Blogger RoundTable

I have been invited to participate in a Blogger Round table with 4 other bloggers concerning the future of blogging, sponsored by tamerlane. This diverse group includes littleisis from Liberal Rapture, JohnWSmart from his blog with the same name, Fionnchu from Blogtrotter, and last, but not least, our esteemed host, tamerlane from True Liberal Nexis.

A huge WTF WERE YOU THINKING to tamerlane for coming up with this idea, choosing the questions and putting this round table together. I hope the readers enjoy this concept as much as I enjoyed participating.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the 1st Blogger Round Table on the subject of (drum roll, please)

The Future of Blogging

I'll start by giving you a brief biography of the cast of characters:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Cyn
BLOG: DoubleJointedFingers

BlOGGING SINCE:
2000 and Bush v. Gore. I totally didn't see that coming and I was so outraged that I started looking around the Internet to see if anyone else was as enraged as I. I ended up at "Kicking Ass", the DNC blog and stayed there until 2008. A lot of those wonderful Dem friends I had made were not only backing Obama, but vilifying Hillary. I also blogged at Night Bird's Fountain, but left in 2004 and started my own blog.

REAL LIFE PROFESSION:
Legal assistant to sole practitioner attorney

REASON I GOT INTO BLOGGING:
Politics

HOURS PER WEEK SPENT ON MY BLOG:
Not that many. I don't feel the need to post every day or even every week, although I did feel the need during the 2008 primary. For me, blogging helps me let off steam, share information and gives me a creative outlet.

HOURS PER WEEK ON OTHER PEOPLE'S BLOGS:
Hard to say, as it varies. I would guess approx. 10 hours per week
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FIONNCHU
BLOG: Blogtrotter

BLOGGING SINCE: 2007

OTHER PUBLISHED OR POSTED WORKS:
academic journals; scholarly references; Lunch.com, Amazon US (Top 500 reviewer), New York Journal of Books, and PopMatters websites.

REAL LIFE PROFESSION:
Medievalist turned Humanities college instructor.

REASON I GOT INTO BLOGGING:
To share my passion for ideas and get my thoughts out of my mind and beyond the limits of a low-level teaching gig with few chances to find colleagues or students of a like-minded, inquiring, ornery, eclectic, and debatable bent.

HOURS PER WEEK SPENT WORKING ON MY BLOG:
6 (on average)

HOURS PER WEEK SPENT READING OTHER PEOPLE'S BLOGS:
2 (I read fast)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
JohnWSmart
Blog: JohnWSmart

BLOGGING SINCE:
2005

REAL LIFE PROFESSION:
Film Clearance Administration

REASON I GOT INTO BLOGGING:
Anger at Bush administration lies.

HOURS PER WEEK SPENT WORKING ON MY BLOG:
20

HOURS PER WEEK SPENT READING OTHER PEOPLE'S BLOGS:
5
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

littleisis
Blogs: You can find her at Liberal Rapture or The Confluence

BLOGGING SINCE: I was seventeen.

OTHER PUBLISHED OR POSTED WORKS:
I can't disclose those, this is a family blog.

REAL LIFE PROFESSION:
Student

REASON I GOT INTO BLOGGING:
I started paying more attention to politics and entertainment towards the end of High School, after a string of suicides occurred in my graduating class. (Two of them were good friends of mine.) Blogging is the easiest way to shout my opinions at people.

HOURS PER WEEK SPENT WORKING ON MY BLOG:
Depends on the week.

HOURS PER WEEK SPENT READING OTHER PEOPLE'S BLOGS:
Also depends on the week.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
TAMERLANE
BLOGS: True Liberal Nexus, at JohnWSmart as a guest contributor and at Liberal Rapture as a cross-posted hitchhiker

BLOGGING SINCE:
2009

OTHER PUBLISHED OR POSTED WORKS:
Myriad client profiles, press releases, newsletter articles, print ads, & promotional brochures; Training Agreements, Helmet Release & Hold Harmless forms; a thesis on medieval knights; a published board game; a privately disseminated cookbook.

REAL LIFE PROFESSION:
Horse trainer; former jack of all trades

REASON I GOT INTO BLOGGING:
To protest the Sting of Hillary Clinton and to combat the destruction of Liberalism by the Obamalonian Horde.

HOURS PER WEEK SPENT WORKING ON MY BLOG:
3? 5? 0?

HOURS PER WEEK SPENT AT OTHER PEOPLE'S BLOG:
I have no fucking clue.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes the bio portion of the Bloggers Round Table. There will be a brief intermission to allow you to stretch your legs and/or grab a cigarette. Day old donuts on the counter to your left.

** Roundtable Questions **

I The Future of Blogging
1. Can Blogging Save the World?

Cyn: I don't think anything can save the world. I've become somewhat jaded after the 2008 election. I believe there is only so much that bloggers can do to make a difference. However, I do see that the Tea Party (however much I disagree with them), are making a huge difference in the Republican party, but I don't know that it is due to blogging. I do believe that so long as we don't lose our hope of being able to make the world a better place, blogging will continue to grow.

Fionnchu: No, given that our voices will be drowned out.

John W. Smart: No. Nor should it try.

littleisis: Anything that speaks truth to power can end up saving the world. Mainstream press seems more concerned with speaking power to truth these days.

tamerlane: No, but it can rescue a scrap of veracity and free, meaningful discourse -- our samizdat in the face of Pravda Light censorship and Dancing with the Stars distraction.

