Happy St. Patty's Day
According to Bill Maher, due to the current economic situation, for the first time in a long time there is actually serious talk of the federal government legalizing marijuana.
Maybe there finally will be a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow ...
Kona Gold, that is!
10 comments:
PromiseMeThis, I watched the "debate" between Ron Paul and Stephen Baldwin. I was amused at how Stephen got a plug in for two of his B movies. I'm with Ron Paul on this one. Those days are long over for me, but I don't want the government protecting me from myself. I think "protection" laws should only be in place when other people, property, animals, etc. can be adversely affected.
Ron Paul is an interesting guy. He certainly is outspoken and has taken a lot of unpopular (to Republicans) stances. Some things I agree with and others On The Issues... not so much.
Promise:
File this under complaints/suggestions/ requests. First of all, I know next to nothing about this damn blogging. And I relate to a computer about the same way I do a bicycle: I get on, start pedaling, it goes forward. It is what it is. And as I said around the corner the other day, if I'm going to learn something new, I'll have to forget something first.
So here it is: I just read Buckeye's post on an older thread that I just happened to go back and look at. Is there any way to organize comments so that they are available in a current page, or must we continue to check cold threads for 'late' additions?
BTW, I recently described myself, a la Buckeye, as a democratic socialist libertarian anarcho-primitivist agnostic. I'm not real certain about the agnostic part, as in "I used to be apathetic, but now I just don't care."
As for St. Patty's Day, my wife's name is McKee, so although there's no Irish in me, with any luck at all I'll be in the Irish before the day's gone.
Windhover (with an 'H' people, G it again)
Windhover, Yay, I got it right this time. I'm a "hit and miss" computarian myself. The things I have learned are mostly by trying....failing...failing again and finally getting something accomplished or often not.
I hope PromiseMeThis does have a solution to the comment organization challenge. I have had the same experience as you have with going back,back and further back trying to find one comment from a month ago. Most of the time, I give up.
It's tough to give up on a Buckeye post. He is a clever, inventive and independent man.
It sounds like we share a lot of the same political and philosophical views.
Good luck on the "Luck with the Irish".
Windhover, Clearayes:
The other day, when I copied over your posts to a new thread, it was because I realized that it would be necessary to post a daily intro message. In terms of how I had hoped to be able to manage this blog, this was not what I initially had in mind. I really was hoping for a more hands-off approach. I stated in the post I made regarding how 'Dennis had inspired me to conceive this blog as a flow over from C.C.'s', that I had really hoped to just turn this one over to the people to let them use it as they saw fit. Unfortunately, being new to Blogger myself, I am having a few growing pains. I will now attempt to post an initial message each day under which you may post anything that comes to mind that day. If you care to follow-up on a thread from a previous day, you will have to do just as you would if you wanted to add a new comment to the comments from a C.C. crossword blog a few days past. I hope this helps, if not let me know.
Now for the post I had originally composed in response to, ClearAyes', comment regarding Ron Paul -
ClearAyes,
Nice to hear from you. I have not had the chance to visit C.C's blog today, or even to do the puzzle. I also chose to skip my morning skate in favor of some shopping, afterwhich I spent the early afternoon cooking. I, once again, underestimated the time involved (as I often do with a new recipe) and, now that it's clouding up, it appears that I have missed what remains of the daylight, which I normally use for reading. I have no regrets, being one quarter Irish I felt obliged to make Irish Stew on St. Patty's Day.
I, too, have not smoked weed in some time. The last time I did it was pretty comical (in a sad sort of way, maybe I will tell you about that some other time).
As for Ron Paul, I share the same ... "with him on some issues, not so much on others attitude". I did not vote for him in the last election. I totally agree with him about pot, but his views on abortion diverge from mine. In all fairness to him, I have never found a politician that totally reflects my views. This is, no doubt, a large part of the reason that I deride most of them.
Can't they see that I am right?
I also share your attitude toward comedians (and this ties into my abortion clash with Ron Paul). Although I always found George Carlin to be funnier than hell, like Bill Maher, I don't share his atheist views. This might seems surprising. You may recall that I made a post to C.C.'s blog a while back in which I advocated atheism. The catch was: I was advocating it for the fair-weather-friends of religion. By that I mean those who don't seem to have much use for its mystical aspects or its application to their daily lives for purposes of compassion. These people often, however, find it very convenient to wield it as a weapon whenever the urge to bash some heathen over the head strikes them.
I realize that I may appear to be rambling, but please bear with me. The way in which this relates to my difference with Ron Paul over abortion is that, although I do not believe (there's that buzzword again ... 'belief') in some anthropomorphic version of God ... some ridiculous notion of a bearded, old man up in the sky that is ready to kick my butt if I don't fall in line ... I do believe in God as the highest ideal of each of ourselves. I also believe in the existence of the 'soul'. I simply cannot buy some mechanist view that we are merely the sum of our parts. Therefore, it stands to reason that there must be some point at which the soul inhabits the body. I do not believe that it occurs at conception. So you see, despite what many of my detractors might think, I, too, have a sort of faith.
So, if I don't believe, like Bill Maher, that a baby is not really a human being until it has physically passed out of a woman's body and, on the other hand, I don't believe that a fetus is truly is a bonafide human simply because a man and a woman got it on a minute ago, then what do I believe?
