A rant. With footnotes.

Posted on April 9, 2016 by Pat Greene

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 with lately.

A sizable number of Bernie supporters have spent a lot of time working on progressive causes (both within and without the Democratic party) for years. They’ve found a candidate who most closely represents their positions, and good for them. I disagree with them, but I respect them.

No, this is aimed at the others. The Facebook warriors. Those who think of themselves as keepers of the flame of pure progressivism and who view Bernie Sanders as the only hope our country has. People who think this and have never done a lick of political work — other than pontificate on social media — in their lives. The people who, often, can’t even be bothered to vote.

As for me…

I first voted in the 1980 election, when I was 19. I was a registered Republican, not because I agreed with the Republican positions on anything, but because my area of Florida was single party, and the only way to affect any office on a local or county level was t0 vote in the Republican primary. I intended to vote to get rid of all the incumbents on the school board, who I viewed as idiots. After the 1980 election, I reregistered as a Democrat, and have never looked back.¹

I have voted in all the elections over the resulting 43 years, including special elections, except for three, two of which were special elections about parcel taxes for school districts. I felt guilty every time for missing the elections.

In college, I wrote letter after letter to Congressional representatives, both from Florida and Massachusetts, in support of abortion rights. On my graduation gown I had buttons in support of both abortion rights and gay rights.²

In law school, I wrote letters and made phone calls to derail the Supreme Court nomination of Robert Bork.³

In 1992, I sat at folding tables on college campuses registering students.

Kids tend to put a crimp on things4; nonetheless I consistently wrote (and occasionally called) my state and Congressional representatives about important progressive issues.

On Mother’s Day in 2000, I walked around Lake Merritt in Oakland in support of gun control.

In 2004, I flew to Florida on my own dime to volunteer for the organization Election Protection. I worked as a poll monitor in Tampa.

In 2004 and 2006, first in my LiveJournal and then in this blog (don’t search for the entries — I took them down because they have become irrelevant), I posted deadlines for voter registration and absentee ballots, and lists of voter’s rights, for every state in the Union, including links to all fifty state websites.5 You can go to one website now to find all of this information — back then you couldn’t.

Again, through all these years, I continued to write letters and emails to my elected officials, from City Council through President, with the occasional letter to the Mercury News.

The Rocket Scientist and I have always discussed politics; in 2008 those discussions became so heated (he supported Clinton, I supported Obama) that we had to impose a moratorium on them.

Over the past three and a half  years, I have worked on efforts to elect local officials and pass ballot measures for a progressive organization. Yes, I was paid for these efforts — at least most of them. I still wouldn’t have done it if I had not believed in what I was doing. I phone banked — which is most often a pretty thankless task — and walked precincts. I have written post cards and entered data.

I am not saying I’m all that and a bag of chips; I’m not. In the great scheme of things, I have not done much. I regret not doing more.

But I have come by my liberal credentials honestly. Maybe I haven’t done all that much, but I have done something. If nothing else, my voting record — both the consistency and the candidates I have voted for — speaks for itself.

But some of you… I’ve talked to you on the phone, before. “The system is corrupt,” you say, while not doing a damn thing to change it. “I only vote in Presidential elections,” refusing all attempts to convince you of how important local elections are. “Why bother? It’s not like my vote makes a differnece,” poo-poohing suggestions that individual votes matter a great deal.6 And now you have latched on to Bernie Sanders as your one true political savior.

You attack those of us who are Hillary supporters as being morally bankrupt, or stupid. You lecture  us — some of whom have been in the trenches for a while — that the only way to change our country is through a “political revolution,” refusing to believe that we may have good reason to question whether that such a revolution will be successful, and that we worry whether it will have unintended consequences.

You hide behind hashtags — #neverhillary was the most recent one I had thrown in my face. You proclaim your purity of purpose, while at the same time pretending that the only thing that matters is that Bernie Sanders is elected president.

Do you know the most important race in the Wisconsin primary? It wasn’t the Democratic or Republican presidential primaries; it was the election which confirmed a rabidly homophobic and anti-choice judge to the Wisconsin Supreme Court.

You want a political revolution? There have been two this year: in Cleveland and Chicago, incumbent district attorneys7 were thrown out of office after being targeted by Black Lives Matter activists. This is political revolution at its finest — local, with the potential to change people lives right now.

