I just love it when contacts I make and develop through friends and family connections are assumed by my husband’s associates to be theirs exclusively to take credit for and cultivate, treating my husband as if he’s some sort of second class entity. Shame on YOU.
Author: D. L. Keur
LUDICROUS!!! Chefs in The Cage!
What kind of a society are we? Everytime I think we’ve reached a new low, somebody comes along to demonstrate just how insipid, perverse, even despicable, Americans and their trends to embrace violence as “the answer to everything” REALLY are.
It seems that to gain prestige in the world of American haute cuisine, we now have battles of the chefs?
Bad enough that we have The Cage and MMA–bludgeoning battles between meatheads out to prove they’ve got balls–events which promote even more violence than old-fashioned, equally ludicrous “pro wrestling” and that blood sport of pugilism known as “boxing.”
Now, though, it seems, that to promote anything and everything to the mindless masses, it comes down to knives, fists, and guns in order to lure the American viewer? Really. Blood sport in the kitchen? Knives at sunset?
Just look at those “mean machine” scowls. *shaking my head*
If this is “entertainment” to some, those “some” need lobotomizing.
Are Americans SO very addicted to competition and violence that we resemble the Romans with their amphitheaters where conscripted gladiators battled each other, captive humans, and starved animals to the death for the “entertainment” of the citizens?
In a word, YES. That’s what a majority of Americans seem to thrive on.
Sick. Sick. Sick.
It’s Christmas, and, Well, We’re Still Fighting
It’s Christmas–a holiday Christians use to celebrate the birth of Jesus of Nazareth (who was actually born sometime in October, btw), Jesus of Nazareth whose teachings inspired the founding of the Christian faith…for good, but mostly resulting in evil.
Christmas is celebrated by non-Christians, as well–Yuletide and the Solstice…or just an excuse to celebrate, remember friends and family, and to enjoy a feeling of goodwill and peace.
But, guess what? In Christams 2009, what are we doing? Well, in the U.S., we’re still fighting–Republicans versus Democrats, liberals versus neoconservatives, and all of them pissed off at moderates and independents who don’t hold their “party” lines. And, around the world, we’re in wars, wars, and wars. We’re standing by while people, animals, and Earth itself continues to suffer harm by mankind’s UNKIND hands–cruelty, hardship, misery, decimation….
I’m sick of humans. Yes, really. As a species, despite supposedly being “civilized” and blessed with (repeat, SUPPOSEDLY) superior intelligence, it is WE–humans–who blight the planet with our greed, our fear, and our oh-so-primitive “us versus them” tribalism. We are the most violent, most vile, of creatures, yet, simultaneously, we exhibit the ability to rise above that and be the kindest, most caring. Unfortunately, in this our 21st century of counting our existence in the West, we seem to be a civilization devolving back into a hate/war society of intolerance…and have been since the turn of the Millennium. (Thanks, G.W.B./Cheney, fuckers both.)
Hope? Hope is a Christmas theme. I’m losing it. I can’t see us ever getting clear of our fear, greed, and unhealthy lusts. Still, Christmas IS the one time of year in the West when, for just a moment, for just a day, SOMETIMES, anyway, the world knows PEACE. This is especially evident at the stroke of midnight between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, worldwide.
So tonight I will celebrate that one precious moment of PEACE that happens only now, thanks to a man born long ago in a land far, far away.
Thank you, Jesus. That’s one small piece of good that came about because of a religion founded in your name, though most everything else that’s come about because of Christianity (along with most everything that’s come about because of Judism and Islam, all brother/sister religions that lead back to the seed of Abraham) only perpetuates more evil upon the planet.
Be still, Humans. It’s Christmas Eve. A breath of stillness, a moment of peace….
I’m Really Getting Sick of Both Sides
Let’s face it: Democrats are wimps…for the most part.
Let’s face it: Republicans only vested interest is in holding power so they can better line their pockets by right of dictatorship.
Neither party is what it claims.
Republicans put on a good show about standing up for fiscal responsibility, yet took our country from a Clinton era budget surplus to a crushing budget deficit..which they then blame on…the Democrats (who sat around, hands in pockets, going along to get along, so, yes, they are ALSO responsible, right along with the then Republican majority. Republicans also claim (vociferously) to be “for” rugged individualism and personal freedom, but they’re the first ones to abnegate the writ of habeas corpus, forbid personal choice, and violate the Bill of Rights, even to permitting illegal spying on U.S. citizens without a warrant.
Democrats, of course, claim they hold high the ideals of equality and opportunity for all and social responsibility, yet they’re the ones who promote quota systems like “Affirmative Action” that purposely enforce discrimination along with welfare systems that financially encourage young girls to produce out-of-wedlock children, hardly something that promotes social responsibility.
Republicans are FOR freedom, but against the right of a woman to CHOOSE? How’s that?
Democrats are FOR social responsibility, but against punishing the criminal for his/her acts against another?
Republicans are FOR individualism, but demand that everyone be heterosexual and Christian? Or what?
Democrats will roll over…like they did for G. W. Bush, just to avoid conflict? What would they have done if G. W. had been Hitler…or, just as bad, Chaney? I’ll tell you: They’d have gone along to get along. “Yes’m Bossman. Yes’m.”
I could go on, but won’t.
What it comes down to is that Republicans are vicious, acting like vindictive women when they don’t get their way (Laura, I hope you’re reading this.), and Democrats, other than Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, act like cowering, spineless sneaks who lack any convictions whatsoever excepting those which avoid facing conflict.
What is completely scary about Republicans is their insistence that I must hold the values they demand, and act in accordance with their dictates. That’s freedom? Ah, no.
What’s scary about Democrats is that they, as a body, are scared to stand up for what they believe to be right and just…if they ever figure out what they actually might want to grow balls to stand up for, AND they will sell the American people down the road if it means they can avoid conflict.
Both parties are ONLY out to line their pockets and gain as much power as they possibly can. To do that, they have to keep the American people in an emotional uproar about as many contentious socio-political issues as possible, then dun us all, all the time, to donate them more and more and more money, honey.
Sorry, guys and gals. I’ve turned a deaf ear. Go grab your own ankles.
A Quarter Inch of Joy
I was out watering my ever-bearing strawberries, and, in the process, knocked a tiny black creature — a quarter inch long little black wasp — into the rain cistern. Reaching down with a gentle finger, I scooped her out and put her on my t-shirt sleeve before finishing my task while keeping an occasional eye on her revival progress.
It took her about two minutes of rubbing herself on the soft cotton material of my shirt sleeve, then another three or so of “tidying” before she considered herself “presentable” to the world again. Watching, I was captivated by the meticulous attention she paid to every part of herself — her antenna, her thorax, her legs, her head, her wings. She was not hasty; she attended every detail in a thorough, methodical, and almost leisurely, never panicked fashion. Her lack of fear, her sense of “safe”, brought me a great measure of joy — that the small creatures around me know that I will never intentionally swat, hit, squash, or harm them. It brings me a greater measure of joy to watch these wonderful living things go about their daily business in peace and harmony with every other creature who shares their life journey.
Be kind. The life you save could very well brighten your own well-being.