...attributed to the 13th-century St. Francis of Assisi, which Madame L also finds inspirational and helpful:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me sow love.
Where there is injury, pardon.
Where there is doubt, faith.
Where there is despair, hope.
Where there is darkness, light.
Where there is sadness, joy.
O Divine Master,
grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life.
Amen.
(According to Wikipedia, the
prayer can't be traced back in its present form further than 1912, when
it was printed in "La Clochette" in France. It became known in the U.S.
in 1927 when it appeared in English translation in a Quaker magazine
which attributed it to St. Francis of Assisi.)
Speaking of resolutions, Madame L wants to add that this scripture is always an inspiration for her when she's trying to decide what to do and how to do it:
"And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God." --- Micah 6:8
What's your advice on making New Year's resolutions?
Sincerely,
Resolved to do Better
Dear Resolved,
Madame L stopped making New Year's resolutions a few years ago when she realized they never helped her change her behavior or improve her life in any way.
Instead of attempting to make huge changes in her life at the beginning of the new year, which, after all, is when it's dark and gloomy and hard to even get out of bed (let alone scrape the ice off the car and drive down a scary hill) when it's freeze-raining outside, Madame L has been trying to take baby steps all through the year.
Madame L read a few years ago about Ben Franklin's step-by-step plan for self-improvement. He worked on one area at a time, giving himself three weeks to improve that one thing. Remarkable, isn't it, since behavioral scientists now say that's about the amount of time it takes to create a new habit!
Welcome to the post-Mayan-apocalyptic-non-happening. Of course.
On the other hand, the real surprise is that our country still functions with the most do-nothing Congress in all our history.
Madame L wrote an email message to her representative in Congress regarding the so-called fiscal cliff, asking for specifics on how this person has voted and intends to vote on the issue, and here is the reply Madame L received. You don't have to read the whole thing, unless you're interested in the study of meaninglessness. But just a glance will convince you of what Madame L has repeatedly noted with this person: a compendium of meaningless catch-phrases, no substance to back them up.
Yet Madame L, ever the optimist, continues to write and call this person's office so Madame L's opinions will be known, even if ignored.
December 20, 2012
Dear [Madame L],
Thank you for contacting me about "the fiscal cliff." It
is an honor to serve as [your region's] representative in Congress, and your thoughts are important
to me.
I
appreciate your feedback regarding what many are considering a "fiscal cliff" – an expiration of
tax breaks combined with sequester cuts and other issues scheduled to hit at the end of the year. I am
continuing to gather input from families, small businesses, and citizens throughout Southwest Washington
to evaluate the potential impact of this situation on our communities. I am hopeful that Congress will
help avoid any impacts that would harm [your region] residents. Right now, Congressional leaders
are negotiating with the White House to arrive at a proposal to avoid the fiscal cliff. I will be carefully
reading any final proposal to see if it adequately protects [your region] and its priorities,
while maintaining our commitment to saving taxpayer money and balancing our budget.
Last
year Congress made progress toward reducing overall spending. Congress passed, and the President signed,
the Budget Control Act (BCA) to reduce federal spending over the next 10 years. Though
not perfect, the BCA put in motion a bipartisan agreement to reduce spending in all levels of the federal
government. It saved taxpayers $900 billion by reducing and
capping discretionary spending through fiscal year 2021. However, freezing discretionary spending alone
will not solve our country's fiscal problems.
The BCA also created the Joint
Select Committee on Deficit Reduction and tasked it with recommending an additional $1.2 trillion in
cuts over the next 10 years. The committee's failure to devise a plan triggered sequestration, and $109
billion in annual automatic cuts spending are scheduled to take place starting in 2013. Half of the
cuts will come from the Department of Defense and the remainder from discretionary, non-defense spending.
Various proposals have been made thus far to avoid sequestration
and the "fiscal cliff", but it is important to note that a specific plan has not been agreed upon at
this point. We need a balanced approach – one that that reduces federal spending without exempting
certain departments from savings. For instance, I have voted consistently to find savings and trim
excess spending in the Pentagon budget that won't jeopardize troops in the field or compromise our commitment
to our veterans.
I am willing to working with anyone with common sense ideas
to meet our country's fiscal challenges.
Thank
you again for contacting me on this important issue. I invite you to visit my website at [representative's website]
for additional information or to sign up to be kept up to date on these issues. Please do not hesitate
to contact me if I can ever be of assistance.
