DOGS WILL GET THEIR REWARD

Our Diana wearing her Mardi Gras beads

It is taught that in the World-to-Come, dogs will lead in singing the praises of the Almighty. They will say to other creatures "Come! Let us prostrate ourselves and bow, let us kneel before G-d, our Maker".

Throughout classical Jewish literature they are portrayed as the most insolent of animals. How could it be, he wondered, that this very same creature will merit to lead in the singing of praises to G-d in the World-to-Come?

(Rav Yishaya)

A charming commentary on dogs as portrayed in classic Jewish literature.  Thanks to my friend Linda, who posted the link on Facebook.

The answer to the question may be found at torah.org.

Good Shabbos!

ZACK WILL GO FAR IN LIFE

For Zack Kopplin, it all started back in 2008 with the passing of the Louisiana Science Education Act. The bill made it considerably easier for teachers to introduce creationist textbooks into the classroom. Outraged, he wrote a research paper about it for a high school English class. Nearly five years later, the 19-year-old Kopplin has become one of the fiercest — and most feared — advocates for education reform in Louisiana. We recently spoke to him to learn more about how he's making a difference.

Kopplin, who is studying history at Rice University, had good reason to be upset after the passing of the LSEA — an insidious piece of legislation that allows teachers to bring in their own supplemental materials when discussing politically controversial topics like evolution or climate change. Soon after the act was passed, some of his teachers began to not just supplement existing texts, but to rid the classroom of established science books altogether. It was during the process to adopt a new life science textbook in 2010 that creationists barraged Louisiana's State Board of Education with complaints about the evidence-based science texts. Suddenly, it appeared that they were going to be successful in throwing out science textbooks.

Below is a video of Zack on Hardball in 2011



What courage and determination in one so young.  I'm so very proud of Zack and what he has accomplished.  Sadly, the ignorance displayed by the reverend who objected to science textbooks that are biased in favor of evolution is not so rare amongst the citizens of the Gret Stet.  Govermor Bobby Jindal, a major force behind the Louisiana Science Education Act, surely knows better with his major in biology from Brown University, but he is the consummate opportunist.

Following his success in halting the practice of removing science textbooks from the classrooms, Zack plans to focus his attention next on voucher schools, religious fundamentalist schools that use supplemental materials in science classes to teach young-earth creationism to their students, whose numbers include those whose tuition is paid with state vouchers.  Zack has paid a price: he's been called the Anti-Christ and accused of causing Hurricane Katrina. (Multiple eye rolls)   Geaux Zack! 

H/T to my Facebook friend Chris H and others for the link to the article.

WELCOME, BROTHER SUN

 

When I woke up this morning, the bright light shining through the windows caused me to squint and had me baffled for a spell, but then I remembered the light came from the sun. It's been so long since we've seen sunlight (and shadows, those dark things) that I'd forgotten.  Good to see you again, Brother Sun.

Praised be You my Lord with all Your creatures,
especially Sir Brother Sun,
Who is the day through whom You give us light.
And he is beautiful and radiant with great splendour,
Of You Most High, he bears the likeness.

(From Canticle of Brother Sun and Sister Moon - St Francis of Assisi)

UPDATE:

We praise You, Lord, for Sister Moon and the stars,
in the heavens you have made them bright, precious and fair.

Tonight was the first night I've seen the moon and stars for quite a while.

MAKING CRIMINALS OUT OF ORDINARY CITIZENS

Carrie Nation

From The Writer's Almanac:

The Eighteenth Amendment, the Volstead Act, and better known as Prohibition, took effect on this date in 1920, a year after it was ratified. It made the manufacture, sale, and transportation of liquor illegal. The temperance movement had been fighting this fight for almost 80 years. Its activists wanted to protect families and communities from the horrors of alcohol abuse. They saw the 18th Amendment as a major victory for morality — but in reality, it made criminals out of a lot of ordinary American citizens, and made liquor even more desirable than it had been before.

The law was surely honored more in the breach than in the observance throughout many parts of the country, including south Louisiana.  I believe the citizens in the states who voted to legalize marijuana did the right thing.  My father was an alcoholic, who was periodically on and off the wagon as long as he lived, so I'm well aware of the evils associated with alcohol addiction, but prohibition was and is not the solution.  Nor does prohibition seem to be the answer for marijuana, for it makes criminals out of ordinary citizens who wish to use marijuana, which, so far as I can discover, is no more harmful than liquor or cigarettes.

"BEL GIORGIO" MAKES THE COVER OF "VANITY FAIR"

Now Georg Ganswein, the Pope's private secretary, has appeared on the cover of the Italian edition of Vanity Fair.

The 56-year-old, blue-eyed Bavarian, who was recently elevated to the rank of archbishop by Benedict XVI and wields ever greater influence within the Vatican, was placed on the cover of the latest edition of the magazine, which went on sale on Wednesday.

"It's not a sin to be handsome" the magazine wrote on its front cover, describing Father Ganswein as "the George Clooney of St Peter's".

Hmm.  Of course, it's no sin to be handsome.  Georg's hairline seems to be receding a bit, but bald can be beautiful, and he has a way to go.  The brand new archbishop and keeper of the pope's household admits to listening to Pink Floyd and Cat Stevens and wearing long hair in his teen years.  Georg is a pilot and a skier, a "man-of-action". Italians call him "Bel Giorgio".  I expect Georg will continue his quick climb up the hierarchical ladder.  He may even be pope one day.

WHAT'S GOING ON?

Am I losing it?  All morning, I wore my slippers on the wrong feet and didn't even notice.

CAUTION!

Gov. Bobby Jindal’s proposal to eliminate state income and corporate taxes and shift the funding of Louisiana government toward higher sales taxes is a “huge change” that needs to be approached “very, very slowly,” said an LSU economics professor who closely monitors tax revenue.
....

“There are certain things you can say from the beginning,” said Jim Richardson, an LSU professor and member of the Revenue Estimating Conference, which decides how much state government can spend. “There will be a redistribution of who pays for state government. Unless there are some real different clauses built into the law, it will change the burden from higher-income to middle- or lower-income.”

Aside from removing the burden of taxation from the mostly polluting large industries in Louisiana, which are partly to blame for the state's place at the top of the lists of unhealthy places to live, along with removing the tax burden from wealthy individuals and placing it on the shoulders of the poor and middle class, what could possibly go wrong with Jindal's plan in place?

Well, the citizens of Louisiana who live near the border of another state with a sales tax less than a possible 12.5%, say Mississippi, with a tax of 7%, might decide to shop across the border, and how will local businesses accommodate themselves to the loss of revenue?  Of course, the out-of-state purchases will also reduce state sales tax revenue.  Or folks may decide to shop online more frequently.  By law, we are required to total sales taxes on online purchases on our income tax forms, though not everyone is scrupulous in this regard, but, if there is no income tax and no tax form, then how will we pay?

The high sales taxes will limit the efforts of parishes and municipalities to raise revenue for schools, libraries, etc. through sales taxes. Of course, local governments already rely too much on sales taxes for revenue, even as property taxes remain quite low compared to other states, but such is the way in Louisiana.

This plan is another of Jindal's mad schemes, which may have taken form with advice from his good friend Rick Perry, the governor of Texas.  I'm told there's no chance that the plan will make it into law, but Jindal's mad schemes have done so previously, because a majority of spineless legislators routinely give the governor what he wants.

UPDATE: Lamar White has a brilliant post on Bobby Jindal and his latest scheme, that should be required reading for all Louisianians.  Sadly, those who most need to know (I'm looking at you, members of the Louisiana State Legislature) will not read Lamar's words, or they will read and dismiss them.

This all may sound too biting, too personal. But, yes, it is personal: Louisiana is my home state. As his newest proposal should forcefully demonstrate to anyone in Louisiana with a working brain, it should be clear, Governor Bobby Jindal doesn’t give a damn about the overwhelming majority of Louisianans. He’s hoping that we’re all too stupid to realize that eliminating taxes for corporations and eliminating the state’s personal income tax may sound awesome, but in a state as poor as Bobby Jindal’s Louisiana, it merely shifts the tax burden to those who can least afford it. Over 39% of Louisianans don’t even make enough money to qualify to pay income taxes, and the overwhelming majority of those who do qualify don’t pay much.

If you care about Louisiana, you should be sickened and insulted by Jindal’s proposal. It’s cronyism at its worst, a sure-fire formula to establish a banana republic.

Bravo, Lamar!

H/T to Adrastos at First Draft for the link to Lamar.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ALLEN TOUSSAINT!

