Christmas Season Story

It is now one week before Thanksgiving and since that week will fly by so fast I will just get on with Christmas.

It is now the night before Thanksgiving and all the preparations are being made. Anita is working. Anita is doing much of the cooking today so that tomorrow will be easier. I wish I could help her as I once did but that is not possible anymore. I can write this and I will do just that.

We washed the Scotties today so that they would be clean for the holiday. They are easy to wash and don’t mind a warm shower and a warm rinse. They are easier to have around when they are clean, as most of us are. I took a shower as well. No sense in wasting a good chance. They must be clean when they start begging for turkey and such.

It is now black Saturday and I am getting ready for the last lsu game. Lower case letters for "LSU" are mandatory since they have being playing in lower case all season. In any event is will be finished later tonight and the uproar can start for next season. It will give a lot of people something to do.

I am now in the walking stage of my life. The hurry and run phase is over. Yet when Christmas comes around I remember when I was jogging every day and how I loved to jog after dark starting with Thanksgiving evening. That is when many turned on their outside Christmas lights. I loved to jog those miles enjoying the light. I enjoyed that immensely and I think about it every time when the lights go on. I have a great memory for that time and I will jog around this year in my mind and have the season of lights talk to me in those fine memories.

Another reason I like this time of year is tied to the movie A Christmas Story. That is the movie that is played on one of the cable stations. It has become a classic and most of the country likes it. I like it because of the memories it brings back about my own young Christmas celebrations. Ralph is the character that pursues his definition of the perfect gift to look forward to being under the tree on that certain morning. It is the Holy Grail of Christmas gifts, the Red Ryder BB gun with the compass in the stock. I remember that gun clearly because one showed up on a Christmas morning when I was hoping Santa would come through.

The movie is a real reminder of the anticipation and effort in pursuing Ralph's fantasy gift. He encounters all kinds of obstacles in his quest but he continues to pursue with undaunted courage. I can remember getting that Red Ryder rifle and spending that afternoon outside getting in some practice for upcoming adventures. What good memories that recalls for me. I still love the magic of Christmas.

The story comes from a book entitled In God We Trust, All Others Pay Cash. It is a reminder of the early holiday times in my life and all the youthful energy and enthusiasm that went with them. I hope you have such memories in your memory bank.

Christmas also comes with a little chaos and havoc associated with it. A little controlled pandemonium is always appreciated because it keeps the energy flowing. We enjoy this up to a point; when that pandemonium starts to overflow into areas that we would not like to have it occur, then things don’t seem so enjoyable anymore.

If these disturbances start to upset norms and values that are very important to us and the way we live daily, then they become quite troublesome in the unease they bring with them. When this occurs it can bring abut some painful times. I can remember when one of my major beliefs was taken down. I was in the third grade and was beginning to get really excited about Santa and his Christmas Eve visitation. It was my two neighbor girls who took it upon themselves to tell me the truth about Santa. They couldn’t believe that I thought there was a Santa. Didn’t I know that Santa’s name was mom and dad? I couldn’t believe it; the world. Especially kids couldn’t make it without Santa. How would the world make it without a Santa and how would Christmas make it without a Santa to pair up with Christ? Don’t take Christ out of Christmas and don’t take Santa out either. I can still work myself up about it after all these years; those dream busters were two mean little girls.

And every now and then life brings to us an event that is so upsetting and disturbing that we need some help in dealing with it.
Sometimes things happen to us that absolutely require that we get in touch with everything we believe just in order to survive. It reaches down and shakes the very core of who we are and the beliefs that hold us together. The foundations shake so hard that you wonder if they will collapse. And I found out that I had to rethink values, beliefs, norms, faith, and ideas. Such an event can happen and it did happen to me and is still happening.

I found out that I couldn’t handle it. I tried but I didn’t handle it very well at all. It gored me like some Spanish bull in some bullring and continued to thrust its horns at me, as I lay wounded in the ring. As I lay there blind, that blindness impacted everything I believed. This was the most radical experience in my life. And immediately the question came asking me what was I supposed to do with an experience like this. There was no warning, no precedent, no good analogy to use, no previous experience to compare it to. I couldn’t say well, this is sort of like that thing that happened to me back when. There was this blindness of mine forced me to go back and find out what my core beliefs really are.

I had to revisit, reexamine, review and renew my life up to this point. It forced me to go back and see just how tough I was and am in the face of things not going just as I wish. And I found that difficult to do and I also found it frightening. This new experience wasn’t impacting my future nearly as much as it seemed to impact my past. My past and the faith part of my past is all that I have. My past got me here and now something has happened that calls a number of ideal and faith factors into question. I could not throw away that past; I had to rethink it.

What does this blindness mean in light of faith? What does this new experience mean and what am I supposed to do with it? This has no easy answer and the real answer has to be worked through late at night when I am the only one awake. And I find that I must work it out over and over and over again. And faith says or God says or Christ says that what has happened does have some continuity with God and faith.

God speaks in the darkness saying that he is there and I am not alone. And there is a distinct possibility that I can endure. And it just may be that my accumulated past that I think is threatened by this new experience is the past that has prepared me to meet this new situation. God somehow finds a way to tell me to go back and work this through again and in that working through I will find is the past that has brought me to this moment and will get me through it. And Christ comes to us and says, “Remember all the things that I have told you; remember and hold on to them and never doubt that I will hold on to you.”

October Octane

October has come and gone. This is the anniversary month of the surgery that left me blind. I sort of tiptoe through the month because I can get in touch with some powerful anger if I am not careful. I fight off that temptation and label it as unproductive and destructive. Most of the day I can manage to do that, but sometimes during the day I must fight off a guerilla attack. The feelings are never very far away and I need to keep track of them so that I can anticipate what time of day they may choose to attack; late afternoon is always the worst time of day for me and I am glad that I have scheduled activities that do not allow me to just sit around and do negative thinking.

It has been two years since that awful day, for me and Anita. In a way the two years have been a paradox; the two years have moved by quickly in one way and have dragged by in a slow crawl in another. But I can say that we have made those two years and have not given into insanity, yet. Here’s to keeping insanity and bitterness at bay.
Sometimes, in our attempts to keep the future from overwhelming us we forget to be grateful for what we have in the present and in the past. That is why I have come to anticipate and respect All Hallows’ Eve and All Saints’ Day.

There are the saints of the church, the saints that we have met in our daily living, and then there are the New Orleans Saints. I really enjoy remembering those saints that have helped me live life and are helping me live life. This current situation is one in which numerous saints have shown up to help us through these two years. There is such a being that steps up at the lowest depth of despair and helps someone like me find the faith, courage and energy to get up and get back into living.

