The Pathway Home...

This Texas Thanksgiving Day was beautiful; clear skies and warm breezes teased us with memories of the summer past and colder days to come.

....except that my Aunt fell and broke her hip this morning. With ~30 people gathering from all corners of the country to reconnect, one of the cornerstones of the family spent the first day of what will likely be a long journey in the hospital. But lest we forget our priorites, Aunt Ruth, in her pain an agony, brought us all back to reality when she asked from her hospital bed, "what time is the Cowboy game? ...and be sure the TV is turned to that station before you leave!!!"

That said, the rest of us proceeded to feast on food, football and semi-true stories that had gone untold over the years. As with many families, we have allowed time and miles to separate us; but sharing stories, looking at old pictures and watching the youngest of the family embrace life anew reminded me of days long past when we were the youngest...listening to tales told around the Thanksgiving table by our forefathers. I can only pray that the next generation can look back as fondly as I do with love and compassion in their heart for the family they are a part of.

Nothing in life is permanent, and we remember on this day of Thanksgiving as we transition from one generation to another. Every door is open for new opportunity, yet we should hold our past close in our hearts...for it is in the traditions passed down through the generations that the heart and soul of a family lives on.

I saw hope on this day that the stories that I heard around those Thanksgiving tables as a child will be passed on to future generations...and that warms my heart and gives me hope for the future.

Gratitude …

goes beyond the “mine” and “thine” and claims the truth that all of life is a pure gift. In the past I always thought of gratitude as a spontaneous response to the awareness of gifts received, but now I realize that gratitude can also be lived as a discipline. The discipline of gratitude is the explicit effort to acknowledge that all I am and have is given to me as a gift of love, a gift to be celebrated with joy.

~Henri J. M. Nouwen

This Year Gone By Ain't Been A Piece Of Cake...

"Here I’m singin’ happy birthday
Better think about the about the wish I make...
...Just one more candle and a trip around the sun"

My attitude about birthdays has always been, the more the better.

But this has been a difficult year.

Not that I'm unappreciative of the daily gifts, but the trials that we have had to walk this year have tested us like we never imagined.

While I am not one to share our private struggles publicly, I would like to thank those of you who have supported us through these dark days.

Today on my birthday, I am hopeful of renewal, a reaffirmation of life itself.

I have seen this power in action before...when we were told there was little or no chance of conceiving a child; yet nearly 10 years ago we were blessed with the birth of a son.

In this spirit of rebirth and renewal, I propose a new beginning on this day.

In every loss, there is the opportunity for new growth.

And on this day of birth, we shall begin again.

I would like to thank each and every one of you for your outpouring of support, generous gifts and well wishes.

And, while I pray that you never experience a year as difficult as this one has been for us; if you do, I can only hope that you are as blessed as I am to have friends & family in your life as I do.

Tin Cup Chalice

I've been watching in bemusement at the recent news reports of Corporate Executives defending the necessity of luxury retreats and private jets while asking for what is, in essence, Government Welfare.

Now, I'm not questioning the value of these corporations to the American economy. What I am concerned about is their gluttony, greed and poor decision making which may have more than a little to do with the reason they have the Tin Cup out on Washington's doorstep.

I think a little, er a lot of belt tightening is in order here.

The excuses these bloated elite have given ring hollow to me, i.e., it's corporate policy to fly private jets, or it's written into their contract. Soooo...that's easy. Change the policy. Duh. While saying that they're going to be trimming down and streamlining their businesses, they obviously aren't referring to their own salaries and perks. Apparently, these "movers and shakers" aren't paid the big bucks for commmon sense. ...Or maybe they're working from the "Let Them Eat Cake" manual of Public Relations. ;)

I've been shaking my head at just how deluded these individuals are about the "real world". They have no real comprehension of how unrealistic and out of touch their requests appear to the average American.

A good first step in "trimming down and streamling" would be to sell the jets (ala Sara Palin) and deduct what they make from the sales from the cost of the taxpayer-funded bailout they are seeking.

Ultimately, I predict these corporate gluttons will (hopefully) lose their jobs when their corporations file for bankruptcy. Sadly, the ripple effects of their greed will be felt by all the people of this country while they (literally) sail off into the sunset.

