US Embassy Moving Outside Vatican City Walls . Rightwing Blogsphere and Pundits Go Berserk

US Embassy Moving Outside Vatican City Walls . Rightwing Blogsphere and Pundits Go Berserk



***where it always was.


So the U.S. is closing its Vatican embassy and relocating it outside Vatican City, where it always was, and guess what?

The right wing blosphere and punditrywent viral with its misinformation, lies, and outrage.

See, this is how they operate. Half-assedly learn something the Obama Administration is going to do, take that half-assed information and apply a nefarious motive to it because OBUMMER! Spread the misinformation and lies to every corner of the rightwing blogsphere. Get all paliny over it.

Rinse. Repeat.

It's wearying. It really is. The U.S. Embassy's Vatican move? There is no there there. But apparently it's the default reaction to anything the Obama Administration does. So the best thing to do is let them have their tantrum, close the door, and quietly walk away.


From Time Magazine website:



"...[F]irst you find all the FACTS, things like: Who, What Where When and Why.
Then you report those facts.

WHAT: The US embassy to the Vatican is moving.

WHERE: It is moving from what was a private residence to better secured building that is adjacent to the US Embassy to Italy, - the two will maintain separate entrances on separate streets. Oh, and the new embassy is a tenth of a mile CLOSER to the Vatican than the old one was. (and please note that no country has an embassy inside the Vatican City walls - there isn't room.)

WHY: Because the new location offers more in place security and we will save 1.4 million a year in lease and operating costs.

WHEN: the move will occur in 2015. The buildings were purchased several years ago during a different administration.

WHO: Well, since the buildings were purchased under the Bush 2 administration - you should be able to figure out when the plan to move began and whose State Department initiated it.

What you don't do is try to blame the current president for closing an embassy that isn't closing or imply that the current embassy is inside the Vatican walls when NO country has an embassy inside those walls.






Idjits!

Switzerland High Price for Legal Fees in Nazi Art Lawsuit

Switzerland High Price for Legal Fees in Nazi Art Lawsuit


Switzerland paid $1.6 million in legal feesdespite winning a US lawsuit over a Van Gogh drawing donated by a businessmanaccused of exploiting its Jewish former owner, according to a report to AFPFriday.
The heir of a Jewish collector, Margaret Mauthner, who sold the drawing toSwiss businessman Oskar Reinhart in 1933 before fleeing Nazi Germany six years later, brought the case against Switzerland in 2009.She insisted Reinhart, who later gave the drawing, "Street inSaintes-Maries", to Switzerland, had taken advantage of the precarioussituation her grandmother was in at the time to pay an unfair price.
Switzerland, which has always insisted Reinhart paid a fair price for thepiece, won the case before both a lower New York court, and again upon appeal
in 2012.
The drawing, valued at several million dollars, is again hanging in theReinhart collection at the public Winterthur museum in northeasternSwitzerland.
But the Tages Anzeiger daily reported Friday that an internal Swiss FederalCulture Office report showed the small Alpine country remained saddled withnearly 1.5 million Swiss francs ($1.6 million, 1.2 million euros) in legalfees.
The culture office in Bern told the ATS news agency that it was worth thecost, since the case set an important legal precedent.While Switzerland strives to make things right when it has acted in amorally dubious manner, when it has done nothing wrong, it also must defendits property rights, at any cost, Yves Fischer, deputy chief of the cultureoffice, told ATS.
In a similar case with the opposite outcome, Switzerland last year returneda 17th century silver goblet from a national museum to the estate ofGerman-American collector Emma Budge.
The Swiss National Museum said in June 2012 that an investigation into theorigins of the "Lerber Lerche" goblet discovered it was purchased in 1937 at asale of items belonging to Budge held months after her death.The proceeds from the auction went to a bank account blocked by the Nazis,preventing the owners from benefiting.Budge's private collection, including paintings, furniture and porcelainwas reportedly one of the largest auctioned during the Nazi era.
Controversy over the sale of European Art during the rise of Nazi Germany has continued over the past month. In Munich, one of the largest treasure troves of Nazi-era art has been uncovered during an investigation for tax fraud, prompting a long and difficult search for possible connections to Jewish owners and their heirs. France also returned six paintings to descendants of their original Jewish owners earlier this year.
israelnationalnews

People mostly know the geography they need to know

People mostly know the geography they need to know

I've seen a bunch of my friends pass around this post, showing that British people aren't good at labeling the states on a U.S. map. They also passed around this (I suspect fake) U.S. map allegedly labeled by an Australian. These friends, who are themselves Americans, are not generally passing around this post showing maps of Europe labeled by Americans.

