It's sad that we have trouble having an honest dialogue in this country when it comes to gun ownership. Never mind the vast number of injuries and deaths caused by children playing with their parents' guns that weren't properly stored and the number of guns children use to purposefully take the lives of other children or the domestic arguments that end up with someone using a gun; let's talk about lobbyists.
I wonder how many people know what a lobbyist actually does. They roam the legislative halls and wine and dine politicians or their aides or family members disguised as experts in their field. You see, most politicians are just like us - they don't have a clue about most topics - they rely on others to educate them and inform them to allow them to display the appearance that they know why they voted yea or nay on any given piece of legislation. And, if they are on a committee, why they offered a piece of legislation. While the majority of legislators are former attorneys, they are still not versed well enough on issues to render an intelligent opinion until one is given to them.
Before we get to the National Rifle Association, let's look at another lobby - Mothers Against Drunk Drivers. It is no accident that the legal blood alcohol level was lowered nationally from .1 to .08. It wasn't proposed by the collective conscience of Congress. MADD members are out to outlaw alcohol. If they were sincere about removing people who have had too much to drink from driving, they would have worked for a law that would force people to be given a ride when they reach a point of driving inhibition. If bars and restaurants are going to make a profit from selling alcohol, they should be prepared to get their customer home safely. But no legislation has even entertained that prospect.
People will continue to drink and bars and restaurants will continue to be driving distances away from the consumer. Perhaps one answer is a bar on every corner. People who imbibed in the recent past, used to live in apartments in the city within walking distance or a short cab ride from their favorite watering hole. Heck, some people had apartments above the bars they frequented. Then came the suburbs. What makes MADD so powerful? Numbers! MADD can threaten the term of any politician. The threat of a campaign lauched with the goal of ending the career of a politician and, if your numbers are large enough, you've got their vote.
Numbers! It's what can make Unions powerful - that's why governors around the country are trying to bust them. They couldn't care less about the money union members make or the benefits the have. They care about the massive voting power. Numbers! Numbers is the reason politicos have been pitting poor Blacks in America against poor Hispanics. Imagine the voting power of those two groups of Americans united behind one politician or another. Polarization is purposeful. There is strength in unity. Civil rights laws and laws protecting and respecting women and minorities only came about because of unity. The NAACP at the time of civil stuggles in America in the fifties and sixties was made up of many white folk - many of them Jewish. Civil rights laws were based on voting rights issues. Women's rights laws were based on voting rights issues. Those in power, usually white men, did everything they could to retain that power - the power to write the laws and enforce them.
Power, politics, white men - enter the National Rifle Association. They would have you believe by their name alone that they represent hunters and those who choose to defend themselves and their families with some type of rifle. After all, they are a rifle association. But look at some of the laws they convince legislators to write and pass - state to state (even that is not national). They worked on laws to allow guns in schools, guns in bars, concealed weapons without special permits, Stand Your Ground right to kill laws. Perhaps they should change their name . . . Allow Cop Killing Bullets Association; Twenty-Bullet Clips Automatic Handgun Association; Fun With Assault Rifles Association. A lobby by any other name . . .
Groups with a recognizable membership wield recognizable power. Imagine a group with so many members they can effect any and every political outcome being infused with cash from groups with boatloads of money and you understand America's political system in a nutshell. In a nutshell, how appropriate. If Americans don't unite, corporations and groups of single-minded memberships will continue to run the country, from City Hall to Congress. People have seen how powerless the office of President of the Unted States can be when the goal of Congress is to see the President fail - even at the recession of a nation.
Now, we have a situation in Florida where a law, possibly ghost-written by lobbyists for the NRA, has been used to influence police decisions immediately following the shooting and killing of an unarmed teenager. The shooter was allowed to remain free and retain his weapon and never given an alcohol or drug test, while the responding officers tested the dead man. One has to wonder what the motivation was behind those decisions and lack of actions of those police officers. It's not the job of police officers to determine guilt or innocence, but that's what they became. There are many players involved in this tragedy.
