I know I missed talking to a number of you last night. That wasn't my intention. See, I had taken a nap in the afternoon and everything, I was good to go until at least 2-3am.
So last night I was watching House Hunters on the cable channel HGTV. A family from California was looking at homes to buy in La Paz (I think that was the town) Mexico. At 11pm I switched over to MSNBC to watch To Catch A Predator with Chris Hansen. Did you know he used to be a reporter for the Detroit local ABC affiliate?
But intsead of his show it was BREAKING NEWS. Saddam Hussein had been executed.
I switched over to one of the local Detroit stations. It ws time for the 11pm news and, sure enough, Hussein's execution was the lead story.
By now everybody in America must know that the metro Detroit area's city of Dearborn has the largest concentration of Arabs living outside of the Arab nations.
So the news cameras were in Dearborn, along Warren Avenue, and there was dancing in the streets. Arab men, their women nowhere in sight, were dancing and singing and laughing and having one hell of a good time, all celebrating the death of the man who used to run the country of Iraq.
I can't think of his name, one of the Imans (the leader of a mosque) from Dearborn, who is on the local news every time they want the Muslim/Arab opinion, was shown dancing and celebrating too. He was interviewed and he said things like it was such a joyous time now that Saddam Hussein was dead.
Silly me, silly silly me, but I don't care if the person who died was the most heinous individual ever to roam the earth. It doesn't matter. A human life is a human life. What kind of person who (supposedly) works for God would ever rejoice at the death of one of God's children?
I am horrified by the way people are reacting to this man's death. I'm horrified by the footage of him being walked to the gallows, of the rope being placed around his neck, and of the photo showing him dead and in a white shroud.
Hell, I'm still horrified at the way the USA forces laid out the dead bodies of his two sons several years ago and it was shown on the news.
This is not a good time in the world.
May God have mercy on us all.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
I hadn't planned to write about this until January but I've changed my mind.
Okay, so you're aware that the economy here in the USA isn't doing so good, right? Lots and lots of people out of work. Here in Michigan it's really tough because our economy relies heavily on the automotive industry and manufacturing jobs, both of which have taken direct hits as of late.
For some monthes I have been working with a band of good hearted folks who are trying to feed the poor and the homeless. We routinely make our way to the inner city of Detroit, set up tables with food and warm clothing, and try, at least for that afternoon, to make a difference in as many lives as we can.
Unlike a number of other do-gooder groups, we receive no funding from anyone but ourselves. That's right. We all dig into our own pockets to purchase food, clothing, whatever we think the good folks we're trying to help can use.
Each year from early November until December 26th the poor and the homeless are very popular. People find it it so cool and hip to dish up holiday meals at the shelter and donate toys for Christmas.
And it's a nice thing for people to do, don't get me wrong, but people are still poor and still homeless, still hungry and needy the other eleven monthes of the year.
I truly believe in my heart of hearts that people want to help the less fortunate and needy year round but they don't know how to do it. The newspapers are full of articles and exposes about charities that use 98% of their donated monies for administrative costs and, understandably, that makes people not want to give to groups for fear that they may be wasting funds.
So what I'm proposing is that you help us help the poor. That's right, you read me right.
We're just a bunch of regular folks. No organization behind us, no office or telephone or website. Just regular folks, men and women who go to work everyday, some with school age children, families of their own. All of us trying to aide and assist our sisters and brothers who need help.
Several people who use my phone service have been kind enough to send a few dollars this way for our work and we are ever so grateful for their contributions.
Each time we go to Detroit we pass out bag lunches. Sandwich, potato chips, candy, granola bar. We have clothes--warm jackets, shoes, socks, gloves, etc.--whatever we can come up with because there is always a need. Hygiene kits that we assemble ourselves with a full size bar of soap, washcloth, toothbrush and toothpaste.
And we're doing okay, don't get me wrong. But we could help so many more if we had a few more dollars to work with.
If you'd like to help us help those who need help, donations may be sent to:
TMC
POBox 191
Farmington, MI 48332
Put a note in your envelope saying for the homeless and we will use every penny you send to feed and clothe them. I guarantee it.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Okay, so you're aware that the economy here in the USA isn't doing so good, right? Lots and lots of people out of work. Here in Michigan it's really tough because our economy relies heavily on the automotive industry and manufacturing jobs, both of which have taken direct hits as of late.
For some monthes I have been working with a band of good hearted folks who are trying to feed the poor and the homeless. We routinely make our way to the inner city of Detroit, set up tables with food and warm clothing, and try, at least for that afternoon, to make a difference in as many lives as we can.
Unlike a number of other do-gooder groups, we receive no funding from anyone but ourselves. That's right. We all dig into our own pockets to purchase food, clothing, whatever we think the good folks we're trying to help can use.
Each year from early November until December 26th the poor and the homeless are very popular. People find it it so cool and hip to dish up holiday meals at the shelter and donate toys for Christmas.
And it's a nice thing for people to do, don't get me wrong, but people are still poor and still homeless, still hungry and needy the other eleven monthes of the year.
I truly believe in my heart of hearts that people want to help the less fortunate and needy year round but they don't know how to do it. The newspapers are full of articles and exposes about charities that use 98% of their donated monies for administrative costs and, understandably, that makes people not want to give to groups for fear that they may be wasting funds.
So what I'm proposing is that you help us help the poor. That's right, you read me right.
