Guns

So, I want to respond to the NRA with a question.  Should elementary schools be able to withstand a military assault?  Because this is what putting an armed guard in says.  That it is the responsibility of the institution to defend itself.  I know that slippery slope arguments are often specious, but I put this up, where do we stop? 

When did violence become the default position?  I don't think it actually is.  I think there are a small number of unhappy people (many who don't even realize that they are unhappy) who think of the world in these terms.  The rest of us assume that most people are good enough, and want the same things we do.  

I have more to say about this.  But not now.  Later.

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth

...this fits with my experience of non-traumatic death as well. I know not where we go, but I am utterly convinced that there is something, call it soul, call it whatever you want, that exceeds the bounds of this lifetime. And to be there in that moment when it unbinds itself from flesh is to be touched by transcendence. I can't put it into words and I don't try to. To limit the experience to language is to lose the experience. (Does that make sense to anyone else?)

This Made Me Cry

Why I will be voting for the incumbant.

"In an effort to cool the situation down, it didn't come from me, it didn't come from Secretary Clinton. It came from people on the ground who are potentially in danger," Obama said. "And my tendency is to cut folks a little bit of slack when they're in that circumstance, rather than try to question their judgment from the comfort of a campaign office." [Here]

Between living in the Republican South, and wishing to keep peace with a beloved  member of my family, I learned to temper my approval.  Here on my blog that no one reads, allow me to say, "I love our President." 

 And from the Vanity Fair article by Michael Lewis:

 That evening he sat down at his desk in the White House residence, in the Treaty Room, and pulled out a yellow legal pad and a No. 2 ­ ­pencil. When we think of a presidential speech we think of the bully pulpit—the president trying to persuade the rest of us to think or feel in a certain way. We do not think of the president sitting down and trying to persuade himself to think or feel a certain way first. But Obama does—he subjects himself to a kind of inner bully pulpit.

Actually, he didn’t toss his speechwriters’ work in the garbage can, not right away. Instead he copied it out, their entire 40-minute speech. “It helped organize my thoughts,” he says. “What I had to do is describe a notion of a just war. But also acknowledge that the very notion of a just war can lead you into some dark places. And so you can’t be complacent in labeling something just. You need to constantly ask yourself questions.” He finished around five in the morning. “There are times when I feel like I’ve grabbed onto the truth of something and I’m just hanging on,” he says. “And my best speeches are when I know what I’m saying is true in a fundamental way. People find their strength in different places. That’s where I’m strong.”

A few hours later he handed his speechwriters six sheets of yellow paper filled with his small, tidy script. In receiving a prize for peace, speaking to an audience primed for pacifism, he’d made the case for war. When the president handed him this speech, Rhodes had two reactions. The first was that there is no obvious political upside to it....

 This image of the president, alone, in time he could be sleeping, figuring out what he thinks and believes.  Its been awhile since I've seen someone like that in a position of power.  Not the people I work for, not the people I vote for.  I have a lot of respect for that.

Random convergence of thoughts

"If I had my druthers, I'd move the writers room completely off the production cycle -- I believe Breaking Bad does this.  All scripts written before prep, so you're not laying track just in front of the train." - John Rogers, Leverage Producer on his blog Kung Fu Monkey

This is interesting because I have thought that this would be the only way Firefly would ever get made again.  Write ten episodes, figure out the logistics, and then shoot as actors became available, very out of order.  I don't think Firefly is likely to get made again.  But you never know.  Trek and all. 

Ooooh Ooooh Oooh, Does a hurricaine count?

"'This could be a Mount Carmel moment,' said the former Arkansas governor [Mike Huckabee], referring to the holy battle between Elijah and the prophets of Baal in the book of Kings. 'You know, you bring your gods. We’ll bring ours. We’ll see whose God answers the prayers and brings fire from heaven. That’s kind of where I’m praying: that there will be fire from heaven, and we’ll see it clearly, and everyone else will to.'"
From Politico


I am averse to reading too much meaning into natural events, but the hurricane blowing out the first day of your conference is just too rich.  And what a set up by Huckabee.

Short thoughts

1. The queen was herself born in Beatrice's position, older daughter of the second son, the Duke of York.  Until Catherine has children and/or Harry marries and does, they'd do well to keep her tied in tightly.
2. I've said this elsewhere, but I think it is important that we treat dolphins, elephants and apes well.  If there are aliens, we don't know what they'll be like.  They may speak with another species first.  And it would be nice if we were spoken well of.
3. I don't mind atheists or deists.  I can't stand people who are sure that they're right.

I paid a higher percentage of tax than Mitt Romney.

Yup, just pulled my return out to check, I paid 16% in income taxes.  Not including the 7.5% to Social Security.  I made under $100,000.  Something is not right with this.

 

Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière

Lyons, France

I proposed the following:

The clinic I worked at belongs to a group of charity providers who refer to local doctors through an agency. The agency was complaining that too many referrals were marked "ASAP" I recommended to following urgency levels"

1. Urgent: I already scheduled the appointment, please try to catch up the paper work before the doctor sees this patient: tomorrow / 2 days (circle one). 
2. Next available: Don't worry its not soon enough I'll call the other physician's office manager and get it moved up. 
3. Don't hurry: I need to convince the patient we're doing something while s/he gets better on his/her own. 
4. Never: If you could just lose this referral, you would be doing me and the referral physician a favor.

Wonder why they turned it down?

HELLO, Predator much?

I don't think anybody in the world reads this, which is fine, but I have two things I want to get off my chest and I'm not going back to Facebook for it. 1. Why am I the only person who thinks that a married 41 year old, in a position of power over a 22 year-old woman, sleeping with her, is a predator. He's old enough to be her goddamned father! (I work in family planning, trust me on this.) I don't know any of these people and I 90% don't care, but that 10% wants to whap him upside the head. And then young Pattinson, although more gently, for not seeing the power issues. She was 17 when she met Pattinson, he was 21. This is not a ridiculous age gap, but it requires some understanding on his part. I wish her a peaceful heart and good luck. This will all be fine in the end. If it is not yet fine, it is not yet the end. But she should get herself to a good therapist for a bit. Such behavior is understandable in 22 year-olds but not something she should be carrying forward. 2. The Central African Republic may, as Matt Lauer said in the commentary have 80 spoken languages, but I doubt it. 80 dialects, maybe, but closer to a dozen languages. And it does have the truly wonderful gift of a national trade language, Sangho. It made me mad to have the only detail of that country be a "gee whiz aren't Africans funny" bit. 3. And while I'm at it, a third thing, who was the tall skinny guy at Buckingham Palace with HM and Bond???