Saturday, November 04, 2006
LESS EXCITING This election time of the year has seemed to me be far less "exciting"" than many I have known in the past. I have wondered, too if it could possibly be a passing fancy for me to feel that we have, indeed, changed and become less intent on our future than we have been; modified, in a curious manner, our seemingly basic ideas, in particular about group associations. I am convinced that the continued use of negative advertising materials in radio, TV and print form has been one reason for my tendency to avoid the tendered subject or to treat it lightly rather than seriously as it should be taken. I am not the least bit interested in what some smart-talking whiz kid thinks elected officials might be doing that which has decided is wrong. I want to know what might be suggested to solve problems rather than to create new ones. I want to know what steps they would take if given the chance to do so. It quickly becomes obvious they do not know what they might do. Historians a few years from now will, no doubt, look for reasons why our attitudes might change. They will be looking in places where we may hesitate to set foot. So much of what we actually do in the political areas of living leads back to the days of F.D.R. We look back to the days of "The Great Depression" but not to dwell on tragic event itself, but rather to look at the tactics F.D.R. used to try to overcome the oppressive tedium which bound us. Some ideas were, in truth, questionable, some impractical, and some were, in time, declared to have been illegal. The point was that he did something. He took action against he problems we faced. Our government took some rather radical steps in those days, things which Herbert Hoover could not have done been allowed to do. I have never been a "Hoover hater" person. I think a worth man got a raw deal in the way he was treated by so many citizens and some opposition party members. Neither have I ever been an ardent Roosevelt devotee. I, on his arrival of the national political scene accepted the premise that, as our President, he deserved proper respect and support. I early accepted his being where and what he was and I stayed with him all the way. The current election seems to be centered too much on placing men and women where the will "fit in" party plans rather than where they might perform duties on behalf of the people rather than special tricks for those who elected him or her. Next Tuesday you choose what your tomorrow and tomorrows will be. Do so with special care. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 11-4-06 [c-478wds]
Friday, November 03, 2006
HALLOW-WHAT? I have been shaken up a bit by the fact that, during this period called "Halloween", so many people, it appears, will approve of, accept and modify their lives; re-shape their personal conduct, approve of, accept and re-shape their way of living because they have believed far too much of the sheer Election Time drivel which inundated all of us by participants of Mid Term Election activities. It is not at all difficult for one to see many Halloween features as a part of the political phase. "All Saints Day" has been commercially cobbleled into something for the small children market levels. Adults guided their younglings through what adults seem to view it all as being a fully-costumed instructional event teaching the small children the realities which will occur in their lives in the years ahead It not hard to see the dressed-up visitors at your residential door as participants in a fantasy - a faked, false and foolish "primary" sampling to enable use to decide which is most worthy. In the end the winners will be those whose parents could best afford to buy the better costumes. The next weeks winners will be those could afford to buy the better TV spots and newspaper pages. But, before we ask Congress to blend the two celebrations, let's let them work some more on a way to make Halloween a Monday holiday to give us another "long week-end" break. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 11-3-06 [c257wds]
Thursday, November 02, 2006
GINGER We are all aware of the herbal substance known as "ginger". I dare say you think you have a small container of dried and ground mixes of spices,herbs, seeds and one or two with names you're not sure about at all. Think again. I thought I would find several such containers in our kitchen among the fifty or so such items standing at-the-ready inside of two cabinet sections plus a wooden rack along the one end of the range. No such luck. I took them out one-by-one and neatly returned them to their precise area without finding even colorful little glass, colorful plastic or cardboard container marked "Ginger...not in whole, half, dried, ground or powdered form. How could Grandma have turned out her batches of famous Ginger Snaps? How about those Gingerbread houses, bridges, sleighs, and farm critters which have traditionally been such a vital part of Thanksgiving Day and Christmas decorations even though most of them had been "taste-tested" out of existence long before the Yuletide log had been dragged indoors. She made some good "Ginger Peach stroodle", too. Remember? I suppose I'm on this "Ginger kick" - and at a good time, too, right now before the holidays get underway seriously. This calls of our for our Family Nourishment Purchasing Department to start visiting the large grocery stores and provide a good excuse for them to visit one of the smaller Asian Foods foods stores we have scattered about the area now. That way we can enjoy another foreign language encounter and get forms of ginger not ,ordinarily, carried by large markets You may also be surprised to find that ginger comes in yellow, white and red. When it come down on nutritional values, ginger ranks very well. That's especially true for me because it supplies ample amount of values I want and need. Ginger is high in potassium, magnesium, copper, manganese and vitamin B6 (pyridoxine). Calories per one ounce serving: 19. Run a pre-season check on the storage area a house and re-stock now. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 11-2-06 [c357wds]
Wednesday, November 01, 2006
CHURCH STOCK: DOWN I view with some alarm the obvious decline of my own particular church. I assume you do of yours, as well. Even if you are of that group - always present - who deem it beneath your stature of being a human being, created or here by happenstance to acknowledge any such power exists, I think you, too, will agree evidence is strong to show that Mankind gets along better when he has some such organizational concept as the center of his willful actions. The group I mention is not to I'm talking about "part time" devotees- no, of necessity, "Christian" ,either, who don't feel that some "holy" connective is needed, save in times of undue stress or disaster when someone, or something, is needed on which or who blamed may be placed. The figures for 2005 are about all in by now and the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A) has had another record-setting membership loss. This is the greatest such loss since the Northern and Southern "one-piece" treaty of 1983. The loss for 2005 was reported in as 48,474. That left a total of 2,313,662 at the end of the year. Many published accounts of the shrinkage rounded it off nicely at "about 50,000." "Not too bad!" you may have thought or said."Over two million of 'em remaining. Two million-plus! That's a lot of Presbyterians!" True, but that has been taking place since 1967. 2005 's report was "record-setting" in that it was higher than the others. 1967 the total membership was 4.2 million. That means the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) now accounts for only 78% of the nation's population - the lowest since 1870. Why? That's what worries both those within the body of he church as well as those outside the church. We do not have sufficient space, time, or enough creditable information - especially as related to those with a national background and profound social adjustments of recent decades. There are some brighter spots to be seen if one looks carefully among figures and related dates. Catholics have about held firm on their numbers showing 23% of the population in l965 - and 22.7% in 2003; Southern Baptists increased from 5.3% to 5.7% in that same time period. Some Pentecostal churches have grown fast enough to confuse census takers. What's more so called de-churched Presbyterians are showing up in a wave of new "non" or "inter" denominational churches in New York, Houston, or Los Angeles and elsewhere. Another pleasant surprise out of this confusion: how can it possibly be that the abbreviated Presbyterian Church has - in 2005 - given the Church well over three million dollars "for the first time?'' Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 11-1-06 [c455wds]
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
SEED STORAGE This would seem to be an especially good year for pumpkin seeds,if you judge by the number of recipes using plain,old instructions on ways mildly mad methods for roasting them as dependable supplies of snack foods for young and old eaters alike. Old-timers say - ten-to-one "Boy-oh-boy! It's been years since I've had any roasted pumpkin seeds :"Usta eat 'm like crazy, but.." Crunching sounds may cover the memory words the recite,but someone else will overlap those happy sounds by saying: !When I wuss a kid, we used to put our "spelunkings away" as fast, or faster,than Grandma could roast 'em." There's always a clown in such groups,too., so another would chime in with: I prefer watermelon seeds! They spit better!" This year I have come across roasting instructions in most of the homey magazines. It's an annual thing with lots of food writers, of course, but it sees to match up with a pumpkin,gourd and squash sort of garden thing ...oh,plenty of 'em!.. but not that over-the edge glut we get so often in October. Once Halloween Night is over,you can't give pumpkins away! Locally,it was not the best growing season this year for such Fall foodstuff but there are plenty of pumpkins at your local market- or nearby. There are fancy ways of roasting pumpkin seed The simple way asks only that you wash up a supply of seeds from medium size pumpkins. Wash until they no longer tend to gather in sticky lumps. Dry them quickly on paper towels or better still a clean cloth. Rinse them in a weak lime juice solution. Loosely sprinkle seeds on cooking sheets or shallow pans so they do not overlap. Form a thin layer with repeated sprinkles. Add perhaps a teaspoon of chili powder and more if you want them to be spicier. Bake them at 250 degrees until chili powder forms a film on the surface...twenty minutes or so. Now,for the roasting. Salt generously,and pour all of them into a large skillet it over medium heat to be held in such a manner that you can shake it and stir the contents constantly. The flat seed will each pop and become round. They won't all do so. Give them five minutes or so to encourage cooperation. You can serve them plain or some people like to"stretch" them by mixing them with salted peanuts. It think every "Grandma" had her own spice level. They used all sorts of spices and herbs. Experiment and you, too, can be among the beloved pumpkin seed poppers! Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 10-31-06 [c451wds]
Monday, October 30, 2006
NOW! YOUR TURN! Go ahead! Say it! Don't hold back on one little bit of it! Whatever it is you feel you would like to tell the world about, right now is the very best time you may ever have in which to get it all said and heard. Don' t hold back on anything! We are in the final heat of an Election Time when lies of the utmost proportions and complexities can be spelled out in the finest ways, seasoned with special party-type goodies and be readily believed, accepted...even,for a time, greatly praised, admired and honored. Told at any other time of the political year each magnificent plan would beheld suspect and awkward questions would be set forth. I have never quite understood why it happens, but Truth expands in proportional terms and does well in travel with small embellishments from time-to-time to meet "local" needs. The presence of television cameras at Stop One has modified the natural tendency to widen by the continued presence of that same, self-preserving political savvy which overcame the sudden absence of "smoke-filled-rooms" in American political life styles. It can certainly deal with dials and a few electronic switches thrown with discretion - or else... as in "watch that frequency." The greatest changes, I think, in our political presence - in our elections and political management are closely tied to eras, actions, fads, fancies and social frauds we have engaged in during our recent past. One of them titled "baby boomers" - a backlash in of a calender-based thing - is being beaten to death and blamed for all manner of trouble being experienced today. The nature of our election's visions will change in accordance with changes taking place in the character of persons who step forward as candidates and the people who vote for or against them. "Baby Boomers" would be just on of many who will influence our choice tomorrow. We have yet to know what the ultimate affects will be on our society by our excessive permissiveness in educational and behavioral routines of thirty or forty years ago, the steady lowering of educational standards at all levels, the outright annarchy of the '60's among students, peace lovers, protest marchers of every type reagarding varied views of every subject - religion, art, sex deviations, war, racisim, and we meet with today. We must yet pay the piper for millions of miles of protest, parades, walks, rides, sit-ins, downs, unders and atops and with the almost total elimination of such subjects as civics, geography, history, hygiene, and comparative languages and religions of the world from school curriculum lists at all levels as they would normally apply. On our historical road ahead we will see the what each of these behavioral phases has had on our basic principles of governing ourselves. Be assured each will affect us, perhaps in some subtle, unseen ways. We can expect to be making such adjustments for the next half century or so. At Election Times they will be re-occurring - each in it's turn. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 10-31-06 [c518wds]
Sunday, October 29, 2006
MYSTERY IN MAGIC-LAND It ,somehow, would seem rather odd for us to think of a well-known movie star as being a camera "nut" - someone who seeks to augment his or her ever-growing collection of snapshots of actors at work or play. It would seem "silly" unlikely and "out of place" to most of us, I think. There is, I understand, a new book just out which will take a bit of "getting used to idea". Imagine a longtime magician as a star in the sky. It will make interesting reading. I'm actually looking forward to reading all the facts which led the book's writer to deal a second career - that of having served as an international spy that time when when his nation and ours were at war with Germany's "Kaiser Bill" I am looking forward to reading how - Houdini - a man who dealt with some of the world's deepest mysteries with special skills of seeming management thereof. This puts Houdini in a class of "007" operators some eighty years ago. This would be, perhaps, like calling Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson into a State-side murder case of some sort. One wonders how Houdini may have used his magic skills in espionage assignments. He could have anticipated subsequent inventors who brought us such innovative equipment as exploding chewing gum for blowing up bridges, railway stations, airports and space platforms; perhaps quasi-vermicelli strings fitted with metal-slicing innards for re-working unworkable plastics. He would have been good at it, I must admit. The book, is really a 700,000-page database by two skilled writers named William Kalush and Larry Sloman. At first it was more of a "idea of interest." The actual material of Houdini himself revealed nothing upon which such a base might be built. In time they came across a journal kept by a British agent named William Melville - called a "British spymaster". He wrote of Houdini on several occasions in a diary repeatedly spoke of him as being, you might say ,"a duck out of water"...a magician and escape artist .... and entertainer working as a spy for Scotland Yard. There are other reasons which this a book of special interest. During his career, Houdini made several groups in unforgiving enemies when he continually endangered their income and livelihood. He caused money-making Spiritualists of his day to hate him because he proved them to be charlatans robbing the people. He ridiculed all contact with the dead and proved their chicanery. Clairvoyant groups were also his avowed enemies. One day a "college student" beat him and delivered severe blows to his stomach. That same day in the evening a strange man waylaid him in the lobby of his hotel and again beat him once more with severe blows to the abdomen. There is a good chance this new book is may bring to light more about his strange death. Andrew McCaskey amccsr@adelphia.net 10-29-06 [c495wds]
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