All too often, I think you view the Democratic Party as simply a vehicle. You’re not invested in us — I think after the election you will drift away into your cocoon of indifference. You want to be a Democrat? Be a Democrat.  You don’t like where the party is headed — you think it’s not progressive enough? Work to change it.8

I want you involved. I want your passion. But I also want you to recognize that politics is messy. I want you to understand that sometimes the best you can do is tread water and work to swim next cycle. That making the country better for all people is a constant battle.

And for God’s sake, stop lecturing and insulting us.

¹Except 2000, when I registered as a Republican to vote for John McCain in the primaries. I  wasn’t voting for McCain because I thought it would be easier for Gore to defeat him, but because Bush scared me. I think I was right about this.

²My staunchly Roman Catholic parents were not happy. “I paid all that money for you to go here, and you do this?” said my father. I think he was particularly unhappy with the button which had a coat-hanger surrounded by a red circle with a slash through it.

³Whether or not this was a good thing is an open question at this point.

4At least for me; a lot of women are able to combine motherhood and activism — and good for them.

5Many state websites were generally speaking very badly designed — some of them are better now.

6Just ask Al Franken: the junior Senator from Minnesota was first elected by 321 votes. Over the entire freaking state of Minnesota. Damn.

7Many very important elected positions — especially in the justice system — are allegedly nonpartisan. Progressives ignore these at our peril.

8The Republican party is in thrall to the most dangerously radical conservative elements of society. This is not by accident. The Tea Party didn’t arise from nowhere. There was a concerted fifty year effort to slowly gain control of not only the US Congress, but state legislatures and governorships. We can take them back, but it may take just an effort on our part.

Posted in My life and times, Politics, Who I am | Tagged | 1 Comment

Today in voting news….

Posted on April 4, 2016 by Pat Greene

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 of population as the basis for drawing district maps was unconstitutional, since they lived in a district with a higher voter to population ration and therefore their vote was “diluted” versus someone who lived in a district with a low voter to population ration.

The Court unanimously ruled (opinion by Ginsburg, concurrences by Thomas and Alito) that Texas was entitled to use population as a basis for its districts:

We hold, based on constitutional history, this Court’s decisions, and longstanding practice, that a State may draw its legislative districts based on total population.

Given that in 2010 the Texas district maps were thrown out because of their failure to meet the requirements of the Voting Rights Act (before Shelby County v. Holder [ET correct case name] gutted the VRA), and the maps were redrawn by the District Court, this matters.

But it’s not over, folks. The Court also observed

Because history, precedent, and practice suffice to reveal the infirmity of appellants’ claims, we need not and do not resolve whether, as Texas now argues, States may draw districts to equalize voter-eligible population rather than total population.

[Emphasis mine.]

It’s Texas. The Voting Rights Act has been gutted. Legislators know on what side their election-night bread is buttered.  I hope the ACLU is already gearing up for the inevitable challenge to whatever state legislative districts Texas has in the works for upcoming elections. Because it’s going to happen: I would bet good money — if anyone would take the bet, which is  unlikely — that Texas is going to redraw district based on voter population rather than total population, if they have not done so already. (I am being lazy: I should look up what the current districts look like in Texas, but I’m not going to.) And not only Texas — every one of the states formerly covered by the VRA will move to voter-eligible population based districts.

Who will this affect? People in districts with large numbers of noncitizen immigrants, or minors, or inmates, or any other population the State deems ineligible to vote. (Keep in mind that in the states most likely to go to voter-eligible population based districts, people convicted of felonies are barred from voting for life. And that a disproportionally large number of convicted felons are black men.) This even though, as Ginsburg repeatedly points out in her opinion, everyone is affected by the law, not only those who can vote.

Remember how much I keep nagging people about the importance of  state (and local) elections? This is why.

It’s also why this Presidential election has the potential to affect all of our lives for decades to come. Whoever fills the open Supreme Court seat can change the way the country is governed in the most fundamental ways, as the Court with Scalia on it did in trashing the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County. Those changes will last beyond our lifetimes.

So, wherever you live*,

VOTE.

*Especially if you live in Texas.

 

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A world of Hermiones.

Posted on March 21, 2016 by Pat Greene

Scene: early 70s classroom. Actors: Mr. Lindsay, my beloved seventh grade civics teacher, the first person to take me seriously; me.

