WHITE TIGER

* from http://photo.net

WHITE TIGER

I remember the white tiger at the zoo in New Orleans.
Recently, I got to be with tigers up close
and one of them snuffled my hand.

This has changed me in ways
that I do not yet have the words for.

-sapphoq

OH IT DOESN'T TAKE AN EINSTEIN

Oh it doesn't take an einstein
to know that you're not finestein,
to know that you're a fake.

You're nothing but a rip-off
and we all got the tip off
that you're looking for a take.

And google's gonna find you
and the law's a-gonna fine you
and you'll go off to the jail.

You're the one who'll be crying.
You're the one who'll be dieing
with no ad-sense and no e-mail.

-sapphoq q continues bad poetry on purpose

THERE IS A SPAMMER

There is a spammer
with a little bot.
Stealing our blogs
over on blogspot.

The words get shifted
and adword links put in.
So the spammer can make some money
I think that's a sin.

Google has been warned
to fix it or be dropped
from all the search engines.
The spammer must be stopped.

-sapphoq writing bad poetry on purpose

PAT ROBERTSON IS AT IT AGAIN

Pat Robertson recently claimed that the town of Dover PA has "turned [its'] back on god" by voting out of the school board eight members who were in favor of teaching

the creationalistic 'intelligent design' in public schools as an 'alternative' to evolution.

Reuters quoted him as saying should disaster strike Dover PA, the townsfolk should not expect any help from god.

Personally, I am SICK of literalist christians constantly attempting to impose their beliefs, laws, ideas, and politics upon the rest of us.

I do not want my taxes to pay for public schools offering up 'intelligent design' as a scientific theory -- which it is NOT.

GLBT kids, pagan kids, and atheist kids are all suffering at the hands of christian bully kids in public schools. Some of our kids are getting beaten up, harrassed, and killing themselves over this stuff.

By the way, even IF the founders of the untied states were christian and theocratic -- it simply does not follow that we should install a theocracy today.

And these same literalist christians claim WE have an agenda!

-sapphoq

A PHILIPINA WOMAN WAS RAPED BY USA MARINES

Late this week, a philipina woman was RAPED by five u.s.a. marines who were on the island for "military exercises."
Reports state they forced her into their car where at least one of them RAPED her and then they dumped her out.
Excuses range from they thought they would be granted immunity to "she was just a prostitute."

The woman is NOT a streetworker.
Even if she was, they HAD NO RIGHT TO DO WHAT THEY DID.

I am ashamed that these men are citizens of the same country that I am.

And I would also like to know WHY THE USA PRESS HAS NOT COVERED THIS EVENT ADEQUATELY.

-outraged sapphoq

God Hates Shrimp 11/3/05

clip art from http://www.GodHatesShrimp.com


I first came across this site in a captivating article in "The Skeptical Inquirer."

Upon visiting the website, I found both a collection of real church signs AND the ability to ORDER a church sign [for $7.50 each, though I don't know if that includes shipping] using the Church Sign Generator.

The article in the Skeptical Inquirer referenced god's supposed objection to homosexuals in the same breath as god's one-time objection to shrimp.

I understand that my first now ex-neuro-needle-sticking-doc [he moved to Kentucky] and other people who have yamulkes and dreds probably do not eat shrink today. I have no quarrels with them obviously.

I bravely propose that folks who base political arguements "against homosexuality" on hebrew bible policies forego eating shrimp, wearing cotton and wool together, AND being prepared to stone poisoners.

Please don't shoot me, I'm only the mildly manic bloggerblob.


-sapphoq

NINE YEARS AFTER

Nine Years After

Nine years ago today, my honey and I were married. Tonight we went to the restaurant we were married in to celebrate.

He got me flowers and I got him a book he wanted. We had a nice evening. As usual, the waitress ordered us a huge piece of chocolate cake with sprinkles and whipped cream. And we got sung to. "Happy Anniversary to you!"

Years ago, pre-hubby, I went on a cruise. I met a woman going on the same cruise on the airplane down to Miami. She told me she was going on the cruise to get over her divorce. I was just going just to go.

