Making soap, tile as art and shifting my paradigms

Well Sunday turned out to be a day of knocking Scott as far out of my box as possible.

It started out by playing with a soap making kit at the Inn as we waited for guests to check out. It was different for me partly by doing something that would normally be handled by writing a check, but more so the conversation as we did it, questioning thoughts and things known in certain ways to looking at them from different perspectives. That is certainly one of the things that draw people to Evan - there's this unspoken challenge in him, innocent and humble even, from him just standing there listening that makes you pause and re-evaluate what you're thought process is and what outside influences have gone into it already. There's something about his desire to stand outside the mainstream that just provokes you to question why you aren't as well.

Heading back to the Chalets, I was still mulling over that conversation with all it's various twists and topics and walked into something I had no time to prepare for. Kelly is putting together her tile mosaic on one of the new jacuzzi tubs and I was instantly hit with the visual of what she described in words to me weeks beforehand. The words she had spoken to try to paint this image for me came rushing back and I instantly 'got it'. I know my reaction was almost physical, it stands out as one of those rare times that I've seen something and appreciated it's beauty before trying to evaluate it's usefulness.


I quickly changed into work clothes and asked what I could do to help. She looked around and then lit up - her face showing a very self satisfied smile as she explained how she wanted me to install the back border and how there was a randomness to it that had to be continued. We joked about it, but truthfully it was going to be a challenge for me to do something in defiance to my natural tendency to have everything symmetrical and balanced. I had a physical tensing up reaction to not having nice square edges to butt together in neat little rows. And as I adjusted to that, I realized I was having a blast.

How could I have forgotten how much fun I had in kindergarten doing fingerpaints? Where had that joy gone? I was on a high, I wanted to go splash in puddles, I wanted to create. Somewhere the concept of getting glass made to fit into the outside light fixtures became "why don't we make the glass ourselves out of the wine bottles that we empty?" Somehow the technical aspects have morphed into "why don't we get Billy to rig up some way to power them from the river?" and "why don't we build our own kiln and make the lights right here?"

And just like that, it's in the works. I've taken pride in other projects that I've done before, but I can see now that they really aren't in the same league. Before I was simply figuring out how to go to Point B if I started at Point A. Not to downplay that, it's a skill in it's own right. But now I can see that what I've done up to this point is the same type of difference in baking a cake from a box to making a cobbler from scratch from blackberries you grew yourself. Both are baking, but miles could fit in between them.

It seems as though there should be an ending to this tale, but it really is more of a beginning, isn't it?

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Gay youth still killing themselves

It's so weird, Evan and I were talking this morning during breakfast about how much easier it was for people to come out when he was in school than when I was. The fact is that 2 of the guys that I was friends with (who were in my wedding even) were gay and closeted - not to mention the groom.

And yet, here we are still with young people killing themselves - because somehow they aren't good enough to live as they are. How pathetic, how sad. That anyone now a days has to think that they aren't good enough to live.

In the gay community, youth suicide continues to be a persistent problem, experts say.

Among gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender youths, as many as 40 percent are likely to attempt suicide, said Cassie Blume, youth programs coordinator for the Billy DeFrank LGBT Community Center in San Jose. The national data is derived from several studies, Blume said.

"They are three times more likely to attempt suicide" than straight young people, Blume said. "Our work can be just about keeping them alive."

University of Minnesota pediatrics professor Gary Remafedi's book, "Death by Denial," found that 30 percent of gay youths said they had attempted suicide at least once as a teenager.

A U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report from 1989 concluded that gay youths are two to three times more likely to commit suicide than straight teens. Gay and lesbian teens accounted for about 30 percent of youth suicides, the department found.

http://www.contracostatimes.com/bayandstate/ci_6977529

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Neo-Nazi group publishes addresses and phone numbers of Jena 6 families

I read that headline and article and had my own violent reaction to it. I'm not reposting it here because it really is offensive, but if you want to read it click through on the bottom links.

