Sunday Morning XXIX

Interesting, is it not? A critter can have the most beautiful plummage in the universe, have the best house in the neighborhood, have the greatest toys in the world, but if it gives not love, it has nothing at all.

It's cloak of inner ugliness is so tightly drawn about itself that other's eyes can discern no outward beauty.

It bites and pecks. Refusing the love genuinely offered until finally it has created only emnity. It's sharp beak shreds the fabric of affection offered from a sincere heart, until nothing remains but distrust; the blood it draws congeals and jellies into hatred.

The plainer critter, who nests in your heart, is better loved.

This then is the true challenge of life. To find it in your own heart, at the end of the day, to love the unlovely.
Chae

Military Parts Takeover

First the harbors, now it's the defense plants. Does this man, President Bush, never get it right?

It was announced today that Bush approved the contract for a Dubai-owned company to take control of some US manufacturing plants. No harm there, eh? Well now, hold on a minute, partner. These plants manufacture parts for our military.

Remember back in previous wars when our soldiers were being slain with weapons stamped "Made in the USA"? Well, this rates right up there with that. Our GI's pull the trigger. The gun misfires. The parts? Stamped: "Made by Dubai Manufacturing".

There's more than one way to kill the turkey for the Thanksgiving meal.

I would love to give you the particulars on this transaction, but even after a diligent search, there wasn't much information to find. Alas. Alack. Not the name of the company making the purchase, not the location, nor how many defense plants were in question. Is this another hush-hush deal? Is the administration trying to slide it by on the QT so Bush's remaining 39-percent approval rating doesn't drop to say ― zero?

One has to ask the obvious question: Has it occurred to the Bush regime to QUESTION WHY the United Arab Emirates ― suddenly ― has such an active interest in acquiring contracts to control our harbors and to manufacture our defense parts? What is their motivation?

If President Bush is gungho to pacify the arabs of the United Arab Emirate, it would behoove him to give away a restaurant or two. Perhaps, a cattle ranch in Texas. One of the "everything is bigger in Texas" variety.

Giving away major defense installations or manufacturing plants which compromise our national security should never be an option.
Military Parts Takeover © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan

Speaking Of Codes

A judge indulging in a flight of magistrative caprice and cryptological fancy? How fun!

Doesn't it seem, suddenly, that we are living in a day and age of dungeons and dragons? In that light, it seems quite normal that Justice Peter Smith should encode a cryptic message in his 71-page ruling of the "Da Vinci Code" copyright case. The judge named his coded message the "Smithy Code".

Wearing long flowing robes and heavy wigs while issuing ponderous judgements of weighty cases must get boring after the first few years. So one can easily see the mischievious boy peeking out of Justice Smith's personality when he makes up his own code and encrypts it in the ruling to, as the Justice says, "have a bit of fun".

After hearing the "Da Vinci" case, Justice Smith left for vacation in Florida where a reporter contacted him by telephone and asked questions about the newly discovered code encrypted in the ruling.

Meanwhile, back in London, Justice Smith's legal partner, Daniel Tench, who is with the law firm Olswang, noticed an irregularity in the ruling. Something mysterious about the typeface caught his attention. Tench noticed that some letters in the first 13½ pages appear in boldface italics while the rest of these letters are printed in regular roman letters.

Justice Smith, however, isn't divulging the secret to unraveling his code. It is reported that he said, "I can't discuss the judgement until after I retire".

Puzzling as that may be, as an American, I find the complexity of obtaining a copy of the 71-page ruling a baffling problem in and of itself. I'd like to have a go at solving the Smithy riddle but it'll be a tough nut to crack without the paperwork.
Speaking Of Codes © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan

Last Ditch Sales

He was a great hulking man who had fleas. Big men attract big fleas so even this man's fleas had fleas and, one suspects, their fleas had fleas also.

This enormous man had a large sign on his front lawn which read "Lots For Sale" and with the real estate market being so tight, many people knocked on his door to inquire about the price.

