It’s been a bad-news couple of weeks. Developments in the world have sucked — from those multiple anti-Fourth Amendment court decisions through the re-inflicting of UnPatriot Act provisions to individual horrors like the sadistic abuse of Star, “the dog who lived.” In fact, it’s been a bad month starting with the jingoistic blood-lust over the assassination of bin Laden and the murder-followed-by-ever-changing-sheriff-blame-the-victim stories of Jose Guerena. But then (as I’ve been reminded lately reading histories of the Middle Ages), developments in the world mostly suck, and always have. At least when they involve governments or conscienceless sociopathic sadists (but I…
Category: Mind and Spirit
Spirituality, moods, feelings, and thinking free to live free.
Amid all the sorrows and horrors of this year’s record-crushing (and human-crushing, and house-crushing, and pet-crushing) tornadoes, this is awe inspiring. Written version for the video challenged.
Harold Camping speaks. One could be charitable and say the man’s getting senile. But does senility bring such arrogance, narcissism, and complete disregard for what he wrought on those who were foolish enough to believe him? And yes, of course. He wasn’t wrong. Didn’t even make a “math error” this time. (In fact, he now says he never made a math error in the first place, not in his 1994 Doomsday prediction, nor anywhere else.) Judgment Day came exactly as he predicted. We simply didn’t notice. Three times now, apparently. Presumably we will notice — albeit briefly — when the…
Dead birds got me thinking about survivalism and situational awareness. Among other tchotchkes and geegaws the sellers of my new-old house left were a number of cutsy birdhouses in the backyard. I was going to pull them all down. But before I got to it, anonymous-looking brown birds moved into one, did what birdies do in the spring, and produced babies. I don’t know a lot about birds, but I’m guessing this pair has used this nest box before. I can’t imagine that they’d otherwise choose it — given that it’s smack in the middle of a small yard that’s…
I’m with Judy. Let’s start a new species. The old one is downright embarrassing. I don’t know how many followers (and that’s a perfect term for them) got caught up in Harold Camping’s latest addition to the world’s many no-show doomsdays. But every one of them willingly surrendered the main attribute of being human — the ability to think. Painful though it was to watch Camping drone Robert Fitzpatrick get grilled by gloaters in Times Square, it was no more than he could have expected. (At least, unlike Camping, he had the guts to show his face in public after…
One small step for human decency and the fourth amendment. Love the second comment: “Here’s something to think about; a bill needed to be passed to prohibit a gov’t employee from touching your or your families (sic) ‘anus, sexual organ, buttocks, or breast.’ Really? REALLY?” But don’t worry. The TSA has no intention of letting decency, sense, or the Constitution get out of hand. Neither does Erik Prince. Does that man just seem scarier every time his name turns up in the news, or what? (H/T PT) And how come, if “justices” are so worried about the possibility of violence…
When I was younger and attracted to the Bad Boys, I wasted a lot of emotional energy trying to explain to them how their more egregious behaviors hurt me. Or trying to fathom why they did certain things so that I could help “heal” them. (Yeah, go ahead. Roll your eyes.) “Why do you keep lying when you know I’m going to find out?” “But if you say you’re going to pick me up at 7:00, you should call if you can’t. Leaving me waiting until 8:30 without a word doesn’t make sense.” (Or in one case where the miscreant…
Well, the new foster dog is all settled in, thanks be to crates and portable kennels. How did anybody ever introduce new dogs to a pack without ’em? All went reasonably well. Robbie issued a few pro forma growls, then backed off on command, duty done. Ava — the most volatile of my pups — lunged at the newsomer’s crate repeatedly shouting, “I’m gonna rip your foul entrails out, you Spawn of Evil. If it’s my last act in life, I’ll tear your throat out of your wretched body and … oh, look. A tennis ball!” Nadja (who is one…
When all the world has gone insane … when all the news about freedom is bad … when you’re tempted to say, “Screw it” and give up hope, remember: We are a silent army An army of the mind. An army without hierarchy, without officers, without commands. We are an army of the intellect and the spirit that can never be targeted, bombed, or shot into submission. We are invisible, which sometimes discourages us, but which is our secret strength. We are masters of subversion The subtle statement that gets our neighbors thinking. The helping hand extended. The act of…
This is a damned depressing week. The bloodlust, the knee-jerk government worship, and the “I’ll kick your ass if you don’t agree with me” attitude about bin Laden’s death remind me (ironically) of the weeks following 9/11 when half the country went insane. I’ll probably have more to say about that, but right now I’m in one of my Deep Thought modes. I’m useless while I’m thinking. So here’s a little more miscellany while my brain churns. More long-time health-and-diet wisdom bites the dust. Pity the poor folks who’ve subjected themselves to tasteless food for years. “Man Raised by Parents…