Christ, Dragons, and Today

That's a Baptist Myth

2012-01-11T15:38:00.001-06:00

Monday I picked up my 87 year old aunt at the dentist. She had taken Special Transit Services there. She needed to pick up medicine at her pharmacy and then do some grocery shopping. This was no problem and the reason that I picked her up.

At the pharmacy we had to wait for one prescription to be filled. At 87 she only takes three medications, two are for the same ailment bone loss. The other is a very mild drug to reduce her blood pressure. Her mind is sharp, she still works, and she lives alone.

Our conversation began innocuously. We talked about what she needed at the store and her plans for the week. I recently began attending a church that has communion every Sunday. I told her I liked that. She agreed having attended a country church with an eclectic membership that also had weekly communion. Now my aunt attends a Baptist church. Baptists have the Lord's Supper quarterly. I have always thought that uncomfortably meager for an ordinance designed to make us one with Christ. My aunt agreed.

Now you have to know that my whole family, including my aunt, are conservative fundamentalists. That sounds redundant but trust me it is not. I am the only one outside the fold of fundamentalism. My rule at family gatherings is to never discuss religion. I simply wander away when talk goes to areas I cannot agree with. My mother was liberal, too. I often asked her if she was sure she was related to these people. She would smile and nod. She was one of ten siblings. I am an only child, but my extended family is huge, huge and conservative.

I love my aunt and know that I worry her immensely. I once let slip that I did not believe in hell. She prayed for me for months, afraid for my salvation. I do not understand how your salvation can be threatened by the belief in the existence or non-existence of hell, but she sincerely believed it matter. This slip took place not long after Southern Baptist voted for hell. A question: Why would you vote for eternal torment? Anyway, my aunt finally came to the conclusion that I was still saved despite my aberrant belief. It probably helped that I am the one that looks after her. I take her to the doctor. I stay with her in the hospital. After her knee replacement, I did all her grocery shopping and other chores.

Photo by htlcto

So now we are discussing the Lord's Supper and she tells me that at the independent church she went to in the country, some of the members wanted to use wine instead of grape juice. I muttered something about doing it both ways. "Oh, no." she said. "Jesus did not drink wine. It was unfermented so it was just grape juice" Without thinking I replied, "That's just a Baptist myth."

I knew from my aunt's expression that I was in trouble. I got a lecture on reading the scripture and believing the Bible. She was absolutely positive that "fruit of the vine" at Passover was grape juice. In my childhood church (Southern Baptist), I remember whole sermons devoted to this. I knew better that to do anything more than say I would read up on what Jesus drank at his last meal. That seemed to mollify her, but I suspect my salvation is once more a worry for her.

Of course, I learned long ago that Jesus drank wine. As a teenager, I investigated the unfermented wine hypothesis put forth by my childhood church and found it ridiculous. Jesus first miracle was to change water into wine. I have always assumed his mother was so adamant that he make water into wine at the wedding at Cana because he and his buddies drank so much. Jesus shared wine the last night of his life, not grape juice. That he drank grape juice is a Baptist myth.

The Golden Idol

2012-01-08T20:50:00.000-06:00

By Barry Blitt

We are a self-centered nation. Our goal is wealth. Our God has become the golden idol of gratification.. Our corporations, who we are told are people, look only at the bottom line, not the worker at the bottom.

Romney tells us he is for a "self-reliant" nation not an "entitlement" nation. What does that mean? Do we expect the disabled and the elderly to be "self-reliant?" Does the GOP expect to send representatives to nursing homes to tell the residents they must be "self-reliant" and care for themselves? Do they euthanize those that are not?   Oh, no, nothing that extreme Republicans would say. But they would return Medicaid to the states without oversight. States like Texas provide as little care as possible even with federal supervision. Without federal oversight, nursing homes would become swift tickets to the mortuary.

Christ told us there are only two commands. Love God and love your neighbor. How do you love your neighbor? Christ answered that in many ways. All touch my heart, but the ones that sear my soul are these:"For I (Christ) was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you visited me."   How do we make these words the truth?.   When we do for "one of the least of these brothers of mine."

How can we as Americans let the homeless sleep in the gutter? How can we deny health care to those who cannot afford it? We have a for profit prison industry which lobbies for laws that provide more prisoners for their facilities. The health insurance industry makes money by denying care to the sick. Republicans wish to repeal the law that went into effect this year that makes insurance companies use 80% of the money they collect in premiums for the health care of those paying the premiums.   Profits above lives.

Too many flee to gated communities in fear of the other. I believe Christ wants us to embrace the other. Those that flee to those protected communities may find that another kind of evil has been locked up with them, a spiritual evil, an evil that is only satisfied by avarice and separation.

We need to become a nation that sees every person as too valuable to be lost. We need to argue for future greatness not for protection of the status quo. Our goal is should not be wealth. We must dethrone the golden idol of gratification.

Coming of Age

2012-01-07T19:01:00.002-06:00

I had a pretty good childhood. I did have a bone disease that left me wheelchair bound for a few years, but by the time I turned 13 I was walking. That was when my mother had her first nervous breakdown as they called it in the 60's. Actually, she had a full psychotic break because she was schizophrenic. Nice to find out when you are 13 that your mother is really crazy.

I won't go into the details, but after a lengthy hospitalization my mother did come home and go back to work. Part of her hospitalization time was spent at a private hospital that did nothing to help her but weekly reminded me, a 13 year old, that my mother had neglected herself to take care of me. When her insurance ran out, Mother was transferred to the state hospital. "Horrors!" everyone told us. Yet it was in the state hospital that Mother received the treatment and the medication that let her function normally and subdued her illness.

Mother's siblings had initially helped us, but when my mother was transferred to the State Hospital and her insurance ran out, they offered no assistance. They did seek to have me made a ward of the state and removed from the only home I had known and the care of my paternal grandmother. My paternal grandmother refused to go along with their scheme. She held firmly to the belief that my mother would recover. Luckily for me, Mom did. My father lived in Michigan with his second wife and wanted nothing to do with his only child. One aunt told me I could live with her family, clean, cook and care for the children and she would keep me from becoming a ward of the state. Those were some scary times.

Mom came home and I expected life to return to normal. It did not. My grandmother continued to care for the house and cook, her favorite pastime. Mother went back to work.   Yet, I suddenly was making all my own decisions as well as many for my mother. My grandmother had gone to work when she was thirteen, she saw no reason to supervise me. Mother no longer could or would.

I did not recognize the change for a while. I remember my first dental visit after my mother's hospitalization. My grandmother gave me a signed blank check and told me when the appointment was. I rode my bike there, got my teeth checked and cleaned, and wrote the check. I was a little nervous, but I had been to the dentist before.   What had changed hit home when it came time for me to choose courses for the next semester in junior high. I brought home the materials but both my grandmother and mother told me to do what I wanted. I did. From that day forward, I never asked them about school matters. My mom would sign my report card happily, but she did not meet with my teachers or discuss my schoolwork. Years later, she told me she knew I was much harder on myself than she would ever be.

I stopped attending church soon after my mother's hospitalization. The church had completely abandoned us during mother's illness. The only ones that helped us at all were members of my grandfather's Masonic lodge who sent a little money and some school clothes for me. By that time, too, I had decided I was going to be a scientist. ( I had read too much science fiction.) I was full of questions, especially questions about our Sunday School lessons. The teacher usually ignored me, but finally I was told that I should not ask questions because that showed a lack of faith. I left the church with no plans ever to return. Mother did not like that I had stopped going to church, but she never returned to church after her illness. There was too much stigma attached to mental illness for her to feel comfortable in that church. Again, leaving the Baptist church was totally my decision.   In the sixteen years that followed, I became a deist. I saw Christianity as incompatible with intellectual pursuits and certainly with science.

My grandmother gradually ceded decision making about the household to me. We bought a car the summer I turned sixteen, and I learned to drive. The agreement was that it was my car, but I must put taking my grandmother and mother where they needed to go first. I drove it to school and anywhere else I wanted to. Neither my grandmother or mother ever checked on where I went.

You would think that with all this freedom, I would have been a wild teenager, After all, my teenage years were in the 1960's. I knew about drugs, smoking and alcohol. I never smoked. I did not drink nor do drugs. I simply was afraid of losing control of my mind. As I told a friend, I never thought about misbehaving. I focused on school and taking care of my mother.   Finances helped keep me on the straight and narrow. Mother was a telephone operator. We just barely made it month to month. My grandmother's tiny Social Security check made the difference.   The one thing my mother put her foot down on was my working. She would not let me do it. Looking back, I see she was right. I had my hands full with school and home responsibilities.

I came of age at thirteen in 1960. I have made my own decisions since then. I have taken care of both my grandmothers through their last years and final illnesses. I took care of my mother until her death from complications of Parkinson's disease. I made it through college and worked all the while. I possess a Bachelor of Science degree, a doctorate in chemistry and a law degree. I would make some different choices for myself, but not the one's that pertain to my grandmothers and mother. I do wish I could have enjoyed being a teenager more.

A Christmas Day Miracle 2011

2011-12-26T19:34:00.000-06:00

Photo by Mike_fleming

I fixed Christmas dinner for my aunt, her autistic son, Henry, and her irrational son, Drew, and his wife, Ann. Henry and Drew are in their fifties. I am some years older.   My aunt is 87 years old and preparation of a major dinner is beyond her.   This year it was almost beyond me. Two weeks before Christmas, I caught a cold. One week before Christmas, I had pneumonia. I got the pneumonia treated and was told I could safely prepare and serve Christmas dinner.

I did not feel up to grocery shopping until Friday. I went first to a high end grocery store that stocks nothing practical, but does have good produce and a great variety. I purchased all my produce there, but the free range turkeys must have been gold-plated considering their cost. That sent me on to my regular grocery where a purchased a fresh Butterball turkey. I paid a little more for the Butterball, but I was still annoyed at the Thanksgiving Islamic bigotry that led to an internet smear of Butterball. I also purchased paper plates, plastic cups, pretty napkins and plastic flatware. I was finished by 3 pm and totally exhausted.

I did not trust myself to be able to rise early Christmas morning to prepare the whole dinner, so I decided to to most of the cooking on the day before Christmas. I cooked the turkey, smashed potatoes with broccoli, and Brussels sprouts, then headed to church for Christmas eve services. The next morning, I rose at seven to prepare the cornbread dressing including sauteing the onions and celery in butter. I used the broth from cooking the gizzard, liver, heart, and neck as the liquid for the dressing. I chopped the same parts to include in the dressing. I did this because my aunt said Drew had ordered her to make homemade cornbread dressing because he had decided I would make bread dressing. Once 30 years ago, I served bread dressing, but if something offends Drew, he never forgets. She said that with Henry home she could not make the dressing. I assured her I would make my best cornbread dressing. Of course, Christmas Day it turned out she had made dressing because she is so intimidated by Drew. She did not bother to tell me, so I did all that work for nothing. I was hurt and angry when I found out. More about that later.

Around eleven, I loaded everything into the car to take to my aunt's apartment for Christmas dinner along with small presents for all. I am so broke these days that I usually eat Ramen noodles 5 or 6 times a week.   This dinner was only possible because friends gave me money for Christmas. My aunt and Henry were in church.( I did not attend my church's services because I was cooking that dressing.) I have a key to her apartment, so I let myself in and unloaded all the fixings. By noon, I had the turkey carved and the meat reheated, all the side dishes warmed, and the table set with festive paper plates and plastic cups. This was important because Henry eats on a tight schedule. He has to sit down to eat at noon. Christmas Day he entered the apartment at noon already alarmed that he was late. But because I had everything ready, he could quickly change clothes and come to the table where I had his plate waiting. My aunt had decided to eat with Drew and Ann because of Drew's attitude. She requested that I do the same. I fixed a small plate of salad and sat and ate with Henry. He was content. My day seemed complete at that point.

My aunt called Drew and reached Ann. They were just leaving home even though they had been told we planned to eat at noon. Drew is never on time and in the past has been deliberately late because he knows it upsets Henry. Drew and Ann live in the country so they were at least 45 minutes away. Henry was happy to stay on schedule and went to his room to lay down until three. My aunt dithered about what to do next. while I reset the table. She finally put away the fresh fruit I had brought her for Christmas.

Drew and Ann arrived a little after one. Drew would not take off his jacket. The apartment was warm. He proceeded to tell us about his last work trip. He is a truck driver. He gave us a detailed rundown of every highway and every stop he made. He totally ignored all the preparation activity as we reheated everything. The food was on the island so that we could go around and serve ourselves. We did, but not Drew. He sat down and continued his comments on his last week of driving. After she served herself, Ann had to prepare his plate and set it in front of him. He seemed oblivious to the food.

My aunt interrupted Dre4w long enough for me to say the blessing. I had expected my aunt to do that but she deferred to me. Drew continued his monologue all through dinner, but he did eat very slowly.   When Ann made a comment about an area in Oklahoma that she had previously traveled with him, he took that as a personal affront. The conversation had been dismal, but it got worse. Drew was telling Ann how little she knew when my aunt, his mother, interrupted. Drew turned and told her "Shut up, I'm talking" in a loud, abusive tone. That was too much for me. Drew and I exchanged words,
and he did half apologize to his mother. (My aunt never wants me to say anything to upset Drew, but there are limits.)

The rest of the dinner went better although Drew spent some time talking loudly to wake Henry. Henry did come in for a few minutes to grin at Drew who he adores. Drew finally removed his jacket when he headed for the bathroom, having announced his destination to all. He dropped his jacket on the floor by my aunt's chair. Ann was quick though and picked it up before my aunt noticed. Ann and I cleared the table, then everyone moved into the living room. My aunt returned to the kitchen and I followed her. That was when I discovered she had made dressing and concealed it from me, but made sure Drew had some. That was when I lost it. I told her how put upon I felt and that if she had told me I would not have been up making dressing that morning. I did not tell that I could have attended Christmas services, but I thought that. She realized that this day was rapidly becoming a bad scene for me. She apologized and I accepted that, but I had really been hurt by her thoughtlessness and behavior.

Something happened then that changed the day. My aunt and I had not raised our voices, but Henry must have heard us anyway. As I went back to putting food away, there was Henry looking worried. He reached out and hugged me while he nodded and looked me straight in the eye. Henry had never hugged me before. His autism makes it difficult to make normal human contact. He does not make eye contact. Yet there he was comforting me. Nothing mattered anymore. It was a wonderful Christmas.

Could Jesus Vote in 2012?

2011-12-14T14:56:00.000-06:00

Many states have enacted a law to require a photo ID before you can vote. Republicans say a photo ID prevents voter fraud, but statistics show that voter fraud is almost nonexistent. The true purpose of a voter ID law is to disenfranchise the old, the poor and the disabled; all of whom would not vote as Republicans want.

Why do I believe this?

Because I was raised in Texas and remember the poll tax. My Yankee grandmother moved to Texas with my native Texan mother after WWII. My grandmother was shocked to discover she had to pay to vote. I can remember my mother explaining the pernicious nature of the poll tax. The poll tax was designed to keep the poor and especially African Americans from voting. The poll tax was successful.

The 24th amendment to the constitution of the United States was passed to end the poll tax. President Lyndon Johnson said, "There can be no one too poor to vote." Republicans want to put lie to that.

Now, to vote you will need a driver's license or state photo ID to vote. Proponents of the Voter ID law say that these ID's are now free. These ID's are not available at the corner grocer. You must be able to go to your local driver's license office and wait a considerable length of time to have your photo taken for the ID. If you are old, infirm or poor, especially if you don't have a car, this becomes a daunting task. Just as in the past, when the poll tax could only be purchased in the courthouse downtown, now the modern poll tax will be just as hard to access for the portion of the population that Republicans want to disenfranchise.

Photo by Dan Young Wausau Daily Herald

Many of the disenfranchised may lack the documentation necessary to get a photo ID. In one Wisconsin case, an elderly woman who has voted for years and served in public office lacks the proper documentation and will have to go to court to get it at considerable cost. My own paternal grandmother did not have a birth certificate because she was born on a farm in rural Wisconsin.

Jesus told us that "whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me". When we deprive the poor, the disabled, the ex-convict ,the elderly of the right to vote, we deprive Jesus. In 2012, could Jesus vote in your state?.

Leaving Home

2011-11-29T19:01:00.001-06:00

I have been a Baptist since I was eleven when I was dunked. I walked away from church when I was a teenager unable to reconcile my thirst for knowledge, especially science, and my church's admonition that questions were a sign of lack of faith.

I went on the receive a Ph.D. in chemistry at twenty-five. I spent the next four years working and learning about other great religions. Of all I studied, I had the most affinity for a form of Hinduism that was prevalent in northern India. Still, none made me wish to practice their faith.

I was an insatiable science fiction reader at the time. I still love the genre. I had read the Narnia Chronicles as a child, but had ignored the religious implications. Now, I found the science fiction trilogy by C. S. Lewis and read all three books. I found another one of his books, The Screwtape Letters, in with the science fiction at a used book store. I bought it and read it. For whatever reason, the book turned me back to Christianity.

I was not that sure I wanted to be a Christian, but I decided to give it another try. This time I chose the most liberal Baptist Church in my city led by a brilliant preacher. I joined a study group of people my age led by a philosophy major. Our discussions were wide open. Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis was one of the books we studied that year.

By the end of that year, I was sure I wanted to follow Christ. I have never regretted that decision although I have come to regret remaining a Baptist.

I helped start a new Baptist church that was to be a "grace" church emphasizing God's love and mercy and essentially non-denominational. Over the years as it became a mega church, my church has become less open and more conventionally Baptist. Four years ago, members who I mistakenly thought were friends, considered my bout with clinical depression a failure of my faith, not an illness. I learned that the one thing Baptists are most afraid of being asked is for money to help one of their own who is having problems with mental illness. As my pastor (he had retired because of health reasons) often said, "Baptist shoot their wounded." These friends thought by not helping me they were making me to stand on my own two feet. Were it not for an ex-Mormon friend and a Catholic therapist, I would be dead.

I have made many mistakes in my life, but the biggest was trying to stay in that church. I went home most Sundays and cried. Finally, my car got totaled when I was rear-ended, I could not afford another car, so I stopped going to church. My church was a long way from my home and the city bus services did not run out that far. I know, this looks suspiciously like divine intervention to keep me home. No one called or inquired why I stopped coming to church. The church I helped found thirty years before did not know that I existed anymore.

After a few months, I was removed from my Sunday School class' email list. I had not asked to be removed and had stayed in touch through that email. If I had not been seeing a therapist, I would have killed myself that day. He forced me to face the reality that I did not fit in that class and shared few beliefs with them. He urged anger instead of grief.

A year has gone by without me attending church except for the few occasions when I have taken my aunt to an activity or service at her very traditional Baptist church. The people there are quite wonderful and have taken her in, accepted her autistic son, and helped her financially. They are less affluent than most in my church, but more generous. However, women are second-class members and the sermons leave me cold.

Photo by jeffk

After some searching and a great deal of prayer, I realized there was not a Baptist church in this city that I wanted to attend. I began looking for a better fit for me. I think God has guided me to such a place in a Christian (Disciples of Christ) church. I have been attending a downtown church with a small congregation and a woman pastor. If all goes as planned, I will join on New Year's Day. I will no longer be a Baptist. I will have left home.

Therapist Request

2011-10-23T15:19:00.000-05:00

photo by rikki's refuge

My therapist wants me to write my memoir. I think it would be a waste of time. I have spent my life making mistakes. I do not want to memorialize them. As a fall back, he suggested I write about episodes in my life.   He has managed to pull me back from planning my demise constantly to just occasionally thinking about how nice it would be to be dead.. The problem is I am not sure I agree that is progress, but he does. I did make him one promise: the next time I do implement a suicide plan it will be successful. I won't go through the last few years again.

So my first childhood story. I don't know how much is my own memory and how much my mother and grandmother told me.

When I was three, our landlord owned an aggressive hound named Roland. He had to be chained because he jumped for people's throats. He loved our landlord and was not aggressive with him.

I loved Roland. My mother did not think I was old enough for a pet, so all I had was Roland.   I was small, Roland was large for a hound. Of course, no one knew I played with him regularly until my mother came home from class (she attended college on the GI bill) and saw me riding him around his yard. I was told never to do that again, but of course, I did.

I was given a child's croquet set for my third birthday. I was not impressed with croquet, but I did like hitting things with the small croquet mallet, a stick about a foot long with a small spool sized, balsa wood end.

Roland and I developed a new game. I would pound him over the head with the mallet until he grew tired. Roland then would seize the stick in his mouth to make me stop. I would hang on to the mallet and he would hold on too. We would stand for some time until Roland released the stick and I would pound him again. He was free to move away at anytime, but he never did. We always stood in the same place in his yard. I don't know how often we played the game. I just remembering standing with him holding my end of the mallet several times.

One day, my mother saw us. I don't know what upset her more: the fact her child was beating an animal or that her child was aggravating a dog with a proven bite record. She called to me. I tugged on the mallet and Roland released it as I knew he would.   I went to her. She scolded me for hitting Roland and took the mallet away. I never saw it again. I was told to stay away from Roland. I did for the rest of that day.

