Who has the right to say that it’s okay to blow up a crater on the moon?

Am I the only one on the planet who is more concerned about NASA crashing rockets on the surface of the moon than I am by the fact that President Obama has received an award that he MIGHT not have earned?

Normally I wouldn’t quote the Huffington Post because… well, do I really need to say why I don’t?  It has a lot to do with the same reason I won’t quote WorldNet Daily if you MUST have an answer.  But this time commentator Amy Ephron has some of the same thoughts I’ve been having, so why reinvent the wheel?

The irony is that one of the purposes of the experiment is to assess whether there is any water on the moon and is it worthwhile to send another manned mission to the moon. If we’d just send up two guys with a bucket and shovels, we wouldn’t have to bomb the moon at all.

 

Annoying Articles

When a parent goes to war, military kids grow up fast

Ya think?

Must not be anything to report from Iraq or Afghanistan, so HEY let’s make money by writing about the obvious. UGH.

 

What you can do to inluence the debate

A Guide to the Health-Care Reform Debate

1. Take time to pray on this issue and discuss personal experiences with health care with your friends and neighbors.

2. Continue to educate yourself about the health-care debate. Don’t believe everything that comes into your e-mail inbox or that is said on TV.

The short form:

The Health Care Reform Debate

While I am not pleased with the direction health care reform is going right now, I am absolutely INFURIATED by the outright lies being used as scare-tactics by those who oppose reform.

 

First American Official to Visit Honduras

Mack to Lead Congressional Trip to Honduras This Weekend

“I am looking forward to getting on the ground in Honduras to hear directly from members of the Honduran government about the political situation in the country, as well as the progress of the ongoing talks in Costa Rica.

It’s important to remember that Manuel Zelaya’s removal was not a military coup. The Honduran Supreme Court, attorney general, Congress and the Honduran people were right to confront Zelaya as he usurped the law and gutted their constitution.

During this time of upheaval, the people of Honduras deserve to know that the United States and other freedom-loving nations across the globe stand with them and support a peaceful and legal resolution. I look forward to reaching out to them during this trip.

 

Is there a ‘cure’?

The Hidden Inner Life of Existential Depression

Today, I try to avoid the news because it is a potential trigger.

I realize almost everyone feels bad for victims of violence and disaster, and I’m not saying that I feel worse than anyone else. I’m just saying that I have repeated this cycle since I was five years old and I haven’t found a way to end it. I’ve dug myself into deep emotional holes over things I can’t control.

Why sit around vomiting over South Africa? I can’t fix it. The people that live there can’t fix it… they would if they could, and I pray they find a way.

I think this dude might be onto something!

Hebrews 13:5
Let your conversation be without covetousness;
and be content with such things as ye have:
for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

This verse from Hebrews grabbed hold of my thoughts this morning.  I’ve always looked at it as being content with ‘things’, but maybe there is an element of ‘place’, too.  ”Be content in this place I have put you… “

More to think about.

 

Existential Depression

Types of Depression: Existential Depression

A specific kind of depression, known as existential depression, is brought on by a crisis of meaning or purpose in one’s life. Any significant transition, especially a change of roles in family or work, can trigger this crisis in meaning. The importance of dealing with existential issues should not be underestimated. A number of clinicians have reported that depression (as well as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome) has a strong connection with a person’s lack of success in finding his passion-i.e., not being involved in work/activities that feed the core self. When one does not feel passionate about his or her life, work, or loves, he or she has the potential to experience existential depression. Sometimes, treating existential depression may require major life changes.

How exactly does one determine what those major life changes should be?    I’m thinking that KNOWING one’s need for change and yet UNABLE to identify the change actually contributes to continued depression.

*sigh*

 

A Precipitation Haiku

….

Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain.

Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain.

Rain, rain, rain, rain, rain.

 

Misplaced Faith

Is faith in “intelligence” at the root of our current economic problems?  Is meritocracy killing America?

