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Weekend Coffee Share, Thanksgiving Edition
November 26, 2016
— 11 Comments
Govinda’s Thanksgiving
Friend for lunch
Govinda’s Thanksgiving
holiday buffet
holiday buffet
If we were having coffee today I would tell you our week was almost perfect here. Welcome to my home this lovely mild weekend in Tucson. If you are living up north I hope you packed your bathing suit so you can go in the jacuzzi and get some sun on the deck before you head back home. These are the perfect weather days that make Tucson so popular as a winter destination. Help yourself to tea or coffee, and please enjoy a snack from the sideboard laden with food. I know many of the Americans will be weary of even seeing food, but for those of you who live in other countries we are serving pecan sweet potatoes, mini-croissants, green beans almandine, homemade spicy cranberry ketchup with chunks of ginger to compliment a large cheese tray. In the center of the table is a mega plate of raw and pickled vegetables, olives, pickled peppers of every kind, and 20 different sauces in which to dip them. If that does not overwhelm you with the colors and flavors of the fall season, there is nothing more I can do. Please make yourself at home and eat as much or as little as you want. Tell me what has been going on in your life. Pull up a chair and stay a while.
If we were having coffee I would tell you about our day on Thursday. We went to Thanksgiving lunch at our local vegetarian buffet run by the Hare Krishna community. They have a great selection, beautiful outdoor patio, a band, and a live turkey. This is the perfect place for our celebration. We ran into an old friend we had not seen for years and ate our meal with her. That was pleasant surprise. I chose not to overeat at lunch because I could take the leftovers home in a box and keep going later. It all tasted great cold, especially the green beans mixed with mashed potatoes and gravy. I dump the carrot gravy on all my food because it is the thing that pulls the whole meal together. I could drink this gravy as a beverage. We write down what we appreciate most on a piece of paper to enter a drawing to win a free lunch. It is not important if you win the lunch, but writing your gratitude and putting it in the jar with the other papers completes the group intention. It is simple yet effective. They would love to encourage participation in their religion, but never solicit or recruit patrons of the restaurant. The old days of aggressive Hare Krishnas chanting in airports are gone. Now they make fabulous food and finance their temple feeding Tucson. They announced a new delivery service they are launching which I will surely use, even though I live right up the street. They will bring me delicious food as well as any clothing, incense, wall hangings, or books I might need in the future.
As we drove to Govinda’s we were stopped at a red light when we observed two cop cars and two cops running around in a shopping center next to us. One cop approached a Native American man who was waiting at the bus stop on the corner. We rolled down the window to listen to the conversation between the two men. The cop asked the native man if he had seen anything in the area. We did not clearly hear his response, but he seemed to indicate the he had seen someone enter one of the locked, closed businesses. The cop asked him for ID. The man asked why he had to show ID. The cop told him “I don’t know who you are…” The light turned green and we drove on thinking that must have been some Twilight Zone Thanksgiving re-enactors back at that bus stop. Why should a Native man at a bus stop have to show ID to Tucson Police Department employee? I thought about Standing Rock and the military vets who are self deploying to protect the sovereign rights and water quality of the First Nations in the Dakotas. The violence being used at Standing Rock reminds me of the Indian Wars, and that reminds me of Harvard being founded to convert the local Native Peoples to a particular brand of christianity. All that reminds me of Wounded Knee. Our history is highly genocidal. The irony is wildly significant on our “how we bonded with the Indians” holiday.
On a lighter note, my Thanksgiving cactus started blooming right on cue, on the very day. I am proud of her. Please check out her rapidly unfurling flowers next to the front window. Thanks very much for visiting on this busy weekend. Please check out our other coffee sharing friends who gather at Diana’s site, here. Post, comment, or just enjoy the coffee.
Clulusion-The Sinister Fusion of Cluelessness and Collusion
November 21, 2016
Judgement
If we make it through this Thanksgiving week without a flood of car traffic invited to park outside our front door to donate to a charity scam it will be the first time since I have been in my home. Our HOA has forced the homeowners here to host a donation drop off in the fire lane of our private property for the entire time I have lived here, almost 15 years. Literally thousands of cars have passed by my front door to leave junk, or food, or volunteer hours preparing food for the public for a fake charity. The HOA board has a fiduciary (legal) responsibility to protect the property value of the corporation, but they see fit to use our property to show off their own fake philanthropy to the neighborhood. They operated these scams all year, and solicited donations in various ways. They used the US Postal service to solicit funds from the neighbors, which was incredible. Holidays were special times when we had non-stop cars drive through and park for hours to donate to the charity scams.
