madranchwife

The Pentagon spent an average of $2 million a year on “toiletry paper products” between 2000 and 2010.  But that figure jumped to $130 million in 2012.

What gives?

Well, of that $130 million, roughly $58 million was spent on paper products with which one could conceivably wipe their little tush.  $2.7 million was spent on lightbulbs and $9.6 million on canning supplies.  With my measly little brain power I’m thinking this leaves roughly $50 million, give or take a few bucks, that’s simply lumped in with “toiletry paper products.”  Interesting.

Also something to ruminate on:  the biggest vendor of “toiletry paper products” for the Pentagon, and the government, was none other than Georgia-Pacific, or better known as Koch Industries.

Toilet paper.  The boys are in toilet paper.  I’m sure I could come up with something here if I tried hard enough.  However, as the latest Royal Edict of the land is starting to be enforced, I feel I should keep all comments out of the toilet.

Bathroom humor is not one of my fortes anyway.

Though did you know this?  Vietnam soldiers were issued 19 squares a day to take care of their daily business.  19.  Interesting.

OK, maybe toiletry paper products isn’t something you’re keen on knowing about.  How about this tidbit?

One F-35 Joint Strike Fighter costs $137 million.  Or roughly 42 million cupcakes at an average of $3.25 per cupcake.  (We’re talking gourmet, buy-them-by-the-half-dozen and have-them-all-wrapped-up-with-a-bow kind of cupcakes.  All the rage.  There’s even a baking cupcake reality show.  Seriously.  But I digress.)

The Pentagon spent $1 million in 2012 on blood/blood products and $85 million on tobacco products.  I’m having a tough time with this one.  I really am.

Oh, and if you’re going to cry foul cause I’m a pinko liberal dissing on the United States military, take a look at Senator John McCain’s comments about the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.  He calls it “one of the great national scandals that we have ever had, as far as the expenditure of taxpayers’ dollars are concerned.”  Last time I checked Senator McCain was a healthily red Republican.  Nothing liberal about him.

I could go on and on.  I’m getting all the information for this here post from an article written by Dave Gilson for the Jan/Feb 2014 issue of Mother Jones.  The article is replete with example after example of the money spent by the Pentagon on things that make you go ‘hmmmm.’  I highly recommend it.

And on that note, I’m off to dreamland.

Ice skating.  Sunshine.  Peppermint mocha in a “festive cup” as Gracelyn says.  And then a gorgeous sunset of pink and orange against the baby blue sky, followed by a big, bright moon hanging over Steamboat’s ski runs.  Gracelyn was sure she saw the man in the moon tonight it was so clear.

It really doesn’t get much better than this.

Blessings be on you and yours.

(The link below takes you to a lovely song that Gracelyn and I listened to after leaving the skating “rink”…”Pretty Day” by Edie Brickell and Paul Simon.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oGTZ7INVpdM

From a site called Forward Progressives (yes, I know, imagine that).http://www.forwardprogressives.com/10-questions-every-liberal-should-ask-every-republican/

Ten questions to ask a Republican

1) If Republicans are so fiscally responsible, why was President Eisenhower (in the 1950′s) the last Republican president to balance the budget? 

2) If President Reagan was such a fiscally conservative hero, why did he quadruple our national debt during his eight years in the White House?

3) If tax breaks are the main driving force behind job creation, how would we create jobs once tax rates were reduced to practically zero?

4) If socialized health care is so awful, why does every country that leads the world in life expectancy have socialized health care?

5) If you support the freedom of religion (as per our Constitution), and my church recognizes gay marriage, isn’t your support for the banning of same-sex marriage an attack on my religion’s First Amendment rights? 

6) What’s more realistic?  1) That an entire region of the United States that supported slavery in the late-1800′s and supported segregation in the 1950′s and 60′s suddenly stopped being racist, or 2) The racist southern Democrats in the south became Republicans during the 50′s and 60′s when the Republican party shifted toward an idea called the “Southern Strategy,” where the GOP appealed to the racism in southern whites who didn’t like African Americans voting for Democrats. 

7) If taxes are at some of their lowest levels in history, and the wealthiest in this country are richer than ever, why hasn’t the growth in the wealth of the middle class matched that of the top 2%? 

8) If our Founding Fathers wanted this nation to be based on Christianity, why don’t the words “Christian” or “Christianity” appear even once in our Constitution?

