Actually, that old song must have been praising the effects of a sparkling wine that ..."makes me feel fine." I don't think we are supposed to see bubbles in a regular wine - or any that are being advertised.
Sparkling wines I've tried so far are just okay with me; Champagne is quite nice, especially the dry type. There are laws now preventing the use of the name "Champagne" to denote any product not fermented in the specific area of France where it originated, hence the more recent proliferation of "sparkling wines" produced in the U.S. So if I were to sample a number of these, I might find some that I would enjoy as much as the original "bubbly."
Today, I am simply going to indulge in the tasting of several as-yet-unreleased wine products of the South Coast Winery in Temecula, CA. Well, to be honest, my wife and I will probably sample a few offerings at another tasting room or three, easily visited as part of the amazing array of wineries along the major road through the south side of Temecula. Our southern wine country is rapidly becoming a true competitor to Napa and Sonoma valleys, up north of San Francisco. The likely new wines we will be tasting are not the sparkling types but Cabernets, Merlots, Chardonnays and Zinfandels. No doubt, I will love several of them and almost certainly will bring home a bottle or two of some especially tasty product.
Bear in mind, I am no connoisseur of the fruit of the vine. More likely, I would come across the way Walter Matthau did in the movie, "Grumpy Old Men." There is almost always a box of wine in my refrigerator, and the bottles I "invest" in are used as gifts taken to dinners when invited by friends. My tastes in wine were never cultivated. My earliest experiences with wine tasting were in my pre-teens, but the "vintner" was my dad who produced home-made delights such as watermellon wine, elderberry wine, currant wine and dandelion wine. I'm not at all sure he ever got around to trying grapes!
Come to think of it, I had the perfect foundation to become that connoisseur, but as with many of my early awakenings in this life, the wine connection was left behind and almost forgotten. I wonder what my dad might think if he could visit the opulent settings we will enjoy today. We don't go often, but since the pleasurable adventure is less than an hour's drive from home, we treat ourselves now and then to the taste of some really fine wines. No sour grapes here!
Next Day: So what did we bring home? Three bottles of FLAVORED SPARKLING wine! There's no explanation except to say I try to keep an open mind.
Wednesday, January 22, 2014
Saturday, January 11, 2014
HAIRY TICK
Over at The Age of Reason blog, Al gives an excellent light touch to the heavy matter of FEAR and its choke-hold on humanity. In this piece, he also mentions that one of the most horrendous words ever to be coined is "heretic." I so agree!
Often in my zany attempts at being humorous, I have changed the word to "hairy tick." But it's a poor reference indeed. We don't want ticks on our bodies, hairy ones or smooth ones; they're blood-suckers either way and they carry diseases. But the idea that a person can be labeled a HERETIC and therefore a human unworthy of life itself - well that is beyond words. It's certainly beyond humor!
And as Al so clearly points out, that whole labeling thing began due to fear.
Often in my zany attempts at being humorous, I have changed the word to "hairy tick." But it's a poor reference indeed. We don't want ticks on our bodies, hairy ones or smooth ones; they're blood-suckers either way and they carry diseases. But the idea that a person can be labeled a HERETIC and therefore a human unworthy of life itself - well that is beyond words. It's certainly beyond humor!
And as Al so clearly points out, that whole labeling thing began due to fear.
Wednesday, January 1, 2014
WELCOME # 2 - 2014
Wow - here it is, first morning of the new year. So glad to still be here!
