Learning the Ropes

I'm dipping a tentative toe into the blog world with these first few words. I have not always tagged behind people, so this is really rather different for me. However, it's only one part not having the know-how and equal parts wondering if I have anything to say that might be of interest to anyone else besides myself. But then, I guess that really doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things because primarily, I'm doing this for one person anyway, and that's myself. If I can help anyone along the way, that's a bonus. As I peek in and read other blogs I see it all comes down to that end anyway, so here goes! It's cheaper than going into therapy and we really want to stay away from those drugs now, right? Or hey! Worse..."natural supplements". They aren't even regulated. Ephedrine...or Ephedra is a supplement and not considered a drug.

As I ponder and contemplate the things that have occurred to me the last five years, I realized I needed a place that I could lay it all out to examine and analyze it's nuances. So many times, when something medically immense has taken place in a person's life, we don't know how to deal with it. Because it's brand new and because it's not usually something we get the chance to practice on, we so often flounder and get it wrong.

 We are also 'directed' on how to deal with it by others who have no clue how to deal with it themselves, yet feel that they are because they have that medical degree and are armed with all kinds of textbooks and journals.
 
Or because they love you, they feel they're expert advisers for you. Right up front I have to say, until you've worn the moccasins, (as the saying goes) stick to suggesting, but don't try to tell me how I feel - or should feel. I already know that. And it's not even close to the way you might imagine.

Five years ago, in May of 2001 I had an aneurysm. It ruptured. And it was heavy duty! Pre to that, I had been an extremely active person; I ran daily, biked and hiked weekends, climbed mountains twice a year...or as often as I could get to them.

I ate healthy and stayed fit in my own complete home gym. I didn't smoke and rarely drank but for the few special occasions such as weddings or the holidays. There never seemed to be enough time in my days for the things I wanted to do, but I crammed as much as possible into every 24 hours and loved it that way!
My life was generally full and not complicated with health issues of any kind.

Then May 29th 2001 arrived. I found I wasn't as energetic as I wanted to be in prepping for a busy Memorial marathon weekend. I needed something to keep me going without lagging. I knew with all the things we had planned, that I needed an energy boost. So I bought some Metabolife to balance my metabolism. Yesirree! I was going to get it done. Much the way Steve Bechler must have felt that day in 2003 as he was getting ready to pitch his game for the Baltimore Orioles. Steve was the 23-year-old pitcher who wanted to combat fatigue & decided to try Metabolife to revitalize himself. But like Steve, that wasn't in my future either.

I say "like" Steve, but not quite, because I lived, Steve died.

At that time, Metabolife contained the Big E. For those who still haven't heard about this wonder herb, that's Ephedrine. The herb that people are trying to get put back on store shelves because they want to 'look good'. Gambling with their own lives for vanity. Russian Roulette for the buff body. All of which could be viewed very prettily laid out in a casket.

I took my first little pill in the morning of that first day, another in the afternoon and pill three before bed. I was feeling pretty good about all this; I was doing something healthy for myself and doing it "naturally" and not paying out money for prescription drugs.
So! The following morning, I took my fourth pill and went outside to do a little gardening. That was the last thing I remember until I 'woke up' in hospital seven weeks later totally paralyzed on the left side. My good fortune and what probably saved my life was that I had two doctors living right next door to me and they were tending their garden as well, when I hit the ground. They ran to where I was laying on the ground and made an immediate evaluation. They had me medi-vaced to the hospital downtown in eight minutes.

That was to be the first day of my second life. The one where you find out you're incredibly more resilient than you ever thought possible; the one where you find out through sheer determination that you can amaze yourself as well as the medical world. The one where, if you look at things as a challenge instead of a disability, they are surmountable. And the one where you find out who your friends are and sadder, just how very weak your family structure is. Those people who 'love you' were all of a sudden way too busy to call or lend a hand. The ones who will 'try to get around' or if they find the time, they will pick up that item you're needing but can't get yourself. Have they always been that self-involved or have you just been too self-involved yourself to notice? New life; new questions.

Counter that however, with those you never noticed in your life before. They come forward and quietly sustain you as you plod along in your new life. Supportive, helpful, not just given to lip service as surprisingly, family members only seem to manage. These quiet friends are there to bring you out of the hospital for the day and take you for long peaceful drives and/or to a wheelchair-friendly restaurant for lunch. They run all the little errands for you that your loved ones are (sic) too busy to run and they sit and listen as you try to figure out what happened in your life literally overnight.

I am learning so many valuable lessons in my second life. Some I wish I hadn't ever needed to learn; others I am eternally grateful for learning.

