Saturday, October 27, 2012
Wondering ...
Window on my world?????
[Think my blog got drunk last night ; ) Woke up this morning to 323 pageviews overnight? Closed the day with 370 pageviews ... A record day for this blog. Very odd ...]
Sunday, October 21, 2012
Asynchronous Beat ...
Trying to write an upbeat, "happy" poem for Autumn today. The poem started its flowing out rather nicely, but somewhere along the way the restlessness in me started to sing --like an unruly child-- with a counter-posing asynchronous beat. So I wound up throwing my hands up in utter defeat!?! Seems Autumn will have to take the back seat to the restlessness within me ....
"Asynchronous Beat"
There is an unsettling in me.
An unsettling that will find its way out.
Hiding behind voices of reason.
Whispering taunts of treason.
Shadows of doubt.
Inside, outside,
Right-side out?
Which way is UP?
Who is me?
No longer content to just be:
Standing on my edge, with a
Secret longing to be FREE ....
@Copyrighted Poem, October 2012. All Right Reserved: Isabelle Black Smith.
Sometimes, the most brilliant people have the most persuasive demons? ; ) Going for a run ...
And I'm back and happy to report that I was able to finish my 'Autumnal' write after all. Not my most brilliant work, but the completion of my formal, structured Autumnal serenade represents a personal triumph for me on a number of different levels. And hey, I found something 'constructive' to occupy the unruly child in me ... So it's all good?
"Ridophe", By Edward Reginald Frampton
(Image Courtesy of Artmagick)
"Asynchronous Beat"
There is an unsettling in me.
An unsettling that will find its way out.
Hiding behind voices of reason.
Whispering taunts of treason.
Shadows of doubt.
Inside, outside,
Right-side out?
Which way is UP?
Who is me?
No longer content to just be:
Standing on my edge, with a
Secret longing to be FREE ....
@Copyrighted Poem, October 2012. All Right Reserved: Isabelle Black Smith.
Sometimes, the most brilliant people have the most persuasive demons? ; ) Going for a run ...
And I'm back and happy to report that I was able to finish my 'Autumnal' write after all. Not my most brilliant work, but the completion of my formal, structured Autumnal serenade represents a personal triumph for me on a number of different levels. And hey, I found something 'constructive' to occupy the unruly child in me ... So it's all good?
Friday, October 19, 2012
We are none of us promised a tomorrow ....
The following is a letter I wrote to a friend this evening. He has been having visions of his wife dying and –understandably—these visions are truly troubling for him. His wife was diagnosed and treated for both breast and ovarian cancer not long ago. She is, no doubt, in the battle of her life. But my friend's wife has such an amazing, resilient and loving spirit and she has so many people storming heaven with prayers for her. My friend, I think, is having a hard time not just dealing with the very real possibility of losing his wife, but he is also dealing with feelings of recent loss for other loved ones in his life.
I share these words with you, because I sense that they will perhaps speak to many people … Oddly enough, when I read back over these words written to my friend, I realize that that these words also speak to me and issues I have been dealing with in my own personal life on a different level. God sure does work in mysterious wonderful ways, does he not???
I share these words with you, because I sense that they will perhaps speak to many people … Oddly enough, when I read back over these words written to my friend, I realize that that these words also speak to me and issues I have been dealing with in my own personal life on a different level. God sure does work in mysterious wonderful ways, does he not???
“Dear YYYYYYY,
Good for you on treating Beth so well. As for your vision ... These things, the 'gift of sight’ that you have, can be dual-edged sword. You have to be willing to acknowledge the influence of your own personal fears onto the projection of what you 'see', and in doing so you have to be willing to admit that what you are most likely sensing is your own personal reaction to a very possible outcome in your foreseeable future. On some level, your subconscious mind must think that you need to begin dealing with the possibility of XXXXX’s death on some level. You have to begin processing your fear of this possibility not because this will happen, but more likely because you deeply fear that it could happen and sub-consciously you don't think --given all of the other losses of loved ones in your life of late-- that you will be able to handle her death if and when it comes to pass.
