Democracy at work . . . NOT!

The health care reform debate goes on and on. The aspect that appalls me the most is the way House Speaker Pelosi has used the democratic system to her benefit in order to be elected to a position of power and now abuses that power to deprive the American people of their say in the rest of their lives.

All polls show that most Americans do not favor the system for health care proposed and strongly supported by Ms. Pelosi. She, however, disrespects the concerns of the people and calls the ones who actively use their American right insulting names because they dare oppose a losing proposition.

An independent poll, that favored neither Democrats nor Republicans, showed the cost would be horrendous and tax the American people into the next generations. Pelosi and her cronies do not care. They want what they want when they want it regardless of the people who made the mistake of electing her.

History in other countries has shown that government-run most anything but especially health care does not work to the advantage of the people it is supposed to care for. Yes, our country could use some kind of reform but the arrogance of these politicians to think they can rush such far-reaching legislation into being within a few short months is shocking and pretty scary! They hardly represent the people who have the vote.

It is like these politicians are playing a huge board game and are using us for the game pieces, moving us here and there regardless of the rules. They are fine with this because the health care system they want to burden us with, will not be the one they have to contend with in the future. Their health care plans will not change and will probably be covered by our taxes, too.

All too true . . .!

"All men are frauds. The only difference between them is that some admit it. I myself deny it."
-- H. L. Mencken

"It is not worth an intelligent man's time to be in the majority. By definition, there are already enough people to do that."
-- G. H. Hardy

Still waiting . . .

Winter is taking it's time about descending upon sunny California this year, that's for sure! I want to go into pre-holiday baking mode and it is hard to feel the spirit of the approaching season when you have to turn on a fan to survive a baking cake.

I did take a step in anticipation of Thanksgiving and made a couple of pumpkin pies yesterday. Oh, not for mere consumption (one is already gone!) but to make sure I'm still an expert at preparing one . . . I am!

Reading cookbooks is a favorite hobby of mine. My husband picks up interesting ones from the Friends of the Library for me and some of them have become stand bys while others were quickly donated back! The Translyvanian Cookbook did not have one recipe that I could see myself trying or adapting. Besides, I have never seen bear paw on sale at my grocery store so no use trying to prepare that one! The latest 'find' was one called something about from my grandmother's kitchen. I approached it with an open mind but have to tell you, I think those grandmothers were abusive when it came to food! Either that or it didn't take much to impress their relatives.

Since the bear paw was unobtainable, I suppose we will go with turkey this Thanksgiving! We are having guests and that is something to look forward to as I think the wonderful smells of turkey cooking and the lingering scent of pies cooling on the counter should be shared.

Your choice . . .!

“Girls: You will catch the kind of guy that reflects your character.”

Don't know who to credit with the quote but it says it all about the state of the world today. Funny to think that women's lib actually made life easier for men to be immoral!

Real life in quotes . . .

"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered."
-- G. K. Chesterton

"Silence is the virtue of fools."
-- Sir Francis Bacon

"Men who never get carried away should be."
-- Malcolm Forbes

"Friends may come and go, but enemies accumulate."
-- Thomas Jones

In line with what's going on today . . .

"When buying and selling are controlled by legislation, the first things to be bought and sold are legislators."
-- P. J. O'Rourke

"Trying to determine what is going on in the world by reading newspapers is like trying to tell the time by watching the second hand of a clock."
-- Ben Hecht

"Pity the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."
-- Don Marquis

"Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
-- Albert Einstein

Quotable quotes . . .

"The world is governed more by appearances than realities, so that it is fully as necessary to seem to know something as to know it."
-- Daniel Webster

"When I was born I was so surprised I didn't talk for a year and a half."
-- Gracie Allen

"We must believe in luck. For how else can we explain the success of those we don't like?"
-- Jean Cocteau

"Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people."
-- W. C. Fields

Heading for Purgatory . . .

My husband and I disagree on this topic. He likes to push the freeway speed five or six miles over the speed limit 'to keep with the flow' of the traffic. I asked a patrol officer about this and he said that if he perceives someone going over the speed limit, he will stop and ticket them. If there are several speeding, he gets to pick and chose and it is the luck (or misfortune!) of the draw if you win that particular lottery.

I also feel that obeying the traffic laws comes under 'give to Caesar what is Caesar's and what is God's to God'. Seems obeying traffic laws comes under obedience to the Fourth Commandment, too. How we act in any situation is an example to our children.

