Category: In The News

The best take I’ve read on a tough issue

From Seth Wood on Facebook- best take on this issue I’ve read- Amen, Seth.

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Oh man. Here we go…

I need to talk to my conservative/Christian friends and family for a minute. About abortion.

First: if you hold the personal belief or conviction that abortion is wrong, is a sin, is against God’s will… That is absolutely okay, and understandable. There are so many reasons to feel this way, not just from a theological/religious standpoint, but from personal experiences, hopes, desires, etc. Your belief about where you stand on the moral/ethical merits of abortion are yours to have, to cherish, to speak about, to share. They are your human rights and your constitutional rights in our country.

Second: America is not a Christian nation. It is not a nation for Christians. It is a nation for all. I know this can be genuinely hard to accept. I grew up in the church too. We are sold this idea of a Christian nation, one nation under God. That was never what we had. What we have is a nation founded on the idea of liberty and equality, with the men drafting the documents having the amazing foresight to make the language broader than their own beliefs about equality (which many of them felt only applied to white landowning men). Thank God! What they gave us was so much greater than their own biases. They gave us room to grow in our understanding of equality and freedom and mutual cooperation. And so all faiths are welcome here. And that is beautiful.

Third: Knowing and hopefully accepting that, we can recognize that there are large portions of our fellow Americans who are not Christian. Imagine a Jewish senator putting forth a bill that would require every male -infant, child, and adult – to be circumcised. Or a Muslim governor signing a bill into law that states all citizens must pray five times a day on their prayer mats. You would be very understandably (and as far as the constitution goes, rightly) upset over someone trying to legislate their beliefs onto your lives and bodies…

Four: Your politicians are using you. They are using your deeply held spiritual and emotional beliefs about abortion to justify racial, gender, and class inequality. The men pushing these laws are concerned with power, not with the unborn. There are documented cases of GOP “pro-life” politicians who are pushing legislation like this with one hand and with the other hand are encouraging their secret girlfriends to terminate their very secret and unwanted pregnancies. For you, this issue is about speaking up for what you believe. For many many of the politicians, it is about feeding their own personal agendas and increasing their power. YOU GIVE THEM THAT POWER. And they are grossly abusing it, not to the glory of God. Please stop letting them use you to control people.

Five: this is pretty core, and I’m not sure how to say it, so forgive me my ineloquence here. If you want to see a world without abortion, you need to work to create a world that doesnt need abortion. That world cannot be legislated into being. That was never the job of the church anyway – to legislate their way to the kingdom of god? Ugh. You may want to see a world that didn’t drink alcohol – how did prohibition work out? No more drunks? No. You cannot legislate morality. You can work toward it though. I love that you love the unborn. I love that you have a heart that feels that. Please have a heart for those who are already born as well. Please be truly pro-life, and take care of women instead of criminalizing them. A world that didn’t need abortions would be one where birth control was extremely affordable and available, where young people everywhere were well educated about sex. It would look like accepting that abstinence is not the only choice that young people are going to make – “I believe sex is supposed to be saved till marriage, however, if you choose to have sex before marriage, as many of you will, there are things that are very important for you to know” is a totally acceptable way to talk about your beliefs AND the facts of life with your kids.

You are NEVER going to get close to having a world where people dont have sex unless they are married. TRUST ME. That will never happen. You absolutely can work toward a realistic world where we take care of people, where we help and educate and love people in a way where the number of unwanted pregnancies declines drastically. Do you want a world where people arent allowed to get abortions? Or do you want a world where people dont need to get abortions, where it’s not even a question or an issue that they have to face, because they have been equipped with the tools to navigate sex and relationships and personal choices with maturity and safety and love? And look, I havent even brought up the very very troubling issue of rape, incest, abuse. And real quick on that: you CANNOT make descisions like that for another person. YOU CANNOT DO THAT. A person who has been abused needs to have our support, our ear, our compassion, and if they need assistance or advice or comfort or a friend then we can be that. What we can’t do is make a life altering decision for them after they have already experienced a traumatic life altering assault. We shouldn’t be making those descisions for anyone (just like we shouldnt have the legal ability to tell anyone else whether or not to drink, or to pray, or to get circumcised).

