I'm terrible with numbers. All my life, I've been strong with words, weak with numbers. For this reason, when my husband and I played darts, I'd be figuring out how much was left on my score, while others would be yelling out the number. I'd just shake my head and keep figuring. If I didn't do it for myself, how would I know it was right? And how would I learn?
Numbers tend to just have symbolic meaning to me. It's like the number 202 on an apartment. The number is a designation, but it doesn't mean amount of (as in two hundred and two apartments). So I find 300,000 to be quite similar to 3,000. To really know the difference, I have to think about it.
The budget that just passed Congress is $3 trillion. Just how much is one trillion?
According to one source, if you spent one million dollars EVERY DAY from year 1 (after Christ's time) to now, you would still not have spent one trillion dollars. It comes to about $734 billion.
Here's another way to look at it. One trillion seconds makes 31,546 years! But I can't really fathom that. A year of seconds becomes more than I can fathom.
This was the best way for me. If you stack up $1,000 bills, one million dollars makes about a four-inch stack. (I confirmed this with my husband who used to deal with stacks of bills.) Now to make one trillion dollars from a stack of $1,000 bills, you need to stack them up to (and over) 63 miles!
The Sandias are approximately one mile high from the valley floor. Sixty-three Sandias stacked up would be level with our stack of $1,000 bills that makes ONE trillion dollars. Triple that, and you've got three trillion.
WHY, WHY, WHY???
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
On Laws and Morality
Walter Williams, one of my favorite economists and columnists, finished his recent column, "Law vs. Moral Values" with these words: "Our increased reliance on laws to regulate behavior is a measure of how uncivilized we've become." Right on, Williams!
The other day, while eating Sunday dinner with my church's Home Bible Study group (several families), in giving examples of the "hidden" taxes already enacted of Obama's administration, I mentioned the cigarette tax.
"Oh, that's okay," said one friend. "That'll make people smoke less."
I was aghast at her comment. I hope that she didn't feel like I jumped on her with my response, but I feel very strongly about this subject. The government has no business in my (or anyone else's) morality. And killing oneself slowly is a moral issue.
When he announced he was switching parties, yesterday, Senator Arlen Specter said the Republican party has no more room for moderates. And callers on the talk shows explained that conservative Republicans (as opposed to moderate Republicans) means the "social conservatives," that is, those who want to make abortion illegal and keep gays from marital bliss. It's these people, they contend, that will kill the Republican party.
Now I don't care about the Republican party, except as a possible vehicle for getting into office truly good people. (The Republicans in office now do not fit that description.) And one way to know if people are truly good is if they have good morals, which, for the most part, means they have conservative values (and I'm speaking of "conservative" with a small "c;" the antithesis of "progressive," not Conservative with a large "c.") However, just because a person has conservative values and good morals does not mean he wants to force everyone else to have the same values and morals. In fact, I would say one of his values is respect of the individual's personal responsibility.
Truly good people for political office means those who thoughtfully support the Constitution as it was created originally, who believe the government must be limited to only its enumerated powers, such as to protect our country from attack, to print money, to be sure contracts are honored. Our founding fathers believed that, in order to have government thus limited and maintain personal liberty, the individual must be self-controlling based on his own morality. They actually expected a belief in God is what would guide the free people to do the right thing, NOT law.
I can find several good reasons the government should not be allowed to control our bad behavior.
1. The more government intrudes on our bad behavior, the more we tend to abdicate our own responsibility. It's much easier to say, "I didn't know it was against the law," than it is to say, "I didn't think about whether it was right or wrong." I have many students who believe that a behavior is not wrong if it's legal.
2. Who decides what is bad behavior? The Greens would have me believe that my cutting down trees is bad behavior. But I don't think so. Joe Biden says it's patriotic to pay taxes, and of course, he means those who are already paying 30% of their income in taxes shouldn't complain when their taxes are raised to 50% of their income. Obama's administration says that as a country we are immoral because of our "torture" of terrorists. But is it moral to allow further attacks to kill thousands of our people when we can avoid the attacks through waterboarding a few evil people?
3. As government gains more control of our lives, it becomes more corrupt. The more power it has, the more money it wants, and it finds ways to get both. This leads to two classes of people: those who obey the law and those in power who don't have to. Need I remind you of Tim Geithner's slide into office as Treasury Secretary although he hadn't paid his taxes until it became evident that his taxes would be noticed in the process of his confirmation hearings?
4. Government has a poor track record of managing anything. Anyone who has had to deal with Medicare or Medicaid knows what I mean. Heck, on the state level, just look at the department of motor vehicles. This is why peanuts tainted with salmonella managed to enter our food consumption. This is why my friend, Eva, cannot buy stuffed animals for the bags she makes to give homeless children. You see, Congress passed a law outlawing lead in children's toys, and requiring all stores reselling children's toys to test those toys to make sure they don't contain lead (that's the good behavior). Thrift stores are unable to afford the costs of testing just to resell a toy at a dollar, so they refuse to take children's toys anymore.
The only proper place the government has in regulating our behavior is when our behavior interferes with anyone else's rights, that is, those God-given rights that cannot be separated from us: our rights to freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and press, our rights to redress and to bear arms, our right to life and property.
We have, folded into all those rights, the right to fail. We have the right to do stupid and immoral stuff, as long as our actions do not interfere with others' rights.
The other day, while eating Sunday dinner with my church's Home Bible Study group (several families), in giving examples of the "hidden" taxes already enacted of Obama's administration, I mentioned the cigarette tax.
"Oh, that's okay," said one friend. "That'll make people smoke less."
I was aghast at her comment. I hope that she didn't feel like I jumped on her with my response, but I feel very strongly about this subject. The government has no business in my (or anyone else's) morality. And killing oneself slowly is a moral issue.
When he announced he was switching parties, yesterday, Senator Arlen Specter said the Republican party has no more room for moderates. And callers on the talk shows explained that conservative Republicans (as opposed to moderate Republicans) means the "social conservatives," that is, those who want to make abortion illegal and keep gays from marital bliss. It's these people, they contend, that will kill the Republican party.
Now I don't care about the Republican party, except as a possible vehicle for getting into office truly good people. (The Republicans in office now do not fit that description.) And one way to know if people are truly good is if they have good morals, which, for the most part, means they have conservative values (and I'm speaking of "conservative" with a small "c;" the antithesis of "progressive," not Conservative with a large "c.") However, just because a person has conservative values and good morals does not mean he wants to force everyone else to have the same values and morals. In fact, I would say one of his values is respect of the individual's personal responsibility.
Truly good people for political office means those who thoughtfully support the Constitution as it was created originally, who believe the government must be limited to only its enumerated powers, such as to protect our country from attack, to print money, to be sure contracts are honored. Our founding fathers believed that, in order to have government thus limited and maintain personal liberty, the individual must be self-controlling based on his own morality. They actually expected a belief in God is what would guide the free people to do the right thing, NOT law.
I can find several good reasons the government should not be allowed to control our bad behavior.
1. The more government intrudes on our bad behavior, the more we tend to abdicate our own responsibility. It's much easier to say, "I didn't know it was against the law," than it is to say, "I didn't think about whether it was right or wrong." I have many students who believe that a behavior is not wrong if it's legal.
2. Who decides what is bad behavior? The Greens would have me believe that my cutting down trees is bad behavior. But I don't think so. Joe Biden says it's patriotic to pay taxes, and of course, he means those who are already paying 30% of their income in taxes shouldn't complain when their taxes are raised to 50% of their income. Obama's administration says that as a country we are immoral because of our "torture" of terrorists. But is it moral to allow further attacks to kill thousands of our people when we can avoid the attacks through waterboarding a few evil people?
3. As government gains more control of our lives, it becomes more corrupt. The more power it has, the more money it wants, and it finds ways to get both. This leads to two classes of people: those who obey the law and those in power who don't have to. Need I remind you of Tim Geithner's slide into office as Treasury Secretary although he hadn't paid his taxes until it became evident that his taxes would be noticed in the process of his confirmation hearings?
4. Government has a poor track record of managing anything. Anyone who has had to deal with Medicare or Medicaid knows what I mean. Heck, on the state level, just look at the department of motor vehicles. This is why peanuts tainted with salmonella managed to enter our food consumption. This is why my friend, Eva, cannot buy stuffed animals for the bags she makes to give homeless children. You see, Congress passed a law outlawing lead in children's toys, and requiring all stores reselling children's toys to test those toys to make sure they don't contain lead (that's the good behavior). Thrift stores are unable to afford the costs of testing just to resell a toy at a dollar, so they refuse to take children's toys anymore.
The only proper place the government has in regulating our behavior is when our behavior interferes with anyone else's rights, that is, those God-given rights that cannot be separated from us: our rights to freedom of speech, religion, assembly, and press, our rights to redress and to bear arms, our right to life and property.
We have, folded into all those rights, the right to fail. We have the right to do stupid and immoral stuff, as long as our actions do not interfere with others' rights.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
The Mirror Demonstration!
I had never seen anything like it.
I wasn't a complete demonstration neophyte. I had "marched" with about five friends in the CNM teacher's union in front of the building where the CNM board was meeting to decide on salaries for CNM security. We had signs ready made. We marched in a circle and sang, "We shall overcome." (Don't get on to me for being in the union and doing this. I had my reasons, which I thought were very good at the time.)
Then there were anti-war demonstrations that I happened to drive through on my way to Wal-Mart. Those made me very nervous. The vitriol of the (small) crowd was palpable, even with me protected in my car. I'd just focus my gaze straight ahead and try to get through without running over someone mad enough to jump out in front of me. It never happened but that was my fear.
So at the Albuquerque Tea Party, I could very well relate to the few drivers who focused straight ahead and white-knuckled their way to the center lane. But there were so few of them.
A counter demonstration marched somewhere around Smiths, I heard, but I never saw any of them. Only one or two "nuts" wandered through doing their own thing that might have been contrary to us. I really couldn't tell. One guy dressed in a red t-shirt with a yellow hammer & sickle on it paused every few feet and waved a kind of anti-American flag. That is, its blue and white bars were vertical and the blue field with white stars on the American flag was on this thing a white field with blue stars. We ignored him and he wandered on.
Of the drivers, a few people shot us a finger as they passed. We just laughed. Actually, I had to keep asking the guy next to me which it was, a finger or a thumbs up. The clouds had dimmed the sunlight enough that without my glasses, my vision wasn't good enough to determine which was which. But during the entire three hours, Dale counted only three or four middle fingers, and maybe five thumbs down.
That left everyone else in the thousands of cars, SUVs, and trucks passing by, approving of what we were doing. It was a 5:00 rush-hour traffic jam until after 7:00! People reported that to get onto Montgomery from Carlisle and San Mateo, it took 15 minutes!
