Anne S.'s Comments

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DOES AMERICA OWE THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN PEOPLE??? by ''The One & Only BERF" ..

Dec 12, 2007 | comments: 107

Anne S. Dec 12, 2007, 11:29pm EST

I should say that was not a Quaker church! I am not naming the denomination so to avoid more prejudice.

DOES AMERICA OWE THE AFRICAN-AMERICAN PEOPLE??? by ''The One & Only BERF" ..

Dec 12, 2007 | comments: 107

Anne S. Dec 12, 2007, 11:27pm EST

I'm of (slight) Native American descent, but also of Quaker descent. I don't know how we create a reparation system for those whose ancestors suffered to build this country and who now find themselves disadvantaged.

I think what's more important anyway is to find ways to stop judging people by the color of their skins. The ways we do this are so pervasive! I once took a group of youth group kids to do some volunteer construction work on an Indian reservation. On our way back home, we were hosted by a church of our denomination for a Saturday night dinner and Sunday morning church. The comments I heard some of those church folks say to my kids about the folks we'd been with pained me. Like the simple assumption that darker skin comes from a lack of washing. Or that darker people are somehow less up to a conventional education. That's simply not the case. There is no biological case for talking about people in broad categories like "race".

Stress Less at the Holidays by Catherine H.

Dec 12, 2007 | rating: 10 | comments: 2

Anne S. Dec 12, 2007, 10:30pm EST

Thanks, Catherine. With my sister's wedding coming up (the day after Christmas), this is a very timely reminder.

Why the Bush Administration's Voluntary Approach to Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions Won't Fly at Bali - Our World by David Anderson

Dec 10, 2007 | rating: 9.4 | comments: 91

Anne S. Dec 11, 2007, 1:19pm EST

The Clinton administration was in office when signing the Kyoto Protocol became an option and they did not campaign for it. Similarly, they did not weigh in on California's Zero Emission cars mandate. So they missed some opportunities too. But not nearly as blatantly as the Bush admin's hand-outs to the coal and oil industries.

The problem with the call to "voluntary" actions is that each of us believe how we are living now is completely justified. Why would I volunteer to compost my food waste when my neighbors put out two toters of trash every week?

We live in a democratic society, so in one way, all the laws we write are voluntary. We call upon the better angels of our nature and write rules we want to live up to, then we hire people to keep us to them. That's a good thing. I think the rules we need today are the same kind of rules we had during World War II. A standard of how much gas you can use. An insistence that every recyclable product be recycled, and that not-recyclable products be changed to recyclable ones.

These kinds of rules would produce less waste and in turn would mean that individuals waste less money, which in turn would mean that obscene corporate profits would be cut.

This would be good for reducing the amount of carbon in the atmosphere... whether that leads to global warming or not. It would also improve our individual health and our financial health. It would put us as a country on more solid footing to speak about the ills of the world and would make us more secure.

Why Geico Won't Save the Average Joe Any Loot by Rob R.

Dec 9, 2007 | rating: 10 | comments: 10

Anne S. Dec 11, 2007, 12:58pm EST

I got a lower rate with GEICO. They used to use a business model that only allowed selected low risk drivers to even buy into the pool, so if you were one of those, you really could save money. I don't know what the current model looks like... especially with so much advertising. One thing you can be sure of though... insurance companies are still great places for those high up in the organization to get rich. That's always turned my stomach.

DOES ANYBODY KNOW WHAT THEY'RE TALKING ABOUT??? by ''The One & Only BERF" ..

Dec 11, 2007 | comments: 33

Anne S. Dec 11, 2007, 12:11pm EST

It depends on what the meaning of "is" is...

What's Wrong with The Golden Compass? by Anne S.

Dec 10, 2007 | comments: 4

Anne S. Dec 11, 2007, 12:04pm EST

Yes... Pullman has been quite vocal about how he intends this series to be the anti-Chronicles of Narnia*. My point was that you aren't actually going to find anything explicitly anti-Christian in the first film, despite the hew and cry. (I don't think entertaining the idea of other worlds where the rules are different than our own is anti-Christian, and I don't think that entertaining the idea that other worlds, with conscious life, exist in addition to our own are explicitly anti-Christian ideas.)

I'm also not saying there's an overreaction. I don't believe in censoring media to suit the beliefs of extremists who'd rather not be questioned in the public square, but I think it's appropriate that parents understand what their kids are getting into and be fully prepared to answer honestly any questions that arise from it. I grew up reading Madeline L'Engle, but my mom read every book before I got to it, so I was able to talk with my mom about madmen and tesseracts and evil posing as good and how we can make serious mistakes and still be good people. Same thing with the Oz series and every fantasy series that had a book that won the Newberry.

*That's what I read in the quote, but as I get farther into The Amber Spyglass, I'm struck by the parallels to That Hideous Strength, the third book in Lewis's Space Trilogy.

Review: Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium by Anne S.

Dec 7, 2007 | rating: 10 | comments: 3

Anne S. Dec 10, 2007, 6:06pm EST

Check the matinée price. I've been going for $5 and found the theater full of movie lovers.

Do you wonder why the experts keep saying that you need to take nutritional supplements? by Catherine H.

Dec 7, 2007 | rating: 9.2 | comments: 5

Anne S. Dec 7, 2007, 1:34pm EST

I heard Dr. Christiane Northrup speak over the summer and she said some amazing things about Vitamin D. Essentially, it is as important as Vitamin C, but much harder to get from our diet. Our bodies are designed to make it through exposure to the sun... but most of us sit inside more than we go outside and get sensible amounts of sun every day. She's huge on supplementing with D.

When is it enough? by Anne S.

Nov 30, 2007 | rating: 10 | comments: 7

Anne S. Dec 3, 2007, 12:02am EST

Thanks for the wishes, y'all. It's nice to get a pat on the back, even it it's virtual. :-)

Play Time ! Name a word that has an ~ A and E in it...... by Ann J.