Just some thoughts

PBS is not renewing the 26 year old program Reading Rainbow. You may remember the wonderful show as a child or a parent. It was lovely, and I wonder how many kids picked up a book because of the show? Why is it ending? During the Bush administration it was determined that teaching reading must be about phonics and vocabulary and funding dried up for the idea of getting kids to want to read. I am not saying that phonics and vocabulary are not important, but there should be room for different approaches. Is television the place to actually teach the basics anyway?

The "news" women on CNN are single-handedly keeping the makeup industry in business.

It's "steak night" at Virlie's. They grill out the back on Fridays. Isn't that cute?

If naked people in public bother you, don't look at them.

What If?

What if someone had checked all the floors in the Texas Book Depository on November 22, 1963? What if security had checked the kitchen of the Ambassador Hotel on June 6, 1968? What if friends had not let a friend drive drunk on June 18, 1969? What would the world be like today?

Goodbye Teddy

The Kennedys have been such a part of my life that it's hard to imagine the last of the brothers gone. I do long for Camelot. But we know it never really existed.

You've got to be kidding!

Dick Cheney says Obama is politicizing the Justice Department???!!!! REALLY! The right has no shame. The most politicized Justice Department EVER, more so than even Nixon's, existed under the Bush administration.

This is great. Watch it!!!!!

Buttocks or Ballots - Democratic Underground

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Garden Updates

Our water bill this month is out of sight, but the garden is green and healthy. I see it as the price for serenity. My Japanese Maple that lost all its leaves due to those pesky white flies has rallied and the leaves have come back! The little Impatiens plant that somehow made it from Jackson's Creek in the Jade Plant, has become huge and is blooming like crazy...its my link to my Marietta garden. We have a ton of tomatoes that are getting ready to ripen. The Carolina Jasmine has made it to the top of the trellis. All the cute little things that I planted around the pond have gone crazy, I must say, it is beautiful. We put in another small pond and a sitting area in the back that is really nice. I have been getting cedars out of the woods at the top of the hill and putting them in strategic places and they seem to be doing well.

What a wonderful hobby...to watch things grow

the waning summer

As August comes to an end the real columnists return from vacation and ONCE AGAIN Frank Rich has hit the nail on the head. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/23/opinion/23rich.html

I want to scream, but there is no one to hear me.

I am so disturbed about the state of my country. I just cannot comprehend how the euphoria of November has turned into total chaos.

It seems as though a great number of people listen to ONLY a few voices on the radio and look at (as opposed to reading) ONLY a few websites and believe, parrot, and act on whatever instructions are given to them. They do not seem to question or research anything that they are told. If these people really believed that the government is spending too much money and the deficit is out of control where were they for the 8 years of George W Bush's Presidency? They cannot really think that this all just happened. The TARP program and the "takeover" of the automobile industry was started while GEORGE W BUSH WAS PRESIDENT. Why weren't these so called believers out on the streets screaming and carrying ridiculous signs then? More than a few "protesters" have gone ballistic over "government takeover health care" but then indicate that they are on Medicare, A SINGLE PAYER GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM. Some of these people are unbalanced and do not live in the world that you and I live in, but most are reasonably intelligent people who participate in society but are so ill informed that it has become dangerous. They do not read. They would NEVER actually see what the New York Times, Washington Post, Time, Newsweek or any information outlet had to say about an issue. They only believe Rush or Sean or emails that come to them from like-minded individuals. They are forever referencing the Constitution and the Founders, but they really have no idea what the Constitution really says or what the Founders wanted. For example Michele Bachmann recently told Sean Hannity on Fox that members of the House had to represent their constituents' wishes, IT IS IN THE CONSTITUTION. No it isn't. No where in the document does it state this. She also went on to say that Health care reform as it is proposed is unconstitutional because the enumerated powers do not include funding health care. to quote Barney Frank, "what planet do you live on?" Does she not know that there is The Preamble and implied powers? Article I sec 8 clause 18 was interpreted by the Supreme Court in McCulloch v Maryland to say that Congress could pass laws that were implied by the enumerated powers, hence a national bank could be created. And that pesky Preamble with the call to "promote the general welfare". Why does Michele Bachmann think the Court has not declared Medicare unconstitutional? Where does she think national roads, paper money, aid to education, national institute of health, EPA, Social Security, the FED, or any other government agency that performs a function not specifically enumerated in Article I, sec 8 clauses 1-17 come from. I am sure that all those regulars who heard her did not question, did not think, they just went out and repeated it to someone else.

I am putting blame on President Obama, the Democratic Congress, and the Media. Obama should not have believed for one minute that these people would compromise. He needs to take a stand and get it done. What in the world are the leaders of Congress doing? When will someone stand up and do what is right? Those in the media who are actually journalists and understand the political system and the history of this country need to report what the Constitution actually says, they need to call into question the ridiculous rantings of the right. Donations from the health care industry to every member of Congress need to be reported.

it's an interesting day in the neighborhood...