9) If a Republican president reduced massive job losses in the midst of the worst recession in nearly a century by more than 50% in his first 4 months in office; presided over 44 consecutive months of private-sector job growth creating nearly 8 million jobs; killed Osama bin Laden; saw stock markets reach all-time highs; saved the American auto industry; increased domestic oil production to highs not seen since the late-90′s and championed the largest year-to-year deficit reductions since World War II, would your party not be calling him a hero and a legend? 

10)  If Jesus spent his life helping the poor and the needy, how does it make sense that a party which claims to be for “Christian values” continues to cut funding for programs that help the poor and the needy?

My personal favorites would, of course, be #’s 2, 8, 9 and 10.  Number 2 because anything that helps to “tear down the myth” of Ronald Reagan is A-OK in my book.  Number 8 because this is a topic that simply befuddles me on a daily basis.  In fact, not too long ago I read a letter to the editor of a nearby town stating that we (meaning the United States of America) were a Christian nation based upon the Bible.  Seriously.  She was completely serious.  I had to call my mother and ask her if perhaps somehow I had missed the message all these years.  And maybe, somehow, I learned my American Government incorrectly.  I was truly stymied for a bit.  It sort of felt like a Marty McFly moment.  Like I’d woken up in some alternate universe and what I believed to be true was actually not.  Thank the Universe my mother is a history teacher for one thing and for another was able to bring me back down to the surface of the earth.  She, in fact, laughed at the letter to the editor I read to her.  As in…found it amusing.  I was a bit troubled as they were actually debating the use of a certain history curriculum in the school district.  (Yes, the history curriculum being sought was one that insisted upon the whole “government based on the bible thing.”  Mind boggling.  I mean, forget about the fact that no where in the Constitution is Christianity mentioned at all and specific references are frequently made to separation of church and state by one of the Founding Fathers.  Oy vey.  I’ve done it again and digressed to the point of babbling and my blood pressure is rising and there you have it.)

Anyway, I like #8.

And then of course #9 as this is such a valid point.  If a Republican president had achieved what President Barack Obama has achieved, he’d (I’m assuming the male version here…) be lauded as a hero of the modern day world.

And then finally, #10.  Cause I swear that the umpteen bazillion catechism lessons I sat through, not to mention the umpteen bazillion and one masses I attended, in my most formative years ALL discussed passages from the bible in which Jesus is telling pretty much anyone who will listen to, and I paraphrase here, “feed the hungry, clothe the naked, shelter the homeless, etc, etc, etc.”  Seems the Jesus I was introduced to wasn’t an intolerant man, but rather one who spoke about treating others as you would have them treat you.  I’m just sayin’.

Methinks the esteemed Pope Francis might just be trying to emphasize that point.

AH!!!  On the subject of that breath of fresh air in the Vatican…did you see where he was named “Person of the Year” by TIME magazine.  Seems I’m not the only one who thinks he is one cool cat.  You go Pope Francis!!  (I secretly wonder what he has to say about some Fox News bimbo newscaster stating that Jesus and Santa are white and we should just deal with it.  I’m just saying.)

And that, my dear friends, is my two cents on the partisan front tonight.

Grace.

But for the grace of God go I.

Amazing Grace.

The inspiration for my daughter’s name.

Or this:

“Grace doesn’t depend on suffering to exist, but where there is suffering you will find grace in many facets and colors.”

From a book I’m rereading, that never fails to take my breath away.  And each time I read it I find something new to marvel at.  I highly suggest this book to anyone on a journey.  It is though, definitely not for the faint of heart, and took me three years before I could get past chapter two.  The Shack, by Wm. Paul Young.  Transformative.

I shouldn’t do this, I know.  I shouldn’t immediately write something because the words might be harsh, so quickly tumbling out of my brain and onto the page.

But I can’t stop them.  Only because I am so painfully aware of the passage of one year, tomorrow, from the unspeakable horror of Newtown, Connecticut.  A day in which 26 families lost one of their own in a way that is completely unfathomable.  The heavens gained 26 angels, but at what cost to those here, still walking the earth.

And so today, another shooting incident.  By the grace of God, there was only one death.  The death of the gunman.  But can you imagine the complete terror the parents must have felt as they learned of an incident at the school their children attend?  Can you imagine the sheer horror racing through their minds as they raced themselves to the scene?  I cannot.  I simply cannot.