As Maya Angelou so eloquently stated:
"Courage allows the successful woman to fail and learn powerful lessons from the failure...so that in the end, she really hasn't failed at all!"

At any rate...bear with me here...I'm still learning. Now there's this blog thing! ~*wink*~

Ideology 101

There was a request made when I wrote on Facebook about the genesis and affect of ideology to be put in one blog piece so that it could be shared by those who don't visit Facebook. That made sense to me so this is that piece. It’s long, I make no apologies for that. If I’m going to lay out my thoughts, that is usually what happens. I think long.

Ideology is always a blinder - it limits vision to what fits the reality tunnel dictated by the ideology's worldview. That's how the Nazis believed they were building a "master race" while degrading Germany to unthinkable depravity, how Mao called wholesale extermination of intellectuals a "Cultural Revolution," and how Stalin killed without conscience, millions of working class people to build the "Worker's Paradise."

The nature of ideology is that it defines the world by the theory, it doesn't create the theory by comparing it to the world. In the case of Trumpism, the central beliefs - that the Government is evil and corrupt, that only Trump can "drain the swamp," and that those who support him are the only real, loyal Americans - are the operative realities; the first principles. Anything that questions those tenets is by definition, false.

In the case of Libertarianism, the operative first principle is that all government (except, conveniently, that which protects private property) is illegitimate. Therefore, anything the government does that is beneficial is inherently corruptive. It cannot be otherwise. Therefore, voting for a Libertarian is, to an observer outside their reality tunnel, much like hiring someone to run a nuclear plant that believes that physics is an evil conspiracy.

I hasten to add here, that ideologies of the left are not exempt from this phenomenon. Any set of beliefs that operates as a "first principle," that is to say a moral axiom that must be held if you are to be considered a "good person" will have the same reality-excluding affect.

Now assuming that you are not operating from a position of omniscience, that is to say, you're not G-d, you live in a tunnel. You can only observe so much, know so much, process so much in a moment, or in a lifetime. The vast majority of "the real" is, and must be outside of your knowledge. But certain axioms and habits of thought narrow the reality tunnel to reject anything that doesn't accommodate them, while others expand the reality tunnel - they admit the possibility of new information, and expand perception and understanding to accommodate it.

Ideology is a set of rules that purport to explain how the world "really" works. Ideologies are not organic, they are artificially constructed and propagated. Their genesis comes when some segment of the middle class is suddenly economically displaced. Suddenly, their old, inherited answers and folkways are rendered inoperable, and they search, often desperately, for a new explanation.

Invariably, there is a demagogue to provide them with one - usually self-serving, but always flattering to those who adopt it - you, oh downtrodden one, are the vanguard of the future, the true patriots, the moral folk who will tear down the old order and create the new...

...by doing, and thinking, exactly as I tell you.

The Birds and I...

Sassy little Catbird

  I'm always asked why I feed the birds year round. I do it for their benefit when times are difficult like winter of course, but I continue feeding in the spring and summer because one, they are accustomed to always finding a meal at my house, and two, so I can view migrating birds and the generational passing of the seed.

   My main reason for feeding the birds is rather selfish, I will admit to that. It’s the psychological benefit that comes from seeing their flamboyant colors on a dreary day. It’s listening to their music in the antelucan hour while everyone’s asleep and then waking up to their excited conversation. It’s knowing the families of birds find sanctuary in my yard for the summer, plus it really beats watching brain consuming TV anytime.

Catbird flashing me!

Junco taking shelter from the rain

    It seems like bird activity is higher now than it was in wintertime. If they’re not filling every conceivable cavity with nesting material they’re feasting at the bird feeders. After shopping around, the Bluebirds finally moved into a house hanging from my eave. The Wren house at the front of the house still is vacant but I'm sure not for much longer.  Tree Swallows chaotically investigate each nest box but as of yet have not made their mind up on one. My Chickadee has already added her first layer of moss to her fairy nest. The Purple Martins appreciate the new gourds I put up this year, a new one for me. Hopefully, with more nesting holes, my colony will expand. The vibrant procession of spring is marching through the fields and woods and it’s exciting to observe.

                                           

    I consider our kitchen window to be my personal television of the world I want to know. It doesn’t come with a remote or have a thousand channels playing the staid documentary of humanity’s shame and decline. It’s rather old fashioned in that it only gets one station and only shows nature programs day and night. It has a regular cast of characters like Chickadees, Titmice, Cardinals, Catbirds, Nuthatches and Blue Jays with occasional guest appearances by a Pileated Woodpecker, Brown Thrasher or a Towhee. Lately a new series has started playing; it’s called The Courtship of the Birds. It’s being billed as a heartwarming avian soap opera of spring love with a spectacular cast.

Cardinal selecting the best seeds.

