New Beginnings – 2012 Predictions and Resolutions

Well, here we are, eleven hours into 2012 and Bob and I have already eaten a bowl of black-eyed peas to ensure prosperity throughout the coming year.

If I could twinkle my nose and make it so, 2012 would be the year when humanity wakes up and becomes more humane. The war industry would come to [...]

Ten Years Later

Ahhh… Today is the ten year anniversary of 9-11, the day The United States received a wake-up call and chose to ignore it.

For a couple of days, many of us held our breath, at least those of us who knew why others might see us as a target. Maybe, our leaders would wake up and [...]

AN EYE FOR AN EYE

Never Forget.  That’s what some are saying nine years after the September 11 attacks in New York.

And to that I say, “Forgive and Forget.”  It’s a better way to live.  Less baggage.  I find that forgiveness makes my life easier and makes me easier to live with.  Seems like it would make the world a [...]

FREEDOM, INC

You can hear the sound of freedom from the beach.  It’s the low rumble of explosives, the chatter of helicopter blades or the tandem footsteps of young men with the distinctive “high and tight” haircuts as they jog down the tide line.  Nearly inaudible reminders that soldiers are being prepared for war, blending with the [...]

SEVEN YEAR ITCH - enough already, bring the troops home!

Yesterday was the first day of spring.  After a cold, wet winter, we are beginning to enjoy temperatures in the 70′s.  I wore shorts to work Friday for the first time since last year.  What we took for granted during our eight years in the tropics – sparse wardrobe, open windows and lettuce – have [...]

DREAMING ABOUT PEACE

Last night I dreamed that Obama came to our neck of the woods. He was seated at a row of tables with a lot of other notables in a large room. Across the room was another row of tables behind which people from around were seated.

I was walking around the room, chit chatting away, like [...]

I VOTED “YES!”

I voted early and I voted “Yes” to:

Peace
Health care
Civil Liberties
Fair Trade
Solar Energy
Electoral Reform
Instant Run-off Voting
Impeachment for Bush and Cheney
A Foreign Policy based on Diplomacy
A Wall Street Securities Speculation Tax

I voted “No” to:
Militarism as a way of life
A Foreign Policy based on War
The Bailouts
Nuclear Power
Clean Coal
Free Trade
Corporate Crime
Anti-Union Laws

I voted for issues, not rhetoric. I voted [...]

LEST WE FORGET

The stories about Hurricane Katrina have distracted me from the real horror at hand. The following commentary brought me back to my senses:

“she had changed her mind about the war in Iraq. She said, “It’s no longer worthwhile” as if talking about hanging her laundry >snip< she had exposed >snip< the violence of the American [...]

SORRY

Winter has hit Maui. Although it started out sunny, the rest of the day was blustery, cold and wet. Anyone who says there are no seasons in the tropics isn’t opening their eyes.

It was the perfect day to sit at our desks and work on all those little projects sunny days keep us away from. [...]

FAT, DUMB AND TERRIFIED

There is nothing funny about what is happening to my country. My father believes we are headed down the same road as Nazi Germany did only 70 years ago. I see it, too.

It breaks my heart to believe that roughly half the people I encounter each day believe that might makes right, that outright carnage [...]