May 18, 2005 by Naomi.

These days one has to be careful not to read erroneous meanings into headlines. For instance in the New York Times I was intrigued to discover that rice was being grown in Iraq. Whoops, the rice grain had not been introduced as an agricultural crop after all. Instead the United States Secretary of State, Condelessa Rice dropped into Bahgdad on an official visit. Well wash my socks! Too bad because it will be helpful if some attention is paid to feeding those war ridden folks instead of holding our soldiers there to become dead heroes.

Be ever vigilant. Do not take headlines too literally, which could lead to rumors that just ain’t so. It’s OK to keep reading - just think about what you read.

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May 18, 2005 by Naomi.

Public broadcasting is going religious - not balanced truth about any and all religions - but a one-sided spin about fundamentalist christian religion being the guardian of democracy. PBS was estableished to bring the facts about all sides of issues in the news and other issues that choose to be hidden from all ears and eyes. Such facts are critical in decisions about our laws and elections.

When Independent voters insist they belong to a third party, I remind
them that our system of government is a two party system. Each party represents
a constituent of the American public: one represents the group that has
economics for manufacture of goods and services for the nation, the other
represents the working people who actual produce the goods and buy the
services of the national companies. Here each side bears the responsibility
to explain itself.

Emotional issues are now being used to define parties. Wrong. The believers of issues can be placed in either group depending on how the people feel. They do not define the party. I am a conservative when it comes to allocating money, Republican?, perish the thought. Funds should be allocated where they will do the most good for all citizens. That does not translate into enlarging corporations. I am a liberal, long live the Democratic party!, when it comes to equalizing the playing field so everyone has the opportunity to reach their view of the Amerian dream. That does not translate into allowing funds to be spirited away to the Caymen Islands or Switzerland to evade paying income taxes for either group.

But then the American dream was stolen by salespeople to make sure that every household had the optimum number of bedrooms, baths, family rooms, and cars in their suburban homes. Acquistion was not all that satisfactory after we got into debt so we were turned to emotional issues. And labled Conservatives and Liberals, the thinking being that we could be neatly put in a cage and controlled.

I know conservatives who do approve of abortion and prayer in school.
However I also know liberals who believe the same. So how did those attitudes
become the dividing issues? Are we listening to the facts? Are those issues
supposed to reside in politics? How can they when they do not apply to
legal and constitutional rights? Wouldn’t those individual issues be better
decided if left to individuals? A third party would be just as divided
so the answer is to define the two parties that fit our system’s true
representative parties that can do what they should. Or do we continue
to put all power in the hands of those who would control our every last
action, even in the doctor’s office or our bedroom? Public television
and public libraries must continue to look at all the facts.

Bill Moyers describes it well: “I’ve always thought the American eagle needed a left wing and a right wing. The right wing would see to it that economic interests had their legitimate concerns addressed. The left wing would see to it that ordinary people were included in the bargain. Both would keep the great bird on course. But with two right wings or two left wings, it’s no longer an eagle and it’s going to crash.”

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May 18, 2005 by Naomi.

Can you imagine what it’s like, after months without a cook, the cook
comes back for a day and does the unimaginable? Well I know. I was treated
to a dinner of polish sausage, sauer kraut, and potatoes - in the flowered
setting of my back yard. And thumbing my nose at the vestiges of an ulcer,
I even indulged in a beer! Irises are opening their many colored blossoms,
white, yellow, blue, and purples. The unusual buffy colored one has a
full bud so it will be open by the end of today. A few red tulips hang
on. Columbines - yellow and purple - nod their starry faces in the wind.
But they are too delicate to compete against the brilliant red rhododendron
which is out in front and far removed to prevent comparison. Long yellow
clusters hang from both chain trees and the spirea and snowballs are stark
white. They boldly stand up against the red horse chestnut blossoms in
my neighbor’s back yard. Some day I will send photos with my wise words
but for today you will have to go to http://www.sherer.org/mothersflowers.html

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