the crazies of christmas are out

i was in the thick of french quarter combat parking when this lady, that looked like a romanian goth version of miss piggy, stepped out into traffick. she was daring me to hit her and i took her dare, forcing her to stop mid-waddle. aghast, she hexed me old world style complete with strange signs and a vitriolic pox on me and my children.

3 things

1.)the senate repealed "don't ask, don't tell." finally gay men and lesbians can serve without the fear of being drummed out of the military simply for being who they are. it is a good day in this country.

2.)there is a lunar eclipse tonight on the eve of the winter solstice. if that does not conjure your inner pagan then nothing will.

3.) nash roberts died. in my 15 plus years of living in new orleans, i have never made a decision about evacuation in the face of an approaching storm, without knowing what nash roberts suggested. if he said stay then i stayed. he was always right even when every other meteoroligist said something contrary. they do not make them like nash roberts anymore.

stoned

spoke the cat is stoned on cold medicine and wondering why my shoes are always so hungry that they insist on eating my socks. it is a scary world to be a sock. you go into the washer or dryer but you don't always come out.

Kristallnacht

It is the 72nd anniversary of Kristallnacht when Nazis burned 250 synagogues, smashed shop windows of Jewish owned businesses, and arrested thousands of Jewish men. I would like to take this opportunity to remind us all of the importance of tolerance. We should never allow our our differences to morph into bete noirs so powerful that our fear of them becomes irrational and turns into hatred. Let us preach tolerance when it comes to Muslims and mosques. we must afford homosexuals the same freedoms as every other citizen of this country. It is acceptable to criticize a president for his policies but not for the color of his skin. We must remember that the United States was a country founded by immigrants. If we allow fear to turn into hate then we open the door for atrocities to take place such as what happened on Kristallnacht 72 years ago to the day. Remember the person next to you is wonderfully unique and that is something to be praised not abhorred.

republicans

it would appear that health care for all in this country is not nearly as important as one might hope. the people have spoken, allowing the republicans to take back the house, thus affording them the opportunity to repeal the so-called obamacare. as one of the multitude of uninsured in this country, i find this dazzling sweep of stupidity offensive and frightening. yet despite the level of fear this generates, it is nothing compared to the chills up my spine sensation over the many judges voted out of office nation wide. why were these judges ousted? was it because they were corrupt or failed to uhold the law? no, it was because they failed to vote according to republican party lines in matters such as gay marriage and abortion. these judges did not vote based on personal or political bias. They actually cast their votes as a part of their job, which is to champion the freedoms guarunteed to all citizens regardless of their sexual orientation or political affiliation. it is a dark day for american justice when judges are punished for doing their jobs. if we as a populace continue to punish our judges in this way, we can expect justice to be bought and sold like so many of our other ideals are in this country. if we disagree with a judge then there are recourses. we can draft an amendment to the constitution and vote on it. DO NOT PUNISH the judges for voting according to the letter of the law just because you personally disagree with it. as a wiser person pointed out, this would be like running umpires off the field every time they made an unfavorable ruling. how long would we expect the game to continue to be played were that to occur. without the umpires, the game dissolves into chaos on the field. without the judges, american society devolves into anarchy.

God has a sense of humor

the basin street station visitor's center has a mini replica of the city of new orleans as it would have looked circa 1900. it was created for the movie "pretty baby." when it was created, it incorporated the entire city's 1900 boundaries. at one point, the display went to paris and was stored in a warehouse there. the warehouse had a leak in the roof and i am (giggle)sad to say that most of the mini new orleans was lost to the ensuing flood. the french quarter remained in tact. it is on high ground after all.

observation number two

freedom of speech allows you to say whatever pops into your head but it does not protect you from the negative reactions of others, so do not complain when people call you names or you get fired.