So, let's not let the slaying of Trayvon Martin be used as just another polarizing racial issue, but rather as a way of bringing us all together to stop the infused hatred, paranoia and distrust being perpetuated by those in powerful positions. We need to stop using the word WAR so loosely and instead recognize the source behind all the suppression and negativity and take away their power - with our voting power.
Peace - Ho'oponopono . . .
Friday, March 23, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
Can I Get An Amen?
I just saw a new poll taken in Mississippi and Alabama that showed the majority of republicans planning to vote believe that the President of the United States, Barack Obama, is a Muslim. Inspite of the fact that he converted to Christianity, attended a Christian church with his wife and family, was sworn in to the office using the Bible and continues to claim he has accepted Jesus as his savior.
What is it with these people? Isn't it bad enough that there are movies, songs, books, cartoons and comedians constantly reminded the rest of the world just how ignorant residents of the deep south in the United States are regarding any topic but NASCAR standings and "cheesy grits?" I was raised in Virginia, sadly becoming more southern each day. I remember the confederate flags across the trucks' back windows, shading the gun racks and the rampant prejudice that came with the "The South is going to rise again" bumper stickers. Maybe, it's just as simple as one of their comedic heroes, Ron White, put it - You Can't Fix Stupid.
I attended high school in 1968, a year after the school integrated. I was small and got slammed against lockers often. I was even hung upside down and swung from my ankles by a couple of bullies in front of classmates. One day while a large white male was slamming me into a locker, a black student happened by. He was Calvin, the fullback of our football team and a bass in the choir where I sang tenor and alto as a freshman. Calvin slammed the bully against the wall and told him to pick on someone his own size. I guess the word got out that Calvin was my friend because the bullies backed off somewhat after that incident. I never properly thanked Calvin, although at the time I would probably have kissed his class ring.
I carried some of that taught prejudice with me into my adult years. I found it wasn't easy to unlearn something that been ingrained in you most of your life. I was fortunate enough to play music with black musicians in Norfolk in my twenties. I remember smoking a joint on a corner in the projects in Norfolk and being told by the drummer that times had definitely changed since my high school days. "There were times your white face wouldn't have been welcomed here," he offered with a sly grin. We ended up performing in an all-black nightclub one weekend. I looked around and immediately thought, I get it. I get what being a minority might feel like. Not that I could really understand being black in America in one weekend, but it was eye opening.
Back to the white southerners who continue to brandish hatred and prejudice -u even if just through economics. Christians of every denomination, Catholic, Evangelical, Baptist, Protestant, Mormon, etc. send out missionaries to convert the world to their religious views - to save them - from what I'm still not sure. I am a recovering Catholic, being taught that whistling in the house was calling the devil and punishment for cursing could include burning your hands in the oven. Religion with zeal? I find it difficult to understand how my fellow Americans could believe that all non-Christian people around the globe can be converted to their Christian faith, but the President of the United States could not. More than just a bit hypocritical. They send emissaries to convert Muslims, Jews, Athiests, Pagans and anyone else who has yet to join their club, but yet won't accept that President Obama had already converted. It would seem there is no way they can wrap their heads around the fact that the President of the United States is black - actually he is more pecan tan - because his mother was white.
I am trying to be a proud American - being made difficult by the rampant prejudice that is pervading our country to this day - be it against Hispanics or African Americans. I am proud when we stand together to help strangers during tragedies and extend a hand to the needy without questioning one's beliefs. I live in a world of hope - a hope that we can accept each other's differences with respect and understanding, perhaps even learning something from someone with those differing views.
In spite of all the mess I see and hear being spewed in the name of religion, I find myself a more spiritual man than ever. Perhaps that's why I was given songs to record in the name of Music for Social Change.
Wishing us all . . . love!
Peace - Ho'oponopono
What is it with these people? Isn't it bad enough that there are movies, songs, books, cartoons and comedians constantly reminded the rest of the world just how ignorant residents of the deep south in the United States are regarding any topic but NASCAR standings and "cheesy grits?" I was raised in Virginia, sadly becoming more southern each day. I remember the confederate flags across the trucks' back windows, shading the gun racks and the rampant prejudice that came with the "The South is going to rise again" bumper stickers. Maybe, it's just as simple as one of their comedic heroes, Ron White, put it - You Can't Fix Stupid.
I attended high school in 1968, a year after the school integrated. I was small and got slammed against lockers often. I was even hung upside down and swung from my ankles by a couple of bullies in front of classmates. One day while a large white male was slamming me into a locker, a black student happened by. He was Calvin, the fullback of our football team and a bass in the choir where I sang tenor and alto as a freshman. Calvin slammed the bully against the wall and told him to pick on someone his own size. I guess the word got out that Calvin was my friend because the bullies backed off somewhat after that incident. I never properly thanked Calvin, although at the time I would probably have kissed his class ring.
I carried some of that taught prejudice with me into my adult years. I found it wasn't easy to unlearn something that been ingrained in you most of your life. I was fortunate enough to play music with black musicians in Norfolk in my twenties. I remember smoking a joint on a corner in the projects in Norfolk and being told by the drummer that times had definitely changed since my high school days. "There were times your white face wouldn't have been welcomed here," he offered with a sly grin. We ended up performing in an all-black nightclub one weekend. I looked around and immediately thought, I get it. I get what being a minority might feel like. Not that I could really understand being black in America in one weekend, but it was eye opening.
Back to the white southerners who continue to brandish hatred and prejudice -u even if just through economics. Christians of every denomination, Catholic, Evangelical, Baptist, Protestant, Mormon, etc. send out missionaries to convert the world to their religious views - to save them - from what I'm still not sure. I am a recovering Catholic, being taught that whistling in the house was calling the devil and punishment for cursing could include burning your hands in the oven. Religion with zeal? I find it difficult to understand how my fellow Americans could believe that all non-Christian people around the globe can be converted to their Christian faith, but the President of the United States could not. More than just a bit hypocritical. They send emissaries to convert Muslims, Jews, Athiests, Pagans and anyone else who has yet to join their club, but yet won't accept that President Obama had already converted. It would seem there is no way they can wrap their heads around the fact that the President of the United States is black - actually he is more pecan tan - because his mother was white.
I am trying to be a proud American - being made difficult by the rampant prejudice that is pervading our country to this day - be it against Hispanics or African Americans. I am proud when we stand together to help strangers during tragedies and extend a hand to the needy without questioning one's beliefs. I live in a world of hope - a hope that we can accept each other's differences with respect and understanding, perhaps even learning something from someone with those differing views.
In spite of all the mess I see and hear being spewed in the name of religion, I find myself a more spiritual man than ever. Perhaps that's why I was given songs to record in the name of Music for Social Change.
Wishing us all . . . love!
Peace - Ho'oponopono
Saturday, March 3, 2012
What's the Rush?
One has to wonder whether Rush Limbaugh is popping pills again, or is just completely meshugana - still. Third-year Georgetown University law student, Sandra Fluke recently testified about the need for health insurance to cover birth control medication for women. Fluke testified to a Congressional committee on Feb. 23. The previous week, a Republican-controlled House committee had rejected Democrats' request that she testify on the Obama administration's policy requiring that employees of religion-affiliated institutions have access to health insurance that covers birth control. Instead, Representative Darrell Issa of California, the committee's chair, summoned a men-only panel of so-called experts representing a variety of faiths to make the dialogue purely about religion, not birth control or women's access to medication covered by their health insurance.
Fluke said that Georgetown, a Jesuit institution, does not provide contraception coverage in its student health plan and that contraception can cost a woman more than $3,000 during law school. She spoke of a friend who had an ovary removed because the insurance company wouldn't cover the prescription birth control she needed to stop the growth of cysts.
Following her reported testimony, Limbaugh proceeded to call Ms. Fluke a slut and a prostitute, demanding she produce videos of herself having sex. The saddest part is not only is this guy a complete pig, a disgrace to humankind, a buffoon with a microphone, but people actually listen to his misogynistic tirades and corporations pay to support his continuing to unapologically berate anyone who does not agree with his warped views. As do many men in positions of self-ordained power that feel threatened by the mere existence of a sex that can give birth and nurse and nurture their offspring. Men typically want to take that power away from women - men will decide when and how women have sex and if they become impregnated, they'll decide, through the government, that she must carry to term - no matter the circumstance or medical conditions of the woman or fetus. Men are now even trying to rewrite science, claiming a zygote is a person. A zygote? The big bang? Do people realize that by declaring a zygote a person, laws can be written to make it a crime to destroy any fertilized eggs held in petri dishes and fertility clinics?