We moved within that year to married student housing for the University of Texas. My dad had divorced my mother and married another woman when I was one. I do not remember seeing him ever. My paternal grandmother had moved in with my mother to help her financially and care for me while mother went to college. So the "we" is my paternal grandmother, my mother, and me..

Sometime after we moved, Roland bit someone quite badly and was put down. I think he was simply shot. I did not find out about his death until several years later.

I will always remember Roland, my first dog.

The Soulless Shell of a Once Great Nation

2011-07-31T14:02:00.000-05:00

Republicans have hatched a grand scheme to shrink the size of government and destroy the social safety net. Their plan is simple: make raising the debt ceiling a big deal by tying it to deficit reduction and then House Republicans will not vote to raise the debt ceiling unless deadly cuts are made to Medicare, Social Security and Medicaid.

Historically raising the debt has been perfunctory, a matter of housekeeping because no new obligations are incurred by raising the debt ceiling. The ability to continue to make payments on obligations already incurred is affected. The failure to raise the debt ceiling would cause a fiscal crisis for the United States and the world. The United States would no longer be the greatest nation on Earth.

Are Republicans crazy enough to carry out their scheme? Yes. Even the sane among Republicans approve the strategy because they believe the President and Democrats are sane and responsible. The sane Republicans (I am beginning to doubt there are any) believe the President and Democrats will give in to demands by the Republicans to destroy the safety net because the President and Democrats do not want to drive this nation off the cliff. The irony will be that in trying to save us now, the Democrats kill our future.

The scheme has turned into a grand game for Republicans aimed at destroying Medicare (so insurance companies can drain senior's pockets), Social Security (make people work until they die) and Medicaid (without health care the disabled and frail elderly die and are not a drain on society). Republicans are enjoying themselves. Sadly, some Democrats have joined the game as co-conspirators.

Republicans believe the fewer with jobs the better because eventually people will take any job at any wage to live. Hence, no job creation bills. Republicans aim to create an underclass to serve the rich. Only those who are strong and healthy will survive to spend their lives toiling at work paying the minimum wage. (\Republicans will do away with the minimum wage as soon as possible and see that only subsistence wages are paid.) The United States of America will be the soulless shell of a once great nation. August 2, 2011 will be the anniversary of the beginning of the end.

Proving We Are Not A Christian Nation

2011-07-25T15:49:00.000-05:00

Conservative Christians, who believe the United States was chosen by the one, true God to be his nation founded on God's principles, ignore Christ's summation of the law and the prophets in order to become Republicans. These Republicans daily demonstrate to the world we are not a Christian nation as they focus on money not people. If they win the debt ceiling crisis by destroying Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, they will have definitively proved that our government is free of any divine direction.

Christ said that there were two commands that summed up all of God's teachings. Love God and love your neighbor as yourself. When asked who is your neighbor, Jesus told the parable of the Good Samaritan. In it, a Samaritan (Jews despised Samaritans at the time) helps a man that has been mugged and robbed. The man is a total stranger. The Samaritan cares for the man, then pays for his future care. He tells those caring for the injured man that he will check to see they have carried out his wishes.

What can be clearer? Christians are to take care of the strangers in our midst who have been attacked by forces outside their control. Christians are not to just take care of them personally if they can, but to see that strangers are cared for. Christians are to check on the stranger's continued welfare. In a modern society of millions, how can Christians do this? Christians can enable a surrogate to act for them. The government becomes our Good Samaritan.

Republicans do not believe in the Good Samaritan. I have been repeatedly told that they have no obligation to help anyone outside their immediate family. That they have no obligation to help those who cannot help themselves. To the contrary, the Republicans consider those that cannot help themselves defective and a drag on society: they should be abandoned.

Those Republicans who call themselves Christians hold those same views. One such person in my own church told me that a member of our church who had taken in his grandchildren should not have done so. That church member should have saved the money he spent taking care of grandchildren so when his health failed he could take care of himself and not ask the church for help. ( He had asked for help. The church did not help. I no longer attend that church.)

Time and again, so-called Christians have written that they will not help people who do not work. These Christians assume that those not working don't because they are lazy. Interestingly, when Jesus talks about judgment, he does not say we should check on why a person was hungry, why they are sick, or why they are in prison. Jesus says feed them, take care of them and visit them if you want God to claim you as his own. Republicans have become the goats described in Matthew 25:31-47, turned away by God on judgment day.

With the Republicans dominating the political debate and Democrats cravenly acquiescing to their outrageous demands, this nation is in retreat from any notion of caring for the least among us. Republicans that call themselves Christian have made being poor a sin. They believe Christians have no obligation to help sinners. Republicans of all types have abandoned Christ's command to love your neighbor. How can our government abandon Christ's command and our country remain a Christian nation?

We are not a Christian nation. We should not be. Our founders saw this nation as encompassing all who were citizens regardless of faith. That is why we have the Bill of Rights: to keep the majority from abusing the minority: to keep Christians from abusing non-Christians.

Those that scream the loudest that we are a Christian nation refuse to follow Christ's command to love your neighbor. Today, they would shred the social safety net by cutting Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Those that profess to be today's only true Christians only love themselves.

Republicans tell us we are to concentrate on money not the well-being of our citizens. Most Republicans have looked around and said, "I have no neighbors except the wealthy." Even Democrats are falling for that line. Soon, our government will be of money, by money and for money. Christ said that "You cannot serve both God and Money." If Christians who are Republicans choose money over people, then they do not serve God. By conservative Christians own choosing, we will not be a Christian nation.

Watering the Garden

2011-05-26T12:03:00.000-05:00

I was up before seven this morning to turn the sprinkler on in my vegetable garden. The temperature hit 100 yesterday, a record for that date. That kind of heat sucks the moisture out of the plants faster than they can replace it. We had a good rain a week ago, but you wouldn't know it by the looks of the vegetation.

The city allows you to water twice a week, in the morning until ten, then at night starting at 7pm. Of course, the system is really designed for people with sprinkler systems, not people like me who have to drag hoses around. I go out every 45 minutes to move my sprinkler so that I can have the back yard watered by ten. This evening I will do the same in front. I do not have a big yard

With the advent of high temperatures, I will be watering not only my vegetable garden and flower beds, but areas of lawn ( bare of grass) so that the trees will get plenty of water. I lost a big elm in front this spring and a native pecan. The pecan was a surprise because 20 years ago, I tried to get rid of that tree and it just came back. Now, I did nothing and it's dead. I wonder what is going on under the ground because the elm and pecan were in the same area. Is something toxic buried there? Since my house is 97 years old, probably not.

I watered a section of the backyard where I will sow my okra seed. This will be the last vegetable I will put in. I adore okra. I especially like it raw, right off the stalk. I may trying putting in some beans with the okra. The soil where I will put the okra needs to be turned and compost and fertilizer worked in , but the pain in my back has become a living, pulsing torment, so I will delay until the weekend.

Photo by bucklava

The tomatoes are coming in. The Bonito Oro has wonderful, golf ball size fruit. The cherry tomatoes continue to perform well. I bought bacon and lettuce yesterday, so today we can have BLT's from the enormous tomatoes produced by Solar Set. I am not sure I save any money with the garden, but the taste of fresh produce can brighten your whole day.

Demographics, They are a changing.

