Dear Congressman Hall

Dear Congressman Hall:

I'm writing to express my extreme disappointment in you and the rest of the Congress for the useless and unconstitutional vote on "H. Res. 847: Recognizing the importance of Christmas and the Christian faith." This is an extremely dangerous step over the line that our founding fathers drew between church and state, and towards the establishment of a national religion. I'm saddened that someone of your intelligence could pander to the imaginary "War on Christmas" rhetoric of the type that Bill O'Reilly spews (he is now taking credit for "winning" the "War on Christmas", thanks to this resolution.) I'm also saddened, and frightened, by this resolution's obvious effect of insulting the many other religions practiced by American citizens. Our government, according to the Constitution, has no business recognizing the "importance" of any religion. I urge you to reconsider this vote and call for the resolution's repeal. If not, then I sincerely hope that the Senate quickly disposes of this as being patently unconsitutional, which should have been obvious to you and to every other Representative who voted for it. Thank you for your consideration.

I would still like to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas, and I hope that we get to see you Friday night at the party in Pawling. If you're still in Washington right now, get ready for some snow, we got hit with about 8" of it today.

Sincerely,
Jane E. Schneider
Pawling, NY

Mum's Window

Almost exactly three years ago, as we were all stunned and in mourning over Bush's "re-election", my mother lay dying in a hospital bed in my old bedroom at home. We had decided not to tell Mum the outcome of the election, knowing that she would only be more worried about our futures and our country's future. Mum had been alarmed and frightened during Bush's first term, and was concerned enough (although extremely proud) about our involvement in anti-administration politics, that we didn't want to add to her worries. At this point, Mum's only contacts with the outside world were our family, good neighbors, a few visitors, and the windows of my small childhood bedroom.

One window faced west, and we had decorated it with various stained-glass pieces to catch the afternoon sunlight. One late afternoon in the week before Thanksgiving, after a cold, blustery rain, the sun finally broke through shortly before sunset. Suddenly Mum's window was gloriously lit, with the setting sun gilding every raindrop still stuck on the window's screen and glowing through the stained glass. I didn't think that I had time to get my camera, so Mum and I just watched, oohing and ahhing, until the sun finally set and the spectacular show was over. Afterward, we commiserated over my not having my camera handy, but we were both glad that we were able to share the beauty.

Luckily, Mother Nature apparently was pleased enough with her work to show it again the next evening, when I did have my camera handy. The resulting pictures (shown here both with and without flash) serve as a reminder to me that no matter how horrific circumstances are, brief moments of beauty can fill the heart, most especially when shared with a loved one.

Photos: Nature

I always used to enjoy drawing when I was young, and thought that I was good at it. After three years of Art in high school, and majoring in Art in my one year of college, I realized that I was quite wrong. My fellow students were VASTLY superior in talent and vision, even in high school (John Whalley, 'Berta Egan [aka "Bobbie" Egan], Catherine Vanaria, Gene Gort, I'm bowing to you!)

Eventually I turned to (amateur) photography to express myself, and have had found more fulfillment with this venue. Here is a selection of "Nature"-themed photos with which I am pleased. I hope that you enjoy them, too.

MEET THE METS!

Wayne's sister, Judy, and I used to go down to Shea Stadium quite a bit, and got to see some really good games (as well as plenty of stinkers.) We bought various ticket packages each year, and we were also able to get tickets to one of the NLCS games in 2000. We were at Bobby Jones's 1-hitter against the SF Giants--very exciting!

Another earlier game that I was fortunate enough to attend was the one wherein Doc Gooden set the rookie strikeout record--amazing, exhilarating game! For Doc Gooden fans, here's a link to his rookie debut. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2f3LfgL6Kw&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Emetsblog%2Ecom%2F

Okay, these pictures range from about 2000 through 2005, but I hope that NY Mets fans enjoy them anyway.

Meet the Cats: Kittens--Valerie, Fitzgerald and Cecilia

Here they are! From left, to right, Valerie, Fitzgerald and Cecilia. The separate picture is Fitzgerald (I added it because you can't see his markings when he's sprawled on his back.) Isn't it amazing how comfortable kittens can be in almost any position? Fitzy is a bit under the weather right now, but I'm giving him antibiotics and hopefully he'll be as right as rain soon. (Cecilia suffered from the same thing, but a few days on antibiotics seemed to do the trick.) I will, of course, hate to give these little sweeties up for adoption, but with all (something)-teen of our other cats, we just can't keep three more. These three have great personalities already, and I'm sure that our vet will find them all good homes. (sniffle!)

