The following post is by MYRLN, a non-blogger who is Kalilily Time’s guest writer every Monday.
IMAGINATION?
The latest episode of SOUTH PARK was part one of a trilogy around a main theme of a nature that hilariously out-smuts much of the show’s previous smutty themes. But the smut-driven alleged main theme is really secondary to the show’s thoroughly insightful and satirical treatment of the supposed “war on terror” as our dubious prez Dumbya likes to articulate it. (“Articulate” is used in its loosest sense there — oh, and by the way, doesn’t “war on terror” mean fighting feelings of fear?)
In any case, what this SOUTH PARK trilogy pursues and characterizes is the stupidity surrounding so much of this “war.” We — as pseudo-residents of South Park — are informed that Muslim terrorists have successfully attacked and hijacked our imagination. It is only a matter of time, we are further told, before our imagination starts running wild. In all the words spoken and written since 9/11, none more accurately than those describe where indeed we have come to: imaginations run wild. Furthermore, we’re also shown, terrorists have destroyed the barrier between the light and dark sides of imagination, allowing darkness to overwhelm good and innocence.
All of that’s exactly what’s happened to us and allows the lunacy we now confront daily to prevail.
We actually make believe it’s not clear what constitutes torture. We have a man in the White House who believes he was honestly elected and that he can hold discussions with god. We have a government that actually thinks the U.S. Constitution is a debatable document and can be disregarded at a whim. Grade school kids who draw characters shooting at each other are suspended and referred for counseling — no matter they’re simply replicating fantasy scenes from cartoons and comic books. Guy on a college campus wears a helmet and bulletproof vest (perhaps as protection?) and is arrested then released but “warned about his outfit’s appearance.” A girl soccer player is told she can’t wear her Muslim hair covering in a game “cuz people might misunderstand.” More and more cameras are installed around city streets because of “this day and age.” And for the same reason, government is allowed to spy on us and “detain” us as prisoners in total disregard of our constitutional rights.
And why is all this going on? Ask SOUTH PARK. Its smutty, supposed main theme of the trilogy is symbolic of what we’re being asked — and forced — to do for fear of terrorists.
Part 2 of the trilogy airs Wednesday night at 10. Maybe they’ll precede it with a repeat of part 1.

I have to admit it. Occasionally I’m a sucker for those “seen on tv” ads. Once in a while I get stung.
But not lately.
I am totally sold on the Swivel Sweeper. I make such good use of ours on our low-pile rugs and bare floors that I bought one for my daughter. My grandson has become the official family sweeper at his house. Even my mother can use it. The ads for this product tell the truth. It picks up everything from dust and cat hair to stepped-on Cheerios. This is not a paid advertisement. I’m just sharing info about something that actually works.
The other purchase I made is the Spin Spa, figuring I need all the access to relaxation that I can get. I liked it so much I ordered two more microderm abrasion heads, since that’s the one I use most (you know, on that rough skin on elbows and knees).
Finally, while I won’t put a bumper sticker on my car, I have put a car magnet or two on. IMHO, this site has the best ones. The one I have on my car right now appears at the end of this old post
So, now I’m thinking I might buy one of these:

There are hundreds more on that Stamp and Shout site. I could cover my whole car with them.
Maybe I’ll just settle for this one:

I stole this right off Doug’s blog. Even better than underground resistance is blatant above-ground resistance.

To quote Doug:
Progressives believe in justice, fairness and equality for all. Progressives believe in helping others out of a sense of altruism not a sense of duty to some mythical being in the sky, or worse yet an attempt to hoodwink the public into believing they give a shit and get their votes for doing so.
[snip]
ProPublica will be a very, very good asset for progressives. The right have every reason to fear. I hope every progressive blogger will keep an eye on this site and push their stories into every corner of the web in such a way that the MSM can not ignore the scandals that will be a result of ProPublica’s investigative journalism. Watch out MSM some real journalists are about to show you how it’s really done.
We can only hope.

The piece in The Oregonian reprinted in Truthout starts with:

In “1984,” the novel that most baby boomers read in high school, George Orwell creates a theoretical modern-day government with absolute power – a state in which government, called the Party, monitors and controls every aspect of human life to the extent that even having a disloyal thought is against the law.

It ends with:

Al-Qaeda hates Americans of all creeds and races and will do whatever it can to destroy us and our way of life. James Madison warned, “If tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy.” With the mightiest military and strongest technology on Earth, democracy can stand up to terrorism without becoming the mirror of our enemies.

In between is a documentation of just how bad things are.
It’s happening here, folks. Big Brother Bush and all the rest of it.
It’s gotten to the point where AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo et al have been preventing the delivery of information from Truthout
This is what Truthout reported in the document linked to above:

It is becoming increasingly apparent that the Free Email Services – all of them – are a morass. You are a commodity to these administrators and as far as they are concerned your rights are your problem, not theirs. If you are serious abut receiving TO, or any other content they are not supportive of, you are pretty much on your own. Bluntly stated: AOL, Microsoft, Yahoo and all of the domains they control restrict what you receive in your inbox. And it is at their discretion, not yours.

