Povey Prattle

Our friend Catherine Wieczorek passed from this life on January 8th of this year. She died in her sleep at aged 68. She had not been ill, so her death was blissfully sudden, but horribly unexpected. This was a cruel shock to us, especially because Catherine had given a wonderful party on January 1st.  She was a great host. With the exception of her partner Denise, Catherine's family is spread about the United States.  This meant that a Memorial Service for Catherine could not be held until today.  It took place in a Funeral Home and in a room which was crowded - with maybe 140 mourners. After a song by one of Catherine's circle of friends, and a poem by another, Denise delivered a loving eulogy. Then came the readings and prayers for Christian Burial. These were led by my good and local friend Bob Lewis, and by me -  hence the "Clerical Two-Step" Bob is in fact The Revd. Robert Lewis, an Episcopal Priest who was a Rector in Hudson N...

Oh it's so darned hard to live with a conscience which calls for consistent ethical actions.) I struggle with this in my many and various purchases. You all know that I am a great fan of the Trader Joe's stores. When I enter one of these stores I sometimes think that I am in a secret cult with all manner of bargains for  initiates, or I think that I am in a place which leads me to a kind of evangelical fervor. See http://www.traderjoes.com/about/index.asp   and especially check out the "Customer Updates" The prices are good and most of the products are of excellent quality. But please note that T'J's is not a health foods store -  and it's important to check the labels for sodium, calorie, vitamin, fats etc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A few weeks ago at Trader Joe's I bought  a 48 ounce  canister of "100% Desert Mesquite Honey  - From the Desert of Northern M...

I am not sure if Speaker of the House John Boehner (R)  is hapless, or delusional, or just plain malignant.  It matters not when I consider how destructive this man and his party in Congress are.  They are causing great danger to America, and great suffering to the unemployed, under-employed and dirt poor. Speaker Boehner's  malignant side came out when he announced that in all likelihood an Immigration Bill would not be taken up by the House this year. NBC news on 6th Feb reported that Boehner said "There's a widespread doubt about whether this administration can be trusted to enforce our laws" (Despite the fact that under the Obama administration 1,869,025  (yep nearly two million) undocumented aliens have been deported. Obama is well on track to best the numbers of such deportations under George W Bush). " doubt about whether this administration can be trusted"   there's another bit of code language for you.  In this code President Obama...

Richard Sherman, corner back for the Seattle Seahawks said this in a brief T.V. interview immediately after the Seahawks win in the 2014 Super Bowl.  (He was on the field and still in uniform!)   "I'm the best corner[back] in the game. When you try me with a sorry receiver like Crabtree, that's the result you going to get." Of course that's exactly the kind of off the cuff rhetoric which any sportsman/woman might spout after a great sporting victory. Except that you cannot say such things if you are black.  For when black people are exuberant they are immediately pegged as "thugs", as was Sherman. Here is a bit about the "thug" in question  ( these are not my words, they are lifted from the Huffington Post). See http://www.huffingtonpost.com/isaac-saul/what-richard-sherman-taught-us_b_4631980.html   "But from my perspective, the heat Sherman is getting is not just misguided but ludicrous. This is a guy who represents on...