Being Hypocritical VI

President Obama waited two days before addressing the American people in detail after the thwarted Christmas Day bombing.

Here is Rudy Guiliani's hypocrisy on CNN:

GIULIANI: I think the president has to make a major correction in the way he is dealing with terrorism because I think he has mishandled the situation. First of all, it was 10 days too late. This is something you react to immediately, not 10 days later after your vacation.The president of the United States, when there is a potential massive attack on this country, which is what this guy was going to do, should have been on top of this immediately, not 10 days later, 11 days later, 12 days later.

For your information, during the foiled shoe bomber incident President Bush was on vacation and he did not make a statement until six days later.

Here is Karl Rove, Senior Adviser and Deputy Chief of Staff for President George W. Bush, on Fox New. He follows suit:

ROVE: Look, they woke him up immediately to tell him he won the Nobel Prize but couldn’t bother to interrupt his vacation for three hours to tell him a terrorist tried to bring down a plane on Christmas Day. And the President waits 72 hours before we hear from him, and it’s over 72 hours from the time of the incident to the time that the President spoke today, and then the President said some things that are simply not true.

Here is Dana Perino, White House Press Secretary for President George W. Bush, on Fox News, denying that 911 happened on the former president's watch:

PERINO: We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush’s term.

I have sincerely tried to give these people the benefit of the doubt. But it is so difficult to continue to do so. Are they so foul and corrupt that they actually believe what they're saying? Or, do they simply not care about honesty as long as political points are gained?

Being PETA II

Not being a big fan of PETA, even though I have been in the past, I was annoyed that they used Michelle Obama's image without her permission and refused to change it. This decision, as well as many others, does not endear me to this rather extremist organization. What about the ethical treatment of people?



PETA reasons that it's a public service announcement so the FLOTUS's permission was not needed. (Forget respect, eh?) My reasoning is does PETA intend to collect donations during the time her image is on billboards and buses? What might the recourse of the FLOTUS be?

The POTUS and FLOTUS are astute lawyers so I'm sure something is being worked out or at the very least it's being dealt with. I assume PETA thinks that it would be a public relations nightmare if the Obama's sought legal action. They could not use my image without my permission. Can you say lawsuit?

Being David Brooks VI

A frequent commenter here who goes by the name of Zorro pointed me to an article, "The Tea Party Teens", written by David Brooks in the New York Times that outlines the possibility of this movement becoming center stage. The tea party movement has only just begun that article posits. It's an interesting perspective and I suppose Brooks has a point, especially considering how this country started with a ban of dissenters opposing a then powerful empire.

Brooks points out the movements of the 60's and 70's that changed the landscape of America. The main difference here as I see it is that the civil rights movement and the feminist movement had to do with human rights. The frightening thing about the tea party movement with Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann as spokespersons is the hate, divisiveness, and violent aggression that is exhibited at their rallies, not to mention the racist background and rhetoric of the tea party founders, If this movement can transform America it will indicate that we have not really evolved and the history of oppression can readily re-emerge.

Fear, real or imagined, has a way of bringing up deeply seated biases and prejudices. If this movement indeed has the potential of becoming center stage, I understand even greater now the message of Jews: "never again." I see the tea party as an ominous movement, not because of its passion but because of its racist divisive message coached in constitutional rights such as the right to bear arms and speak freely. I also find it correlative that such a movement emerged with the election of the first African American president. Vigilant we must be!

Another thing that is important to mention is that Brooks is an intellectual and conservative. While I appreciate much of what he writes, the fact that he uses Rasmussen in his article as proof of his ideas for a central point which includes the all-important independent voters, did not sit well with me. Rasmussen, the hired pollster for the Bush administration, is known to be bias. Its polls are ALWAYS favorable to the issues on the right even when all others are left by large margins. This seems to indicate prodding via questioning to evoke a desired response.

The problem also with intellectual types is that they take themselves too seriously and hence tend to find reasons to support their opinions as opposed to doing the exact opposite, finding reasons to negate them. With the latter reality is more readily revealed. I am not particularly disparaging Brooks, rather making a general statement. I do, however, find his last statement a bit ironic considering all that came beforehand. Perhaps, he is indicating that he has actually taken the opposite view to arrive at his reasoning. This is understood. But I do wonder about Brooks' motive.

Being a US Senator or Congressperson

Senator Dodd announced that he is retiring. Praise God! Here's to hoping that many more will follow suit in the Senate and House, both Democrats and Republicans. We also need to pass a law that prohibits them from ever lobbying Congress with hefty corporate fees against the interest of the American people. They need to go fishing or get another career altogether. Many of them seem puckered out anyway. Just looking at them makes me tired and knowing that they will work behind the scene against our interests angers me.

