MY BLOG

May 4, 2008

The pageantry, the magnificent horses, the tradition! I’ve always enjoyed the Kentucky Derby. No more.

Eight Belles was a gorgeous three-year-old filly. Yesterday she competed with nineteen colts in the run for the roses. She raced her heart out, and came in second. After crossing the finish line, she slumped to the ground. Both front legs suffered compound fractures, a painful injury which offered no hope of recovery. Before 150,000 people, she was euthanized there on the track, even before her trainer could reach her. All around the stadium, people were laughing and celebrating the victory of the great horse, Big Brown. It made me want to throw up.

After Barbaro, the Derby winner that captured everyone’s heart, lost his gallant fight to recover from injuries suffered during a race two years ago, I began to feel that these races were too dangerous for the animals involved. Many sports are dangerous, but they involve people, who can decide for themselves whether they want to run the risk. These horses have no choice. They deserve better. I won’t watch another horse race.
 

April 14, 2008

The Pope is coming to Washington and New York, and Catholics are excited. Religious leaders exert an enormous influence over not only their own followers, but others as well. They can be a strong voice for change, and I wonder if Pope Benedict will exercise that power to help stop sexual abuse of children by priests.

In the past, the Church has looked the other way when sexual predators within their clergy abused children. Often it has sent priests off to abuse children in another parish. It has done little if anything to protect its own children. And it has paid millions of dollars to settle lawsuits brought by victims of its priests’ misconduct. I assume that was not what the faithful who gave those dollars to the church had in mind for their use.

The Pope can set the policy for addressing accusations by children of sexual abuse by a priest. He should make it clear that when a complaint of sexual abuse is made against a Catholic clergyman, the church must report it to the criminal authorities for investigation, where the accused should be treated the same as any other accused offender. Unless and untill the accusation of sexual abuse is found by a judge, jury or criminal investigation to be false, the priest should be allowed no contact with children. If a priest is convicted of a sexual offense against a child, serves his sentence and is released, he should never be allowed to work in any capacity within the church where he has contact with children.

For the church to take any other position is the same as condoning or at least allowing sexual abuse of children by priests and placing the reputation of the church above the welfare of children.
 

April 13, 2008

LETTER AFTER ROSE STREET

As you probably know, about a year ago, Dick and I moved from Rose Street in Crowley to Arlington Villa, a retirement community in Arlington, between Dallas and Fort Worth.

We have a cottage which defines the word small, but were allowed to fence our back yard for our dogs, Greta and Jake. So life has moved on, and my letters now will be coming to you from Arlington Villa.

Do you like the water you drink every day? Water is one of those necessary but unobtrusive facts of our lives that we barely notice if it’s ok and, in my case, anyway, have a fit about if it doesn’t taste right.

Some of my friends drink bottled water, which is fine, but it is expensive, and I’ve been reading lately that it is no better for you than tap water.

Ever since we moved to Arlington Villa, I have complained that something is wrong with the water. It tastes bitter, stale, almost medicinal. Well, imagine my reaction when the papers ran stories a week or so ago about there being residue in the water from prescription medicines, as well as other things I don’t even want to discuss. It isn’t just here. Apparently it’s the case in many cities. Of course, they refuse to identify the medicine in the water, and blithely assure us the water is perfectly safe. Maybe so, but I don’t trust them. I know I don’t like what I taste.

Dick finally decided maybe there was something to my concerns, and we ordered a water purifying system. It is incredible the gunk we find in the filter, and the water tastes altogether different. It tastes clean and pure. Dick can’t believe the difference, and his coffee has not tasted so good in ages. But what is really funny is how much Greta likes the new water. She drinks much more of it and laps it almost reverently. Jake? Well, he has never been known for his good taste. He’ll eat or drink most anything.

How is the water where you live? Will your water department tell you what is in it that doesn’t belong there?

On that cheery note, I’ll say goodbye for now.

Ramona

April 9, 2008

My guilty pleasure today was watching George Clooney in “Michael Clayton,” a movie I had eagerly anticipated, especially after the Oscar nominations. Clooney is always worth watching for a little while, because he is flat out gorgeous, but after a bit, I began wondering where the movie went. It was downright disappointing. Choppy, confusing, with a thin story line and characters you couldn’t really care about, not even George in the title role. I felt cheated and cross after watching it.

