Recipe for Friendship . . .

Recipe for Friendship
Two cups of understanding
A tablespoon of wit,
A dash of real compassion,
A pinch or two of grit,
A jigger ful of loyalty
On which you can depend.
Mix them all together
And you will have a friend.

A Cat is not a Lizard . . .

 

Our resident kitten, Marcela, is desperate to make friends with our dog, Chick. Chick is also anxious to give the cat a good snuffle to smell what this little critter is all about. Chick, however, is viewing the cat as another form of lizard. Chick's favorite hobby is catching lizards. Now, the dog is not trying to kill the lizards. She just wants someone to play with and lizards are funny, moving items that seem like they would be great fun to share some time with on a lazy, hot day. Chick is a dog and doesn't take into consideration her strength and weight vs. the tiny lizard and they either run away or die in the effort to escape Chick's overpowering low.

We have held on to Chick in order to let her get a sniff of Marcela. The cat isn't the least bit afraid but we know Chick and unless Marcela grows into the size of a mountain lion, she could well suffer the fate of a lizard. Meanwhile, they have a love fest of mutual admiration through the sliding glass door.

What's "good" for the Republican, isn't required of the Democrat . . .

The Democrats are after the Repulican presidential candidate to present his tax returns for more than the one year he has already provided. Interesting request because if there was something amiss in the returns, it would have come to light when he was vetted for possibly being the running mate for McCain in the 2008 election.

Yet, in spite of all the requests being made of the Republicans, there are still a number of items the country as a whole would like to know from the Democrats and they are not being very forthcoming and, as usual, the media is of no help.

Fast and Furious documents. Obama used executive privilege to save AG Eric Holder's behind.

Health reform negotiations. Obama made back-room deals worth millions with lobbyists and legislators.

FOIA requests. Obama is "the worst" at complying with Freedom of Information Act requests.

Real White House guest list. Many visits are secret. Met with lobbyists off-site.

Rashid Khalidi tape. Obama attended a 2003 party for Rashid Khalidi in which a lot of anti-Israel rhetoric was featured. Nobody is releasing the tape. LA Times story.

Small dollar donors. Obama refused to release names of contributors who donated less than $200 even though he's accused of receiving illegal foreign contributions. McCain did this in 2008, why couldn't Obama?

Medical records. John McCain released thousands of pages of medical records. All Obama released was a one-page doctor's note even though he has a history of drug abuse and smoking.

Book proposal. Obama's literary agent said he was "born in Kenya". Why hasn't anybody released the original book proposal.

Academic transcripts. Can Obama prove his merit?

State senate papers. Obama never produced any papers from his eight years as a state senator. He says "they could have been thrown out."

Read more at http://www.reagancoalition.com/articles/2012/20120719001-obamacare-top-ten.html#WEZI8sd09TUscYJz.99

Coffee Slush

Summer and in most parts of the world the sunshine is beating down and heating us up more than might be comfortable. A cool breeze and a cold drink goes a long way in making life bearable.

Coffee Slush
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup milk
3/4 cup brewed coffee, cold
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Combine the sugar and milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly until sugar is liquified into the milk. Let stand until it has cooled down. Add the coffee, vanilla, and 1/2 cup of the heavy cream to the cooled mix mixtures and combine. Pour into a pan and freeze just until it is slushy - about 1 1/2 hours depending on your freezer.

Beat the remaining one cup of whipping cream until stiff peaks form. Don't overbeat until you want butter!

To serve: Fill short glasses about 3/4th full with the slush and top with whipped cream. Some ground chocolate and a cherry won't go amiss in presentation.

Knowledge . . . slowly but surely . . .

Gradualness, gradualness, and gradualness. From the very beginning of your work, school yourself to severe gradualness in the accumulation of knowledge.

- Ivan Pavlov

Banning guns won't resolve the problem . . .

The liberal faction loses no opportunity to opt for gun control and the recent shooting in Colorado is no exception. Their feeling is that it wouldn't have happened if we had gun laws that kept weapons out of the hands of ordinary citizens. That does go against our rights but this hasn't stopped the current administration on other scores so I imagine we may face arbitrary bans on our rights to bear arms in the future. The problem with restricting weapons is that it is the intelligent, law-abiding citizen who loses protection. Anyone who wants a gun with eyes on destruction and killing, will find a way to get a gun. Meanwhile, the citizens are at the mercy of the murderers and the government.

Recently, a 71-year old man in Florida saved the people in a  restaurant because he had a gun and took on the gun waving intruders. This got press on only one major station. The guy was a hero yet the fact that he had to use a gun was the source of the contention. If you research the countries that have strong gun control laws, you may find that it hasn't reduced crime.

The argument, however, is that suppressing gun ownership will prevent massive attacks as happened in Colorado. Anyone remember the Oklahoma bombings? No guns involved there! The killers used ordinary items that anyone can obtain.  The death toll in Okalahoma was 168 with 680 wounded. The Unibomber was into homemade bombs, no guns in the mix.

I remember a mom telling us that even though she never allowed play guns into her home, her boys always managed to play cops and robbers with the traditional 'hand gun' - index finger extended to represent the barrel of the 'weapon' and lots of shooting noises. Banning play guns didn't work.

It is interesting to wonder how this will all eventually play out. Okay, guns are banned so people use homemade bombs. Simple household cleaners, etc., are banned to prevent bombmaking so bad guys used hunting knives. Great, now no more hunting knives without a strict license. No problem, kitchen knives will do the job just fine. Well, we will have to have ground meat and everything presliced to eliminate this problem. Evil hearts go for the screwdriver and hammer as the weapon of choice. Now, we have to make it mandatory that any household repairs will have to employ professionals who have been trained in the handling of screwdrivers, etc.

My husband once read about some Pacific island that was going through some turmoil so the little government banned guns. Even out in the middle of the vast expanse of ocean, guns got on the island. Perhaps, it is time to look to the individuals and not make mass decisions based on the acts of a few.

Naturally, our hearts go out to the recent victims. No one person in civilized times needed the weaspons this guy employed. Restricting war-like weapons is a good idea. Taking away a person's right to carry a regular type one is not. A lot of people were probably saved by the 71 year old guy who had a gun in that restaurant.

Success often comes after failure . . . and not giving up!

Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.

Winston Churchill