We signed up for the same dinner table and the same dinner time. Every night, the waiters would come out with yet another cake and sing, "Happy Honeymoon to you" to some newly married couple. The woman there to get over her divorce got sick of this rapidly.

She ordered herself a cake one night and the waiters came out with it and sang, "Happy Divorcing to you."

Before we got married, a good friend at the time had just married. This real piece of wor--I mean his wife, had us divorced before we even got married. The wife became openly verbally abusive to my good friend and I could no longer stay and watch. I wish him well and I hope some day he gets out of it fairly intact.

During dinner, husband and I spoke briefly of our separate goals for the year to come.

My goals this year are (1). continue to work on the house so it gets organized, liveable, and cleaner, and; (2). improve enough to be able to get a part-time job.
Husband's goal is to get a better job somewhere else.


Our collective goal is to improve our finances to the point where we won't have to eat cat food in our retirements.

NINE YEARS AFTER:
-we are both older and a bit grayer and heavier.
-we are both still in love with each other.
-we are both growing.

I love you honey.

-sapphoq

THAT'S "MISTER" SAM HAIN TO YOU

Mister Sam Hain is alive and well.
He was last reported seen driving around
Schenectaberry in his cruisemobile
listening to his favorite group,
"Smashing Pumpkins."

Any reports of him being none-existent
or dead are ill-founded.

SAM HAIN LIVES!!!

-sapphoq

DOROTHY C.

DOROTHY C.

And if there be malice
clutching to my soul with murderous intent,
how then shall I strive
to release myself from the mire
of your poisonous love?

Wherever I ran to, you were there
like some dammed omnipotent hag
cackling far into the night,
even invading the relative safety
of my feigned dreams.

Why then
must each of us pay
for what others do?
Why then
does the burden of your being
haunt me still?

-sapphoq 10/28/05

BOTCHED EXECUTION

* from the cd Pagan Clip Art by Reverend Don Lewis*
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

BOTCHED EXECUTION

Isis was a little girl with a big name.

Raised in gardens and hunted with falcons,

she found comfort only in bloody dreams.

Her mama tried to kill her with love.

Isis escaped into myriad rainbows

of dripping chemicals and gasoline. Hatred

would have been a far easier burden to bear.

-sapphoq

I AM THE WITCH DOCTOR 10/21/05

Why I name myself a pagan solitary hedge witch.

Because traditional services, gatherings, and covens do not work for me.
Because I don't believe that magick is stronger in large groups.
Because I fail to see why I have to be formally initiated by another witch.

Because I have been called to walk my own path.
Because I recognize and put on a particular mantle of power.
Because I walk between the worlds.

Because I don't feel a need to be dictated to by others about when and how to make a circle.
Because I don't feel compelled to recognize both a god and a goddess in every calling.
Because I dislike having to buy the latest witch book or the latest must have overpriced "tool" or engage in witch wars.

Because I talk to the animals and they talk back to me.
Because I talk to plants and they talk back to me.
Because I talk to the sky, the moon, the earth, and the galaxies, and they all talk back to me.

Because I refuse to be bound by any tradition.
Because I embrace all people walking all spiritual paths.
Because I know that contact with the divine cannot be taught in books or in courses.

For these and many other reasons, I name myself a pagan solitary hedge witch.

-sapphoq

IF

http://www.pdfoto.com


If I am only I.
If you are only you.
If there be more than love.
If nothing is all.
Then we are done for.

If you and I can find love.
If together we are all.
Then there are rivulets of hope.
Everywhere there is breath.

-sapphoq

SPIKE's INTERVIEW WITH DEATH

*picture taken by Jon Sullivan. posted to http://www.pd.foto.com . all photos on that website are in the public domain and a great place to get legal jps.




*********************

SPIKE's INTERVIEW WITH DEATH

SPIKE Q: So Death, what brings you to these parts?

DEATH: Searching, searching.

SPIKE Q: Okay--- next question. Are you male or female?

