Book Review: Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong

Title: Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong

        
Author: Herbert W. Armstrong

        
Date: 1986

        
Publisher: Worldwide Church of God

        
ISBN: none; Amazon page here

        
Length: two 600-page volumes

        
Illustrations: photo inserts

        
Quote: “[I]t seemed that I owed [listeners and subscribers] an installment each month, in The Plain Truth...The Autobiography began appearing with the September 1957 issue.”

        
The Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong is ponderous partly because of the large clear print, but also because it’s a long story. Herbert W. Armstrong packed a lot of experiences into the years between 1892 and 1986; he kept his memory up to the end, and as he printed his memoirs in the magazine he edited, he left out very little, from the pranks little boys played on each other circa 1900 up through the last days of his life.

        
One question outsiders often wanted Armstrong to answer was, “Are you a Seventh-Day Adventist, and if not why not, and how can you tell?” Differences in the interpretations of the Bible found in Armstrong’s collected work and in the Seventh-Day Adventist Bible Commentary are remarkably technical and trivial. It would be easy to conclude that Armstrong was an ex-Adventist who thought a few bits of Bible prophecies might have referred to different events than the ones SDA’s usually link with them, but, as this book explains, that’s not the story. Armstrong began studying the Bible in a different church and reinvented the Adventist doctrinal “wheel” before he’d made contact with Adventists.

        
Some years before I was born, once again my father attempted to read the Bible on his own and make sense of everything in it...and his interpretation bore a remarkable resemblance both to the Adventists’ and to the Worldwide Church of God’s. When so many different people of intelligence and good will independently conclude that the Bible says the same things, I think it’s reasonable to conclude that those are what the Bible does say, so my understanding of the Bible is similar to theirs. And what the Bible plainly says is rather different from what is generally preached in mainstream churches. Scholars who have given equal weight to the need to examine what the Bible says, and the need to conform to the tradition of an organized group, tend to preach and practice bits of extrabiblical traditions that may directly disagree with the Bible.

        
Although I’ve never been a member of the Worldwide Church of God, although I was christened in one other church and later baptized in yet another one, my parents were involved with WCOG in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when I was a little girl and we spent a lot of time near church headquarters in California. Herbert W. Armstrong was the preacher who told us that Christmas wasn’t Christian. I've never argued with his facts but don't always agree with his view of what those facts mean for us. Still, I can say firsthand that this was a legitimate church, with no “cultlike” quality, whose history and doctrines deserve to be studied by Christians of all denominations.

        
You’ve heard that WCOG was “plagued by scandals” at the time when my parents knew these people. There were two scandals, and the Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong discusses both at length:

        
1. During an IRS audit, Armstrong’s collecting valuable gift items for leaders of countries where he proselytized was challenged, but found legitimate.

        
2. Garner Ted Armstrong left his father’s church and started a separate ministry with a separate congregation. The Armstrongs, father and son, had not disagreed about religious doctrines; their differences had to do with parental authority, and with impropriety, if not immorality, in GTA’s relationships with a few of the older ladies in the church. (GTA was often called handsome, and certainly liked to flirt. Whether he did anything worse may never be known.)

        
Read this review and get a free sermon...I personally didn’t want to know about any “unresolved emotional conflicts” that might have caused GTA to take adulterous interests in women because they were much older than his wife and himself. That’s not the sort of thing I think Christians need to know about one another. Since GTA was definitely not a pedophile, I was not affected by his “emotional conflicts,” if any, and didn’t need to hear things that should have been kept between the people directly involved.

        
There are more than 1400 allegedly Christian denominations in the United States. When asked why he didn’t join a church, my father used to cite this statistic as evidence that the differences among these denominations originated in petty personal disputes and he didn’t want to take sides with any of them. I think some of the denominations did, at least originally, separate from others over legitimate disagreements about doctrine, some of which are even significant, and some denominations are more biblically based than others, but indisputably there are groups whose separate identity originated in a dispute between people who would have done better to seek reconciliation with one another. The Armstrongs’ father/son conflict was such a dispute; I think the subsequent history of the splintered WCOG shows that their conflict hurt both men and both of their congregations.

        
As an adult I’ve remained part of my ancestral cultural tradition, as a “Bible Christian.” I don’t attend church regularly for several reasons; the most obvious one is that my body tolerates neither bread nor wine. I still have connections with, and sympathy toward, members of several denominations including Baptists, Methodists, SDA’s, the WCOG, the Church of Christ, Quakers, Mennonites, Episcopalians, and a group that used to be known as the Lord’s Covenant Church. I’ve found it harder to relate to the beliefs of Universalist, Catholic, and Pentecostal Holiness friends. In any case I’ve observed some things about religious groups that do and don’t fall apart.

        
Groups that last preserve a clear identity. Without that distinct identity, groups probably should merge and fade into other groups. When the groups are defined as Christian, in the absence of real differences of belief, separations between them may be merely functional (e.g. meeting in different times and places), or based in unsanctified personal disputes.

        
Sometimes the distinct identity of a group involves lifestyle choices that may or may not make sense to anyone else. Religious groups have adopted rules forbidding members to wear clothes that fastened with buttons, because, two hundred years ago, decorative buttons were the insignia of a social group to which they did not belong; or mandating ringless wedding ceremonies, because, two hundred years ago, members sold their rings to raise money for mission projects; or cut their hair, or let it grow, or tie it back, or have it curled or straightened, because some hairstyle used to be identified with some social group at some time in the past. The claim that these groups shouldn’t have imposed these rules on all members has both scriptural and psychological validity, but once the rules have been adopted, it’s hard to relax the rules without losing the group’s founding and senior members, and thus losing its identity.

        
As late as the 1960s some “conservative churches,” including WCOG, seemed to be in competition to see which group could impose the strictest rules. Now many of these groups seem to be in competition to see which group can discard most rules fastest. Some rules (I think of an Adventist congregation that required male members to identify with the right element in their community by wearing “a short full beard if able”) may need to be discarded, but I’m underwhelmed when formerly “conservative” groups rush to discard prohibitions on drinking, gambling, and fornication, or employ preachers who don’t believe the group’s central doctrines.

        
As I read his autobiography, I’m struck by the difference between the judgmentality sometimes associated with Armstrong and the humility and spirituality in his actual words. He was not one of those hairy fire-and-brimstone evangelists who used to terrify children with shrieking judgments on all their innocent little games. I could describe him as a kind, generous, and also outgoing, opinionated, and excitable old man. Italics and capital letters in his book reflect the way he talked. He didn’t rant and rave, but he took his ideas very seriously.

        
I never could go along with his belief that all use of the imagination to invent stories, fantasize, visualize, or create “fancy sketches” (drawings not from real life) was “wicked imagination” that wouldn’t appeal even to children who really cared about the Truth. Maybe it’s the wickedness in me...I thought this was a stupid idea when I was five years old, and I think so still.