Thanks to the continuous font of interest provided by my friend Al Dexter over at THE AGE OF REASON - - 21st CENTURY, I always get to enjoy some good reading and sometimes a little wry humor for the rough days; thanks to several thoughtful friends who send along simply humorous or simply beautiful forwards of many kinds, I have suffered less than I might have on the worst days of the doldrums; thanks to so many friends, both dear and casual from my college days who contribute now and then to a forum at A C Big Sandy website; and thanks most of all to my wife who has tirelessly maintained the most comfortable and loving home for me to appreciate and wallow in at all times during my terrible 2013, I am still here and smiling.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Thanks to the continuous font of interest provided by my friend Al Dexter over at THE AGE OF REASON - - 21st CENTURY, I always get to enjoy some good reading and sometimes a little wry humor for the rough days; thanks to several thoughtful friends who send along simply humorous or simply beautiful forwards of many kinds, I have suffered less than I might have on the worst days of the doldrums; thanks to so many friends, both dear and casual from my college days who contribute now and then to a forum at A C Big Sandy website; and thanks most of all to my wife who has tirelessly maintained the most comfortable and loving home for me to appreciate and wallow in at all times during my terrible 2013, I am still here and smiling.
HAPPY NEW YEAR
Sunday, December 29, 2013
WELCOME 2014!
I simply couldn't let 2013 end with an even number of blog posts, so this 31st entry is merely to say, Happy New Year, to you and yours.
My own cancer-diminished body is looking forward to heading back out onto the golf course within another month or two, so I am gladly seeing this mad year of surgeries and strength-sapping pain wave "Good-bye!" I'm ready to live.
To all of us who have made it through to another new year (under the heading of "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger"), I say let's kick some ass and have a lot of old-fashioned FUN in 2014. And along the way, I personally will contribute more to cancer research. I can't bear the thought of a lot more folks going through what I did, and that was minor in comparison to the horrors many have suffered.
Some words on the wall treatment here in my son's home where I am visiting, read out in the simplest of good admonitions: DREAM BIGGER - Laugh often - Respect each other - Use kind words - LOVE ALWAYS
Happy New Year
My own cancer-diminished body is looking forward to heading back out onto the golf course within another month or two, so I am gladly seeing this mad year of surgeries and strength-sapping pain wave "Good-bye!" I'm ready to live.
To all of us who have made it through to another new year (under the heading of "What doesn't kill us makes us stronger"), I say let's kick some ass and have a lot of old-fashioned FUN in 2014. And along the way, I personally will contribute more to cancer research. I can't bear the thought of a lot more folks going through what I did, and that was minor in comparison to the horrors many have suffered.
Some words on the wall treatment here in my son's home where I am visiting, read out in the simplest of good admonitions: DREAM BIGGER - Laugh often - Respect each other - Use kind words - LOVE ALWAYS
Happy New Year
Sunday, December 15, 2013
Partisan Preconceptions
A current client of mine (I'm listing and selling his home for him) is an aging football coach. He seems to have basic intelligence and he has, through some inheritance and probably a portion of dumb luck - plus a reasonable degree of business common sense - managed to amass a small net worth that makes him feel as though he is in the 1% category. In other words, a standard Republican.
While tossing out huge generalities about this or that item he has to be concerned about due to his tax bracket, he also got in his jabs at the Affordable Care Act. Naturally (for a Republican) that involved spitting out the derisive nickname, "Obamacare" in the process of his trying to say how disgusted he is by the whole thing. The fact that he is (as am I) enjoying the benefits of the governmental single-payer healthcare plan known as Medicare, doesn't make him less opinionated or less disrespectful toward a hard-won plan that covers more Americans who otherwise couldn't afford healthcare. To the contrary; older Republicans are the worst. They can not even remember a time when they were more democratic, more fair and compassionate in nature. Now that they "have it," they don't give a damn about those who don't.
This self-satisfied old Republican who is the fine looking speciman he should be for a man who has spent his life in sports, has the temerity to slur the ACA which does not affect his life at all, and the point seemed to be nothing more than a chance to slur the President. He opined to me, "What a mental midget!" Interesting.
One would think that even a coach is nonetheless a person in the field of education and may actually care about such simple matters as the ability to think and to speak. One might think that any educated person may have some ability to recognize others who are obviously advanced in intelligence and ability to govern.
