… but a worldview makes one of them bad. I watched Les Miserables earlier this week. I had never seen the stage musical or even heard any of its songs. Although I read Victor Hugo’s book many moons ago, back then I probably would have simplistically considered Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman in the film) the “good guy” and his relentless pursuer Inspector Javert (Russell Crowe) the “bad guy.” Watching the movie, I was struck instead by how much alike they are. Both are diligent, dutiful men. Both have an extreme sense honor, honesty, and justice. Each believes he’s doing God’s…
Category: Government
Government evils — but I repeat myself
Remembering the first battle. (H/T Jim Bovard, whose blog recently acquired a shiny new look) And fighting the battles still. The Lexington, MA, board of selectmen revoked Oath Keepers’ permit to muster on the green tomorrow, citing (groan) “public safety” in the wake of the Boston bombings. Stewart Rhodes says he’ll be there, anyhow, and David Codrea will let the world know if he needs bail money. Whatever happens tomorrow, yesterday went pretty darned well. And got some enemies of freedom really frothing. Captain John Parker: “Stand your ground. Do not fire unless fired upon. But if they mean to…
How can people know that the state is a powerful club, yet still believe it to be omni-benevolent? Why do people continue to believe the government exists to help them when the phrase, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you” is known as an irony to one and all? How can anyone think their health-care system will improve once it’s operated by the kind of people who run the DMV? —– What do you do if you’ve already enacted your own personal austerity regime and you’re still not making it? Why will some people glibly answer that…
Went to another disaster preparedness presentation yesterday. This one specifically on tsunamis. Presenters (3) outnumbered attendees (2), but gamely soldiered on. In the first half, the earnest young AmeriCorps worker who has become the public face for emergency management in the county gave an excellent backgrounder on tsunamis. In the second, reps from the state did their PowerPoint bit. Their presentation began with an exhortation for us all (2) to become “Preparedness Superheroes” and ended with an order to “don your capes!” But in between they offered no actual preparedness information (unless you count the offer for free NOAA weather…
Jim smacked me with this Google screen-grab*: Anybody who’s ever met me or anybody who knows my famous camera-shyness knows that ain’t me. There’s another woman out there who shares my name and does some public speaking in her professional specialty (nursing, I think). She’s probably long rued her accidental Google connections with me. My first thought was, What? Is Google now just grabbing photos of any old Claire Wolfe and pairing them with me? I figured that was probably a photo of poor Nurse Wolfe, who would no doubt now have even more reason to hope I get cooties…
I intended to write a long (and no-doubt Deeply Profound) meditation on the above. And on how, even if we were all flying around in those personal gyrocopters the futurists of the 1950s were all so certain we’d own now, life would still be pretty much life, humans would still be oh-so-very-human, and time would still be pretty much wasted. But my brain has been feeling soggy and loggy the last few days, as if somebody left it in tepid bathwater and it got all pruney. That may be a good sign. Sometimes I get like this when Ye Olde…
I was happily ignoring the fact that today is the re-crowning of our Wise Monarch. Then Certain Persons (you know who you are, damn you) called it to my attention. Which did not brighten the day one bit, I have to tell you. But then one of those Certain Persons made up for it by sending a cartoon that perfectly expresses the situation in terms that … well, I can relate to:
I have spent decades trying to turn political dirt into philosophic gold. I have yet to discover the alchemist’s trick, but I still have fun with the dirt. I have sometimes been mistaken for a troublemaker. My work has been publicly denounced by the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Secretary of Agriculture, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, the Postmaster General, and the chiefs of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, International Trade Commission, Drug Enforcement Administration,Agency for International Development, and Federal Emergency Management Agency. Yet, I was merely seeking to help Americans…
Banning those “clips” is working up to be such an exercise in futility. (H/T J and others) The people of Colorado (and elsewhere) are beginning to wake up to the fact that police have become wanton killers of their four-legged family members. On the other hand, there are blessed exceptions. An announcement from the Galactic Empire Public Relations Department on Earth’s refusal to build a Death Star. (H/T C^2) How it’s likely to turn out when the feddies decide to start measuring our happiness. I knew the name Tim Racer through dog rescue. He and his wife founded BadRap, one…