Motley Moose – Archive

In about six weeks (oh, crap – it’s only 6 weeks away!), I’m walking the half of the Austin Marathon, with a group I’ve been training with since summer. My team raises money for the Austin Children’s Shelter — our team slogan is “Creating a world without child abuse & neglect, one step at a time.” If you want to skip the pleading, you can donate to Austin Children’s Shelter – look for me – 1st column, 10th name

I’m still $200 short of my fundraising goal, so I’m here asking for your help. I wish we lived in a world where the phrase “children’s shelter” was unnecessary, or at least where places like it had all the funds they need. But we don’t live in such a place. We live in a world where kids are abused & neglacted every day, all the time. So we need places like the Austin Children’s Shelter. Here is one of the success stories from their page (have a tissue ready):

success stories

Michelle is a bright young woman who found herself at the Austin Children’s Shelter because of getting in trouble with the law.  Her story is one of hope for so many teens who come to the Shelter.

In Her Own Words: Michelle’s Story

Although I was only at Austin Children’s Shelter for three short months, it was a life changing experience for me.  I was inspired to become a better person and to do something with my life.

At the age of three I was taken from a broken home, along with my three brothers and two sisters.  Although we had visitation with each other, we bounced from one foster home to the next.  This was especially hard on my two sisters and I because we were so young.

When I turned twelve years old we had all been reunited with my mother.  However, my mom was still unable to care for younger children.  She decided to send my two sisters and I to Texas to live with our father.  My brothers were older, so they stayed in Florida with our mom.  

As I sat in the back seat of the pickup truck that took us to Texas, I thought to myself, “Wow, a new start to a normal life.”  Something I’d always wanted.  But I was still nervous since my dad was such a stranger to me at this point in my life.

The town I moved to was very different than what I was used to.  I would go to school only to come home and watch my little sisters until my dad got home.  Living with my father, I had a lot of responsibility at the age of twelve. My dad remarried and it opened the doors to a variety of opportunities for me.  I played volleyball and was on the cheerleading squad.  I was a good student that had everything going for me, and then I began high school.

My sophomore year, I began to hang out with the wrong crowd.  My behavior became very destructive and was influenced by drug use.  It slowly went downhill for me and I became very hateful.  I stopped playing sports and my grades dropped quickly.  Months later, I hit rock bottom.  My father and stepmother became very angry and were fed up with it all.  They kicked me out of their home, which was one of the best things they could have done for me.

While living on my own, I got in trouble with the police and went to juvenile detention.  I spent the night there and was taken to the Austin Children’s Shelter the next day.   I felt confused and upset when I first got there.  Even though the staff were warm and welcoming, I was not.  

As the days passed, I began to open up more and more.  I met with my personal counselor everyday, which helped me to become more comfortable at the shelter.  We always had something to do, from playing basketball to doing arts and crafts.  

One of my fondest memories was a week of fun called “Discovery Week.”  Through out this week, we went to museums, parks, and even to paint our own pottery.  This week was filled with a lot of fun, but also a lot of learning, too.  

I celebrated my seventeenth birthday at the Austin Children’s Shelter and it was one of the most memorable one I have had.  They went out of their way to make sure that I had a fun filled day and to let me know that I was an important person.  

The staff at the Austin Children’s Shelter always listened, no matter what the topic was and they didn’t judge.  They knew just how to make the children feel good about themselves. The longer I stayed at the Austin Children’s Shelter, the more comfortable I became with the staff and other kids.  I never even thought about how temporary it was, until the day I found out I was leaving to go to rehab.  

I was sitting in my group-counseling meeting, when I received a phone call from my caseworker.  She told me that I would be moving from the Austin Children’s Shelter to rehab.  After I hung up the phone, I went back to my meeting and cried until the end of the meeting.  I was very upset for the rest of the day.  I didn’t want to leave.  I liked it there.  The group and the counselor helped me to realize that I have to make the best out of things and that it would help me to become a better person.  So, I left the shelter knowing I could do anything I put my mind to.  Along with this newfound self-confidence and strength, I also left with a lot of happy memories that I will treasure forever.  I went off to finish my rehab program and became sober.  When I left rehab, I moved back to Austin to graduate from high school.  I am now twenty years old, working fulltime as a waitress and living with my high school sweetheart.  I have been sober for four years and live my life to the fullest each and every day.  I will soon start college to pursue my dream of becoming a teacher at the Deaf school in Austin.  

I could not have achieved any of this without the encouragement from the staff at Austin Children’s Shelter, especially one in particular named Angelica.  She made me feel good about myself during a time in my life when I needed it the most.  I am grateful for the time that I spent and the experiences that I had at Austin Children’s Shelter.  They made a difference in my life and will continue to make a difference in other children’s lives.

So, help kids like her, and help me meet my goal please donate to the Austin Children’s Shelter – look for me – 1st column, 10th name

and here’s the music, so you know it’s me — I usually use U2, but here’s a band with a Scottish singer, Tired Pony, and I just love this song:

Update — goal surpassed! $800.01!!!

Interrogatories

Are you still accidentally writing “2013” instead of “2014”?

Are you a good driver? How are you at parallel parking?

Did you ever have to sneak into your own home?

Have you ever been locked out of your home when nobody is around to let you in? What did you do?

The Twitter Emitter

Donald Trump: "Global warming is obviously a hoax based on my extensive research in checking the weather this morning."

— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) January 2, 2014

If Pot is a gateway drug, beer is the well-lit accessible walkway that leads to the gate.

— John Fugelsang (@JohnFugelsang) January 2, 2014

Snowstorm is just the crisis de Blasio needs to nationalize the financial industry.

— daveweigel (@daveweigel) January 2, 2014

The liberal media is so biased that I haven't seen one story on the bread lines and rationing in NYC caused by the de Blasio regime.

— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) January 3, 2014

Can't decide between a Duck Dynasty rifle or a Hoarders home clutter kit.

— Albert Brooks (@AlbertBrooks) January 3, 2014

IDEA: Add Snapchat to Target app.

— Crutnacker (@Crutnacker) January 3, 2014

Maybe Chris Kluwe can replace Ezra Klein.

— Lizz Winstead (@lizzwinstead) January 3, 2014

I have to give Obama this– two days in and no one has leaked the secret location of the Obamacare Death Panels to the press.

— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) January 3, 2014

Climate change? Who cares what happens after I die? I want it all, and I want the world to die with me. Suck it, future losers.

— kara vallow (@teenagesleuth) January 3, 2014

Sorry you're getting your "White Christmas: late, guys. That's what we get for sending it UPS.

— Jesus Christ (@Jesus_M_Christ) January 3, 2014

Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin aren't hypocrites; I'm sure they will be up in arms about Chris Kluwe's free speech rights any minute now.

— Top Conservative Cat (@TeaPartyCat) January 3, 2014

A bag of Doritos now costs $149 in Denver.

— Tim Siedell (@badbanana) January 3, 2014

On This Day

In 1496, Leonardo da Vinci unsuccessfully tested his flying machine.

In 1521, Martin Luther was excommunicated by Pope Leo X.

In 1861, Delaware voted not to secede from the Union.

In 1870, construction began on the Brooklyn Bridge.

In 1938, the March of Dimes was established by FDR.

In 1947, Congressional proceedings were televised for the first time.

In 1959, Alaska was admitted as the 49th state.

In 1961, the U.S. severed diplomatic relations with Cuba.

In 1977, Apple Computer was incorporated.

In 1999 – Israel detained, and later expelled, 14 members of Concerned Christians, whose goal was to destroy the ancient Al-Aqsa Mosque, believing its destruction was necessary to bring about the second coming of Jesus Christ.