As the big man opened the door his cloud of fleas would swarm the newcomer and the giant fellow's standard reply was: "The fee for the free fleas is two for the price of one but it's really the flea spray you'll be wanting to buy. It's $12.95 a bottle and, not to worry, we have lots for sale".

Some merchants will do anything for a sale, so beware of flea marketers who give you louse-y deals.
Last Ditch Sales © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan

The Remarkable Mary McCarthy

OK. So . . . the lot plickens!

Last night, as I watched Jim Lehrer's news show, I listened to Ray McGovern, former CIA analyst who very ably defended Mary McCarthy. It sounded as if McCarthy had already been accused of leaking classified documents, and by McGovern's very defense of her actions, it sounded as if she had already accepted culpability for the leak.

I was impressed with McGovern as a straight shooter who is well informed about the players in this McCarthy drama, namely: former CIA Director George Tenet, CIA Inspector General John Helgersen, former CIA chief counter-terrorism official Cofer Black, current Director Porter Goss and, of course, Mary McCarthy, herself.

The key point that McGovern made last night with Jim Lehrer, echoed this morning in an Alternet article, was summed up with the idea that the American people should be given the chance to know that torture, other indignities, rendition and kidnapping people for the purpose of transporting them secretly to undisclosed prisons, is being done in the name of the American people. That's in the name of you and me, folks.

All that being said, this morning both the New York Times and the Washington Post carried a story, re: Fired CIA Officer Denies Role in Leak in which McCarthy's lawyer Ty Cobb, speaking on Mary's behalf, stoutly maintains that she categorically denies leaking classified information to the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist, Dana Priest, at the Washington Post who broke the CIA prison story. Evidently, although fired from her position with the CIA, McCarthy has not been indicted.

One could easily suspect Karl Rove's sneaky hand in this evilly Machiavellian plot to discredit the 61-year-old McCarthy whose retirement, after a long and honorable career, had already been processed! It was to be effective in ten days! Yet, before it could occur, this scheming contrivance of firing her was enacted by Bush's Bullies.

It is typical Bush regime strategy to blacken the sterling character of honorable citizens. By stealthily focusing the heat on honest brokers, the stench of their own dastardly deeds is camouflaged.

I've never personally met Mary McCarthy. But I'd like to. I'd like to shake her hand and thank her for a job well done. And, like Ray McGovern, thank her for being an "unusually courageous officer willing to take considerable personal risk in order to help democracy work".
The Remarkable Mary McCarthy © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan

Extended Family

Have I mentioned that big critters intimidate Pasha? She's quite a feisty little Yorkie when it's just she and me, yet cats and large dogs cause her to roll over and extend her legs straight up in the air in the classic dead-man's pose. This gives her a backache.

By nature, writers have a quiet disposition. We are not prone to noisy chatter, nor a lot of time spent rough-housing. So, sometimes, Pasha feels ignored.

She needs a companion. Someone who is smaller than she is and who will keep her occupied when I am writing.

And that's exactly how the parakeet became a resident of our household. I figured he'd make an excellent friend for Pash. Once he adjusted to his new home, that is.

Except, there was one small problem.

Kalani, the new parakeet didn't adjust. He sat in the bottom of his cage which was filled with expensive toys, pricey food and treats, and mourned the loss of his pet store friends.

It was obvious. He needed a companion.

Which is exactly how Ben, the parrot became a resident of our household. If Ben's raucous squawks are to be believed, he's happy here. Kalani perked up immediately after Ben made his entrance. And Pasha? Seems to be in dog heaven.

There is a new status quo now and a different family dynamic. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out.
Extended Family © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan

Sunday Morning XXVIII

The world is as big or as small as we conceive it to be.

It expands or contracts just as we do. When we are happy and joyous, full of song and good feelings about others -- it expands.

When we are filled with anger, it contracts.

If we knew anger as the limitor, the contractor of our world, and saw that it is the pinpoint of emotion which blots out every joyful experience and keeps us locked in a small, cramped space, wouldn't we find a method to release this negative emotion before it destroys our very existence?