Sincerely,
[Representative's Name]
Member of Congress
"Hostess Brands spokesman Erik Halvorson confirmed that his company had,
in fact, baked its last batch of the cream-filled cakes which were then
shipped them to Chicago."
By the way, Dear Readers, you know how the Hostess CEO said it was the labor union that brought the company down? Not true, which Madame L is sure does not surprise you:
"Frank Hurt, president of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM) says: 'Hostess
Brands is making a mockery of the labor relations system that has been
in place for nearly 100 years. Our members are not just striking for
themselves, but for all unionized workers across North America who are
covered by collective bargaining agreements.'
"BCTGM says the
company has ceased making contractually obligated payments to the
Hostess workers’ pensions since July 2011 and has pocketed
approximately $160 million—money earned by and owed to its dedicated
workforce. (emphasis added)
"Hostess Brands is in bankruptcy for the second time in
eight years. Since the first bankruptcy in 2004, BCTGM members across
the country have taken dramatic wage and benefit concessions and
watched as 21 Hostess plants were shut down and thousands of jobs were
lost. At the time of the first bankruptcy, Hostess workers were assured
by management that money saved via concessions and plant closings would
help make the company stronger, more vibrant and more competitive.
"Instead,
according to the union, the money has gone towards executive bonuses
and payments to the hedge fund that owns Hostess brands. Hurt says, 'Our
members have now said NO to Hostess and the Wall Street investors in
the only means available to them, the strike. [We] stand in full and
uncompromising support of our striking members.'"
From Dictionary.com: "Disingenuous: Lacking in frankness, candor, or sincerity; falsely or hypocritically ingenuous insincere: Her excuse was rather disingenuous."
Madame L chose this weird word because it seems to apply to much of the news lately. The elections are over, but then again they're not.
We still have Rep. Michele Bachmann in campaign mode, now that the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report has shown a slight drop in unemployment, saying, "President Obama’s tax and spend policies continue to explode the debt and cloud the country with uncertainty." That statement is rather disingenuous.
We still have Rep. John Boehner claiming that Pres. Obama and the Democrats aren't being reasonable, even while his latest proposals for avoiding the so-called "fiscal cliff" would actually raise taxes on the middle class and lower them on America's richest citizens. That kind of stuff is rather disingenuous.
And Madame L's own Member of Congress said after her re-election in November, "What I'll be attempting to add to is the conciliatory atmosphere. The
American people basically returned the same (partisan makeup)in the
U.S. House, Senate the White House back to Washington, D.C. We need to
find a way to make this work." That, Dear Readers, is rather disingenuous.
In fact, Madame L would go so far as to say these lawmakers' pants are on fire!
I heard that besides the Mayan Calendar saying the world will end sometime next week, today the end of some era comes and the Dawning of the Age of Aquarius.
Comments?
Sincerely,
Laughing My Head Off
Dear Laughing,
Madame L is laughing, too. Thanks for bringing to her attention another meaningless bit of trivia. She has hereby set her alarm to go off at 12:12 pm (she can't do anything about the second hand) today so she can be watching for the huge changes in the world.
Madame L was going to post more information about the new age but she is too busy rolling on the floor laughing. You can find out more than you really want to know about the various nut-cases and their so-called prophecies by performing an Internet search for "age of aquarius" 2012.
(Note that Madame L did not say you should "Google" the information. Madame L does not "Google" information any more because she was tired of seeing ads appear on every subsequent Web page she opened, after Google tracked her. Not cool, Google. Madame L now uses DuckDuckGo.com for her information searches.)
Here's the Fifth Dimension's take on the new age. Madame L especially loves the bass line in "Let the Sunshine In."
"Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking," by Susan Cain, would make a great Christmas gift for anyone who is quiet, shy, retiring, sensitive, stimulation-averse, or, in a word, introverted. The author herself is an introvert, which is why she started researching the topic.
(Or, if you're an introvert married to or working closely with extroverts, you may even want to give a copy of this book to him/her/them to help him/her/them understand why you're just fine the way you are, thank you very much.)
What she found is hilarious (Harvard Business School---what a bunch of clowns!), endearing (Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt---why cool is overrated), educational (The Secret of Public Speaking for Introverts--and also walking on coals), and helpful (Warren Buffett, your shy children, and the communication gap).
Yes, you introverts, among whom Madame L includes herself, if you feel out of place at Harvard Business School or at a cocktail party, it's not because there's something wrong with you. (There's nothing wrong with extroverts, either; it's just that they're not the end-all and be-all that your elementary school teacher thought they were when she tried to turn you into one.)
There IS a place for you in the world, a place which you can find and feel very comfortable in, if you can ignore the people who want to keep trying to help you pull out of your shell.
This book combines research, personal insight, history, and great writing to cover the topic thoroughly and without too much dilution of the research.
"Quiet" is available in hardback from Amazon.com for less than $16.00 and in paperback for less than $11.00. Madame L borrowed a copy from the public library after waiting for four weeks for it. She didn't get to finish the whole book, just reading the first half and parts of the last part closely and skimming over the rest. She may go ahead and buy her own copy when she can get it used.
(Note to well-meaning friends and family: Please do NOT get this for Madame L for Christmas because even though she enjoyed it and mentioned that she wants to read the whole thing eventually, and thinks it would be a great gift not only for introverts but also for their puzzled extroverted friends, she has a pile of books THIS high which she will be reading first...So, really, she will get it used, someday.)
Dear Readers: Madame L is pleased that Madame LN has consented to answer questions occasionally, that is, whenever YOU ask them, about genealogy, indexing, family history, and related matters. Please show your support by Madame LN by sending questions!
Dear Madam LN,
Our stake president has asked the members of our stake to
index 6 million names in the coming year. I have some questions for you. What
is indexing, anyway? How do I get started? Why should I do that instead of my
own genealogy? And six MILLION names! Is he out of his mind??
Dear Overwhelmed:
First: What is indexing?
From the Familysearch.org website we read this definition:
In-dex-ing: -
typing names from historical documents to create a searchable database.
Second: How do I get started?
The best way to learn what indexing is, and why it is
important, is to try it! Getting started is easy. Just follow these three
simple steps:
4.Once
it is finished downloading, open the file to install the Indexing program to
your computer.
Step 2—Index your
First Batch
1.Open
the FamilySearch Indexing program.
2.Create
a new account and sign in.
3.When
you first sign in, the program will suggest that you watch the Quick Start video. Watch it! (If you missed it, you can
find it under the program’s Help menu ->Quick Start).
Step 3—Index away!
Third: Why should I do indexing instead of my own
genealogy?
Please, don’t do indexing instead of your own genealogy. Do
indexing to help you do your genealogy, as well as to help others do theirs.
When you can access databases of marriages, ship logs, birth certificates,
parish records, and censuses from years gone by, at no charge and in the
comfort of your own home or office, your efforts to find your ancestors will be
greatly enhanced! It is a real thrill when you are able to find the names of
your ancestors, and prove, through official documentation, when and where they
lived and were married and died and are buried.
Here is an example of how it can work, and how it benefits
you and all of society:
This past year, volunteers indexed all of the names from the
1940 US Census. You see, by law, census records cannot be released until 72
years have passed. So, on April 2, 2012, the 1940 census records were released,
and tens of thousands of volunteer indexers began extracting the information
from 132 million records. Their hope was to have them all done by the end of
the year.
Did they do it? You bet they did! In fact, they had it all
done in just over four months. By June 7, they were halfway done. On Monday,
July 2, they challenged each other to index 5 million names on that day alone.
By July 17 they were 90% done, and, on August 21, the US 1940 Census Community
Project posted on their Facebook page that the last five states were now
posted.
What does this mean for you? Well, chances are that you know
someone who was alive in 1940 when that census was taken. My husband is one who
participated as a volunteer in that indexing project. One Sunday afternoon as
he was reading the records and extracting the information, he came across the
name of someone he knew, who is no longer living. It was a thrill for him to
call that man’s wife and tell her that he had found her husband’s name on the
census. In fact, if you’d like to take a look at that census right now, and see
if someone you know is listed, just go to this page and conduct a search: https://familysearch.org/1940census/
When I did this I learned that my grandfather was living in the home of his
brother at the time the census was taken, listed as his brother’s boarder. Hmm,
very interesting!
When you find the person for whom you are looking, you can
not only look at the information that was indexed, but you can also look at an
image of the record itself, and read the information for yourself—without
having to look through all 132 million names yourself!
Finally: Is it really possible for a stake to index six
million names in a year?
Yes! It is. Imagine that each stake has 5,000 members. Six
million names divided by 5,000 members equals 1200 names per person. That’s
just 100 names a month, or 25 names a week, per person. I can tell you from
personal experience that it takes 15 to 30 minutes or less to do 25 names. You
can do that! And you’ll be participating in a great community that is working
to enhance one another’s genealogical efforts.
One more thing:
I bet that your stake president has called people in your stake to help you
with your indexing efforts. When you download the program to your computer and
sign in with your account and get started, check with that person in your stake
or ward. This is important! Why? Because in order for your stake to be credited
with the work you are doing, your efforts need to be coordinated with the
person in charge of it all. Otherwise your efforts may be recorded
independently, and no one will know that you are contributing to your stake’s
efforts.
Please let me know how it goes, and if you have any more
questions. Until then, Happy Indexing!
Madame L does not wonder why none of you have written to ask for her opinion about CitiBank's announcement that it is firing 11,000 people:
Madame L knows that you know her opinion without asking. But she is going to say it anyway:
Madame L is sick of seeing those ads on TV lately about how CitiBank has been around for 200 years and is helping out with BP in the Gulf (yeah, right! like BP needs help ruining the economy and ecology of the Gulf)...
"We supported the Marshall Plan...and pioneered the ATM so you can get cash!" And so on.
Why should their anniversary matter to us, they ask rhetorically? Are you kidding Madame L? We care about this? We should forget about the college kids you sold credit cards they couldn't afford and
didn't understand, leaving them in debt they couldn't discharge, and so
on and so on? And about the people whose ATM fees rise so fast above their account balances because they don't realize they're paying usurious fees to you blood-sucking money-grabbing exploiters of the poor and uneducated?
Of course you can fire tens of thousands of people three weeks before Christmas! Because your stakeholders want more money. And you need the money to pay your new CEO his more-than-nine-million-dollar-per-year compensation.
And you can count on the business community to support you, which they did: stocks rose by 6% after you announced the firings.
And you can count on the U.S. government to support you again, probably, like it (WE) did a couple of years ago, when our taxpayer dollars bailed you out to the tune of $45 billion.
A pavane is a slow and majestic court dance or processional, with two or four beats per measure, originally from Spain or Italy, and very popular in the 16th and 17th centuries.
Here's a beautiful example with beautiful pictures to accompany it (Gabriel Foure, Pavane in F-Sharp Minor, Opus 50):
And here's another one (Maurice Ravel, Pavane for a Dead Princess), a sad one:
I was in the grocery checkout line when I saw a magazine with the cover
story: Lose 33 pounds by Christmas. I mean, we all know this is
impossible, right? Who still believes or ever believed you could safely
lose 33 pounds in 3 or 4 weeks without damaging your health or gaining
it all back, plus more, a few days after the prom or class reunion or
whatever you wanted to lose that weight for?
Sincerely,
Maybe Surgery?
Dear Surgery,
You're right! Anything that
talks about losing that much weight in such a short amount of time is
most certainly an unhealthy fad diet or even an outright scam. Fad diets
have been around for as long as anyone can remember. Some historians
credit William the Conqueror with starting the first fad
diet. He as supposedly too fat to ride his horse, so William went on a
liquid
diet in 1087—or, rather, a liquor diet, since all he did was drink
booze. The story might be apocryphal—William, still fat, actually died
after falling from his horse and there was no word on whether he was
drunk at the time—but it’s a good one, and it sets the tone for the next
1000+ years of dieting. Other
unhealthy, illogical and unrealistic diet fads through the ages have
included the parasite diet, "chew yourself thin" - the idea that you
chew your food until it's liquified then spit out any solid leftover
bits, the nicotine diet (super-thin supermodels, anyone?), the goldfish
diet, and the monotony diet. (Most people would agree that any diet is
monotonous anyway.) Besides being completely unreasonable, most of those
are just gross.
You already know the answer I'm going to tell you - the best way to
lose weight is to eat right and exercise. That's it. There's no secret
pill in any bottle, no matter what the sidebar on your web browser tells
you right now, and the only one who can unlock the secret to your own
weight loss is YOU. Sometimes the simple truth is the hardest to believe
because it is so very simple.
Yes, there are surgeries that can inhibit a person's desire to eat
more, but between you, me and your computer screen - I have yet to meet
one person who has made this a successful life-long weight change.
Everyone I know who's had that type of surgery has gained all the weight
back - if not more - simply because it wasn't a cure - it was an
expensive and ultimately useless band-aid. THAT IS NOT MEDICAL ADVICE.
