Sharon @ home

So, I decided to make some entries in the old blog again. I’m not making any promises. This is not a new year’s resolution. I have been thinking some things lately and I remembered this blog. I started it so I’d have a place to write the random things I think that I don’t feel like bothering other people by telling them. Sure, if anyone reads it, it’ll be like I told them, but they are here by choice.

Make sense?

Sharon

Yesterday, I turned on the car radio for a few minutes. The secretary of state was talking about the assassination of Benazir Bhutto, she said that securing democracy is the most important thing.

At that moment, I just had to ask: “why?” What is it about democracy that makes it the only acceptable form of government these days? Sure, I like democracy. I prefer for all people to have a say in the way things are run in their own countries. But it hasn’t always been that way. I wish I knew more history. Isn’t it true that just about all countries had a monarchy or something along those lines before the magna carta?

I know that there were benevolent despots in some countries. And I’m sure there were plenty of malevolent despots too. I just found myself wondering if any country, that wasn’t a democracy, had ever attacked another country because it didn’t like the way they treated their citizens. These days democratic countries seem to think that democracy is the only way to go and everyone has to go that way or they will be forced to change. Actually, I guess it’s really just the USA who follows through all the way to forcing, but you know what I mean.

Another thing that occurs to me about this is; God established monarchies, so he must not have thought they were all bad. And yet the US religious right seems to think this democracy crusade is directed by God. Sure, Jesus seems to value all people equally, but he rendered unto Caesar what was Caesar’s including government. He didn’t overthrow the oppressive government, he taught people to live with the government they had.

All this is not to say that I think the unlucky folks suffering under tyrannical governments just need to put on a happy face. I just don’t know for sure that the USA is really called to go bomb them into democracy.

I know it sounds like I’m pressing an agenda here, but I have way too many questions for that. At least on this optic. Right now.

I just don’t follow the logic of the religious right that seems to think that they are required by God to destroy peace in a quest for democracy.

peace,

Sharon

I have been sick since the day after the rally. That’s why I haven’t been blogging in the mean time. I’ve been sleeping. I did go to the Dr. I found out that I have the flu. Officially. I also do not have an ear infection or pneumonia.

One thing has happened that I just can’t let go. Someone I know from a yahoo group sent a link that she swore was the funniest and cleverest thing ever. It turns out that it was a website called something like blamebush.com and it’s all about how the democrats blame Bush for everything including things he had nothing to do with. The particular article was about how Bush created Hurricane Katrina. I just found it so maddening. It would be ridiculous if anyone did blame any one least of all the President for the weather.  However, I have never, not once, heard anyone blame Bush for the actual hurricane. And I hear him blamed for many things!

In other news, we are going whale watching on Monday. We’ll be camping in a yurt like last time and watching from the Lewis and Clark center at Ilwaco.

Ok,  that’s about it for now.

Peace,

Sharon

Today is the fourth anniversary of the start of the war in Iraq. There are marches and rallies going on all over the country and I have heard they are happening in other countries as well.

Yesterday I went to a rally in Seattle. I went with my friend Kim and we handed out fliers about Barack Obama. Most of the people I spoke with were very receptive. There were also a few who asked some very hard questions. I don’t know the answers to the questions and I’m not sure how to find out. I guess they aren’t actually questions so much as statements that I don’t know how to respond to.

One was, Barack Obama has said that the job of schools is to prepare the students for jobs. I’m not sure that Barack Obama really said that. The person who told me this is a teacher and he feels that his calling is much higher than as a vocational preparer. He also feels that schools who focus in employability are working for the corporations rather than society. I have to agree with him, I’d just like to know what Barack’s position really is.

The next one was, why is Obama being so quiet about the war now? He was against it from the beginning but what has he said lately? A lot of people brought this up.

Lastly, the presenters at the rally said, repeatedly, that Obama, Hilary and most of the other Democrats in Congress recently voted to let Bush go to war with Iran without needed to ask Congress first.

If this is true, I’d really like to hear Obama’s reasoning.

Peace,

Sharon

What is it about a woman driving a truck? Today I took the truck into the dealership to get something fixed. I’d say what it was, but I don’t know.  They sent us a card that something needed to be done and so I let them. Anyway, when I got there the service guy called me Little Lady.  Why? I have no idea. Well, I have a small idea. If I had been driving a small car, or even an SUV it would have fit. But since I was in a full-sized American man truck, it was remarkable, literally.