The world is a feast laid out for our enjoyment. Why not leave anger on the doorstep? Come in and join the party.
Chae

Bush Kicks The Puppydog

Never thought I'd hear myself say it, but I felt sorry for Scott McClellan yesterday when he tendered his resignation. "I have given it my all," he said, the pathos of anguish resonating from his voice. "I have given you my all, Mr. President."

And all who heard his voice knew McClellan had done just that: He gave everything he had, right down to his shoelaces and the holes in his socks.

McClellan defended his president against all comers with a loyalty fierce to see.

I didn't particularly like Scott McClellan. He resembled one of those people who eat fish on Fridays and then brag pompously about their sanctity as if that could whitewash the lies they told all week long.

Yet, it's the same when any travesty occurs, one's heart goes out to the victim. And Scott McClellan was definately a victim. Fall guy for an administration gone bad where the major players must remain in place to preserve the illusive image of integrity.

McClellan's misplaced loyalty was expendable.

The look of betrayal which slid across his features drooped like a hounddog's jowls questioning, "What more could I have done?"

Nothing Scott. You could have done nothing more. You perjured your soul straight into Dante's Inferno "trying your all" to accomplish the unaccomplishable. You cannot make cheese cake from rancid gravy.

What do you want to bet that McClellan was hoodwinked by the old Robin Hood gag: honor among thieves and all that balderdash. One only has to examine the principle of the matter to realize there can be no honor among the corrupt. It is an oxymoron like trying to find truth in a lie.

Folks with a more discerning eye than McClellan's, saw quite a while back that Bush and his regime are not the eagles of a proud democracy but are the clay pidgeons of a society ripe for totalitarian plucking.
Bush Kicks The Puppydog © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan

Sockular Lumination

You've got to admit the little bugger was clever. Who would have believed it could be done at all? Let alone done by a chap only ten-years-old.

The boyo had dismembered a light bulb. Not broken it, mind you. But he'd managed to separate the glass section from the metal base and was now proceeding to stick a sock into the hollow glass bulb. As I watched, he put the whole apparatus back together again and screwed the bulb into the living room lamp from whence it came.

"Say, old chap, do you have an explanation for this?" I asked.

"Yeah."

After several minutes, when nothing more was forthcoming, I probed a bit further. "Would you like to tell me what it is?"

"Well, Mom was shouting at me to put a sock in it."

"And . . . ?"

"She really wants to act on stage, you know, so figured if I rigged her up some footlights maybe she wouldn't be so mad at me."

"Um hum." Nodding sagely as if that indeed was the ticket, I stuck my hands in my pockets and wandered off.
Sockular Lumination © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan

Raising The Temperature

Trying to lay my fingertips on stuff that's in storage five hundred miles away is a real pain. Information like the notes taken a year or so ago from a Nova show on PBS about earth's interior changes.

This science documentary accounted nicely for the perceived illusion of global warming and explained in detail what changes are occurring in the earth's core. At the end of the documentary, I remember thinking: Ah Ha! So THAT's the scoop. The ocean's are heating up from the inside out, not from global warming.

This Nova science documentary made an excellent case for the point of view that as the earth's axis rotates, the earth's core experiences additional internal heat . . . which is normal.

Since this theory confirmed my hunch that all this hype about greenhouse gases is much ta-do about nothing, I haven't paid much attention to the current scare tactics floating around the universe re: global warming.

However, Al Gore feels passionately enough about the dangers of the greenhouse effect and global warming to creat the film, "An Inconvenient Truth".

According to Richard Cohen in the New York Daily News this morning, 75 minutes of this 80 minute long cinematic version of Gore's global warming lectures are riveting, captivating and so effective they are nightmare material, full of drowning polar bears and a flooded Calcutta, New York and Florida producing millions of evacuees.

Cohen, a syndicated columnest for the Washington Post and a four-time honorable-mention winner in Pulitzer Prize competitions, makes an excellent case for both Gore's film and, also, for Gore himself as a presidential candidate in the 2008 elections.

Cohen deftly switched the focus of the film review from what he describes as a boring topic of global warming to progressive scientific attitudes which he then related to Bush's lack of mental acuity in regards to scientific progress. The transition was subtle and cleverly executed.

