We are a commune of inquiring, skeptical, politically centrist, capitalist, anglophile, traditionalist New England Yankee humans, humanoids, and animals with many interests beyond and above politics. Each of us has had a high-school education (or GED), but all had ADD so didn't pay attention very well, especially the dogs. Each one of us does "try my best to be just like I am," and none of us enjoys working for others, including for Maggie, from whom we receive neither a nickel nor a dime. Freedom from nags, cranks, government, do-gooders, control-freaks and idiots is all that we ask for.
As I understand it in my feeble way (not a theologian, so corrections welcome), there were ancient middle eastern atonement rituals designed to re-align oneself to gods or God. Whatever the rules were.
Like the Greeks, the Jews were prone to animal sacrifice. Human sacrifices were not unusual (see Abraham) but when animals were precious possessions, these were real sacrifices too beyond the symbolic.
Christians didn't keep Yom Kippur because Christ's death was taken as the ultimate sacrifice to cleanse all sins for confessors and believers. A final human sacrifice. However, Mother Church kept weekly confession and Lent anyway. Fortunately, because of human need. I do not get the doctrine of that.
I have a personal confessor, but a Jewish pal and his family do group confession over dinner on Yom Kippur. Even his kids and parents speak out about their dark sides and their shameful actions, and their aspirations to be more worthy of G-d. Wow.
Not in a million years can I imagine my Protestant family doing such a thing.
We helped the Kurds fight their ISIS enemies. No way we will help them fight the Turks who are NATO allies. As Scott says, this was an adult decision. People would die either way
18 years in Afghanistan? What? I blame the neo-cons (who no longer exist) and Bush.
Happened to me last week. Food poisoning, 2 days of vomiting and lots of fruitless retching resulting in some sort of scratch or something on my lower esophagus (my diagnosis). Could not eat - or barely swallow Gatorade. Bad pain, to make you bend over, grimace, and utter bad words.
Luckily for her, Mrs. BD was in wonderful Milwaukee having a fun time with pals so did not have to participate, help, or be inconvenienced by my misery. Seems like a cool town. I got a Harley sweatshirt out of it.
Was able to handle some soup on Sunday, so got back to gym on Monday having lost 6 lbs. Still little appetite, but that's sort of normal for me because I love tasty food but only in small volume. It takes very little nourishment to keep me in good shape despite daily workouts.
My point is that a week+ illness can measurably set back your strength and fitness in a way that a 10-day gym-free active vacation can't. This week I have been worse with everything - weights, cardio, calis, endurance. It could take me 3 weeks to get back to where I was. Slowly.
Imagine the effect of a year without challenging exercise. Terrible, soft, lazy. Nobody wants that.
I bitched to my genius trainer that it's a damn shame that fitness doesn't just ratchet up - and stay there. He said "We're biological, not mechanical." Duh. I know our bodies are coded to self-destruct after age 35 or 40. I thought that if it all ratcheted up, we gym rats would all look like the Incredible Hulk. We'd be amazing specimens.
There is No Middle Ground with Today’s Democrats or the Deep State - If you’re wondering how all of this stops, how we return to normal, I will tell you what a friend told me: “There is no normal. There is only Clausewitz.”
We had just 50 troops there, and Turkey is a NATO ally. Remember, Kurds and Turks have been at war for 400 years...The ME is insane, quagmire. No US interests there, and Israel is self-sufficient.
If the general mood of the public is that opponents of President Trump never granted him the the full respect for the office that he was due, and set out to destroy his presidency from day one, they will quickly tire of the spectacle of members of Congress in even higher dudgeon than usual. But the public could also conclude that the Trump administration simply ignores laws they find inconvenient, and defies lawful requests for documents and testimony from elected officials they don’t like. This might be exactly the sort of contrast that the Democratic nominee wants as a backdrop to the 2020 election.
Each year at the start of the Jewish High Holidays, Rosh Hashanah, I ask a question, usually how to be more constructive and helpful in my personal relationships in general or with a special person. The answer eludes me and it troubles me that I can't see the way.
As I go through the days of prayer and reflection, various alternatives come from my mind, only to be rejected as too unreal or hollow or evasive or inadequate to the need.
On Yom Kippur, which begins tonight, the longest night and day of prayer, and of a 25-hour fast, the worry that I won't find the answer gets more urgent. My fear rises of not finding the answer. As my mind gets submerged in repetitious prayers and wanders, as I get more light-headed with hunger, as the prayers of repentance get more fervent, an answer always comes late in the day, from my heart.
It's never what I thought it would be. It is complete. It is not complex, though requires more focus, discipline, understanding. It always works for the coming year.
Life is only complicated when avoiding simple truths.
The miracle brings me closer to the person I want to be. It keeps me coming back for more.
Everybody has in mind one tune they'd like played at their funeral/mem service. Ripple, Every Grain of Sand, It is Well with my Soul, Hallelujah, or this one? Or a traditional hymn? Or what?
Zevon's dad kept telling him he was Jewish, but he died a Christian. This is My Ride is Here: "I was staying at the Marriott, with Jesus and John Wayne, we were waiting for a chariot, we were waiting for a train..."
Bruce didn't do a post for Yom Kippur (at least, not yet), but it's the holiest day of the Jewish calendar as I understand it. Often, I wish we Christians had held onto those High Holy Days.
VDH: The Madness of Progressive Projection - The only Trump “crime” was in his winning an election he was not supposed to win. So after the election, prior illegal acts were redefined as legal, and legal ones as illegal.
Intel Community IG Stonewalling Congress On Backdated Whistleblower Rule Changes - Michael Atkinson, the inspector general for U.S. intelligence agencies, acknowledged that his office secretly changed key whistleblower forms and rules in September, but refused to explain to lawmakers why those changes were backdated to August.
Interesting fellow, son of a Chicago Jewish gangster. Semi-cult rocker, serious musician, acerbic talker. Good pals with Dylan, Rick Barry, Carl Hiassen - lots of people. This is 1982:
Here's his frail last public appearance (2002), terminally ill with lung cancer (mesothelioma):
Note that they say "most," not all. Bipolar depression sure seems like a brain disorder of sorts, as do depressive symptoms related to peripartum, hypothyroidism, some GI cancers, etc.
To my mind, it's best to think of "depressive symptoms" rather than of a unitary phenomenon. Many acute depressive events I have seen are, in fact, reactive to events and could be viewed as grief.
37:1 Do not fret because of the wicked; do not be envious of wrongdoers, 37:2 for they will soon fade like the grass, and wither like the green herb. 37:3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; so you will live in the land, and enjoy security. 37:4 Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. 37:5 Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act. 37:6 He will make your vindication shine like the light, and the justice of your cause like the noonday. 37:7 Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him; do not fret over those who prosper in their way, over those who carry out evil devices. 37:8 Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath. Do not fret--it leads only to evil. 37:9 For the wicked shall be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD shall inherit the land.
The Private Life of Lord Byron by Antony Peattie review – 
All the ways American teenagers 
Happened to me last week. Food poisoning, 2 days of vomiting and lots of fruitless retching resulting in some sort of scratch or something on my lower esophagus (my diagnosis). Could not eat - or barely swallow Gatorade. Bad pain, to make you bend over, grimace, and utter bad words.
FAREWELL,
Image borrowed from Ace