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Monthly Archives: December 2013

Year End


The end of this year is in some cases not much different than most except for a few things. Our Congress has proven that “they” cannot be trusted, the newcomers to Congress (splinter groups) under one major party or the other have through ill conceived tactics shut down the routine government services causing the military to go unpaid and underfunded, government workers to be furloughed without pay(even though their pay was retroactive) and many Voters (remember us?) to be affected through layoffs, service interruptions and mental anguish through media coverage that verged on panic along with the usual misinformation and semi truths. During the past 5 years after a historic event (President Obama’s election) we have seen the worst and best of America with the professional politicians, big money and yes racists leading the charge. The biggest hurdle we face is negating the harm done by the closeted and non closeted bigots who are in power as we may not have an opportunity soon enough to vote for better people to do the work of government. The bigotry is just one part-bigotry is not just about race, color, ethnicity, religious or sexual orientation, it is about all of it and we have a small segment of Americans who have forgotten about what America is about now and at the founding of our Country. The small issues will be resolved in time by normal people not well paid elected officials and are more beholding to big money than little voters.

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50+IDGAD


Life goes on as we are told . Even the worse times are worth it, the bad times make the good times better. Looking back over time you will have regrets and you just move on (sometimes) and accept the value of their lessons. Remember the people who passed through your life and those who remained, those who remained are the good time makers and should be treasured or just remembered with fondness. I have reached and passed the age of 50 years+ IDGAD. This milestone has given me more freedom and a more worldly view on many things. I am grateful for it so IDGAD! (I Don’t Give A Damn!)

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Honors and progress


Recently the CEO of the Springfield Urban League has been selected to the Board of security bank, while this is quite an honor for her as CEO of The Springfield Urban League ,it is less of an honor for the Head Start program administered by the Springfield Urban League. Since 2010 the program has steadily declined while the administrators seemingly prospered. After several plus years of lack luster administration. Head Start is losing 2 to 3 locations due to administrative errors in judgment, shortsightedness and infighting against a duly elected Union. Through the determined and pointed opposition to unionization, many longtime employees were dismissed to the detriment of the program and its clients (which is most of the Eastside). It is certainly wonderful that that the CEO has been accorded this honor but what about the clients (parents and children) and employees of Head Start? This is a situation where a prominent person whose personal and public espousals indicate that the community is their prime focus but their actions tell another story. Ask the parents and employees of Head Start if their well being is being secured by this organization.

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Texas Two Step


Texas has a conundrum, at once there is the strong anti-abortion factor  and a strong smaller government sentiment. This smaller government potion has an effect on the anti-abortion (birth termination for cause) as the Texas government determines the rules regulation this procedure. While the State is strongly anti government and very Red, its actions deny the freedom of choice in the case of unwanted childbirth.  There appears to be no outreach to educate and support victims of rape or incest. The pressure  and regulation on the clinics providing this service only increases the possibilities of unwanted births being added to the welfare rolls they are so vocally against. Is it possible that they (the State) have misread what need to be done?

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Illinois


Only in Illinois can simple issues of law and government be convoluted until the issue is not only resolved but costs much more than originally intended. We have a history of deals made and broken, money taken and not repaid. The state is in debt more to the residents than any other entities. The debt incurred by poor judgment over the years has left the state, its workers and its retired workers holding an empty bag of promissory notes. The State Legislature when negotiating with the workers , made promises it could not keep as far as pensions and pay, the agreements made were untenable as these promises were based on future action which were and have not been taken. The moneys earmarked for this purpose were “borrowed” by the State to run the government but never paid back. This “borrowing” has come full circle and made the state insolvent and a “deadbeat” state! This current status is again on the backs of the workers not the State even though on the surface it appears to be a State issue. Here we are in the Land of Lincoln working under a cloud of mistaken identity.

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Progress


The twentieth century has brought many miraculous inventions and much progress except in Goberment (not a misspelling) . The Federal government has gone steadily downhill for years . As the membership ages out. The Legislature become more polarized and more intractable. There was a time that we respected our leaders in Government but now we laugh at their antic even though we are  affected  deeply by them. I have determined that we have a group of people who are: “Wandering aimlessly not seeing but wanting to be seen”. that’s progress?

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Can You Recall?


There was a time when women traded recipes now with many men being single due to divorce, choice or the loss of a spouse this instance has changed. I have been fairly comfortable in the kitchen as my Mom insured that all of us (9) knew the basics (my younger brother -not so much). Having assumed the task of having a meal ready for my wife when she arrives home, I look to old recipes and new ones. I sometimes try something different but simple. I have taken the crock pot as  or outdoor grill as my go to’s. I recently tried a recipe (modern) for fried rice, this added bok choy to the mix, although I could not remember the Bok Choy in any I ever ate, I put it in. This was a disaster and an affront to the palate. I was able to find a Chinese cookbook I have had for years and it had a recipe that on paper looked exactly how I imagined the dish would be. I made that one and it was all I hoped it would be. To date I have made it several times and each time it gets better as my comfort level increases. I am putting this recipe down here:

Chinese Fried Rice (Ch’ao Fan)

Heat Pan (wok or deep pan)

add 2 T. oil (olive works the best), and fry 2 C. green onions, chopped coarse, until brown. Add 2 C. cold cooked rice (this is important) and sauté. Add a mixture of 2 eggs, stirred slightly, 1 T. soy sauce (more if you like) and 1/2 t. salt;*sauté until done. For variety add 2 C. chopped cooked meat (bacon, ham, shrimp, left overs) or green peppers, chopped or peanuts, shelled and roasted, Heat thoroughly. Serves 4-6.

