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Archive for the ‘Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country’ Category

WW

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 24, 2013| 2 Comments »

Sit down, take a load off. We’re not talking about Weight Watchers here; we’re going to talk about warrantless wiretapping. Just because you think they’re watching you…doesn’t mean they are, does it? I have to admit that conspiracy theories will always get my attention. Then I move on, attributing most of the paranoid delusional rhetoric to a bunch of crazies. But this past weekend, I was staying up late with Real Time and Bill Maher on HBO. Getting the TV fixed definitely cuts into my healthy sleep habits. Welcome back Bill to your new season you are the Left’s answer to Rush Limbaugh. Maher routinely comes up with one or two-liners like this: “I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about what’s philosophically wrong with Republicans. It’s like asking what’s intellectually wrong with lobsters.” http://www.real-time-with-bill-maher-blog.com/real-time-with-bill-maher-blog/2013/1/18/party-foul.html

But his closing soliloquy left me sleepless in Cville. Now it’s probably not a good idea to lay your head down on your pillow after hearing that we Americans have just been giving most of our fundamental rights away without so much as a whimper. I’m talking about all of us, red and blue Americans and any other colorful configurations. He pooh poohed the idea that we are losing our 2nd Amendment rights and got right to the heart of the matter, saying,

“The Senate quietly reauthorized the National Defense Authorization Act while everyone was so concerned about the fiscal cliff, and there wasn’t even a peep out of the “freedom” crowd. In fact, people seem to be okay with government surveillance and warrantless wiretapping at this point….Does anyone care that this is the new normal?” I was lying awake and thinking about baby robotic drones overhead stealing my ideas about how to make a better lasagna.

Then I read this – http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/23/google-transparency-report_n_2537153.html Now everybody knows that one usually needs to acquire a warrant from a judge before snooping through a private citizen’s home. But your email and internet searches are another matter; maybe your mail box is federally protected, but your inbox is fair game. “From July to December 2012, Google revealed, the company received 8,438 total requests for information about 14,791 users or accounts in the United States. Requests were up 34 percent from 2011 to 2012.” Yes folks, requests from law enforcement went up 34%!! I wonder what the stats will be for 2012 to 2013. The article goes on to say that only 22% of the time is a warrant involved; the FBI and/or police will simply write up an administrative subpoena.

It’s good to know that privacy advocates and Google (Facebook would you chime in here) are trying to reverse this trend, and hats off to Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) for passing an amendment to reform the very broad law ironically titled the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, which was passed by Congress in 1986 based on technology at the time. In 1986 the Rocker was 2 years old and we all were wearing shoulder pads! Leahy spearheaded his plan for governing internet surveillance in November saying this is the first step in corralling the Department of Justice, “…growing and unwelcome intrusion into our private life in cyberspace.” Still I’m not too hopeful it will go anywhere in our congenial House of Representatives.

The Tea Partyiers are worried the government will take away all their guns; that helicopters will be landing in their back yards. That’s why they need assault weapons. Maybe the “freedom” they are fighting for is misleading? Maybe both parties need to worry more about how incrementally we have given up our right to privacy. Background checks to buy a lethal weapon? Sure. Emails and social media about a shoe sale in Cville – What? Technology races ahead while civil liberty law limps along trying to play catch-up.
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Dear Mom-in-Chief

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , on January 21, 2013| 1 Comment »

If I may, I’d like to give you some tried and true suggestions for raising teenagers in the White House.

!) Keep up the no Facebook policy: I’d like to think if there were such a thing when I had teens it would have been verboten, like MTV. Oh and let them watch more than 2 hours of TV a week, maybe 4 not counting sports?

2) Make them pay half for their first car: I know they probably don’t have a part-time job, like working at Starbucks or babysitting, but make it clear you expect a contribution.

3) Set a reasonable curfew: Figure out when the bars close in DC, and make it an hour before that as long as it’s before midnight. We all know bad things happen after midnight.

4) Make no drugs or alcohol a sacrosanct rule: Destroy all paraphernalia you find immediately and have the Secret Service (SS) deliver any drunken teenage boys they might find on your lawn to their own homes pronto.

5) Make no exceptions to Rule #4, except: Have them sign a contract that states they can call you at anytime if they have eluded the SS and are drunk and need a ride back to the White House; no questions asked.

6) Cellphone criteria: There will be NO sexting, instagram or tweeting. Zero, zilch, none.

