Howard Empowered People Comments
Howard is most firstly.
Hi Renee, the page does load more quickly. Thanks.
I was looking for your amazon.com affiliate link... I have an expensive Bible commentary to buy, and, well, it occurred to my slow brain that I ought'a at least put that money to work for my fav blogmaster. I'll hold off on ordering the book and chek back later to see if you've decided to reinstate the link. If you don't, that's fine. It's just that I'm slightly ticked off at having to buy this book, as well as not having remembered to go through HEP when buying another expensive (and useless!) Bible commentary recently, and would prefer the price not go entirely to waste.
Cat, in the left sidebar there is a search Amazon utility, which is an affiliate link. Thanks for thinking of me.
Uh, thinking is the operative word. 
Sorry, Renee. The Collegeville Bible Commentary was less than half what I expected based on the New Jerome Bible Commentary. And, the audiobook I'm waiting for - Lord help me. It's a stupid book but I want to be able to listen to it - isn't out yet. So, after all that, you're commission's pretty meager. 
I still appreciate it, Cat. Thanks.
And all this time I thought the slow loading page
was just another "feature" of my slowly melting down computer. 
Another Happy Ally update today!
THURSDAY, JUNE 26, 2008 06:07 PM, EDT
Ally's Mom writes...
I just couldn't stay away.
It was another good day! We were not able to go for a walk, because it kept raining off and on, but we had lots of fun listening to music and playing with toys.
Her visiting nurse came today. Ally's counts are up enough so we don't have to give her the injection any more!
Her weight today is almost exactly 1 pound heavier than it was last Friday, she was 17 pounds 2 and 1/2 ounces today! The TPN must be working, and she is tolerating it well. It is about 75% sugar, but they tested her blood for sugar level today and it was good!
I wish the medical world would think up something better to give than sugar water.
It seems rather schizophrenic of them to do that
then fuss at adults for having sweet tooths.
They can't have it both ways.
Hey Hey!
If anyone HEPster has some books to buy that add up a bit...
I would be willing to price them for you and figure out shipping cost,
then mail them to you from the Bookshop.
THEN! I'll get them with my employee discount and give the difference to HEP via Paypal.
(Yes, this is kosher with my boss.)
Note: There are some books that even I don't get a discount on, since my boss gets only a tiny discount...such as textbooks.
But, FYI, Bibles and Commentaries and so on are right up our alley, though we can order any book in print.
Cat...I can usually find out if a book is available in large print, if that's of any help.
Good news about Ally today
Thanks, listener. Commercial large print is never large enough, so I've pretty much given up on that.
Yet another pearl of wisdom from the Supremes today. According to five of them, the Second Amendment guarenttees each and every individual American the inalienable right to keep loaded fire arms in his home.
The "unconstitutionality" of executing child rapists was 5/4 as well. I didn't hear, but it wouldn't surprise me if the reduction in punitive dammages over the Exxon Valdese wasn't 5/4 too. I bet I'm not the only person who regrets Justice O'Connor having needed to retire. I bet Justice O'Connor is one of those people. What blithering idiots they've got up there!
Now, you guys know I don't think there should be a death penalty. But, I'll tell ya something. As long as we do have a death penalty, in my humble opinion people who rape and/or murder children ought to be at the head of the line.
Son in Ohio was watching that 2nd amendment case pretty closely. He said Montana was threatening to secede if the decision went the other way, because that would have violated the terms under which they had joined the U.S.
Wow, Renee. Out of the mouths of babes! You've got one smart boy there. I didn't know there were any terms under which Montana joined. Just goes to show how shockingly little I know about U.S. History. Tell him Cat says he deserves a nice, big gold star!
Hi, all. Just a drive-by at the end of our third orientation session and before the 4th session that starts tomorrow. Oof! Lotsa new students to help understand lotsa stuff!
Great news about Ally!
The "babe" in question just turned 15 the other day. Time is just going way too fast.
Son is watching a lot of news these days, and then ranting to us about various things. Like the way third party candidates are marginalized by the media.
He does, of course, have some valid points to make. It's just that this passion on his part comes at a time when I am feeling utterly sick of politics. He also gets rather intense with his arguments, if you engage him at all. This is, of course, age appropriate...flexing his dialectical muscles and such...but, like I said, I'm just not up for this kind of discussion lately.
We're all set to go see Obama tomorrow. My Aunt, Mom and I are wearing Obama shirts. The 2 kids are wearing Dean shirts I'll try to post a pic tomorrow night.
listener, tc, and Jessica
Fifteen! I thought he just turned fourteen! Yikes!!