I remember being groomed to be a Catholic and being told that masturbation was a sin because I was releasing my sperm somewhere other than in a vagina, with no chance of procreation. Sad to say, masturbation is the only sex most boys and many men are going to have. As Woody Allen says, at least masturbation is having sex with someone you love. This pious declaration comes from the same people who brought us alter boys - misspelled purposefully. I have had recent conversations with Catholics who are not worried that their priest is gay - doesn't bother them. However, no way should a woman be ordained or should priests be allowed to marry - after all, the vow of chastity is sacrosanct. Give me a break. As a recovering Catholic, I am disturbed that Newt Gingrich tauts his religiosity after his actions with his current wife - another Catholic who knowingly committed adultery with him - this is like the political tiffanys of sin because it involves a lot of lying to maintain the relationship.
Then there are the other political wannabes - Rick Santorum, one of the Republican presidential contenders seeking to oppose Obama, commented to CNN about Limbaugh's remarks. "He's being absurd," Santorum said. "But that's, you know, an entertainer can be absurd."
So, afraid to disturb the status quo, Santorum tucks his rebukes of Limbaughs inane and disturbing remarks under his sweater vest and quietly waves to his supporters who agree that contraception should not be allowed under any conditions. And, since he wants to bring his faith to the Washington political arena, he must, to be a good and faithful Catholic, agree with his leader, the Pope, that there should be no in-vitro fertilization allowed. The Pope considers it selfish to want to bear children if nature has made it medically impossible. How dare you? Just take somebody else's unwanted child. Will Santorum bring this religious righteous indignation to the White House were he to be ordained? And since Gingrich has converted, he would need to bring the same rules and regulations with him in order to be a good Catholic.
Then there is Mitt Romney. While campaigning in Ohio for the Republican presidential primary, Romney was asked about Limbaugh's comments and craftily (for him) steered his answer away from the uproar.
"It's not the language I would have used," Romney said after a campaign event in Cleveland. "But I'm focusing on the issues that I think are significant in the country today and that's why I'm here talking about jobs in Ohio." So, Romney would not have called Ms. Fluke a slut or prostitute - perhaps jezebel or floozie or just a loose woman - something more retro.
Limbaugh continued to ramble for days, shoveling his drivel to his, hopefully dwindling, audience without realizing he had absolutely no clue what female contraception is. He assumed that each time a woman had sex, she had to take some type of contraception - like it was Viagra or something. What a moron. Speaking of Viagra, isn't that medication to make men stiff covered by most insurance plans, including Medicare? Thank goodness Limbaugh didn't make an appeal for nursing homes to release sex tapes of men showing off their proud Viagra-aided johnsons. Perhaps his ubiquitous cigar is his personal phallus to comfort him when he is alone on his sound cloud. No videos, please.
Peace - Ho'oponopono . . .
Fluke said that Georgetown, a Jesuit institution, does not provide contraception coverage in its student health plan and that contraception can cost a woman more than $3,000 during law school. She spoke of a friend who had an ovary removed because the insurance company wouldn't cover the prescription birth control she needed to stop the growth of cysts.
Following her reported testimony, Limbaugh proceeded to call Ms. Fluke a slut and a prostitute, demanding she produce videos of herself having sex. The saddest part is not only is this guy a complete pig, a disgrace to humankind, a buffoon with a microphone, but people actually listen to his misogynistic tirades and corporations pay to support his continuing to unapologically berate anyone who does not agree with his warped views. As do many men in positions of self-ordained power that feel threatened by the mere existence of a sex that can give birth and nurse and nurture their offspring. Men typically want to take that power away from women - men will decide when and how women have sex and if they become impregnated, they'll decide, through the government, that she must carry to term - no matter the circumstance or medical conditions of the woman or fetus. Men are now even trying to rewrite science, claiming a zygote is a person. A zygote? The big bang? Do people realize that by declaring a zygote a person, laws can be written to make it a crime to destroy any fertilized eggs held in petri dishes and fertility clinics?