7) Dating Dilemma: Have a realistic sex talk please, if you haven’t already. Mom and Dad-in-Chief will have to meet and approve of each date; football games, movies, concerts. Of course the SS will have fully vetted said date, and will accompany them. There will be no dating of bodyguards!

8) Lighten up on Health: We all know body image problems may set in when hormones surge. Eat fewer carrots and more pie. Practice yoga and not spinning. Allow NO permanent body changes (such as tattoos or body piercing) until age 18. Wear less sleeveless shirts, those arms are intimidating.

9) Do NOT hire a college counselor: You are an educated woman, surely you can require the dreaded college essay and application packet be delivered on time. Suggested topic: “How to Elude the SS.”

10) Be Proactive: Invite their friends over on weekends, start a bowling league in the basement or set aside an arts and craft’s room near the Blue Room. Keep their friends close.

I hope you take my suggestions freely and without any mental reservations.
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Four Time’s the Charm

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , , on January 20, 2013| 5 Comments »

Happy Martin Luther King Day everyone. I know, the official holiday is tomorrow, but today is the actual day. And every so often, MLK Sunday is aligned with January 20th, the Presidential Inauguration Day, which is why President Obama will be the only Prez to take the oath of office 4 times!

Last time he said the words “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States” twice because a fledgling Justice named Roberts mixed up the “faithfully execute” part. There should be no tripping over the words this time, since the charming pair of oaths will be executed today in a private ceremony and then again tomorrow for public consumption.

But this is only the 7th time in history a President has been sworn in on a Sunday, making the alignment of this particular President with MLK Day  historical in another way. When President Obama said that a mere sixty years ago his father “…might not have been served” at a restaurant a block from where he was standing, I had one of those Aha moments.

My nephew grew up in Memphis. One of his first writing assignments was about asking his mother what a certain sign meant over a water fountain, the sign said “Whites Only.” The Flapper was visiting at the time and copied that paper and sent it to me. I was in college, in Boston in 1968, when Dr King was shot. I marched on the state capital for the first time with a black armband, but I had never personally witnessed the kind of apartheid our country was carrying out on so many different levels.

I lived most of my young life in New Jersey, I still had not experienced teaching at a Head Start Preschool in the projects of Jersey City (now colloquially called ‘public housing’).  I, like most of us back then, didn’t even know any African Americans precisely because we were separated in a not-so-subtle way, by schools and geography. There were no blatant signs of racism in the north, like the water fountain sign in Memphis, but ignorance could only take us so far after seeing women and children being attacked by dogs, bombs exploding in churches, and the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King.

You were wrong Mr President, it wouldn’t have been sixty years ago that your Kenyan father may not have been able to sit down in a certain restaurant in DC. King was gunned down less than fifty years ago in April. He was still tirelessly working for social justice even though the Civil Rights Act had been passed 4 years before his death, and wasn’t fully enacted by the states until the late 1970s.

This weekend makes it personal for me. For the first time in my sixty plus years I came face to face with a sign in an antique shop. It was a Pennsylvania Railroad sign welcoming passengers to VA. I felt sick, wondering who would buy such a thing. Bob said we should never forget, and I know that he’s right. Living in the south now makes it all the more personal. Congratulations Mr President, know that we all admire and respect you…and that Martin would be so very proud

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“No Blacks in the Front 4 Cars”

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Early Closing

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , on January 17, 2013| 4 Comments »

Schools are closing early today because snow is in the air. Things are getting back to normal, it’s winter so bring it. The fire is on and I’ve got all-wheel drive, and even though I don’t have little ones coming home early for lunch, still, I couldn’t help thinking of Newtown.

Yesterday I was nearly crying at the gym, thereby ignoring one of the first rules I set down for the kids – Never Cry in Public! But I was on the bike without earphones, reading The New Yorker US magazine, when I became aware that something was happening on the big screen over the treadmill. Putting aside my need to know why Bethenny was divorcing her cute and rather normal hubby, I looked up and there was the VP about to introduce the President on CNN. Lucky for me, it had its closed captioning switch turned on, so unlike the other day when all I could do was listen to Mr Obama on NPR, I could now watch him and read what he was saying…about guns.

