[quote] When Democrat Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona was sworn into the U.S. Senate today, she placed her left hand on an Arizona “lawbook” (to use Getty’s terminology) instead of the Bible. It’s precisely what you’d expect from the only officially “Unaffiliated” member of the new Congress. I imagine Vice President Mike Pence, who administered the oath, died a little on the inside. [/quote] Huzzah!
via The Friendly Atheist http://po.st/zJPhy9
Five years ago today, Autumn returned to live with us permanently. Happy Return Day, dear Autumn.
Consisting of layers of ice from a frozen birdbath, the Ice Totem indicates how many days Abq had been below freezing.
From The Sky This Week, 2019 January 2 – 8:
For those of you who find it hard to get up in the dark during these early winter mornings, take heart. This week is when we experience the latest sunrises of the year. … By the start of next week the time of sunrise will gradually shift earlier …
Earth reaches perihelion, its closest point to the Sun in its annual circuit around our “day star”, on the 3rd at 12:20 am EST. At this time the center of the Earth will be 147,100,000 kilometers (91,400,000 miles) from the center of the Sun. The annual variation in our planet’s distance from the Sun is quite small, amounting to a change of around 3 percent between perihelion and aphelion. This is fortunate for us since it maintains a stable climate throughout the year. Of all of the major planets only Neptune has an orbit that is more nearly circular.
It snowed much of New Year’s Day in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a rare treat. May the year be full of pleasant surprises and quiet beauty.
peace, mjh
Recommended reading:
Why Is The Music Of 1968 So Enduring? ‘It Was Allowed To Be Art’ https://n.pr/2QfWVKc
I live in a dry land that once was under water, a seabed now 5000 feet above sea level. Sunrise is held at bay by a granite ridge 5000 feet higher, which at sunset glows as pink as coral. Looking west, the eye is drawn to the sliver of green flanking the Rio Grande, life’s blood trickling through a parched land that rises to five volcanoes close at hand, which in turn are dwarfed by a volcano 80 miles away. All under a sky of limitless blue.
This vista fills me with joy.
Driving into town from any direction, you can take in the largest city in the state with a glance. Stand under the cottonwoods along the river and you forget where you are. Here the land has not been subdued by man. We are surrounded by reminders that we are all recent arrivals and none will outlast the land itself.
The land appears still until you view it at 10,000 years per second, when it shakes and buckles, rises and falls, like a coffee cup on the hood of a truck at rough idle. The land appears flat until you cross it to find the surface cracked and broken by ravines scoured by wind and rain. The land seems silent until the wind howls like an injured animal lashing out in pain.
The land seems dry until a year’s worth of rain falls in a few days. We live for these days and relive them in conversations. We smell the rain before we hear it, we feel the temperature change, listen for the first drops. We sit on our porches, big grins on our faces with the look of wonder like children at a fair.
The Navajo advise each other to walk in beauty, to appreciate our surroundings and be part of that beauty.
This month, I complete my 34th year in New Mexico — more than half my life. This land leaves me speechless.
I am not a patriot.
I’m a good citizen. I vote thoughtfully. I willingly pay taxes for the common good.
I’m a good neighbor. I maintain my property and my distance, but try to greet everyone I meet.
I am not a patriot. To me, patriotism is the happy mask of nationalism. We’re number one! We’re the best! We’re the greatest! It takes no effort to append “and they are the worst and must be destroyed!” More money for defense (war).
Don’t get me wrong. I know there are good people who are proud of their country. Just as there are good people who believe in a book and a god I do not believe in. I don’t want those people running my life or my nation.
I just want you to know there are good people who are not proud of their country. In my 63 years, I’ve been proud to be an American twice — the two times Barrack Obama was elected president by an overwhelming majority ready for a better nation.
I could write these same sentiments any year. My anti-patriotism has little to do with the angry, fearful, shrinking minority that has seized the nation for the rich, the male, and the white.
There is no nation I’d rather live in. Nationalism is a problem wherever you find it. America is good, especially in its potential and its formal goals, which we have yet to achieve. I’m happy to be here, but I will not salute the flag, I will not stand for the anthem, I will not support corrupt politicians or poisonous ideologies. That’s my patriotism. Enjoy your 4th, your fireworks, your war machinery. Tomorrow, resist the forces that will undo all our benefits and freedoms.