2011-05-26T10:59:00.000-05:00

America's Tomorrow from PolicyLink on Vimeo.

The Southern Strategy

2011-05-16T16:04:00.000-05:00

I have become more and more bemused by the posts by Republicans and/or conservatives on Facebook. Not one acknowledges the fact that Ronald Reagan came to power on the basis of the Southern Strategy. Not one will acknowledge that the Republican party is still the party of bigotry and voter suppression.

Reagan capitalized on the fact that a Democratic President championed civil rights and voting rights giving African-Americans the right to vote in the South. Reagan began his 1980 campaign in Neshoba County, Mississippi in a place only famous for the killing of three civil rights activists. Reagan spoke of "states rights", code words for oppression of blacks. I know, I was raised in a state that had once been part of the Confederacy. My high school was considered integrated because we had one black student. You had to pay to vote: the poll tax. The sole purpose of the poll tax was to keep African-Americans from voting. Republicans want to bring the poll tax back in the guise of voter identification laws. The GOP's aim is broader now, not just minorities, but the elderly and the disabled.

Bob Herbert wrote: "To see Reagan’s appearance at the Neshoba County Fair in its proper context, it has to be placed between the murders of the civil rights workers that preceded it and the acknowledgment by the Republican strategist Lee Atwater that the use of code words like “states’ rights” in place of blatantly bigoted rhetoric was crucial to the success of the G.O.P.’s Southern strategy. That acknowledgment came in the very first year of the Reagan presidency."

Reagan set the Republican party on its path of bigotry that it maintains to this day.

Draw a Line in the Sand

2011-05-16T11:50:00.001-05:00

For if we hit the debt ceiling, the government will be forced to stop paying roughly a third of its bills, because that’s the share of spending currently financed by borrowing. So will it stop sending out Social Security checks? Will it stop paying doctors and hospitals that treat Medicare patients? Will it stop paying the contractors supplying fuel and munitions to our military? Or will it stop paying interest on the debt? Paul Krugman

I have supported President Obama despite my belief that he values compromise above principal. I voted for him in 2008. Whether I vote for him again depends on whether he takes a stand against the
Republican goats( goats as in Matthew 25:31-46).

If President Obama does not stand up to Republicans over the debt ceiling and allows massive spending cuts, I will not vote for him because we might as well have a Republican in the White House. Obama on the campaign trail talked a good show. (I admit I preferred Hillary because I thought she was tougher and Obama had a habit of being condescending to women..) I have been disappointed in his capitulation while in the White House to Republican grandstanding.

President Obama is wealthy and will not suffer from whatever he does. I, on the other hand, am on a limited, fixed income, and because of a childhood illness (pre-existing condition) cannot get insurance. The federal and state health risk pools are a farce:one would take more than 1/2 my income and one would take all of it to cover my monthly insurance premium. The reality is that the health care reform has done absolutely nothing to help me. My hope was to survive to 65, but the Republicans plan to destroy Medicare and, at this point, I fear President Obama will aid and abet them.

Draw a line in the sand, Mr.President.

Tomatoes Begin to Ripen

2011-05-15T14:27:00.000-05:00

Cherry tomatoes by bucklava

I had planned to write at least two blogs on the garden between the last garden post and now. Some minor crises, one hard fall, and an interesting interlude on Facebook when my blog giving my view that Christianity is not the only way to God and heaven was posted by a Facebook friend. Falls are always dangerous for me for three reasons: (1) my bones die (cause unknown, but injury can't help) (2) I have an artificial hip (doctor's instructions: don't fall) and (3) I have no health insurance (pre-existing condition). In this case, I fell outdoors on nice, hard dirt. still, not concrete, while carrying plants to the backyard. I avoided landing on the artificial hip side and I did not have any permanent injury. I ripped a nice hole in my thumb on something and my good knee (the other has the knee cap out of place, but it works, much to my orthopedist's dismay) was skinned and badly bruise but functions with only minor complaints mostly when I bend it. Oh, one of my elderly cats is sick and I am administering nebulizer treatments two to three times a day.. Good excuses, but the reality is I just didn't feel like blogging about the garden.

The garden is progressing but not as I had planned. I planted sweet pepper and eggplant seed in two beds and not one seed sprouted. I have never had this happen. By the time I realized that the only thing going to sprout were weeds, it was too late to reseed. I bought susbstitute plants at my local nursery( the plants I was carrying went I fell). They had no eggplant. I have planted two sweet peppers, two squash plants, two kinds of basil and two kinds of parsley. I have purple sage, lavender and mint in my side garden, in the ground among pots of cereus, pencil plant, and sanseveria. My lavender always dies: I think from too much water. The side garden drains well and is dry. I put the mint near the bird bath on the ground so it will get more water.

My garden May 1

My tomatoes are growing well and all have now set fruit. This is the last year I grow Celebrity. because it does not perform well for me. Celebrity was the last to set fruit. We are already sampling the Sungold tomatoes and the Sweet 100's. Ojo Bonito is loaded with green tomatoes. The plants have been attacked by small, black worms that eat the leaves. I have instituted a daily search and destroy ( actually, look and squish). So far, I am winning. The Brandywine was the first tomato attacked by these nefarious critters.

My main concern now is the ferocity of our spring storms. I lost my car windshield to hail in 2008. We had our first storm last week; this was also our first rain since I put in my tomatoes in early March. Hail warnings were abundant, but the storm that came through my area had no hail and lots of rain., over two inches. That really was a miracle. This part of Texas is in a severe drought which continues. One line of storms is not enough., but at least I will not need to water for a while.

Sungold tomatoes by tvol

I purchased my okra seed yesterday. I need to prepare a bed for it this week. Okra loves the heat. I want to track down a nursery that has some eggplant plants. I will sow some radish seed on the edges of the four beds I have now. If all goes well, I will plant some red sunflowers at the bottom edge of the garden.

The garden is my escape from reality. Whether I harvest much or not, I will reap peace and renewal.

Only Christians Go To Heaven?

2011-04-27T14:35:00.002-05:00

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"
Jesus answered, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." John 14:5-6.

By -=Bruce Berrien=-

Whether we are Christian, Jew, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Wiccan, etc. I believe that the aspect of God that we encounter when we die is the Word, God in action, no matter what we called the supreme being(s) in life. That is what John 14:6 tells us. It is a statement of mechanism, not exclusivity.

I believe that Jesus is God, therefore the highest revelation of God in human history. I also believe that all faiths have truth sufficient for salvation. I do not believe God condemns anyone because of their place of birth nor do I believe that Christians have an exclusive claim on God.

Conservative Christians are repelled by the possibility that their God and the God of Islam could be the same. Muslims trace their ancestry through Ishmael, the son of Abraham by the slave girl, Hagar. Theirs is the God of Abraham whether conservative Christians like it or not.

Atheists are close to God because to reject him they must first think about God. Such thought puts them closer to God than all those who are indifferent and never contemplate God.

My personal belief is that everyone at some point will be confronted by God and know that God is real. At that point, they may choose to accept or reject God. If they reject God, then they will cease to exist. The soul is not immortal. I believe there is no eternal life separate from our Supreme Being.