2. Will Blogs replace Newspapers?

CYN: So long as newspapers need to turn a profit and remain beholden to corporate interests, yes.

F: No, as we lack the funds to afford to investigate issues on our own without the backing that media gain. We also lack credibility unless perhaps attached to a larger blog site sponsored by a corporation. We don’t get the press respect or the PR clout that enables us to garner review copies, either!

JWS: No.

LI: Eventually they will. I use the NYT to line my cat's kitty litter.

TAM: They'll meet somewhere in the middle. Unlike 99% of bloggers, most newspapers still know how to write & edit, and do proper investigative reporting. Most bloggers are hacks suffering from the mind-scours.

3. Should a successful blog: a) charge to read it? b) Accept Ads? c) Ask for donations? d) Stay free, free as the wind blows?

CYN: In a perfect world, stay free, free as the wind. However, if the blogger needs to ask for donations or put ads on their blog to generate income, it doesn't bother me. Especially if it is a blog I follow on a regular basis. I would rather donate than see it shut down.

F: Stay free. I don’t accept ads, I wish blogs were free of ads. I prefer a Net more resistant to consumerism and capitalism. I wish I’d started on WordPress, not Google’s E-Blogger. But, tech- challenged, as I began a few years ago, it’s too late now given the search engine tilts. And, I have a corporation giving me access gratis to make my blog. So, there’s a hidden charge, no free lunch.
JWS: a. no. b. yes. c. yes. d. no.

LI: I don't know about charging readers, but I don't see any problem with accepting ads or asking for donations. Regular blogging can take time.

TAM: Computers and the internet place us at the potential dawn of a new social order, with a truly "free" market where people give things away for self-actualization. Kinda like Star Trek.

II The Blogosphere
4. Person you'd like to see blogging who doesn't?

CYN: Madeleine Albright. She fascinates me.

F: Some of my egghead but populist friends in Ireland and here, who prefer anonymity due to their fears of surveillance.

JWS: Edie Falco.

LI: Seriously. She's brilliant, funny and a great writer. I just have to nab her before TC does.

TAM: John Mellencamp.

5. Does Perez Hilton hurt or help blogs being taken seriously?

CYN: I have no idea as I never knew she had a blog. However, sight unseen, I don't think it would make a difference.

F: I could care less. TMZ and C-Span both serve as entertainment in the media we’re dished out. Any arena will attract the strutters and ballhogs as well as us waterboys and peanut vendors. Bloggers are caricatured as kooks by the mainstream, but the MSM funds and uses them too. I think FB or whatever future medium rises will erode blogs more, as people read less. Scanning and Twitter and instant updates also substitute for what a few years ago blogs provided as a method to share tidbits and finds on and off the Net. E-mail dwindles as people don’t use that to share information as links or photos or articles among a list of friends, and as with discussion lists in the late 90s, blogs may fade more in this respect.

JWS: He has no affect.

LI: Not for me to say. Not all blogs should be taken seriously to begin with. Similarly, not all

newspapers should be taken seriously. The National Enquirer or the NYT, for example.

TAM: Who's Perez Hilton?

6. Is the Huffington Post a blog, a newspaper, or something else?

CYN: A blog, and all blogs are not alike.

F: It replaces Time Magazine as a compendium of a safe political slant-- combined with pop culture and stupid photos & videos that I admit being surprised to find. I don’t read it but I get links to it via FB posts by friends now and then. This is what the MSM is evolving towards.

JWS: Something else.

LI: A newspaper, because it repeats talking points.

TAM: It's the air-sickness bag of the proglydite Weltanschauung.

7. Are Kos and Drudge journalists, politicos, or something else?

CYN: In my opinion, politicos.

F: They began as pioneer investigators, but as celebrity bloggers, they’ve capitulated to MSM corporate approval.

JWS: Something else.

LI: Tough question. I'm not even sure if they're human.

TAM: They're two little hitlers who'll fight it out until one little hitler does the other one's will.

III The Art of Blogging
8. Worst sin(s) a blogger can make?

CYN: Knowingly posting lies or advancing an opinion on behalf of someone who pays you to do so.

F: Not revealing sponsorship or perks.

JWS: Thinking they matter more than they do.

LI: Banning people for financial or business reasons.

TAM: Writing when they have nothing to say; Cut & paste; Blogging Under the Influence.

9. The perfect blog post would ...

CYN: Inform me, charm me and make me laugh.

F: Distinguish between cut & paste blather and original insights that the author labored over rather than plagiarized or paraphrased.

JWS: Link to my blog.

LI: Make people think, and laugh.

TAM: Put something in a new light for me.

10. Ideal length of a blog post?

CYN: Personally, so long as it keeps my attention, it doesn't matter.

F: Less than most of mine. 750-1000 words max?

JWS: Depends on the topic.

LI: It would depend on the subject of the post and whether it's an open thread.

TAM: I've retained the self-editing habits from writing for print materials with physical size constraints:
• Daily comment on news: <= 500 words • Weekly observation/rant: 750 - 1,000 words • Monthly philosophizing: 1,500 - 2,000 words. • If you have anything longer, send it to the New Yorker.

11. Ideal format: Minimalist or Glitzy?

CYN: What ever floats your boat or reflects the

personality of the blog.

F: Minimal. I hate distractions. But I do like decorating the margins with artworks and piddling with colors. Google is not as generous as I’d have anticipated with how you can customize your templates.