That is simply my observation. I'm not going to argue with your doctor
if you need to lose large amounts of weight immediately. And I actually
will backpedal a bit and say that I knew of a woman who fell into that
category. She suffered from diabetes and needed to lose weight fast.
Under her doctor's recommendation (note: not a desire to alter her
physical, cosmetic appearance), she had the "stapling" surgery. To this
date, about three years ago - she has so far been successful in keeping
the weight off. I don't wish for her to gain the weight back, but
statistically speaking, unless someone makes actual changes to their
diet and lifestyle, this is not a long-term solution, and many of the
side effects can be miserable.
So what if you don't lose 33 pounds in time for a Christmas party?
What's more important, in my opinion, is that you feel good about how
who you are and how you feel. Making changes that you know you need to
so that you can experience better health are going to ultimately bring
you more happiness than worrying about if you can fit into a dress that a
fashion magazine wants you to. Remember - that magazine is getting PAID
to paint unrealistic expectations of what women in the US should look
like. Ugh. That's a dissertation right there. Don't buy into it!
Enjoy the holidays, but don't OVERindulge. Follow the tips in my last article to enjoy guilt-free eating.
I read that the Republican majority in the House have come up with a counter to Pres. Obama's proposal to end the Bush tax cuts for the very rich, but Pres. Obama has rejected it.
Can you please explain?
Sincerely,
Taxed Enough
Dear Taxed Enough,
Madame L thanks you for the question, which has inspired her to do a little more reading on the subject. As you know, Madame L does not think the so-called "Fiscal Cliff" is such a big thing, though if the idiot news-readers on the big networks and cable talk shows keep making it seem like a big thing, then it may turn out to be that.
At any rate, Rep. Boehner has presented his supposed plan, which would actually RAISE TAXES ON 80 PERCENT OF THE AMERICAN PEOPLE WHILE --- YES, YOU GUESSED IT --- LOWERING TAXES ON THE RICHEST AMONG US.
The White House statement on the subject: “The Republican letter released today does not meet the test of
balance. In fact, it actually promises to lower rates
for the wealthy and sticks the middle class with the bill. Their plan
includes nothing new and provides no details on which deductions they
would eliminate, which loopholes they will close or which Medicare
savings they would achieve.
"Independent analysts who have looked at plans like this one have
concluded that middle class taxes will have to go up to pay for lower
rates for millionaires and billionaires. While the President is willing
to compromise to get a significant, balanced deal and believes that
compromise is readily available to Congress, he is not willing to
compromise on the principles of fairness and balance that include asking
the wealthiest to pay higher rates. President Obama believes – and the
American people agree – that the economy works best when it is grown
from the middle out, not from the top down. Until the Republicans in Congress are willing to get serious about asking the
wealthiest to pay slightly higher tax rates, we won’t be able to
achieve a significant, balanced approach to reduce our deficit our
nation needs."
Madame L won't even try to paste here Rep. Boehner's response to this, as it is full of lying bombastic nonsense.
Yo, Boehner: Pres. Obama won the election, and the Democrats kept the Senate and increased their seats in the House, because the majority of the American people see through you now. We all see that your only goal is to block every effort the Obama administration is making on our behalf. And we're sick of it. Madame L thinks you need to be hounded out of your comfy seat in the House in 2014.
In fact, if you, Dear Taxed Enough and Other Dear and Gentle Readers, are interested in helping motivate Members of Congress to get off their comfy big fat ... seats ... and start cooperating to serve the American people, check out this petition.
Petition Background (Preamble):The United States of America once again
faces a budget crisis with only until the end of the year to resolve.
This petition is to send a message to our elected officials that the
"business as usual" method of politics is not acceptable with this issue
of great importance. This petition calls for our government to get to
work - set aside politics - and solve this issue.
An expected result of the fiscal cliff, is that the economy will regress
into a recession, thus costing many American's their jobs. As a
consequence, this petition calls for our elected officials to have all
of their compensation and medical benefits suspended for themselves and
their families. This addresses the simple question, why should they get
paid when they are risking countless number of American jobs due to
their inaction and they are not performing the people's work?
Quite simply, No Work, No Pay. Isn't that what happens in the real world?
The actual petition:
We, the undersigned, call on President Barack Obama, Senate Majority
Leader Harry Reid and House Majority Leader John Boehner to reach a
grand bargain on the national budget and thus preventing the breaching
of the fiscal cliff.