    Watch as the male Cardinals courts his paramour by passing a sunflower seed to her, beak to beak. See the dandy little Goldfinches go round and round the finch feeders sporting the latest in daffodilly frocks. So many Woodpeckers spar over the suet dough that I actually have six suet feeders up. I’m keeping my seed feeders full in case the Indigo Buntings and Rose-breasted Grosbeaks stop by on their journey north too. It might only be a temporary visit but it sure is special.

    Toward months’ end, one of my all time favorite feathered friends, the Catbirds will arrive, plus the Orioles and Hummingbirds will appear, so this is the time to get your fruit and nectar feeders out. The Bluebirds will devour all the blocks with mealworms I leave for them. While it's not a favorite thing for me to buy, their enjoyment makes it all worthwhile. Some male birds are known to feed the female while she’s incubating the eggs. Once the young fledge are up and about, they’ll follow the adults around to find food, be it natural or what you provide at your feeders. It’s quite enjoyable observing the tattered fledglings’ first visit to a bird feeder. 

My little patient - a victim of a cat who I nursed back to health!

   And so having said all this, we need to protect those youngsters as well as their parents. There is 'love your cat, love your birds - keep your cats inside'. Those who go outside should be belled and it shouldn’t be made overly easy for the others, the ferals, to feast from your yard!

   I will share with you a small gallery of my visitors and I hope you will consider making your yard a safe and healthy haven for all who wish to visit and grace your landscapes...!

Red Bellied Woodpecker

  I love the colorful birds as most everyone does, but my favorites are really the little birds...the titmice, the Nuthatches...the Chickadees who will land on my head and shoulders when I'm at the feeders. And the Catbirds and finches, sparrows and sweet Juncos. I do think people don't pay enough attention to these little birds to realize how beautiful they really are!

Junco in the rain

Titmouse waiting for breakfast to be served!

Vigilant Junco

The visit of Pope Francis 2015...

Pope Francis holds his hand out over masses of people

So far the papal visit & Pope Francis' tour have been a very refreshing & yes, so far, a joyous experience for me, a non religious person. To watch & listen as he makes his way around Washington, speaking with the people & to the people in an intelligent & supremely caring manner.

Pope Francis Skips Lunch With Politicians To Be With Homeless In Washington, D.C.

Let's be honest here - this is not just a man of God, this is a man of the people...a man of the ages. A man who truly loves the people he sees, who truly holds compassion & caring for all of them, above everything else! He does not just lend lip service or the church dogma with each stop, but shows he wants the best for all people...& he is calling for the best from all of us as well!

He doesn't have to be a man of God...a man of faith, for me to listen to him. He had me with intelligent dialogue.

All I have to know is how important his messages are to the masses & how important his station is on a global level. Perhaps in his loving & humble way, he will achieve the things we all need to have happen! And many who feel as he does, want to have happen.  Will those in high places, those who hold important positions listen to him? Take to heart what he is saying? 

Or will they again tell him to 'butt out' when he doesn't come in line with their agenda like he's already been told pre to this visit? The line they've been 'preaching' in God's name is being contradicted by his speeches & sermons...so how do they deal with this? Or will they bother? It seems to me that the people they speak to don't really care what the church says, or what the bible & Jesus said. They only care about what their 'party' says...those politicians wishing to hold on to support with the use of religion & discredit each other by using the same.

We are all the same in Francis' eyes. All equal. And all too often that is not what is seen in this country. Oh, we can deny that, but actions speak so much louder than words & Christians themselves might want to take a closer look in the mirror, as well as at their actions & stop hiding behind God's name.

In his soft spoken way, Pope Francis asked us to not trample peoples equality...women's as well as everyone else. He reminds people, politicians specifically that the country is founded on immigrants & some, like himself achieve greatness if allowed to prosper without being shut out, sent away or persecuted. He also reminded us that 'all' religions should enjoy freedom of worship, not just the one you follow. And if you choose to follow none, that's fine too...you aren't a heathen nor should you be hated or called some of the names that I have been called.

Some of us follow a God, some of us follow a philosophy. But as long as we care about one another, for one another & hold out a helping hand to the needy, to those who are crushed under events that have taken place in their lives, leaving them with little to nothing, we will be doing what he wishes. He reminds people that nowhere in their bible does it say 'you earned that money so you get to keep it all & forsake those in need'. In fact, your Jesus taught quite the opposite...

Other good men...as well as women, have preceded this man & after the spin put on their words by politicians & those who wish to minimize them, we are left with not a lot of what they tried to teach us actually getting accomplished. Do we stand a chance that this good man has reached the right people where heretofore no one else seems to have?

