IrishAyes
IrishAyes's JournalDr. King said it simplest and best as always:
Religion tells us why, science tells us how.
Or words to that effect. At my age I can't be entirely trusted to remember everything perfectly.
But I did a great deal of hospice work in my time, and it was the most rewarding work of my life. Made a better person of me, and I saw and learned so much. Stayed the last night with a lady who'd been comatose 2 or 3 days already. But as usual I spoke to her a little and let her know how honored I was to be there as she prepared to take her journey. Around midnight I could sense her mind come awake; she turned her head slowly, gave me a beautiful smile, and said these exact words: "I'm leaving now." And she did. Out of personal tradition I opened a window to bid her soul bon voyage. (People used to do that because they feared otherwise the person's soul might be trapped.)
I'd bet my bottom dollar the cat WAS there, too. As the veil between this world and the next opens to receive someone, they can see things we can't.
May I add what Steve Jobs' sister said about her brother's last words? She said just before he passed, he got a look of wonder on his face and said, "Oh wow. Oh wow. Oh wow."
May you be comforted by memory of Tom's love for you. At some point when least expected, you may get a sense of his arms enfolding you; don't worry, you're not tripping. It's real.
Malaise can always be counted on for great OP's and posts.
If someone minds, it's their loss.
What does it mean that neither Hillary nor Bill is speaking up? Maybe a seismic shift in her chances for '16. I already feel a tearing of the ties that used to bind.
Would this be a good time also to remind folks that the ACLU
has a smartphone app that lets what you record go straight to their secure servers, so the cops can't destroy whatever evidence you might gather.
That said, with all due consideration to Ferguson MO, the remote tiny town where I retired has a pretty awful PD also. A practical civil war still rages just under the surface between the two main factions here. People related to those in power can get away with almost anything while their victims have no hope of legal justice. I was horrified to learn recently that a friend's daughter had been hailed by a neighbor who owed her $ to walk over to his house and he'd pay her. When she stepped on his porch, he smashed her in the face and did succeed in dragging her halfway into his living room for further attention. Her screams drew attention, however, and she was rescued.
But that guy's related to those who hold power here, so even though the woman brought assault charges, he spent less than 3 hours in jail and got probation! Ordered to pay restitution for her severe physical damage, but you can guess how likely she is to collect. So essentially he got off scott free for assault and battery and likely attempted rape. What it does is convince people that if anyone tries to hurt them, they'd better take care of matters themselves. I'm actually surprised there haven't been pitched gun battles here. During the Civil War they did have to close all the churches for that very reason.
With the advantage of being raised in a multi-racial environment,
I never needed white privilege explained to me. The most diligent efforts to deny or extinguish it never did entirely. Consciousness can and must be raised if any hope of true equality, peace, and justice are ever to be achieved.
Even where I retired in RedNeckLand because that's the only place I could afford, I basically keep the worst LEOs off my law-abiding back by making it clear it's more trouble than it's worth to hassle me. Until they finally caught on, I had no end of trouble. Can you imagine a town zoning official appearing at my door with the police chief! to try to intimidate me into letting my northside neighbor annex a 10'x120' strip of my yard just because he said he wanted it? They used all kinds of abusive behaviors trying to make me crumple.
Because I was so shocked and horrified into a certain amount of disbelief, I let the farce go on much too long. But that finally wore off enough for me to get my Irish up, and I sternly ordered them to leave. Ordered! And got away with it by threatening to turn massive negative attention on their illegal and immoral behavior. Not for one second was I unaware that I survived largely on the basis of white privilege. But they scared me so much anyway that for weeks afterward I slept with a pistol under my pillow.
Since then they've had a bellyful of me at enough council meetings, for instance, that they're far less inclined to yank my chain.
This is the tiny town where one black lady, a widow, made the mistake of coming to escape urban violence after her children had seen and experienced too much violence in the city. The high school kids took her teenage son down to the courthouse around midnight and conducted a mock lynching. I hope and pray her family found better conditions where they moved next.
A dumb Chrome ? even their own groups haven't answered in a week:
I know somebody HERE can answer me. My own research fell short.
When I synch my chrome bookmarks, is the job then done and into the future as well? Or must I re-sync new batches periodically?
I don't think Google Drive has anything to do with this, does it?
It's my understanding at least that the cops refused to let a nurse
near the body, too; not that there was much hope of saving Mike Brown at that point. But it was still indecent and I'd have been raging through the streets that night too. Molotovs are nasty little things, but they're easy and cheap to make. If enough people decide to fight back, they can and will.
Ranks right up there with Tank Man and the devastating picture of the Vietnamese girl
running from the bombs. I hope it wins every prize on the planet.
Thanks so much for a wonderful OP.
I'm thinking of putting a small sign by my front doorbell reading 'Come Back With A Warrant' because I don't like the local small town cops where I retired either. They've tried to take liberties but I told the police chief to stay off my property unless he's in hot pursuit and/or has a warrant. If he 'just wants to talk about something' he can damn well use the telephone. They may be rubes, but they have heard of the ACLU before and I've told them I report.
BTW, do you guys know the ACLU has a phone app available on their website where info from your camera goes straight to their secure servers, and the cops can't destroy evidence by trashing your phone or anything else.
Regarding the untenable jury decision reached re NOT hiding a certain post,
One juror voting Leave It offered this lame explanation: "what the poster is saying is that Jews wield guilt. Which while a stereotype, like Catholics wield guilt, isn't really an insulting or offensive one."
Speaking as an Irish-American Catholic who believes no one can be a Christian w/o being Jewish because we're grafted onto THEIR tree, not vice verse, I can assure the juror that quite a few of us take legitimate offense. I don't really care for stereotypes in general, especially not the orgy of Irish bashing that goes on every St. Patrick's day in the U.S. People claim 'it's just a joke' but they reveal throughout the year that they really do believe those things.
Would they indulge in such buffoonery on Juneteenth? Probably so if they thought they could get away with it.
Drat! I was hoping to win the contest myself.
Which is your favorite movie version? I still favor the old b&w original with Alistair Somebody or Other; the best scene is where Scrooge wakes up and chases his housekeeper down the stairs. She thinks he's a ghost and screams in fright, reasonable enough since he's cackling like a madman in his glee at waking up alive. That scene always turns my ticklebox over.
footnote: Last night I caught another glimpse of the Madame Secretary cast member in question, and he DOES look like Romney to me, anyway.
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Gender: FemaleHome country: US
Current location: retired to MidWest
Member since: Mon Feb 18, 2013, 10:15 PM
Number of posts: 6,151