JWS: Minimal.

LI: I prefer glitzy, but I'm a girl.

TAM: Minimalist.

12. Real-life human activity blogging most emulates?

CYN: Dear diary...

F: Chatting with friends about ideas, issues, and trends. Or talking to yourself. Some may say masturbation in public, but haven’t writers, actors, and creative types been long accused by puritans and prudes?

JWS: Walking.

LI: Telling your children you'd like to do what you can to make the world a better place for them.

TAM: Singing in the shower.

IV Your Blogging Goals

13. Head-in-the-clouds goal for your blog:

CYN: I really don't take my blog that seriously.

F: To gain a patron & recognition for my brilliant acumen so I never have to work again. I keep expecting a MacArthur Grant in my inbox. Acclaim from the academy so I land instant tenure and I can get time to write books rather than entries every other day. I stopped daily blogging when I realized how few people cared about it. But that led to a backlog of dozens of entries, ironically enough!

JWS: Huge profits.

LI: Loyal regulars.

TAM: To have both Rush Limbaugh and Keith Olbermann on the same day mention with disgust the same TLN post.

14. Feet-on-the-ground goal:

CYN: Possibly transfer my blog from Blogger to Wordpad.

F: To keep it up until I die or until some other medium evolves that I can afford to replace it. I feel it’s like a term paper that’s always near due, and it keeps me locked into a self-imposed schedule. It keeps my mind fresher and my thoughts more ordered, as I pretend I have an audience that gets me out of my own self-glorification and makes me aware of the fact someone may take me to account. I have made friends whom I’ve gone on to meet in the “real world,” and that pleases me no end, as such contacts in my daily life are non-existent regarding such comradeship.

JWS: Keep going.

LI: Loyal regulars

TAM: I get lots of hits, but want more comments.

15. Any changes, improvements. additions you'd like to make to your blog?

CYN: I pretty much change my blog design when I get bored with how it looks.

F: I’d like the Google E-Blogger templates to allow more alterations for a tech-challenged type. But now that they have started charging $10 for template changes of some sorts, I wonder. WordPress seems the only competition, but it’s as I mentioned a bit too late to migrate. The Google formats constrict you even as they make it dumbbell-accessible, an inevitable compromise to put such html intricacies in the hands of the huddled masses.

JWS: Yes. There are.

LI: I wish it looked more glamorous, but there's only so many things you can do with wordpress.

TAM: Tags and shit.

16. If you were paid full-time to blog, would you do it?

CYN: No. I would feel stifled.

F: Yes, but I’d prefer a MacArthur grant renewed in perpetuity. I might hate blogging if it was my job. As a hobby, it’s fine.

JWS: Yes.

LI: Absolutely.

TAM: Twist my arm. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This concludes our 1st Roundtable. I wish to thank tamerlane and my co-roundtable-ers for taking the time to put this together. It's been lots of fun and I look forward to the next round of the Roundtable.

This Witch

wishes she lived here

Gonzo Rhea

H/T to the indubitable JohnWSmart

Domestic Violence and Plea Deals

Please, please, please. This is an action alert. Click the link here and let this Prosecutor know that we are mad as hell and we are not going to take it anymore.

And, pass this on.

Thank you for standing up

What's on my needles

Hypocrite President

As is my habit, I wake up each morning and listen to C-Span. This morning I awoke earlier than usual and was subjected to Obama's speech from last evening. I had no intention of watching this speech, as I am sick of being talked at by a whiny voiced professor.

What I heard was clear. The man who ran for the presidency on his "no vote" for the war was now George W. Bush, spouting how we've done so many wonderful things for the Iraqi people. What a wonderful war this was! We are such wonderful leaders of the free world!

This President, in a very short time, has morphed into exactly what the last president was - a corporate shill willing to put American lives on the line because he isn't strong enough to end the lies. The sellout didn't take very long at all.

In my opinion, this speech has done more to harm than good to his plunging poll numbers.

Oh, and if you are interested, you can read about all of the wasteful spending on this war here via JohnWSmart

Women's Equality Day: Time for Constitutional Guarantee of Women's Rights

Women's Equality Day: Time for Constitutional Guarantee of Women's Rights

Yes, it's the Mosque again

FDL.

The beat goes on. Actually, I am more distressed over the FDA and the egg problem.

Guns and Roses

I have to admit that I am fascinated with the whole "Mosque" at Ground Zero brouhaha. I live in NY and had a daughter and nephew working in Mid-Town on that horrible day. I realize the pain and helplessness of not knowing if I would ever see my daughter again. It was one of the worst days I have lived through.

What fascinates me is how divided we are on this issue. People I have come to call friends due to shared political ideology are so divided on this topic. People I have come to know on blogs in the last 10 years, who have helped me live through the Bush years and the fiasco of the last Presidential Primary. Without them, I don't know how I would have gotten through. These are the same people who saw right through Obama and realized the empty victory of finally having a Democrat in the White House. They are loving,intelligent, savvy, kind, hardworking people from all walks of life worried about the down spiral of America. I may not have ever met them in person, but I know them better than I know my next door neighbor. And, they are divided right down the middle on this issue.

When Hillary had the audacity to run for President, I lost many of my Democratic friends to Obama frenzy. I understand that. And, as far as this division goes, I kind of feel like I don't have a horse in this race. I really don't care if the Center is built or not.

What I do care about is "live and let live". Peace. Reaching out to understand others. All ground is hallowed ground and religion has been the root of too many wars.