Did I say thousands of vehicles? Or were they the same ones on a loop, going round and round and round? Quite a few began to look familiar. We finally figured out that people had driven by, perhaps as a result of their daily tasks, gone home, collected their kids, flags, dogs, and quickly-scrawled signs. Then driving up and down the four miles of Montgomery, honking their horn, waving flags, thumbs up, and showing signs to the people they passed, they served as a kind of mirror demonstration for us.
One little girl had scrawled on her lined notebook paper, "Obama sucks!" She flattened it against the window as her mother drove slowly by us so we could read it.
Another lady held up a sign that said, "This is all the change Obama gave me!" Huge coins were plastered on it, one fitting within the O of Obama.
People perched in the opening of a Hummer-type search and rescue vehicle waving a full-sized "Don't Tread on Me" flag, the Army Rangers flag, and Old Glory, while the airhorn of an 18-wheeler sounded.
Children waved flags and sticks with teabags on them out the windows of their cars.
One driver jumped up and down in his seat, waving both arms, and grinning.
One old guy had four flags, one for each of his windows, sticking up around his car.
There were elderly people in Cadillacs, young parents with babies locked into carseats, Hispanics, blacks, and whites, men dressed in grungy t-shirts, men dressed in business suits, ladies in classic power suits, ladies in scrubs, trucks pulling trailers with motorcycles and trucks pulling trailers with landscaping tools. My daughter noticed that the driver of nearly EVERY truck or van that had a business logo on it went crazy honking, grinning, and giving the thumbs up. "It's because they're working," she deduced.
The numbers were hard to determine. People came and went on the sidewalks on both sides of Montgomery. Since the numbers seemed to come out as between 5,000 and 10,000, I'd just go with the more conservative 7,000. But that's just counting the people who stood on the sidewalks, not the mirror demonstration. What a boost we got out of the support we received.
I wasn't a complete demonstration neophyte. I had "marched" with about five friends in the CNM teacher's union in front of the building where the CNM board was meeting to decide on salaries for CNM security. We had signs ready made. We marched in a circle and sang, "We shall overcome." (Don't get on to me for being in the union and doing this. I had my reasons, which I thought were very good at the time.)
Then there were anti-war demonstrations that I happened to drive through on my way to Wal-Mart. Those made me very nervous. The vitriol of the (small) crowd was palpable, even with me protected in my car. I'd just focus my gaze straight ahead and try to get through without running over someone mad enough to jump out in front of me. It never happened but that was my fear.
So at the Albuquerque Tea Party, I could very well relate to the few drivers who focused straight ahead and white-knuckled their way to the center lane. But there were so few of them.
A counter demonstration marched somewhere around Smiths, I heard, but I never saw any of them. Only one or two "nuts" wandered through doing their own thing that might have been contrary to us. I really couldn't tell. One guy dressed in a red t-shirt with a yellow hammer & sickle on it paused every few feet and waved a kind of anti-American flag. That is, its blue and white bars were vertical and the blue field with white stars on the American flag was on this thing a white field with blue stars. We ignored him and he wandered on.
Of the drivers, a few people shot us a finger as they passed. We just laughed. Actually, I had to keep asking the guy next to me which it was, a finger or a thumbs up. The clouds had dimmed the sunlight enough that without my glasses, my vision wasn't good enough to determine which was which. But during the entire three hours, Dale counted only three or four middle fingers, and maybe five thumbs down.
That left everyone else in the thousands of cars, SUVs, and trucks passing by, approving of what we were doing. It was a 5:00 rush-hour traffic jam until after 7:00! People reported that to get onto Montgomery from Carlisle and San Mateo, it took 15 minutes!
Did I say thousands of vehicles? Or were they the same ones on a loop, going round and round and round? Quite a few began to look familiar. We finally figured out that people had driven by, perhaps as a result of their daily tasks, gone home, collected their kids, flags, dogs, and quickly-scrawled signs. Then driving up and down the four miles of Montgomery, honking their horn, waving flags, thumbs up, and showing signs to the people they passed, they served as a kind of mirror demonstration for us.
One little girl had scrawled on her lined notebook paper, "Obama sucks!" She flattened it against the window as her mother drove slowly by us so we could read it.
Another lady held up a sign that said, "This is all the change Obama gave me!" Huge coins were plastered on it, one fitting within the O of Obama.
People perched in the opening of a Hummer-type search and rescue vehicle waving a full-sized "Don't Tread on Me" flag, the Army Rangers flag, and Old Glory, while the airhorn of an 18-wheeler sounded.
Children waved flags and sticks with teabags on them out the windows of their cars.
One driver jumped up and down in his seat, waving both arms, and grinning.
One old guy had four flags, one for each of his windows, sticking up around his car.
There were elderly people in Cadillacs, young parents with babies locked into carseats, Hispanics, blacks, and whites, men dressed in grungy t-shirts, men dressed in business suits, ladies in classic power suits, ladies in scrubs, trucks pulling trailers with motorcycles and trucks pulling trailers with landscaping tools. My daughter noticed that the driver of nearly EVERY truck or van that had a business logo on it went crazy honking, grinning, and giving the thumbs up. "It's because they're working," she deduced.
The numbers were hard to determine. People came and went on the sidewalks on both sides of Montgomery. Since the numbers seemed to come out as between 5,000 and 10,000, I'd just go with the more conservative 7,000. But that's just counting the people who stood on the sidewalks, not the mirror demonstration. What a boost we got out of the support we received.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Young Man on a Bicycle
My sign at the Albuquerque Tea Party read "BASTA!" because I wanted to make a unique one for New Mexico, so I figured the simple Spanish word for "enough!" would be good. It was funny when I was drawing it out at the sign-making party. I drew B-A-S-T, and my daughter started asking, "What are you writing? Don't you know this is a family friendly thing?"
Well, it looks like not as many people knew Spanish as I expected. Several people asked what it meant. My daughter enjoyed waving the sign for awhile. With her body-modification -- tattoos, piercings, and brandings -- she figured people would take her as an "infiltrator." And if they didn't know what the word "basta" meant, then they might really take her as an infiltrator.
But there came a time when I had the sign.
A young man on a bicycle was passing behind us (we stood right on the edge of the curb to get the drivers' attention) and he stopped suddenly and asked me, "What does your sign say?"
"Basta. It means 'enough.'"
He nodded and started on his way, but turned back. "Enough . . . what?" He was taller than I and had to lean his head down to hear me with all the yelling and cheering going on.
"Enough spending. You know, the budget, stimulus, all that." I was yelling over the noise.
"So the spending from the previous eight years wasn't enough to justify protesting?"
"Oh, we didn't like it. We were pissed about that, starting with the prescription drug thing. My husband even changed parties over that."
"But you didn't protest."
"No," I agreed. "But Obama's spending was just SO much and SO fast, we had to do something more."
"If it hadn't been Obama, would you have protested?"
I tried to answer him honestly. I mean this young man was listening to my answers and asking good questions -- something I crave to get from liberals around me. So I said, "I think whoever it was, if he went more slowly, we might not have protested. We would still think we could do something about it. But this happened so fast."
"So if Obama had spent more slowly, you might not have protested?"
"Possibly. If he'd spent more slowly and not so much at once."
He nodded and thanked me, mounted his bike and rode on.
But now I have more to say. You know how it is. Only hours, if not days, after the event, you think of what you should have said.
I would have said, had I had my wits about me at that point, that we conservatives don't protest. That's the domain of liberals. They'll protest and demonstrate at the drop of a hat. I bet they all have a protest kit made up and sitting next to the door just in case they decide to protest and get the call. We conservatives, on the other hand, call our representatives, write letters to them and to the editor of local papers, send emails, voice our opinions on talk radio, and try to make changes through the voting process. We don't even think of protesting. That's almost as foreign to us as suing someone for offending us, as foreign as using the courts to make social and legal change.
When Heather Wilson supported the SCHIPS bill and was on Jim Villanucci's show, people blasted her. I blasted her in an email.
I can't tell you how pissed I was that Bush went ahead and signed the TARP bill, in spite of the "no" vote of Congress. This was stomping on the constitution, as far as I was concerned. But he was on his way out. No use "firing" him! I had to focus my energy on what was happening after that.
The fact that there were . . . it seemed like 5,000 conservatives (pretty much all fiscal conservatives -- some Republicans, some Libertarians, some Independents, even some Democrats) there doing something they don't usually do should say we're really, really mad. And we're serious. And when our usual methods seemed to have no effect on the conduct of Congress and the White House, we were driven to protesting.
Not that I regret it. It was a blast. But I wonder if our politicians heard us, or if they're covering their ears with their hands and going, "La, la, la, la, la!"
Well, it looks like not as many people knew Spanish as I expected. Several people asked what it meant. My daughter enjoyed waving the sign for awhile. With her body-modification -- tattoos, piercings, and brandings -- she figured people would take her as an "infiltrator." And if they didn't know what the word "basta" meant, then they might really take her as an infiltrator.
But there came a time when I had the sign.
A young man on a bicycle was passing behind us (we stood right on the edge of the curb to get the drivers' attention) and he stopped suddenly and asked me, "What does your sign say?"
"Basta. It means 'enough.'"
He nodded and started on his way, but turned back. "Enough . . . what?" He was taller than I and had to lean his head down to hear me with all the yelling and cheering going on.
"Enough spending. You know, the budget, stimulus, all that." I was yelling over the noise.
"So the spending from the previous eight years wasn't enough to justify protesting?"
"Oh, we didn't like it. We were pissed about that, starting with the prescription drug thing. My husband even changed parties over that."
"But you didn't protest."
"No," I agreed. "But Obama's spending was just SO much and SO fast, we had to do something more."
"If it hadn't been Obama, would you have protested?"
I tried to answer him honestly. I mean this young man was listening to my answers and asking good questions -- something I crave to get from liberals around me. So I said, "I think whoever it was, if he went more slowly, we might not have protested. We would still think we could do something about it. But this happened so fast."
"So if Obama had spent more slowly, you might not have protested?"
"Possibly. If he'd spent more slowly and not so much at once."
He nodded and thanked me, mounted his bike and rode on.
But now I have more to say. You know how it is. Only hours, if not days, after the event, you think of what you should have said.
I would have said, had I had my wits about me at that point, that we conservatives don't protest. That's the domain of liberals. They'll protest and demonstrate at the drop of a hat. I bet they all have a protest kit made up and sitting next to the door just in case they decide to protest and get the call. We conservatives, on the other hand, call our representatives, write letters to them and to the editor of local papers, send emails, voice our opinions on talk radio, and try to make changes through the voting process. We don't even think of protesting. That's almost as foreign to us as suing someone for offending us, as foreign as using the courts to make social and legal change.