        
Apparently other people, evidently less gifted with imagination, have hung up on other points in the WCOG’s admittedly pointy, even bristly, mass of doctrine. What’s wrong with just a little observance of Christmas...just a little lipstick, a little football pool at the office, a little glass of wine...Maybe some people can and will use some things in ways with which nothing is wrong, and some cannot. I’ll spare readers my sermon on how, as a student at an SDA college, I saw nothing wrong with using lipstick in order to look recognizable on television or relieve the pain of dry skin in a dry climate, but I did see a great deal wrong with young girls, who were in fact trying to practice celibacy, accepting the idea that they needed to paint an artificial “sexual flush” onto their faces all the time. I wanted older SDA’s to help girls resist the pressure to waste our scanty resources in order to give the world a misleading message about ourselves, a message none of us wanted the world to believe. I thought that maybe the women who wanted to go around looking “painted” shouldn’t have tried to join a church that had a rule against that look, just as I, who wanted to read and write fiction, shouldn’t have tried to join the WCOG.

       
I would prefer that WCOG remain WCOG, now, rather than trying to be Universalist in all but name. We have enough churches these days that are trying to be Universalists in all but name. “Oh, none of us pays any attention to any of those old rules, we just try to relax and feel good about ourselves...” Who needs those groups? We already have the Unitarian Universalist Church; those who want to join it should join it. If present-time members of a church that claimed to be based in “the plain truth of the Bible” have decided that their founders were mistaken about some aspect of biblical interpretation, by all means let them tell us what they’ve learned...but, please, none of that venal, money-grubbing blather about how churches should meet people where they are and accommodate their emotional needs. Let the Universalists support their own church, and not create discord in the other churches.

       
So, I recommend Armstrong’s Autobiography first of all to members or prospective members of the WCOG. I don’t ask them to agree with everything Armstrong said; I don’t ask SDA’s to agree with everything Ellen White said; I’m glad that most members of the LCC, including Sheldon Emry by the time we knew him, criticized some of the fear-driven things Pastor Emry wrote when he was younger...but I do ask people to think seriously about the original founding principles of their groups, and about whether they want to keep their groups alive, or would prefer to disband, perhaps merging into some other group that better reflects what these people say and do. If the WCOG still has any reason to exist, it needs to adhere to enough of the teachings of Herbert W. Armstrong to justify any continued use of his writings, or his buildings, missions, printing presses, or connections.

       
The Autobiography of Herbert W. Armstrong is also recommended to anyone interested in the history of the Christian church, and to those who enjoy stories and prefer biographies to fiction. Those reading for the story will certainly find this book on the lengthy side, and will probably find some dull parts in it...but not so many dull parts as they might have feared. No minister can write an autobiography without preaching. No founder of a denomination can write an autobiography without some harangues about the organization and administration of the church, which may make even the members of the church nod off. And it would be hard for a minister who preached in almost every country on Earth to write an autobiography without some name-dropping. If Armstrong had been born rich his reminiscences about the heads of state he met might have become tedious; what redeems those parts of the autobiography is his naïve, what’s-a-good-old-boy-like-me-doing-in-a-place-like-this tone. In between those passages, however, Armstrong could tell a story, and although he tried to be serious he was born with a sense of humor. 

       
Probably the best thing that can be said about the Autobiography in strictly literary terms is that Armstrong always preached that ideas, even complex ideas, ought to be expressible in language a bright ten-year-old child could understand...and his writing was. His Plain Truth was a very special news magazine. No matter how many sophisticated professionals wrote reports on events Armstrong could tie into his view of unfolding prophecies, all reportage had to be accessible to anyone who claimed to speak (or translate) English at all. The resulting clear, direct style Armstrong cultivated deserves study. There may be times when some of us want to make some points in ways that go over some people’s heads; when that’s not our intention, we could do worse than write like Herbert W. Armstrong.


According to the WCOG tradition, you shouldn't buy these books at all. Traditionally all WCOG literature was free of charge; after reading books or magazines readers donated whatever they thought the literature would be worth to the next reader down the line. I sold the copies I physically owned for a dollar. To buy the set online now, apparently, costs a bit more. If I replace the copies and sell them online, at the time of writing I'll have to charge $60 for the books and $5 for shipping...and Armstrong no longer even needs $6.50.

Link Log for January 8

From Twitter: http://www.freedomworks.org/content/can-you-trust-government-your-medical-records

The Humane Society left out just one important detail from this useful article:

http://www.humanesociety.org/issues/feral_cats/tips/caring_feral_cats_winter.html#.VK8Eht5OitI.twitter

Did you guess? It's "Do not take it upon yourself to sterilize a cat for which you're not legally responsible." The Humane Society really need to focus their "one more generation and [domestic animals] are out [of existence]" campaign on animal species that are harmful to humans, like coyotes, instead of species that are helpful, like cats, dogs, and horses.

The (pre-constitutional) right to the pursuit of happiness should include the right to refuse medical treatment, right?

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/01/08/conn-high-court-rules-cancer-stricken-teen-who-refused-treatment-must-get-it-anyway/?

I don't know if enough localities are idiotic enough to consider making dress codes a matter of state law, such that this needs to be specified in the Constitution...but people should have the right to cover their hair whenever they feel like it (e.g. on a bad hair day, or a wet day). Likewise, the right to cover their faces whenever they feel like it (e.g. when their acne flares up, if they're Muslims, if they're not too sick to work but know they have a contagious disease...) Thanks to CheramieIII for sharing this.

http://www.wptv.com/news/local-news/water-cooler/new-oklahoma-amendment-would-essentially-outlaw-hoodies-prohibit-people-from-covering-their-faces-in-public

I think this one's worth sharing because it's an example of a way to advertise a new book that does not annoy me. (Even though it contains rude words, which might annoy some readers.)

http://dilbert.com/blog/entry/attention_all_cheap/

Despite its misuse of the word "liberal" to describe a set of left-wingers who are anything but liberal, everybody who uses the Internet needs to read this one...

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/01/08/expensive-speech-a-blaze-magazine-special-report/?

Christians are still being persecuted for their faith in many countries. (That's persecuted, as distinct from "annoyed by people who don't liiike us," the way Christians and homosexual lobbyists are in these United States.)

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/01/08/the-10-most-horrific-places-in-the-world-to-be-a-christian/

Gannets can be cuddly? Who'd have thought? Photo evidence:

http://watching-bingley-birds.blogspot.com/2015/01/bird-behaviour-ritual-display-of.html

Thanks to Elizabeth Barrette for this sonnet sequence:

http://poetry.dreamwidth.org/413879.html

And for these cookies (the good kind of cookies, for those who can eat wheat anyway):

http://www.penn.museum/blog/museum/how-to-make-cuneiform-tablet-cookies/

Here's a visual guide to some obscure craft paraphernalia you might find in a grab bag with yummy vintage yarn, fabric, etc., at a charity store or bazaar:

http://wendywelchbigstonegap.wordpress.com/2015/01/07/the-sweetest-mysteries-of-generosity/

In the U.K., at least, you can rescue hens from miserable factory-farm conditions:

http://watching-bingley-birds.blogspot.com/2015/01/how-to-sponsor-hen.html

More reasons not to snap a "selfie":

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/01/06/hackers-show-how-easy-it-is-to-steal-your-identity-from-selfies/?

