Friday's Odds and Ends

Hello, my name is Maryann, and I am a parent who spanked her children. Primarily with my hand and sometimes with a hot-wheel track - my boys can attest to how that stung without injuring them - but never with a weapon that would bruise them or make them bleed. And corporal punishment was reserved for serious infractions such as lying or stealing.  What could a four-year-old child have possibly done that was so terrible it warranted the discipline that NFL player Adrian Peterson inflicted on his son, beating him with a switch until the child bled?

Since the news of what Peterson did broke last week, people are speaking up in defense of his actions, espousing the old adage, "spare the rod spoil the child." His mother was quoted as saying he did it out of love for his child. "When you whip those you love it's not about abuse, it's about love."

Sorry Ms. Jackson, but whipping a four-year-old until he bleeds is not love.

This is a father's love.

Enough about that. Have you heard about the new website for the wealthy among us, Netropolitan? To join, one must ante up $9,000, and the site is billed as "The online country club for people with more money than time." The direct link to the site didn't work when I tried it, maybe because I didn't pay my $9,000, so I linked to an article that has more information. Just in case you might want to join. (smile)

Last Sunday in the Dallas Morning News, Steve Blow's column was about the ongoing debate about the separation of church and state that gains new fuel every time someone objects to a religious symbol in a public place or the religious right petitions to allow prayers at public gatherings. Steve's column mentioned two recent issues in the Dallas area that stirred the embers of the debate. First was a plaque mounted on a school building dedicating the school to "...the education of God's children and to their faithful teachers in the name of the holy Christian Church."

I'm a Christian, but I object to the plaque since some of the students and teachers there might not be Christian. Steve suggested the religious leaders in the town go to the school board and say, "In hindsight, those plaques really do represent public monies promoting one religion over others. That is not the American way and they should be removed."

The other flap is over a request by a group of atheists to be allowed to do an invocation before a city council meeting in Rowlett on a rotation basis with the religious representatives. The hue and cry that elicited has been loud and strong, and I'll admit that when I first heard about the request I wondered why an atheist would want to do an invocation. Who would they be invoking? Then I read Steve's column, reminding us that "Our cherished freedom of religion includes the freedom to choose no religion." He urged the religious leaders in Rowlett to speak those words to the City Council members and ask them to "...allow them (atheists) to bring a secular word of inspiration periodically."

The final point in Steve's column was about why our founding fathers were so careful to keep religion and politics apart. "Just look around the Middle East at what happens when they merge into one.
It’s a mess. A bloody mess.

"Some see the problem as Islam itself. In truth, much of the problem is simply the mixture of church and state into one toxic brew."

So true.

Now to close with some fun from the funny papers. This one is from Crankshaft. Rose is visiting with a lady friend telling her, "My lungs seem to be bothering me. And there's something wrong with my bladder. But those things aren't as bad as the pain I get in my back. I don't know if it's my pancreas, my spleen or my liver. And then I get these heart palpitations that just seem to go on and on."

Her litany of ailments goes on through several panels, then Crankshaft walks into the kitchen and says to his daughter, Pam, "You're missing Rose's organ recital."

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Do you have plans for something fun? I'm going to a play Friday night and will have our monthly writers' group meeting on Sunday. 

Remembering 9/11

With the passing of time, the urgency we all felt that awful September day seems to have waned somewhat. Now we are more focused on the inconveniences of air travel that event spawned than on what we as a nation and a people experienced in the first weeks and months following the terrorist attacks.

Not that we should keep the fear and anger foremost on our minds, as that terror-mindset just feeds the cause of the terrorists. That was pointed out in a recent column by Steve Blow in The Dallas Morning News last Sunday. He wrote about the hatred against Islam that is sometimes preached in the pulpit and on the airways, pointing out that most Muslims do not support terrorists, especially the most recent activity by ISIS in Iraq.

Steve quotes Robert Hunt, a professor at SMU's Perkins School of Theology, who wishes that the press would be more interested in spreading the news that many more Muslim nations are condemning the violence than the few who perpetuate terrorism. Unfortunately, the old newspaper adage still prevails, "If it bleeds it leads" and "The fact that Islamic society condemns ISIS isn't news. We only hear about Muslims at war because peace isn't news."

Hunt also offers this comment, "If we want to defeat terrorists, we have to refuse to be terrified. And we have to not spread their fear"

And in honor of this day I want to share this video of the Alan Jackson song, "Where Were You "When the World Stood Still?" I get goosebumps every time I hear it, mainly because the song encourages love, not fear and hate.