Thank you Mr President. Thanks for starting off the conversation about research, and how knowledge is good and go right ahead CDC. I’m telling you to study gun violence. I’m glad he puts the public’s health ahead of a lobbyist’s agenda. Thank you for signing 23 unilateral orders,  of which research is #14 Oh, and thanks for revisiting and clarifying the Affordable Care Act such that doctors ARE allowed to ask about guns in the home #16. http://www.theatlanticwire.com/politics/2013/01/obama-executive-actions-gun-list/61075/. Closing loopholes like gun shows and requiring law enforcement to run full background checks “… on an individual before returning a seized gun” just seem like no-brainers.

But along with telling our doctors what to say, and trying to stop all research into gun violence, did you know that gun manufacturers and dealers cannot be sued? It’s like they hold some huge, unspoken grip on our legislators, that grip that tightened when the clause to give the Assault Weapon Ban an expiration date was introduced back in 1994. OK we know that ‘Arms used in the theatre of war must not be used in movie theaters’ – one of my favorite lines btw – but somebody thought that maybe they just might want to kill about 60 ducks in one minute? Like the .223-caliber Smith & Wesson AR-15 assault-style rifle with a drum clip that could hold up to 100 rounds and was used in Colorado?

Back to lawyers, there’s a little known clause in the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act that says that the people who manufacture these guns and their dealers are immune to prosecution for negligence and product liability. Should I say this again? No lawsuits allowed! Which means even if you are a ‘law-abiding’ gun owner and your gun misfires due to no fault of your own and blows off your face say, or your hand, you cannot sue. Am I alone in thinking this is nutso? This week, Rep. Adam Schiff, (D-Calif) will introduce legislation to roll back legal immunity for gun manufacturers and dealers. Thank you Rep Schiff http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/14/adam-schiff-gun-bill_n_2471863.html

Here’s a thought. Maybe if we can keep the right side of Congress busy trying to figure out how to dodge and weave around gun control legislation, they will be too tired to introduce personhood bills? It’s funny how the GOP is so intent on being known as the Pro-Life Party, while it condones our 2nd Amendment Right to kill as many people as fast as we like. Oh wait, that’s not what the founders meant, was it?

I got choked up in the middle of Obama’s speech, then the Bride called me with fun news. So I stopped watching CNN and listened to her plan to get the Love Bug an exercise saucer. When we were done, happiness mixed with sadness, trying to read the last part of his speech through my tears. Grace McDonnell. A little girl who deserved to live.  A gorgeous little girl with a bright future, “…I think about how, when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable among us, we must act now — for Grace. For the 25 other innocent children and devoted educators who had so much left to give.” Thank you President Obama.

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7 year old Grace McDonnell

In every vote that is cast to curb gun violence, please make them a roll call vote. I want to know who’s thinking about our children’s safety. And who isn’t.

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Radio Hour

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , on January 15, 2013| 1 Comment »

A few days ago our television died. How old was that thing anyway? We bought it when we built this house, about 5 years ago, then I started wondering how long should a TV last. While I was busy lamenting, Bob of course, started researching the latest wired-to-the-internet models while also taking apart our measly 37″ flat screen Magnavox and finding the culprit. Yep, it’s a capacitor problem in the power board! He happily showed me the leaky, cracked caps! I had no idea what he was talking about, but like a good wife, I feigned interest. photo copy

I’ve always said that there’s just something on that Y gene that gives our guys the power to pull stuff apart and put it back together again with impunity. Now I know this sounds sexist, but just follow along. Once I brought home a beautiful antique chandelier – it was a bargain. Only it didn’t work. Well, before long, Bob had all the pieces lined up across our dining room table, and wouldn’t you know it, he re-wired the thing. I asked him if he’d ever done that before, he just looked at me, smiled, and said, “No.”

My foster father Jim liked to fix things too. This may sound arcane, but I distinctly remember him behind our old 1950s era black and white TV cabinet, taking the back off and removing its mysterious vacuum tubes. Then I’d accompany him to the hardware store where he’d test them in some gizmo; I remember them lighting up and the buzzing sound they would make. We’d buy only as many as were damaged. At home, he’d replace the tubes, screw the back on the cabinet and hop up on the roof to adjust the antennae. Nell would tell me when to yell, “Stop” out the window.

