Personal Musings category archive

As the treasurer for my church, I get to pay the bills and shoot my mouth off in meetings.

We got our first fuel oil delivery for the winter season.

Fuel oil is running $2.99 a gallon.

More than gasoline.

Oh, yeah, and the War in Iraq was going to pay for itself.

No, I didn’t leave my body and float above it.

I nearly died.

I’m driving down Delaware 1 past Dover Air Force Base, admiring the flight line of C-5s. It was raining heavily off and on all morning.

I’m in the left lane. There’s a van in the right lane two car lengths ahead of me.

And suddenly the world disappeared.

Muddy water covered my windshield for at least two seconds.

I could not see anything through the windshield.

Fortunately, the road is straight at that point. I backed off the exhilerater and just hung on.

I was still shaking when I got to the cooling tower place 20 minutes later.

All I can guess is that the van hit a patch of standing water and splashed me out.

The local rag had two columns on the death penalty yesterday.

One was by Jonathan Last, a conservative with whom I seldom agree, but whose thoughtfulness and reasoning I respect. Last’s central conclusion (full disclosure–my opinions on the death penalty are stated here):

And here is the one case where the prudential unhappily intrudes on the moral: If the existence of a criminal poses an ongoing threat, then the death penalty can be a necessary evil. Such cases are incredibly rare, limited mostly to heads of criminal states or organizations. For instance, an imprisoned Osama bin Laden would pose a continuing threat to the citizenry by inspiring violence in ways a mere murderer, or even a serial killer, would not.

Yet the list of such hypotheticals can be counted on one hand. The overarching case is there to be made that the death penalty should be put aside in America – not because it’s unconstitutional, or because it doesn’t work well, but because it’s wrong. And this should be accomplished not by courts torturing the law, but by citizens and legislators changing the laws.

Waste of Newsprint, on the other hand, cited a study which showed a decline in murders in years following an increase in executions, trumpeting it as proof of a deterrent effect for capital punishment:

They have documented a relationship between capital punishment and the future rate of homicide. When executions leveled off, the professors found, murders increased. And when executions increased, the number of people murdered dropped off. In a year-by-year analysis, Adler and Summers found that each execution was associated with 74 fewer murders the following year.

Of course, he failed to note the study’s authors’ own caution:

74 fewer murders a year.

From 1998 to 2000, there were 12,658 murders in the United States.

74. Triple that to 232 to cover three years. That’s a 1.8% per cent reduction.

How do you say, “statistically insignificant”?

But, yeah, this is fairly typical of Waste of Newsprint’s reasoning.

Waste of Time.

Now, it has been a long time since I studied sociology, but I do recall reading a study that documented that severity of punishment is not a deterrent. Certainty of capture is.

As long as criminals pretty much reckon they won’t get caught, they don’t really think about severity of punishment. And, of course, those who commit crimes on impulse aren’t thinking of the consequences at all.

This link leads to some readings on the subject.

And, as usual on the Hypocrisy Watch, there was no mention of whether Senator Thompson should retire from politics and spend his remaining years with his family.

Now, I do have to say, Waste has a certain “Everyman” appeal.

He’s sort of like Fred Flintstone with a typewriter.

One day this might turn out to be my son.

I certainly hope not.

And it was all for a lie.

Via Will Bunch.

I do not claim to be a Biblical scholar.

My conversations with God tend to rather one-way–my trying to figure out what would be the right thing for me to do, and, frankly, too often making the wrong choice.

I have read the Bible through a few times–not the King James Version (but, then again, God did not spake in Elizabethan English), but, rather, the Jerusalem Bible, which, as far as I am concerned, is the only modern translation to combine facility of language with poetry worthy of the KJV).

Thanks to my Baptist upbringing, I do know the scriptures pretty well. That doesn’t mean I understand them.

There’s the old joke about the pastor who was asked what he thought of his wife. “Well,” he said, “she’s sort of like the King James Bible.” He paused. “She’s beautiful, but I don’t always understand her.”

