Saturday, September 17, 2011

The World My Parents Gave Me

My 50th H S Reunion is coming up next May and our class has been responding to questions from another classmate acting as moderator.  Today's questions was "who was the most important person/persons in your life"  I decided it was about my parents.

My dad died 2 years ago, at age 93. He was a quiet, gentle, sharp witted and very capable man who could build or jury-rig anything.  He joined the Navy at age 17, prior to WWII, and retired 21 years later at the age of 38 after serving in WWII and the Korean War.  He had a HS diploma, but became an LDO officer via WWII promotion, and retired as a lieutenant,  He was born in North Dakota, and grew up in Hermiston, OR on a small, barely subsistence level farm with 1 sister and 4 brothers. 

My mom was a housewife, more talkative and social then dad, but strong, and adaptable. Thankfully no one told her that with an 8th grade education, she wasn't smart enough to teach me to read.  She read to me daily, and had me reading at 4th grade level before I started first grade.  She moved us back and forth across country several times, sometimes with my father overseas, and she had no fear of packing a car and trailer and hauling it across country on Hwy 66 with two kids in tow.  She was as feminine as they come, but as tough as nails, far from helpless, and prided herself on being capable of managing without my father.  It was the Navy wife way and she was proud that she could hold up the family on her own until he came home form war.  She made most of my clothes until I was in HS and I had the Easter dresses of every little girl's dreams. She made my formals for my Junior and Senior proms and they were gorgeous. I never saw her look at a sunset or sunrise or mountain or lake without exclaiming about how beautiful it was; she taught me to really see things and gave me a sense of wonder and joy about the world.  When we were going to a new duty station she would get all the info she could and tell us all about it, and about our trip going there, and how much fun it would be and what we'd see and all the wonderful things to do along the way and at our new home.  Instead of crying and dreading leaving, we were excited to be off on the adventure.  My beutiful mom died of Alzheimers at age 84.

So that is background on my parents, and this is what I wrote about their importance on my H S Class Facebook Page:

"My parents were the most important for countless reasons. They were so fair and reasonable, I couldn't even work up a normal teenage rebellion.  They gave me deep roots and strong wings, a solid foundation, guidance, praise, support, and certainty that nothing would ever stop them loving me.  They gave me a sense of wonder about the world, a respect for the earth, a love of the environment, joy of reading, learning, and science, a belief in helping others including rescuing strays (people and animals), and  made my home the place where all my friends were welcomed and wanted to be.  I carry these words of wisdom from my father" If you raise your voice, you've lost the argument, because as long as you have a valid point to present there is no reason to yell."  and from my mother, "If you can't say something nice about somebody, don't say anything at all."  And now, with my very important (to me)  son, I try to pass all those things on to him."

There are so many other superlatives I could use about my parents, so many magical stories, but suffice it to say that they loved each other and us and believed in the basic goodness of themselves and others.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

9/8/2011 Republican Senator Twitter Accounts

List of Twitter Accounts for Republican Senators by State

@SenShelbyPress        Richard Shelby        (R-AL)       
@SenatorSessions       Jeff Sessions            (R-AL)
@lisamurkowski          Lisa Murkowski       (R-AK)
@Boozman4AR          John Boozman          (R-AR)
@SenJohnMcCain       John McCain           (R-AZ)
@SenJonKyl                Jon Kyl                   (R-AZ)

@marcorubio              Marco Rubio            (R-FL)                                                                                      

-------------                Saxby Chambliss      (R-GA)
@SenatorIsakson         Johnny Isakson         (R-GA)

@mikecrapo                Mike Crapo              (R-ID)

@SenatorKirk             Mark Kirk                 (R-IL)

@SenatorLugar           Richard Lugar             (R-IN)
@SenDanCoats           Dan Coats                  (R-IN)

@ChuckGrassley         Chuck Grassley         (R-IA)

-----------------          Pat Roberts                (R-KS)
@JerryMoran              Jerry Moran               (R-KS)
@MitchMcConnell      Mitch McConnell        (R-KY)
@SenRandPaul            Rand Paul                   (R-KY)

@DavidVitter                David Vitter                (R-LA)

@SenatorSnowe           Olympia Snowe          (R-ME)
@SenatorCollins           Susan Collins             (R-ME)
@USSenScottBrown    Scott Brown             (R-MA)
--------------------       Thad Cochran           (R-MS)
@SenatorWicker           Roger Wicker           (R-MS)
@RoyBlunt                    Roy Blunt                 (R-MO)
@Mike_Johanns            Mike Johanns            (R-NE)
@SenDeanHeller           Dean Heller               (R-NV)
@SenatorAyotte            Kelly Ayotte              (R-NH)
@SenatorBurr               Richard Burr              (R-NC)
--------------                 John Hoeven             (R-ND)
@robportman                Rob Portman             (R-OH)
@jiminhofe                    Jim Imhofe                  (R-OK)
@TomCoburn               Tom Coburn               (R-OK)
@SenToomey               Pat Toomey                (R-PA)
@GrahamBlog              Lindsay Graham          (R-SC)
@JimDeMint               Jim DeMint                  (R-SC)
@JohnThune                John Thune                  (R-SD)
@SenAlexander           Lamar Alexander         (R-TN)
@SenBobCorker         Bob Corker                 (R-TN)
@kaybaileyhutch         Kay Bailey Hutchinson  (R-TX)
@John Cornyn            John Cornyn                 (R-TX)
@Orrin Hatch             Orrin Hatch                   (R-UT)
@mikelee2010            Mike Lee                      (R-UT)
@SenRonJohnson        Ron Johnson                 (R-WI)
-----------------           Mike Enzi                     (R-WY)
@SenJohnBarrasso       John Barrasso              (R-WY)

Sunday, September 4, 2011

http://survcast.com/State-Of-The-Ocean-Shocking-Report-Warns-Of-Mass-Extinction-From-Current-Rate-Of-Marine-Distress

http://survcast.com/State-Of-The-Ocean-Shocking-Report-Warns-Of-Mass-Extinction-From-Current-Rate-Of-Marine-Distress

Jesus was a Socialist

You must accept that Republicans do not care if you are jobless, poor, hungry or homeless. As political terrorists, they are in a position of strength because they are insulated from the pain by their money, and do not give a damn about you.  They do not care if you are sick or starving or die. If they crash the economy they will simply take their gold and ill-gotten gains and move away to make a trash heap of some other country.  They will retreat behind their palace walls with serfs to wait on them and fan them as the world overheats. They don't care if there are not public schools for your children because their children will be in private schools that you can't afford, or will be home schooled by moms who don't have to work to put food on the table. They don't care what wars they start because their children will not fight or die in those wars. They will, however,  make a lot of money from our children dying and  from people in other countries dying. The war profiteers do not fight in the wars  The children of the poor and non-whites do the fighting because the military jobs can't be outsourced.  They do not care if they destroy the climate because they will just move to the last places where there is  food and water and get rid of the native populace.

All we have going for us is our numbers and we have to stop letting them push our faces into the mud.  The trickle down economics is just yellow rain and they laugh as they piss on our heads.   We are both hampered and strengthened by the fact that we care about each other.  We care when a 24 year old unemployed father dies of a preventable brain infection.  We know it is wrong that an infection in a wisdom tooth killed him because he couldn't afford an antibiotic. If we had the medical care that every other industrialized country provides it citizens,  this death need not have occurred.  Republicans blame him for being unemployed and poor. Those of us who care try to stem the worst bleeding by giving money and our time to hold free clinics and we fight to get medical care for everyone.  We must stand together, care for each other, and help the weak.  We have to fight the policies that will subjugate us and turn us into soylent green  & cannon fodder for the Republicans hierarchy.

The Republican  Dominionist and faux-Christians, who pray in public and kill in private, have made Christianity unrecognizable. They do not do what Christ taught. It is time to hit the streets in large numbers for real and and throw the moneychangers out of the temple.

Jesus was a socialist.