While I agree with most of the statements Cohen expresses in this article, it is my opinion that Al Gore, the master-teacher and pedagogue, is a much better choice than Al Gore, the president.

Greenhouse gases and global warming? You know, it absolutely, positively couldn't hurt a thing to reduce carbon-based economy dependency, replace and replenish forests, and regulate industry emissions in accordance with clean-air standards.
Raising The Temperature © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan

Step Down Mr. R

The fact that six generals would go beyond a long-standing muzzle code to break the silence and publically call for Defense Secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld's resignation is a sweeping indictment of the Bush administration.

Military career personnel believe they are a unique culture unto themselves and they exercise a credo that expressly prohibits expressing political beliefs outside of military channels. Major General John Batiste recently summed the attitude up in an interview on Jim Lehrer's PBS news show: "There are times that you're told to do things that you don't agree with and you're given an opportunity to rebut, to give reasons why it shouldn't be that way. And at the end of the day, you either salute and execute or you make a decision to retire and resign; that's the way it is. There's always that dialogue."

All six of these retired generals have sacraficed promising careers rather than salute and execute orders which are fundamentally a misuse of power and are inherently wrong. Let us all stand and salute the integrity of: Major General John Batiste, Lieutenant General Gregory Newbold, Major General Paul D. Eaton, General Anthony C. Zinni, Major General John Riggs and Major General Charles H. Swannack Jr. While we are saluting let's include: former Army Chief of Staff General Eric K. Shinseki, former Army secretary Thomas E. White, and General Wesley Clark.

Lieutenant General Greg Newbold's recent statement in a Time magazine article expresses what many active and retired officers feel: "The consequence of the military's quiescence was that a fundamentally flawed plan was executed for an invented war, while pursuing the real enemy, al-Qaeda, became a secondary effort."

These officers had to retire in order to speak out and they are calling for Rumsfeld's resignation for these reasons:

Rumsfeld is the chief architect of this misguided and flawed Iraq war

He ignored the tactical judgements of experienced military commanders and directly opposed their views

Which leaves the military to cope with the consequesnces of successive policy failures; including:

a) distortion of intelligence in the buildup to the war

b) micromanagement by civil authorities (or in this case authority) which prevented our forces from having the resources needed to do the job and

c) alienation of allies who could have helped rebuild Iraq

In essence, when Rumsfeld forced the resignation of the then, Army Chief of Staff General Eric Shinseki a month before the 2003 invasion for expressing a truthful assessment of the required amount of troops needed for a successful occupation of Iraq, he effectively forced the resignation of all officiating and desenting military personnel who operate by a code of ethics rather than by Rumsfeld's code of lawless dishonesty the effects of which have murdered more than 2360 American citizens needlessly

These generals feel a sense of betrayal by the nation's leaders who are ignorant and casual about war; nation's leaders who have mismanaged the conduct of it, and who have ordered the march of troops to an ill-considered engagement resulting in their slaughter.

Former NATO commander General Wesley Clark told Fox news: "It's more than appropriate (for these generals to speak out), it's their responsibility. I believe Rumsfeld hasn't done an adequate job. He should go."

It's highly unlikely that the chief architect of this senseless Iraq war, who also engineered the torture plans at Abu Ghraib, will abdicate his position of power voluntarily.

To expect the corrupt to act honorably is an exercise of the witless.

What is needed is for more generals to step outside of their self-imposed "culture" and speak out adamantly requesting Rumsfeld's resignation before he can do more harm to America.
Step Down Mr. R © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan

Sunday Morning XXVII

Today is Easter.
Christ is Risen.

Let's be Joyous and Celebrate.
Chae

End Of An Era

Guess, by now, everyone's heard of Katie Couric of NBC's Today show which boasted 1.3 million more viewers than its rival ABC's Good Morning America. And, by now, everyone knows about Couric's major career move from NBC to CBS where she will be the first woman to anchor a US network weekday evening newscast.

The question is: can the pretty 49-year-old diva, who has achieved superstar status, who has also earned the reputation of being a perky personality, do more than "host" the CBS news show? Can she deliver the news?

