Category Archives: politics

Sexual Harassment

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Dear class,

I’m wondering how many upstanding, well-meaning men are looking back on their lives right now and trying to remember if they’ve ever unintentionally done anything that might be seen as sexual harassment. And if you’re one of those men who’s going through the files in your head – trying to remember if you’ve ever done something that might have caused someone else to feel uncomfortable or awkward – bless your heart. I’m guessing you’re no Sen. Moore or Harvey Weinstein. I’m pretty sure neither of those guys have ever spent a lot of time going through the files in their heads, self-reflecting. (And if you found you’ve done something you now regret, don’t do it again, okay? Onward and upward.)

On another note – it might be helpful if we could all identify the difference between flirting and harassment: I think sexual harassment is a one-sided thing – one person gets something from someone else without regard to what that other person wants or needs. Sexual harassment leaves the victim feeling humiliated, disrespected, and/or repulsed. Flirting, on the other hand, is a back-and-forth thing – everyone involved WANTS to be involved.

Be kind to one another. Be thoughtful. Be decent. Do right by each other.
– Mrs. T.

Is this the best leader for our country?

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It is my belief that Jesus wouldn’t have approved of Trump’s direction for our country. Jesus told us to love our neighbors and love our enemies. He told us to feed the hungry, heal the sick, provide shelter for the homeless. Do you think he would have wanted to deny the poor access to health care? Do you think he would have wanted to deny refuge to our neighbors in Mexico, and across the sea, who need protection and shelter? Do you think he would have wanted tax cuts for the rich? He said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” and he said it is harder for a rich man to get into heaven than it is for a camel to go through the eye of a needle. He said, “…whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister; And whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant…” 

Do you think Trump sees himself as a servant?

We don’t have to hate Trump to recognize that he’s not fit to be the leader of the United States.

Trump 1

Answers to a Political Survey

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A friend posted a link to a conservative political survey on Facebook. Here are some of the questions and my answers:

How would you rate the current direction of our economy?
Corporations are running our economy. I would like to see the power go back into the hands of the human citizens.

Which issue would you like to see prioritized more?
I would like to see our nation’s representatives fight for the middle and lower classes, rather than be in the pockets of the wealthy and corporations. I would like to have the people who represent us recognize that global warming is a real danger to us. I would like to see all the citizens of our country – including the poor and disenfranchised – have access to affordable health care. I would like our President to actually care about EVERYone he represents – and not just wealthy white males. I would like our President to realize he works for us, and that we don’t work for him. I would like women to have control over their own bodies.

Do you think immigration should be reduced until unemployment drops?
No. Immigration isn’t causing unemployment. Shipping jobs overseas is, however.

Do you think universities today indoctrinate rather than teach students?
No. Our students need to learn to question their own beliefs, assess information for accuracy and bias, and think critically. Students need to be taught the skills that will help them recognize that your question has built-in bias.

What else do you think the President needs to know about the real America? We’re listening.
No. You are not listening. If you were listening, you wouldn’t even be asking these questions. If you were listening you’d actually be trying to help all Americans have access to health care. If you were listening, you’d be lowering taxes for the poor and middle-class, and raising taxes for the rich – rather than the other way around. You are assuming that American citizens are ignorant, uneducated, and only out for themselves. You have become dinosaurs as the rest of the country has moved on. Catch up.

“Who’s (sic) fault is it?”

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I Am Bow Eyes and Rudder Pivots

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“The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
– Aristotle

So a couple summers ago I bought an outdoor patio set – four deck chairs and a glass-topped table. All of these pieces of furniture needed assembly to actually become chairs and a table. But how hard could it be to put these things together, right? I was not ascared. I got out my trusty screwdriver and set to work. When I was finished I am proud to say that I had four dandy deck chairs and a glass-topped table that actually looked like four dandy deck chairs and a glass-topped table.  You could actually sit in the chairs. The legs actually pointed down instead of up. You could actually put stuff on top of the table without it collapsing.

The fact that I had a couple screws left over when I was all done did not concern me at all. Or only a little. 🙂

I saved the left-over screws. By themselves, of course, those left-over screws aren’t worth much – but maybe someday I’ll need them in another project – maybe someday they’ll be a part of something really cool.

I am, metaphorically-speaking, assembled patio furniture. Or… maybe a sailboat. Yeah, sailboats are awesome. I am a jaunty little  PocketShip.  I’ve got bow eyes, and rudder eyes, rudder pivots, and rudder rod keepers, anchor chocks, and CB sheaves, sails and an anchor, and a bunch of other stuff. By itself a rudder pivot or a bow eye or an anchor chock doesn’t do much – but put all the PocketShip parts together and you’ve got a vessel you can use to take you on all kinds of wonderful adventures.

I am a Christian Scientist. I am also a mom, a wife, a daughter, a friend, a political progressive, an animal-lover, an outdoors aficionado, a photography buff, a wedding singer, and an author. Among other things. And all of those parts that make up the whole will sometimes find their way into my blog.