But I'm amazed and disgusted that anyone in 2007 could still feel this level of hate for another human being. Calling for other racists to take up guns, surround the protesters and throw Maltov cocktails at them? Publishing the families' phone numbers and addresses on the internet while calling for lynchings and telling people to "get in touch, let them know justice is coming"

Shamefully, my first reaction was to hope they throw the asshole in jail with as many large African Americans at they can fit into one cell, knowing what would happen to him. And then I bought myself up short realizing that here I sit, wishing violence to happen to someone I don't like because they are different from me in some way.

Are we really that much different? Or simply choose different targets? I'd like to think that the difference is that mine is directed to people who choose to be a certain way, rather then his hatred being directed to people who are born a certain way. But that's still pretty weak, a justification for something that shouldn't be in the first place. Sadly, I also realized that I probably won't see all of this hatred for those who are different gone from this world in my lifetime. I can only work on me and hopefully influence some of those around me.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070923/ap_on_re_us/jena_six

NEW ORLEANS - The FBI is reviewing a white supremacist Web site that purports to list the
addresses of five of the six black teenagers accused of beating a white student in Jena and "essentially called for their lynching," an agency spokeswoman said Saturday.

Sheila Thorne, an agent in the FBI's New Orleans office, said authorities were reviewing whether the site breaks any federal laws. She said the FBI had "gathered intelligence on the matter," but declined to further explain how the agency got involved.

CNN first reported Friday about the Web site, which features a swastika, frequent use of racial slurs, a mailing address in Roanoke, Va., and phone numbers purportedly for some of the teens' families "in case anyone wants to deliver justice." That page is dated Thursday.

Plenty more at

http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3058

http://www.splcenter.org/blog/2007/09/20/jena-rally-sparks-white-supremacist-rage/

I've noticed a lull in Republican sex scandals

there hasn't been one for the past 3 weeks now? The repressed hypocrites may be near to hitting a record. My money is still on McHenry.

Mike and I finally had a long overdue sit-down today. For three hours I delineated all the current well-sourced and not-so-well sourced dirt on our youngest Congressman, Pat McHenry of North Carolina's 1oth Congressional district.

(And we didn't even get to his advocacy for ousted College Republican Glenn Murphy, giver of unwanted blowjobs . . . how could we have overlooked that one, Mike?)

Mike tried to chart all of it. He really did. What happened to that chart, Mike? I seem to have misplaced it. It's not on my "action plan." Well, I guess mere words will have to do.

To start with, we've got several financial disclosure reporting irregularities (details to come on that), and nearly $200,000 of improperly reported 527 (Citizens Club for Growth PAC) funding in 2004. Also, Pat takes money from the gay Republican message master Arthur Finkelstein, who is married to a man in Massachusetts, as he foments ill will towards gays in his district and promotes the "sanctity of marriage."

Here's the webpage, click here or on the image below for a larger version:

Then there's a wide assortment of unsavory colleagues, high-level staff with drinking and assorting driving problems (below). Three different documented voter fraud cases starting with his former roomie and staffer. Then there's the repeated co-habitation with men well past his college years.

For this post, I don't want to make only promises, I start with Pat's current campaign spokesman Jason Jent Deans, left. He was Pat's chief of staff from May, 2005 to January 2007. Before that he worked as District Director and on the campaign staff. This is what we've uncovered of the vehicular charges he's faced in North Carolina since 1995 . . . Including death by vehicle.


{plenty more at the link}

http://patgobyebye.blogspot.com/2007/09/pat-mchenry-overview.html

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Dollar dropping to historic lows, thanks to the Fed bailout

Thanks to the Federal Reserve bailing out the poorly managed banks, the value of the dollar is dropping to record lows and inflation will be rising. So Americans can now watch the value of their houses dropping by 10's of thousands of dollars a week on top of having to pay more and more for things like milk and gasoline.