I guess we stay tuned now & do whatever we can to promote his words.

Misplaced pride, Ignorance is unbecoming...

Vintage 1887 patchwork quilt

In this day of environmental awareness and looking after our planet, it has resulted in many people doing their part to assure the earth is hurt no more than it already has been and with each of us making our own contribution to that cause, we should be able to, if not turn things around, at least halt much of the pollution that's seen today growing worse. So many of the people born into this generation are thinking this way and it becomes second nature to them to recycle and pick up bits of trash and litter as they see it laying around the streets and wilderness. But as good as they are, they have one thing terribly, terribly wrong!
 
This became abundantly clear while standing in line at checkout one afternoon when the young woman at the register peered at the woman in front of me and told the elder lady that she 'should be doing her part'. That that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment!

The woman apologized to the young girl, saying she'd remember this for next trip to the store and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."

The young clerk responded, "And that's our problem today. Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations to come."

The older lady said that she was right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady then went on to explain:

"Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over.
So they really were recycled...but we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable, besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribblings. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad, we didn't do the "green thing" back then.

And if we had a cat, the shredded bags were placed in a pan and provided kitty a place to pee if she had to go. No expensive litters or fancy mechanical self cleaning litter pans using electricity back then.

We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks. And very few of us had weight problems for these same reasons."

  And she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.

Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.
But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.

Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana.

After the dishes are done...by hand...

In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us either. 

When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not 'purchased for the purpose' Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.
But she's right - we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or carrying around a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of throwing them away and buying a new pen...and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.
But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Back then we did recycle our outgrown or out of fashion clothing much as they do today, but we also made use of those clothes that weren't fit for wearing any longer. They became patchwork quilts! No buying brand new cotton when there was so much good usable cotton in the shirt with the blown collar or elbows. Or the dress with the stain or the blouse with irreparable seams...or sheets with too many patches became the quilt backs of the 'new' patchwork quilt. 
But she was right, we didn't have the "green thing" back then.

Your ride to and from school everyday...

Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing." We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.
But isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?

Please feel free to share this with another selfish old person who needs a lesson in conservation from a smart ass young person.

We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't really take much to piss us off... Especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced, spiky haired smart ass who can't even make change without the cash register telling them how much to hand us back.

The Extremely Outdated and Oft Misread Second Amendment....

The first Bill of Rights

 
The Extremely outdated and oft misread Second Amendment desperately needs to be amended again, this time including a guarantee that all citizens are given an adequate education so that they are capable of reading and comprehending what they have read. This amendment has been so often misread, intentionally or otherwise, for the personal gain of those that want it to support their views. 
It was written at a time when a property owner also needed to protect his property because he was the only one around that was able to do that. There really were no organized police forces that you could call on your cell phone...erm, phone....oops, yell out the window to the small local constabularies!

 Fast forward 222 years, from it's inception in 1791 to today, 2013. You can almost hear the rumbling underfoot as the Founding Fathers spin in their graves. They are appalled and stunned that the people they gave guidance in the form of the Bill of Rights, are so stupid as to never amend that Bill again, never amend to fit the era they live in, never understand that in the day when there were no assault rifles, no multi magazines, no phones, no TV, no cars, no computers, no radios, not even something as simple as a zipper!

Keep in mind please, that this amendment was written & adopted when George Washington was still in his first term as president!! It had only been eight years since the end of the American Revolution, altho' we were in the midst of the Northwest Indian War, taking place in what today, we know as the Industrial Midwest – Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, etc. Vermont had just recently become the 14th state. Originally, the Second Amendment is very much about local militias keeping check on a federal military establishment. 
It’s about Lexington and Concord and Bunker Hill. It’s a product of the American Revolution. The motto at the founding is when guns are outlawed, "only the king’s men will have guns." 

In a nutshell, almost everything ordinary Americans think they know about the Bill of Rights, including the phrase ‘Bill of Rights,’ comes from the Reconstruction period. Not once did the Founders refer to these early amendments as a bill of rights. We read everything through the prism of the 14th amendment — including the right to bear and keep arms.” The reconstruction Republicans didn’t love local militias. They believed in Grant’s army so they recast it. It becomes an individual right. The NRA is founded after the Civil War by a group of ex-Union Army officers. Now the motto goes, when guns are outlawed, only klansmen will have guns. Individual black men had to have guns in their homes because they couldn’t count on the local constabulary. 
It’s in the text of the Freedman’s Bureau Act of 1866 that we actually see the reinterpretation of the original Second Amendment. It becomes about original rights.” 