Leslie Moonves, top honcho of the CBS network, is not bragging about Couric's journalistic abilities nor her capabilities to report the news. Moonves is talking about her as if she's a mere superstar whose stardom will draw a crowd. He also speaks of Couric as a "host" of the evening news. What is Moonves thinking? That the evening news has no more credibility than a game show?

Couric is replacing Bob Schieffer who, 14-months ago, stepped into CBS's anchor position, replacing the controversal Dan Rather.

Schieffer had the credentials, the experience and the expertise to offer top-notch reporting. He is one of the few broadcast journalists to have covered all four major beats in the Capital: the White House, the Pentagon, the State Department and Capitol Hill.

In an interview on Journalism.Jobs.com Schieffer was asked what the future holds for network evening news programs, the main emphasis of the question being: willl news programs survive?

Bob's answer was classic Schieffer: "We recognize that we have a different mission now . . . It's no longer just reporting the headlines of the day, but trying to put the headlines into context and to add some perspective into what they mean."

The question is: will Couric's approach be a Vanna White? Or a leftist voice-piece? A Schieffer paroting of the headlines? Or a real news anchor with a fresh new perspective and class A reporting skills?

All that being what it is, the latest scoop on the CBS news affair is the Schieffer and Coric lunch date yesterday at Michael's.

The New York Daily News called it a "public lovefest".

It seems that the 69-year-old Schieffer thought Couric needed his public endorsement. What a very old-school, gentlemanly thing to do! The current anchor giving a public affirmation of his approval to the future anchor! And while burgers and chicken salad might not be primetime fare, the sentiment and the orchid corsage he gave her certainly was.
End Of An Era © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan

Casino Technology

The best things about casinos are their buffets. Now I know most who enter a gambling joint go to play the slots or blackjack or keno. Me? I go to eat.

Like at Cactus Pete's in Jackpot which is a blink of an eye place north of Wells, Nevada. Jackpot is not large enough to be called a town, but it hosts three or four casinos. And Cacus Pete's is one of them with the best darn buffet I've ever enjoyed.

Hey! Have you heard the scoop on slot machines? Seems what with new technology and all, the payouts on the machines can be changed in the casino's back room even as you play.

The slots which used to be mechanized are now computerized and with a few clicks of the mouse the game changes, the odds change and the payout increases or decreases just as the man in the back determines.

That's like sitting down to a poker game where the winning player uses a marked deck and hides aces up his sleeves.

Nevada law prohibits the fella in black in the back room from changing the odds on a machine until it has been idle for four minutes, which is a good thing for if a gambler was cleaning out the joint and the proprietor, looking over his shoulder, saw that there were no badges walking about, he might be tempted to mouse the gambler's profits.

Gambling the slots has come a long way from the days when a feller plunked his quarter into the machine, pulled the lever, and watched the spinning cylinder.

The gambling parlors have done away with spinning cylinders which are now computer-generated facsimiles. And the sound of plunking quarters? Have been replaced by debit slips. Sure does remove the fun of watching those buckets fill with coins when the machines paid off.

Casino technology is progress, I guess, but for myself, I'll stick with enjoying the buffets.
Casino Technology © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan

Over The Edge

You think I'm over-reacting, don't you . . . ?

C'mon, c'mon, say it. Chaeli, we are not witnessing the beginning of the apocalypse.

Yet, if Sy (Seymour) Hersh's information is correct and Morton Halperin, a former State Department Official, assures us that Hersh's reporting over the last few years has been extraordinarily accurate, we are all about to be blown up! And if that isn't an apocalypse, I don't know what is.

OK. So I may have extrapolated some facts with a wee bit of exaggeration when making the statement: we are all about to be blown up; however, it's not so far off the mark that we can discard it out of hand.

According to Hersh's contacts in the Pentagon, there is a growing conviction among members of congress, senators, government defense officials, government consultants, members of the US military and the international community, that President Bush's ultimate goal is a nuclear confrontation with Iran.