Allen Toussaint at the 2007 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival

MadPriest says today is Allen Toussaint's birthday, and it's  true.  Allen is three quarters of a century old today, and he's still going strong.  Watch the video of Allen's performance of "Yes We Can" over at OCICBW....

In the video posted above, Allen performs "There's a Party Going On".  Yeah!  Allen's birthday party is going on right here at Wounded Bird and over there.  Oh, the wonders of the intertubes!

LIMITATIONS

David Hayward - “the need to leave” (watercolor on paper, 7″x10″)

Limitations...

...of age

...of arthritis

...of energy

...of time

Contrary to the words of the poet, it is not, as they say, satisfactory...at least not yet for me and may require a lengthy period of adjustment.  I think of Walter Cronkite's sign-off, "And that's the way it is."  Except for loosening of time constraints, the other limitations are unlikely to change for the better.  The task is to keep them at bay for as long as possible, so they don't worsen too quickly.  And what is too quickly?  Well, too quickly to suit me, who doesn't care for the limitations at all.

At the age of 78, I'm bound to think of mortality and view the future as somewhat compressed, right?  Some folks, like Grandpère, live in denial of the reality of death, but when I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 51, I looked death in the face, and there was no turning back to denial.  To me, it's both funny and tragic when people deny death.  I'll never forget the time I told GP, "The death rate is 100%," and he said, "For whom?"  My black humor did not go over well.

Anyway, I'm easing into a completely different mindset about life in general and my own life.  There are so many things that I want to do and so many changes that I want to see happen before I die, but I know I will not do or see most of them, and I must come to acceptance and ease with the reality.  The difficulty is to sort out the priorities of what is still possible to do and move out of stasis.

If you detect a pinch of depression in my diary post, you are probably correct.  It's there lurking at the edge, but I've not yet fully acknowledged and accepted it yet.  We've experienced a good deal of turmoil and distress in our extended family, and, though the situations have improved, I feel I'm allowed a bit of depression now that things are looking up...if that makes any sense.  My depression is not severe, the descent into a black hole sort, so I carry on in hopes that this, too, shall pass.

To all that I've written here, I must add that it's my faith that lifts me and carries me.  The knowledge that I have praying friends who will support me through the tough times, is of inestimable value.  Without my sense of God's presence, I'd face all of what happened recently and all of what's going on now with much more angst, (though angst there was and is) and much less equanimity, and so I say, "Thanks be to God."

You’ve got your limitations; let them sing,
And all your life will waken with a cry:
Why should you halt when rapture’s on the wing
And you’ve no limit but the cloud-flocked sky?...  

(From "Limitations" by Siegfried Sassoon)

Easy for you to say at the age of 34, Sassoon, but not so easy to practice when you're 78.  Still, the thought is worth a place in my mind, and the ideal is worth a reach.

The lovely painting at the head of the post is by David Hayward aka nakedpastor.   He posted the painting noting that it was available for purchase.  I waited a few days, but I found the painting irresistible and bought it.  In the poem beneath the painting, David says:

You’ve kept your place. You’ve held your ground. You’ve filled your space. You’ve stayed in bounds.
But something calls. You know you must. You forsake all. You will be blessed.
It’s time to go. It’s time to leave. This much you know: this is your peace.

The wonderful painting caused me to reflect on life, how we are always in motion, leaving and forsaking, traveling, and arriving at new places and eventually led to this post, for better or for worse.
 

OXYMORONS 2 - THE REST OF THEM

15. Why is "phonics" not spelled the way it sounds?

16. If work is so terrific, why do they have to pay you to do it?

17. If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?

18. If love is blind, why is lingerie so popular?

19. If you are cross-eyed and have dyslexia, can you read all right?

20. Why is bra singular and panties plural?

21. Why do you press harder on the buttons of a remote control when you know the batteries are dead?

22. Why do we put suits in garment bags and garments in a suitcase?

23. How come abbreviated is such a long word?

24. Why do we wash bath towels? Aren't we clean when we use them?

25. Why doesn't glue stick to the inside of the bottle?

26. Why do they call it a TV set when you only have one?

27. Christmas - What other time of year do you sit in front of a dead tree and eat candy out of your socks?

28. Why do we drive on a parkway and park on a driveway?

Once again, blame Doug.  Any problems, questions, I refer you to him in his undisclosed location.