Now our TV had to go into the one shop in town that does “TV and VCR” repair work, simply because Bob didn’t want to solder onto the mini=computer board the $8.95 capacitors he could buy at Radio Shack. Thankfully, he knows his limits. It will cost less than a hundred dollars to fix and save us close to a thousand to replace with the latest in LCD wizardry. Which is great. But what’s better is we’ve been listening to the radio at home, NPR to be precise. And yesterday while listening to our President address the nation about the debt ceiling, I liked his tone. I am hoping he’ll deliver his ‘take no prisoners we’re not a deadbeat nation’ message later in the week to Congress about gun violence. I really liked his delivery as I sat there, knitting a rose colored dress for the Love Bug, and feeling like a 1930s era housewife. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. photo

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Cocooning

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , on January 12, 2013| 5 Comments »

We’re not hibernating exactly. It’s just that a weird warm front – the thing we used to call a January thaw – is approaching from the South. Temperatures are supposed to climb into the mid-70s today and continue through the weekend. There is zero visibility here on the mountain, it’s as if we’ve been enveloped by a huge marshmallow, or wrapped up in cotton. Birds won’t fly in these conditions.
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Every now and then I’ve thought I might want to write a science fiction story. More Atwood and less Bradbury, who once said , “Anything you dream is fiction, and anything you accomplish is science, the whole history of mankind is nothing but science fiction.” Of course the best stuff is just ever so slightly removed from reality, one step beyond the norm so that we can easily imagine this dystopia. Hunger Games was just a reality show gone horribly wrong in the future.

I would create a world that is the direct result of Climate Change; one in which the sun delivers 3rd degree burns to our skin in just 3 minutes of direct sun exposure, so that we all become night creatures. If some of us had to go outside during daylight hours, we’d be dressed like an astronaut. Think how we would have to adapt to becoming nocturnal. It would be like the boy in the bubble, only it would be a universal Severe Combined Immune Deficiency Syndrome and planet earth would have to figure out a way to survive.
https://soundcloud.com/legacyrecordings/paul-simon-the-boy-in-the

Warm January days and the news of another asteroid nearly missing us, these will always kick me into fantasy mode, but this story on BBC put me over the edge:” US Shoots Down Death Star Superlaser Petition.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20997144 Did you know that The White House must respond to any and all petitions that contain more than 25,000 signatures? I guess whoever made that rule didn’t fantasize about the internet? “In a playful response, a senior US government official said the Obama administration ‘does not support blowing up planets.’ The official also said the cost – about $850 quadrillion – was too high.”

Bob just came in from the hot tub. He will often tell me he’s spotted 4 or 5 floating satellites in the early morning or early evening sky; “Space junk” we call it. Without Northeast light pollution, sky gazing in VA can be amazing. Obviously not today. Would you be surprised to hear that NASA tracks about 100,000 objects, some as large as dead satellites in the sky. This “orbital debris” is threatening to make our atmosphere a junkyard. After almost every mission, the space shuttle had to have windows repaired or replaced from collisions with orbital debris.http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/what-is-orbital-debris-58.html

Space Junk

Space Junk

I told Bob that Bean was chasing a red fox and that he needn’t worry about the Death Star. He said, “OH, good she didn’t catch it did she?”

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A Gun Gag

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 9, 2013| 2 Comments »

I remember the first time I went to see my regular doctor at UVA for a general physical exam. The Bride had recommended him and it turns out he is a real life Dr McDreamy. Handsome and smart, plenty of time to answer my questions, not in any rush to shoo me out the door. Maybe this is what academic medicine is all about? I was surprised that he ordered tests for blood and bone density, mammography – and he didn’t actually touch me. I guess my Irish ancestors get the prize for giving me all the right numbers in blood pressure, and remember I didn’t come in with a problem. But my first surprise was the nursing assessment before Dr McDreamy walked in; she asked me if, “I feel safe at home?”

Bob tells me that this is a relatively new question in the battery of things we patients must divulge when we are putting our lives into the hands of someone. I understood, I suppose if I was a battered and abused woman maybe I’d feel safe enough here to break down and tell? It made me wonder what protocol they use if a woman or man answered that question in a different way. How much do we drink, do we smoke, and btw how do we feel in our home? I remember when Bob worked on a baby who had drowned in a hot tub. I’m pretty sure they weren’t asking questions back then about pools and hot tubs.