It’s getting a little sunny today. We are pretending that it’s nice out. The blinds are open and so are the sliding doors. I think I’m going to try spray painting some hoops!

Oh, we also need to get all of the whale watching materials organized for the upcoming trip. That might be the big thing we got done.

And, Amelia just called. She is coming to Seattle for a concert and might be stopping by here this evening. I hope that works out.

Peace,

Sharon

Miss me? I have decided to give this blogging thing another try.

We have a few new things going on around here and someone out there just might find them interesting.

1. Whale Watching. Madeline and I have become Whale Watching Volunteers. So far it’s been very fun and a lot more interesting than we even thought it would be. For more information keep an eye on this blog or check here: http://www.whalespoken.org/ for the spring watch we will be stationed at Cape Disappointment on the southern tip of the Washington coast.

2. Business. I am just now in the process of signing on to be a HomeMaiden personal shopper. It’s a new company that uses the home party style of sales and I really like their stuff. If you’d like to know more about that, check here:http://www.homemaiden.com/ But don’t buy anything, wait until I’m signed up and then buy it from me!

3. Craft fair. Our swim club is having another craft fair and I am going to sell hoops. It’s going to be April 28th so I need to get those hoops going! So far all my hoops are decorated with electrical tape, but I’m going to try some spray paint and ribbons. I’ll let you know how it goes.

4. Baking. I have been the crazy baking woman lately. I’ve been making cookies, lemon bars and my usual breads. My focus is on pure ingredients. As much as possible everything is organically grown, not genetically modified and baked with out contacting aluminum. I have learned a few things along the way, but for the most part everything has been yummy! And I look rather fetching in my apron Amelia gave me for my birthday!

5. Barack Obama. I am totally excited about the Obama in ’08 candidacy. I really like him. In the years, decades that I have been old enough to vote I have never liked a candidate. I was going to say that I haven’t like one as well as I like Obama, but really I never have liked one at all. I have faithfully voted for the lesser of evils and usually the one I voted for didn’t win. But this time it’s really different. If the primaries come and go and he isn’t the nominee I’ll be beside myself.

Wow, five new things.

Peace,

Sharon

I have wondered if this was going to be successful, and I have had my doubts. This blog has had some challenges that I haven’t explained here. One is, I’m a fairly private person. And, I take other people’s concerns very seriously. I have wondered this about everyone with their myspace, live journal etc. They seem to share their personal lives and the lives of everyone they know. Right out there in view of everyone who wanders by. I have also seen people hurt by thing they read of a blog, I’m not going there.

If someone tells me about a deep struggle they are dealing with, that is what’s on my mind. But, I’m not going to blog about it.

All that being said, I am doing some interesting things lately and I will try to blog about those.

Sharon

That’s right ladies and gentlemen, the 2006 football world cup will begin on June 6th. It’s a funny thing about sports and this family. We don’t watch or participate in sports. I mean, not at all, when it comes to the Mariners, we find that we DON’T gotta love those guys. Most of us probably couldn’t tell you the dates of football or basketball season. But we do make two exceptions: the Olympics and the World Cup. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not even really the sports involved. We don’t watch skiing or swimming at other times. We would be unlikely to go out of our way to watch a soccer match unless we knew one of the players.

For us, maybe it’s not the sports involved in these events, it’s something more than that. Something about the international cooperation. I think it gives us hope for the world. Sure we find it exciting to watch the best in the world playing at their life long best. The enthusiasm is infectious. The the skill of the finely tuned and shaped bodies is like a fast, dirty, and sweaty ballet.

But deeper than that, knowing that there are people all over the world, we are reminded that the rest of the world is out there. They are cheering along in languages we don’t know and might not ever have heard of.

We cheer for teams who play well. Teams who are from countries we have a fondness for. Sometimes we cheer for teams we feel sorry for. The USA team is not one of the best, I think that’s something we like about the world cup too. It gives us a taste of what so many other people get everyday. Going into a competition without the cockiness of certainly. I’m proud of the American Soccer team because they seem to know what they are there for. They play hard and they lose a lot. I suspect most American groups wouldn’t do the same, that a great number of our military recruits wouldn’t dream of signing up if they didn’t expect to win.

The American soccer team goes in hoping to win, but know they are up against some very fine teams. They go in because they love soccer.

Anyway, It’s only six days away. I hope I get to see a lot of it.

Sharon