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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Category Archives: Justice
When is a child an adult?
We have certain standards for when children become adults in this country. We believe youngsters incapable of making the commitment to marry (or have consensual sex) without parental consent, in most states until sixteen, in others eighteen. We state that … Continue reading
So this week, in his first week in office, President Obama* signed an executive order stating that the detention center at Guantanamo Bay was to be closed in a year. There were immediate protests. A few, from the very far … Continue reading
Two MIllion, Six Hundred Thirty Thousand, Eight Hundred and Eighty Minutes
As Keith Olbermann would say, today marks the 1827 day since the declaration of “Mission Accomplished” in Iraq. 1827 days. 365 days x 5 + 2 leap days = five years. How do you measure the years? In inches of … Continue reading
It’s been twenty-four hours since I found out, and I still can’t believe it. I expected the ban on partial-birth abortions to be upheld. I was hoping it wouldn’t be, but I thought the chances with the new make-up of … Continue reading
It is Advent, when we await the arrival of He who said “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to … Continue reading
A Time To Kill?
The Mad Priest posted about the execution of Jeffrey Lundgren in Ohio this week. He asks three good questions, the last of which is “what good is killing anyone?” In my comment to his post, I said I could go … Continue reading
The water and the stone.
Can we be like drops of water falling on the stone Splashing, breaking Disbursing in air Weaker than the stone by far but be aware that as time goes by the rock will wear away “The Rock Will Wear Away,” … Continue reading
This morning, in several different places, I have been faced with people who have scorned the grief I and others have felt over yesterday’s Military Commissions vote. America has never lived up to “ideals,” they say — usually followed a … Continue reading
I am torn. I don’t know which way to turn, what to blog about. I am resolving the dilemma by giving myself permission to not blog about the thing foremost on my mind — the Military Commissions Bill, more colloquially … Continue reading
The only thing we have to fear.
There is no escaping the fact. We have become a nation of fearful men and women. A year ago, armed deputies stood on the bridge to Gretna, Louisiana, and fired shots over scared, shivering refugees seeking food and shelter from … Continue reading
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
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
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
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
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
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