And so I ask, what is it going to take?  More blustering by the N.R.A.?  More bloviating by those absolutely certain that the President is going to “take away all of our guns”?  This isn’t about the right to bear arms.  It has to do with living in a society, safe and secure in the knowledge that our children can go to school and the parents can not live in fear for their lives.

And don’t give me the b.s. about “guns don’t kill people, people do.”  Baloney.  Absolute, unmitigated, cockamamie baloney.

I will wrap my arms around my little living angel tonight, and thank the stars and the Universe and the Great Spirit, the Great Is, the Great Mystery, God, Allah, you name it, for her life.  I will pray for the strength and the courage and the wisdom to do my utmost to protect her from the evil that walks among us.  And should I fail in my endeavors, I pray for the will to carry on.  As I will pray for those 26 families in Newtown; as I will pray for the family of the student who died today.  For he was someone’s son.  And that hurts my heart.

I’m a bit late with this, but the thoughts have been circulating in the old cranium, so I figured I better get them out so I can be prepared for the next onslaught of “current events.”

Do you remember doing that in school?  I think it was Social Studies with Mrs.—oh criminy.  I cannot remember her name.  Well, I remember her first name.  It was Shirley.  And she wore a blonde wig.  And my classmates were convinced she had posed for Playboy as a centerfold in her past.  (Playboy seemed all the rage back then.  The troublesome kids bragged about it.  The daring wanna-be-troublesome kids tried to hang with them.  The completely-clueless-and-never-will-have-a-clue kids just wondered what the heck everyone was going on and on about.  What’s a centerfold?  Is that like a centerpiece?  Yes, I was what one might call a tad bit naïve.  Which is not necessarily a bad thing.  There are certain topics that are simply not necessary for people of that age………..in my very humble opinion.  And since this is my blog, and I’m babbling about the things in my life, I get to state my opinion.  And if you don’t like it—my opinion OR my blog for that matter—then get on yer’ horse cowboy and ride off into the sunset.  Don’t be hangin’ around here bitchin’ about what you read.  Noone’s holding a gun to yer head makin’ ya click on this page.  There.  I’ve said my piece.)

Now, as usual, I digress.

Where was I?  Ah yes.  Mrs. Shirley………….KLINGINSMITH!!!!!  Ah ha!  I got it.  I am NOT losing my marbles after all.  Eighth grade Social Studies teacher.   Whew.  I’ve still got it after all.

Anyhoo.  We had to find an article from the newspaper, cut it out, staple it to a page of looseleaf notebook paper and write about it.  It was called “Current Events” and happened every Friday I think.  Or was it Monday?  I’m going to let that one go.  I’ve done my mental memory gymnastics for the morning and remembered her name.

The paper in those days was the Greeley Tribune.  And let me tell you–that was a newspaper.  Lots of pages.  A columnist to make your sides ache after you read him (Mike Peters, man he was good).  And big, heavy newspaper pages.  It was really “reading the paper.”  Have you seen it these days?  Sheesh.  The pages are almost cut in half width-wise.  The paper is flimsy.  There are more pictures than words.  And it’s nearly as thin as the daily Steamboat Springs paper.  What gives?

Progress, you say.  Changing times, you say.   Bah humbug, I say.  Bring back the old days.  I like a heavy, beefy newspaper to spread out and crinkle while you’re trying to make it easier to get to the next page to follow the story.  I want Mike Peters.  Those were the days when the school lunch menu for the week was printed on Sunday.  The TV guide was also there, for each day/night!!  Course, and I’m dating myself here, that was before the advent of cable.  And lord love a duck but now there’s satellite (and god knows what else…I’m frightfully out of the loop up here, on the side of a mountain, in the middle of nowhere) and umpteen bazillion channels to choose from.  No wonder that’s not in the paper anymore.

Good grief Charlie Brown.  I’ve done it again.  I digressed to the state of the newspaper today.

OK.  Let me get my marbles all lined up again and see if I can remember what I needed to empty out of the braincase.

Ah yes, current events that are perhaps a day or two old.

First and foremost, in the category of “DID HE REALLY JUST SAY THAT???”

