It's awfully quiet in here...

Is anyone reading this? I know that I have a small band of followers -- I mean readers. Why so quiet, friends? Is it because I broke the cardinal rule of polite conversation? I brought up Religion AND Politics. Oh my. But this is a blog, not polite conversation.

I have images of you reading this and shaking your head in dismay at my mixed-up, wayward ways. Are my opinions shocking? Poorly reasoned? Or is everyone quiet because you agree wholeheartedly and have nothing to add?

I'm not exactly encouraging heated arguments here, but I do wonder what the silence means.

Maybe I'll go on a blog-posting-strike until someone chimes in. Or maybe that's what you want! After all, in my last post I promised to write about abortion and gay marriage. Maybe you're all hoping I just start talking about my cats again. :)

Would the "Christian Left" please stand up?

Allyson's comment on the last post got me thinking about something that I often rant about: Republicans and their arrogant claim to the "moral" issues. You know, like gay marriage and abortion. If you didn't know any better, those are apparently the big threats to our nation.

They don't often bother with pesky things like the environment or helping the poor. After all, God loves capitalism. And preserving the world we live in or helping those who aren't rich really go against the basic tenet of capitalism, namely, Getting More. More money. More land. More power. More. More. More. After all, that's our right as Americans, isn't it?

But if you believe that God created the heavens and the earth and all that are in them, isn't it your responsibility -- your duty, even -- to protect them? To be a steward? If your father built you a house, would you trash it?

And what about those poor people? We don't see a lot of lepers, destitute widows, or abandoned orphans in our society, but we see plenty of homeless people, the working poor, and families without health insurance.

Some conservatives argue that taking care of the environment and the less fortunate are important, but are not the duties of the government. But if we can legislate some morality, why not all of it? If you believe that abortion is murder and gay marriage is an affront to God -- and should thus be outlawed -- why can't we have effective government restrictions on pollution and government programs that work toward social justice?

Issues such as environmentalism, responsible government spending, and public assistant programs are considered platforms of the Democrats. So I ask: Where is the Religious Left? Where are the Christian Democrats?

I know that I'm not alone in my religious beliefs and political leanings. But where are you people?! I'm maintaining my stance as a political Independent, but it's time for the Democrats to reclaim some moral authority.

Earlier I asked, "...if we can legislate some morality, why not all of it?" There's a problem with that question. Should government legislate morality, or only ethics? Some may say that I'm splitting hairs, but I see a significant difference between morals and ethics (despite the Merriam Webster definitions).

Morals are determined by religious faith. Ethics are an inherent understanding of right and wrong. More on that, and how it impacts things like abortion and same sex civil unions, in the next post.

If every vote counts, why do I feel cheated?

Did you do your civic duty today? I guess I should have reminded you yesterday to vote today. Because unless you live on the west coast, the polls are closed. (Any chance that I have a secret west coast lurker reading this? I doubt it. I think the bulk of my audience is limited to a small smattering of folks in PA, OH, and NY. If you put all those together, they spell Paohny -- a pony made of baloney. Or bologna. Your choice.)

And speaking of meats made of fillers, is anyone else as disillusioned with politics as I am? I almost didn't vote because I have no confidence in anyone.

So I have a dirty little secret to expose: I voted along party lines. Egads! Yes, I voted for people simply because of the party to which they belong. Ironic, don't you think, given that I'm registered as an Independent?

I'm just so distraught over the current state of affairs in our nation that I hoped I could help to tip the power in the other direction enough to stop some of the madness. So there you go, yes, I voted Democrat. That means I voted for Bob Casey instead of Rick Santorum, even though Ricky was my college commencement speaker and I saw him one time at Lu Lu's Noodles in Oakland. Ever since his infamous and idiotic "man on dog" interview, he's annoyed and concerned me. I'm not sure that Bobby is really up to the challenge of being a U.S. Senator, but I'm hoping he can't do much damage. But then, that was my rationale for voting for Bush the first time around. I wasn't paying attention to politics then, and hadn't taken the time to learn about him or Gore. When it came time to vote in 2000, I mistakenly thought, "Well, Bush looks like the lesser of two evils." By the time the second presidential election rolled around, I was in "ABB" mode -- Anybody But Bush. Hell, I was ready to vote for Al Sharpton if he'd won the Democratic nomination.

But back to Rick and Bob. I saw a televised debate between Santorum and Casey and just kept thinking, "This is the best the Democrats could do?" It was sad, really. Listening to Santorum almost made me believe in him. I'm not sure if it's Casey's speech impediment or lack of focus that makes him look stupid, but he did not fare well.

But like I said, I'm hoping that having a few more Democrats in government will force the politicians to look for bi-partisan solutions and provide some sort of checks and balances on our apparently fearless -- and feckless -- leader. Or maybe it will just bring government to a grinding halt for two years. We'll see...

Some landlord has a sense of humor

I found this angry looking god-turned-waterspout on the side on an apartment building near the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Squirrel Hill. I'm not sure which god it's meant to be. Maybe Bacchus or Dionysius because of the grapes? But being the god of wine, wouldn't Bacchus look happy and easygoing? Then again, maybe he's an angry drunk. And apparently, "Dionysus sometimes has the epithet Bromios, meaning 'the thunderer' or 'he of the loud shout'." But this guy doesn't look so much like he's shouting as blowing or spitting. Perhaps it's that badass Zeus, the god of sky and thunder. But he has no lightning bolt, just a waterspout. Unfortunately, I've never actually seen water coming out of his mouth. Maybe he shoots out wine instead!

Live Lobsters to Celebrate 5 Years!

A few weeks ago James and I celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary. To celebrate, I honored James' love of all things surf and turf, and ordered a Lobster Gram. The nice company in Maine ships live lobsters and other tasty goodies straight to your door. I didn't get a picture of the FedEx guy delivering it, but that's okay, because he wasn't wearing a lobster costume, despite my hopes.

Here's the box the little crustaceans arrived in:

And here are the beauties themselves. The one on the right was definitely the fiestier of the two. It gave James a bit of a fight. Thank goodness for those rubber bands! (And yes, that is a lemon and a plastic bag of butter packets nestled into the box with the lobsters.)

I made James put them in the pot of boiling water. (And no, they did not scream.) (And yes, I did feel a little bit bad about the whole thing. But someone else killed the cow that gave us our filet mignon. It shouldn't make a difference who does the killing, but it does have a psychological effect.)

But of course I got past my guilt and enjoyed the scrumptious feast...

...and some good company:

Here's to another five years and beyond!