To all of you saints that help us, we give you a big Thank You. Halloween also gives me an excuse to establish a Snickers stash. Our subdivision is low on young children now and high on gray panthers. We had only one child come by on Halloween, so we have a little extra candy. We don’t buy much and yet the small amount we had didn’t get claimed by any ghosts and witches, etc. Somehow we will struggle through it.

The Saints of New Orleans are teasing the state again by playing some successful football. However there is much room for failure to show up and even turn chocolate into a bitter taste. The theology of the Saints winning big would put great pressure on God choosing to end time. After all, the saying down here is that the Saints won’t win the big bowl until hell freezes over; certainly that will be an appropriate time for the world to stop spinning. I don’t know that this heavy theological pressure may be too much for the Saints.

As these two years have gone by I have noticed that I am losing the ability to bring faces to mind. I am losing faces and I find that most disturbing. I can easily recognize voices but the faces are beginning to fade. Yet there is no daily visual reinforcement that is happening so I imagine that having those mental pictures slowly fade is part of this lousy process. That really touches an anger button for me since so much of what I love to see has been taken away by two irresponsible and indifferent people who attempt to pass themselves and their work off as professional. So, there. Yet they are still the ones that are lovingly present in my life even though I cannot see them. And that is one anchor that I will keep a firm grip on.

The national scene still is blundering along and I can hear statements made by our amazing leaders that ought to turn their faces so red that one could accuse them of surviving an explosion in a tomato soup factory. Sometimes they call one another eleven derogatory names. The surprise is that I didn’t know their vocabulary was that accomplished. If the current goings on in the government don’t encourage you to pray then I’m not sure anything will. This is one scary mess that they are laying out for you and me to live through.

September Song

September ended with some excitement. We were preparing to go to bed the other night and Anita and the Scotties went out into the back yard. This is a ritual that is done every night. As Anita opened the door to come back in, a snake came in with her. It made a run to get under some furniture and she came back to where I was to tell me about it. In our entire history, that is the first time we have had to deal with a pushy snake and neither of us liked it since I could do nothing to help. We decided that we could not ignore the invasion, but a blind man wasn’t going to be of much use in rounding up a snake.

We decided to call our neighbor and he immediately came over. About that time Ralph, our male Scottie, decided to get involved. He and Bell flushed the snake out into the open and Anita told me that Ralph moved so quickly that she could barely follow the action. He grabbed the snake and shook it so violently that he killed it in a matter of seconds. We are most grateful but we had no idea that he would do what he did. Bell decided to be a cheerleader and not get involved but she was right proud of what happened too. She was glad to be praised for her part as well. But remember all of us need a cheerleader so we won't get disgusted with the world.

We went to Colorado at the end of August and came back the first week in September. Casey and Kathy Allen went with us. We spent nine days at the cabin in Colorado and got a new fence built in the back yard for the Scotties. (Casey built the fence.) We now can let the dogs out at night and not have to worry about them running off. Coyotes are very common and vocal about their presence so it is necessary to keep the city slicker Scotties close by. We did have a good time and did get some needed cabin care done before the winter sets in and shuts things down for the winter.

It takes twenty four hours of driving to get to the cabin and that means two long days of driving. I find that my body didn’t appreciate that kind of ride and it took about three days to really get over the round trip. I guess that is the combination of old age and being blind. I spent much travel time talking with Casey and remembering the scenes along the way. I find that tedious and frustrating, but it is part of the game now.

We called ourselves the "Gumbo Gypsies" as we traveled across Texas. Our alternative name was "Gumbo Gringos" since that fit a crossing Texas motif. We certainly didn’t find any gumbo shops in the panhandle and would have avoided them if we found them. A long trip is a long trip and we were glad to make it, make maintenance in the cabin and make our trek back home.

We made it through September without a hurricane. What a relief that has been. It has been a very quiet storm season and that is not bothering anyone. The storms have been regular unwelcome visitors in the past and they are not missed. Many people purchased generators large enough to give some emergency electric relief, including us, and all are delighted we have not had to use them. It is good to know that they are there for the using and that assurance really helps. I am sure that the insurance companies don’t mind all the claims not being filed this time around. This gives them a break also.

I heard a report that we in the U. S. spend fifteen billion dollars a year on illegal drugs. I find that amazing. And then I heard in that report that our government was upset that Mexico wasn’t doing more to stop the drug traffic. I imagine that the huge amount of money that American users are willing to spend on drugs has much more to say about it. If we didn’t use them, then the drugs wouldn’t be up here. I think the fuss should be made with the users who are silly enough and stupid enough to make them a part of their lives. The enemy is the user and that is a sad state to find ourselves in. Drugs, like crack, have ruined New Orleans. Katrina and the drug users and suppliers have made it into a third world dangerous city.

Until next time....

August Angst

Now it is time for the dog days of August and you can bet that all of us will be glad when the dog days turn into the falling leaves of September. I have had a few battles with the computer lately and that is often the source of my angst. It is simply uncanny how the computer or the cell phone will refuse to cooperate with me when Anita is not around. And it wouldn’t be so bad, but they actually get surly about it since they both have speaking programs that allow me to attempt to use them.

The cell phone usually develops a case of poor hearing when I attempt to use voice dial and will ask me to repeat what I asked it to do. Then it will saucily tell me how to do it the next time. It is rather humbling to find yourself in a shouting match with a cell phone; in fact it is really embarrassing. I often think I can hear both devices laughing quietly while they jerk me around. I have threatened their lives often, but they are unimpressed.

Over the week I have noticed that as troops leave Iraq the factions there have stepped up the pace of killing one another. I wonder how long it will take for the old hatreds to take over and have the effort made there seem like a real waste of our young people. It is sad that old men and women declare that we must fight and that the young are the ones they send to do their fighting. And then those same old politicians have to be shamed and embarrassed to provide equipment and care for the maimed that come back from their war for medical care.

It is so often an old man’s war but a young person’s fight. I really don’t know if that Iraq action will be seen as a necessary action, but if it is so important I have always been confused that there was no declaration of war. It still confuses me that the fearless leaders in D.C. go about their business as if no one is fighting or dying or being maimed daily. And I am also amazed that they tell us to go about our business as if that maiming is not taking place. Why isn’t the rest of the country asked to make some contribution other than offering up their sons and daughters as just a necessary sacrifice that some, but not all are asked to make.