DEATH: I am androgenous and ambigendered.

SPIKE Q: Care to explain that?

DEATH: No.

SPIKE Q: My friend Marie is dieing and she is unhappy about that.

DEATH: Happiness and unhappiness are not within my realm. People live and people die.
It may be everything to you but it is nothing to me.

SPIKE Q: Uh, okay. So Death, what do you do in your spare time?

DEATH: I play strip poker with my best buds-- Anubis, Kore, Kali, and Hecate.

SPIKE Q: STRIP poker? But you're not wearing any-- oh never mind. So who is the best at it?

DEATH: Kali is a real cutthroat. Hecate cheats. Kore is distracted depending on the season.
Sometimes Anubis picks a fight with Hecate's hounds. Kali does win most of the time.
Hecate and I are about evenly matched.

SPIKE Q: Your fellow poker fiends are almost all women!

DEATH: It would seem that way, yes.

SPIKE Q: What are the stakes?

DEATH: Why do you ask? Are you planning to join us anytime soon?

SPIKE Q: Nooooo.

DEATH: Just checkin'. Somehow I didn't think you would scare so easily. After all, you have
looked in my face and laughed a few times over the years.

SPIKE Q: Please don't hold that against me. It was all nervous laughter at finding myself still
alive.

DEATH: You have to admit you've done some pretty stupid things. Well, the last time wasn't
your fault. That was the time you refused to die, you know.

SPIKE Q: Uh, thanks. I think.

DEATH: You're quite welcome my dear. I perceive that you are thinking of a bus or an
airplane. I suppose you are thinking about the terminal of death being the end of the
line. Or perhaps you are wishing for a speedy exit.

SPIKE Q: Actually, I was thinking about Emily Dickinson. Did you really stop for her?

DEATH: Emily and I were rather well acquainted during her earthly lifetime. Most poets of a
melancholy nature are well acquainted with me, you know. You've written some deep stuff yourself, come to think of it.

SPIKE Q: Thanks. Sort of. Care to talk about Sam Hain or seances?

DEATH: Sam Hain. When the veil thins. My favorite time of year....

SPIKE Q: Uh, Death? Death?

DEATH: Sorry my dear. I was pleasantly distracted. Oh, that's right. I remember your first
seance.

SPIKE Q: You do?

DEATH: Oh yes. You were such an odd kid. Reading the Sunday obituaries was one of your
hobbies. You and a couple of other vacationing kids were under a boat on the beach
one night. Someone had the bright idea to call back John F. Kennedy.

SPIKE Q: Yes, the candle blew out and we all spooked.

DEATH: JFK is not really interested in coming back to talk to the public, you know. Better you
should have tried to dig up Sylvia Plath. Now there was a fine melancholy soul. Since
the advent of psych drugs, there are less melancholy souls around. Such is progress.

SPIKE Q: You would rather have people be miserable and kill themselves?

DEATH: Now just who do you think I am, Spike? I take no position on suicide. None. Nor on
misery or content. I am nothing if I am not---

SPIKE Q: Yeah, yeah. What about reincarnation?

DEATH: What about it?

SPIKE Q: Well, is it real or not? An awful lot of witches and hindus believe in it.

DEATH: I take no position on that. I will say one thing though. Karma has been frightfully
misinterpreted. So has power for that matter.

SPIKE Q: Death-- uh, you are, uh-- vaporizing.

DEATH: Sorry, Spike. I gotta go. Seems the jig is up for some old guy in the nursing home up
the street. Shall I save you a chair at our poker game?