I know it’s been said so often that it’s not even shocking any more, but there’s a real similarity here between us and the Germans in Hitler’s Germany. Take me, for example. I see this stuff going on, but it’s all going on outside my small sphere of influence. I have not really felt the effects — on my own personal life — of this wave of fascism
The difference, of course, is that we can still speak out. Which lots of us do.
I can’t help wonder if we’re being left alone to shout into the wind because those Big Brothers can pretty much ignore our noisiness and continuing doing what they’ve been doing. Who’s to stop ’em?
I think of the citizens of Poland during World War II, who were betrayed by the Allies and left to survive the best they could. What the Poles did was form an Underground movement called “The Polish Secret State” that included both military and civilian participation.

The rationale behind the creation of the secret civilian authorities stemmed from the fact that the German and Soviet occupation of Poland was illegal. Hence all the institutions created by the occupying powers were regarded as illegal and parallel Polish underground institutions were set up following Polish law.

In a very real sense, we have an “occupying power” here in America that is destroying this country and what it has always stood for.
There’s something to be said for an Underground State, for Solidarnosc, for an organized refusal to accept fascism, injustice, and the denial of citizen rights.
It’s in my Polish blood, this refusal to submit. When the revolution comes, you know what side I’ll be on.

The following post is by MYRLN, a non-blogger who is Kalilily’s guest writer every Monday.
THIS IS YOUR COUNTRY...
…in bits and pieces.
A lady in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, was refused entrance to a courthouse ’til she removed her underwire bra which set off the security gate alarm. Gotta prevent them underwire bra bomber terrorists looking to take over Idaho and harming the baked potato crop.
Senator Hypocrita Clinton wants for us to make her Prez and turn the whole country over to her keeping when she couldn’t see what was right there under her nose (figuratively speaking) when she was last in the White House.
A new Walmart under construction required the use of dynamite, so the company went to court and forced the owner of the adjoining property to vacate home and land in case of accident. No mention of forcing Walmart to guarantee no damage. Not every home is one’s castle if Walmart’s involved.
Latest lead concern involves lipstick. From cheapest to designer brands, lead showed up in all those tested. Perhaps this explains how so-called “fashion” designers convince women to stupidly subject themselves to shoes with 5-inch heels. Lead does affect the brain.
Thanks to a recent Parade Magazine, we know another reason why the U.S. is in trouble around the world. A list reveals about one-third of our ambassadors are non-diplomats. Their qualifications? Buddies with Bush. For example, ambassador to: Australia, Skull and Bones with Bush at Yale; Poland, close Yale friend; Hungary, dated Bush at Harvard Business School; China, fraternity brother at Yale; Japan, partner in Texas Ranger ownership; Sweden, prep school friend and frat brother at Yale; Belize, Yale roomie. Don’t bother George with no qualifications crap.
Friday’s New York Post graced its front cover and two inner pages with photos of a Brooklyn guy running around naked in Times Square. But he did have his cellphone so he could yak as he meandered.
Finally, a recent WGBH gift catalog included a tee-shirt inscribed with what it called Vegetable Psychiatric conditions. Among others, they included:
fennel retentive
hummus-cidal
garlic depressive
pea-ness envy
Yup, all sounds like U.S. all right.

While I am here ranting about my right to godlessness, my son, the OneTrueb!X, is posting some eloquent stuff about his “devout agnosticism.”
He writes of hope and purpose and dignity and choice, and quotes something penned by the should-be-more-famous Joss Whedon:

If nothing we do means anything,
then the only thing that means anything is what we do.
And he offers something of his own well worth quoting:
I think freely choosing to live a life in which you are respectful, considerate, and aware is more powerful (more beautiful, really) than doing so because some higher power told you it was the right way to be — let alone doing so because you fear being punished by that higher power.
Ah, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear him.

I got this in an email and tried it.
AND IT WORKED.
I’m one of those people who still sometimes figures on her fingers, so I’m reluctant to speculate about how it works. (But I do think it has something to do with the numbers you use to multiply, add, and subtract.)
The point of it all is that one can tell your age by your preferences for eating out. Try it. You’ll like it:

Who are the people who sit around and make up these things!!

That’s how the currency of the United States started out, you know — without that godawful “in God We Trust” marking. That didn’t start until during the Civil War, as some of the country’s leaders decided to cave in to pressure from the rising “religious sentiment” of certain groups.
And that slogan on our paper money wasn’t added until the 1960s. (See link above)
Now, onto the “under God” in the Pledge of Allegiance.

[snip}

[snip]

[snjp]

And now, in the 21st century, Americans with political power continue to stuff religion down the throat of government because those with other kinds of power refuse to acknowledge the facts of history.
So, to those who claim god was a part of it all from the start, I say read up on your history. Check out the facts.
We don’t need god to make us good Americans, good citizens, good people. If believing in your god helps you to be the best of these that you can be, well that’s just great. For you.
As for me, I find inspiration, motivation, and hope in the best of the facts of our human history. Just the facts.