As I recall, the Bible recognizes that God spoke directly to three persons: Moses, Elijah, and Jesus.

It is noteworthy that the number of white right-wing Christianist clerics who claim that God spoke directly to them within the past five years rivals the number of persons that the Bible reports God spoke directly with in two thousand years of biblical Old Testament history.

Such as Pat Robertson. Or was that Oral Roberts? Or Ted Haggard?

It must be good to be a white right-wing Republican “Christian” and to know that God is on your side.

That way, you do not have to worry about trying to be on God’s side.

I was thinking today about why I haven’t been posting all that much.

Part of it, of course, had to do with visits to the E. R.

Part of it had to do with racking up billable hours.

And part of it is just fatigue.

Fatigue with corruption.

And with lies.

And with flip-floppers.

And with buffoons.

And with organized hypocrisy.

And with distortion.

Depravity fatigue.

It’s a NeoCon thing.

was a Jefferson Airplane song.

It’s also the policy of the Current Federal Admnistration.

As regards you and me, that is, not as regards their own conduct.

Learn more at Senator Dodd’s site.

The Writer’s Guild of America is on strike.

Frankly, I think they have cause. Their employers are denying them revenues from electronic versions of the shows that they have written.

But let us look at the larger picture.

While my girlfriend was in the hospital, we looked at the hospital television (full cable). That reminded us why our television life consists of Law and Order, CSI, and M*A*S*H reruns and Forensics Files.

Gosh! There might be no new television shows.

Aww, shucks!

Or any other day, for that matter.

But at 6:00 on a Sunday morning, you do get quick service. All the knifings and shootings are taken care of, and the lawn mower and leaf blower accidents haven’t started yet.

My girlfriend developed a nosebleed early this morning. To stop it, the doctor had to inflate a balloon in her nose (think: abscessed tooth pain levels).

She will remain in the hospital until the device can be removed, at least one night, possibly two.

The Diversity Monster surfaced at the University of Delaware.

When University of Delaware freshmen showed up at their dorms this semester, their orientation included an exercise aimed at bridging cultural divides.

But the program backfired after they were told to write down stereotypes of different ethnic and religious groups and publicly give their views on issues such as gay marriage and affirmative action.

(snip)

Delaware’s diversity training program is under scrutiny after students complained that they were pressed to adopt university-approved views on race and other sensitive topics, participate in squirm-inducing exercises, and rated on their responses to questions about their sexual and cultural beliefs.

Parents and professors also complained that the program is politically slanted, citing training material that claims all white people living in the United States are racist.

What is the Diversity Monster?

Well, it has nothing to do with the social, religious, ethnic, cultural, and racial make-up of the population of the United States of America.

Yes, America has a population of truly diverse backgrounds, perhaps the most diverse in the world. And, for a number of valid reasons (I won’t go into the history here–it’s readily available), one of the side effects of this diversity is the creation of the Diversity Monster.

So what exactly is this monster?

It’s the thriving little industry of consultants (many of them well-intentioned) and charlatans (many of them trying to become well-heeled, others just jumping on the bandwagon of the day) who think that by, structuring experiences designed to expose persons’ opinions and prejudices in small (and sometimes large) groups and then humiliating persons for those opinions, they can somehow change “attitudes” and eliminate bigotry.

It is a fitting offspring of EST.

Just for grins and giggles, take a break and google “diversity consultants.” I just did, and I got “approximately 1,870,000” hits, to cite the results page.

These projects are doomed to failure.

Why? Because there is no such thing as an “attitude.” There is therefore nothing to change.

If I say, for example, that “Opie has such-and-such an attitude,” I’m not talking about Opie.

His “attitude” doesn’t exist in his head.

It exists in mine. It is a judgement that I make of Opie based on the behaviors I have observed. I can’t change it in him because it doesn’t exist in him.

There is no such thing as “attitude.”

There is only behavior.

Now, I’m not arguing that racist, sexist, cultural, and other types of bigotry don’t exist.

Just go here to see numerous examples of them. (And leave a donation when you do. Morris Dees is the Real Deal.)