There’s so much more. So much. And it all needs to be said – not just said but talked about. But here’s what I want to end this with: WE NEED YOU. We need each other. We have become so divided from each other, and so much of that is because we rely on our intermediaries: the media, the politicians, the social media algorithms. But we are never going to go anywhere unless we come together to figure this out. No matter what you believe this issue really is (a woman’s issue, a moral issue), it is not JUST that. Left and Right. It is multifaceted, it is personal, and there are real people on both sides. And so I am saying to you my conservative christian pro-life friends: we need you. We need you to stop letting your politicians use you. We need you to BE THE BODY OF CHRIST to people. Not because we believe what you believe, but because we could use some very Christ-like people right now. Who challenge the powerful and who love people, not judge them, not further abuse them, not investigate them after they have miscarried a pregnancy.

We are never all going to believe the same things. But we do not have to be enemies, we do not have be opposed. I get that this sounds crazy, but we need to work together to build that world where people are loved and safe, where humans have freedom to make choices, and we have equiped them out of love and with love. Please work with us to make that world where women are not put in a position to need an abortion. Our women are amazing and powerful and inspiring, and if we could make a world where they are not always having to fight to be heard or respected or taken seriously, then I think we would all be blown away by what they could accomplish for the world.

Thanks for reading this. It was written out of respect and love and with an open heart. If you are reading this, it is because I love you. Thanks.

Well, holy hell

If you’re a GOT fan but haven’t watched last night’s episode, the second to the last of the series – (I’m crying here!!) then look away unless you’re into spoilers.

I was going to write about it, but the following is posted on CNN today, and it’s utterly hilarious and spot on.. … read on.

If someone asks you about what happened this week on that little dragon show you watch,  you are more than allowed to just scream at full volume for an hour and 20 minutes. Because that’s what this episode was. Just one, long 80-minute “AAAAHHH!!!”

Jon Snow went from outsider to king. Is the Iron Throne next?

Things start off quietly enough.  Without Missandei to braid her hair or apply her undereye concealer, Daenarys is leaning into the “foreshadowing fiery genocide” aesthetic while moping around Dragonstone. She’s mad at Jon, mad at Tyrion and especially mad at Varys for going around blabbing about Jon’s true lineage. It appears the “Master of Whispers” has become the “Master of Discussing Deadly Secrets at Full Volume,” and before you can even get emotionally prepared for this week’s carnage, everyone’s standing on the beach looking stoic and Dany is sentencing Varys to death and Drogon is bearing his 3,000 teeth and wow, we’re off to the races.
One major character death down, a shocking amount left to go.
Tyrion, full of doubt and fear and definitely not used to either, finds Jaime who has been captured and imprisoned at Dragonstone. The two brothers share a good hug and Tyrion outlines a plan for Jaime to escape with Cersei and start life anew in Essos, where ostensibly they are more forgiving of murderous incest.

But first, it’s time for war. The mood is tense in Kings Landing, where throngs of common folk are being herded inside the Red Keep, and the Golden Fleet and the Iron Company are assuming their positions as unwitting dragon appetizers. If Dany’s general haggard appearance wasn’t foreshadowing enough, we get lots of good, salt-of-the-earth shots of the innocent citizens of Kings Landing with their doe-eyed children in tow. By the laws of television, you only get affectionate close-ups of the unwashed if something really, really terrible is about to happen to them.

How to speak like a true Targaryen from 'Game of Thrones'

It’s a laughably easy win for Daenerys and company. Even Cersei sees it, perched atop the Red Keep with a concerned Qyburn. Side note: Ol’ Cers must be about 500 months pregnant now, so why does she have the belly of someone who had, like, five bites of a burrito for lunch?
Anyway, she’s hemmed in and she knows it. As the city’s fortifications burn to ash and enemy forces close in, the bells of surrender begin to sound. A single tear rolls down Cersei’s proud face. Drogon and Daenerys let up, the Unsullied and the Lannister forces exchange a hearty round of handshakes and the two sides proceed with a peaceful transfer of power.
Just kidding! Dany goes full-on Mad Queen and burns the living hell out of EVERYTHING. Innocent children? You get a Dracarys! Entire city blocks? You get a Dracarys! Everyone gets a Dracarys! Jon and Tyrion’s faces say it all. This is definitely not how it was supposed to go. Daenerys Targaryen has gone rogue.