Hi Renee
Throwing my 2 cents in about the SC decision...I support the death penalty because I think life in prison is cruel and unusual punishment (for any crime), which the 8th ammendment prohibits.
Hi Jessica! Hope you can post pics. I'm sure your family will have a great time. Your mom should bring her own election materials to distribute. No idear if that's ethical, but it seems like a good marketing strategy.
I may have posted this before, but in case I didn't, or people didn't see it, I've been following the updates from the Mars Phoenix here
http://twitter.com/MarsPhoenix
Though it's early, I'm gonna close up shop, and listen to an audiobook or something.
Good night, friends.
Cat, that would be a good idear, except that the rally is in another state, 3 hours away from our district...I'm pretty sure we're the only ones from our town going.
Good night Cat!
'Night, everybody.
I bet I'm not the only person who regrets Justice O'Connor having needed to retire. I bet Justice O'Connor is one of those people. What blithering idiots they've got up there!
Catreona | 06.26.08 - 9:13 pm | #
I'll second that!
I support the death penalty because I think life in prison is cruel and unusual punishment (for any crime), which the 8th ammendment prohibits.
Jessica | 06.26.08 - 9:50 pm
You're saying that tongue-in-cheek, right?
I can't quite see putting someone to death for a crime as a kindness.
Life in prison is really crummy but at least it gives a person a chance to come to terms with what they did and maybe even feel remorse for it. They may not get their freedom back, but they may recover their soul.
Also, life in prison often includes the chance for parole.
Sweet listening, Cat! ♥
Sweet dreams, Renee! ♥
Thanks to tc and all for the kind Ally words! ♡
TPN contains a lot of glucose because that's the form in which a lot of the food we eat enters our bloodstream. It also has a lot of amino acids, lipids, vitamins and suchlike.
Cat--sorry I'm a little late to catch you, but I figure you will find this later. I came across a couple of columns about Obama that seem to ring true, and are well worth considering. I am oozing back towards voting for him--but want to see whom he selects for a running mate and then cogitate about it for a bit. Tonight's reading assignment:
Obama--political pragmatist, personal views:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo...to-tell-
you.php
Obama, Saul Alinsky, JFK---and maybe Huey Long?
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo...y-i-
support.php
Renee ♡
Many many thanks for the TPN explanation, Alan!!
It makes sense given that alot of our food breaks down into glucose,
and they're trying to do the hard work part for her body.
While I suspected it had lots of nutrients too,
I am grateful to hear that it's not just empty calories
like with grape flavouring in medicines, and so on.
"Catreona | 06.26.08 - 9:18 pm | #"
I'm not opposed to capital punishment in *principle*. (But, probably am opposed to the way it is *practiced*.) I think society can and should revoke a person's "right to life" if they use their life to take the lives of others. For crimes short of murder, however, I can't justify capital punishment with a rational argument. However... I'm sure that the aggrieved parents could come up with all kinds of *irrational* arguments they could bring to bear if a judge granted them a half hour in a locked room with the culprit and a baseball bat. I'm just sayin'... (Maybe I shouldn't be a judge.)
Nice to see Jim Lehrer back.
He looks great!
revoke a person's "right to life" if they use their life to take the lives of others
Huh?
Kill people to teach people not to kill?
Huh?
D...wouldn't we then have to kill the people who put the criminal to death?
And then it would be our turn?
I'm just sayin'. 
Renee...
It's just that this passion on his part comes at a time when I am feeling utterly sick of politics.
Yeah, I totally get that.
I had a similar situation with a son.
I knew I could converse with him about the subject well,
and that he really wasn't going to hear me for several days or weeks,
and I was really tired of the whole matter, personally speaking.
A lot of the struggle was just being tired at all.
I didn't have the option to not discuss it, though
because we were home schooling.
What got me through it was deciding to NOT debate the finer points with him,
but instead to give him the resources to figure it out himself
and to use my time in conversation with him just to help him articulate himself well,
since, after all, I was still interested in HIM.
So I focused on him instead of the topic
and was able to "stay with it" a lot better.
