Old Cat, why aren't you smarter?

My cat Poonie is nearly 20 years old. She's 137 in cat years. She's deaf and skinny, but still she's a wonderful snuggly cat. She meows in my face in the morning because she's hungry. Sometimes she screams loudly because she can. I don't really know why, unless she is getting louder and louder because she can't hear herself, or if, like Kiki says, that she's got Alzheimers and just gets confused and scared. She still likes to scoot close at night and sleep right next to me. I like that.

But as I looked at her the otherday I realized that she will never learn to speak. She's 20. She's been alive years longer than most cats and she doesn't add to her skills. It's such a weird thought, but as I watched her doing cat things, I just thought, Come on, you're old enough to vote and to drive, the least you could do is tell me which cat food you want BEFORE I open the can and feed you, before you vomit it up in the doorway I am about to walk through barefoot. But no, you are still just a cat. Nothing more.

When she was younger I trained her to jump and catch cards I threw at her. She was good, she could jump pretty high and she would catch them between her front paws. After a number of tosses she would walk away expecting me to play 52 pick-up all by myself. As she's gotten older she's gotten crankier, thinner and more demanding. Like most of us will I suppose. She still wants my attention as soon as I get home, follows me into the bathroom and beats a hasty retreat when she realizes the shower's on. When she was little she used to sit at one end of the tub on one of the ledges just watching and playing with whatever water got sprayed on her.

I know Poonie will die someday soon, every now and then her sleep is so still I think she's passed. But she's always responded with a little "prrrrup?" when I touch her. I will miss my kitten when she goes, but I will get another. She's special and sweet, to me anyway. I don't think I've ever be tempted to fork over $50,000 for a cloned kitty. Half the fun of a new pet is finding out who they are. Half the fun of $50,000 is never worrying that it will get eaten by a hawk or run over by a car.

I read a bit about a woman in Texas who cloned her favorite cat for $50,000. I am awed by just how profane that is.

Christmas Shopping

Dad and I were going to the mall three days before Christmas to meet Kiki to have dinner and do some shopping. Kiki got there first and we were still wading through rush-hour traffic with a topping of Christmas shopping frenzy. Fun. Not. Dad and Kiki were calling back and forth to see where we were and what was our ETA. When we eventually got to the mall, Kiki called to guide us to where she was parked. She's my brilliant little Peruvian flower. She got us to her row and told us to come to where she was parked, her lights would be on. In the middle of a crazed night of consumerism, she had managed to park her car between two spots, front to back. She just parked her car between the two so she could move up or move back depending on how we got there. Woo hoo! That was a nice little surprise. She said she'd received some very interesting and seriously non-holiday greetings from shoppers wanting our spot.

At the restaurant I noticed that the bar was packed with shopping widowers. There were no women there, just men. You could almost see the "cha-chings" registering in their minds as they waited for their wives to come back laden with gifts. After watching the number of drinks downed I hoped that they were only there as pack mules and would not be driving home.

Now, here's an interesting thing about shopping at Christmas time. There is a weird and twisted competition among people headed for the same store. It's bizarre, we would be walking towards a store, see some others headed in the same direction and they would suddenly put on speed to get there first. I could care less who gets there first, but it was lots of fun to speed up a little and see what other people would do. If I didn't need to actually purchase stuff, I would lurk in malls and tweak people in mock competition all season long.

Is there something about the winter solstice that causes American's to suddenly forget how to use certain polite phrases, things like "Excuse me." I couldn't believe how many people, I have to assume are otherwise well behaved, act like barbarians during Christmas. My toes were bruised by all the trampling. I think I'll get some steel-toed boots for next year.

Movie Review - Matrix: Revolutions

This will be short.

I hoped since I saw the second Matrix that the third would end this way:

Neo dies.

Fade to black.

An alarm goes off, you hear groans. A messy bedroom comes into focus. From the bed, one teen moves to slap the alarm off. Another teen groans from a chair in the corner. Light is streaming in through the blinds. You see a "Wild Stallions" hand-made poster on the wall.

Ted's head pops up from the bed.
"Dude, I had the most EXCELLENT dream. Where did you get that smack?"

Bill groans.

Fade to black.

End Credits begin to roll.


THAT would have been a great ending to the Matrix trilogy.