Born on This Day

1591 – (baptized) Valentin de Boulogne , French painter, active in Italy (d. 1632)

1879 – Grace Coolidge, First Lady of the United States (d. 1957)

1880 – Francis Browne, Irish photographer who boarded the Titanic at Southampton but got off in Queenstown, Ireland before the ship continued to its date with the iceberg. His photographs taken on his journey have become very famous. (d. 1960)

1886 – Josephine Hull, American actress (d. 1957) (Harvey, Arsenic and Old Lace)

1887 – August Macke, German painter (d. 1914)

1892 – J. R. R. Tolkien, British writer (d. 1973)

1894 – ZaSu Pitts, American actress (d. 1963)

1897 – Pola Negri, Polish silent film star (d. 1987)

1897 – Marion Davies, American actress and longtime mistress of WIlliam Randolph Hearst (d. 1961)

1905 – Anna May Wong, American actress (d. 1961)

1907 – Ray Milland, British actor (d. 1986)

1915 – Jack Levine, US social realist painter (d. 2010)

1916 – Betty Furness, American actress and consumer rights advocate. (d. 1994)

1919 – Frank Duveneck, painter (b. 1848)

1919 – Herbie Nichols, jazz composer and pianist (d. 1963)

1929 – Sergio Leone, Italian director (d. 1989)

1932 – Dabney Coleman, American actor

1941 – Van Dyke Parks, American musician

1945 – Stephen Stills, American musician (Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and Manassas)

1954 – Ned Lamont, American businessman and political figure

1954 – Ross the Boss, American guitarist (The Dictators and Manowar)

1955 – Palmolive, British musician (The Slits, The Raincoats)

1956 – Mel Gibson, anti-Semitic and misogynist American-Australian actor/ director

1981 – Eli Manning, American football player

Died on This Day

1557 – Giacomo Raibolini Francia, Italian painter (b. 1486)

1705 – Luca Giordano, Italian painter (b. 1634)

1795 – Josiah Wedgwood, British potter (b. 1730)

1809 – Henri-Pierre Danloux, French portrait painter (b. 1753)

1843 – Thomas Christopher Hofland, British landscape painter (b. 1777)

1905 – Anton Braith, German painter (b. 1836)

1915 – William Strutt, English painter and illustrator (b. 1825)

1945 – Edgar Cayce, American psychic (b. 1877)

1956 – Arturo Tosi, Italian painter  (b. 1871)

1958 – Frederick William Elwell, British painter (b. 1870)

1967 – Mary Garden, British opera singer (b. 1874)

1967 – Jack Ruby, American killer of Lee Harvey Oswald (b. 1911)

1991 – Doris Zinkeisen, Scottish painter of society portraits, stage productions, designer of stage sets and costumes, and painter of the aftermath of World War 2. (b. 1898)

2002 – Juan García Esquivel, Mexican band leader (b. 1918)

2010 – Mary Daly, American theologian and feminist scholar (b. 1928)

Today is

Festival of Sleep Day (I suspect this is a cat holiday)

Humiliation Day (hopefully not your own)

Memento Mori “Remember You Die” Day

National Drinking Straw Day

Fruitcake Toss Day

Chocolate Covered Cherry Day

Good morning, Moosekind. TGIF! Hope it has been a good week for everyone. Snowy, blustery and incredibly cold here. Winds to 50 mph, wind chills below zero (almost unheard of in these parts).

Friday Coffee Hour and check-in is an open thread and general social hour. Come back when time allows through the day – the conversation continues.

It’s traditional but not obligatory to give us a weather check where you are and let us know what’s new, interesting, challenging or even routine in your life lately. Nothing is particularly obligatory here except:

Always remember the Moose Golden (Purple?) Rule:

Be kind to each other… or else.

What could be simpler than that, right?

IS IT SPRING YET?!?!?!

Quick answer: pretty much everything.

When I was phonebanking in 2010 for OFA (Obama For America) in Wisconsin, the unified campaign effort was tasked with electing a Democratic governor, re-electing Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI), and electing Democrats to the House of Representatives. The phone script included this: “Please vote to send people to Washington DC who will help President Obama advance his agenda”.

