Happy Thanksgiving to all, the grumpy and illegal included

A Happy Thanksgiving weekend to Reg and all the Reg-ulators!

Reg -

In short: I agree.

In long:

Whether Health Care is a "right" depends on what one means by a "right".

The right (wing) may be right - err, correct - in assering that there is no "right" to health care, if by that they mean that there is no God-given right to compel another to treat one for some injury or aillment.

otoh, there may be a "right" based on citizenship for all to have access to healthcare, regardless of circumstance. A "right" in this case would be no different than a "right" by citizenship to due process. (Hence the controversy about trying alleged terrorists in U.S. Courts.)

Finally, I believe that there is a moral and professional obligation to provide emergency or urgent care to anyone who presents themselves to a health care facility or emergency transport. Should these folks then report the illegal alien to the I.N.S.? I'm guessing most of them are too busy, and untrained in the leagal aspects to do so.

All my un-schooled opinion, of course.

On a different, happier note:

What kind of wine do you and the Reg-ulators suggest with roast turkey? The Nouveous Beujolais is a nice light red. There's also the sweeter whites. There's the Late Harvest wines, for guests who want something sweet. (My grandfather used to give me a kosher wine, despite the fact that we're not Jewish.) I have, in the past few years, uncorked a bottle of Ice Wine at Thanksgiving.

What say all?

Now I get it.  If we agree with you we are intelligent and witty - if not we're cranky.  "Dishonorable, I think not.  Do you  even know the definition of honorable?  Deserving respect is one definition.  Do I think that this person was deserving of my respect - NO.  And as far as respect goes Reg - I disagree with much of what you say, but I have never asked you where you "get off" saying what you do.  So just where is it that you were "honorable" towards me.  Where did you show me respect?

I have learned through many months of being a member of this blog not to trust the words or the sentiment of someone who has made fun of what I say.  Early on these words and sentiments came back to bite me.  He plays the fool so often, why would this be any different.  Because it's a holiday?  If I thought for a moment that his sentiment was real, I would have reacted differently.  So parden me if I don't feel like playing this particular game.

Respect is given when it is received.  I react to the way I am treated - no more, no less than any other person on this web site.  Why no comment from you when one of your little minions told me to "crawl back under your rock"  But I guess that was funny, huh?  No more or less than any other human being.  Let's all have a big laugh for that one!

And pray tell, what is the joke - where is the humor.  Is it cancer, war, unemployment, healthcare, abortion, guns, death, aids - because your little friends seem to joke about them daily.  And God forbid if you disagree with them!

Do you "honestly" think that humor makes the barbs less hurtful?  Bullies use humor all the time.  But, I guess you must find bullies humorous too.

I actually thought you wanted all thoughts on what you write on this site.  Sorry, I didn't know that "all thoughts" were okay if only they agreed with yours.  Isn't that what this is all about?

You say "if you can't get the joke, go elsewhere".   If you can't agree with me and do as I say - take your ball and go away.  Wow, that sure is intelligent.  But maybe that is what "intelligent" is.  Good heavens; all this time I thought it meant being "mentally acute".  But whoever said blogs were intelligent?  Oh yes, you did.

Reg, I am reminded by my better half that this is a blog.  These are nameless people who are not, and will not ever be your friends.  Friends don't hide behind false names and assign many personalities to one person.  It is the venting of ideas, that is all.  

The question is asked, why get upset?  I guess freedom of speech means more to me than it does to you.  Freedom of speech is only freedom when it agrees with the ideology of this paper and this editor.

This is not grade school, and I will not afford you  the luxury of berating me for the sheer fun of it.  I am no different than any one else on this blog.  You tell no one else what they are allowed to say or not say.  I breeched no PG ethics .  I did not even breech manners, because manners are something afforded to all human beings - even if it isn't a holiday.

So don't fret Reg - I won't come on your "intelligent" little  Reg on Wry anymore.  You and your intelliegent friends can have it all to yourself.  You may even banish me from this site because I acutally had the nerve to stand up for myself.