Ratings:
Overall - F

The rest of it doesn't matter. Just don't do it. Run.

Baby Jesus, Help Me!

We are staring at another monstrosity, a Christmas yard display gone horribly awry. The lawn of a neighbor is covered in a collection of Christmas and Holiday figures that seems to have been chosen for one common feature, they all plug in. It's blinding, I put my sunglasses on in an attempt to ward off night-blindness when I look away. I see other neighbors slathering 35 sunblock on and sitting in lawn chairs hoping to get a late season tan. My mind is full of anything but Christmas cheer.

"It's beautiful Auntie Vivian. I love it." says my nearly 4 year old nephew, Landon.

"Look at the pretty colors!" says Brianna, my 6 year old niece. "Isn't it lovely?"

"Yes." I lie. "See the reindeer's heads moving? And their legs move too."

"Ooooh!" Both of them sigh.

Brianna asks me to pull closer to the manger scene. As we pull up, they Oooh and Aaah in unison. This display also glows from within.

Brianna squeals "Look, there's Mary and Joseph and the baby Jesus, and the Wise Men."

"Ooooh!" Landon sighs

I think the visit to the lights is going swimmingly. Then comes the question.

"So, where was everyone before Jesus was born?" Asks Brianna innocently.

"Well, they were all here." I said.

"But you said Jesus is God. How could they be here if he wasn't born yet?"

Me, not seeing the trap answers "Honey, Jesus is God's son,..."

"That means Joseph is God?" Landon smartly closing this little pre-school trap on me.

What follows is me trying to explain that Joseph isn't God, the eternal nature of God and the incarnation. I try to relate how Joseph is Jesus daddy on earth, stupidly, through adoption. They know that I had a daughter and gave her up. Somehow, I think they understand this, we've talked about it for the past two years. I think, this is an easy way to explain. I was wrong.

"No. You know how Amy is my daughter, but Susan and Harry are her Mommy and Daddy?"

"How old were you when you gave her up?" they ask.

"17. So back to Jesus..."

Brianna "17 is young."

Landon "Those sure are pretty lights."

Me "Yes, it is young, yes they are pretty lights. So God wanted to send his Son Jesus..."

Brianna "Did Grandma and Grandpa get angry at you?"

Now I'm beginning to feel terror, Pandora's Box is open and I can't seem to close it. "Yes honey, they were angry. So Jesus..."

Brianna "Well, you were very young."

Me "Yes. Jesus..."

Landon "Look, Santa's on their porch. Is he real?"

Me "No, he's a statue. Now, back to Jesus..."

Brianna "Will my Mommy and Daddy ever give me up?" I begin to hear the coming flood. "Can I live with you if they ever have to give me, (sniff) up?"

Me "Brianna, your Mommy and Daddy will never ever give you up. And you can always live with me. So, now Jesus..."

Brianna "Well, you were young."

I chicken out and decide to run "Look! More Christmas Lights!"

Landon and Brianna "Oooohh!"

Parents on Strike and Other Modern Stupidities - Updated

Striking Parents
"Cat and Harlan Barnard have pitched a tent in the front drive of their Florida* home and erected signs, one of which says: "Parents on Strike!".
They say they will stay there until Benjamin, 17, and Kit, 12, start to do their share of the household chores." (From BBC Online)

This is terribly embarrassing. Reading this nonsense on a foreign country's news site is mortifying and distressing. How on earth can grown ups be this misguidedly stupid? Apparently their children are already quite comfortable with a high level of chaotic filth, this won't change much. What needed to change was their parenting techniques long ago.

*Floridians and Californians make higher than average appearances in prominent news magazines like The Weekly World News and The Star, usually for raising a 40 pound gerbil, finding Elvis in the mold growing in their shower, confessing to secretly marrying an alien. Normal stuff.

Barbara Walter's List of the 10 Most Fascinating People of 2004
It included Paris Hilton.

And she ranked above The Google guys and Mel Gibson. Paris did, um, NOTHING noteworthy. She did some things for sure, but none of it was worthy of repeating and will be forgotten in just a few seconds. Fascinating wasn't what I would call what she did this last year. Unless of course children were listening, then it would be used euphemistically only.

Remember that the Google Guys went public on the stock market and rocked Wall Street with the stregnth of it's worth. These guys have a fantastic product and are now worth buckets of money.

Remember that Mel Gibson made a very controversial movie, all with his own money, and that he rocked Hollywood with its success.

Cloned Cats:
A woman in Texas recently spent $50,000 on a clone of her favorite cat.

I'll repeat that, just in case you missed it.

A woman in Texas recently spent $50,000 on a clone of her favorite cat.

I love my kitten, to be sure. She's snuggly and fun and a fantastic kitten. I see no need however to spend $50,000 on her clone. I see the need to perhaps adopt a kitten from the ASPCA and then, if I had it to spare, give the money to charities that actually help people suffering in the wars that ravage much of our world. When my cat dies, as she must, I will get another different cat and delight in the cat-ness of my next cat while enjoying the differences between them. I don't have any idea what else this woman spends her money on, I don't even know her name. But I can ascertain something of her priorities and character from this one decision. Silly woman, she is guilty of a grotesque missuse of a wealth that has been entrusted to her.

We are meant to use our gifts and talents for good, not evil, for righteousness and not for selfish gain. There are millions of kittens in shelters who will of necessity be put to death because there are no homes for them. Even more importantly, millions of children are at risk of death through war, starvation, cold and disease. $50,000 is no mere drop in the bucket.

When God Shouts

It's the still small voice of the Lord we are told over and over to listen for, the voice you must train your heart to hear. Often I've longed for God to shout to me what he wants me to do, be or think. It's the voice I love to hear and to my shame don't hear often enough. When I do hear it I am grateful. It has taken years to get to a place where I can hear him more often, more clearly. But still I've often wished I could turn up God's volume.

Then this morning happened.

It's Christmas time, so I was listening to Christmas music during my morning commute. The second verse of Do You Hear What I Hear? stopped me in my tracks, so to speak, I was still driving.
Here are the lyrics:
Do you hear what I hear
Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy,
Do you hear what I hear
A song, a song, high above the trees
With a voice as big as the sea
With a voice as big as the sea
So I thought, no, God's voice is small and still, but it could be as big as the sea. I'm always telling my nieces and nephews that God's love is as big as he is, as big as the entire universe. But he whispers to us. Why? Then I thought about the one time God's voice was raised to a shout, when Jesus on the cross cried out "My God, My God, Why have you forsaken me?" What followed was shattering. Earthquakes, the dead being raised out of their graves, the temple curtain rent in two. Did you know that scholars have studied that curtain and its making? That curtain wasn't some simple gauzy linen thing. It was a thick woolen hanging, as thick as two inches, maybe more. Only God could tear something in two with his voice. After all, that's what he used to create the world, he spoke us into being. I realized that if God were to shout at me I would be undone. Molecularly unmade. Gone.

I will be content then, with whispers, I will be grateful that he, The Lord of the Universe, speaks to this lowly woman at all. When I am in heaven I will ask God if we can hear his creating voice, I imagine it is unimaginably wonderful. (I've always loved the thought that God, like C.S. Lewis's Aslan, created the world with song. But really, his voice will be the most melodious and lovely voice we will ever hear.)

Below I've included the lyrics for the whole song.
Have a holly jolly Christmas!
May you know the blessings of Jesus!

Do You Hear What I hear?
Said the night wind to the little lamb,
do you see what I see
Way up in the sky, little lamb,
do you see what I see
A star, a star, dancing in the night
With a tail as big as a kite
With a tail as big as a kite

Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy,
do you hear what I hear
Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy,
do you hear what I hear
A song, a song, high above the trees
With a voice as big as the sea
With a voice as big as the sea

Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king,
do you know what I know
In your palace warm, mighty king,
do you know what I know
A Child, a Child shivers in the cold
Let us bring Him silver and gold
Let us bring Him silver and gold

Said the king to the people everywhere,
listen to what I say
Pray for peace, people everywhere!
listen to what I say
The Child, the Child, sleeping in the night
He will bring us goodness and light
He will bring us goodness and light
by Hans Christian Anderson