If you start swallowing and digesting the eventual acceptance of the possibility of XXXXX’s death now, then you won't completely lose it if it does ever happen. The above being said, XXXXX needs you to be her rock right now! You are her anchor and you have got to push her to be strong and to fight to keep her hope, to keep going and to heal. I truly believe that a good 80 - 90% of healing takes place in the mind and the heart. Our spirits have to literally will our physical bodies to return to a state of balance and equilibrium. Without the will to live, our bodies will not heal and eventually they will begin to crumble. So YYYYYY, from this moment forward: I would suggest focusing on the HERE and NOW. Focus on XXXXX healing and finding her own inner peace. Make the most of every single minute you have together, because we are none of us promised a tomorrow. The one truth we all share is Death and eventually it will come for us all. The key, I think, is to be ready to meet Death when he comes for us --or those that we love-- by living a life worth living TODAY. This means that we willfully choose to put our love, time and efforts where they will count the most and do the most good.
As I read over what I have written above, it occurs to me that maybe these were words that I needed to hear, for myself, as well. Anyhow, remember to keep your Faith and Hope. Let God’s eternal LOVE shore you up and don’t forget to PRAY!! For, I truly believe in the power of prayer … Offer up what you can't handle to God . Just lay it at His feet and let Him carry it for you: AND HE WILL!
I will keep you and XXXX in my ongoing thoughts and prayers, YYYYYY. Hang in there, my dear friend!
Love,
Isabelle”
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
What I’m Taking to the Polls on November 6, 2012 Election Day
The Second Presidential Debate: What I’m Taking to the Polls on November 6, 2012 Election Day
Mr. President, with all due respect, here’s “THE MATH”: CREATING JOBS STIMULATES THE ECONOMY which pays for itself ten times over. Your ongoing failure to grasp this fundamental concept of simple economics is why our American economy continues to flounder when all previous historical data for recessions to date indicates that we should be well out this recession by now and yet we are not. Your continuing insistence that Gov. Romney’s numbers “Don’t add up” and that his tax plan will leave us with a net result of “7 trillion additional dollars added to the deficit” is just smoke and mirrors, and if the American people have a shred of common sense left they aren’t buying into these smoke and mirrors tactics any longer. History is history and data is data: Its time to try something new because what we’ve been doing these past four years is simply NOT working!
Furthermore, Governor Romney is not a liar and “he’s [not] lying.” You see Gov. Romney’s “5-point plan” to get the American economy going once again --and his tax plan in particular-- simply acknowledges that if elected to the “Office of President of the United States of America” (executive branch) Gov. Romney will only be a part of a system of government that also includes the congressional (House and Senate) and judicial branches of government. Gov. Romney accepts that the executive branch of government does not have the sole power to proclaim and enact laws all on its own and as such the minute details of specific revisions to the tax code (i.e., “closing loopholes”) will have to be ironed out in a bi-partisan effort in the Congress after the election. And contrary to what your administration believes, just because you say something often enough doesn’t make it truth: Gov. Romney’s tax plan is specific on the one point that really matters and that is that the top 1% of wealthiest Americans will NOT BE GETTING A TAX BREAK. Quite frankly, given the recent scandal unfolding around the brutal killing of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, a technical analyst and two additional armed forces members –the loss of FOUR AMERICAN LIVES! -- in a terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya: you have one heck of a lot of nerve standing up in front of the American people and calling anyone else a liar.
As a matter of fact, media analysis to date –to the best of my knowledge—has only conclusively proven that you yourself, Mr. President, have been the one “to lie” to American people, but I'll be more diplomatic and simply claim that you have spoken a mistruth. Post analysis debate of the first Presidential Debate, on CNN “By the Numbers”, found and explicitly stated that the only mistruth that they had found during the course of the initial debate had been spoken by you, Mr. President. CNN clearly stated that your claim of having created “5 million jobs” during the course of your 4-year term in office was false. Their analysis of the numbers showed that 4.3 million jobs were lost in the recession and that only 4.4 (4.425) million jobs had been created by your administration over the course of the past four years, which resulted in a net creation of only 125,000 jobs. Even if you do not count the 4.3 million jobs lost due to the recession, 4.425 million jobs is still less than 5 million, by almost half a million jobs. Your math on “job creation” is what does not “add up”, Mr. President: 4.4 million does not round up to 5 million as any fourth or fifth grade math student will tell you.