And what are those examples? Examples of . . .

(Wait for it.)

. . . Behavior.

The way to grapple with misconduct, whether it’s based on race, color, religion, creed, sex, national origin, disability, age, veteran status, and (in some jurisdictions) sexual orientation, is to grapple with . . .

(Wait for it.)

. . . Behavior.

In one of my previous incarnations, I taught a class that was colloquially referred to as “EEO training.” It really wasn’t “equal employment opportunity” training. It was training in how not to get the company in trouble with the EEOC (not something to worry about these days).

We would open the class by telling the attendees (who usually weren’t to happy to be there, but it was mandatory for all supervisors at all levels) that we were not there to change–or even to talk about–what they believed or felt, that the company did not have the right to dictate beliefs to them.

But, we would go on, the company sure as shootin’ had the right to tell them what they could and could not do on company property or on duty and how they must respond if a problem was brought to their attention.

By the end of the day, the attendees were generally glad they had been there, because they had not realized how behaviors they exhibited or witnessed might come across to others.

And, you know what, that class changed behaviors.

After a decade of this training, my employer, who had had a pretty bad record in this area (including signing a consent decree, which, as I’ve pointed out before, companies don’t do without reason), not through malice, but through inadvertence and ignorance, ended up being ranked as one of the best places for members of societal minorities to work.

And if someone’s behavior is acceptable, frankly, what the hell does it matter in day-to-day conduct what feelings or opinions may lurk inside the dark recesses of someone’s soul?

As one of my ex-colleagues used to say, “If you get ’em by the behaviors, the hearts and minds will follow.”

And if you try to change attitudes, you are doomed to failure and, and, as in the case of U.Del., richly deserved derision.

Hat tip to Linda for the first hint of this story.

One of my favorite radio shows is Radio Times. Each topic gets a full hour and Mary Moss Coane is a skilled interviewer.

She interviewed Carl Bernstein recently regarding his new book about Hilary Clinton. I listened to the show on my way to the cooling tower place via podcast.

It was a fascinating discussion. Given the current political race, I would recommend a listen to the interview.

But even Mary Moss Coane couldn’t control Carl Bernstein. I would have to say that, like, you know, how can I say it, he ran the interview.

For facts, it was fascinating. For anyone who has ever tried to control a conversation (like us ex-tech support types), it was a hoot.

I recommend it on both levels. Go to the website, select “browse archives,” and navigate to the October 30, 2007, show or listen here (Real Audio).

(All joking aside, it was a very interesting interview. Give it a listen.)

You can say it, but that doesn’t mean I have to listen.

You can say it, but that doesn’t mean anyone has to publish it (remember, it’s freedom of speech, not freedom to be published by someone else).

You can say it, and the rest of the world is free to decided you are an idiot.

You can say it, and be denied the opportunity to accompany children on a field trip.

Yeah, really.

A blogger says her right to free speech was violated when the school district removed her from a list of approved school volunteers because of content on her Web site.

Lisa Becker, who owns www.thebarnegatpress.com, was removed from the list at the Board of Education’s regular meeting Monday night. After asking why, Becker, who has three children in the district, was told she would be allowed to volunteer in the future once the site was taken down.

“What I do, yes it’s opinionated, but it has nothing to do with my ability to volunteer,” said Becker, whose past volunteering included work with the high school marching band and passing out sandwiches at school picnics.

You can decide for yourself how subversive her website is by clicking here.

Tip to Linda.

Glenn Greenwald speaks:

Do not shield the law breakers.

Via Brendan.

Second Daughter requested one of these when First Grandson was born.

She says First Grandson seems to like it.

And it says right on the box not to put it anywhere but the floor or the ground (emphasis below added):

Early Show consumer correspondent Susan Koeppen reports the Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the voluntary recall of about a million Bumbo “Baby Sitter” Seats, made by Bumbo International, of South Africa.

The CPSC says, “If the seat is placed on a table, countertop, chair, or other elevated surface, young children can arch their backs, flip out of the Bumbo seat, and fall onto the floor, posing a risk of serious head injuries.”

