Sunday, January 30, 2005

HOW SPECIAL! MY FIRST TROLL!

In response to my previous post, I got an unexpected gift.

My first troll.

I feel so special!

The beginning of his comment:
What should we be thanking the troops for? Participation in the criminal wars of the Imperium?

Where to begin to comment on this delightful response?

Imperium

From the Answers.com definition
there are several alternative meanings:

1. Absolute rule; supreme power.

This definition might be a teeny bit over-the-top. I know that The Dark Lord Cheney yearns for this level of control, but it's difficult to put into place where the proletariat maintains their own gun supplies.

2. A sphere of power or dominion; an empire.

A sphere of power might be a more reasonable possibility. After all, we DO hope to influence the emerging republics along democratic (small d) lines.

Alas, we not only DON"T have an empire; we apparently don't plan to, either. I say "alas", because I've always hankered after the high style of empires, not to mention that I could really use some good, inexpensive underlings to clean up after me.

3. Law. The right or power of a state to enforce the law.

This definition seems like a good thing, as Martha would say. I'd have to say, "thank you", then, for the reference.


By now, if Simon has read this far, I'm thinking that he might be a bit --- peeved. All that effort, and I'm not incensed into a flame war. Instead, he gets treated like some of the riders I used to have sitting next to me on the city bus (oh, yes, some of the Imperial masters have emerged from the wastelands of the carless).

It happened maybe twice a month. Someone would board the bus, chose me to sit next to, and, after the bus got underway, begin.

They usually looked fairly normal - not smelly, or obviously raving. They just were a little "off". Their conversation didn't have the normal back-and-forth aspects you generally expected. They didn't expect any answers.

They just wanted to rant. Or get an answer they could talk about. Like a hostile one.

Most riders spent an uncomfortable 15-20 minute ride, trying to avoid a noisy confrontation. Some stared blankly ahead, others focused on reading material, or stared out the window.

A very small minority changed seats. That was not always a good move. Mostly, it set them off into a rage.

It got worse in the 70s. De-institutionalization had a high price in the poorer areas of the city. We got stuck with the loonies the more privileged types didn't want messing up their nice suburbs. We also got stuck with their paroled family members, who they didn't want around their nice neighborhood.

The same sort of thing goes on today, with Amber's Law. The released sex offenders go into the less-advantaged section of cities. Out of sight, out of mind.

I guess I'm the low-rent blog for beginning trolls.

I feel so special.

Friday, January 28, 2005

IF YOU CAN READ THIS, THANK THE ARMED SERVICES

Click on the above link to sign a note to the members of the Armed Services (soldiers, sailors, and marines), who are helping to secure our freedom and liberties.

The The Politburo Diktat is promoting the thank-you to our troops. Please click on the link, and add your name.

Thursday, January 27, 2005

BETTER THAN A LOTTERY TICKET

There's luck, and then there's luck.

Anna Martinez, 25, has to be one of the luckiest people alive.

The pregnant driver called 911 after the accident:
"A semi just landed on my car," she shouted. "It flew off the interstate and landed on top of me."

The operator had difficulty understanding the situation at first (from The Plain Dealer story).
The massive front end of a tractor-trailer truck loomed through a night sky into view through the windshield of Anna Martinez's small car.

The big rig hurled toward her at 1 a.m. Tuesday on its plunge from an icy Interstate 71 bridge, about 40 feet above Martinez's Honda Accord on Ohio 176 near the Interstate 90 split.


I saw the car on the evening news. I'm amazed that the driver even survived, let alone with only a few scratches and bruises.

The semi driver also escaped serious harm.

THINKING ABOUT AGING

The Social Security issue, and other concerns related to an aging population have begun to rise to the top of my concerns (this may be an indicator that I'm content that this administration will take care of security - that is, Homeland and Global Security).

I'm not the only one whose attention has shifted to aging issues. I found the link to this article on Instapundit. Some eye-opening information from "The Global Baby Bust:
...older citizens consume far more resources than children do. Even after considering the cost of education, a typical child in the United States consumes 28 percent less than the typical working-age adult, whereas elders consume 27 percent more, mostly in health-related expenses.


Lord knows we did our part to re-populate the planet - we have three grown children, and one of them has two, with the third on the way in late February or early March.