When Heather Wilson supported the SCHIPS bill and was on Jim Villanucci's show, people blasted her. I blasted her in an email.
I can't tell you how pissed I was that Bush went ahead and signed the TARP bill, in spite of the "no" vote of Congress. This was stomping on the constitution, as far as I was concerned. But he was on his way out. No use "firing" him! I had to focus my energy on what was happening after that.
The fact that there were . . . it seemed like 5,000 conservatives (pretty much all fiscal conservatives -- some Republicans, some Libertarians, some Independents, even some Democrats) there doing something they don't usually do should say we're really, really mad. And we're serious. And when our usual methods seemed to have no effect on the conduct of Congress and the White House, we were driven to protesting.
Not that I regret it. It was a blast. But I wonder if our politicians heard us, or if they're covering their ears with their hands and going, "La, la, la, la, la!"
Thursday, April 16, 2009
The Cop at the Tea Party
Whew! I'm still pumped! Exhausted and sore, but brewing! I have so much to say about the Albuquerque Tax Day Tea Party, but I'm going to dole it out so you, my dear reader, don't get overwhelmed!
As a volunteer, I helped set up (trying to keep a huge paper banner from being ripped up by the wind as we taped it across the front of the sign in area), collected my badge, t-shirt, and little plastic megaphone (cone). My job as "block captain" meant I was to help monitor our legality -- for example, keeping people from trespassing on private property or keeping driveways open. I had about a block of territory to watch over.
Albuquerque Police were there, of course, keeping an eye on the crowd. Now I have a little soft spot in my heart for APD. I have a good friend whose husband is APD. So when after arriving at my territory and getting people spread out, I spotted the nearest cop, standing back from the crowd, his arms crossed, I went up to him and said, "Hey, I just wanna thank you for being here and helping us out."
The corners of his mouth lifted in a very slight smile and he said, "Thank YOU for being here," a bit stiffly. Then he continued, "Some of us had to work or WE'd be here."
I grinned at what I thought was his meaning. As I walked away, he called out, "Unofficially, of course!"
"Oh, of course!" I replied.
As a volunteer, I helped set up (trying to keep a huge paper banner from being ripped up by the wind as we taped it across the front of the sign in area), collected my badge, t-shirt, and little plastic megaphone (cone). My job as "block captain" meant I was to help monitor our legality -- for example, keeping people from trespassing on private property or keeping driveways open. I had about a block of territory to watch over.
Albuquerque Police were there, of course, keeping an eye on the crowd. Now I have a little soft spot in my heart for APD. I have a good friend whose husband is APD. So when after arriving at my territory and getting people spread out, I spotted the nearest cop, standing back from the crowd, his arms crossed, I went up to him and said, "Hey, I just wanna thank you for being here and helping us out."
The corners of his mouth lifted in a very slight smile and he said, "Thank YOU for being here," a bit stiffly. Then he continued, "Some of us had to work or WE'd be here."
I grinned at what I thought was his meaning. As I walked away, he called out, "Unofficially, of course!"
"Oh, of course!" I replied.
Tuesday, April 14, 2009
Tomorrow's the day
Well, tomorrow's the day. Our weapons (signs) have been readied. The saber rattling was when we called our representatives and senators and told them we disagree with their spending. Lot of good that did! The two sides have positioned themselves. Just today, the media spread the word from the Department of Homeland Security that people who have a strong issue, such as anti-abortion or immigration, are right wing radicals. People who are against the federal government in support of the state or local government are right wing radicals. Disgruntled veterans can be right wing radicals. People who strongly support the second amendment are right wing radicals. Well, . . . I guess that's what we are. That's who we are.
We are armed for the battle by our education and preparation. We have our instructions and plan. Here is what we will do:
Protest the spending.
Yell how we feel.
Stand and wave our signs.
Show our numbers and solidarity.
Wave at drivers who honk.
Chant catchy slogans.
Have fun.
Show off for any cameras.
We will not break the law. We will not engage anyone who tries to push any buttons.
Thus will we prove just how "radical" we are.
I've actually gotten quite comfortable with my new role. I put up fliers last week advertising the Albuquerque Tea Party, but within three days, they all disappeared. All but the one next to my office door. I feel a little bad to have that one there because my office mate doesn't agree with me politically, but at least I won't leave it up forever like she wanted me to allow with some Obama fliers before the election. I don't consider this tea party to be partisan, anyway.
I've told my classes what I'm doing tomorrow. Told them I was protesting government spending. After each of two classes, a student hung around to ask me more details. So maybe they'll join us.
When I say I'm more comfortable, I mean the fear and anger don't wrap my gut into knots, any more. I don't feel the same anxiety that tells me to DO SOMETHING! NOW! Tomorrow is just one battle in what promises to be a war of years. We have to remember that we're in this for the long run and we need to pace ourselves, maintaining our level of energy and enthusiasm for what previously was the sole property of the left: activism.
Part of it, too, is realizing that nothing I do alone and right now will make much difference. It's only going to be through a series of protests, demonstrations, collaborations, and educations that we'll be able to make a difference.
All's quiet . . .
We are armed for the battle by our education and preparation. We have our instructions and plan. Here is what we will do:
Protest the spending.