~Pope Francis mentioned something or other about the economy and the need to take care of the poor and…wait for this folks….TRICKLE-DOWN ECONOMICS DOESN’T WORK!!! I truly love this guy.  I loved him when he was first voted in as the new Pope.  I loved him the next day when he eschewed the hotel suite and stayed in the hostel.  I loved him when I heard he went to the desk to pay his own bill.  I loved him when I read he had no need of the red shoes, nor the papal suite in the Vatican, instead choosing a spartan apartment.  But now I REALLY love this guy, because he’s calling like it is.  No duh the trickle-down economics doesn’t work.  It hasn’t worked in years.  I’m not sure if it ever worked.  Sorry Ronnie.  It wasn’t a good idea then.  It isn’t a good idea now.  Thank you Pope Francis.

(Now, that was a paraphrase of his words.  I’m waiting to purchase a copy of his entire manuscript to see what other gems he has hidden in there.  I think this Pope will revolutionize the Catholic church.  I feel I have just the tiniest bit of authority to write on this as I was raised in the Catholic church.  I know of what I speak when I say that the church must come forward into the 21st century or risk becoming a monolith of the past.  Again, my opinion, my blog…yada, yada, yada.)

~Nelson Mandela.  I will say I must have missed this part.  The part about how the conservatives in this country are all torqued about the tributes being paid to Mr. Mandela.  The part about him being branded a terrorist by the United States due to his association with the ANC.  I need to do a bit more research to ferret out the details of that, but I’m wondering why the United States felt it necessary to ignore the native people of South Africa and side with a bunch of wealthy, white landowners.  Oh, I think I answered my own question there.  Hmmmm, things to ponder.  Whatever.  A great man has died.  A man who said things such as this, “As I walked out the door toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I didn’t leave my bitterness and hatred behind, I’d still be in prison.”  Doesn’t quite sound like a terrorist to me, but then what do I know?

~This just out:  President Obama shook the hand of Raul Castro at the service for Nelson Mandela.  Right wing talking heads to explode in 3-2-1.  Perhaps, maybe, I’m just sayin’, the atmosphere at a service for a man who was imprisoned for 27 years who then spoke about leaving bitterness and hate behind was a sign that peace is the ultimate goal.  Peace and love and compassion and kindness.  It was a kind gesture.  Leave it at that.  Because then he went on, in his speech at the service, to condemn those countries who deny their inhabitants basic human rights.  So see, the man (President Obama) is not stupid.  He knows what he’s doing.

~Seems there’s some ice and snow in parts of the country that usually have ice in their drinks and see snow when they watch “White Christmas.”  I do feel bad for them, and I am in no way, shape, or form making fun of them.  Not knowing how to deal with sheets of ice on the road, when you’ve never driven on it before, is downright frightening.  Hopefully their lives get back to normal sometime soon, and there can be eggs and bread and milk back in the grocery stores.  I went to the store in Laramie last night and was grateful as I loaded my basket with food to eat.  How fortunate are we?

There were some other ‘current events’ that begged my attention, but as the swirling in the skull has slowed to a manageable intensity, I find I must turn to the next order of business.  School.  We’re late already (of course, we’re always late getting started) and we need to bake a bazillion Christmas cookies this afternoon.  So…on to the land of Ancient Rome, spelling, vocabulary (Latin word roots), the 34th president and maybe exploding some more crystals in the chemistry lab a.k.a. my kitchen.  (See pictures below of the latest experiment.  I recommend you do try this at home–super fun.)

OH YES!  I just remembered.  Thomas Jefferson!!!  Actually, this will have to wait.  There’s so much to say there and I’m already getting twitchy looking at the word count for this post.  So more on that at a later day.

My cup runneth over tonight and I drink from the saucer….of love, of joy, of the miracles and blessings in my life.

I heard that from a speaker many years ago and I did not understand what exactly she meant.  The context of her words led me to believe that it had something to do with her life (the cup) and all of the goodness and joy in it overflowing and spilling out (running over) and in order to experience all of it she was soaking it up from the saucer.  That’s really the only way I could interpret that.   At the time, my life was far from brimming over with wonderfulness.  Or blessings.  And definitely, definitely not J-O-Y.   I hated that word.  (And I think “hate” is a strong word and try not to use it.)  But I could not stand J-O-Y.  I could not stomach J-O-Y-F-U-L people.  I could not handle the mention of the word.  My world at that time was colorless, bleak.  I saw shades of black and grey–and happy people annoyed me.  I could not see what on earth there was to be all “HAPPY, HAPPY, JOY, JOY” about.  That seemed like a waste of time to me.  An exercise in futility.  A trip down a dead-end road, into the greyish black nothingness of despair.

