May 20, 2005

• FRIDAY FIVE

  Appetizer
  Approximately how many hours per day do you spend watching television?
  On work days probably 1.5 of actual watching. I have the news on in the morning when I’m getting ready for work but I just listen as I move around the house. On non-work days probably 3 hours altogether, but a lot of it is videos/DVD’s. I tend to change channels during commercial breaks and since there are so MANY of them that means I hardly ever stay on one channel for long. I still have PTSD from 9/11, so I probably have TV on the cable news channels more than anything else. Don’t watch any series shows (or any other programs) faithfully each week. Will stop at talk shows depending on who’s being talked to.
  Soup
  Which colors decorate your kitchen?
  Green/pink/yellow shades. They weren’t chosen by me but by the former owner who was a victorian kind of person I think. Interior decoration is not my talent but I wish I was wealthy so I could afford to pay someone for it.
  Salad
  Name 2 brand names you buy on a regular basis, and what do you like about them?
  Old Navy and Gap clothes for my granddaughter at the secondhand store because she likes the brands. Emeraude cologne – my favorite since my teens when my only mother-in-law ever wore it and I thought she was the classiest person I knew at the time. Plus I just still like the scent.
  Main Course
  What is your biggest fear?
  That I or any member of my family will suffer physically, mentally, or spiritually any more than we can handle.
  Dessert
  If you could wake up tomorrow and find yourself in another location, where would you want to be?
  By the sea, by the sea, by the beautiful sea….
  

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  Deep Thought: “Maybe in order to understand mankind, we have to look at the word itself: “Mankind.” Basically, it’s made up of two separate words – “mank” and “ind”. What do these words mean? It’s a mystery, and that’s why so is mankind.”
  Today I am grateful for: Open secrets
  Guess the Movie: “I’m gonna do my kind of dancin’ with a great partner, who’s not only a terrific dancer; somebody who’s taught me that there are people willing to stand up for other people no matter what it costs them; somebody who’s taught me about the kind of person I wanna be.” Answer: Dirty Dancing, 1987. Winner: Silverthorn.
  Newsweek Was Right
  by Ari Berman
  The Bush Administration’s aggressive response to a Newsweek story alleging that US interrogators at Guantanamo Bay flushed the Koran down the toilet in front of Islamic detainees displays the height of hypocrisy. After Newsweek clumsily issued an apology, followed by a retraction, White House spokesman Scott McClellan called on the magazine to “help repair the damage that has been done, particularly in the region,” by explaining “what happened and why they got it wrong.” Maybe the Bush Administration should do the same, by opening up its secret facilities for inspection to the Red Cross and other third-party observers. We are printing below a letter from reader Calgacus–a pseudonym for a researcher in the national security field for the past twenty years–that shows how the desecration of the Koran became standard US interrogation practice.
  “Contrary to White House spin, the allegations of religious desecration at Guantanamo such as those described by Newsweek on 9 May 2005 are common among ex-prisoners and have been widely reported outside the United States. Several former detainees at the Guantanamo and Bagram airbase prisons have reported instances of their handlers sitting or standing on the Koran, throwing or kicking it in toilets, and urinating on it. (Rest of story here.)
  End of Day: 9:45 pm
  + = Drove a friend to the doctor this morning – made me feel useful.
  - = Need to write to my senator about Guantanamo.

  • 9:54 am
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