Think how happy you will be with nothing but adoring and agreeable fans.  Love fest on the Wry.  You might try that for a name of your blog.

NOTE:

You said "Talk about not entering into the spirit of the occasion'.  Of course, in the previous letter I wished you "a warm and wonderful Thanksgiving.  I had meant what I said, but now I rue  the sentiment.

The statute of limitations is probably done, so I'm fessing to the time I got yelled at for giving a police dog the finger.  It was a crime of passion.  The dog was in a cruiser, and it barked viciously as I approached a convenience store.  I didn't mean to do it, mutt, I was startled, and did what comes natural to orthodox slum dwellers.  

Soon as I got in the store a huge cop bellowed, "I could take you to jail for what you did."

I simpered a defence, "The dog startled me.  It was barking."

"The dog was doing what it is supposed to do.   The dog is a police officer, same as me .  You give the dog the finger, you give police the finger."  I think he wanted to hit me.

The dog was a professional, and a social class above.   I was a serf, so I expressed remorse and managed to buy chipped ham.  I feel better now.

I would regret it for a blue moon if I didn't respond to the post, but then I never could keep my mouth shut nor my typing fingers (both of them) still.

1. To our distinguished host, you make a good point about hospitals not having to take on the duties of the INS, but I also seem to recall that myreply's suggestion was to treat them prior to reporting them. If illegals, or undocumented workers if you prefer, did not qualify for gubment care, then it would really be very little of a burden to pick up the phone and drop a dime, or quarter, on them. I don't recall anybody suggesting that we turn them away.I really love the word "gubment". I know it's somewhat childish, but I ask that you indulge me this now and then, and I'll smile faintly if called a wing nut.

2. To my friend myreply, I can count the number of times that I've agreed with our host on one and a half fingers (but I'm not flipping him off, just one of the times was half hearted) and I still feel pretty welcome here. I'm not sure what the root of your dispute is with the Scarletpumpernickel, other than that his nic takes too long to type (Marble Rye was taken?)but I was dissapointed too in how you responded to a good wish. I like you and think well of you, so please either accept or reject this as friendly advice; don't take offense where none was intended.

3. To the afore mentioned Scarlet, I don't know much about wine but I think that our friend and host Mr. Henry suggested something called Red Herring, which is, I guess, red but still goes nicely with fish? I suggest a nice merlot or sharaz with the poultry.

4. I too am happy and thankful to be associated with this group of loud mouthed wrong thinking malcontents. I've learned much from each of you and would welcome you as a friend without exception. It is a rare relationship, especially on the anonymous web, where you are able to disagree without being disagreeable. I think that this is a nice group that is passionate yet doesn't take itself too seriously, a rare trait.

The happiest, warmest and safest of holidays to you all.

I like to echo little_minx and mugsy's sentiments, and wish Reg and all his commenters a Happy Thanksgiving (I previously extended my warmest regards to myreply, several posts ago).

thescarletpumpernickel:

I drink port with my turkey, but I'm closer to a wino than an oenophile.

Toadsly &  mugsy -

I'm no oenophile either. (A beer person. The cheaper the better.)

The grandfather who would gi\ve me Manichewitz (sp?) at Thanksgiving would have port with, well, everything , and even nothing at all. (My uncle later told me that he wanted the biggest bang for his buck.)

myreply -

Listen to your better half. No one here knows you personally. Why take anything personal? I hesitate to say even this. Do as others here have advised you: Get a sense of humor. It's a crumby world, full of cancer, war, all those things that you've mentioned.

Don't be so serious. You'll make yourself sick.

Be well. I mean that.

I like a Riesling with turkey.

Great Thanksgiving to ALL, left wing, right wing, or giblet.

Hi, Mugsy.  I hope you and all the rest of the gang had a nice Thanksgiving.  I need to correct one thing you mentioned.  It was me who (in more than one place in these blogs) suggested that hospitals treat illegal immigrants for what ails them, then report them to INS.  

PS--I do agree with Reg that the whole issue of illegals is being unscupulously used by health reform opponents to convince people that illegals would be part of any proposed system.  Such red herrings seem to be all these people have to offer.

Today is Black Friday but yesterday was Black Thursday.  That is the day this poor excuse of an editor and man (Reg Henry), flipped off one of the members of this site; that being me.  That after he admonished the same person for "lack of manners".

You see, his ego is so huge, that he needed to know that he could rally his youngsters once more to the boorish call of blood in the water.  And that he did.

Since he saw that no one had replied to an earlier posting that I had justifiably made, he decided to flip off his own reply.  

This is a gorwn man egging on children and child-like minds in the ruse of 'humor".  Shame on you Reg Henry.  

The Post-Gazette has many rules to play in it's sandbox (blog), but follows none of them.  The only time they ever get upset is when someone mentions free speech or a competitor or when they dare to critique one of their own.  That is when they show their teeth.  Free speech - not!

This has been a fine experiment on the morals or lack thereof, of the blog-o-sphere.  It is an experiment that this paper, many times, has failed.

It is more like the "Three Faces of Eve".  Many of you won't know what this is, but I'm sure you can google it, as you so often do for your "humorus" quotes.  There are those who are so perverse, that they write under many names.  It is uncommonley strange.  You don't know who or what you are talking to at any one time.  Of course, this paper encourages discourse, not matter how they get it.  More on that much later.

So, Mr. Henry, please keep writing your humorus (?) blogs for the youngsters on this site.  Most probably don't even buy your paper, but what does that matter.  What matters to you is that you will be read, adored and followed by the many "faces of eve".

scarlet:

How did you like that "friendship" bit.  Nice touch.  Wanted to see who fell for it.  YOU WIN!!!

Hi Regis;

I stand corrected, it was indeed you who had made the suggestion that I agreed with and referenced. As for the illegal immigration and health care issue, I disagree, I think that there is a very important distinction to be made. When it came down to numbers, our host reduced his by about 15 million people when removing illegals from the rolls. 15 million people generate alot of health care expenses, and the number matters greatly. Weather we will include them or not is important, and if not, then how we will deal with them when they need care is the next big question. The fact that we are paying for this now does not mean that it is not an issue for reform discussions, in fact it seems like when discussing reform it is an ideal time for the discussion of health care for illegals.(assuming the assumption that we are paying for them already is correct, and I think that it is)

I suspect that the ultimate answer will be amnesty for those already in, and some sort of strong talk about border security for the future, so long as it doesn't cost either party votes in November.But that's just my suspicion, perhaps a little too cynical.

Callsign, if you're out there, I have a comment for you.  On November 18 you posted a question that had occurred to me, perhaps around the same time it occurred to you.  Implicit in your question is one explanation and certainly seems plausible, even likely.  Another explanation involves only one going from medicated to non-medicated.  A third involves something postulated by another commenter on this blog, which assumes an experiment being conducted by academics at one of our local institutions.  If it is either the first or third scenario, I choose not to participate.  If it is the second, wouldn't there be a moral obligation to tread lightly?  

Mugsy, you are a rare and welcome bird.  Happy Thanksgiving to you!  I raised a glass of St Francis Chardonnay with my turkey.  It's been on sale this month.

As to the other bird forms mentioned in Reg's post,  Sewickley has also settled a suit brought by a birder.  I recount here what was reported in the various papers serving our little borough.  It was a Saturday morning and traffic on Beaver Street had come to a halt just as the protagonist in this story was hurrying to a christening party.  Gridlock was caused by the Fire Chief and a Police Officer who, while traveling in opposite directions, had stopped their official vehicles midway through town to have a chat.  This frustrated the gentleman who was late for the christening celebration and exasperated his wife who reached across and tooted the horn at the offending parties.  As the Fire Chief passed the would-be party-goers, the gentleman whose horn had been tooted saluted said Chief in a most unfriendly way. The Chief responded by informing the Police Officer who followed the gentleman and his wife to the party, walked into the garden festivities, detained and cited the birder for disorderly conduct.  A lawsuit ensued and in the end, Sewickley settled for $9000. While I have the utmost respect for firemen and officers of the law,  my sympathies lie with the birder in this case, a visitor from Ambridge who was only trying to get himself and his wife to the party on time.

