“How long? Not long. Because the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., 1965 … to keep up a blog like this one, which has, at various times in the past, been chock-a-block with details and observations from our lives. Living two years back in...
Year: 2009
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2009
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19-Jul-0925-Feb-26Loss, News Media
The Final Passing of American Journalism
“And that’s the way it is …” Walter Cronkite It feels as if the last bit of actual journalism in America is now dead. In «What We Lose With Cronkite’s Death», Bruce Maiman sums it up pretty well: “… it’s a reminder, too, that the broadcasting style and journalistic credibility that Cronkite represents also seems...
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14-Jul-0925-Feb-26California
Add One More to the Pile
This evening’s mail brought, finally, an official copy of our California marriage certificate, which is one of only 18,000 gender-neutral, Constitutionally equally protected, legally recognized marriages. (The copy pictured here has some personal details blanked out, such as birth dates, addresses, witnesses, and parents.) I post it here as a big ol’ kiss off to...
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12-Jul-0925-Feb-26Uncategorized
Of Interest: 12-Jul-09
• In Minneapolis, the New York Times turns up «a fascinating, heartbreaking, and ultimately, important story» of povery, terrorism, Somalia, teenagers, Facebook, and oddly enough, the building used to depict Mary Richard’s later apartment on the Mary Tyler Moore Show back in the 1970s, all of which may add up to the “most significant domestic...
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The Right Way
“The whole world is watching what we do here. We’re going to win or lose this war depending on how we do this.” Ali Soufan The story of the United States of America joining the long and black list of nations who abuse and torture prisoners and then invent all sorts of justifications for it...
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10-Jun-0925-Feb-26Politics and Elections, Religion
Two Right-Wing Terrorist Murders in Two Weeks
And now two right-wing terrorists have committed two political murders in two weeks. First Dr. Tiller in Wichita, a murder which was, from the point of view of the terrorists, successful in its aims. Now, an obscene attack on the United States Holocaust Memorial and Museum begs the question, are we in for a Summer...
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And Then There Was Maude …
Sad news today: «Bea Arthur passed away at 86 from cancer»: ‘Beatrice Arthur, the tall, deep-voiced actress whose razor-sharp delivery of comedy lines made her a TV star in the hit shows “Maude” and “The Golden Girls” and who won a Tony Award for the musical “Mame,” died Saturday. She was 86. Arthur died peacefully...
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24-Apr-0925-Feb-26Marriage Equality, United States
Marriage Equality Arrives in Connecticut
The governor of Connecticut signed «marriage equality into law today». Equal protection under the law as provided in the U.S. Constitution was thereby affirmed by all three branches of the government. ‘Four years ago this week, Gov. M. Jodi Rell signed a bill allowing civil unions. Today, with the stroke of a pen, she abolished...
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Commonality
Not sure why I’m even noting this, but it did catch my eye. Among the «5,000 most common names according to the 2000 US Census», Frank has a more common surname than I do. Our names: Lester (his) is 709th, down 111 places, 16 occurrences per 100,000 names. Mine, Pollock, is 1,420th, up 20 places,...
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19-Apr-0925-Feb-26LGBT, Marriage Equality
The Bigots' Last Hurrah
It’s a great title for a great «column». Frank Rich of the New York Times sums up very thoroughly and very presciently the status of one of America’s favorite Culture War battlegrounds/sports grounds in which people like us are kicked around like political footballs (cartoon at left is from 2004, Steve Kelley of the New...
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Germans Join UN Racism Conference Boycott
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier announced that Germany will join the U.S., Israel and other countries in a «boycott» of the upcoming United Nations World Conference Against Racism after “a draft declaration circulated earlier this year made Israel responsible for the entire Middle East conflict, while human rights violations in Muslim countries were largely ignored.”...
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Tennessee Spring
I’m a little nervous about stormy weather here in Middle Tennessee, because this is, of course, tornado country. But nonetheless, the past 24 hours of weather have been kind of beautiful, spring rain without depressingly torrential downpours, followed by periods of clouds interspersed with clear sky. Tonight was particularly wonderful, with a little rain followed...
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04-Mar-0925-Feb-26Uncategorized
Doggoneit, an Anniversary
I’m reading, and enjoying, a new book:«Dog On It». I usually confine my mystery reading to James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux books, but I made an exception for this one, because the twist is that it’s told from the private eye’s dog’s perspective. Chet is a police dog helping his buddy find a missing girl....
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03-Mar-0925-Feb-26Beagles
New Pics on Flickr!
Finally posted some «new pics on Flickr» of the boys. Whatta buncha beagles!
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12-Feb-0925-Feb-26Beagles
Nothing to See Here
News in this neck of the woods is pretty mundane: More beagle escapes (fifth, I think), necessitating the expenditure and labor of putting up a new chain link fence to isolate half of the backyard. Application almost complete for Vanderbilt’s special ed master’s program. Storm front moved through today; several thousand people just south of...