"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words. If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words."
--Philip K. Dick American science fiction writer (1930-1982)
The San Diego region, like many other regions of the United States, is getting concerned about the future of its water supply. One method for dealing with the looming problem of a shortage of potable water is a plan to pump recycled sewage water into our drinking reservoirs. Last week the San Diego City Council authorized a demonstration project that will pump recycled sewage into one of our city reservoirs. Ten years ago, the same plan was doomed when opponents of the plan came up with a phrase that stuck in the minds of San Diegans: “The Toilet to Tap Plan.”
Proponents of the plan say that “toilet to tap” does not adequately describe the process used to make the sewage and waste water potable. It will be treated and filtered by reverse osmosis before being mixed with fresh water in the reservoirs. Those who favor the plan use such phrases as “indirect potable reuse”, “reservoir augmentation”, and the euphemism “water repurification”. They maintain that the recycled sewage actually will be cleaner than the water we presently get from the Colorado River, which has sewage plants flowing into it.
In the battle for the hearts and minds of San Diegans, opponents of the plan still prefer to call it the “Toilet to Tap Plan.” Some opponents even state that that the city is building a pipe that will lead directly from one’s toilet to one’s kitchen sink.
In Romeo and Juliet, Shakespeare has Juliet say this to Romeo: “What's in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Applied to the drinking water controversy, one might say, “What’s in a name? That which we call drinking water by any other name would still taste as sweet.”
To TAB, Grandma Baba, ValAnne, AZRON, The Peever, Randy, Cracker, Slick, PJ, illumination guy's, Lady Lee, Nutty Mom, Taylor, Heide, lalepop, Whispered Promise, TallPockets, Misty, June (Praywithhope), Dragonflower, kimba, Hailey (Decorous), Rowdy, Colo, Mackenzie, Lookin', Lulublue, redbird, Bobblehead, and Heather N:
My wife and I have returned to our home after spending a week at a lovely two-bedroom timeshare resort in Palm Springs. We had some friends and relatives over for some of the time to share our vacation with us. The air quality here is back to near normal with a reading of 62 on the number of particulates in the air. From 50-100 is considered moderate. 1-50 is the best air possible. So with a reading of 62, we are almost back to normal.
I want to thank you for your good wishes and for revealing some of your family's favorite expressions to other bloggers reading my post.
NOTE: AFTER ALL THE UNCERTAINTY AND TURMOIL WE HAVE EXPERIENCED IN THE WILDFIRES OF THIS PAST WEEK, MY WIFE AND I DESERVE A BREAK. WE ARE GOING TO THE DESERT FOR A WEEK WHERE WE HOPE TO FIND SOME RELAXATION AND BREATHABLE AIR. SEE YOU NEXT SUNDAY. MEANWHILE, I AM REPOSTING SOMETHING I WROTE LAST YEAR.
My Mother's Favorite Expressions
When I was growing up, during the summer I used to hear my mother stand out on our porch and converse with the lady standing on her porch next door. I lived in a small town and neighborhood where almost everybody knew everybody else so, needless to say, there was a lot of news to go around. But what caught my attention was the way my mother would punctuate her reaction to neighborhood news with expressions that were new to me.
The first time I heard my mother use the expression “’pon my word”, I interpreted it to mean “pawn” my word. I wondered why anyone would want to pawn a word, and why anybody else would want to buy it. It wasn’t until years later that I encountered the word in print as “’pon” and suddenly realized my misinterpretation for all those years. Becoming curious, I searched out the origin of the expression and discovered that it had originated in Ireland some 300 years ago as “Upon my word and honor” to attest to one’s honesty and truthfulness. Somehow, over the centuries the expression had been shortened to “Upon my word” and finally to “’pon my word”, which also had changed meaning to a reference to that which is hard to believe.
In addition to using “’pon my word” to give emphasis to her conversation, my mother had some other words and phrases that I found intriguing. There was the word “Mercy”, which gave a mild reaction to a newsy comment by the neighbor lady. A stronger reaction would be “Mercy me!” and an even more intensive reaction would be “Mercy sakes!” Beyond “Mercy sakes!” there was “Mercy sakes alive!”; and for the neighborhood news that was simply incredible, there was the ultimate expression “Lord, have mercy!”
“Lord, have mercy” was the superlative degree of amazement. The mildest form of amazement was “Lordy.” In the middle was “Lord!”
My mother also used the word “Law” to emphasize her reaction to incredulous news. But the expression had to be drawn out to express the degree of incredulity. If she exclaimed, “Laaaw!” that was mild, but if she drew it out as “Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaw!” that was the ultimate degree of incredulity.
There were three more expressions she used that always amused me. The mildest form of disbelief was “You don’t say?” In the middle was “You don’t mean to say?” and the most intensive form was “You don’t mean to tell me?”
