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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Tag Archives: you have *got* to be freaking kidding me
Strike?
I usually read political blogs. This morning I started to, and just couldn’t. Reasoned political analysis can fail in the face of stomach-churning fear. I no longer feel the same shortness of breath, back of neck tightness stress about women’s … Continue reading
There should be a special place in hell for parents like that.
I’ve not been following pop culture all that much lately. In any case, I do NOT keep up with the Kardashians. My brain only hazily registered that Kim Kardashian had had her baby. It was only a couple of days … Continue reading
The Trayvon Martin George Zimmerman verdict is in. It should not have surprised anyone, really: whatever issues Florida has in the legal treatment of whites and minorities aside, the prosecution did not do a particularly good job at disproving Zimmerman’s … Continue reading
Steve Landsburg is a Menace to Society, Part 3: Dying.
[Parts 1 and 2.] This post is going to be disturbingly short. Having read Steven Landsburg’s piece in Slate “Do the Poor Deserve Life Support?” from 2006, I am so outraged and appalled as to be incoherent. His entire argument … Continue reading
Steven Landsburg Is a Menace to Society, Part 2: It’s my body, not an asset to be exploited.
[Warning: rape triggers.] There is a misguided belief out there that anything can be questioned if it is done in the name of academic enquiry. Wrong. There are questions that, simply by the asking, demonstrate callousness or disregard for … Continue reading
Steve Landsburg is a menace to society, Part 1: Yes, voting matters.
Thanks to Scott Lemieux over at LGM, I have become aware of the work of University of Rochester Economics Professor Steve Landsburg. The man is … reprehensible is the word that most quickly comes to mind. I have found at … Continue reading
Another study refuting any link whatsoever between immunizations and autism. HO HUM. Or it would be except for the naive, shortsighted, panicky, or just plain stupid parents out there. Selfish parents who would prefer to take medical advice from actresses … Continue reading
Clothing observations
Wearing my pretty wine-colored velvet calf-length dress from Coldwater Creek to a holiday party seems to invite people I’ve just met into asking if they can stroke my arm. That’s a bit unnerving. It’s also hot to dance in.* Of … Continue reading
Dear Mayan “expert”: An event that happens every 100 years is in astronomical terms (and pretty much in human terms, as well) not “very rare.” In terms of the cosmos, that’s less than a blink of an eye. I think … Continue reading
Today’s “I can’t believe I am even having this conversation” moment.*
After Railfan and The Red-Headed Menace attended a “Legend of Zelda” concert (a symphony playing music from the game series) through various backroads the discussion ended up about Link’s (“Legend”’s hero) sexual orientation. “Link has to be at least bi,” … Continue reading
DIckens Fair.
I spent Sunday before last at the Dickens Fair. It required a great suspension of disbelief on my part. Like its brother, Ren Fair, Dickens Fair is a venue where adults can go to pretend that they are back in … Continue reading
I wish it were April 1st…
…And I could write all of this off as a hoax. But it’s not, and I can’t. I have always held that people who opposed vaccination for their children were dangerous. It seems some of them are far more dangerous … Continue reading
When Mercedes Benz purchased the rights to “Mercedes Benz” by Janis Joplin for a car commercial, it seemed like someone at the ad agency was trying to be too hip and ironic for their own good. When Ronald Reagan wanted … Continue reading
It’s been twenty-four hours since I found out, and I still can’t believe it. I expected the ban on partial-birth abortions to be upheld. I was hoping it wouldn’t be, but I thought the chances with the new make-up of … Continue reading
Sigh. You would think that people would have better things to do with their time. I am referring to the flap over at Live Journal about the use of breastfeeding pictures as default icons. I was thinking it was an … Continue reading
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