To say the United States was a very different place at that time than it is today, is an enormous understatement. At that time, the country’s population was a little more than 4 million, nearly 1/80th of what it is today. The inventions of the American Industrial Revolution were still 40 years away. The Colt 45 Revolver wasn’t invented and wouldn't be for another 80 years. The firearm of choice in 1791 was a single-shot highly inaccurate muzzle loaded rifle. While we can certainly say that the framers of the Constitution were wise and prescient men, it would be ludicrous to think that they envisioned a world where anyone on the street could buy an automatic or semi-automatic gun with incredible firepower and large self-loading magazines. They would cry to see how the IQ of an entire nation has decreased and using your words to support sheer stupidity. And that’s where we are today. 

Yes, we hear the words from people -- 'Everyone wants reasonable gun laws...gun controls'. But that simply is NOT true. Gun manufacturers certainly don't. The NRA by and large, doesn't. We need to face this first and foremost before anything can be resolved - not "everyone" is for reasonable gun control. A wide swath of people are for no gun regulations at all, which is what makes this national "conversation" so frustrating to the more sane element in the country. 
 If what you have in your personal arsenal is equal or greater to what your military has, with its drones, anti-aircraft shoulder rockets and weapons grade plutonium, then I, for one, think it more than reasonable to limit your access, as you seem to have taken an oath to sheer insanity.

Bailey

~ Bailey born October 11, 1998 Passed away Wednesday July 20, 2011 ~

I was going to begin this last night, but between the pain I was feeling and the loss of what I wanted to title it, I am beginning it a day late.

It's a funny thing how we always look for just the right title or banner when we want to post something new. Something of special importance. Yet, the most important thing of this post is Bailey, so that is simply what I've chosen to call this. It is fitting and I'm sure he would approve.

We acquired Bailey from a lady by the name of Nancy. She was a rescuer who would go to the local shelters every day and look at the times remaining on the animals cages. With the aid of her husband, she built a small barn & run for her rescued kitties and at her own expense, looked after them and tried to find homes for them. She did this with a lot of success as well.
We were looking for a play companion for our Jakey at home so went to see Nancy and brought Bailey home. Ironically, Jakey just passed away a few months back - Feb. 12, 2011. A double loss which is leaving me more than a little bit dazed.

Bailey was a unique puss. Small and determined, hard on walls and furniture and oh yes, on Jakey at times too. Due to his diminutive stature, I think he felt he had something to prove, and he picked the biggest boy in the house to make that point. A Napoleon Complex of sorts. It caused me a lot of concern over the years we had him, but if I could trade any of this sadness right now to get him back, ornery and all, I would do that in a heartbeat.

We knew something was amiss a couple of months ago when we found a mess on the carpet in the dining room. Since we have three other cats in the house, Trey, Darius and Milo, the last kitty we thought could have ever caused this mess though, was Bailey. Bailey was the fastidious one. Bailey was the one who would go back and make sure everyone else's stuff was covered up in the litter box. His nickname...Mr. Clean.

But we couldn't imagine the others doing this either, so after a lot of trial and error, we did finally face the fact that it was indeed Bailey. And by this time he had gotten so much worse.

We took him to our vet yesterday and learned that he had also lost a pound in a very short time, his heartbeat was rapid and he had what she called a mammoth murmur. All this on top of the creeping senility which was making him forget where things were - and worse, starting to fear inanimate objects like carpeting on stairs and certain toys. While we didn't feel it was time to lose him, Mother Nature had other ideas and she was calling all the shots.

I have never had to do anything like this before in my life. In fact, I've long been an advocate of letting a pets little clock tick down on it's own. Barring pain of course. If they were suffering then that had to be stopped. As we walked into the vets office I had flash back's of the tiny kitten he was and how happy we were to have saved his life. And now here we were all these years later about to take his life from him. When we talk about justice in life, so many times I have to ask where?
So hard!

Physically, Bailey was fine. To all outward appearances he looked the picture of health! He had so much energy and liked to do all the things he's always done. There were seemingly no changes except for the disease that was stealing his mind.

Bailey had also been through so much with us. Two cross country moves riding shotgun with us in the suv and not a complaint out of him. He was a trooper that's for sure. He provided more than a few laughs over the years too... He loved Xmas...the gifties from his own stocking, the little treat of egg nog on Xmas Eve and some turkey and gravy Xmas Day. How empty those days will feel now, even tho' we have our other boys, there is that upstart Bailey hole which will not be filled. Oh gawd this was so hard! It is hard now as I type with tears in my eyes and a painful lump in my throat.

I am not a religious person. I'm not sure I believe in afterlives or anything of that nature, but if there is one, I am hoping that Bailey is there and that there are lots of his favorite things. He loved to play with springs and little furry toy mice. He could amuse himself for hours with a little plastic curly thing. We were never at a loss of what to buy him...