Such fertility came with a price - we were chided about the "irresponsibility" of recklessly breeding more than one. Hey, we couldn't help it - we were hot for each other, and we liked kids. Had I not been influenced by the women's movement, I might have had another 3-4 young'ns. Instead, I went back to school, and worked for the better part of their school years.

I'm currently unemployed, and subbing 2-4 times a week. It's the first time in years I've had to catch up on family, house, and self. If it weren't for my husband wanting to change jobs, I'd be content to continue life in the slow lane. It reminds me of the things I gave up when I got on the industrialized female treadmill.

It seems that the rest of the world is fast moving in that direction. The above article discusses many of the non-financial ramifications of under-population.

WISDOM FROM THE OLD GUYS

I ran across this gem on Dean's World. A short excerpt:
"Well, in wars, just like bar fights, there's two kinds of bystanders. First are those who take sides no matter what the outcome. They have a stake it in... could be family, philosophy, money. Who knows? Then there's those who just sort of naturally glide to the sideline, waiting to see which way the fight tilts. Them? Their most over-powering urge is to look like they came out on the winning side in the end. Both are natural human conditions. You see it everywhere. The stakes determine.


Warning! It's very long, but worth the time it takes.

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

OMG, IT'S ACTUALLY HAPPENING AGAIN!

Update


Reading this over, I've decided that it's not clear that I am truly filled with horror, not just being snide.

I take the murder of 6 million Jews, and a host of other people in WWII seriously. As a child, one of my classmates had a mother with the blue numbered tatoo on her arm. I asked my parents about it, and they explained what had happened during the war (as well as you could explain the incomprehensible).

I've been seeing increases in anti-Semitic actions and incidents over the last 3 1/2 years, since I've been using the Web as a primary information source. It's getting harder and harder to understand how anyone can dismiss it all as the work of isolated kooks.

But I'm not seeing reports in the MSM. The news is not just being buried, which might be a type of editorial decision that could be defended, but totally absent. Day after day, fluff fills the papers. The Arabic communities have a platform in the MSM, which they speak from almost daily. Seldom do I see a Jew quoted, unless he is condemning Israel, or urging greater efforts to understand the Palestinian plight.

If anyone has any suggestions, please put them in the comments section.



I'm so horrified.

I've been reading about the anti-Semitic incidents in Europe for some time. The strange thing is, when I talk to anyone about them, I get puzzled looks - they haven't heard about any of "that stuff". They further question, "where did you get that information? Are you sure?"

I've been referencing links for some time. I don't see the awareness increasing. For those who don't see "that stuff", read this link from Little Green Footballs. A small excerpt:
In a letter dated Jan. 13, about 20 members of the lower house of parliament, the State Duma, asked Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov to investigate their claims and to launch proceedings “on the prohibition in our country of all religious and ethnic Jewish organizations as extremist.”

Monday, January 24, 2005

WHY LEFTISTS STAND STALWART, DESPITE EVIDENCE TO THE CONTRARY

I've been reading this fascinating explanation of why leftists resist re-thinking their philosophy, despite finding evidence that refutes it. The author of the essay, Edward Feser, provides several possible explanations for the phenonomen. A short excerpt:
As the philosopher David Stove has argued, the modern tendency toward hyper-skepticism seems largely to be the result of a massive overgeneralization from a mere handful of cases where common sense turned out to be mistaken. Another philosopher, Michael Levin, has given a name to the peculiar form this error in reasoning has taken in modern thinking: the "skim milk" fallacy, the fallacy of assuming, in the words of Gilbert and Sullivan, that "things are seldom what they seem, skim milk masquerades as cream," so that common sense can in general be presumed to be wrong.

IF THEY ONLY COULD!

I found this letter (not a real one, alas), on The Diplomad, which I also added to the blogroll. It has to do with the criticisms of the treatment of the Guantanamo prisoners.

Sunday, January 23, 2005

Haloscan commenting and trackback have been added to this blog.

OK. I know that I'm an idiot, but I finally figured out how Trackback works. Now, I know that there are many who have this all nailed, and think that those of us who haven't used it are complete idiots, but, well, there you are.

It's nice not to be an idiot anymore. Although it will take more time to post, since I also have to "ping" references.

If someone knows how to automate that, feel free to tell me.

Wednesday, January 19, 2005

I'M AN INSIGNIFICANT MICROBE

I'm put my ranking on The Truth Laid Bear on the right sidebar. It required me to humble myself. I'd naturally like to think of myself as more important, but, of course, I'm not at this time.

I found the link on Baldilocks. If you haven't checked it out, you need to do so.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

LITERACY AS I KNEW IT

I re-found a blogger I really enjoy, Fred on Everything, when I saw the reference on Dean's World.

This is exactly how I learned to read, except my 2 years older brother taught me. Every day, he went to school. Every day, I dogged his footsteps until he showed me everything he learned that day. As a result, I looked like a baby genius when I entered 1st grade. But he can't take all the credit.

My parents always had books around. From comic books, to the Little Golden Books, to the daily paper, I was surrounded by reading material. When I tackled a printed page that contained unfamiliar words, I remember my mother encouraging me to "sound it out". I was never told, "That's too hard for you." If I wanted to read it, I was permitted.

In general, it's not that tough to teach a kid to read. Parents need to make the effort to have reading materials around, and set the example by turning off the TV and reading themself. If a parent can't read, he or she needs to get off their duff, and learn. There are adult literacy programs in most cities.

ATTITUDES YOU MIGHT HAVE ABOUT MONEY

The always fascinating Dean's World has an interesting question - how do you feel about money, and why? What in your life lead you to your current way of dealing with money?

In my case, I was raised by parents made gun-shy by the Depression years. My dad was born in 1922, and his father died in 1929 (good timing!). At one point, his mother was threatened with losing all her children to families who could afford to care for them. In anticipation, she hired a photographer to shoot a picture of all the family (5 children still living at home), so she would have something to remember them by if the state welfare office did manage to take them away. By a small miracle, family members came through at the last minute, and none of them were lost to the state.

However, there was a price. My grandmother had to find a job, which she did, in the Viking glass factory. My father and the older children never lived at home again. My father, at different times, lived with: his grandfather, a grown-up brother, and his sister. He developed a lifelong desire never to spend time on a farm, and to wear a white shirt and work in an office. He achieved his goals, and more.

My mother's father was in an explosion when she was very small. After multiple hospitalizations, he worked as a welder, when there was work. My grandmother took matters into her own hands. She pawned her large engagement ring, used the money to put a down payment on a house, and opened a restaurant on the ground floor. Her income kept them going most of their marriage.

My parents never had the least embarassment about saying "We can't afford it", when asked for something that was expensive. They didn't mean that we were going to starve - in fact, it was a point of pride to have a full refrigerator at all times. I took it the way it was meant. If I really wanted the item, I could either wait for one of the usual gift-giving occasions, or go out and earn the money myself.

I did earn money, from about 8 years old. I made and sold potholders, raked lawns, cut grass (with a borrowed push mower), and shoveled snow. It didn't make me neurotic or miserly, just frugal. I eventually married a man even more frugal (although he is VERY generous about many things, he doesn't believe in wasting money). It's come in handy in periods of unemployment or financial crisis.

All of our children knew the value of a dollar, and are good money managers today.

Saturday, January 15, 2005

DON'T EVEN FINISH READING THIS - CLICK ON THIS LINK

If you're reading this, you didn't follow the directions above. Shame on you!

OK, I guess I'll have to explain it to you.

I've been reading the Mrs. du Toit Weblog for some time. She doesn't post every day, but when she does, it's worth the wait.

Recently, she wrote a message that I needed to hear. It has to do with why many of us feel the need to post our thoughts and opinions. It also has to do with the need to speak the truth - no matter who gets offended.

I'm pretty much like most bloggers. I have a few readers, but I'd like to reach a few more. Briefly, I was a part of the team that blogged on Right We Are!, which is no longer in existence. It was hard to re-group after Maripat pulled the plug, although I respected her decision.

But the Mrs. really put my, and other's, efforts into perspective. Sure, it would be good for the ego to have a large audience (like the popular Lileks, whose Daily Bleat is widely read). But that's not likely.

So, why do I blog?

Sometimes, I think it's like the man on the street corner who preached every day, seldom getting anyone interested enough to stop and listen. He was told, "Nobody's listening, why do you bother?" He replied, "At first, I did it for everyone else. But they didn't care. Now, I do it for me. So that I won't become like them".

To a certain extent, I blog for me. It provides an escape hatch for my more pointed viewpoints. It let me get stuff off my chest.

But, it also focuses my attention on the things I write about. I spend a little more time digging into the facts behind an issue. I read more widely. And I spend more time thinking about these issues, and eventually forming my own opinions.

All of those reasons are part of my rationale.

BLOGGER QUESTIONS FROM LA SHAWN BARBER

LaShawn Barber has some questions for bloggers.

  1. How long have you been blogging?

    About 2 years.

  2. Do you believe you’re addicted to blogging? Please explain, and be honest. It is habit-forming, I must confess. (If I decide to use your response, I may have follow-up questions.)

    Honestly, no. I've stopped thinking I have to post every day, and am willing to let my real life occasionally take priority.

  3. Have you ever taken a hiatus? If so, for what reason and how long?

    Only when extremely constipated.

  4. Have you ever thought of giving up your blog? Why or why not?

    No. My blogs serve different purposes:
    Technology in Teaching gives me a place to put technology information for teachers in a convenient place that I can reference in workshops. It also serves as a form of advertisement for my training services.
    My personal family blog is strictly to keep the family up on what's happening. We are geographically distant, but want to keep in touch.
    Right As Usual serves as a place to let off steam about controversial topics, so I don't go postal with friends, family, or at work.

Saturday, January 08, 2005

MORE ANTICS FROM THE UN

I found the following on Common Sense and Wonder, one of my daily reads.
to avoid running into the UN, we must go out to where the quake and tsunami actually hit. As we come up on two weeks since the disaster struck, the UN is still not to be seen where it counts -- except when holding well-staged press events

The full post is here.

The trouble with continuing to support the UN is that:
  • It gives money to people who do not share our sense of vision for world leadership
  • It keeps us from getting the oversight necessary to keep an eye on how the money is spent
  • It provides employment for Liberals Without a Clue
  • It provides a forum for those dedicated to eliminating freedom
  • It gives legitamacy to scoundrels, thieves, dictators, and fools

Friday, January 07, 2005

WHAT'S THE WEATHER LIKE?

The winter fashion in Cleveland is distinctive. Not for Cleveland the jauntily perched berets, Cat-in-the-Hat stovepipes, or other trendy headgear. In the middle of a Cleveland winter, only one thing matters:
Is as much of my head covered as possible? Particularly the ears.

Cleveland winters are different. We seldom have the long, unbroken freezing temperatures that create blinding white mounds of snow seen in Fargo (the movie). Such winters, however cold, are relatively dry.
Cleveland, on the other hand, cycles between huge snowstorms that paralyze the city for a few days, followed by unseasonably warm spells that melt that accumulation, followed by freezing rain and ice. Not necessarily in that order.
Those cycles begin sometime in late November, and continue until sometime in March (sometimes April). As a result, our weather forecasters are all professional meteorologists, not cute blondes that giggle. When we wake up, we need to know what the day will be like.
A good winter day in Cleveland is one that doesn't start with the need to shovel the drive, chip off the windshield's ice, or wrestle with the car door's locks. Whether that good day is one in which the local schools close depends on whether you are:
  • a child (yeah!)
  • a parent (oh, no!)
  • or a teacher (yippee!)

Winter is the reason that Cleveland is often considered a bad place for singles. How can you impress the opposite sex when you are bundled head-to-toe for about 1/3 of the year? When to walk around in midriff-baring shirts is foolish even in May (our spring storms are pretty cold, too). To wear expensive high-heeled boots is to risk a broken ankle in the unshoveled walks. Uggs aren't a fashion statement, but a sensible boot. About the only single-friendly activity we have in abundance is drinking (that alcoholic glow does make the windy dash to your car less daunting).
So why live in Cleveland? Well, along with our quirky winter changes, we also have summers that fluctuate between warm and sunny to thunderstorms followed by a drop in temperature. So, the heat of summer is seldom in evidence for long periods. Instead, we have relatively warm weather, but with periodic breaks in high temperature. It keeps the climate from being energy-sappingly humid.

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

I'M BACK TO WORK

The holidays are over, and I'm back to subbing. I won't be able to access the blog until the evening, so any posting will have to be done at night.

