in tyranny, dictatorship, and the worst nightmares of the founding fathers of this once great nation.

We've been treated to scandal in the Veep Sweeps, won by a Hockey Mom and a vocal supporter of a war based on lies.

Is this really the best this nation can do for its people?

Really?

I think not.

We have, in my hometown, a police state where "preemptive arrests" are taking place to silence dissent, to squelch assembly, and to prevent those messy things like vocalizations of people who simply want their voices heard. We didn't used to have "preemptive" anything in law enforcement.

Is this the result of our two wars of choice? We invaded Afghanistan and Iraq after a gang of thugs run by a dialysis patient from a cave in the Pakistan/Afghanistan border regions allegedly brought down 3 buildings in New York and caused the most protected airspace in the world to be invaded by a supposedly unarmed passenger jet, lo these seven years ago. Since then, we have heard, "noun, verb, 911". It has motivated everything except sense.

"They hate us for our freedoms", so our government has dis-assembled those freedoms. Are we more "liked" by those that "hated us", as a result of this liberty-grab? I think not.

Did we apply good common sense, law enforcement to the gang of invaders?

Did we galvanize anything other than fear in the wake of those attacks?

Did we strengthen our resolve to honor and adhere to the rule of law in the wake of terrorism?

Are we safer now? Will we ever be safe with these policies? Can removal of human rights from humans result in a citizenry of this nation, or the world, being admirers of what was once the "shining beacon on a hill"?

We need our Constitution back. Go out and demand that. It has been too long since the day when peaceable assembly for presentation of demands upon our government for their adherence to law and upholding principles of human rights, has been applauded.

I may not agree with everything a protester may say, but I will sacrifice to my dying breath for their right to their voice. If our leaders do not show that same resolve, then bring in other leaders.

Spare us the ideology, give us the substance of what has been missing far too long in this nation. Give us back our Constitution, and let the chips fall where they may. What worked for Jefferson, just might work even better in a world, now more aware of the value of democratic ideals.

We cannot impose on others what we deny to ourselves. We cannot be an example to others, if our actions belie our words. Forget the spin and palaver. Give me a braniac who knows and loves the Constitution. Count every vote as cast. Register every citizen. And for goodness sake, let us put fear behind us. It is no way to show our real strength as a nation, a nation of laws, not of men.

Don't Presume to Tell Me...

Who decides what you put in your mouth?

I like to think that I am in control on such decisions.

Chocolate for breakfast? My choice.

Dried fruit in the lentil stew? Again, 'tis I deciding.

Milk and cereal? With bananas? Well, sure -- that's my choice, right?

Food that is 'better living -- or not' through chemistry and biomanipulation of the genome of the plants that produce foods, well, if I don't want it, I can avoid it, right?

Right?

Wrong.

Writing in his blog, Stephen Lendman stated words that brought a chill to my heart and a cramp to my tummy.

Genetically engineered foods saturate our diet today. In the US alone, over 80% of all processed foods contain them. Others include grains like rice, corn and wheat; legumes like soybeans and soy products; vegetable oils, soft drinks; salad dressings; vegetables and fruits; dairy products including eggs; meat, chicken, pork and other animal products; and even infant formula plus a vast array of hidden additives and ingredients in processed foods (like in tomato sauce, ice cream, margarine and peanut butter). Consumers don't know what they're eating because labeling is prohibited, yet the danger is clear. Independently conducted studies show the more of these foods we eat, the greater the potential harm to our health.

SteveLendmanBlog

Now, you may think that the FDA or the Department of Agriculture has some say in what I put in my mouth. And they do. They are supposed to certify that what I eat is safe, wholesome and what it appears to be. Food. Nutritious, like fresh fruit and veg, or pure milk, or non-toxic cheeses or meat that doesn't come from an abattoir specializing in 'downer cattle'. That is their job.

They are also to certify that the bad effects of non-nutritious foods are limited to empty calories and 'it'll get you eventually if you keep eating chocolate for breakfast'. That also is their job.