I love you, my brothers and sisters of the mighty blogs. I just don't understand the uproar over this. However, I respect you for your opinion and just hope this whole damn thing gets settled soon.

Although THIS pisses me off royally. H/T to Hecate for the link

Sign along the side of the road

God hates a lying tongue.

I couldn't get past the "God hates" part.

Yikes! Another War on Women's Rights

Have you heard of Smith-Lipinski Bill?

Check out Madamab's post

Universal Mother - Ancient Chants, Blissful Grooves

On the way to work this morning, I heard a clip of Obama on NPR congratulating himself in a speech at Ford Motor Company for his bailout of the auto industry. Seems Ford is putting on new employees and Ozero is taking the credit for job creation linked directly to his bailout.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't it a fact that Ford did NOT take any of the bailout funds?

Ahh, yes, I am not crazy. With a little digging I found this: "Desperate To Claim Economic Victory, Obama visits Ford Plant To Tout Success He Had Nothing To Do With."
Photo found here

More Garden Blogging

Treat yourself

To the art of Gustav Klimt

Adirondack Garden

Stuff I didn't know

It is way easier getting a tan riding around in a convertible than laying on hot sand with baby oil all over your body while the sun beats down on you.

Not that I am advocating sun bathing, but who knew?

Garden blogging

Something to think about

Historiann's post here

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Blame
www.thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Tea Party

Off With His Head

Let me see. We've longed for real journalistic reporting after 8 long years of Bush. Fox news has been the ruination of MSM and CNN and MSNBC are not far behind. On talk radio, Ed Schultz is Rush with a liberal slant rant, with innuendos, opinions and a willingness to sensationalize every farce that comes along.

Now, we have a General who gives an honest interview to Rolling Stone and it is actually published. And, the wheels come off the bus. How dare the General be honest! How dare Rolling Stone publish it! How dare anyone criticize Obama!

I find it odd that people are comfortable with silencing criticism. Believing it more important to protect the President from a critical General than to actually listen to what the General is saying. Open a dialog, per chance? Not in America.

We live in a country where one no longer has to earn respect, but is magically bestowed with intelligence, power and leadership by winning an election. Oh, yeah, and has the right to censor those who don't agree.

Remind you of anyone?

Sonnet 18 (liberties taken)

Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is her gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in her shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as women can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.

W. S. (with h/t to JWS)

Blessed Summer

As I'm carried down the Lake Road with the tall trees at my side,
My gaze is pulled upward by the vast and glorious sky.
I start to feel the power that is hidden in the earth,
and my ears are filled with music, and I understand rebirth.

What Hecate Said

Bitchin'

Within the last week I have dealt with 3 different companies all of which have made me want to tear my hair out, scream, reach through the telephone to strangle someone or, a much safer bet, boycott them.

Company No. 1: Time Warner Cable
My Dad passed away in January of this year. Shortly thereafter, I phoned Time Warner, advised them my father had passed away and discontinued the service, asking for a final bill which was forwarded to me. Near the end of March, I was officially appointed executrix of my father's estate, opened an estate account and began paying bills in the first week of April. Within a week of paying the Time Warner bill, I rec'd a second statement. I called the company and they assured me that the payment and bill had crossed in the mail and the account was paid in full.

Last week, I rec'd a bill from a collection agency for my father's Time Warner account. I phoned the collection agency and explained that my father was deceased and the bill had been paid. I was advised by the representative that she could not speak to me without my father's permission. I once again advised her that my father was deceased, I had been appointed executrix and therefor had legal capacity to discuss this account. She once again asked me to put my father on the phone so she could get his permission to speak to me. When I told her he had died, she expressed sympathy and asked if there was anything else she could help me with, as she could not discuss the account with me.

Company No. 2 - Snyder Propane located in Fort Plain, NY
Once again, this was my father's account. My sister had called the company and asked that they remove the propane tank and reimburse us for the propane in the tank (which was full). Although my father was charged rent on the tank, there was a $70.00 fee charged for its removal, a $25.00 travel fee (which they waived), and sales tax in the sum of $5.60 charged for the labor to remove the tank. Bottom line - $120.43 worth of propane was in the tank, the company is located less than 10 miles from the house and rec'd a $44.83 credit to his account. To add insult to injury, I now have to phone them to turn the credit into a check payable to the estate.

Company No. 3 - Frontier Communications
I recently turned on the telephone at our summer place. I do this each year, turning it on in May and off in October. I am always billed at my residence address. Approximately one month after turning on the phone this year, I rec'd a letter stating that I had not paid any of the bills for 2009 for the summer phone and unless I paid within 10 days, both of my phones would be disconnected. I checked my records and they were correct. I could find no payments for the summer phone last year.

I was provided with a return envelope for forwarding the payment, but it had a window where the address would show. However, I hadn't received a bill, but a letter, with no address for payment of the bill. I called Frontier to ascertain how it was that I had not received any bills and where payment should be sent. After approx. 15 minutes of canned music, I was told that the bills were sent to the physical location of my summer residence, which has no mail box nor an address on file at the local post office. Additionally, although I have another phone which is active year round, I was never notified that the bills were unpaid.

I ended up locating a local office to pay the bill, rather than to mail it and rely on the company to actually apply the funds to the correct account. Bottom line is although I immediately recognized the mistake and attempted to rectify it, Frontier took no responsibility for their error, nor lack of follow through. It appears that if I hadn't turned on the summer phone this year, they would never have rec'd payment for the year 2009.

What Hecate Says

This will scare you to death.

Via John W. Smart

Food, Inc.

"We call upon the earth, our planet home, for its beautiful depths, and soaring heights, its vitality and abundance of life, and together, we ask that it teach us, and show us the way.

We call upon the mountains, the cascades and the olympics, the high green valleys and the meadows filled with wildflowers, the snows that never melt, the summits of intense silence, and we ask that they teach us, and show us the way.

We call upon the waters that rim the earth, horizon to horizon, that flow in our rivers, and streams, that fall upon our gardens and fields, and ask that they teach us, and show us the way.

We call upon the land that grows our food, the nurturing soil, the fertile fields, the abundant gardens and orchards, and ask that they teach us, and show us the way.

We call upon the forests, the green trees, reaching strongly to the sky, with earth in their roots, and the heavens in their branches, the fir, the pine and the cedar. We ask them to teach us, and show us the way.

We call upon the creatures of the fields and the forest and the seas, our brothers and sisters, the wolves and the deer, the eagle and the dove, the great whales and the dolphin, the beautiful orca, and salmon who share our northwest home, and ask them to teach us, and show us the way.

We call upon those who have lived on this earth, our ancestors and our friends, who dream the best for future generations, and upon whose lives our lives are built, and with thanksgiving, we call upon them to teach us and show us the way.

And lastly we call upon all that we hold most sacred, the presence and power of great spirit of love and truth, which flows throughout all the universe, to be with us, and teach us, and show us the way."

Wilma Mankiller
1945-2010
Chief of the Cherokee nation via Cari Ferraro

Battle of the Cooks - Karl v. Cyn - Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

OK, so here's the scoop. My husband cooks 90% of the meals and before you start in, I KNOW I'm lucky. However, I like cooking! I don't mind it at all. Both of my Grandmothers' cooked, my Mom cooked and I cook. I love having someone to cook for me, but our styles of cooking are very different. I love cooking the whole chicken, bones and all. Karl - not so much. For him, it's boneless, skinless, tasteless (to me) white meat.

Enter last evening, I just couldn't face another lump of white chicken. And, to be fair, his chicken is excellent - well flavored and cooked to perfection. It's just not my perfection. I long for a drumstick to gnaw on or some turkey thighs braised in apple cider. So, I decided I would cook my own chicken and he could cook his own. At first, he was a little miffed - no likes to have their food disrespected. However, after thinking it over, he rose to the challenge and off we went in opposite directions. The only rules were we couldn't use a recipe and had to make use of ingredients we had on hand.

THE RECIPES:
Karl's first
Chicken breast was butterflied and marinated in Italian Dressing. When ready to fry, EVOO and a dab of butter in the frying pan. Breast was salt and peppered, dipped in Mayo and dunked in a Pecorino cheese, Italian bread crumbs, instant potato flake mixture. Skillet hot and chicken fried to a deep golden brown. I have to admit, it was very tasty and very moist, just not my cup of tea. He loved it.

Cyn's recipe
Chicken breast was also butterflied and sprinkled with salt and pepper. EVOO and small dab of butter in a pan with 2 cloves of chopped garlic. Cooked slowly until smelled the garlic. Pitted large Spanish olives, capers, diced tomato and diced prunes added to the pan, along with the chicken. Sauteed for approx. 5 minutes, turning the chicken once. Heat turned off and pan covered to allow flavors to meld. When ready to eat, chicken was removed from pan and thinly sliced. Pan was reheated to medium high, added freshly grated ginger, sauteed for approx. 5 minutes with a splash of dry Vermouth added right at the end. Chicken back into the pan and quickly heated through. I adored it.

Naturally, we each thought our creation was the best, mainly due to our individual idea of what food should be. So, although it was a standoff, hopefully it will get us out of the habit of eating the same things all the time and start our creative juices flowing in who knows what direction? Maybe the winner in this challenge was the fact that we had a lot of fun, realized we had such different styles of cooking and we both made something we wouldn't have normally cooked.

I think this is a win, win situation. However, I'm letting Karl do the cooking tonight.

I am so stealing Delphyne's stuff!

School Prayer

In the name of the daybreak
and the eyelids of morning
and the wayfaring moon
and the night when it departs,

I swear I will not dishonor
my soul with hatred,
but offer myself humbly
as a guardian of nature,
as a healer of misery,
as a messenger of wonder,
as an architect of peace.

In the name of the sun and its mirrors
and the day that embraces it
and the cloud veils drawn over it
and the uttermost night
and the male and the female
and the plants bursting with seed
and the crowning seasons
of the firefly and the apple,

I will honor all life
—wherever and in whatever form
it may dwell—on Earth my home,
and in the mansions of the stars.

~Diane Ackerman~

here

My New Obsession

Health Care Reform Victory Comes with Tragic Setback for Women's Rights

Health Care Reform Victory Comes with Tragic Setback for Women's Rights

Ostara

We have a saying in upstate New York

Bullshit.

Quotes from Kucinich:
"I think that with three years left in the Obama presidency, we have to continue to encourage him, but we’ve got to be careful that we don’t play into those who want to destroy his presidency and say—you know, the birthers and others who say that, you know, he should have never been president to begin with."

"One of the things that has bothered me is the attempt to try to delegitimize his presidency. That hurts the nation when that happens," the Cleveland congressman said, sounding genuinely anguished. "We have to be very careful" that "President Obama's presidency not be destroyed by this debate ... Even though I have many differences with him on policy, there's something much bigger at stake here for America."

