HA HA HA - RIOTING BY THE RICH?

Whoo-hoo! An upper-class riot over the fiscal cliff legislation?  So asks Brian Kilmeade.  Not that the rich would be out in the streets themselves. They'd send the hirelings to demonstrate.

The commentary at Faux News is so fecking stupid, that you have to wonder how anyone with half a brain buys any of it. The English guy, Stuart Varney, who moved to the US to get away from Europe says the US is going European, yet I hear people "over there" lament that US culture is taking over the world. So. Which is it? According to certain people here in the US, the epithet "European" is the worst kind of insult, implying wimpiness, immorality, and all sorts of other undesirable qualities.

What you don't hear mentioned at Faux News is that without the awful fiscal cliff legislation, taxes would rise for everyone.  But the folks at Faux only care that taxes will rise for the rich.  Anyone who has an income of $250,000 is in the upper 2%.  How is it possible to be in the upper 2% and still be middle class?  And that's not to mention the "compromise" in the legislation that raises taxes only on those with incomes over $400,000 for individual filers and $450,000 for joint filers.

So, what are the two sides really fighting about? Surely the answer is, the future of the welfare state. Progressives want to maintain the achievements of the New Deal and the Great Society, and also implement and improve Obamacare so that we become a normal advanced country that guarantees essential health care to all its citizens. The right wants to roll the clock back to 1930, if not to the 19th century.

The war between the two parties is about what kind of country we want to live in.  A country where the rich will have an ever-larger slice of the pie?  Or a country where we give at least a slight nod to evening out the portions?

H/T to MediaMatters for the Fox video.

IT'S STILL CHRISTMAS - 8

Not eight ladies dancing maids a-milking, but six ladies all in a row.  My grandmother, Aimée, is in the center with her five daughters, from left to right, Eva, May (Aimée), Gladys, Irma, and Pearl (my mother).  Eva and Irma lived in Reno, Nevada, so they must have come to New Orleans for a visit.  My mother and my Aunt May look so young.  My grandmother always looked old to me, I'm sad to say, probably even before she  was old.  She dressed in the old-fashioned way with long dresses, lisle stockings, and sensible, lace-up shoes. 

The young lady pictured above is ready to dance.  My granddaughter was three or four years old in the picture and wears one of her costumes for her dancing school recital.  I sat through the recitals for my sister, my daughter, and my granddaughter.  As a child, I enjoyed my sister's dance recitals, but, as an adult, the recitals with performances by many youngsters seemed endless.  My sister was a talented dancer and danced through high school, but my daughter and granddaughter took dance lessons for only a few years.  Thank heaven for small mercies.

I'm running out of material for the twelve days of Christmas, with still more days to fill.  I should have stuck with the song.

UPDATE: My grandparents had seven children in all, five daughters and two sons. 

OH DEAR!

 

A NEW DAY - A NEW YEAR

Celtic Prayer

This day is a new day 
That has never been before. 
This year is a new year, 
the opening door. 

Enter, Lord Christ— 
we have joy in Your coming. 
You have given us life; 
and we welcome Your coming. 


I turn now to face You, 
I lift up my eyes. 
Be blessing my face, Lord; 
be blessing my eyes. 
May all my eye looks on 
be blessed and be bright, 
my neighbours, my loved ones 
be blessed in Your sight. 

You have given us life 
and we welcome Your coming. 
Be with us, Lord, 
we have joy, we have joy. 
This year is a new year, 
the opening door. 
Be with us, Lord, 
We have joy, we have joy.

The above prayer is a ‘first-footing’ prayer.  In Scotland and Northern England whoever first crosses the threshold of your home after the passing of midnight New Years Eve is the person who “brings in the year” for you and your house.  This prayer invites Jesus to ‘first-foot’ for us, to bring in the new year for us.

A BLESSED AND HAPPY NEW YEAR

 

Dougie MacLean with the New Year song.

GOOD-BYE 2012 - HELLO 2013

New Orleans - Fireworks on the river

And he: "I am not eager to rehearse 
   My thoughts and theory which you have forgotten. 
   These things have served their purpose: let them be. 
So with your own, and pray they be forgiven 
   By others, as I pray you to forgive 
   Both bad and good. Last season's fruit is eaten 
And the fullfed beast shall kick the empty pail. 
   For last year's words belong to last year's language 
   And next year's words await another voice.

(Little Gidding - T S Eliot)

                    HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Picture from New Orleans Online.

IT'S STILL CHRISTMAS - 7

 

Enough already with more birds on the seventh day of Christmas.  I wanted a picture of Diana inside with poinsettias in the background, but she was having none of it.  She wanted to go outside, and there she is having her way.  I must admit it's a good picture of her.  Below are the poinsettias.  They are artificial, but they would have made a nice Christmas scene with Diana.

 

When I went in the room to take the picture of the flowers, Diana barked to come back in, but I didn't even try to pose her.

Anyway, I'm told it's also New Year's Eve...

                       HAPPY NEW YEAR'S EVE!

HILLARY CLINTON HOSPITALIZED WITH BLOOD CLOT

Secretary Hillary Clinton was hospitalized today after a doctors doing a follow-up exam discovered a blood clot had formed, stemming from the concussion she sustained several weeks ago.

She is being treated with anti-coagulants and is at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital so that they can monitor the medication over the next 48 hours, Deputy Assistant Secretary Philippe Reines said.

Her doctors will continue to assess her condition, including other issues associated with her concussion. They will determine if any further action is required, Reines said.

Prayers for restoration to full health for Secretary Clinton.  I admire her greatly for her tireless dedication as Secretary of State.  She's done an outstanding job.

PAUL KRUGMAN - IT'S THE DEBT CEILING...

It sure looks as if we’re going over the fiscal cliff, but that may be the least of our problems. The debt ceiling is a much bigger and more dangerous issue, and it looks very much as if Republicans are set to destroy the full faith and credit of the United States if they can’t get their way.

Read the entire post.  I wanted to add "stupid" to my title, but I refrained in the spirit of the season of peace and good will, but I suppose thinking "stupid" is in the same category as lust in the heart.  Oh well. Mea culpa.

Paul Krugman is my favorite economist.  Why the president and Democrats in Congress don't pay attention to Krugman is a mystery to me. He knows his subject, does the research and the math, and speaks what looks like plain common sense to me.  He should be Secretary of the Treasury, but, if offered the position (not likely), he might not accept.  A Facebook friend reminded me that Krugman won the Nobel Prize, which should count for something, however I fear certain citizens of the country view Nobel Prizes as a liberal plot, thus it counts for nothing with them.

IT'S STILL CHRISTMAS - 6

Steven Bridges and Michael Snell, the first same-sex couple to be married in Maine

I invite you to celebrate the sixth day of Christmas, not with six geese a-laying, but with newly-weds or about-to-be-weds in Maine where the law allowing same-sex marriage went into effect at midnight on December 29.  Steven and Michael look so happy.  What a lovely Christmas gift.  Congratulations all you love-birds in Maine.  Why would anyone be against marriage between two adults who love each other and want to commit themselves to one another?

Besides, six geese a-laying around and about the house would make for quite a mess added to the partridge, turtle doves, French hens, calling (colly) birds, and pheasants, with yet more birds to come.