I remember being groomed to be a Catholic and being told that masturbation was a sin because I was releasing my sperm somewhere other than in a vagina, with no chance of procreation. Sad to say, masturbation is the only sex most boys and many men are going to have. As Woody Allen says, at least masturbation is having sex with someone you love. This pious declaration comes from the same people who brought us alter boys - misspelled purposefully. I have had recent conversations with Catholics who are not worried that their priest is gay - doesn't bother them. However, no way should a woman be ordained or should priests be allowed to marry - after all, the vow of chastity is sacrosanct. Give me a break. As a recovering Catholic, I am disturbed that Newt Gingrich tauts his religiosity after his actions with his current wife - another Catholic who knowingly committed adultery with him - this is like the political tiffanys of sin because it involves a lot of lying to maintain the relationship.
Then there are the other political wannabes - Rick Santorum, one of the Republican presidential contenders seeking to oppose Obama, commented to CNN about Limbaugh's remarks. "He's being absurd," Santorum said. "But that's, you know, an entertainer can be absurd."
So, afraid to disturb the status quo, Santorum tucks his rebukes of Limbaughs inane and disturbing remarks under his sweater vest and quietly waves to his supporters who agree that contraception should not be allowed under any conditions. And, since he wants to bring his faith to the Washington political arena, he must, to be a good and faithful Catholic, agree with his leader, the Pope, that there should be no in-vitro fertilization allowed. The Pope considers it selfish to want to bear children if nature has made it medically impossible. How dare you? Just take somebody else's unwanted child. Will Santorum bring this religious righteous indignation to the White House were he to be ordained? And since Gingrich has converted, he would need to bring the same rules and regulations with him in order to be a good Catholic.
Then there is Mitt Romney. While campaigning in Ohio for the Republican presidential primary, Romney was asked about Limbaugh's comments and craftily (for him) steered his answer away from the uproar.
"It's not the language I would have used," Romney said after a campaign event in Cleveland. "But I'm focusing on the issues that I think are significant in the country today and that's why I'm here talking about jobs in Ohio." So, Romney would not have called Ms. Fluke a slut or prostitute - perhaps jezebel or floozie or just a loose woman - something more retro.
Limbaugh continued to ramble for days, shoveling his drivel to his, hopefully dwindling, audience without realizing he had absolutely no clue what female contraception is. He assumed that each time a woman had sex, she had to take some type of contraception - like it was Viagra or something. What a moron. Speaking of Viagra, isn't that medication to make men stiff covered by most insurance plans, including Medicare? Thank goodness Limbaugh didn't make an appeal for nursing homes to release sex tapes of men showing off their proud Viagra-aided johnsons. Perhaps his ubiquitous cigar is his personal phallus to comfort him when he is alone on his sound cloud. No videos, please.
Peace - Ho'oponopono . . .
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Forgiveness . . .
"I don't know what [his] final moments were like, but I can't worry about it," Demetrius' mother Phyllis Ferguson told ABC News in an exclusive interview. "You have to accept things done and move on." The parents of Ohio school shooting victim Demetrius Hewlin said today they forgive suspected gunman T.J. Lane for shooting their son, noting sadly that Demetrius was often late for school but not late enough that day. When asked what she would say to the suspected shooter, Ferguson said, "I would tell him I forgive him because, a lot of times, they don't know what they're doing. That's all I'd say."
"I taught Demetrius not to live in the past, to live in today and forgiveness is divine. You have to forgive everything. God's grace is new each and every day," she said. "Until you've walked in another person's shoes, you don't know what made him come to this point."
When I grow up, I want to be like Phyllis Ferguson. To be able to forgive someone who has taken the life of your child for no reason at all and not immediately lash out with violent vengeance and no remorse is beyond pedestrian comprehension. There is some serious love emanating from this soul. What a joy it must have been to be her son and grow up with that love.