Friday's Odds and Ends

The first bit of good news is that it has warmed up just a bit and some of the places hit the hardest with winter storms this week are getting a reprieve. It's a balmy forty degrees here, and I am so glad I did not have to haul buckets of hot water to melt ice in the horse trough this morning. 

Today I'm sharing blueberry scones with all my visitors. Grab one and enjoy.

 In last Sunday's Parade Magazine, novelist Brad Meltzer wrote an interesting article titled Do Kids Still Want to be President. He did some research and discovered that, unlike when some of us were young and aspired to grow up to be President of the United States, today's young people don't have the same aspirations. In a poll of kids between ages of 10 and 16 that was conducted by the publisher Penguin Young readers only 27% of the kids said that they would like to grow up to be president. Among the 15 to 16-year-olds there were only 13% that said they would like to be president.

Meltzer thinks that one of the problems is the fact that we are so vocal with our dissatisfaction of the president. All the young kids see is the frustration that we have with politicians and government and all the negative press about the president. So why would they want a job that is so thankless?

Another news item that caught my attention this week was a column by Steve Blow with the Dallas Morning News. He wrote a piece about the difficulty he has hearing some of the dialogue on television shows, and he actually went to get his hearing checked because he thought that was the problem. What he discovered was that his hearing is just fine.

Photo Courtesy of ActiveRain.com

 One of the reasons many people have trouble catching all the dialogue in some TV programs is that the actors mumble more in today's shows than they did in shows 20 or 30 years ago. He wrote that he caught some reruns of shows that aired in the 60s and 70s and noticed that the actors spoke clearly and distinctly. So part of the problem with hearing dialogue in current shows is the way the audio is taped with actors talking fast, actors talking over each other, and a lot of sound in the background.

In the column, Steve also pointed out that the newer flat screen HD televisions have the speakers pointing to the back. He joked that he could hear the dialogue much better if he stuck his head behind the TV, although that did create a problem with the image. With the kind of technology we have to make what we see on screen so clear and defined, it would be wonderful if television manufacturers came up with a way to make audio match the same high standards.

Now for some fun from the comic strips. This is from Dilbert:

Pointy-Haired Boss is asking Dogbert, "What's the newest management jargon I need to pretend to understand?"

Dogbert responds, "Experts say you should engage employees and follow from the front."

Pointy-Haired Boss asks, "Does that mean anything?"

Dogbert answers, "No one knows. Just to be safe you should tell people you're doing it."

Pointy-Haired Boss asks, "Should I act as if I'm passionate, or is this more of a fake caring situation?"

Dogbert says, "Beats me try combining the two."

So, Pointy-Haired Boss walks away thinking,  "Fake passion plus fake caring." He comes up to an employee who says, "My uncle died."

Pointy-Haired Boss says, "Woot!! What was his name?!"

In closing, I just want to share a bit of a new review for my mystery, Boxes For Beds. The reader really, really enjoyed the story, and I am so grateful that she took the time to write a review. Here's what she had to say:

"Boxes For Beds" pulls on two of the most powerful strings in the human catalog of fears--the fear of losing your child, and the fear of being falsely accused. The author does a masterful job of setting up the story in the early 60's in Arkansas."

Monday Morning Musings

The IRS has come under fire recently for allegations that it targeted Tea Party groups for audits and special attention. An unidentified agent in the IRS office in Cincinnati told congressional investigators that the office was told to search for Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt status. Following on the heels of that allegation, is a new charge of excessive spending. The Treasury Department’s inspector general released the preliminary report on conference spending this weekend. The report states the IRS spent about $50 million to hold at least 220 conferences for employees from 2010 to 2012.

None of that is good news for the IRS, but something else that has not made national headlines is even worse.

Kerri Steele, a young mother in Frisco, Texas, who lost her husband to cancer late in December, was audited by the IRS. She was still dealing with her own grief and that of her three young children when she got the letter from the IRS saying they were auditing medical expenses for 2010 and 2011. Kerri was given 30 days to assemble the required documentation, which was no easy task for someone who was emotionally battered, so she asked for an extension. She was told that was impossible and she had to comply or face huge fines.

Steve Blow, columnist for the Dallas Morning News, checked into this situation, and a spokesperson for the IRS referred him to a section of the code that states that examiners don't have the authority to grant delays. Of course not. Low level employees anywhere don't have that authority, but somebody does. And instead of stonewalling a request, wouldn't common decency dictate that the examiner seek out that higher authority? Well, as Steve put it, "I don't think that's covered in the manual."

Too bad.

So, early this morning I get a phone call from someone at the National Republican Headquarters wanting to talk to me about something to do with "Like Ronald Reagan." No doubt in response to the recent comments by Bob Dole that the national party needs to hang a "closed for repairs" sign on the office doors until it comes up with a few positive ideas. Dole also said that today's ideologically rigid GOP probably wouldn't find a place for him, Ronald Reagan and other GOP legends who placed governing ahead of grandstanding.