On the list of people we were calling were those who had voted for President Obama in 2008, people who should have been interested in advancing his agenda because, in theory, they voted to do just that only two years before.

But mid-terms are funny things. Many of the people I called said they only voted in presidential elections. Some of them were unhappy because they didn’t get their pony so much of the president’s agenda had to be set aside to deal with the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression … a parting “gift” from Worst President in History George W. Bush.

Well, Democrats were not enthused but Republicans were because they had two things firing up their base: a black man (who was not even born in ‘Murica!!) had stolen the election (ACORNNNN!!) … and the Affordable Care Act had been passed, ushering in death panels and government-run health care and frightening all your doctors into fleeing to the libertarian paradise of Somalia.

So turnout was low and we ended up with Scott Walker and a solid Republican legislature here in Wisconsin. And we sent Ron Johnson to the Senate and Sean Duffy and Reid Ribble to the House of Representatives. Elsewhere, Michigan got Rick Snyder, Ohio got John Kasich, Pennsylvania got Tom Corbett, Florida got Rick Scott, Iowa got Terry Branstad, Maine got Paul LePage … and America got Republican Speaker of the House John Boehner.

The good news is that we can undo most of the damage that was done in the low turnout 2010 mid-term election by responding with a high turnout 2014 mid-term election. Because when we vote, we win. Really.

We can’t undo the gerrymandering that was done by Republican legislatures until the legislative session following the next census in 2020 (unless you are Texas). But with each election cycle, the gerrymanders will lose more of their grip as young people, natural Democratic constituencies … people who accept and celebrate diversity and who turn away from the hatred and bigotry of the past … start attaining voting age. In some states, where minorities are trending towards majority status, the tightly gerrymandered districts are already leaking. In Wisconsin, two of the congressional districts created are now toss-ups because there simply aren’t enough people who are willing to ignore the craziness that comes along with the purity positions of the modern Republican Party.

In 2014, we have a half-dozen gettable governorships and one hail mary (or hail Wendy?). We can make progress towards taking back a few state legislatures (or at least one chamber to create a firewalls). We only need to pick up 17 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives while holding onto our U.S. Senate seats. And we can run on the tangible benefits of the Affordable Care Act instead of running away from the myths that were promoted in the right-wing media.

Now, back to the question “What’s at Stake in 2014?” and my answer “just about everything”.

It starts with voting rights. A functioning democracy needs fair and honest elections. Right now we have a chance at achieving them with Attorney General Eric Holder whose Justice Department is aggressively pursuing Voting Rights Act violations despite the attempts of the Supreme Court to cripple it.

The only way, really, THE ONLY WAY that Republicans retain their majority going forward is by suppressing Democratic votes. Or if we suppress our own votes by sitting home instead of voting and getting out the vote. If we allow them to suppress our votes, or our enthusiasm, we give them the power to legislate … and choose federal judges who will rule against democratic elections … and we simply cannot and must not let that happen.

So get the word out: Elections Matter … every election. And there is no election more important than the next one because if we can deliver a congressional majority to President Obama so that he can advance his agenda (which is our agenda) we demonstrate what Good Government and Good Governing means … QED – quod erat demonstrandum – “what was required to be proved” will be proven. And it becomes that much easier to set the stage for 2016 when America will say “More, please, Democratic Party.”  

Elections really do matter. When we vote, we win. And when we win, America wins.

~

Next Up: What we learned from the 2010 “shellacking”

  Make sure you let your peeps

  know where to find you!  

The morning check-in is an open thread posted to give you a place to visit with the meeses. Feel free to chat about your weather, share a bit of your life, grump (if you must), rave (if you can). The diarist du jour sometimes posts and runs, other times sticks around for a bit, often returns throughout the day and always cares that meeses are happy … or at least contented.

For those new to the Moose, Kysen left a Moose Welcome Mat (Part Deux) so, please, wipe your feet before you walk in the front door start posting.

