A call for calm and mercy: no death penalty for the January 6 coup
I wish to join the call for calm. To those who feel insurrection is treason, punishable by death, I council calm and mercy. We are bigger than those insurgents of January 6, 2021 who sought to topple our government, our constitution, our core belief in rule by law.
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today,
I wish, I wish he'd go away...
When I came home last night at three,
The man was waiting there for me
But when I looked around the hall,
I couldn't see him there at all!
Go away, go away, don't you come back any more!
Go away, go away, and please don't slam the door...
Last night I saw upon the stair,
A little man who wasn't there,
He wasn't there again today
Oh, how I wish he'd go away...
-- William Hughes Mearns 1899
Where were you when?
Where were you when the Nazis bombed Pearl?
Where were you when Ruby killed Jack?
Where were you when Bobby killed Martin?
Where were you when Glenn walked the moon?
Where were you when Columbia was challenged?
Where were you when Chad hanged Al?
Where were you when the CIA burned the twins?
Where were you when Donald pulled off his coup?
Compassion: a rambling conversation of Communism, Ayn Rand, Harper Lee and other cabbages and kings
A dialogue on compassion between a friend and I. Edited to make me look better. And him worse.
GLB
1988 was the year I quit the Republican Party.
On a nice spring/summer day, we walked to the Rockville City Hall and I changed my registration from Republican to Independent. (And the rest, as they say, is history.)P.S. Attached is a photo of yours truly meeting William F. Buckley Jr. at Gonzaga University in 1962. Notice the priest is watching me suspiciously -- even though I was a good conservative then, maybe the priest smelled a whiff of heresy? (Priests seem to be good a finding heretics.)
CBV
You should have stayed, and fixed the GOP
Revolution Redux (mangled from the awesome original by Lenon and McCartney)
Well, you know
We all want to see the votes
You tell me that it's mass collusion
Well, you know
We all want to see the votes
Don't you know the courts have thrown you out
Don't you know it's gonna be
All right, all right, all right
Well, you know
We'd all love to see the facts
You warn about a retribution
Well, you know
We'll stop you if we can
All I can tell is brother you have to wait
Don't you know it's gonna be
All right, all right, all right
Well, you know
We all want to change your head
You tell me it's the institution
Well, you know
You better free you mind instead
You ain't going to make it with anyone anyhow
Don't you know it's gonna be
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right, all right
All right, all right
I debated posting this at all because it's a downer, and there's nothing particularly new here. But it is on my mind so here goes.
We are all going to die. The total morality rate is 1. The question is how we live, how and when we die. Times like these force us to think about how we live, how our choices affect not only our own lives but also the lives of others.
I'm a numbers guy. It may seem callous and cold to speak of life and death as if it's a calculus problem. And indeed, that is a risk. But the alternative, to be willfully ignorant of the numbers, seems to me criminal. If we are to make informed decisions, numbers matter.
So, here are some key numbers emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic.
I had a dream
I dreamt I was in a reception line at a formal event. At the head of the line was the President of the United States, shaking hands one by one.
He took my hand firmly as I stepped forward for my turn. I leaned slightly toward him and said "We have something in common, you and I."
"Really? What's that?"
I let his strong grip pull me closer, and spoke in a hushed tone so only he could hear: "Neither of us belongs here."
Martin Luther King Jr's constructive use time
Can't find it right now, but one of my friends posted an old video, an interview with Martin Luther King, Jr, one of America's greatest leaders of all time. That post reminded me of MLKs "Letter from Birmingham Jail."
https://www.africa.upenn.edu/Articles_Gen/Letter_Birmingham.html
You've heard of it, no doubt. But if you've never actually read it, do so now. It will stay with you and inform the rest of your life. As you read, remind yourself he's in jail at the time, writing in long hand. No cut and past to craft the words. No internet or even (gasp) books to look up references. Just his mind. And time. Time he used constructively.
One part that impressed me is his response to the plea to wait before taking further direct action:
"Such an attitude stems from a tragic misconception of time, from the strangely irrational notion that there is something in the very flow of time that will inevitably cure all ills. Actually, time itself is neutral; it can be used either destructively or constructively."
Time itself is neither friend nor foe. It's what you do with it that makes all the difference.
Jack and Jill
Jack and Jill
Went up the Hill
To beg for something safer
Jack fell down
Blood all around
And Jill died crawling after
Up Jack got
He, badly shot,
Remembered in the paper
Empty stares
Thoughts and prayers
We mourn the dead tenth grader
They call B.S.
Children address
This homegrown bloody terror
Endured in school
Just so you'll
From tyrants slightly safer
Stop the guns
The deadly ones
That leave our children slaughtered
The tyranny
You fear is thee
Killing our sons and daughters
Stop killing our sons and daughters.
Stop. Killing. Our. Sons and Daughters.
(Placed in public domain. No rights reserved.)
Green, Brown, or Tan
I am Sam.
Uncle Sam.
That Sam I Am.
That Uncle Sam.
I do not like that White House man.
Do you like green, brown, or tan?
I do not like them, Uncle Sam.
I do not like green, brown, or tan.
Would you like them here or there?
I would not like them here or there.
I would not like them anywhere.
I do not like green, brown or tan.
I just don't like them, Uncle Sam.
Would you like them were they housed?
Would you like them thrice deloused?
I do not like them in a house.
I do not like them thrice deloused.
I do not like them here or there.
I do not like them anywhere.
I do not like green, brown, or tan.
I do not like them, Uncle Sam.
Would you loan them a small box?
Would you feed them bagels? Lox?
Not in a box.
Not even lox.
Not in a house.
Not thrice deloused.
I would not feed them here or there.
I would not feed them anywhere.
I would not help green, brown, or tan.
I would not help
Any man.
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