Mr. Lindsay: Okay, when we’re discussing mountains, Mt. Everest is the tallest mountain in the world.

Me, raising hand: No, it isn’t.

Mr. Lindsay: Yes, it is.

Me: No, it isn’t. If you look at the height of the mountain starting from its base, rather than sea level, Mauna Kea in Hawaii is taller than Everest.

Mr. Lindsay: Bring in proof.

A few days I brought in the reference book that discussed the height of mountains. After grudgingly admitting I was right, Mr. Lindsay said “Mt. Everest is the highest point on earth,” and looked challengingly in my direction. “I never disputed that,” I said.

Scene: a few months later.

Mr. Lindsay: When the witches at Salem were burned….

Me: They weren’t burned. They were hanged.

Mr. Lindsay: Don’t even start.

I was that girl in elementary and middle school. I was the one who knew all the answers. I was the one who had read all the books and some more on the side. (I was in hot demand for our weekly seventh grade civics class version of “Jeopardy!” — the only time in my life I have been picked first for teams.) In fifth grade, I had read the entire literature arts textbook before the end of the first week of school. I argued with teachers I liked and trolled ones I didn’t.*

I was Hermione.**

When I read the Harry Potter books, I recognized Hermione immediately, because I have known women like her all my life. Strong, capable women. Women who know things.  Women like me.

But Rowling’s books — and even more so, the movies made from them — don’t give Hermione the respect she deserves. She’s read all the books — nobody does that. She’s too smart. She’s presented either as a freak or as an outsider trying to fit in by substituting knowledge for popularity.

I recognize this, too. When I was in high school, I was told “don’t act so smart” or “don’t try to answer so many questions in class” or “don’t use such big words”*** or “you’ll never be popular and boys won’t like you unless you play dumb a little bit.”  I could never figure out how to take that advice. Not because I didn’t desperately want to be popular, but because no matter how I tried, I couldn’t not use big words, or raise my hand, or talk about the books I was reading, most of which were more sophisticated than anybody else.◊

I have heard Hermione referred to as a Mary Sue — she always knows what to do in any situation, as though there was something inherently unbelievable about that. The only way Hermione is a Mary Sue is if you don’t think women can be that strong, that capable.  I don’t know what to do in any situation, but I know women who would.

I think the world is changing, that smart, capable women will be treasured and respected, and then there is… Gamergate. And Microsoft dancing schoolgirls. And the myriad of ways in which young women are told they are less worthy than their male counterparts. As though Hermione’s knowledge were not just as important as Harry’s courage or Ron’s loyalty.

As I said, I know Hermiones. A lot of them. And I say to them — to us —

You go, girl. You go, Hermione.

*During one assignment with a detested English teacher, we were supposed to talk about where our ancestors were from, and the history of our families. For complicated reasons I couldn’t do this, and rather than explaining them, I told the woman I was descended from Jack the Ripper. She left me alone pretty much the rest  of the year. If it happened today I would be marched out in handcuffs. (I was very contemptuous that she seemed not to know that Jack the Ripper had never been caught and nobody knew who he was. Yes, I was pretty obnoxious.)

**I didn’t get Hermione’s grades, mainly because I couldn’t be bothered to do homework. In fourth grade, my mother came home from a parent-teacher conference steaming because I was getting a poor grade because I didn’t do any of the mandated book reports, even though I was reading three  seventh-grade books a week. The way I saw it, homework just cut into my reading time.

***This one is not gender specific. We had middle-school counselors for all three of our sons tell us we should encourage them to use less sophisticated vocabulary. We refused the request far more politely than we wanted to, or really, than was appropriate.

◊I was one of the smartest people in my high school, in spite of my grades, except for my friend Betsy, who is one of the most intelligent people I’ve ever met.  And then there’s my friend Jane from Wellesley, who is wonderful and who I am very glad that I will never have to face in a courtroom, either as a hostile witness or opposing counsel. And my friend Sarah, who can run the systems for a scientific project and still cook for a camp full of people, including a salmon with blueberry sauce that I have been told was divine — did I mention she changed the spark plugs on the ATVs when they were out on traverse?  And…

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Today’s post about culture.

Posted on March 19, 2016 by Pat Greene

…not the “culture wars,” which are a different thing altogether, but actual culture. (Not yogurt, either.) It’s kind of a throwaway post — I seem to be a bear of little brain this week.