Callsign, a correction:  the "other commenter" was you.  AI was mentioned along with a contest and beer.  If I win, I'm hoping for Yuengling.

ciejai -

I am starting to suspect that it is the second scenario. I wish that I had seen this earlier, and I agree.

There is a moral obligation to tread lightly.

Scarlet,  In our youth, are we all hot-heads passionately committed to the belief we are right in all things?  It was so for me and I have come to believe this is a survival mechanism.  In our dotage, do we begin to cultivate patience and is it, too, a matter of survival?  You posted a verse from Ecclesiastes several weeks ago.  It has taken me fifty-eight years to let go of the idea that life must make sense.  At the point we relinquish this notion, is cynicism inevitable? Or is there a better state in which one tries to first, do no harm, and then do a little good?  What would you call that?    

Your grasp of Latin fascinates me.  I use mine most often to solve the Crossword.  

ciejai -

First, the easy.

I was fortunate to have two years of Latin in high school.  There was a time when those aspiring to become physicians, pharmacists, or priests had to learn Latin. (A lot of schools no longer teach it.) In fact, one of our texts used in class was a book listing Latin and Greek roots, from which we could learn to de-code many English words.

Anyway, I've forgotten most of my Latin. I have the small consolation of using words and phrases that are out-of-fashion even in academia these days.

After all, I'd hate to see it (Latin) become a dead language, or worse, a really dead language.

As to cynicism. That's a harder question. After my own 57 years on this orb I'm guessing that those who have reconciled themselves with themself, and have made peace with themself, are not cynical.

It's almost impossible to do no harm, even with the best of intentions. What? The human condition? Original sin?

I dunno'.

Mugsy--to the best of my knowledge, all proposals for a national health plan specifically include illegal immigrants, which is why I think it's a red herring.  I too have noticed, however, how the "number of uninsured" changes when people have to not include them.  I hope you're wrong about an eventual amnesty, but there are powerful forces militating for such an action.  I think that, particularly at a time when so many citizens and legal immigrants are out of work, legitimating people whose entry into the country was a crime in the first place is a crime in itself.

PS to Reg--on the subject of hospitals acting as immigration officials--they already have to report gunshot wounds and suspected child abuse, so there is a precedent.

So where’s the first place I come?

I had access to a machine to check the action, but it wasn’t one I could write from.  Frustrating.  I hadn’t realized how much you guys mean to me.  Some old business in brief:

From the exchange between mugsy and regis under “Just what the bean counters ordered,” I would accept them as a conference committee of two to resolve healthcare, with the proviso that they keep immigration the separate issue it should be.  All that Statue of Liberty stuff is about more than costs of services, and this is without getting into working families looking at deportation for treatment of a sick or injured child.  Immigration requires a more comprehensive solution than sticking it to the few who get caught.  Petty.  Small.  America.  (I realize this is now, awkwardly, in the wrong place on the timeline.  Mr. Henry argued similarly in a follow-up a few posts later, and there have been other comments.  Still, the subject more important than neatness.)

Re “The world flips out” ($50,000):  It’s to get their attention.  We all remember Ford calculating the expected payouts for the expected number of fiery deaths, determining it would be less than the cost of repositioning the Pinto’s gas tank, and not moving the tank.  The reason for these judgments is to force decision-makers to take their responsibilities seriously, whether in the realm of product/consumer safety, or the use of police power to smack down citizens exercising free-speech rights (yes, that is what they are) toward public servants.  (Rover Fido Spot III grasps this.)  Get-called-on-it-and-apologize doesn’t do the trick in a culture that neither feels nor worries much about shame.  Nothing changes until the actual cost of not changing is great enough.  It’s an imperfect system, but it’s what we’ve created – unless we want more actual regulation.  