I thought I was so over politics. I experienced the closure of no longer being a Democrat after a lifetime of being a proud member due to the decapitation of Hillary. I saw what went on up close. However, this "save Obama no matter what" meme is ridiculous. We should keep an experienced, lazy president from taking his lumps? From any hint of criticism? Why? Because we didn't have the foresight to elect someone more qualifed? We bet on the wrong horse?

This bill is awful. It should not be passed. However, Dennis, et al are willing to sacrifice American citizens to line the pockets of Big Pharma and Crappy Insurance Coverage so to legitimize Obama's presidency.

Bullshit.

What Changed?

Dennis Kuchinich – Health Care or Insurance Care? It’s Time to Respond!
Dennis Kuchinich’s Web Page

Dear Friends,

The health care decision-making process in Washington is horribly tainted by the campaign contributions of insurance and pharmaceutical interests. Under the pay-to-play system health care becomes insurance care, the public option shrinks to irrelevance, the choice we are left: What kind of private, for-profit insurance do you want? This is not acceptable. We must respond now, and not settle for a plan which subsidizes insurance companies and pharmaceutical companies and sets the stage for the privatization of Medicare. We want Health Care for all the people, Medicare for All, which is exactly what the bill John Conyers and I wrote, HR 676, accomplishes. And the only way we will achieve it is to organize and take action in our communities to effect real change at a state and national level. Let us initiate immediately an action plan to intervene and provide health care for all:

1. On-line petition. Please contact your lists, your family and friends. Please sign the petition for a single payer system. I will deliver the petitions directly to your Congressperson.
2. Petition to download, print and circulate among friends and neighbors – including an instruction sheet.
3. A National Health Care for All Conference Call from Washington, DC, at 10 pm EDT, Thursday, September 10th at 1-800-230-1096. Join us, so that we can discuss our new beginning and ways in which we can all help. Pre-registration is necessary in order to reserve sufficient phone lines. Please RSVP here. When you call in and the operator asks, “what conference call?” tell the operator, “Health Care for All.”
4. Health Care Meet-Ups. Coming Thursday September 10 2009.
5. Tell A Friend. Every email forwarded will make a difference? Please use the “Forward Email” link below to circulate up to 5 emails at a time to your friends.

I need your help to initiate this action. If you believe, as I do, that we can and must begin a new long-term state-by-state grassroots effort to create a single-payer, not-for-profit health care system, please contribute now at Kucinich.us
please contribute

Thank you.
Sincerely.
Dennis

Lost Things

I am thinking Spring

Ostara is nearing and I am thinking of all things I associate with spring - tiny seedling, Robins, cleansing rains, Easter eggs, the feel of sun on my skin, the smell of dirt, March hares and magic in the air. It feels good to know that very soon, life will be bursting forth in full glory.

All wonder and miracles,
All creatures upon the earth,
All things wise and beautiful;
Our Mother gave them birth.
By Lady Abigail

Women's History Month

March is Women's History Month. In honor of all of those amazing women out there, let's take some time to honor some of them. To get you started, here is a great site with lots of ideas. Not that you need any ideas but Goddess knows, there are so many amazing women out there, it is hard to choose. Today's choice is inspired by all of the substandard journalism we have been subjected to in the past 10 years.

MARTHA GELLHORN

Novelist, essayist and journalist, Martha Gellhorn (1908-1998) was a war correspondent during some of the most momentous conflicts of the 20th century, from the Spanish Civil War and World War II to Vietnam, the Six-Day War in the Middle East and various conflicts in Central America. As a correspondent for Collier's Weekly, she reported on the Spanish Civil War, along with her future husband, Ernest Hemingway. From Spain she moved to Germany, chronicling Hitler's consolidation of power and the onset of World War II. She reported from virtually every theater of the Second World War, — Czechoslovakia, Finland, Britain, Burma, Singapore and Hong Kong — and even snuck aboard a hospital ship to witness the D-Day landings in Normandy. Her reports on the Middle Eastern and Central American conflicts appeared in The Atlantic Monthly. A collection of her war correspondences, The Face of War, was published in 1959. From PBS - Reporting America at War

I am a Girl

Via Delphyne

JK Rowling on the Fringe Benefits of Failure

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.

An Imbolc gift from Sia. Watch it. It is an incredible speech.

"The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience."

Eleanor Roosevelt

IMBOLC

So the skies rumbled and the snows came,
And everywhere down through the centuries of this gray night,
Came women gathering to pray,
And to sink their hands into the dark earth.

They gathered seeds and prepared them for planting,
They meditated in the icy darkness,
And they celebrated the lambing of the first ewe,
To hasten spring.

And when through the earth they felt the stirring,
They sang songs encouraging the tiny seeds to grow.

In the dark, wet soil you can smell their work still;
They are digging along beside us. Listen!

The north wind carries their song across the snow,
This Imbolc night.

As the Earth prepares for Spring,
Wise women gather in circles to await the promise of new life,
And to sing praises for the green earth.

And so do we, here now,
This year, and every year.

Welcome Imbolc!

Poem found here

Via Liberal Rapture

I put the photo up last night. Today, I find out that Ted Kennedy's Senate seat went to a little known Republican who posed as a centerfold for Cosmo.