-sapphoq

The Razor 10/16/05

*taken by sapphoq, Crow and Goldfish on Beaver Pond. Mont Royal Park, Montreal Canada. may be used as long as you provide a link back to this site. *







The Razor


A Found Poem from
The Apocryphon of James




Holy secret revealed by you.
Saints wish to discourse another.
Twelve appeared and five departed.
You called the rest drunken.
They consorted with life. Space,
empty, mock[s] want. Hence reason
follows evil. You persecuted love.
Life spares death and seeks spirits.
Prophesy hypocrisy and wither!

translated by Francis E. Williams, pp 30-33.
from the book:
The Nag Hammadi Library, ed. James M. Robinson,
Harper, San Francisco, 1978.


poem "found" by -sapphoq

Death Calling

*taj mahal, from a private photo source*





My friend's sister is in a hospice dieing. She is 44 years old.
No one knew she had cancer til 7 days ago.
She is not expected to live another 14 days.

She was always very connected to India, a place where she had never been to but was most definately in her heart of hearts.

I wrote her a goodbye letter and sent it out yesterday.

I hope that she will die soon. May Kali take her swiftly,gently, and drugged.

-sapphoq

TODAY I FREAKED SOMEONE OUT

*from websites which offer these things with no strings.*


today i freaked someone out without meaning to.
this guy i know who might be a bit zenophobic began talking about how he likes to "eat twinkies (r)".
i started giggling and i told him that sounds dirty and then he wanted to know why so i told him why.
older gay men who like younger men refer to them as 'twinkies' because the younger gay men are "blond on the outside and fluffy on the inside."
the guy said, "oh well i mean i like to eat (r) HOSTESS TWINKIES."
he then began to talk about how he is a 'real' man and all that.
i informed him that some of the gay men i know could certainly give him a run for his money on the 'real' man thing.
the rough and tough John Wayne stuff.
finally i told him i just didn't want him to get a proposition he couldn't handle.

-sapphoq

Silent Wonder

* from http://www.feebleminds.com















Silent Wonder

We soar silently above the clouds,
you and I. Your broken heart
forgotten in the wonder of it all,
silently we soar above the clouds.
Our words fall silently back to earth
where morning awaits my return.

We soar silently, forgetting words
and brokeness in the wonder of it all.
You soar silently above the clouds,
your heart healing. My heart broken
anew, I fall silently back to earth.

-sapphoq

WE WHO ARE WALKERS

* from http://www.feebleminds.org


We who are walkers
between the worlds
know what it is
to seek light
and find darkness.

We who are walkers
between the worlds
no longer fear darkness.

For darkness carries light
and light carries darkness.

We who embrace the darkness
also embrace the light.
We are the darkness
and we are the light.

We who are walkers
between the worlds
carry the healing
to all who fear.

-sapphoq

Introducing ANTHONY CANTONS!

*Anthony Cantons, "Fantasising Over Yesterday"*
see more at: http://www.anthonycantons.com

Anthony Cantons is a very talented artist with a strong internal vision. He has exhibited his paintings in his native Poland, in the U.K., and elsewhere. He will be coming to the Untied States to exhibit but the date has not been set up yet. I hope to meet him when he does exhibit here.

Collectors should contact Anthony Cantons for more info.

-sapphoq

we have come to this place

we have come to this place

seeking healing.

in this place that is our circle,
in this circle that contains all,
in this all that extends beyond,
in this beyond that is also this place,
we have come for healing.



from many places
we have come
to this circle of healing.


our place is everywhere
and beyond.
that
is
our
healing.

-sapphoq

EARL 10/5/05

*clip-art from off the web. please e-mail me if you know who it should be credited to. thank-you*

I took a collage class at a community college a long time ago taught by my friend Ernie. It was a fun class. Most of us knew each other. I was able to bring along a boy that I knew named Earl.

Earl was a bright child who was always in trouble in school. Earl was fascinated by horror films and cult classics. He knew lots about them. He knew when they were produced, the actors, story lines, dialogues, and directors. His teachers only saw a kid who wrote and drew his own horror stories-- which were, to say the least, bloody and unsettling to the average schoolmarm.

Earl pushed the limits. Earl was kicks. To me and the rest of the adults in the class, Earl was brilliance in the making. Earl at the age of nine was full of ambition. He knew that he was going to be a movie director of horror films. It was a genre that he loved.

I know that one day I will be watching a movie directed by Earl.

-sapphoq

CELTIC NEW YEAR "satanic"???

* borrowed from an anti-halloween website which did not credit its source. if you know who should be credited for this image,
please send me an e-mail. thank-you*


I belong to a PAN group on yahell. One of the other members of the PAN group who is also a blogging buddy on " the other blog " sent me some links from d-moz. The links were all to anti-halloween articles written by literalistic christians.

Y

I am a witch. Although I respect the rights of people to write such inacccurate nonsense, I also reserve my right to freedom of expression. Thus, I will point out some of the fallacies that the d-moz articles portray. I will also give a more accurate representation of my beliefs and the beliefs of many of my witch and pagan friends.

The biggest misconception is that witches worship satan. Almost all of us don't. Almost all of us don't believe in the personification of evil.

I have at least one man of my acquaintance who is a satanist. He has the right to believe in satan and to practice his religion as he sees fit. In spite of the objections of many witches and pagans, he also has the right to call himself a satanic witch if he wishes to. We do not hold the copyright for the word witch.

None of us sacrifice children or babies to any divine icon or deity.

Some people I know who practice ifa, yoruba, or santeria do sacrifice animals. The animals they sacrifice are cooked and feasted upon afterwards.
Say what you wish about sacrificing animals. I hasten to point out to you that it is far more honest to look a chicken into the eyes and say, "I'm going to eat you," than to buy packaged meat from the supermarket.

Y

Samhain is the beginning of the celtic new year. We celebrate the seasons and mid-seasons because our lives are intimately tied up with the cycle of nature. Because we hold life as sacred, we become intricately woven into the web of life. Because we cherish the memories of our physical and spiritual ancestors, many of us recall the legacies that the ancestors have left us during samhain.

Y

Many of you believe that halloween was first a pagan holiday. Many holidays that christians today celebrate were in fact pagan holidays. The unholy roman empire and the missionaries combined our holy days with yours, in order to make christianity (the new religion) more palatable to the common people.

Your ancestors burned down our sacred groves and built churches there. That is where the saying, "Everything under the altar is profane" came from. I mourn the burning of the sacred groves. I also mourn the inherent trechery of intellectual dishonesty.


You co-opted many of your so-called christian holidays from our people. Having co-opted them, you spread lies about our beliefs and practices. You condemn us with one breath and then christianize our holy days with another. Of
course, you are free to celebrate these holidays or not as you choose. That is neither here not there to me personally.

Please DON'T teach your children to hate what they don't understand. DON'T teach your children to judge our children by allowing them to post names of the 'unsaved' on a large cross during a prayer meeting held on public school ground. DON'T teach your children that our childrens' lives are less valuable than theirs. This hate has got to stop.

No longer will we tolerate being left out. No longer will we passively accept the suicides of our pagan [and g/l/b/t -- pagan or non-pagan] teens. No longer will we sit back while the rest of you attempt to dictate your belief in one god or in a christian nation to us. Even if the untied states started off as a christian nation [which she most assuredly did not, as our founders were deists and not christians] that does not mean that we should be a christian nation-- or a theocracy-- today.

Y


We don't seek converts. We don't want your children. We don't expect to be subjected to harassment for our beliefs or our way of life.

Y

All of us are human beings trying to live on this battered planet without killing each other. Please take that thought with you to church this sunday.

-sapphoq

CRABBY? WHO'S CRABBY? 10/2/05

* from http://www.clipanimations.com *



Funny how many people think that our human ancestors spent lots of time running after or cowering from the dinosaurs. The fossil record shows that they did not live during the same time period.

It's easy to blame the media-- unrealistic cartoons, movies, and other teevee shows, or even schools and science classes. And now even our president wants children to learn about "intelligent design" in science classes and disdains evolution as "only a theory." What we need most of we don't often get taught in schools or even at home. And we have become lazy -- we no longer wish to be bogged down by doing our own research.

And what is that thing that we need? Critical thinking. Critical thinking might teach us that styrofoam cups of coffee from the drive-thru usually [and hopefully] contain H-O-T liquids. Critical thinking might also teach us that if something is too good to be true, it usually is. And it might even teach us how to examine various claims for how tenuous a hold they have on reality.