To thescarletpumpernickel on wine for Thanksgiving (next year):  An honest wine writer made the point that there is probably no occasion on which people will be paying less attention to the wine.  It needs only to be drinkable for your crowd.  If you have better ones, save them.  Me?  Maybe some Pouilly-Fume for me and she before the guests arrive; then generic Pinot noir and Riesling (Kabinett), but I’d drink Red Herring jug.

Old, old business:  Great book titles:  “Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me” and “Steal This Book.”

ciejai and thescarletpumpernickel:  You frisky youngsters, you!  Similar holiday hopes, dreams and fears, not new, but I always came back to free will as the answer, to be accepted on its own terms.  I think most of us are inclusive and seriously want to make connections.  (I think Springsteen said that.)  But you’re right:  We live in an age of limits.  Saddest are the truths we’ll never know.  

Best corporate slogan:  “Better Living Through Chemistry.”

Still to the two of you:  I hope you’re wrong about it being almost impossible to do no harm (apart from the blades of grass we crush).  A little mystery is still fun:  I explain my current endeavors, in contrast to what I used to do (as completely honorable as that was), with:  “no victims.”

Lastly, I’m pretty sure it was in the 7th grade (public) that we had 10 weeks each of Latin, Spanish, German and French, to allow us to choose.  Does anyone do it like that anymore?

Callsign, great to have you back.

"Get-called-on-it-and-apologize doesn’t do the trick in a culture that neither feels nor worries much about shame"

Are you really saying that we need to award 50K to protect the guy that flipped off the police from a culture that feels no shame? This seems like such a bold step into the Orwelian. What about the shame that the bird-flipper should be feeling?

As for a health care reform comittee, I respect Regis far too much to inflict myself upon his good graces.. I think that you make a great point about needing a larger solution for immigration, but pending this solution it must remain a part of the health care reform conversation.

It really is good to see you back, hope your holiday was exceptional.

ceijai, thanks for the friendly welcome.

Free Wil, callsigntourist?

Here comes that cynicism again:

www.sciencenews.org/.../Math_Trek__Do_subatomic_particles_have_free_will%3F

Damned particle physics! Ruining everything.

(Welcome back. Isn't it odd how computers have become such an integral part of our lives, in less than 30 years?)

Callsign, Speaking only for myself, grappling with cynicism subsequent to loss of faith, loss of family, and loss of respect for most of society's institutions has been a generational change not a seasonal affect.  It is akin to the way I felt during the Viet Nam War when all my brothers and contemporaries were eligible for the draft.  The response of a woman in late middle-age is quite different from that of an impetuous teen.  Perhaps my parents were better equipped having grown up in the teeth of the Depression only to be plunged into war.  Heard someone remark recently that pessimism (in response to a cataclysm) is always born full-grown while optimism arrives as a baby and must be nurtured to full maturity.  Isn't there a bit of wisdom from the ancients that says every movement contains the seeds of its own destruction?  I honestly thought those seeds might mature more quickly but, no, we seem to make progress very slowly.  The younger generation makes me very optimistic-- many of the old prejudices are simply dying away.  There is a wonderful new group inheriting the mess we've made and they seem to have the energy and thoughtfulness to solve many of the problems we all face.  

Thank you.

mugsy:

“Are you really saying that we need to award 50K to protect the guy that flipped off the police from a culture that feels no shame?”

No.  I’m saying the $50,000 to him is what makes the next cop think twice about arresting (or worse) *you* for no reason.  

“What about the shame that the bird-flipper should be feeling?”

The flipper may well be a jerk (or not; consider ciejai’s Sewickley story addressed to you above).  Those who sue, and their lawyers, may well be looking for the money, not to do good.  Nevertheless, suing is how – in the system we have developed – the good gets done.  It’s the threat of big judgments that, as I said, gets their attention.  Threats need to not be empty, so occasionally somebody wins the lottery.  It’s the chance to win the lottery that provides the incentive to go through the process of seeking redress.  