Monday, January 03, 2005

I LIKE KUCINICH

It's really not something I talk about much, but I really LIKE Dennis Kucinich. He's been my councilman, my mayor, and my congressman. In all these ways, he has been professional, courteous, responsive to my needs, and a general really good guy. Although I may not always agree with his stances, I respect his personal and public integrity. In Red Line Rants, he is quoted as saying:
"It's like playing for the Cleveland Browns and having a brother who plays for the Pittsburgh Steelers. You wish good things for your brother, but you want to win," said Dennis Kucinich, on being friends with Rep. Steve LaTourette.

WHO'S THE PURITAN?

I found a reference to Lefties as Puritan Moralizers on Pajama Pundit. An excerpt - The Left:
have evolved into the most uptight, anti-rational, superstitious and piously moralistic bunch since the Puritans walked the wild forests of America

You'll find the full comment on Tim Blair's blog. Read it - it's priceless.

THIS IS DISGUSTING!

I was directed to this site selling "Che" onesies (they're a one-piece garment for babies. Talk about "red diaper babies!"
I learned about the site at The National Review's Jay Nordlinger.

I have some experience with die-hard leftys. I went to First College, a small, experimental part of Cleveland State University. It was designed by a small group of Sixties radicals. It was meant to provide a counterpoint to the faceless bureaucratic experience that college had become by that time.

In that respect, First College worked. The students were part of the governance of the college from the beginning, through the First College Assembly. The professors' offices were located in the midst of the classrooms, which made interactions a daily event. Although they had strong political convictions (as evidenced by the cartoons covering office windows), what they gave their students was a good and well-rounded education. Writing was the core of the curriculum; if a student didn't eventually develop an ability to create clear and properly cited research papers, it wasn't the professors' fault.

I think fondly of my college years. Although I have come to differ in my political slant, I respect the faculty's committment to a quality education.

As for the leftist bias of the faculty and students, I was less influenced by it than most of the student body. I was older, and had considerable life experience. I had held jobs, was raising a family, and lived with my husband of over 10 years. I was able to off-set theory with practical knowledge.

My experience with Marxists prior to First College came from my friendships with Central European refugees (primarily Hungarian and Czech). Obviously, their experiences differed greatly from the idealized pictures that the assigned texts offered. I remembered one text that I read during the week I was tending my daughter, who was suffering from chicken pox. It was 800 pages on Cuba. I don't know which was more painful, the gushy ode to solidarity of the masses, or keeping my daughter from scratchy with scabs off.

THE NEW YEAR IS HERE, AND ALL IS FRESH

It really is amazing how the change of year inspires us to begin making resolutions. I just this weekend decided to take losing weight (mass, actually) a priority. It was probably the old video we were watching of our wedding and first years of marriage. I can't believe that, at the time, I thought I was hideously fat. Little did I know what the future held.

I've been thinking about the future of this blog, and the focus I wanted to bring to my posting. Obviously politics will be a feature, but I think I'll be doing more cultural and social commentary.




The situation in Southeast Asia is a huge concern. First, there's the unbelievable loss of life. As in most tragedies, the very young and the very old have taken a disproportionate hit. Second, the UN seems more concerned about taking credit for the aid offers than in alleviating the suffering. And, selfishly, I worry about the political and social disruption the crisis will cause, and how it will affect the US.




New Year's Resolutions

  • Lose mass. Do this, not by starving myself, but by adding regular activity to my regimen. Wear the pedometer every day.
  • Analyze how I actually spend my time, and cut out the biggest time-waster. No, reading blogs does not count as a waste of time.
  • Get rid of clutter. Like most Americans, I have more stuff than many cities in 3rd-world countries. If it isn't in good enough shape to donate it, junk it.
  • Keep up with friends and family. I tend to let circumstances stand in the way of spending time with those I love.
  • Reduce the paper in my house. I don't need to save all those old financial records. I need to donate my old science magazines to a library or school. And I need to weed out all the old books. I'm not likely to re-read my old college testbooks.
  • Develop a habit of getting my clothes straight from the dryer to the dresser or closet. Too often, they linger in the limbo of piles.
  • Stop watching old Law & Order re-runs! Admit it, I am seriously addicted.

Lies of the Left

This COULD be a lengthy post. But, I'll try to winnow it down to a reasonable length. The CA Parent Bribery 'Scandal' - the 1...