Month: August 2007

  • grass1 SUNDAY GOOD NEWS



    Oratrix

    I am the grass -
    unnoticed but deep green,
    teeming with complex life,
    holding up the sky and down
    the
    earth,
    subject to death by fire,
    blown by wind,
    soddened by water,
    and I persist.


    Deep Thought: “They say the mountain holds many secrets, but the biggest is this: “I am a fake mountain.”
    Today I am grateful for:     Refrigeration
    Guess the Movie:    ”You’re the most beautiful, exciting thing I’ve ever seen in my life and I don’t know anything about you. “  Answer:  American Graffitti, 1973.  Winner:  thenarrator.
    The looming crisis with Iran
    August 19, 2007
    Even as the body counts piled up in Iraq last week — including the most deadly suicide truck bombings since the war began — the Bush administration continued to ratchet up tension with Iran by signaling its intention to designate that country’s Revolutionary Guard as a “global terrorist” organization.
    This is the first time the United States has placed the armed forces of a sovereign government on its list of terrorist groups. The purpose of such a designation would be to allow Washington, and perhaps other governments, to block and disrupt the Guard’s vast international business financial operations. (Rest of article here.)

  • beagle MONDAY READING

    It’s been awhile since I posted something from the Readers Write section of The Sun magazine, my favorite subscription. Each month, there is a topic and in the August issue it was Change of Heart. I picked this one because it’s by someone in Albany, Oregon where I lived years ago, because it’s short, and because it gives hope.

    “The last time I tried to kill myself, I was thirty-one. I’d recently left my violent husband and moved to Oregon with my dog Beau Beagle. Since the move, I’d found a job and made a few friends, but I still felt hopeless and believed I’d never again be happy.

    One night I decided I’d had enough. I opened a bottle of tranquilizers and swallowed them with vodka, then climbed into my sleeping bag in the middle of my bedroom floor. Beau Beagle snuggled up next to me, and I drifted off, relieved to be done with this life.
    Thirty hours later I woke up with Beau’s head resting on my chest. His eyes gazed into mine, and his tail thumped the floor. I began to cry as I wondered what would have happened to him had I been successful. Lying there stroking his head, I realized I wanted to know what was going to happen next, no matter what it might be. I’m fifty-nine now. I still want to know.”

    Mary Zelinka, Albany, Oregon

    Deep Thought:“The other day I got out my can opener and was opening a can of worms when I thought, ‘What am I doing?!’”
    Today I am grateful for: Redemption wherever you can get it.
    Guess the Movie: “You just want to send me off. That won’t do. I’ve stayed here and been beaten like a dog, abused and cursed and driven mad, but I stayed just to be near you, even as a dog. And I’ll stay ’til the end. I’ll live and I’ll die under this rock.”  Answer:  Wuthering Heights, 1939.  Winner:  CanadianNational.
    The Soft Underbelly of the Democratic Party
    by Cenk Uygur
    Here we go again. I was going to write a nice, fun piece about Matt Damon on a lovely Sunday afternoon when the Democrats went and ruined everything, as usual. From time to time, I am told that I am too hard on the Democrats. It is not possible to be too hard on these vacillating, spineless, rudderless, clueless clowns. Alright, there has to be an important distinction here. Most of the Democrats in the House voted the right way on the latest capitulation to the most unpopular president in history. And 28 Democratic Senators voted the right way. The rest are the biggest bunch of weaklings and half-wits I have ever seen. They are the soft underbelly of the Democratic Party. (Rest of article here.)