I was pastor in Abbeville when the Viet Nam conflict was raging. It is paradoxical to me that we define that conflict as a historical event we try to forget and then turn around and recreate it in Iraq and the other countries we are now asking our young to fight. I knew a number of young men that went and came back from Nam. By some accident we formed an informal group that met and talked about what they had seen, done and endured there. I remember mostly what showed in their eyes when they talked about what happened to them there. It was a haunted look that each had and there was no bragging about anything that went on while they were there. They were just grateful to have survived and not all did that went there from that little town in south Louisiana.

It was obvious that our government had lied to a whole generation of young men and women; and lied to the rest of us as well. The august body of politicians told us that those young people were serving a necessary and noble cause. It wasn’t noble at all and the government suffered no moral or ethical pains for their casual willingness to lie. It was evident that they had been maimed by their time in Nam and that they were confused by what happened to them when they came home. They were treated as oddities and traitors for doing what their government asked and forced them to do. I am glad that we are not treating our military people in that manner now.

If there is any axe to grind, it is with our great leaders in Washington. I wonder how history will be able to define how all this Middle East confusion will work out. What do we say to ourselves about our country and our leaders when we see how casually and indifferently they were used and betrayed? I find that I think about that every day when I hear about the military casualties that happen that day. I do know that the total cost has been and continues to be extremely high. The Nam youth were abandoned by their country when they needed their country the most. I hope that we don’t do that again.

Katrina and Rita showed Louisiana just how it is when the very government that is supposed to help them turns out to not do so. Louisiana was betrayed three times during the aftermath of those storms, so we know much more about governmental betrayal than we ought. We learned firsthand just how deadly incompetence and indifference can be. It now strikes me than many are born to the American heritage, but they do not understand the heritage and it seems that often that they do not wish to understand it. The four R's of reading, riting, rithmetic and responsibility are no longer valued. The result of their absence is taking a toll that may leave a price tag on our future history that we may not be willing or able to pay. And we don’t seem very interested in teaching that heritage in our schools. I know that I sound like an old man, but a poor or inadequate foundation has caused many a thing to collapse. I hope we can get the motivation to do a better effort in this four r area.

I think that July was the month of author Tony Hillerman’s death. He was the writer of Jim Chee, Navajo detective stories. If you haven’t read his works, then you have really been missing some very good novels and they are well written. His Navajo characters have quite a difficult time understanding the white culture. Often his characters have to engage in a sweat bath as a cleansing ceremony for being around the white culture too much. They feel that we are too often out of sync with what the world is really about and they have to find a way to live in both worlds. It is natural that such an attempt to keep one foot in the white world and one in the Navajo world would be most difficult.

I imagine that is true of any culture that has to attempt a straddle like that. One of their observations is that we whites are suffering from a vicious disease; that disease they call money sickness and they fear catching it. When you think about all the tragic events that have and are now active in our culture, you can begin to appreciate how accurate that observation is. It seems obvious that money sickness was and is at the heart of the financial turmoil that is causing so much pain and ruin. It is most frightening to see just what some will do for the money sickness and how easily and indifferently they will destroy the lives of others just to make more money.

There was a time when people went around robbing banks; now the banks and investment firms are robbing people. That’s quite a change. The Stanford group robbed many in this city. My friend works at a local food bank and says that there are people coming for food help in their old age and it is the first time in their lives that this has happened to them. Others are faced with the loss of their homes, at the end of their working lives and are wondering what will happen to them. And the financial felons go merrily on their way robbing everyone and giving to themselves. It seems that the Navajo diagnosis of the disease of money sickness is right on the mark. So let’s be careful out there so that the spreaders of money sickness don’t infect us.

It seems that victimhood has become a self-sustaining culture in this state and in this country. How did responsibility for oneself become located in another person? When victimhood becomes a way of life it is often accompanied by bitterness. When that happens all of us who claim victimhood and its accompanying bitterness must realize that the twins of bitterness and victimhood will always destroy the vessel attempting to contain them. If one does not discover the antidote for those twins, those twins will ultimately destroy both life and spirit.

I try to remember that when I grow angry about the way in which my sight was taken from me. They have taken my sight, but I must make certain that I do not give them anything else. If I do, I will become an accomplice in the loss of so much more. So I patrol my life each day on the lookout for those terrible twins and not allow them to get a foothold in my life. You watch for them in your life too.

How about this for a cogent observation; I feel so miserable without you it’s almost like having you here. Oscar Wilde once said that he had no enemies, but that he was intensely disliked by his friends. Oscar could really say some great things about life now and then. Groucho Marx was noted for saying as he left some gathering, "I have had a great evening, but this wasn’t it." I think we all have had a few evenings like that.

If age brings answers to the great questions of life, it is obvious that it has bypassed me. Sometimes we talk to keep people from telling us that which we would rather not hear. It is also true that some suffer from delusions of adequacy. In all this political turmoil it can be said of some; he is a self-made man and he is obviously in love with his maker.

It is also true that some cause happiness wherever they go; others cause happiness whenever they go. So much for those little snippets of life. I will continue this tomorrow. I will tell you of some of this week’s Scottie adventures. Another random thought is that the way politics is practiced in Louisiana we could qualify as an open air mental asylum. Just to hear our two U.S. senators hold a town meeting will reveal that. When the questions get too tough or ask for an explanation of their personal conduct, they just walk away. The arrogance and disdain they have for the citizens is obvious for all to see. Since Katrina you could say that half of Louisiana is under water and the rest is under indictment. Our politics adds a whole new meaning to the term cold cash and freezer sales just might be going up.

We have a new adventure taking place in the neighborhood; the roads are being resurfaced. We also have a portable poop palace across the street. That and all the other activity give the Scotties much to defend us against. They thus sound off quite a bit and intensely enjoy all the goings on. I don’t have to worry about being slipped up on because I have two Scottie door bells. In fact, they bark so much that it is hard to talk on the phone. But we pass a good time and don’t suffer from boredom. It has been quieter this morning than usual. I guess they are working farther away right now, but they will show up back here at their parked pickups when the lunch break occurs. Then the barking will begin again. Oh well.

I am going to stop the August angst now. In just a few days it will be September and I hope the burr will come in September and chase all this heat and humidity away. I hope you have had a happy summer and that fall will be great for us all. Take care of yourselves in the interim and I will dream up something to send your way in September.