*********

I adore the Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thompson version of Much Ado About Nothing. One of my favorite movies, it occupies a space near the top of my “movies on DVR that I find so soothing I use them to go to sleep by” list. But the acting is uneven, to say the least.

The cast breaks into American actors and British actors. The British actors sound comfortable, whereas the Americans sound forced (or, like Michael Keaton, ridiculous). Keanu Reeves came in for a lot of grief about his acting in this movie, but  Robert Sean Leonard was not much better. You need only listen to the interchange between Branagh’s Benedict and Leonard’s Claudio about the virtues of Hero to hear the casual naturalism of the first (tricky when doing Shakespeare) and the forced drama of the second.

The two exceptions were clearly Denzel Washington as Don Pedro, and Kate Beckinsale as Hero. Washington in particular, was wonderful: I would love to see him in more Shakespeare. The obvious would be Othello, of course, in which he would be incredible, but I think he would make a great Brutus in Julius Caesar.

******

Speaking of Shakespeare, Benedict Cumberbatch is playing Hamlet. Holy cats. I even would rather see this than David Tennant’s Hamlet.

******

Speaking of Benedict Cumberbatch, I have also been re-watching Seasons 1-3 of Sherlock, and The Abominable Bride is on that queue of movies to sleep by. I have seen it probably fifteen times at this point, and I still love it.

My brain keeps thinking “Hey! You need to write Sherlock / Doctor Who crossover fanfic!” Then my then brain proceeds to think about  Downton Abbey / Doctor Who crossover fanfic (either the Tenth or Twelfth Doctor), at which point my brain shuts down in confusion. (The Tenth Doctor would, with the suitable forgeries of course, make a great match for Lady Mary; the Twelfth Doctor could help Lady Edith, who has no prejudice against older men.)

Given the Internet, I am positive that both of those things exist. I’m simply too cowardly to hunt them down.

******

Speaking of Downton Abbey, I do have another Downton Abbey post in the wings, this one about the effects of unemployment as shown in the show (short form: they did a good job) if I can muster the intellectual effort required.

******

I saw Hail Caesar! about a month ago. As I was watching I was well aware that, as much as I loved the movie (and I did), if you knew little about the era of Hollywood being spoofed, about the types of movies being referenced, or about the grand tradition of nasty gossip columnists (of which Perez Hilton is the spiritual successor), you would probably find it boring beyond belief. (This is clearly reflected in the mixed reviews for the film.) The Coen brothers made a valentine to the Golden Age of Hollywood, and the rest of us are merely onlookers.

******

I am reading a lot of books lately. Many I have read before, but now I am reading them with an eye to understanding their writing. I just finished the first two books of Hilary Mantel’s Thomas Cromwell trilogy (she needs to get out the third book pronto), and am moving onto non-fiction, namely The Monuments Men, by Robert Edsel.

 I am one of the few people who liked the movie. In fact, I only read the book after I saw the film. The book is a fascinating if somewhat long-winded account of the rescue (and destruction) of Europe’s cultural treasures during World War II.

It’s a mixed bag: the discussions of the art and architecture I love (in large part because I am familiar with many of the works to the point where I can visualize them without having to resort to pictures), whereas I am disinterested in the military history which is necessary to place the fate of the art in context. For example, I knew of the destruction of the monastery at Monte Cassino, but really didn’t understand the military considerations that caused the Allies to bomb it (in vain, as it turned out). Even  knowing its military importance, I am far more interested in why the monastery mattered in the first place.

I think, like Hail Caesar!, the extent to which you enjoy this book depends heavily upon your enthusiasms.

******

There. The bear of little brain is signing off. Maybe I can go find some honey.

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Posted on March 18, 2016 by Pat Greene

[Downton Abbey spoilers, just so you know.]

What with one thing and another, I was sick for a about ten days straight (including a charming six-hour stint in the ER for intravenous fluids). Reading my computer was hard (although I did re-read Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies by Hillary Mantel, with an eye to getting a better sense of how she’s writing rather than the plot). I’ve been watching a lot of television and movies on my DVR: political coverage on msnbc (although in limited amounts); comedies such as Tootsie and period pieces like A Room With a View (one of my all-time favorite movies);  and, of course, the final season of Downton Abbey.

I felt something was missing. I started re-watching from the beginning of season one, and it struck me.