Pointing fingers, shifting focus (e.g., Gov. Romney’s proposed “hard choice” funding cuts, like “Big Bird” funding cuts to PBS, which makes a huge profit each year solely on its own merit: 53 million in profits last year, I believe, even before government subsidies of an estimated 430 million per year) with smoke and mirrors tactics, creating fear and pitting the American people against one another along lines of class status, and outright lying to the American people about this Administration’s failures with respect to the recent terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, isn’t leadership! And it isn’t what we need in order to move this country forward once again along a path that would restore America’s economic independence by getting people back to work, creating jobs and getting a handle on our soaring 16 trillion dollar national debt … your lack of true leadership, Mr. President, isn’t what America needs in order to protect Americans working abroad against future terrorist attacks. Governor Romney has a plan, Mr. President. We have yet to hear anything that even begins to resemble a specific, detailed plan for changing the current “recession status quo” from you or your campaign. And that’s what I’m taking to the polls with me on November 6, 2012!
God Bless the USA!
P.S. On "Women's Issues" in this election ... Yes, I don't necessarily like all of the Republican Party's stands on "women's issues" and I have written many political pieces discussing my problems with specific Republican stands on women's issues (e.g., birth control and healthcare coverage). That being said, being able to afford to put food on my table, buy clothes for my kids, put gas in my car and heat my home for the winter, seem to be the more pressing set of issues facing not only me, but my family as well. Looking on down the line several years, if we continue to limp down this pot-holed road we've been on for the last four years: I can only see a huge "SOLD TO CHINA" sign slapped across the good old USA. I look at China and the kind of lives and issues facing women in China, today, and I think to myself, "Is this the kind of economic uncertainty and future that I want to hand off to my daughters tomorrow?" ... Okay, so China owns less than 10% of our national debt, Russia owns a large portion as does a conglomeration of Middle Eastern oil interests ... Then there are undisclosed Cayman Island offshore account holders and others with Swiss account holders of similar undisclosed origin (maffia or other criminal organizations?). Are any of the latter preferabe to China? Probably not, but WHO owns our debt isn't the REAL issue. The REAL issue is that we have an unacceptably enormous amount of national debt: 16,000,000,000,000 ... that's 16 trillion, dollars (!!?!!) and with the interest alone, this number is growing each and every day!! It doesn't matter who owns this debt and how we got here: the important issues are that 1) we have this enormous debt and 2) we need to get a handle on it NOW. To this end, we need a President with a proven track record for economic success so that we can create jobs, put people back to work and get our economy going once again ... Because what we've been doing these past four years simply IS NOT WORKING!!
Mr. President, with all due respect, here’s “THE MATH”: CREATING JOBS STIMULATES THE ECONOMY which pays for itself ten times over. Your ongoing failure to grasp this fundamental concept of simple economics is why our American economy continues to flounder when all previous historical data for recessions to date indicates that we should be well out this recession by now and yet we are not. Your continuing insistence that Gov. Romney’s numbers “Don’t add up” and that his tax plan will leave us with a net result of “7 trillion additional dollars added to the deficit” is just smoke and mirrors, and if the American people have a shred of common sense left they aren’t buying into these smoke and mirrors tactics any longer. History is history and data is data: Its time to try something new because what we’ve been doing these past four years is simply NOT working!
Furthermore, Governor Romney is not a liar and “he’s [not] lying.” You see Gov. Romney’s “5-point plan” to get the American economy going once again --and his tax plan in particular-- simply acknowledges that if elected to the “Office of President of the United States of America” (executive branch) Gov. Romney will only be a part of a system of government that also includes the congressional (House and Senate) and judicial branches of government. Gov. Romney accepts that the executive branch of government does not have the sole power to proclaim and enact laws all on its own and as such the minute details of specific revisions to the tax code (i.e., “closing loopholes”) will have to be ironed out in a bi-partisan effort in the Congress after the election. And contrary to what your administration believes, just because you say something often enough doesn’t make it truth: Gov. Romney’s tax plan is specific on the one point that really matters and that is that the top 1% of wealthiest Americans will NOT BE GETTING A TAX BREAK. Quite frankly, given the recent scandal unfolding around the brutal killing of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, a technical analyst and two additional armed forces members –the loss of FOUR AMERICAN LIVES! -- in a terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya: you have one heck of a lot of nerve standing up in front of the American people and calling anyone else a liar.