Yell how we feel.
Stand and wave our signs.
Show our numbers and solidarity.
Wave at drivers who honk.
Chant catchy slogans.
Have fun.
Show off for any cameras.
We will not break the law. We will not engage anyone who tries to push any buttons.
Thus will we prove just how "radical" we are.
I've actually gotten quite comfortable with my new role. I put up fliers last week advertising the Albuquerque Tea Party, but within three days, they all disappeared. All but the one next to my office door. I feel a little bad to have that one there because my office mate doesn't agree with me politically, but at least I won't leave it up forever like she wanted me to allow with some Obama fliers before the election. I don't consider this tea party to be partisan, anyway.
I've told my classes what I'm doing tomorrow. Told them I was protesting government spending. After each of two classes, a student hung around to ask me more details. So maybe they'll join us.
When I say I'm more comfortable, I mean the fear and anger don't wrap my gut into knots, any more. I don't feel the same anxiety that tells me to DO SOMETHING! NOW! Tomorrow is just one battle in what promises to be a war of years. We have to remember that we're in this for the long run and we need to pace ourselves, maintaining our level of energy and enthusiasm for what previously was the sole property of the left: activism.
Part of it, too, is realizing that nothing I do alone and right now will make much difference. It's only going to be through a series of protests, demonstrations, collaborations, and educations that we'll be able to make a difference.
All's quiet . . .
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
More from the Lunch Bunch
So we were discussing movies we like, and someone said, "I don't like horror."
Pretty much no one there enjoyed horror. Science fiction, yes, but not horror. But that got us to talking about stuff we didn't want to see, but we watched -- like a documentary of actual video of people who committed suicide.
"Oh," said my friend. "There was video on the computer of a woman being beaten -- by, oh, it was supposedly the Taliban -- and we can believe about 10% of that," (she cut her eyes over to me) "anyway, she supposedly refused to marry a Taliban chief, and her father and brother were beating her to death. . . ."
I'm always a slow reactor. I have to take something and chew it over before I decide how I feel about it. My friends say I have a long fuse. So you can say something that makes me angry, and I'm not angry until a couple of days later! Maybe that's good. I don't know. The problem with being this way is I can't call people on snide comments like my friend made -- we can believe about 10% of that -- right when they say it. Calling them on it much later seems excessive and they are not likely to remember they even said it. The good aspect is I just let little things roll off my back.
But isn't this kind of attitude just what got us, the US, where we are? They revised our history, and we said nothing. They developed politically correct speech, and we said nothing. They rewarded the lazy, and we said nothing. We worked to not offend the easily offended, and we ourselves shrugged off the offensive.
One reason I am still eating (or eating again) with the Lunch Bunch is so I can speak up and bring up an opposing side. My question is will I ever speak up in a timely fashion? Or will I let it build up until I explode (heaven forbid!)
Pretty much no one there enjoyed horror. Science fiction, yes, but not horror. But that got us to talking about stuff we didn't want to see, but we watched -- like a documentary of actual video of people who committed suicide.
"Oh," said my friend. "There was video on the computer of a woman being beaten -- by, oh, it was supposedly the Taliban -- and we can believe about 10% of that," (she cut her eyes over to me) "anyway, she supposedly refused to marry a Taliban chief, and her father and brother were beating her to death. . . ."
I'm always a slow reactor. I have to take something and chew it over before I decide how I feel about it. My friends say I have a long fuse. So you can say something that makes me angry, and I'm not angry until a couple of days later! Maybe that's good. I don't know. The problem with being this way is I can't call people on snide comments like my friend made -- we can believe about 10% of that -- right when they say it. Calling them on it much later seems excessive and they are not likely to remember they even said it. The good aspect is I just let little things roll off my back.
But isn't this kind of attitude just what got us, the US, where we are? They revised our history, and we said nothing. They developed politically correct speech, and we said nothing. They rewarded the lazy, and we said nothing. We worked to not offend the easily offended, and we ourselves shrugged off the offensive.
One reason I am still eating (or eating again) with the Lunch Bunch is so I can speak up and bring up an opposing side. My question is will I ever speak up in a timely fashion? Or will I let it build up until I explode (heaven forbid!)
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
The Dollar Bill
I gave each of my four Citizenship students a dollar bill and instructed them to look at it carefully. We discussed whose portrait was on it. Then I began to explain the symbolism of the Great Seal, shown in two circles on the reverse side of the dollar bill, the pyramid, the eye, the eagle clutching arrows and an olive branch, etc.
They looked closely. Haoying and Liyuan are an elderly Chinese couple (in their 70s, I believe, but very healthy and active). Then there's Fitsum, a young man from Ethiopia, and Victoria, from El Salvador. I felt a special closeness with Fitsum and Victoria ever since the day they were my only students to attend, and somehow, we got into a discussion about God. Fitsum asked if I believed in God, and I told him honestly. Anyway, I'd assumed he was Muslim, but come to find out, he's Orthodox Christian. And rather than being Catholic, Victoria is evangelical. It was a wonderful discussion in which we three discovered the similarities of our beliefs.
But now Haoying and Liyuan, who came from Shanghai, were in class, so I didn't linger on the symbolism about God. I just mentioned that the eye above the pyramid meant God, or God's guidance.
