Povey Prattle

1. I have met many people who are   HIGHFALUTIN. Why is it that I have never met any LOWFALUTIN people? 2.  I sometimes read or hear that certain items will be "auctioned off ". "Off what?".  Shouldn't they be simply "auctioned"? 3.  In a similar vein, I often hear that a computer file or photo' will be "printed up - (or out) ". Are there computers in the sky (up),   or out of doors (out) ?  Shouldn't  we simply say "this will be printed"? 4. The creeping and unnecessary  "e". (and "p")  I was near the ghastly  University Town Centre in SRQ this afternoon when I spotted a sign which directed drivers  to "The Shoppes".. What are "Shoppes"?   Are they not simply "Shops"? 5. And should not our local "developments"   be  "Palm Air"   rather than "Palm Aire", or "Grand Point" rather than "Grande Pointe"?   EH...

Conservative politicians in the U.K. and in the U.S.A. are fond of asserting that marriage has always been between one man and one woman. They rest their case on the Bible Evangelical and Roman Catholic Christians in both countries agree with this point of view, and assert that the Christian teaching, based in Holy Scripture and/or the Tradition of the Church, is unchangeable. Predictably neither the politicians, nor the the Church leaders get it right. FOR EXAMPLE, in the biblical record Abraham had a wife and a concubine, Jacob had two wive s, David had multiple wives and concubines, Solomon had many wives and many concubines. AND IN THE CHRISTIAN TRADITION the leaders of the western European Church (Popes, Cardinals, Bishops) found many ways by which the Kings, Emperors and Princes of western Europe could set aside a wife (e.g. by the fiction of annulment), and then marry another. IN MANY CASES the decisions of Popes, Cardinals and Bishops rested not on the bible or ...

Thursday 15th October 2015 in SRQ 4:30 a.m.  (my arising time) until 11:30 a.m. -  cooler air:  doors and windows open, air-conditioning off. (Whilst "up north" my friends are closing their doors and windows and turning the heat on). "C'est la vie";  or "you pays your money and you makes your choice".

My dearly beloved friend Diana is back in the area after her summer sojourn on the island of North Haven in Maine. Her husband, my friend Fred, will come back from North Haven next month. Diana and I had lunch at the Dry Dock on Longboat Key.  see:- http://www.drydockwaterfrontgrill.com The weather was warm, but with a gentle breeze  so we were able to eat outdoors - facing the Intra-Coastal Waterway. The food was good.  We both chose the " FRESH CATCH SALAD ........" (see the lunch menu). The "Market Price" fish today was "Grouper" -  a delicious and expensive "treat". The food was good, but the fellowship  was better. Diana is a charming, intelligent and delightful woman,  Her earliest years were spent in "British India"  where her father was an agent for "Imperial Airways"  (later BOAC, and even later,  British Air). When her father was transfered to a post in Africa, Diana and her sister were sent bac...

THE UGLY Dr. Ben Carson (Republican Presidential Candidate "hopeful" } recently said this: "As a Doctor, I spent many a night pulling bullets out of bodies. There is no doubt that this senseless violence is breathtaking – but I never saw a body with bullet holes that was more devastating than taking the right to arm ourselves away " (I copied these words from Dr. Carson's Facebook page). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ I do not care if you are a Second Amendment absolutist , or a advocate for reasonable restrictions on gun ownership. I do not care if you are a Republican, or a Tea Party member, or a Libertarian, or a member of the Constitutional Party, or an adherent of the Democratic Party, or of the Green Party. I do care if you are a compassionate and caring human being, If this be the case  I raise these questions: 1.  "How is it that a compassionate Surgeon, who is a...

It is a  day of grief and mourning for the pre-Columbian peoples of the "Americas" and their descendants It is a  day for repentance for we whose ancestors wrought such physical, spiritual,  and cultural genocide. It is a day for honesty by we Americans who claim to be a "nation under God", yet refuse to honour the image and likeness of God in the peoples of the Indian Nations. See:  https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/10/11/why-is-columbus-day-still-a-u-s-federal-holiday/