What many of them aren't seeing at the moment is the upcoming surge in property taxes to make up for the lower values. Sure the politicians will claim that it won't cost any more, but have you ever seen them monkey with tax rates and it not cost more? We've got Consumer math for day to day living, Advanced math for those working in the technical and scientific fields and Political math which is used to explain how the increase in taxes or spending is somehow not really an increase, usually it's described as "a reduction" from the amount they were originally going to raise them. See that doesn't hurt as much that way....

And today is "triple witching day" - Wall St will probably be on pins and needles up until that final trading hour, with the least little bump setting off ripples of hysteria - it will be an interesting day to watch. And it's also the last day for the billionaire who put all the money into betting the Dow was going to drop at lease 30%. One helluva hedge it would seem, but the amount that's being spent to set off some risk somewhere else is just mind boggling. What could you possibly be protecting on the left hand that's worth enough to spend billions with your right hand?

Canadians Find Better Bargains in US - New York Times

TORONTO (AP) -- Canadians are expressing pride in their economy but might be more inclined to go on shopping sprees in the U.S. after the Canadian dollar reached parity with the U.S. dollar for the first time since 1976.



The U.S. currency also plummeted to a new low Thursday against the 13-nation euro, which traded above $1.40 for the first time since it was introduced in 1999.

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A better father than Dick Cheney....

In reversal, (San Diego mayor) Sanders (R) supports gay-marriage resolution

Mayor Jerry Sanders reversed his position on gay marriage Wednesday, supporting it in emotional remarks punctuated by pauses, shaking sips of water and his wife's hand resting one time reassuringly on his back. Sanders' wife, Rana Sampson, stood next to him as he acknowledged publicly for the first time that his daughter, Lisa, is a lesbian.

“I've decided to lead with my heart, which is probably obvious right now, to do what I think is right and to take a stand on behalf of equality and social justice,” Sanders said.

A day after staff members said Sanders would veto it, the mayor announced that he would sign a City Council resolution passed Tuesday that directed the City Attorney's Office to file a brief in support of gay marriage.

“As I reflected on the choices that I had before me last night I could just not bring myself to tell an entire group of people in our community they were less important, less worthy or less deserving of the rights and responsibilities of marriage than anyone else simply because of their sexual orientation,” Sanders said.

{snip}

“I have personally wrestled with that opinion ever since,” he said Wednesday his voice wavering. “My opinions on this issue have evolved significantly as I think the opinions of millions of Americans from all walks of life have.”

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070919-1819-bn19sanders.html

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Fears of dollar collapse as Saudis take fright

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2007/09/19/bcnsaudi119.xml

Saudi Arabia has refused to cut interest rates in lockstep with the US Federal Reserve for the first time, signalling that the oil-rich Gulf kingdom is preparing to break the dollar currency peg in a move that risks setting off a stampede out of the dollar across the Middle East.

Ben Bernanke has placed the dollar in a dangerous situation, say analysts

"This is a very dangerous situation for the dollar," said Hans Redeker, currency chief at BNP Paribas.

"Saudi Arabia has $800bn (£400bn) in their future generation fund, and the entire region has $3,500bn under management. They face an inflationary threat and do not want to import an interest rate policy set for the recessionary conditions in the United States," he said.

The Saudi central bank said today that it would take "appropriate measures" to halt huge capital inflows into the country, but analysts say this policy is unsustainable and will inevitably lead to the collapse of the dollar peg.

As a close ally of the US, Riyadh has so far tried to stick to the peg, but the link is now destabilising its own economy.

The Fed's dramatic half point cut to 4.75pc yesterday has already caused a plunge in the world dollar index to a fifteen year low, touching with weakest level ever against the mighty euro at just under $1.40.

There is now a growing danger that global investors will start to shun the US bond markets.

The latest US government data on foreign holdings released this week show a collapse in purchases of US bonds from $97bn to just $19bn in July, with outright net sales of US Treasuries.

{more at link}

Technorati Tags: economy

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