Holly Near is my favorite singer in the whole wide world (www.hollynear.com). Her newest cd is called Show Up. One of the songs on it, This Is Peace, I want to share the lyrics with you.
---
This Is Peace
words + music by Amy Carol Webb
It's still believing in love in a moment of anger
It's still believing in faith in the face of fear
It's still believing in courage in the prescence of danger
It's still believing in truth when nothing much sems clear
It's still believing in righteousness when all around seems wrong
It's still believing in joy when sorrow's tears prevail
It's still believing in harmony when your heart forgets its song
It's still believing in hope when all else fails
This is peace
The only kind we'll ever know
On the sojourn here below the canopy of dreams
This is peace
The kind no one may lock and raise
It's gratitude and praise
And love by any means
It's still believing in light as the shadows deepen
It's still believing in fellowship when you feel alone
It's still believing that your memories are the only thing worth keeping
Believing in family when you can't go home
This is peace
The only kind we'll ever know
On the sojourn here below the canopy of dreams
This is peace
The kind no one may lock and raise
It's gratitude and praise
And love by any means
----
The words are beautiful, made more so by Holly Near's exceptional voice.
hugs, Tawny
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
When I was in Lansing last week at Goldenrod (www.goldenrod.com), the music store, I picked up a copy of Music From The Great Peace March featuring Wild Wimmin For Peace. I'd never heard of Wild Wimmin, but Great Peace March, wow! that kick started a flood of memories for me. And when I went online today to see if there was a site dedicated to the GPM, well, imagine my surprise to find that there had been a reunion just this past weekend in DC!
Do you remember the Great Peace March of 1986?
To jog your memory, it was a nine month, 3,700 mile walk from Los Angelos to Washington, DC.
Here are some websites:
http://wochica.tripod.com/lostjournals
www.greatpeacemarch.org
And if you do a Google, well, you'll find a gazillion other sites.
I ask if you remember it because this year is the 20th anniversary of the march. Hundreds of people--men, women, children--stopped what they were doing in their lives and took to the road to be a part of it.
I wanted desperately to make the trek but my mother, while supportive of the whole idea of the GPM, was not willing to join a 9 month march across the US. And I wasn't old enough to go without her.
But as a concession, when the GPM arrived in a small town in Indiana, just south of the Michigan border, my mom drove us down to spend the day with the marchers. And we went again when they stopped in a small town in Ohio.
Whatever words I use to describe our two visits will be woefully inadequate. It was one of the most wonderful experiences of my young life!
The tent city that they erected each day was beautiful. It looked like a scene out of a fairy tale to me. The marchers that I met and spent time with were great people who were on a mission.
We exchanged addresses with several of the marchers and one woman, Karen from California, kept in touch with us for years.
The one thing I've always thought is that after walking clear across the US, no easy feat by any means, when the Geat Peace March participants did that it demonstrated that no matter what life threw at them, be it easy or extremely difficult, they could handle it.
And that's a wonderful thing to know.
If it doesn't kill you then it makes you stronger. Those are words I try never to forget.
hugs, Tawny
Do you remember the Great Peace March of 1986?
To jog your memory, it was a nine month, 3,700 mile walk from Los Angelos to Washington, DC.
Here are some websites:
http://wochica.tripod.com/lostjournals
www.greatpeacemarch.org
And if you do a Google, well, you'll find a gazillion other sites.
I ask if you remember it because this year is the 20th anniversary of the march. Hundreds of people--men, women, children--stopped what they were doing in their lives and took to the road to be a part of it.
I wanted desperately to make the trek but my mother, while supportive of the whole idea of the GPM, was not willing to join a 9 month march across the US. And I wasn't old enough to go without her.
But as a concession, when the GPM arrived in a small town in Indiana, just south of the Michigan border, my mom drove us down to spend the day with the marchers. And we went again when they stopped in a small town in Ohio.
Whatever words I use to describe our two visits will be woefully inadequate. It was one of the most wonderful experiences of my young life!
The tent city that they erected each day was beautiful. It looked like a scene out of a fairy tale to me. The marchers that I met and spent time with were great people who were on a mission.
We exchanged addresses with several of the marchers and one woman, Karen from California, kept in touch with us for years.
The one thing I've always thought is that after walking clear across the US, no easy feat by any means, when the Geat Peace March participants did that it demonstrated that no matter what life threw at them, be it easy or extremely difficult, they could handle it.
And that's a wonderful thing to know.
If it doesn't kill you then it makes you stronger. Those are words I try never to forget.
hugs, Tawny
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
I love to read. I read all of the time. I read almost anything. Anything except science fiction and romance, that is. I am so thankful for the excellent libraries here in town. I half joke that my library card is more valuable to me than my credit cards because I would never be able to afford to read as much as I do were it not for the library.
Today I read a really good book. Out Of Cabrini by Dave Case (www.davecasebooks.com). This is the author's first novel. His 'day job' is with the Chicago Police Department.
I'm not going to tell you what the book is about. The author's website gives a much better synopsis of the book than I could ever write.
Suffice to say, if you like mysteries, this is the book for you.
Two Thumbs Up Tawny
Today I read a really good book. Out Of Cabrini by Dave Case (www.davecasebooks.com). This is the author's first novel. His 'day job' is with the Chicago Police Department.
I'm not going to tell you what the book is about. The author's website gives a much better synopsis of the book than I could ever write.
Suffice to say, if you like mysteries, this is the book for you.
Two Thumbs Up Tawny
Monday, June 26, 2006
Okay, I know you don't need me to school you, but I was thinking about this over the weekend and thought I'd share.
I remember when my uncle came home from prison after being gone for almost twenty years. He has spent most of his adult life locked up, having two prior prison bits as well as time spent in juvenile lock-up.
This time he came home to my aunt, a woman he met in the eleventh year of his 20 to 40 year prison sentence. They married four years later at the prison, six years before he was released on parole.
Each time prior, when he was released, he would parole to his sister. And each time he got out of prison something would happen to send him back. Okay, I know the choice was his each time that he picked up a pistol and went back to plying his trade as a bank robber. But, to his mind, his family was doing bad and they needed financial help.
And it was true, his family was a mess. A couple of his sisters were on drugs. One on prescription drugs, the other on crack. Their children going hungry, their lights and gas turned off more than on.
So he did all this time. Most of his adult life spent locked up. And each time he came home, his family was just as bad off, if not more so. And each time he picked up a pistol.....
Now when he was locked up, did any of them come visit him? Write him? Send him a few dollars? No.
So six years ago he paroles to my aunt. The first month he was home he spent entirely with his wife, getting his house in order, so to speak. Remember, while they had known each other for ten years by the time he came home, and been married for six years, they didn't know each other in the biblical sense, nor out of the context of a prison visiting room, letters and phone calls.
A month goes by and his one sister comes to the house to pick him up. My uncle didn't have a job yet, or any prospects. Employers are not exactly eager to hire an ex con. What does his sister say to him, first thing when she sees him? 'Remember, you owe for your share of Mama's gravestone and we need it real soon.'
Then he sees his other sister who lives in Detroit. He needs his hair braided and she charges him every week to braid it.
One of his brother's drives him around the city so he can see family members he hasn't seen in 20 years. And his brother has his hand out for gas money.
The man was gone for twenty years and no one extended a helping hand to him, they just extended their hands to see what they could get.
And it went that way with nieces and nephews too. Everyone had their hand out to get, never to give.
There's a lesson in here, I know there is. It's not 'don't pick up a pistol', that's obvious, right? But there's a lesson to be learned.
I know what it is but I can't figure out how to phrase it. You're going to have to.
Tawny
I remember when my uncle came home from prison after being gone for almost twenty years. He has spent most of his adult life locked up, having two prior prison bits as well as time spent in juvenile lock-up.
This time he came home to my aunt, a woman he met in the eleventh year of his 20 to 40 year prison sentence. They married four years later at the prison, six years before he was released on parole.
Each time prior, when he was released, he would parole to his sister. And each time he got out of prison something would happen to send him back. Okay, I know the choice was his each time that he picked up a pistol and went back to plying his trade as a bank robber. But, to his mind, his family was doing bad and they needed financial help.
And it was true, his family was a mess. A couple of his sisters were on drugs. One on prescription drugs, the other on crack. Their children going hungry, their lights and gas turned off more than on.
So he did all this time. Most of his adult life spent locked up. And each time he came home, his family was just as bad off, if not more so. And each time he picked up a pistol.....
Now when he was locked up, did any of them come visit him? Write him? Send him a few dollars? No.
So six years ago he paroles to my aunt. The first month he was home he spent entirely with his wife, getting his house in order, so to speak. Remember, while they had known each other for ten years by the time he came home, and been married for six years, they didn't know each other in the biblical sense, nor out of the context of a prison visiting room, letters and phone calls.
A month goes by and his one sister comes to the house to pick him up. My uncle didn't have a job yet, or any prospects. Employers are not exactly eager to hire an ex con. What does his sister say to him, first thing when she sees him? 'Remember, you owe for your share of Mama's gravestone and we need it real soon.'
Then he sees his other sister who lives in Detroit. He needs his hair braided and she charges him every week to braid it.
One of his brother's drives him around the city so he can see family members he hasn't seen in 20 years. And his brother has his hand out for gas money.
The man was gone for twenty years and no one extended a helping hand to him, they just extended their hands to see what they could get.
And it went that way with nieces and nephews too. Everyone had their hand out to get, never to give.
There's a lesson in here, I know there is. It's not 'don't pick up a pistol', that's obvious, right? But there's a lesson to be learned.
I know what it is but I can't figure out how to phrase it. You're going to have to.
Tawny
Friday, June 23, 2006
This article was written by Jack Lessenberry, a writer for the MetroTimes (www.metrotimes.com), the metro Detroit area free weekly alternative newspaper.
________________________________________________________________
To fight terrorism, invade Paraguay
We have now spent $400 billion on our glorious war in Iraq and have gotten 2,500 American soldiers killed, plus 40,000 or so brownish locals, whose names neither our government nor media deem worth recording.