Planting Again

2011-04-07T16:11:00.002-05:00

New planted Roma

I have been short of funds, so I put off planting more tomatoes. Luck was with me though. Central Market had tomatoes on sale for $1.50 a plant. Other places a single tomato plant cost $4.00. I bought three because I have a total of seven cages that I made over 30 years ago.

Home I went but did not have time to plant the tomatoes that day.. Two days later I had the plot turned with added compost, fertilizer and dry leaves. I planted the three plants which were very long-stemmed and leggy.. I removed the lower stems and leaves, the dug a small trench in my plot. I laid the plant in on its side with the end curving up. I then buried the roots and stem leaving the leafy end of about ground. The stems will root and give you a good strong root system.

I planted Roma, Snow White Cherry, and Bonito Ojo in a triangular pattern..I only knew Roma as a variety. The other two were unknown.. I would look then up on the internet another day.

The next morning I went out to check all my plants and begin a new plot in which to plant some sweet pepper seeds. The first four plants were flourishing,almost double their original sizes. Two of the plants I had planted the day before looked fine, but the third, the Snow White Cherry was lying on the ground. I picked it up gingerly hoping that the stem had just been bent and could be straightened. No way. The stem had been chewed almost completely through: it snapped in my fingers. I looked at the plant nothing was on it. I checked the ground around it. There was a small black caterpillar looking particularly well fed. I heaved him into the patch of cane on the other side of the drive. Now I needed another tomato.

I returned to Central Market hoping they had some more inexpensive plants. My heart skipped a beat (not unusual, I take medicine to make my heartbeat more regular) when I saw many new tomato plants. They were bound to be more expensive than the others I had purchased. I was wrong. The new plants were still a dollar fifty. I found a tomato that I had never planted, Sungold, and bought it.

Once home, I went back to my garden. I exhumed the remains of the Snow White Cherry tomato, I dug a new hole and added more compost. The Sungold was a nice compact plant, so I did not plant it on its side. The Sungold went into the ground where the Snow White Cherry had emerged. I watered the new tomato in and went inside.

I watched the tomatoes carefully for the next few days. Nothing happened.

A new plot was needed for my peppers so I prepared a new four feet by four feet bed. My back offered only mild complaints. I watered it well and waited to turn it one more time. Two days later I finished the preparation. I planted some sweet banana peppers from seed left over from last year and some Sweet Cherry Red peppers from a new packet, all on April 3, 2011. I like sweet peppers better than any others including bell peppers..

Established Foursome

Most of my tomato plants are now blooming. The plants will soon be setting fruit. The local mockingbirds have already scouted my plants. The birds and I will wait for ripe tomatoes together. Usually there is enough for both of us. I just wish the mockingbird would not sing at three in the morning.

My Back My Garden

2011-03-25T11:11:00.000-05:00

I have begun preparing my garden for planting which means turning the soil and working in compost. I use a spading fork. The first few times I do this in any year my back complains mightily, not just the muscles, but the spine itself. I have a kind of arthritis that attacks the spinal column, the rib joints and my feet. Most of the time, I can ignore the pain. This was not the case this time. I had trouble walking the day after working in the garden and only managed a hunched over shuffle. Needless to say there was a delay in returning to my garden.

On Saturday, March 19, I purchased four tomato plants. Usually, we have no freeze after March 14 although we will have what my grandmother called an "Easter spell" of cold weather in the weeks before a late Easter. A native Texan, whose garden fed her family, she was uncanny in predicting the weather. She's gone now so I am on my own. I have decided to put my faith in meteorology and plant as soon as possible.

I added leaves and fertilizer to the bed I had turned compost into and turned it again. I use no pesticides, but I am not a pure organic gardener. I use a time release fertilizer that comes ready to apply and will not burn the plants. In addition, it will not harm the earthworms and other beneficial insects. Besides, I have a Ph. D. in Chemistry and believe that there are natural and man made substances that can be used together. I don't use pesticides because what will kill pests may not be good for us either. Texas homes were treated with chlordane for termites for years before it was banned. Now it is difficult to find soil uncontaminated with chlordane breakdown chemicals. Know your chemicals!

After working the garden plot again, I planted my tomatoes, four different varieties: Solar Set, Celebrity, Sweet 100, and Brandywine (an old Amish variety). I have my doubts about Brandywine in the Texas heat; we are far from Amish country. I try different varieties every year. I will purchase three more tomato plants this week to complete the tomato plots..I still have to turn that plot.

The good news: my back complained briefly about the digging and turning I did, then quieted down to its normal background growl of discomfort.

Could Jesus Vote in Texas?

2011-03-23T12:11:00.001-05:00

Photo by pncsmith

The Texas Senate enacted a law to require a photo ID before you can vote. The majority says it is to prevent voter fraud. This, of course, is not the purpose. The purpose is to disenfranchise the old, the poor and the disabled; all of whom would not vote as the majority in the Senate desires. The House is now considering the bill.

Why do I believe this?

Because I was raised in Texas and remember the poll tax. My Yankee grandmother moved to Texas with my native Texan mother after WWII. My grandmother was shocked to discover she had to pay to vote. I can remember my mother explaining the pernicious nature of the poll tax. The poll tax was designed to keep the poor and especially African Americans from voting. The poll tax was successful.

The 24th amendment to the constitution of the United States was passed to end the poll tax. President Lyndon Johnson, a Texan, said, "There can be no one too poor to vote." The Texas Senate is determined to put lie to that. Voter identification is a Republican scam to reduce the number of voters more likely to vote Democratic.

Now, to vote you will need a driver's license or state photo ID to vote. This means you must be able to pay for those documents. In addition, you must be able to go to your local driver's license office and wait a considerable length of time to have your photo taken. If you are old, infirm or poor, especially if you don't have a car, this becomes a daunting task. Just as in the past, when the poll tax could only be purchased in the courthouse downtown, now the modern poll tax will be just as hard to access for the portion of the population that the majority of our Senate want to disenfranchise.

Texans should be ashamed, but like their senators, too many would rather not see these people vote. "Afterall, if these people were fit to vote, they could get an ID, " is now the mantra.

Jesus said what we do to the least of these, we do to Him. Could Jesus vote in Texas?

The Garden is Winning

2011-03-07T12:41:00.000-06:00

I am still pruning away the dead branches and bushes that were a result of this year's unusual low temperatures. Yesterday I removed the obviously dead branches on the primrose jasmine. I cut down more hackberry saplings. I am sure if left alone, hackberry would take over this part of Central Texas. Hackberrys are the trashy neighbors of the tree world.

When I moved to this house as a child, there were three large hackberry trees in the front. Within 5 years, they had all had to be removed, but their offspring continue, even 50 years later. I have a friend with a chainsaw who I hope to enlist in my hackberry war.

While hackberrys reseed and grow at an amazing pace, my elm in front is dying. The largest tree in the front of the house, I will be sad to lose it. Two summers ago, we had a real scorcher with weeks in the 100's. I watered as often as allowed, but the tree simply could not stand the heat. I had hoped last year's mild summer might rejuvenate the elm, but it did not. This year a few feeble sprouts have appeared near the trunk, but none of the branches have buds. I will wait a few weeks, but I don't have much hope.