As a matter of fact, media analysis to date –to the best of my knowledge—has only conclusively proven that you yourself, Mr. President, have been the one “to lie” to American people, but I'll be more diplomatic and simply claim that you have spoken a mistruth. Post analysis debate of the first Presidential Debate, on CNN “By the Numbers”, found and explicitly stated that the only mistruth that they had found during the course of the initial debate had been spoken by you, Mr. President. CNN clearly stated that your claim of having created “5 million jobs” during the course of your 4-year term in office was false. Their analysis of the numbers showed that 4.3 million jobs were lost in the recession and that only 4.4 (4.425) million jobs had been created by your administration over the course of the past four years, which resulted in a net creation of only 125,000 jobs. Even if you do not count the 4.3 million jobs lost due to the recession, 4.425 million jobs is still less than 5 million, by almost half a million jobs. Your math on “job creation” is what does not “add up”, Mr. President: 4.4 million does not round up to 5 million as any fourth or fifth grade math student will tell you.
Pointing fingers, shifting focus (e.g., Gov. Romney’s proposed “hard choice” funding cuts, like “Big Bird” funding cuts to PBS, which makes a huge profit each year solely on its own merit: 53 million in profits last year, I believe, even before government subsidies of an estimated 430 million per year) with smoke and mirrors tactics, creating fear and pitting the American people against one another along lines of class status, and outright lying to the American people about this Administration’s failures with respect to the recent terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya, isn’t leadership! And it isn’t what we need in order to move this country forward once again along a path that would restore America’s economic independence by getting people back to work, creating jobs and getting a handle on our soaring 16 trillion dollar national debt … your lack of true leadership, Mr. President, isn’t what America needs in order to protect Americans working abroad against future terrorist attacks. Governor Romney has a plan, Mr. President. We have yet to hear anything that even begins to resemble a specific, detailed plan for changing the current “recession status quo” from you or your campaign. And that’s what I’m taking to the polls with me on November 6, 2012!
God Bless the USA!
P.S. On "Women's Issues" in this election ... Yes, I don't necessarily like all of the Republican Party's stands on "women's issues" and I have written many political pieces discussing my problems with specific Republican stands on women's issues (e.g., birth control and healthcare coverage). That being said, being able to afford to put food on my table, buy clothes for my kids, put gas in my car and heat my home for the winter, seem to be the more pressing set of issues facing not only me, but my family as well. Looking on down the line several years, if we continue to limp down this pot-holed road we've been on for the last four years: I can only see a huge "SOLD TO CHINA" sign slapped across the good old USA. I look at China and the kind of lives and issues facing women in China, today, and I think to myself, "Is this the kind of economic uncertainty and future that I want to hand off to my daughters tomorrow?" ... Okay, so China owns less than 10% of our national debt, Russia owns a large portion as does a conglomeration of Middle Eastern oil interests ... Then there are undisclosed Cayman Island offshore account holders and others with Swiss account holders of similar undisclosed origin (maffia or other criminal organizations?). Are any of the latter preferabe to China? Probably not, but WHO owns our debt isn't the REAL issue. The REAL issue is that we have an unacceptably enormous amount of national debt: 16,000,000,000,000 ... that's 16 trillion, dollars (!!?!!) and with the interest alone, this number is growing each and every day!! It doesn't matter who owns this debt and how we got here: the important issues are that 1) we have this enormous debt and 2) we need to get a handle on it NOW. To this end, we need a President with a proven track record for economic success so that we can create jobs, put people back to work and get our economy going once again ... Because what we've been doing these past four years simply IS NOT WORKING!!
Sunday, October 07, 2012
Simple Threads ...
Simple threads can weave a rather extraordinary life ....
“It serves a purpose, this everyday and to some seemingly ‘mundane’
… these bits we tend
to edit out when glancing back; for without these simple
threads there would be
no fabric to drape about the body of recollection."
~Isabelle Black Smith
Thursday, October 04, 2012
Historical Data Shows We Should Be Well Out of the Recession By Now?
So why aren't we??????????????????
I've been trying to sort through the really big issues in this upcoming election myself. Trying to gather information and formulate my stance on key issues in case the opportunity for meaningful discussion should arise with friends, co-workers, neighbors ... The raw emotion surrounding the current state of our country this political season, however, seems to be fueling a maddening trend towards polarization and outright belligerence in all too many instances --well from what I have personally witnessed thus far. This saddens me deeply on a good day and scares the hell out me on a bad day.
To me, this election is like none other that I have witnessed in my entire lifetime --even before I was old enough to actually vote-- and perhaps that's because the economy that we are and have been dealing with these past few years is like none since the Great Depression? But it's been four long years now since the current administration took office. Historical data from previous American recessions have all shown that the economy has historically recovered by this point in time. So why hasn't America ... why haven't we ... recovered yet? Obviously, something --actually, like a combination of many things-- we have been doing for the last four years isn't working! Logic would then dictate that it's time to try a new plan of attack, right? I mean all issues, specifics and details aside: it's just plain time to try something new! I don't see how you can argue with the latter conclusion, whether you're a Republican, Democrat or Independent: history is history and data is data.
