Ways of Being.

Hi kids! I'm endeavoring to write more consistently in this Blog. I am losing affection for the Christian-model of humans. Frankly, I do not think we are created, "Broken", though Life certainly tries to break us. Or perhaps, a more-true thought is that when Life is not lifting us up, it is breaking us down. It rarely is "neutral". There are so many ways to "be" in the world. Sometimes--lately, quite often-- I feel like an Agnostic--someone for whom the very "idea" of God seems too distant, too faraway, too nebulous. A cumulus cloud, fading...and, in the very next breath, I'll find myself remembering watch beloved Mom attempting to pray, (try as she might, she could not speak the words; she was able only to whisper "I can't".) as I comforted (I hope) her, saying "Well, that's okay, Mom, I'll say the words, and you can say them in your head, okay?" She looked relieved and muttered, through a slight smile, "Okay...", as I prayed "The Lord's Prayer" and a "Hail Mary" for her. Earlier today, while scrolling through Facebook and friend's posts, I came across a nun explaining the Rosary being "Sung by Dominicans". It was kind of delightful and my joy at discovering that post, begs the question: Can someone be both ambivalent about God, while actively searching for SIGNS of God? Is it hypocritical to have membership in--and truly enjoy--a group on Facebook known as "Liberals, Atheists, Feminists, and Friends", while simultaneously planning a prayer or meditation session, or going into a church or Mass, to light a candle, for those who no longer, can? I can assure you, I suffer from no "cognitive dissonance". I feel culturally like the same "Cradle Catholic" I've always been: honoring Jesus Christ as a man of peace and good will, but feeling inside that God is "within". That we must fix ourselves, alone. I feel such kinship with the "Humanists" who believe only humans can advance humans, that we must respect all life. So that's where I'm at these days, broken-but-not-broken, a doubter, who believes. Peace, kids.

Update

I typed up a new post, yesterday...on the three-month Anniversary of our beloved Mom's death. But somehow, it didn't post...I had, however, taken a photo of the screen, since I have a couple of people in my life, who seldom do this thing called "reading". Rather than becoming hurt or upset when they miss a post which I believe would be meaningful for them, I decided to begin taking a snapshot of said posts(s), for future sharing with them.... More here, later today. Peace, kids.

Andrew Pope, of Lawrenceville, Georgia.Guest Editor.

It's been a long time since I posted here at Lisa Allender Writes, but today, Sunday, August 7th, I'm going to be posting from a dear friend's Facebook Notes. My ol' pal, Andrew Pope posted recently about a renewed sense of appreciation, and I think it bears posting here. Below,enjoy kids.


From Andrew Pope, posted on his FB Wall, July 22nd, 2011.

Don't Wait.
I’ve been doing a lot of reflecting since our Australian Sheppard “Jazzy” was diagnosed with lymphoma. We have all shed a few tears and have done a lot of reminiscing since the diagnosis. After discussing it as a family, we decided to do the emotionally driven, illogical thing and go for the chemotherapy treatments. Jazzy is doing well and the lymphoma is in complete remission even with a few months left of her treatments to go. She’s back to tugging my arm to chase squirrels (though not with quite as much gusto) as well as herding the kids as they run around the house and games of tug o war when she’s feeling up to it.

As painful as it has been for the kids (and Bonnie and I), I think we made the right choice even though it is so completely out of character for us to let emotions rule over logic, rationality and fiscal responsibility. Y’see, they can’t kill the cancer (that was not listed as even a possibility); they can only drive it back a bit to give us more time to say goodbye. And we’re willing to accept that as a gift.

The silver lining to the whole situation is this: I have noticed that all of us are much less likely to wave her off when she comes looking for attention or the plain ‘ol expression of love that a dog gets from petting. We've all become even more sensitive to these needs on her treatment days – when her need for the confirmation of our love of her seems to multiply tenfold. It has made us stop taking her for granted; to appreciate her like we did when we first got her from the dog rescue organization. We've returned to treating her like we ought to all treat our loved ones all the time. I will get down on the floor and pet her for extended periods of time. I am less likely to tug her along when she stops overlong (for what I often feel is a ridiculous amount of time) sniffing this or that indiscriminate spot along our walk route. We’re all playing with her more and pampering her more. We’re even letting her on furniture that used to be off limits. We’re appreciating her more…

It struck me recently how much better off we’d all be if we thought (realized) that there is only a finite amount of time that we have with ALL our loved ones. I’ve begun calling my parents more, just to check in with them. I’m concentrating on staying in touch more with friends and loved ones and trying to reconnect with ones that have become distant. . I’m trying to please my wife more and lift up my kids more that I used to. I’m tying to appreciate them more…

Did you think of someone there? Someone that you think you’ve perhaps started to take for granted? Whether you have or not isn’t important. The fact that you think you may have is enough. Give that someone (at least the first one you thought of) a call. Let them know how you feel. Appreciate them for what they are in your life; a blessing.

Here endeth the sermon.

Thank you, Andrew, for the (uplifting) reminder.Sunday feels like a good day to post this.
Peace, kids.

Santa was good to me.

Am writing this using my supa-cool iPad... This is the best, kids!
Yes, I got an iPad for Christmas. Guess I've been a pretty good girl!
More later...for now, check out Ms. Christine Swint's blog, "Balanced On The Edge".
She and her blog, are some kind of beautiful.
Peace, kids.