Iraq, France & the UN

Iraq:
It's all so interesting. The news I mean. When I watch the network news all I see is death and destrution and accusations of the Bush administration. Then I turn on Fox News and see a press conference from the head of USAID, a part of the state department. He is pleading with the reporters to please run stories on what they are doing & accomplishing. He said they have over 1000 projects currently running, that the infrastructure is improving, that electricity is now on in most homes 12 hours a day and should be on for 20 hours a day sometime in January. That they have rebuilt numerous schools and medical facilities. He also pleaded for them to remember that the infrastructure they are struggling to restore had been neglected by the Hussein regime for 20 years while he amassed wealth and murdered his own people. He said that many of his co-workers, including many who are in the field in Iraq, disagreed with this war. The ones who come back from working in Iraq to see what's on the news are outraged and distressed to see that nothing that they have accomplished is reported and that the view of the war is distorted. hmm. (Please forgive me, I don't remember the man's name or the correct name of the agency, except I know that it is part of the State Department.)
France:
Algeria and Ivory Coast. Both former colonies of the French, both in chaos. hmm. And now tonight there is a report of a massacre at a protest in the Ivory Coast. hmm And then there are charges of bribery in the Oil for Food program. Hmm. Other reports coming out of France indicate some serious cultural issues are looming for the French and their imigrant population. hmm. In fact, all of Europe seems to be in the grip of losing their identity to imigrants and they are fighting back, passing laws limiting the number of imigrants, specifyingwhat jobs they are allowed to have. hmm. This is all just interesting.
The UN:
The more I read about the UN, it's dealings, who sits on the security council, who sits on the human rights council, the more I wonder if this body is really the most effective way to deal with the world-community. We can't go back and isolate, it's a century too late for that. In a perfect world, where all countries are democracies and the leaders are duly and fairly elected, we could hope for real thoughtful consensus and truly helpful intervention. That's not what we have. Right down to their "diplomatic immunity" that allows the "diplomats" to ignore the law, the UN acts as a corupt institution. I get why diplomats need to have a level of imunity, but that immunity should not translate into getting away with murder, or even 1000's of parking tickets. Perhaps they need a watchdog to be sure they get due process and are not persecuted or wrongfully charged, but being above the law has never once in the history of the world encouraged a free and liberated society. In fact, just the opposite.

The Anniversary of Bhopal, 20 years on

I remember exactly what I was doing the day that tragedy struck at Bhopal, working in a pesticide filled greenhouse. When I got home that evening and saw the horror in India, I cried at all the death and destruction. Then I heard the name of the chemical and recognized it as one that we used regularly at the greenhouse, Sevin, found in Round-up. When we showed up for work the next day nearly all of us refused to enter the greenhouse, it smelled like chemicals and the dead faces from India were clear in our minds. Management told us it was okay. Nope, not going in there. We were screamed at, but none of us budged, the ones who hadn't seen the news crept back out and, after hearing about the 2000 dead, refused as well.

Now, after 20 years, that incident still is a landmark for me. In human cost, thousands dead and thousands sick. It is overwhelming. The grossness of the company's failure to compensate the survivors is overwhelming as well. From their website it is pretty clear they feel no need to care for those injured by the second most serious industrial accident of all time. (The first being a burst dam in China, at least according to the Learning Channel.)

I appreciate American companies going overseas to find cheap labor, cheap land, all that fun capitalist stuff. What I find detestable is that there isn't a mind to make working conditions in these overseas plants better. Americans enjoy such an amazing quality of life that when we go overseas to make money we should be bringing that quality of life with us. Granted it won't be up to US standards, but at least the basics should be covered. Stuff like plant safety, worker safety and proper chemical storage should all be a given.

While I am a conservative and think that regulations on private companies can become so burdensome as to make them unable to make a profit, I do think that some regulation is appropriate and needed. This kind of regulation would have to impose fines on American companies operating overseas when their operation costs lives, as in the case of Union Carbide's Bhopal plant. Now, of course, it would have to be carefully and specifically defined. Since that is where goverment tends to bloat, I don't see this as ever becoming a reality.

The best solution would be that these companies would hold themselves to a high standard, both in operation and compensation. I am sure some do. I don't know anything about them, which makes sense. We never hear the good news, it's the bad news that always gets the best press.

