Politics: SHARIA LAW IN AMERICA?

Watching the news of 2/16/12 and Congressman Issa's panel of men trying to pretend that they were not interested in the birth control insurance coverage issue raised by President Obama but only in the separation of church and state would have been funny except that what they did to legislative processes and what they're after isn't funny. Of course, the ruse didn't work; the pundits had a field day with the lack of women on the panel and the effort to promote the idea that most sexually active Catholics do not use birth control.


But from my window on the world, the pundits missed the best talking point of all: Sharia Law. Mostly male Christian elements in our legislature have previously done and are presently doing exactly what fundamentalist Muslims do when they impose Sharia Law. The rules they seek to impose may differ from Islamic extremism, but there are two important similarities.

About Me: WHAT HAPPENED???

Some wit has proclaimed that inside of every 70 year old is a 20 year old wondering what happened. That wit is right on. As my daughter remarked, the older we get, the more like ourselves we become, but I thought as my body aged, my personality would change with it. It hasn’t worked out that way. There’s this major disconnect. At times, if I think about things in advance, I adjust gracefully, but sometimes I am the quintessence of fuddle-brained frustration! A few examples:

I was once a prodigious multi-tasker who could do six things at once. Now if I do two things at once, I'm distracted by a third, then a fourth as I deal with the elements of the first two.  Too often I'm lucky to complete one! Several emails and video clips on the internet let me know I'm in ever increasing company judging from the number of times they arrive in my inbox.

Poetry: FLAT CHAMPAGNE

Sunday, when we were together,
The energy of our connections
Bubbled like champagne.

But Monday we looked at the bottle,
Read the label and wondered:
Is this stuff good for us?

We re-corked the bottle - to save the
Effervescence - but it didn’t work.
By Tuesday, the fizz was gone.

Parenting: SOCK THERAPY

My son came home late one day during his first year in high school, paced around the kitchen and started to rant. 

“The Principal really ticked me off! He is so unfair! “ When he sat down in a chair and toed off his shoes he saw his toe poking out of a hole in his sock. He first pulled the hole to cover his toe, but as his rant continued, he began picking and pulling at the hole. 

“I was trying to break up a fight (rip goes the sock) and got sent to the office (rip, riip) with the guys who were fighting (rip) and I got blamed (rip, rip, rip) and we weren’t allowed to explain (two-handed RIIIIP) and I had to apologize (rip, RIIIIIIP) and serve detention (rip, rip, rip, rip), and I’m so mad I want to break something! (RIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIPPPP)”

About Me: THE COFFEE-GRINDER CHRISTMAS

In my senior year of college, I married my best friend. He was a graduate student on a stipend so we had little money. I had saved $15.00 for his one Christmas present and hoped to find a vintage coffee grinder with which he could grind the fresh roasted coffee beans he preferred.

I had had no luck and now it was Christmas Eve and I was taking one last walk in and out of shops in the antiques district of Baltimore.

I queried each proprietor and they invariably said I’d have to look myself so I went all the way to the back of each shop, tiptoeing to see on top of tall shelves laden with stuff, peering under tables and into dark corners, even peeking into “staff only” areas. No luck.

GUEST BLOG by SGT. SHERRILL on the CENTRAL ASIA INSTITUTE'S BLOG

In this season when we anticipate the birth of the Prince of Peace, this heartfelt poem by Sgt Sherrill expresses my own hope for the work that is going on in Afghanistan below the drones with the next generation - children so eager to learn and grow in whatever direction they are bent. What kind of education are they getting about the United States? Will the Central Asia Institute, Women for Afghan Women, other NGOs and the Sgt Sherrills of our military presence prevail or will the messages of the Taliban and our drones win the next generation? How will you participate in the outcome?

Behind the Wall
by Sgt. M. Douglas Sherrill, Jr.

I hear the voices behind the wall,...

The Kitchen Sink: CONSUMERISM

From my friend N.J.R.

Regarding the way things work......

Once upon a time there was a SAINTED but unsung hero who invented the shower.  Boy, it didn't take long for that one to catch on!  Soon, everybody was taking a shower, and our world was much improved.  Then, another guy came along who modified the shower head to make the spray adjustable......... Hmmmmmm....that really was an improvement and everybody got the new shower head.
 
Along comes another guy who gets the idea to sex the whole thing up by inventing a pulsing shower head.  Then, this whole thing evolved into the hot tub by putting the pulsing shower heads under water into an enlarged bath tub. Wow, that was popular too...and muy sexy. Then the conservationists got on board and the "water-saver" nozzles were invented, and that was better yet.


Well, THAT is how capitalism works....... and that is what has made America such a hugely productive economic engine.  THEN...