Jeremy Beer’s thesis <“Wendell Berry and the Traditionalist Critique of Meritocracy.”>, is that meritocracy, the system in which the smartest people with the highest test scores run things, has given us a ruling class of jet-setting thinkers and talkers that is divorced from any particular place and has no contact with the physical world of manual labor and the actual production of goods.

I confess that I had hope that President Obama would be different.  Overlooking his Ivy League education, I chose to focus on his multi-cultural, middle class upbringing with the hope that he would bring real change to Washington.  Instead, it appears we have the “same ol’ – same ol’”.

Unfortunately, President Obama’s economic policy team is meritocracy in motion. That’s why they are so anxious to keep the smart guys who understand the system in place at the various financial institutions and to rationalize the derivatives trading market instead of simply abolishing it.

My fellow Kentuckian closes his article with my exact sentiments:

At this point I would gladly trade a jet-load of Timothy Geithners for one small-town banker who understands that the purpose of finance is to help people make useful things. As Berry put it in his poem, “I think an economy should be based on thrift, on taking care of things, not on theft, usury, seduction, waste, and ruin.”

Of course, the Smart People would do no such thing.  Everyone knows those small-town hicks aren’t intelligent enough to understand the global economy.

All quotes in this post are from the article Long Live Gravity, by Danny Dunacn Collum published in the August 2009 issue of Sojourners magazine.  I’ve provided a link, but you will need to register to view the article.

 

Honduras Update ~ THE COUP THAT WASN’T

The Coup That Wasn’t

Given this most recent news, there can be no excuse for President Obama or any American official to continue to support Zelaya’s attempts to retake control of the country. It’s not even enough for us to remain silent. America’s responsibility in this affair is to either directly support the Honduran people or – at a minimum – call for silence from Chavez, Castro, and others while the Hondurans perform their national duty of protecting the Constitution.

 

Home fires

 

What’s new in Honduras?

I’ve been posting links and such on FaceBook, but it’s hard to read such long wall posts so I’m going to post my friend’s words here on my blog.  She has asked that we do what we can to get the word out regarding the truth about what is happening in Honduras.

For a good inside scoop, read La Gringa’s Blogicito.

July 1, 2009 <from my friend in Honduras>

First – the good news: Taiwan and Israel are the first two nations to recognize the new president of Honduras as the legitimate head of government!

Second – the UN and the Organization of American States (of which the US is a member) are demanding that the former president be returned to power. Honduras was given 72 hours (from this morning, I think) to reinstate him, or sanctions will begin against the nation.

The Honduran nation is holding fast, saying they would rather face hardships than suffer with a ruler who is a potential dictator.

That’s all for now – except that in our city, everything seems normal this morning. Dh and I stopped at the hardware store on our way to Faith’s house, and there were men coming and going, purchasing construction supplies for their regular work. Joking and behaving normally, for the most part.

For our family, we are carefully considering our options. We don’t wish to leave Honduras, and we wouldn’t leave unless we felt it was absolutely essential to the safety of our family. If the US and UN policies do influence Honduras in such a way that a Chavez-puppet government is in place, we would almost certainly no longer be allowed to stay in the country.

Please continue to pray for the people of Honduras!

 

I’m glad I know my butcher personally!

Colorado beef company expands recall due to possible E. coli

 

Sun!

It’s sunny today!  A rare occurence this spring in Kentucky.   Of course, all the rain we’ve had means humidity of sauna proportions.

 

Trekkies… The Next Generation

‘Star Trek’ soars with No. 1 debut

It really was a great movie.

If you really want to know if someone close to you is/was a Trekkie, take them to the movie.  Non-Trekkies will ooh and ahh and generally love this great action adventure film.

Trekkies will be rolling on the floor laughing at seemingly inappropriate moments.

I will not comment about how much (or little) I laughed.

Go see the movie!

 

New Header!

In addition to the endless days without sun, scary thunderstorms, and flood warnings we also got the Greening of Wingfield.

Our chicken coop is on the right. I usually cut it off in the picture, but the hay is so overgrown around the pond it’s barely visible.  If you look to the middle on the left you can see a small sliver of water.