It was Haoying who noticed the "In God We Trust." So they wanted to know what "trust" meant. I didn't do a very good job explaining it. Haoying asked, "Does everyone American believe God?" I said, "No, but many people do." And our laws come from that belief, I wanted to add, but didn't. She fingered the phrase on the dollar bill, then said, very quietly, "There are people in China don't believe God. Believe nothing. From children, they think no god. But here, people believe. In God we trust."
I was taken aback. They came from Communist China. And Communism has a heritage of denying God and religion. I'd assumed Haoying and Liyuan were like the people she spoke of. But maybe not! There wasn't time or opportunity to ask Haoying about it, but I will be more ready for the chance to have a great discussion with her about God.
And then today, Newsweek has come out with an article about the death of Christianity in the US! It may be true that the numbers are falling to the wayside from true belief, but perhaps the people those numbers represent did not truly believe even before. Perhaps they just attended church as a cultural thing. Now, it seems to me that the people who remain or have returned to the church are stronger than ever in their belief. We're clinging even more tightly!
They looked closely. Haoying and Liyuan are an elderly Chinese couple (in their 70s, I believe, but very healthy and active). Then there's Fitsum, a young man from Ethiopia, and Victoria, from El Salvador. I felt a special closeness with Fitsum and Victoria ever since the day they were my only students to attend, and somehow, we got into a discussion about God. Fitsum asked if I believed in God, and I told him honestly. Anyway, I'd assumed he was Muslim, but come to find out, he's Orthodox Christian. And rather than being Catholic, Victoria is evangelical. It was a wonderful discussion in which we three discovered the similarities of our beliefs.
But now Haoying and Liyuan, who came from Shanghai, were in class, so I didn't linger on the symbolism about God. I just mentioned that the eye above the pyramid meant God, or God's guidance.
It was Haoying who noticed the "In God We Trust." So they wanted to know what "trust" meant. I didn't do a very good job explaining it. Haoying asked, "Does everyone American believe God?" I said, "No, but many people do." And our laws come from that belief, I wanted to add, but didn't. She fingered the phrase on the dollar bill, then said, very quietly, "There are people in China don't believe God. Believe nothing. From children, they think no god. But here, people believe. In God we trust."
I was taken aback. They came from Communist China. And Communism has a heritage of denying God and religion. I'd assumed Haoying and Liyuan were like the people she spoke of. But maybe not! There wasn't time or opportunity to ask Haoying about it, but I will be more ready for the chance to have a great discussion with her about God.
And then today, Newsweek has come out with an article about the death of Christianity in the US! It may be true that the numbers are falling to the wayside from true belief, but perhaps the people those numbers represent did not truly believe even before. Perhaps they just attended church as a cultural thing. Now, it seems to me that the people who remain or have returned to the church are stronger than ever in their belief. We're clinging even more tightly!
Monday, April 6, 2009
Belief
I prayed for God to heal our water well. It seemed like a reasonable request, one that I could have faith about. I felt a little guilty asking for it because it was just to make life a little easier for us. (I don't "deserve" an easier life, I felt.) And yet, Christ said God, being a loving father, will give us what we ask, no matter how big or little our request.
I prayed for the healing often, every day for over a week. A story Jesus told of a widow who pestered a judge enough that he finally dealt with her case implies that we can pester God, and it may help. But still, no water.
I'm not sure I had the faith. So I prayed for the faith to believe God would heal it. Still no water.
I've finally decided that it is God's will for us to be without water at this time, that God's response to my prayer is "no." So now I am praying for us to learn what we are meant to learn from this situation. Or at least, that's what I assumed God's purpose for our situation would be. But now that I'm typing this, I realize God's purpose can be myriad. It could be that my blog on this helps someone. Possibly I'm meant to call the well people and have them come up and check out our pump. Who knows? Maybe that would put them out of a bad situation that they would have been otherwise.
The thing is, we can't know. It's like that 912 Project mosaic that Glenn Beck had done. It's made with thousands of photographs of individuals. I'm on it (about third row from the top and fifth photo from the right edge). Where we live, we can see only one tiny part of the huge mosaic that God sees. We cannot see the full picture. All we can see is those around us.
I just have to believe that there's some good reason we haven't had water from our well for a little over three weeks. Thank you, God!
I prayed for the healing often, every day for over a week. A story Jesus told of a widow who pestered a judge enough that he finally dealt with her case implies that we can pester God, and it may help. But still, no water.
I'm not sure I had the faith. So I prayed for the faith to believe God would heal it. Still no water.
I've finally decided that it is God's will for us to be without water at this time, that God's response to my prayer is "no." So now I am praying for us to learn what we are meant to learn from this situation. Or at least, that's what I assumed God's purpose for our situation would be. But now that I'm typing this, I realize God's purpose can be myriad. It could be that my blog on this helps someone. Possibly I'm meant to call the well people and have them come up and check out our pump. Who knows? Maybe that would put them out of a bad situation that they would have been otherwise.
The thing is, we can't know. It's like that 912 Project mosaic that Glenn Beck had done. It's made with thousands of photographs of individuals. I'm on it (about third row from the top and fifth photo from the right edge). Where we live, we can see only one tiny part of the huge mosaic that God sees. We cannot see the full picture. All we can see is those around us.
I just have to believe that there's some good reason we haven't had water from our well for a little over three weeks. Thank you, God!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Machosauce
It was a couple of weeks before the presidential election. I was anxious, so desperate and fearing of what I could see happening to my country with the overwhelming support of Obama, seemingly because he was black, by both black and white people. And then . . . then I found AlfonZo Rachel. He's a black conservative Christian Republican from California and he spouted his wisdom on YouTube in a bouncy rapid-fire stacatto. The particular video I watched that night was "1 More B4 11 04."