[Original Image Removed????]
Image Source: ABC News
My 12-year old summed it up rather nicely tonight when she said the following after watching the first presidential debate with me ...
“We’ve been following this election at school too in our ‘Junior Scholastic Readers.’ We hire the President to do a job, don’t we? And didn’t he say that if he didn’t do the job we shouldn’t rehire him, so why was the President up there asking for his job back now?” ~My 12-year old
Holding out my own hope that the remaining Presidential debates will provide the American electorate with clear and viable choices for solutions that will take our nation in a new direction, with the possibility of restoring hope once again for our future and for our childrens' future! ... And while I am at it, is it too much to hope for that the American people will actually watch these televised debates and form their own opinions instead of having the media-machine --with its own political agenda--- form their opinions for them? Or is the term "sheeple" truly applicable to the average American voter now-a-days?
Monday, October 01, 2012
Awakening Dream ...
The most beautiful words awoke me from my two hours of slumber this morning. Three minutes before my alarm clock was set to ring, into my ear a warm yet invisble voice did whisper ... whisper of words that wrapped senuous arms around a warm and sleepy me, reaching in ever so tenderly to touch my very soul.
It took me a few minutes fully come to my senses, finally realizing that I was alone and had been only dreaming? The alarm clock yelling at me three minutes later helped to clarify matters, pulling me abruptly back into my waking reality. I sat up and gently pounded the clock for ruining my dream. If I hadn't had to get up and start my day, I would have hit 'snooze' and snuggled back into bed for a few more minutes, but I was up and sadly if I don't get up no one else does either. I happend to have my iTouch on the table beside the bed though, so I took a few minutes and 'wrote' the dreamy words down, lest they later seem but a hazy receeding dream.
Reading back over these whispered words now, it seems to me that there is a beautiful song in these sensuous words ... An intimate lovesong just waiting to unfold. Hopefully, the rest of the words will come to me in time. For now they are written on my heart, playing endlessly in my mind. Soul synchronicty? Seems to be happening a lot for me lately on many different levels, with different people, for different reasons. Maybe these words are just the words I long to hear from afar or very near ... The universe works in mysterious ways. Wish I could share the words of my awakening dream with you here now, but they are as yet unfinished. Perhaps I'll share them when the song completes ....
And this image fits so very nicely with the words from my dream. Do check out the website of the artist in the links provided. This talented artist has several other exquisite paintings of a similar style and equal beauty available for viewing on her website: Rebecca Torrington. There is an inherent beauty in the human form when seen through the eyes of love --and not lust-- I believe so, anyhow ... didn't always feel that way, but I've come such a long way on my journey through this life thus far ....
Artist's Title: "My Dream"
It took me a few minutes fully come to my senses, finally realizing that I was alone and had been only dreaming? The alarm clock yelling at me three minutes later helped to clarify matters, pulling me abruptly back into my waking reality. I sat up and gently pounded the clock for ruining my dream. If I hadn't had to get up and start my day, I would have hit 'snooze' and snuggled back into bed for a few more minutes, but I was up and sadly if I don't get up no one else does either. I happend to have my iTouch on the table beside the bed though, so I took a few minutes and 'wrote' the dreamy words down, lest they later seem but a hazy receeding dream.
Reading back over these whispered words now, it seems to me that there is a beautiful song in these sensuous words ... An intimate lovesong just waiting to unfold. Hopefully, the rest of the words will come to me in time. For now they are written on my heart, playing endlessly in my mind. Soul synchronicty? Seems to be happening a lot for me lately on many different levels, with different people, for different reasons. Maybe these words are just the words I long to hear from afar or very near ... The universe works in mysterious ways. Wish I could share the words of my awakening dream with you here now, but they are as yet unfinished. Perhaps I'll share them when the song completes ....
And this image fits so very nicely with the words from my dream. Do check out the website of the artist in the links provided. This talented artist has several other exquisite paintings of a similar style and equal beauty available for viewing on her website: Rebecca Torrington. There is an inherent beauty in the human form when seen through the eyes of love --and not lust-- I believe so, anyhow ... didn't always feel that way, but I've come such a long way on my journey through this life thus far ....
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