A very smart man, Renée Descartes, once referred to the pineal gland as the 'Seat of the Soul'. There is scientific research that shows that there is a burst of activity in the pineal gland at the age of seven weeks. I suspect that this is the point at which the soul inhabits the human body. Of course, I cannot prove this. Is it irrational? Perhaps. That is why I really don't ever discuss the subject. I don't expect to ever be able to convince anybody that I am right regarding this matter. This is the most I have ever discussed it. I have to take some position, though. If I believe in the truth of the exisitence of the soul while simultaneously denouncing Bill Maher's position and having no faith in Ron Paul's, then what?
Given what I have just written, I hope that, even if you do not agree with me (it would surprise me if you do), you can at least understand why I would hold certain views. Those views being:
1) If a fetus has no soul prior to seven weeks, then an abortion prior to that point does not constitute the same type of violence as one conducted at seven months (and, yes, I do think the term 'Partial Birth Abortion' is a fair assessment ... in my opinion, a baby that age is a legitimate human being.)
2) If a fetus has no soul and if the fetal stem cells are merely going to be discarded, where there will be no hope of a potential new life, then why should they not be used for research, the results of which might alleviate human suffering. I see this as being no different from organ donation.
Are my, primarily, anti-abortion views and my pro-stem cell research views contradictory? Only if viewed via the prism of, what I hope, is an old paradigm.
Promise:
May I call you that?
It probably isn't fair to respond to such a long credo with short statements, but I'm already stealing time (from myself, of course).
Here goes:
It is important that you know what you believe.
It is much more important that you know why you believe it.
You (not you personally, but a person) should test your beliefs in some way, if only by considering them on occasion.
You should understand that however much you know, there is much more that you do not and can not know.
You should realize that believing and knowing are very different states.
You should respect the beliefs of others, if possible. In the case, for example, of our recently decamped VP, I can not. His boss, being a virtual blank slate, has no beliefs worth mentioning, although he claims, and probably believes, that he does. Way off topic here.
You, and this is the personal you, should read a book "the Way of Ignorance, by my friend Wendell Berry.
More later.
Windhover
I've read it once, but need to reread it again. Here is The burden of the Gospels an essay from Wendell Berry's The Way of Ignorance. It seems to bear on Windhover's comment about the difference between knowledge and belief.
I'll reread PromiseMeThis' longer post too, before any comments.
Have a good evening.
Well, well...Hiya...I bookmarked you so figured that I would check in. This could be fun...A place to maybe discuss food and be mildly un-PC. I am SO on your side as we have quite a number of very good friends of the same religion(including my most favorite local classical music radio personality).
You have to know that I am a left-wing tree-hugger in the truest sense and believe in equal rights for everyone. I am appalled at what has been going on in CA recently, it makes me very angry, and hope things get straightened out soon. People are just people.
I occasionally get the feeling when I post that I am just throwing things out in the ether and seldom get any response. I am always appreciative when someone appears to read what I wrote. C.C.'s Blog is always interesting and I am amazed at the things she understands. I know that if I was transplanted into an entirely different culture that it would definitely take a bit to get up to speed.
I found this blog and these wonderful people when I was going through a difficult patch with my mom and it made me feel like part of a community...you have been especially friendly and knowledgeable and I really enjoy your comments.
If it is ok with you...because I'm an unabashed foodie...I would love to be able to carry on food-related discussions occasionally
If you ever want to contact me outside the blog, my regular email is wolf_mom@hotmail.com...missed you on the blog today.
Elissa and I are going to try and meet for coffee soon and JD will join us soon when she gets back from Hawaii. So, this has been interesting to say the least.
BTW...what did you think of the website...your input, plus or minus would be valuable.
Ok...I originially, mistakenly posted this on the wrong day...was reading everything and lost focus...regretable.
Hi There, WM.
Thanks for popping in. I was pretty sure I had told you previously that I thought your new site looked really great. Maybe I just started to, or meant to, or something and didn't actually wind up doing it. It is well designed. I really enjoy your work. I think you do a nice job of capturing the spirit of places and things. It is also quite impressive how you have not only managed to combine your various interests in food, travel and painting, but have done it so successfully.
"I occasionally get the feeling when I post that I am just throwing things out in the ether and seldom get any response."
I am surprised to hear that, since you always seem to me to be just as much a part of C.C.'s community as anyone else. Maybe you should shake ém up a bit. Show ém your tits, WTH!
In any event, I wouldn't take it too personally if people seem to be ignoring you. I am sure they would not do that intentionally. It can be quite time consuming to keep up with C.C.'s blog. That is why I miss a day now and then.
I am sorry to hear that you had a rough spot there with your mom. I wouldn't dare pry, but if you care to talk about it you can email me at: StickANeedleInYourEye@google.com
Yes, please feel free to discuss recipes, or anything else here, at length. That is the whole point of this blog, to provide a 'flow over' place for the Crossword Corner crowd.
I posted a link to the 'Irish Stew' that I made on today's main blog entry. I used the alternate Dutch Oven method and substituted leg of lamb for the beef chuck. It came out quite tasty.
It's cool that you live near Elissa and JD, how far away is ClearAyes? Do you know?
"Ok...I originially, mistakenly posted this on the wrong day...was reading everything and lost focus...regretable. "
No regrets are necessary.
One thing you should do, though, is to modify your bookmark for this blog. The proper page to bookmark is:
NextWordCorner.blogspot.com.
I appreciate your very cool attitude towards people like me. Talk to you soon :)
PromiseMeThis, "I appreciate your very cool attitude towards people like me."
Well, it is the least Wolfmom and I can do, as Californians, is to be tolerant of you Floridians
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