July Jitters

As I write this wholly writ, we are approaching the last Sunday in July. We have had a hot July but we are coming to August without any hurricane activity. That is small comfort since most of our hurricane beatings seem to come in August or September. We have our generator in place and ready for the next beating. Last summer taught us that not being able to have a cool place set up for an extended power outage was just too tough for old coots like us. That seven day period last time was just too hard; and getting set up for it happening again may keep the storms away for this season. It is a good feeling to know that we have set things up progressionally so that we can manage until the power is restored. All of us were quite surprised that Gustav hit this area so hard and did so much damage. It was a storm that was not given as much respect as the outcome that its winds caused. Many took the hint and have set up generators to manage the next time. That’s enough about the weather; so let’s go to something else.

July got off on a bad start when a dear friend of thirty-three years died quite suddenly with pancreatic cancer. Within three weeks from discovery, it was over and she was gone. It was quite a shock for all of us who knew and loved her and there were many who did. When I was blinded nearly two years ago from poor medical care, she came to visit us every Thursday afternoon from three til four. She always brought us a treat and it was a real treat and help to have her give us some needed help in adjusting to this new world that was forced upon us. What a friend and how we will miss her. Anita helped me handle her funeral and it really hurt to know that she was, for a time, separated from us. But what a joy it was to know her and have her for a friend. There is a real hole in our lives and it put me in a place where I had to struggle with that old black magic called depression. We really miss her on Thursday afternoon, but at three each Thursday we send her our greetings. Remember her with a smile, and send a prayer in her direction; and the direction is up.

I am working on making sure that I am strong and I have decided to make sure that I exercise each day and more than once per day. I have allowed myself to give in a little to depression and regular exercise is a great way to combat that stuff.

Anita and I had a big tussle with one of my computer programs and it took some doing to find out what I was doing incorrectly. Frustration flowed like a river for a time, but I eventually figured it out and am much better for it this morning. I will make sure that computer practice also is scaled up so that those mental lapses are less often and practice always makes that better.

We are approaching the end of July and that is fine with all of us. The summer has been the usual unpleasant combination of heat and humidity. That is a sour combination and fall will be a timely change. It will also mean the beginning of the football season and that is really good for the area.

Since football approaches a religion down here it is only natural that the high priests of football are trotting out their gear and getting ready to make the many cogent and precise comments that all those who have never played the game are so capable of making. Yet it adds flavor and seasoning to the season and I really enjoy the time. This town does so much better when the Tigers are doing well in any sport and it was great that they came home with the baseball trophy.I know that when August comes we will start looking for that first game and praying that the month doesn’t contain a hurricane surprise. Last year we got that storm in very late August and it was a real mess. I hope that we can avoid another weather mess like that.

Casey is coming to mow the yard and I will be going out into the gym to exercise while he is mowing. I am trying to slowly work back up to testing my right hip on the treadmill. I have progressed a long way with that hip. I can walk with a cane, but I want to continue to use that walking motion to make me more steady on my feet. This old age stuff can be a mess and eventually the government may consider me to be too useless to even own a treadmill much less work out on one. My parents went through the depression and it seems that we are working on one too. The daily turmoil going on in the country is most disquieting. I don’t have much for many of our illustrious leaders and it seems that they are working to show us just how irresponsible and greedy a government can be. I hope that we don’t end up in a hole that we are unable to get out of and recenter our priorities.

I am certain now that I am considered expendable, so if I have any observations to share, I best get on with it. I know that I am rambling, but I need the practice. I am waiting for Casey to get here so that I can start messing around in the garage gym. Just to type a few lines now is most helpful because I find myself coming up with too many lame excuses to just sit still and let depression work on me. Any little thing I do helps drive depression away for a day. Kathy just showed up with some home grown figs and I will have a fig fix before I run out and get all worked up on the exercise machines.

July has come to an end. August has finally come and one can hope that the storms stay away from my door. I will now switch over to some August ramblings and see what they have to offer. Come on September.

Week of June 7th

Sunday

I have decided to attempt to use the week day to make a disciplined effort to write something each day. If I do not, I will talk myself out of doing something with the computer. Today got off to a good start since the LSU Tigers defeated Rice in the baseball super regional held here. Things are always better if the Tigers win. We also had a subdivision meeting yesterday afternoon and Anita made sure that we went. I have a tendency to attempt to avoid that kind of thing now, but that avoidance is not a good thing for me or us. It makes our word much too narrow and that is to be avoided. I must continue to reach beyond my comfort boundaries so that I don’t just end up in my cave avoiding much of the world. This is also why I must write each day or I’ll just sit here avoiding.

The church service went fine, but my digital recorder decided to throw a technological revolt and not allow me to hear all of my meditation notes. Anita and I had to deal with the caller announcer also deciding to get cranky. We read the manual three times in order to remove some names that we seldom hear from and did exactly what the manual said to do and it erased all fifty of the stored numbers. So, I am starting out all over with that little chore, but they say practice makes perfect. It is now after 4 PM and we are planning a veggie supper. I will make a few phone calls and then see what I want to start on later. I might even feel like tackling some emails and giving that some practice.

Monday
We got off to a good early start with some good coffee. After I woke up, I went into the exercise room and did 45 minutes on the elliptical trainer. That always seems to help get my day off well if I will just do it every morning. After that we went to a 10 AM appointment that my attorney wanted us to do. That was over by eleven so we went to a Greek place and had a good shawarma salad. It was good for me to handle myself in that situation and I find that I am getting better with it each time. I made it without falling down or having my radar cane hit anyone. It was good for us to handle that well and we did. Then we went to the acupuncture doctor and had the usual treatment aimed at waking up the optic nerves. We go twice a week for an hour each time. So far not much is happening. But we still hope and pray that eventually something will. We were home by 3 PM and finished the day doing the regular things. All in all it was a good day and I did some things that stretched me a bit in a positive way.

Tuesday (and no tequila)
After coffee this morning, I did an hour on the exercise machine and Anita went to her drawing group from 9 AM – 1 PM. The Scotties and I were on our own and we did fine. I had a number of calls and some work to do on the reading robot. I also learned that today was the thirty-fifth wedding anniversary of Phil and Jimmie Oliver. I did that wedding for them then and am now back again to help them celebrate. We will plan something together and hope that we all continue to live, learn and love. Here’s to them! I also had a counseling appointment this afternoon and I am doing more and more of that. I still am working out how to live in this world and still find a way to give meaning to us and to others. I must always be open to know that today, no matter what is going on is the only today that I will have and if I choose to mess it up with a lousy attitude, then it will be just that, a lousy day. So, it has been a good day and I will end it now by listening to my mystery book on tape and see if I can scare myself to sleep. I will do this again tomorrow.

Wednesday (the forty-eighth!)
Today got off to a good start. It is our forty-eighth wedding anniversary and it has been quite a good time together. We went to get the crown put on one of my old teeth and then we went to get our anniversary dinner. The first date we had was to go get two barbecue chopped beef poboys at Jays barbecue while at LSU. The old place is gone, but his daughter is still running the same barbecue place in a new location We thought about the good times we have had and are glad for them. We have hit some unexpected hard times now, but life does that to everyone.  We will get through this time and go on as we are in the process of doing now. We had a very good time celebrating very good times together.

Thursday
All we had to do this morning was sermon work and get ready for my acupuncture treatment. Then we were back here just getting through another hot June day. We made it!

Friday
I had a counseling appointment today and while I was doing that Anita took the two Scotties to be clipped and bathed. She and Dorian worked on them and she just got back home. I hear that they are quite pretty again and now we are going to have lunch. I will do some more work this afternoon and maybe have something worth writing about. This is good practice for me and I do find that it is getting a little better each time I make myself sit down and use the keyboard. That is the only way to get it better…. practice, practice, practice. I have already done some of my exercise for today and I will do more later this afternoon.

 The house was very quiet with the Scotties gone and I realized that I have come to depend on then to keep me informed about what is going on outside. We have a glass storm door that allows them to see both out front and out back plus they have a Scottie door to the back yard. They can thus come and go as they see fit. They are watchers and being terriers they are vocal and territorial. They have a UPS bark, a FedEx bark, a postman bark, a loose dog bark, and I can really tell when they are warning me that some big bad boogie man is out there and I should be doing something about it. I tell them that house protection is now up to them and not to count on me. That is all right with them. They will fly around and really raise a racket in voicing their disapproval about any situation they define as spurious. It is really fun to have them so active in the house and backyard. They find a way to keep things stirred up in a positive way. They are also talented at begging for food at any meal time. You can hear nothing from them until a meal or snack is present and here they come. I feed two Scotties and myself. Anita lets me do it because we have fun doing it. I know that I should avoid doing this, but it allows me to have a little extra Scottie fun. I am going to stop now and work on the meditation for Sunday. I hope to come back to this later and practice more. Thanks for allowing me to do this. 

I was reading Texas by James Michener and it ought to be required reading for what is now happening to that state and all the states. In the book, the point is made that the original Mexico included California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The westward expansion of the US took those lands from Mexico. This has been a continuing source of anger with Mexico. The book reveals that Mexico is taking those lands back now through the bedroom, without firing a shot or engaging in a single battle. The birthrate in Mexican families is four to six children. So the most rapidly growing segment is the Hispanic group in the above named states plus those of Louisiana and Arkansas. 

In Houston this week Wal-Mart opened a new super store with the primary store language Spanish and a new Maas Club to go along with it. Maas means more in Spanish. So Wal-Mart is making a significant marketing move by doing what they have done just this week. Los Angeles is the second largest Mexican population other than Mexico City. San Diego, San Antonio, Houston and Austin are not far behind. This will continue to happen all over the country and the pros say there is nothing but time until major patterns in our cultural makeup take place. I learned much from reading this book again and I recommend it to you.  

Starthrower

I did it again. I allowed myself to be slow in making this entry on the computer. I was having some blue days and did not effectively fight them off. I am not at all pleased with my compliance to depression and I am now answering the bell for the round that I was supposed to answer earlier this week. The double D's of depression and despair almost registered a TKO but I have finally answered the bell. I will make a more concentrated effort to not have that happen so easily again. No flow results in "no go." Now on to something else.

Some years ago Anita and I had the good fortune to have a scuba diving trip to the Caymen Islands. The water was so clear that you could see very clearly. Beautiful and colorful fish, coral reefs, a few sharks, and even the elusive manta rays flying in formation down below us in the Caymen trench. There were five of them gliding along like gray ghosts and I was and am glad that I got to see them gliding by. I was the only one, other than Anita, that saw them. Seeing them glide by in their gray shroud of mystery had a way of speaking to values and ideas that went beyond a mere scuba dive. It is almost as if they were transmitting a life lesson as they glided mysteriously and magically along I automatically wished that I could move along my life's path as easily and gracefully as they seemed to handle their environment. When there is a storm out at sea the Caymen beaches can become littered with a variety of sea animals. They get tossed up on the beach by wave action or the incoming tide. Mostly starfish and living shells are the unlucky ones getting thrown up on the beach.

They become trapped in the debris and sand, awaiting their fate. Once they get tossed up on the beach it is impossible for them to work their way back to the sea. The tide and the waves repeatedly throw them back upon the shore. Trapped in the debris and sand they await their fate. As they wait, the Starthrower comes. This man was walking along the beach with his head down, inspecting the beach as he went along. Then he would bend down, grasp something and with a firm but strong whip of his wrist, sail something back across the breaking waves into the sea. With a Frisbee like motion the object would go sailing over the waves breaking on the shore. He walked a little farther down the beach, paused and bent down. And there beneath him was a starfish with its arms thrusting out stiffly to hold itself away from the smothering sand. With that firm yet gentle motion he picked up the star and deftly spun it out, back into the sea. He watched and said, “That one may live if the offshore pull of the current is strong enough.” This man was not a collector in the sense that he was gathering specimens for his coffee table or his book shelf. He only collected the living taking them from the wreckage on the shore. He was a Starthrower.

Jesus was the Starthrower. He kept throwing people back into life hoping that the deep pull of God, the true force in life would capture their attention, interest, even their faith. But people are not always easily attracted to Starthrowers. Far too often we prefer another way of living. Yet into our house of death and despair comes Jesus, the Starthrower. Jesus, the Starthrower, confronts us in our lives of despair and death by flinging us back into life, flinging us just like a Frisbee back into life. And his words of life sound to us, even today. He tells us that he knows it is a shattering experience to challenge death in whatever form it uses to confront and defeat us. He tells us not to give in or give up for the Starthrower has the final word. But there are many who would laugh at such a claim. They would likely laugh and joke at such goings on and quickly retire to the bar or the tattoo parlor.

We don’t have to look very hard to see what the fate of some of the Starthrowers has been in our world. Not that long ago Anwar Sadat, the President of Egypt, made a secret midnight trip to Israel. He did not ask for permission to come; he just showed up on the border and asked to meet with the Prime Minister of Israel. He had come to the conclusion that the endless fighting between the two countries had to stop before it destroyed both countries. But there was a radical religious and political element that decided that this Starthrower had to be stopped. So they did to him what has so often been done to Starthrowers; they murdered him thinking that his starthrowing could be stopped.

And just a few years ago the Prime Minister of Israel realized that the continuous killing between Israel and Palestine had to stop. So this Starthrower moved to address a real killing problem. But an ultra orthodox Jew decided that his starthrowing had to be stopped, so he was murdered so that his enlightened movement toward life could be stopped and the culture of killing could continue. The Starthrower had to be killed before he got the killing stopped. In our history a Starthrower showed up in the South and began calling attention to a cancer that was eating this nation up and moving it toward a bitter struggle that just might contain the seeds of a nation’s demise.

Martin Luther King helped us to take a look at what this cancer was causing. But this Starthrower was too dangerous and his message and his person had to be stopped. So the KKK sent a killer to kill the messenger and his message. So another Starthrower was lost.
Prejudice, pride and political power fill the news as they are used to quiet the message of Starthrowers. There are those who would fling us away from death and back into the depths of life, but they are still ridiculed, scorned, demeaned, attacked. Starthrowers often have so much difficulty being heard. From scorn to wonder; from whining to amazement; from crudeness to grace; from lies to candor; from fear to faith.

Jesus the Starthrower came into our living to fling us back into life. The reason we can stand and have a chance at love, at hope, at love, at wonder, at the possibilities of fresh starts and new beginnings is because Jesus, the Starthrower, has come. What we must do now is find out where we go from here. The obvious conclusion is that you and I are to be Starthrowers in our own living and loving. In a world that teeters on the brink, the need for Starthrowers is desperately needed. Every one of us, regardless of what may be happening in our lives, must be a Starthrower.

This week you will encounter someone who really needs a Starthrower. Since we all seem to live lives of quiet desperation; a quiet desperation of despair, of cancer, of blindness, of wounds that will not heal, we have need of a Starthrower. I find that I need one more often than I am sometimes willing to admit. A Starthrower who will help me live my life of quiet desperation. Loneliness, discouragement, despair, dishonest carpetbaggers masquerading as concerned statesmen. What are we to do here and now? You and I will turn around, bend down, and take hold of that situation and with all our energy fling it out into God’s ocean, into the depths of God’s life-giving source. It is what we are called to be, Starthrowers.

Know that Starthrowing can be discouraging at times. Or there is a freedom at the heat of creation that allows each of us to move either to life or death. There will be times when your effort at starthrowing may not succeed. We all can make bad choices and if we continue to choose death, the Starthrower will respect our poor choice even though it will break a heart. But we keep on throwing, we continue to be Starthrowers. We do it not because we know we will be successful, but because we know that starthrowing is at the heart of real living and loving.

And there is no doubt that you will find a beach of stars needing to be given a new fling at life. You and I will find situations every day that need our efforts as Starthrowers. So we return to the beaches of life to join forces with the Starthrower. To join forces with the one who hurled the first Starthrower into the vastness of our universe. God sent us his Starthrower, Christ, to help us. I understand that he wants to throw me back into the sea of God’s love and grace. So call me another Starthrower. Don’t be a tourist on the beach of this age. Be a Starthrower; join forces with life; join forces with the ultimate thrower of stars.

week of 3-16-09

Monday Meditation 3/16/09

Monday started off with a much needed rain that lasted the entire day. It also provided an opportunity for traffic mayhem during the morning and evening peak traffic hours. I am often surprised that in an area where we often have rain, that we also often refuse to drive as if slick streets make any difference. So you can guess the results. Fenders were crunching and munching all over town and the traffic mess really became a mess. I am daily glad that neither of us is forced to have to face the traffic congestion that happens each morning and afternoon. Since we are retired we time our errands to avoid the traffic hang-ups that occur every working day of the week. The traffic has become a real problem ever since Katrina did her number on so much of south Louisiana. Jeers to you with the hope that your traffic woes all are small woes.

What I wish to do with this blog is to learn how to use the training I am receiving from my tutor. I am learning how to use this word processor, send and receive emails, use the correction program and to use the scanner with a program called Open Book. I will attempt to discipline myself to write at least something each day so that I will become more skilled in using the programs available to me as a person who is newly blind. I know that making a daily time for practice will enable me to not have to struggle so hard to get something done. I worked out only one page this past Saturday, but it took three hours to get it written, corrected and sent to Eleanor so that she could add it to my blog. This effort is not taking nearly so long and I am already encouraged at the progress made since Saturday. I will try to make my comments as interesting as an old coot can manage. Have a merry Monday.

Tuesday Tantrum

The day began with clouds but ended with a flourish. I was listening to some of the talk about the latest offense that the financial community of big city high rollers and the big payoff that was announced over the weekend. AIG was once more the center of the controversy about the money meltdown. I find that all of this is far over my head. But I think that I have an idea about what is causing it. Makeoff made off with plenty and it seems that AIG made off with some as well. I am confused about how much money is enough. One of the old, old deadlies, greed, is alive and well in our time. I think that all of us must answer the question of are we rich or do we just have money. I believe that rich is much better than money. I have also lived long enough to realize that you can have millions of dollars and still be one of the most impoverished people around. I like things, but I love my people relationships much more.

In fact, I know that I really can’t have a life apart from relationships that really matter. I am saddened that much of our cultural discourse and interchange has become defined by the adjectives of rude, crude, lewd and common. The talk shows and the political climate reflect too many moments that can be defined by using those four adjectives. Maybe it is part of a cultural stress fracture that we are feeling, but the pain must be more difficult for us to handle than we would willingly admit. Here’s hoping that tomorrow will be a better day. After all, it is God’s offer of a fresh start and a new beginning. In this case, the new beginning is called Wednesday.


Wholly Writ Wednesday

I got off to a slow start today but I managed to finish up strong. I did my exercise on my machines and I did some work on the planned meditation for Sunday. Anita and I also had a dulcimer lesson to get ready for presentation on the first Sunday in April. I actually did all right and I can even do better when I put moe time in practice. We also decided I needed a haircut and we made an appointment for tomorrow. Time to get sheared. There is a quote from Calvara, the bandit in the movie about the magnificent seven and I will end today right here with that quote. If the Lord did not want them to be sheared, He would not have made them sheep.

Tequila Thursday

I awakened early this morning, before 5 a. m. and the news was already hot and bilking. It seems that the carpetbaggers had been rather busy during the night and were planning this day’s serving of political mayhem. The collective hue and cry about the continuing AIG saga was off and running. Many of the sane were openly confused and chagrined that those whose actions caused so much money meltdown and pain seemingly were being richly rewarded for being negative and inept, maybe criminally greedy, and could not be confronted with some kind of reasonable investigation. It seems that the us of US is getting enough of the antics of the carpetbaggers, both in and out of congress.

During the morning show the radio station interviewed our own Senator Mary. She was fully outraged that the AIG people would take that kind of advantage during such a moneyshaking time. She was really flustered when she found out that Senator Dodd had sneaked through an amendment to help his buddies at AIG because they had given big money to his reelection fund. He was one of the donkeys running the show and Senator Mary did not know that he was responsible. She had already given that idea heck, but had to admit that she voted for a bill that she didn’t even read.

Mary also had some criticism for the nearly nine thousand earmarks that were hidden in the bill. She then read a quote from a Washington newspaper noting that she had added her own earmark for some big project being managed by her brother. She really was surprised to have to answer for that and she spent the rest of today vowing that she would try to have it removed. Sure she will. Another carpetbagger caught with her hand in the bag. Sorry, Mary. By the way, Senator Dodd said that he had absolutely nothing to do with that phantom amendment, but he eventually blamed it on the devil and on the President. The devil seems to make those senators do so many devilish deeds. Where is Flip Wilson when you need him?

Friday Follies

Friday was a folly because I didn’t do much of what I planned to do. I guess I simply gave in to feeling kind of low, so I mostly bummed around and took it much easier than I wanted to, but I was a little too low in the water to make a big fuss about it. So there you have it. Now on to Saturday.

Scottie Saturday

We had a cool night and so the day got off to a good start. Anita went shopping for food and then we worked on getting things in place for an afternoon funeral and for the regular Sunday service. It was a very nice day and things have so far gone smoothly. I am now ending this episode and will be moving to the correction phase of this before sending it to Austin.

Scottie Saturday

I am continuing my rant and rave about some of the observations that have come to me over the years concerning my present outlook state and federal politics. Louisiana has a uniquely crummy reputation political behavior that often defies believable categories. We know that the virus of carpetbagger politics is still alive and well, not at all a forgotten time following the end of the Civil War. This behavior is not limited to one party. The looting is often carried out by bold officials of both parties.

The order of concern is focused on taking care of themselves first, then the spouse, then the children, then aunts and uncles, in-laws, outlaws and friends. You know that you are in trouble when the state legislature announces that they will do all they can during a session to do what is best and right for the people. If such does happen it is often just an accident. Most of the state does not think well of what often happens in Baton Rouge.

The one of the more inventive destructive games that they play is one I call the semantic shell game. For instance, our constitution prohibits gambling. That would seem to be clear enough. But the legislature played the semantic shell game and told the state that we certainly do not have gambling here. We have gaming. That surely clears up that little working problem. You can wreck your life and future here with gaming, but not with gambling. Now that is a real relief.

At the state level we continue to elect a confederacy of clowns. At the federal level, we seem to have elected a deluge of dunces. We elect them over and over again expecting that this time they will attempt to represent the US, but that simply doesn’t happen. So much of the blame for this situation is on those of us who refuse to demand more in terms of ethical behavior and our low voter participation in the elective process. If we continue to put clowns, dunces, donkeys, and elephants in charge, we will continue to reap the whirlwind and the circus will continue. After all, four horsemen of the zoo do what you would expect them to do. They can be counted on to keep things looking like a zoo.

I have become convinced that I am a big part of the problem because I have chosen to be silent for too many years. I have done almost nothing to contact those in local, state and federal government about how they govern and have failed to ask more of them than I have done. If I continue to do so little, the confederacy of clowns and the deluge of dunces will continue to make life a circus. Here’s to all of us being willing to demand more of ourselves and more of those who are supposed to represent the greater good.

During the past few years, Louisiana has played host to four hurricanes. And those experiences gave rise to the new four letter word in this state. The new four letter word is FEMA. Katrina showed just how poorly the government can respond. At all levels. It also showed, in Katrina's case just what can happen when welfare, in place for a long time, can do to cripple. It became evident that the welfare crutch that was supposed to help had become the crutch that crippled. It was a real tragedy to see such a breakdown. And this state still has to determine how to help those who have been taught not to learn how to help themselves.

Friday Follies

I am writing this on Friday but I intended to write something brief each day. So much for following through on that idea. So I will give out with the whole load of verbal hay on this one day and see what happens as I go along.

On Monday, I had my second blind man’s lesson on how to get along on the computer and email. We worked on the lesson for some time and I found out that I can do more than I thought I could. I added an attachment to an email to my daughter and she posted it on the blog. I will now attempt to give some expression to some observations that came to me during the time I was in the lesson.

I was actually afraid to start trying to type and I put it off until late Friday afternoon and I now know how silly that was.

This week has been full of so many political events that cause you to hold your head that I just had to put forth some old coot wisdom and see how. After the Civil War ended the South endured a period that was famous or infamous for the arrival of carpetbaggers. They came with the intention of looting the South of everything they could get by being associated with the winning side. We tell ourselves that such an ugly time in history is over, but all I have to do to see it in.

Modern dress is to look toward the northeast and locate the national edition of the Carpetbagger Congress. I was once so naive as to really believe that senators and representatives actually had the better good as something they wanted to come about. I no longer think that at all. I intentionally did not use upper case for senator and representative because I don’t think that most of them deserve that consideration. Most of the national polling indicates that the great majority of citizens think very little of our carpetbaggers filling and stuffing their loot into their personal carpetbags while telling us as they are stuffing that they really have our best interests in mind.

If you stop, look and listen as if approaching a railroad crossing you will get the idea. If the crossing gates are all down and the lights are all flashing and the whistle is blowing in vain, if you stay on the tracks, ignoring the facts, then don’t blame the wreck on the train. Just take a good look and you can see that the carpetbagger special is on the tracks and bearing down on us. I most certainly want to get out of the way of the Carpetbagger Special, but I don’t really know how to go about it. The power of the political carpetbaggers is so great that there seems to be no readily available way to derail the runaway locomotive and get it off the mainline before it causes a major train wreck.

I have lived most of my life in Louisiana and I know what poor government can destroy. Our history our state government has performed in a manner that would qualify this state as a preeminent banana republic. Louisiana has been recognized as a leader in corruption, bribery, nepotism, incompetence and a number of other categories too numerous to mention. And one of the amazing facts about Louisiana is that seventy eight percent of those born in this state still live here. To me that just says the people are great enough to somehow overcome the continuous inept and ugly leadership that we have endured. It also helps that some of the best food preparation in the country is located in this state. I think some of these natural chefs could make asphalt taste like chocolate.