The only bright spot is that when these corporations emerge from the restructuring they will undoubtedly and painfully have to accomplish, one can only pray that they will be leaner and forward thinking.

We can't afford to stay stuck in the past any longer.

Human Beings Are Flawed Individuals

I am reposting this article in it's entirety from the Chicago Tribune because it speaks for itself...and how we have come to place judgements upon each other.
(And because on-line newspaper articles have a way of vanishing over time.)

I am saddened, but not shocked to read the results of Brave Catherine's experiment. Over time, my own email box has been inundated with intolerant and hate mongering messages from people trying to influence my opinions one way or the other.

I believe that fear & hate are pathways to the darkside, so these attempts have fallen on deaf ears.

Regardless of how you voted, (I'm confident the results of this experiment would have been the same had it been conducted in a conservative community), perhaps Brave Catherine's experiment will encourage a few people out there to look within before they judge others...

What do you think?

Tolerance fails T-shirt test
John Kass
November 13, 2008

As the media keeps gushing on about how America has finally adopted tolerance as the great virtue, and that we're all united now, let's consider the Brave Catherine Vogt Experiment.

Catherine Vogt, 14, is an Illinois 8th grader, the daughter of a liberal mom and a conservative dad. She wanted to conduct an experiment in political tolerance and diversity of opinion at her school in the liberal suburb of Oak Park.

She noticed that fellow students at Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School overwhelmingly supported Barack Obama for president. His campaign kept preaching "inclusion," and she decided to see how included she could be.

So just before the election, Catherine consulted with her history teacher, then bravely wore a unique T-shirt to school and recorded the comments of teachers and students in her journal. The T-shirt bore the simple yet quite subversive words drawn with a red marker:

"McCain Girl."

"I was just really curious how they'd react to something that different, because a lot of people at my school wore Obama shirts and they are big Obama supporters," Catherine told us. "I just really wanted to see what their reaction would be."

Immediately, Catherine learned she was stupid for wearing a shirt with Republican John McCain's name. Not merely stupid. Very stupid.

"People were upset. But they started saying things, calling me very stupid, telling me my shirt was stupid and I shouldn't be wearing it," Catherine said.

Then it got worse.

"One person told me to go die. It was a lot of dying. A lot of comments about how I should be killed," Catherine said, of the tolerance in Oak Park.

But students weren't the only ones surprised that she wore a shirt supporting McCain.

"In one class, I had one teacher say she will not judge me for my choice, but that she was surprised that I supported McCain," Catherine said.

If Catherine was shocked by such passive-aggressive threats from instructors, just wait until she goes to college.

"Later, that teacher found out about the experiment and said she was embarrassed because she knew I was writing down what she said," Catherine said.

One student suggested that she be put up on a cross for her political beliefs.

"He said, 'You should be crucifixed.' It was kind of funny because, I was like, don't you mean 'crucified?' " Catherine said.

Other entries in her notebook involved suggestions by classmates that she be "burned with her shirt on" for "being a filthy-rich Republican.

"Some said that because she supported McCain, by extension she supported a plan by deranged skinheads to kill Obama before the election. And I thought such politicized logic was confined to American newsrooms. Yet Catherine refused to argue with her peers. She didn't want to jeopardize her experiment.

"I couldn't show people really what it was for. I really kind of wanted to laugh because they had no idea what I was doing," she said.

Only a few times did anyone say anything remotely positive about her McCain shirt. One girl pulled her aside in a corner, out of earshot of other students, and whispered, "I really like your shirt."

That's when you know America is truly supportive of diversity of opinion, when children must whisper for fear of being ostracized, heckled and crucifixed.

The next day, in part 2 of The Brave Catherine Vogt Experiment, she wore another T-shirt, this one with "Obama Girl" written in blue. And an amazing thing happened.

Catherine wasn't very stupid anymore. She grew brains.

"People liked my shirt. They said things like my brain had come back, and I had put the right shirt on today," Catherine said.

Some students accused her of playing both sides.

"A lot of people liked it. But some people told me I was a flip-flopper," she said. "They said, 'You can't make up your mind. You can't wear a McCain shirt one day and an Obama shirt the next day.'

