THIRTY YEARS OF "PROGRESS"

This is from Bitter Harvest Gordon Kahl and the Posse Comitatus: Murder in the Heartland by James Corcoran. This was written in the eighties but the poison described in the book has slowly been allowed to infect the Republican Party. They did seize control of the party but not the country. So far at least since these idiots just can’t shut up.

“Duke’s victory in Louisiana was the first fruit born of a new strategy endorsed by the so called Christian Patriot win of the extremist movement, said Lynora Williams, executive director for the Center for Democratic Renewal. According to Williams, the new strategy was first proposed in 1987 by, among others, A. Jay Lowry, publisher of the Clinton, Arkansas, based Justice Times, a monthly newsletter that claims to be “The Original Voice of the Second American Revolution!!”

“It is true that many are attempting to drop out of the system by getting rid of bank accounts, drivers’ licenses, rescinding social security numbers, and denying jurisdiction in the courts,” wrote Lowry in the December 1987 issued of the Justice Times. “But, the election process is the game that is played. It is time to unite! Not under a third party banner which has proven so many time to be a failure, but to take over one of the major parties. Some say it should be the Republican Party.”

Williams said one reason the Republican Party was selected is because of its twenty year long “Southern Strategy,” which publicly pandered to racism”  Corcoran then spends a paragraph or so naming conservative members of the party George Hansen of Idaho and state senators from Washington and Idaho Jack Metcalf and Wayne Stump. Hansen was prosecuted in the middle eighties for failing to properly disclose financial information. All three had reached out to the so called Christian Patriot Movement.

Metcalf also spent much of his time criss crossing the country attacking the Federal Reserve system. A letter from Stump was widely circulated by various groups. Titled “To Whom it May Concern” he attacked the fourteenth amendment claiming that the freed slaves were a different class of citizens than the white citizens of the constitution before the first ten amendments were attached. Funny these folks never seem to realize that without those amendments their beloved constitution would probably have never been ratified in the first place. And then was the guy in Alaska last year who claimed that women didn't qualify as full citizens for pretty much the same reason. We weren't voting citizens when the constitution was ratified. 

Fortunately, while the different groups did come together over the years to form the far right base of the Republican Party and the Tea Party they’ve never managed to find a charismatic candidate to rally behind. Of course charisma isn’t everything, look how close Romney came to winning.

In the meantime the party continues to shoot itself in both feet.

RAISIN BREAD

Hauled out the trusty bread bowl.

for a batch of bread. This is one we can't run out of now that I've figured out how to get results I like.

SPICED FIVE GRAIN CEREAL RAISIN BREAD

2 packages active dry yeast

1 ¾ Cup boiling water

1 Cup five grain cereal (used Bob’s Red Mill) rolled cereal not ground

½ Cup brown sugar

1/3 Cup shortening

1 tablespoon salt

5 1/2 to 6 Cups flour

1 tablespoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

½ teaspoon allspice

2 Cups seedless raisins

Put cereal, brown sugar and shortening in a large, heavy duty bowl. Pour the boiling water over the cereal mixture and stir until shortening melts. Allow to cool to less than 110 degrees. Stir in one cup of the flour and the yeast. Mix thoroughly, cover bowl and set aside for one to two hours. The mixture should form a nice, bubbly sponge.

Add the raisins, salt, spices and start working in the flour until the mixture is stiff enough to pull away from the sides of the bowl. Turn out and knead for five minutes or so until all the flour is worked in. If the dough is sticky rub a little oil on your hands and continue. I’m not really going for the smooth, elastic bread dough here.

You can do one of two things now. You can put the dough back in the (now clean, lightly oiled) bowl and allow to rise until doubled in size. Then form into two loaves, place in greased loaf pans, cover and allow to rise again until doubled and back for 35 to 45 minutes in a 350 degree oven or until the loaves are evenly browned. Take out, put on racks to cool and resist slicing until the loaves have cooled for fifteen or twenty minutes.

Or you can skip the bowl rising and shape the loaves. Allow loaves to rise until doubled and bake according instructions. You’ll get a slightly coarser loaf that still tastes pretty darned good. The cereal pretty much disappears into the bread, just leaves a nice rustic loaf. 