When I left the Democratic party in 2008, it was due to the DNC's slavish adoration for the black man who could raise money and had no qualms about throwing anyone who got in this way under the bus. Look what they got. Via Mort Zuckerman of the Daily Beast

“We are convinced,” he said, “that he is not strong enough to confront his enemy. We are concerned,” he said “that he is not strong to support his friends.”

Read it all. It will make you puke.

New Year

May the beauty of the New Year
Beautify my heart.
May the purity of the New Year
Purify my mind.
May the simplicity of the New Year
Simplify my vital.
May the intensity of the New Year
Intensify my body.
May the responsibility of the New Year
Glorify my life.
May only the divinity of the New Year
Fully satisfy me.
-Sri Chinmoy

Information about the 12/31/2009 Blue Moon Eclipse found here. Blessed be.

Happy Yule

A Blessing for the New Year
BEANNACHT

On the day when
The weight deadens
On your shoulders
And you stumble
May the clay dance
To balance you

And when your eyes
Freeze behind
The gray window
And the ghost of loss
Gets into you,
May a flock of colors,
Indigo, red, green
And azure blue,
Come to awaken in you
A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays
In the curragh of thought
And a stain of ocean
Blackens beneath you,
May there come across the waters
A path of yellow moonlight
To bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,
May the clarity of light be yours,
May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And may a slow
Wind work these words
Of love around you,
An invisible cloak
To mind your life.

From: To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings, Doubleday, 2008 by John O'Donohue

And, shamelessly borrowed from Sia

Photo found Here

La Befana

The arrival of La Befana is on the eve of the Epiphany - January 5th to be exact. Legend has it that if a child was good throughout the year, the good witch will swoop down the chimney and leave a small gift. If the child was a real rascal during the preceding 12 months, the kid got a piece of coal.

...there was a time - and it wasn’t that long ago - that Italian children really did get all giddy with the thought of this kindly old witch coming into their homes bearing gifts. La Befana was someone who had more in common with Italy’s all-too-common poverty. Especially in the South.

The origin of La Befana varies. I heard different tales. My grandmother - Bless her – would tell me in her best broken English that “her mother” told her that Befana was an old lady sweeping the floors, and mopping and generally doing the things a cleaning lady does, when the three Wise Men stopped by en route to Bethlehem to ask for directions, and asked her to accompany them see the Baby Jesus. She replied she couldn’t because she was too busy. When she finished her chores, she decided to catch up to the tree Wise Men, but they were gone. So, to this day, La Befana goes out on January 5th in search of the baby Jesus, stopping at every house in hopes that in one of them is the One. In the process, she leaves a gift for the Chosen One in each household along the way. At some point this evolved into a lump of coal for naughty children.

Full article
Photo found here

Goddess, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference. And, give me the strength to get through it all.

New Boss same as the Old Boss

9-11. Scary, scary, scary. Boogie man will get you. Have to go to war. Oh, yeah, and 9-11.

The greatest cause of Terrorism is our endless wars, invasions, bombings, occupations and other means of interfering in the Muslim world, and our escalation will only fuel the anti-American hatred and resentment that -- as even our own Government has recognized -- is the primary fuel of the threat we're supposedly trying to arrest.

Glenn Greenwald

From The Wandering Hearth

Why do we assume that dawn is always a comforting thing? Sometimes when you open up your palm and force the things you've been clinging to so tightly for security into the full light of day, they sit there smoking and blinking madly back up at you, and suddenly...they don't seem so helpful after all. Sometimes the light is harsh, illuminating all the dark corners in truth and sometimes, that isn't such an attractive or comforting thing.

Bella Abzug

Comment from madamab:

Our struggle today is not to have a female Einstein get appointed as an assistant professor. It is for a woman schlemiel to get as quickly promoted as a male schlemiel.
- Bella Abzug

Go read Violet's blog.

Comment of the Year

In response to the shit I have been getting on Facebook for my posts on the Stupak amendment to the house's health care bill, I give you the following comment:

I know... lazy, promiscuous people are messing up this country. They should all be taken out and shot. Specially the illegal ones. In fact, it shouldn't even be illegal to shoot them. I hate supporting other people with my taxes. I think they should all be forced to live in an ever expanding ghetto, with no medical services whatsoever. Look... if God wants you to die, or be sick, who are we to intervene? I don't like any social services at all, roads, construction of bridges etc. I bet more lazy dirty people use them than clean All American Patriots like us. In fact... screw taxes altogether, it's every man for himself (and his wife and family of course – single mothers, you're on your own). That way we can cut government down to a manageable size and fund important things like killing people in other countries, and stopping gays from doing anything legally, and any money we have left over we can give to the CEOs of major corporations, because they, after all, are the backbone of this great nation and deserve all the money that they work so hard to deprive us of. (sorry to end that sentence with a preposition!)

Correction: The comment was from my incredible son-in-law!

UPDATED

Photo found here

The more I think about the Stupak amendment, the more enraged I become. Old, greedy white men controlling our bodies and healthcare choices in a Democratic environment due to so-called religious beliefs. If this happened on Bush's watch, liberals would be screaming from the rooftops. Instead (a seeming impossible thought during the pre-Obama presidency), it is occurring during a solid Democratic majority in the House and Senate. Un-fucking-believable.

If there was ever a time women should rise up and unite, it is now. How dare they? How dare they attempt to repeal Roe v Wade by denying us healthcare? I refuse to accept this. If I have to gather my sisters and march on Washington, I will. I will also work against the re-election of every single Democratic candidate who votes for a bill which includes this provision. Tirelessly and forever. I have a very long memory.