Read a book...for mental health...

http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20150106-can-you-read-yourself-happy

Morgan Griffith's Frugal Tips

U.S. Representative Morgan Griffith proudly reports his ability to work below budget estimates, and this web site is proud of him, too...

"

Thursday, January 8, 2015 – Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) today announced that he has saved more than $200,000, or 16 percent, of his 2014 office budget.  Griffith’s office has not spent the full office budget allocation in any of the 4 years he has served Virginia’s Ninth District in the House of Representatives.

Each congressional office is allocated an annual office budget (officially called the Members’ Representational Allowance or ‘MRA’) with which it pays official operating expenses such as district office rent, office supplies, equipment, communications costs with constituents, postage, staff salaries, etc.  These expenses must be in support of the member’s congressional duties and responsibilities. Although the amount Griffith has saved in 2014 is a milestone for his office, there were some anomalies that assisted the efforts to reduce spending.

Griffith said, “My staff and I always try to efficiently provide Ninth District residents with the best possible constituent services at the lowest possible cost.  I am constantly seeking suggestions from my staff and from constituents as to additional changes we can make to continue saving taxpayer dollars.  Ideas we have implemented have been as simple as printing bills and constituent correspondence on both sides of the page.  We also evaluate every purchase, and have transitioned our annual survey from a printed and mailed version to a less expensive and primarily digital version.  In 2014, I did not fill certain staff positions for a while in my Washington, D.C. office in an effort to assess whether they were necessary or could result in additional savings.  We did ultimately determine these positions were necessary.  While I likely will not be able to replicate this year’s return as expenses vary from year to year based on the needs of the Ninth District, we will continue to closely oversee the office budget just as the American people watch their household budgets.”

In addition to voting to cut the MRA by 5 percent the first week he was in office, Griffith has saved approximately $528,000.00 of his budget allocation since being sworn in to the House of Representatives in January 2011.

 

 2011: Amount Allotted:  $1,421,872.

Amount Spent: ​$1,302,691.90

Amount Saved:  $119,180.10

 

 2012  Amount Allotted:  $1,330,871

 Amount Spent:  $1,210,038.32

 Amount  Saved:  $120,832.68

 

 2013  Amount Allotted:  $1,222,549

  Amount Spent:  $1,145,612.21

 Amount Saved:  $76,936.79

 

 2014  Amount Allotted:  $1,243,774

  Amount Spent:  $1,023,655 (projected)

 Amount Saved:  $211,119 (projected)

 

It is important to note that the allocated office budget (MRA) has seen a net reduction of $187,098 from prior years during Griffith’s time in office.

“One of my first votes was to support cutting the budget of each Member of Congress by 5 percent, saving taxpayers a total of $35 million,” Griffith said.  “I came to Congress to make significant changes in the way Washington handles taxpayer dollars.  My office budget is a start.  We may be unable to return $200,000 every year, but will continue watching our purse strings and the expenditure of taxpayer dollars.”
"

Tim Kaine on Medicare

From the office of U.S. Senator Tim Kaine:

"

Dear Friends,

As the 114th Congress begins, controlling the rising cost of health care while protecting critical programs for seniors remain top priorities for me.

That’s why I joined Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota and four other colleagues to introduce the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, legislation that would empower Medicare to negotiate for the best possible price of prescription medication for America’s seniors who are enrolled in Medicare Part D. During my campaign for Senate, I pledged to join efforts to close this loophole in the Medicare program.

Allowing prescription drug price negotiation in Medicare would save billions of dollars without compromising care or shifting the cost burden onto seniors. The federal government should be allowed to negotiate for lower prices for Medicare recipients, just like the Department of Veterans Affairs does. I will continue to fight for these reforms on the Budget Committee and in my new role as a member of the Senate Aging Committee. 

As we grapple with tough budget challenges, we cannot afford to put off commonsense reforms that lower health care spending and save taxpayer money. 

To learn more about the Medicare Prescription Drug Price Negotiation Act, click here.

Sincerely,"

[nice signature graphic] Tim Kaine

Book Review: Room of Marvels

A Fair Trade Book


Title: Room of Marvels

       
Author: James Bryan Smith


Author's web page: http://apprenticeinstitute.org/author/dr-james-bryan-smith/

       
Date: 2004

       
Publisher: Broadman & Holman

       
ISBN: 0-8054-2784-8

       
Length: 154 pages

       
Quote: “When bad things began happening to me, I was sure God was punishing me.”

       
First the sermon: We all come into the world with different physical equipment. This includes our different brains. Some of us do things about which we feel guilty and imagine that all kinds of things are our “punishment.” Some of us simplify our lives by not doing things about which we feel guilty. This does not mean that we never make mistakes, or have to deal with the consequences of those mistakes. It doesn’t mean that the invitation we ignored may not be the last one that person would live to make, or that the mechanical problem we didn’t fix sooner may not cause us “accidental” injury. It doesn’t mean that we don’t, over time, collect a long list of natural consequences our mistakes could have had, but didn’t, for which we give thanks. It means that, beyond the natural consequences of human error, we don’t see every other bad thing that happens as a “punishment” and chalk it up to that nagging sense of permanent guilt...we don’t have a nagging sense of permanent guilt. We face up to what we’ve done, and just say no to things when we know we don’t want to face up to their consequences. 

       
This levelheaded view of ethics has interesting effects on our thought processes, as it had for the characters in the Bible. A cosmic force that dumps bad things on good people without a reason is not “God.” If bad things have happened to us for no reason, and people try to hide behind the kind of arguments Job’s friends used, such as finding fault with us or insinuating that God may be capriciously cruel, we have to regard them as being used by the Evil Principle...even if, like Job's friends, they are sincere.

       
The resolution of the elaborate arguments is the most useful part of the book of Job, and it’s always a surprise to see how many of us ignore it today. After all their arguing, Job and his friends see a vision of God’s glory. Job verbally repents of his doubts and questions. Job’s friends, whose sin is greater since they have been finding fault with both Job and God, prepare sacrifices and beg Job to pray for them. These “sacrifices” were not little emotional tokens. For the ancient Hebrews a sacrifice was a material gift to a whole group of people, usually a meal; one or more animals would be slaughtered, the dripping would be burned as a “sweet smell unto the Lord” while the meat was roasted, and other foods were also shared between the priest and other people. So after receiving a substantial amount of material wealth from his shamed and sorry friends, Job prayed on his friends’ behalf, and then health, wealth, and long life were restored to him. Christians who are still living in the guilt zone may need more encouragement to think about this.

       
Anyway, this disparity between a guilt-dominated and a guilt-free perspective explains why reading Smith’s book felt to me like reading someone else’s letters. Now you’ve been warned. It would be interesting to find out whether there’s any consistent pattern to the reactions Christians have to Room of Marvels.