I'm guessing the call this morning was to tell me who in the party is like Ronald Reagan, as that was the opening gambit, "Like Ronald Reagan." Since I hung up right after that, the recorded voice did not get a chance to tell me who or what was like the former president. Not that I'm disappointed.

I take issue with that call on two counts. First, instead of trying to "spin" out of  current problems within the political party, why not do something constructive and beneficial to the people. Overhauling the IRS might be a good place to start.

Secondly, if you want to win favor with the great unwashed masses, phone calls before business hours is not the way to go. Most people respond to phone calls late at night or early morning with a bit of panic. Has something happened to a friend or family member? So we answer with heart pounding just a bit, only to hear a recorded voice try to sell us something.

Not smart.

Lets all Vote

As this campaign season winds down - thank goodness - I'm trying to not let my cynicism over the mess that government and politics are in to deter me from voting. It is so easy to say to hell with it all and stay out of the mess, and plenty of people do, but that is the last thing we should do.

 Even though is seems that nothing is "for the people" or about the people, we need to hang on to this primary right we have to chose our leadership. And perhaps we need to start thinking seriously about a major overhaul of leadership, but that is a topic for another time.

Today, I just want to encourage people to be involved in the process these last few weeks leading up to the election. Don't just listen to the news or pick up on the campaign ads, but spend a little time on the Internet visiting sites that offer factual information that can help you make an informed decision this November.

Politifact.com is a site that separates fact and fiction when it comes to what we can believe from political ads and press reports.

Factcheck.org is another source for ferreting out distortions of fact for political gain.

Both of those sites cover the presidential campaign, as well as various state campaigns and don't show any favoritism to either political party. That is what makes them so valuable.

And if you get messages in your e-mail box that purport to have important information about Obama or Romney, go to Snopes.com to see if the information is accurate or just another urban myth. Some of the messages that have been sent to me with requests to pass them on have been shocking.

I got the idea to write this piece after reading a column by Steve Blow in The Dallas Morning News. In fact, thank you to Steve for giving the links to these three sites. The title of his column was Let the Truth Be Your Voters Guide in November, and he ended by saying "Investigate what you hear in the next few weeks. Don't just accept what sounds good. Regardless of political leanings, our highest loyalty ought to be to the truth."

Amen to that.

Friday's Odds and Ends

In reviewing a play, "I am a Teacher", by Dallas playwright and actor, David Marquis, Dallas Morning News columnist, Steve Blow commented that we no longer just have standardized testing in education today, we have standardized education. "It's a rigid, regulated, one-size fits all approach to teaching. But schools are not factories and kids are not widgets."

I wish every high-level school administrator would recognize that fact. Kids learned more when there were less regulations and oversight and teachers were allowed to teach - not be bureaucrats.

Susan Gubar, a professor of English at Indiana University, the author of Memoir of a Debulked Woman, recently wrote an interesting column about being a cancer survivor. Actually, she said, "don't call me a survivor. Her main point was she thinks the term takes something away from those still fighting,.  She also thinks that the term somehow says something negative about those who do not win the fight against cancer. That somehow they did not try hard enough. "Does it cast those who died from the disease in the role of victims who somehow failed to attain the requisite resiliency to overcome it?"

Non of the cancer survivors I know think that way. They honor and uphold every person who has succumbed. They are also first to say that surviving does not make them heroes. They are just the lucky ones who had several things in their favor, the cancer was found early, the treatments worked and they have been cancer-free for five years or more.

"We urge Indonesian Muslims to calm down, because the majesty and greatness of God and the prophet Muhammad will not be diminished by these insults." Amidan Shaberah of Indonesia, a prominent cleric.

Amen!

 Now for a little fun from The Argyle Sweater: Arnold Schwarzenegger is standing in front of a large to-do list. Number 1, star in movie with DeVito. 2, Get to know housekeeping staff.3,  Become governor of California. 4, Win Oscar. 5, Look great in a speedo after 60. 6, Make movie about baroque composer: "I'll be Bach."

NOTE: I will be offline most of the weekend. Play nice without me.

Friday's Odds and Ends

First I want to announce a sale for Mother's Day and the rest of  May - One Small Victory  is only 99cents on Kindle. This is part of a special program sponsored by Daily Cheap Reads - a great site for finding good books at bargain prices. Check the link starting May 8th. to find a list of other books for this great price.

Now, back to the regularly scheduled program.

