Who I am…
I am a lawyer, former mother of teenagers, and a quixotic seeker after and champion of factual truth.
I make the best damn brownies you have ever had that are not regulated by the federal government.
I love movies, Broadway, and intelligent conversation.
I think in song lyrics and movie and television quotes.
I believe in the use of proper spelling, punctuation, and grammar even in text messages. I am willing to debate the use of the Oxford comma, if you know what the Oxford comma is. It also makes me very happy if people use the subjunctive mood when appropriate.
I have been told I intimidate people. I am really just a fluffy-centered teddy bear. Really.
- It's all my fault. No, really. The views expressed in this blog are mine and mine alone and in no way whatsoever represent the views of anyone else, including any past, present, or future employer.
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Words to live by ….
“He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Micah 6:8.
“Pray for the dead, fight like hell for the living.” Mary Harris (“Mother Jones”).
“Don’t boo. Vote.” Barack Obama.
“Man’s capacity for justice makes democracy possible, but man’s inclination to injustice makes democracy necessary.” Reinhold Niebuhr.
“No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We’re always one of Us. It’s Them that do the bad things.” Sir Terry Pratchett.
“Damning facts are still facts.” Steven C. Holtzman.
“If you don’t stick to your values when they’re tested, they’re not values — they’re hobbies.” Jon Stewart.
“Darkness never sustains, even though it sometimes seems it will.” Doctor Who.
“Writing is a form of mischief.” Stephen Sondheim.
“An idea is not responsible for the people who believe it.” Don Marquis.
“If you can see your path laid out in front of you step by step, you know it’s not your path. Your own path you make with every step you take. That’s why it’s your path.” Joseph Campbell.
“Truth is our strongest ally, our biggest weapon, and our best defense.” Me.
“Reality has a well-known liberal bias.” Stephen Colbert.
“The opposite of war isn’t peace, it’s creation.” Jonathan Larson.
“We live through times when hate and fear seem stronger.
We rise and fall, and light from dying embers
Remembrances that hope and love last longer.
And love is love is love is love is love is love is love is love;
Cannot be killed or swept aside.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda.“If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your revolution.” Emma Goldman.
“No matter. Try again. Fail again. Fail better.” Samuel Beckett.
“I believe that the God who made (among other things) light, and space, and number, and time, and the spiral curve of Fibonacci numbers, must be acknowledged to understand more than I do about why there’s pain in the world.” Teresa Neilsen Hayden.
“No, it’s not fair. You’re in the wrong universe for fair.” John Scalzi.
“Liberals got women the right to vote. Liberals got African-Americans the right to vote. Liberals created Social Security and lifted millions of elderly people out of poverty. Liberals ended segregation. Liberals passed the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act. Liberals created Medicare. Liberals passed the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act. So when you try to hurl that label at my feet, ‘Liberal,’ as if it were something to be ashamed of, something dirty, something to run away from, it won’t work, because I will pick up that label and I will wear it as a badge of honor.” Lawrence O’Donnell
“So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.” Molly Ivins.
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Author Archives: Pat Greene
‘Night, Sister.
On Saturday, Betty Friedan died. She was 85. It is hard to overestimate the impact she had on the nation’s psyche. She destroyed some of the myths we held about who we were: all to the good, as those myths … Continue reading
Yeah, what THEY said….
Orson Scott Card posted a defense of teaching Creationism in the schools. I would have liked to pointed out all the holes in his argument, but then Pharyngula did such a lovely job of it, better than I could have. … Continue reading
To inspire and guide….
On Devon Island, in the Canadian Arctic, there are seven inukshuks. An inukshuk is an Inuit “stone man” — it serves to comfort people on dangerous journeys and mark pathways. The inukshuks are a little smaller than life-size, and are … Continue reading
Maybe I need more windmills…
Samuel Alito is now on the Supreme Court. The Administration continues to defend its domestic spying program. There is Plamegate and the Ambrahamoff scandal and war and discord and fear. And this weekend my nine-year-old and I completed a massive … Continue reading
Mission 51-L
The mission page for Space Shuttle mission 51-L looks pretty much the same as for any other mission. Until you skim past all the verbiage about the launch and orbit stats (not too many of those) and see “Landing: None. … Continue reading
It’s only teenage wasteland…
It is so easy to be judgmental. I was reading a little bit about the Starkweather homicides on History Channel’s This Day In History. You remember reading about those? They were before my time — three years before I was … Continue reading
Seen any hatters, lately?
Today was Lewis Carroll’s birthday. Very prescient man, Carrol: `I don’t know what you mean by “glory”,’ Alice said. Humpty Dumpty smiled contemptuously. `Of course you don’t — till I tell you. I meant “there’s a nice knock-down argument for … Continue reading
Because it’s my body, damnit.
John Tierney thinks we need to find a “gender neutral” way of dealing with abortion. This is an easy question for those on the prolife side of the abortion debate. They’d like men to be not only notified of pregnancies, … Continue reading
I swear to tell…
It is a very famous story. In his memoir, Life á la Henri, famed chef Henri Charpentier tells the story of how in 1896, when serving Edward, the Prince of Wales, dessert crepes, he accidentally caught the sauce on fire. … Continue reading
It strikes me that that last post was overly melodramatic. All it lacked was Snidely Whiplash twirling his mustaches. I think I could have made my central point a little less…. floridly. Maybe I should not be writing in the … Continue reading
In the dead of the night…
There comes the fear. Growing up, the nighttime fear was always there, in some shape… vague forms threatening vague harm in the future. No names, no faces. Loneliness, loss, madness. Must stay alone, must not allow people in, must not … Continue reading
So the Court has upheld Oregon’s right-to-die case. I almost never agree with Clarence Thomas, but I do with one point he raised in his dissent. How, pray tell, is this different from the medical marijuana case decided last term? … Continue reading
Ah, always good to test hypotheses…
Turns out, even members have to do the “fill in the word you see below” bit. Damn. I always hate those.
And in the beginning….
Were words. Some, at least. I originally started this as a means to avoid having to go through the damn word verification process on Cristopher Robinson’s blog, Ink Smudges. I already have a Live Journal — whether I actually want … Continue reading
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