By the way, did you know that there is a healthcare provision in the bill that allows insurance payments for Christian Science prayer treatments? Yep, courtesy of Hatch, Kerry and Kennedy. Kerry and Kennedy!! Insurance payments for scientific, clinical healthcare? Not so much. For spiritually healthcare? Hell, yes. Read it here.

So, we are damned if we do and damned if we don't. Healthcare for women is directly linked to pre-conceived notions in what remains in the brain cells of men and women in positions of power, who no longer understand what it is like to live in the real world.

There is no way I am sitting this one out.

UPDATE NO. 1: When I posted the link to the Send a Coat Hanger Petition to the right, my signature was approx. 1,100. When I checked last night, the number of signers was over 4,000. When I checked moments ago, it is pushing 7,000. This speaks volumes. In less than 24 hours, Credo's petition has really taken on momentum and that is encouraging.

UPDATE NO. 2: I received yet another call from the Democrat Congressional Committee. Apparently, they didn't take me seriously last time, when I told them I wouldn't give them one cent and that I was no longer registered as a Democrat due to the hijacking of the election and treatment of Hillary. In that call, the women on the other end of the phone completely understood my position, was gracious and we hung up each, each understanding the others position.

The call I received last night was from a black man. I am mentioning that for factual reasons, not because I am a racist. Pre-Obama, I wouldn't have to put in that disclaimer.

When I gave him my reasons for not donating, mentioning the primary, the Stupak version of the House bill and the fact that Obama had done nothing but travel around the world since becoming President, I was told that Some Say Obama has accomplished the most progressive feats of any other president. When I pressed him, he acknowledged maybe he hadn't actually accomplished them, but he would in time. I was also reminded that Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009. Apparently, that was meant to appease women everywhere, seal O's commitment to women's issues and is one of the talking points of the Democratic Committee.

The most important aspect of this phone call was the women's health issues in the House version of the bill. I was advised by this jolly gentleman that it is is more important to get a bill through and signed into law. He chuckled with I mentioned the Stupak amendment and assured me that once the bill was signed, it would be tweaked and amended. We just needed to get it there. I guess women are supposed to take one for the team and we will be remembered at some later date. Sure...

The call ended with the admonishment that if I didn't give a donation to the Democrats, the Republicans would win and that would be the end of the world. Well, I advised him that I didn't see much of a difference between the Democrats in office now and the Republicans of the last administration. I went so far as to tell him at this point, Obama was nothing but a third term of Bush. Apparently, if the caller can't convince you that Obama is The One, they try to scare you with the Republican meme. You are either with us or against us. Ho hum.

Frankly, both parties sicken me. Politicians are beholden to corporate interest and lobbyists, fighting for the chance to stick in their thumb and pull out a plum - the plum being the special interests that keep them in their positions of power, far above the fray, unaware of the struggles of middle America. So, Democratic Congressional Committee, don't call me again. No means No.

Democrats. Listen up.

As you'll answer it, take heed
This Slave commit no Violence upon
Himself. I've been deceiv'd. The Publick Safety
Requires he should be more confin'd; and none,
No not the Princes self, permitted to
Confer with him. I'll quit you to the King.
Vile and ingrate! too late thou shalt repent
The base Injustice thou hast done my Love:
Yes, thou shalt know, spite of thy past Distress,
And all those Ills which thou so long hast mourn'd;
Heav'n has no Rage, like Love to Hatred turn'd,
Nor Hell a Fury, like a Woman scorn'd.
William Congreve, in The mourning bride, 1697

Autumn in the Adirondacks

Christmas, Swine Flu and Credit Card Rates

As credit cards companies are raising their rates to unspeakable percentages prior to Congress enacting the Credit Card Act of 2009 and thanks to our Federal Government, the executives at CitiBank and Goldman Sacks are availing themselves of H1N1 vaccine ahead of the elderly, the young and pregnant women, you may want to pare down your Christmas giving with these 68 Ideas for Gifts in a Jar.

At least we'll eat.

(photo found here)

Congratulations, Yankees!

Paganism, Just Another Religion

Certainly, there is nothing new about Paganism per se. From Halloween to May Day to Yuletide, said Prof. Diana L. Eck of the Harvard Divinity School, “there’s a way in which all of us, especially in the Christian tradition, follow a religious calendar that is pegged to ancient Pagan festivals.”

But in the grand scheme of the Western world, polytheism was seen as being superseded by monotheism and faith itself by science, leaving Paganism as some kind of atavistic orphan of history. The fact that its practitioners lacked any formal denominational structure added to the religion’s relative invisibility, except as the object of fears or the butt of jokes.

In several ways, though, Paganism was waiting for modernity to catch up with it. The emphasis on the worship of nature in virtually all variations of Pagan faith, and the embrace of a female divinity in many, situated the religion to mesh with the environmental and feminist movements that swept through the United States in the 1970s.

In the 1970s, Wiccan groups began seeking and obtaining tax-exempt status from federal and state authorities, said the Rev. Selena Fox, the founder and spiritual leader of an early, influential Wicca church, Circle Sanctuary in Barneveld, Wis. By the decade’s end, Wicca was included in the handbook for military chaplains and had been written about in such popular books as “Drawing Down the Moon,” (Penguin, 2006), by Margot Adler.

Full NY Times article here