By Season Six, there are no truly unpleasant characters. O’Brien — the nastiest regular character in the series — is long gone; Thomas has been rehabilitated. Mrs. Patmore has gone from berating Daisy all the time to encouraging her. Mr. Carson is a curmudgeon, but not the tyrant he was at the beginning. Ms. Hughes was never really awful, but she was curt.

Branson went from angry revolutionary to contented businessman (after having been a mostly contented land agent for the Crawleys). He went away but came back deciding that Downton was his home. Could you imagine that ever happening back at the beginning of Season 3?

Above stairs, Cora is a sweetie — and had been for a couple of seasons — rather than the whiny, spoiled American wife of an English nobleman. Lady Violet was no longer mean but rather simply sharp. Edith, who was a sneaky little bitch in Season 1, by the end (perhaps because of everything that happened to her) was kind and gentle.

Even Lady Mary had softened. When she ruined Lady Edith’s chance for happiness (at least temporarily), she was clearly acting out of her own sadness and pain. Besides, she made up for it.

The characters grew up. The series spanned 1912 to 1926. Clearly people change and grow over that amount of time. The death of Matthew Crawley at the end of Season Three clearly started the transformation of people both upstairs and down. The show became more a drama and less a soap opera, and I suppose that’s a good thing.

Still, I miss the sharpness of the original season.

 

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Dear Senator Sanders…

Posted on March 18, 2016 by Pat Greene

(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 although you thought that the nominee with the largest number of pledged delegates would win the nomination, “there are other factors,” such as electability.

All of which means that your campaign is going to make a play for the superdelegates to win the nomination. My, isn’t that … special.

If that had been your position on the matter all along, well, fine. That’s the process. People aren’t keen on it, but that’s the system we’ve got. Thank George McGovern.

But your supporters — your campaign — spent weeks, months screaming how un-Democratic it was that Hillary Clinton was locking up superdelegates. MoveOn.org went so far as to start petitions urging superdelegates to support whoever the nominee was with the most pledged delegates. And now you say you might rely on those same superdelegates to win the nomination.  So much for not being an establishment politician.

Your backers should think twice before talking about how hypocritical Hillary Clinton is, or how she is being “undemocratic.”

Pot, kettle, black.

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Life is what happens when you’re not expecting it.

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Pat Greene

Starbug has bit the dust.

Starbug was a 1996 Mazda Protege that my family bought for $600 in 2010. It was the kids’ car — and when they weren’t using it, I did. It easily paid for itself in gas savings over my van within three years of us buying it.

The Red-Headed Menace got his driver’s license a couple of months ago, and last Friday we had the heaviest rain we had had since then. He was driving on the freeway, hit a stretch of standing water, hydroplaned, and overreacted. The car…

Rolled. Twice.

Fortunately he called me to tell me, rather than me hearing of it from CHP. In fact, he seemed calm enough that I didn’t really believe that he had actually rolled the car rather than simply slamming into a concrete barrier.

I believe now.

IMG_0463

We went today to the yard where it had been towed to get things out of the trunk and glove compartment. Even though I knew it had been through a bad accident, I still wasn’t prepared for what I saw. The photo is misleading — it looks worse in person (and from the back).

The RHM is alive. He’s upright. He can walk. Thank God for seatbelt and airbags.

I keep trying to stop my brain from going through all the nightmare scenarios: what if he hadn’t been wearing his seatbelt, and been thrown through the windshield? What if the airbags had failed, and he had been slammed into the steering wheel? And, worst of all, what if the car had not skidded before it rolled, instead flipping over the guardrail of the overpass and dropping onto the freeway full of traffic below?

He was so lucky — all of us were. I cannot imagine life without him, and just thinking about this accident makes me sick to my stomach.

The takeaway is…

  • Tell people you love them
  • Don’t take life so seriously
  • Laugh more
  • Forgive people
  • Even people like Donald Trump
  • Use the good silver for no reason
  • Sing in the car even if the other drivers give you weird looks
  • Learn new things
  • Love what — and whom — you love without apology or regret
  • Always turn aside for the chinchilla races

And always wear your seatbelt. ALWAYS. No excuses.

As for Starbug… Thank you little car. You saved my kid’s life. We’re going to miss you.

 

 

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Life is messy. Be an adult.