The most amazing feat they accomplished was to go to court and get a restraining order from a city court judge. They told him they were “giving back” and need to restrain the people who live here and own the driveway with the fire lane they occupy from stopping the charity scam donations or food prep. We tried for years to stop it through our official Tucson Police Department neighborhood watch, but the cop was in favor of both filling the fire lane with cars, and inviting the public to drive through this driveway we have to pay to pave in order to keep the white collar criminals happy. She did not even know them, but wanted, in general, to make this a shittier place to live. She encouraged the HOA board to trash the environment and break federal revenue law. It seems she was just untrained or not paying any attention. There was no way to know what she was thinking because she simply refused to respond when we reported the crime. She was able to influence the whole city government to refuse to enforce the fire lane law here for reasons known only to herself…or more likely to nobody, since it was a mindless clueless action. Cluelessness is contagious and soon the whole city government was too clueless to even collude with each other. They had manifested the ultimate willfully blind untrust. They unknowingly were the biggest promoters of obvious crime in front of all of us in the area. They stuck to their guns for more than a decade, and last night there were 4 cars in the fire lane and 1 in a neighbor’s driveway without permission. If a fire had broken out they had blocked people into their garages who would be trapped while the fire truck would be blocked. They don’t see any reason not to expose us to that kind of risk.
After being forced to live with this full time donation drop off site in my front yard for years, the neighbors and I petitioned the newly elected mayor, who is a lawyer. He refused to respond, and in fact since the first petition in 2013 he has not been willing to respond to the citizens here who petitioned his office to halt the charity scam activity that freaked the whole neighborhood out. His office thinks it has a right to remain silent while refusing to give us any law enforcement services for more than a decade. They are not trying to refuse to perform. This is the extent of the ability they have. They send out a cop to promote charity scamming and filling the fire lane of the property with as many cars as possible, and then refuse to respond when we ask for at least a clear fire lane. No can do. I have pointed out the total number of nights our fire lanes have been clear in the last 15 years. The number is stuck at 6 nights total. They passively aggressively pretend that this law enforcement task is impossible for them, so they can’t do anything to improve this situation. They manage to keep the fire lanes clear downtown. They do know how to write these expensive tickets. They prefer to ignore the issue. They have fully trashed our hood as well as trust in the police with their actions. I still can’t get them to repair the damage because it would include admission of an error. They are sticking with deeper clulusion. This is why we can’t have nice things.
Garbage In, Garbage Out
November 14, 2016
— 5 Comments
Selfish ignorant politicians are the product of a selfish ignorant population. Have we considered how co-dependent it is to re-elect the congress we love to hate? The United States is a highly dysfunctional family with generational beliefs about a common enemy that may not exist. We make the sovereign powers of the world pay attention to us while we display our lack of mature thinking. I did vote this year, and always have, but I appreciate this joke by the late, great George Carlin. Our attachment to politics is a very negative and fruitless folly. The video includes graphic language and gestures that may not be appropriate for everyone. When I think about how long this video has been in existence it makes it all the more poignant to me. Pardon me, gentle reader, if this is not your kind of joke. This joke is on all of us.
Say It In Latin, Argumentum Ad Hominem
November 11, 2016
— 4 Comments
The practice of trash talking with personal insults rather than appeal to reason has dominated our political season. This kind of logic is known as argumentum ad hominem, or ad hominem for short. The personal attack is intended to discredit any statement made by the opponent. It is a logical red herring designed to distract from the business at hand. It is the full time occupation of the Congress of the United States.
Ad hominem tu quoque is to use the “I know you are but what am I?” line of reasoning. It translates to “You do that too.” There is a big difference between a persuasive argument and a statement of fact. In order to reach valid conclusions it is important to distinguish guilt by association or circumstance from cold, hard, empirical facts. All’s fair in marketing and politics. The emotional ad hominem is used freely and frequently to convince people to vote or buy something. We are all being manipulated, like it or not. In order to be an independent thinker one must consider empirical facts at face value, without prejudice. Conversely, if it is our goal to hoodwink or control our audience it appears that trash talking works very well. Next time you find yourself in an argument notice how long it takes for this tactic to be used. It is a very common weapon, gentle reader. Don’t be fooled by association fallacies. They are enormously popular.