The dead natives, at least most of 'em, could only jabber in Arabic anyway. Incidentally, another 18,000 or so Americans have been grossly mutilated, many with missing eyes or limbs or genitals, some doomed to a life of chronic pain, just at a time when our government is doing its best to screw them out of Veterans Administration services and benefits.
Yes, all that is true. But it has all been well worth it, regardless of what those contemptible, whining, cut-and-run liberals say.
You see, this has helped protect us from another terrorist attack. President George W. Bush said so, and so did the toughest talking SecDef since Robert McNamara had his quasi-nervous breakdown over Vietnam.
Never mind that there is no sign that Iraq had anything to do with 9/11, or that Saddam was planning anything at all.
Never mind that they had no weapons of mass destruction. We invaded them anyway, and so eliminated any threat that they will crash a go-kart into the ruins of the Book-Cadillac hotel, which the Detroit Free Press tells us will be restored any day now.
But it is not enough, comrades. Not enough. There are evildoers everywhere. Terror is on the march. We have a choice. We either take the fight to them, or be prepared to do battle with Osama bin Laden in our infants' nurseries.
And that's why we must invade Paraguay.
Nobody expects us to take this very necessary next step, which is precisely why we must do it. Most Americans couldn't even find Paraguay on the map. (It lies deep within the kidneys of South America.)
Yet it is exactly this which makes invasion now all the more necessary. Twenty years ago, I spent some time there. Paraguay was full of old Nazis then, with rheumy reptilian eyes and stocky legs made for lederhosen. I actually met one of these, a Herr Alberto Wagner, who had a restaurant called Der Weisse Hind, or some such. "Forty years ago," he told me with a straight face, "I am having a little trouble in Europe."
Damn straight. When they overran the bunker, Paraguay took him in, and lots of his pals. Why then shouldn't we believe it is a massive staging area for al Qaeda? Nobody is paying any attention to Paraguay.
Terrorists, possibly even Osama, may well be there now; with the eyes of the world elsewhere, they can slip in and out, unnoticed. Contrary to popular impression, most Paraguayans don't speak much Spanish.
They speak a Native American language called Guarani, which I'm sure Karl Rove couldn't distinguish from the purest Arabic spoken by the Prophet. No doubt al Qaeda has switched over to using it, since we probably don't have a Guarani speaker in our entire vast spy apparatus, most of which is still waiting patiently for the Soviet Union to reappear.
Frankly, an invasion of Paraguay (called, perhaps, Operation Betel Nut) would allow us to savor the best features of both Iraq and Vietnam. The Paraguayan defense forces are tiny; maybe 10,000 soldiers, max.
There is only one major city, Asuncion, which we could take as easily as Baghdad. There is only one major political party, which is called (I am not making this up) the Colorado Party, though skiing is very limited.
And get this — Paraguay is almost exactly the same size as Iraq. In land area, that is. Actually, the whole country only has six million people. But there are deserts and grasslands and jungle and lots of places to hide and fight guerrilla-style.
There are even secret Ho Chi Marimba trails from Argentina and Brazil. We could occupy ourselves for decades looking for terrorists and weapons in the outback. Paraguayans don't give up easily, and don't mind an unfair fight. In the 19th century, they declared war on Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay at the same time. That got the vast majority of their adult male population killed. They sucked it up and rolled with the punches.
Paraguay is the kind of place where we could accomplish nothing for years, and it is high time Dandy Don Rumsfeld and his boys turned their attention to it. After all, we have thousands who are about to lose their jobs in the auto industry. Our nation owes it to ourselves to find them a career.
Funding our schools: Now, moving from the sublime to the serious ... there will be a proposal (one of many) on the November ballot designed to prevent the politicians in Lansing from further harming the schools.
They call it the "K-16" proposal, because it would guarantee that both public schools and public colleges and universities get increases of 5 percent a year or the inflation rate, whichever is lower.
Actually, it should be, whichever is higher. Naturally the slugs in the Legislature are horrified, and everyone from The Detroit News (It will raise taxes!) to Gov. Jennifer Granholm (clue?) has come out against it.
Even the liberals argue that lawmakers should have the needed flexibility to constantly review state spending priorities.
Twenty years ago, I would have agreed. But they are wrong, and here's why: Politically, Michigan isn't working. Our system is broken, thanks largely to term limits, which means lawmakers aren't there long enough and don't know enough to do what's right for the state. Term limits have given us a process by which the state turns out every year to have a last-minute budget deficit, and what do they cut?
Higher education, as in colleges and universities. Funding for the lower grades is slipping, as well. Every time we cut education funding we further cripple our ability to compete for the jobs of the future.
Yet ideological right-wing maniacs don't think that way. Nor does the education lobby want this; if schools were automatically funded, they fear they might lose clout, as if they now had any to begin with.
The Michigan Chamber of Commerce will spend lavishly trying to kill the K-16 proposal, which should in itself tell you enough.
Should this properly be a matter handled by our lawmakers? Why sure. Except we don't have a professional independent Legislature anymore. Unless and until we get one back, we need to make sure we don't destroy our seed corn. For now, vote for the lifeboat. We'll worry about getting the color scheme coordinated, etc. when the hurricane ends.
Worth Taking In: Vermont U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, the only genuine independent in Congress and an avowed Democratic socialist, is now trying to take his progressive politics to the U.S. Senate.
And he will be in town Sunday, from 2 to 5 p.m., at UAW Local 909 on Stephens Road in Warren. Frankly, he'll be looking for contributions.
But you could just go to see someone who has more integrity than nearly anyone else in Congress. For years, the Republicans and Democrats have tried to beat him, and he kicks their butts every time. Last time, he got twice as many votes as the two "major" party candidates put together. Maybe, just maybe, we could learn something here.
Jack Lessenberry, who teaches journalism at Wayne State University, opines weekly for Metro Times. Contact him at letters@metrotimes.com.
______________________________________________________________________
hugs, Tawny
________________________________________________________________
To fight terrorism, invade Paraguay
We have now spent $400 billion on our glorious war in Iraq and have gotten 2,500 American soldiers killed, plus 40,000 or so brownish locals, whose names neither our government nor media deem worth recording.
The dead natives, at least most of 'em, could only jabber in Arabic anyway. Incidentally, another 18,000 or so Americans have been grossly mutilated, many with missing eyes or limbs or genitals, some doomed to a life of chronic pain, just at a time when our government is doing its best to screw them out of Veterans Administration services and benefits.
Yes, all that is true. But it has all been well worth it, regardless of what those contemptible, whining, cut-and-run liberals say.
You see, this has helped protect us from another terrorist attack. President George W. Bush said so, and so did the toughest talking SecDef since Robert McNamara had his quasi-nervous breakdown over Vietnam.
Never mind that there is no sign that Iraq had anything to do with 9/11, or that Saddam was planning anything at all.
Never mind that they had no weapons of mass destruction. We invaded them anyway, and so eliminated any threat that they will crash a go-kart into the ruins of the Book-Cadillac hotel, which the Detroit Free Press tells us will be restored any day now.
But it is not enough, comrades. Not enough. There are evildoers everywhere. Terror is on the march. We have a choice. We either take the fight to them, or be prepared to do battle with Osama bin Laden in our infants' nurseries.
And that's why we must invade Paraguay.
Nobody expects us to take this very necessary next step, which is precisely why we must do it. Most Americans couldn't even find Paraguay on the map. (It lies deep within the kidneys of South America.)
Yet it is exactly this which makes invasion now all the more necessary. Twenty years ago, I spent some time there. Paraguay was full of old Nazis then, with rheumy reptilian eyes and stocky legs made for lederhosen. I actually met one of these, a Herr Alberto Wagner, who had a restaurant called Der Weisse Hind, or some such. "Forty years ago," he told me with a straight face, "I am having a little trouble in Europe."
Damn straight. When they overran the bunker, Paraguay took him in, and lots of his pals. Why then shouldn't we believe it is a massive staging area for al Qaeda? Nobody is paying any attention to Paraguay.
Terrorists, possibly even Osama, may well be there now; with the eyes of the world elsewhere, they can slip in and out, unnoticed. Contrary to popular impression, most Paraguayans don't speak much Spanish.
They speak a Native American language called Guarani, which I'm sure Karl Rove couldn't distinguish from the purest Arabic spoken by the Prophet. No doubt al Qaeda has switched over to using it, since we probably don't have a Guarani speaker in our entire vast spy apparatus, most of which is still waiting patiently for the Soviet Union to reappear.
Frankly, an invasion of Paraguay (called, perhaps, Operation Betel Nut) would allow us to savor the best features of both Iraq and Vietnam. The Paraguayan defense forces are tiny; maybe 10,000 soldiers, max.
There is only one major city, Asuncion, which we could take as easily as Baghdad. There is only one major political party, which is called (I am not making this up) the Colorado Party, though skiing is very limited.
And get this — Paraguay is almost exactly the same size as Iraq. In land area, that is. Actually, the whole country only has six million people. But there are deserts and grasslands and jungle and lots of places to hide and fight guerrilla-style.
There are even secret Ho Chi Marimba trails from Argentina and Brazil. We could occupy ourselves for decades looking for terrorists and weapons in the outback. Paraguayans don't give up easily, and don't mind an unfair fight. In the 19th century, they declared war on Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay at the same time. That got the vast majority of their adult male population killed. They sucked it up and rolled with the punches.
Paraguay is the kind of place where we could accomplish nothing for years, and it is high time Dandy Don Rumsfeld and his boys turned their attention to it. After all, we have thousands who are about to lose their jobs in the auto industry. Our nation owes it to ourselves to find them a career.
Funding our schools: Now, moving from the sublime to the serious ... there will be a proposal (one of many) on the November ballot designed to prevent the politicians in Lansing from further harming the schools.
They call it the "K-16" proposal, because it would guarantee that both public schools and public colleges and universities get increases of 5 percent a year or the inflation rate, whichever is lower.
Actually, it should be, whichever is higher. Naturally the slugs in the Legislature are horrified, and everyone from The Detroit News (It will raise taxes!) to Gov. Jennifer Granholm (clue?) has come out against it.