...to paraphrase a famous television personality. My "Pitt" neighborhood is very different from the rather homogeneous one in East Cobb. Having walked almost everyday with my trusty Katrina down every street I can size up this eclectic development.

There are political and cultural extremes. The right-wing conservatives with their perfectly manicured lawns who fence off their lawns with crime scene tape on Halloween to force little children to use the driveway, to the leftover hippies who never cut the grass (unless its grass) and park very old and battered cars on the street. I have made it a point to converse with both and if I happen upon people from both groups in the same day I experience a rather schizophrenic moment.

I have come across Asians, Blacks, Hispanics; elderly, young, middle aged; retired, working, existing; married, single, gay. Just on our street there are people from New York, France, Maryland, Indiana, Illinois, Texas, and of course NC. There is a guy whose parents live in Alpharetta. There are husbands who are stay-at-home Dads (alot of them). It seems that many people work at UNC and Duke hospitals. There are professors, writers, a church music director, computer people, teachers, a principal, an editor for a tax publication, a policeman, a school bus driver, a couple of builders, real estate agents (beside us), farmers, the mayor and several city councilmen. And these are the people I have met.

Very few people put their cars in the garage. This seems to be everywhere. There are BMW's, Volvos, Toyotas, alot of American cars, Lexuses (whatever the plural is), a mercedes or two, a porsch, a corvette, many pickup trucks of all sizes, but the greatest number of cars seem to be Hondas. Like the people, the cars are varied.

It seems that every house has a dog or dogs. Some are nice and some are very agressive. You name a dog breed and it lives here. Katrina is very selective in the dogs she will speak to. Her favorites are Spike and Salem an adorable Pug that lives across the street. I am not sure what kind of dog Spike is.

There is a handicapped women that lives by herself and can often be seen "walking" her dog in her wheelchair. The 97 year old man who lives with his daughter rides his 3-wheeled bike every day and always has a cheery hello. Do not think that everyone is pleasant...there is a person who will not speak. She lives with her mother and is a "Christian"...I know this because she has John 3:16 plastered on the back of her car and bumper stickers lauding the family values of sarah palin.

There are several foreclosures and houses on the market for $869,000, $499.000, $400,000 $349,000, $329,000, $275,000, $179,000.

What can I say, its just sooooo interesting.

And oh by the way, Archie's daughter is fine.

sad to say....but

What does it mean when my "favorites" include the National Enquirer and Gawker? At least I know that John Edwards is moving his mistress and love child into his 2 million dollar home in Wilmington. Elizabeth evidently threw a fit. AND Sarah Palin has thrown her wedding ring into Lake Louise and is really divorcing Todd.

nazis?

What is with these maniacs who insist on calling Obama and anyone who supports health reform a nazi? Do they know who the nazis were and what they did? They certainly were not socialists. Adolph Hitler and his party were on the RIGHT, they were FASCISTS. The nazi party included the word socialism in their name but that was just a ruse......just like the conservatives using words like freedom, democracy, fairness, liberty, etc. in the names of groups that do their bidding... to throw people off track. Most often these groups have nothing to do with freedom, democracy, fairness, liberty or anything that has to do with these concepts. They are designed to push their anti-freedom, anti-fairness, anti-liberty, anti-democratic agenda onto the public. They know, just like Hitler knew, you can throw people off with the "Big Lie".

Wednesday morning in the "Pitt"

It is soooo humid, but Katrina and I do not mind because the weather this summer has been wonderful considering the geography. While we were walking NPR reported that Archie has proposed to Veronica after all these years. Naturally Betty is very upset and has said so on her blog. We all knew that money and beauty would win out over "the girl next door". Will Veronica accept is the question.

August is becoming a "suburb of September" says NPR. (I love it) August used to be the month of doing nothing...schools did not start until after Labor Day, there was no news, everyone was on vacation. But no more.

We ran into our friend Archie (not of comic book fame) on his way to the Food Lion. Bad news is that his daughter had just been in an automobile accident on 87. Hopefully all will be well.

The magazine 15/501 has designated Pittsboro "a hotbed of rural charm". I do not think I can comment.

I am paying attention to the hurricane Bill as it works its way to the west. If it were to hit the coast just think of the weather reports....wild Bill slams into the coast of North Carolina.

"scuse me while I kiss the sky"

Everyone who was alive 40 years ago today has some sort of Woodstock story real or imagined. My recollection is most likely the most common...I almost went. Carolyn, Stevie, and I am not sure who else were sitting in the "parlor" of the Alpha Xi house at ECU several days before (the picture is so Woodstock). Someone, maybe Stevie, said there was a music festival in New York and we should all take a roadtrip....thinking went on but it was decided that it was too far. Oh well we coulda been there.

Who else was there Carolyn? If we had gone would we have turned around?

I just do not know what to say...

"These are the times that try mens souls"

For some reason I believed that there would be calm in the cosmos after November

Mama Mia makes me happy...

Never saw the play, but on this very hot afternoon I am watching it on HBO and smiling. I love my girls soooo much. Thanks for coming Brink.