Ad hominem tu quoque
Election Projection
November 8, 2016
— 2 Comments
Pogo predicts
I am not making a prediction on the outcome of the election. Projection in this instance refers to the defense mechanism of projecting our own faults onto others. This is one of the common ways we control our environment and defend our self image. They include denial, intellectualization, repression, regression, displacement, compensation, and projection, also sometimes called transference. I took a quiz the other day that has disturbed me. Here it is. It may disturb you too. I scored a few points in regression and intellectualization and my highest score was in projection. I understand that his quiz is not a shrink and there is nothing conclusive about how I defend my position. I instantly became angry at the idea that I project blame on others because that is what I dislike about others….well, there it is….. some crazy downward cycle of blame operating in my very own psyche. I am contributing to our mutual distrust and blame my own self. This is known as the shadow…the hidden secrets we hide even from ourselves. Kooky stuff. This political season has damaged us all with the nasty rhetoric and new levels of dirty tricks.
It is very easy in this political environment to slip into a simplistic view about how “the other” is ruining everything. As a nation we will go even more haywire than we are now if we can’t see this blame game as the destructive habit it is. Language about reaching across the aisle will fall on deaf ears if we don’t take a close look into our own hearts and minds. We have met the enemy and he is us. We all have some work to do. Mother Nature is watching.
Pogo predicts
Weekend Coffee Share, Defining Intelligence
November 5, 2016
— 10 Comments
Cyclovia
bike cops
If we were having coffee I would tell you all how happy I am to be able to visit with all my invisible friends around this coffee table and around the world each weekend. Sharing a few details of our personal lives shifts the attention away from politics and impending doom. Please select a tea of your choice from the wide selection of white, green, herbal and roiboos. I am drinking white strawberry tea on ice because I had plenty of coffee earlier. Help yourself to a cup of medium roast coffee, or some hot spiced apple cider. Apples and nuts are here for our snacking pleasure. Make yourself at home and tell me how your week has gone. Did you have an eventful Halloween?
Here, the Halloween decorations are down and the cover has been removed from the wood stove. I have removed curtains for the winter to let in extra light during the day. I found some solar lights on super discount at Amazon and responded by ordering three new strings to go with the purple ones I had in the front yard for Halloween. Now my front and back yards are all a twinkle when the sun goes down so early. This somehow makes me very happy even though we may be hurdling toward the end of days of our political system. I can count on the solar energy to delight me with twinkling even if our electrical grid is attacked by hackers. I am easily amused, and that is a damn good thing. I am making the most of the comedy available in the political situation. The agony and the ecstasy of this time is unprecedented because there is plenty of information, but intelligence is hard to discern.
Intelligence has two distinct meanings as a noun. It means the ability to acquire skills and knowledge, as in one’s native intelligence. Intelligence is also used to refer to the collection of information of a political or military nature. We have a federal bureau to handle the collection of domestic intelligence. It is called the Federal Bureau of Investigation. We have WikiLeaks for leaking evidence to the public. We have political parties to dig up dish on the opponents and scorch the earth. There is no time remaining before the election to sort out fact from fiction. The assault of too much information does not result in intelligence. It simply overflows the available space with claims and contentions. It may be the antithesis of intelligence.
I voted as soon as my ballot arrived, so my focus has been on enjoying my community and friends to the max right now. I ran into an old friend last Sunday at our community bicycle event, Cyclovia. We had a great time biking around to the different venues. Her mom lives along the route, so we stopped to visit there as well. We went to the display and blind water tasting at Watershed Management Group, right near her mom’s home. We scored free tickets to a cocktails and cuisine event inspired by rainwater. We each get a free rainwater cocktail on Nov. 29. I look forward to that unique party. I think my friend’s mom may become a volunteer there too. It was a fun and educational exhibit. We biked on and ran into some bike cops who restored some of my faith in authority. They were joking around and having fun with the crowd. This is the kind of community event that unites all ages and walks of life to have a good time meeting each other. If you ask me, that is intelligent. We could use some bigger doses of this kind of intelligence.