"But she sure did, and she turned her journal into a report for her history teacher, earning Catherine extra credit. We asked the teacher, Norma Cassin-Pountney, whether it was ironic that Catherine would be subject to such intolerance from pro-Obama supporters in a community that prides itself on its liberal outlook.

"That's what we discussed," Cassin-Pountney said about the debate in the classroom when the experiment was revealed. "I said, here you are, promoting this person [Obama] that believes we are all equal and included, and look what you've done? The students were kind of like, 'Oh, yeah.' I think they got it.

"Catherine never told us which candidate she would have voted for if she weren't an 8th grader. But she said she learned what it was like to be in the minority.

"Just being on the outside, how it felt, it was not fun at all," she said.

Don't ever feel as if you must conform, Catherine. Being on the outside isn't so bad. Trust me.

Read the follow-up to this John Kass column

Honoring ALL Who Serve

Including my father, who was a World War II Veteran.

Thank you for your service. It mattered then, it matters now.







(Click for full size cartoon)

Confused? Don't be. Visit BNCRITTERS.COM and CRITTERVILLECOVE.COM to learn more and find even more bonus "BN Critters" material.

Thanks to SurfPirate for the amazing work he does on BNCritters, and for his permission to re-publish todays strip on this blog.

Changed Children...

If Malia & Sasha Obama were concerned about their father, Barack's 30 minute infomercial interfering with their cartoon watching before the election, they are in for a huge shock as they transition from private citizens to "first daughters" with secret service agents monitoring their every move.

I expect that puppy is going to be their new best friend. Especially since sleep-overs are likely to be severely curtailed.

These young ladies have been thrust into a life changing opportunity as they stand by their father as he assumes the mantle of the leader of the largest nation in the free world. My prayers are that they continue to experience the joys of childhood, and can remain grounded in reality. Not an easy task for their parents to pull off. I wonder how much time they will get to spend with their father...or their mother? Will their Secret Service agents be the first to respond to the immediacy of emotion of their successes and failures because of their parents commitments?

On this day of change in America, it is the changes to come for these young girls lives that consumes my thoughts. I pray that their parents decisions for all of us are based on how it will affect the future of the young lives in their own midst.

Just Vote!

Yes Folks, Election Day is finally here! If you didn't take advantage of early voting, or just couldn't make up your mind, after 2+ years of campaigning, today is the day your voice will be heard.

A little over 64% of U.S. citizens age 18 and over voted in the 2004 presidential election, and I would like to think that more Americans have become interested in having a voice in the leadership of this great nation this time around. I would bet that we've certainly heard more than 64% of the population complaining about what they don't like about the way things currently are, yet an amazingly large number of those same people don't even bother to register and cast a ballot on election day.

Don't be one of those people! The right to vote is a privilege not to be taken lightly. Let your opinion be heard or hold your tongue if your unhappy with the way things turn out.

"합기도" The Way of Harmony

Yesterday my son participated in a Hapkido competition. It was a challenging day. His opponent in sparring made a low kick that the judges scored as hitting above the belt, but was in fact below the belt (and in tender territory) and MJM was injured early in his round, but played to a second place finish. I commended him for the determination and courage he showed in playing through his pain. And as a true competitor, he understood that complaining to the Judges about the missed call wouldn't change the outcome, so he moved on.

He scored a 2nd place finish in Forms competition after making a slight mental error, but didn't allow it to compromise his whole routine.

Overall, it was a good day...positive lessons were learned, good sportsmanship was displayed and new hardware was added to the trophy case.

Namasté

Son, Come Have A Seat...

It happened this afternoon. Captain Tony Tarracino (92) passed away.

For those of you who have somehow missed coming to know this cultural icon, I would bet that if you have ever been to Key West, Florida you may have downed a drink in the legendary bar, Capt'n Tony's Saloon, (which he owned from 1958-1989)...or maybe even passed him on the street. He enjoyed telling stories to patrons (especially women) until his health failed him during the past year.

Although hospitalized, it seems fitting that the last week of his life was spent celebrating the publication of his book with Brad Manard, "Life Lessons of a Legend" during the annual Meeting of the Minds celebration in Key West. I would encourage you to put this book on your "wish" list...seriously. His story has been recounted in a film titled "The Cuba Crossing," starring Stewart Whitman as Tarracino. Longtime friend, Jimmy Buffett, sang about Tarracino's exploits in the song "Last Mango in Paris," from the 1985 album of the same name.

