Intermission

Dear Gentle Reader,
Thank you for clicking onto my blog site. It was after reading my niece Lori’s blog that I decided to start one of my own last November. It sounded like an interesting project, and I’ve enjoyed it.

But—surprise! Writing a blog is time-consuming! It’s easy enough to type out a page of thoughts, but then I need to proofread and upload the essay (if that isn’t stretching the meaning of that word) to the Internet. The site requires that some reformatting be done and the post needs to be saved and re-opened. Finally, one looks at a preliminary version of the post to make last- minute changes and save again and open again.. What seems like it should take only half an hour often runs into two hours.

I’ll tell this much: the experience has given me considerable respect for bloggers who do it for a living on a daily basis!

But as for me, I’ve decided that my time might be better spent reading a good book. If a person write a blog five or six times a week, and you multiply that by two hours each day, that runs into 10 to 12 hours. You could make quite a dent in a book during that time.

As a bibliophile and former librarian, I’ve decided to opt for reading. Yes, I read a lot on the Internet, but I’m going to return to books. Reading a great book is one of life’s more satisfying activities. I recommend it to you, too. Books have content, something you can "get your teeth into." Some of them, anyway.
And in concluding, I must make a plug for the best book, one that I consult on a daily basis: The Bible. Whether you read it for wisdom or inspiration, for adventure or history, it will surely enrich your life.

Maybe in a few weeks or months, I'll decide to resume the blog. Until then, peace!

Grandma Patty

Power Corrupts, and Absolute Power...etc.

Dear Gentle Reader,
Today Enron’s Ken Delay and Jeff Skilling began their trial in Texas. Enron cheated Californians out of millions of dollars by dishonest practices.

Although Enron has become the poster child of corporate corruption, it’s far from the only company who uses its power and money to evade the law—way too many corporate and governmental leaders seem to have abandoned the honesty as an important virtue.

1. Question: What is the supreme international crime, according to the lead prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials (and then Supreme Court, Justice Robert Jackson)?
Answer: A war of aggression. (That is, a pre-emptive war such as the U.S. has carried on in Iraq.)

2. Question: Why did the prosecutor in lobbyist Jack Abramhoff’s case?
Answer: Because he was just nominated to be a Federal Judge by President Bush. The president also has refused to release any of 12 photos taken with Abramoff, who arranged for thousands of dollars to the president’s campaign.)

3. Question: Who said: This whole thing about not kicking someone when they're down -- you kick him until he passes out, then beat him over the head with a baseball bat, then roll him up in an old rug and throw him off a cliff and pound the surf below"?
Answer: Michael Scanlon, who worked for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and pled guilty to charges of corruption. His testimony will be used in DeLay’s trial on campaign financing corruption.

4. Question: Thirty large American companies make up the Dow Jones Industrial Index. How many of those companies have been convicted of crimes?
Answer: Nine. (Nearly 1/3 of them).

5. Question: What exception does the law prohibiting domestic spying by the executive department provide for cases of war (such as the war against terrorism)?
Answer: None.

Pro 14:34 Uprightness and right standing with God (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation) elevate a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. (Amplified Version)

Misinformation

Dear Gentle Reader, Have you ever hear someone on the car radio make an assertion that is so outlandishly inaccurate that you want to pull off to the side of the road and make a call with your cell phone?

Today I was driving along, listening to a call-in program on a local station that is an outlet for Progressive Radio. The host seemed to be knowledgeable about the situation in the Middle East until someone called in and rattled his cage about the recent victory of Hamas in the Palestinian elections.

The host MUST have been shaken because I heard him say, "Well, our invasion of Afghanistan was justified because they attacked us first on 9-11."

WHAT? As far as I have read, there was not one Afghan on any of the airplanes involved in the 9-11 attacks. Furthermore, numerous archived sources show that the U.S. had made plans to invade Afghanistan months before 9-11. Below is the BBC (British Broadcasting Company) headline and link:
BBC - American government told other governments about Afghan invasion IN JULY 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1550000/1550366.stmsouth_asia/newsid_1550000/1550366.stm

Story: US 'planned attack on Taleban'
The wider objective was to oust the Taleban By the BBC's George Arney A former Pakistani diplomat has told the BBC that the US was planning military action against Osama Bin Laden and the Taleban even before last week's attacks. Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was told by senior American officials in mid-July that military action against Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October. Mr Naik said US officials told him of the plan at a UN-sponsored international contact group on Afghanistan which took place in Berlin. Mr Naik told the BBC that at the meeting the US representatives told him that unless Bin Laden was handed over swiftly America would take military action to kill or capture both Bin Laden and the Taleban leader, Mullah Omar. The wider objective, according to Mr Naik, would be to topple the Taleban regime and install a transitional government . . .