My last project yesterday was to begin preparing my vegetable garden. I turned over and worked in compost in a four foot by four foot area yessterday. I was reminded that I did all the work myself with a garden fork when I woke this morning. Every joint had a complaint. I have a variant of rheumatoid arthritis, so some joint is always on the warpath, but this was more universal. I moved from bed to chair to medicine cabinet. Now, all but my spine has hushed. I know that my spine will continue its wails for misuse through all planting season. So far, I have succeeded in ignoring its fuss.

I will put four tomato plants in that square, trying out a denser planting than in past years. I also plan to plant more peppers this year. If I have time today, I will prepare a plot for my radishes and carrots.

Cleaning the Garden

2011-03-05T17:14:00.003-06:00

The first warm days have come after a particularly bitter winter( temperature as low as 16 degrees Fahrenheit in the city). I covered many plants and brought all I could in, even my pencil plant, but suffered heavy damage to plants who seldom experience temperatures below freezing.

All my plants are outdoors once again. The hanging baskets have suffered from feline predation while inside; the spider plants no longer have spiders. The tricolor dracaena has a flat-top courtesy of whichever cat climbed into my office. The office is off limits, but even with the doors closed some of my cats can squeeze between frame and door. The house is 97. Its entitled to have some sagging doors. The only casualty was the avocado plant that was hidden behind the sanseveria and did not get watered. Even the ficus did well this year.

Photo by briweldon

Outside was a disaster. My yellow jasmine (texas nomenclature) or primrose jasmine (jasminum mesnyi ) is now two-toned with a top layer of tan, dead branches over the budding green ones below. I will trim the jasmine in a week or so when I can see which branches will flower or not. The nandina which is at least 60 years old did just fine. The cane is putting up shoots from the ground. The sanseveria on the south side of the house have frozen to the ground. Those I covered on the east side have some damage, but will recover. The cacti are just fine, but the cereus is dead. The parent cereus is alive and well in a pot. My salvia and my "I don't know what you are" plant( purchased two years ago at a thrift shop sale and unlabeled) are fine. My herb garden is fine, but I need to plant some basil and cilantro soon. Basil doesn't make it through winter and cilantro gives out in the heat. All together I am happy with the survival rate.

I have removed obviously dead cane and trimmed the lantana to about two inches tall.. Lantana must be cut back or it gets too leggy to be attractive. The lantana already has green leaves showing next to the ground. I will save the cane to use as stakes in the garden and put the lantana trimmings out for the brush and clippings pickup.

I need to start preparing the vegetable garden. I did not plant last year because I assumed I would lose the house. Since I am still here, I will tempt fate and put in some vegetables. Tomatoes need to go in first to ripen before the heat comes. A few radishes and maybe carrots might be fun. I have some decisions to make.

True Texans

2011-02-25T17:59:00.001-06:00

Photo by Paul Lowry

My ancestors came to Texas when it was still part of Mexico. They settled on the frontier in what is now Caldwell County, Texas. The area had sandy soil and tall pine trees. Making a living from that country was no easy task, but they did it. They did it as a community. Helping each other when needed. They were not conservatives, they were individualists who knew when to depend on their neighbors. Some went to war when Texas declared its independence from Mexico. One ancestor rode with Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto where Texas won its independence. Another fought in the Mexican-American War and died in Mexico.

These men and women looked forward to Texas becoming part of the United States and were proud when that happened. Later, when the southern states began to secede, votes were taken on whether Texas should secede. Sam Houston was against secession. So was one of my ancestors living in Gonzales County. He voted against secession even though he was the only voter in his precinct and everyone would know his vote. Indeed, he was the only vote against secession in the whole county.

Another ancestor joined the Confederate Army and fought for Texas. He refused to surrender when his unit was surrounded and escaped to rejoin other of his comrades. At the end of the war, he walked home from Louisiana to Central Texas. He believed that the war was a mistake or as he said to his children and grandchildren (one grandchild was my grandmother): "A rich man's war, but a poor man's fight." He helped build the courthouse pictured above.

World War I saw more family members fight for the United States. They saw the United States as their country. World War II came, uncles joined the army and so did my mother. She met my father at Fort Hood before he headed for the Pacific and an island hopping war. Korea found my youngest uncle in uniform. Viet Nam saw my oldest cousin off to fight. He came back permanently damaged, never the same person again. He and I are only six months apart. Now in these wars, another cousin flies huge transport planes in support of the troops. Sometimes landing in then midst of enemy rockets.

Do we all believe the same? By no means. We are a mixed bag of conservatives, liberals, independents, and contrarians. The contrarians just vote any way the majority doesn't. We are city slickers and cowboys, truck drivers and writers, but we still get together in memory of the men and women who settled Texas and were our ancestors.

Texas is not conservative and it is not liberal. True Texans are individuals who chart their own paths and make up their own minds. Sadly. many that carry on about being from Texas are pale images of real Texans. Many act tough and brag about their deeds, real or mostly imaginary.

The one image passed from generation to generation in my family is that of the individual that never bragged nor acted tough ("shut-mouthed" my grandmother would say). Quiet men that impressed many with their even temper. Beneath that facade though lay the person unafraid to take a stand no matter what his/her neighbors thought. A person that was slow to anger, but who was willing to risk all to right a wrong. No one told them what opinions to have, and they saw no need to impose their views on others.

Today, too many people living in Texas do not think on their own. They are simply sheep being led by the goats. They do not stop to think of the consequences of reducing an already lean budget. Texas ranks 48th to 50th in the help it provides to the least among us. My ancestors would be ashamed as I am. It is time for those living in Texas to stop following the herd, to stand up for the elderly, the mentally ill and handicapped, and the physically handicapped. People living in Texas need to stop being selfish and remember those that settled this state, men and women who stood together and helped one another, fought for one another and died for one another.

People who claim to be Texans need to break from the herd and be independent. Honor Texas by caring for "the least of these brothers of mine".

Netflix, Roku, and YouTube

2011-02-20T15:55:00.002-06:00

I had fallen into the routine of watching a few commentary shows on cable TV and not much else. The demise of Countdown led to a complete halt in viewing. I found a little solace on BBC America until I realized how they butchered Doctor Who episodes. Checking, I discovered the same butchery applied to Primeval and other shows. I had previously purchased episodes from iTunes when I did not have cable. Now my housemate insists I have cable in my room since she has it in hers. When I watched episodes I had previously purchased from iTunes on BBC America, I discovered how badly edited they were. I still watch BBC America occasionally, but I always wonder what is missing. I am not a regular because I would rather pay iTunes for an episode than expend any effort to watch a truncated show.

My housemate has been disappointed by what was available on our cable service. She loves to watch movies, especially British ones and comedies. To give her more to choose from , I joined Netflix. My housemate has a regular TV, so the theory was she would watch movies on DVD and we would alternate choices. However, I discovered I could stream Netflix to my computer with no problem. So my housemate got the DVDs and I streamed what I wanted.

Old Doctor Who episodes area particular favorite, but not many are available to stream. If I wanted watch them, they had to be on DVD, too. I upped our subscription to two DVDs at one time. My friend began to realize that streaming was a easy way to see a variety of movies and TV very quickly. She asked me if their were a way for her to have access to streamed videos.After a little research, I found Roku.

