I say YES. YOU say NO....Numero Tre! Enjoy!

Caryn, isn’t that amazing news coming out of your old neighborhood?! I’ve watched the video of her announcement and the students’ reactions several times and it always brings me to tears. Facebook comments have heralded the donation:

”Some billionaires go to space, some invest in the advancement of people. Thank you, Dr. Ruth Gottesman.”

“Imagine what a world we would have if our children were all able to be educated. Thank you Dr. Ruth Gottesman.”

“If I could be anyone in the world for just one week, it would be Ruth Gottesman.”

“Ruth Gottesman is a rock star.”

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Never lose an opportunity of seeing anything that is beautiful; for beauty is God’s handwriting—a wayside sacrament.  Welcome it in every fair face, in every fair sky, in every fair flower, and thank God for it as a cup of blessing.    -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Well, dang, I guess I won't become a vegetarian!

I for one would like to know my specific classification if I'm possibly not human at any time and for any reason. Where the hell do these people come from and just when do they get the ideas they so casually try to foist on people.

Well Mr. Christian t.v. host, I find it is impossible to believe you. You could say I gave it up for Lent one year and stuck with it. I don't believe you, or any other fool who has gone and lost their mind as you have. I'm not a product of Mensa (although I wouldn't mind ) but thank the powers that be your kind of rubbish hasn't managed to ever get through. Hopefully it never will either. You are a disgrace and anyone who falls for what you peddle is too.

exbrnxgirl: I promise not to save you, LOL. Raised Christian but would not want my religious views now to invoke "saving" either. Wonder where he found this in his "Bible"?

I was a churchgoer for many years. I'm all for anyone who feels they need it, enjoy it, and find value for themselves. I tend to think of myself as more spiritual than religious since way too often religion or perhaps I should say the interpretation of it has let me down.

As most of you have seen my quotes, they align fairly well with my life philosophies which are now not based in a religion as such. I do think religion is a personal thing and if you find being in a group structure is good for you, so be it.

I am not inclined to try and drag people (some would be kicking and screaming and raising a real ruckus anyway) my way. If my way, or indeed your way is the right thing for me or for you it will indicate to you. I can only say I'm quite happy with how I choose to structure that part of my life and I'm more than happy to grant that you should have the same divine privilege.

I will not find fault with your choices, but likely glad to hear once in awhile perhaps how you came to make that choice. I'm usually interested in what motivates some of our actions and usually find something I can well relate to.

So ladies, you have my word.

There were a couple years I often found myself in the company of women who seemed to think I needed to be led “back into the fold” of Christianity, since I’m no longer a Christian. It made me want to hyperventilate. The insinuation was that there was something wrong with me. Books I’ve read by Glennon Doyle and Brene Brown have helped me learn to assert myself. These days, I will simply tell someone who thinks I need religion, “you know, there’s nothing wrong with me. I don’t go around trying to get others to adopt my beliefs, and I would like the same respect in return.” I’d like to be accepted for who I am, not turned into what someone else thinks I should be in order to be accepted, and I would say that, too. People think I’m easy pickins: nice, polite little blonde lady with income would make nice addition to church and would tithe. Yeah, no thanks.

It makes me appreciate the garden club I belonged to. About nine women my age in the group, all Christian except for me. I had no idea they had a somewhat Christian agenda when I joined, I just love flower gardening. At one point, tho, it became necessary to tell them I was not Christian, and they were all very accepting of it and not a single one tried to “convert” me or guilt me or anything. I very much appreciated it.
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Divine, I enjoyed your "religious tale" and second your appreciation of your garden club Christian friends who accepted your stance that you weren't inclined the same way and didn't try to alter your feelings in any way. How refreshing.

Overall as I've aged I feel as though I've been approached a lot less than when I was younger. I do appreciate as well being left alone.

I had just read about McConnell before I came here. I'm not surprised that he will step down. There is not much left for him to work with anyway. The Loon and the other Reps. (most are on the House side) have left the party in shambles and so far nothing would indicate to me that part gets any better. If any of those wanting to elevate into his position think there will be enough party left then I understand some desire. At this point though McConnell lost his 'touch' some time back and I don't think there is much of a party left to get in touch with, or even what it would take to make that a reality. Trumpism it seems will have to be dealt with over time to get rid of the "wild" un-workable parts and not sure anyone will have a good way to do that.

It will be nice not to have some of the real government relics in your face so much of the time. Especially those who are spineless.

Little did I know what was coming when I mentioned McConnell. I am stunned beyond rational thoughts and feelings. This would be in reference to the Supreme Court taking the Jack Smith/Judge Chuckan case of immunity for Trump.