On a happier note, the bluebonnets have made their dramatic debut for 2008. They are everywhere. Plump, perky and inky blue, they lift my spirits. It isn’t really the flowers themselves that so delight me, rather the fact that they are back again. They are dependable, predictable, unchanged. A blue bonnet doesn’t suddenly show up some deep red color. It’s blue, always. And the coming of spring means the blue bonnets will be along soon, I am reassured by things that I can count on, things that I know will always stay the same, aren’t you? Sure, life needs change and surprises, but bluebonnets and other dependable things are necessary to me.

Those blasted TV weathermen are at it again, and I have the urge to beat them about the head, neck and shoulders. If there is a possibility of a threat of what could become severe weather somewhere in the state, they rush all eager and somber to tell you what maybe, possibly, could happen in some town you never heard of. They do this in the middle of one of my favorite programs, interrupting my train of thought and causing me to utter words that should never pass the lips of a 75-year-old grandmother. Listen up, TV people! If there is information about the weather that we need to know, tell us in a band running across the bottom of the TV screen. On a commercial break, tell us what you are doing, so we can keep up if it applies to us and ignore it if it does not. You interrupt regular programming only for events like 9/11 or a presidential assassination or a space ship landing downtown, but not to tell me there’s a possibility the weather will get touchy somewhere.

Ever since Dan Rather braved wind and water during Hurricane Camille and was noticed by the network, weather people can’t wait to get out there in the middle of it, hair blowing, leaning precariously against the gale. After all, maybe the network powerhouses have their TVs on today and lightning will strike twice.

 

April 5, 2008

I love dogs, as you will see if you read my page on them in this web site.
But whether they hold a place in your heart, as they do in mine, or whether you are simply a decent person who believes all creatures should be treated humanely, it is stunning to realize that, although estimates vary, between 3 and 4 million dogs are killed in pounds and shelters in the U.S. each year.

Though some are euthanized because they are too ill or aggressive to be saved, in most instances perfectly healthy animals are put down because there is simply no one who wants them or not enough money or space to keep them in the shelter longer. How did this come about?

Irresponsible breeding results in more animals than there are homes available for them. We can all help by having our pets spayed or neutered. Talk to your vet. The procedure is actually beneficial to the animal and most shelters or local Humane Societies can tell you where to get the procedure done at a low cost.

Puppy mills breed more puppies than the market demands. I knew puppy mills existed, but I did not realize until I saw Oprah’s show yesterday what a horror they are. Oprah arranged for hidden cameras to visit puppy mills, and what they revealed left me, and most of her audience, in tears. Dogs are crammed into wire cages, many to a cage, kept outside in the cold and hot weather, given no veterinary care, never walked or groomed or socialized, The females are bred each time they come into season and killed when they are too old to breed. When the dogs are purchased, many must learn how to walk on the ground, because they have never walked even a few feet and have always been on wire cage floors. Many animals die there or contract illnesses.

Little or no regulation of puppy mills exists. Contact your legislator about passing laws to correct the terrible conditions to which animals in puppy mills are subjected.

The puppy mill puppies are sold to pet stores, who clean them up and market them to the public. We can help by not buying puppies from a pet store, and in fact not buying anything else from a pet store that sells puppies.

Many people want a pure bred or particular breed of dog when they plan to buy a puppy. The truth is that one/ third of dogs in shelters are pure bred. We can help by adopting those dogs rather than patronizing a pet store.

Another recommended source for finding a pet of a particular breed is a rescue group for that breed. Large dogs may be especially hard to place in a home, but many large dogs, such as German Shepherds, Great Danes and Saint Bernards have rescue groups that find homes for them. Check with your local vet or the Humane Society.

There are reputable breeders, of course, and the Humane Society has a free booklet to help you find them. To receive a copy, go to http://digbig.com/4wrhw   You’ll find much more than just breeder information at this site.
 

Animal Adoption Resources

Main Line Animal Rescue
www.mlar.org

The Humane Society of the United States
www.hsus.org

Lange Foundation
www.langefoundation.com

American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
www.aspca.org

Petfinder
Adoption service associated with the Animal Planet television series, including links to shelters across North America.
www.petfinder.com

Dogs in Danger
www.dogsindanger.com

Pets 911
Features searchable lost and found dogs and information about neutering, adoption and training.
www.pets911.com

World Animal Net
Search for local shelters and adoptable pets.
www.worldanimalnet.org

PetHarbor
Search for local shelters, rescues and adoptable pets.
www.petharbor.com

Best Friends Animal Society
Largest no-kill animal sanctuary in the country
www.bestfriends.org

April 1, 2008

This, my friends, is National Poetry Month. I didn’t know that until I read it in the Houston Chronicle, but it started me thinking about what poetry has meant in my life.