I cried, and my anxiety drained away. I knew then that I wasn't alone! That God's children aren't separated into skin colors (and there are black people who know that). Then I started looking at all of Zo's videos. I went to his website: Machosauce Productions. I now have a t-shirt that has Machosauce Productions on it (it also says, "One Mighty Nation Under All Mighty God.") When people ask what's "machosauce," I can answer, "It's the blood of the manliest man who ever lived, Jesus Christ." And then I grin. "Even El Diablo won't touch it!" (Zo wisdom, y'all.)
What's strange is how much Zo and I have in common. I mean, other than being Christian conservative Republicans. We're both martial artists and science fiction nerds. He's been working on learning computer animation, so he put together a little video of "old-skool" Battlestar Galactica. Well, the procession music for my husband's and my wedding was from Battlestar Galactica!
Zo's been tapped for PJTV. I'm not sure what all he does there, other than the making of similar short videos that he's been making for YouTube, because I haven't subscribed to PJTV (yet). The quality of the videos and the sound is much better there, but his commentary is just as pithy. When you go to Machosauce Productions on YouTube, there's a link that sends you to PJTV, so you can see those, too.
I cried, and my anxiety drained away. I knew then that I wasn't alone! That God's children aren't separated into skin colors (and there are black people who know that). Then I started looking at all of Zo's videos. I went to his website: Machosauce Productions. I now have a t-shirt that has Machosauce Productions on it (it also says, "One Mighty Nation Under All Mighty God.") When people ask what's "machosauce," I can answer, "It's the blood of the manliest man who ever lived, Jesus Christ." And then I grin. "Even El Diablo won't touch it!" (Zo wisdom, y'all.)
What's strange is how much Zo and I have in common. I mean, other than being Christian conservative Republicans. We're both martial artists and science fiction nerds. He's been working on learning computer animation, so he put together a little video of "old-skool" Battlestar Galactica. Well, the procession music for my husband's and my wedding was from Battlestar Galactica!
Zo's been tapped for PJTV. I'm not sure what all he does there, other than the making of similar short videos that he's been making for YouTube, because I haven't subscribed to PJTV (yet). The quality of the videos and the sound is much better there, but his commentary is just as pithy. When you go to Machosauce Productions on YouTube, there's a link that sends you to PJTV, so you can see those, too.
Friday, April 3, 2009
So Tired. . .
On Monday, I hit a wall. I am finding myself unable to even work up a righteous anger at everything that our government is doing. Every day, I read the news, and it's terrible, horrible, and I'm just numb. Friends send me informative emails and I read them and just shrug. I'm not surprised.
Like the last thing I read about. The Obama White House is looking for more Muslim people to work with the White House. When one of the aides says they're doing it quietly, so it won't look like Obama's all that interested in Islam, and when high-up Imams express their interest in taking apart the US from the inside, it's got to be alarming. But I'm not alarmed! I'm just not surprised.
All I can do now is focus on the little I can do: help with the Albuquerque Tea Party on April 15 (it will be on Montgomery in front of Independence Grill, one block west of Louisiana, from 4 to 7); help with the Big Stick Tea Party, which will follow through with our representatives and senators, keep in contact with my friends, and try to teach my students history, the Constitution, and critical thinking.
Other than that, I need to take care of myself and my family. We still don't have water. (Our well's pretty much dried up.) So washing dishes and cleaning clothes has become more burdensome. And I'm concerned about when I start our garden. Will I be able to raise our food if we don't have enough water for the plants? I have been constructing a compost barrel, am about half done with that, so we can have better soil.
Anyway, Monday, I took off work and slept all day. Tuesday, I stayed home, too, and caught up with my homework, baked for my church's bake sale, and made clay "Don't Tread on Me" snakes for the tea party.
I feel better, but I don't seem to feel the anger I have been overdosing on for the last 12 weeks. This may be good. There's only so much of that poison that a body can stand.
Like the last thing I read about. The Obama White House is looking for more Muslim people to work with the White House. When one of the aides says they're doing it quietly, so it won't look like Obama's all that interested in Islam, and when high-up Imams express their interest in taking apart the US from the inside, it's got to be alarming. But I'm not alarmed! I'm just not surprised.
All I can do now is focus on the little I can do: help with the Albuquerque Tea Party on April 15 (it will be on Montgomery in front of Independence Grill, one block west of Louisiana, from 4 to 7); help with the Big Stick Tea Party, which will follow through with our representatives and senators, keep in contact with my friends, and try to teach my students history, the Constitution, and critical thinking.
Other than that, I need to take care of myself and my family. We still don't have water. (Our well's pretty much dried up.) So washing dishes and cleaning clothes has become more burdensome. And I'm concerned about when I start our garden. Will I be able to raise our food if we don't have enough water for the plants? I have been constructing a compost barrel, am about half done with that, so we can have better soil.
Anyway, Monday, I took off work and slept all day. Tuesday, I stayed home, too, and caught up with my homework, baked for my church's bake sale, and made clay "Don't Tread on Me" snakes for the tea party.
I feel better, but I don't seem to feel the anger I have been overdosing on for the last 12 weeks. This may be good. There's only so much of that poison that a body can stand.
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