       
Anyway, the book is written as fiction. A man goes on a silent retreat, shuts himself up in a cell,and wonders why God let some of his friends and relatives die. He then dreams that he’s discussing the matter with several departed friends, including people he didn’t know in real life. C.S. Lewis, who imagined meeting his favorite writer (George MacDonald) for the first time in Heaven, is fair game and makes his appearance in Room of Marvels. Other people, including departed acquaintances for whom the guilt-ridden narrator had forgotten doing good turns, also console the narrator, and he leaves the retreat feeling comforted.

       
For the kind of book it is, Room of Marvels is readable, with relatively few cringe-inducing passages, and is recommended to those who feel sympathy with its point of view. As a Fair Trade Book it'll cost $5 plus $5 for shipping. Shipping charges are per package, not per book, and you could fit some additional books--e.g. The Great Divorce--into a package with Room of Marvels. Regardless, if you buy this book online here we'll send Smith or a charity of his choice $1 for each book sold.

Book Review: Mmmm: A Feastiary

A Fair Trade Book


Title: Mmmm: A Feastiary

       
Author: Ruth Reichl


Author's web site: http://www.ruthreichl.com/

Date: 1972

       
Publisher: Holt Rinehart & Winston

       
ISBN: 0-03-091888-X

       
Length: 192 pages

       
Illustrations: black-and-white photos and drawings

       
Quote: “To do penance on their way to the shrine of St. James of Compostella, pilgrims would eat scallops and tie the shells to their clothing...I only wish someone would make me do the penance of eating Coquilles St Jacques (Shells of St. James).”

       
In the long run Ruth Reichl’s recipes, which are pretty mainstream, didn’t sell as well as the quirkier (often vegan) recipe collections from Bloodroot, Moosewood, or Laurel’s Kitchen. However, this is another nostalgic hippie cookbook, not really subversive but likely to encourage people to buy more raw, local, possibly organic produce. I’m not inclined to eat scallops even as a penance, but some of the other recipes in this book are pretty good.

       
Using this cookbook will help you feed friends who aren’t terribly trendy or adventurous, who probably eat prepackaged foods at home often enough to appreciate the fresher taste of your home-cooked versions.




I could probably have thought of more good things to say about this book if I'd posted this review and checked out the Amazon price before selling the copy about which this review was written. The best price Amazon is offering on this vintage hardcover cookbook is $340. I sold my copy for fifty cents. I'm disgustipated!


Ruth Reichl is still alive, writing, and cooking, and you can find a sample recipe free of charge or buy her newer books at the web page linked above. And if somebody out there really wants to support writers, enough to pay me $345 for the book + $5 for shipping, Ruth Reichl or a charity of her choice will indeed receive $35.

Link Log January 6

Why would anybody resist rolling down a car window at a "sobriety checkpoint"? Why lead a police officer to believe that you're concealing drunkenness? Based on observations of some good (sober) friends, my guess would be that this guy foolishly bought a vehicle with "power windows" and is afraid that, if he rolls the window down, the mechanism will break down and he'll be unable to get it up. Be public-spirited, Gentle Readers--insist on an oldfashioned crank-type window. It can save you from a stupid, useless hassle with a frazzled cop, and if you're ever in the type of traffic accident I survived, it just might save your life.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/01/06/i-challenge-him-to-please-come-to-lee-county-hell-go-to-jail-florida-sheriff-threatens-silent-dui-checkpoint-guy/?

Good news for U.S. homeschoolers:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/01/05/states-likely-to-ease-unnecessary-burdens-on-homeschoolers-education-group-says/?

What's a disabled vehicle still good for? This top ten list might be worth printing and saving:

http://www.naturalnews.com/048198_survival_apocalypse_scavenging.html#

People should not attack police officers. But if "hate crimes" is currently defined as crimes motivated by hate of a "race...or sexual orientation" but not hate of an actual sex, we're missing a major point, and we'd be better off just admitting that people don't commit real crimes out of good will, anyway. A crime is an act of hate. One human life is not worth more than another human life.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/01/05/white-house-we-would-consider-adding-protection-for-cops-to-hate-crimes-statute/?

Like fun facts? Need a gift for someone who does? (I like fun facts; it's on my Amazon Wish List.)

http://booktrib.com/2015/01/now-i-know-amazes-with-fascinating-and-obscure-facts/

Four ways to do the stitch crochet instructions call "single crochet"...

http://www.allcraftconnection.org/2015/01/4-ways-to-single-crochet.html

(Depending on where they're written, crochet instructions have all kinds of other systems for naming more elaborate stitches, but single crochet seems to be constant.)

A new book of new words Bob Levey would enjoy:

http://booktrib.com/2015/01/lizzie-skurnick-concocts-the-words-we-need/

Dear old Bubblews, still ripping off multiple amputees and cancer survivors and other people desperate enough to write for the Internet for a living...

http://www.bubblews.com/news/9773089-lol-still-stuck-at-2200

Morgan Griffith on the Job John Boehner Needs Like...

It's been a full year since Congressman John Boehner (R-Ohio) said, of his position as Speaker of the House, "I need this job like I need a hole in the head."

Yet no plans were made for him to step down, or for anyone else to take over his job? Interesting. Exactly how unpleasant can it be to be Speaker of the House?

For the record, I sent one of the e-mails encouraging my Congressman to replace Mr. Boehner. My e-mail did not propose an individual to replace him. The vote to replace him (tallied here) shows a clear favorite among the minority who did want a new Speaker, but also showed a preference to maintain the status quo.

Here's Morgan Griffith's explanation of why he voted to keep John Boehner as Speaker:

"

Monday, January 5, 2015 – Congressman Morgan Griffith (R-VA) today issued the following statement on the Speaker of the House for the 114th Congress:

“I strongly believe that Congress ought to be more aggressive in opposing President Obama’s policies than in the past.  Time will tell if the new Congress will bring a more aggressive approach in fighting President Obama’s failed policies.”

“That being said, no candidate other than John Boehner stepped forward for the nomination at the Republican Conference meeting of November 13, 2014.  Had a viable candidate sought the nomination at that meeting, I would have given serious consideration to supporting them due to my frustrations with the leadership style of John Boehner.”

“Further, no member nominated anyone else to serve as Speaker at that Republican Conference meeting.  That meeting and its purpose was fully known well in advance, and it was attended by the vast majority of the members of the 114th Congress.”

“Recently, one on Friday and one on Sunday, other Republican members stated they would place their names for consideration as Speaker of the House.  That would be less than 5 days of planning and consideration for one candidate, and less than 3 for the other before the 114th Congress starts tomorrow.”

“As of 5:00pm on January 5, neither candidate opposing Boehner has requested my vote, indicating they have no plan to campaign, win, or lead.  To underscore the point, neither candidate has sent me a plan for leading this nation, nor have they sent me a plan for leading this body, their leadership team, or their leadership style.”

“In order to be a leader of the U.S. House of Representatives or, for that matter, any legislative body, one must have a plan for leadership.  While I do not completely agree with John Boehner’s leadership style or plan, at least he has one.”

