Hot soup for a cool evening . . .

 When people find out we are going gluten-free, they feel sorry for us because 'what in the world will we be able to eat! As you can see from the picture, good food is not a problem in my kitchen. The only change in my usual preparation is using rice noodles instead of wheat pasta. And, much to our delight, we have discovered we prefer the rice noodles.

We have always enjoyed browsing and shopping at the Asian market but now especially like checking out the rice and noodle aisle. Not only are there many substitutes for wheat products, we are finding a lot of interesting ways to reinvent old favorites. Just shows you that change can be acceptable and tasty.

Funny but all too true in the world today . . .

A Harley Biker is riding by the zoo in Washington, DC when
he sees a little girl leaning into the lion's cage. Suddenly, the lion grabs her
by the collar of her jacket and tries to pull her inside to slaughter her, under
the eyes of her screaming parents. The biker jumps off his Harley, runs to the
cage and hits the lion square on the nose with a powerful punch.

Whimpering from the pain the lion jumps back letting go of the girl, and the biker brings
her to her terrified parents, who thank him endlessly. A reporter has watched
the whole event.

The reporter addressing the Harley rider says, 'Sir, this was the most gallant and brave thing I've seen a man do in my whole life.'

The Harley rider replies, 'Why, it was nothing, really, the lion was behind bars. I just saw this little kid in danger and acted as I felt right.'

The reporter says, 'Well, I'll make sure this won't go unnoticed. I'm a journalist, you know, and tomorrow's paper will have this story on the front page... So, what do you do for a living and what
political affiliation do you have?'

The biker replies, I'm a U.S. Marine and a Republican.

The journalist leaves.

The following morning the biker buys the paper to see if it indeed brings news of
his actions, and reads, on the front page:

U.S. MARINE ASSAULTS AFRICAN IMMIGRANT AND STEALS HIS
LUNCH
....
and THAT pretty much sums up the media's approach to the news these
days ....

Formula for Sainthood . . .

“Make up your mind to become a saint.”
  ~St. Mary Mazarello

Freedom of Religion . . . except for Catholics?

The First Amendment guarantees Freedom of Religion in the United States. During it's formative years, various factions of faiths have had their problems in discrimination over personal beliefs. The First Amendment was included to safeguard our individuality while joining us all together as Americans. Many of the earlier problems with  religion occurred in the 'olden days' so who would expect a modern day attack on any particular faith or religion? It is also interesting to note that Freedom of Religion was first on the list.

If you have been following the news, the obama administration decided the time had come to decide the observation of faith for Catholics when he legislated that everyone would have to provide abortion/contraceptive coverage regardless of conscience and religion. He has basically ruled that the government will decide how conscience should be used rather than allowing faith-based decisions to be made in accordance to any particular laws of the individual churches.

Yes, there have been some mealy mouthed 'exemptions' in the president's first dictates but many Christian businesses are still being forced to comply and the courts are not always upholding their First Amendment rights. One fast food chain dared to say they believed in the sanctity of marriage and look what happened. Their Freedom of Speech was questioned and their Freedom of Religion was jeopardized.

The United States has always been a melting pot of different ethnicity, religions, life styles. Today, the conservative factions are disrespected for having an opposing view and publicly insulted. The liberal view is portrayed as the kindly one even while infringing on other people's amendment rights . . . with government approval.

In China, they have a government-run church. Yes, you can attend Mass or whatever makes up our Sunday worship but it is under the thumb of the government. At one time, I shuddered over how any country could do this to their people. Over the last four years, I've seen the erosion of many rights slowly taking shape. Catholics will soon be fined for following their conscience. With all this happening before their eyes, I have a hard time listening to Catholics of the 50% who voted this possibility into our lives talk about everything except what their vote has brought into the open.

Lawyers and Felons - not a good match!

Why Convicted Felon 's Don't / Won't Have to Register Their Firearms U.S. Supreme Court’s 1968 Haynes v. U.S. decision: Haynes, a convicted felon, was convicted of unlawful possession of an unregistered short-barreled shotgun. He argued that for a convicted felon to register a gun was effectively an announcement to the government that he was breaking the law and that registration violated his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination. The court, by an 8 – 1 margin, agreed, concluding: “We hold that a proper claim of the constitutional privilege against self-incrimination provides a full defense to prosecutions either for failure to register a firearm…or for possession of an unregistered firearm.” (Summary from American Rifleman, March 2000, page 20) So, when these gun registration schemes are announced, be aware that only lawful gun-owners are required to register their firearms. Unlawful owners are exempted from registration laws due to their constitutional protection against self-incrimination. Amazing but true… http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/390/85/

A forgotten recipe revisited . . .

 Since my son's class was cancelled, I had a morning to myself and spent it sewing. Along comes dinner time. I figure that to 'make up' for all the 'play time' I had enjoyed, I'd make a batch of something for a surprise dessert. I browsed through my gluten-free cookie recipe book and all the ones that sounded good, took too much time away from the main event - dinner!

Suddenly, I see a mention of Pizzelles! I page over to the recipe and it is easy and won't take up the oven as I remembered that we had a Pizzelle making in the depths of my cupboards. It has been years since I had even thought about making them as they are a family favorite. The batter goes together easily. The Pizzelle maker behaves and fresh Pizzelles are soon coming forth. The children were surprised, happy, and amazed that I had managed to produce a favorite without the use of wheat flour.

Such a Simple Solution . . .

I was listening to the radio this morning and was amused by the talk show hosts' conversation. They were bemoaning the fact that people pay more attention to race than experience when voting in politicians. One said that everyone is so anxious to have the first Jewish president or whatever, the first Hispanic one, and so forth. At that point, one of the radio hosts piped in with, "Perhaps, we should vote for the first competent one!"

Seems so simple yet it is not so much who gains a public office but the mind set of the voters that put him/her into that office. We have a lot of information compromised voters.

Today, another radio show was taking callers to say why they thought Hillary Clinton was or was not a great Secretary of State. One woman called and said, "Hillary Clinton is a wonderful Secretary of State and just think, she is the first female Secretary of State . . . Seems a few American History lessons are called for here!