Posted on March 1, 2016 by Pat Greene

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 would rather let a Republican win the Presidency than elect Hillary. The reasons ranged from the Iraq War, to Clinton being too cozy with big business, to wanting “a Democrat in the White House … [not] a moderate Republican.**”

It was, obviously, written by a man. A white man at that. Before he sits it out, allowing President Trump (or God forbid, President Cruz) to take office, he needs to talk to some people:

He needs to talk to women of child-bearing age who will see their reproductive rights go from severely restricted in some parts of the country to non-existent, possibly everywhere. Reproductive rights are not something that can be  put on hold until the country elects a suitably progressive President. Women’s lives are at risk.

He needs to talk to undocumented workers who face being torn away from their families and communities and sent back to Mexico. While many pundits I have heard (as well as Trump’s own opponents) have said that it will be impossible to round up and deport all of them, while that man is in office all of those families will live in fear.

He needs to talk to Muslims who will be under surveillance when they go to their mosques.  He also needs to talk to Muslims with families abroad who won’t even be able to visit.

He needs to talk to people of color and ask just how safe they’ll feel under a President who had to think twice before he decided to repudiate the endorsement of the KKK, or for that matter, whom the KKK endorsed to begin with.

Although I can’t tell his sexual orientation from a picture, he needs to talk to people in the LGBTQ community about how they’ll feel under a president who has said he will get rid of marriage equality.

He needs to think about potential detainees at Guantanamo, subject to waterboarding “or worse.” He needs to think about the families threatened with death by a President perfectly willing to engage in war crimes.

He’s worried that Hillary is too hawkish? Agreed. But it’s nothing on what any of the Republican candidates will be like as President.

There is a vacancy on the Supreme Court. There may well be two more before the next four years is out. Whatever changes the next president makes to our country will last possibly for decades.

Don’t get me wrong: I am in no way suggesting that women (anyone else) have to support Hillary in the primaries. I was supporting Martin O’Malley, before he dropped out. Vote for Hillary, vote for Bernie. Great.  But do not fall into the “a plague on both your houses” mindset that certain ideologically pure liberals have adopted. As was the case in 2000, the two potential nominees are nowhere near the same; as in 2000, claiming that unless you get everything you want you won’t participate is childish and selfish. It is also quite frankly ridiculous: Bernie and Hillary have voted alike over 90% of the time in the Senate.

Life is messy, politics even more so. Sometimes progress is one step forward, two steps back.  Sometimes you make incremental changes: Bernie Sanders being in the race has already pushed the party to the left. Good.

You want to really change the party, and the country? Don’t start at the top. Elect progressive city council members and mayors. Elect progressive county commissioners. Elect progressive state legislators. Work your way up — representative, senator, governor. Play the long game. That’s the way the conservatives did it — and look how well it worked.

Yes, you will need to work to elect some interim presidents; presidents who do not share your values but who can be trusted not to set the country backwards. Because sometimes you can’t have the choice you want, and all you can do is pick the best option you can, and try again next time.

That’s what adults do.

*Admittedly, the piece was written before Scalia died. I am willing to entertain the notion that the writer may feel differently now. If that is the case, however, then he lacks sufficient forethought to be pontificating on politics at all: it has been clear for a while now that the next president would almost certainly be nominating at least one justice.

**I would like to point out that this is a textbook “no true Scotsman” fallacy.

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One nation.

Posted on February 24, 2016 by Pat Greene

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 great deal of this centers around the wild-cards: Donald Trump in the Republican party, Bernie Sanders in the Democratic. There is a fascination among political types, as though some new species of bugs had crawled out of the political wastelands to the glare of the klieg lights.

Donald Trump continues to say outrageous things and getting rewarded for them. How can this be? ask the politicos and the wonks and the talking heads. Last night on msnbc (my network of choice for politics, especially as it has Rachel Maddow, Chris Hayes, and Steve Karnacki) Chris Matthews floated what is to me the best explanation of the Trump phenomenon that I’ve heard.

Trump talks to people about the nation, Matthews pointed out. Not the government. Not policy. The nation. No one else has captured that zeitgeist, not even Bernie Sanders. (Bernie Sanders talks about helping the people, not really the same thing).

I get that. I really do. I used to take pride in my nation too, and believed it had the capacity to be the greatest nation in the world.

That was before we invaded a country on a pretext.