You also have to factor in the sports climate here. Tiger worship is a state religion that often occurs on a Saturday night during the fall. The fun and frolic of the football season can divert our attention to the raids and attacks that our local carpetbaggers get going during the week. Somehow I hit the incorrect key and changed the indention of each line and I don’t have any idea what I did to cause this and don’t know what to do to change it back to normal. I will simply muddle on and hope that I can get it corrected later on.

But now I need to return to the local behavior of our carpetbaggers. The normal mode of behavior is foremost of them to have their daily priorities.

Mardi Gras Week

Monday—Monday started with a real bang as the new instructor from the state came to spend four hours teaching me a four hour lesson on this new program that I am using now. This instructor knew his area and was able to help me with a good first lesson. This was a great difference from the last instructor, who spent all his only time here setting me up with incorrect programs. He also spent most of his time telling us how great he was and what a terrific teacher he was –yet not ever coming back to do any teaching. However I learned a great deal in this first lesson and what I am DOING NOW IS A PRODUCT OF THAT NEW LESSON. I HOPE THAT I CONTINUE TO IMPROVE. Anita tells me that what I have written has some words in all caps and that is not what I intended. So you can see that I have some mistakes in this effort and that takes the stress of perfection off the table for today.

Monday afternoon we took the new Scottie and ourselves to get a lesson in grooming. I was dismissed from the lesson because I couldn’t see how to do it without giving a complete burr cut and that is not a real cool cut for a Scottie. However I did qualify for the gumbo we had and the chocolate ice cream that came as a dessert. We passed a good time and then brought ourselves home and got ready for fat Tuesday. Letting the good times roll.

Tuesday—Fat Tuesday came with much quietness attached to it. Since this is a state holiday and the schools were out. the traffic sounds of a week day morning were very silent it might pass for Christmas morning. Later that morning we put on some pork ribs and pork roast to smoke. We had a cookout that evening and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Wednesday—We had so much fun on our cookout that we did not listen to the presidential speech or the rejoinder furnished by our absentee governor, as the papers now dub him. When I turned on the radio this morning the talking experts were raving about both speeches—how much money was proposed for us to take on and how poor the governor did in his equal time. The governor did an awful presentation and was widely slammed for how poorly he did in his effort to respond.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday
These three days were spent getting ready for Sunday, preparing a meditation, studying on tapes and CDs for further consideration, the week was heavy with thoughts about what is now happening in the country and how it will affect us. I also did some thinking about what passes for political action in the country and this state. There is so much being said about what is happening and who is doing what to whom that I have to struggle to find what passes for accuracy about the situation. I am convinced that no party or political is able or willing to give a fact based description of what is happening. I plan to organize my observations about that this coming Monday, right after I have my second lesson using the computer in my current condition. I might have to just drop in to see what condition my condition is in.

January 31, 2009

A lot of things have happened during the past days. Words and phrases have been flying around like there is no tomorrow for their use. Some of the words and phrases used need to be retired and I think a very impressive retirement ceremony for them would be greatly appreciated. Here are few words and phrases that I would like to hear no more.

The first in ENTITLED. I hear politicians and car dealers use this word so much that I just know that there are many things that have gotten away from me and I didn’t even get a chance at them. A new car, a new income earned from home with the lights off, a huge new house, a new body, fewer trips to the bathroom at night, body parts that can be repaired without a doctor’s help and all at little or no cost to me or anyone else. I have become so confused as to who I am and what I am supposed to have that I might have to ask for extra help in the interpretation of life. I think that we are entitled to retire ENTITLED and I now do so; ENTITLED is now officially retired and you are no longer entitled to use it. Be it now known that our plankton politicians are no longer entitled to use ENTITLE to entitle us to anything.

I have used the phrase plankton politicians because so many of them seem to have the IQ of plankton. Having said that, I now realize that I owe plankton an apology. I know that the plankton society will be offended in having their good name, essential in the ongoing of biological life, used in such a denigrating way—yet accurate. They will be sure to contact me about this abuse immediately and I now confess that they have indeed been slighted. Still, when you hear what passes for intelligent observations that are coming out of the mouths of our national leaders we would be better off if we have an organized plankton party to oppose them. I am sure that the plankton will be offended and then politicians won’t even know what I mean.

The next phrase is SLIPPERY SLOPE. This too is a phrase that has been used to strike slippery fear in our souls as the leadership crowd tells us that we are in danger of sliding down , down to into doom. I think that Slippery Rock University should seek a restraining order to prevent the use of their name in the political phrasing of Washington. I think they could claim patent infringement so that this insult can be stopped. If I hear some plankton senator use the slippery slope analogy or phrase one more time, I think I’ll call Slippery Slope University myself.

Let’s also retire YADA-YADA. I don’t know where this phrase came from, but everyone is using it like a verbal pause while they are attempting to think of something else to say or leave out. Well, you can leave out yada –yada and return to yackety yack. I suggest that we gather on the steps of the Capitol and have a very impressive retirement ceremony for these words and phrases. Life would be so much better without them.

TIP OF THE ICEBERG is another phrase that needs to be submerged beneath the surface of English language usage. We must also include the deck chairs of the Titanic that seem be in constant need of rearranging. I think the White Star Line should also seek an injunction to stop any further denigration of their name. I would think that the emphasis should be not on the iceberg but on the misaligned idea that the ship was unsinkable. It seems to me that the plankton senators are presenting their ideas as unsinkable and when they’re not sailing on the ship, that really frightens me and the rest of the country because we may be the ones they end up sinking.

I also think that the state of Texas has a reason to take the plankton politicos to court in order to prevent them from using two phrases that come from that state.

THERE YOU GO is the first phrase that Washington should be disabused from using. A Texan actually means to use that phrase in an affirmative manner and the planktons have no such intention. The planktons’ use of that phrase is merely a verbal distraction presented as an illusion to get you and me off track. Paying attention to your concerns and mine is often the furthest thing from their mind.

The final Texas phrase for the blog and rant is I HEAR THAT. The deafness of political planktons only seems to b e diminished when their pockets, their family, their friends, or their party is asking to be heard. Being tone deaf to the chords produced by the electorate too often seems to be standard equipment with too many political offices and too many politicians. Next time I will look at the proposition that it may be that the time of statesmanship has fled and that the time of universal carpetbaggers has returned.

I will end this for today and see if I can recover from this blind battle with technology. I hope that the world treats you with kindness until I bang out some more nonsense on these keys. Take care of yourselves.