Reality-- now there's a word. Some of us were "taught" that reality is subjective, that no objective reality is possible. Some of us were taught that "it's all good" and that "all paths lead to onegod" or even that "all the gods are one god and all the goddesses are one goddess" [that would be "all paths lead to onegod" with a pagan bent].

We have become a nation of non-thinkers.

Me-- crabby? No way.
-sapphoq

The Wheel

*clipart off the web*








"All my life's a circle, sunrise and sundown."
-Harry Chapin

When I look back along my life, I am struck by the many times I have been between the worlds waiting for the precise moment to jump.

When I look back along my life, I am struck by the many times I have been between the worlds waiting for the precise moment to jump and I was alone in my waiting.

When I look back along my life, I am struck by the many times I have been between the worlds waiting for the precise moment to jump and I was alone in my waiting and then I jumped.

When I look back along my life, I am struck by the many times I have jumped.

-sapphoq

We shoulda stuck with horses!

*from http://www.gifanimations.com *


The price of gas is so high,
we shoulda stuck with the horses!

The more I know progress,
the more progress frightens me.

Now the president says he will release
oil from the reserve
however, others say that we lack the refineries.

Once again, in the untied states,
demand exceeds production.

Progress keeps us all alive longer
but we've all forgotten
how to live.

-sapphoq

John Hinckley

*picture NOT taken by me. see description below picture.*




John Hinckley was found "not guilty by reason of insanity" for trying to shoot then president Ronald Reagan and three other people in (I think it was) 1986.

After carefully considering expert testimony from both sides, the jury decided that the state failed to prove its case. John Hinckley was taken to St. Elizabeths Hospital which has a forensic mental health unit for people referred to by the courts. He has been living there ever since.

Mr. Hinckley has been off -grounds for one heavily supervised visit with his parents, to an amusement park, and to a space center.
After the visit with his parents, photographs of Jodi Foster which Mr. Hinckley had obtained while at St. Elizabeths were found in his room. That was in 1987 (I think). Mr. Hinckley had claimed prior to the room search that he was over his obsession with Jodi Foster. Clearly, he wasn't at that time. Mr. Hinckley has now reportedly improved according to recent testimony by one of the psychiatrists employed by St. Elizabeths. His parents are requesting that Mr. Hinckley be permitted visits home.

The jury had made an unpopular decision. They made this decision based on the available evidence. Because of this verdict, insanity plea laws all over the nation were modified. Mr. Hinckley was not held accountable for his crime by reason of insanity.

I did not like Ronald Reagan, nor do I care for Mr. Hinckley. I do not want him to become a free man and I certainly would not marry him. And yet, I remind myself that the jury has spoken. The request of Mr. Hinckley's parents has once again put him in the public eye.

We the public and the media are going to re-try Mr. Hinckley in the court of
opinion. Mr. Hinckley had a jury. Regardless of what we think of the man, he is not in prison. A judge will soon decide what Mr. Hinckley is allowed or not allowed to do. I have a strong opinion, yet I am forced to acknowledge that I do not and should not have any say in this man's life.

-sapphoq

Blondie

Today I took Blondie to the veterinarian for a re-check of her infected paw pads.

Her pads are still infected.



Ten more days of Clavamox and a re-check next Friday.





As for her "mild" never before noticed heart murmur which has not changed in loudness since last week, I have two choices.

I can get her a C-T scan of her heart NOW for my "piece of mind."

Or, I can wait until April for a re-check [unless she becomes symptomatic before then].



The question I keep asking myself is, "Which piece of my mind do they want to give back to me???"

-sapphoq

DANCING WITH MYSELF

*clip-art off the web. remember this cartoon anyone? it's little lulu!*






Anyone who wishes they had "better" self-esteem might consider reading Nathaniel Branden's many books out on the subject and actually doing the fill-in-the-blank sentence programs in the back of most of the books.
Nathaniel Branden is considered the Father of the modern-day self-esteem 'movement.'
In his book, The Six Pillars of Self-Esteem, Nathaniel Branden speaks about the six practices of self-esteem.
Those six practices are:
living consciously,
self-acceptance,
self-responsibility,
self-assertiveness,
living purposefully,
and
personal integrity.