Most of the comments here were about why “that guy” deserved this, and how (humorously) the writers, too, could cash in.  I get it.  Again, it’s the system we have.  You may not like it (when a story like this gets *your* attention), but it’s not “absurd.”  

mugsy, he really did do it for you.

thescarletpumpernickel:

Your link:  “Then Nature could be conspiring to prevent them from choosing the axes that will reveal the violation of the rule.”

And the collider eats the Earth.  

If God is protecting us from ourselves, why can’t He protect us directly?  If He is protecting Himself from us, what is He afraid of?

You know the best part?  If the thing does create a black hole, they say it will be slow-growing.  We'll know!

ciejai:

Re “the seeds of their own destruction” in every movement:  Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess.  Pendulums swing.  I don’t have a problem with nothing lasting.  I mean that optimistically.  I do have a problem with blind faith that everything will always somehow be okay.  We can endure a lot and bounce back, or bounce forward, or end up somewhere, carrying on.  Or we can let it get away from us.  

I was an early admirer of Carl Sagan, back when “real astronomers” were dismissing him as a mere popularizer.  Yet he had this one idea that never sat right with me, that he kept bringing up as a possible explanation for why we have seen no signs of other intelligent life in the universe:  that perhaps no technological society had figured out how to get beyond its acquisition of the ability to destroy itself.  He used that to define our challenge.  

I could see how it might describe us.  Most life on Earth is driven to over-reproduce and then compete for resources, which can’t go on forever, so, boom!  But I don’t know why other life has to reflect those imperatives at all.  

You’ve expressed your faith in the younger generation before.  This is a small forum (not too many voices), and the fact that you thought to say so struck me as particularly encouraging.  I know others who say they see the same thing.  I’ve aired just a bit of doubt – or, rather, I’m not yet entirely convinced – but I choose to believe you’re right.

It’ll be okay.

callsigntourist -

"If He (God) is protecting Himself from us, what is He afraid of?"

I diunno'. Maybe cause we already kilt him once?

That God. Evasive. Tricky. Beyond our ken.

ciejai;

It is my hope that during the upcoming season of advent you will remain open to reconnecting with your faith.

mugsy:  You strike me right to the heart.  I do remain open.  The Lord claimed me once.  It won't be a surprise if he reclaims me.  It may be in a different setting than before.  I begin to think it will be in a way tied to small steps and good works rather than big institutions.  

ciejai, it may very well be that way for you, I have every confidence.The words "be still, and know that I am God" were the key for me...I stopped searching long enough to be found.

I know this isn't a religous blog and I apologize if I sidestepped the intent of the conversation, ciejais words just resonated deep into my heart and I was compelled to respond.been there done that would probably apply here.

This is an extraordinary group of people.

mugsy:

We're all we've got.

Callsign, my argument with the birdflipper isn't on thin ice, it's on melted ice; I've lost before I've begun. The bird being protected as expression I will admit to, but that is the exact nature of my complaint. I think that the socially redemptive value of flipping somebody off is dubious. Do you know, if instead of gesturing it our expressive friend would have just screamed it at the cop, would that have been protected too?

It's a vulgar expression which a better society would not permit. We are far too desensitized to this sort of thing.

Having said that, I of course have to admit that you are correct. The 50K that the guy got isn't the issue, (although I'm not a fan of the ACLU getting 40K of it, but that's another issue for another day)what bugs me is that this is protected speech. Why can this man flip off a policeman, but my daughters school can't post the ten commandments? (I know the answer to that, but the dichotomy of protecting our children from the ancient teachings that we base our standards on and protecting the right of a citizen to say FU to a police officer is, well, absurd)

mugsy:

Just quickly:  Without knowing for sure, I would think that if the charge is “disorderly conduct,” screaming will get you there as well as gesturing.  

The vulgarity question, and the vulgarity vs. scripture question – I don’t want to say they are for another time, but they should be explored thoughtfully.  Maybe someone will.  Maybe I’ll try later.  Feel free to remind us.  Bring them up again.  

mugsy:

I'm sorry.  I did not answer your question correctly.  I am assuming screaming and gesturing could both be called "disorderly conduct."  I think that unless they actually *are* in some way, both are protected.

