Stop the madness!!I

I flatter myself of the fact that I have friends all over the wide political spectrum of the American landscape. I have Republicans, Democrats, Liberals, Conservative, Centrist, Liberals, and Libertarians friends. I enjoy their friendship, argue with some, but respect them for their caring and intelligence. Therefore, it pains me, during this campaign period, to witness that thanks to the virulence of the political and personal attack on the persons, family, character, and integrity of the candidates and the total disregard for the truth, highly intelligent and capable potential candidates are refraining of participation. The unbelievable willingness of some people to accept (and propagate) any kind of trash is lowering the standing of our nation and open the gates of power to the scum of the political world. Reading the international press and commentaries of private citizens of the globe brings the tremendous pain of witnessing the downfall of the perception of our national integrity and standing. Partisanship has bred a horrible willingness to accept lies and propaganda repeated often enough by many accomplices and has resulted in horrible attack on the integrity and valor of true heroic American Heroes, and trusted this nation on unnecessary war with the loss of life, limbs, and minds tens of thousands of our best children. We even have witnessed the willingness of exposing our undercover Intelligence agents during a conflict. We have witnessed an eagerness to use any effort to politically embarrass a President while our country was already under attack. Isn’t time to stop the madness?

The Party of Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Dwight Eisenhower and Ronald Reagan deserves much better than the field of duds’ polluting the airwaves presently or a part Congress bound and determine to force a failure until Election time for propaganda sake!

A la défense de Mademoiselle

Allez-vous vraiment supprimer le préfixe Mademoiselle dans les formes administratives au bénéfice de l’Egalite” ?

Bien que mon opinion ait peut d’effet dans l’évolution du tableau géant de la vie quotidienne je prends la liberté d’exprimer mon espoir que cette décision soit appliqué seulement à la paperasserie administrative.

Je respecte et même admire les efforts du mouvement féministe à créer une société ou la valeur du caractère d’un personne est plus important que sa position matrimoniale. Je crains que dans cet effort un joyau de la Doulce France pourrait être détérioré.

Il était un temps quand la dénomination de Mademoiselle indiquait qu’un effort de badinage était permissible alors que le mêmes adressé à Madame pourrait être rude

L’introduction à Madame indiquait que’ un baisemain était une forme d’expression de respect et d’estime acceptable alors qu’envers Mademoiselle il était un faux pas.

Faut-il vraiment rendre obsolète un mot tellement charmant qui est aussi un des piliers de notre poésie sentimental ?

Pourquoi prendre une solution arbitraire au lieu d’employer la même solution de nos amis anglophone qui lorsqu’il devait adresser la même situation ont simplement crée les initiale « Ms. » (Prononcé « Mizze ») à être employé lorsqu'une personne ne veut pas exposer leur position de « Miss » (Mademoiselle) ou « Msr » (Madame) or the situation matrimonial de la personne adressé. Est inconnue

La différence entre donner un choix ou imposer un changement est la différence entre respect de la liberté de choix et une imposition.

Festival of the Kiss

On the Saturday, following Valentine’s Day in the little town of Roquemaure, in the South of France, is held “Lo FESTO DE POUTOUN" “La Fete du Baiser” The Festival of the Kiss. In honor of Saint Valentine who, according to the locals, was native from the town. In 1868 his relics were brought back to the town in order to help with the fight against a stubborn plight of the local Vine stocks. In those times, local people, in their common wisdom, decided to rely to a higher level of lobbying to a higher authority than to rely on government subsidy. The ploy worked and within a couple of years, the vineyards were back in a robust health.

France being France and Roquemaure being Roquemaure the locals decided that a commemoration and expression of gratitude was in order. With a very strict Gallic Logic, they concluded that 1) St. Valentine was the patron of the lovers and 2) the arrival of his relics being, no doubt, the cure to the stubborn vine plight that was robbing them of their Raison de Vivre the celebration should address those two.

Therefore, since those days, every Saturday following the Saint Valentine men and women of the village dress in costume of 1868 and hold a Festival during which the relics of St Valentine are paraded around town they occasionally, kiss each other’s (and visitors as well) and consume sizeable amount of a darn good little wine produced for that specific purpose. Sacrilegious would you say? No! Those good people are fully aware that God as a good sense of humor and that celebration of the juice of the wine coupled with demonstration of affection is a great way of celebrating Life and the Creator of it!

Therefore, my wish for you this Saturday does not necessarily include period clothing but a suggestion to raise a glass and show affection to the people around you. That would make for a good day and an improvement of life in your surrounding! Off course if you are a tea toddler who cares what is in your glass? What really counts is what is in your heart!

In defense of shaddy heritage

Soon I will be seventy years old, they call that a milestone, so be it. I have been in this Country since nineteen seventy. Since then I have been like a kid in a wonderland, learning things, witnessing events, great, noble, and abominable. For the positive and the negative, I have been a witness in awe.

I have seen and still see in my new compatriots men and women an eagerness to learn about their past and their ancestry. I have seen in them an effort, almost an obsession to, somehow, connect their DNA to some famous or historical figure, prizing some connection to the Pilgrims, the Mayflower, and the Founding Fathers, before, or after. I found this desire, this obsession admirable and even charming.

I have learned to recognize the enormous chasm between the Americans, the people and the Americans, the perception of it by people from outside Countries reacting to the foreign policy of the Country.

The political exercise of all the succeeding Government have had a regrettable result, in foreign lands, to have the most generous Country in the world despised all over the world by people who, paradoxically have a very soft spot for the American people at the same time.

The answer to this paradox originate by the separation between the political life of the US being guided by people who cherish their heritage being descendants of the idealistic (theoretically) groups of those Pilgrims, Founding Fathers and passengers of the early migration and the actual actions of people knowing that their heritage is maybe a little less lofty but in my book much more remarkable.

The descendants of the struggling people, the people who went for broke crossing the Prairie toward the West, the miners, the gamblers and even the descendants of the Lady of little virtue of the Saloons of the West have in their soul the virtues of the desperate. They know of their human imperfection and extract great things out of it. They know that if your neighbor suffers you must help. They know that one who sin must be given understanding and support for a second even a third chance. They know it because they are descendants of people who could not have survived without the support and understanding of their fellow in misery. And all those people are those who make this People admirable, not the descendants of the Mayflower.