So what is the point? Mislabeled states looks really stupid to an American because we deal with states all the time. At the same time, getting some of those small European countries wrong seems like a mistake that anyone could make. It's just a matter of perspective. Something the Buzzfeed people don't seem to get when they give an excuse for Americans getting stuff wrong, but not the Brits for their errors: "Ok in our defense, Europe is really complicated." Aren't the location of fifty states just as complicated as the location of about the same number of countries on the Europe map?

Almost everyone (if not everyone) is ignorant of geography somewhere. I'm a total geography nerd, but I can only place a handful of Caribbean countries and territories on a map. I've never been to the Caribbean and so I haven't ever needed to figure it out. I'm sure I would if I ever had some reason to. Most people learn what they need to know. It's not dumb for them not to know something they don't need to know.

Mark Nepo Presence

Mark Nepo Presence


When present in the moment,I view life more deeply,I meet life through an awakened sensibility,and I make more peaceful decisions.--Mark Nepo, from Seven Thousand Ways to ListenMark Nepo

I am Thankful

I am Thankful


I am thankful for all the good that fills my life. I have so many blessings--big and small--to be grateful for.

I am thankful for the wonderful family I was born into-- where my sisters are my friends, my mom and dad always made me believe I could do and be anything I wanted, and there was no shortage of cousins and aunts to play with and visit.

I am thankful for the wonderful family I am marrying into--where I met the hilarious brothers I never had and found a second set of parents who have always been so kind and generous with me.

I am thankful for Matt my magnificent companion in all our endeavors, who fills my life with love and joy and delicious things to eat.

I am thankful for my spunky, free-spirited friends who dance, climb, adventure, and play with me.

I am thankful for Montana. There is no where else I'd rather be.

I am thankful for libraries with their endless books to read and information to discover.

I am thankful for sunshine and rainbows.

I am thankful for mountains and the good tidings them bring me.

I am thankful for live music and the transcendent glee that fills me up when I lose myself in dance.

I am thankful for the national parks--the precious cathedrals of nature--and all the good folks who have fought to ensure the preservation of these astounding places--especially the wilderness mystic John Muir and the dedicated ornithologist and editor George Bird Grinnell.

I am thankful for a house and tiny scrap of land to call our own and do what we will with.

I am thankful for Kurt Vonnegut the brilliant satirist who still holds the title of being my favorite author of all time.

I am thankful for my chance to make this world a better place.

I am thankful for living with a man who loves to cook and bake.

I am thankful for random acts of kindness.

I am thankful for knowing how to sew and mend and all the money its saved me and fun its given me.

I am thankful for my blog-friends and all the support and inspiration I've found in the blogging world.

I am thankful for trees for all the shade, food, oxygen, and homes for wild critters that they give--not to mention the beauty of the forest.

I am thankful for my childhood which I feel was a pretty darn good one.

I am thankful for bees and all the hard work they do keeping our food crops pollinated so that we have yummy things like strawberries, cherries, tomatillos, corn, and on and on and on.

I am thankful for the time I was able to spend experiencing the world abroad--no matter how brief it was life changing.

I am thankful for the Grateful Dead in all its incarnations from the original members to Furthur.

I am thankful for the stars and moon, comets, shooting stars, planets, and the rest of the ballet of the cosmos.

I am thankful for wool and its amazing ability to keep a body warm.

I am thankful for my job where I learn something new every single day.

I am thankful for being an American with all the rights and privileges that goes along with it.

I am thankful for a warm cup of tea on a cold, snowy day.

I am thankful for the changing seasons which each are awesome in their own magical, miraculous way.

I am thankful for audiobooks which make car travel and doing the dishes much more enjoyable.

I am thankful for bread in every way, shape, and form.

I am thankful for that big, blue Montana sky that seems to stretch beyond infinity.

I am thankful for fireflies which seem like a little bit of magic in insect form.

I am thankful for geysers and hot springs the power and beauty of which astonish me every time.

I am thankful for tiny babies and how they warm my heart--be it watching the wee bunnies chasing each other around in the grass or cuddling the precious infants of my friends and family.

And so many more things than I could every realistically hope to list. Happy Thanksgiving. May we all always have so many things to be grateful for.

early morning mosor mountain

early morning mosor mountain



Our view.

No need to add many words.
Mosor Mountain pictured early this morning, when the sun was rising.
(Had to run for my camera, as it lasted just some minutes).

Click on the picture to enlarge.

