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So go vote!
Mark Kleiman writes about the "Gotcha" on Marco Rubio IE a reporter asking him the age of the Earth. Talking about several other reporters' takes on this, Mark says:
Generically, not believing in the scientific approach to understanding natural phenomena, and not believing that children in school should be taught that approach, is inconsistent with the needs of technological progress.
And that's my problem right there. Personally, I don't want a doctor whose ONLY solution to a problem is "You're not trying hard enough" or "You're not praying hard enough." (Yes, I know people who have been told these things while in medical crises.) Kleiman goes on to explain that if you deny the age of the Earth, you're essentially questioning rate of radioactive decay. And when you open that can of worms, well...read on.
Generically, not believing in the scientific approach to understanding natural phenomena, and not believing that children in school should be taught that approach, is inconsistent with the needs of technological progress.
And that's my problem right there. Personally, I don't want a doctor whose ONLY solution to a problem is "You're not trying hard enough" or "You're not praying hard enough." (Yes, I know people who have been told these things while in medical crises.) Kleiman goes on to explain that if you deny the age of the Earth, you're essentially questioning rate of radioactive decay. And when you open that can of worms, well...read on.
Puzzled...
Oct. 22nd, 2012 01:27 pm..but no longer discussing. You know where I fall. I hope to vote today, if things don't get in the way.
I noticed this quote over on Andrew Sullivan's blog:
"This is going to be a case study, studied for years, of a breakdown of national security at every level, failed presidential leadership — senior members of the Obama administration failed miserably," - Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina.
So Bush and Cheney's failure to prevent the massacre of 3,000 civilians in NYC after an explicit warning from the CIA was less of a failure than a confusing attack on a consulate in Libya, which killed four people?
-- Andrew Sullivan
**Sigh**
Still in grant H%$## but making progress -- two essays yet to polish bright.
I noticed this quote over on Andrew Sullivan's blog:
"This is going to be a case study, studied for years, of a breakdown of national security at every level, failed presidential leadership — senior members of the Obama administration failed miserably," - Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina.
So Bush and Cheney's failure to prevent the massacre of 3,000 civilians in NYC after an explicit warning from the CIA was less of a failure than a confusing attack on a consulate in Libya, which killed four people?
-- Andrew Sullivan
**Sigh**
Still in grant H%$## but making progress -- two essays yet to polish bright.
"Whether Casa de Luz closes or stays open is decided this evening (Wednesday, 9-26-2012) at City Hall on Caesar Chavez Dr. The Building and Standards Commission will make a binding decision tonight at 6:30, Room 1101, 301 West 2nd Street. This is a public meeting. You and everyone that has an interest in keeping Casa de Luz open is invited to attend."
Considering how many restaurants are downtown with no parking other than street parking, I don't understand why they can close the center. But that's what is at stake. Here's what I wrote as I was heading out of serious illness, back in February of 2011. It was addressed to the Austin City Council, as well as there being a variant version for why PARD (Parks & Recreation Department) should join with Casa to beautify and improve the area.
I have meals on my card, and I want to use them at leisure! Thanks to Casa, who had bullet points out so a brain-fogged (at that time) woman could write this letter of protest.
********
February 14, 2011
To mayor and city council:
This category is parks, neighborhoods, zoning, environmental, small business, nonprofit -- this is Casa de Luz.
Two years ago, I was dying from catastrophic illness. Only discovering the macrobiotic way of healing through dietary moderation has saved my life. Now, slowly, I am rebuilding that life, struggling to get back to the self-employed business owner I once was. Part of the reason I remained in Austin was because I was convinced that I would find no healing anywhere else I could afford to live. I would find only enduring until an early death.
Casa de Luz has been an integral part of my healing process. I have learned much about cooking macrobiotically from the employees and community at Casa. I know, on weeks when I feel awful and cannot muster the strength to cook healthy, minimally processed meals for myself, I can go to Casa and get that food. When I finally am able to work again, I am counting on Casa as a way to interject variety and a guaranteed healthy meal into my weekly food rotation.
To quote Chad Evans, Casa’s general manager: “Perhaps it would be interesting for them [the city council and mayor] to find out that Austin has a non-profit organization serving nearly 100,000 organic healing meals per year at deep discount to serve the overall public good. Dining at Casa de Luz can change one's life. Carefully crafted and minimally processed meals help people conquer catastrophic illness. It's a choice to participate in a shifting of paradigm.”