Last month I accompanied the Love Bug to her 4 month Peds check-up. How’s the nursing going, sleeping? And political junkie that I am, I thought about the small battle that was waged last year to gag doctors in FL. Legislators there were fighting to silence their pediatricians’ general wellness questions; in particular, one question, “Are there guns in the home?” Yes sir, politics has slipped inside that HIPPA protected wall of the doctor/patient relationship – one I liken to a priest/confessor – and is yet again telling our health care professionals what to do.

“The way some doctors see it, asking patients whether they own a gun is no more politically loaded than any other health-related question they ask. So when a Florida law that prohibited them from discussing gun ownership with patients passed last year, they moved to fight it. A federal judge issued a permanent injunction blocking enforcement of the law in July.” http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/11/27/165985266/taking-aim-at-restrictions-on-medical-questions-about-gun-ownership

I relaxed. I thought this will never do, it just can’t happen, if a federal judge in FL blocked this inane law, then it’s over. But no, it isn’t over.
http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2013/01/09/ac-acosta-gupta-health-care-guns.cnn?iref=allsearch

A little known 5 sentence provision was slipped onto the end of the Affordable Care Act. Legislators agreed to slash the language of the bill until all health care professionals could do was ask about guns – there is to be

NO documenting of their conversation about guns,
NO collection of data on guns, and
NO research on gun ownership as it relates to injuries…

Legislators argued and preened around the policy, taking out the part about doctors being jailed if they so much as ask about guns, or even losing their license. As many as 8 states are still fighting to reinstate this criminal provision. Remember the good old days when all we worried about was a transvaginal ultrasound? http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2013/01/09/ac-acosta-gupta-health-care-guns.cnn?iref=allsearch

Why should we care? 1 in 5 deaths of children in our country under age 20 is directly related to firearms – 1 in 5. In a 2 year study, for children ages 5 – 14, guns were shown to be the third leading cause of death. And now, the powerful NRA has basically stopped all research into this public health and safety problem. Let the newspapers print the names and addresses of gun owners. How many more rights are we willing to give up for the almighty money of the gun lobby?

Here is a picture of the graffiti that has appeared on our new bridge over the Rivanna River. “Love” on one side, and “Peace and Faith” on the other. I hope it stays there for awhile, that free speech travels upriver.
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Whose Side Are You On?

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , on January 7, 2013| 5 Comments »

Busy, busy weekend; but the best so far this year! True to my resolutions, I started off with some slow flow Vinyasa yoga at Studio 206, followed up by a dose of slow knitting at the Needle Lady. Even managed to have some famous Peanut Tofu soup at Rev Soup for lunch. But wait, the best is yet to come…last night I attended the Paramount Theatre’s simulcast showing of the first episode of the 3rd season of, tada, Downton Abbey!

You probably already know I’m addicted. And I’ve never really been addicted to a television show before, well maybe a fling with Grey’s Anatomy? But this is serious: I’ve watched episodes I missed online; sat through the 1st season again (on Netflix) when the Love Bug was born just to ensnare my daughter in its spell; I bought the 2nd season on disc to watch over Christmas with the Bride, fueling her addiction and mine; and I’ve read everything I can get my hands on about the PBS Masterpiece Classic http://www.npr.org/2013/01/03/167528679/downton-abbey-cast-its-more-fun-downstairs.

But last night was a girl’s night out, and some of us dressed to the nines for the occasion! I had a long velvet skirt in my closet, and an old rust colored silk jacket that I topped with a tulle millenary confection!photo copy Felt so very Lady Grantham. Kay Parker is one of my first friends in VA, and she drove our little group of 4 to the Downtown Mall where we met up with my friend Karen and her daughter-in-law Kath. Grown women totally excited to see what will become of Bates and the wedding of Lady Mary and Matthew Crawley. I won’t give anything away, except to say that I adore the Irish chauffeur Tom who stole the youngest Lady Sybil away and we all hissed at the evil valet Thomas. And of course Maggie Smith is sublime!
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/masterpiece/downtonabbey/

Why do we Yankees love it so? Because it has everything, Shakespearian drama mixed at just the right spot in history. We all secretly love the royals and their quirky landed gentry precisely because we waged a war to separate from them. A Turkish diplomat dies and a scandal is averted, but just barely. A generation returns from WWI and suddenly a life of service doesn’t seem all that great. Cars are replacing horses. Fortunes are lost and others are won. The same themes of life and love, and particularly last night, loyalty, ring true today. Sometimes we all need to be reminded whose side we are on. A good story will resonate with us forever, so thank you Julian Fellowes. Thank you for imagining these characters and putting pen to paper.