I could reminisce for hours here but there are space and time restraints. Besides, I will continue to get sadder still and I need to start my healing process for my other little guys sakes. They are mystified too as to where both their brothers have gotten to.

Rest in peace Bailey. And if you've joined Jakey, go easy on him okay? =) We love you so much and will never forget you.

Ding Ding The Monster's Dead!

The wicked monster's dead! But is the war on terrorism over? Absolutely NOT.

It should be noted that terrorism in the form of Islamo-facism did not start 10 years ago with the attacks on the Towers and it will not end with the demise of its mastermind. He has become, in recent years, merely a figurehead to their cause. The strife in the middle east is thousands of years old and will continue throughout our lifetime. It was there before any of us were born and it will still be there long after our deaths. What we have seen is merely another horrid chapter come to a close.

However, despite this rather gloomy reality, bin-Laden’s death is cause for great celebration. It represents a huge victory for justice as well as closure for the families of the victims of 9/11 and the men and women who sought him out for the past decade. It is a victory for civilization over the forces of barbarism in the modern world. And it is no less a victory for the Muslim world as a whole. Bin Laden has preyed on them as well. The Muslim world suffered tremendously from terrorism, and in all too many cases, far more, at the hands of his terrorists’ than did many other peoples of this world. Up to and including the Towers tragedy, in which it was speculated 1200 Muslims died as well. There is no way of having exact numbers because sadly there are still bone fragments that haven't been identified.

Yet we mistakenly blame Muslims as a whole for what radical fascists do in the name of Allah. We haven't seemed to learn that to stop hatred, someone has to lead by example. I wonder sometimes, did Timothy McVeigh pray to his god before engaging his bombs in Oklahoma? Did Reverend Jim Jones get to his knees and pray for guidance before setting out his instructions to his followers? If so, should we not be fearful of all Christians as well? And yes, there are those who actually enjoy hating, those who shock me with their hatred, feeling easy and righteous about it, but that's something for another blog on another day.

The argument of course, is that these Christian men I've cited were sick minds. Like bin Laden I presume?

Bin Laden repeatedly used Islamic texts taken out of context and twisted to exhort violent action from an ignorant and hate-filled following of terrorists. Usually, very young radicals wanting to break away from the rigid confines of their religion and who were easily convinced the US was an evil empire of infidels. This was how his operations started and grew to wreak havoc against American military as well as our citizenry. It is for this reason we celebrate the death of Bin-Laden in the same way that those of an earlier generation celebrated the death of Adolf Hitler and for many of the same reasons.

There are concerns that bin-Laden’s death will spur new and more violent acts of terrorism. That his death will cause greater hatred among his followers. I am not convinced that bin Laden’s death will somehow give these people super powers to accomplish what they’ve failed at over and over again in the last ten years - to repeat the heinous crime of 9/11…but they may well try. Frankly, I don’t see how those who hate us enough to murder thousands of innocent people from all over the world, can possibly hate us any more than they already do, but again, I don't think they have the capacity to stop how they feel, it is so engrained.

We think of the Americans lost in the New York City tragedy, the act that left a crater in the middle of our largest most populated city, but it wasn't just Americans lost that day. While it happened on our soil, 91 other countries lost people that day. Including the Muslim world. Terrorism isn't discriminatory.

I salute all our men & women in uniform for this great victory. I salute them all. It may well be that the actual credit for this go to the few who were actually there & carried out the mission, but it was the efforts of all of them, from the private killed in Iraq to the Sergeant wounded in Afghanistan, that eventually brought this about.

Yup, right up to the President, who at great political risk to himself said, "You think you have him? Okay, DO IT!"

REPUBLICAN PARTY, RED FROM THE START

While Republicans wail nowadays about how Marxist the Democratic party is & how they are turning the country into a socialist nation, let's take a look at the real Marxist party shall we? Who really has ties with Marx, Communism & to a degree socialist states.

The Republican lament these days is that the country is moving away from it's core values & has “lost its way” & “gone wrong.” It has “diverged” from the fiscally responsible, small government philosophy of Republican heroes like Robert Taft whom Eisenhower’s handlers finagled out of the nomination for President in 1952.

We're now told this is why today’s Republican Establishment hates Dr. Ron Paul with such a passion; that they hate him because, like Taft, he is the quintessential Republican. Patriots who say that are mistaken, of course.
The reason the Republican Establishment hates Dr. Paul is precisely that he is *not* a traditional, mainstream Republican - that his platform of freedom is an aberration. The Republican Party didn’t “go wrong,” didn’t “go left” , didn't go any direction. It has been wrong from the beginning, from the day it was founded.

