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.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Monday, March 16, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
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.
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.
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