Two people are most responsible for my love of poetry. Lois Puckett Young taught speech lessons when I was little, and Mother sent me to her for 30 minutes each week to learn to do “Readings”, which I then performed at church or ladies clubs or wherever. My “Readings” were mostly poems. Mrs. Young looked like a Madonna. She had a sweet, gentle way with people, whether they were six or sixty. I loved her, and she loved poetry. It was she who first exposed me to poetry in the years she was my teacher. It was she from whom I learned to listen to poems, not just for the beauty of their words, but for what they communicated from one soul to another.

The second person who helped me embrace poetry was an English teacher at Oklahoma City University, Lena Wasicheck. A number of athletes enrolled in her class because they thought it would be easy. By the end of the year those rough big boys were her most devoted admirers. She struck me as homely when I first saw her, but she had this deep, melodious voice that was absolutely mesmerizing. She soon didn’t seem homely any more. When she read a poem, everyone listened. And there were no jokes about poetry class, and absences were rare.

One day there was a horrific car wreck, and one of the most popular girls in school was killed. We were all heartbroken. When Lena Wasicheck walked into class that day, she said, “I don’t feel like being here, and I know you don’t either. So I want to just read to you this one poem, and then please leave quietly.” She read A. E. Houseman’s “To an Athlete Dying Young.” It was an experience I have remembered all my life. It said for us all what we felt but could not put into words, and it made us one in our grief.

For the first time I realized what a healing role poetry can play and what a bridge it is to unite all of us who share this human condition.

So I invite you to celebrate National Poetry month. Read an old poem you love or find a new one that engages you. Or click on over to My Poetry page on this web site and sample some of the poems I have written. You might even write a poem of your own. Try it. It’s fun.
 

March 26, 2008

TV promos announce a coming program that will tell us all how to live to be 150 years old! Startling! But the more I think about it, is that a threat or a promise? Do I really want to live to be that old? Would my arthritis continue to bother me throughout all those years? How would my memory be as years went by? Would I find it increasingly difficult to remember my mother’s face? My childhood experiences? Would I look around and find all of those I cared about gone and most of the people still here a third as old as I? If that were true, would I have to listen to music, TV shows, and books only directed to their taste? Torture! And if not, how will the earth continue to support such a mushrooming population? Of course, we could ban or limit the number of births, but then we’d have a world where children were a rarity, and that would be terribly sad. I am 75, and I have had a fabulous life. I don’t want to go just yet, though it wouldn’t bother me too much. But to live through the same number of years for a second time? I suspect I’d rather get on with whatever is next. How about you?

I’m really glad the writers’ strike ended. I sympathized with their cause, but now that they are back at work, when will we finally see new shows? I miss Boston Legal. If they delay too long, they run the risk we’ll all lose interest and move on to bowling or something. They are starting to annoy me. Another thing somebody in TV land does that bugs me is the way they change schedules so that you rarely see the same program on the same date or time. It becomes a daily scavenger hunt to locate what you want to see. Get it together, people.

One more gripe about TV programming, and I’m through muttering for this time. It’s the weather people. They provide a service, and I’m glad they do, but enough is enough. I really don’t want to know as much as they tell me. Keep it simple. What was the weather today, and what is it likely to be the next few days? If there is a storm coming, tell me when and where it is going to hit, and then shut up. Don’t keep interrupting my favorite programs with more than I ever wanted to know. If you must tell me, run it in a banner along the bottom of the screen. Once when there had been heavy rain, I actually had a weather person interrupt my program to tell me it wasn’t raining any more. I could look outside and see that. OK, I sound like a crotchety old woman, so I’ll shut up.

Ramona
 

March 22nd, 2008

Senator Barack Obama is a brilliant orator, and one can only admire how far he has come from such humble beginnings. The nation has come a long way to have a black man and a white woman as the two choices for the Democratic presidential nomination.

I support Senator Clinton, but in the beginning, I thought if she didn’t win, we would have a good alternative available. Now the thought of Obama becoming president scares me to death.

It is not that he is black. When I ran for judge, I appointed a black man my campaign treasurer. I have never known a more admirable, trustworthy person. I would have voted for him for whatever office he chose to seek. And I appointed a black woman as my associate judge. And I wish to God Colin Powell was still a member of the Bush administration, because he was reasonable and sane, a man of integrity.