From the very beginning, the Republican Party has worked without deviation for bigger, more imperial government, for higher taxes, for more wars, for more totalitarianism. From the beginning, the Republican Party has been Red. Why? In 1848, Communists rose in revolution across Europe, united by a document prepared for the purpose, entitled Manifesto of the Communist Party. It's author was the degenerate Karl Marx, whom a small gang of wealthy Communists – the League of Just Men – hired for the purpose. The Manifesto told its adherents & its victims what the Communists would do.

But the Revolution of 1848 failed. The perpetrators escaped, traveled where else but to the United States.

In 1856, the Republican Party ran its first candidate for President. By that time, the Communists from Europe had thoroughly infiltrated this country, especially the North. Many became high ranking officers in the Union Army - top government officials.

Down through the decades, Americans have wondered about the Yankee brutality in that war. Lee invaded the North, but that sublime Christian hero forbade any forays against civilians. Military genius Stonewall Jackson stood like a stone wall, routed the Yankees at Manassas, but when Barbara Frietchie insisted on flying the Yankee flag in Frederick, Maryland, rather than the Stars & Bars, that sublime Christian hero commanded, according to John Greenleaf Whittier, “‘Who touches a hair of yon gray head/dies like a dog! March on!’ he said.”

But the Yankees, invading the South, were monsters, killing, raping & destroying civilian property. In one Georgia town, some 400 women were penned up in the town square in the July heat for almost a week without food, water or access to toilets of any kind. And it got worse when the Yankees got into the liquor. Some two thousand southern women & children were then shipped north to labor as slaves.

Sherman’s scorched earth March to the Sea was a horror even the later Nazis could not equal. Why? Because the Yankees hated Negro slavery so much? There can be no doubt that the already strong Communist influence in the North, combined with that of the maniacal abolitionists, was at least one of the main reasons. Slavery was a handy excuse, an afterthought they introduced to gain propaganda traction.
In retrospect, it appears that because nothing like this had ever happened in this country before, Lee & Jackson did not fully comprehend what they were fighting. Had this really been a “Civil” War, rather than a secession, they would & could easily have seized Washington after Manassas & hanged the first "Communist President" along with the other war criminals. Instead they went home, in the mistaken belief that the defeated Yankees would leave them alone. Lee did come to understand, but too late. He said after the war that had he known at the beginning what he had since found out, he would have fought to the last man.

What was the South fighting? Alexander Hamilton was the nation’s first big government politician. Hamilton wanted a strong central government & a national bank. Vice President Aaron Burr killed Hamilton in a duel. The problem was that Burr didn’t kill him soon enough. Henry Clay inherited & expanded Hamilton’s ideas in something called the “American System,” which advocated big government subsidies for favored industries & high, ruinous tariffs, what we today call “socialism for the rich.” Clay inspired smooth talking railroad lawyer Abraham Lincoln, who inherited the Red escapees from the Revolution of 1848 & became our first 'Communist' President.
All of this comes again to mind with the recent publication of Red Republicans: Marxism in the Civil War and Lincoln’s Marxists (2007) by Southern historians Walter D. Kennedy & Al Benson, Jr. Don't believe me, then read this book, because it irrefutably nails down everything I've said above & then some. Take a peek through the Red Republicans, & remember that the reason most Americans have never heard of all this is because it's the winner writing the history.

For instance, August Willich was a member of the London Communist League with Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels. Needless to say, Willich became a major general in the Union Army. Robert Rosa belonged to the New York Communist Club & was a major in the 45th New York Infantry. Brigadier general Louis Blenker of New York was a “convinced Marxist.” His 10,000 man division looted people in Virginia, inspiring the term “Blenkered.” Many of his men were fresh from European prisons. Our first Communist President knew this, but turned them loose on the people of the South.

In Red Republicans you'll learn of nine European revolutionaries convicted of treason & banished to Australia. They escaped to the united States & Canada. I took this in school so am familiar with all this. Three or four of them, with no military experience, became Union generals, joining at least three other Marx confidants who already held that rank. “Every man of the nine became a member of the Canadian Parliament, a governor of a territory or state in the Union, party leader, prime minister or attorney general.”

Many of these men, though not all, were Germans, some four thousand of whom escaped to this country. Known as Forty-Eighters, they quickly added violent abolitionism & feminism to their Communist beliefs. In Missouri, Forty-Eighter Franz Sigel became a Union general & had uniforms made for his Third Infantry Regiment that closely resembled the uniforms worn by socialist revolutionaries in Germany in 1849. Forty-Eighters who became high ranking Union commanders included Colonel Friedrich Salomon, Ninth Wisconsin, Colonel Fritz Anneke, Thirty Fourth Wisconsin & Colonel Konrad Krez, Twenty Seventh Wisconsin. Communist journalist Karl Heinzen wrote: “If you have to blow up half a continent & cause a bloodbath to destroy the party of barbarism, you should have no scruples of conscience. Anyone who would not joyously sacrifice his life for the satisfaction of exterminating a million barbarians is not a true republican.” Heinzen came to this country & supported Lincoln.