Evidently, the only item in question is which method Bush will use to start the Iran war.

The plan currently favored is: striking twenty-six suspected nuclear sites combined with a campaign of bombing and use of cruise missiles to level targets well beyond nuclear facilities, such as Iranian intelligence headquarters, Iran's air defense system , the Revolutionary Guard and the air force.

That's right, folks. Outright WAR.

Anyone who watched the first night's bombing of Iraq on TV has a vivid image of what Bush is planing to do to Iran. Another innocent country.

Bush's proposed war on Iran does not sit well with the European nations. Britain's Foreign Minister, Jack Straw, pretty much sums up the world attitude towards Bush's war proposal: "The idea of a nuclear strike on Iran is completely nuts."

But that's not all folks.

The fact, according to a House member, that Bush believes he has messianic powers is the crucifix that should terrorize us to the very depths of our soul.

This president who has been given unmitigated power has become mentally unhinged. For Bush is quite insane when he states that it is his legacy to be Iran's savior. Gimme a break. As one government defense official asked: "What are they smoking?"

And doesn't it scare you just a little bit when Bush, as quoted by one of Hersh's sources, says he must do "what no Republican or Democrat would have the courage to do"?

This man, George W. Bush, is delusional. I know we're not supposed to use clichés, yet lest there be any misunderstandings, this cliché states the fact boldly: the man is a certifiable basket case. And we, like obedient little lambs, are following the lead of a madman.

We need to STOP this and do something immediately to save Iran from this self-proclaimed Messiah.

If we don't, we can all curl up in the corner chair with a copy of Revelations in hand and watch the apocalypse unfold.
Over The Edge © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan

Additional Resources:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/08/AR2006040801082.html
http://www.newshounds.us/2006/04/11/special_reports_doublespeak_on_iran.php

Magic Square

Today's column is for math students. Below is a Magic Square. Each horizontal, vertical and diagonal line has the same sum.

 

Your turn. Have fun creating a magic square !!!
Chae 

Sunday Morning XXVI

We all know we're suppose to let go of yesterday and move on into tomorrow. To be more specific, we're suppose to release the heartaches, pain and grievances of yesterday which will allow us to move into the future.

If we're busy holding onto our grievances and pain and heartaches, we are anchored, tethered to a particular spot and are forever bound, tied to that moment. We relive it over and over.

Goodness. Wasn't it bad enough experiencing it the first time? Do we want to get lost in that moment and continually relive it?

OK. Sometimes, we recognize a path like letting go of the hurts, grievances and heartaches of the past as a correct course of action. But just how in the world do we actually do this?

A spiritual friend recently mentioned that a method of release from these negative emotions is to recognize that they are present, acknowledge them, thank them, then send them off on their journey.

Hold it partner. Thought you'd slip one by me, did you? Are you trying to tell me to Thank that sucker for hurting me? C'mon, get real. Someone murders my feelings and you want me to THANK them for causing me great pain?

Well folks, I'm with you on this one, but my friend says that whatever, whoever or however this situation evolved . . . it served some purpose and helped us in our overall growth.

So OK, I can actually catch a glimmering of truth in that statement, so I suppose if it helped me grow, I could thank it. I don't necessarily have to embrace it; just thank it.

After mumbling a reluctant thank you, send it off on its journey.

And how does one send it off on its journey? By "seeing" it as a lump of something (gray air works for me) and just letting it float up through the top of one's head, floating up, up and away into the air as if it were a balloon filled with helium.

My friend said the crucial factor is: don't attach a story to the emotion! She says if we attach a story to it, we glue the negative emotion to ourselves and then we are trapped into reliving the story again and again. Just release the emotion. And watch it float away.

So there you have it folks. A method of how to put a principle to work. If anyone has other methods and would like to share them, please feel free to add them to the comments section.

In the meantime, God Bless and have a joyous week.
Chae

Matrimony And The Messiah

It has to be questioned: how much do the authors, Baigent and Leigh, believe in the unusual claim they've made?

In their book, Holy Blood, Holy Grail, they theorize that Jesus Christ survived the crucifixion, married Mary Magdalene and that the Holy Grail is a bloodline, not a chalice as is commonly believed.