“The curtain on the 114th Congress goes up less than 24 hours from now, on January 6 at noon.  In order to effectively govern the United States, you must be ready at noon on January 6.  The Speaker is the third highest elected public official in America.  The Republican challengers to Boehner, while good and honorable men, just aren’t ready.  Who will be on their staff?  Do the challengers want to have emergency meetings of the steering committee this week to determine members’ committee assignments for the 114th Congress, thus delaying action?  The steering committee is a committee of the leadership team nominated and elected at the November 13 Republican Conference meeting, regional representatives elected at the November 13 meeting, and others.  The Speaker nominee is granted the most votes on the steering committee, and leads the process.  Do the challengers wish to re-open this process after the session begins?”

“I strongly believe the legislative process must be improved so as to reflect the voters’ will as expressed in the November elections, and I am proposing and supporting congressional rules to do just that.”

“It is with trepidation and with hope that I move forward – trepidation that John Boehner will not fight as hard as he should; hope that our stronger House Republican majority and the Republican Senate will encourage a stronger fighter in John Boehner.  I hope that we can have more floor amendments and conservative victories in the House.  I hope that the House and the Senate, working together, can put our ideas on the President’s desk for him to sign or veto.”

“I am hopeful that Speaker Boehner, Majority Leader McCarthy, and the rest of leadership will let our new larger House Republican majority work its will and block much of the Obama policy.”

“But to suddenly elect new leadership on the opening day of the 114th Congress would throw our Republican Conference and the House into chaos, a chaos that only benefits President Obama and his failed policies.”

“So it is with this hope and trepidation that I make it clear that I will not violate the Republican Conference’s decision of November 13, 2014, and will vote for John Boehner to be Speaker.  I hope that Speaker Boehner does not disappoint me and the American people.”"

Robert Hurt on the Keystone Pipeline

The Keystone Pipeline is turning into a philosophical test point these days. Given that Canada has oil and wants to sell it to somebody, isn't it better for Canada to sell oil to the U.S. than to China? Looks like a no-brainer...until landowners started complaining that actually building the pipeline would set a dangerous precedent of basically allowing the federal government to take over the private property of any person for whose property some greedier person found a use. (The gobbledygook word for that is "eminent domain.")

Anyway, here's Congressman Robert Hurt's e-mail on this topic:

"

Dear Friend,

As I travel across the Fifth District, I consistently hear about the numerous negative impacts high fuel costs create. High gas prices hurt families trying to pay their bills, making it more expensive to fill their tanks and increasing the price of groceries and other goods. Exorbitant fuel prices harm small businesses and family farms that need reliable energy to operate their machinery, inhibiting their ability to succeed and grow. There is no question that Americans continue to suffer from Washington’s failure to adopt a sensible energy policy, but in the past few weeks, we have received some much-needed relief from high fuel costs.

Recently, American consumers have been spending less at the pump, with the national average dropping to $2.23 a gallon. The economic benefits of this trend are immediate - consumers have more money in their pockets to spend on other goods and services and small businesses can invest in new jobs and equipment rather than spend so much on fuel. These prices have lightened the burden on our families and small businesses, but we must do more to ensure that prices continue to remain affordable. Our work toward an energy strategy that permanently increases oil and gas production, expands our viable alternative energies, and promotes conservation remains vitally important to easing the burden on working families and generating job growth.

As the 114th Congress begins, we will promote policies that will make it easier for our farmers, our Main Street businesses, and our working families to succeed, and this includes pursuing a robust domestic energy policy. Within the next few weeks, we plan to consider the Keystone XL Pipeline, a crucial piece of our energy strategy aimed at increasing North American energy production and giving Americans more affordable energy choices.

It is my hope that we will also consider legislation to reopen lease sales for oil and natural gas exploration off the coast of Virginia and policies that expedite the process for offshore renewable energy development, like wind. It is time that we take advantage of the numerous natural resources Virginia has to offer and overcome the barriers to energy independence and job creation.

Now that the American people have given us new leadership in the Senate, we have a new opportunity to create a sensible and robust domestic energy policy. I look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues to create an energy policy that increases our energy security and strengthens our economy, and I hope that in the 114th Congress the Senate and the President will join us in this crucial effort.

If you need any additional information or if we may be of assistance to you, please visit my website at hurt.house.gov or call my Washington office: (202) 225-4711, Charlottesville office: (434) 973-9631, Danville office: (434) 791-2596, or Farmville office: (434) 395-0120."

Book Review: If I Were in Charge of the World

A Fair Trade Book


Title: If I Were in Charge of the World

       
Author: Judith Viorst


Author's agent's Web page: http://www.eaglestalent.com/Judith-Viorst?gclid=CKfTgPqO-8ICFRQQ7AodFwkAlQ

       
Date: 1981

       
Publisher: Atheneum

       
ISBN: 0-689-30863-9

       
Length: 56 pages

       
Illustrations: drawings by Lynne Cherry

       
Quote: “If I were in charge of the world / A chocolate sundae with whipped cream and nuts / would be a vegetable.”

       
These 41 poems about childhood were written with Viorst’s three sons and their school friends as consultants. This by itself would not guarantee their authenticity, since by 1981 Judith Viorst’s sons were college-aged. And, yes, the influence of psychologists is as evident as the influence of children, although the poems keep it light:

                My mom says I’mher sugarplum.

                My mom says I’m her lamb.

                My mom says I’m completely perfect

                Just the way I am.

                My mom says I’m a super-special wonderful terrific

                little guy.

                My mom just had another baby.

                Why?

       
Children who wonder about this might be happier with an answer than with a restatement of the question. Parents of multiple children might as well be truthful. At some point a younger sibling will probably be told “Mom and Dad tried every way they knew to keep from having you,” even if it’s not true, so parents might as well admit that Life (or God) decides when children are to be born.

       
Meanwhile, a more literary criticism might be made along the lines of, “Why do so few free-verse poems stick in the mind, even if they are witty and insightful? Why is the poem about the cat who ‘thinks human beings are / Almost as good / As he is’ really a short essay, not a poem?”

       
Fortunately for kids who'd rather just enjoy poems than debate about what is and isn't a poem, most of the poems in this collection aren’t free verse. Some of them have a quality that’s a sort of trademark for Viorst, a way of setting up an elaborately detailed scene and giving it an unexpected plot twist in just a few words. After sixteen lines about a mother who doesn’t want a dog:

                Mother doesn’t want a dog.

                She’s making a mistake.

                Because, more than a dog, I think

                She will not want this snake.

       
The drawings are realistic and delightful. If you read the author and illustrator mini-biographies, and realize that the poems are about children in Washington but the illustrator was a New Englander drawing mostly from life in Texas, a certain geographical dislocation will explain itself to you...and this is the kind of criticism that really amounts to high praise. How many illustrations in children’s books are well enough done to give any sense of geographical location?