However, don’t think that just because thousands of people are being burned alive and King’s Landing is literally crumbling to the ground that there isn’t time to have a slapfight about who gets to be Cersei’s boyfriend. Somehow, among everything going on, Euron, the drunk cockroach of Westeros, finds Jaime and they have an extremely athletic tussle on the banks of Blackwater Bay. It’s not all bad though: Jaime kills Euron, which we can agree is a personal favor to us all.
Oh, right! By the way, Arya and the Hound must have ditched their horses for high speed rail, because they’re also here in Kings Landing. The Hound urges Arya to get out while she can, and they part with as much tenderness as two soft murder beings can muster. There’s nothing like apocalyptic dragon fire to make a girl forget all about her kill list, and before long Arya is running terrified through the streets like everyone else.

Meanwhile, The Hound has revenge on his mind. He runs into Cersei, Qyburn and The Mountain as they’re fleeing the Red Keep, and after The Mountain ragdolls Qyburn into the afterlife, CLEGANEBOWL IS ON. (Again, gentle reminder: Everything is burning! Is now the best time to be settling personal scores?)
Actually, the answer is yes. The Hound finally unmasks The Mountain, revealing a swole moldy Darth Vader where his brother used to be. They fight. It’s glorious and gory. Goryious? Apparently, The Mountain is impervious to literally everything, up to and including daggers through the brain, so The Hound does the only thing left he can do: Trucks him through a crumbling wall and off the side of the Red Keep to a fiery, mutual death.
(By the way, people are still burning.)
Jaime and Cersei finally find each other, and if they weren’t both deeply horrible people who have committed unspeakable sins and backtracked on seasons worth of character development, their reunion would almost be sweet. You would almost, for one second, be forgiven for hoping they could escape and be weird with each other in Pentos for the rest of their days. But you only get one second! Remember Brienne! And Missandei! And Margaery and everyone else who has ever suffered and died at these people’s three collective hands! Jaime and Cersei deserve the poetic, meaningful deaths that are inevitably coming their way!
Hmm? What’s that? Oh, they get crushed under some rubble while trying to escape? Two of the main antagonists, who have driven the show’s id since the very first episode of the very first season, just kinda get squished?
That’s disappointing. Alexa, play “The Rains of Castamere.”

Eventually, Daenerys lets up on her scorched earth campaign, leaving a horrified Jon to deal with what has become of his queen. With a million questions hanging in the air, we close with Arya escaping on a white horse that just happens to be prancing around the charred bodies of Kings Landing. Where is she going? Hopefully to Storm’s End, because a girl deserves to relax with a blacksmith lord and forget about this smoldering mess. Yeah, Valar Morghulis and everything but… come on.

Burning questions

If we’re supposed to buy Dany turning Mad Queen after seasons of building her up as a hero and a revolutionary, why did she get about 3.5 seconds of screen time once she started burning everything down?
Bran was pretty insistent that Jaime had something important to do when he came to Winterfell, but other than breaking Brienne’s heart and going out like roadkill that… didn’t seem to manifest?
Was the wildfire interspersed throughout the inferno significant?
Why was no one wearing HELMETS?!
What is Jon going to do now that his aunt queen is completely off the rails?
How much self control will it take Sansa to not laugh in Jon’s face and say “I told you so?”
Has anyone outside of the North or Kings Landing been affected by anything that’s happened this season or are they just browning their butter and tossing back ale as usual?
Speaking of, is Hot Pie okay? He wasn’t in this episode but just, in general. Can we get a welfare check?

Drinking the Koolaid

I haven’t written much about this subject lately, for several reasons, but most importantly for my own sanity.   I don’t find joy in expressing opinions that will offend or criticize other people. In fact my greatest wish for all mankind is for we humans  to come together  to exist peacably in our daily, brief existence on this planet in a way that at the very least protects the health of our  irreplaceable world, the one  which we are trashing daily and at feverish rate.   I pray we will wake up and  recognize that working together is the only way to a fair economy, a balanced society, the only way we  can avoid eventually killing ourselves off.   Is there anyone out there who actually doesn’t want this?