Good luck to all coffee sharers surviving this next week. I look forward to hearing what is happening where you live. Check in with Diana to keep up with the coffeeesharing. Join us by writing a post, or just leaving your 2 cents. What is up with you, gentle reader?
model of watershed
my decorated bike
free rainwater on tap tickets
The Rapids Of Rage
November 3, 2016
— 2 Comments
a country divided
We are being swept away by strong currents of blame and hatred projected onto others. There is a pendulum of possibility swinging from reality to unreality. We treat this as if our perception at any given time is good, and all other positions are evil. This leads us all into delusional thinking. Everything is the fault of the beings on the other side of the swiftly flowing river of anger that divides us. The blame game has been elevated to epic proportions while our social fabric has been torn. Collective invisible enemies are everywhere, like Pokemon. I believe we all contribute to this dangerous state of affairs. The very belief that some other entity is responsible for our problems is at the root of all our problems. We the people are the problem as well as the solution.
The politicians use the phrase reaching across the aisle to say they compromise. The rhetoric has become so toxic and harmful to our mood that general malaise has turned to a much more confrontational tone. To say this election cycle has robbed the entire nation of happiness in 2016 is an understatement. It has been detrimental to confidence in our government, both at home and abroad. Our image is tarnished. Our belief in our own ability to cooperate is diminished to the point of hopelessness. We the people are sick and tired of politics, ignoring the fact that we ARE politics.
Please vote, then devote your own personal energy into understanding “the other side”, whatever that may be for you. Our codependent lifestyle, in which we all want everyone else to be different while we stay the same, is unsustainable. We must find unity or drown in this violently churning whitewater of wild schemes and devises. Some think we are at the end of days. Revelation 9:5
And they were not permitted to kill anyone, but to torment for five months; and their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it stings a man.
We have been tormented to the point of madness. Let the stings of hateful mud slinging cease. Let us find peace. We are officially hitting rock bottom in this democracy. We must have a bounce from this awful experience. This is a sink or swim moment for us. We are all relieved about the end of the election cycle, but nobody is particularly thrilled about the outcome, whatever it may be. We all create this mess with our thoughts, beliefs, and actions.
Transforming Apathy To Empathy
October 19, 2016
— 1 Comment
fall flora
There is despair in the air. Our society’s collective adrenal gland is shot from the constant stress of our current political battle. Fight or flight, a reasonable healthy reaction to scary circumstances, has been exhausted by the season’s campaigns. We are sick of the fight, and there is no place to flee from reality. The blame and shade is flying freely. Our weary spirits are drained of faith hope and charity. By charity I mean extending the benefit of the doubt to those with whom we disagree. The most charitable act to make is to listen with care. The most civilized goal to set is mutual understanding. After this election we will still be living with each other, so our current problems will not vanish in November.
To dig ourselves out of this mess we will need to:
- Set much higher standards for performance from our lawmakers
- Scrutinize the taxation policies in order to reduce and eliminate loopholes
- Focus on improving education quality, and close predator private colleges
- Base health care payments on patient success rather than per procedure
- Find real solutions for our opiate and exotic prescription drug addiction
- Stop bickering about every little thing
This is a tall order, especially when everyone is bracing for total disorder. We have our work cut out for us after we finish counting votes. Our futures depend on our ability to listen, which means we will need to be quiet for a while. We will need to be still and know. How hopeful are you, gentle reader? I am optimistically neutral. We have survived tragedy in the past. This too will pass.
Say It in Latin, Caveat Emptor
October 18, 2016
— 2 Comments
cactus in bloom
The Latin phrase caveat emptor means let the buyer beware. This concept is a warning to all consumers that they have less information about the product in normal circumstances than the seller. Common law provides that the seller must deliver the goods, free of encumbrance by third parties, and that the goods must be suitable for the intended use. This applies to real estate contracts, where the seller may hoodwink an unsophisticated buyer into paying more for the property than it is really worth.
Once the deal has been closed there is very little the buyer can do other than regret the purchase. Property sold with obvious concealed flaws is difficult to return, and will involve legal fees and court costs. A couple from Europe bought their first home in our condo village and learned after the closing that the place was full of toxic black mold. I felt really bad for them because they were stuck with the home and the costly mold removal fee because they could not prove that the seller knew about the mold before the sale. A good inspector could have saved them before they signed that contract, but after the signatures, they were stuck. To prove fraud after the fact is much harder than catching it before the unfortunate purchase has been made.