Maybe it was just a coincidence that after I saw a woman walking down the street in spike heels that I came home and read a recent column by Steve Blow in The Dallas Morning News about women and their love affair with shoes.  This woman was trying to keep up with her friend, who was wearing walking shoes, and it looked like every step was an effort in maintaining balance while trying to pick up some speed.

I thought of that woman when I read the newspaper column and noted comments made by a podiatrist. She said that a heel that is 3 inches high creates seven times more pressure on the foot that a one-inch heel. 

She also had a lot to say about the pointy toes that barely have room for one toe, let alone five.

I think Steve summed it up well when he wrote, "We're horrified by the thought of barbaric old customs like Chinese foot binding, but that shoe (a 6-inch stiletto) looked like modern-day torture to me."

The main news coverage this week centered on the death of bin Laden, and reactions were varied. Some people took to the streets in celebration, and Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson referred to that as a show of "unmitigated patriotism".

Did he mean to imply that those of us who did not party in the streets, waving our flag, are not patriotic? I sure hope not, because there are plenty of folks who find such celebrations a bit distasteful. I am glad that bin Laden is no longer a threat. I am proud of the military and intelligence personnel who were responsible for the mission. But I cannot say I am glad he is dead. Glad and dead just don't go together for me.

If you choose to celebrate the death of bin Laden, that is your right. Have a party. But don't assume that those of us who decline the invitation to join you are not patriotic.

On a final note, columnist Steve Chapman wrote a recent column defending online porn sites, stating they cause no visible, provable, collateral damage. He wrote, "Given the evolution of sexual standards in America, there's not a lot that clearly qualifies as obscene anymore."

I had to read that twice to make sure I wasn't misinterpreting it. First, sexual standards have not evolved. They have devolved, if that is such a word. There are no standards anymore. And there are a lot of things that qualify as obscene if we would just start calling it that again instead of embracing it and propagating it.


What rattled your chain this week in the news?

Don't be a Victim

The Media in Dallas has all been abuzz over remarks made by Police Chief David Brown to City Council  members.  Those comments were made during a  Public Safety Committee meeting while speaking about a reported 25 percent spike in sexual assaults so far this year compared to the same period last year. He pointed out that a lot of those assaults are connected to alcohol use and date rape.

In putting forth the department's plan to address this increase he said they are considering a public-education campaign urging women to exercise extra caution when going out with someone new, to be careful about drinking too much in those situations or to always have a trusted, sober friend present.

During the meeting a reporter from the Dallas Observer   was doing a live feed to his blog and  reported that the Chief was blaming women for sexual attacks. Later in the week, Dallas Morning News columnist Steve Blow, came to the Chief's defense saying this idea was no different than public safety campaigns to encourage people to lock their homes and cars and don't leave valuables in cars.

Blow was taken to task by letter writers who said that he was supporting the idea that women are to blame for sexual assaults and rape. Beth Newman, dirctor of Women's and Gender Studies at SMU, wrote, "A public education campaign emphasizing the responsibility of women to protect themselves merely reinforces the idea that a man's taking advantage of an "opportunity" to rape is to be expected."

In response to that letter, another  woman wrote, "No woman drunk or sober ever deserves to be raped, even if she is dancing naked on a tabletop in a room full of convicted serial rapists. However, I would never advise my daughter to allow herself to get drunk while on a date with a man she barely knows."

This controversy has really resonated with me because I was assaulted once. And I was not the least bit offended by Chief Brown's comments. To me, what he was saying was, be careful that you don't make yourself prey. Rapists are looking for every opportunity to take advantage of a vulnerable person. Do what you can to make sure you are not that person. 

That isn't blaming the victim. 

I'm Officially Old

The other day I mentioned to my husband that I hardly know any of the celebrities mentioned on entertainment shows or written about in the entertainment section of the newspaper. "I wonder if that is part of the official rite of passage for the Social Security set," I said.

He laughed and said he noticed the same thing. "I read the celebrity birthday announcements," he continued. "And I only recognize the names of people over 60."

I thought about sending a cartoon caption to "Plugger" -- the cartoon that is most recognized by "You know you're a Plugger if...." Sort of an old folks version of Jeff Foxworthy's "You know you're a Redneck if...."

Then I decided I would just use the topic for a blog post. Come up with some really funny lines about being old and wow everyone with my wit. But before I could do it, Steve Blow, a columnist for the Dallas Morning News, beat me to it. I've been a faithful reader of his columns for years - even the ten years I lived in Nebraska - and he has done some good ones. But this was one of his best. Maybe because the subject resonated so strongly with me. Or maybe because he's a damn fine writer. Or maybe both.

Regardless, you might want to Click over and read his column in which he asks, "How are they celebrities if I haven't heard of them?" It is well worth the read.