* May be made in advance to this point and fried in a small amount of oil just before serving.

My preferences in this recipe: I carmelize the onions a bit  more and use a little  more soy sauce and no salt. I have added fresh ginger and a bit of dried red peppers (coarse).  I  add the eggs last once everything else is cooked and heated through. Enjoy.

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Center


There are many descriptions of how a person is perceived or perceives themselves yet no one can definitively say where their center is. There are centrists, leftists and rightists. The issue is that everyone’s center is different! There are degrees of centrism, leftism and rightist. It is easy to fall in the recognized category that defines these views and dispositions but the true measure of one’s leanings is found only by the individual through self examination and retrospect. There are several ways to get to this conclusion, one by may standards is religion through anyone of many sects (conventional and non standard) but even religion with the availability of spiritual leaders is more of an effect than a cause. The professional pollsters tend to ask what someone’s leanings are with questions designed to tilt the answer. This is the same erroneous route taken when scientists determine averages in a persons vital signs such as weight/height ratio, average blood pressure. There always  will be subtle and broad differences from the “norms” yet  the descriptives still hang on and become attached to views that do not fit the “norm”. If you find your own center through the process of examining what you truly believe you may find your views do not necessarily fit the “norm”.

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“You cant believe everythiny you read in the papers”-Updated


There are no more midline news agencies! Once there were the hard hitting, truth telling news outlets, these were print, on air ( radio then TV).  Truth was the order of the day in every story. These outlets for the most part have become mostly biased  to the left or right and extremely radical. There appears to be no desire for the centrist road that many news outlets once strived for. Once checkout stand staples  were  the outlaws and “yellow” rags now it appears that these tactics have migrated into mainstream publications catering to the basic fears of their readers. Years ago I wrote a speech for a college class and the theme was “you can’t believe everything you read in the paper”. As I related a fictional tale of a police raid and its result, I was surprised to see the interest in the fiction. The ending line was “this is fiction invented to show:” you cant’ believe everything you read in the papers”.  This particular speech was the one that got me a passing grade in that class. Apparently I was ahead of the game all those years ago, since the current media outlets have more  information that is more dubious in nature than truth and on air personalities whose personal beliefs are in conflict with what is real but we have many believing what they espouse primarily due to its airing. It is once more a time to pay particular attention to what’s presented by news outlets and understand that what’s presented does not represent all of us.

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This Is Why Cats Are In Command (and they Know it)


Cats’ appetites for rodents that were invading ancient grain stores may started it down the path to domestication, according to a new report.

NEW YORK — A cat-and-mouse game played out in a Chinese village some 5,300 years ago is helping scientists understand how wild felines transformed into the tame pets we know today.

In fact, it was the cat’s appetite that started it down the path to domestication, scientists believe. The grain stored by ancient farmers was a magnet for rodents. And that drew wild cats into villages to hunt the little critters. Over time, wild cats adapted to village life and became tamer around their human hosts.

That’s the leading theory, anyway, for how wild cats long ago were transformed and became ancestors of today’s house cats. That happened in the Middle East, rather than China. But bones from the Chinese village back up the idea that felines took on the pest-control job in ancient times, says researcher Fiona Marshall of Washington University in St. Louis.

Marshall is an author of a report on the fossil research, published online Monday by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Cat-mouse game might explain how felines got tame: Cats' appetites for rodents that were invading ancient grain stores may started it down the path to domestication, according to a new report.AP Photo: Elaine Thompson

This Wednesday, May 23, 2012 file photo shows the sarcophagus for Prince Thutmose’s cat at an exhibit in Seattle.

The study, focused on an agricultural village in northern China, comes from a poorly understood time in the history of cats. The first evidence of domesticated cats comes much later, in Egyptian artwork from about 4,000 years ago.

So what went on in that village?

Researchers found signs that rodents were threatening the village grain supply. Storage vessels were designed to keep them out, and rodents had burrowed into a grain-storage pit.

In the ancient feline bones, chemical signatures indicated that the cats had eaten animals that in turn had fed on millet, a grain crop known to be harvested by the villagers. So apparently, the cats were indeed going after the rodents.

It’s not yet clear whether the cats were from a local wild population, or were already domesticated and had been brought in from elsewhere, Marshall said. Either way, it shows that ancient cats filled the niche at the heart of the hypothesis about how domestication began, she said.

Greger Larson of Durham University in England called the new work “an important step forward.” Few studies have focused on how cats became domesticated, in contrast to dogs, pigs and sheep, he said.

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