The important stuff to get you started:

– Comments do not Auto-refresh. Click the refresh/reload on your tab to see new ones. Only click Post once for comments. When a diary’s comment threads grow, the page takes longer to refresh and the comment may not display right away.

– To check for replies to your comments, click the “My Comments” link in the right-hand column (or go to “My Moose”). Comments will be listed and a link to Recent Replies will be shown. (Note: Tending comments builds community)

– Ratings: Fierce means Thumbs Up, Fail means Thumbs Down, Meh means one of three things: I am unFailing you but I can’t Fierce you, I am unFiercing after a mistaken Fierce, … or Meh. Just Meh. (p.s. Ratings don’t bestow mojo, online behaviour does).

– The Recommended list has a prominent place on the Front Page because it reflects the interests of the Moose. When people drive-by, we want them to see what we are talking about: news, politics, science, history, personal stories, culture. The list is based on number of recs and days on the list. Per Kysen: “The best way to control Rec List content is to ONLY rec diaries you WANT to see ON the list.”

– Finally, the posting rules for a new diary: “Be excellent to each other… or else”

(Some other commenting/posting/tending notes for newbies can be found in this past check-in and, of course, consult Meese Mehta for all your questions on meesely decorum.)

You can follow the daily moosetrails here: Motley Moose Recent Comments.

~

Let the greetings begin!

~

Happy New Year Moosekind! How is your head this morning?

The common Moose, Alces alces, unlike other members of the deer family, is a solitary animal that doesn’t form herds. Not so its rarer but nearest relative, Alces purplius, the Motley Moose. Though sometimes solitary, the Motley Moose herds in ever shifting groups at the local watering hole to exchange news and just pass the time.

The morning check-in is an open thread and general social hour. Come back when time allows through the day – the conversation continues.

It’s traditional but not obligatory to give us a weather check where you are and let us know what’s new, interesting, challenging or even routine in your life lately. Nothing is particularly obligatory here except:

Always remember the Moose Golden (Purple?) Rule:

Be kind to each other… or else.

What could be simpler than that, right?

To assist those who enjoy entertaining at home, I present the secret recipe for the concoction known to Air Force personnel as “Moose Milk”. Originally made with milk obtained from a lactating Alces alces, the practice was eventually curtailed.

Too many pilots and flight crew members began attending morning “sick parades” due to a variety of “non-combat related” injuries, leaving no one to “slip the surly bonds”.

RCAF MOOSE MILK



Ingredients:

12 Egg yolks

40 Oz Canadian Whiskey

40 Oz Rum

5 Oz Kahlua

10 Oz Maple Syrup

40 Oz Milk (homogenized – don’t use skim!)

40 Oz Heavy Whipping Cream (not canned)

1 Cup Sugar

Method:

Beat yolks until fluffy and well mixed.

Add sugar and beat mixture until thick.

Stir in milk and liquor

Chill at least 3 hours. Best if can sit overnight.

Then: Whip cream until good and thick (canned whip cream will go flat, so avoid canned cream)

Fold in whipped cream (it will appear as if it has totally thinned out, but don’t worry, that is normal)

Chill for another hour.

Sprinkle the top with nutmeg and cinnamon.]

Should be kept chilled because of the raw eggs. This should not be a problem as Moose Milk disappears quite quickly.

Should serve a crowd of fifty….

Or ten pilots.

Please sign up to become an organ donor, if you haven’t already done so.

Last night, my mom’s life was vastly improved because someone made that decision.  That means she has the new kidney she’s been waiting for a life free from dialysis.  And that all happened because some decided it would be a good thing that G-d forbid anything happened to them their organs could be used to save and improve lives.  Taking those five minutes can really make a difference and do a whole world of good for many people.

I’m very happy to report that she’s doing well at the moment.  The kidney is starting to come to life and she is doing really well for someone that came out of major surgery around two o’clock this morning.

So, have a happy and healthy new year and please, please, please, make the decision to become an organ donor (if you haven’t already done so).