I’m going to be the last person to argue that businesses are always virtuous.

They are not.

But in this case, it’s not the chairs that need to be recalled. It’s the parents.

As I pointed out here.

It’s called history. It’s sort of made up by a lot of facts and some interpretation. But the interpretation has to at least give a passing nod to the facts.

The history tells us where we came from and helps us figure out where we are going.

Lying about the history confuses us about both.

But, then, there are folks who base their way of life, their philosophies, and their politics on lies.

Josh Marshall comments.

Tizzy in a teacup:

A do-it-yourself Craftsman-style Sears kit house, painstakingly assembled in 1925 by its owner, is up for grabs in Northwest Washington — not for a price but simply for the taking.

The two-story house, assessed by the District tax office at $813,950, has been boarded up for more than a decade and hardly looks like the showplace depicted in old Sears catalogue drawings. A plumber named Jesse Baltimore put it together — all 10,000 parts — with the help of a 77-page Sears, Roebuck and Co. instruction book. He was among thousands of people across the nation who bought the company’s house kits decades ago.

A plumber built this house in the Palisades neighborhood in 1925 from a kit he purchased from a Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog.

Neighbors advocating demolition declared the house an eyesore years ago. But preservationists hailed it as an important symbol of how Washington’s working-class neighborhoods developed after World War I. The preservationists wanted to keep the house right where it sits in the Palisades neighborhood.

(Aside: Northwest Washington is definitely the high-rent district.)

I grew up on the Sears and Montgomery Ward Catalogs. On Pine View Farm, they were our link to shopping. The nearest cities were 90 miles away (north) or 40 miles and an hour-and-a-half ferry ride (south).

A house in a box is certainly a curiosity, but really not much different from the McMansions being thrown up now (I have seen the kits from a leading McMansion manufacturer heading down the road on the backs of flat-beds–don’t remove the scaffolding until the Ty-Vek is up), but, given that, as the story later points out, “(a)bout 90 percent of the estimated 75,000 Sears houses sold across the country still stand,” this house is hardly a historical site worthy of preservation.

More a historical curiosity.

It was good to see First Son and First Daughter-in-Law.

The campus of my alma mater has not changed much. A few new buildings, a couple of new statues, and co-eds a lot younger than I remember them.

Colonial Disneyland is still as nice as ever.

And the wireless cloud in the hotel did not reach our room, but, in all other ways, the hotel was top-notch.

First Son will be on the way back to Afghanistan early next month, hopefully to end his S(pl)urged ™ tour next spring.

He reckons that, after that, it will be back to Iraq.

I just can’t think of anything more to say.

The Honorable Pete Stark:

He went on to say, “in his previous job as an actor, our governor used to play make believe and blow things up. Well, the president and the Republicans in Congress are playing make believe today with children’s lives. The truth is that Bush just likes to blow things up, in Iraq, in the United States, and in Congress.”

The scathing comments drew immediate condemnation from Republicans, who demanded he retract it. “Congressman Stark’s statement dishonors not only the commander in chief, but the thousands of courageous men and women of America’s armed forces who believe in their mission and are putting their lives on the line for our freedom and security,” said House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio.

When asked if he would take back any of his statements, Stark told KCBS “Absolutely not. I may have dishonored the commander in chief, but I think he’s done pretty well to dishonor himself without any help from me.”

Fairly typical on the part of the Republicans, actually.

Rather than deal with the substance of the comments, they resort to ad hominem attacks.

Ad hominem attacks–the first resort of those who have nothing going for them.

Via Susie.

I have stop kicking the plug for the hub out of the UPS.

One of the neat things about the golden era of porn in the 1970’s and the 1980’s (before the internet made porn accessible to everyone) was the titles of the movies.

I remember walking up Market Street from 30th Street Station to the office at 20th and Market and passing the theatre (right next to the massage parlor where once I saw a very happy looking guy in a wheelchair exiting) advertising “The Oral Majority.”

Well, the majority seems to have become a minority.