       
This is a book whole families will enjoy reading before they pass it on to other lucky families. It's easy to find, so as a Fair Trade Book it costs $5 + $5 for shipping. Although you pay only one shipping charge per package, and several other items could fit into a package with this slender book, we will send Judith Viorst or a charity of her choice 10% of that total price, $1, for each copy we mail out.  

Link Log for January 5

First, a warning about the tortilla chips not to buy...thanks to CheramieIII:

http://www.naturalnews.com/048190_GMO_tortilla_chips_labeling.html#

Alan Keyes has a blog, but I can't read it. Here's a post he shared with Norb Leahy:

http://ntlconsulting.blogspot.com/2015/01/oust-boehner.html

Warning: this publicity for McDonalds' contains a screenshot of a Twitter message programmed to send family-filtered computers into fits as they try to decide whether it needs to be blocked or not. It's a very rude word. You've seen it before. You may not want to see it again. Just bear in mind the number of employees who do this kind of thing, in contrast to the number who are stupid enough to Twitter about doing it.

http://clashdaily.com/2015/01/f-ck-whites-black-woman-brags-via-twitter-spitting-white-peoples-food/

Talking of rudeness, here's a woman who's obviously been addressed as "honey" once too often:

http://blogs.herald.com/dave_barrys_blog/2015/01/art.html

What have you done with the Christmas tree, if you had one?

http://diaryofwildgarden.blogspot.com/2015/01/what-do-you-do-with-old-christmas-tree.html

Persona Paper meets Valentino:

http://personapaper.com/article/18223-canine-companion-shelter-dog

Latest ice storm photos:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/+LLReynolds/albums/6100676575482706337

Sneaky Pie Brown has a blog! Hurrah! Follow Rita Mae Brown, channelling her best-known cat, here:

http://www.catprez.com/

My New Year's Resolution is to post something on each of the Unprofitable Sites where I have an account, each month, just in case any of them becomes profitable again. Today I hit Persona Paper...

http://personapaper.com/article/18456-beware-of-itsy-bitsy-bottles

and Live Journal...

http://cat-sanctuary.livejournal.com/18390.html

Probably won't have time for Bubblews today...but I will get something posted on Tsu.

Morgan Griffith on Amending the Rule on Amendments

From Congressman Griffith's E-Newsletter:

"Changing the Rules: Part 2
I have previously proposed the U.S. Senate change its rules to be more efficient and to reflect the will of the people in a true democratic republican form of government.  Of course, as I don’t serve in the Senate, some are prone to say, as in Luke 4:23, “Physician, heal thyself!”

Accordingly, as of the writing of this column, I am proposing a rule change in the House of Representatives.  This change will be proposed to the House Republican Conference to be included as a part of the Republican package of rules for the 114th Congress.

In order to fix the House, there are many things that would have to change.  There is no one glaring issue that, if fixed, would resolve everything.  The process is important, and the rule change I am proposing is a start.

I believe that Members ought to be able to make more amendments on the floor than currently allowed in the appropriations process (the process that appropriates funding for government activities such as national defense, homeland security, education, etc.).

To that end, I am proposing an amendment to House Rule 21 which would give Representatives more input on spending cuts.

This particular rule began in the 1850s.  Although some changes were made to it over the years, it was basically unchanged from the turn of the century until 1983 when, to put simply, the Democrats changed it in order to make it more difficult for members to offer floor amendments.

As each new Congress gets ready to begin, members of the House of Representatives work on developing House Rules – the rules that must be followed when conducting House business.  These rules are adopted by the Representatives, and are followed for the length of that Congress.

In the 97th Congress (the first two years of the Reagan Administration), Reagan Republicans had worked with conservative Democrats.  The 1983 rule change, which first took effect in the 98th Congress (the second two years of the Reagan Administration), seemingly aimed to slow down or stop the Reagan Revolution – it was designed to lessen the ability of conservative members to offer limiting language to appropriations bills.

While debating this rule change in 1983, the Democrats denied there was a partisan motive for changing the rules.  However, I suspected this was not the case.  Accordingly, I spoke with a couple members serving in the House at that time to confirm the Democrats’ change was seen as a partisan move to block Reagan Republicans and conservative Democrats from having success on the floor on spending items.

The amendment I am offering, if adopted, would substantially restore the rule that had existed prior to 1983.  In effect, the amendment would give members the ability to offer amendments on the floor to cut the amount of money an agency could receive, for example, or the number of employees the U.S. government or its agencies could have, the amount of money that could be paid to an employee of the U.S. government, etc.

Cutting spending and giving members more input on spending cuts are worthy causes.  I am hopeful my colleagues will join me in supporting this amendment.

2015 Congressional Issues Survey

The 114th Congress beginning on January 6, 2015 presents a fresh opportunity for members of the House of Representatives and the Senate to work together on advancing various bills of importance.  I encourage you and your loved ones to use last week’s column or visit http://morgangriffith.house.gov/2015issuessurvey/ and complete my 2015 Congressional Issues Survey to share with me your opinions on just some of the issues that may be considered.  If you would like to submit further feedback, please do so at www.morgangriffith.house.gov.

With additional comments or to request a printed copy of the survey, you may also contact one of our offices in Abingdon, Christiansburg, or Washington, D.C.  In addition to these bricks and mortar offices, my staff and I travel regularly throughout the Ninth District to participate in meetings, attend events, and hold traveling staff hours.  The traveling staff office hours schedule can be found on my website.  If you are physically unable to come to our traveling office hours or to one of our bricks and mortar offices, arrangements can be made for other ways to communicate with us and make sure your concerns are heard.

My team and I view constituent services as a top priority, and we work hard to serve you.  As always, if you have questions, concerns, or comments, feel free to contact us.  You can call my Abingdon office at 276-525-1405 or my Christiansburg office at 540-381-5671.  To reach my office via email, please visit my website at www.morgangriffith.house.gov. "

Book Review: My Child on Drugs

Title: My Child on Drugs

       
Author: Art Linkletter and George Gallup

       
Date: 1981

       
Publisher: Standard Publishing

       
ISBN: 0-87239-456-5

       
Length: 126 pages

       
Quote: “The world hs changed a lot since the days when I enjoyed hosting the daily TV show that featured ‘kids saying the darndest things.’”

       
Coasting on the popularity of his talk show, Art Linkletter wrote a book on his experience as—he thought—the successful parent of his five wonderful “Little Links,” Jack, Dawn, Bob, Sharon,and Diane. It was a delightful book on parenting. It was conservative but not rigid, serious but full of jokes. Reading it was more like visiting with a chatty, witty uncle than like being lectured by a psychologist...so much so that my parents shared their copy with my brother and me; we enjoyed the jokes and stories, and Linkletter became our family mediator for a year or two.

       
Then his parenting book disappeared from circulation. Diane Linkletter had apparently experimented with LSD, the dangers of which were not yet fully understood, and jumped out of a window. The mere idea that Linkletter knew anything about parenting had become gall and vinegar to a father’s broken heart. Our paperback copies of Linkletter’s early books fell apart, never to be replaced.