You can slash the tops of the loaves either at an angle or straight down the middle. The hard part is waiting for the bread to cool enough to slice. You can eat this without butter. But, you don't have to. LOL

FOR MARY ELLEN

My facebook page is being totally wonky about letting me send messages today so for Mary Ellen who responded to a comment about herb combos for blood pressure.

We’re using two. Solaray Heart Blend SP-8 and Healthy Choice Naturals Blood Pressure Formula. I had been going through a company called Viable Herbal Solutions. But, they decided to close down while they built a new plant instead of working out of the old one in parallel. Instead of a few months they were down for nearly a year. That and I think the FDA goosed them over some of the claims they were making about one of their specialty blends. Anyway they're out of business and it was back to square one. The so called alternative sources have to walk a very fine line and I'm sure big Pharma would love to put them out of business entirely. Humans have been using herbs for thousands of years. Modern medicine as we know it is barely a century old and the herbs are called alternative medicine. Go figure. Germany actually has an official herbal formulary and many Germans turn to the herbs first. And probably have a pretty good idea when to head for the doctor's office first. 

Anyway, the herbs in the Solaray blend are hawthorn, motherwort, rosemary, cayenne, kelp, wood betony and shepherd’s purse. The Healthy Choice Naturals blend includes garlic bulb, hibiscus, hawthorn, buchu, juniper berry, and green tea. I’d like to do entries over in Green Woman on each of them. I’m also interested in more dandelion and using olive leaf.

Anyway hope this helps.  Mom’s doing a lot better and my sister and brother in law were nodding their heads yes Saturday evening before I even finished explaining what we’re doing. And even had some good suggestions. THAT went a lot easier than I anticipated. 

BEADY EYES

Hey, I'm little and cute. How come I don't get those neat captions. I'd like a cheezeburger too. 

I have a new post over at Green Woman, The Blood Pressure Monitor, Mom and Me. That blog seems like a good place to write about our attempts to deal with the results of throwing our prescriptions in the garbage.

Herbs, good (I hope) recipes. Ups. Downs.

Spinach impossible pie. Tastes better than it looks. LOL

THE RATS COME OUT

The LA Times cartoonist's take on the current overflow from the conspiracy sewer. Disgusting isn't it. Probably standing on Beck and Rushbo's shoulders.

IF THE CONSTITUTION WERE A PERSON

Sorry, this one is a little disjointed but I‘ve passed pissed and I’m currently headed for totally out of this world ballistic

If the constitution were a person that person would either be on life support or in a psych ward on an indefinite hold.

From Monday’s explosions Friday’s apprehensions. A combination of police work and citizen input led to an arrest and now the Monday morning quarterbacking begins. The brothers were/are Muslim. Apparently the older brother radicalized recently, we don’t know how much influence he had over his younger brother. Anyway here goes. And while we’re on the subject of becoming radicalized. Personhood amendments anyone? For starters anyway.

Some folks want all Muslims kicked out of the country especially the ones who attend a mosque. Never mind that many Muslims are also American citizens whose families have lived here. Never mind that the vast majority are peaceful people who probably want the same things most of the rest of us want. A home, food on the table and healthy happy kids.  What if the next bomber(s) are say Southern Baptists? Want to live in a country where all the Baptists are demonized because of the actions of a microscopic minority.

A New York state senator says “sure I’d torture that punk.” Senator I certainly hope that no one ever believes that you have vital information that we need like yesterday and we don’t much care how we get it.

John McCain and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina (among others) want the surviving brother labeled as an enemy combatant. Even though he’s a naturalized American citizen and the crimes took place in here not on a battlefield half way around the world. Senator Graham also seems to believe that we should be able to arrest someone because of what they might do or who they have associated with or might associate with.

Perhaps Mr. Graham would like to talk to some Latin Americans from the seventies and eighties about what it's like to live in a country where the authorities had the power to deal with their fellow citizens based on their ethnic group, religion, who they knew or who the people they knew might have associated with. Especially if those people were considered subversives. And subversive was a very, very elastic term.

Men, women, children, students, church workers, journalists, union organizers, whole villages...anyone who might have had ties to subversives, or to people who might have had ties to subversives. Of course he'd need a séance or a Ouija board to contact them. They’re dead. Many at the hands of troops trained by America, armed with American weapons, using planes and choppers supplied by the US at taxpayer expense.