Nathaniel Branden ROCKS!!!

-sapphoq

It's the Poorest who Suffer the Most

*APPhoto taken by Ric Francis on 9/14/05.
Floodwaters leave muck in Ninth District*
*Reuters. Photographer Unidentified. Taken 9/15/05.
National Guard clearing debris off of road*
*APPhoto. Taken by Ann Heisenfelt on 9/13/05.
Home in Ninth District getting bulldozed.*
*APPhoto by Steve Senne taken 9/14/05.
Debris in front of nursing home*













Sure, it's "great news" that the downtown business district and that the French Quarter in New Orleans will soon be back to their usual swing.
They didn't get hit by the hurricane nearly as hard as the Ninth District did-- where New Orleans most impoverished citizens lived in shotgun houses.
Do most of us even know what a "shotgun shack" is?
Thirty-four bodies were found in a nursing home which the staff had abandoned. The two owners are currently under charges.
Staff also abandoned their patients in a hospital.
The pictures tell a story.

-spike q

Still Looking for Survivors on 9/14/05

*APPhoto taken by Janie Dringhaus on 9/14/05*

Let Us Not Forget

*taken 9/13/05 by Janie Dringhaus of APPhotos. *








-sapphoq

Morris Cerullo and my aunt

*Morris Cerullo, televangelist, "miracle-worker," and thief from MCWE website*



One of my aunts had multiple sclerosis. She was a very dynamic woman when she was alive in spite of being homebound. She was taking courses at a local community college with the long-term goal of counseling teens in her home. She had a two-way hook-up with her classrooms. She was able to attend lectures in real-time while sitting in her living room. She could also participate in discussions via her link. This was back in the early seventies.

My aunt had the use of three fingers. With her three fingers, she was typing an historical novel--faction, she called it-- of how she had discovered that she had MS and her life afterwards.
The pages I read were full of descriptive imagery. In my mind's eye, I could see the nursing school that my aunt had attended. She was the one who volunteered for a demonstration spinal tap. Her proteins came back elevated. That was how she found out.

I remember my aunt watching Morris Cerullo on television. "Expect a miracle today!" he would proclaim to his audiences. His audiences were mostly made up of people desperate to be rid of their physical ailments. He would exhort them to send him money with the words, "Give me your pocketbooks." My aunt bought the whole story.
In the end, my aunt died still expecting a miracle from Morris Cerullo. Morris "when you are looking at me, you are looking at god" Cerullo did not deliver. My aunt died from severe heart arrhymthia-- the second leading cause of death associated with multiple sclerosis [the first is respiratory failure] in her fifties [average age of death in someone with MS].
In the year 2000, Morris Cerullo was expected to deliver other things. For that story, go to the link below and then to its' internal search engine. Typing in the name Morris Cerullo will lead you to two articles in their archives. Of special note are the pictures of his mansion and his gold-plated interior air limo.

http://www.christian-witness.org/index.html

-sapphoq

Flying

*clipart off the web*

Where are we going? Some birds "fly south" for the winter. They don't spend long summer evenings debating the question. As summer leaves like a fickle friend, the migrators pack up and leave too. They KNOW where they are going. Oh to be more like a bird! Part of a flock with a destination.

Some people claim that humans are a higher beast for a variety of reasons. I hasten to point out that birds are better at being birds that we would be at being birds. In fact, they are better at being birds than we are at being people. We have forgotten how to fly.

-sapphoq

September 11, 2001

photo credits to be added later.











The Smithsonian is collecting and archiving memories of 9/11/01.
Link to http://www.911digitalarchive.org
and record your own memories.

