TMI a little place to whine

Maybe the rest of the USA is covered in snow and terrible winter weather, but here in Miami it's hot and it's spring. How do I know. A dumb mocking bird (the state bird of Florida by the way) has taken a liking to the butterfly palm in my front driveway and has made a nest.

So now I get a complete rnedition of his song book every morning and now as dusk is about ready, the bird once again sings his song.

Today's Miami Herald shows that the level of poverty in the USA has increased and there is a greater gap between the rich and the poor. And they ask how it has happened.

I can tell you how in one word.

Republicans.

"I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before Me."

So, are you a Christian? Or do you come from the Judeo-Christian cultural experience?

So, what does your God look like?

Is the white haired Father figure on a puffy white cloud your God?

Is the Great Spirit your God?

How about the Mother Earth, or the great Goddess?

Is your God the part of you that feels the feminine attributes of compassion, love forgiveness?

Is Jesus Christ your personal savor?

Many people identify with one or all of the above descriptions of the one true God.

They attend services, at church, go to mass or temple and believe they know who their God is.

Except for one thing.

If there is money to be made, then they make an excuse why they can't go to church. So money becomes more important than God.

If the big "game" of the season is being played in their town and if they go to church they won't get a "good seat" so they skip church, then that "game" be it football, basketball, baseball, soccer, is greater than God.

If you have a big paper due at school, or a project at work and you can't spare an hour a week to go to some kind of worship service because there is no time, then work, school and time have become more important than God.

If the family is leaving for vacation and "has" to leave early to travel and make "good time" then the vacation experience is more important than God.

So, for Lent, why not think about it.

In your life what have you made more important than God? What "replaces" honoring God ? Then ask yourself what will that get you?

Happy Chinese New Year.

I am a RAT by the Chinese zodiac, and I think that this Pig year is not very good for me, but hen who am I to judge. Maybe I should go on line and look at my Chinese horoscope for this year and see if I have to watch out for myself.

Strange. Since my son married and moved away to his own place with his wife many things are different.

For one, the water bill is about $40 less quarterly. The amount of Coke and Pepsi we buy is cut by almost 3/4 and now, my linen closet is missing several pillowcases.

Yes, pillowcases. Not whole sheet sets. Pillowcases.

Funny, when my daughter left to go to UF at Gainesville I never had this trouble. So I wonder why I should have it now?

Our last cat had to be put down. Weiner came into our lives in 1988. He became the Top Cat, the leader of a pride of up to 8 cats. He outlived them all, but finally his body couldnt' support him any longer. He was 19.

Goodbye old friend.

She died on Thursday at the Hard Rock Casino Hotel.

I am not glad she is dead. But I am glad she can finally rest in peace.

Maybe we can too now - without seeing her name at least once a week in the tabloid news.

Each time I hear that phrase from the pen of a journalist, or the mouth of a politician I cringe.

Why?

Because as much as we might want it to mean preserving democracy and freedom I've come to believe that the "American way of life" is nothing but economic.

Yes, Capitalism, with a capital C.

Think about it.

The American way of life means buying things - cars and appliances that pollute and waste energy - homes that take up the space that used to be dedicated to farming - using the natural resources of this country and then when they run out making sweetheart deals to get "more" from other nations that are desperate for cash so they mortgage their future by allowing industrialized America to come in and squander their resources too.

The American way of life is not so much about how free we are or how much say we have in the process of governing ourselves, it's more "I've got mine and I'm going to keep it."

Is that an attitude I really want to preserve? Or do I want to change things so that we are not the ultimate user of the bounty of this planet - at the expense of others who also reside here?

Is that what I want to do? No.

Is that what YOU want to do? If the answer is yes, ask yourself why? What makes you so darned special that you deserve to eat while others starve? What makes you so special that you get an education while others are illerate? What makes you so special that you have fresh water and a descent shelter while others live in sub human conditions, without heat? Do you deserve it? Why? Because you are American?
Does being American justify everything that business does to get rich at the expense of other people in other lands?

As I said, is that an attitude I want to preserve? I don't think so.

So this is how it works, for those who don't understand why they aren't able to save money.

Subway sells bagels for breakfast. One bagle and cream cheese costs $2.30 (toasted bagel, with cream cheese). If you buy one every morning you will pay $11.50 a week.

But, you can buy a bag of bagels, Thomases or Lenders non refrigerated kind, at the grocery store for between $1.99 and $2.99 for 5 (0r 6 depending on the bag), and an 8 oz. tub of cream cheese for $1.29 (when it's on sale you can get it for 99 cents). It's even less if you buy the store brands instead of the name brands.

Now, get this, most office break rooms have either a toaster or toaster oven. So, you take the bagles and cream cheese to work and toast your own bagle and -----
instead of spending $11.50 a week you spend (at the top end)$4.28. So, you save $6.22 a week.

This dear children is called economy.

Never spend more than you have to.

Of course, you could save more if you just didn't eat a bagle every day too and just had two slices of toast with butter or jelly. But that's just sooooo boring that today's young people tend not to do it.