But, the FDA and the Department of Agriculture are NOT, in my humble opinion, to tell me that the foods that I eat are 'wholesome', if they contain Genetically Modified stuff in them. We've not done the testing on those for sufficient periods of time to figure out if they are, in fact, healthful for the generational haul, or 25 years, whichever comes last.

And they haven't. Tested long term that is. Nor have they tested these foods on so many fronts.

Are GM crops bad for bees?

We don't know.

Do GM foods alter the genome of the consuming animal? After all, no matter what that farmer/plant biologist may try to tell you, generations, even thousands of years of plant breeding has never gotten a rice plant to voluntarily cross its genetic material with a crocus or a cauliflower mosaic virus, so as to produce a rice that is a rich yellow color.

Never been done, except in a lab.

And I'm with Gregor Mendel on this one. Like mate with like. Broccoli with broccoli, potato with potato, lentil with lentil, beans with beans. You can get varieties by crossing various lines in these species, but you cannot cross, using Mendelian genetic manipulation, differing species.

You can even blend two fruit trees together to get a cross between pears and apples. But never, ever, never, can you get an apple tree to mate with a crocus to give you a yellow fruit. That is, never, unless you're a giant AgriBusiness corporation with a bio-weapons level lab and an eye to control the genome of all of Farmer Brown's seeds from here to eternity. And back.

But, all of that is of no matter whatsoever.

I don't think anyone, anywhere, at any time, should foist genetically modified foods on me, and make me eat them, unless I do so knowingly. Voluntarily. With informed consent, which Giant Agribusinesses should know from the tenor of this blog, they do not have.

Do not sneak in GM stuff into my food.

And, hands off the chocolate, lentils and rice, dried fruits and everything else I eat. I want no GM stuff in my food.

Probably a good thing I don't like SnackeeCrisps. They're probably loaded with unknown quantities of genetically altered 'stuff', on top of whatever remains from the deepfrying of empty calories coated with salt, anyway.

For goodness sake though, don't alter the chocolate. Breakfast without it, sometimes, would be just too boring to endure.

Arcs, Tangents and the Circularities Broken

Today is a milestone day for me.

I've been thinking of so many things, and lately thinking of the arc of my life.

I've gone from growing up in a time when Ike was President, war was confined to defending others, and not for purposes of nation building, the full rights of people under the Constitution was more or less a given, barring thoughts of racial discrimination, and people knew what I learned in kindergarten. And, while I knew little about Civil Rights, I knew even in kindergarten, that there were no 'lesser peoples', just kids who liked to play, learn new stuff, and eat cookies together. We learned lots of neat stuff.

I learned, "If it's not yours, you can't take it."

I learned then the value of other people.

I learned empathy.

I learned about sharing.

And, I learned that some things have value, like truth and paying a fair price for things, while other things, like stealing and telling lies were bad.

I learned my first lessons in the Golden Rule, and not the, "He who has the gold rules".

Today, rather than living in a country that valued the obligations it entered by treaty and Constitutional provision, I live in an Empire. I am part of Pax Americana, which to my eyes is not much in Pax and pretty much not American.

Where did my country go?

Will there be a new course for America by this time next year?

Will the next day we celebrate Lincoln's Birthday be one where we look out on the world with no fear of wiretaps, surveillance under blanket warrants as sparked the American Revolution, and where we stop fighting and spending blood and treasure where paying a fair price could do so much more for us and the planet?

Will the next year see real gains in equality, where people are not removed from voter rolls for the crime of voting while black? And, will we have true election security, or will we still be trusting private corporations with secret software counting votes? Will we finally adopt a system of simple paper ballots as are used in virtually every other democracy in the world?

Will we have health care for all Americans? Or, will we have insurance for Americans whereby the insurance company, after accepting premium payments, still says "no." Will we have an enforced system of alleged coverage, still paying the most of any other nation, for health care that is still denied because of bean counting insurance execs who walk away with billion dollar bonuses.