Before far too many of us defended the use of torture.

Before we opened a prison where men could be held without due process, or only the minimum of process, where men who were factually innocent could sit for years in detention.

Before we threw away our liberties in search of the phantom of security.

Before the right to carry around weapons became more important than the right to life liberty and happiness.

Before it became clear to me what has been known by the African-American community since forever, that young black men were at danger of the hands of the people who were supposed to protect them.

American exceptionalism has always been a myth. We wrote one of the most horrific systems of oppression that the world has ever known into our Constitution. We committed genocide of the people who were there before us. Even in the war where we were the good guys, we committed horrible acts. Whatever you think of the necessity of Hiroshima, the bombing of Nagasaki is of questionable morality, as is the bombing of Dresden. Had such devastation been wrought upon an American city, we would have screamed about war crimes.

And yet… there was always hope. Those words, “We the people” and “all men are created equal, with an inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” carried the potential of what we could be. We could be great, and good.

I’m like Trump, I want to make America great again. But I want to make America great by becoming the shining beacon on the hill that we so often say we are. I want to make America great again by making it possible for the lowliest worker to be able to live with only working forty hours a weeks. I want to make America great again by calling to people, not by walling them out. I want to make America great again by creating an atmosphere where people can disagree without name-calling or threatening. I want to make America great again by allowing all people, including women, the right to control their own bodies. I want to make America great again by upholding the finest traditions of our Constitution, including the right to practice whatever religion you choose free from government scrutiny, and without the government imposing religious beliefs on all of us.

Donald Trump and I both want to make America great again. Neither of us is likely to actually see our ideals realized. But Trump’s vision will destroy America, whereas mine won’t.

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Posted on February 21, 2016 by Pat Greene

To quote Hillary Clinton, “The hair is mine; the color’s not.”

IMG_0455

To be honest, the color is closer to mine than any I’ve had in a few years.  And just look at that Elizabethan forehead. I need to start wearing wimples.

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Posted on February 19, 2016 by Pat Greene

Dear Universe:

You don’t owe me anything. You don’t owe anyone anything, but especially me.

I know that, all things considered, I have a pretty good life. I have a home, even if right now it needs some paint and for the grass to be mown (El Níno is helping the drought but is not an unmixed blessing) and is currently undergoing an explosion of some sort of biting insect (I know, because they are biting me). I am out of work, but in all probability will have some in a month or so, and in any case, can get by until then. I have some debt, but nothing too scary, which I believe I can handle. I have people who love me, and grown sons who talk to me (for reasons other than to score gas money). I have health issues, but I don’t have cancer. I may grumble about copays and prescription costs, but I have decent health insurance. Even if it is ancient by Apple standards, I have a laptop that allows me to experience the world. I have a smartphone that allows my directionally challenged self to actually find places I’ve never been. My van may have been in a minor accident recently, resulting in a $200 deductible, but that was a lot less than the original repairs, and GEICO paid for a rental car. Gas is cheap, so I spent a couple of days just driving for fun, using the bluetooth system in the car to listen to my favorite songs.

All of that said….

Please drop something magical in my life. Yes, I know that people need to make their own magic, but I seem to have forgotten how. Please remind me.

Sorry for the whining.

Me.

Posted in My life and times | 2 Comments

“Your country is on fire, and your leaders are whittling sticks for their marshmallows.”

Posted on February 16, 2016 by Pat Greene

Vote Canada for President!

 

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Sometimes you find hope in the oddest places.

Posted on February 13, 2016 by Pat Greene

I often fight despair about the state of the American public’s critical thinking skills. I worry that, my friends and I aside, the country is sinking into an anti-intellectual abyss. And then, today, I ran across a call to action, in a piece about Pi Day:

In our time, it seems more and more that the greatest obstacle we face is the way unlimited political spending is damaging our future. Here is where Pi Day has a chance to move beyond just fun and possibly make a real difference. For whatever reason, we’ve all looked the other way as science-based reality has been pushed to the sidelines so that those who profit from damaging the public good can continue their pursuits. Maybe the time has come to stop looking the other way. This Pi Day let’s find out what gets set in motion if we add numbers-based scientific reality to what we celebrate. Maybe one day, Pi Day will be the holiday where we tell future generations they must never let doubt replace reality, because no good comes of it.

