Logorrhea

Um…well, I guess…

2011-12-24T05:45:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Religion&Ethics,Kevorkian,Hitchens,Religion,Spirituality

Here’s a little surprise; guess who’s included in this year’s Religion & Ethics Newsletter’s “In Memoriam 2011?”

Jack Kevorkian and Christopher Hitchens.

Along with unsavories, or, at least, once unsavories, such as Cardinal Foley—maybe he found God, or at least heard the snapping of growling watchdogs and contributors after his AIDS comments—we find these two who aren’t usually listed in the category of “Prominent Religious.”

Although, upon reflection, they both were certainly spiritual, and, in their own ways, pastoral. There’s also an environmentalist listed, probably the most spiritual of them all.

There’s also a Jewish songwriter, which is a nice gesture, because songwriters are also quite spiritual.

The others are/were (?) luminaries of various Christian sects. And now they know whether Hitchens was/is (?) correct, don’t they?

Um…Not really

2011-10-12T03:29:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Hank Williams,Jr,ESPN,U.S. Constitution,Free Speech

The Hank Williams, Jr./ESPN brouhaha is mildly diverting on a few levels, but it is also a sad commentary on one: understanding the Constitutional right to free speech.

Williams’ Constitutional rights were not affected by ESPN’s action. The Constitution is silent on the right of company censorship of employees’ speech.

“Congress shall make no laws…” is the way the First Amendment begins. There is nothing in it which limits any other instance of speech restrictions. Most states also limit “freedom on speech” similarly in their state constitutions.

Williams should know better. We all should know better.

Sorry, Mr. Williams, Jr., your Constitutional free speech rights were not offended, and you have none otherwise.

Silliness

2011-10-11T05:39:00.001-07:00

“Reverse racism” is such a silly phrase.

What could it possibly mean?

A racist is a racist, regardless of skin color, and “reverse racism” is just an example of unthinking writers who waste electronic ink.

Fraternal Quip

2011-09-21T04:32:00.001-07:00

This from my older brother: Yesterday we could not spell third-world country; today we are one.

(I wonder if it’s a joke which has been going around. Regardless, I like it.)

So, I’m a smart ass…So sue me

2011-09-10T08:13:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Sexual orientation,Sexual preference,Language

Not really…the suing part.

The local newspaper, The Desert Sun had a piece today indicating disapproval of those protesting Chaz Bono’s upcoming appearance on “Dancing with the Stars.”

I liked it except for the use of “sexual preference.” Now, since I am of the opinion that virtually everyone who is protesting against Mr. Bono’s appearance has participated in his sexual preference activities in one way or another, I doubt very seriously they are protesting that/those preference(s).

So I wrote the following to the “Community Conversations Editor” at the paper. I got carried away.

It was such fun and became so silly that I thought I’d share it. Have fun.

xoxox

Dear Mr. X:

Today your editorial page gave a well-deserved “Thumbs Down” to those who are protesting against Chaz Bono’s appearance on “Dancing with the Stars.”

There would be disagreement only from those who are unwilling to learn.

There is, however, one phrase with which others might quibble; it is “sexual preference.” It might be good to take a few moments to educate your writer about the more accurate “sexual orientation” for use in this type of discussion.

To personalize the point, Sir, might I suggest that your sexual preference is what you prefer to do during sexual incidents. Everyone has sexual preferences which are unique and of no concern to others.

Sexual orientation, on the other hand, is how you “lean” when choosing a partner with whom to participate in mutual sexual preferences.

Absent a declaration from a person, sexual preference is unknowable; sexual orientation is somewhat easier to discern. Since most of the protesters against Mr Bono themselves probably engage in whatever sexual activities they might imagine he participates, they are more than likely protesting his orientation than his preference.

Please discuss this with your writer.

Sincerely,

gene touchet

From BRAAACK to lowercase 8 point “poo”

2011-09-06T05:09:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Brain,Memory,Black Holes

My brain farts (How I dislike the word!) have been reduced to a negligible poo.

They have been replaced by brain black holes. It’s possible to stand (albeit metaphorically) on the edge of the hole and virtually see the nothingness to which thought and memory are reduced, especially memory.

“I’ll have the Country Benedict.”

20 minutes later, after having the plate placed before me, I am asked, “Looks good. What is it?”

“Country…”

Nothing.

Blankness.

(Is “blankness” truly “nothing?”)

A strain to come up with the words and some babble…”It’s a famous breakfast dish…some kind of sauce…English muffins…”

“Eggs Benedict?”

“Yes.”

Crisis over. The memory, however, of the lack of memory lingers.

Actually, God’s punishment…

2011-09-05T08:19:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Rick Perry,Conservatives,Politics,Texas,Divine Retribution

Every wonder why God doesn’t punish those people who behave antithetically to the “teachings of the ages?”

For instance, it seems obvious to clear thinkers that the wildfires in Texas are punishment for supporting Rick Perry.

Doesn’t it?

Alas! A crisis of conscience!

2011-08-24T11:01:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Sex studies,Bisexuals,Gays,Non-gays,Culture Wars,Box Turtle Bulletin

From Box Turtle Bulletin:

Shocking, simply shocking! A new study has determined that some men are attracted to both male and female persons. Or, at least, sexually stimulated by watching them have sex.

This new finding contradicts and earlier one which denied evidence of existence of bisexuals, but was flawed in its population selection. (NY Times)

For many, many years, I’ve been skeptical about discussions I’ve had with certain serial-one-night-stands.

“How can you date/marry her? What’re you doing here if you’re going to be there?”

“I guess I just like you both.”

Skeptical. Mighty skeptical.

Now some researchers tell us that X and Y, and a couple of other less-frequent Alphabet Letters were correct about themselves after all?

Well, after the brachytherapy, it’s pretty much moot. Still, it does give pause.

Do I apologize?

Or do I wait for the next “study” to give us another way to look at ourselves?

Great Quip

2011-07-24T06:29:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Culture Wars,Republican Party

From today’s New York Times we find this little nugget in a column by Frank Bruni which puts l’affaire Bachmann in its place:

I once tried to pray away the gay. But sometimes a houseguest just won’t leave.

Quel drole!

Thanks, Ms D

2011-07-10T05:15:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Maureen Dowd,Liz Smith,New York Times

Much appreciation to Maureen Dowd for reminding us of a great line.

In an article about celebrities of yore, particularly Liz and Dick (Dick ‘n Liz?), La Dowd recalls:

As Liz Smith once observed, “Whenever somebody says, ‘So and so is a big star,’ I say, ‘Have they been condemned by the Vatican?’ ”

Is that a great humbler or not? (BTW, L&D were.)

Thanks, Les Dowd et Smith.

June quickie

2011-06-26T11:28:00.001-07:00

Isn’t prostitution simply enhanced masturbation?

No More Poo Pooh-Poohing?

2011-06-11T06:12:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Andrew Sullivan,The Dish,Medicine

Well, there might not be many of you still hanging around waiting for further inanities, but here’s one I just didn’t want anyone to miss, or to lose to posterity and faulty memory.

Andrew Sullivan, on his blog The Dish, gives us this fascinating item on medical experimentation. (It sounds like something that will, in a few days, turn out to be a hoax, but a fun one!)

It discusses the gut’s bacteria and the role those little critters play in health. There’s an interesting twist to it, and one medical wag has coined transpoosion for the procedure.

Enjoy.

SCOTUS* vs California Republican Demagoguery

2011-05-23T14:27:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Republican Party,Supreme Court,California,Prison

In case you didn’t know it, Dear Gentle Reader(s), the State of California’s prison system is in dire straits. Check out this bit of information provided by the Supreme Court of the United States today:

The degree of overcrowding in California’s prisons is exceptional. California’s prisons are designed to house a population just under 80,000, but at the time of the three-judge court’s decision the population was almost double that. The State’s prisons had operated at around 200% of design capacity for at least 11 years. Prisoners are crammed into spaces neither designed nor intended to house inmates. As many as 200 prisoners may live in a gymnasium, monitored by as few as two or three correctional officers. App. 1337–1338, 1350; see Appendix B, infra. As many as 54 prisoners may share a single toilet.App. 1337.

This court case has been going on since the early 1990’s.

Don’t quote me, but I blame the Republican Party’s draconian misuse of the ballot initiative available to Californians. (OK, these ballot measures passed, which means a majority of voters agreed with them.) Specifically, the three-strikes issue, and the 2/3 majority in the legislature needed for tax increases.

By one vote (*thankfully, Mr. Justice Kennedy provided it, otherwise I’d’ve been forced to call it a SC(r)OTUS decision because it would’ve gone the other way) the Court has upheld a lower 3-member Court’s decision to require California to reduce its prison population by some 40,000 inmates.

That’s a tough number, but it brings home the lesson of the dangers of falling for hyperbole during election cycles. We can’t get away from responsibility by believing those who don’t have our societal best interests at heart.

Sheesh

2011-05-05T10:18:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Statutory Rape,victimhood

Well, Dear Gentle Reader(s), we might not agree on this, but here goes.

From the local newspaper:

A woman praised as a community leader for her work running a police activities league for youth was arrested Monday for an alleged sexual relationship with a teenage boy.

