Personal Musings category archive
Twice Told Tales 0
Remember Billy Graham?
Agree or disagree with his theology, he was and is the real deal, a sincere guy who did not use his talents to get rich (though he did okay in an upper middle class sort of way) or found a television empire or sell books.
He evangelized. That was what he did.
He also publicly opposed segregation at a time when most Southerners who did feared to do so publicly, one time even bailing Martin Luther King, Jr., out of jail, and he fought South African apartheid.
He screwed up by tying himself too closely to Nixon and later apologized for that.
During his public career, he was not perfect; none of us are. On balance, he has done much more good than bad. That would be a good epitaph for any of us.
Unlike lots of folks who call themselves “evangelists” and especially those who call themselves “televangelists,” he actually tries to live the values he professes. He did and does so imperfectly, as do we all, but he tried.
That’s more than many can say; many profess values and don’t try to live them and neither apologize when they fail, nor learn from their experiences.
It just does not seem right that Billy Graham is in reruns.
Freedom of Screech 1
The despicable and hateful demonstrations of the Westboro Baptist Church appall almost everyone (you can google Westboro Baptist; I shan’t link to them).
Through their very name, their existence insults churches, baptists, and even westboros.
Indeed, to those who believe that the central message of Christianity is to “love they neighbor,” Westboro Baptist Church blasphemes. (As someone who was raised Baptist, I must say that Westboro is not affiliated with any respectable or even semi-respectable Baptist convention. One of the embarrassing things of having a Baptist heritage is that any crackpot who wants to set up some nutcase church sticks “Baptist” into its name.)
Nevertheless, saying hateful things is an American right and, in the United States and blasphemy is not illegal (nor should it be).
It is one thing to require that protestors maintain a specified distance from the targets of their protests. The chants and shouts of protesters can sometimes be considered fighting words. I think such separations are often enforced, not because the protesters are actually using “fighting words,” but to emasculate the protest; nevertheless, I believe that the words that the adherents of Westboro Baptist say (rejoicing in the deaths of soldiers), combined with the places where they say them (at the funerals of soldiers), easily qualify those words as fighting words.
God forbid, should it be my son, I should not want their presence to soil his funeral.
As despicable as Westboro Baptist is and as much as I find many of Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s positions wrong-headed and even comical, I have to say that I think he got this one right.
Virginia Beach Takes Step for Pedestrian Safety 0
There’s a stretch of Shore Drive (US 60) not far from these parts which has seen 10 pedestrian fatalities in the past eight years.
Now the city is lowering the speed limit from 45 to 35 for the stretch in question.
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I spent 45 minutes googling (well, actually I was startpaging because Startpage is more secure) for statistics on the causes of pedestrian accidents. I found one link to a study (PDF) regarding the relationship of speed and pedestrian injuries (the faster the vehicle, the more severe the pedestrian injuries; duh.), but mostly the search was overwhelmed by ambulance chasers personal injury attorney websites and safety brochures.
The eastern end of the stretch in question, the most dangerous portion of it, is lined with houses, condos, apartments, eateries, and little shopping centers; most of the accidents have happened late at night and involved persons crossing the road to get to another nightspot or to go home.
The road is four lanes, sometimes increasing to eight at intersections with left and right turn lanes; it’s one of three major roads connecting Norfolk and Virginia Beach and consequently heavily travelled. Even at a crosswalk in daylight, a pedestrian with a green light can take the duration of the green to get across the road. (I watched one just Monday as she was heading toward the beach.)
Crosswalks are few and far between, especially in the most hazardous area, which is also the area most cluttered with shops and eateries. Depending on the starting and end points, using a crosswalk could add as much as 15 or 20 minutes to crossing the road.
I hope that lowering the speed limit helps, though I fear it won’t.
I suspect that visibility, the distance between crosswalks, and the width of the highway has more to do with the accident rate than does the speed limit.
I wish I weren’t so pessimistic, but I would place more more hope in a crosswalk or two with on-demand stoplights.
Stray Question 0
Why are right-wingers so obsessed with sex?
There’s a Reason I Gave Up Reading Charles Krauthammer 0
I got tired of his perpetual invocation of the phallus as a diplomatic strategy.
Funny how wingnut diplomacy always involves wanting to beat people up.
When they were teenagers, they were always the ones who squealed off from stop lights. It was a form of compensation.
Travesty Afloat 0
Philadelphia seems to be the new graveyard of the Atlantic.
First it was the S. S. United States. Now it looks as if the U. S. S. Olympia may be allowed to sink.
The Independence Seaport Museum and the Navy have already checked with officials of New Jersey’s Artificial Reef Program on the possibility of sinking the ship, once a source of national pride.
The museum does not have a stellar history, having served as a playground and piggy bank for an earlier museum president.
I posted some pictures of the Olympia last fall.
I remember touring the Olympia with my younger daughter shortly after I moved to the Philly area in 1983. It is one-of-a-kind and a true historical treasure.
Stray Thought 0
With one exception (because he is a friend and exceptionally non-technical), I refuse to post comments at sites that require me to create an account in order to post comments.
I have too damn many accounts to manage already. I refuse to create any more simply so I can shoot my mouth off.
There are ways to deal with spam comments that do not include inconveniencing your readers or giving your site tracking data about me.