Another account of this information having been conveyed by the U.S. government to India (one month earlier) is at this link:
India Reacts - American government told other governments about Afghan invasion IN JUNE 2001. http://www.indiareacts.com/archivefeatures/nat2.asp?recno=10∓ctg=policynat2.asp?recno=10∓ctg=policy

I’ve read that many Americans still believe that Iraq had something to do with 9-11, although no Iraqis were involved either. Somehow, the newspapers and television reports have failed to communicate to their audiences that neither Iraq nor Afghanistan was responsible for the 9-11 attacks.

But I would expect a "progressive" talk show host to be better informed.

Encounters

Dear Gentle Reader,
A special pleasure of walking around Sail Bay is the opportunity to meet people of varied ages, nationalities, sizes, and garb. Today I had two such encounters.

After walking toward the library, I was returning home via the bay walk when a city parks vehicle approached me, driving on the sand. I was in a happy mood, having just had a conversation with two neighbors whom I hadn’t seen in a long while. So after the vehicle drew to a stop near me, I said to the driver (his windows were open), "Hello, sir! Is there any way that I can help you today?"

A young man bounced out of the pickup and greeted me. He was in a happy mood, too. (It’s easier to be happy when you’re on the beach, perhaps.) "I’ve been around here for ten years, and now I have the best job in the world!" he announced. I agreed that he was certainly blessed to have such a job on a beautiful day.

"Do you live near here?" he asked me. I pointed across the bay. "One of those condo buildings over there." His expression said, "Wow, so close to the water!"

"It’s from God," I acknowledged. "It was truly a gift to be able to live here."

"That’s my situation, too," he responded enthusiastically, pointing to the sky to indicate his gratitude to God. "That’s the only reason I have this job. Oh, I work hard. I’m responsible for this whole beach over to the Ingraham Bridge, as well as the park. But it’s like taking care of my own back yard," he explained, striding into a plot of iceplant and retrieving a food wrapper someone had tossed there.

"I grew up around here, and my grandparents ran that Subway store over there on Mission Bay Drive."

I nodded, familiar with the location he mentioned. Then I observed, "You’ve found your function, your calling, and that’s why you’re so happy."

"Absolutely. I try to keep all the flowers growing so it will be pretty around here. I need to turn on the sprinkling system and give these plants a little shower. See you again!"

I continued toward home and within a couple blocks, I noticed a beautiful, lilting song floating up toward the boardwalk (which is not really "board" but cement.) A young woman was walking along the sand, close to the edge of the water. Intrigued by her song, which I didn’t recognize, I started angling toward her to see if she was singing to the Lord.

Drawing closer to her, she turned and gave me a smile. Then I saw the headphones and realized that she’d been singing along with recorded music. I complimented her on her beautiful singing. "Oh, I sing with several San Diego choruses," she said. "And that’s my hope, that when I sing outdoors, people passing by will enjoy it."

I wondered aloud if singing was her function, her gift, that brought happiness to herself as well as others. "Oh yes," she agreed, beaming. "When you find your function, it’s bliss!"

"Well, my function is to encourage people to recognize God and worship Him," I told her, wondering what her reaction might be.

She waved her arm to indicate all the beauty of our location. "Who wouldn’t see His creative hand and be grateful for all this?" she asked. We visited a few moments longer and then I headed back up to the sidewalk. "Good-bye, dear," she called as I walked away. We’d connected in a way we both appreciated.

A pencil’s function is to write. A bird’s function is to sing. Doing what we were created to do is such a joy. Have you found your function? Gratitude is a good place to start.

Remembering Grandparents' Days

Dear Gentle Reader,
My husband asked me today, "What do you suppose our grandparents did for entertainment during the evenings when they were in their fifties?"

I speculated, "Probably my grandmother did handwork like crocheting or embroidering and my grandfather smoked his pipe."

He said, "I remember my grandparents listening to the radio a lot when I was a kid, but the radio wasn’t in common use until the 1920s. And what did they do before they had electricity?"

So we talked about different amusements that were available during those years. There were bowling alleys back then, because my grandfather worked at one. And there were secret societies like the Masons and Oddfellows. They probably attended church activities. I told him that women were likely to be happy just to sit down in the evenings after busy days of laundering and hanging clothes out to dry (certainly, no dryers in those days); ironing (with a non-electric iron); beating rugs, making butter by hand (my mother did that, in fact); caring for chickens (my mother would chop off the chicken’s head in our backyard); preparing meals on a cook-stove, and so many other activities for which there were no labor-saving devices.