Joseph Weydemeyer had to flee Germany when the Communist Revolution failed. In London he belonged to the Communist League & was a close friend of both Marx & Engels. He came to this country in 1851, supported Lincoln, maintained his close friendship with Marx & became a Brigadier General in the Union Army. Dedicated socialist Richard Hinton had to leave England. In this country he became a Union colonel, a Radical Republican & an associate of the maniac John Brown.
So was Allan Pinkerton, who financed him. At one meeting with Brown, Pinkerton told his son: “Look well upon that man. He is greater than Napoleon & just as great as George Washington.” Yes, Pinkerton was the great detective who founded the agency that bears his name. Why didn’t you know that?

In Kansas, mass murderer Brown enjoyed the support of wealthy Yankees (the Secret Six). August Bondi & Charles Kaiser, who worked with Brown there, were Forty Eighters.

What about Marx himself? Marx fled to England, where he is buried. He became the European correspondent for socialist Horace Greeley’s New York Tribune, whose Managing Editor, Charles Dana, was a Communist. Dana hired Marx as a foreign correspondent. Marx wrote often of his kinship with the new Republican Party. Dana’s generosity to Marx kept that scumbag alive. Remember that Marx never worked a day to support his family, but did find time to knock up their maid. Dana later became Assistant Secretary of War. All these people were in place when our first 'Communist' President was elected on the Republican ticket in 1860 & provoked Lincoln’s Communist War to Destroy the Union.

The GOP Convention of 1860 took place in Chicago, a flaming center of German Communism. Many such Reds were delegates, including Johann Bernhard Stallo & Frederick Hassaurek from Ohio & Heinrich Bornstein from Missouri, a very good friend of Marx. Socialist Carl Schurz was a delegate from Wisconsin. To guarantee German support in Illinois, Lincoln secretly bought the Illinois Staats Anzieger. After the election he awarded the editor a consular post.

Socialist Friedrich Kapp was editor of the New Yorker-Abendzeitung. He wrote propaganda for the new Republican Party & helped mightily to deliver the German-American vote to Lincoln. With other Forty-Eighters, he was an elector for Lincoln in 1860. Remember, these are just a few examples. You really need to read the book. I can't possibly give any more than an essence of its content here.

Keep in mind too that slavery, for these Communists, was just an afterthought, a tool. Before the War for Independence, it was the Southern colonies that petitioned the King to stop importing slaves into the South. Did you know that Jefferson tried to include in the Declaration of Independence a complaint against the King because his government had forbidden the colonies to end the slave trade? Jefferson’s language was deleted to avoid giving offense to New England, which was making buckets of money trading slaves. Did you also know that if slavery was what the South fought to defend, all it had to do was stay in the Union? Lincoln made clear that he would defend slavery & would not free slaves owned by a man in a state within the Union: [quote]“I have no purpose, directly or indirectly, to interfere with the institution of slavery in the States where it exists. I believe I have no lawful right to do so, and I have no inclination to do so.”[unquote]

Remember that the Emancipation Proclamation came well into the war. It was a propaganda stunt that freed only the slaves in areas controlled by the Confederacy; in other words, none. Meanwhile, prominent abolitionist Robert E. Lee, the first man Lincoln offered command of the Union Army, had freed his family’s slaves long before the war. So, what were the Communists who came here after? Republican Senator John Sherman, brother of the monster who Marched to the Sea, advised his fellow senators to “nationalize as much as possible [making] men love their country before their states. All private interests, all local interests, all banking interests, the interests of individuals, everything, should be subordinate now to the interests of the Government.”

Germany was a decentralized collection of independent states. The goal of the Forty Eighters there was a “united, indivisible republic” in which those states would be dissolved. Land & private industry would be confiscated. The government would be transformed into a Socialist dictatorship. These are the ideas the Forty Eighters came to implement here. By the way, that is what Hitler did in the 1930s. That is what the fleeing Communists found so attractive in Lincoln.

So, again, the Republican Party did not “go wrong.” It was rotten from the start. It has never been anything else but red. The characterization of Republican states as “red states” is quite appropriate. What do these revelations mean to us? Again, Dr. Paul is an aberration. He is not a “traditional Republican.” A “traditional Republican” stands for high taxes, imperial government & perpetual war. Pretty much what we've seen so far.