We're just a bunch of regular folks. No organization behind us, no office or telephone or website. Just regular folks, men and women who go to work everyday, some with school age children, families of their own. All of us trying to aide and assist our sisters and brothers who need help.
Several people who use my phone service have been kind enough to send a few dollars this way for our work and we are ever so grateful for their contributions.
Each time we go to Detroit we pass out bag lunches. Sandwich, potato chips, candy, granola bar. We have clothes--warm jackets, shoes, socks, gloves, etc.--whatever we can come up with because there is always a need. Hygiene kits that we assemble ourselves with a full size bar of soap, washcloth, toothbrush and toothpaste.
And we're doing okay, don't get me wrong. But we could help so many more if we had a few more dollars to work with.
If you'd like to help us help those who need help, donations may be sent to:
TMC
POBox 191
Farmington, MI 48332
Put a note in your envelope saying for the homeless and we will use every penny you send to feed and clothe them. I guarantee it.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
I've written about this magazine before, Sojourners (www.sojo.net), and how much I like it. Well, the January 2007 issue arrived this morning and I really wish you would get a copy of it, either by purchasing a subscription or finding it at your local newstand/bookdealer.
There's one article in particular, The Innocent Victims, page 9, written by Tom Davis. You need to read it.
One of the things Mr. Davis says in this piece is that the war in Iraq has cost hundreds of billions of dollars and 2,800-plus American soldiers lives.
Also, some 551,00 adult Iraqis have been killed since the war began three years.
But even more shockingly, approximately 54,000 Iraqi children have been killed since the war began. 54,000 innocent children dead!
Even if you support the war in Iraq, how in the world can you justify or live with the fact that 54,000 innocent children have been casualties? Their blood is on our hands.
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
There's one article in particular, The Innocent Victims, page 9, written by Tom Davis. You need to read it.
One of the things Mr. Davis says in this piece is that the war in Iraq has cost hundreds of billions of dollars and 2,800-plus American soldiers lives.
Also, some 551,00 adult Iraqis have been killed since the war began three years.
But even more shockingly, approximately 54,000 Iraqi children have been killed since the war began. 54,000 innocent children dead!
Even if you support the war in Iraq, how in the world can you justify or live with the fact that 54,000 innocent children have been casualties? Their blood is on our hands.
Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
Monday, December 11, 2006
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Seems like everyone is always asking me what's new. Well, I'll tell you what's new---my back door!
My garage is attached to my house. The door leading from my kitchen to the garage was as old as my house and my house was built sometime in the mid-60's. 40 some years later, even when the door was closed, you could see light from the garage around the edges. And if you cranked up the lawnmower or the snowblower in the garage, well, you could smell it all through my house.
So I called the place here in town where I'd bought the new garage door a couple of years earlier and they came out and installed a really nice new door for me. It probably sounds crazy to get all excited over a door, but it is so nice. It shuts with a vacuum-like seal and not only does it keep garage smells out, but it keeps the house's heat in.
I should have done this years ago.
Tawny
My garage is attached to my house. The door leading from my kitchen to the garage was as old as my house and my house was built sometime in the mid-60's. 40 some years later, even when the door was closed, you could see light from the garage around the edges. And if you cranked up the lawnmower or the snowblower in the garage, well, you could smell it all through my house.
So I called the place here in town where I'd bought the new garage door a couple of years earlier and they came out and installed a really nice new door for me. It probably sounds crazy to get all excited over a door, but it is so nice. It shuts with a vacuum-like seal and not only does it keep garage smells out, but it keeps the house's heat in.
I should have done this years ago.
Tawny
Saturday, December 09, 2006
I ran into one of my cousins the other day at the meat market. She was just coming from the beauty shop and had ducked in the doorway of the market to get out of the cold while she waited for the bus. I was there to buy some ox tails to cook for that night's dinner.
Her hair was fixed real pretty. Probably a hundred skinny little braids all going this way and that.
Turns out she gets her hair fixed twice a month and it takes a minimum of five hours each time for the beautician to undo the old braids, wash her hair, braid in new extensions, etc. Five hours??? I told her I could never sit still for five hours while someone fiddled with my hair. Turns out it costs her $225 each time! I told her I would never spend $450 a month for something like that. And she told me that's why my hair 'looks like that' and not nice like hers.
So I start walking out to my truck to head home and she says she sure wished she had a car, one of those new Durangos. And I told her she did, it was on her head. For $450 a month she could be making a car payment on a new Durango and not be standing out on the street to catch a bus every time she wanted to go someplace.
It's priorities. We all spend our money based on what we feel to be a priority in our lives.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
Her hair was fixed real pretty. Probably a hundred skinny little braids all going this way and that.
Turns out she gets her hair fixed twice a month and it takes a minimum of five hours each time for the beautician to undo the old braids, wash her hair, braid in new extensions, etc. Five hours??? I told her I could never sit still for five hours while someone fiddled with my hair. Turns out it costs her $225 each time! I told her I would never spend $450 a month for something like that. And she told me that's why my hair 'looks like that' and not nice like hers.
So I start walking out to my truck to head home and she says she sure wished she had a car, one of those new Durangos. And I told her she did, it was on her head. For $450 a month she could be making a car payment on a new Durango and not be standing out on the street to catch a bus every time she wanted to go someplace.
It's priorities. We all spend our money based on what we feel to be a priority in our lives.
Tawny
tawnyford@webtv.net
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