Both Baigent, Leigh and a third author, Henry Lincoln, spent five years studying a massive amount of historical material before arriving at the conclusion hypothesized in their book.

But . . . .

The question still remains. Do they believe their hypothesis?

It seems that if they do, indeed, believe in the premise of the material they presented in 1982, they would be delighted that the concept is being carried forward by Brown. Does their litigation throw a cloud over the premise? Reduce the veracity of the theory?

Or is the 'Da Vinci Code' trial more than it appears to be?

Dan Brown's book, The Da Vinci Code, which has sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, projects a similar set of proposals as the Holy Blood, Holy Grail. Similar, yet the authors involved reach different conclusions about Jesus and the crucifixion. Brown maintains that Jesus did not survive the crucifixion and that the marriage between Jesus and Mary Magdalene took place before the crucifixion occurred.

The trial held in London recently, purportedly concerned copyright laws. Baigent and Leigh accused Brown of lifting the entire architectural structure of their book. And perhaps that is what this trial was all about.

But . . . .

Could there be more?

Since both books basically say the same thing: that the descendants of the children who resulted from the marriage of Jesus and Mary Magdalene are still thriving today, perhaps this trial is more than the sum of the litigations.

Perhaps with worldwide news coverage, the trial is a method of bringing universal awareness full circle round to the sanctity of marriage. Or . . . .

Could it be the prelude to a message that out of the ashes of history a phoenix will rise yet again. A new messiah.

For those interested in the outcome of the trial, Justice Peter Smith exonerated Brown. Which is good news, indeed, for those of us who rely heavily on the use of nonfiction works for background research.
Matrimony And The Messiah © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan

Incredulous Snort

One of my favorite expressions is: Bullshit. It is direct, to the point, emphatic and leaves no doubt about one's opinion of a situation.

My ancestors were straight-forward folks who called a spade a spade. None of them were prudish. I doubt they ever exhibited patience for those who were and would most likely be the one's saying, "Get on with it man. What's your point?"

Uncle Ernst enjoyed toying with the "dainty people", as he called them, who use a lot of euphemisms. I remember the day when pretty Miss Elsie referred to a cow's father and Uncle Ernst replied: "Oh, you mean Kathy's father, Leroy?"

"No. N-n-n-o," she stuttered. Her porcelain skin turned a mottled red and her blue eyes skittered nervously over every object in the room with her gaze resting briefly on every person except Uncle Ernst. "What I mean to say is the animal, the ah . . . cow . . . well, what I mean is the cow's spouse . . . . "

Uncle Ernst asked innocently enough, "Her father? Or her husband?"

Elsie's hands fluttered nervously. "I'm not sure they were married so you can't say for sure that it was the cow's husband. It was a Jonathan."

"Jonathon? But I thought you just said that he was of the cattle variety, not human. So now we have the fellow's real name, Jonathon. And his last name is . . . ? "

More blood rushed to Elsie's cheeks as she tried to explain. "It is an animal. A gentleman cow."

Uncle Ernst's eyes twinkled. "Oh! You mean a bull. Why didn't you say so, my dear?"

Referring to a gentleman cow's latrine duties doesn't have near the impact of the short and straight-forward: Bullshit. Sure now and wouldn't I have shells in my mouth if I tried to use any other vocalized expression of this feeling, this state of mind? For such by any other name is still the same.
Incredulous Snort © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan

Bush's Legacy

It is just as I suspected.

President Bush's war has dehumanized Americans.

There are times when reading a story makes the heart cry. The arrest of 75-year-old Arthur Schick is one of those stories.

One cries for the plight of the elderly man who faced "terrorists" right here in America last night. These terrorists hid behind the guise of police uniforms and perpetrated nothing more than what Bush has be advocating all along: mindless, unwarranted violence.

This is a 75-year-old grampa, folks. He deserves respect.

What he does not deserve is to be pushed and shoved by police, his arms wrestled into a hand-lock behind his back, and his body thrown so violently into the police van that he falls. In their efforts to manhandle this elderly grampa into the van, the officers physically grapple-attacked him again.