[Ms X], 33, of Cathedral City was arrested at her home and booked into the Indio jail on multiple counts of statutory rape and oral copulation with a minor.

[X] is suspected of “having an ongoing sexual relationship with a 17-year-old male victim,” Cathedral City police Lt. Chuck Robinson said.

“…a 17-year-old male victim.”

Doesn’t anyone remember being 16, 17, 18?

One has to wonder if the youth thought of himself as a “victim,” at least before the story became public. Where does victimhood begin?

(I’ll bet he thought of himself as “lucky.”)

Just wondering

2011-05-02T06:18:00.001-07:00

Ross Douthat, over at The New York Times, has an interesting article on the state of American consciousness and future today, Death of a Failure.

It’s an interesting piece, but this phrase caught my attention: “…the utopian fantasy politics embodied by groups like Al Qaeda, or the mix of thugs, fools and pseudointellectuals …”

Queston: Isn’t the combination of “fools and pseudointellectuals” redundant?

Technorati Tags: Ross Douthat,BinLaden

Words, Words, Words

2011-04-13T09:31:00.001-07:00

The nicest words in the English language, to me, aren’t “I love you” nor are they the first Mama’s or Dada’s.

Rather, they’re “flush toilet.”

Topsy-turvey

2011-03-25T05:52:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Republican Party,Politics

Think taxation without representation was bad?

How are we liking no taxation with representation?

Classic typo

2011-03-10T09:31:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: The Desert Sun,Michelle Malkin

Here’s one for the books:

Your left-wing choice [E.J. Dionne] sure showed his colors Monday (“GOP's madman strategy”) and I do not have a problem with that.

However, your choices of “right wing” being Michael Gerson and Bill O'Reilly do not equate except in your own left-winged minds. How about some true conservative contributors such as Thomas Sowell, Charles Krauthammer, Michelle Maulkin, Lou Dobbs or Ann Coulter, or are you perhaps afraid readers will actually learn something?

Michelle Maulkin. Gotta love it.

(This comes from a letter to the editor in the virtual right-wing-rag The Desert Sun out of Palm Springs.)

(Can you imagine anyone thinking he could learn from Malkin, Dobbs, Sowell, or Coulter? lol)

Nits Ahoy!!!

2011-02-17T11:00:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Trader Joe's,Language,Advertising

This from the February 2011 Trader Joe’s Fearless Flyer: “Soft & Juicy Dried Mango.”

Alas.

But never fear, the Flyer acknowledges the oxymoronic phrasing. The Flyer goes on to explain, “The drying process is unique in that it uses glycerin to keep the mango soft—but never mushy—and mango juice is added in to give it a little extra moisture and further intensify the mango flavor.”

So. “Dried Mango” which has glycerin and added mango juice is the offering.

How about a little truth in advertising next time, T.J., with “Soft & Juicy Processed Mango” instead?

Just askin’.

(But it wouldn’t be quite as eye-catching.)

Why not?

2011-02-09T06:31:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Sex,Judicial Activism,Mental Impairment,England

Here, Dear Gentle Reader(s), is an example of a mostly unnecessary sentence—one surely printed with tongue firmly in cheek: “This ruling is unlikely to impact the vast majority of the gay community.”

Here, too, is a link to a story you might find both appalling and amusing.

Generally, the story discusses the case of “Alan,” a man with an I.Q. of 48, who has been prohibited from any activity other than “masturbation in his bedroom or bathroom – and nothing more.”

The gay element? Alan had been engaging in sexual activity with another man.

It happened in England. (It’s happening in England?)

On second thought, the “sentence” above was surely done with a touch of cynicism, eh wot?

Best Headline of the Day!

2011-02-07T06:22:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: The Daily Beast,Culture,Deity

From The Daily Beast: Man Killed by Chicken at Cockfight.

Who says God doesn’t have a sense of humor?

Remember when…

2011-02-03T08:24:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Language,Culture

…nigger was practically lingua franca and fuck wasn’t?

No, but…

2011-01-27T14:26:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Mary Whitaker-Bono-Baxley-Mack,Conor Friedersdorf,Barbara Ehrenreich,Political Protests

There’s a mild brouhaha brewing, Dear Gentle Reader(s), over a passage or two by a writer in the the U.S. It seems a woman named Barbara Ehrenreich wrote this:

Why are Americans such wusses? Threaten the Greeks with job losses and benefit cuts and they tie up Athens, but take away Americans' jobs, 401(k)s, even their homes, and they pretty much roll over. Tell British students that their tuition is about to go up and they take to the streets; American students just amp up their doses of Prozac.

In response, Conor Friedersdorf, subbing for Andrew Sullivan this week, wrote this:

Is someone taking away the 401(k)s of Americans? Would street protests somehow salvage the jobs of those who've lost them in the recession? For that matter, have street protests done anything to improve the lives of the Greeks engaged in them?

We’ll probably never know if the lives of the Greeks have been improved by street protests, but we’ll also never know if the very people who caused the mortgage mess here in the U.S., which, arguably, caused the Great Recession, would right now be looking forward to enjoying the extension of the Bush-era tax cuts which they should, in the name of fiscal prudence, never have been given.

We can certainly imagine the scene if the tens of thousands who did not vote for Representative Mary Whitaker-Bono-Baxley-Mack in November of 2010 would’ve shown up in front of her offices in downtown Palm Springs in protest against her promised vote for the tax extension.

Maybe the U.S. would be hundred of billions ahead on deficit reduction today if we’d marched in all the Republican House districts in December.

How about that!

2011-01-11T12:20:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Tom DeLay,Guilt,Prison

Um, the judge who sentenced Tom DeLay to 3 years in prison has “delayed” his incarceration pending appeal.

How many of you think Tom DeLay(ed) will ever serve an hour in prison?

Raise your hands.

Wake up call?

2011-01-09T17:32:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Gun violence,Mexico,U.S. politics,Drug War

Perspective: We Americans should remember, in this time of political tension and violence, that our neighbors to the south have been living through something quite similar, but worse, for the past several years, and collectively we bear some responsibility.

Mexico’s violence stems from 1) the U.S. drug habits; 2) the U.S. “war on drugs;” the proliferation of weapons manufacturing in the U.S.; the easy availability of guns which make their way to the Mexican drug cartels.

We do little to prevent violence in our own country; we do virtually nothing to help the Mexican authorities stop the violence there.

Everyone suffers; each democracy is threatened.

This does not bode well

2011-01-07T06:16:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Pete Sessions,Republican Party,The Hill

Alas, Dear Gentle Reader(s), we’re in a pickle.

Remember all those references to the Constitution by Republican candidates during the last election cycle? Well, now we know why they talked about it so much. They needed lessons.

Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) stood in front of a television set at a fundraiser, when he should’ve been standing in the House of Representatives, and raised his hand when other members of the House, actually in the House at the time, were raising their hands and being sworn in as House members. And there was another newly elected Republican representative at that fundraiser, Mike Fitzpatrick. It was his fundraiser.

A virtual swearing in?

It’s going to be a very strange 2 years with these clowns in office.

By the way, read the entire piece, and discover how Petey acted in violation of the Constitution on the second day of the House calendar.

Trust, but verify. (Might be hard to do.)

Going, going…

2011-01-06T09:24:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Owen Honors,David Dominguez,Political correctness,Iternet postings,Culture Wars

Navy Capt. Owen Honors lost his job this week. Chief David Dominguez, of the Palm Springs Police Department is “retiring.” Touches of politically incorrect references to the gay community played significant roles in both instances.

Cultural atmosphere ain’t your “funny” uncle’s experience any more.

A guest essay(-ish)

2011-01-02T19:08:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Language,Writing,Editing,Re-writing

My nephew, John, and I have a long history of being at loggerheads, especially about his writing skills. Recently, he sent me one of his year end missives for some suggestions.

I pretty much eviscerated what he originally wrote and made one or two pithy suggestions. For the first time in years, he re-wrote it. I think it shows a sense of humor and self-assessment that is not too bad.

It’s long (3+ pages), but you might, Dear Gentle Reader(s), find it amusing, especially if you remember the flowery language of high school and college freshmen writers.

Happy New Year. (No one will ever know if you decide not to finish it. xoxox)

Winter Solstice 2010 (aka: “end-of-year greetings about which the writer began ruminating on the Solstice, but about finishing the writer procrastinated.”)

At the behest of my editor, I include a cautionary note. This year-end missive to family and friends may appear to contain some distracting nonsequiturs and “big words” that might offend some populist sensibilities and sentimentalities (i.e. I did not travel anywhere or accomplish anything worth bragging about this year). College graduates often develop a communication disorder that involves gratuitous use of obscure vocabulary (acquired at extravagant expense of anonymous donors). This disorder reflects a secret, or overt, resentment that graduation required actually leaving college and joining the ordinary work force. Further note: “dilettante” has nothing to do with lace doilies but rather curious, yet distractible, folk who lack the discipline to pursue scientific careers but like to pretend that reading an article in Scientific American made them some sort of expert. I like to use this word because it evokes misleading imagery for the reader.