Dear ciejai,

I attend mass, weekly. I read the Bible, every evening before I sleep. I get down on my knees and pray -- day in and day out, but I don't know if there's a God!

Is anyone good enough to deserve eternal life? Is anyone bad enough to deserve eternal damnation?

Are there many paths to God, or only one, or none?

Do I believe in a merciful God because I've seen and done things only a merciful God would forgive, or is God the stern God who denied Moses entrance into the Promised Land because he smote, twice, the rock of Meribah?

If you believe in Jesus, then how can you support organized religion? Jesus is the great nihilist: the Man who challenged the Jewish Theocracy and the Mosaic Law. His greatest miracle was surviving three years in a society designed to silence, quickly, any dissent.

When, and if, I stand before the Creator (female, or male), all I can honestly say is that I searched and hungered for the truth, and the path was difficult and always in the gloaming.

I hope that's sufficient!

Toadsly, we'd need a whole new blog to explore the issues your raise, but I admire your willingness to bring them up openly instead of hiding from them.  May God bless you and at least hint at the answers you (and, I think, all of us) seek.

regis, Toadsly, others:

I hope we don’t slide by the coarsening-of-society question, but where this has gone is surely pertinent.

I believe strongly in our humanity, both as an explanation and as a guiding principle.  Since I cannot say where it comes from, other than us, I don’t argue with those who locate it differently.  When I was a young child, in the 1950’s basically, everyone went to church and the kids went to Sunday school – about five or six different churches for the town, as I recall.  From what I remember of the adults, the biggest consequence of the differences was that the Protestants had to be aware the Catholics’ meatless days when doing anything socially.  I exchanged Christmas/Hanukkah gifts with the kids in a Jewish family we were close to.  I can’t remember if I gave “Christmas” presents and got “Hanukkah” presents, of if it was the other way around.  

I once read that entire scene, that era, described academically as “practicing, not believing.”  It’s a stunning description.  

I have, I’m sure, all the questions others do.  I want to know, and I know I never will.  I’m sad, or disappointed, or whatever the word should be, but not fearful.  There have always been and always will be unknowns.  To not have answers is only to not have answers yet.

My favorite time of year is Christmas.    

Thank you all for your thoughts on faith.  It seems we are inclined here to set aside the admonition against discussing politics, religion and sex.  (Speaking of sex, I read your blog on PG Plus, Toadsly, and enjoy it greatly.)  And though we enter these dangerous waters we seem keep the boat afloat.

Callsign, the fifties were a time of keeping up appearances at all costs, at least it seems that way to me.  All the problems of  abuse, alcoholism, adultery, etc lurked behind those neat facades but there were no 1-800 numbers to call for help.  Knocking your wife around wasn't considered abnormal.  Children who reported "inappropriate touching" as it's called today were frequently shushed and told they must be imagining things.  I agree there is a coarsening of what we see in pop culture.  I submit, however, that certain norms of the 1950's aren't anything to be proud of: sex harrassment, child abuse, wife beating, and discrimination of all sorts, to name a few.  It came to my attention recently that up until the 1970's Jews weren't allowed in the local social/recreational club here in Sewickley.  And all this went on at a time when teacher-led prayer in school was the standard.

My best friend was Catholic and went to a Catholic academy.  I was baptised in the Methodist church and attended public school.  She was repeatedly warned by the nuns to stay away from us public school kids.  She went to mass everyday and had beautiful religious pictures of a blue-eyed honey-blond Jesus in her room.  I was convinced throughout elementary school that she was much more holy and blessed than I could ever be.  Then we got to ninth grade and a train trip to the Shakespeare festival in Stratford Ontario.  Much of the Catholic academy took over the rear car of the train and were smoking and necking out of sight of the nuns!   My word, did that ever change my understanding of my place in the world as a lowly public school schlub.