After running from the Mob in New Jersey this real life buccaneer, and gunrunner during the Cuban revolution, turned Mayor of Key West always felt that there was "still so much to be done".

There is no way I can do justice in this post to the most colorful and interesting life of Capt'n Tony; but what I can say is that in his passing the world has lost one of the last true Pirates in this era of "partisanism", it is unlikely we will see his kind pass this way again.

Sail on Captain Tony, may you have fair skies and following seas on your eternal journey, but as for me...your legend will never die.

From the song "Last Mango in Paris"

I went down to Captain Tony's to get out of the heat
When I heard a voice call out to me, "Son, come have a seat"
I had to search my memory as I looked into those eyes
Our lives change like the weather but a legend never dies

He said, "I ate the last mango in Paris
Took the last plane out of Saigon
Took the first fast boat to China
And "Jimmy, there's still so much to be done."

Top 10 Most Famous Ghosts

Since it's Halloween, I thought it would be appropriate to review some famous ghosts as compiled by Live Science.

Ghosts are both everywhere and nowhere. They are famously elusive when it comes to proving they exist, yet ghosts feature prominently in our culture. They are in television and film, from "Medium" to "The Sixth Sense." Ghost stories are found around campfires and on bookstore shelves, in both fiction and nonfiction sections. Around Halloween, pop culture images of ghosts haunt nearly every store, and hang as decoration in homes across the country. Ghosts even influence some of our everyday customs, in ways we may not recognize (for example, the "bless you" heard after someone sneezes comes from an ancient belief that ghosts can enter the body during a sneeze). In the spirit of the season, here are some of the most famous ghosts of all time. - Benjamin Radford

10. Slimer
Slimer is the grotesque green ghost featured in the "Ghostbuster" films and cartoons. He's green, he's obnoxious, and he can spew slime... what's not to love? In fact, Slimer proved to be so popular with kids that he got a starring role in the spin-off series "The Real Ghostbusters." A reformed evil ghost that joined the Ghostbusters team, Slimer's voracious appetite and guttural burps make him among the most memorable cartoon ghosts.

9. The Murdered Peddler
One day, in the early 1840s in Hydesville, New York, a young peddler arrived at the home of a Mr. and Mrs. Bell to sell his housewares. He was invited into the home by the Bells' housekeeper and in fact stayed for some days. The maid was shortly dismissed from service but abruptly rehired a week later. The peddler was gone, but many of his items were now in use in the Bells' kitchen. The maid thought little of it until she began experiencing strange, ghostly phenomenon, only to find out from the peddler's ghost that he had in fact been murdered in her absence. At least that was the story told by two sisters named Maggie and Katie Fox, who claimed to communicate with the ghost. Years later, the sisters admitted it had all been a hoax; there was no murdered peddler, and the spirit communications had been faked. Still, the sisters had inadvertently founded a religion called Spiritualism, which is still practiced today. The Murdered Peddler is the only fake ghost whose presence started a real religion.

8. The Ghost of Christmas Past
In Charles Dickens's famous novel "A Christmas Carol," cold-hearted miser Ebenezer Scrooge has a change of heart after being visited by several ghosts representing different eras of his life's Christmases (Past, Present, and Yet to Come). Ghosts are often associated with life lessons and morality tales, and these spooks are no exception. The ghosts aren't wasting time rattling chains or scaring kids; instead the Ghost of Christmas Past rehabilitates Scrooge by showing him visions of his past Christmases. Scrooge comes to appreciate the true meaning of Christmas-no, not holiday commercialism but friendship and goodwill.

7. The Vanishing Hitchhiker
"This didn't happen to me, but my friend, she heard it from her hairdresser, it happened to her parents. It seems that they were driving along a lonely country road one night'¦ it was really cold, maybe up in Minnesota, or Montana. Anyway, it was snowing and as they turned a corner they saw a barefoot young girl wearing a dress and a green shawl. Of course they stopped to help her, and she got in the back seat. She didn't say much, and when they asked her where she lived, she pointed to a farmhouse in the distance. A few minutes later, when they pulled into the driveway, she was gone! The couple were puzzled but got out of the car and knocked on the farmhouse door. A somber, grey-haired woman answered, and the couple explained that their mysterious passenger had said this was her house. 'That's impossible,' the woman replied. 'My daughter died near here twenty years ago, on this very night.' Just inside the door, on an old wooden peg, hung her daughter's green shawl!"