Bounty and Provision

Bounty and Provision


















Well, our garden is going a little crazy. That basket is filled with potatoes and a layer of tomatoes on top - only a small portion of our tomatoes at that. Produce from the garden is filling every available cranny of my kitchen and we are eating tomatoes with every meal! What a sad, sad problem to have, I know everyone feels so sorry to hear that have fresh, red, ripe jumbo cherry tomatoes three times a day. We planted sunflowers for the first time this year and they are G-O-R-G-E-O-U-S. Some beautiful crimson ones and some yellow Mammoth ones. I am hanging some of the wilted ones in the kitchen window so they dry and will try to get the seeds out when they seem ready. I always try some new idea with the expectation that it won't work and am then pleasantly surprised if it does, so we'll see!This morning I strapped my ankle splint on ~ I sprained my ankle while walking between the pepper field and orchard across the road the other morning. I am thankful it's not broken and also thankful that it's not the extreme heat of midsummer while I wear the thing ~ and pulled out the stroller. I settled the baby in the stroller and the other two girls followed me as I pushed her out to the wild jungle that is our garden. Millie entertained Rosie with talking and giggles while Lyddie helped me dig up some potatoes and pick tomatoes and zucchini until lunch. It was so nice to get out in the sunshine and spend the quiet time out there together. I was mostly on my knees in the raised bed so it didn't put any real strain on my ankle and now I have to figure out what to do with all these tomatoes. The dehydrator may see several of them and I will do some research on how to put them in jars and apparently you can freeze them whole like a berry and use them in soups! Who knew!? As a side note, I am currently loving the Food in Jars blogand found great inspiration in using up the last of my peaches last week in an improvised smallish batch of peach-plum jam that is delicious.For any who might wonder, that isthe Sunday sweater Lyddie is wearing above. We were trying to get a good picture of it and I may have a few to share in my next post.Last but most importantly, I have been so overcome with thanksgiving by God's provision for us once again this month. At the beginning of the month I was scratching my head about how our budget was going to come out even. I won't bore you with details, but mainly it's because Jesse's substitute teaching income hasn't started yet for the year. Two incredible pieces of mail came today that were clearly the Lord's direct and tangible provision for us. I sat there at lunch alternately laughing and tearing up. During the girls' naptime I glanced back through my prayer journal and saw that I really have daily lifted this to the Lord and sought to trust Him to meet all our needs. Without missing a day, I have, with thanksgiving, brought my worry and wonder over our needs to Him and am thankful to Him for providing just what we need (and no more, - really exactly what we need!). The incredible thing is that He is good when the numbers come out right for the budget and He's good when they don't. Either way we learn to rely on Him to be our refuge and shield. I am still praying for the same kind of provision for a friend who was robbed earlier this month. Won't you join me in praying for her and her family?

A Day Late ...

A Day Late ...


but Happy Thanksgiving to all.

We had the most casual, smallest attendance, low key Thanksgiving ever. And it was marvelous nonetheless. As usual, going around the table saying what we were thankful for broke down into a benign miasma of cross-chatter. Or maybe everybody was just feeling spontaneously thankful. Our good serving stuff was all packed, the living room is filled with boxes, we're moving into a rental that I have only seen in pictures from Rick's phone in a week. And there was still so much to be thankful for. So much!!! (I also feel like a philistine - but as fun as it is to use all the antique china from Martha's 'hope chest', the Waterford and all the other fancy extras....tossing those heavy duty paper plates in the trash after dinner and throwing assorted glasses in the dishwasher was great!!!)

The Chin-Irish family members were not - contrary to a rumor at dinner - "disinvited". I just told them in advance that I didn't know what we were eating, how much room we would have in which to dine, and that the house was a non-childproof, Tetris-style death trap of boxes and miscellaneous hazards. But they were able to come for dessert - 'artisanal' apple pie and chococlate cheese cake by master baker Miss Frances, RN. Once the little people woke up from the car induced snooze, they were in a party mood and a good time was had by all. Martha had moved the boxes around for safety and efficiency so we had room to maneuver. A bunch of the girls' friends stopped by and a big gang was playing Apples to Apples. So the day was a complete thanks-filled success! (I admire how Fran can be over-worked, under the same stress as the rest of us and still do two pies with a beautiful lattice work on top. I would have opted for a Mrs. Smith - as in, frozen - not my late mother - pie. If I had even though ahead about dessert)

Now I'm back to packing etc. Which in my estimation is far more fun than shopping on what I consider the worst shopping day of the year!