Caveat (legalistic word meaning “beware”): The current political climate heightens the vigilance of those who worry about security matters, making it necessary for writers prone to exaggeration, allegory, and literary license to issue disclaimers. In no event should any reader construe anything in this document as an attack or threat to the “new world order.” The author possesses no desire whatsoever to spend the balance of his natural life in a cage in Guantanamo. Events, scenarios, or libelous speculation in this communiqué represent no particular person – quick, dead, Republican, or atheist. Some readers may find attempts at wry, or ribald, humor “lame.” Please take what you like and disregard the rest. In the interest of secular humanist inclusion, I call this document “Solstice Greetings.” Presumably, the adults will graciously perceive this title as inoffensive and the children will feed it to the dog with their homework.

Any perception of intentional threat, insult, or other offense to the reader, any national party, soirée, authority figure, action figure, figurine, or anyone else for that matter, resides strictly and existentially in the vivid imagination of the reader. I promise to attempt, but do not guarantee, to tie together the loose threads of this letter into a coherent and deep whole. Oh by the way, dilettantes take devilishly long and circuitous routes to make their points. Perhaps I digress…

“In the long run, we all die” (John Maynard Keynes, Wiki-apocrypha).

As a self-styled pseudo-intellectual, I tend to worry. Well, not worry, exactly, but rather spend hours staring at trees, listening to birds, zoning out, and wondering, “What if…?”I find it oddly gratifying and disturbing to believe that practically no one understands what I spend hours turning over in my head. I make the gross assumption that a significant portion of conflict between “liberals” and “conservatives” arises between the relative importance that each places on long and short term goals and consequences. For the sake of illustrative convenience – and sarcasm, I stereotype the “liberal” as the apocalyptic ADD environmentalist and the “conservative” as the capitalist captain of industry. Economists (like Keynes) fancy that they occupy some mythical objective neutral ground which justifies them to sneer at both left and right extremes. In our dreams, we play all the parts, right?

The apocalyptic ADD environmentalist, having completely disrupted his normal sleep schedule, peered worriedly past his breakfast table, through the blinds, and into the seasonally bleak garden. Heat death of the universe, not surprisingly, came to mind on a strikingly gray Tuesday in Central Texas. If climate change makes the weather weirder, shouldn’t a warm foggy day in late December, in Austin, cause alarm? An environmental fanatic with attention deficit disorder tends to expect the worst (e.g. Oh no, it feels neither especially warm nor cold today, the sun will run out of energy in only six billion years?!). The thought experiment that follows the rabbit hole, that physicists and engineers call “entropy,” to its absurdly disturbing conclusion reasons that matter and energy (possibly one in the same) will, at a point in the impossibly distant future, become so evenly distributed that all potential for motion (i.e. heat) becomes null and void. Imagine a room full of drunks, incapacitated by inebriation, all immobilized beyond reach of each other. The party ends, not with a fare-thee-well but with deathly silence. Even the dust has settled, motionless. (This analogy may or may not work for you.) (I believe political scientists refer to economics as “the dismal science.” The “green” liberal in me can’t resist the “more dismal than thou” challenge. After all, I must consider my reputation.)

Presumably, if insufficient “dark matter” or “dark energy” exists in the cosmic interstices and worm holes, the last gasp of the “Big Bang” that started the whole hullabaloo will not reverse onto itself – unlike an apple tossed into the air that fails to triumph over gravity and therefore returns to an intimate repose on, and with, the ground. Presumably, this dark matter, or dark energy if you like – which, for the most part, we can neither see nor detect beyond the shadow of a doubt – or a neutrino, will save the impossibly distant future universe from the ultimate entropic indignity of heat death. If sufficient but heretofore unsubstantiated matter, whether dark or light, exists, the whole kit and caboodle will succumb to interstellar (or perhaps inter-dust particle) gravity and proceed to collapse in a reverse Big Bang, which, for the sake of brevity and convenience, we might call “the Big FUBAR.” I didn’t make all of this up. Lord Kelvin, William Thompson, presumably preoccupied himself with the ultimate consequences of entropy and conceived the idea of universal heat death in 1852. Who knew that anyone before Ralph Nader worried about inconceivably remote catastrophes?

So, does that make me feel any better about sitting around procrastinating? Alas, no.

Of course, the sun would intervene and ruin a perfectly good depressing metaphor by burning off the clouds by noon. With a temperature around 72° Fahrenheit and low-ish humidity, Austin suddenly feels like Southern California… Not the way it feels at the moment – in the midst of a Biblical flood – but the way I remember it feeling back in 1979. Austin did reach 79° on the Solstice. Just enough atmospheric haze lingered to mimic the ubiquitous LA smog.

As a dilettante, who dabbles in art and science, I obsess about these things (and wonder: would-a? should-a? could-a?). So, I read a book about impressionist painting. Unlike me, the inspired genius of the artist deftly manipulates light, dark, and color in the visible part of the electromagnetic spectrum (they discuss this stuff in science lectures at UT) to evoke imagery that captures the imagination of viewers and sometimes perturbs the purveyors of prudery. The musician-composer manipulates the auditory portion of the EM spectrum, which, for the sake of convenience, we will call “sound,” to touch emotions that resonate in listeners.

The writer works with what I consider a most abstract medium. (Does this sound like “mid-life crisis” thinking?) Characters on a page possess no inherent meaning universally understood by anyone. Readers, in order to appreciate the writer’s work, must study these cryptic glyphs and their ascribed meanings for years in order to attain a certain competency that for convenience we may call “literacy.” One might gain a greater appreciation for the works of artists and musicians by studying their work or probing the depths of their philosophical underpinnings, but great art and music can stand on their own to nurture the soul of humanity. Their magnificence makes them enjoyable to anyone with eyes to see or ears to hear, but not vice versa.

Enjoyment of the writer’s arts and crafts transpires inside the rarified confines of privileged societies. Alas, a majority of humanity cannot read. A fraction of those able to read can understand the writer’s language and idiom (& weird words). A fraction of those who know the language and peculiar terms either care to read his work or enjoy the luxury of time to do so. Having ventured thus far, a portion of those who read his work feel dissatisfied, disgusted, or offended by having wasted their precious time on such drivel (so what? MS Word disdains this construction as a “fragment”). Does this sound like a gratitude list or resentments? I can’t always tell. Musician? Artist? Writer? …hmm… decisions…

Ironically, this medium of symbolic interaction (text), possessing the least inherent universal meaning, can become the most concrete and explicit of the arts to those who might read it. Unfortunately, the writer can only succeed by persuading many people. An artist only needs one person to buy a canvas. A seascape portrayed either musically or visually invites the audience to enjoy the scene for its own sensations. Think of Debussy’s “La Mer” or one of J.M.W. Turner’s vignettes of tempest-tossed tall ships. (Pretend for a moment that Stravinsky's “Rite of Spring” did not provoke a Paris riot in 1913.) The writer might paint a conceptual picture with words but usually superimposes facts, opinions, and obfuscation that support a particular agenda. Generally speaking, a psychological or social disturbance invoked by a symphony or painting relies on highly interpretable, suggestive, or abstract imagery – not everyone experiences it the same way. Writing that disturbs the reader may involve particular and concrete ideas that conflict with preconceived notions held by the reader – or may simply pile up an unmanageable number of random non-sequiturs.. Any of these creative forms might strike the audience as confrontational, reassuring, or escapist. A visceral response to art grabs one’s attention and causes one to consider reality in a new headache. A visceral response to writing might get one fired or sued.

Contrariwise, the amateur environmentalist (a particular kind of writer who clogs the in-boxes of newspaper editors and elected officials) often confronts people with a disturbing message. He might suggest that the habits and customs we take for granted in our comfortable, convenient, secure, and modern existence will exact costs on future generations that we would rather not contemplate or simply dismiss as preposterous. He quite often envisions himself as an enlightened martyr (and not a slave to fashion), chosen by Divine lot to wage jihad against the infidel capitalist robber barons! He might perceive the general public as either pathetic clueless rubes duped by the robber barons into sustaining the corrupt establishment or as nefarious shills and minions in thrall to the evil industrial empire (buwahaha!). More often than not, the presumed converts, whom he heroically struggles to “save,” resent his guilt-soaked hectoring and consign him to the realm of nincompoops.

Now we lurch to the presumed opposite end of the ideological spectrum. Lacking a statistically valid sample of capitalist captains of industry in my personal circle of acquaintance, I can only surmise that they do not consider themselves evil (gospel according to Dale Carnegie); they strive to ensure the general welfare and the rational allocation of resources by increasing their own wealth (see Adam Smith); and they strive to produce useful goods affordable to the hoi polloi (ordinary folk, like moi), and that consume vast quantities of fossil fuels (see Henry Ford and J.D. Rockefeller). The charitable social scientist might characterize industrialists as “amoral” because they make business decisions without regard to social or ecological consequences. Ostensibly, they measure success in terms of gross units produced and net profits, not in terms of coexisting with other inhabitants of a global ecosystem in such a way that will preserve it for the benefit of future generations. The amoral companies that manufacture machines and tools spend fantastic fortunes on advertising in order to convince us that using their products will make us happier, more prosperous, and more attractive to potential in-laws and American Idol judges. Whether for convenience, security, or conformance with social norms, we do innumerable things that damage the planet’s life support systems because we inherited a flawed economic system. We “throw stuff away.” Did I mention worrying about “sustainability” issues?