What would it entail?  Oh, so very many things, but none of it impossible.  First up-  we need to stop electing officials who continue to divide us, who are bought by big business that continues to trash our environment and our economy in favor of the wealth of the elite few who protect their own interests at the expense of all else, who continue to encourage economic divide and  remove the safeguards that protect this one earth, the animals we raise for food  and the wild ones who all play a part in the health of our ecological system.

I now realize I have been a bit naive – For a while it felt like we were becoming enlightened to the ills – more tolerant and respectful of our differences, regulations were put in place to protect our environment and animal welfare, people were taking notice and proceeding accordingly.  I thought prejudice and racism were fading fast, acceptance and realization of our equality more the norm.  While politics and human nature have always had their ugly side, I still felt the majority of people for the most part wanted whats good for all, whether we agreed on what that meant or how it could be implemented.

Politicians come and go, and all are human, none without flaws.  Now, however, .. we have a huge problem we may never recover from  – a liar in the oval office who has never, ever shown concern for anyone or anything but himself and his giant ego…. and the even bigger issue – the  minions who suddenly condone or ignore what he’s actually made of and continue to support what should never have been supported in the first place.    DT has  certainly never been a religious man, and yet now because it feeds his “base” he spins it in and it’s celebrated.  How does supporting him work for someone who believes themselves to be a Christian?    He continuously encourages divide, childishly insults anyone who doesn’t bow to his whims and praise him, his lies since taking office have reached past the 10,000 mark.  He refuses to reveal his taxes, his financial records, he’s been a horrible business man in many cases, an awful husband to three women, cheating on all of them,  and a poor example of a father in my book.  He is BFF’s with foreign hostile powers, the man who is responsible for trying and succeeding in fucking with  our democracy,  a goal that has been his for a long time.   He calls that man to discuss our business, can you imagine.  What a fool he must take us all to be.

I doubt a DT supporter is still reading this – it has to be hard, internally, even if you don’t let it show externally, to support and defend a monster such as he if you’re truly a decent person.  I’m no longer interested in  the excuses –  “we needed change, he is doing something the other politicians weren’t, he’s getting stuff done”.   We can’t afford the price we’re paying for his leadership – one clear example – Racism and prejudice is alive and thriving – they’ve got more wind in their sails,  having found new solid ground, a stronger voice, they praise DT because they see him as “one of them” due to his own lunatic, hateful rhetoric.

It can’t be denied if we’re being honest here, that our immigration issue is a big one, and others before him have failed to get it right.  Same can be said for our health care system.   He has yet to come up with a decent solution that will actually work on any of those fronts, and he continues the practice of rewarding the extreme wealthy elite – while the little guy continues to pay for it.   How is it lost on anyone? … because it’s right there for all to see. The Emperor wears no concealing clothes, he is what he is, boldly and without apology.   You can’t tell me there isn’t a better answer out there to  fix what needs fixing in this country than an ego maniacal habitual liar who  chooses  division  instead of uniting this already torn Country, stomping all over our Constitution and  poluting the integrity of the office he holds with his falsities,  time and time again.  While our media has needed a check for a long time, DT  IS the Fake News.  Don’t take my word for it… count his lies.  Do the research.  Seek truth, not what’s convenient to your belief system.

I Love My Country.  I love our freedoms, I  respect our diversity.  I appreciate all that is good in this place we all call home, and we can thank members of all political parties for their thoughtful vision in the past –  not just for the problems of the present.  I’m praying for us all that those giving DT power will stop drinking the Koolaid.  I’m hoping, wishing on stars, lucky striped stones,  dandelion seeds blown into the wind and birthday candles  that in 2020 we’ll elect a more sane, rational, planet and true Country loving leader than the one currently set on his throne, no matter what the party affiliation.

Off the soapbox for now… if you got this far, thanks for lending an ear – and your opinion in the comments if you so choose.    While I have always welcomed opposing views on whatever the subject, this one is closed.  As I stated above, I’m no longer interested in the excuses, for I feel the damage is far too great at this point.  If you’re not willing to admit the damage being done on the world stage, not just our own, that’s your right… and your burden to bear.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When there’s no sun, find some light

New England is still wearing her dingy grey cloak, refusing to take it off in order to properly herald Spring. So what’s a Yankee to do? … head to the garden center to purchase some cheer!  Mom joined the Mr. and I  on a jaunt across the  CT river , where we bought some bright red geraniums which I’ll plant in the big pots down at Stella-by-the-Sea in the coming days.

