Did Jesus Hug Trees?

I was pointed recently to the site of the Interfaith Stewardship and their Cornwall Declaration. It's a several page position paper on faith and the environment. I'm still reading it. It will take several passes, I'm sure, because there are a lot of Ph.d's on the author page.

What I see so far:

They seem to think that public policies to save the environment, hur the poor the most.

The difference between "real" and "alleged" problems are scary to me.
Apparently , real problems are proven, well understood, localized, of concern to people in developing nations, high and firmly established risk to human life and help and solutions to "real" problems are const effective and maintain proven benefit.

Anything else, is an "alleged" problem. These "alleged" problems are speculative, global and catclysmic, mainly of concern to environmentalists in wealthy nations, low and hypothetical risk, solutions are costly and of dubious benifit.

from Cornwall Declaration

There's a ton more, and I'll report as I read, but offhand, with just this one section, I'd say most of Bible Prophecy is just alleged problems. Most of them weren't proven, not until they happened. Some of the prophecy was localized, but much is global. I'd say at this point, while the end of the world is a certainty, it is in some ways hypothetical, since none of us living human folks really KNOW what is going to happen, so it too would be an alleged problem to the environment.


I've got a lot to think about, but head on over to the site if you want to play along at home.

Tomorrow: So how many times IS free market in the Bible? Because it's all over the Cornwall Declaration.

Discretion is the better part of valor...

Said by Falstaff in King Henry the Fourth, Part One, by William Shakespeare.

Also said, much more frequently by my late father. It's probably the phrase I moat associate with him, along with Rank has its privileges. Of course, Falstaff was meaning discretion in battle, not to charge foolhardedly. My father, on the other hand, meant discretion meaning who you tell what to. Not quite my mother's alcoholic child type secrecy about everything, just good old fashioned, everyone really isn't interested in what you had for breakfast last week.

In that vein, I present the Top Ten Occasions Not to talk about your Hemorroids:

10. Any meal, private or public. This includes the Lord's Supper.

9. Public restrooms.

8. Walmart. Talking in hushed tones in the pharmacy to one of the licensed "people who could actually be helpful and are paid to listen to that type of thing" is acceptable. Talking to your daughter about it in housewares is not.

7. Any confined space. Car, airplane seat and elevator all included.

6. Victoria's Secret. Let's be honest. Thongs and the big H are mutually exclusive.

5. Telling the world you accidently used Preparation H for toothpaste is very close to talking about 'roids. Watch yourself.

4. Although the condition is part of every post-partum horror story, be careful of mixed company. The non-female members of society do no understand that the roid pain can be dramatically lessened by the pain of the um, stitches.

3. The woman cutting your hair and the man helping you try on shoes are not nodding in sympathy. They screaming in their heads "THIS PERSON NEEDS BOUNDARIES!!" They will be at the intervention where your family and friends confront you about your need to go back to Kindergarten to learn about Personal Space, both physically and emotionally.

2. Media of any kind. No press releases, no televison news, no blogs. Please note that I am not discussing my own traumas here, but giving helpful advice to those who so obviously need it.

1. Church. Especially if you are the pastor. Especially if you are giving the sermon on Easter Sunday and you are relating them to Jesus' pain on the cross. The eerie silence you hear isn't admiration, it's shock.


Nuff said.

The more things change, the more they stay the same...

Salon dot com has an opinion essay up about a new book by Caitlyn Flanagan, To Hell with All That : Loving and Loathing Our Inner Housewife. The scuttlebutt is that it's another Frey experience. Flanagan is a "stay at home" mom, who is a published writer. She writes regularly for several big name glossy, non homemaker magazines, etc. So she's not a non-working mom, she does work and earn an outside income from home. Seems she didn't really give up her career, just scaled back. Funny thing is, apparently, she has twins and had housekeepers, nannies and babysitters before the kids started preschool half days. I could be a stay at home mom with that kind of staff.

Anyway, it's funny how gender politics don't really change...

Restart Now??

My lovely Windows updater found some new files that my computer couldn't live without. Since it was 4:40 in the morning and I wasn't thinking yet, I hit sure, go ahead and up date, then went to make coffee. I put the filter in, measured out the grounds, filled the cup with water and set it under the spout. When I went back to pick up said coffee, I realized that all I had was a cup of lukewarm water with some creamer in it. Seems I didn't pour the water into the actual machine. Silly machine, didn't it know that's what I intended to do?