In real estate sales it is common for both parties to employ agents to represent their interests. The buyer needs to be wary of the true intention of both agents, which is to make a sale from which they will cut a commission. The first time buyer can be confused by appraisals, financing, points, insurance, inspections, taxation, and by the contract itself. Emotional factors go into home buying that make this important decision very tricky from a financial standpoint. For many people the investment in housing is the biggest single investment the family makes. After the last housing meltdown and mortgage fraud this reality became clear to many who lost their homes.
If you consider purchasing a home that is governed by an HOA I urge you to fully investigate the corporation and its standards before you buy. Some are overly strict and micro manage. I live in a condo village that has had no management, standard operating procedures, or enforcement of our deed restrictions since I moved here. The governing board has drained the value from all the homes by neglecting the common areas and failing to properly manage and maintain our assets. This puts a real wrench in the works for shareholders who have pride of ownership. I would avoid buying any property that is governed by an HOA in the future. The system leaves much to be desired. I have learned this lesson the hard way. Have you ever made a disastrous investment due to factors beyond your control, gentle reader? It is a drag. Inform yourself. That goes for elected officials too.
History, Politics, Fate
October 17, 2016
— 2 Comments
My parents
History teaches us that political and religious movements go through transformation on a continuous basis. While in the eye of any storm it is impossible to assess the impact it will have. We find ourselves embroiled in a serious vortex of change that promises to be destructive. It remains to be seen in what ways we will endure this shift. My ancestors all come to mind as well as into focus on Day of the Dead. My parents are buried in a section of the cemetery where holiday decor is the norm for the dead, especially at the end of October. I upgraded my parents to solar decorations this year. They have been popular with their neighbors, and my parents were always competitive about their yard. Leaving them without attention this time of year would signal some major abandonment, so I make sure they have a little seasonal something on their grave.
their ‘hood
their neighbor
their neighbor
They voted Republican their whole lives. I have no idea how their parents voted. I have followed my ancestry back for centuries and can only detect very large trends in my family. They were pioneers, many early European residents of Massachusetts or Virginia. They followed different religious persuasions, predominantly Protestant in nature. My parents were not religious, but they carried the inherited beliefs of their respective families in their subconscious minds. I very recently learned that my mother’s grandfather William Ellison Taylor, who was a preacher in the Church of Christ, was not raised in that church. He was converted to his faith and began an itinerant preaching practice in East Texas after the Civil War. I had always assumed his parents and their parents had given him this idea. This recent discovery has shown me this was not the case:
William Ellyson Taylor was born in Alabama, November 22, 1839, and was reared in that state. His education was received in the common schools. When the war broke out between the states he enlisted in the 4th Alabama Regiment and went to Virginia. In the battle of Manassas. July 21, 1861, he was wounded, which made him a cripple for life.
Dec. 27. 1864, he was married to Lucinda Armer, who has been his faithful help-meet, and to the present shares his joys and sorrows. To this union six boys and two girls have been born.
November, 1869, he moved to Texas. In August, 1874, Dr. W. L. Harrison preached the first sermon he ever heard. Afterward and and David Pennington became a Christian. In 1877 he began preaching and though he works on the farm, he has preached as he found opportunity. Entering the firgin field he has established congregations in Montgomery, San Jacinto and Walker counties and is now preaching monthly for congregations at Willis, Bethan and Ne Bethel, Montgomery County. When confined for nearly two years through sickness his brethren administer to his every need. All who know Bro. Taylor love him for his intrinsic worth and work in the Lord.
Gospel Preachers Who Blazed the Trail by C. R. Nichol, 1911.
Originally posted by: Tom Childers
my great-grandfather
This is very interesting to me since some of his distant ancestors seem to the Presbyterian in a serious way in South Carolina. I wonder if the religious idea or the gene to get into religion is carried through generations. My father has a large number of teachers in many of his branches. My mother has a plethora of preachers. I am talking about over centuries, as well as in their lifetimes. They had to feel influenced by these people because their own image of reality came from them. William Taylor fought for the Confederacy, moved from Alabama to Texas on an ox cart, and became a preacher. He must have had some strong political views. We do not know what they were exactly, but we have in his own hand the Rules for the School, which must have to do with Sunday school for his congregation. This is pretty formal stuff:
handwritten rules
Do you ever wonder what part of your own political belief system you have inherited from your ancestors? I do. Many people say what would the founding fathers think. I don’t care what famous people in history thought. I care what my own relatives were thinking and doing that defined their lives and the future. That subject fascinates me. Do you know about the politics of your forefathers, gentle reader? What do you think of them?
