What are you up to for New Years Eve?

I plan to go see a local rock show on New Years Eve. It is either that or stay home alone, but I feel a need to be out among good people these days. It will be good for me, and I have so much self-healing that still needs to happen. Maybe I will even get some dancing in.

Christmas with my family was delightful. I received many wonderful gifts this year. It seems my family is very worried about the warmth of my feet and hands; gloves, mittens, socks, shoes, slippers... I got them all. There was actually very little puking, all things considered, but something somehow went wrong with the goat cheese we think. Today is Boxing Day, and they are all at Sunday morning mass while I, the family a(e)theist, sit here blogging.

I had a chance to see a dear old friend for coffee on Christmas Eve afternoon. It is wonderful to catch up with friends I have known for decades. As always, just when I think the art of conversation is dead, I am rescued by friends and family. He was a spoken delight.


In the news...

Ivory Coast
He says there will be civil war if he is physically removed from office. Sadly, the country is already in a civil war of beliefs and ideas.  They need a peaceful, diplomatic intervention. They need a person or people respected by both presidents to walk into their fire and bring a solution. Meanwhile, Gbagbo is not showing any signs he is worthy of leading a people in anything other than a forced military state. He is digging himself into a hole of dictatorship. How is he supposed to face the world that way?

Tensions are still High in Korea.
Well, yes, if the South at the request of the US government keeps the tensions high on purpose tensions will stay high. We need tensions in the area to cool off, but all the US wants to do is fire guns right by the border. We all have a version of what is going on.  But you cannot deny that if you actually want tensions to lessen, you will not set off military drills in North Korea's face. If the South truly does not want the North to set off nuclear weapons, they would not aggravate them into needing to do it. Who is the real aggressor? Someone wants a war, and it is not North Korea... but they will defend themselves.

Still with the Austerity Measures?
We have been through this so many times. Yes, you need to do something to fix your economies, but the way your austerity measures are designed, you will stunt your economies even further. Think of your economy as a railroad for a moment. The railroad is broke and needs to make money. If you reduce stops and remove trains in order to spend less money, fewer people will be able to ride the train lines with hopes of getting anywhere they need to go. The railroad will lose even more money, Instead, you need spend money to make the train lines better, so that more people will spend their money to ride the trains. Then, the railroad will make money again. You need to invest in your economies to make them grow and flourish.

The Pope is Publicly Active these Days.
Then again, with what little news I get, the Pope may have been out publicly spreading peace and love with official statements for much longer. He has been taking an active role in sorting out the problems of the Catholic church concerning abuses of children, and he has done it with public knowledge. There is a time and place to be open and public about what you do, and there is a time to keep private. Each person should have control of this for her or himself. The Pope and I still differ on views of the queer populations, but that is just going to make for some great communication some day. I have been meaning to write him a letter for a while now... I should really brush up on my Latin.

The real question: Why did he not bother sooner?
Obama knows he needs to get on my good side. He also knows these past few weeks since the election were his last chance to lead (party-wise) any legislative action to show he actually did something at all while president other than make everything worse. Apparently, the wake up call got through to him. Is it a turnaround or is he covering his backside?

The People
My beautiful world. thank you for listening to me for so long. I just want to give you all a quick reminder that the people of the US are not always appropriately represented by our government. Americans, even the tourists, are good people. The government is just a mess.  But the people are taking power these days, and we are going to sort out our government. We are a democracy, after all. It is about time Washington remembered the definition of "democracy."

The Troops
The US troops are another example of this. They are not the warmongers; they are the ones that die because of warmongers. I really wish I had a chance to go out and visit them... maybe some military hospitals... maybe a little singing and dancing. Such good people...

As a final note...
And they say no one reads books anymore. As a writer, I am always delighted to learn when people get all excited about a book. They say children are losing their attention spans due to video games and the technology of immediacy. If we could just get them excited about books again, we could counteract all of that immediacy. There is no reason to get rid of all of the technology or even dislike it, but we need to keep our children's minds rich with a plethora of activities while they are developing. Never forget about books or other patience related activities. Read to your babies, so they will read for themselves.