Roleplaying, philosophy, daytodayidealog

a "Patriot"ic Act In Washington state

I do believe the City Council of Tumwater, WA has acted wisely by joining the hundreds of other communities that have condemned the so-called Patriot Act. Stop government intrusion in our lives!

am musings

I dreamed about coffee cake this morning. The persons of my mother-in-law and mother were there too...intermingled into one wonderful being. I still miss them on a daily basis. And thoughts on the spector of death haunt me .... but to a lesser degree day by day as my trust that my existance should probably continue for some time.
Oh I am so sleepy this morning... I wish I could crawl back to bed. The weather is cloudy and cool today....its only supposed to be 69 today... which is the best kind of weather in my book. So much better than the Texas heat.

Atheist Quote

Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
     Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
     Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
     Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
     Then why call him God?

****

Found this on the positive atheism site. Its a translation from a letter by Epicurus.

I relent!

I should have known from the beginning.... learning XHTML does not mean you will learn EVERYTHING. I will now take on Dreamweaver. Silly me for thinking it could be this easy.

Who Are You?

While talking to my son about high school (he will be a freshman this year), he suddenly asked me "Who are you?" I was taken aback. I thought for a mere moment that he was being sarcastic. But no - he never is - he was being serious. He became embarrassed - I think - and said it was not important when I asked him what he meant. There are so many ways to answer that question. Too many ways.
I am a Mom with 4 kids. I am married. I am a Liberal I suppose (more liberal than conservative). I work in the Accounting field. Um I like books (classical literature and history), music (jazz to rock - ie: coltrane to rush - some country ie cash some folk ie mckennet) creating things (rpgs, painting minis - although I have been lax at that). I like talking to people about contemporary issues, I like animals, I like long drives along country roads while talking to a friend, l..... well I really am not sure what he meant. Its difficult to define oneself in one sentence. I suppose if I was a poet I could or if I were an artist I could paint what I am. The question came up when we were talking about how High school grades can really effect your college career. He also asked earlier what I would think if he became a lumberjack (we had been talking about how his Dad had worked as one when he was 16) - I told him - with all seriousness - that it would be fine with me along as he backed himself up with a college degree in Forestry. But I believe he was joking.
My son is at a very important age - 14 - so many things will begin to happen to him in the next few years - I am glad we are still talking. We managed to keep good lines of communication with our older kids so I expect to do these same with the younger two... I just worry. Its quite frightening when a teen becomes sullen and won't talk.... I am glad that has not happened for any length of time to me yet.

Ah the weekend

Went to Ikea with Melinda. I usually hate shopping -- I only go to malls for EB or Game Stop. However, I have had two great shopping experiences recently.
When I went up to New Hampshire to visit my daughter - I think I already went on about how wonderful that "mall" was and now Ikea.
Ikea is not a store its a concept ... nay a lifestyle. It took us over 30 minutes to find a parking space. People from all walks of life were there. The furniture and housegoods selections are wonderful. Chances are you can find something you like at a price you can afford. I was suffering from this strange overwelmed feeling after about an hour. It took us over 2 hours just to look at the showrooms.
I was really hoping to win the $5000 shopping spree...since I have not been contact I guess that didn't happen...
I even got my family to look at the catalog.... now to actually buy something more than the umbrella and colander I brought home....

Oh no - please no

On the way to work I had drafted in my head a wonderful post for my blog... but then just as lunch approached (and my plans for blogging) Brett called to say his brother had taken seriously ill....
and everything in my brain comes crashing to a halt...
I find myself in a loop of thoughts - concerns - neverending.
There is no higher power to broker a deal with, no universal counselor to appeal to... nothing I can do about the situation at all.
I have to wait for the outcome.
And sit here with this loop in my brain.

Musings

I've been spending what time I have to myself designing a web site... now that I am learning the lingo I might as well use it. I tell myself I am doing this (and this blog) so the universe will know I existed. I, like many others I assume, am curious about what my ancestors were thinking about. Reading diaries of the past is like catching a glimpse of a true self not just the events of note from the past. But like most diaries that are thrown out when the person dies, lost in fires, or decayed with age - all these web sites will someday be lost as technology grows and the world wide web becomes a thing of the past. I have some floppies still from the 90's that I would love to look at .... but I don't have a machine with the software needed to read them... and who knows they could be corrupted- literally and figuratively. So ultimately the truth of who we are is lost to time. And what is truth anyways? Like Kathy (my MIL) would say (and she said she heard this from her father who undoubtably heard it from someone else): There are 3 sides to the truth- your side, my side and what really happened. We can only catch glimpses of the truth. We filter our musings for the world to see - we dare not state what we really think - with all our secret prejudices and other thoughts exposed to the light of day. There is no true truth - not in blog or diary form to be had. I suppose this is just as well.

Linda Ronstadt

Linda Ronstadt's recent plugging of F-911 has been receiving quite a bit of negative press both on the web news and blogs. What a bunch of crap. If she had been waving an American flag & saying we should support Bush and the war effort - no one would have given a rat's butt. Once again I gotta say its time for those in the public eye to get out there and show the world what Americans really think and not just the propaganda news sites and papers.

POV "My God Problem"

First: Thanks to Manny Ratafia at CT Humanist for locating another great article.
My God Problem by Natalie Angier is a wonderful article.
We non-theists always grovel to the majority rule theists. It reminds me of how Liberals pander to the Conservative majority out of fear of being perceived as Un-American or Un-Patriotic if they state their opinion... I am guilty as the rest at times
Michael Moore has set a good example that change - however small - can be made by using the same tactics as those in Authority. However, as Ms. Angier concludes, the almighty grant dollar keeps the scientists in their place - barefoot and pregnant under the thumb of the Immoral Majority. Studying the reasons behind the majority's belief systems is ridiculous - indoctrination and fear keep most Americans hindbound to the church or some flaky quasi-religious belief. We cower in the shadows while ranting bullies shout and jump around the flames of blind faith.
We have a long way to go ......