My best to you,
mother to mother. ♥
"listener | Homepage | 06.26.08 - 11:01 pm | #"
I was having this same discussion with Son-In-Ohio the other day. My point was as such: When a person is killed they can no longer advocate on their own behalf. So, society (via the criminal justice system) has someone(s) serve as proxy for the murdered individual. So, the executioner is not perpetrating *another* murder. He/She is acting for/as the victim - balancing the scales. Once we establish that society can act on behalf of the murdered individual in bringing the murderer to justice, the vicious circle of killing the killer of the killer is nipped in the bud. If we *don't* establish that society can act on behalf of the murdered person then there could never be *any* punishment for killing - because, the only person who *could* complain is dead, and *can't*.
Well, speaking for myself in advance of my murder,
I am opposed to the death penalty for my killer.
So who is going to represent me?
Do we need to keep a statement on file with our lawyer like an Advance Directive or something?
"An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind." ~ Gandhi
"Kill people to teach people not to kill?
Huh?
listener | Homepage | 06.26.08 - 11:00 pm | # "
I don't entertain any notion that the death penalty is a deterrent to future murders by other people. But, it *does* keep this particular individual from committing any more murders. I'm all for learning what makes people tick. And, if we can find this out during a prolonged prison term then I wouldn't seek the death penalty (...maybe.) If there is a possibility for rehabilitation, or if the circumstances that caused the murder could never be duplicated (so, this person is unlikely to murder again) then I wouldn't seek the death penalty. But, *some* people we just don't need to keep around.
"Do we need to keep a statement on file with our lawyer like an Advance Directive or something?
"An eye for an eye leaves the whole world blind." ~ Gandhi
listener | Homepage | 06.26.08 - 11:15 pm | #"
I'm all for the wishes of the victim being taken into account in the trial.
Son mentioned the same Gandhi quote. I reminded him that the "eye for an eye" admonition was that justice is found in the taking of only *one* eye (for an eye lost) - as opposed to the taking of ALL the eyes of the whole family of the culprit and anyone who got in your way in the process - as was the custom.
I do agree that "an eye for an eye" was a big step forward in its day.
I also hope we have evolved SOMEWHAT since thousands of years BCE when the Deuteronomic Code was still an oral tradition.
Life is complex and I don't think too many of us are adept at deciphering how much of a person's life explains their derelict action, how well they realised what they were doing and the consequences and how teachable they are. Do you trust that our society and culture, our public school teachers and most parents have explained the consequences of actions, and adequately nurtured the next generation? And how about our judges...do you feel they are all properly educated, fair minded and without undue influences? How about our criminal justice system as a whole?
How much of what is broke is a shared responsibility? To at least some small extent we are all implicated in the crimes of others, we all suffer the crimes committed, and we all bear responsibility for the state of the system. I am NOT saying we are, therefore, all in the defendent's chair. I am saying that it's too complex for such a black and white alleged solution as the death penalty, in all its finalitude.
I hope we will evolve into more humility (and I do not mean timidity).
Here ya go...
THE HEART OF THE LAW IS MERCY
It is important to remember that the heart of the law is mercy. The eye for eye and tooth for tooth might seem harsh to us. When it was given, however, it was a way to moderate the vengeful pattern of Middle Eastern tribal life. Its intent was justice, but a justice moderated with mercy.
When Jesus taught, he did not destroy the law: He surpassed it. He fulfilled it by going beyond it. It is as if the "eye for eye" of the law was God's way of keeping the door from slamming shut on humanity by moderating the prevailing violence of humankind. With Jesus the door was not simply propped open, it swung totally open. An "eye for eye" might well have propped open the door, but "turn the other cheek" swung the door open wide for good.
http://johnmichaeltalbot.blogspo...ng-
matthew.html
Personally I am not at all convinced that the death penalty is necessarily cruel or unjust. (I DO think that lethal injection is an obscene perversion of medicine, and see no big problem with the guillotine.) But I buy the arguments that:
1) verdicts are not always accurate; and
2) after the convicted is dead it is rather too late to say "Oops--sorry about that."
I went to Wikipedia and refreshed my recollection of JFK. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jfk] as a result of the column I linked above comparing Obama's political skills to JFK's. Of course one's memory fades, and on top of that I was too young to remember anything about JFK prior to the campaign of 1960. Wikipedia was instructive. I had not known of Kennedy's role in the Civil Rights Act of 1957, that the Bay of Pigs invasion was planned under Eisenhower, and am sure I learned much more than I had known about the Kennedy administration's activities in Iraq.
"Forgive them, for they know not what they do."
Hence the need to ascertain how much they really knew what they were doing,
not merely in sanity, but also in the basic valuing of the dignity of life.
Murder (and rape) are clear signs that the perpetratr did not have the wherewithal to value the dignity of another human.