The only protection we have is our battered, tattered constitution and the constitution is more than  the second amendment so much more.

WHAT LISA SAID ABOUT THE NEWS? YOU'RE RIGHT....

The following does not excuse the actions of the bombers on Monday. The twisted logic that might tie marathon runners and their families to Chechnya probably only exists in the minds of the men who planted those bombs.

Ok, we have faces and we have names. I’ve been dipping in and out of CNN this morning and this is what I am NOT seeing.

The brothers apparently are ethnic Chechans. I assume they came here legally. There is an uncle living here. The younger brother has been to high school here. Earned a wrestling scholarship for college. Has friends who didn’t see this coming, but also hadn’t seen him for a few months. If they came here legally Immigration should have the date/dates they entered and why. The ten year time frame roughly coincides with the second Russian invasion of the ill fated Chechan Republic. Did they claim entrance as refugees? What did they go through between the time they were living in Chechnya and entrance to the US?

Tamerlan is suspiciously similar to Tamerlane/Timur the Lame, the Central Asian conqueror who spread devastation from Persia to India in the 14^th century. The younger brother appears to have been named for Dhzokhar Dudayev the general who was the first leader of the break away Chechan Republic.

As of 2010 Chechnya had a population of just over 1,200,000. Reported casualties in the second invasion? Over 100,000 dead and over 400,000 refugees. I’m beginning to think that the main difference between men and women who are called terrorists is the uniform. If you’re wearing a uniform, you’re just following orders. If you’re in civvies you’re a terrorist. (more on this later)

I’m just a lowly blogger, but I was able to find basic information in about fifteen minutes. But, the story I’m hearing shaped is the “crazed killers.” It would be great if they could catch this kid alive. But right now, a snowball in Hell would have a better chance.

I had the boob tube on early this morning while dealing with kitty breakfasts. (We got Bandit in the habit of a five AM snack at the beginning…) Anyway, Bandit, Midge and Smokie the innie/outie were all looking at me. Cats may not build cathedrals but they don’t blow them up either. 

THE SECRET SERVICE MEOW DIVISION

Damn straight they know too much. They know where you stash the chocolate. They know your opinion of telemarketers. Especially the robo calls when you've just gotten out of the shower. They know which movies make you cry and which commercials make you cringe. They know just which combination of batting eyelashes (if they had eyelashes) will get an extra spoonful of the good stuff. And they know, all protestations to the contrary, that you are really just a big wuss who is firmly wrapped around their furry little paws. 

WATCH OUT FOR SUPER KITTIES

I think this is another on that Lisa posted to FB. Anyway, while I was chuckling over this little guy/gal I looked over where I'd last seen Midge and there was now a lump under one of the little braided area rugs. Just off center with a tail tip on one side and white whiskers on the other. When I looked again, Bandit AKA the Twenty Pound Wonder had taken up station on the empty side of the rug. A little later she had flopped over on her side. TOWARDS the lump in the rug. Anyway she rather relentlessly proceeded to take over the top of the rug. Finally Midge was left with about six inches. She tried one position. She tried another. Finally she gave up and came up for air. She watched Bandit for about half a minute and proceeded to go over and take a seat on her head. THAT got Bandit off the dime and the race was on. LOL

Lisa posted this on FB. I really need to hit the Cheezeburger site more often. This scrap of fluff has more white in the coat , but this could have been Midge last fall. Couldn't sneeze and walk in a straight line at the same time.

Only Midgie's favorite position was, and is, up on the shoulder with front legs extended as far out as they'll go. She gradually leans to the left attempting to go around my neck by arching her back. She's very good at it. Eventually I have to straighten her out or I'd have a permanent crick in my neck. She still gets fed on the tv tray in the evenings. Sometimes she chows down, sometimes she doesn't. She's a talented scrounger during the day, but she knows she'll get a good cuddle for "desert" and she never passes that up.

So little bit, stick to your job and grow. Pretty soon that paw will go really, really far.

TEN REASON'S WHY MEN SHOULDN'T BE ORDAINED

Found this on a blog linked to the Sojourner’s magazine website.  This list turns all the arguments against the ordination of women on their heads. Some of them are a little lame, but they’re still good for a chuckle or two.