Can you recall a time when the most recent former president, that person to whom I refer as our national embarrassment, ever sat for an hour with a commentator/questioner in an auditorium filled with university students and invited open discussion of any and all types concerning his policies or practices? No, probably not. I can not recall such a thing happening from 2001 to 2009. And cannot imagine such a scene! Sure, I confess to not seeking out such events due to my difficulty in listening to someone who sounded so ignorant as to jar my senses; still, I doubt he would have subjected himself to such a test. Surely his handlers shied away from putting him in positions where his ignorance glared.
President Obama said in his interview with Chris Matthews that after five years in the presidency, he felt humbled. He said one would have to feel more humble rather than cocky in such a roll. I said aloud, "He never listened to Bush!"
But I suppose that the bantam rooster of an excuse for a leader used what tools he possessed. Lacking actual intelligence and presidential skills, he fell back on bravado and privilige. Too bad that Republicans - old and young alike - could not see him for what he was (and was not) and much worse that they today cannot see that what we now have is a true leader with skills to rescue our nation from the horrors of eight years of degradation. They apparently can't even see the gradual growth in our economy and improvement of our current state. All they can see is that our capable President is not a "Conservative" so therefore is the enemy. (Oh, yeah - he is also not white!) Why not attack his intelligence? Republicans don't recognize intelligence for what it is, having seen so little of it in their own party.
Unbelievable! Since conservatives are completely dedicated to wealth and there is more of that around today than ever (for them!) thanks to the crock-market, one would think they would be so appreciative.
While tossing out huge generalities about this or that item he has to be concerned about due to his tax bracket, he also got in his jabs at the Affordable Care Act. Naturally (for a Republican) that involved spitting out the derisive nickname, "Obamacare" in the process of his trying to say how disgusted he is by the whole thing. The fact that he is (as am I) enjoying the benefits of the governmental single-payer healthcare plan known as Medicare, doesn't make him less opinionated or less disrespectful toward a hard-won plan that covers more Americans who otherwise couldn't afford healthcare. To the contrary; older Republicans are the worst. They can not even remember a time when they were more democratic, more fair and compassionate in nature. Now that they "have it," they don't give a damn about those who don't.
This self-satisfied old Republican who is the fine looking speciman he should be for a man who has spent his life in sports, has the temerity to slur the ACA which does not affect his life at all, and the point seemed to be nothing more than a chance to slur the President. He opined to me, "What a mental midget!" Interesting.
One would think that even a coach is nonetheless a person in the field of education and may actually care about such simple matters as the ability to think and to speak. One might think that any educated person may have some ability to recognize others who are obviously advanced in intelligence and ability to govern.
Can you recall a time when the most recent former president, that person to whom I refer as our national embarrassment, ever sat for an hour with a commentator/questioner in an auditorium filled with university students and invited open discussion of any and all types concerning his policies or practices? No, probably not. I can not recall such a thing happening from 2001 to 2009. And cannot imagine such a scene! Sure, I confess to not seeking out such events due to my difficulty in listening to someone who sounded so ignorant as to jar my senses; still, I doubt he would have subjected himself to such a test. Surely his handlers shied away from putting him in positions where his ignorance glared.
President Obama said in his interview with Chris Matthews that after five years in the presidency, he felt humbled. He said one would have to feel more humble rather than cocky in such a roll. I said aloud, "He never listened to Bush!"
But I suppose that the bantam rooster of an excuse for a leader used what tools he possessed. Lacking actual intelligence and presidential skills, he fell back on bravado and privilige. Too bad that Republicans - old and young alike - could not see him for what he was (and was not) and much worse that they today cannot see that what we now have is a true leader with skills to rescue our nation from the horrors of eight years of degradation. They apparently can't even see the gradual growth in our economy and improvement of our current state. All they can see is that our capable President is not a "Conservative" so therefore is the enemy. (Oh, yeah - he is also not white!) Why not attack his intelligence? Republicans don't recognize intelligence for what it is, having seen so little of it in their own party.
Unbelievable! Since conservatives are completely dedicated to wealth and there is more of that around today than ever (for them!) thanks to the crock-market, one would think they would be so appreciative.
Tuesday, December 10, 2013
Criminal Republicanism
Okay, try to read without instantly throwing the wall in front of your mental acuity; I will endeavor to be clear even if caustic.
Republicanism as I mean it here is a general attitude, of which I have spoken in earlier posts. Not all Republicans (as flesh-and-blood humans) act criminally, in my estimation. There are individual Republicans I can confess to loving even if I sometimes am repulsed by their harsh comments.
Watching news that reveals the widespread general attitude of oppression of the masses (because if the vast base of our society are the have-nots, they must be guilty of laziness or something worse), I am struck by the evidence that the most criminally oppressive Republicans are those who claim godliness.
If you have read any of my previous writings you are probably (maybe painfully) aware of my strong statements regarding religion. My own constructed axiom is: "Nothing else is so limiting to the human mind as is religion." Sidestepping here my usual progression into discussion of the most egregious criminality of religion itself - horrible events from history that underscore my strong statements - I want to focus on that slippery little thing called "Christian giving." [ You may want to Google the idea; there are studies on how to do this religious requirement. ]
What bothers me so fundamentally is the fact that "good Christians" (!) will study on how to give to the poor and will often dutifully support The Salvation Army and many other charities; they may even give to someone on a face-to-face, personal level when they see the needy up close. But given the chance to vote on some policy in government, almost as a block the Christians among us will choose to limit what is available to those same poor or disenfranchised citizens. In fact, they often help mightily in such miserably misguided states such as Texas, to do the disenfranchising. (It appears that Texas voter rights are essentially now limited to those above the poverty line.) Christians are the most faithful minions of Republican radicals; today's "Tea Party" is the best evidence of such radicalism. That group of hard-line control freaks could not exist were it not for the wholesale underwriting of Christians who consider themselves to be "good" God-fearing members of society.
And therein lies the problem! These folks FEAR a supreme being they have grown up believing is actually there and actually telling them what to do if they hope to ever attain a heaven or afterlife of any kind. (And even though the only mention of human government in scripture is instruction to stay out of it because "My kingdom is not of this world," still most Christians seem determined to go against such instruction from their "savior" and joyfully vote to restrict their neighbors' personal freedoms.) It's the same drive that directs Muslims who want their paradise above anything temporal or worldly. Hence they all, Christians, Muslims - people of any belief base that promises something better to be desired after this life - err on the side of catering to phantoms when it would be more deeply rewarding to be sincerely involved in real giving. It must be that humans just don't deserve the real giving of which religious people might be capable, because the true drummer for believers is out in some nebulous place telling them to follow something "greater." They convince themselves that the greater good is to hold fast to that traditional belief and hope for eternity; damn the human poor who are always there to be needy. Maybe the needy poor can be helped in the future from the new godly home where the formerly human "good Christian" will reside. [ This is not some weird slant I have concocted; it was what I believed and taught as a young, fundamentalist Christian pastor! ]
Laws enacted by the faithful votes of "good Christians" keep women in Texas (along with other states) from getting help with all kinds of medical care, including abortions if they are needed. Why? Because Christians are convinced that abortion is wrong! Okay, if religious people feel something is wrong, the only godly requirement upon them is to NOT DO that something. Yet they en masse will vote into law a prohibition against that something, when the law is detrimental to many other people holding many different (and some the same) beliefs.
From the many years I devoutly studied the Christian Bible, the act of being meddlesome did not seem to be promoted there, except long after the purported life of Jesus when an opportunist who spoke several languages began writing his letters and telling women (in particular) what they had to do. That control freak, Saul of Tarsus, would be a major player in today's Republican Party and would surely run the Tea Party entirely. His chief deacon could be Ted of Texas!