I’ve had Christian Scientists ask me why I post political posts on a blog titled “Adventures of the Madcap Christian Scientist” – and I think I can understand why other Christian Scientists might be concerned about this. There might, I suppose, be the concern that I’m trying to represent the beliefs and opinions of other Christian Scientists when I write my posts. But let me assure you, I’m not. I know there are other Christian Scientists who hold VASTLY different political views than myself. I like that about Christian Scientists. We’re not rigid monolithic automatons. The founder of Christian Science, Mary Baker Eddy, writes, “The time for thinkers has come.” And that’s what those who are living Christian Science try to do: Think. And not “think” in the way of the Borg of the Star Trek shows, but as individual expressions of Love, with their own individual conscience.

Christian Science informs the lives of all who try to live it. Christian Science has given me a way of looking at the world that’s influenced and informed my writing and photography, politics, and relationships with others. If all I posted on my blog were Bible quotes and Mary Baker Eddy quotes and discussions about religion I would not be sharing all that Christian Science has given me. And so I post my posts about animals, and adventures in the outdoors, and politics, and relationships with others on my blog. Because all of those parts are a part of my life as a Christian Scientist.

The loss of man’s identity through the understanding which Science confers is impossible; and the notion of such a possibility is more absurd than to conclude that individual musical tones are lost in the origin of harmony.

This scientific sense of being, forsaking matter for Spirit, by no means suggests man’s absorption into Deity and the loss of his identity, but confers upon man enlarged individuality, a wider sphere of thought and action, a more expansive love, a higher and more permanent peace.

A knowledge of the Science of being develops the latent abilities and possibilities of man. It extends the atmosphere of thought, giving mortals access to broader and higher realms. It raises the thinker into his native air of insight and perspicacity.
– Mary Baker Eddy, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures

Don’t Take My Vote for Granted Next Time

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“(Elizabeth Warren) said that when Perez won the party post early this year, ‘the very first conversation I had with him [was] to say, you have got to put together a Democratic Party in which everybody can have confidence that the party is working for Democrats, rather than Democrats are working for the party.’” – quoted by Nick Visser, HuffPost

Well, we have a mess here and that’s for sure. The question is: How do we fix it?

Look, I voted for Hillary Clinton because I felt I had no choice last November. Our only other option was Trump. And. Yeah. Don’t even get me started on THAT one. There was a lot of pressure put on progressives by the Democratic party to vote for Clinton. We were guilted. Those, like myself, who had been Bernie supporters were especially guilted. In fact, some people STILL blame Bernie’s supporters for this mess – which is kind of like blaming the victim of a purse snatching for having a purse.

It’s been bandied around a lot that Clinton lost because she was a woman. But no, I wasn’t reluctant to vote for her because she’s a woman. I would have eagerly voted for Elizabeth Warren, for instance.  I was reluctant to vote for her because I didn’t think the Democratic candidate, or those who counseled her, recognized the need to get out and talk to the disenfranchised, homeless, poor, and unemployed. There was the same old emphasis on getting campaign money from the rich and powerful and sort of ignoring everyone else. This is not to say that I thought the Democratic candidate didn’t care about the poor, but that she seemed sort of oblivious to them, you know?

People have suggested that Bernie Sanders shouldn’t have tried to run as a Democrat because he’d never really been a part of the party machine – he hadn’t “paid his dues” to the party like Clinton had, I guess – and it’s been suggested that he should have run as a third party candidate. But if Sanders had run as a third party candidate he would have split the progressive vote – and how would that have helped our country? So 1) Sanders couldn’t run as a Democrat and expect to get the party’s nomination and 2) he couldn’t run as a third party candidate without splitting the progressive vote. How do we fix this cockamamie system?

Progressives need a presidential candidate in 2020 who can be a voice for the middle and lower classes – someone, like Bernie Sanders, who reaches out to the “common folk” and walks their walk with them.

As I see it, we have to either do an over-haul on the Democratic party which is supposed to be representing us, or we throw it out altogether and create something entirely new. But I’ll tell you this:  In the next election, if the Democratic party refuses to transform itself, it should not take my vote for granted. Guilting me isn’t going to work again.

(Here’s an interesting article from the Huffington Post: Elizabeth Warren Says 2016 Democratic Nomination Rigged for Hillary Clinton. )

Open-Minded Cat

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Kitty doesn’t care if I’m male or female,
overweight, underweight, old, young,
Democrat, Republican, black, white,
red, or blue.
Kitty responds to what’s in my heart
and the kindness I do.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell

“The weapons of bigotry, ignorance, envy, fall before an honest heart.” 
– Mary Baker Eddy

“Do what’s decent…”

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Do what’s decent before it’s considered “normal” – because someday it will be.

“Progress is the law of God…”
– Mary Baker Eddy

 

decent

Distracting Distractions Swimming Everywhere

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Tweeting twooting twittering twits
sleazy sloppy squeeking soundbits
red herrings here and red herrings there
distracting distractions swimming everywhere

Awwk flag! Awwk anthem!
Awwk patriots! Awwk vets!
Parroting words to the masses
that it knows will get
their focus off Russia,
and tax breaks for the rich.

Tweeting twooting twittering twits
sleazy sloppy squeeking soundbits
red herrings here and red herrings there
distracting distractions swimming everywhere.
– Karen Molenaar Terrell

Pop Quiz: A Patriot Is…

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Pop Quiz

An American patriot –
A) tries to take away laws that protect American citizens from discrimination.
B) insults people who practice their First Amendment rights.
C) tries to censor the news.
D) gets five deferments to avoid service to his country, and then says an actual Vietnam veteran is not a hero because he got captured.
E) None of the above.

patriot