Casa is part of a building wave of preventing major disease and chronic conditions through healthy eating. It has changed my life and helped me point others along the path to health. Please don’t take the Casa de Luz dining hall and community away from us. It has taken 20 years to build that community. Help them come up with a parking solution. Help PARD recognize that they would be excellent partners in the beautification and maintenance of the parks and walking city we want Austin to become.
Casa de Luz is the kind of grassroots place the city council always says they want to blossom here. Well, they (Casa) took root and are blooming. Let’s encourage the plant to continue to bloom and grow – not kill the green growth where it flourishes.
Thank you --
********
Considering how many restaurants are downtown with no parking other than street parking, I don't understand why they can close the center. But that's what is at stake. Here's what I wrote as I was heading out of serious illness, back in February of 2011. It was addressed to the Austin City Council, as well as there being a variant version for why PARD (Parks & Recreation Department) should join with Casa to beautify and improve the area.
I have meals on my card, and I want to use them at leisure! Thanks to Casa, who had bullet points out so a brain-fogged (at that time) woman could write this letter of protest.
********
February 14, 2011
To mayor and city council:
This category is parks, neighborhoods, zoning, environmental, small business, nonprofit -- this is Casa de Luz.
Two years ago, I was dying from catastrophic illness. Only discovering the macrobiotic way of healing through dietary moderation has saved my life. Now, slowly, I am rebuilding that life, struggling to get back to the self-employed business owner I once was. Part of the reason I remained in Austin was because I was convinced that I would find no healing anywhere else I could afford to live. I would find only enduring until an early death.
Casa de Luz has been an integral part of my healing process. I have learned much about cooking macrobiotically from the employees and community at Casa. I know, on weeks when I feel awful and cannot muster the strength to cook healthy, minimally processed meals for myself, I can go to Casa and get that food. When I finally am able to work again, I am counting on Casa as a way to interject variety and a guaranteed healthy meal into my weekly food rotation.
To quote Chad Evans, Casa’s general manager: “Perhaps it would be interesting for them [the city council and mayor] to find out that Austin has a non-profit organization serving nearly 100,000 organic healing meals per year at deep discount to serve the overall public good. Dining at Casa de Luz can change one's life. Carefully crafted and minimally processed meals help people conquer catastrophic illness. It's a choice to participate in a shifting of paradigm.”
Casa is part of a building wave of preventing major disease and chronic conditions through healthy eating. It has changed my life and helped me point others along the path to health. Please don’t take the Casa de Luz dining hall and community away from us. It has taken 20 years to build that community. Help them come up with a parking solution. Help PARD recognize that they would be excellent partners in the beautification and maintenance of the parks and walking city we want Austin to become.
Casa de Luz is the kind of grassroots place the city council always says they want to blossom here. Well, they (Casa) took root and are blooming. Let’s encourage the plant to continue to bloom and grow – not kill the green growth where it flourishes.
Thank you --
********
"More to the point, these attacks are not merely personal. When the Obama campaign says that Romney is not the solution, but the problem, they are arguing that the extremes to which our economy and culture have gone in the last two decades - e.g. the money-grubbing, tax-evading and reckless financial sector - will not be tackled by a man who made a fortune by engaging in it. And this is not over the top. Bain is at the center of Romney's own argument for his candidacy. And the attacks on Romney's foreign bank accounts are much less incendiary than arguing that Obama does not understand his own country or apologized for it."
-- Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Beast
-- Andrew Sullivan, The Daily Beast
Actually, I like the commercial....
Jun. 2nd, 2012 09:36 pmSo we actually did a nationwide ad for tourism for the USA. The Family Research Council doesn't like it. There's two seconds in there that suggest we don't stone gay men for sitting next to each other on a trolley.
Considering some of our tourists come from places where they DO stone people they don't like, I would think this ad is a nice suggestion that overall the USA is a good place to visit.
Sadly, the countries where people are stoned for being different (like Tanzania, where they're lynching old women for "being witches") probably won't run this ad.
Hate knows no boundaries.
Fortunately, neither does love.
Considering some of our tourists come from places where they DO stone people they don't like, I would think this ad is a nice suggestion that overall the USA is a good place to visit.
Sadly, the countries where people are stoned for being different (like Tanzania, where they're lynching old women for "being witches") probably won't run this ad.
Hate knows no boundaries.
Fortunately, neither does love.
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yuki_onna asks about this possibility in "Gonna Go Back in Time: Wisconsin's Legalized Sexism" and, as is pointed out in the comments, this "Equal Pay law that's been repealed also covered inequality on grounds of race, dis/ability, sexual orientation, age, religion and other factors?"Yup. And the Governor of Wisconsin doesn't seem to be aware that he's done this to the majority of Americans.
