Thursday, September 25, 2008
I Am Not Looking for an Indian Life Partner in Connecticut!!
Two of the most aggravating websites have recently wormed their way into my life - bharatmatrimony.com and shaadi.com (please do NOT click on them).Perhaps because I surf so many Indian websites, these two horrible sites embedded their cookies deep into the inner reaches of my computer. Now whenever I surf any website - even the most corn-fed uber-American ones - I am presented with advertisements assuring me that I will find my perfect Indian partner in Connecticut. How do I uninstall these monsters from my computer? I am happily married already and have no interest in finding partners - Indians or non- - in Connecticut or anywhere else.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Some Assistance for Main Street, Please?
One of the young men doing electrical work in the house wanted to make us an offer on our two unused oil tanks. We had to send him away disappointed as the tanks are empty. Thanks to K. we have moved off oil and are relying now on a combination of solar/geothermal/propane. This combination has its problems but at least we are off the uncertainties of heating oil. Winter is coming and the price of heating oil is the great unknown in Fairfield County where the vast majority use heating oil for warmth. We really could use a far-reaching comprehensive administrative review of this problem. In a cold climate, a heated house is not optional, it's a basic requirement for survival in the winter. People might go without food, but not without heat.
Will anybody bail out Main Street anytime soon? I doubt assistance will come in the short term future, but even Americans - a famously patient people when it comes to governmental flaws (and yes, yes, I know they had a Revolution but that was then...) - are going to start protesting. I find it very disturbing to read the news about the growing numbers of slums (alright, dignify them by calling them "tent cities" but they are still slums) in some parts of the country. It is not a good sign.
Will anybody bail out Main Street anytime soon? I doubt assistance will come in the short term future, but even Americans - a famously patient people when it comes to governmental flaws (and yes, yes, I know they had a Revolution but that was then...) - are going to start protesting. I find it very disturbing to read the news about the growing numbers of slums (alright, dignify them by calling them "tent cities" but they are still slums) in some parts of the country. It is not a good sign.
Religion and Madness
I know there is so much going on here - the whole Sarah Palin thing, the crash of financial giants that has become almost an everyday occurrence. But I am going to write today on another kind of madness that seems to get people all riled up - the perceived intrusion of new religions on "their" turf.
Perhaps because I have the eye of an outsider here (despite years of living here and being very fond of the country and the people), I am more sensitive to the way that outsiders are perceived and treated everywhere. Call it the immigrant syndrome. Anyway, in just the last two days, the Washington Post's section on religion has reported that Hindus are persecuting Christians in India, Christians are harassing Muslims in Italy, the construction of a Hindu temple in suburban Washington D.C. is causing strained relations with the community, and that anti-Semitism is on the rise among Europeans .
I am less than convinced that any one religion holds the entire truth in its meager pouch. Events around the world have left me more convinced than ever that while religious traditions inspire much beauty (I can write pages and pages on the beauty inspired by religious devotional traditions), the practitoners of religion can do more harm to the reputations of their own faiths than any so-called "outsider religions."
Perhaps because I have the eye of an outsider here (despite years of living here and being very fond of the country and the people), I am more sensitive to the way that outsiders are perceived and treated everywhere. Call it the immigrant syndrome. Anyway, in just the last two days, the Washington Post's section on religion has reported that Hindus are persecuting Christians in India, Christians are harassing Muslims in Italy, the construction of a Hindu temple in suburban Washington D.C. is causing strained relations with the community, and that anti-Semitism is on the rise among Europeans .
I am less than convinced that any one religion holds the entire truth in its meager pouch. Events around the world have left me more convinced than ever that while religious traditions inspire much beauty (I can write pages and pages on the beauty inspired by religious devotional traditions), the practitoners of religion can do more harm to the reputations of their own faiths than any so-called "outsider religions."