So that was my state of mind, oh, an hour ago. But I did pour the water in and am now enjoying a hot cup of Folgers Columbian roast, with sugar free French vanilla creamer. I know, too much information, but I need to start learing how to write with details, and this is my practice field.

Point is, now, every five minutes, I get a message from the operating system: Windows would like to restart you computer. Restart Now? Later?

It came to me. That's Easter. I had been rueing the fact that here it is, Holy Week and I hadn't really thought any about the history of the week, yadda yadda, and here it is in a 2 by three window on my screen every five minutes. Would you like to restart?

Easter is a huge reminder each spring, Would you like to restart your life? That's what resurrection, born-again, all the little buzz words really are getting at. You get to restart your life. Sure, the old stuff is still hanging around, but that's the outer, the inner is new and improved. Easter comes, whether you ask it to or not and insists, would you like to restart? Even when you're not thinking about it. And there is the option of later, but do you want to take that chance? What kind of stuff can creep in while you're piddling around, doing your little things, putting off the restart? Shoot, the system can become infected, compromised, or even hijacked. And while it has always been vulnerable, now you are aware of it and the knowledge is sitting in the back of your brain like old fish in the refrigerator. You can try to ignore it, but no way, no how.

His mercies are new every morning, the psalmist writes. Every day is a restart. What every you did, or didn't do yesterday, is gone and today is a fresh slate. What are you going to do with it?

As for me, that silly window is driving me nuts. I'm going to restart....

Rambling along...

You get fifteen democrats in a room, and you get twenty opinions.
-- Senator Patrick Leahy, May 1990



Herein lies the difference between the two parties. One party says fit in, the other says do your own thing, ie Stand Out. Which is why, I think, it is much more difficult for the Democratic Party to find electable candidates. Too wide a range of opinions. Not saying all Republicans think totally alike, but there is a narrower range of ideas in the pool. Wider range of ideas naturally leads to a wider range of disagreements. Face it, the party has people in the conservative mold, like Chet Edwards, to people like the Kennedy's. Whereas, the Reps have the huge range of Bush/Cheney to, uh, McCain, who is starting to "fit in" and play with others a whole lot more these days.

What would an electable Democrat look like? I mean, the big problem is that the two middles aren't too far apart, so a moderate from one party matches a moderate from the other. We just keep putting extremists against extremists. Not a good thing.

Here in town, we have had the WORST political runoff campaign ever. Talk about picking the worse of two evils. Who do you pick? The allegedly corrupt "lion" incumbent, who is accused of sexual harassment, abandoning his family, and having temper issues? Or the other guy, who quotes Bible verses about humility and integrity, yet owes the IRS over eighty thousand dollars. Ooops. The think that kills me is that this is the runoff. These are the two men with the most votes. Can't the multitude of Republicans in this town do any better, especially since there are no Dems to run against the winner in the fall??

I didn't vote at all in the primaries. Got a petition to sign. Kinky for Governor, why the hell not?

The Reluctant Gardener...

I don't know if it's because I'm trying to finish John Le Carre's The Reluctant Gardener, or if it's the fact that previous owners of our new house spent A TON of money on landscaping and I feel some need to keep it at least maintained, but I spent a good two hours yesterday putting in flowers and mulch in the "front" garden. Still have the other front garder and the side garden to go. And the back garden, the patio garden. The big one in the back yard will be a synthetic green, if things go as planned.

Anyway, I spent about 90 bucks on shrubs, flowers and mulch. I am obviously doing it wrong, since Congress is using my tax money to re do their gardens as well.


From theThe Citizens Against Government Waste Pig Book 2006 the annual Pork report.

"$450,000 added by the House for plantings on the eastern front of the Capitol. This will allow members of Congress a chance to “stop and smell the roses” before they proceed with plunging the country deeper into debt."


Hmm, what could I do with a half million for plants? Gee, I could buy an entire LANDSCAPING COMPANY. Sorry Mr. Congressman. There are people in our country who can't afford to feed children, much less a house plant, and you all want how much to have some nice beds in front of your office?? At least mix in a few vegetables. You can give away nice salads with the pork roast...

Homeland Security?


It seems that the Fourth ranking deputy of our Homeland Security office has a hobby.It involves the Internet and fourteen year old Florida girls. Don't think you need anymore details, you all have imaginations.

A personal friend was involved in something like this earlier this year and it just about crushed me. Now, with a high ranking government guy doing the same thing, well lets just say YUCK!

First off, what makes someone willing to risk family, career, etc, for a child?? I can't really wrap my mind around that. What is missing, what hole is there there that requires the use child to fill the need?

Compassion turned off a second. Outrage on. What is going on if we're not even safe from HOMELAND SECURITY??? And (cynicism on) how long until someone says this is a left wing media attempt to bring down a "good man." According to some light Googling, he is the deputy press secretary. Kind of the second "face" of the Department. Extrapolation, I guess that means he knows how to work the press and how to deal with media. Nothing deals with him on the DHS website, just his phone number, so you can call and let him know what you think. And we are under an "Elevated" terror risk today. I ought to keep tabs on that like I do the air quality and pollen counts.

Let's see, pollen count - high, Air quality, acceptable, terror threat, medium, hmm a good day for a long run. I feel especially safe because I am NOT a fourteen year old girl.

He even told her what he did for a living. Did she believe him, or did she think he was some punk trying to impress her? Even with the government issued cell phone numbers, she could have not believed him. Who knows. The good news is that the Department includes, (from the DHS website) Office of Inspector General – employees work side-by-side with special agents, attorneys, engineers, and IT experts to prevent and detect fraud, waste, and abuse in Homeland Security programs and operations. And technology experts: U.S. Secret Service – employees have the dual missions of protecting our nation’s leaders, and criminal investigation involving law enforcement, security, information technology, communications, administration, intelligence, forensics, and other specialized fields.

There are employees trained to find abuse and use information technology, right there in the department. No need for outside help. Go team.

If fifty million people say a foolish thing...

it is still a foolish thing.
-- Anatole France

A stupid man's report of what a clever man says can never be accurate,
because he unconsciously translates what he hears into something he can
understand.
-- Bertrand Russell



I took a class once that gave out a survey so we could find out what kind of listener we were. There were some who listened for entertainment, some who listened for facts, and a few other types, but my type was the one where everything I heard had to be assimilated into already owned knowledge. Kind of like every sentence I heard had to be filed in it's proper place before I could go on to the next.

I can't find the exact test, that's a task for another day, but the thing is, the test pointed out that if you are the "assimilation" listener, if you don't have a hook to hang the information on, you make one up, or make the info fit the hook you have. So if you have a broad range of knowledge, are fairly well read, etc, you have plenty of hooks to put new knowlege on, that's cool. But it you live in a bubble, and only hear certain sides (0r get your news from one source), you tend to force things to fit on the hooks you have, since it does require you to learn new things to make new hooks.

People who listen for entertainment don't have to work nearly as hard. Neither do the people who listen for facts. Like there's a different storage system. But a day of a conference or meetings plum wears me out, while others can sit through these things without a sweat. I used to sit in on meeting while the place I worked developed a new software package. I would have to represent the users needs to the programmer and then translate the programmers questions and procedures to the users. I would go home at night with my head on fire. My co workers thought I was nuts. Same goes for church. One hour, one sermon, that's about my limit. After that, nothing is being processed anymore.

Life is context. New things have to fit into our old life. That's what makes change difficult for some. The new ways don't fit into the old context. New wine destroys old wine skins, to quote Another's analogy. With communication and technology, a lot of what we know of how the world works is changing. How we look at commerce, war, agriculture, climate, all of it is taking on a bigger, yet smaller scope. But when we put the new ideas and information into our tired old brains, there are two things that can happen. One is, we subconciously change the information to read/hear what we already know. We put conflicts especially into previous fights. Comparing old events to current events, even though the two are quite different. Personally and politically.

Or two, we need a nap.

Suddenly, the idea of an afternoon siesta seems inspired.

What do you call it?

When 42 percent of a state's population works for said state?
a) A type of income tax refund
b) Welfare
c) Alabama

According to my psuedo reliable source, the answer is c) Alabama. Of course, my pseudo reliable source is a slightly loopy state employee. She works (manages) one of the many Alabama Welcome centers. Otherwise known as a rest stop with brochures for one of the 1056 attractions in Alabama, including an actual Huey, as the helicopter is known.

Her welcome center is scheduled to be closed for some construction next year, and she and her four woman staff are supposed to tour the state of Alabama next year, visiting all the tourist spots so they can recommend them. Which leads to several questions:

If the welcome center is closed for a year, does that mean Alabama is closed for the year? Or just not very welcoming?

Is there enough to do in Alabama for five women in a minivan to stay busy for a year?

Would you want your state tax dollars to fund such an expedition? Especially when your state isn't exactly known for it's high dollar educational system? (I know, we Texans should talk)

And finally, should I change the state traveled when I write this book? Because five drama queens in a minivan touring Alabama, well, shoot, you don't expect me to leave that one alone, do you???