TWO CONTROVERSIAL REPORTS--AN ASSASSINATION PLOT FOILED, AND THOMAS SOWELL, A CONSERVATIVE BLACK AMERICAN SAYS OBAMA CANNOT LEGALLY RUN FOR PRESIDENT!
It's sad to have to report these two stories, but the first one is absolutely devastating, and we need to take this in, and think about surrounding the Obama family with love, and to always, always, keep Senator Obama and his family in our thoughts and prayers.
Here's that lead story from the AP:
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Police investigate possible plot to kill Obama at Invesco
by Judi Villa and April M. Washington
Authorities are investigating a possible assassination plot against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama.
At least four people have been arrested in connection with a possible plot to kill Obama at his Thursday night acceptance speech at Invesco Field at Mile High, according to CBS4 News. The suspects are being held on either drug or weapons charges.
Aurora police arrested a longtime drug user Sunday afternoon during a routine traffic stop where the man was seen "weaving," sources said. Three possible other accomplices also were arrested, according to police.
Police found four weapons, including two rifles and two handguns, in a rented pickup.
That arrest then led authorities to a second man staying at the Cherry Creek Hotel at 600 South Colorado Blvd in Glendale. When authorities knocked on the man's door, they say he jumped out of his sixth floor window, landing on an awning and running from the scene. They say they soon found him with a broken ankle. He too was arrested.
CBS4 reported one of the suspects told authorities they were "going to shoot Obama from a high vantage point using a ... rifle … sighted at 750 yards."
Law-enforcement sources told CBS4 that one of the suspects "was directly asked if they had come to Denver to kill Obama. He responded in the affirmative."
One of the suspects has been identified as 28-year-old Tharin Gartrell.
Police found a rifle in the man's rented pickup and methamphetamine. The man allegedly made comments about Sen. Obama, but sources wouldn't say what they were.
It was enough, however, to make police believe the man might have been plotting to somehow harm Obama.
A second source told CBS4 News that they are concerned they may have come upon a possible "assasination plot."
The Secret Service, ATF and U.S. Attorney's Office are investigating.
Brian Maass of CBS4 News contributed to this report.
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Okay, kids, the other story which has begun circulating, is one I "sat on" since learned about it on August 18th, in a letter written to, and then posted at salon.com.
The respected conservative writer and columnist Thomas Sowell is the one who wrote the letter, and he also penned "Race and Culture", and I read that book , years ago, at the request of a then-boyfriend, and while reading it, I was deeply offended--I assumed the writer was racist(and thought perhaps my now-ex-beau, could be as well) against people of color, especially blacks, until I learned Thomas Sowell is a Black American himself!
So, I'll provide you with the link to read why he believes Senator Obama does not meet the "requirements" to run for President. I had not wanted to post on this, fearing by doing so, I would inadvertently "fuel" the controversy, but it's necessary in order to finally shut the door on this.
Here's that letter, posted in response to salon editor Joan Walsh's piece entitled "Are We Now Officially A Christian Nation?" which she posted at her salon blog in response to the televised Saddleback interviews by Pastor Rick Warren of Obama and McCain.
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Is this a bomb waiting to explode??
It seems that Barack Obama is not qualified to be president after all,
for the following reason:
Barack Obama is not legally a U.S. natural-born citizen according to
the law on the books at the time of his birth, which falls between
'December 24, 1952 to November 13, 1986'.
Presidential office requires a natural-born citizen if the child was not born to two U.S. citizen parents, which of course is what exempts John McCain though he was born in the Panama Canal . US Law very clearly stipulates: '.If only one parent was a U.S. citizen at the time of your birth, that parent must have resided in the United States for at least ten years, at least five of which had to be after the age of 16.' Barack Obama's father was not a U.S. citizen and Obama's mother was only 18 when Obama was born, which means though she had been a U.S. citizen for 10 years, (or
citizen perhaps because of Hawaii being a territory) the mother fails
the test for being so for at least 5 years **prior to** Barack Obama's
birth, but *after* age 16. It doesn't matter *after*. In essence, she
was not old enough to qualify her son for automatic U.S. citizenship.
At most, there were only 2 years elapsed since his mother turned 16 at
the time of Barack Obama's birth when she was 18 in Hawaii. His mother
would have needed to have been 16+5= 21 years old, at the time of
Barack Obama's birth for him to have been a natural-born citizen. As
aforementioned, she was a young college student at the time and was
not. Barack Obama was already 3 years old at that time his mother would
have needed to have waited to have him as the only U.S. Citizen parent.
Obama instead should have been naturalized, but even then, that would
still disqualify him from holding the office.
*** Naturalized citizens are ineligible to hold the office of President. *** Though Barack Obama was sent back to Hawaii at age 10, all
the other info does not matter because his mother is the one who needed
to have been a U.S. citizen for 10 years prior to his birth on August
4, 1961, with 5 of those years being after age 16. Further, Obama may
have had to have remained in the country for some time to protect any
citizenship he would have had, rather than living in Indonesia. Now you
can see why Obama's aides stopped his speech about how we technically
have more than 50 states, because it would have led to this discovery.
This is very clear cut and a blaring violation of U.S. election law. I
think the Gov. of California would be very interested in knowing this.
If Obama were elected President without being a natural-born U.S.
citizen, and it would set precedence. Stay tuned to your TV sets
because I suspect some of this information will be leaking through over
the next several days.
Thomas Sowell
Rose and Milton Friedman Senior Fellow
The Hoover Institution
Stanford University
Stanford, California 94305
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Well. There are also laws on the books here in the USA which pertain to "the public good", and since Senator Obama has served, been elected, held public office, and has won his party's nomination by a majority, the "benefit of public good" can be invoked, so I don't think Mr. Sowell's argument--however technically accurate(and we DON'T know that this is completely accurate, all we have are Mr. Sowell's thoughts on this)--can stand.
I felt it important to post on this, because "Knowledge is Power". I'm certain the far-right will do whatever they can to attempt to destroy Senator Obama's run. Let's make certain they do not succeed!
Peace, kids.