It is not totally that they took it, but that they waited as long as they do to do so. At that they have not set oral arguments until nearly the end of April. Talk about giving a huge hand up to Trump. As one of the commentators said, no matter what their final answer is they are in fact covering and actually allowing Trump 'some' immunity. No one sees any real way they could actually grant that he has it, but they would in effect be not allowing the public at large to have a reasonable judgement before the election to help them decide how they see Trump.

Now more than ever I say the senility or major heart attack better hurry up. We need it more than ever. At the same time I understand that it may be a good thing for the SC to rule on this matter so it never comes up again and I can agree with that, but a pox on most of them for the timeline which seems at face value right now to give Trump every advantage and the rest of us none.

Once again, for the most part it seems the Reps. and those who go to the right on the court are taking advantage not of what is right, but what is wrong and getting away with it. The Democrats have never done this well although in the long run we may feel it the just and fair way. Don't know when I'll feel good again about much of anything. I think it may be a time for letter campaigns if not well structured marches. If nothing else, this says more about FIXING that damn court once and for all than anything could. That means doing what it takes to win a huge victory in November.

Here's a sign for your door, Exbrnxgrl!

There are simple antidotes to complacency.  Gratitude is one of them.  Every morning we can take a few moments to appreciate all the goodness in our lives.  Another powerful antidote is taking the time to consciously contact our Higher Power.  God is always available to help us; we simply have to open the door.  Sharing hope with others is perhaps the most powerful of the antidotes because it helps at least two people—ourselves and the listener who hears our story.    -unattributed

Still upset today about the Supreme Court. I would like to think that they might actually pull a surprise and move the thing quickly once the arguments take place, but they have been so generally at odds since the Loon's time that it would to me be a REAL stretch.

I do not see in the end how they could come up with anyway to make the Loon correct and I don't think they would even try, but none-the-less the Loon is once again being favored in ways that have always worked for him while the rest of us are made to take it on the chin.

I'm still of the mind that more than ever we need to have enough Democrats voting to give us House, Senate and Presidency and hopefully have people ready, willing and able on day one to start setting procedures in place to repair so much in our government that is broken right now. I'm tired of the Republicans that act like Russians.

Miriandra, I love that sign! I still have no respect, tolerance or understanding for those who proselytize but the the sign sure put a big smile on my face 😊.

The Reps. are such total hypocrites they are thoroughly pathetic. They seem to have no idea they are likely swimming well against the tide. If I were them I'd be terrified, but they display little concern. Perhaps they are boing good at hiding the awful disarray they are not owning up to.

I read an interesting piece in Palmer this morning and ended up in pretty fair agreement. He talked about mainly the pundits for the most part sounding big alarms about the Loon's upcoming trials. It was his viewpoint that most of it is fear mongering about the Loon being able to stall etc. Well, he has used that as a static his whole life long. It is this latest thing that has me a bit on the rails.

Palmer did point out and he is right that doomsday has been predicted for everything that has occurred regarding the Loon since at least 2020. He lost all the lawsuits, bumbled the insurrection, did indeed get indicted a bunch of times, and now owes a fortune that he has had to admit to a degree he lacks. That from trying just now to reduce his need to pay right now (E. Jean Carroll) or trying to lower his bonds to ridiculous amts. It was said that someone, even another country would step up and give him the money, but no one has. So there it is — the media spinning tales that ever happen, but manage to keep us all in a dither.

So, I do think at least one of his trials ( Alvin Bragg's) will take place for sure. As to the others, I have to admit while I hope the pundits (many on our side) are wrong and maybe Jack Smith will get at least one in, I probably will be holding my breath because in fact the SC does seem to be giving the Loon a hell of a lot more breathing space then he deserves. While I can't imagine in the end it will be of REAL value in a sense, I do feel that we needed the strength and justice of answers before this next election and I worry if we will get them.

It was also said about how the Michigan primary seemed indicative of huge trouble for Pres. Biden in the un-decided vote, but that didn't really pan out that way. Un-decided was not awarded any delegates and in fact, only went up a couple more points from the un-decided vote in Obama's election. Odd, I don't even remember there even was an un-decided group from that election. So the message does seem to be clear that the pundits are pouncing on anything they can to keep up their numbers and viewership. We can't let down our guard for a minute, but I felt a bit better after the article. We are not in good shape, but it may not be as dire as the news would like to make it appear.

We must work on our souls, enlarging and expanding them.  We do so by experiencing all of life-- the beauty and the joy as well as the grief and pain.  Soul work requires paying attention to life, to the laughter and the sorrow, the enlightening and the frightening, the inspiring and the silly.

Matthew Fox