Nor do I oppose Obama because he refuses to repudiate his minister of twenty years. After all, he has known him a long time, and Reverend Wright married the Obamas, and he baptized their children. It does give me pause that Obama first said he had heard Reverend Wright make no offensive remarks from his pulpit and later admitted that he had, and that knowing the remarks Reverend Wright had made, he still appointed him to the Spiritual Leadership Committee of his campaign. But it is Obama’s beliefs, not Reverend Wright’s, that most concern me.

For twenty years, Obama has been a member of the Trinity United Church of Christ, where Reverend Wright was minister. One must assume Obama knew the beliefs of his own church, and that they reflected his own beliefs, having been a member for so long. The best source for determining what those beliefs are is not what someone else says, but what the church itself says. So I went to its web site. I was shocked. After the controversy about Reverend Wright began, I went back to the web site It has been changed in just the past few days, since the controversy began. Let me refer you to both the old and new sites.

"Old" website  This is the site that the church posted until the last few days. I have not seen a more blatantly racist set of beliefs than those set forth here. Note especially the pledge of commitment to Africa. Obama made a brilliant speech condemning racism. He pledges to unite the country and pleads for all Americans to set aside issues of race. How can he now continue to espouse division and creed and values of the openly racist Trinity United Church of Christ? That is the height of hypocrisy.

"New" website  Can anyone really believe it was a simple coincidence that the church changed its web site only a few days ago? It is still racist, and the "vision" that the earlier web site displayed is still there, but now carefully buried, instead of prominently displayed. My question is not why Obama did not repudiate Reverend Wright, but why he did not repudiate the racist beliefs of his church.

Do we really want a president whose commitment is not to the United States of America, but as his church's vision openly states, to Africa?

March 14th, 2008

Later today I will go to the hospital for my third bone scan. In November I broke a couple of toes, and osteomyelitis, a bone infection developed. I’ve been on pretty heavy doses of antibiotics most of the time since, and I’m hoping the bone scan will reveal that the infection is gone. If not, the doctor talks about removing bone and replacing it, or even amputation. My cardiologist says no to both of those options. Dick and I both have heart tests scheduled next Tuesday, and are hoping for good news. At 75 and 78 we count each day as a bonus, and hope we get still more. Send up a prayer for us.

The Dallas Mavericks play tomorrow night, and they are looking much better since Jason Kidd joined them. We are huge Mavericks and Dallas Cowboys fans. Still hoping our guys win the big game, and that we get to see it.

Politics continues to hold far more of my time and attention than I’d like. One after another the controversies roll on. Will November never come? And why is it that Florida can never get it right?

Ramona
 

March 13th, 2008

I am so sick of politics I could go hide in a cave and not come out till after November. I voted in the primary, and I’ll vote in the general election, but I absolutely want to hear nothing else from any of the candidates until the whole mess is over. Like that is going to occur.

Nominees, and then the president, should be decided on the basis of who gets the most votes. I believe each person’s vote should be equal to that of any other person. Caucuses and this silly business of the “Two step vote” in Texas, as well as the whole electoral college itself should be abolished. Again, not going to happen.

Messy, petty, maddening as it is, we still have a much better system than say, Russia, where Putin’s hand-picked successor automatically wins the prize.

While we’re talking about elections, I especially dislike the way we elect judges. I was one myself, so I have some knowledge of the process. In Texas, where I live, the Governor appoints someone to fill a vacancy created by a judge’s death, retirement or whatever. At the next election, the Republican and Democrat parties each name a candidate, who runs on that party’s ticket in a general election.

Appointments by the governor are almost certain to be political in nature. The law should require that the Bar Association of the relevant county give the Governor a list of individuals qualified to be appointed judge, and the governor should have to appoint from that list.

Candidates for judge should not run as representatives of any political party. Judges represent all of the people of the county or state and they must follow the Constitution and the law, and nothing else, including instructions or principles of either party.

Too many people know nothing at all about the people who are running for judge and they vote blindly for the candidate of the party they support. It is a miracle that we have some excellent judges. But you would not believe how many utter idiots also wind up on a bench pounding a gavel, making decisions that profoundly affect people’s lives, and both kinds of judges may come from either party.

Slates of candidates for judge should be chosen by attorneys, who know more about who is qualified and who is not than anyone else, because they appear before them regularly. To prevent large firms from having an unfair advantage, half the votes should come from large firms and half from sole practitioners or firms with fewer than ten attorneys. The public should elect the judge from that slate. Not a perfect system, but better than the present one. And by the way, I think it is irresponsible to vote for a candidate about whom you know nothing. You might not like what you get, and you never know when you or someone you care about could be standing before that judge waiting for a decision. It’s better not to vote at all than to vote for someone who is an unknown quantity.