Meet the Cats: Dulcinea

Dulcie is our most mischievous kitty, too smart and too bold for her own good. We ended up keeping her because, when we brought a bunch of kittens to the vet to be put up for adoption, she was deemed too unhealthy (she has runny eyes from Bartonella's disease--supposedly extremely contagious, but to date only two of our cats had ever contracted it.) Dulcie loves to burrow under the bed covers, so if we see a lump in the bed we have to feel it to see if it's her. Her coat is beautifully sleek, which helps us to identify her in the dark! When she's in an affectionate mood, she'll butt her head against our hands, elbows, face, anywhere she can reach. Her ultimate sign of affection is a (more or less) gentle chewing on the tip of my nose (I say 'my' because Wayne is more wary of this habit, but I don't mind it so much--it's more stinky than painful.)

Meet the Cats: Mouse

Mouse arrived at our back door with her father, Smoky, one cold winter's night, looking like a fat miniature version of her dad. Although she wouldn't let me near her, her mother, Mamacita (a regular fixture at our back door practically since the day we moved in), and her brother, Butterball, were more sociable. Butterball was killed by a car when they were about six months old, and it was terrible to see how much Mouse missed him. Mouse eventually became pregnant (she still wouldn't let me catch her, so she hadn't been spayed.) When she went into labor, she seemed to be having a difficult time, so I sat near her and gave her moral support for a couple of hours, until we decided that we had to take her to the emergency vet. Apparently the one unborn kitten was so big that Mouse couldn't push it out without help, and the kitten was stillborn. However, that traumatic day cemented Mouse's relationship with me, and she became totally devoted to me after that. Her nickname was "Mousie Dung". Mouse was a fixture in my lap every night for years, and loved to wash my hands and face (which could be extremely uncomfortable sometimes!) She became terminally ill when she was about 12 years old, and died about a month before my mother did.

Meet the Cats: 'Becca

When Wayne and I moved into this house in 1990, we were renting half the house (we bought it outright about 5 years ago.) We had been married for just two years at the time, and we decided to adopt a cat as our anniversary present to each other. Having given it a lot of thought, we elected to adopt an adult cat from the Putnam County, NY, Humane Society. They had so many adults to choose from, but I made a beeline for "Rebecca", a female Abyssinian mix who had had a broken leg. Her entire leg was still shaved, but she had that beautiful 'ticked' Abby fur. She was in washing-up mode when we arrived at the shelter, and, as soon as I put my hand up to her cage, she immediately started washing that, too. That was enough for me! And thus, we adopted 'Becca, the smartest, sweetest, and most beautiful little girl we ever had. She died several years ago, but remains first in our hearts, and we both still miss her very much.

Meet the Cats: Kittens--Valerie

Okay, so it's only one of the three new kittens. I couldn't find clear pictures of the other two yet. (The others are named Cecilia and Fitzgerald.) This is Valerie, and the gray-and-white longhair behind her is her mother, Pip. Valerie seems to be the most rambunctious of the three, but is also just as happy as the others to curl up in my lap for a kitten-nap.

Meet the Cats: Troi

Troi was about six weeks old, her eyes still blue, when she decided to adopt us. Although her mother, Motley, tried to get her to leave after each feeding time, Troi resisted as much as possible. Even though many of the adult cats who had known us much longer still shied away from us, Troi was completely unafraid of us. Her penchant for sitting on my foot while I prepared the cats' dinner earned her the nickname "Foot Soldier". She was such a cute "little one" (a name we had taken to calling her), that we decided to name her that. Sort of. Actually she's named after Deanna Troi, a character on "Star Trek: The Next Generation". In that series, Troi's mother always called her "little one". So that's how she got the name "Troi". She has grown into a real sweetheart, and sleeps on our feet every night.

Yes, I'm Finally Here

Hi! Yes, I'm finally here. I'm sure that some of Wayne's more frequent visitors are curious to see what I look like, so here you go. Although it's blurry (taken with a phone), it's the most recent picture of me.

Those of you who are familiar with me from Think Progress are probably saying to yourselves, "WTF is Jane doing with a dog?" Well, for a while at our office, for some reason a few people would occasionally bring in their dogs. The puppy in my lap is a pit bull named Kayla, one of the sweetest, friendliest dogs I've ever met. She loved to visit with everyone in the office, and we all adored her.

I know that I promised certain people that I would get my cat pictures up here for any who are interested. I'm still working on that project, plus some other photo displays. Unfortunately, some of my best photos are older and need to be scanned, but I have enough already in the computer to work with, and that I think you'll enjoy. Just give me a little time, and I hope that you'll think the results are worth the wait.

Please don't expect me to be as prolific as Wayne, especially since I'm just starting out on this adventure. However, if there's any topics that you'd like my thoughts on, I'd love to hear from you.