Movie Review - The Last Samurai

I'll try to post movie reviews as I see a movie. Not because you care what I think, but because now that I have a blog, I can. Some movies I'll see in the theater, most I won't. I refuse to spend $8.50+ on stupid movies. Some movies I won't spend any money on because I can't stand the actors in the movie. Tom Cruise is one of those actors. I watched the Last Samurai last night with Dad because he really wanted to see it with me. So, I offer my review below, which is really more commentary. If you haven't seen the movie, forgive me, I didn't revisit the plot.

I have lots of questions that I need to do a lot more research on to be able to address any of the historical aspects of this film accurately, my comments are only on what I saw and not from any specific knowledge of the times.

Tom Cruise's Character
I will say the following: it is common Hollywood practice to use the wrong, sinful and shameful treatment of the Indians at the hands of white America to illustrate the ongoing corruption of the United States specifically and the west generally. Hollywood returns to this point often. Not that I would ever ever ever approve or condone what was done to the Indians. We broke treaties and our word too frequently. We massacred, stole, raped and burned and it was wrong. The thing is that this is always used to illustrate is that Christians and our culture are bad and "peaceful" eastern-like spiritual cultures are good. That contrast is strong in the movie. The only movie I've seen a balance of good/bad is The Last of the Mohicans, I've tried to read the book and just never got through it for lots of silly reasons. So, all that to say, his character's attendance at a massacre is unexeptional. Attendance at an Indian massacre is mandatory for all sympathetic fictional male characters from the old west Oh, and they have to cry a lot.

My other questions are about Japan and the events in the movie. Was that the same emperor who ruled over Japan during WWII? If so, and if that movie is even slightly historically correct and there ever was a character like Captain Algren, he helped set the stage for the attack on Pearl Harbor. (Thanks.) I wondered if that broken trade agreement between America and Japan led to encouraging and reinforcing the xenophobia of Japan. Their war crimes, like the Rape of Nanking, the horrors in the islands, the death marches, the prison camps, the torture, the "comfort women" in Korea, etc etc etc, are directly attributable to that character flaw. (The Japanese have still not even admitted that what they did was wrong. They still visit and honor the tombs of men whose list of war crimes is as long as any from Hitler, Amin and Milosevic. Stalin still leads that pack.)

I just questioned where all that nationalism was leading, where the impressionable emperor got influenced. Not that I think all Americans or all of American culture is great, in a lot of ways I certainly don't, but in a lot of ways I do. I do wonder if the introduction of Christianity that always came with trade agreements and the missionaries that went along with them would have had a taming effect on the xenophobia of the Japanese. It certainly did a lot to temper and prepare the church for what happened in China during the Boxer Rebellion and then after during Mao's reign of terror.

Then there is the question of cultural evils like honor suicide, saving face, etc. But that's another discussion.

Beautiful movie, very moving, full of anti-Judeo-Christian rhetoric and Tom Cruise. I give it the following grades, not that you care, but because I can.
Overall: C-
Lovely to Look at: A (sets, scenery and costumes were fantastic to look at. )
Skin/Sexual Content: B- (No skin, some tension, one short kiss )
World View: F (Can I go lower?)
Cool Battle Scenes: B (these were fun)
Tom Cruise: B (Since he always plays himself only different, this is a better than average performance. He cries a lot and doesn't look perfect so that's helpful, big dark circles under his eyes, greasy hair help to sell it. Still he is essentially Tom Cruise.)

Okay, one last word on Mr. Cruise: I heard a radio interview with him and the local hollywood bootlicking disc jockeys while he was shilling for this movie. He rambled on and on about how he loved making a movie about such an honorable culture with such amazing values. (I'm screaming at my radio - WHAT ABOUT NANKING??? WHAT ABOUT THE DEATH MARCHES? WHAT ABOUT PEARL HARBOR?? WHAT HONOR????) Then the bootlicking kicked into high gear and the DJ schmoozed about Cruise being honorable, then Cruise started yammering on about how he's always tried to live his life honorably and with values. (Now I'm screaming - WHAT ABOUT NICOLE AND YOUR KIDS??? IS ADULTERY HONORABLE??? WHAT ABOUT YOUR FIRST WIFE?????? ARRRGGGHHHH!!!!) And so, I can not in all good conscience pay to see a movie with this "actor" in it. I don't listen to those dj's anymore either.