We compared their options to ours: over 100 channels on the television so one can watch dramas, talk-shows, sports, etc; view movies and educational programs on DVDs, listen music on CDs, on-line computing, books on CD or tape; read newspapers or any of hundreds of magazines; read newspapers on-line from cities across the globe. The list goes on and on. We actually don’t have time to do everything that’s fun/interesting!

Tonight I was burning CDs for him while I was dubbing tapes for me, and also printing out music that I’d written on composer software. I received a phone call while I was on-line, and a close friend who is on a cruise to Hawaii gave me an update on her daughter who will be having back surgery next week. I use "Callwave" that allows me to hear phone messages while being on-line. Aren't there so many technological advances! I also printed out labels for packing books and other media that I will mail tomorrow to friends and relatives. Yes, I’d ordered the books on the computer.

Our lives have changed a lot since I was in high school and first used a dial telephone while visiting my sister at the university in Iowa City. That was the first time I’d used an elevator that didn’t require an elevator operator as they did in department stores in Omaha.

What will another fifty years bring? It boggles the mind!

Taxes and Peanut Butter Cookies

Dear Gentle Reader,
The shadow of the IRS has begun its annual invasion of our home. Tax preparation is truly one of my least favorite responsibilities. How about you?

I don’t mind (too much) going through the slips of paper enumerating deductions and income, or tallying everything up, or plugging in the numbers so the tax accountant can arrive at a figure.

But what drives me up the wall is misplacing one of those crucial slips of paper. "I had it a minute ago. It was right here! What in the world could have become of it?"

Eventually the errant piece of paper turns up—maybe in the wrong file folder, or under another piece of paper… I’m sure you’ve been there and done that, too. So stressful. This year Dick has been really supportive and helpful in starting out on this tax project. For example, this morning we found an inconsistency in a bank’s figures, so he volunteered to go to the bank tomorrow and get to the bottom of it.

Now, on a happier note, I’m going to divulge to you my recipe for scrumptious peanut butter cookies! As a child, I was sometimes taken to the home of an elderly (60s?) cousin when my parents went out of town. This dear woman, named Etta, would serve peanut butter cookies that melted in my mouth. For years and years I tried without success to duplicate them. It’s too bad that my boys are grown and none of our grandchildren live nearby, for I truly think that this recipe produces cookies as good as Etta made!

Ingredients
1 cup chunky peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup flour (on the generous side)
1 teaspoon baking soda

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix peanut butter, sugar, egg and salt together. Measure flour and add the baking soda to the flour. Then combine the flour mixture with the peanut butter mixture. Roll the dough into balls the size of a walnut and place on an ungreased baking sheet. You can use a fork to press down each ball (or make a crisscross pattern if desired.)
Bake cookies for 12-14 minutes.

Peanut butter effectively lowers cholesterol, I understand. A friend of mine had very high cholesterol, which she attributed to the fact that she’d stopped eating peanut butter. When she began eating a teaspoon daily, her cholesterol dropped back to normal levels. Probably plain peanut butter is healthier, but the cookies are more enjoyable.

Let me know if you try the recipe.

Startling Statistics

Dear Gentle Reader,
Today I read some astonishing figures from the February issue of Harper’s Magazine. Here are some of the more provocative statistics. with their references.

(1) Percentage of Americans who say that fighting terrorism should be one of the nation’s top two priorities: 6.

(2) Number of people whom Coalition forces hav eimprisoned in Iraq at some point since March 2003: 48,526

(3) Percentage of those who have been convicted of a crime: 1.5

(4) Percentage change since 1999 in federal prosecutions of white-collar crime: -25

(5) Estimated amount the U.S. would save each year on paperwork if it adopted single-payer health care: $161 billion

(6) Estimated amount spent in the U.S. each year to treat ACL injuries in dogs: $1 billion 320 million.
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Footnotes

(1) Harris Interactive (Rochester, NY)
(2) Detainee Operations, Multinational Force—Iraq (Baghdad)
(3) Detainee Operations, Multinational Force—Iraq (Baghdad)
(4) Transactional Records Clearinghouse (Syracuse, NY)
(5) Hewitt Associates LLC (Lincolnshire, IL)
(6) Vicki L. Wilke, Iowa State University (Ames)

You can draw your own conclusions about whether our government is responsive to its constituents.