Some other memorable expressions will always be with me: “I declare!”, “Bless my soul!”, “My word!” “Goodness!” and "Goodness gracious!”
I just recently did some online research for two more expressions my mother used, and I found some useful information. She also used the expression “I swan!” I had difficulty in determining what that means, but I finally discovered that its origin can be traced back to “I shall warrant”, which was shortened over time to “I swan”. It means about the same same thing as “I declare”.
Finally, there is one more expression that I traced --my mother’s constant use of “I vow” as in “Well, I’ll vow that I just can’t believe than she did that!” “Vow” in this sense has the meaning of to declare, confess, or openly acknowledge something.
As I listen to the conversations of women today, I seldom hear any of those expressions anymore; but they will always remain in my memory as the precious legacy of my childhood days with my mother.
QUESTION: What favorite expressions do you have in your own family?
The Beast of War must be fed fresh blood as the Bush administration prepares the United States for an attack on Iran. Listen to the following familiar drumbeat for war:
1. The United States must take the offense against terrorists; we can’t wait to be attacked.
The US claims concerning Iranian interference in both Iraq and Afghanistan ignore the reality that both nations border Iran, both nations were recently invaded and occupied by the United States, not Iran, and that Iran has a history of conflict with both nations that dictates a keen interest concerning the internal domestic affairs of both nations. The United States continues to exaggerate the nature of Iranian involvement in Iraq, arresting “intelligence operatives” who later turned out to be economic and diplomatic officials invited to Iraq by the Iraqi government itself. Most if not all the claims made by the United States concerning Iranian military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan have not been backed up with anything stronger than rhetoric, and more often than not are subsequently contradicted by other military and governmental officials, citing a lack of specific evidence.
2. Iran is developing weapons of mass destruction.
3. Iran is disregarding its treaty obligations.
4. Iran is actively involved in terrorism.
5. Iran is a threat to the establishment of democracy in Iraq.
6. Iran is a threat to the whole Middle East.
7. The majority of the people in Iran want to be free of their oppressive rulers.
Some martial music has been provided by the media:
But of course, there is some dissonance in the background:
(NOTE: After doing considerable research in writing this post, I have attempted to distill the information I gained into a rather light treatment of the subject, while attempting to make it interesting as well as informative. There are many different views regarding the Devil. If the one I have depicted here does not agree with your view, please do not rake me over fire and brimstone for writing it. Instead, write your own post on the same subject, and I will promise to read it.)
Flip Wilson, the African-American comedian of the early 1970s, on his hour-long prime-time NBC show, The Flip Wilson Show, used to assume the role of the show's most popular character, Geraldine. That character’s most famous one-liner, which always broke up the audience, was “The Devil made me do it!" It wasn’t long before you heard almost everybody using that line to say they were sorry for some pretended social impropriety.
When God asked Adam about his taking a bite out of the apple in the Garden of Eden, Adam pointed to Eve and said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." Then God asked Eve to account for her actions and she said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate." In other words, the Devil made me do it.
It is convenient to have someone to blame for our misdeeds. But does the Devil really cause our actions, or do we do what we do, because it is what we want to do? Is the Devil an attempt on our part to refuse to accept responsibility for our actions? Do we need some being to blame for the bad things that have happened in our lives and in our world?
Certain characteristics of the Evil One can be found in the gods of every religion. To understand the emergence of the Devil as the personification of evil, it is necessary to consider the divine personages in world religions who prefigured him. In most of the earlier religions, each divinity was capable of doing both good and evil, as the mood would take him. There was no case in which an individual god was either all good or all evil. This moral ambivalence explains the existence of good and evil without resorting to a heavenly schism, in which each individual god assumes the character of good or evil.
Even today, in the 21st century, we still have some religious leaders who see God as capable of doing both good and evil. After thousands died or were left homeless in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina struck, Rev. Bill Shanks, pastor of New Covenant Fellowship of New Orleans in Metairie said, “New Orleans now is abortion free. New Orleans now is Mardi Gras free. New Orleans now is free of Southern Decadence and the sodomites, the witchcraft workers, false religion -- it's free of all of those things now. God simply, I believe, in His mercy purged all of that stuff out of there -- and now we're going to start over again.” Then this man of God added that he had warned for years that God would pass judgment on the city.
The idea of dividing the Power Beyond into two, one good and one evil, belongs to an advanced and sophisticated religion. Demons in the earlier religions were usually the spirits of natural forces such as fire, plagues, droughts, infant crib death, and diseases, and often took the form of fantastically-shaped creatures made up of a conglomeration of parts from dangerous or dreaded living things such as scorpions, serpents, lions, and hawks.