There's a line from a West Wing episode - The streets of Heaven are too crowded with angels tonight. They're our students and our teachers and our parents and our friends. The streets of Heaven are too crowded with angels. While I watch the numerous posts of today's loss of singer Davy Jones from The Monkies, I wonder where the RIPs are for the children gunned down at yet another school or the people who lost their lives to the storms in the night or the nameless, faceless, hundreds who, for no cause of their own will die each day.
We say we are a Christian country, yet we stand idly by while profiteers poison our food and pollute our waters and air and destroy our planet. What is so Christian about lying about others for personal gain? I thought one of the 10 Commandments was not to bear false witness against your neighbor. Does that not include political oponents? Of yeah, and the one about committing adultery - multiple times? And what about being your brother's keeper or turning the other cheek or extending a helping hand to those in need? Are immigrants not in need? Are dug addicts not in need? Are prositutes not in need? Are people unemployed not in need? Are people losing their homes not in need?
We can't expect people in other countries to follow their good books and live a pious life if we can't lead by example, can we? I have yet to read every religious epistle or gospel or beatitude for every religion, but I would wager that each is filled good versus evil and the the preference being good.
Walked in his shoes - Phyllis Ferguson actually wondered to herself what this other child could possibly have gone through in his short time on earth to cause such devastation. She found the love inside to empathize with the killer of her son. Phyllis Ferguson - that's who I want to be like when I grow up.
Peace - Ho'oponopono . . .
"I taught Demetrius not to live in the past, to live in today and forgiveness is divine. You have to forgive everything. God's grace is new each and every day," she said. "Until you've walked in another person's shoes, you don't know what made him come to this point."
When I grow up, I want to be like Phyllis Ferguson. To be able to forgive someone who has taken the life of your child for no reason at all and not immediately lash out with violent vengeance and no remorse is beyond pedestrian comprehension. There is some serious love emanating from this soul. What a joy it must have been to be her son and grow up with that love.
There's a line from a West Wing episode - The streets of Heaven are too crowded with angels tonight. They're our students and our teachers and our parents and our friends. The streets of Heaven are too crowded with angels. While I watch the numerous posts of today's loss of singer Davy Jones from The Monkies, I wonder where the RIPs are for the children gunned down at yet another school or the people who lost their lives to the storms in the night or the nameless, faceless, hundreds who, for no cause of their own will die each day.
We say we are a Christian country, yet we stand idly by while profiteers poison our food and pollute our waters and air and destroy our planet. What is so Christian about lying about others for personal gain? I thought one of the 10 Commandments was not to bear false witness against your neighbor. Does that not include political oponents? Of yeah, and the one about committing adultery - multiple times? And what about being your brother's keeper or turning the other cheek or extending a helping hand to those in need? Are immigrants not in need? Are dug addicts not in need? Are prositutes not in need? Are people unemployed not in need? Are people losing their homes not in need?
We can't expect people in other countries to follow their good books and live a pious life if we can't lead by example, can we? I have yet to read every religious epistle or gospel or beatitude for every religion, but I would wager that each is filled good versus evil and the the preference being good.
Walked in his shoes - Phyllis Ferguson actually wondered to herself what this other child could possibly have gone through in his short time on earth to cause such devastation. She found the love inside to empathize with the killer of her son. Phyllis Ferguson - that's who I want to be like when I grow up.
Peace - Ho'oponopono . . .
Friday, February 24, 2012
To Protect and Serve
An Arizona man has been arrested for keeping a raccoon he rescued and adopting him as a pet. I don't use names, so I'll just say, this guy risked his own life by jumping into the Colorado (naming rivers is okay) to save a drowning raccoon. He nurses the animal for a while and the raccoon, Sonny (can use raccoons names, also) hangs around, much like the cat I took in 15 years ago from a tree. It seems you can keep a raccoon as a pet in Arizona, but you must first obtain an "exotic animal license."
