Happy? Halloween

Blogger gathering

Allie tried to make eyeballs out of olives and pearl onions but quickly decided it wasn't worth the effort. We did get a pot of beans with three eyes tho.

She also made this root veggie stew which was wonderful. Those who missed the gathering missed great food and conversation.

I'm not really into identifying people online. Let's just say Shelley, Allie, Kristen, Matthew, Elaine, Paul and Catherine enjoyed the food and each others' company.

Friday cat blogging on Saturday

Hi. My name is Kippi.

A leaf! I caught the leaf!

I loves me this sleeping bag but it doesn't stay here.

Tzaki likes to go outside but she doesn't look like much of a hunter, does she? I doubt she would know what to do if she caught something. I think our mom would not be pleased if she were successful either.

Tzaki has this thing which flops around. I like to chase it.

Sometimes Tzaki turns around and we wrestle.

I'm glad Tzaki and I are friends now. She didn't know what to do with me at first because she hadn't seen a kitten in many years. She doesn't always want to play but every once in awhile we chase each other and wrestle. She's a good big sister.

A few opinions

On national health care:
Those who refuse to support national health care reform and condemn its success in other countries must be wealthy enough to pay for private insurance, employed by companies large enough to provide insurance, profiting financially from unregulated health care or incredibly naive/ignorant. Our system or lack of is ridiculously expensive and yields poor results. For a country that values the dollar, we are really stupid when it comes to health care. The insurance companies got themselves into this muddle. They should support national health care as they then will have only the people wealthy enough to pay their fees and few of the people who will use it. That should yield less volume but more profit, shouldn't it? I strongly agree with those who believe that whatever the Congress enacts, they should have to live with it.

On Republicans:
Godde bless 'em. (That's a Southern blessing, by the way.) They need it. We need a new political party for those of us who are neither Democrats nor hate-filled bigots nor religious nuts. We need a new political party for those of us who are fiscally and socially responsible and are willing to listen, learn, develop and try new ideas. We need far fewer of those who say No simply because their controllers on the far right tell them to. This current crop of Republicans is an embarrassment to the US. I can see no hope of returning to sanity so let's dump the party and start a new one. Maybe call it the Realist Party?

On Iraq:
May Godde bless the Republicans whose egos got us into this mess.

On Afghanistan:
May Godde bless the Republicans who got us into this mess by abandoning it for revenge in Iraq.

On Iraq and Afghanistan:
We need to give both countries incentive to get rid of those who seek to control them for religious or selfish reasons. We need to send the National Guard personnel who have talents other than handling guns and vehicles to teach business, music, farming and other skills that help the people become more independent and willing to resist the nasty elements. We cannot win in Afghanistan. The Russians are probably laughing at us and waiting for the wars to bring us to our financial knees. If we can't or won't support a survivable economy, we should admit defeat and leave.

On the pope's offer to Anglicans:
In the midst of all the fuss, people seem to ignore or not understand that the group that seeks semi-reunion with Rome is not associated with the Anglican Communion as we know it. The 400,000 belong to a group that separated from the AC awhile back. I doubt any of the current crop of schismatics would consider crossing the Tiber. The men leading the division are too fond of their pointy hats to yield the hat, the prestige and the authority to the pope. If they were serious, they would have followed former bishop Jeffrey Steenson who did the honorable thing. As far as I'm concerned, the "issue" is a non-issue. And I'm curious to see what nastiness the pope's message tried to hide in the news.

On LGBT issues:
How do homosexual, transgendered or sexually uncertain people negatively affect those who perceive themselves to be "straight"? Is sexuality contagious? Are gay cooties deadly? How does marriage between two people affect the marriage of two other people if there is no cheating among them? Personally I believe that red-haired people should only be allowed to marry red-haired people because that recessive gene is disappearing from our culture and I like naturally red hair. If I look hard enough I can probably find a Biblical reference to support my prejudice for red hair. LGBT prejudice is just that - prejudice. It has no basis in fact but is promoted by ignorance and fear and preached from pulpits in spite of Jesus's admonition to love all and judge none. We need to get over it and accept all people in this Godde-given variety who are not harmful to society.

On Red vs Blue charity:
It is a fact that conservatives are more financially charitable than liberals. I wonder if the same is true for non-financial aid. Given equal social standing, do conservatives give more time - other than fund-raising - also? In other words, do conservatives get their hands dirtier than liberals? Do you know of any studies on this aspect of charity?

Help needed

Our friend Padre Mickey of Friday Red Mr. Peanut Bank and Gallito Mescalito Blogging fame has experienced a tragedy of monumental proportions. Well, actually his venerable Mac Mini has gone to the other side. The cost to repair it is the same as the cost to purchase a new Mini - approximately $700.

Michael Dresbach and the lovely Mona live on missionary pay in Panama. To say that is a subsistance income is being very generous. Last summer we raised a few dollars to fly them to New Jersey to meet our blogger party group. Can we possibly help out with a new computer?

Sending money to Panama is risky at best. We can contribute to his missionary fund at his sponsoring parish here. Please help if you can!

World's cutest grandnephew and grandniece

The birthday boy gets his first bicycle.

Of course his sister had to receive something too.

Isn't she a cutie!

He's pretty handsome too, here stealing a bit of icing.

Cake and ice cream. Yum!

Republicans can only say No