It truly is sad that so many folks in our society who consider themselves good (except on the surface they naturally have to say they don't) are entirely in the automatic votes column for "conservative" political candidates. While the true Republican Party is all about money and power, the Christian segment of it is there only because of misguided beliefs that good people should control their neighbors to protect them from themselves and from the fires of hell.
Republicanism is guilty of any number of crimes against humanity; it's too bad that unsuspecting "good Christians" have so blindly assisted in the criminal acts against the poor and downtrodden whom they truly believe they are helping.
Republicanism as I mean it here is a general attitude, of which I have spoken in earlier posts. Not all Republicans (as flesh-and-blood humans) act criminally, in my estimation. There are individual Republicans I can confess to loving even if I sometimes am repulsed by their harsh comments.
Watching news that reveals the widespread general attitude of oppression of the masses (because if the vast base of our society are the have-nots, they must be guilty of laziness or something worse), I am struck by the evidence that the most criminally oppressive Republicans are those who claim godliness.
If you have read any of my previous writings you are probably (maybe painfully) aware of my strong statements regarding religion. My own constructed axiom is: "Nothing else is so limiting to the human mind as is religion." Sidestepping here my usual progression into discussion of the most egregious criminality of religion itself - horrible events from history that underscore my strong statements - I want to focus on that slippery little thing called "Christian giving." [ You may want to Google the idea; there are studies on how to do this religious requirement. ]
What bothers me so fundamentally is the fact that "good Christians" (!) will study on how to give to the poor and will often dutifully support The Salvation Army and many other charities; they may even give to someone on a face-to-face, personal level when they see the needy up close. But given the chance to vote on some policy in government, almost as a block the Christians among us will choose to limit what is available to those same poor or disenfranchised citizens. In fact, they often help mightily in such miserably misguided states such as Texas, to do the disenfranchising. (It appears that Texas voter rights are essentially now limited to those above the poverty line.) Christians are the most faithful minions of Republican radicals; today's "Tea Party" is the best evidence of such radicalism. That group of hard-line control freaks could not exist were it not for the wholesale underwriting of Christians who consider themselves to be "good" God-fearing members of society.
And therein lies the problem! These folks FEAR a supreme being they have grown up believing is actually there and actually telling them what to do if they hope to ever attain a heaven or afterlife of any kind. (And even though the only mention of human government in scripture is instruction to stay out of it because "My kingdom is not of this world," still most Christians seem determined to go against such instruction from their "savior" and joyfully vote to restrict their neighbors' personal freedoms.) It's the same drive that directs Muslims who want their paradise above anything temporal or worldly. Hence they all, Christians, Muslims - people of any belief base that promises something better to be desired after this life - err on the side of catering to phantoms when it would be more deeply rewarding to be sincerely involved in real giving. It must be that humans just don't deserve the real giving of which religious people might be capable, because the true drummer for believers is out in some nebulous place telling them to follow something "greater." They convince themselves that the greater good is to hold fast to that traditional belief and hope for eternity; damn the human poor who are always there to be needy. Maybe the needy poor can be helped in the future from the new godly home where the formerly human "good Christian" will reside. [ This is not some weird slant I have concocted; it was what I believed and taught as a young, fundamentalist Christian pastor! ]
Laws enacted by the faithful votes of "good Christians" keep women in Texas (along with other states) from getting help with all kinds of medical care, including abortions if they are needed. Why? Because Christians are convinced that abortion is wrong! Okay, if religious people feel something is wrong, the only godly requirement upon them is to NOT DO that something. Yet they en masse will vote into law a prohibition against that something, when the law is detrimental to many other people holding many different (and some the same) beliefs.
From the many years I devoutly studied the Christian Bible, the act of being meddlesome did not seem to be promoted there, except long after the purported life of Jesus when an opportunist who spoke several languages began writing his letters and telling women (in particular) what they had to do. That control freak, Saul of Tarsus, would be a major player in today's Republican Party and would surely run the Tea Party entirely. His chief deacon could be Ted of Texas!
