Maybe you’ve heard the plaintive cries: get the government off of our backs (except in the bedroom and on the phone and the net). The ones shedding the tears can’t understand why sane people don’t acknowledge them as prophets and sages. The simple truths are so obvious. Simple? Yes. Obvious? Hardly.
Deregulation is just one of the two traditional foundations of conservatism. The other is tax cuts. These two miracles, when combined, give us, er, uh . . . the mess we are now enjoying?
We’ve recently had a substitute for a tax cut. Are you still trying to find ways to do your part to stimulate the economy? Some people, those who don’t love America as much as you and I, used their $600 to pay off debts. We patriotic paladins gritted our teeth, filled up our tanks (to help the economies of our devoted friends at OPEC) and drove to Wal-Mart (to help the economy of our devoted friend, China).
[click to continue…]
Having been treated by at least 28 physicians and surgeons in the past three to four years, the subject is close to my heart, and my spine, and my artificial hip, and, and, and. Some are absolutely wonderful but 50 percent of all medical students were graduated in the lower half of their class. Not all are devils but neither are they all angels. Actually, there is another reason for this to be a subject of interest to me but I’ll get to that in a bit.
Some lawyers enjoy lawyer jokes. Others go ballistic. Many in the medical community will take offense at this post. Others, hopefully, will not see it a denigration of their chosen profession.
There may be a few old-timers remaining who remember Fidel Castro being referred to as Doctor Castro. Why was that? No, not why are there still a few of us geezers left. Why was Castro ever called Doctor Castro? It is due to a cultural convention. In some societies, mostly in Latin America, they address lawyers as doctor. It is an honorific.
[click to continue…]
Having been a politician, the addiction never goes away. The interest remains even though what you see continually sickens. My intensity of interest may account for the fact that matters which go unnoticed by others cause a ‘fingernails on the blackboard’ reaction in me.
It is, therefore, perhaps my sensitivity to the question that makes it appear to be so prominent and so frequently appearing. What is this irritant under my skin? Many people are wont to exclaim that this country is a republic, not a democracy. The instance of such a proclamation seems always to be a condescending, even sneering, attempt to teach some great but simple truth to a dullard. The teacher reeks of self-satisfaction . He is so much more intelligent and enlightened than his audience. The problem is that they know not what they know not.
[click to continue…]
I don’t know why I’m writing on this subject. After all, I am somewhat cowardly. This post will likely put me in jeopardy. Too many Christians are all too ready and willing to demonstrate that “God is love.”
I sometimes wonder if those most loudly proclaiming their Christianity have ever actually read the Bible. Comparing what I have read with what they say they’ve read is often a study in contrasts. On this particular subject, it seems that there is a problem with what they claim versus what they claim.
Creationists claim that the Universe came into being just the way it is written in Genesis. Have they read Genesis? Which version of the Creation found in Genesis is the one that they believe? Did God speak and the Universe appeared out of nothing? Or, did God find chaos already existing and organize it? Which one?
[click to continue…]
Warning! This is a long one. I have been so busy putting this site together and getting ready for a trip, that I cheated. Wanting to put up something worth your time, I took an except from my book and adapted it. It is 6-7 pages long in that format.
Ask every physician you know to define this common word. Ask every attorney you know. Did you, perchance, find some disagreement? Did you encounter some confusion? I guarantee some of your sources will have experienced difficulty in providing you with an understandable, comprehensive definition.
The odds are that not one member of either group will know how to use this word correctly. Why? The members of these professions are trained in their respective disciplines.
Insanity is not a legal term. It is not a medical term. Their use, or rather, their misuse of this term follows from their assumption that the word falls within the jurisdiction of their specific academic discipline.
Insanity originated as a political term. The meaning is quite simple and straightforward. Insanity is the inability to function in an acceptable manner in a given society.
[click to continue…]
Welcome. This is a new site, so you get to be among the early vict . . . er, visitors. I’m a long way from finished with the design and operational side of this blog but don’t let that stop you. You now have one more place to read and post all of those absolutely necessary thoughts. I bet you thought you would never find one.
Only one year of law school doesn’t make me the world’s leading authority on the subject. That, along with holding political office, where enacting law was a part of the duties, has provided me with a little more perspective on the subject. Nothing, however, stops me from having or expressing an opinion.
The law should be something we look up to. It isn’t. There is more than ample room for criticism here.
My mother intended for me to be a missionary. That didn’t quite work out the way she planned. The one year that I did study to become a missionary wasn’t a total loss. It helped propel my interest in religion. My primary take has always been: why don’t Christians behave at least a little as Christ did? It says that God is love. I don’t see a lot of that among Christians.
I have worked with the mentally ill in prisons on a volunteer basis for more than a decade. My interest in general prison reform actually started in the early 70s. I was a commissioner of police, once upon a time.
With the largest prison population, the longest sentences, the highest rates of recidivism and the highest crime rates, it may be that changes could help.
I hold strongly to my belief that politicians, appointees and employees of the government are public servants and should comport themselves accordingly. We far too frequently see politicians at all levels of government violating the public trust but trying to hold on to their position, their seat.
I hope to develop this as a clearing house for action to help disabuse these twits of any thoughts that the seat they occupy belongs to them. Their seats are in the Men’s Room at the Minneapolis Airport.