Anyway, this topic provides travel conversation for myself and my husband and insures my job security . . . as a backseat driver!

Quotes that seem to go together . . .

"It is even harder for the average ape to believe that he has descended from man."
-- H. L. Mencken

"When they call the roll in the Senate, the Senators do not know whether to answer 'Present' or 'Not guilty.'"
-- Theodore Roosevelt

Huh?

I know of a woman who has taken upon herself the job of being an extraordinary minister at Mass sans the required training. This is evident in the way she performs the task. Many of us tend to cringe when we approach Communion time and this wannabe minister starts looking around for help using elaborate hand signs, trying to draft other untrained people, and clumping up and down the aisle.

While I'm not in favor of the laity trampling all over the sanctuary space, a well-trained, devout, reverent extraordinary minister is sometimes a necessity but should be an unobtrusive necessity. This particular person is hardly any of the above and often detracts from the sacred moment.

Since she is the first to rush up to perform as an extraordinary minister, I was shocked and amused today at morning Mass. She wasn't in the ministering line up and when we started going up for Communion, she headed out the opposite way, up the aisle and over into the other Communion line - the line where the priest was distributing Communion rather than to the gentlemen extraordinary minister in the closer line. It was almost laughable that SHE feels herself uplifted to distribute Communion but goes out of her way to avoid another extraordinary minister.

Sure keeps life interesting but not a distraction we need played out during Mass!

My favorites of the day . . .

"Today's scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality."
-- Nikola Tesla

"One man alone can be pretty dumb sometimes, but for real bona fide stupidity, there ain't nothin' can beat teamwork."
-- Edward Abbey

"If you aren't fired with enthusiasm, you will be fired with enthusiasm."
-- Vince Lombardi

A break from quilting . . .

I figured that having three quilts finished, I deserved a treat. Afterall, wouldn't you say that sewing burns off more calories than, say, jogging? Okay, leave me with my wishful thinking!

Anyway, for my husband's birthday weekend, we indulged in a favorite recipe we haven't had in years - Rice Waffles! Although this might sound odd, the addition of cooked rice to the waffle batter makes for a great, filling, waffle . . . and the melting butter and real maple syrup didn't hurt, either!

It is a simple recipe. You make your favorite waffle batter and add a half cup of cooked rice to the batter and proceed as usual. Although most any rice works well, we discovered that Jasmine Rice, with it's aromatic smell and taste, works the best.

We had a few days of rainy, cool weather in sunny California so it was fun to have a cozy breakfast without breaking a sweat!

How come . . .?

Now, I believe in being tolerant but it seems that in today's world, tolerance is becoming a one-sided agenda. Our freedom of speech has become 'believe what WE believe and don't contradict otherwise you are exhibiting hate speech.' The scary part is that the government is intervening and trying to pass a bill to counteract acts of hate. This is confusing as we already have a law in effect to punish people who deliberately, physically hurt people or incite acts of violence. What is with this new bill? Are they trying to govern even our feelings and thoughts now?

A worry is that it will most likely invade the way we worship. There are some factions that don't believe the Bible is very 'Christian' so if our pastors preach on certain passages from the Bible within the confines of our churches, will we be punished for hate speech? What happened to separation of church and state?

I've been listening to a lot of talk show radio and it is amazing how so many people not only want to be what they want to be or do but it isn't enough that they are allowed this freedom, they insist, seemingly so, that we have to believe it, too. Our tolerance is insisted upon yet it doesn't have to be reciprocated. Certainly makes for an anxious future and not one envisioned by our founding fathers.

explains a lot . . .!

"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."
-- Bill Watterson

Truth in quotes . . .

"If all economists were laid end to end, they would not reach a conclusion."
-- George Bernard Shaw

"Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest."
-- Mark Twain

Blast from the past . . .

The temperatures have finally decided to dip into a bit of winter here in California. Although we are no where near the need of central heat or a blazing fireplace, we all had a hankering for hot cocoa last night.

When the children were little, I relied on the instant packets that came with the tiny, faux marshmallows. Dump the contents in a cup, add hot water, and call it cocoa. Yeah, it is sufficient but I didn't have any of the convenience stuff on hand last night. With three of the four children away at college, not a lot of call for hot cocoa these days.