If you require me to create a user name and password to help you manage your spam, you show you don’t care about me and I shall return the favor.
I’d As Leaf Not 3
I cannot imagine a more useless device than a leaf blower. I can see some marginal use for them in autumn, but rakes still seem to be for sale and don’t use gas, but the idea that no grass clipping should befoul a pavement seems absurd. The existence of the machine has created new, useless, pointless tasks.
I am not alone:
What I had not realized is that, by kicking up dust, particulates, and those noxious chemicals that Chem-Lawn and its competitors have convinced so many to put on their yards, they also increase pollution. Follow the link for details.
I Have Spent Far Too Much Time in Phoenix 0
I’ve been there, and I am no fan of “dry heat.”
Give me 100 Fahrenheits and 95% humidity with no danger of dying from dehydration over 120 Fahrenheits and signs that say “Hydrate or Die” any day of the week.
I’ve been to the Grand Canyon (twice) and I’ve rafted south of Glen Canyon (decidedly not white water).
The countryside, especially up north towards Flag, is lovely, but I won’t be going back, not even to change planes at Sky Harbor, where the cops have mountain bikes for patrolling the concourse.
It seems I’m not alone.
Settling In 0
My house in Delaware finally settled, three weeks later than originally scheduled.
Many thanks to my real estate agents, who truly earned their commission in moving things towards settlement with another agency which seems to have been settlement-paperwork-challenged.
If you are looking for agents with integrity in upper Delaware, email me. I can recommend some.
Now I can can stop looking over my shoulder.
The Coward’s Bigotry: Claiming “Reverse Discrimination” 0
Robert Hammer in the Salt Lake Tribune:
This argument apparently rings true in many ears. After all, isn’t equality a simple matter of applying the same standards in all directions? If a skinhead shouting “white power!” is a racist, doesn’t equal application render a black person championing “black pride!” racist also? Similarly, if an exclusive all-white social institution is considered racist, why not an all-black college or Hispanic community organization?
Read the whole thing.
The newest issue of Psychology Today has an article making the point that pretending to be “colorblind” by not noticing that some persons are pink, some persons are coffee with cream, some persons are black coffee, some persons are weak tea, is pointless and stupid and, in the long run, destructive and delusional.
(Unfortunately the article is not yet available at their website; it won’t be up until the next issue is out. Buy it at your local news stand. It’s worth the price).
Charging “reverse racism” is a ploy to divert attention from the effects of racism. Those who sling those terms get to pat themselves on the back for not being racist while being racist.
Catch 22. It’s the best catch there is.
May 4, 1970 0
I was in the Campus Center at my college with a some friends. As I recall, we were playing bridge.
One of my friends came in and said, “They are killing us.”
Water Main Down 1
The water main break in Boston is big news.
Indeed, calling it a “water main” seems an understatement; it was the primary aqueduct brining water to much of the Boston metropolitan area. The back-up water supply is not treated sufficiently to be drinkable, so residents must boil water for cooking and drinking.
They do not have to take their buckets and dip water out of Boston Harbor–which might well dissolve the average bucket–or lug it from a well to the house the way my Granddaddy did for many years.
Adrian Walker, whose own tap water was affected, suggests that the media reaction may have been overstated (emphasis added):
But has panic become the new normal? A ferocious survival instinct was on display this weekend, even though this isn’t really a threat to survival. The psychology was familiar to anyone who watched the city shut down a few months ago for a blizzard that never came. It’s as though the capacity for distinguishing between a problem and a crisis has gone away.
He has a point. Panicking does not solve problems; it destroys thought and prevents solutions.
Demagoguing politicians and commentators prefer the language of panic–bombs! invasion! evil-doers! massive hordes! communist socialist fascism! brown people!–to create fear, leading to panic, leading to followers, leading to power.
Panic launches columns and speeches and rants that we’re not taking this, that, or the other seriously enough.
(We see this across the spectrum of American thought, but I believe, based on my own experience following news, that this tendency leans right.*)
Enough theses, thoses, and the others paralyzes action through panic overload.
I used to have a boss for whom the A Number One Priority was always the last executive to call him on the telly fone. He taught me this:
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When everything is a priority, you have no priorities.
Fortunately, the folks working to patch the hole decided their job was not to panic, but to solve a problem.
The hole is patched and water may start flowing again in as little as two more days.
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*Daily Kos–it is linked on the sidebar–to pick a well-know left-leaning forum, has its share of “end-of-the-world” diaries that appear via its right sidebar. Note that they are posted by members–anyone can register and post there until and unless they get banned for violating the rules of the site–not by the Front Pagers.
Nevertheless, the left has nothing to compare in numbers, vehemence, or audience to Rush Limbaugh or Cal Thomas or Charles Krauthammer and the like for sheer mouth-foaming the-end-of-the-world-is-nigh-ism.
I Write Mail 0
It will not surprise my two or three regular readers that I am on the ACLU emailing list.
Today, I got an appeal to notify my state officials of my opposition to instituting an Arizona-like “I Know One When I See One” immigration policy, with the option of customizing the message (no doubt most of you have seen such things). Often, when I get such appeals from some of the sites in which I participate, I do not customize the message; sometimes I add a paragraph or two. Occasionally, I rewrite the whole darn thing. Once and a while, I ignore them as frivolous, stupid, or silly.
This time, I rewrote the whole darn thing as follows: