Posted on 06/05/2007 3:57:41 AM PDT by Molly Pitcher
We will not falter, we will not tire, we will not fail!
Gee, my iced tea looks like that just some of the time. What a pretty picture.
You make me hungry just reading. I love waffles with more/more butter and syrup.
How exciting. You are going to have a ball in Orlando. The last time I went to Disney World was a month after it opened. My Dad and I had a great time, except he kept wanting to go underground to see the machines operating the stuff above ground.
Did the first sip SNAP you awake? LOL. Good Morning Toby. We’ll keep Jason on our prayer list for a quieting spirit.
In SE Alaska, we used rock salt. It melts them.
I think liberals, by nature, are afraid of a fight. They’d rather talk their enemies to death. Olmert, I think, falls in that category.
My favorite breakfast is cold pizza. Yum. No Coke for me though. :)
My parents say being a grandparent is the best thing. They can spoil the grandkids, then send them home with their parents. I remember my grandpa feeding us chocolate ice cream for breakfast. We thought that was so cool.
One of my sisters was visiting with my parents last February. My dad asked the 2 girls if they wanted a popsicle. The six year old said to him “You have popsicles? My mom said that we can only buy popsicles in the summertime.” LOL, my sister was busted bigtime. My dad keeps bags of popsicles around for the grandkids. :)
John Edwards came to Utah last week and said Utah was ripe to turn Democrat and vote for him for president. LOL, he must have been listening to Rocky Anderson, liberal mayor of Salt Lake City. Rocky is delusional. Edwards was here for all of 3 hours. I never did read how much money he raised...
...a biography of Mao that will help destroy his reputation forever. Based on a decade of meticulous interviews and archival research, this magnificent biography methodically demolishes every pillar of Mao's claim to sympathy or legitimacy.The reviewer goes on to say:
No wonder the Chinese government has banned not only this book but issues of magazines with reviews of it, for Mao emerges from these pages as another Hitler or Stalin.Arggggh. As long as the trains run on time, despots can kill people?In that regard, I have reservations about the book's judgments, for my own sense is that Mao, however monstrous, also brought useful changes to China. And at times the authors seem so eager to destroy him that I wonder if they exclude exculpatory evidence.
Take the great famine from 1958 to 1961. The authors declare that "close to 38 million people died," and in a footnote they cite a Chinese population analysis of mortality figures in those years. Well, maybe. But there have been many expert estimates in scholarly books and journals of the death toll, ranging widely, and in reality no one really knows for sure - and certainly the mortality data are too crude to inspire confidence. The most meticulous estimates by demographers who have researched the famine toll are mostly lower than this book's: Judith Banister estimated 30 million; Basil Ashton also came up with 30 million; and Xizhe Peng suggested about 23 million. Simply plucking a high-end estimate out of an article and embracing it as the one true estimate worries me; if that is stretched, then what else is?Oh, 23 million people starving to death is so much better than 38 million.
Finally, there is Mao's place in history. I agree that Mao was a catastrophic ruler in many, many respects, and this book captures that side better than anything ever written. But Mao's legacy is not all bad. Land reform in China, like the land reform in Japan and Taiwan, helped lay the groundwork for prosperity today. The emancipation of women and end of child marriages moved China from one of the worst places in the world to be a girl to one where women have more equality than in, say, Japan or Korea. Indeed, Mao's entire assault on the old economic and social structure made it easier for China to emerge as the world's new economic dragon.Nicholas Kristoff forgets all the aborted baby girls in China. I've read estimates that upwards of 23 million baby girls have either been aborted or killed shortly after death because of the 1 child policy. I don't get these liberals who think the ends justifies the means, especially in countries where dictators have ruled, tortured, and killed people for decades. In the reviews in the first pages of the book, one of the blurbs says 'This book may well tarnish Mao's image." Jung Chang and Jon Halliday do make the persuasive case that Mao ranks up there with Hitler and Stalin.Perhaps the best comparison is with Qinshihuang, the first Qin emperor, who 2,200 years ago unified China, built much of the Great Wall, standardized weights and measures and created a common currency and legal system - but burned books and buried scholars alive. The Qin emperor was as savage and at times as insane as Mao - but his success in integrating and strengthening China laid the groundwork for the next dynasty, the Han, one of the golden eras of Chinese civilization. In the same way, I think, Mao's ruthlessness was a catastrophe at the time, brilliantly captured in this extraordinary book - and yet there's more to the story: Mao also helped lay the groundwork for the rebirth and rise of China after five centuries of slumber.
Here is the link to the New York Times review by Nicholas Kristoff Mao! The Real Mao
Here is another link that has many reviews of the book. (Naturally, the most liberal newspapers and writers excuse Mao.) Mao, the untold story.
I just barely started the book. I will give my review when I am finished, which may be awhile since the book is 864 pages.
I also picked up Jeffrey Deaver's newest book "The Cold Moon". It is pure escapism writing, very suspenseful with lots of twists and turns. I also looked at the book "Hollywood Dads." It is a picture book of 50 Hollywood dads (Dustin Hoffman, David Duchovny, Brendon Frasier, etc.) It was quite good, I was surprised, being from Hollywood and all....
During the summer when I worked Greg's Dad would watch Sarah. She was about 4-5 years old. Greg and I would drop her off at Grampa's at about 6:00 am. He would come running..really running out of the house with an ice cream on a stick for her. At first I was annoyed, but soon gave in.
Now I see why things happen. He passed away a few years later, but the bond between him and Sarah is still there.
BTW, how are you?
I’m doing OK. I slipped and fell down the stairs last week (landed flat on my tailbone and slid down 5-6 stairs.) Ouch. Nothing is broken, but I am finally back at work with minimal pain. Pain pills, muscle relaxants, and physical therapy does wonders. :)
Just finished watering my shrubs, yep, it has started to rain....
Hi UG, one of my tutors is a high school senior who is an honor roll (NHS) student. She finally told me where she is going to college- BYU. FOr some reason, she acted like she didn’t want ot say...well, I just hired new tutor with a degree from you guessed it, BYU. Life is so much fun some times....I am thrilled to have these two in my employ. They have such values that I don’t worry about having to check up as much as I have with some in the past! Thought you ‘d enjoy the coincedence of these two having the same type of background. HOB
I finished cleaning and organizing the kitchen.
What I would like to know is why is that when I put two opened -like - items in one container I never seem to gain more space?
thank you, thank you ,thank you....BBL
With Zay and I it’s coffee
He loves to sip Grammas coffee.
D gets so upset with me but she knows I won’t stop.
I just remind her that her Poppy gave her coffee at Zays age and she’s none the worse for it.
It is unbelieveably cool here today so instead of grilling I decided to make French Onion soup for dinner
Isn’t work so much easier when you don’t have to check up on people??
LOL I feel your pain about organizing...
Just got back from one of many Dr’s appts for Mom this month and next.
Thankfully he gave her a shot in her back this time so I don’t have to do the pharmacy run for medicine whe ultimately won’t take anyway.
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