Last night, however, we developed a definite craving for a hot cup of the stuff. I got out the reliable can of Hershey's baking cocoa powder, read the directions on the side of the can, and came up with a pot of wonderful potion! It had been too long. The premade packets of cocoa are okay but there is something about the edge of the homemade Hershey's receipe that fills a deeper need! : - )

Of course, not having made cocoa from 'scratch' in so long, I was a bit clumsy in my efforts but a kindly husband (who belongs to me!) happily cleaned up the dusting of cocoa powder all over the counter and the splashes of cocoa.

Appropriate quotes for our times . . .

"There are some that only employ words for the purpose of disguising their thoughts."
-- Voltaire

"Our constitution protects aliens, drunks and U.S. Senators."
-- Will Rogers

Uplift my heart . . .!

Okay, Vatican II was supposed to bring the Mass more in line with the masses - no pun intended. Fine, they translated the Mass, shortened, changed my beloved Mass but I try to be obedient with what is supposed to come out of Rome. It seems to me, however, that once the window was opened, too many people took advantage of it.

One of my first exposures to the 'new and better' was being sent on a Search for a weekend. Only three from our CCD program volunteered to attend only because our parents SAID we volunteered. The first thing they did was to take away our watches and then kept us up to all hours of the early morning to kind of break down our inhibitions. THEN, they wanted us to talk and 'share'. I heard a lot of stupid rambling because we were exhausted and just wanted to escape to our uncomfortable bunks.

The next day, we had talks which were very forgettable and were asked to break into small groups of three to 'share'. The two girls that went to the Search with me and I stuck together. The last day of the weekend, we were told that we didn't seem open to sharing . . . and they were quite correct!

There were a lot of group games with a lot of rough and tumble horseplay. There was a thin, older teen who was always in the midst of it, being dragged around by the teen boys, joking, grabbing, etc. Found out she was SISTER Ruth. Amazing what happens when you don't have the respect of a habit.

The worst of the whole 'adventure' into modern Catholicism was the music for our literally impromptu Masses. I always felt the music would have been better enjoyed by a campfire with a roasting marshmallow at hand.

This event happened years and years ago and I have never forgotten it and it did make an impact on my life . . . I shudder whenever I recall that wretched weekend! My two friends and I did not fit in, were told we did not fit in, and rejoiced in the fact that we did not fit in.

The older I have gotten, the more I realized that bringing down the Faith to MY level didn't encourage me to ascend to a higher level. Comfort is everything when you are a teen, so why change?

New meaning for peace . . . ?

The first news to hit me today was the report that the president had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. First of all, the nominations for this has a deadline of February 20th . . . at that point in time, the president had been in office less than a month. And they say these things are not political.

My second confusion at the choice was the 'peace' in the title. This president has gone out of his way to take down the restrictions on abortion that President Bush put into place during his administration. He changed the rules on embryonic stem cell research which President Bush had curtailed. Sounds like a lot of quiet violence against the unborn yet he is awarded a prize for peace.

I imagine there is an outcry today from the deceased unborn of the world in view of this award to an anti-life individual. Abortion is not a peaceful event and based just on our president's adamant mind set on the subject, a peace prize is not an award he really deserved.

Mortality in a reflection . . .

After years of making due with only adequate cooking pots and pans, we finally found the cookware of our dreams and it was selling at an unheard of price. My husband and I treated ourselves and have enjoyed using these stainless steels pans ever since.

I was busy scrubbing out one of my pots, wanting to keep it's like-new shine. My husband remarked, "You know, these pots will out live us!" That brought me up short as I looked at my reflection in the pot's surface. It was hard to take in that, some day, the pot might still be around and useful while I was long gone from the physical world! My children are all growing up quickly and I had to face the fact that I was of an age where I could soon cease to exist on earth. Yes, anyone can be taken anytime but the older you get, the more you realize that you are more likely than a youth to finish out your time. It made me think.

The pots were extremely sturdy and durable. Unless something of an extreme nature occurred, they would be useful long after they became too heavy for me to lift. It makes you start considering your present usefulness and if you are taking full advantage of the time you have left. Since you don't know what time you have left, you start feeling that you have to fill in the now with whatever usefulness brings joy into your life, makes your family happy, gives tribute to your friends, and puts your soul in line with what God expects of you.

Interesting how much thought can be provoked in the process of washing out a pot, how much mortality can be found in a reflection.