6. The Drury Lane Ghost
There are many theaters in the Covent Gardens district in London's West End. Plays have been produced in that area for over 300 years, and some of the world's greatest actors have appeared there. Yet one theater is better known more for its ghost than its productions. There is actually more than one ghost said to haunt Drury Lane's halls and wings, including those of several actors. The most famous, however, is a "Man in Grey" seen as a nobleman carrying a sword. Any theater worth its salt (and many that aren't) reputedly have a resident ghost treading the boards, and the Drury Lane ghosts carry on their part of theater tradition.

5. Bloody Mary
"Bloody Mary...Bloody Mary...Bloody Mary..." With those words, many schoolchildren had their first experience with a ghost. According to folklore, Bloody Mary is a ghost of a woman who murdered her children long ago. If you want to see her, go into a bathroom (usually at school), turn the lights off, stand in front of a mirror, and repeat her name three times. While countless children (and surely more than a few adults) have tried to summon Bloody Mary using the prescribed method, to date few if any have actually succeeded. Most either stare at their scared reflection in the dark mirror or lose their nerve after saying the second "Bloody Mary" and run screaming from the bathroom in girlish giggles. An updated version of the Bloody Mary legend was made into a horror film series "Candyman."

4. Casper
While Bloody Mary spends her time in the ghostly realms waiting to be summoned to dark bathrooms so she can scare kids, Casper (whose legal last name is "The Friendly Ghost") is the white-outlined, smiling ghost who tries not to scare people. In the Harvey comic book series, Casper was often joined by friends such as Wendy the Good Little Witch and Hot Stuff the Little Devil. While some found the idea of a dead child's ghost hanging around with a witch and a devil a bit creepy, the characters were made benign and kid-friendly with the addition of "good," "friendly," and "little" to their names. Casper had a revival of sorts with a self-titled 1995 film, a modest success that managed to avoid the direct-to-video graveyard.

3. The Bell Witch
The events that allegedly happened at John Bell's Tennessee farm between 1817 and 1821 are said to be one of the classic American ghost tales. Bell shot at a strange animal on his farm, but the creature disappeared before it could be harmed. Several weeks later, the Bell family was tormented by a ghost that made terrifying sounds, shook the house, and physically attacked Bell's daughter Betsy. The spectral assaults continued for several years, and at one point Andrew Jackson is said to have dabbled in ghost hunting and did his own investigation. Though some authors recount the Bell Witch tale as a true account, there is little evidence that it is anything other than a ghost story. Jackson, for example, never mentioned the Bell Witch case at all; it seems that the future president's role was created from thin air, possibly to lend verisimilitude (the appearance of reality) to the fictional tale.

2. The Flying Dutchman
The Flying Dutchman, the world's best-known non-human ghost, is a seventeenth-century merchant ship said to haunt the high seas. According to sea lore, the ship, which often appears as a hazy image or a strange light, is said to be a portent of bad luck and doom. The ship and its crew became eternally cursed when its Dutch captain refused to take safe harbor during a storm despite pleas from the crew and passengers. Instead the impudent Dutchman challenged God to take them down. The "ghost ship" has been reported on the ocean from time to time, including appearing off the coast of South Africa in 1923. Though never seen on land, The Flying Dutchman most recently appeared in movie theaters across the country in the "Pirates of the Caribbean" films.

1. King Hamlet
Though ghosts appear in several of Shakespeare's plays (such as "MacBeth" and "Julius Caesar"), King Hamlet is among the better known of the Bard's ghosts and plays an integral part in "Hamlet." Hamlet may be the central character in the play named after him, but without his father's ghost, there would be no story. King Hamlet appears three times in the play, each time during the night (apparently ghosts, like vampires, prefer darkness). The ghost tells Hamlet that he was murdered by his treacherous brother Claudius, and asks Hamlet to avenge his death.