One of the things that is so astonishing about this is, women are raising the next generation. Women are now the largest group enrolled in college. This is condemning the next generation of the middle and blue-collar classes to sub-standard money flow.
When my mother told me she'd never vote for a Republican again because of something in their platform, I wasn't quite ready to go that far, because in TX sometimes I have to vote in the Republican primary. That often allows me to vote for a stupid, racist white male to keep the absolutely imbecile white males out of office.
No more. As long as the Republicans represent this lunacy, I can't vote for them. Even if this means I cannot vote to decide on judges anymore (the Repubs control the judicial branch in Texas, too.) And voting machines make write-in candidates very complicated!
I can refuse to vote Republican. I can sign petitions, I can send people links about things like the sneaky attack on equal pay. But protesting is useless (as our attempt to stop the Iraq War proved. Bush/Cheney wanted that war, and they got it.) So what can we do next?
How can we convince conservative women that taking away their daughters' right to birth control and equal pay is not going to land them a Donna Reed existence? This may be our only hope -- a landslide pushing the Republicans out of office. And we must do it against a monstrous tide of cash.
What I want to say to people is -- stop watching TV, where they bury you in campaign jargon. Stop buying at stores that pour money into elections. Don't give them any money, don't even let them think that you're paying attention. Just make sure you have all your paperwork in order, and are registered to vote. And then vote. Vote absentee if you have to, to have a paper trail. But this year, you must vote. While you still have the right to vote.
And pray they don't try to overturn the Women's Right to Vote.
So, Do We Need a Betting Pool?
Apr. 3rd, 2012 09:03 amSCoTUS, the Supreme Court of the United States, in its attempt to keep us wrapped up in wool and tucked in with our bear, has decided that strip searches are reasonable for traffic tickets, walking a dog off-leash and overly noisy mufflers. This is a HUGE decision, as at least ten states currently forbid by law strip searches for minor violations.
How long do you think this will last, and what high profile person do you think will be grabbed by a cop, mouth off, and end up strip-searched?
How long do you think this will last, and what high profile person do you think will be grabbed by a cop, mouth off, and end up strip-searched?
It's time for a new tag...the war against women....
( Let's face it, regulating women is more fun than fixing the economy. )
( Let's face it, regulating women is more fun than fixing the economy. )
I Love Stephen Colbert
Mar. 12th, 2011 10:12 amUsually, I loves me Jon Stewart a little bit more. But this is priceless:
"...Newt's just saying that all he ever really wanted to do is screw America. And if we elect him President, he will keep that promise."
HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!
Unfortunately, it is exactly true. If you think that I'd trust this country to a Peter Pan who is terrified of aging and of what happens when you are not in the peak of health--who divorces his wife the moment something goes wrong--and who has done this twice already (have you stashed your nut, Mrs. Gingrich? Are you deluding yourself into thinking that you're the last?)...
then I'd like to talk to you about a bridge I've got for sale....
"...Newt's just saying that all he ever really wanted to do is screw America. And if we elect him President, he will keep that promise."
HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!
Unfortunately, it is exactly true. If you think that I'd trust this country to a Peter Pan who is terrified of aging and of what happens when you are not in the peak of health--who divorces his wife the moment something goes wrong--and who has done this twice already (have you stashed your nut, Mrs. Gingrich? Are you deluding yourself into thinking that you're the last?)...
then I'd like to talk to you about a bridge I've got for sale....
Elizabeth Moon has pulled together a fine post on the senseless death of uninsured writer Melissa Mia Hall. Melissa died of an undetected heart attack. She felt horrible, she was in pain -- but did not go to a doctor or to the ER because she could not afford to pay for a visit, and was afraid that adding anything to her credit debt might jeopardize her house.
I'm one of those people who has been pushed toward medical bankruptcy. I hope to return to work in the next few months, but I've spent most of my savings while trying to get well. There may be no retirement for me.
American insurance is already rationed, and Americans are senselessly dying instead of living productive lives and adding to this great country. Take a look at Elizabeth's post -- and then pass it on. Maybe your friend will hear her when s/he has not heard anyone else.
I will not watch another friend die because they could not afford health care. I support the Affordable Care Act, and I vote! #ForMMHall
I'm one of those people who has been pushed toward medical bankruptcy. I hope to return to work in the next few months, but I've spent most of my savings while trying to get well. There may be no retirement for me.
American insurance is already rationed, and Americans are senselessly dying instead of living productive lives and adding to this great country. Take a look at Elizabeth's post -- and then pass it on. Maybe your friend will hear her when s/he has not heard anyone else.
