Bernie Sanders Tells It Like It Is

https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/sen-bernie-sanders-two-americas-people-vs-billionaires

I Learned Somethings I Didn't Know About Italians and Their Relationship With the Catholic Church

 I didn't know the history of the Italian Unification vis-a-vis Rome and the Vatican. I did have a strong sense of both the secularization of Italy and it's underlying Catholic morality and this video is quite informative about these complex issues. 

Even though I'm American-Italian and over 70, I relate to the group of those who have become secularized.

My Holiday E-mail

Greetings to You and Your Loved Ones:

Just a note to wish you all a Merry Christmas, Happy Chanukah, Season’s Greetings, Happy New Year, Winter Solstice    ….and to let you know that even though we did not send out cards this year, Leon and I are alive and well (enough). We Thank you for your Cards and Holiday Wishes.

AGE catching up to me, Leon’s busy WORK schedule, and the general STATE of AFFAIRS, has made us both less inclined to engage in the HOLIDAY RITUALS…so we are having a very minimalist Christmas this year.  Even many of those traditional cookies and foods are missing from our house! (we are enjoying other people’s cookies however) We’ve made donations to the homeless shelter, LGBTQ non-profits and other charitable causes in lieu of gifts. Much less stressful and more in keeping with the Spirit of the Season.

The often mindless frenzy of the season as promoted by commercialism has always struck me as rather profane and a source of existential angst. I often find even the expectations based on religious or cultural tradition to be sometimes a source of stress and guilt rather than a source of joy and peace.

But I’ve always been a outlier, a reluctant rebel, a contrarian, a sceptic, proudly gay and mostly “woke.” And perhaps in my OLD AGE I am beginning to own those parts of me along with the aches and pains. 

Don’t get me wrong, I am, we are, Leon and I, also so GRATEFUL for all that we have: we are not lacking any necessities (there's at least one too many vehicles in the driveway), we have great FRIENDS and RELATIVES (you among them), wonderful MEMORIES (Leon has more memories than I do!) and just our being together, and, here in New Mexico lots of SUNNY DAYS (although we had a freak snow before Thanksgiving - 12 inches - see photo above) .

In all of that we find our JOY and PEACE.

Wishing JOY and PEACE to You, too.

While this missive is mostly “FRANK” 

“LEON” sends his LOVE as well.

Frank and Leon

P.S. I do not have email addresses for every family member or friend. Please pass on our Greetings to your loved ones and friends.

Baking Day

I must have had a few good hours of sleep last night because I was industrious today.

I made a double batch of Jim's Apple Muffins today and Italian Bread.

Apple muffins: 

    1 1/2 cups grated (McIntosh) apples 

Mix together:

    1 egg 

    1/2 cup milk 

    1/4 cup Crisco (or canola) oil  

Add the above to 

    1 1/2 cups flour

    1 cup sugar (I use 3/4 cup)

    2 tsp. baking powder

    1/2 tsp. salt

    1/2 tsp cinnamon (and a dash of pumpkin spice)

Mix until all is moist and put into 12 large muffin tins (or 2 small loaf pans)

Topping: 1/3 cup chopped walnuts, 1/3 cup sugar

Sprinkle topping on each muffin before baking

Bake at 400 F for 25 to 30 minutes (a bit longer for loaf pans)

 

 

And then there's the bread. Because there is no good Italian bread in New Mexico. So I have to make my own at least every two weeks.

 

Water, yeast, sugar, salt, flour.  

 

It's all the same.... but oh so different depending on hydration (proportion of flour to water), rise time, oven temperature, steam. This was one of my best crusty, light texture breads yet. High hydration. I think it was about 70% or slightly higher. A very soft sticky dough. Like focaccia or ciabotta dough. 

Leon and I already ate half a loaf.

A Re-Post From April 2011 - Still Despicable

 Going through some old posts and relegatingthem to the Draft category...for reasons...came across this:

Friday, April 8, 2011

Republicans are Just Too Despicable

I don't often do "political" commentary, but this is one of those occasions.

The Republicans in Congress are just too despicable for words.  Their tactics are nothing short of extortion, holding America hostage to their narrow minded religious ideology and their dangerous objective of destroying any and all government programs that serve ordinary people and the poor.   Yet they insisted on keeping tax cuts for the wealthy - tax cuts that just about every sane and reasonable person views as not only illogical, but counter-productive.