Did the person grow up in a vacuum or what happened? Was s/he abused as a child or mistreated as an adult? Does s/he have some sort of illness that impairs judgment or self control?
Should a person be killed under such circumstances?
Or might it make much more sense to isolate them from the people who could yet be harmed by them?
I agree with Jessica that a life in prison is cruel.
But that doesn't mean we need to change things so that more people are killed for their crimes.
It means we need a better system for isolating people who are a danger.
Until we recognise and realise that these are broken people not "evil" people,
and begin to treat them as broken human beings instead of monsters
we will not be upholding our true responsibility.
Well, blogging off for now. Have some homework to do, and am taking a friend to the airport early tomorrow morning.
Hasta luego, y'all.
Guillotine, Alan, really?
Well, I'm done. Heh.
Er, sweet dreams, y'all.
The basis for the machine's success was the belief that it was a humane form of execution, contrasting with the methods used in pre-revolutionary, ancien régime (former regime) France. In France, before the guillotine, members of the nobility were beheaded with a sword or axe, while commoners were usually hanged, a form of death that could take minutes or longer—other more gruesome methods of executions were also used, such as the wheel, burning at the stake, etc. In the case of decapitation, it also sometimes took repeated blows to sever the head completely, and it was also very likely for the condemned to slowly bleed to death from their wounds before the head could be severed. The condemned or the family of the condemned would sometimes pay the executioner to ensure that the blade was sharp in order to provide for a quick and relatively painless death.
The guillotine was thus perceived to deliver an immediate death without risk of misses. Furthermore, having only one method of execution was seen as an expression of equality among citizens. The guillotine was adopted as the official means of execution on March 20, 1792. The guillotine was from then on the only legal execution method in France until the abolition of the death penalty in 1981, apart from certain crimes against the security of the state, which entailed execution by firing squad.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guillotine
"I am NOT saying we are, therefore, all in the defendent's chair. I am saying that it's too complex for such a black and white alleged solution as the death penalty, in all its finalitude.
I hope we will evolve into more humility (and I do not mean timidity).
listener | Homepage | 06.26.08 - 11:54 pm | # "
To quote Monty Python's "Church Police" sketch: "It's a fair cop. But, society is to blame! ...Agreed. We'll be charging *them* too."
The fact that there are often extenuating circumstances is why I don't support capital punishment as it is *practiced*. I think too many people who shouldn't get it do and too many people who should get it don't. The court system is not perfect. And, death is final. The situations are rare where I would be in favor of it (in practice.) But, I'm not opposed in principle.
""turn the other cheek" swung the door open wide for good...
listener | Homepage | 06.26.08 - 11:58 pm | #"
That's one of my favorite passages to understand in context. Also, "Go the extra mile." (Roman soldiers only being granted the right to conscript someone to carry their pack for a mile - if they went the *extra* mile it would get the *soldier* in trouble!) Jesus was a master of social/political jujitsu.
http://www.fpcea.com/sermons/
ser...n_09182005.html
We have all heard the comment: “turn the other cheek.”
What do we usually think it means?
be meek and mild,
give in to the bully,
let the aggressor run all over you,
go along with the program.
No! says Walter Wink.
Look at the text in Matthew 5, from within its context!
...
It works like this.
To help with the explanation, please follow my directions.
In Jesus’ day, the left hand was considered unclean, and not used in social settings,
even for gesturing.
So, please sit on your left hand.
Now, imagine that you want to slap someone in the face.
Please make the motion, with your right hand.
Which cheek would you strike?
--Yes, the person’s left cheek.
So how would you move your hand in order to strike the person on the right cheek?
--Yes, you would backhand him/her.
Therefore, we see immediately, that the person struck on the right cheek is inferior.
You don’t backhand someone who is your equal.
Now do you see what Jesus is commanding?
As interpreted by Walter Wink,
when Jesus says “turn the other cheek,” he means this:
assert your own humanity and refuse to accept an inferior position;
demand that you be treated with dignity by your opponent,
even when they slap you!
deprive the oppressor of any advantage gained through a show of superior force;
shame the oppressor into repentance.
This was fun to watch this morning. The fledgling bluejay that has been hopping around our yard finally made it to the feeder and the bath.
http://i196.photobucket.com/albu.../
BlueJay006.jpg
http://i196.photobucket.com/albu.../
BlueJay008.jpg
http://s196.photobucket.com/
albu...=BlueJay009.flv
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