I will not watch another friend die because they could not afford health care. I support the Affordable Care Act, and I vote! #ForMMHall
Gotta stop casually checking e-mail....
Feb. 5th, 2011 04:17 pmHere's the latest attack on abortion rights. How about a hospital legally allowed to let a woman die rather than perform an emergency abortion? So we let two die rather than one. Lovely. Not.
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/new-gop-law-would-allow-hospitals-to-let-women-die-instead-of-having-an-abortion.php
And I was going to say something cheery about editing Fire Sanctuary to get it to my copy editor, and swapping off with reading The Introvert Advantage, a fascinating book I wish someone had told me about when it came out. Recommended for anyone who likes interesting non-fiction, because introverts are estimated to be 25% of the population. So they not only need to know how to best utilize their talents for themselves and their work -- their family, friends, and employers need to understand "Oh! That's why they do XXX!"
Back to the editing. So how's your day going?
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/02/new-gop-law-would-allow-hospitals-to-let-women-die-instead-of-having-an-abortion.php
And I was going to say something cheery about editing Fire Sanctuary to get it to my copy editor, and swapping off with reading The Introvert Advantage, a fascinating book I wish someone had told me about when it came out. Recommended for anyone who likes interesting non-fiction, because introverts are estimated to be 25% of the population. So they not only need to know how to best utilize their talents for themselves and their work -- their family, friends, and employers need to understand "Oh! That's why they do XXX!"
Back to the editing. So how's your day going?
Time to go back to a real filibuster?
Dec. 21st, 2010 01:53 pmFrom the Daily Kos:
In the movies, in order to filibuster, Senators have to stand in the Senate and make their case to the American people. But in the modern Senate, a filibuster takes no such act of principle or courage. Senators can filibuster simply by placing a phone call to a clerk and heading off to dinner!
This January 5th, we have a chance to change the rules of the Senate, and make Senators engage in an all night talk-a-thon in order to block legislation or nominations. The key is to adopt new rules on the first day the Senate convenes next year, when only a simple majority of Senators is required for a change in Senate rules.
I've joined with Senators Jeff Merkley and Tom Udall, who are fighting with some dedicated colleagues to make this happen. To get across the finish line, they need to get as many people as possible to show their support for making the filibuster real. You can do so by signing the petition Daily Kos has created:
http://campaigns.dailykos.com/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=17
In the movies, in order to filibuster, Senators have to stand in the Senate and make their case to the American people. But in the modern Senate, a filibuster takes no such act of principle or courage. Senators can filibuster simply by placing a phone call to a clerk and heading off to dinner!
This January 5th, we have a chance to change the rules of the Senate, and make Senators engage in an all night talk-a-thon in order to block legislation or nominations. The key is to adopt new rules on the first day the Senate convenes next year, when only a simple majority of Senators is required for a change in Senate rules.
I've joined with Senators Jeff Merkley and Tom Udall, who are fighting with some dedicated colleagues to make this happen. To get across the finish line, they need to get as many people as possible to show their support for making the filibuster real. You can do so by signing the petition Daily Kos has created:
http://campaigns.dailykos.com/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=17
The Crazy Times are Coming!
Oct. 26th, 2010 06:21 pmI just discovered This Week In Blackness, and yes, that's a web site. It does not mince words as far as the famous Seven Words We Don't Say In Prime Time, and I did not allow the YouTube scripts, so it may not be work safe. But it is funny, smart, and dead on point on a lot of topics. This one makes this point -- THE CRAZIES PLAN TO VOTE AND PRESSURE THE REPUBLICANS INTO TAKING YOUR MOTHER'S SS AND MEDICARE AND TELLING HER TO LIVE ON PERSONAL SAVINGS (just to mention one Tea Party plan) so get out there and vote against them, dummies!
[Editorial remark: The next generation will either be saving or working until we die, but you try and cancel those two things NOW, and the Texas gray panthers will show you the reason that their weapon of choice is the shotgun -- because it doesn't have to be aimed carefully.]
http://thisweekinblackness.com/blog/2010/10/15/nyt-dear-america-ready-bat-crazy-time/ written by Elon James White.
Also, Zerlina Maxwell addresses Christine O'Donnell. Very funny, very true:
http://thisweekinblackness.com/blog/2010/10/04/dear-christine-odonnell/
This part should be a bumper sticker:
Dear Christine O’Donnell,
You are not me. I am not you. You are not us. We think you’re crazy.
Sincerely Yours,
Zerlina
P.S. Fire the staffer who thought it would be a good idea to start a campaign ad by saying, “I am not a witch.” They are not on your side.