So, what can, or should, I change and what can I not? Original sin, in my quixotic conception, places me in a flawed economic system, with limited ability to ameliorate the destructive tendencies of society. I survive by eating things that once lived, on the other side of the planet. I abet the destruction of habitat by leading a suburban consumerist American lifestyle. I sometimes dispose of household toxics in the ordinary garbage. I waste water compulsively washing my hands. I use electricity generated by burning coal – even though I voluntarily pay extra so some rancher in West Texas can enjoy wind-powered electricity. I drive my car on weekends. I use plastic. On some other hand, I believe that beneficial changes will come about incrementally; that “a power greater than me” controls everything; that the laws of physics will endure, and that if something cannot go on indefinitely, it won’t (Herb Stein or J.K. Galbraith, dubious).

As hobby, psychotherapy, penance, and palliative, I plant and nurture trees, shrubs, and flowers that need little artificial supplement, once established. The beauty of the pseudo-naturalistic landscape that I help create, and that comforts a few wild creatures that happen upon it, rewards me and in some small way allows me to salve my conscience. May God enable me to learn and model worthy examples, express compassion for the travails of others, and find my appropriate cosmic path – whether in writing, paint, or song.

May you enjoy the Grace that exceeds all understanding, not worry too much, and may your successors do so also.

John Touchet, December 21, 2010, revised 12/27/2010

Niggle, niggle, niggle

2010-12-27T06:26:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Patricia Cornwell,Port Mortuary,language,writing

Port Mortuary, Dear Gentle Reader(s), by Patricia Cornwell, is another of her competent books.

There might be, however, a point over which to niggle. Since this is the final week of a year of constant caviling, let the niggling begin:

Page 29 contains this “Thick clouds pass over the oblong moon…”

Got it? Crescent moon, yes. Perhaps dish of a moon, but oblong moon?

Usually an oblong figure is classified as a rectangle, isn’t it?

Even given that a second definition of oblong is elliptical, ellipses have to have a circular element, and the concavity of the crescent prevents that element.

So authors get bored and try new combinations. That can be insightful. It can also be detrimental to the flow of the narrative.

An “oblong” moon dams the flow.

Don’t be lazy, writer.

Countdown Day

2010-12-11T05:04:00.001-08:00

Have to love these early century dates.

December 12, 2010, will go down, on many checks and letters, as 12/11/10.

…twelve…eleven…ten…

Wonder how it would’ve ended.

Repuglicans

2010-12-09T15:10:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: DADT,Republican Party,U.S. Senate

DADT fails by 3 votes.

Not much sympathy for Repuglicans for the next few years.

Now if we could only get rid of Boehner’s bitches.

(Do I sound disgruntled? Very well, then, I sound disgruntled.)

You Know It’s a Myth

2010-12-01T14:56:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Religion,Atheists,advertising

My only objection to the billboard advertising the above is the fact that it doesn’t somewhere also state that all religious writings are metaphorical.

When will we learn?

the grunge factor

2010-11-26T12:47:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Anne Hathaway,cleanliness

Anne Hathaway could well be in the running for an Academy Award for her work in Love & Other Drugs. At least she should get some sort of award for allowing herself to be photographed with dirty soles. It was definitely in keeping with the character, but what a surprise!

Blessing?

2010-11-18T13:43:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Death,Condolences,Language

An acquaintance recently responded to a condolences email by noting the death of a mother-in-law by writing that, since the woman had been bedridden and under constant nursing care for five years, her passing was a “blessing.”

My father’s response, in private, to someone who had said my mother “was better off” after her death from effects of Parkinson’s disease was “How can she be better off? She’s dead.”

It’s somehow, (or obviously), easier to pass the blessings and better offs over to the deceased than to admit that the survivors are the ones who benefit from a final moment of life, not the dead.

How we do manipulate the language to avoid saying what we mean.

Hmmm…

2010-11-08T17:58:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Fred Thompson,John F Kennedy,elections

Is there any thing sadder than watching Fred Thompson shill for reverse mortgages?

50 years ago today I cast my first vote in a presidential election—for John F. Kennedy.

Two senators, two vastly different men.

Tempus fugit.

Awwww

2010-11-08T05:26:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Cokie Roberts,NPR,Morning Edition

Isn’t it cute how NPR’s Morning Edition, after saying something like, “Cokie Roberts, who joins us every Monday morning,” now announces that Ms Roberts joins the ME hosts “most” Monday mornings.

Years of “No, she doesn’t, Gang” have ended.

Phew.

Binary Palindrome

2010-11-01T05:23:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Palindrome,Numbers

It’s rather like watching the mileage meter on your car’s dashboard rolling a series of zeroes after a string of nines. 49999.9 magically becomes 50000.0 slowly and with measured grace.

Today, November 1, 2010, will be marked, in the European Union at least, by zeroes and ones presented in various forms—01.11.10; 01/11/10; and 01-11-10.

What fun.

Headline of the Month (and a good article, too!)

2010-10-30T14:44:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Andrew Sullivan,Language,The Daily Dish,Alex Goldmark,Micromidas

Dear, Gentle Reader(s), it comes from Andrew Sullivan’s The Daily Dish, and here it is, in toto:

Killing Two Turds With One Stone

30 Oct 2010 02:14 pm

Alex Goldmark reports on Micromidas, a company that has a variety of bacteria that eat poop and poop plastic. The technology may help with sanitation and reduce the amount of plastic in our landfills:

[The people at Micromidas] take sewage and feed it to bacteria. “The bacteria store the organics as a bio-polymer ... ” Just like when we eat sugar and, through a series of metabolic processes, turn that into a fat, those little micro-buggers turn sewage into plastic in their bodies. ...[T]he end product is a high-value, low-cost plastic resin ready to be sold off, and it biodegrades in under 18 months once disposed of.

It that great, or what?

Andrew, Andrew, Andrew…alas

2010-10-29T08:11:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Andrew Sullivan,Commas,Political Science,Language

Ah, Dear Gentle Reader(s), Andrew Sullivan has posed, I think, a conundrum in a posting today on The Daily Dish.

What to do when English language writers, acting in the Germanic manner of stringing a lot of words together-schauspielhaus (show talk house)=theatre, come up with neologisms such as Sullivan’s “faux-bullshit-science” as an adjective for political science.

How do we call BS on him?

What, really, is “faux” bullshit? False bullshit? Does that make political science “real?”

Mightn’t Sullivan have meant faux science with a little bullshit science thrown in for, um, flavor?

Andrew, next time use commas. After all, you’ve been doing a meme on the final comma for a few days now.

Faux, bullshit science” reads clearer than “faux-bullshit-science.” More American, don’t cha know.

Really?

2010-10-27T15:44:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Andrew Sullivan,MSNBC,Criticism

One has to smile, Dear Gentle Reader(s).

Andrew Sullivan, he of the plummy English voice, wrote this while being slightly critical of MSNBC: “But the bias is pretty overwhelming nonetheless - and sometimes veers into suffocating smugness.”

When on his high horse, the nicest thing which can be said about Sullivan is his smugness.

Love him when he isn’t on a bender about some obscure item (Truly, isn’t Trig’s birth record so last year?!?), and refresh his page several times a day, but the last word he should use in criticizing anyone is any permutation of smug.

Ta.

Whence the editor?

2010-10-24T15:06:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Red Rain,Bruce Murkoff,Alfred A Knopf,Moon,Hudson River,Editing,Proofreading

What does it do to you, Dear Gentle Reader(s), when you run across a possible editing error on the first page of a new book?

For instance, on the first page (not numbered—what’s that about?) of the narrative of Red Rain, by Bruce Murkoff, published by Knopf, you will find, in the middle of the second paragraph, this sentence: “Now, as the sky began to lighten, the stars faded away and the moon moved eastward.”

When does the moon move eastward? What time of the year? Here, in California, the recent full moon has been rising in the east and setting in the west. Is it different in New York’s Hudson River area, the scene of the first page?

Does, perhaps, the moon seem to move eastward while sailing up the Hudson?

How much money did Murkoff or Knopf pay whoever edited this book?

We might never know.

There’s no editor in the acknowledgement paragraphs.

Hmmm.

Perhaps I just answered my own question.

Alas.

Merci, Ciel

2010-10-22T16:32:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Bill Maher,The Huffington Post,Tea Party,Elections

Thank heavens for the wit of Bill Maher via The Huffington Post.

Enjoy.

Mary Whitaker-Bono-Baxley-Mack

2010-10-21T18:39:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Mary Bono-Mack,serial monogamy,trophy wives,politics

Some fun facts about Mary Whitaker-Bono-Baxley-Mack:

Born on October 24, 1961, married Sonny Bono 1986, widowed 1998, married Glenn Baxley in 2001, divorced Glenn Baxley in 2005, married Connie Mack in 2007.

Other trivial facts:

Sonny Bono was born in 1935. Mary was his fourth wife. Sonny’s first daughter, Christine, was born on June 24, 1958. His second daughter, Chastity (Chaz), was born on March 4, 1969.