In general, a demon may be defined as a malicious spirit who does harm to human beings. Early religions fought against them with magic. They placed special bowls inscribed with potent word charms upside down under the foundations of their houses to catch demons and prevent them from entering the houses through the ground. They also made amulets with avertive verses against specific demons, such as those that might threaten the life of women during childbirth.
Zoroastrianism , the doctrine or teaching of Zarathustra , was founded by the Persian prophet Zoroaster or Zarathustra about 720-541 BC. In this ancient religion, the war between light and darkness, good and evil is eternal. Here dualism posits the existence of two absolute cosmic principles, wholly independent of one another. Neither can be omnipotent, since they must by definition limit one another. In absolute dualism, there can be no single, ultimate divine principle. This concept differs from Christianity in that in Christianity God is more powerful than the Prince of Darkness.
In Zoroaster's system, there is a cosmic struggle between the good Lord and the cruel Evil Spirit, the Demon of Demons. Zoroaster preached devotion to the absolute good, and prophesied that, in the fullness of time, evil would be utterly destroyed by the Lord.
While Zoroaster and his followers are the first to have embodied the principle of evil within one personality, the concept of the Devil is of definite Hebrew origin. The god Yahweh encompassed both good and evil, mercy and justice, yet could not be assigned a specific moral character. As in Zoroastrianism, however, the evil in this god's nature was eventually differentiated from him and ascribed to a malignant spirit.
As always, the Devil is a figure who actively inflicts suffering and pursues wholesale destruction for its own sake. In the Old Testament, we see the Evil Spirit, Satan, at work. We have already seen him in the Garden of Eden. Now we see him again. In Job, Satan appears as the tempter and the accuser of the just man; in Kings it is he who incites David to murder the prophet. In the New Testament, Satan is a name that is thought to refer to a supernatural entity who appears in several passages and possesses demonic god-like qualities.
The concept of the Devil is very much the same around the globe, and has been recognized in just about every culture for the past millennia. Even people who do not have a clear understanding of God, or believe in a heaven or hell, harbor belief in something akin to the personified master of evil.
The Devil is often depicted as having horns, hooves, a beard, a tail, and sometimes a widely-brimmed hat. He usually carries a pitchfork. The horns are a way of signifying his godhead identity, much the same as Christian art shows a halo to signify Christ as being "holy."
What is the basis for evil today? To the Sumerian godhead, evil was a reversion to the weakest impulses and drives of the being. Humans, being part animal (homo erectus) and part godlike were prone to give in to their animal desires. This was the evil in men - the residual primitive drives for self-preservation and procreation. Evil would always prevent man's movement to become more godlike. His lack of self-control would naturally inhibit this process.
Where is the Devil? He is inside every human, waiting to impose self-interests and attend to our animal psyche. He is, I fear, part of each and every one of us.
Questions. (Please answer one or more of these questions):
1. Do you believe in the Devil?
2. If you were asked to draw a picture of the Devil, would your picture contain horns, hooves, a tail, and a pitchfork?
The creativity of some public school teachers, particularly in the elementary grades, never ceases to amaze me. I have just finished reading an article in, of all places, “Weather Watch” by Robert Krier. In the article, he relates how a fifth grade teacher began her school year by closing the blinds to her classroom and asking the class to describe what the sky looked like that day. Most of her pupils would end up by writing that the sky was either blue or gray.
The teacher would then take them outside, have them look up, and write what they saw. This activity became a daily ritual. Soon, her pupils were writing entire paragraphs about the cloud effects and the changing colors, and the drama of huge rain clouds forming before a rain.
This teacher used the sky as the theme for everything she taught that year--spelling, social science, science, art, literature, mathematics, history. The pupils learned to make predictions by predicting the weather; they learned graphing skills by graphing the temperature changes; they made a sundial large enough for the kids to stand and measure their shadows at different times of the day. In their study of the sky, the pupils incorporated elements of math, science, and astronomy.
For their fifth-grade state projects, the teacher had the pupils forecasting the weather. For art appreciation, she had them discuss how famous artists had depicted the sky in their works. She had them listen to and discuss how composers had treated sky themes. She had them read passages in literature showing how great writers had depicted the sky.
While engaged in all of these activities , the pupils were learning about their environment and the importance of protecting it. They were learning how to use their imagination and about the beauty of nature and how all of nature is interconnected. They learned how to make observations and to organize and express their thoughts, both orally and in written form.
Of course, in using this approach to learning, we trust that the teacher was aware that her pupils might not be fully prepared for the test-score-based curriculum demanded by the “No Child Left Behind” program backed by the Bush administration. Better go back to the classroom with its emphasis on the reading and the math, the textbooks, the workbook pages, the memorization, and the preparation for the tests.
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