Back in the 70s, I was a pretty militant feminist. I can’t help but imagine how great it would have been to have had a weblog back then.
My militancy then was about choice, in the broadest and narrowest and most personal sense of the concept. I wanted the right to make — and have respected — all of those choices that enabled me to be who I was and wanted to become. Problems only arose when others tried to impose their choices on me. Or I, on them.
(Now, let me add a caveat to all of this militancy by saying that in a marriage and in a family, often choices have to be negotiated because it is very rare that everyone in a relationship can have everything they want at the same time.)
I am still militant about choice.
It’s understandable that people who choose the same ideas, ideals, beliefs, and faiths gravitate to one another, form affinity groups, clubs, societies, parishes. Problems arise when those affinity groups get militant about imposing their dogmas on others. That’s true of prostelitizing atheists and agnostics as well as religious fundamentalists. A respect for choice requires tolerance.
I am obsessing on this because a family member sent me an email extolling the virtues of comments supposedly made by Ben Stein on a recent CBS Sunday Morning Program.
Interestingly enough, the emailed text of his supposed commentary was really a compilation of things he had said on several occasions. It helps to check on www.snopes.com to verify stuff you get in emails.
Stein’s homey and (on-the-surface) seemingly caring comments lead the listener to dangerous conclusions. For example he asks the following question, which reminds me of the old “when did you stop beating your wife?” He asks:

…where did the idea come from that we should worship Nick and Jessica
and we aren’t allowed to worship God as we understand Him?
Do you get his manipulation? Of course lots of us are fed up with the media focusing on the likes of Nick and Jessica. But where in America are people not allowed to worship god as they understand him?? Putting those two statements together makes the second seem as true as the first. And the good sheep follow the misguided and misguiding shepherd.
The first settlers of America came here to escape intolerance. They came because they wanted to be able to choose how to live their lives and not be forced to accept a view of the universe espoused by those in power. They fled from a country where the Church and State were one and the same. Ironically enough, they wound up recreating in the government of their own communities what they ran from to begin with. That tendency might be a basic human flaw, and that might well be why the crafters of our Constitution made such an effort to separate Church and State.
Our Constitution protects choices made within the limits of law, with no preference given to those who believe in a god or who belong to any organized religion. With no preference given to the dogmas and tenets of any religious group. The spirit of our Constitution is rooted in lawful — not religious — personal choice.
Problems arise when a powerful religious organization imposes their Church laws on the State’s laws, when they forget their own biblical metaphorical admonition to “render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”
Problems also arise when the god-fearing draw erroneous conclusions from partial facts. While some of our Constitution’s framers were god-worshippers, there is no indication that they wanted to establish anything but a country that protected freedom of religion as well as freedom FROM religion.
If you want more documentation for this assertion, please check out my rant from just about three years ago, a post that received scholarly praise in an article no longer online, but quoted in one of my posts here.
There is a growing militancy among the god-less that needs to continue growing.
Choice and tolerance and respect.
Isn’t that why America was founded in the first place??

Even on a misty moisty morning, the Mohonk Mountain House and its acreage — both indoorrs and out — is a magical place. The movie The Road to Wellville was filmed there, exploiting both the natural and constructed opulence of what now is more than just a resort for the wealthy.
Although, I have to say that there were more Beamers and Benzs than I’ve ever seen in one parking lot, including several Mercedes-Benz $100K G-500 SUVs. .
Actually, there were a lot more less ostentatious vehicles from which folks of every age, many in hiking boots and gear, came and went. The grounds were almost overrun with kids, and as we walked along the path on one side of the lake, we noticed a cabin in which a nature program for children was underway.
My daughter and her family had to leave for home that afternoon, so we arrived in the morning and explored the grounds before heading in for the sumptuous (and expensive) Sunday brunch. ( It was just the four of us, since my mom was feeling too sick to come, and my brother stayed at home with her.)
The main dining room overlooks a range of the Catskill Mountains, and we were seated close enough to the huge windows to enjoy the view, fog and all. There were a number of young children (including ours) piling up plates of tasty buffet items, the most popular of which, of course, was the chocolate fountain in which they dipped strawberries and other fruits and fingers.
The two older women from New York City sitting by the window cooed over my grandson and offered to take our photo with my daughter’s camera if she would take one of them with theirs. They were up for the day as well and also making the most of what the brunch had to offer.
The hallways in the 19th century Victorian mansion that lead to the Mohonk House’s main dining room are lined with portraits of “rich old white men,” as my daughter commented. Actually we did notice a few colorful male faces, but those were few and far between and with names that looked Middle Eastern.
I’m hoping that my family will come visit again so that we can spend more time exploring Mohonk. Maybe not do brunch, but rather try the putting green, see the gardens in full bloom, take a paddle boat onto the lake. Maybe my grandson and son-in-law can fish, while my daughter adds to her collection of striking photos that she’s already taken of the unique surroundings.There’s a Picnic Lodge if we want to indulge our palates.
The website doesn’t say how much a day pass is just to roam the grounds (not hike, not with these knees) and luxuriate in the beauty of it all. It doesn’t even say if it has such a thing. Assuming that it does, I’m sure it will not be cheap. But it will be worth it to get out into that ear-popping mountain air and check out all the outdoor attractions that we couldn’t get to this time.
As long as it doesn’t rain.