Famous line uttered by Mary Bono during the Clinton impeachment hearings, “What do we tell the children?”

Hmmm. Good question. Start with, perhaps, “trophy wife.” Continue then with serial monogamy, May-December romance, and lessons learned therefrom.

Should be a great family meal discussion.

I kid Representative Bono-Mack, R-Palm Springs.

God bless America.

Dr J (Joyce, that is)

2010-10-21T16:58:00.001-07:00

Doctor Joyce Brothers’ on television in an ad.

Lookin’ her years.

(Aren’t we all?)

Sigh.

:-[

:-]

Whatever.

Devaluation of the Mother Tongue?

2010-10-17T07:23:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Language,Gun Safety,Newspaper editors

Ah, Dear Gentle Reader(s), what is one to do?

This from the 10/17/10 print edition of The Desert Sun, p.A6:

Investigators in New Mexico say a Chaparral man who was cleaning his handgun Saturday morning accidentally shot his four-year-old son the the bullet passed through the boy and hit the man’s mother.

Dona Ana County Sheriff’s Department investigator Bo Nevarez says both are in critical condition but their wounds aren’t believed to be life-threatening.

The problem is: the condition is critical but not life-threatening.

One must ask, then, just how does one describe a condition which is life-threatening? Or, just how does a serious condition differ from a critical condition?

Back to work, English teacher colleagues (and, most importantly, editors). Words should have meaning.

The last prime time Republican to say, “I am not…”?

2010-10-12T12:40:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Richard Nixon,Christine O'Donnell

Tricky Dick Nixon said, “Your President is not a crook” in the ‘70s; now Christine O’Donnell is saying, “I am not a witch.” Separated at birth?

Turned out Nixon was, ahem, fibbing (albeit never proven in a court of law).

Now, the question is, will history repeat itself?

Trust, but verify.

Is this really what God had in mind?

2010-10-02T08:47:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Andrew Sullivan,Pakistan,Women's Rights,Culture

Try this one, Dear Gentle Reader(s). Andrew Sullivan has this little gem on his Daily Dish blog included in a bit titled, “How To Write About Pakistan”:

If woman [sic] are on the cover, then the two possible Pakistans are expressed through choice of clothing: is it bridal wear or burkhas?

On the subject of women, they never have agency. Unless they break all the rules, in which case they’re going to end up dead. I don’t think there’s anything else to be said about them, is there?

The author, one Mohammed Hanif, is being facetious one hopes. Even in jest, though, given what we’ve been told about the treatment of women in that area, this is harsh.

An anthropology professor once warned about “arrogance” which sometimes infected the biases of one culture’s observations of another’s.

Keeping in mind the dangers of hubris still allows, I hope, the observation that this attitude towards women cannot be what the Creator worshipped by this culture, and similar cultures, had in mind.

It’s the tick-tick-tick, Stupid!

2010-09-23T12:41:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Entitlements,Information,Pulse dialing,tone dialing,Political patience

Well, something like that.

It probably started with pigeons. Or smoke signals. Or signal flares. Pony Express. Telegraph. Telephone. Radio. Television. You get the picture.

Information now is the by-word. No more Battle of New Orleans fought after the peace treaty has been signed.

All of that, however, is only the background in which the problems for President Obama are set. Instant gratification has become the standard by which much of our lives are measured.

Health care now. End DADT now. Microwave meals now.

How did we come to this level of expectation for our wants and desires?

Tone dialing.

Tick; tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick; tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick; tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick; tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick; tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick; tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick; tick-tick-tick; tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick; tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick; tick-tick-tick; is how long it takes to dial my phone number on a land line if one were to use pulse dialing; and beep-bip-bop-beep-beep-bap-bup-bip-bap-bup for tone.

We have been programmed for now. We find it entirely too frustrating to wait for discussion, debate, and compromise.

Anyone thinking things will speed up beginning on January 3, 2011?

Bleep.

She’s got…gonads

2010-09-09T04:54:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Ann Coulter,Townhall.com

The muckroom over at Townhall.com is ever the source of amazement. OK, not amazing amazement, but at least a little eye-rolling.

Today, 9/9/10, we have this from the muckroom’s email. It’s the teaser from an offering by Ann Coulter:

Ann Coulter: Bonfire of the Insanities
Gen. Petraeus objected to the Quran-burning protest on the grounds that it could be used by radical jihadists to recruit Muslims to attack Americans. If the general's main objective is to hamper jihadist recruiting, may I respectfully suggest unconditional surrender?

The article itself is the usual tripe. Ho-hum. Still, the teaser is great. Smear the intelligence of the “hero of the Surge,” not to mention a hero of the Bush II war of choice.

Hey, it’s your book, but…

2010-08-31T11:30:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Diction,Editing,Writing,Michael Grant,Doubleday

What good does a book editor do when he lets the author get away with nonsense?

We’ve discussed the idiocy of “could of” instead of “could’ve.” It’s time to look at “could care less.” A particular favorite of mine.

What’s particularly exasperating is when a published author from a major publishing house uses it. What in the world did the book’s editor do to earn his keep?

Take, for instance, Michael Grant’s Line of Duty, page 172, where, in a narrative paragraph, the author, describing a character’s state of mind, writes, “Still, Stone could care less.”

Really? How much less?

Sloppy work, guys. The story deserves better, so do your readers.

Do a better job, ed. Think about what you’re doing to the language, writer. Know your tools, both.

(Of course, this particular horse is well out of the barn, the book was published in 1991. Still, there might be a young writer or editor who can be saved from himself.)

Wha’d I miss?

2010-08-30T15:23:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Mad Men,Slate.com

There are, as of a very recent count, 1975 comments to the Slate.com discussion panel on Mad Men.

With repeat comments, that puts the number of people who take time to discuss the show at well over 1,000; and their comments indicate they pay close attention.

I like Mad Men. I’m astonished, though, that it raises such commitment.

Ought I to be paying more attention?

A Contemporary Dilemma for Agnostics

2010-08-23T12:10:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Agnostics,afterlife,Emma Darwin,religion,myths

Given the limitations of language, a good argument can be made for defining everyone as agnostic. No matter whether or not we believe or don’t believe, we don’t, and we can’t, know.

It doesn’t take much observation, however, to know that eliminating some of the myths about religion have the potential for devastation to the lives of many believers.

To some it seems logical that the sooner such ideas as some sort of “life” after death, a life that is a continuation of whatever life had been lived while on earth, the better off the human race will be with that particular political tool removed from discourse.

What, though, would be the effect of an overnight elimination of “life after death?” How would that play with the millions of people who are not engaged in politics?

Page 233 of The Cabal, by David Hagberg, Hadid speaks of his recently killed wife and son, ”They are waiting for me in Paradise. This I truly believe and it gives me comfort.”

Emma Darwin so wanted to believe in afterlife that she is reported to have influenced her husband’s writings to mitigate the obvious nihilistic conclusions of his theory of evolution.

Virtually daily reminders of the promises of rewards in afterlife remind us of how this myth can be used as a tool to ensnare believers into political acts.

But what about the families of those so deluded? What can be offered to them to ease their pain?

Where is their comfort?

Ain’t gonna no mo’ [buy ‘em]

2010-08-20T06:23:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: James Patterson,book publishing

For several years now, a colleague of mine has been expressing doubts about the quality of the fiction produced by James Patterson.

It turns out there’s reason, and it’s been around for almost a year now.

Patterson, last September, signed a contract to produce 17 books by the end of 2012.

Not bad, eh wot?

Not necessarily good, either, if one considers the quality of the product. Books, successful books, well-written [i.e., well-thought-out] books can be produced in such quantity with such a timeline?

We’ll see.

It might be wise, though, to let someone else pay for those books as they come out. Let someone else be the reading public’s guinea pig.

Perhaps my friend won’t be so willing to buy the latest by “a New York Times” best seller.

How’s this for strange? (Updated)

2010-08-13T07:42:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: The Desert Sun,USA TODAY,Gannett,Palm Springs

Went out to retrieve the paper this morning and had a surprise. Instead of The Desert Sun, I was greeted by USA TODAY.

WTF?

No warning. Just USA TODAY.

I don’t like USA TODAY. I think it’s a little too facile. No depth. And certainly no information about Palm Springs or the Coachella Valley.

I wonder if Gannett, which publishes both papers, thought we wouldn’t notice.

I also wonder what the advertisers, whose ads are not on several hundred driveways this morning, think about the switch. Or if the advertisers were told about it.

Refunds, anyone?

My subscription cost some $200 a year. Money in the bank for me if this wasn’t some sort of monumental screw-up. 7 bottles of Bombay Gin—on sale at Ralphs. I can live with that.

(Business hours begin at 10:00a.m. today. I can hardly wait.)

UPDATE: TF Turns out it was a delivery problem. Only some of us got USA TODAY. That doesn’t explain why the local coin box didn’t have today’s paper, but that’s a different WTF.

The Final Word on Same-Sex “Marriage”

2010-08-12T07:20:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Same-Sex Marriage,Rights,The Desert Sun,Jodie Griffin

Finally, Dear Gentle Reader(s), someone has come up with the absolutely last, ultimate, final word on why “gay people” should not be allowed to call their committed relationships “marriage.”

From The Desert Sun:

As far as I'm concerned, (gay people) can and should have all the rights as anyone else, except to call their union “marriage.”

When they call the union married, it infringes on my right to be identified as being married to one from the opposite sex.

When asked or questioned if I'm married, I shouldn't have to explain whether it is to a male or female.

Jodie Griffin
Palm Desert

Makes sense, eh wot? Really. How is it possible to forge a refutation?

The right not to have to say, “I’m married to a male” is surely embedded in the Constitution…somewhere. Now, if I could just find my copy to read it…

Congratulations, Jodie Griffin of Palm Desert. You’ve earned a spot in philosophical history books!

Political Inanity of the Day

2010-08-11T06:51:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: John Beoit,Riverside County,Budget,Diction

It comes in The Desert Sun, and from the inimitable supervisor for the 5th District of Riverside County, John Benoit.

Regarding a newly approved budget, Benoit says, “[Citizens] are going to see some levels of reduction of service, but we hope they're not really visible.”

Perhaps we citizens will have X-ray eyes of some sort.

OK By Me

2010-08-10T14:56:00.001-07:00

The newest wrinkle about the “Ground Zero” mosque? A gay bar next door which would cater to Moslem gays with an “alcohol free” floor.

OK by me. There should be a gay bar next to every church, mosque, synagogue, and temple on earth.

Let Freedom Ring.

Sad

2010-07-31T20:38:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Tea Party types,Friends,Protests

Just spent a few moments surfing Facebook likes/dislikes.

Found one which had the following:

American Patriots:
Rush Limbaugh
Glen Beck
Sean Hannity
Sara Palin
(Honorable Mention)
Fox News Commentators

Hard to believe.

Unless, of course, he was reverting to his old prank of hustling others to do something he wouldn’t think of doing himself: Once he led a march at college protesting the Kent State shootings, except when it looked like the police were going to take some action, he scooted, leaving some of our mutual friends to be tear gassed and arrested.

I hope it’s just the prankster returning.

A Tale of Two Ideas about one subject

2010-07-26T05:41:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: New York Times,Paul Krugman,Ross Douthat,Climate change

The New York Times today carries a mini debate between Paul Krugman and Ross Douthat concerning global warming.

They both discuss, essentially, how we got to the point at which we find ourselves. Both raise interesting points which converge ironically, in the final paragraphs.

Krugman ends with “Greed, aided by cowardice, has triumphed;” Douthat with “sometimes it makes sense to wait, get richer, and then try to muddle through.” (Emphasis added.)

Two mentions for greed, one for cowardice.

Greed wins.

Wanted: Spell Check for frmr gov, near veep

2010-07-19T07:17:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Palin,Republicans,Language

Of all the gaffes, this is the best one in years:

Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn’t it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate

The idea of a new verb, to refudiate, might be a good one.

Let’s hope the Republican electorate puts it to good use in the near future.

Trust, but verify. (And Spell Check can help with that—although maybe Facebook doesn’t have that app.)

Social Security at 70? Maybe.

2010-07-16T14:23:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Social Security

There are discussions about deficit reduction, entitlements, saving Social Security and Medicare. One of the ideas floated recently is raising the Social Security retirement age to 70.

From this side of 70—72—I can see a benefit to this, with some qualifications.

When I retired at 60 in 1998, I figured to start an “early” Social Security withdrawal at 62, and that’s what I finally did.

At the time I had an option of starting an early withdrawal at a considerable reduction in benefits. I don’t remember the exact amount, but I’d say it was in the 50% range.

My needs are small. My teaching pension is small-ish, but doable. The extra couple of hundred bucks was very helpful, and I saw no benefit to wait three years for plus five hundred dollars. I’ve been lucky, got a break in housing five years ago. And now, at 72, with a bit of Depression Era mind set from my parents, I’m not in trouble unless California truly succumbs to the Republican mantra of “starve the beast.” (!)

If the retirement age for Social Security were to be enacted, along with a similar draw-down for “early” withdrawal pensioners, and some good luck along the way, surely there would be enough who would decide to take a smaller payment, and, thereby, the system would be a bit more sustainable.

With enough education, and enough time to develop private pensions, the system will be OK.

Let’s begin a discussion. Speak with Social Security recipients. Maybe we can help.

Harsh Short Stories

2010-06-27T19:32:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Burning Bright,Ron Rash,Short Stories,Southern Gothic

Burning Bright, a collection of short stories by Ron Rash, is worth your time, Dear Gentle Reader(s).

The first couple are somewhat harsh to read. They do, however, inoculate against the remaining stories, making them easier to take.

If Southern Gothic doesn’t fit these, it should.

Enjoy. If that’s the correct word.

Boom! Bust! Saving Grace…meh

2010-06-21T18:15:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Saving Grace,TV writing

The series finale for Saving Grace was a partial disappointment.

The whole Grace-as-off-the-tracks first part lacked sense. All during the series Grace Hanadarko was her own person, in charge. During the penultimate scenes she was acting out a moment in the life of the little girl who died under the wheels of Grace’s car, but whose death was the result of a series of normal activities, none of which could be assigned ultimate responsibility. Yet Grace assumed the total burden to the point of virtual suicide.

What was that about? If there was a rationale for the arc, writers, you didn’t get your point across very well.

The whole angel angle of the series was amusing and interesting. It is, however, a lose-lose proposition. The presence of angels is speculation. And the presence of “evil” which bleeds and can be wiped out in an explosion is speculation to the nth degree.

At least we got to see Ken Johnson once more as a sweat (or baby oil) drenched lover.

(Corny saluting bit, too.)

Loved the series; not so much the finale.

Brachytherapy 28 months later

2010-06-18T06:56:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Brachytherapy

As part of the brachytherapy treatment for prostate cancer is a prescription for certain hormones which assist the remnants of the prostate gland. A side effect of this prescription is “breast enlargement.”

Guess what that means.

Alas.

:-{

(Actually it’s :-)…what a joke!)

Fathers’ Day

2010-06-17T07:55:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: New York Times,Nicholas Kristof,Father's Day

Hie the hence, Dear Gentle Reader(s), and get thee over to The New York Times website to Nicholas Kristof’s column today and read about a wonderful rat.

And Fathers’ Day.

And this wonderful quote: “Father’s Day tends to be less a celebration of fatherhood than a triumph of commercialism.”

You’ll be glad you did.

And Happy Everybody’s Day.

If you don’t like puns…

2010-06-14T06:25:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Steve Rushin,The Pint Man

…or word play…or stale jokes which have been revived, then don’t read The Pint Man by Steve Rushin. You won’t like it.

If you do like puns, etc., this is the book for you.

Great names in women’s sports

2010-06-13T15:52:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: WPGA,Lesbia Lobo

Lesbia Lobo.

Beat that, if you can!

A 60’s Lesson for the 2010’s

2010-06-05T07:56:00.001-07:00

Remember, Dear Gentle Reader(s), the 1960’s?

No? Yes?

Well for those of you who do, here’s a reminder; for those of you who don’t, here’s a tidbit.

There was a wonderful bumper sticker with a good lesson for us today. For the “entitlement” generation, whether we’re new to it or not, the lesson on the sticker is:

“Ass, Gas, or Grass! No one rides for free”

There’s always a price to be paid by someone.

April in Paris

2010-05-07T18:19:00.001-07:00

Back on April 23, on a lay-over in Paris, I came across this building near the Eiffel Tower. It faces the Seine, and has the most interesting facade.

All vegetation for some three stories.

Wonder how they do that.

April Fool!

2010-04-04T05:43:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: US Centcom,Sweden,pirates

They thought they’d get away with it.

From Centcom, the story of a pirate attack gone awry.

Enjoy the read.

Hurray for our team!

(Of course, it begs the question of what drives a person to go from a 7 pound infant to a pirate.)

A theological question (Seriously!)

2010-04-02T07:59:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Box Turtle Bulletin,Old Testament,Jesus,Molotov Mitchell

In Box Turtle Bulletin, a website I visit daily, appears this quote (attributed to a particularly virulent homophobe): “Because, God makes the rules and Jesus didn’t abolish the Old Testament.” (Actually, the Bulletin doesn’t use the quotes, I’m doing a little creative editing, but the sense is not violated.)

The question, in the Easter season of 2010, then, is, “If Jesus didn’t abolish the Old Testament, what was the point of his life and death?”

Just askin’.

Let me offer a thought…

2010-03-26T10:45:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Child abuse,Religion,Sin,Crime

…about the current brouhaha about abuse of children by religious persons.

Centuries ago religions, rather than deal with evil, got ensnared in the concept of "sin," which encompasses the concept of redemption.

The problem today is that criminal activity has been hiding under "sin," and the church has been responding the only way it can respond as an institution dedicated to the eradication of sin.

If we insert evil whenever we discuss sin, we’d have a better moral compass for daily life.

Ah, the finger

2010-02-15T06:55:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Brachytherapy,Digital exam

As you might recall, Dear Gentle Reader(s), two years ago there was a little tussle with “the old man’s” disease, during which I learned of the suffix brachy. (It means, more or less, short.)

The GP who got the show on the road once blithely informed that the digital prostate exam was not on his plate because his “finger is too short” to reach the affected organ.

Many a dinner party has been enlivened by the sharing of that bit of information, as you can well imagine!

Upon hearing of a cramping in the general prostate (or what’s left of it) area, said doctor recently sent this as part of an email exchange: “If you are continuing to have pain than I would suggest
Antibiotics x 10 days and if not better a urology finger thingy.”

“finger thingy.”

Ya have ta love it!

More dinner party fodder.

Thanks, Doc.

:-)

Did Tebow or Fockus on the Family or CBS punt?

2010-02-07T19:04:00.000-08:00

[Tebow ad,Focus on the Family,CBS]
I saw only one ad by the Tebows. It was tame; it didn't really raise the issues which have been discussed for the past week or so.
Who punted?
Who had the most to lose?
Or was that the intent all along? (To get people upset?)
Strange.

Super Bowl 44 (Who remembers Roman numerals?) Ads

2010-02-07T19:01:00.000-08:00

[Superbowl ads]
The ads during the first half were better than the game; the 2nd half starts with a great two minutes.
Kia ad strange.
So far the Snickers, Monster.com, and Doritos non-bark collar are winners. Ms Tebow looks a little brittle.
Vizio ad very interesting, if a bit scary.
Emerald snacks a bit cheesy.
Dante's Inferno game...why al the scifi?
Bud calf and colt ad cute; animals are always cute in the ads.
Denny's screaming chickens another strange one. Funny...but...
3:24 to go and the Saints are leading. Who woulda thunk?
Audi green police ad very good message.
Sir Charles, selling Taco Bell...um...well, it pays.
Three things can happen with a pass, and two of them are bad. the Colts just learned that lesson in spades.
Tim's Doritos ad very funny. Looks like Doritos wins the Ad Super Bowl 44!
Bud's Book Club ad is funny...a bit demeaning, but funny.
(LXIV)
Wow!
Congrats, Saints.

McChrystal takes a turn

2010-02-06T06:02:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Afghanistan,McChrystal,Centcom

General McChrystal, Dear Gentle Reader(s), has come out with a different statement about the situation in Afghanistan than the one he issued last spring.

You’ll find the complete article at Centcom’s web site. Here is the beginning:

Although he stopped short of saying the worst is over for troops as they prepare to surge into some of the toughest Taliban-held areas, the top NATO and U.S. commander in Afghanistan said here today that conditions no longer are deteriorating.

“I am not prepared to say that we have turned the corner. I am saying that the situation is serious. But I think we have made significant progress in setting conditions in 2009, and … we’ll make real progress in 2010…”

One hopes that his words are prescient.

Trust, but verify.

Alas, even my favorite digital cartoonist…

2010-01-20T07:28:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Ann Telnaes,Washington Post,Diction

…has fallen to the enemies of good diction.

Ann Telnaes, Political Animation cartoonist for The Washington Post, has a very astute eye, and I recommend her insight even when I (rarely) disagree with her point.

That willingness to embrace her philosophy does not, however, extend to her occasional gaffe, in my opinion, regarding diction and the representation on the page thereof.

In today’s animation, Telnaes depicts President Obama’s signature slogan, “Yes We Can” re-written as “Yes You Should Of.”

Once again, Correct-Man points out that the vocalization of the abbreviation of the verb have is something like “uhv.” In other words “’ve” has the same vocal attributes as “of.” So it is more correct to write “should’ve” from a phonetic point than “should of.”

Telnaes, you wonderful person, ya shoulda known better.

Vocabulary lessons abound

2010-01-11T14:29:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Supreme Court,Legal Times,vocabulary

The Supreme Court has become a forum for vocabulary lessons. Try this bit of amusement over at BLT (it isn’t a sandwich) which discusses romanette and orthogonal.

(Well, I found it amusing.)

Pleeze forgeeeve me…

2010-01-10T16:20:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Senator Reid,Judy Canova,Stepin Fetchit,Accents,President Obama

…for speakin’ een your face, Senorita.”*

Using quotes from a soon-to-be-released political book, the e-zine Salon quotes Nevada Senator Harry Reid saying, in 2008, that candidate Obama as a black man "with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one” could be elected to the White House.

Such a brouhaha has arisen.

My Deep South, East Texas, Southwestern Louisiana childhood informs my response to this kerfuffle: it’s a tempest in a truthful teapot. *The quote is from very popular radio program in the 1940s. It’s a worker on one of the Judy Canova radio shows; it was his signature entry speech. It got laughs every time he delivered it. It was a popular radio show using dialects as a comic tool.

Does anyone think for a second that if Mr. Obama’s voice was similar to that of Jessie Jackson’s or Stepin Fetchit’s that he would be the President of the United States today? Surely he would have been dismissed out of hand.

We have built-in vocal biases that we work to overcome. We deal, although not always honorably, with Southern accents, Appalachian accents, Boston accents, Brooklyn accents, and “Ebonics” (remember that?), just to name a few. Each one of those accents give background to how we respond to what is said. Some responses are positive, others not so much.

What Senator Reid said, and remember, it was a private conversation, makes perfect sense to me. The President’s rhetorical skills and cultured voice and diction went a long way to assuaging the American public that he was not a figure to be feared. That allowed many to overlook racial and class barriers and to cast their votes as they did. (Just how many did not are legion and have kept up the yammering are there for the world to see on a daily basis.)

Political correctness was better for the nation when it was conscientious awareness. Those were the days when you tried not to be offensive out of respect for fellow human beings. Nowadays we’re pilloried for forthrightness which is not soaked in pablum.

Let’s get real. Let the good Senator work on real problems without distraction.

Who Knew?

2009-12-20T08:31:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Obituaries,Friends and Lovers

Here’s a mildly interesting line from an obituary which appears in a local paper:

“He was preceded in death by many who knew and loved him.”

Words, Words,Words 12/10/09

2009-12-10T08:45:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Los Angeles Times,Henry Chu,language,idioms

Ya gotta love ‘em, our idioms. You can’t really turn off a light; you can move a switch to the off position.

“Pre-sale” by now is ubiquitous, although it’s nonsense. There’s another one which is not quite so widespread, but only because, one supposes, there’s not that frequent an opportunity to use it. Henry Chu of the Los Angeles Times delves into his easy phrases in “Epilogue to tale of novelist’s success” and trots out this curiosity: “untimely death.”

“Untimely death,” eh?

One wonders exactly what a timely death would be, and who would decide upon the timeliness of it.

At least it isn’t used quite as often as pre-sale. It’s almost as much fun, though.

Just wonderin’.

Fun Words

2009-11-30T09:09:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Language,TV ads,LOGO

There’s an ad running on LOGO which touts the benefits of the “Shake Weight.” One shakes the weighted object much like one would shake a martini, but with both hands. It’s supposed to assist in firming up the upper under arm muscles.

Fine.

What’s fun is the use of a new “technique” called dynamic inertia.

Dynamic inertia.

A wonderful oxymoron for a mere $19.99.

Fun moments

2009-11-29T11:00:00.001-08:00

Technorati Tags: Quick memories,movies,Jurassic Park

Fleeting: the scene in one of the Jurassic Park movies where the camera captured the passenger mirror reflecting a dinosaur’s eye with the warning: Objects are closer…

Here a monk, there a monk, everywhere a monk, monk

2009-10-29T06:39:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Benedictine Order,Townhall.com,Monks,Penises,Parents,Euphemisms

Apropos of absolutely very little, The Muckroom over at Townhalldotcom features an anti-choice article which uses a Benedictine order as a platform.

The article references an ad by the monastery which queries “Got Monks?”

My parents, Dear Gentle Reader(s), for reasons which I never questioned, when discussing…um…privates with my brothers and myself, referred to the penis as a monk.

How many times I heard some variation of “Wash your monk,” “Did you wash your monk?” “Be sure to…” is lost to the ages; but it was at least once a day until I was old enough, and trained well enough, not to have to be asked or reminded.

I’d never seen the Benedictine ad (which was designed as a recruiting tool—no pun intended—for the Order), but the answer to the question is “No.”

Plural penises? Ridiculous.

Reasoning out parental euphemisms? Impossible.

Writing about Monks/monks? Quite fun, actually.

Ya gotta love…

2009-10-18T17:47:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Orbitz,American Express,BBC Ameica,Jamaica

…the Orbitz commercial with the hovercraft (is that what they call those things which fly over land?) guy greeting “The Hernandez..es..es..”

Perfectly captures the American problem with plurals of names ending in the “s” or “z” sounds.

On the other hand, American Express and BBCAmerica show and have their names associated with an ad for Jamaica—possibly the most homophobic country in the Western Hemisphere.

Ah, well.

With joy comes sorrow.

From Whence?

2009-10-09T09:54:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: TNR,Michael Crowley,President Obama,Nobel Peace Prize,language

Well, Dear Gentle Reader(s), it didn’t take the nay-sayers much time to toss their little water balloons at President Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize.

One of the many amusements attendant on their usual divertissements, is the way they use the language.

Take this example, from the on-line presentation of TNR: from whence it comes.

Even though cited as used by Graham Greene, from whence is redundant. It’s more “green” to say “whence it comes” since the definition of whence includes from.