********
I have voted and will be at the TV for the Rally for Sanity on Saturday. How about you?
[Editorial remark: The next generation will either be saving or working until we die, but you try and cancel those two things NOW, and the Texas gray panthers will show you the reason that their weapon of choice is the shotgun -- because it doesn't have to be aimed carefully.]
http://thisweekinblackness.com/blog/2010/10/15/nyt-dear-america-ready-bat-crazy-time/ written by Elon James White.
Also, Zerlina Maxwell addresses Christine O'Donnell. Very funny, very true:
http://thisweekinblackness.com/blog/2010/10/04/dear-christine-odonnell/
This part should be a bumper sticker:
Dear Christine O’Donnell,
You are not me. I am not you. You are not us. We think you’re crazy.
Sincerely Yours,
Zerlina
P.S. Fire the staffer who thought it would be a good idea to start a campaign ad by saying, “I am not a witch.” They are not on your side.
********
I have voted and will be at the TV for the Rally for Sanity on Saturday. How about you?
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/295745-2
That's all this tape over on C-Span takes -- to hear the 29 minute or so speech the President gave Thursday night. It tells you what he's been doing, what he thinks he's been doing, what he plans to do next -- and points out what the other side says they will do, what they did between 2001-2009, and what must be stopped.
The next time someone mentions that Pledge, ask them: "Where is the Republican party going to get this 700 Billion dollars to give $100,000 a year to every millionaire and billionaire in America? China? South Korea? The World Bank?"
Skip a few humor videos this weekend, and watch this.
You are correct, Mr. President -- I did not elect you to do what is easy -- I elected you to do what is right. I thought you were an adult, and that I could trust you with the job. I expect you to mark which things are most critical, to get rolling on them, and then to figure out what will keep this country on course and safe in the century to come.
He can't be here to help me fight my battles with the CDC or the IDSA -- he's got bigger battles ahead. All I can do for him is vote, and entourage you to not give up yet. Get out there in November and vote!
This is an adult job -- it can't be done overnight. It took eight years for the Republicans, in full control, to run this country deeply into a ditch. It's gonna take time to get the country moving well again, much less in the right direction.
Let's give them at least two more years to try and fix those eight years of hell. Do you really want to put back into office the people who let AIG and Exxon Mobile help them write their new pledge? Remember those names?
Does everybody have amnesia or something?
That's all this tape over on C-Span takes -- to hear the 29 minute or so speech the President gave Thursday night. It tells you what he's been doing, what he thinks he's been doing, what he plans to do next -- and points out what the other side says they will do, what they did between 2001-2009, and what must be stopped.
The next time someone mentions that Pledge, ask them: "Where is the Republican party going to get this 700 Billion dollars to give $100,000 a year to every millionaire and billionaire in America? China? South Korea? The World Bank?"
Skip a few humor videos this weekend, and watch this.
You are correct, Mr. President -- I did not elect you to do what is easy -- I elected you to do what is right. I thought you were an adult, and that I could trust you with the job. I expect you to mark which things are most critical, to get rolling on them, and then to figure out what will keep this country on course and safe in the century to come.
He can't be here to help me fight my battles with the CDC or the IDSA -- he's got bigger battles ahead. All I can do for him is vote, and entourage you to not give up yet. Get out there in November and vote!
This is an adult job -- it can't be done overnight. It took eight years for the Republicans, in full control, to run this country deeply into a ditch. It's gonna take time to get the country moving well again, much less in the right direction.
Let's give them at least two more years to try and fix those eight years of hell. Do you really want to put back into office the people who let AIG and Exxon Mobile help them write their new pledge? Remember those names?
Does everybody have amnesia or something?
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2010/09/the-pledge-to-america/63466/
Side note: I took a friend to the emergency room a few weeks back for a badly dislocated finger. (We're talking movie special effect-looking dislocation.)
Bills SO FAR for numbing the area and popping the finger back in place? $4600. Before insurance.
Anyone still think we don't need health insurance reform? Anyone really want the republicans to take back control of all the committees in the Senate and House -- and REALLY slow down or freeze legislation beyond what has already happened?
Side note: I took a friend to the emergency room a few weeks back for a badly dislocated finger. (We're talking movie special effect-looking dislocation.)
Bills SO FAR for numbing the area and popping the finger back in place? $4600. Before insurance.
Anyone still think we don't need health insurance reform? Anyone really want the republicans to take back control of all the committees in the Senate and House -- and REALLY slow down or freeze legislation beyond what has already happened?
Here's a nice, tight example of why we should change governors this fall:
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/7207259.html
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/editorial/7207259.html