“….we tell future generations they must never let doubt replace reality, because no good comes of it.”  Wonderful. And where does this clarion call to honor “science-based reality” come from?

The Winter 2016 Penzey’s Spices catalog.

I’ve always loved Penzey’s* spices, now I think I love them even more.

*If you are not buying Penzey’s spices, you should be. I’m lucky enough to live twenty minutes away from a store, but even before the store in Menlo Park opened I bought them, or, more accurately, the Rocket Scientist bought them for me whenever he was in Minneapolis. Their crystallized ginger is indispensable for key lime pie and cranberry sauce. Their ground chipotle ends up in  chili and meatloaf and cranberry sauce — and almost everything else. I only use some other cocoa powder if I am forced to. In short, their stuff is wonderful.

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Look, it’s the green M & Ms!!!*

Posted on February 10, 2016 by Pat Greene

Years ago, the Rocket Science, curious as to whether anyone would read the computer code that was the main appendix at the end of his doctoral thesis, added a comment halfway through to the effect that he would give a gift certificate for dinner to the first person to contact him within the first year of publication. No one, not even the members of his thesis committee, did, at least within the year. (A student working their Ph.D. called a year later.)

Clearly, the good folks who put together Amazon’s Terms of Service felt likewise:

57.10 Acceptable Use; Safety-Critical Systems. Your use of the Lumberyard Materials must comply with the AWS Acceptable Use Policy. The Lumberyard Materials are not intended for use with life-critical or safety-critical systems, such as use in operation of medical equipment, automated transportation systems, autonomous vehicles, aircraft or air traffic control, nuclear facilities, manned spacecraft, or military use in connection with live combat. However, this restriction will not apply in the event of the occurrence (certified by the United States Centers for Disease Control or successor body) of a widespread viral infection transmitted via bites or contact with bodily fluids that causes human corpses to reanimate and seek to consume living human flesh, blood, brain or nerve tissue and is likely to result in the fall of organized civilization.

I don’t know whether I am terribly amused, or grumpy and annoyed that they created a TOS so lengthy that they could toss this in and expect people wouldn’t notice. Probably both. Because, clearly, if people had been reading all the way through to this section, it would have been all over the internet. On a more serious note, TOSs are contractual agreements, and provisions like this demonstrate that Amazon doesn’t believe people will read them before signing, even though the company would be perfectly willing to enforce them, in court if necessary.

By the way, I did read through all of Amazon’s lengthy TOS to get to the zombie apocalypse provisions, but I wouldn’t if my friend Joe Decker had not mentioned them first. So, thank you, Joe. I can sleep more soundly tonight knowing that the restrictions on use for an Amazon service which I have never heard of and certainly never use don’t apply when the monsters come after my brains.

*One of the most notorious “rock stars are the worst” stories is about Van Halen’s requirement that only green M&Ms be served in their dressing room. I read an interview with Eddie Van Halen where he said that, far from being a bizarre and idiosyncratic demand, the green M&Ms served as a safety check. Van Halen did shows which required a lot of heavy gear, and the knowledge and skill to set them up. Van Halen explained that they wedged the green M&Ms provision into the technical specs in the back among a lot of other, more germane, things. If the venue got the M&Ms wrong, there was a good chance that they had not been paying close attention to the specs, with potentially dangerous results.

Posted in The Internet and its perils | 2 Comments

Everyone needs affirmation like this.

Posted on February 6, 2016 by Pat Greene

Railfan is learning driving, and today was his “short road trip.” We went to Casa de Fruta, which is a wonderful drive this time of year, although neither he nor I could look much at the scenery. The traffic was surprisingly low, but then again we avoided going anywhere near Levi’s Stadium.

Once there, we decided to grab lunch at Casa de Deli. As I was standing at the counter, I noticed one of those metal displays of magnets you see in gift shops and gas stations from   Maine to California. Among the usual suspects extolling the virtues of comestibles (“Coffee is what I drink until it’s late enough to drink wine”; “Chocolate: Nature’s way of making up for Mondays”) and consumer goods (“Money can’t buy love but it can buy shoes”), and the ones that are vaguely self-deprecating (“Of course I can cook. You should taste my cereal”), was what may be my favorite magnet of all time:

“I believe in you, but then I’m only a magnet.”

I almost bought it.*

*It would go along with my favorite bumper sticker: “Madness takes its toll. Please have exact change.”

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