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: Social Issues
Work matters.
“All honest work is honorable.” My Dad. An area manager for a large insurance company tried to recruit me to be a sales agent last week. He kept talking about how my qualifications didn’t match my work history. “Whenever someone … 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
Breathtaking (literally) corporate malfeasance.
Lately, the only things I find unspeakably awful are the Republican presidential candidates. I know other awful monsters are out there, but my outrage meter has been pegged pretty high. This, though, exceeds it by a mile. Volkswagen modified the … Continue reading
This Labor Day…
If you have paid sick or vacation leave, thank unions. If you get overtime at your job if you work more than forty hours a week, thank unions. If your kid isn’t working in a sweatshop, thank unions. If you … Continue reading
“Being Poor,” ten years on.
Ten years ago today, in the aftermath of Katrina, John Scalzi wrote one of the most deeply profound pieces on poverty in America I have ever read. I made my kids read it when they got old enough I thought … Continue reading
This birthright citizenship, who needs it anyway?
A recurring motif of the race for the Republican presidential nomination has been that immigration needs to be curbed, and that birthright citizenship — citizenship obtained by birth on American soil — should be ended. (Carly Fiorna, to her credit, … Continue reading
Over fifty years after the fact, Pinellas County rejects Brown v. Board of Education.
Today, education is perhaps the most important function of state and local governments….it is a principal instrument in awakening the child to cultural values, in preparing him for later professional training, and in helping him to adjust normally to his … Continue reading
Consistency, people.
I heard a msnbc commentator this evening say “Everyone is rightfully upset — and should be — by the fetal tissue sale, but Republicans should not shut down the government to defund Planned Parenthood.” My first reaction was “Yeah, those … Continue reading
Sigh. Again.
I am beginning to sympathize with honest policemen. What with all the cops who have been implicated in killings over the past few years, it must be hard to be a good cop. I have never doubted that they are … Continue reading
The pitfalls of “progress.”
Harmondsword is a small, quaint village hard under the approach of planes heading into Heathrow. That would be quaint not in the Disneyland or tourist sense, but in the “good heavens, people actually live in seventeenth century houses!” sense. (Not … Continue reading
Perspective.
Bowers v. Hardwick, upholding the right of states to enact and enforce sodomy laws, 1986. Romer v. Evans, striking down Colorado’s anti-gay constitutional amendment, 1996. Lawrence v. Texas, striking down sodomy laws, 2007. United States v. Windsor, striking down part … Continue reading
It was a wonderful day.
When I graduated from Wellesley, if you had asked me, I would have said that, following Roe v. Wade, that reproductive rights were safe. I would also have said that I would not see same-sex marriage legalized in my lifetime. … Continue reading
Why this matters….
The distinction I made in the last post (evil as opposed to mental illness) matters a great deal. In a discussion in my Facebook, a friend said “People in their right minds don’t kill other people. Period. Whatever you want … Continue reading
Let’s get one thing straight….
On Facebook, I have seen people insisting that Dylann Roof, the white supremacist who shot nine people in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church had to have been mentally ill because “no one just walks into a church and shoots … Continue reading
We failed him.
The first execution of 2015 happened on January 12. Georgia put to death a Vietnam veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder. He had no prior criminal record, and danced around the street yelling “Shoot me!” before pulling out a rifle and killing a … Continue reading
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