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: Politics
A rant. With footnotes.
I spent a lot of mental energy for a couple of days this week composing a rant. The rant isn’t aimed at many of my friends who support Bernie Sanders, but at quite a number of people I’ve had interactions … Continue reading
Today in voting news….
Today the Supreme Court handed down their opinion in Evenwel v. Abbott, a voting case out of Texas, which, in addition to being important on the merits, provides a fascinating walk through Constitutional history. Appellants had argued that Texas’ use … Continue reading
Dear Senator Sanders…
(Or Bernie. You prefer Bernie, right?) I saw your interview on Rachel Maddow’s show last night. Good interview, very informative. About halfway through you said (after much pushing by your interviewer to get a clear answer, I might add) that … Continue reading
Life is messy. Be an adult.
Apparently, according to what I read, a sizable chunk (over %10) of Democratic voters will sit out the general election if Hillary Clinton is the nominee. Why, a while ago* I read a Huffington Post piece on why the author … Continue reading
One nation.
I have been watching far too much political coverage lately. The networks have been ramping up far earlier than they ever have: instead of a day before and a day after a primary, the coverage seems to be nonstop. A … Continue reading
Thoughts on Flint.
Bernie Sanders was right: Michigan Governor Rick Snyder should resign. (Or be impeached.) Rachel Maddow was right: contrary to what Snyder said in his State of the State address, local government — elected local government, that is, not the emergency … Continue reading
First random post of 2016.
One of the advantages of being more mature older is that it’s easier to resist the temptation to drink to excess on New Year’s Eve. Besides, the champagne wasn’t that good. Far too dry for my tastes. The half-bottle of Shiraz I … Continue reading
Loss.
A friend of mine on Facebook said “Christmas should be a time to look at the world with wonder and excitement.” He’s right, of course, but this year that seems difficult. I partly feel alarmed at the state of the … Continue reading
Echo chambers.
“We have met the enemy and he is us.” Walt Kelly, Pogo. My siblings and I rarely talk about politics. We like each other, and we want to enjoy each other’s company, and we don’t see each other often enough to … Continue reading
I can hardly wait. That was sarcasm, folks.
The Republican candidates for president take the stage in Las Vegas this evening to tell all the world how horrible they are. Okay, so some of them seem merely bad, such as Jeb Bush. One or two I would find … Continue reading
The golden leaves drift from the ginkgo tree in the median of the street outside the window. The sky is a shade lighter than its normal cornflower blue, streaked with wisps of clouds in the south shading to blankets in … Continue reading
Dear World.
Dear World, Donald Trump does not speak for me. He does not speak for my family, he does not speak for my friends. He speaks for a subset of one political party’s base. That the number of people supporting him … Continue reading
The sound of breaking glass.
Perhaps I am naive, but I don’t worry too much about our country indulging in mass killings of Muslims by the the government. We are not Nazi Germany. I could be wrong, of course: if you had told me fifteen … Continue reading
The sword cuts both ways.
Pope John Paul II decried “cafeteria Catholicism,” being in the Church while not accepting some of its decreed tenets. He was right. Even though I was raised Roman Catholic, I am not now and will not be in the Church … Continue reading
Dear Ben Carson: I know people who support you. People I love. People I care about. I don’t understand it, but then they can’t figure out why I like Bernie Sanders, either. I saw where you stated that a Muslim … Continue reading
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