       
“I just wanted to...kill the Timothy Learys,” Linkletter recalls in this next book, ten years later. (Timothy Leary was the poster idiot for legalizing LSD; he died old at an early age in the 1990s.) Eventually, under the influence of Norman Vincent Peale, he shifted his focus to leading drug education seminars in churches. He hadn’t lost his sense of humor, but after Diane died, her father never wrote or performed mere comedy again.

       
By now the statistics in this book are as “old” as the cover image of a youth injecting heroin, so My Child on Drugs is most likely to appeal to those who are old enough to remember Linkletter and want to read about his life after the tragedy.

       
If parents who read this book want to have The Drug Talk with their teenagers, the opening line might be, “Here’s a real piece of history! What’s changed in thirty years?” One thing that’s changed is that schools now take it upon themselves to teach kids about the dangers of street drugs. If you’re lucky your teenager’s reaction may be that “drug education” is so boring, and when is somebody going to teach her/him a little French, history, or trigonometry? However, as celebrity gossip the Linkletter family story may interest those who are into “vintage” movies and TV.


For those who've survived the loss of a friend's or relative's brain to drugs (legal or illegal), My Child on Drugs still contains a relevant, possibly helpful spiritual perspective.


To buy My Child on Drugs online from me will cost $5 for the book and $5 for shipping. Although the shipping charge will cover as many other items as will fit into one package, Art Linkletter no longer needs the $1 he'd get if his books still qualified as Fair Trade Books.

Link Log for January 4

Excellent article in the Washington Post:




http://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2014/12/30/google-got-it-wrong-the-open-office-trend-is-destroying-the-workplace/?


"Wenjian Liu and hundreds more were murdered for doing their jobs. May they rest in peace."


http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/01/04/fighting-for-all-that-is-decent-and-good-slain-officer-wenjian-liu-remembered-as-a-man-of-justice-and-kindness/?


Muscovy ducks...not always friendly, but more interesting than many ducks.


http://watching-bingley-birds.blogspot.com/2015/01/muscovy-ducks-on-bingley-canal.html


I didn't believe this the first time I read it, but if you search you'll find the FDA document confirming it online. What makes some corn (and other crops) "Roundup-Ready" is that coliform bacteria DNA has been spliced into the food plants' DNA. No wonder the food from these plants causes sprue-like symptoms in people who didn't even inherit the celiac gene. Thanks to CheramieIII for sharing.


http://www.naturalnews.com/048182_GMO_crops_glyphosate_herbicide_resistance.html#


I've been thinking about this young feminist sister all week, ever since reading her (annoying) post. I was where she is, emotionally, about thirty years ago. I worked through it. I wrote a never-finished novel about it, and I'm thinking seriously about trying to publish that novel as a Live Journal crowdfunding project.


https://plus.google.com/u/0/109438821282285486554/posts/227Pe8ox336

Book Review: People of the Deer

Book Review: People of the Deer

       
Author: Farley Mowat

       
Date: 1952, 1984

       
Publisher: Seal / McClelland & Stewart / Bantam

       
ISBN: 0-7704-2021-4

       
Length: 287 pages

       
Illustrations: map

       
Quote: “When the first [W]hite men looked across the borders of this land, they named it ‘The Barrens’...never knowing that it held rivers of life.”

       
In Canada Farley Mowat may have been best known for his adult books about wildlife biology; in the United States he was best known for his children’s stories about pets. However, in “The Barrens” now called Nunivut, he found people whose way of life interested him even more than the wolves and ptarmigans. He made friends among these people, learned to speak a pidgin form of their richly complicated language, and became politically committed to the cause of the “People of the Deer.” He wrote about them with respect, but not without the dry humor for which he was already internationally known.

       
By now, Mowat and most of his friends are gone, and it may be hoped that some of the conditions he described are long gone too. He describes his introduction to these “Eskimos” or Ihalmiut (“Inuit” meant the ones closer to the ocean) by a trader who was half German and half Cree: “He had not learned to think of himself as Indian, or as half-breed—but as a [W]hite man...The inevitable rebuffs that he was forced to accept from the race-conscious...turned Franz in upon himself...He could not fit himself into the miserable borderline existence that is the best the ‘breeds’ can ever hope to know.” A generation for whom any trace of Native American ancestry is a boasting point can hope that that’s changed in Canada too.

       
Then again, I’m not altogether sure that it’s changed even in some of the United States. Cherokee ancestry is considered desirable, partly because the period when the Cherokee Nation encouraged intermarriage with European immigrants is remote enough that having a Cherokee ancestor is a way of proving that one’s family has been in the United States for a good long time, and partly because the western Cherokee reservation contained oil. Navajo or Dakota ancestry link a person to an ethnic group of comparable size and historical distinction, but without comparably lucrative mineral reserves (so far), and may not seem equally desirable. By now at least three Presidents of the United States have boasted of Cherokee ancestors (not that I’m inclined to take Bill Clinton’s word for anything). We may never have a President, or even a movie star, who will boast of Muskogean or Nez Percé ancestors. Dakota people, whose look and customs are the ones the “western” genre have made into our cultural stereotype of “American Indians,” are still living in America’s poorest towns, and although both of the Dakota people I’ve met were within ten years of my age, both of them reported having encountered hostile bigotry among White people.

       
It’s possible that of all indigenous ethnic groups the “Eskimos” may be the most alien to everyone else. Cultural change is especially problematic for those whose culture, even physical traits, have been shaped by an environment radically different from that in which the majority cultures evolved. People of the Deer documents some of the ways in which the “Barrens” environment produced a unique nation for whom changes in diet and lifestyle have tended to be maladaptive. A sequel called The Desperate People documented the non-sustainability of cultural compromise. The recent renaming of Nunivut reflects the Canadian government’s response to the desperation, an attempt to preserve space for those who want to live as “Eskimos.”

       
Meanwhile, People of the Deer confronted misconceptions that are still extant today. For example, it was claimed that the Ihalmiut were, even more than most Native Americans, simply more vulnerable to many introduced diseases and incapable of surviving now that these diseases exist in North America. Mowat demonstrated how the food handouts the government supplied, circa 1950, would have made any people more vulnerable to diseases, regardless of inherited and acquired resistance.

       
It was claimed that the Ihalmiut were incapable of abstract thought. Mowat was able to document evidence that abstract thought was being communicated in their language, but that the difference between their language and French or English makes it extremely difficult to translate anything more abstract than simple greetings, bargaining terms, and commands.

       
It was claimed that the Ihalmiut routinely killed weaker members of the family to help the group survive. Mowat reported that, in desperate situations, parents had been known to euthanize starving children. “The old ones...often...die by their own hands,” but their “suicide...is a great and very heroic sacrifice.”