Here are the 3 “K”s – Kay, Karen and Kath http://www.katheats.com!
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A Rape is a Rape

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , , on January 4, 2013| 1 Comment »

My news sabbatical is over. While nursing this cold I’ve taken to watching CNN in the morning with my oatmeal, tylenol and Vicks scented tissues. And somehow I thought that maybe everything on a Facebook news feed wasn’t necessarily true. Yet there it was, a story I’d merely glanced at online because it made my stomache churn, was now being reported as fact on morning TV: http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/04/justice/ohio-rape-online-video/index.html?hpt=hp_t3

This story hits all the wrong notes – the high school football team of Steubenville, Ohio is somehow implicated in a gang rape of an unconscious 16 year old girl. Two 16 year old football players are identified and charged with rape, but the real question is was the town and its police force trying to cover this up since it happened in August? And what sets this rape apart from any other is the evidence; it’s not just he said, she said. A hacking activist group called Anonymous has posted video of a drunken boy boasting about the crime, along with pictures of the girl…which is why I saw it online before national media picked it up.

Now juxtapose these two images: CNN reporters interviewing Steubenville shopkeepers about how we mustn’t judge the whole town by the actions of a few, with the protests from India. A 23 year old medical student died after being brutally gang raped on a bus in New Delhi on December 16th. There have been daily protests in the streets since that day calling for justice and the men to be hanged. Five, possibly six men have been charged with “… murder, kidnapping and rape… voluntarily causing harm during a robbery, armed robbery with murder, and destruction of evidence.” http://edition.cnn.com/2013/01/03/world/asia/india-rape-case/index.html?hpt=wo_c2

I know our legislators have much to do after their first day back on the Hill. They must keep kicking the can down the road of fiscal temerity; they must agree with some form of realistic gun control; they have to pass a budget, and oh BTW, thanks for that last minute Super Storm Sandy pass…on the heels of your humiliating first vote. And it saddens me that Congress could not reauthorize the 2012 version of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). It seems the GOP balked when language was added to include “…expanded provisions to protect victims even if they’re gay, illegal immigrants or Native Americans living in tribal jurisdictions.” Rumor has it that R-VA Eric Cantor balked at the LGBT provisions, but a rape is a rape is a rape, no matter who you are or where you live. I am hopeful that the increasing number of women in the new 113th Congress can make this happen.
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Resolved

Posted in Books, Journaling, Wedding, Country, tagged , , , , , , , , on January 1, 2013| 9 Comments »

1) To get serious about yoga

2) To cook more tofu

3) To walk more, even if it’s cold

4) To do something that scares me (Karaoke?)

5) To laugh loudly and often

I’ve never been a New Year’s resolution type. I used to attend the Borough Hall Annual Reorganization Meeting at noon on New Year’s Day and take copious notes through a hangover haze for the newspaper. “Each year at the Reorganization Meeting, the Council adopts a resolution setting the order of business for each Council meeting.” It takes forever, so and so police officer was awarded something; the zoning plans have changed to reflect such and such.

But now I’m only required to attend a hospital gala on New Year’s Eve, to dress to the nines and make merry at a local winery. I can sleep in without children at home or a care in the world…well, maybe a few.

I have a cold. It’s not the flu, got the shot, but some bugs got through to make my nose run and my throat scratchy. Bob is working, so I’m on my own to push fluids and make my own chicken soup. I managed to try my second martini in 40-something years last night, and decided it still tastes like gasoline. I thought it might help my throat, and the 2 sips I took did seem to numb my tonsils.

My order of business for 2013 is staying true to my philosophy of small steps. In order to grow, we must change and challenge ourselves, to do something scary. Notice I didn’t resolve to go to the gym and lose 20 pounds – just to walk… even in the cold and cook tofu. To quiet my mind with yoga and lighten my heart with laughter. The Love Bug is learning to laugh, and just being with her brings me great joy.

I wish you all a peaceful and joyous New Year! We may not be able to influence those in Congress today who are playing games with our country’s reputation in the world, but we can vote them out tomorrow. And we can start the New Year introspectively, as the Dalai Lama says, “The inner peace of an alert and calm mind are the source of real happiness and good health. Our human intelligence tells us which of our emotions are positive and helpful and which are damaging and to be restrained or avoided.”
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