Happy Fathers Day!

On a card from my kids:

Oh, yeah? Well, my Dad would chuck more wood than your Dad would chuck, even if your Dad could chuck wood, which I doubt!    © Hallmark Cards

I laugh every time I read it! (The actual card has a funny picture of a cute woodchuck looking like it is yelling over at some other woodchuck.)

Happy Bastille Day!

Gregg Allman's "Ain't Wastin' Time No More" (Allman Brothers Band, Eat a Peach) has been running through my mind a lot lately:

Well by and by, way after many years have gone,
And all the war freaks die off, leavin' us alone.
We'll raise our children in the peaceful way we can,
It's up to you and me brother
To try and try again.

Well, hear us now, we ain't wastin' time no more
'Cause time goes by like hurricanes
Runnin' after subway trains
Don't forget the pouring rain.

Voting Their Consciences ...

... or not, as the case may be. Project Vote Smart has posted "Disabled American Veterans Ratings", a chart showing how our senators and representatives have supported issues of importance to the DAV organization. (I found the link via Alternate Brain, who got it from One Pissed Off Veteran.) Unlike the other bloggers, I did not find the ordered-by-state chart easy to read. I downloaded the information, broke it out into separate sections for the Senate and the House, and sorted the entries from the lowest to the highest ratings. With a little highlighting, the chart is now very striking.

(June 16, 2010: Since the tables were so large,
I moved them to a separate page; click below.)

Disabled American Veterans Ratings (2005; sorted)

Even Hate My Rock and Roll

In John Lennon's song, "Yer Blues" (tab), he's got the blues so bad he even hates his rock and roll. Six years into the Bush administration, with every day bringing a brand new outrage, I sometimes even get tired of reading the political blogs I like to frequent. How long can this go on? As one commenter asked on a blog, this is the worst presidency ever - how can the Democrats not find an issue to run successfully on?

Geov Parrish neatly sums up the Bush presidency in one sentence ... well, make that two sentences (via Gordon at Alternate Brain):

So it has come to this. After two stolen elections, a secret energy task force, Enron and assorted other corporate scandals, massive tax cuts for the rich, the largest federal debts and trade deficits in world history, blowing up the ABM treaty, killing stem cell research, laughing off global warming, allowing 9-11 to happen, stonewalling its (and every other) investigation, failing to catch Osama bin Laden, the PATRIOT Act, still-unsolved anthrax attacks, launching a secret prison system, denying due process to both foreigners and Americans, engaging in torture, monitoring Americans' phone calls, e-mails, and faxes without a warrant, launching unprecedented foreign and domestic propaganda campaigns, blurring the line between church and state, trying to overthrow Hugo Chavez, using lies to launch an illegal invasion of Iraq, badly mishandling both the occupation of Iraq and the resulting insurgency, outing Valerie Wilson (and lying about it), grandstanding on Terri Schiavo, pushing through a miserable Medicare prescription drug law, privatizing public lands, trying to privatize Social Security, securing CAFTA, appointing two reactionaries to the U.S. Supreme Court, the Abramoff scandals, and botching Katrina's aftermath as well as its rebuilding, among many, many other things -- after all that -- the tipping points that bring Cheney and Bush to this abysmal public standing are shooting a lawyer and defending an ordinary transnational corporate deal.

Jumping At Shadows

A couple of weeks ago, The Washington Post reviewed Peter D. Kramer's latest book, Against Depression (see "There's Nothing Deep About Depression", an essay adapted from the book). The reviewer (and, I guess, the book) made an important point:

The opposite of depression is not happiness, but resilience.

"Obsessions Rule Compulsions' Fool, a song ostensibly about Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, touches on this point:

Cast adrift upon the ocean of life
Every breeze is a storm.
I've got no rudder and I've got no sail
Don't know which way I am going.

Chorus:
Feel buffeted upon all sides
North and South
East and West.
Tossed about
Left and right
Up and down.
My mind can't get no rest.

Every breeze is a storm ...

"Ocean Storm"
by Joyce Wright

Double Takes

The unlikely juxtaposition of things often gives pause for thought, if not a little confusion and comedy at times.

My psychiatrist has a photograph of two adjacent shops in a strip mall:

• "SOUTHERN SEAFOOD" restaurant
• "tropical fish" store

A recent HealthyPlace.com newsletter had these two headlines, one right after another:

• "Antidepressants May Improve Heart Attack Survival"
• "FDA Re-Warns Adults About Antidepressants, Suicide"

A more macabre mix-up occurred on the cover of one of my daughter's teen magazines, with two headlines for unrelated stories placed one above the other:

• "Guys' Most Embarrassing Moments ... Revealed"
• "Real-Life Story: My Boyfriend Killed Himself in Front of Me"

Ugh ...

We Love You, Mom

My mom died 10 years ago today. I was reading one of her high-school English essays and came across this passage, "Round and Round - February", written when Mom was 14. It struck me as very much in the style of George Eliot:

Such brilliance as was gazed upon in the assemblies, week of February 24, when the "pride and joy", the "apple of good old Catonsville's eye" (i.e., the Honor Roll and Merit List), was exhibited to us poor mortals who somehow or other had remained in the 70% of saddened intellectuals (?) because of an average of below "C or above".

It seems that the students of Catonsville are bound to be reformed by their elders (teachers, preachers, parents), by hook or by crook. Who has not noticed the "stick man", opposite Mr. Maher's door, who raises a commanding hand and preaches the doctrine, "Avoid saying git and ain't." Who could miss, "Walk, don't run", "Single file please", and other such signs that are for the betterment of the younger generation?

From her eulogy:

Mom instilled in her sons a love of reading, particularly at the dinner table, for which her daughters-in-law have never forgiven her! The magic of books was made even more so by the abundance of books she gathered for us. Mom herself was a voracious reader. When she lost her eyesight, she continued by listening to books on tape (over 500 by one count). After her stroke, she was especially comforted by Dad reading to her.

...

Mom and Dad developed and shared many interests over the years: Williamsburg (where they courted), antiques, azaleas, oriental rugs, Japanese prints, and others. Many a quiet summer evening was enjoyed sitting in lawn chairs outside, watering the dogwoods and the azaleas.

I don't know how my brothers will remember Mom, but I will remember her getting a flat tire taking Sparky to the airport for his flight to an archaeological dig in Israel, playing chess with Peter on the chessboard Dad made, and watching soap operas with Andy. And I will remember the quiet pleasure during my college years of sitting in the dining room with a late-night snack and a good computer book, with Mom sitting in the living room reading or watching the news.

I believe that God used Mom's illness to prepare the rest of us for her death, to soften the loss to us. As I told my daughter, we can be glad that Mom is no longer sick and that she can now see her grandchildren whom she loved (and still loves) so much.

We love you, Mom.

We truly do. And we miss you.