       
It was claimed that Ihalmiut and Inuit women were “expected to submit to violation by any passing male.” Mowat found evidence of “wife-sharing,” but “only... close friends would normally consider” such intimacies. “A stranger is not expected to leap into bed with the wife of his host. That is a stupid lie...Perhaps it has a basis in fact...because the Inuit will go to great lengths to meet the wishes of a guest,” while considering the White men who “demanded just such an arrangement” strange, rude, stupid people. Mate-sharing in the ordinary sense evolved because “when a man must make a prolonged trip...it would be foolish to risk either the wife or the children,” so when all the wives and husbands agreed two families might temporarily merge. To Mowat this seemed reasonable “since there is no...jealousy of paternity. To the Ihalmiut...a child from any source whatever is as welcome as any other child.”

       
About the worst slander of all, Mowat admitted, “Cannibalism does happen, though rarely. The wonder is that it does not happen more frequently.” He met one Ihalmio who had “survived a terrible winter by eating the flesh of her parents after they had died...she never recovered from the mental ordeal,” and was “cared for and helped by all.” 

       
On the good side, “No one...holds power in any other sense than the magical...the Ihalmiut may be said to live in an anarchistic state...Yet the People exist in amity together, and the secret...is...cooperative endeavor.” Someone who violated the rules would be isolated. “There can be no more powerful punishment...A small dose of ostracism usually brings the culprit to an acute awareness of his defects,” after which he “almost invariably returns into the community.” More trivial offenses were dealt with by ridicule, but the offender would know that “when he returns to his duties, the songs about him will disappear.” The constant struggle to survive even weakened the Ihalmiut’s sense of personal property; if an Ihalmio could find or make what s/he needed, the person would do so, and if not the person would borrow someone else’s; returning a borrowed object seemed to Mowat to be optional. When Mowat scolded a friend who borrowed his rifle without asking, even though his friend returned the rifle, “he was never again fully at ease in my presence...he approached me as if I were a potentially dangerous animal,” and the whole community seemed to have decided, in their tactful way, that Mowat was “infantile” and “insanely jealous.”

       
It was easy for Mowat to understand how people whose alternative was not, after all, becoming extremely rich or powerful in mainstream society, might prefer their all-for-one-and-one-for-all, family-like culture to any changes in the direction of becoming a watered-down, poverty-ridden version of Anglo-Canadian culture. In the process of gathering this information, he also demonstrated that it is possible—although difficult—for a determined Caucasian to survive in “the Barrens” by doing what he observed the Ihalmiut doing. Visible differences between “Eskimos” and all other nations have evolved, undoubtedly shaped by the arctic environment, but they are not absolutely necessary to survival in the Arctic Zone, nor are are they absolutely a barrier to survival outside the Arctic Zone.

And, of course, while making all these anthropological/sociological/political observations, Mowat also recorded several songs and stories (a few of which he felt able to translate for this book), and observed many adventures. On the assumption that readers will prefer to read these sometimes suspenseful and often funny stories in Mowat’s own words, all I’ll say here is that there are plenty of them.

Somebody got a fabulous, never-to-be-repeated bargain on the battered paperback copy about which I originally wrote this review. You can still buy People of the Deer from me for $10 + $5 shipping, but since Mowat is no longer able to choose the charity to which we should send the $1.50, I recommend buying a Fair Trade Book instead. (And, yes, you pay only one shipping charge for as many books and other goodies as will fit into one package.)

Book Review: Junk Food Fast Food Health Food

Happy New Year, Gentle Readers! (No, no computer center is open. I scheduled this one in advance.)

Book Review: Junk Food Fast Food Health Food

       
Author: Lila Perl

       
Date: 1980

       
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin / Clarion

       
ISBN: 0-395-29108-9

       
Length: 180 pages

       
Illustrations: line drawings

       
Quote: “The making of junk food may reach back almost to the dawn of farming.”

       
Lila Perl researched American eating patterns in order to write “social history cookbooks.” Her discussion of contemporary food trends begins with historical background. Then there’s a detailed discussion of food processing and additives; then, by way of balance, a discussion of silly “health food” fads and some of their possible dangers. Finally, Perl provides recipes for thirty natural homemade dishes, including juice drinks, yogurt dips, vegetable soups, meat dishes, pasta, pastry, and home-baked bread.

       
Junk Food Fast Food Health Food was written to appeal to middle school students. Home-baked bread? Why not? Children whose elders bake bread usually want to bake their own bread too. What kid can resist the messy hands-on appeal of kneading dough? It’s a good idea for a successful grown-up baker to watch that a ten-year-old’s first few batches of dough are kneaded to the right consistency, but nothing about kneading dough and shoving it into the oven is necessarily too heavy, or too dangerous, for even a six-year-old. Children’s baking adventures usually begin with simpler things like cookies, corn pone, and biscuits, and it might have been nice if this book had offered more recipes in that category, but the local library should have other books that fill in the gaps.

Despite the author’s parental voice and a vocabulary meant to be accessible to the determined fourth grade student, this is not a first book about cooking, either. This one is for kids who are already competent in the kitchen, who know how to toast bread, toss salad, and make fudge.

Unfortunately, in between the time this review was written and the time it appeared here, Lila Perl left the realm where Fair Trade Book royalties on the sale of this book would be useful to her. I still have to charge $5 for the book + $5 for shipping if you buy it online.  

Book Review: Beyond Silence

Book Review: Beyond Silence

       
Author: Eleanor Cameron

       
Date: 1980

       
Publisher: E.P. Dutton

       
ISBN: 0-525-26463-9

       
Length: 198 pages

       
Quote: “She thought her Andrew called to her and looked up and saw the branch falling...it was not her Andrew who had called, but I, a future Andrew.”

       
Eleanor Cameron’s literary career began with the whimsical Mushroom Planet science-fiction parodies, written for primary school readers. Then she wrote several lively realistic stories about middle school students. Then she wrote this grown-up story, in which a young man visiting his family’s ancestral castle drifts in and out of time warps in which he actually seems to be meeting his ancestors. It’s not a ghost story—Andrew doesn’t think he’s being haunted by the dead, but that he’s travelling back into their lifetimes. It is a rather sad story; Andrew’s obsession with departed relatives who died young both masks and mirrors the grief he’s been suppressing since his brother died.

       
Grief is, according to some poets, passionless. This is not a story of passion. Beyond Silence has the emotional quality of stories bereaved people might have told or written, odd tricks the mourning mind plays on itself. Many bereaved people have been caught up in memories or imaginations of the departed; Andrew seems to see and hear things he “couldn’t possibly have known” about relatives who died before he was born, and even believes that he’s able to warn some relatives to avoid dangers.

       
The trouble is that, like many true stories about the mind’s tricks on itself, Andrew’s story won’t be as interesting to most people as it obviously is to him. Beyond Silence contains no romance, no suspense, and no comedy, and as a story about a quiet man’s emotional experience it lacks the brilliant intensity of Cameron’s semi-autobiographical stories about little girls. You can stay awake and follow the story if you try, but you won’t be lured onto an “emotional roller coaster.”

If taking readers on a tour of a flat, gray, wintry mental landscape was Cameron’s intention, then Beyond Silence is a striking success. If she was trying to do a male equivalent of A Room Made of Windows, it’s definitely not a success. Anyway, now you know.

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