Monthly Archives: August 2006

Truth to power: Keith Olbermann answers Donald Rumsfeld

On his show of August 30, 2006, Olbermann said: The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack. Donald H. Rumsfeld is not a prophet. Mr. Rumsfeld’s … Continue reading

Posted in Justice, Politics | Leave a comment

One year later.

There is a crime here that goes beyond denunciation. There is a sorrow here that weeping cannot symbolize. There is a failure here that topples all our success …. and in the eyes of the people there is the failure; … Continue reading

Posted in Social Issues | Leave a comment

A Debt We Owe.

On August 26, 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment was certified as having been ratified, and signed into law. Three years earlier, in October, 1917, Alice Paul was sentenced to seven months in the D.C. Jail for obstructing traffic on sidewalks. She … Continue reading

Posted in Feminism, History, Justice | 4 Comments

Little known heroes of American history, #37592

On August 18, 1920, the Tennessee legislature engaged in a fierce debate over the Anthony Amendment, which would give women the right to vote. Thirty-five other states had ratified the amendment, and if Tennessee followed suit, it would be enshrined … Continue reading

Posted in Feminism, History | 2 Comments

Holiday cheer.

Several years ago, Staples ran television back-to-school ads with the Andy Williams Christmas hit “It’s The Most Wonderful Time of The Year” showing a dad cavorting down the aisles of the store, followed by a couple of sullen pre-teens. My … Continue reading

Posted in Kids in all their glory, My life and times | Tagged | 2 Comments

We write letters….

Dear Sirs, Peter Ligeti (Letters, August 21) says: “I wonder how federal Judge Anna Diggs Taylor and all members of the ACLU will feel when the next major terrorist act hits the United States. Judge Taylor obviously has not learned … Continue reading

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Fear and Loathing

I’ve been angry, lately. Well, more than lately, but you know what I mean. I suppose I have become one of those “angry bloggers” that you read about in the newspapers. My anger comes from pain and sometimes intense fear, … Continue reading

Posted in Blogging, Justice, Who I am | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Torture: once more with feeling.

In the comments to my post “Obscenity,” Anonymous asks Are you REALLY REALLY saying that you would not torture One person to SAVE the innocent lives of many THOUSAND others. We will never hide behind our children but we really … Continue reading

Posted in Justice, Politics, Who I am | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Healthy Anarchy.

I went to a college which had an exchange program with MIT. There was this one MIT student who used to hang around my dorm sometimes — he dated two different women on the same floor (generally considered tacky, but … Continue reading

Posted in Culture (popular and otherwise), The World | Tagged | 1 Comment

Rent, San Francisco: a review.

This post is going to be of limited interest because it is of a production that has already closed. Oh, and it has spoilers. And it is really, really long. But I have to write it anyway, because I’m obsessed. … Continue reading

Posted in Culture (popular and otherwise) | Tagged | Leave a comment

Obscenity.

There is profanity. You hear profanity a lot these days. My kids hear it in the streets and on the school buses. You see it on the Internet a lot. Comedy Central has quite a few shows which feature profanity … Continue reading

Posted in Justice, Politics, Social Issues | Tagged , | 10 Comments

I don’t know how to quit you.

I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t leave the Internet. More importantly, I decided that I would be better off not doing it. Not this week, anyway. I am terribly isolated, in many ways, and Live Journal and Blogger, not to … Continue reading

Posted in Blogging | 4 Comments

I have a series of posts on capital punishment in draft form. I have a post on why I love the music of Stephen Sondheim that I am about half through with. I have a review of a local production … Continue reading

Posted in Kids in all their glory, The Internet and its perils | 2 Comments

Why I hate SUVs.

Screeech. Thud. Scream. And there was a eight-year old boy struggling to his knees, then to his feet, his lower face a bloody mess. He had been struck by a young man in an Izusu Trooper who had been going … Continue reading

Posted in My life and times, Social Issues | Tagged | 4 Comments

They’re called “CAPTCHA”s — Completely Automated Public Turing test to tell Computers and Humans Apart. (That name, by the way, is trademarked by Carnegie-Mellon University, just in case you were wondering.) They are those distorted boxes of text that you … Continue reading

Posted in The Internet and its perils | 1 Comment