Words Less Spoken

I would have never thought of mixing fresh fruit into a green salad until I tried this recipe this weekend at a rehearsal dinner. It’s a great cool, crisp, light salad for the summer. It’s very very easy and delicious.

Fruity Green Salad

Ingredients:

• Chopped Lettuce
• Sliced Strawberries
• Pineapple Chunks
• Chopped Walnuts
• Balsamic Vinegar

Chop your lettuce, slice fresh strawberries, and drain a can of pineapple chunks (fresh sliced pineapple works best). Mix in the fruit and walnuts and toss with a little Balsamic Vingerette dressing to taste (less is more). Proportions are up to you, but it’s best with more lettuce and less fruit. It doesn’t take much fruit to give it a nice sweet kick.

The key to making it best is to only mix what you intend to eat for that meal. After sitting in the fridge even for the afternoon, the fruit juices and dressing will make the lettuce soggy. It’s not good without being crisp. I recommend keeping the ingredients separate, so you can toss a fresh salad whenever your ready. Enjoy!

It was inevitable sitting in the barber’s chair yesterday with CNN on the TV that the subject of politics would come up. I’m passionate about politics and love a good discussion, but I don’t even try with some people. My barber’s a nice guy I’ve known for years, but he’s a local pastor too, so I don’t go there with him if I can help it.

It was easy to find common ground on our hope that Hillary is soundly defeated. The Clinton’s have been the favored whipping post of the right for years. I, however, wouldn’t have a problem voting for Bill over John McCain any day. I liked Bill. We all made money when he was in the White House. The Republicans passed more of the conservative agenda under his watch than they have under W. I have some ingrained reticence about Hillary in the White House. My wife doesn’t want any woman as President, but I would vote for any other qualified woman with no reservations. So it was easy to talk about our problems with Hillary.

To my surprise my barber said that he thought the Democrats should keep their eye on Obama because he was “one to watch,” as opposed to voting for Hillary. I thought, “Wow, maybe he’s developing an open mind. Maybe Obama’s connecting with more people than I realize.” Then he said that no matter how he felt about McCain at the end of the day he had to vote pro-life and could never vote for anybody that wants to support gays and lesbians. That pissed me off.

I told him that my oldest would be 18 in twelve more years. If McCain had one or even two terms in office, it was very likely that we’d still be embroiled in a war in Iraq and Iran by that time, and I don’t want my boys going over to get killed in a war that is pointless. His reply was, “Now, now, brother. You know the Word says not to worry about tomorrow and things that our out of your control.” What the hell?!  “I can do something about it. I can vote!” I snapped back. That ended of our discussion of politics.

This whole conversation underlies an observation of mine regarding the pro-life Christian right. They are not pro-life. They are anti-abortion, and there is a big difference. Don’t the lives of our servicemen and women count for something? Don’t the lives of innocent civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan count for something? What happened to being pro-life? The logic is baffling. You’ll vote for candidates who oppose abortion but support the death penalty and protracted senseless war?  I just don’t get it. Furthermore, what about the lives of gays and lesbians? Should we discard them from society because we don’t understand or approve of their behavior?

I think abortion is horrible. I would hope that the number of abortions would be reduced dramatically, but I believe that it should be safe and legal. Being anti-abortion is not pro-life. What about the life of a young girl whose future is about to be forfeited? the life of a girl who is raped by her father? the life of a baby whose mother cannot possibly care for it?

I think it’s past time we move beyond single issue politics or, to borrow from Obama, red vs. blue, left vs. right, and black vs. white politics. I think it’s past time for all of us to be pro-life in every sense of the word and stop allowing politicians and pundits to pigeon hole us into ideological boxes and political camps.

President Bush poked fun at his potential successors Saturday night, expressing surprise that none of them were in the audience at the White House Correspondents’ Association annual dinner.

“Senator McCain’s not here,” Bush said of GOP nominee-in-waiting John McCain. “He probably wanted to distance himself from me a little bit. You know, he’s not alone. Jenna’s moving out too.”

Bush then referred to scandals that have dogged the campaigns of the two remaining Democratic candidates, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama, in explaining their absence: “Hillary Clinton couldn’t get in because of sniper fire and Senator Obama’s at church.”

excerpt from “Bush tweaks candidates at correspondents’ dinner (AP)”

That’s really funny, but consider that he’s just reading what someone else wrote for him. We should be more impressed that he read it correctly.

And the point is?

I’ve got to give two big thumbs up for Hillary on this one, and that’s a hard thing to do for this lifelong Republican voting for Obama.

After a weekend spent making direct appeals to gun owners and church goers, Hillary Clinton said Sunday a query about the last time she fired a gun or attended church services “is not a relevant question in this debate” over Barack Obama’s recent comments on small town Americans. (CNNpolitics.com)

I could care less about how often our political leaders go to church or where they go, as long as it’s not the FLDS compound in Texas. All these made-for-TV photo ops at the gun range are just as ridiculous. What matters is what you say you believe and do your actions bear that out. It’s been a long hard fought campaign, and as much as I hate to confess it, my admiration and respect for Hillary has gone up significantly, although I am still pulling for Obama. 

My fear of another Bush-like Republican in the White House has gone up as well. If you remember, W. did not run as a hard right wing conservative. He ran as “a uniter not a divider” on the promise of “a new day in Washington,” where Democrats and Republicans could work together. He had such a track record in Texas. All of that sounds very McCain-ish to me, and aside from the “Bush tax cuts” and the Cheney/Rumsfeld warmongering, he’s been a very moderate Republican president. I’ve had more than enough of the hawks in the hen house. The days of saber-rattling must come to an end. It’s the 21st century by the way. At least Hillary has had the courage to realize it, at least for today.