It truly is sad that so many folks in our society who consider themselves good (except on the surface they naturally have to say they don't) are entirely in the automatic votes column for "conservative" political candidates. While the true Republican Party is all about money and power, the Christian segment of it is there only because of misguided beliefs that good people should control their neighbors to protect them from themselves and from the fires of hell.
Republicanism is guilty of any number of crimes against humanity; it's too bad that unsuspecting "good Christians" have so blindly assisted in the criminal acts against the poor and downtrodden whom they truly believe they are helping.
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Nelson Mandela
Beautiful tributes were everywhere visible over the two days since Mandela's death on December 5th. Rightfully so - just as it will be right and proper to conduct all of the on-going celebrations of his life, both those we are shown on television and the many that will happen away from our public eye. Mr. Mandela was one of the truly great and towering figures of all human history.
Watching the coming barrage of praises to be heaped upon this great man, praises from all sectors, will be a bittersweet experience. Because I know that many of them will be completely hypocritical.
Why is Mandela celebrated as a great human being? Because of his great humanity - his humanitarianism. He stood for equality for all of us living under the label: homo sapiens. He stands in the line with the Buddha, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. Are these activist icons of history roundly loved or even highly admired by ALL people? Far from it; many hate them and what they stood for. Likewise, as the days of mourning Mandela slip into history, his detractors will come into view - and definitely into earshot. Some were already heard on day-1.
Soon there will surely be a comment hurled by some harsh hardliner who represents those on the opposite side of the resistance against racism and inequality. For example, a person such as the confidant of one of our loud and ugly tea-party Senators (the writer who purportedly celebrates the birthday anniversary of John Wilkes Booth), may well offer the opinion that it was a mistake to let Mandela out of prison - or even that the young resistance leader should have been given the death penalty.
There is an amazing hatred within our societies for the very concept of equality, and naturally, hatred for those who promote it. Imagine - a profoundly lovely song by John Lennon promoting equality and peace - is certainly not respected or loved by any of those who do not love the likes of Mandela or the others mentioned above. Certainly many speak openly against John Lennon and probably could not even listen to that beautiful song, which contains some of the finest sentiments ever set to music. One of my all-time favorites because I love peace and equality.
I've purposely avoided directly linking my thoughts this morning to my most recent post prior to this one, but it's impossible to miss the obvious.
Watching the coming barrage of praises to be heaped upon this great man, praises from all sectors, will be a bittersweet experience. Because I know that many of them will be completely hypocritical.
Why is Mandela celebrated as a great human being? Because of his great humanity - his humanitarianism. He stood for equality for all of us living under the label: homo sapiens. He stands in the line with the Buddha, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr. Are these activist icons of history roundly loved or even highly admired by ALL people? Far from it; many hate them and what they stood for. Likewise, as the days of mourning Mandela slip into history, his detractors will come into view - and definitely into earshot. Some were already heard on day-1.
Soon there will surely be a comment hurled by some harsh hardliner who represents those on the opposite side of the resistance against racism and inequality. For example, a person such as the confidant of one of our loud and ugly tea-party Senators (the writer who purportedly celebrates the birthday anniversary of John Wilkes Booth), may well offer the opinion that it was a mistake to let Mandela out of prison - or even that the young resistance leader should have been given the death penalty.
There is an amazing hatred within our societies for the very concept of equality, and naturally, hatred for those who promote it. Imagine - a profoundly lovely song by John Lennon promoting equality and peace - is certainly not respected or loved by any of those who do not love the likes of Mandela or the others mentioned above. Certainly many speak openly against John Lennon and probably could not even listen to that beautiful song, which contains some of the finest sentiments ever set to music. One of my all-time favorites because I love peace and equality.
I've purposely avoided directly linking my thoughts this morning to my most recent post prior to this one, but it's impossible to miss the obvious.
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