-sapphoq

Hurricanes and Wetlands 9/9/05

* photograph by Gary Coronado of Associated Press appearing in the Vancover Times*


I have recently heard several literalistic fundamentalist christians declare that New Orleans was a place of great sin; therefore, their god "sent the hurricane."

A hurricane is a natural event. Building a city on wetlands and marshes is NOT. The French were the original settlers and engineers of the Crescent City.
And forcing the Mississippi River to straighten out and to move faster for the sake of commercial boat traffic also is NOT a natural act.

I submit that people are at least partly responsible for what happened to this jewel of a city.

I also submit that Osama Bin Laden also fervently believes that his god sent the hurricane because New Orleans was a place of great sin.

The question remains: why would anyone living in the Untied States of America want to be on the same side as Bin Laden.

Something to think about.

-sapphoq

Happy Anniversary to me!

*from Center for Disease Control Campaign "Anyone can get an ulcer"

On September 8, 1980 at 10:18 a.m. I realized that I could not drink or drug safely and I quit my old life.

Please celebrate this very special day with me. Blessed be!

-sapphoq

Quotes from the godly...or?

* by cartoonist gaspirtz*

Quotes by people in good standing with their god.

Taken from:

A Treasury of Deception, by Michael Farquhar. Penguin Books, New York, 2005.

part seven, #5, "What in the Name of god?" pp. 190-195.

"By the grace of Auramazda [God] I am king; Auramazda gave me the kingdom."

--Darius the Great of Persia (reigned 522-486 bc)

"Are you the god-haters who do not believe me to be a god, a god acknowledged by all the other nations but not to be named by you?"

--Caligula (reigned ad 37-41, roman empire)

"Piles of heads, hands, and feet were to be seen in the streets. . . . Men rode in blood up to their knees and bridle reins. Indeed, it was a just and splendid judgement of God that this place should be filled with the blood of unbelievers, since it had suffered so long from their blasphemies."

--Report from the French cleric Raymond d'Aguilers on the slaughter of Muslims and Jews in Jerusalem during the First Crusade in 1099

"Alfonso--God curse him!--pulled out of this place after he and his men had taken their fill of the chattels and possessions of the Muslims. . . ."

--Muslim account of the same battle

"Who will venture to place the authority of Copernicus above that of the Holy Spirit?"

--Protestant reformer John Calvin (1509-1564) on the Copernican theory that the earth revolves around the sun

"We recognize the negro as God and God's Book and God's Laws, in nature, tell us to recognize him--our inferior, fitted expressly for servitude."

--Jefferson Davis, president of the Confederate States of America, 1861

"God is with us."

--Motto on the belt buckles of Kaiser Wilhem's soldiers during the Great War

JERRY FALWELL: "I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People for the American Way--of of them who have tried to secularize America--I point the finger in their face and say 'you helped this happen.'"

Christian evangelist Jerry Falwell [to] Pat Robertson during a 2001 broadcast on the Christian Boradcasting Network [re: the attack of 9/11].

* * *

Those so inclined might be interested in reading more of this fine book. --sapphoq

Why Frogs Are Better Than Politicians

*frogs by Victoria Kinza*

Why Frogs Are Better Than Politicians

• frogs are slimey only when wet. politicians are slimey all the time and they aren't supposed to be.
• every word from a politician's mouth is a lie. every word from a frog's mouth is a croak.
• frogs are cute.
• frogs eat what pisses them off. politicians ignore or lambast anyone who pisses them off.
• frogs spend sundays the same as every other day. politicians have to go to church.
• frogs hang out with froggie friends. politicians hang out with whoever can benefit them most.
• no one has ever burned an effigy of a frog on the front lawn of the state capital building in albany new york.
• frogs have fan clubs. politicians club their fans.
• frogs don't care what you look like. politicians don't care.
• when their watery homes dry up, frogs burrow under or leave. when peoples' cities are flooded, politicians burrow under and pretend they didn't know for as long as possible.
• frogs are content. politicians are malcontents.
• kiss a frog and he may turn into a prince. kiss a politician and you may get trenchmouth.

-spike q 9/5/05