What is wrong with America that we have moved from the position of a semi-civilized country to the position of that of an animal?

Only animals would attack a 75-year-old grampa because he was talking on a cell phone!
Bush's Legacy © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan

Gneissly Flipped

Fix it only if it is not broken and then your work load in life will be as easy as that of the fellow whose motto is: don't fix it if it's not broke.

Either way the two of you are getting off a heck of a lot easier than the poor guy who leaves no stone unturned.

There are trillions and zillions of rocks in this universe and here's some dear old soul whose sole job it is to wander earth and turn over every stone!

In a way it's a cushy job, for the fellow will never be out of work. Although it's quite unclear who has hired him for this employment.

It sounds like such a bureaucratic position that one highly suspects our government hired this fellow to turn over stones. (Surely, that Texas prosecutor could use his stone turning services on the Tom DeLay case, right now.)

More than likely, the job was created back during the Cold War when we were hiring spies. Noise identification is an important aspect of spying and it's probable that the department chief said, "Leave no tone unheard."

Unfortunately, or fortunately, as the case may be, this fellow was hard of hearing, thought the chief said: Leave no stone unturned, and has been collecting a paycheck ever since.

So that concludes our manual titled, How To Procure American Government Positions. If you have missed the first sections of this manual, go back to the beginning, located on Page One and start with: Fix it only if it is not broken; diligently read through to the last: Leave no stone unturned, and when you are finished, you will find yourself in possession of more information than the majority of government employees are currently working with.

Good luck with your job quest. We sincerely need more intelligent folks working in government.
Gneissly Flipped © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan

Acrobats And Popcorn

It all started with a click. Long, strong, double-jointed, calloused, tan fingers snapped. Clicked. Snapped. Brought rhythm to a dull meeting. "What do you think, Cara?"

She shrugged her shoulders and said: "I don't know why helium clowns try to walk a tightrope. These airy-fairy artists will never be heavyweights wielding power in world affairs. Their words may be true enough and may even reflect public opinion yet they are but lightweight characters who perform mere balancing acts."

Long, tan fingers pointed at an older man. "Joe, what do you think?"

Joe leaned back into the cushions and nodded. "You might as well laugh at the circus as believe the tiger and lion will be tamed with words or cultural inuendo."

The double-jointed fingers snapped, the thumb thrumed past the third digit and cracked another staccato snap. The square-tipped fingers rapped a drum roll on the tabletop and, after a heartbeat or two, cracked another whapping snap. "Bill. What's your input on this?"

Bill's gray eyes twinkled but the effect was partially hidden behind the over-sized tortoise shell frames of his glasses. "Staying with the circus analogy, it's definately time to tear down the Big Top and pack the elephants into cattle cars ready for transport."

Strong fingers rapped another drum roll and slapped the polished surface of the table. "That's it then. Who gets to say the magic words?"

"You're fired?" Cara, Joe and Bill chorused together.

"Yeah, you're fired . . . . "

The next fifteen minutes could have been an improv stage performance or a group of three men in business suits and a woman wearing a straight skirt, stockings and stilletto heels, all practicing for a tomahawk throwing competition. "You're fired. No! You are fired. Yes. Fired."

The weekly meeting was called to order the following Friday. After the minutes were read, someone asked, "Was any action taken on last week's resolution?"

Double-jointed fingers snapped and a staccato voice rumbled from the back of the room. "Uh . . . no. We decided it was more entertaining to watch the three-ring circus perform than to exercise our ego."
Acrobats And Popcorn © 2006 Chaeli Lee Sullivan

Sunday Morning XXV

There is such joy in the sound of children's laughter.
Blue skies after many days of rain are a joyous sight.
Ice-cream on a very hot day tickles the taste buds with joyous delight, just as
The smell of our favorite foods cooking welcomes us with joyous expectation.
And doesn't the hug of a loved one touch us with joy!
C'mon people now
Let's get together
And enjoy the enjoyment
Right now.
Right now!
Chae