In order to motivate our elected leaders, the undersigned, call for the
immediate suspension of compensation, health benefits and other sundry
allowances afforded our elected leaders until which time they have come
to agreement on the budget.
The suspension of compensation and health care should immediately take
effect for the president, the 100 members of the senate and the 435
members of the house and their respective families.
Madame L would apologize for mentioning the three main themes of fairy tales in the title of this post except that they are...you guessed it...the three main themes of fairy tales.
Madame L is in the middle of reading Maria Tatar's "The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales," with its first chapter titled...you guessed it..."Sex and Violence."
(By "in the middle of reading" Madame L does not mean she has not read the whole book; she means she has read parts of it from beginning to end, thinking she could skim through it and glean the important points, but has realized there are too many stories and too much fascinating information for her to give the book this treatment, and she can barely control her urge to underline and highlight passages and to turn down corners and to read passages aloud to whoever is in the same room with her...so she has just ordered the book from amazon, used, for an excellent price, so she will be able to return this copy to the library soon without any further damage, and will note to the librarians that the underlinings and markings in the book were put there by a previous reader, not that Madame L blames that person, but, well, yes, Madame L does blame that person.)
Maria Tatar has written extensively not only about the Grimm Brothers' seven collections of classic German fairy tales, but also about fairy tales from other languages and cultures. She has read extensively the works of others who have studied those tales (most notably for Madame L, Bruno Bettelheim, because years ago Madame L had read some of his studies for a college class) and clarifies her own agreement with and divergence from their views.
But all this is not why Madame L is recommending this book. Madame L thinks her Dear Readers would enjoy any and all of Maria Tatar's collections and commentaries. Madame L recommends this one in part because of the connections she found in it with her own upbringing as an avid consumer of Mother Goose stories and fairy tales.
Madame L remembers vividly being read the story of Cinderella and imagining herself as that poor wretched girl herself, even though Madame L didn't have an evil stepmother or careless father or mean stepsisters. Madame L supposes that most children respond in this way to the fairy tales of their childhood, and not just because Madame L thinks everyone must be like herself but because this is the finding of folklorists and child psychologists: Children are powerless and often feel abused by the household order they're raised in, and these stories not only teach obedience and patience and hard work but also show the possibility of eventual happiness and release and revenge and even redemption.
Madame L recommends this one also because it is so complete and exhaustive without having the usual flaws of completeness and exhaustiveness, which are boredom and exhaustion. In fact, the book treats all the issues surrounding the folk stories and fairy tales collected by the Brothers Grimm in a way that fascinates and invites the reader's further study.
And now to P.D. James, the great British author of the Adam Dalgliesh series: Madame L did not write this book review earlier because she was side-tracked by reading "The Lighthouse," which not coincidentally treats the same issues: the children, now adults, who were abandoned, abused, or sold into servitude, and who are now adults.
How do these children turn out?
Some, like Kate Miskin, escape and grow up eventually to solve crimes and save lives.
Others, like --- wait, to say his name would reveal the solution to the crime that Kate Miskin and her colleague Francis Benton-Smith will solve by book's end, so, Dear Readers, you'll just have to read the book to find out for yourselves --- grow up, or, really, never grow up, but remain in a childish state of smallness and resentment that may lead them eventually to commit murder.
Are these childhood stories repeated again and again in all good literature by accident? Madame L thinks not. Madame L recommends both "The Hard Facts of the Grimms' Fairy Tales" and "The Lighthouse" (ah, the symbolism!---that's another thing found in abundance in the best literature including the fairy tales).
Madame L doesn't even think the Christmas season is a bad time to read and contemplate these stories. So while she may turn her thoughts and her reading time to more standard Christmas fare in coming weeks, Madame L won't limit herself to it.
Madame L will soon have a lot more to say about Maria Tatar's writing about fairy tales, too.
Let's say even if it's true what you wrote about how all Congress has to do is pass a law early next year making the tax breaks retroactive, so the so-called "fiscal cliff" isn't a problem after all:
So, even if that's true, I read somewhere that if Congress does let the economy go over the fiscal cliff, then we will still have all kinds of problems because of people getting discouraged, losing their jobs, and all that, kind of like what led us into the financial mess we're just starting to recover from.
What do you have to say about that?
Sincerely,
Seriously Disillusioned
Dear Disillusioned,
Madame L agrees with that idea you've read, not because she's such an expert on these things, but because she has also been reading the same kinds of gloomy forecasts.