On the way we stopped for lunch across from the Goodspeed Opera House in East Haddam…

So many charming centuries old homes in this part of town…   tulips and flowering trees everywhere!

On to Balleks,  a family owned farm/garden center/greenhouse that’s been in the Ballek family since the 1660’s – how’s that for history. Some of the Ballek family in their 90’s still roam the isles helping customers, it’s a lovely thing to see.

They have SO many unique plants inside the large greenhouse and two big old silos that have some tales to tell, I’m sure.

 

The “pods” below are large – you could put your reading glasses in there.

Meanwhile.. back on the farm – I’ve moved the chicks to the big coop, creating a temporary nursery out there inside the covered enclosed chicken yard, complete with their heat lamp.  They got too big for the chick condo on the porch and it was beginning to look like a pig pen out there with shavings and hay and chick food and chick dander littering every surface from ground to ceiling.  Bleh.   I did scrub the porch once everything was out – we’ll actually be able to sit out there again once it dries.

The new girls in their temporary coop nursery

Which is basically a sectioned off area in the big covered coop “yard” separated with bird mesh and a tarp, wrapped on the outside with a plastic drop cloth to keep the wind off them.

The big girls on the other side of the tarp.

So much work to integrate five little chicks into the fold!  But the reward of fresh eggs and a flock of chickens in the yard is well worth the effort.

 

More rain for tomorrow – I’ll most likely be at my desk catching up on the editorial stuff that earns me a paycheck.  I suppose the upside to all the rain and a steady string of grey days is all the inside work I get done when the sun isn’t calling to me.

I hope all is well in your world – may we all have many sunny days ahead.

 

 

 

Spring Chicken and the beginning of the End

One of these is a Spring Chicken, and one is definitely not.

 

This is Snow – one of her buddies, Cersei, had to be humanely euthanized due to a severe scissor beak. Which brings me to thoughts on the fate of her namesake.

 

If you’re not a GOT fan – the following will make little sense.

After the second installment, episode 2 of the final season of Game of Thrones – any GOT fans care to share their predictions? Here’s what I think…

– Dany (Khaleesi, Daeynerys)  is showing a real lust for the iron throne, and apparently will do unsavory things to get what she wants (think dragon-torching poor Sam Tarly’s dad and brother over a land dispute) Yep – she’s not as caring or kind as we once thought, now, is she. I think she dies in the end.  Although if she were actually pregnant with Jon’s baby that might be a whole new something, so perhaps they’ll keep her alive.   Cersei – well she’s been used and abused, but she’s ruthless and cruel, too…perhaps my chick Cersei’s death is an omen for hers? Jon Snow is one of the few who have always put others before himself and he has real heart and true bravery – who better to become the true King, (which he apparently is anyway). Tyrion – He’s the best character in the show if you ask me, and the jabs at his stature have been cruel throughout the series. I hope he lives, Perhaps it’s he who finally slays  the Night King, as he is  truly the most intelligent of them all. Bran seems awfully calm having just met face to face with Jaime, the man responsible for his life in a wheelchair, – has he forseen the future and the inevitable fate, as in death.. of Jaime?   Jaimie teeters between despicable and redeeming, tough call.  Perhaps Theon Greyjoy will redeem himself by piercing the Night King’s heart with Dragon glass as he loses his own life in a final act of bravery after so much miserable  conspiring, deception and sniveling.  I believe  the dragon glass to the heart of the Night King will topple all the white walkers in the end, as he is their maker. The scrappy Arya and  horribly abused but wisened, steady, now-strong Sansa – it could go either way for them.   And  the most burning question for me, anyway…… what will become of the Dragons?  One already dead and flying with the white walkers, two still bound to Dany. 

Whom I’d love to see survive? Oh please let the dragons live – and Jon Snow, Arya, Sansa, Tyrion, Sam Tarly and wife, Jorah be amongst the living. Alas, they’ve already told us many good people will die.   I’m gonna need Xanax to watch the conclusion.