10. A man’s place is in the army.

9.  The pastoral duties of men who have children might distract them from the responsibility of being a parent

8.  The physique of man indicates that they are more suited to such tasks as chopping down trees and  wrestling mountain lions. It would be “unnatural” for them to do ministerial tasks.

7.  Man was created before woman, obviously as a prototype. Thus, they represent and experiment rather than the crowning achievement of creation.

6.  Men are too emotional to be priests or pastors. Their conduct at football and basketball games demonstrates this.

5.  Some men are handsome and this will distract women worshipers.

4.  Pastors need to nurture their congregations. But this is not a traditional male role. Throughout history, women have bee recognized as not only more skilled than men at nurturing, but also more fervently attracted to it. This makes them the obvious choice for ordination.

3.  Men are prone to violence. No really masculine man wants to settle disputes except by fighting about them. Thus they would be poor role models as well as dangerously unstable in positions of leadership.

2.  The New Testament tells us that Jesus was betrayed by a man. His lack of faith and ensuing punishment remind us of the subordinated that all men should take.

1.  Men can still be involved in church activities, even without being ordained. They can sweep sidewalks, repair the church roof, and perhaps even lead the song serviced on Father’s Day. By confining themselves to such traditional male roles, they can still be vitally important in the life of the church.

Original author Dr. David M Scholer, a former professor at Fuller Theological Seminary.

WHAT WE FEAR

After you've said this, what more is there to be said?

I NORMALLY WOULDN'T

sully the pages of my blog with this guy's picture and it certainly isn't staying on my hard drive any longer than absolutely necessary. However, my born again cousin by marriage posted this. Thank heaven I haven't laid eyes on the woman since she married by cousin and they moved to Arizona. Oh, and he pastors a church although nobody seems to know what kind of training he has for this. The bane of the churches in this country. Anybody can start one and lead one even you haven't the foggiest idea of what you're doing.

Since I seem to have relatives that might think Sly getting religion is a cool thing I bit back all of the usual responses. And I know darn well none of them ever darken the pages of my blog. So I'm a chicken. Pluck me and serve me for dinner.

My first reaction was why in heaven's name should I care which famous person has got religion. Doesn't change how I feel. Although I get the impression that CBM thinks we should.

I wounder what the reaction would be if other famous people came out with "I'm a Druid join me in the oak grove." "I'm a shaman let's form a drum circle." "I'm a Celtic Reconstructionist." "I think Thor is cool and so should everybody else." And so on and so forth. I can hear the "why should I care what ________ believes." Well cuz, you took the words right out of my mouth.

Excuse me I'm off to take out the trash.

THERE NO INTOLERANCE LIKE....

Unknown to most of us the fate of the Western world was in danger on Easter Sunday. Google occasionally replaces their regular logo with a “doodle.” This Sunday the company chose to honor the birthday of Cesar Chavez.

If you are from my generation you remember his efforts to organize farm workers and the famous grape boycotts. This was back in the seventies and I’m sure that at least a few of the growers wished they could deal with him the way their counterparts in Latin America were dealing with labor organizers in their countries. With guns. It’s so much simpler when labor problems surface to just be able to call in the goons with the guns isn’t it?

I am not going to go into my opinion of the churches that focus on “Jesus died for my sins.” While seeming to ignore the three years he spent echoing the prophets who came before him who called for peace, justice and mercy. And that Chavez fought for peace, justice and mercy. He walked the talk that Jesus taught.

And which Easter could Google have doodled. The popular chocolate bunnies, peeps, colored eggs Easter or the empty tomb Easter? Do the bunnies and the same people who are called for your head on a platter are still going to be yelling. And as a side note, the Eastern Rite churches use a different way of calculating Easter so they haven’t celebrated it yet.

There were some threads that tried to find some humor in the whole situation. Did you know that if you don’t eat the bunny heads first, the bunnies come back as bunny zombies? Which led to threats of “chocolate bunny zombie apocalypse” and “attack of the killer peeps” entries. There was even a peepapocalypse suggestion. Try saying that one three times really fast. LOL  

Let's just say that the story didn't bring out the best from a lot of folks and after about fifteen minutes those zombie bunnies and battalions of pink and yellow marshmallow peeps were looking pretty damned good. Is it something in the water these days or have we always been ready to fall all over looking for an excuse to wrap ourselves in pseudo outrage at the slightest excuse?