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: nothing special
More links.
Mike Huckabee suggests taking steps to prevent people in Ohio from voting. Already claims are being made that he was “only joking.” Given other efforts to suppress the vote in Ohio (and why the hell is he stumping for a … Continue reading
If it weren’t for Wilfred Owen…
…I would have half the traffic that I do now — or less. I am once again the top hit for the words “children ardent for desperate glory,” i.e., for people searching for Owen’s tragic, moving poem “Dulce Et Decorum … Continue reading
Brought to you by the campaign for factual accuracy in political discourse
A couple of links I would like to share: First of all, regarding an email/Facebook post regarding a proposed 28th Amendment: this post is mostly false. It contains oft-repeated claims about Congress exempting themselves from health-care mandates and sexual harassment … Continue reading
Trick or treat
I have often thought that Chopped was by far the toughest cooking show on Food Network. Tougher than Food Network Challenge. Tougher than Iron Chef America. The episode I am watching tonight simply reinforces that opinion. And we’re just through … Continue reading
Sooo…
It’s Saturday night, and I am sitting in a Starbucks, with a bunch of what appear to be college students (it’s the SB closest to Stanford on El Camino, for those keeping score). The Rocket Scientist had another obligation this … Continue reading
What about a *woman’s* right to live?
Every so often the House of Representatives does something which takes my breath away. And not in a good way, either. Yesterday, the House passed H.R. 358, the so-called “Protect Life Act.” You think H.R. 3, the bill that would … Continue reading
Remember my post about Occupy Wall Street? There has been pushback, of course. A lot of it from very hardworking Americans, who point out “I’m making it, I don’t see why other people aren’t.” There is a lot of blaming … Continue reading
Oh, my.
I have gotten around to listening to the soundtrack to The Book Of Mormon, which I bought some time ago but which had been having trouble downloading from my Amazon Cloud account to my laptop. One warning: if you are … Continue reading
One is a wanderer.
The good news out here on the highwayIs that everything in life is a suggestionBut the bad news lonely on the highwayIs each question just begs another question*Robbie Schaefer, “Number Six Driver” I’ve paid my dues because I have owed … Continue reading
Writing. Some more.
I am waffling on whether or not to use November’s National Novel Writing Month as a springboard for creating a disciplined period for my own nonfiction writing. I know from past experience that 50K is a lot for me — … Continue reading
But… what implications does this have for the Apocalypse?
As I said, I don’t read intellectual property cases on SCOTUSblog. Yet this morning, I struggled through an entire post on Golan v Holder, a case involving both copyright and international law, areas in which I have next to no … Continue reading
Holy moly.
A virus has infected the computers used to pilot the U.S. Air Force’s drones. Wow. That’s scary. I found this paragraph to be the most disturbing, in a “WTF?!?!” sort of way: But despite their widespread use, the drone systems … Continue reading
Poor Jimi.
I generally read SCOTUSblog.com on at least an occasional basis, concentrating on death penalty, juvenile justice and sometimes environmental cases from the Ninth and Eleventh Circuits. (I have at least three death penalty cases — even aside from the Troy … Continue reading
Recursion.
I had requests to put the post I wrote about FMS back up. I thought about taking down the post announcing I was taking the post down, then decided not to bother.
Sometimes, the jokes write themselves.
In a totally foreseeable move, the Westboro Baptist Church will be picketing Steve Jobs’s funeral. They announced this over Twitter … using an iPhone.
The Wild Winds of Fortune 