What is so difficult about balancing a budget: it takes both spending cuts and increasing revenue.  The Republicans want to do it only by cutting spending.  It doesn't work.

When you think how the wealthy not only get richer by the minute off the backs of the working poor and middle classes (whoever they are) and are also siphoning off wealth/dollars from the general economy, it is no wonder that there's not enough cash to run the country.  Couple that with the Bush era spending on war - spending that did not go into our economy but instead drained it,  it's no wonder there's no money to run the country.

The wealth  of the super-wealthy for the most part contributes nothing to the economy - they're certainly not spending it at "Mom and Pop" stores, at Sears, or in any significant amounts on American goods and services.  They "amass wealth" and "amass more wealth" but put nothing back.

Even a child playing Monopoly (if they still do) can tell you that if one player gets all the money and all the property the game is OVER - everyone loses.  There's no more fun to be had.  The real object of Monopoly is that the game goes on and on.  Taking all the money is subversive.

And the super-wealthy in these times are more than greedy, they are truly subversive.  And the Republicans are like ass-kissers hoping to get their payoff from these untouchables - those who, no matter how bad things get - never get touched by hard times.  The Republicans are deluded and delusional.  They are too despicable for words and just as subversive.

May they get their just rewards.

4 comments:

Russ Manley said...

Oh come on Frank - tell us how you *really* feel.

Grin.

And the working people just keep on voting for the fascist theives, time and time again. I suppose on the principle that it's not rape if you enjoy it, eh? Because God knows they certainly aren't getting a dime's worth of benefit for all their seig-heiling, are they?

All that's lacking here is a charismatic leader with nationwide appeal. Pray it doesn't happen.

PS - If you have Netflix, try FDR: American Experience (PBS show). He was up against *exactly* the same bloated moneyed interests in his day too. Exactly the same stuff was going on. And even St. Roosevelt couldn't do all that much to fight them. Plus ca change . . . .

April 8, 2011 at 11:16 PM

 Stan said...

Great post! What makes the Republicans and especially the Teabaggers so despicable, is that they were willing to shut down the government just to get rid of Planned Parenthood and the Environmental Protection Agency so corporations can dump as much crap into our waters and air as much as they please.
And if your so against abortion, shouldn't you support an organization that provides contraception? They make no sense.
Your absolutely right about the budget. You cannot sustain an economy or anything for that matter without more revenues coming in.
The tax cuts that the rich in this country keep getting to amass their wealth just infuriates me to no end.
I live in the suburbs near where some of the Wall Street'ers that commute from here in Jersey to Manhattan and I see the cars they drive and the McMansions they live in here in Middlesex and down in Monmouth and Ocean counties. Towns like Holmdel and Colts Neck. Let me tell you it's let the good times roll for them!

April 9, 2011 at 7:18 AM

Anonymous said...

Oh, yes, I agree with you 1,000%

saludos,
raulito

April 9, 2011 at 7:49 AM

Moving with Mitchell said...

So right. A friend of mine just commented on facebook: "Remember when teachers, public employees, Planned Parenthood, NPR and PBS crashed the stock market, wiped out half of our 401Ks, took trillions in TARP money, spilled oil in the Gulf of Mexico, gave themselves billions in bonuses, and paid no taxes? Yeah, me neither."

April 12, 2011 at 11:53 PM

World AIDS Day 2024

 President and Jill Biden will host a display of portion of the AIDS Quilt on the White House lawn today in commemoration of World AIDS Day. Of course this will not be a prominent news story today, and we should expect that World AIDS Day will never be mentioned again by the incoming administration for the next four years. This is the only "news" story I can find today:

https://youtube.com/shorts/s89I_1av-Ak?si=I_QRNIfqHfWsy-gw

And this short video about the Quilt: 

 

HIV/AIDS was, perhaps the only disease to be totally ignored by government and even "celebrated" by those who considered gays, sex-workers, drug users and other minorities sinful, deserving of a deadly disease and dispensable. It was, perhaps the first politically charged epidemic. 

And while HIV/AIDS is now largely a manageable infection, the disease of homophobia, bigotry and hate still rages unchecked.