Roku provides a small adapter that allows Netflix and other such services to be streamed to a regular television. I purchased one online. When the unit arrived, it was very easy to setup. Soon, my friend was enjoying her movies. I, however, had hit a wall after watching one complete Briitish mystery series. Netflix simply did not stream most of what I wanted to view: Doctor Who, other British mysteries, and some movies. Clearly, Netflix was not designed for anyone with my tastes. I added to my DVD list in frustration. My friend had a similar problem: movies she wanted to stream were not available even on DVD. Frustration.

I tried to find a contact point on the internet to inform Netflix that their service was really a disservice. I could never find a place for comments. On the internet, I found names of British mystery series that I found intriguing. I returned to Netflix and found a few. I added them to my Instant Queue, then went looking for a source for the others. I would gladly pay a fee for access, but did not want to pay a per episode or movie charge like the Amazon service demands. I cannot afford that on my present budget.

I found what I was looking for on YouTube. Supplied with the name of the series and an episode list, I began watching my British mysteries. The quality is sometimes not as good as on Netflix, but it is very acceptable. I have not watched anything on Netflix for days. If I had it to do over, since we have cable I would not have subscribed to Netflix. I maintain my membership for my friend.

If you have mainstream tastes, then Netflix is ideal. If you like British television, the subscription is barely worth it. My conclusion: Roku is a great buy, Netflix is not. Netflix is a great buy compared to cable. BBC America is taking advantage of gullible Americans with commercial laden broadcasts at the expense of quality.. The best place for Doctor Who is your PBS station. Better still, buy or rent episodes on iTunes. If I were not sharing my home, I would subscribe to Netflix streaming, no DVDs, and I would not subscribe to cable.

(Check for Rachel Maddow on podcasts.)

Texas Running Out of Smart People

2011-02-09T17:23:00.002-06:00

Photo by Seansie

Today, I read an article about ten states that are running out of smart people. Guess what? Texas is number nine.

That Texas is losing smart people is no surprise. The Texas legislature has reduced funding for higher education for years. The result has been an increase in tuition and fees. I can attest to the change in students attending the University of Texas at Austin by simply observing the student inhabitants of a good friend's street. Once the rental houses on his street were filled with students who drove small used cars and beat-up pick-ups. Now those same houses have students with new, fancy pickups and BMWs. Once students on her street picked up their garbage, now they expect their neighbors to. The University is changing from a place for smart kids to a place for rich kids.

Another reason that Texas is losing intelligent people, especially academics, is the unfriendly attitudes of many legislators. Regenerative medicine is looked on with suspicion. Every session finds new attacks on any research that offends fundamentalists. The result is that researchers are leaving the state, even if their research is not controversial. Many fear that the next legislative whim will be to attack their area of research. Young researchers seeking positions simply mark Texas off. There is lack of funding, but more important is the fear that they could waste years on a project that could be prohibited. Texas colleges and universities are slowly sinking into mediocrity.

Now with a huge budget shortfall, the legislature plans to decimate K-12 education and reduce funds to institutions of higher learning. This will exacerbate the already bad situation.

Ignorance begets ignorance. Texas needs to improve its education system. The legislature needs to stay out of the research. Of course, the legislature can demand stringent ethics provisions for review of research projects. But these reviews need to be performed by those that understand the field and by independent ethicists.. Texas does not need to scare anymore scientists away.

All scientists pay attention to the research climate in a state in all areas of research, not just their own. Texas has gained the reputation as a backward and ignorant state.

What will the statistics be ten years from now? Will Texas rank number one in ignorance? Will Texas' budget parsimony this year destroy our future?

Keith Olbermann and MSNBC

2011-01-23T13:46:00.001-06:00

Photo by srqpix

I missed Olbermann's Friday show. I wish I had not, but I seldom watch MSNBC on Fridays because the news and commentary programming ends before I have finished my evening chores. MSNBC is not really a news network because its weekend broadcasts are simply docufillers, ways to keep something banal on the screen rather than a test pattern.

I am not a total Keith Olbermann fan. He was too quick to poke fun and commentary at religious straw men without ever acknowledging the overlooked mainstream. The extremes were much more fun to comment on. I could forgive even that when he read Thurber on the air (I did catch some Friday newscasts and podcasts.)

Keith Olbermann will be fine. MSNBC is doomed to be a thrid-rate news source. I refuse to watch Chuck Todd.

I was utterly appalled to hear that Lawrence O'Donnell will replace Olbermann. Someone billed him as a liberal Democrat. Maybe he was at one time, but now he is just a sissy. I have watched his show and observed his strained attempts to equate Republican and Democratic behavior. He never admits that either side could be wrong, no he must draw false equivalencies or even insist on them in face of the facts. MSNBC needs to teach its staff the meaning of right and wrong. Oh, they can't because they don't know it either.

The final straw was to hear that Chris Matthews would profit from Olbernann's departure. I don't know if I can even watch Rachel Maddow if Chris Matthews is a prominent figure on MSNBC. I stopped watching MSNBC before because he is such a misogynist. I remember too many of his interviews with women of intelligence and position where he did his best to denigrate them. He especially hated it when a woman responded intelligently to his inane question. He simply rolled over their answer with his. His crowning achievement was the despicable way he spoke of and treated Hillary Clinton. I believe he should have been fired. MSNBC seems to prefer misogynists to liberals. And Mathews is not a liberal. Anyone who would allow Tom Delay to cast aspersions on the whole court system of a community, then agree with the Congressman known as "the Hammer" as if his statements were fact is not interested in truth. No liberal would hold such a viewpoint. He is a lapdog for Senators and Representatives who pet him by feeding him what he believes is "inside" information. I will never watch him on television.

MSNBC along with NBC( don't get me going on David Gregory) are just corporate lackeys. The firing of Keith Olbermann is just another symptom of big business' takeover. Most Americans don't even realize that we have government of the corporation, by the corporation and for the corporation. MSNBC wants to make sure it stays that way.

Palin and My Family

2011-01-12T13:25:00.003-06:00

Sarah Palin reminds me of too many members of my family who never take responsibility. One recently quit his job because he was told to take a training course in something he thought he already knew. When he had difficulty finding another job, his excuse for quitting became "The company wanted to get rid of me, but I beat them to the punch." Sarah Palin in her comments on the Tucson shootings did the same thing, to paraphrase: "Me, little me, I did nothing wrong, It's just the mean old Democrats and media picking on little me."

I think that Sarah Palin scares me because I do see her actions reflected in those of certain members of my family including my long-dead paternal grandfather who blighted the lives of his children. Those members of my family like her carry a constant chip on their shoulder. They are always being picked on in their minds, even though everyone else is simply reacting to their reprehensible behavior, in my grandfather's case drunkenness and debauchery. These are the bullies of the family, bossing everyone around, berating their mothers for imagined wrongs, yelling at the autistic cousin. They are always angry. Suggestions as to appropriate behavior no matter how gently offered result in adult temper tantrums. Most no longer participate in family get-togethers because "no one likes them." The truth is the family has tried numerous times to include them, but too often their bullying behavior leads to tears and anger. I do not want a Presidential candidate like that.

I want a President that can admit mistakes and own up to their bad behavior. Most of all, I do not want a President that always blames someone else. I do not want a President who thinks "The Devil made me do it."