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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Contact info:
Email me at wwf@lithic.net
Category Archives: Social Issues
Money money money money
I have mentioned the $30 steak dinner for two. And the eight dollar doctor visit. And I just dropped off what felt like 25 pounds of laundry for 400 pesos, or about $7.50. And last night’s dinner… A king crab … Continue reading
Hurrah for Lyft.
People are snarky about ride-sharing users. You know, the hipsters and tech bros who live in places like San Francisco where owning a car is just not practical? Or who take a Lyft or Uber so they can go out … Continue reading
Damn you, Felicity Huffman.
God made me for a reason And nothing is in vain Redemption comes in many shapes With many kinds of pain “Travelin’ Thru” Dolly Parton, from Transamerica. “Travelin Thru” is a very special song to me. Depending where I am … Continue reading
Another week, another shooting. My heart breaks for Aurora, Illinois. But before anyone mentions the failures of the mental health system, consider that, according to the Washington Post, the shooter had worked for the company for twenty years, and had … Continue reading
Today’s scary book.
I have just finished re-reading John M. Barry’s The Great Influenza. This may just be the scariest book I’ve ever read, including Richard Preston’s The Hot Zone and Randy Shilts’s The Band Played On. (I did not find the Shilts book … Continue reading
Contagion: more than a movie.
One hundred years ago, the Great Influenza of 1918-1919 killed between 50 and 100 million people, more people than any other previous pandemic in history. (The Black Death killed fewer people but a greater portion of the population.)* In Asia, … Continue reading
Credibility.
I believe Christine Ford. I understand completely why she would have waited so long to come forward. I was eighteen when I was sexually assaulted. [Warning: rape/suicide triggers.] Although I told a few others, I did not tell anyone in my … Continue reading
The Al Franken Dilemma.
I love Al Franken. I have always loved Al Franken. One of my favorite lectures ever was the talk he gave on his fight against Fox News. (Hunt down The First Amendment Project; one of their episodes contains part of … Continue reading
An open letter to Lawrence O’Donnell.
Dear Mr. O’Donnell: I have waited a few days before writing this letter, hoping that I would become more eloquent or the words you spoke on Tuesday less upsetting. Neither has happened. Although I do not watch your show all … Continue reading
Affirmative action for whom?
The Trump administration believes that white men have been disadvantaged in college admissions. The Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department, in a development that would be amusingly hypocritical if it were not a sickening subversion of everything the division … Continue reading
Ohio.
May 4th has come to be referenced in popular culture as Star Wars Day. (“May the Fourth be with you.”) The day holds a deeper, darker, and more important significance, though. On May 4th, 1970, twenty-nine members of the Ohio … Continue reading
Logic, schmogic.
An open letter to the privileged Texas Senator I heard on NPR today. You are not very bright, sir. The NPR story was about a Texas county sheriff who has taken the position that she won’t turn anyone over to ICE … Continue reading
QOTD.
Tim Fouts of the country a cappella group Home Free, about the Westboro Baptist Church: “I personally prefer ladies, but I’d kiss a dude to piss them off.” (He also said, “I’m not celebrating those misguided idiots, I’m just happy … Continue reading
Movies: facing the past.
On Tuesday, I saw Hidden Figures, about three African-American women who fought bigotry and misogyny to become important figures at NASA. It’s a great movie, and a story that needs to be told. And, like Selma, I found it difficult … Continue reading
Naivete.
In my friend Jane’s Facebook page a extremely conservative college classmate of hers stated, in regard to voter ID laws, “Why would someone refuse to show ID unless they were going to cheat?” Why, indeed? Maybe because… They are an elderly … Continue reading
Jim Wright, one of my go-to bloggers for intelligent analysis, writes, with bitter sarcasm, that we “won” after 9/11. But for people for whom sarcasm is not a native language… We didn’t win. When the first soldiers were deployed to Iraq, … Continue reading
Sheesh.
Dear Mainstream Media (and today I am looking at you, Steve Karnacki): For Pete’s sake, whenever Donald Trump or his surrogates talk about how Obama has let immigration enforcement go to hell in a hand-basket, CALL THEIR BLUFF!!!!! Do not … Continue reading
Sheesh. Another anti-vaccination horror story.
This time it’s chickenpox. A mom in Texas was reported to Child Protective Services for holding chickenpox-exposure parties. She was turned in by a pro-vaccination group overseas. Hopefully this will stop these idiots. Apparently this mom thinks “natural immunization” is … 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
Twelve.
Tamir Rice was twelve. Twelve. He was playing with a pellet gun. My kids have played with toy guns: not pellet guns, but water pistols and Nerf guns. They are brightly colored, but at least a few of them are shaped like … Continue reading