Even the liberals argue that lawmakers should have the needed flexibility to constantly review state spending priorities.
Twenty years ago, I would have agreed. But they are wrong, and here's why: Politically, Michigan isn't working. Our system is broken, thanks largely to term limits, which means lawmakers aren't there long enough and don't know enough to do what's right for the state. Term limits have given us a process by which the state turns out every year to have a last-minute budget deficit, and what do they cut?
Higher education, as in colleges and universities. Funding for the lower grades is slipping, as well. Every time we cut education funding we further cripple our ability to compete for the jobs of the future.
Yet ideological right-wing maniacs don't think that way. Nor does the education lobby want this; if schools were automatically funded, they fear they might lose clout, as if they now had any to begin with.
The Michigan Chamber of Commerce will spend lavishly trying to kill the K-16 proposal, which should in itself tell you enough.
Should this properly be a matter handled by our lawmakers? Why sure. Except we don't have a professional independent Legislature anymore. Unless and until we get one back, we need to make sure we don't destroy our seed corn. For now, vote for the lifeboat. We'll worry about getting the color scheme coordinated, etc. when the hurricane ends.
Worth Taking In: Vermont U.S. Rep. Bernie Sanders, the only genuine independent in Congress and an avowed Democratic socialist, is now trying to take his progressive politics to the U.S. Senate.
And he will be in town Sunday, from 2 to 5 p.m., at UAW Local 909 on Stephens Road in Warren. Frankly, he'll be looking for contributions.
But you could just go to see someone who has more integrity than nearly anyone else in Congress. For years, the Republicans and Democrats have tried to beat him, and he kicks their butts every time. Last time, he got twice as many votes as the two "major" party candidates put together. Maybe, just maybe, we could learn something here.
Jack Lessenberry, who teaches journalism at Wayne State University, opines weekly for Metro Times. Contact him at letters@metrotimes.com.
______________________________________________________________________
hugs, Tawny
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Here's a haha for you!
--------------------------------------
A Sweet Newlywed Story
A newlywed couple had only been married for two weeks.
The husband, although very much in love, couldn't wait to go out on the town and party with his old buddies. So, he said to his new wife, "Honey, I'll be right back."
Where are you going, coochy cooh?" asked the wife.
"I'm going to the bar, pretty face. I'm going to have a beer."
The wife said, "You want a beer, my love?" She opened the door to the refrigerator and showed him 25 different kinds of beer, brands from 12 different countries: Germany, Holland, Japan, India, etc.
The husband didn't know what to do, and the only thing that he could think of saying was, "Yes, lolly pop...but at the bar...you know...they have frozen glasses..."
He didn't get to finish the sentence, because the wife interrupted him by saying, "You want a frozen glass, puppy face?" She took a huge beer mug out of the freezer, so frozen that she was getting chills just holding it.
The husband, looking a bit pale, said, "Yes, tootsie roll, but at the bar they have those hors d'oeuvres that are really delicious ... I won't be long, I'll be right back. I promise. OK?"
"You want hors d'oeuvres, poochi pooh?" She opened the oven and took out 5 dishes of different hors d'oeuvres: chicken wings, pigs in blankets, mushroom caps, pork strips, etc.
"But my sweet honey... at the bar... you know... there's swearing, dirty words and all that."
"You want dirty words, cutie pie?...
"LISTEN UP, DICKHEAD! DRINK YOUR FU*KING BEER IN YOUR GODDAMN FROZEN MUG AND EAT YOUR MOTHER-FU*KING SNACKS, BECAUSE YOU ARE MARRIED NOW AND YOU AREN'T GOING ANYWHERE! GOT IT, AS*HOLE?"
...And they lived happily ever after.
-------------------------------------
hugs, Tawny
--------------------------------------
A Sweet Newlywed Story
A newlywed couple had only been married for two weeks.
The husband, although very much in love, couldn't wait to go out on the town and party with his old buddies. So, he said to his new wife, "Honey, I'll be right back."
Where are you going, coochy cooh?" asked the wife.
"I'm going to the bar, pretty face. I'm going to have a beer."
The wife said, "You want a beer, my love?" She opened the door to the refrigerator and showed him 25 different kinds of beer, brands from 12 different countries: Germany, Holland, Japan, India, etc.
The husband didn't know what to do, and the only thing that he could think of saying was, "Yes, lolly pop...but at the bar...you know...they have frozen glasses..."
He didn't get to finish the sentence, because the wife interrupted him by saying, "You want a frozen glass, puppy face?" She took a huge beer mug out of the freezer, so frozen that she was getting chills just holding it.
The husband, looking a bit pale, said, "Yes, tootsie roll, but at the bar they have those hors d'oeuvres that are really delicious ... I won't be long, I'll be right back. I promise. OK?"
"You want hors d'oeuvres, poochi pooh?" She opened the oven and took out 5 dishes of different hors d'oeuvres: chicken wings, pigs in blankets, mushroom caps, pork strips, etc.
"But my sweet honey... at the bar... you know... there's swearing, dirty words and all that."
"You want dirty words, cutie pie?...
"LISTEN UP, DICKHEAD! DRINK YOUR FU*KING BEER IN YOUR GODDAMN FROZEN MUG AND EAT YOUR MOTHER-FU*KING SNACKS, BECAUSE YOU ARE MARRIED NOW AND YOU AREN'T GOING ANYWHERE! GOT IT, AS*HOLE?"
...And they lived happily ever after.
-------------------------------------
hugs, Tawny
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
"The war against Iraq is as disastrous as it is unnecessary; perhaps in terms of its wisdom, purpose and motives, the worst war in American history. Our military men and women were not called to defend America, but rather to attack Iraq. They were not called to die for America, but rather to kill for their country. What more unpatriotic thing could we have asked of our sons and daughters?"
This is a quote from William Sloane Coffin, a civil rights and peace activist who was born in 1924 and died this year.
Tawny
This is a quote from William Sloane Coffin, a civil rights and peace activist who was born in 1924 and died this year.
Tawny
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
I'm sorry I missed talking with you earlier today. It was just too nice of a day to stay home. I played hookey!
I went up to Lansing, Michigan. Lansing is the state capitol and it's about an hour's drive west of here.
There's a record store that I've been dealing with for years online (www.goldenrod.com). Well, turns out they have a brick and mortar store in downtown Lansing! You could have knocked me over with a feather when I found that out! So that was my first stop.
Talk about a treasure trove of music, oh my! I bought a number of cds and, because they were having a 'buy 5 get 1 free' deal, I got two free.
So far the only one I've listened to is NWMF Silver. It's a 25th anniversary commemorative cd from the National Women's Music Festival that has been held in Indiana each year since 1982.
Each track is wonderful but my favorite is a piece of music performed by Adrienne Torf, Brooklyn From The Roof. It's a piano composition and it's so so so beautiful.
After the stop at Goldenrod, I drove around Lansing. It's been a few years since I've been to that city and it was fun to see how much it's changed.
Next stop was lunch! Cracker Barrel. I'd never been there before. Have you? Apparently they are all over the continental US. It was interesting. The food was pretty good too. You have like a zillion choices for your side dishes. Sadly, for me at least, some/many most of them had pork somewhere in them. Like the greens were cooked with pork, for example. And since I don't eat pork, well, it narrowed my choices. But I persevered and you know what? Their onion rings are fabulous! Whole pieces of onion, not bits and pieces mashed togther, but whole thick slices of vidalia onions battered and fried to perfection. Oh my!
Last stop was Walmart. Aloe Vera gel, vitamin e, sunscreen.
Now I'm home, I'm listening to some wonderful music, and waiting to talk with you.
hugs, Tawny
I went up to Lansing, Michigan. Lansing is the state capitol and it's about an hour's drive west of here.
There's a record store that I've been dealing with for years online (www.goldenrod.com). Well, turns out they have a brick and mortar store in downtown Lansing! You could have knocked me over with a feather when I found that out! So that was my first stop.
Talk about a treasure trove of music, oh my! I bought a number of cds and, because they were having a 'buy 5 get 1 free' deal, I got two free.
So far the only one I've listened to is NWMF Silver. It's a 25th anniversary commemorative cd from the National Women's Music Festival that has been held in Indiana each year since 1982.
Each track is wonderful but my favorite is a piece of music performed by Adrienne Torf, Brooklyn From The Roof. It's a piano composition and it's so so so beautiful.
After the stop at Goldenrod, I drove around Lansing. It's been a few years since I've been to that city and it was fun to see how much it's changed.
Next stop was lunch! Cracker Barrel. I'd never been there before. Have you? Apparently they are all over the continental US. It was interesting. The food was pretty good too. You have like a zillion choices for your side dishes. Sadly, for me at least, some/many most of them had pork somewhere in them. Like the greens were cooked with pork, for example. And since I don't eat pork, well, it narrowed my choices. But I persevered and you know what? Their onion rings are fabulous! Whole pieces of onion, not bits and pieces mashed togther, but whole thick slices of vidalia onions battered and fried to perfection. Oh my!
Last stop was Walmart. Aloe Vera gel, vitamin e, sunscreen.
Now I'm home, I'm listening to some wonderful music, and waiting to talk with you.
hugs, Tawny
Friday, June 16, 2006
This is another intersting article from this week's Metro Times that I wanted to share with you.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why the ‘N’ word refuses to die
by Keith A. Owens
First, a warning. This column contains racially offensive language for which the author makes no apology. Not that offensive language — or at least language that is offensive to some — is anything new to Metro Times, but when it comes to certain subjects, even we freewheeling types here at Detroit's own alternative weekly sometimes have to be careful how and where we tread.
But in this particular instance I'm hoping my readers will grant me a pass since there really isn't any other way to tackle this subject matter head-on like it needs to be.
Those of you who continue to be fascinated or repelled by how frequently, and sometimes joyously, some black people employ the word "nigger" among ourselves might want to check out a particular Web site which is leading a grassroots charge to abolish use of the "N" word altogether. The Web site, abolishthenword.com, according to its introductory statement, was begun by a group of frustrated African-Americans who feel that we as blacks have become far too comfortable with a word that was created by slave owners to degrade an entire oppressed race of people. This year, however, actor-comedian Damon Wayans — who is black — stirred up a bit of controversy when the story broke that he has actually been trying to copyright the word "nigga" with the U.S Patent and Trademark Office for nearly two years. Apparently he wants control of the word so he can use it to market some products he's trying to sell. So far his application has been turned down twice.