This guy, Sonny's hero, checked online for rules about befriending a raccoon and didn't see the clause requiring the license. One day, while walking with Sonny on his shoulder, a neighbor called Arizona Game and Fish - the site where you can learn that raccoons are the one animal that can be killed with a firearm at night. I should be careful divulging that kind of information in this gun happy state - people might start using it as a defense - I thought my husband was a raccoon rummaging though our trash - well it was dark and he was wearing a furry housecoat. Of course, the law implies that you have to shoot the raccoon, not beat them to death with the firearm, so, people be forewarned.
Raccoons typically live about 15 years, similar to domesticated cats and dogs. Had Sonny been rescued and set into the wild and been picked up by Game and Fish or the Himane Society, he most likely would be put to death. To date, Sonny and his adoptive guardian are both behind bars now. I'm sure the neighbor who called it in feels safer now knowing that someone who lives nearby who would sacrifice his own safety to rescue an animal he didn't know is locked up. Is the world really a safer place with this guy incarcerated? I think not. But, I have to admit, if I see that tattling neighbor drowning, I would jump in to save them, but I would then set them free to roam the wilderness and not bring them into my warm, cozy home.
Peace - Ho'oponopono . . .
This guy, Sonny's hero, checked online for rules about befriending a raccoon and didn't see the clause requiring the license. One day, while walking with Sonny on his shoulder, a neighbor called Arizona Game and Fish - the site where you can learn that raccoons are the one animal that can be killed with a firearm at night. I should be careful divulging that kind of information in this gun happy state - people might start using it as a defense - I thought my husband was a raccoon rummaging though our trash - well it was dark and he was wearing a furry housecoat. Of course, the law implies that you have to shoot the raccoon, not beat them to death with the firearm, so, people be forewarned.
Raccoons typically live about 15 years, similar to domesticated cats and dogs. Had Sonny been rescued and set into the wild and been picked up by Game and Fish or the Himane Society, he most likely would be put to death. To date, Sonny and his adoptive guardian are both behind bars now. I'm sure the neighbor who called it in feels safer now knowing that someone who lives nearby who would sacrifice his own safety to rescue an animal he didn't know is locked up. Is the world really a safer place with this guy incarcerated? I think not. But, I have to admit, if I see that tattling neighbor drowning, I would jump in to save them, but I would then set them free to roam the wilderness and not bring them into my warm, cozy home.
Peace - Ho'oponopono . . .
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Whitney Houston
I put Whitney Houston in the top 10 of female vocalists, along with Barbara Streisand, Mariah Carey, Eva Cassidy, Enya , Sarah Brightman, Maria Callas, Janice Joplin, Judy Garland and Annie Lennox. I realize I left out your favorite, but it's my blog. My favorite would be Eva Cassidy. While Whitney Houston surely died at a young age, Maria Callas died at 53, Judy Garland at 47, Eva Cassidy died at 33 and Janice Joplin died at 27 (as did Amy Winehouse). Too often, people we admire are taken from us too soon. Add males to the mix with Elvis, John Lennon, Hendrix, Michael Jackson and Jim Morrison and actors and actresses and the list gets much longer. I watched her service on television with appreciation for her contribution to music. I rewatched The Bodyguard and listened to some of her most popular songs with the same awe as when I first heard them. I continue to watch youthful girls attempting to emulate Whitney Houston on televised singing contests, all hoping to reach not only the notes she belted out with ease, but the life she apparently lead. Like many of the entertainment icons who passed before her, Whitney Houston became ensnarled in the world of drugs and alcohol to maintain the high fame bestows upon the stars.
There are few who escape the temptation of the pleasures thrust upon them - getting drugs on the street may be seedy and dangerous, but they seem to be made readily available for the rich and famous. Instead of dwelling on the lifestyle she and so many others lead, I prefer to listen to the gift they were given and chose to share with others. The moving sounds and emotions offered by these magnificent talents to me far overrides their personal life trials.
So much has been left behind by these superstars for us to enjoy, whether it be songs or movies. Sometines it's comforting to take a weekend and play some old records or watch some old movies and pay homage to those who crossed over too soon for us to comprehend. And so, this weekend, it's listening to Eva Cassidy and watching the Wizard of Oz with some courage, a heart and a brain.
Peace - Ho'oponopono . . .