For example, the website boston.com writes that unless Congress can agree with the President by the end of 2012, "tax rates will increase [even if only temporarily] for everyone" and "budget cuts that are set to be implemented if no action is taken" will force government agencies to fire or lay off staff.
This article concludes that "...Although both measures would reduce the nation’s deficit, such a
confluence of events would threaten to tip an already-soft economy into
a recession."
Pres. Obama announced yesterday (Nov. 28) several initiatives to urge people to let their members of Congress know how they feel about their intransigence on these budget issues.
“If there’s one thing that I’ve learned, when the American people
speak loudly enough, lo and behold, Congress listens,” Obama said. “My hope is to get this done before Christmas. But
the place where we already have in theory at least complete agreement
right now is on middle-class taxes.’’
Obama's budget office figures that if the current tax rates remain for the great majority of Americans, those earning less than $250,000 per year, while rates increase on those earning more, the budget problem will be solved.
Republican members of Congress, though, are still sticking to their old party line.
If you would like to let your Senators and Representative know how you feel, you should post your message on their Facebook page, send them a tweet, and/or send an email or snail-mail message to their offices.
Look just above and to your right on this page for the box called "Contacting Congress" for information on how to get your message across.
"In social psychology, shyness (also called diffidence) is the feeling of apprehension, lack of comfort, or awkwardness experienced when a person is in proximity
to, approaching, or being approached by other people, especially in new
situations or with unfamiliar people."
The article goes on to assert that shyness may be genetic, environmental, and/or related to experiences of growing up (i.e., again, it's environmental). It might even be a symptom of mercury poisoning (though that's unlikely in today's world and was even unlikely for anyone but hat-makers in olden times).
The article goes on to make a lot of repetitious and sometimes absurd assertions about how children learn to become shy, how shyness is influenced by culture, and even how the length of the days during the mid-point of gestation of a child is correlated with the child's shyness.
As Madame L's readers can imagine, Madame L was delighted with that idea, which confirms her ideas about astrology and about 90 percent of social and psychological research (at least as it is reported and understood in the popular press).
Dear Reader, are you shy? And if you are, do you know why? Have you been told (and do you believe) that you would be happier if you were gregarious and outgoing? Do you feel your shyness has affected your life unfavorably? Were you somewhat shy as a child but less so now?
Madame L found out about the etymology of the word "shy" on Wiktionary: 'From Middle Englishshy(“shy”), from Old Englishsċēoh(“shy”), from Proto-Germanic*skiuhwaz(“shy, fearful”). Cognate with Dutch schuw(“shy”), German scheu(“shy”), Danish sky(“shy”).'
Madame L will soon be reviewing a book which deals comprehensively and humorously and intelligently with the issue of shyness or introversion: "Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking," by Susan Cain. (Yes, as you guessed, the very shy and introverted Madame L is enjoying the book very much.)
Everybody is talking about how we're going to go over the so-called "fiscal cliff" at the end of this year if Congress won't agree with Pres. Obama about the automatic ending of tax cuts then. Can you please explain?
Sincerely,
Not Ready for a Cliffhanger
Dear Not Ready,
Fortunately for you and Madame L and the rest of this country, the so-called "fiscal cliff" is no cliff at all. Maybe a bump in the road. Maybe a curb. Here's the deal:
The tax cuts instigated by Bush II will expire at the end of the year, meaning that people like you and Madame L and 100 percent of the people in the U.S. will suddenly have to pay much higher taxes than we've grown accustomed to paying...which will be a hardship for you and Madame L and 99 percent of the people in the country but a mere drop in the bucket for the 1 percent.
Except: Even if Congress and the President don't agree by the end of the year, Congress can fix it all retroactively when they re-convene in January, at which time they will also not be a lame-duck Congress.
Madame L personally hopes that Pres. Obama will call the bluff of Rep. Boehner and all the Tea Party idiots who are making a big deal about this.
Let the tax cuts expire. Then make a new law giving tax cuts for those earning less than $250,000 per year (or $200,000 for single people) and NOT giving tax cuts for those people who don't need them and who do need to start contributing to the economy, i.e., the 1 percent (who, by the way, are not only not paying their fair share in taxes but are also not doing anything for job creation or anything else to help the country whose infrastructure has given them their wealth).
And, by the way, Madame L thinks all Republicans in the House and Senate should continue to give this message to the lobbyist behind the tax bluff and tax idiocy that's keeping our economy from expanding now:
