Roomin' House Blues

My squirrel  friend that I have been writing about--the one I feed every day, is getting a paunch. The Dream Act has passed the house, only to be temporarily shot down today in the Senate. The Republicans were planning to filibuster the house version in the Senate and with the clock ticking on the current session, Harry Reid forced a vote to table, winning 59 to 40.  That allows him to call back the same bill before the end of the session.  Senate Republicans have been firmly against the bill, ruling from the minority on the matter.  Another way to get the Dream Act passed might be to make it a rider on the Agricultural Bill, forcing some of the Senate Republicans to vote for it.   For those of you who want to read up on immigration there is the classic "The Uprooted" by Oscar Handlin copyright 1973, showing how we are a nation of immigrants. The Uprooted won a Pulitzer Prize.  And on immigrants as agricultural workers, "Work...

Tomorrow is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception in the Catholic Church.  The Feast celebrates the state of Mary, that she was conceived, by a singular grace without sin, just as the Ark of the Convenient, in which the Hebrews carried the Word of God, was covered by the most precious metal, gold. The doctrine means, in effect, that Mary was prepared for being the Mother of God, the mother of Jesus, God incarnate, by being left pure, and not predisposed to sin. This feast is in the first week of Advent, the period of preparation for the coming of our Lord, the period of hope, expectation, prophecy and trial that gets us ready for Jesus.  It is followed on the 12th by another feast of Mary, the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, one of my favorite feast days in the church.  Advent is a time of repentance of sin, like Lent, but unlike Lent, it is a period that looks forward from the time of Genesis to the birth of Jes...