There are few who escape the temptation of the pleasures thrust upon them - getting drugs on the street may be seedy and dangerous, but they seem to be made readily available for the rich and famous. Instead of dwelling on the lifestyle she and so many others lead, I prefer to listen to the gift they were given and chose to share with others. The moving sounds and emotions offered by these magnificent talents to me far overrides their personal life trials.
So much has been left behind by these superstars for us to enjoy, whether it be songs or movies. Sometines it's comforting to take a weekend and play some old records or watch some old movies and pay homage to those who crossed over too soon for us to comprehend. And so, this weekend, it's listening to Eva Cassidy and watching the Wizard of Oz with some courage, a heart and a brain.
Peace - Ho'oponopono . . .
Friday, February 17, 2012
Toaday I signed a few of Facebook petitions, one to Walmart to stop selling Monsanto GMO products, one to tell the governor of Virginia (the state I spent nearly 30 years in) to vetoe legislation to force pregnant women considering an abortion to be subjected to an invasive vaginal sonagram without their consent (as a rider bill to one that says conception begins at the zygote stage). I also posted a FB message from Be The Match to encourage people to sign up as a bone marrow donor. And, I started my own petition to tell the National Restaurant Association to cease using styrofoam - a toxic, unnecessary biproduct.
There were posts from friends with music videos and uplifting messages and informative posts I look forward to reading. This is what I thought Facebook would be - a social networking site where people can become informed, enlightened, entertained and involved.
I have to say, however, that I don't enjoy personal messages sent between two characters posted on the public pages. Either they haven't figured out that personal comments can be sent to individuals and kept off public pages or that they can simply use their email and not bombard the pages with pictures of their baby, or their dinner or information about which mall they are shopping at and what they bought.
I have enjoyed many of today's posts, as they are people using this medium to advance society for what they feel is people's betterment - readers can choose to agree or not, but at least they are attempting to engage the FB public in an event we all can possibly share, rather than a personal diatribe.
So, to those who wish to enlighten, entertain, inform and educate, I look forward to your posts. To those of you who wish to share your latest picture at the beach with your family - use email or skype or personalize and define your posts, please.
I do want to save the world, I just don't know how and must rely on my FB friends for help. I have a page dedicated to Music for Social Change, but I don't send pictures of my breakfast (as good as it was) or my great neice or nephew (as much as I love them) or my cat (who happens to be Jewish) or even my wife holding a shirt (because she loves clean clothes). The again, perhaps I'm the one who doesn't get it. Maybe the people trying to enlighten, educate, entertain and involve others are taking up space that should be otherwise used for trivial pursuit.
Well, at least the personal message people don't have to worry about Google following them around.
Peace - Ho'oponopono . . .
There were posts from friends with music videos and uplifting messages and informative posts I look forward to reading. This is what I thought Facebook would be - a social networking site where people can become informed, enlightened, entertained and involved.
I have to say, however, that I don't enjoy personal messages sent between two characters posted on the public pages. Either they haven't figured out that personal comments can be sent to individuals and kept off public pages or that they can simply use their email and not bombard the pages with pictures of their baby, or their dinner or information about which mall they are shopping at and what they bought.
I have enjoyed many of today's posts, as they are people using this medium to advance society for what they feel is people's betterment - readers can choose to agree or not, but at least they are attempting to engage the FB public in an event we all can possibly share, rather than a personal diatribe.
So, to those who wish to enlighten, entertain, inform and educate, I look forward to your posts. To those of you who wish to share your latest picture at the beach with your family - use email or skype or personalize and define your posts, please.
I do want to save the world, I just don't know how and must rely on my FB friends for help. I have a page dedicated to Music for Social Change, but I don't send pictures of my breakfast (as good as it was) or my great neice or nephew (as much as I love them) or my cat (who happens to be Jewish) or even my wife holding a shirt (because she loves clean clothes). The again, perhaps I'm the one who doesn't get it. Maybe the people trying to enlighten, educate, entertain and involve others are taking up space that should be otherwise used for trivial pursuit.
Well, at least the personal message people don't have to worry about Google following them around.
Peace - Ho'oponopono . . .
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