Being an Aunt VII

My young handsome talented nephew, Pierre, stands 6' 5" and got a scholarship to play college basketball. While he was a gifted athlete, his heart was never really into it, even though he played sports in junior high school and high school. Both of his sisters also received athletic scholarships to college and are by far more athletically inclined and totally into it. One graduated in sports medicine and the other is a junior in college now. Although gifted, Pierre really didn't have a heart for sports. He and I talked of it often. He was always conflicted. As an aunt and artist, I offered what help I could. Today, two years out of college, Pierre is no longer playing basketball and is following his dream of being an artist. Above is a recent picture of a dance performance. (What about that body, eh?) I love him very much and wish him the very best. I also trust that he will carry the lessons his dad and grandmother taught him. He will need it in New York. I sometimes worry about him. But I know that he has been given a solid foundation. It will not be easy.

Being Inspired by Others

As a kid I learned of George Washington Carver, the brilliant humble scientist and inventor, who is one of my heroes. Although I admire a great many people, I have few heroes. What follows is taken from a website dedicated to ideas and inventors: In 1895, Carver co-authored a series of papers on the prevention and cures for fungus diseases affecting cherry plants. In 1896 he received his master's degree in agriculture and in 1897 discovered two funguses that would be named after him. Later that year Booker T. Washington, founder of the Tuskegee Institute, convinced Carver to come south and serve as the school's director of agriculture.

At Tuskegee, Carver developed his crop rotation method, which alternated nitrate producing legumes-such as peanuts and peas-with cotton, which depletes soil of its nutrients. Following Carver's lead, southern farmers soon began planting peanuts one year and cotton the next. While many of the peanuts were used to feed livestock, large surpluses quickly developed. Carver then developed 325 different uses for the extra peanuts-from cooking oil to printers ink. When he discovered that the sweet potato and the pecan also enriched depleted soils, Carver found almost 20 uses for these crops, including synthetic rubber and material for paving highways.

The farmers were ecstatic with the tremendous quality of cotton and tobacco they grew later but quickly grew angry because the amount of peanuts they harvested was too plentiful and began to rot in overflowing warehouses. Within a week, Carver had experimented with and devised dozens of uses for the peanut, including milk and cheese. In later years he would produce more than 300 products that could be developed from the lowly peanut, including ink, facial cream, shampoo and soap.

Suddenly, the same farmers who cursed him now found that a new industry had sprung up that could use their surplus peanuts. Next, Carver looked at ways of utilizing the sweet potato and was able to develop more than 115 products from it including flour, starch and synthetic rubber (the United States Army utilized many of his products during World War I.)

Carver did not stop with these discoveries. From the inexpensive pecan he developed more than 75 products, from discarded corn stalks dozens of uses and from common clays he created dyes and paints. Suddenly Carver's fame grew and grew until he was invited to speak before the United States Congress and was consulted by titans of industry and invention. Henry Ford, head of Ford Motor Company invited Carver to his Dearborn, Michigan plant where the two devised a way to use goldenrod, a plant weed, to create synthetic rubber. Thomas Edison, the great inventor was so enthusiastic about that he asked Carver to move to Orange Grove, New Jersey to work at the Edison Laboratories at an annual salary of $100,000 per year and state of the art facilities. He declined the generous offer, wanting to continue on at Tuskegee.

He continued constantly working with peanuts, sweet potatoes, and pecans trying to produce new products. He developed more than 300 products from the peanut (including Peanut Butter), 175 from the sweet potato, and 60 from the pecan. He extracted blue, purple, and red pigments from the clay soil of Alabama. He researched the manufacture of synthetic marble from green wood shavings, rope from cornstalk fibers, and veneers from the palmetto root. During WWI, he worked to replace the textile dyes that were being imported from Europe. He ended up producing and replacing over 500 different shades. In 1927, he invented a process for producing paints and stains from soybeans.

Although he did hold three patents, Carver never patented most of the many discoveries he made while at Tuskegee, saying "God gave them to me, how can I sell them to someone else?" Three different patents were issued: US 1,522,176 Cosmetics and Producing the Same. Jan. 6,1925 George Washington Carver. Tuskegee, Alabama. US 1,541,478 Paint and Stain and Producing the Same. June 9, 1925 George Washington Carver. Tuskegee, Alabama US 1,632,365 Producing Paints and Stains June 14, 1927 George Washington Carver. Tuskegee, Alabama.

The beauty in George Washington Carver is that he did not yield to excuses, he refused to be denied, and he absolutely rejected the notion that he alone should profit from his inventions. In this obsessed society fixated on personal wealth, I yearn for the likes of Carver but insist that they be honored and compensated and that others not seek to solely benefit from their work which has often been the case for such scientists in the past, even the present.

Being an Ordinary Miracle

"We are all apart of the ordinary miracle."



Make it a great year! You have all that you need.