There are some things that you have to experience yourself to really understand. This is what support groups are about. You have no clue what it is like to be an alchoholic unless you are one. Divorce is no biggie until it is your marriage that is disinteg… Read full post »

Note: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between these characters and real people, living or dead, is pure coincidence.

Suddenly, he turns off onto a minor exit. These unexplained moves elicit fear in hitchhikers, because we just have to trust that the driver has good intentions, or tr… Read full post »

 Note: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between these characters and real people, living or dead, is pure coincidence.

 PART 1

 I look out over the Pacific Ocean, grey, panoramic and familiar now.  And I  decide to ask it my fate, as a 19- year- old g… Read full post »

TAKE TWO TAX BREAKS AND CALL YOUR DOCTOR IN THE MORNING.

(Description by  Mark Shields on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer) Read full post »

Lou Dobbs has been very unfairly smeared here. As someone who has followed him closely for a couple of years, I can tell you that the man is a  patriot and free thinker, and not at all prejudiced. Watch the show for several months yourself before you rely on fourth- hand information to… Read full post »

TOP FEDERAL INCOME TAX RATE IN 2009:    35%

TOP FEDERAL INCOME TAX RATE IN 1918:     77%

TOP FEDERAL INCOME TAX RATE IN 1945:     94% Read full post »

As I told you before, I was shocked to realize recently that I have developed a habit of analyzing some events from my past. If I detect something that is a major failing there, I  kind of freeze up, and feel deep, deep shame -- so much that it hurts… Read full post »

I was talking to a gas company employee yesterday. I could tell from the conversation that he was one of those incredible people who is always helping someone else.

Somehow his tour in Vietnam came up, and I said "Thank you for your service." I heard my neighbor say that recently and I… Read full post »

A true miracle took place today. OS member Pam helped get a kid out of a living, fatal hell.

Read about it here:

for some reason this link isn't copying well,if you have trouble go to Booknut OS page and read current post One Star Saved posted very early this morning just… Read full post »

 WHEN ON A WALK I OFTEN SEE

       "AN OLD LADY HOUSE”

MOSTLY PAINTED WHITE, WITH DARK GREEN TRIM

A LARGE, SCREENED-IN PORCH.

A ROW OF RED AND WHITE PETUNIAS

LINED UP IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE.

MODEST, NOT NEW,  A WORKING MAN

BUILT… Read full post »

in this vast and complex country, is it possible

that one political group could be right on every issue?

what are the odds that one political side has nothing but evil, ignorant monsters?

while the other side has nothing but good, intelligent, noble citizens?

what are the o… Read full post »

I realize that I have gotten into a habit when I think about past events. If I can now sense that I failed in any way then, or made a mistake, I feel intense shame.

Hindsight is 20/20, and it is often very easy to criticize after… Read full post »

I have this image of O S, in part, as a Great Council Of the Elders. Posting is like sending up a smoke signal to call a gathering of the clan from throughout the whole country.

Seated around a warm campfire, each elder rises to expound on the knowledge that they have gained durin… Read full post »

I want to introduce you to Billy, a Pennsylvania child coal worker. It is 1910, and these are the days of the real America.

Billy, and  a crowd of companions who look about 10 years old, are wedged into a coal "breaker room" from dawn until dark. They pick… Read full post »

When thousands of union organizers who were beaten, starved, shot, arrested and fired so that we could have decent workplace in this country are totally dissed and forgotten on Labor Day, it is no wonder what results:

The last decades in America have been an obscene disaster for… Read full post »

( an event from the past)

My Alzheimer's Mom just came home  from the hospital after a month healing a broken collarbone. I feel guiltily aware that somebody should probably stay with her until we see how she functions back in her senior apartment. My husband and I are… Read full post »

As a somewhat traditional woman, I got my comeuppance on a hunting trip with some friends of ours yesterday.

Maybe you have noticed that the outdoor shows are really pushing hunting for women now. Many women are now interested, and these types  of outdoor sports are really losing numbers of… Read full post »

A seriously wounded, persecuted youth is in a desperate situation. I do not know this young man personally, but if you search for the OS site Booknut it will take you to the blog of someone who does. I have decided to help. Please help if you are so moved. Read full post »

A few weeks ago my personal farmers asked me when I wanted my strawberries picked for freezing. They have introduced me to lots of great new vegetables. And I have potlucked  with them near the fields where my food is grown.

In contrast, most people in the U.S. eat… Read full post »

( I Am Finally Able to Write About This Experience. My Mom Died Two Years Ago ---)

Apparently, my relationship with my mother is destined to defy human nature. We loved each other when I was a child; we truly hated each other when I was a teenager;  and&nbs… Read full post »

Mike, my 48-year-old brother, volunteered to go to Iraq to teach public auditing a month ago. We in the family were shocked, but he is the Republican in the family, and is deeply patriotic. He also loves the military although he is a civilian. I am surrounding him with the white light… Read full post »

THE COUNTRY IS RUN BY A SMALL, ELITE GROUP Of WELL-TO-DO PEOPLE.

THE ELITE HAVE ACCESS TO AN ENDLESS POOL OF PEON LABOR THAT IS DESPERATE, COMPLIANT AND WILLING TO DO ANYTHING FOR ANY AMOUNT OF MONEY.

THE COUNTRY DOESN'T MAKE ANYTHING IN THE WAY OF ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY.

THE ELITE HAVE… Read full post »

BECAUSE THEY SENSED LONG AGO THAT EATING ANIMALS WAS WRONG AND UNNECESSARY.

BECAUSE THEY PRODUCED GANDHI, WHO WAS FIGHTING THROUGH NONVIOLENT RESISTANCE IN THE 1890's IN SOUTH AFRICA. A MAN WHO WOULD FAST AS A POLITICAL WEAPON, EVEN TO HIS DEATH.  WHO WAS IMPRISONED MULTIPLE TIMES. WHO ADOPTED T… Read full post »

I have noticed something very, very strange  going on with  liberals' attitudes toward blue collar workers for a long time, and I am desperately worried about it.

 Conservatives have never  been known for their concern for the working man, but liberals wer… Read full post »

(FROM  ORI LEWIS,   REUTERS)

"Saeb Erekat, who has negotiated interim peace accords said:

'The peace process has been moving at the speed of a tortoise.

Tonight, Netanyahu has flipped it over on its back.'" Read full post »