I think it's safe to say that times have changed when a black man wants to legally own the word "nigga" as his personal property. Somehow I have a hard time defining this as a symbol of how far we've come as a people, but it's definitely a symbol that things have changed. For the folks at abolishthenword.com, there's no question that any use of the "N" word by black people except for historical context or educational purposes should be banned.
"As a small group of Brooklynites who grew up during the original old school era of hip hop, we remember when rap songs never used the 'N' word or profanity for that matter. We remember referring to our friends as homeboy and homegirl. And we were still cool. We remember the airing of Roots and the sting of hearing the 'N' word on national television for the first time. Now we ask ourselves what happened. What happened in our community that the 'N' word is tossed around freely in everyday language? When the use of it makes you cool, down, accepted.
"Our community has come full circle as we extend an invitation to others to call us the 'N' word as well and we answer with a smile. Our ancestors must be rocking in their graves. The 'N' word is not a term of endearment. It cannot be re-appropriated. We cannot redefine the 'N' word or re-spell it to make it positive. Racism is so subtle, we now think that we can embrace the 'N' word and take away its power. However, not enough time has passed for this concept to be effective. The word is viewed as a racial slur at large, it will continue to be so until it is put away for a generation, and then maybe it can be embraced at such time in a historical context."
And to help retire the word, the site sells "Abolish the 'N' Word" T-shirts and paraphernalia to spread the idea.
I, too, can remember the days of "homeboy" and "homegirl," and I also remember when rap was quite a different animal from what it is today. But I also remember a time long before rap came on the scene when the late comedian Richard Pryor had an album entitled That Nigger's Crazy. Pryor later had a complete change of attitude about the word, and a spiritual awakening of sorts, after a trip to Africa. He renounced the word and swore never to use it again. A lot of black folks applauded Pryor's decision, which carried a lot of weight coming from someone so wildly popular and with so much street cred. No doubt a lot of other black folks made the decision at the time to erase the word from their vocabularies.
That was about 20 years ago or so, I believe. Today we have a new generation of youngsters, many of whom have never even heard of Richard Pryor, but who have a warm and cozy relationship with the word "nigger," "nigga," etc. In other words, Pryor has passed on, but the "N" word is alive and kicking. It simply will not die. And while I sympathize with the efforts of the folks who created this Web site, and I certainly understand their concerns, I can't help but wonder if they realistically have any chance of achieving their goal. Once Pandora's box has been opened, it's hard as hell to shove the contents back inside.
One argument I anticipate is that maybe the problem is folks like me who choose to voice their doubts openly instead of jumping on the bandwagon. Perhaps, but I doubt it. The emotional distance between what a "nigger" was and what a "nigga" is has grown too wide, and many of us no longer believe the word has any real power to do much harm — especially if we're the ones wielding the sword. And, sick as it may sound, a lot of us (this no longer includes me) really like the word and will not let it go.
During my nearly five decades on the planet, I've seen us call each other so many things it's hard to keep track. You could almost create a museum stocked full with African-American terms of endearment through the ages. Brother Man. My brother. Bro Me. Bro. Blood. Black. Son. Home Boy. Home Girl. Home Slice. Homie. Homes. Cool Breeze. Gangstuh. Baby Boy. Pimp. Playa. Ho. Bitch. Nigger. Nigga. Mah Nigga.
I'm sure I missed a few, but you get the general idea. We've always got something to call one another, and too often it's something ugly. I'm hardly a sociologist, but I suspect it's because if you deal up close and personal with ugly for most of your life, then ugly is what you know best. When I was in high school, the brothers were calling each other bitch so much I'm surprised we didn't become gender confused. If we were mad, it would be, "Bitch, I'll kick your ass." If we were in a humorous mood, it might be something like, "Oh, this bitch thinks he's funny 'n' shit." And if it was consoling, somebody might say, "Hey, bitch. You all right?"
But even back then, the "N" word ruled supreme. For example, let's just take that last phrase and construct a "for instance" conversation"
"Hey, bitch. You all right?"
"Fuck naw. That nigger think he can come in here startin' shit and ain't shit gonna happen. You watch, I got a surprise for his black ass."
"Man, you better watch yourself. You know that nigger's crazy."
"Bitch, that nigger ain't seen crazy 'til I commence to whuppin on that ass."
I know conversations went on like this all the time because I was in the room. To be honest, sometimes I still am in the room. Yeah, I know. What does that say about me, right? Feel free to draw your own conclusions, but I'll tell you this: Pandora's box is a bitch to close, nigga. For real.
Keith A. Owens is a Detroit writer, editor and musician. Send comments to letters@metrotimes.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hugs, Tawny
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Why the ‘N’ word refuses to die
by Keith A. Owens
First, a warning. This column contains racially offensive language for which the author makes no apology. Not that offensive language — or at least language that is offensive to some — is anything new to Metro Times, but when it comes to certain subjects, even we freewheeling types here at Detroit's own alternative weekly sometimes have to be careful how and where we tread.
But in this particular instance I'm hoping my readers will grant me a pass since there really isn't any other way to tackle this subject matter head-on like it needs to be.
Those of you who continue to be fascinated or repelled by how frequently, and sometimes joyously, some black people employ the word "nigger" among ourselves might want to check out a particular Web site which is leading a grassroots charge to abolish use of the "N" word altogether. The Web site, abolishthenword.com, according to its introductory statement, was begun by a group of frustrated African-Americans who feel that we as blacks have become far too comfortable with a word that was created by slave owners to degrade an entire oppressed race of people. This year, however, actor-comedian Damon Wayans — who is black — stirred up a bit of controversy when the story broke that he has actually been trying to copyright the word "nigga" with the U.S Patent and Trademark Office for nearly two years. Apparently he wants control of the word so he can use it to market some products he's trying to sell. So far his application has been turned down twice.
I think it's safe to say that times have changed when a black man wants to legally own the word "nigga" as his personal property. Somehow I have a hard time defining this as a symbol of how far we've come as a people, but it's definitely a symbol that things have changed. For the folks at abolishthenword.com, there's no question that any use of the "N" word by black people except for historical context or educational purposes should be banned.
"As a small group of Brooklynites who grew up during the original old school era of hip hop, we remember when rap songs never used the 'N' word or profanity for that matter. We remember referring to our friends as homeboy and homegirl. And we were still cool. We remember the airing of Roots and the sting of hearing the 'N' word on national television for the first time. Now we ask ourselves what happened. What happened in our community that the 'N' word is tossed around freely in everyday language? When the use of it makes you cool, down, accepted.
"Our community has come full circle as we extend an invitation to others to call us the 'N' word as well and we answer with a smile. Our ancestors must be rocking in their graves. The 'N' word is not a term of endearment. It cannot be re-appropriated. We cannot redefine the 'N' word or re-spell it to make it positive. Racism is so subtle, we now think that we can embrace the 'N' word and take away its power. However, not enough time has passed for this concept to be effective. The word is viewed as a racial slur at large, it will continue to be so until it is put away for a generation, and then maybe it can be embraced at such time in a historical context."
And to help retire the word, the site sells "Abolish the 'N' Word" T-shirts and paraphernalia to spread the idea.
I, too, can remember the days of "homeboy" and "homegirl," and I also remember when rap was quite a different animal from what it is today. But I also remember a time long before rap came on the scene when the late comedian Richard Pryor had an album entitled That Nigger's Crazy. Pryor later had a complete change of attitude about the word, and a spiritual awakening of sorts, after a trip to Africa. He renounced the word and swore never to use it again. A lot of black folks applauded Pryor's decision, which carried a lot of weight coming from someone so wildly popular and with so much street cred. No doubt a lot of other black folks made the decision at the time to erase the word from their vocabularies.
That was about 20 years ago or so, I believe. Today we have a new generation of youngsters, many of whom have never even heard of Richard Pryor, but who have a warm and cozy relationship with the word "nigger," "nigga," etc. In other words, Pryor has passed on, but the "N" word is alive and kicking. It simply will not die. And while I sympathize with the efforts of the folks who created this Web site, and I certainly understand their concerns, I can't help but wonder if they realistically have any chance of achieving their goal. Once Pandora's box has been opened, it's hard as hell to shove the contents back inside.
One argument I anticipate is that maybe the problem is folks like me who choose to voice their doubts openly instead of jumping on the bandwagon. Perhaps, but I doubt it. The emotional distance between what a "nigger" was and what a "nigga" is has grown too wide, and many of us no longer believe the word has any real power to do much harm — especially if we're the ones wielding the sword. And, sick as it may sound, a lot of us (this no longer includes me) really like the word and will not let it go.
During my nearly five decades on the planet, I've seen us call each other so many things it's hard to keep track. You could almost create a museum stocked full with African-American terms of endearment through the ages. Brother Man. My brother. Bro Me. Bro. Blood. Black. Son. Home Boy. Home Girl. Home Slice. Homie. Homes. Cool Breeze. Gangstuh. Baby Boy. Pimp. Playa. Ho. Bitch. Nigger. Nigga. Mah Nigga.
I'm sure I missed a few, but you get the general idea. We've always got something to call one another, and too often it's something ugly. I'm hardly a sociologist, but I suspect it's because if you deal up close and personal with ugly for most of your life, then ugly is what you know best. When I was in high school, the brothers were calling each other bitch so much I'm surprised we didn't become gender confused. If we were mad, it would be, "Bitch, I'll kick your ass." If we were in a humorous mood, it might be something like, "Oh, this bitch thinks he's funny 'n' shit." And if it was consoling, somebody might say, "Hey, bitch. You all right?"
But even back then, the "N" word ruled supreme. For example, let's just take that last phrase and construct a "for instance" conversation"
"Hey, bitch. You all right?"
"Fuck naw. That nigger think he can come in here startin' shit and ain't shit gonna happen. You watch, I got a surprise for his black ass."
"Man, you better watch yourself. You know that nigger's crazy."
"Bitch, that nigger ain't seen crazy 'til I commence to whuppin on that ass."
I know conversations went on like this all the time because I was in the room. To be honest, sometimes I still am in the room. Yeah, I know. What does that say about me, right? Feel free to draw your own conclusions, but I'll tell you this: Pandora's box is a bitch to close, nigga. For real.
Keith A. Owens is a Detroit writer, editor and musician. Send comments to letters@metrotimes.com.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hugs, Tawny
Thursday, June 15, 2006
This week's issue of the Metro Times (www.metrotimes.com), the free weekly alternative newspaper in the metro Detroit area, has an interesting article I'd like to share with you.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Victory is certain on all fronts now!
by Jack Lessenberry
Don't know whether you are a true patriot or not, but I'm still celebrating our glorious killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose name can now be pronounced, almost flawlessly, by nearly every anchor babe.
True, we did have to kill a little girl, and at least two other women in the process, but you can't make an omelet without collateral damage.
Anyway, it sure made for a lot of neat TV pictures of the top half of his body, with most of the blood washed away. I really liked it when CNN showed us pictures of the bodies of other dead villains as well (Che Guevara, Uday and Gusay, etc.), and invited us to make comparisons.
So we got the dreaded leader who, we're told, was the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. True, two days later the American ambassador to that country said Baghdad was "more insecure now than it was a few months ago." True, news organizations, including The New York Times, are having difficulty getting journalists to go report from the meat grinder.
But this victory will certainly change everything. Naturally, I suspect the insurgents will now speedily surrender, and be reorganizing themselves into peaceful town councils. By now, some of the more far-seeing Vietnamese — oops — Iraqi leaders are undoubtedly studying the doctrines of the Methodist Church and the Republican Party.
Except we know better. Here are a few questions that I have asked in this space before, but that journalists, and the American people, should ask the president and his henchmen today and tomorrow and every day following, until we get a satisfactory and sensible answer.
Why are we in Iraq? What is our mission? What are we trying to achieve? How will we know when we have achieved it? Would we ever really leave the oil and our new bases there if they asked us to?
Then we need to ask ourselves how in the world we got into this mess, why we didn't demand more accountability from our government and what passes for an opposition party? How we could allow this to happen?
And we must ask ourselves how could we do this to our children, who will be left paying for this mess, in many more ways than one?
Talk about inconvenient truths. Throughout Vietnam, I always thought that it was a time of temporary insanity, largely caused by the Cold War and military hubris left over from World War II. Eventually, I believed we would see the light and find our way back to who we were and what we were supposed to be as a nation.
I'm not sure about that any more.
Years ago, author Sinclair Lewis said that when fascism came to America, it would be dressed up as patriotic, 100-percent Americanism. Fascism is, of course, an overused word, and too many silly leftists have accused too many people of "fascism." People think of Adolf Hitler raving, swastikas and the gas chambers. No, we aren't likely to become that. But do you know what the classical definition of fascism is, looking back to when it started in Mussolini's Italy?
A political system of extreme nationalism, pressure for conformity in all spheres of life and the identification of the interests of various corporations with the interests of the state. Usually, fascist states are also prone to invade other countries when they decide they need resources.
We now forget — or perhaps never knew — that a big part of the reason for Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor was that we had cut off its access to oil. Do you really suppose we would have invaded Iraq if it were in South America and had next to no energy resources?
Incidentally, here's something that ought to chill your blood, more even than the blowing up of a houseful of people to get our man: Last weekend three of the inmates (actually, political prisoners) we are holding at our prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, hanged themselves in their maximum security cells. They left suicide notes, which their American captors have not allowed to be published.
And the commander of our concentration camp responded this way: The suicides, Rear Adm. Harry Harris Jr. said, were "not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us."
The men, who undoubtedly will now be seen as martyrs throughout the Middle East, "are dangerous men who will do anything they can to gain support for their cause," he blathered on. Well, yes. They just did.
We are getting awfully good at creating martyrs, aren't we? By the way, we used to be a country that was better than this, for all our flaws. I remember it and used to live there, not that many years ago.
You should too. Remember that, when you vote next time.
Speaking of an inconvenient truth: You owe it to yourself to go see the movie by that name, hosted by and starring one Al Gore.
Yes, it is hard to believe, despite his denials, that this film isn't at least partly meant to spark a political comeback for the man who, as he begins by saying, "used to be the next president of the United States."
But that doesn't matter. There has never been a more compelling, coherent and vivid treatment of global warming, the phenomenon that very well may destroy human life on this planet, even including Republicans, unless something is done, and done fairly soon.
This movie is fascinating, easy to follow, and easy to understand, and every child over the age of 10 or so ought to be taken to it. Gore, the man the people really meant to elect in 2000, says that he is not a candidate for president, and doesn't expect to be, ever again.
Instead, he intends to devote his life to trying to wake up people about global warming. I largely believe him, but ...
This film may well make you see him in a different light. Thinking of what we wound up with instead ought to make you vomit.
If An Inconvenient Truth were to start a groundswell of support that ended with the Democrats nominating the world's stiffest movie star for president, I wouldn't mind one bit. After all — Gore has credibility and electability; we already elected him once, don't you know?
Plus, the way it looks now, the Democrats are most likely to nominate U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president, and the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of her being beaten, badly. Not because she is a woman, but because people just do not like her, in part because of her personality, and in part because she seems to stand for nothing at all.
Wouldn't be nice to have a president who stands for at least one thing ... that isn't evil?
Worth Driving Downtown For: Mark Gaffney, the president of Michigan's AFL-CIO, is speaking at Barth Hall on Woodward Avenue on "Workers' Rights Under Siege" and other human rights issues next Tuesday night, June 20, at 7 p.m., at a forum sponsored by the Michigan Coalition of Human Rights. I've always found Gaffney to be an intelligent and unusually candid labor intellectual, and his thoughts on our state's present economic crisis, and the future of unions, ought to be worth hearing.
Jack Lessenberry opines weekly for Metro Times. Send comments to letters@metrotimes.com.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hugs, Tawny
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Victory is certain on all fronts now!
by Jack Lessenberry
Don't know whether you are a true patriot or not, but I'm still celebrating our glorious killing of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose name can now be pronounced, almost flawlessly, by nearly every anchor babe.
True, we did have to kill a little girl, and at least two other women in the process, but you can't make an omelet without collateral damage.
Anyway, it sure made for a lot of neat TV pictures of the top half of his body, with most of the blood washed away. I really liked it when CNN showed us pictures of the bodies of other dead villains as well (Che Guevara, Uday and Gusay, etc.), and invited us to make comparisons.
So we got the dreaded leader who, we're told, was the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq. True, two days later the American ambassador to that country said Baghdad was "more insecure now than it was a few months ago." True, news organizations, including The New York Times, are having difficulty getting journalists to go report from the meat grinder.
But this victory will certainly change everything. Naturally, I suspect the insurgents will now speedily surrender, and be reorganizing themselves into peaceful town councils. By now, some of the more far-seeing Vietnamese — oops — Iraqi leaders are undoubtedly studying the doctrines of the Methodist Church and the Republican Party.
Except we know better. Here are a few questions that I have asked in this space before, but that journalists, and the American people, should ask the president and his henchmen today and tomorrow and every day following, until we get a satisfactory and sensible answer.
Why are we in Iraq? What is our mission? What are we trying to achieve? How will we know when we have achieved it? Would we ever really leave the oil and our new bases there if they asked us to?
Then we need to ask ourselves how in the world we got into this mess, why we didn't demand more accountability from our government and what passes for an opposition party? How we could allow this to happen?
And we must ask ourselves how could we do this to our children, who will be left paying for this mess, in many more ways than one?
Talk about inconvenient truths. Throughout Vietnam, I always thought that it was a time of temporary insanity, largely caused by the Cold War and military hubris left over from World War II. Eventually, I believed we would see the light and find our way back to who we were and what we were supposed to be as a nation.
I'm not sure about that any more.
Years ago, author Sinclair Lewis said that when fascism came to America, it would be dressed up as patriotic, 100-percent Americanism. Fascism is, of course, an overused word, and too many silly leftists have accused too many people of "fascism." People think of Adolf Hitler raving, swastikas and the gas chambers. No, we aren't likely to become that. But do you know what the classical definition of fascism is, looking back to when it started in Mussolini's Italy?
A political system of extreme nationalism, pressure for conformity in all spheres of life and the identification of the interests of various corporations with the interests of the state. Usually, fascist states are also prone to invade other countries when they decide they need resources.
We now forget — or perhaps never knew — that a big part of the reason for Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor was that we had cut off its access to oil. Do you really suppose we would have invaded Iraq if it were in South America and had next to no energy resources?
Incidentally, here's something that ought to chill your blood, more even than the blowing up of a houseful of people to get our man: Last weekend three of the inmates (actually, political prisoners) we are holding at our prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, hanged themselves in their maximum security cells. They left suicide notes, which their American captors have not allowed to be published.
And the commander of our concentration camp responded this way: The suicides, Rear Adm. Harry Harris Jr. said, were "not an act of desperation, but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us."
The men, who undoubtedly will now be seen as martyrs throughout the Middle East, "are dangerous men who will do anything they can to gain support for their cause," he blathered on. Well, yes. They just did.
We are getting awfully good at creating martyrs, aren't we? By the way, we used to be a country that was better than this, for all our flaws. I remember it and used to live there, not that many years ago.
You should too. Remember that, when you vote next time.
Speaking of an inconvenient truth: You owe it to yourself to go see the movie by that name, hosted by and starring one Al Gore.
Yes, it is hard to believe, despite his denials, that this film isn't at least partly meant to spark a political comeback for the man who, as he begins by saying, "used to be the next president of the United States."
But that doesn't matter. There has never been a more compelling, coherent and vivid treatment of global warming, the phenomenon that very well may destroy human life on this planet, even including Republicans, unless something is done, and done fairly soon.
This movie is fascinating, easy to follow, and easy to understand, and every child over the age of 10 or so ought to be taken to it. Gore, the man the people really meant to elect in 2000, says that he is not a candidate for president, and doesn't expect to be, ever again.
Instead, he intends to devote his life to trying to wake up people about global warming. I largely believe him, but ...
This film may well make you see him in a different light. Thinking of what we wound up with instead ought to make you vomit.
If An Inconvenient Truth were to start a groundswell of support that ended with the Democrats nominating the world's stiffest movie star for president, I wouldn't mind one bit. After all — Gore has credibility and electability; we already elected him once, don't you know?
Plus, the way it looks now, the Democrats are most likely to nominate U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton for president, and the odds are overwhelmingly in favor of her being beaten, badly. Not because she is a woman, but because people just do not like her, in part because of her personality, and in part because she seems to stand for nothing at all.
Wouldn't be nice to have a president who stands for at least one thing ... that isn't evil?
Worth Driving Downtown For: Mark Gaffney, the president of Michigan's AFL-CIO, is speaking at Barth Hall on Woodward Avenue on "Workers' Rights Under Siege" and other human rights issues next Tuesday night, June 20, at 7 p.m., at a forum sponsored by the Michigan Coalition of Human Rights. I've always found Gaffney to be an intelligent and unusually candid labor intellectual, and his thoughts on our state's present economic crisis, and the future of unions, ought to be worth hearing.
Jack Lessenberry opines weekly for Metro Times. Send comments to letters@metrotimes.com.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hugs, Tawny
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
One of my neighbors, a delightful over-50 woman, shared her latest issue of the AARP magazine with me. Why? Because there was an article about blogs in it and, knowing that I write one, she thought I might find it interesting.
And I did.
They gave addresses for three blogs that are pretty interesting:
www.octogenarian.blogspot.com
This is written by an 81 year old ex-journalist and is quite
interesting.
www.helpmebubby.blogspot.com
This is written by a 90-year old woman. It's a Dear Abby type blog.
www.jenett.org/ageless
It links to numerous blogs written by folks over the age of 50.
Do you blog? If so, drop me an email.I would love to read it.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
And I did.
They gave addresses for three blogs that are pretty interesting:
www.octogenarian.blogspot.com
This is written by an 81 year old ex-journalist and is quite
interesting.
www.helpmebubby.blogspot.com
This is written by a 90-year old woman. It's a Dear Abby type blog.
www.jenett.org/ageless
It links to numerous blogs written by folks over the age of 50.
Do you blog? If so, drop me an email.I would love to read it.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Tuesday, June 13, 2006
I've got a couple of things to say today.
1. www.juancole.com
I know I've posted this website before, many moons ago, but it's a reminder. Juan Cole is a professor at the University of Michigan and is very learned when it comes to the Middle East. His blog is tremendously interesting.
---
2. www.adoptaplatoon.org
Adopt-A-Platoon/Nanny Fran
Box 1457
Seabrook, New Hampshire 03874
It's no secret that I'm flat out against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Flat out agaist them.
But our sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers, aunts and uncles, friends, are over there in the thick of it.
This website/mailing address will enable you to help them. To let them know that you care about them.
----
hugs, Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
www.tawnyford.com
1. www.juancole.com
I know I've posted this website before, many moons ago, but it's a reminder. Juan Cole is a professor at the University of Michigan and is very learned when it comes to the Middle East. His blog is tremendously interesting.
---
2. www.adoptaplatoon.org
Adopt-A-Platoon/Nanny Fran
Box 1457
Seabrook, New Hampshire 03874
It's no secret that I'm flat out against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Flat out agaist them.
But our sisters and brothers, fathers and mothers, aunts and uncles, friends, are over there in the thick of it.
This website/mailing address will enable you to help them. To let them know that you care about them.
----
hugs, Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
www.tawnyford.com
Monday, June 12, 2006
I heard on tv, CNN most likely, that there have been x-number of suicides at Camp Gitmo, the prison on the island of Cuba where the US detains 'terrorists'.
The newscasters couldn't understand how this could be happening when the detainees are under strict 24 hour guard.
Apparently those in charge at Gitmo have decided that the detainees will relinquish their bedsheets every morning, and have them returned each night right before bedtime. That, they feel, will put an end to these suicides.
It got me thinking about the suicides in the jails down in Mississippi.
I'm not a big fan of the Revolutionary Workers, the party or their newspaper, but here is a link to an article they did about Mississippi jail lynchings. http://rwor.org/a/v20/970-79/979/miss.htm
Down in Missisippi, between 1987 and 1993, there were at least 48 people, 22 of them Black males, who were found hung in their jail cells. As you'll read in that article, some/many/most of them occurred under mysterious circumstances.
Another link for reading about that subject is (www.missiissippidays.com). In fact, that's where I found the link to the Revolutioary Workers article.
One of my uncles supposely committed suicide in a jail cell in Mississippi some years ago. They found him hanging in his cell. Thing was, his hands were cuffed behind his back.
Now I'm not saying that the US forces at Camp Gitmo are stringing the detainees up to make it appear as if they committed suicide. I'm not saying that at all. I've never been to Camp Gitmo, I don't know any of the service people stationed there, and I don't know any of the detainees.
I'm just saying.
Tawny
The newscasters couldn't understand how this could be happening when the detainees are under strict 24 hour guard.
Apparently those in charge at Gitmo have decided that the detainees will relinquish their bedsheets every morning, and have them returned each night right before bedtime. That, they feel, will put an end to these suicides.
It got me thinking about the suicides in the jails down in Mississippi.
I'm not a big fan of the Revolutionary Workers, the party or their newspaper, but here is a link to an article they did about Mississippi jail lynchings. http://rwor.org/a/v20/970-79/979/miss.htm
Down in Missisippi, between 1987 and 1993, there were at least 48 people, 22 of them Black males, who were found hung in their jail cells. As you'll read in that article, some/many/most of them occurred under mysterious circumstances.
Another link for reading about that subject is (www.missiissippidays.com). In fact, that's where I found the link to the Revolutioary Workers article.
One of my uncles supposely committed suicide in a jail cell in Mississippi some years ago. They found him hanging in his cell. Thing was, his hands were cuffed behind his back.
Now I'm not saying that the US forces at Camp Gitmo are stringing the detainees up to make it appear as if they committed suicide. I'm not saying that at all. I've never been to Camp Gitmo, I don't know any of the service people stationed there, and I don't know any of the detainees.
I'm just saying.
Tawny
Sunday, June 11, 2006
For the past few days the tv has been bombarding us with news about the death of Al-Zarqawi, one of the purported leaders of Al Qaeda.
I'm not squeamish about death. I know it's a part of living.
But is it necessary for the US to proudly show photographs of the deceased? Is there no reverence for his body?
Newscasts say the US is awaiting the results of Al-Zarqawi's autopsy. Why? The man is dead. The US dropped enormous bombs on the place he was staying and he died.
According to Islam, and by all accounts the man was a follower of Islam, there is never to be an autopsy. Muslims don't even believe in embalming. You die, you are buried. Period.
It's things like this, as well as countless other reasons, that so much of the world hates us.
Tawny
I'm not squeamish about death. I know it's a part of living.
But is it necessary for the US to proudly show photographs of the deceased? Is there no reverence for his body?
Newscasts say the US is awaiting the results of Al-Zarqawi's autopsy. Why? The man is dead. The US dropped enormous bombs on the place he was staying and he died.
According to Islam, and by all accounts the man was a follower of Islam, there is never to be an autopsy. Muslims don't even believe in embalming. You die, you are buried. Period.
It's things like this, as well as countless other reasons, that so much of the world hates us.
Tawny
Friday, June 09, 2006
I ran across this song on the newest Holly Near cd, "Show Up" (www.hollynear.com). It was written by Jackson Browne and, I would assume, recorded by him at one time. I think the lyrics are worth a read.
---
LIVES IN THE BALANCE
I've been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you've seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war
And there's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where the business interest run
On the radio talk shows and tv
You hear one thing again and again
How the U.S.A. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends
These governments killing their own
Or the people who find they can't take anymore
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
There is blood on the wire
And there's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
We can't even say their names
They sell us the president the same way
They sell us our cars and our clothes
They sell us everything fom youth to religion
The same they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear someone asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they are never the ones to fight or die
----
hugs, Tawny
---
LIVES IN THE BALANCE
I've been waiting for something to happen
For a week or a month or a year
With the blood in the ink of the headlines
And the sound of the crowd in my ear
You might ask what it takes to remember
When you know that you've seen it before
Where a government lies to a people
And a country is drifting to war
And there's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who send the guns
To the wars that are fought in places
Where the business interest run
On the radio talk shows and tv
You hear one thing again and again
How the U.S.A. stands for freedom
And we come to the aid of a friend
But who are the ones that we call our friends
These governments killing their own
Or the people who find they can't take anymore
And they pick up a gun or a brick or a stone
And there are lives in the balance
There are people under fire
There are children at the cannons
There is blood on the wire
And there's a shadow on the faces
Of the men who fan the flames
Of the wars that are fought in places
We can't even say their names
They sell us the president the same way
They sell us our cars and our clothes
They sell us everything fom youth to religion
The same they sell us our wars
I want to know who the men in the shadows are
I want to hear someone asking them why
They can be counted on to tell us who our enemies are
But they are never the ones to fight or die
----
hugs, Tawny
Thursday, June 08, 2006
This is from the BBC. My friend sent it to me.
______________________________________________________________________________
Cloning 'could beat gene disease'
A scientist involved in creating Dolly the cloned sheep has proposed using cloning and gene alteration to create babies free from hereditary diseases.
Professor Ian Wilmut argues in a new book that cloning a 100-cell IVF embryo is not the same as cloning a human.
Professor Wilmut, of the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh, says it would be "immoral" not to use the promise of new technology to help families.
But opponents called the plan "unethical" and "utterly perverse".
I simply can't see anything immoral about the use of these methods to prevent disease and suffering
Professor Ian Wilmut, Roslin Institute
Professor Wilmut describes how it would be possible to take an embryo affected by an hereditary disease and then remove its stem cells and modify the genetic fault which, left unchecked, would cause a condition such as Huntington's disease or cystic fibrosis .
These defect-free cells would then be cloned and used to create a new embryo which was not affected by disease.
This would then be implanted and allowed to develop into a baby.
'Drawing a line'
Professor Wilmut has in the past said he is "implacable opposed" to cloning a human being.
But in his book, After Dolly, which is being serialised in the Daily Telegraph, he argues that is not what he is now suggesting.
The quest for perfection knows no bounds
Julia Millington, ProLife Alliance
"An early embryo is not a person, and I see the use of cloning to prevent a child having a dreadful hereditary disease as far less controversial.
"I simply can't see anything immoral about the use of these methods to prevent disease and suffering."
Professor Wilmut says many moral, ethical and practical questions would be raised by the use of the technique, as well as arguments over where to "draw the line between eradicating the disease and enhancing a child".
He said it was "easy to understand" the desire to prevent the birth of a child with a serious genetic disease such as Huntington's, or to be able to administer a synthetic growth hormone to ensure a stunted child grows to a normal height.
But he questioned what would happen if couples wanted to have a tall child - because taller people have been shown to fare better in many areas of life.
Professor Wilmut writes: "Whatever the shades of grey between enhancement and therapy, I believe that society has an obligation to intervene on the embryo's behalf when it comes to weighing the risks and benefits of genetic alteration."
'Science without sense'
However, he said the technique did raise other issues.
Any such manipulation would not only affect the resulting child's genetic make-up, but also that of its own offspring.
And, if it was introduced, the technology would, at least initially, be very expensive, suggesting, Professor Wilmut says, there will be "genetic haves and have-nots".
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which regulates any scientific work involving embryos, said the replacement of a cloned embryo into a woman would be banned under the Human Reproductive Cloning Act (2001).
Julia Millington, political director of the ProLife Alliance, said: "The quest for perfection knows no bounds.
"Selecting healthy cells from an embryo with genetic defects in order to clone it; thereby creating a healthy identical twin is not only unethical, it is utterly perverse."
Matthew O'Gorman, spokesman for the pro-life group LIFE, said: "What Professor Wilmut fails to mention is that the cloned embryos will be deliberately destroyed once they have provided useful genetic material.
"Such a proposal is abhorrent for it treats the embryo as an instrument rather than an individual.
"Embryos will be commanded into existence; cloned simply to service another which is a shameful example of science without sense."
______________________________________________________________________________
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
______________________________________________________________________________
Cloning 'could beat gene disease'
A scientist involved in creating Dolly the cloned sheep has proposed using cloning and gene alteration to create babies free from hereditary diseases.
Professor Ian Wilmut argues in a new book that cloning a 100-cell IVF embryo is not the same as cloning a human.
Professor Wilmut, of the Roslin Institute near Edinburgh, says it would be "immoral" not to use the promise of new technology to help families.
But opponents called the plan "unethical" and "utterly perverse".
I simply can't see anything immoral about the use of these methods to prevent disease and suffering
Professor Ian Wilmut, Roslin Institute
Professor Wilmut describes how it would be possible to take an embryo affected by an hereditary disease and then remove its stem cells and modify the genetic fault which, left unchecked, would cause a condition such as Huntington's disease or cystic fibrosis .
These defect-free cells would then be cloned and used to create a new embryo which was not affected by disease.
This would then be implanted and allowed to develop into a baby.
'Drawing a line'
Professor Wilmut has in the past said he is "implacable opposed" to cloning a human being.
But in his book, After Dolly, which is being serialised in the Daily Telegraph, he argues that is not what he is now suggesting.
The quest for perfection knows no bounds
Julia Millington, ProLife Alliance
"An early embryo is not a person, and I see the use of cloning to prevent a child having a dreadful hereditary disease as far less controversial.
"I simply can't see anything immoral about the use of these methods to prevent disease and suffering."
Professor Wilmut says many moral, ethical and practical questions would be raised by the use of the technique, as well as arguments over where to "draw the line between eradicating the disease and enhancing a child".
He said it was "easy to understand" the desire to prevent the birth of a child with a serious genetic disease such as Huntington's, or to be able to administer a synthetic growth hormone to ensure a stunted child grows to a normal height.
But he questioned what would happen if couples wanted to have a tall child - because taller people have been shown to fare better in many areas of life.
Professor Wilmut writes: "Whatever the shades of grey between enhancement and therapy, I believe that society has an obligation to intervene on the embryo's behalf when it comes to weighing the risks and benefits of genetic alteration."
'Science without sense'
However, he said the technique did raise other issues.
Any such manipulation would not only affect the resulting child's genetic make-up, but also that of its own offspring.
And, if it was introduced, the technology would, at least initially, be very expensive, suggesting, Professor Wilmut says, there will be "genetic haves and have-nots".
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which regulates any scientific work involving embryos, said the replacement of a cloned embryo into a woman would be banned under the Human Reproductive Cloning Act (2001).
Julia Millington, political director of the ProLife Alliance, said: "The quest for perfection knows no bounds.
"Selecting healthy cells from an embryo with genetic defects in order to clone it; thereby creating a healthy identical twin is not only unethical, it is utterly perverse."
Matthew O'Gorman, spokesman for the pro-life group LIFE, said: "What Professor Wilmut fails to mention is that the cloned embryos will be deliberately destroyed once they have provided useful genetic material.
"Such a proposal is abhorrent for it treats the embryo as an instrument rather than an individual.
"Embryos will be commanded into existence; cloned simply to service another which is a shameful example of science without sense."
______________________________________________________________________________
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
A friend sent me this. Thought it would might you chuckle....
For all the wonderful Italians out there, or those who are lucky enough to
be married to an Italian, or to have Italian friends.
An elderly Italian man lay dying in his bed. While suffering the agonies
of impending death, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite Italian
anisette sprinkled cookies wafting up the stairs.
Gathering his remaining strength, he lifted himself from the bed.
Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and
with even greater effort, gripping the railing with both hands, he crawled
downstairs.
With labored breath, he leaned against the door frame, gazing into the
kitchen where if not for death's agony, he would have thought himself
already in heaven, for there, spread out upon waxed paper on the kitchen
table were literally hundreds of his favorite anisette sprinkled cookies.
Was it heaven?
Or was it one final act of heroic love from his devoted Italian wife of
sixty years, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man?
Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself towards the table,
landing on his knees in a crumpled posture.
His parched lips parted, the wondrous taste of the cookie was already in his
mouth, seemingly bringing him back to life.
The aged and withered hand trembled on its way to a cookie at the edge of
the table, when his wife suddenly smacked it with a spatula...
"Back off!" she said, "They're for the funeral."
hugs, Tawny
For all the wonderful Italians out there, or those who are lucky enough to
be married to an Italian, or to have Italian friends.
An elderly Italian man lay dying in his bed. While suffering the agonies
of impending death, he suddenly smelled the aroma of his favorite Italian
anisette sprinkled cookies wafting up the stairs.
Gathering his remaining strength, he lifted himself from the bed.
Leaning against the wall, he slowly made his way out of the bedroom, and
with even greater effort, gripping the railing with both hands, he crawled
downstairs.
With labored breath, he leaned against the door frame, gazing into the
kitchen where if not for death's agony, he would have thought himself
already in heaven, for there, spread out upon waxed paper on the kitchen
table were literally hundreds of his favorite anisette sprinkled cookies.
Was it heaven?
Or was it one final act of heroic love from his devoted Italian wife of
sixty years, seeing to it that he left this world a happy man?
Mustering one great final effort, he threw himself towards the table,
landing on his knees in a crumpled posture.
His parched lips parted, the wondrous taste of the cookie was already in his
mouth, seemingly bringing him back to life.
The aged and withered hand trembled on its way to a cookie at the edge of
the table, when his wife suddenly smacked it with a spatula...
"Back off!" she said, "They're for the funeral."
hugs, Tawny
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
As quiet as it's been kept........
Remember me teling you about Proof, the Detroit rapper who was shot to death in an illegal after hours club?
Well, the police found his cousin, Chop, shot to death in the basement of one of Chop's houses.
In all likelihood, Chop, who was not only Proof's cousin but also his childhood friend, was the last one to see Proof alive. He's the guy who drove Proof to the hospital that morning.
I don't know who shot Chop.
But it isn't good.
Violence begets violence. And there's been way more than enough violence.
Tawny
Remember me teling you about Proof, the Detroit rapper who was shot to death in an illegal after hours club?
Well, the police found his cousin, Chop, shot to death in the basement of one of Chop's houses.
In all likelihood, Chop, who was not only Proof's cousin but also his childhood friend, was the last one to see Proof alive. He's the guy who drove Proof to the hospital that morning.
I don't know who shot Chop.
But it isn't good.
Violence begets violence. And there's been way more than enough violence.
Tawny
Monday, June 05, 2006
I don't know if you realize this, but when folks find a phone service that they like, they stay with it for a long time. There are more than a few gentlemen who I have been talking with for thirteen years! Thirteen years! One man says he and I have been 'together' longer than he and his wife were.
I'm not bragging or anything, but generally speaking, once someone uses my phone service they use it again. And again.
Obviously I like that because repeat customers mean that I'm doing a good job, and it keeps my bank account solvent.
But I also like it because I enjoy getting to know people. When my phone rings, odds are good it's an old friend on the other end. And while we most likely are going to have an erotic conversation, we're also going to catch up on each other's lives, as friends will do.
I'm very fortunate to have such a nice mix of people who call, too. My customers are engaged in almost every occupation you can think of, are of various racial and ethnic groups, and call from all over the world.
Fantasies, or the erotic topics of our conversations, are equally as varied.
A gentleman who called today said it was perfectly okay to share his fantasy with you if I cared to. He is into historical fantasies. He has done a great deal of research into various time periods and so his fantasies are very detailed. As a result of this, I have become quite knowledgeable too.
This man is into making it as real as possible, and so he and I have been working on designing and sewing a costume for him to wear when we talk.
And you thought all I did was talk (smile). For a fee, I will happily sew for you too.
There is also another gentleman who is fond of photos of my feet. He purchases these photos from me, along with written foot stories.
If you are interested in foot photos or fetishwear (within limits), let me know. Maybe we can work something out.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net www.tawnyford.com
I'm not bragging or anything, but generally speaking, once someone uses my phone service they use it again. And again.
Obviously I like that because repeat customers mean that I'm doing a good job, and it keeps my bank account solvent.
But I also like it because I enjoy getting to know people. When my phone rings, odds are good it's an old friend on the other end. And while we most likely are going to have an erotic conversation, we're also going to catch up on each other's lives, as friends will do.
I'm very fortunate to have such a nice mix of people who call, too. My customers are engaged in almost every occupation you can think of, are of various racial and ethnic groups, and call from all over the world.
Fantasies, or the erotic topics of our conversations, are equally as varied.
A gentleman who called today said it was perfectly okay to share his fantasy with you if I cared to. He is into historical fantasies. He has done a great deal of research into various time periods and so his fantasies are very detailed. As a result of this, I have become quite knowledgeable too.
This man is into making it as real as possible, and so he and I have been working on designing and sewing a costume for him to wear when we talk.
And you thought all I did was talk (smile). For a fee, I will happily sew for you too.
There is also another gentleman who is fond of photos of my feet. He purchases these photos from me, along with written foot stories.
If you are interested in foot photos or fetishwear (within limits), let me know. Maybe we can work something out.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net www.tawnyford.com
Sunday, June 04, 2006
My cousin got popped twice last week. Not popped as in snap, crackle, pop, a bowl of cereal. Popped as in shot twice with a pistol.
He was taking a shower when the bathroom door exploded. Two guys, both teenaged crackheads, had him on the floor with their pistols to his head wanting to know where his money was.
They had busted through his front door, then heard the shower running and knew it would be easy to take him in there. You see, most folks don't take their pistol to the bathroom with them.
As he lay on the floor, pleading for his life, he thought it was all over.
Long story short, the crackheads first shot him in his foot, then went and ransacked his house, robbing him of several thousand dollars. Then they returned to the bathroom and shot him a second time. The second shot was meant to be a gut shot, a killing wound, but, unknown to them, my cousin deflected the shot with his arm. There was so much blood on the floor the intruders thought he was mortally wounded and they fled.
There's almost always a moral to my little stories here, right?
I suppose this one could be take your pistol everywhere with you, even to the bathroom. But, while that certainly may be practical advice in some circles, that's not the one for today.
This is it: All we have for certain is today. We are not promised a tomorrow. The Holy Bible doesn't say tomorrow is guaranteed for us, neither does the Holy Quran.
We need to make sure those we love know we love them. And we need to make certain that we are 'right' with God.
Tawny
He was taking a shower when the bathroom door exploded. Two guys, both teenaged crackheads, had him on the floor with their pistols to his head wanting to know where his money was.
They had busted through his front door, then heard the shower running and knew it would be easy to take him in there. You see, most folks don't take their pistol to the bathroom with them.
As he lay on the floor, pleading for his life, he thought it was all over.
Long story short, the crackheads first shot him in his foot, then went and ransacked his house, robbing him of several thousand dollars. Then they returned to the bathroom and shot him a second time. The second shot was meant to be a gut shot, a killing wound, but, unknown to them, my cousin deflected the shot with his arm. There was so much blood on the floor the intruders thought he was mortally wounded and they fled.
There's almost always a moral to my little stories here, right?
I suppose this one could be take your pistol everywhere with you, even to the bathroom. But, while that certainly may be practical advice in some circles, that's not the one for today.
This is it: All we have for certain is today. We are not promised a tomorrow. The Holy Bible doesn't say tomorrow is guaranteed for us, neither does the Holy Quran.
We need to make sure those we love know we love them. And we need to make certain that we are 'right' with God.
Tawny
Friday, June 02, 2006
Did you happen to catch the VH1 show the other night about Jenna Jameson, the porn star? I only caught the last twenty minutes of it but I was intrigued by what she had to say, particularly since I'd read her book, How To Make Love Like A Porn Star, monthes ago.
One thing that got me, and I'm seriously paraphrasing here, was when she said that porn stars are more than porn stars. Porn is what they do for a living, it's not them. They are more than that.
I had to agree with her.
See, back when I first started doing phone sex, one of the women I worked with was also a dancer. A dancer in a titty bar. She told me there was a guy who always asked her out when he came in, never failed, always asked her. And even though she kind of liked him, she always told him no. Why? Because she said she knew that since he'd seen her nearly naked, and had her lap dancing for him, that he saw her as sex, not as a woman, but as a piece of ass. Someone he'd just want to fuck, not potentially spend a lifetime with.
A while back I saw Pam Anderson on the Jay Leno show. This was when she was dating Kid Rock and spending a lot of time here in Michigan to be with him. Pam said something to Leno about how she and Kid Rock went to church, and how she taught Sunday school. And Leno about laughed his ass off. Apparently, to him, she was big boobs and sex, certainly not the type of woman people would want teaching their kids Sunday school.
Now for me personally, being as I do phone sex for a living, I'm under no illusions whatsoever that when a guy on the phone tells me that he'd like to date me what he really means is he'd like to fuck me. I talk all that talk, so I must be hotter than a firecracker and eager as hell to spread my legs for anything with a dick.
There's a correlation here, I think, between Hootchie Mama fashion and those of us who work in the sex industry. You know, if we work in the sex industry then we must be whores. And if a woman dresses like a Hootchie Mama then she must be a whore.
Even though we are all more than we appear to be, we are judged by our appearance.
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
One thing that got me, and I'm seriously paraphrasing here, was when she said that porn stars are more than porn stars. Porn is what they do for a living, it's not them. They are more than that.
I had to agree with her.
See, back when I first started doing phone sex, one of the women I worked with was also a dancer. A dancer in a titty bar. She told me there was a guy who always asked her out when he came in, never failed, always asked her. And even though she kind of liked him, she always told him no. Why? Because she said she knew that since he'd seen her nearly naked, and had her lap dancing for him, that he saw her as sex, not as a woman, but as a piece of ass. Someone he'd just want to fuck, not potentially spend a lifetime with.
A while back I saw Pam Anderson on the Jay Leno show. This was when she was dating Kid Rock and spending a lot of time here in Michigan to be with him. Pam said something to Leno about how she and Kid Rock went to church, and how she taught Sunday school. And Leno about laughed his ass off. Apparently, to him, she was big boobs and sex, certainly not the type of woman people would want teaching their kids Sunday school.
Now for me personally, being as I do phone sex for a living, I'm under no illusions whatsoever that when a guy on the phone tells me that he'd like to date me what he really means is he'd like to fuck me. I talk all that talk, so I must be hotter than a firecracker and eager as hell to spread my legs for anything with a dick.
There's a correlation here, I think, between Hootchie Mama fashion and those of us who work in the sex industry. You know, if we work in the sex industry then we must be whores. And if a woman dresses like a Hootchie Mama then she must be a whore.
Even though we are all more than we appear to be, we are judged by our appearance.
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
Thursday, June 01, 2006
Blockbuster and I got together tonight. I rented three movies--Transamerica, Cheaper By The Dozen 2, and Freedomland.
So far I've watched Transamerica, and I liked it. It's laugh out loud funny in some parts, and sadder than sad in others. If you're not familiar with it, it's about a man who decides to undergo surgery to become a 'woman'. Yeah, I know, sometimes that subject, particularly when it's a documentary, makes me cringe and want to pull my hair out all the while screaming at the tv screen--WHAT ARE YOU THINKING??? This movie won't make you do that, honest.
It got me thinking about a woman I worked with some years ago. There was great speculation among our coworkers as to whether or not she was really a she (a biological woman).
Turned out she ws a biological male who had, many years before, undergone surgery to become a woman.
Call me sheltered, but I had never met anyone like that before. And it was long before all those documentaries on the Discovery channels so it's not like it was a common topic of conversation, leastwise not in my circle.
So long story short, the 'woman' I worked with, one day out of the blue she decided to tell me how she used to be a he and had the operation, etc.
Now I don't claim to understand any of this, and all the tv documentaries I've seen haven't done a thing to clear things up for me.
It didn't seem to be an easy life for 'her'. I mean, she was passable, sort of. But if she met a guy, well, if she told him up front she usd to be Fred, odds were good he wasn't keen on dating her. If she didn't tell a guy her origins, and they dated, and kissed, well, when he found out, and they always found out, then she risked getting her ass kicked.
And when I see transexuals on tv, well, most of them are not at all passable looking. They look like guys in drag. And you just know people are laughing at them behind their backs, What kind of a life is that?
Tawny
So far I've watched Transamerica, and I liked it. It's laugh out loud funny in some parts, and sadder than sad in others. If you're not familiar with it, it's about a man who decides to undergo surgery to become a 'woman'. Yeah, I know, sometimes that subject, particularly when it's a documentary, makes me cringe and want to pull my hair out all the while screaming at the tv screen--WHAT ARE YOU THINKING??? This movie won't make you do that, honest.
It got me thinking about a woman I worked with some years ago. There was great speculation among our coworkers as to whether or not she was really a she (a biological woman).
Turned out she ws a biological male who had, many years before, undergone surgery to become a woman.
Call me sheltered, but I had never met anyone like that before. And it was long before all those documentaries on the Discovery channels so it's not like it was a common topic of conversation, leastwise not in my circle.
So long story short, the 'woman' I worked with, one day out of the blue she decided to tell me how she used to be a he and had the operation, etc.
Now I don't claim to understand any of this, and all the tv documentaries I've seen haven't done a thing to clear things up for me.
It didn't seem to be an easy life for 'her'. I mean, she was passable, sort of. But if she met a guy, well, if she told him up front she usd to be Fred, odds were good he wasn't keen on dating her. If she didn't tell a guy her origins, and they dated, and kissed, well, when he found out, and they always found out, then she risked getting her ass kicked.
And when I see transexuals on tv, well, most of them are not at all passable looking. They look like guys in drag. And you just know people are laughing at them behind their backs, What kind of a life is that?
Tawny
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