Loosely Speaking

By Ciel - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Everything Else

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

Presidential qualities

I don't need the nicest person, I want the most able to stop the bleeding and mend the wounds in our domestic and international relationships. But I also don't want the Oval Office held hostage to someone's temper. There have been enough tantrums. I don't want a revolution in all our systems, I want restoration of the middle-class and a true leveling of the field, for health care and education and entrepreneurship to be accessible for all who want them. I want options on how we can have these... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, February 25, 2020

The Media don't seem to want you to know who Elizabeth Warren is.

I posted this on Facebook this morning when a simple query about why NPR is freezing out Warren, never speaking of her. I got a lot of immediate knee-jerk responses that offered nothing but uninformed prejudice. Is it misogyny? Is it something she said? Why is anyone but the corrupt afraid of her? A couple of them called her a liar. As if we are not all sometimes, in some circumstances, liars. It is the effect of the lie, the enormity of the lie and who it damages and how much it damages them.... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Less worried about Bloomberg today

...after his poor showing in the debate--the only one I've actually watched. All his masterfully slick ads could not disguise that he has little to offer as a candidate, and a whole lot of history of more-Republican-than-Democrat decisions and values behind him. I can think of lots of better ways to use his money to oust Trump, which he says is his main objective. He must know his vulnerabilities. So now I am wondering, did he make this move to go on the debate stage to deliberately give the... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Watching the train wreck.

It's one thing to watch the train hurtle to disaster from a safe vantage. It's another to see it unfolding from inside the train, behaving as if we have no power to take it back from the criminals and maniacs who have taken over the controls. The important question is: What are we going to do about it? So far, we have thrown insults, shamed and humiliated, screamed anger and frustration, let fear build that we are losing something precious. We promise and intend to vote, as if they cannot... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, February 5, 2020

The political nightmare continues here in the US... Well, every great nation has had its mad kings, its reprehensible emperors, and more of them than the wise and good. The Founders did their utmost to secure the US from such things, but they could not imagine some of the events leading to this situation ever happening, could not imagine the degeneration of the many qualities that make a great or even adequate President or Senator. They planned ahead for all they could imagine, but some of their... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, January 30, 2020

There is no standing still.

It is so sad to consider how many Senators, mostly Republican, who have established solidly respectable careers in service to their constituents have eroded their honorable legacies during this administration. Formerly solid ships are leaking badly now. And some with their votes tomorrow, are going to utterly scupper their ships. I have always been an Independent, leaning towards the Left. I consider a Liberal mindset to be vastly more realistic and socially responsible than the Conservative... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, January 17, 2020

CCT raised some notions about retirement...

I have recently had thoughts about what retirement is, really. Mothers can't easily retire from mothering, no matter what age the kids are. And, of course, there are grandkids to consider, and eventually their kids, too. You can't retire from motherhood. I'm thinking that retirement is about letting go of habitual concerns, letting go of senses of obligation and required conformities. I just saw something about a small Irish island looking to hire a couple of caretakers. Not that I'm up for the... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Steinbeck

There is a book I have known of for years, but never got around to reading until this past couple of weeks. It's John Steinbeck's TRAVELS WITH CHARLEY. In 1960, Steinbeck had a pickup truck mounted with a bespoke camper, and with his French poodle, Charley, set out to find America. This book is the record of that trip, a long essay on America and Americans, and an autobiographic portrait of himself at 59. I read OF MICE AND MEN back in high school, and saw the movie. I also saw the movie of his... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, January 8, 2020

The Learning Puzzle

Imagine if kids loved learning... Imagine if we had loved learning. Consider how the educational system we grew up under has relied on long-obsolete notions and assumptions of the nature of children, how they learn, that they, by nature, resist learning. What they resist is the system, not the learning. But association kills the love of knowing new things, and costs students the great feelings of accomplishment and empowerment, the exhiliration of that AH-HA! moment when a new thing suddenly... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, January 3, 2020

Not that clever...

Because Trump acted without consent of Congress, without even notification of those who by law should have been notified, this latest action was not legal or military action, it was assassination. That is what leaves us vulnerable and gives Iran and Iraq all the provocation they need to react with wide approval from the rest of the world. So once again, he demonstrates how little he comprehends the powers and the limits of the Presidency, or the implications of his impulsive words and... Sign in to see full entry.

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