Save ink, bytes, paper, and energy. Learn the nuances of the language. It’s patriotic.

Oh, and congrats to President Obama for the Prize and for the very nice speech at the White House Rose Garden this morning.

Good luck with that

2009-10-07T05:57:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Afthanistan,Britain,New York Times,Taliban

It seems, Dear Gentle Reader(s), that there is some faith in the eventual success of NATO (read: U.S.) bringing some sort of democratized stability to Afghanistan.

The New York Times reports that British authorities have returned some 2,000 artifacts of Afghanistan’s history to Afghanistan’s National Museum.

Now, if Britain will step up and help NATO (see supra) secure the political situation in Afghanistan so those treasures will be safeguarded against a Taliban return to power, all will be truly well.

Yeah. Well…

Final moments of a bar

2009-09-29T08:35:00.001-07:00

How much pleasure there is in eking out the last little bit of use of a bar of soap!

At least 5 or 6 more hand washings, don’t you think?

Ahhhhh.

So, What is “is”?

2009-09-22T06:17:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: National Law Journal,Federal courts,President Clinton,President Bush,truth

Ah, Dear Gentle Reader(s), who will ever forget the immortal words of the President when he said, “It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is' is…”

Now we have a new phrase to contemplate. Because of what a judge felt was some prosecutorial misconduct, she ordered a new trial for a defendant. The prosecution is arguing that the judge should not grant a new trial because the testimony of the witness whose testimony was involved in the brouhaha was “truthful, but inaccurate.”

It’s a federal case. The title of the article cited reads “Prosecutors defend false testimony as 'truthful, but inaccurate'.” It’s fun to read.

Truthful but inaccurate.

Well, that lets the Bush administration off the hook for a great many supposed ills. “What I said in court was truthful, your Honor, but a tad inaccurate.” “When I spoke of weapons of mass destruction, I was being truthful, but inaccurate.”

Here a Czar, there a Czar…

2009-09-20T19:59:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Czars,Republican Party,Right wingnuts.

Of all the inanities of the right wing blather, nothing makes less sense than the “czar”-ing of the Obama administration.

Google search indicates that possibly Nixon was the first person to use the word—unofficially.

It’s just a shortcut way of talking about a person’s responsibilities. Yet the right wing blathosphere would have us believe that there’s a Russian cabal running the country out of the West Wing.

Nutty people.

This cannot be good

2009-09-10T06:10:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Free Speech,Corporations,US Supreme Court

First Amendment’s protection of “free” speech is poised to allow the false metaphorical “Fire!!!!” in a crowded theatre to become, for the first time, protected.

How a corporation came to be regarded as an entity entitled to the same protections as human beings is a mystery to all who aren’t minions of mega-profits, but there it is.

And here, from the website of The National Law Journal, is the first whiff of the possible demise of politics as we know it:

After an extraordinary 90 minutes of oral argument in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, it seemed likely that the [Supreme] Court, swayed by arguments in favor of First Amendment rights for corporations, was ready to embark on a new course that critics say could unleash a flood of corporate wealth into elections that are already awash in more regulated kinds of campaign spending.

If “We, the people” have been guaranteed that our voices will be heard in the halls of government, we are about to lose much of whatever influence our voices may have to the virtually unlimited treasuries of corporations, whose money equals speech in the eyes of the Supreme Court.

Shhhhh, Dear Gentle Reader(s). Practice being quiet.

O Afghanistan

2009-09-06T05:31:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Afghanistan,Tom Friedman,Nicholas Kristof,President Obama,George Will,Charlie Wilson,The New York Times,The Washington Post

All of a sudden, there is a spate of political pundits focusing on the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, and what they are saying isn’t pretty.

On September 1, George F Will offered “Time to get out of Afghanistan” in The Washington Post.

Today, September 6, Thomas L. Friedman offers “From baby-sitting to adoption” and Nicholas D. Kristof “The Afghanistan abyss” in The New York Times.

Friedman and Kristof are both progressives, Will isn’t.

Friedman and Kristof suggest debate and caution regarding increasing American troop levels. Will suggests off-shore military involvement.

Iraq is/was a war of “choice.” Is Afghanistan a war of futility?

How does President Obama deal with the unintended consequences of Charlie Wilson’s War?

Trust, but verify.

Ohh, Wasp! Wherefore thy sting?

2009-09-05T12:53:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: NPR,Wasps,Orchids,Sex

Um, here’s one for you, Dear Gentle Reader(s). Back on August 22, NPR broadcast an item, “Orchids: 'Inflatable Love Dolls Of The Floral Kingdom.'” Basically it discussed the way certain orchids trick unsuspecting bees into a pollination tryst.

Down in the story occurs this referring to a certain type of wasp which also is fooled by an orchid:

"having sex with anything that moves, on balance, is a good reproductive strategy for males." A male wasp that's overly picky about its mates will end up leaving less offspring than a male that goes off and has sex with anything that looks like a wasp.

“…anything that moves…”

Hmmm.

Sounds like some people I’ve known.

Oligarhy? And this guy’s influential?!?

2009-08-29T11:21:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Glen Beck,SCOTUS,Spelling,Fox News

Glen Beck needs help.

Here’s a link to a You Tube video taken from his newscast of last Thursday.

Watch closely—well, not really; don’t watch if you don’t want to—to see Mr Beck make a fool of himself on national television, and think about how easily it would’ve been to prevent that moment if only he’d had some intelligent backup from his assistants, and editors, and the Fox directors, and just about anyone else who is working behind the scenes.

Watch Beck cleverly come up with the word du jour for his telecast.

And then weep for the right wing who hail this guy as an intellectual hero.

Weep for the rest of us, too. We have collectively fallen so far. Thank SCOTUS for their 2000 interference.

50 years?

2009-08-26T14:16:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: U.S. Supreme Court,David Souter

The BLT (blog of Legal Times) tells us that retired Supreme Court Justice David Souter has put a hold on his papers for 50 years.

That means the machinations of the Rehnquist Court during the time of the 2000 Bush v Gore deliberations will not be available to most people who cared—like those whose relatives died in Iraq.

Say it ain’t so, Dave.

Tory/Spectator::Republican/Townhall.com

2009-08-21T07:01:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: The Spectator,Conservative Pundits,British NHS

It is, Dear Gentle Reader(s), ubiqitous.

One might think the Republican right might be the only group of people who would rather snipe and cavil than enter into a serious discussion about matters of import.

Wrong.

For an example of how the right wing Tory (ooops, Conservative) Party of the U.K. thinks, just trundle over to the website of The Spectator. Much smoke and quip, little substance.

Read, for a sentence or two, you won’t need more, the article entitled “If the NHS is ‘fair’, give me unfairness any day.” It’s written by one James Delingpole, possibly a leading quipster for the Spectator stable. He’s not quite WFBuckley supercilious, but he comes close.

Ah those conservatives. As dependable as the rising sun. But infinitely of less worth.

Would you pull the switch?

2009-08-18T07:24:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Death Penalty,Supreme Court of West Virginia,The New York Times

A bit of a controversy, Dear Gentle Reader(s), has arisen over the death penalty, and it comes from recent writings by two members of the U.S. Supreme Court.

Here’s the original link. It’s a New York Times article referring to a recent Court decision to hear a death penalty case.

Here are two interesting viewpoints:

1) “The substantial risk of putting an innocent man to death,” Justice [John Paul] Stevens wrote in a concurrence joined by Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Stephen G. Breyer, “clearly provides an adequate justification for holding an evidentiary hearing.”

2) “This court has never held,” Justice [Antonin] Scalia wrote, “that the Constitution forbids the execution of a convicted defendant who had a full and fair trial but is later able to convince a habeas court that he is ‘actually’ innocent.”

While the first example seems a given; the second seems somehow illogical.

Don’t we all, by now, understand that “a full and fair trial” is more of a goal to which we might aspire but might never know if we have attained?

Full? Has every last iota of evidence been offered and considered? Fair? Is the prosecution interested in Justice or conviction rate? Is the defense interested in Justice or manipulating the system?

If Justice Scalia’s statement is correct, and the Constitution does not forbid the execution of a person in the situation described by him, ought it so to do?

R.I.P.

2009-08-09T07:22:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Atomic energy,Atomic bomb

Nagasaki, Japan, August 9, 1945. Estimated 39,000 instant deaths. 2nd atomic bomb attack on an enemy city.

A must read

2009-08-08T12:58:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Andrew Sullivan,Right Wing Populism

Hie thee, Dear Gentle Reader(s), over to Andrew Sullivan’s The Daily Dish to be enriched a submission by one of his readers.

It’s a response to one of Sullivan’s entries in which he asks “Is your bubble bursting?” a reference to the dismay some progressives are evincing about the slowness of Mr. Obama’s progressive campaign agenda.

The unnamed reader explains, quite accurately, the right wing populism now sweeping the country.

If you’ve ever wondered about those people, this writer nails ‘em.

Hiroshima

2009-08-06T05:44:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Hiroshima,World War II,Atomic energy

Remember, Dear Gentle Reader(s), that today is Hiroshima Day—64 years ago the atomic bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.

A pause for reflection is in order.