And will anyone realize that those Health Care Executive bonuses, whether a million or a billion, would cover the treatment for a lot of diseases? Or will someone finally figure out that our system that gives 44 cents of every healthcare dollar to insurance companies is inefficient and a waste of money?

Will we continue to send our manufacturing jobs overseas?

Will we continue to turn our backs on the soldiers coming home with injuries psychological and physical, while allowing private armies to fight our battles at huge cost to the Treasury?

Will we continue to ignore the Constitution?

Will we continue to forget about the Bill of Rights?

Will we allow habeas corpus to remain dead for Americans? (Hey, hundreds of years for habeas was a good record, but it only took the stroke of a pen to kill it here.)

Will we allow the Executive to assume unchecked powers via fiat, order and decree?

Will we require those that have gained so much from being Americans, judging by their bank accounts, pay proportionally less of their income to the Treasury in taxes, while imposing higher taxes and fees on those least able to pay?

Will officials in our government ever realize their first oath and obligation is to the Constitution, and not to some subjective standard of 'security', or loyalty to campaign contributors? Will those same officials ever realize that exchages of liberty for security results in neither?

I don't know the answers to these questions. I know only that I miss my country, my Constitution, and my rights. I hope that between now and next year I am not in detention for committing free speech, in or out of a prescribed 'free speech zone'.

My only loyalty is to the Constitution of the United States of America. It is my most treasured gift of my citizenship. My only loyalty is to the America where the Constitution was King, where the people ruled, and where rulers knew they were servants of the people, not the other way around.

It's a day for reflection. It is a day for planning. It is soon going to be Abraham Lincoln's Birthday.

What will the arc of our path be by next year-- when both Abe and I will be a year older?

Time To Catch Up

This may take a while, so be patient.

What happened was I needed to move home. I'm a Minnesotan, by birth, a Chicagoan by home town.

Which, all things considered, meant I needed for my own survival, to move home to Chicago. And so I did.

I rented a flat right next to Lake Michigan, within a half block of a small beach, all based upon my phenomenal memory for buildings, places and whatever. I was soooo, sooooo, very wrong.

It turned out that I was virtually on the lake. Not a big deal, all things considered. However, there were problems, and not with the rent, location, or that sort of stuff.

You see, I have a big desk. The building has a small entry. I have a big couch. The building has a small entry. I have a grand piano. The building has a very, very, very small entryway, with stairs requiring too small a turning radius for getting the desk, couch and piano inside.

I looked at the front entry.

I measured.

I checked.

I double checked, on the advice of measure twice, make fewer fatal errors.

My stuff wouldn't fit.

So, lease easily broken, I found a new flat.

Now, I'll share the idiot-synchronisities in the future, but let me just say, the company I rented from and the building itself, were pretty darned good. And every place has idiot-synchronisities, so no matter.

Anyhoo, I found this truly wonderful new flat, a block from Lake Michigan, which has made the sunrise a wonderful experience on a daily basis.

The building has an elevator. Having gotten too close to the old 'double nickle', this is a good thing. This is a good thing even if I only use it when toting groceries in, or after a 5 mile walk. Sometimes, it is a pain avoidance thing when my back says, 'you're older now, what are you thinking?"

And yes, I always walk down and only walk up when I must. Which, honestly speaking has been more than truly necessary. I'm working on it.

Now, the move itself was a nightmare, causing nightmares and a blue funk that has yet to lift. Truly.

They truck arrived on the appointed day and for hours, no piano right by the door so that the movers could get the big, black behemoth to the third floor, up the stairs, as they needed to do. I'm no expert, but when you've got a 800 pound chunk of musical perfection, enclosed in a satin black case, to move into a building, and nothing happens until after 6 pm, and lots of other stuff moves in, you've got a situation where the movers might be getting tired.

And they were.

Tired.

Very tired.

I offered them pizza. Soda. Chocolate. Anything their little hearts or stomachs could desire. I couldn't offer them a nap, which they all needed by that time.

