Quid pro quo

The Supreme Court has declared that the display of the Ten commandments at courthouses is unconstitutional.

What an enormous, monumental victory for all us radicallly NonChristianfundamentalists! What We have succeeded in censoring is the broadcast of moral imperatives that those of us with a modicum of intelligence (not to mention good will) would find compelling, regardless of our religious convictions. But after all, isn't it our duty as non-thinking mean spirited Americans to prevent the encroachment of religious doctrine at any cost.

I'm reminded of the proscription against public displays of Christian symbols at Santa Claus time which has, as a matter of fact, represented something of a tragedy for countless Jewish and Moslem children (including a couple of my own), much to the dismay also of their thoughtful parents.

Nobody is Perfect!

The author of this is unknown to me; I didn't write it. But it certainly expresses my feelings:

"Nobody is perfect. Each of us is a mixture of good qualities and some perhaps not-so-good qualities. In considering our fellow man beings we should remember his good qualities and realize that his faults only prove that he is, after all, a human being. We should keep from making harsh judgement of a person just because he happens to be a dirty, rotten, no good son-of-a- bitch."

Indeed.

Calling All Republicans

Please consider the last defense budget. At #692B, 20% of the domestic total and 47% of the world's total (it's proposed to be over $700B this year). Now, consider the top 20 nations in the world in terms of military spending. The next 19 after us (including China and Russia as numbers 2 & 3 at $100B and $56B) total $615B in all; far short of America's expenditure alone.

Hey jackasses, stop the insanity! You want no tax increases? Then kill the monster.

Lindsay's At It Again

She's been called back into court. The news, predictably, provoked a rash of vitriolic pronouncements in the public comments section of online CNN.

My take: I'm sorry for her weakness, but also for MY OWN, and for YOURS, whatever it may be. I love her and want her to be well.

Dogs

My fantasy of one of the better possible worlds would be a place where pet shops and backyard breeders did not sell dogs or cats, and where shelters were the only place to get one (neutered, microchipped, and vaccinated), at least until the terrible overpopulation problem is solved. Too many of us are insensitive to how precious these innocent helpless lives are, every single one of them!

I believe that behavioral problems are correctable with time and patience. We adopted a pit bull when she was 3.5 years old, a terror who was apparently brutalized in someone's attempt to raise a watchdog. Five years later, we have the sweetest, gentlest, lover of all living things. She knows that she is loved, and exactly like any of us, responds in kind.

I read an article about how to acclimate one's pet to the vet's office. This is not my concern. At the vet's office my coonhound Tess is the very picture of calm, placid serenity. I, on the other hand, am a screaming wreck, yapping, snapping, and pooping all over the floor.

I tell my Tess that I love her (absolute truth!), that she's pretty and sweet, and that she's my puppy (she's 7). She has no idea of what I'm talking about, but the effect is the same as if she did, for both of us.

How about this: In the best of all possible worlds would anyone own any living thing? I'm companion/brother/father/lover to three special needs senior dogs and a 12 year old cat. They are not my pets, because I refuse to objectify them. They are not chattels; I take no rights of ownership. I feed and shelter them, take care of their medical needs, and love on them. I need to. But of course, I'm not your role model.

Make what you will of it.

Collateral Damage

I just read an encouraging update on Gabby Giffords's condition. It caused me to revisit my experience when the story first broke. This from my archive:

Tucson, AZ (CNN) - She was born on September 11, 2001 and died in Saturday's shootings in Arizona. Christina Green's father says the nine years in between were special. "It does say something about our society that our daughter was born on a tragic day and taken out on a tragic day," John Green told CNN's Casey Wian Sunday. Christina attended the event hosted by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords because she had recently been chosen for the student council at Mesa Verde Elementary School, where families left flowers and a note that read, in part, "We are deeply saddened by the loss of this precious child."

She didn't belong here, and if you weep as I do, you don't belong here either. Don't you dare forget her.

Slumdog Millionaire

Finally, to relieve the tedium of idleness at my daughters' home, I found and loaded a DVD of the subject film. I did not discover what all the shouting was about. My boredom was unremitted and, as a matter of fact, overburdened by absolute disgust.

That puzzled me. Could my aesthetics be so unevolved as to not "get it" as Roger Ebert so empathically did? Or am I in error for looking for art in film, intead of some other abstraction (a lesson, an allegory, a demonstration) meant somehow to edify? It only bothered me for an instant, until I remembered that I am (or try to be) my own person. and that particular person watches movies for one reason; an emotional experience that has, in the main, positive elements. I'm not talking about happy endings, but stories that exalt the beauty and passion of  another's struggle, or (and) offer me such.

Specifically, this does not include the gratuitous tableau of a little boy falling over his head into a full latrine hole and, for goodness's sake, emerging from it.