Motley Moose – Archive

Since 2008 – Progress Through Politics

Archive for April 2013

I Heard the Owl Call my Name

I Heard the Owl Call my Name is a wonderful book.  It is a book about an Anglican vicar who is sent to a parish of indigenous people in Canada.  Unbeknownst to him, he has a terminal illness.  The title comes from a belief that when one hears the owl call one’s name, death is imminent.  I don’t see it quite that way.  I have found that, in my life, when I encounter an owl, life change is imminent.

Out the Back Window – 04-01-13

Could it be that spring is in the air? The sun is bright. It rises earlier and sets later. The birds are active. Their colors are brighter and showy for the breeding season. The squirrels are very frisky with each other. Love is in the air.

Spring also brings many other smells to the air. Today, Google announced a great new tool.

The new scent-sation in search.

It is called Google Nose. It is in the Beta testing phase. But, you can try it out on a limited basis with their links. Amazing stuff! What will technology come up with next?

I can’t wait for Smellivision.

GOPasaur Extinction Update: Rewriting The Fossil Record

 grossly oversimplified

Actually, the GOP version is only about 6,000 years

[Cross-posted from Teh Orange]

It’s not easy being green a GOPasaur. All signs points to their individual and collective extinction, yet they still walk the Earth, seemingly oblivious to their fate, unable to see what any sentient creature could see: it’s so over. The planet, it seems, is moving on without them and they’re left to ponder the cruel vicissitudes of fate. For surely, it must just be fate, right?? It couldn’t have been anything that they said or did, could it??

Like young children, taking to heart their teachers’ threats that their latest malfeasance would be etched in stone on their Permanent Record, GOPasaurs live in perpetual dread that their crimes, misdeeds, ethical lapses, and offhand remarks about female reproduction. Unfortunately (for them), while their witless song may have ended, the malady lingers on, thanks to the preservative properties of the fossil record.

Thus is is with unalloyed joy that some of our paleo-pals have discovered a solution to their extinction fears, a way to wipe the slate clean of their missteps and recast themselves in ways that the votersaurs will find appealing, even irresistable. Follow along below the Gobi Desert Easter Egg for the Rest of the Story…  

The Daily F Bomb, Monday 4/1/13

Interrogatories

Have you ever played an April Fool prank on anyone, and if so, what? What April Fool pranks have been played on you?  What qualities do you require in a friend? Name one thing you will never, ever do. Do you like it where you live, or would you live elsewhere if circumstances and money allowed?

The Twitter Emitter

Motley Monday Check in and Mooselaneous Musings

Good morning Motley Meese! Hope your weekend was lovely. Remember to let your peeps know where you are!

Here’s today’s Motley Monday Shot of the Week. Right now I’ll be throwing in some favorites from my archives, but once the weather warms (which it is finally showing signs of doing) I’ll post my week’s best shot.

Grist Mill, Babcock State Park, WV

All The News Fit To Share: Easter, Allies, Chavez, Baseball

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Here is your latest open news thread.  Each unique commenter will be rewarded with an easter photo.  

Given the ages of Nelson Mandela, and Pete Seeger, I know we will not have them with us much longer.  And of course we never know how much time we really have left.  I am touched not only by the two great men I mentioned, also this woman here:  

violaliuzzo1

Viola Liuzzo, Ally

At age 35 Liuzzo, a high school dropout, trained for a career as a medical laboratory assistant at the Carnegie Institute of Detroit, 1961-62. In 1963, to further enhance her education, she enrolled in classes at Wayne State University.

Liuzzo was also active in local efforts on behalf of reform in education and economic justice. Twice she was arrested, pleaded guilty, and insisted on a trial to publicize the causes for which she was an advocate. Evans said of her friend, “Viola Liuzzo lived a life that combined the care of her family and her home with a concern for the world around her. This involvement with her times was not always understood by her friends; nor was it appreciated by those around her.”

In 1964 Liuzzo began attending the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Detroit, two blocks from the Wayne State campus, and, through Evans, became active in the Detroit chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). That same year Evans and Liuzzo drove to New York City to attend a United Nations Seminar on civil rights sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA).

Liuzzo’s spiritual journey included putting hands to work. Unchurched as a child, she had converted to Roman Catholicism when she married Jim. Drawn to Roman Catholic mysticism for a time, she was later interested in Protestant evangelicalism. She sought personal relationship with a God active in the events of human history and herself wanted to make a difference in the world. At First Unitarian Universalist Liuzzo found a faith matching both her ideas and her longing to be of service. She became a full member on March 29, 1964. Many members of the church had been Freedom Riders. Daughter Penny attended the young adult group’s discussions.

I met this woman, who had an ordinary life and chose to do incredible things, during Melissa Harris-Perry’s show yesterday.  I encourage you to watch this segment.  It is empowering.  

Another Sorrowful Easter Sunrise

Too long a sacrifice

Can make a stone of the heart.  

O when may it suffice?

That is Heaven’s part, our part  

To murmur name upon name,  

As a mother names her child  

When sleep at last has come  

On limbs that had run wild.  

What is it but nightfall?

No, no, not night but death;  

Was it needless death after all?

Easter, 1916 ~ William Butler Yeats

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