No, no, no, no, and no.

They were fine. They swore up and down they were fine.

Honest, they said, they were ready and it would be no problem to get the heavy stuff in, especially as that heavy stuff all came up for hoisting up the stairs at the end of the day.

They were not fine.

They started moving the piano in, and the cursing started immediately. Loudly and repetitive cursing was heard.

Now, they also left a bunch of boxes unattended, which meant that passersby could 'shop' through my 'stuff' and I lost some pretty important stuff due to that not too slick move too.

But, back to the piano.

35 minutes after they started, they were at the first floor. The ground floor is the ground floor, and I live on the third, which is in fact the fourth story of a five story building. Hence the elevator. And no, no matter what, the piano wasn't going to fit into the elevator, except in pieces. That could have been better in retrospect, but I digress.

But, never mind, they were making progress.

And there were those sounds like someone hitting the string harp which holds all the strings inside the big black satin case, with a sledge hammer.

And more cursing.

And finally they got up the stairs.

They rolled the piano in through the back door of my flat, and I was worn out myself, just from worry.

Now, when the piano was packed in St. Paul, it was supposed to be shrink wrapped and taped and bound and otherwise affixed to the piano board. They used about 100 feet of moving tape, no shrink wrap and minimal blankets.

So, when it came time to put the piano together, there were gouges and dings. Many gouges and dings.

There are about three octaves of frozen keys.

There are two non-functional pedals on the pedal harp, though it appears the pedals are properly attached to the body.

The hinges were bent and twisted from falling against something.

The stick that holds the top up doesn't. Hold the top up, that is, because it too is broken.

The hinges for the top of the piano are twisted.

The drop board doesn't drop, nor does it go all the way up.

I have a giant, formerly beautiful, chunk of heartbreak in my living room.

Breaking my heart.

They could have done better if they'd dropped it from the fourth floor. At least the damage would have been quick, total and sure.

As a result, I fell into a funk that I've still not found the bottom of, nor do I know how to overcome the sorrow. I had, emphasis on 'had' a beautiful piano. Now I have a silent piece of furniture that is neither functional, nor musical.

As for the other stuff that is missing? Well, that's mostly books, silverware, an old laptop computer, some yarns and partially finished sweaters, a sweater I'd been knitting and which only needed to be stitched up, and more books. Those were the boxes from the end of the packing, with research I needed for a book I was writing.

I've had to re-do all the research, and that wasn't terribly easy to accomplish.

I'm trying to get the moving company to come out and inspect the damage.

They also have to replace my desk chair, as the seat was ripped off and cannot be reattached. And there is more, but that can wait. In the meantime, I'm without my lovely piano. The silence and the bruised and broken piano are a harsh reminder that 'stuff does happen'. But stuff didn't need to happen if they'd packed it right, moved it in early, or gotten more people as the movers were tired.

But that's the story of the move, and mostly about the piano move. Oh how I miss my lovely piano. I am hoping that the tears will eventually stop.

And please, no cracks about 'you can't go home again'. You can, I did, and I am more at home here than I ever was in my hometown. I'll keep you all posted.

Is It Live, Or Is It...

2004.

Again.

Geez, every poll was right, except in that pesky race between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

Now, I don't really care if the voters in New Hampshire vote for Ethyl Backbutgone, or for the two at the top of the race. Which were Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

But, when there was a shift, and only in two candidate's columns, then I got edgy.

The coffee got cold.

The search buttons clicked.

And this is what I found, courtesy of Brad Blog
http://www.bradblog.com/.

The numbers were again off, but only in the 'top of the interest' race, which in 2004 was Bush vs. Kerry, and in 2008 was Clinton vs. Obama.

So, can someone answer this for me?

Why is it that the pollsters only miss in the 'important' races?

That answered, I'll sleep better tonight.

Failing an answer, I'll have to dream of 2004 all over again.

Now, for those that might have been wondering where I've been, more on that later. Be assured, it's an Odd-essey. Truly.

Sleep well, all.