April 2008 Archives

We spent many happy summer days chasing the wind in those racers. But one summer, my teenage brothers decided to play 'chicken' with the two boats. As each caught the wind, they torpedoed towards each other at high speed. Their alpha-male hormones kicked in, and neither male was willing to turn their boat away.

So what happened was that one of the sailboats created a gaping hole in the other boat. As water filled that boat (pretty darn quickly actually!) we fervently bailed while my brothers quickly paddled and towed the boat to shore. Remorse and guilt instantly set in for my brothers. They knew there would be hell to pay when my father caught wind of their misdeed.

And yes, Hell was paid.

Much like Hell was paid for my brother's foolish misdeeds, our country is experiencing the same agony of defeat due to the economic policies, the war, and the selfish games a few rich men are playing. And American's are bailing out as fast as they can!

Elsinora, at Daily Kos, posted a diary called, "John Ashcroft Yelled at Me Tonight. No Joke. (UPDATED W/PHOTOS)".

The diary presents the confrontation between students at Knox College and John Ashcroft on the issue of torture.

The heroine of the diary Elsinora presented John Ashcroft with a 'yes/no' question related to the punishment of Yukio Asano for water torture after World War II. I recommend that you read her whole diary first before continuing here.

An average of 18 military veterans kill themselves each day and only five of them are under VA care when they commit suicide. An estimate of 300,000 U.S. troops — about 20 percent of those deployed — are suffering from depression or post-traumatic stress from serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. It takes approximately 180 days to decide whether to approve a disability claim.

This is a national shame!

Those statistics might be a shock to those yellow, ribboned, "Support our Troops" card carrying pro-War activists out there. But the situation for Veterans has gotten so bad that two outside organizations are suing the Department of Government Affairs.

They claim that our government is not supporting the troops.

However, the Department of Veteran's Affairs claims that they have enough Psychiatrists; they have an abundance of claims from the elderly Veterans blocking access; and that they have done what is necessary to "quickly ascertain that the current Veterans are telling the truth about where or why they suffer from PTSD."

They also claim that the courts should not dictate how the government handles their V.A. Centers.

I posted on the main page, but wanted to throw open a conversation about the whole concept of de-privileging, or moving on, or coming home, or creating new ways of living on the planet, or about whatever this idea generates in you!

Here is what I posted over there:

We have been doing a lot of traveling lately, and I am about to go off to Brazil (OFF-Deep Woods in hand), where it has been raining for about 100 days straight it seems. The mosquitos are feasting on humans and sharing dengue fever microbes, especially in the poorest sections of the city of Rio. The situation could have been better handled by the powers-that-be, but we understand how that doesn't work well, don't we? A little forethought, some early interventions, and the situation might not be so dire.

Meanwhile, spending so much time on the New Jersey Turnpike offers many opportunities to listen in on the national conversations. I don't know what you are hearing, but it does feel to me like people do not really want to hear from either of the Dem. candidates right now. Pennsylvania aside, it feels like most have made up their minds and just want it to be over. The Democratic primary process feels like a party that has gone on way too long, everyone has moved on, and those whose party is yet to come would be happy to skip it and just friggin' vote already.

You may be wondering why Richard and I have not been around much lately. (You may wonder why others are not either, but we cannot speak for them!) We are selling our house. Richard has been spending a lot of time supervising painting, a new stove installation, and some repairs, and he has been packing up boxes, separating those items we are selling or giving away from those we are keeping. (NOTE: We are keeping too many items. This has been a point of much discussion and some contention, but it will all get sorted out in the end: we have a storage unit. That which does not fit, goes.). The house goes on the market in a few days, and we are counting on the location, not to mention the new paint, landscaping, and lack of clutter, to move this sale along.

We are selling our house because we have decided to do a certain amount of de-privileging. After spending ten years here, raising our kids and working for peace and justice, we have come to the end of a road. Our kids are off on their own and we are off to an uncertain, but less encumbered future.

De-privileging is a process of consciously shedding a number of items:

*extra-fancy clothing we know we won't need because we are not going to those parties anymore, ever again, please God

*furniture and gew-gaws that someone gave us only we can no longer remember who or why

*The books. Here is the contentious part, although to his credit, Richard has called in used books sellers and has put out a number of books on the sidewalk, where only my college geography textbook and the diaries of Harold MacMillan still sit, waiting for the right person to walk by and take them to their new home...

*expectations. We are shedding expectations, like we are shedding old sweaters.

To those of you who have felt privileged to share this house with us at times past, know that we are not shedding you or the memories we all share. We hope this blog will continue and we can all continue to be the truth-tellers of our neighborhoods and communities.

We don't know yet to where we will move. I have at least one more year at the university, and Richard's work can be done anywhere, as he works almost exclusively online these days (when he is not packing boxes, anyway). We are thinking about a passive solar house, built into a hill, with a southern exposure, perhaps straw bale walls, a small carbon footprint, and a garden.

Just enough, not too much.

***
So what is too much for YOU today? What is just enough?

To quote Tom Hartman (from his show I heard this weekend), "When are they going to charge Dick Cheney and George W. Bush with war crimes?"

That's the only thought in my head today, too.

What's yours?

Our friends in pink head for the Congress to share their concerns about the General's testimony before Congress, in which he apparently wants us all to just be more patient.

Word: Condi after VP slot.

In happier news, Gene Weingarten, our favorite Washington Post columnist, won a Pulitzer for his piece on the violinist Joshua Bell. Don't know if you remember the piece but I'll try to post a link here later. Bell played in a subway exit hall and very few stopped to listen. It was an exquisite piece of writing and a heart-breaking moment for arts-lovers. We do not, as a people, recognize the genius around us, and we miss so many gorgeous encounters.

May you each encounter genius today, recognize it, and honor beauty, whether in a violinist or a rose.

Oil chiefs say high prices not our fault, meanwhile in a weird coincidence, observers noted a strange phenomenon. Just after the words left those executives' mouths, their noses began to grow and grow and grow. { sarcasm tag }

Really, who do these oil execs think they're fooling! They really do just think we're stupid.

The problem for them is that we're slow but not stupid.

Most people firmly believe that the oil companies are price gouging and believe they will do so until sometime after the next election. The tide has turned and most people comprehend what has happened and what is going on.

Prior to seeing the headline above, I discovered the news about the truck drivers protesting gas prices.

Across this great nation, truckers slowed down, stopped, and caused traffic jams. They want to make it clear, if Congress doesn't stop the exorbitant prices for fuel, which is over four dollars a gallon for them, then people will pay more for food and necessities.