Wow, what a horrid, depressing picture that paints.  Sometimes I need to go back to that time to be able to appreciate how far I have come.  It was, thankfully, many, many, many years ago.  And suddenly, after much work, after much listening, after much talking to the Big Kahuna in the Universe, a Power so much Greater than myself, a miracle happened in my life.  It wasn’t subtle either.  It was a gargantuous, cataclysmic, spectacular, eye-popping explosion of color!  Suddenly my life was a multitude of the most gorgeous hues, and I began to experience the faintest glimmer of what that woman was speaking about.  I began to feel J-O-Y bubbling up from my soul.  It was a beautiful, glorious feeling that I wanted to shout from the mountain tops.  I wanted to proclaim to all who would listen that there really is such a thing in this world–that J-O-Y really does exist.

My life has been lived in technicolor since then with layer upon layer of the most vivid shades woven together into a supremely rich tapestry.  The tapestry of my life, threaded through with strands of happiness and joy.

Tonight I experienced the brimming over of the cup of my life.  A tiny bubble of J-O-Y started growing yesterday morning and tonight it erupted, causing my cup to truly runneth over.  The blessings in my life continue to amaze and delight me, and I find I am happily drinking from the saucer.  I don’t want to miss a single drop.  It is intoxicating.  I don’t know how else to describe it.  I am full to the brim with gratitude for what has been bestowed upon me.  My fervent hope is that I may be an example, for those I would meet, of the embodiment of JOY.

What, say you, caused your cup to spill over?

Dinner with an old friend, say I.    A dear, dear friend whom I have missed for so long.

“Think where man’s glory both begins and ends.  And say my glory was I had such friends.”  (WB Yeats)

May blessings be for you and yours.

I first encountered this magnificent piece of prose 13 years ago and to this day, it sings to my soul.

The “Desiderata”   by Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.  As far as possible without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.  Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even the dull and ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit.  If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.  Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.

Keep interested in  your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.  Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of trickery.  But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself.  Especially, do not feign affection.  Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.  Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.  But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.  Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.  Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself.

You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.  And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.

With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.  Be cheerful.  Strive to be happy.

The Desiderata.  Simply beautiful I think.

My favorite parts:

~Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.

~Speak your truth quietly and clearly.

~Avoid loud and aggressive persons, they are vexatious to the spirit.

~You are a child of the universe…you have a right to be here.  And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.

~Therefore be at peace with God…keep peace with your soul.

~With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.

I shall continue to try to walk placidly amid the noise and haste.  And to the best of my ability avoid the aggressive people I encounter as they are truly vexatious to my spirit.  Be gone oh vexatious ones!  I am a child of the universe with every right to be here!

Our history lesson was redirected yesterday to instead read about Mr. Nelson Mandela, his extraordinary life, his journey, his courage, his triumphs.  I regret it occurred in relation to the announcement of his death, but sadly, life is not meant to be lived forever.  All good things must end, as all giants of men must breathe their last breath.

We could learn much from this man I think.

And finally, something I read tonight:

“A man is not complete who believes his advancement depends on crushing others—

Or who worries about matters that cannot be altered—

Or who insists that a thing is impossible because he has not been able to do it.

That man is short of wisdom who cannot put aside his ordinary routine in order to refresh his mind with rest, change and meditation.

He needs much help who thinks he can compel others to do what seems right to him.”   (Anonymous)

No truer words were spoken.

This just in:

The Princessa of all Princessas has just issued a new Royal Edict stating that henceforth, forevermore, from now until eternity, the proper terms shall be used for bodily eliminations.  Meaning, in plain and most definitely not the Queen’s English, the terms “pee” and “poop” are no longer allowed in this Royal Realm.

In other words, “urination” and “defecation” are to be employed when it becomes necessary to actually use them in a sentence.  God forbid that should occur, but there are some things that simply cannot be avoided.

As in:  “MOM, the dog needs to go outside to urinate!  NOW!”

Or:  “MOM!!!  I think the dog just defecated.”

Get my drift?

Oh the joys of living with an almost seven year old intent on perfect grammar and use of the English language.

So, be forewarned should you have the opportunity to set foot in our humble abode.  Nothing but proper terminology here.

Because, as the Princessa of all Princessas says, royalty does NOT say “pee” and “poop.”

Royal Edicts can be so entertaining, can they not?