Loosely Speaking

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

Friday, December 14, 2012

How bad does it have to get

before common sense outweighs outdated entitlements, before real life, and real death becomes more significant than paranoid ideas of what might happen if... How many tragic days would have not happened, if guns were even just a little harder to get...? When I think of the families who right now have no idea what to do with the Christmas gifts they've lovingly, happily wrapped, for those 20 children... it makes me sick in my gut, with the sadness and futility of it all. Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Naut's got me going again

with his recent series on booze. Lonely Planet chat-rooms, where I hung out a few years ago, were mostly inhabited by the older adolescent, aka, 'young adult' crowd, and I was saddened to see the pervasive drunk-culture there, where drinking, is about getting drunk and nothing else. Just like sex is about pleasure, with no joy or true intimacy being any part of it. I guess that was when I began to mourn for the next generations. This culture of over-indulgence, arises from a society that... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, November 22, 2012

Don't blame it on the fog.

I'm sure someone will, but it is not the fog's fault. It is the driver who refuses to drive a safe distance behind the car ahead, who does not drive with respect for weather and road conditions. Three seconds. Even two. That's a safe distance, a reasonable stopping distance in normal driving. Go slower when there is fog, or wet pavement, or downpour or snow or the possibility of ice. Be attentive, always, under any conditions. It is not just the laws of the road, it's the laws of physics: tons... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

About those service dogs...

In the past couple of years, this has come up several times. A woman in the next seat, in the front row of the plane, had a service dog, a labrador, I think. He was a sweet, well-trained dog, a better seat-neighbor than some humans I've flown beside. She had several ailments, one of which included seizures, and her dog could warn her when they were coming. Good dog! Another woman I know has a 'service dog' who goes with her everywhere. What is the service? It makes her happy to have her dog... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

It's a weight off my heart...

I am more than happy, I'm delighted that American leaned just far enought my way, that I am celebrating this morning, instead of angry, resentful, disheartened, dismayed... I'm sorry that so many others are feeling that way today. Smart or right or helpful, or not, we have become so tightly polarized to Parties and particular ideas and people, that the day after Election Day is not just an 'oh well' day for those whose causes and candidates lost. I don't think it is helpful. On the contrary, we... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, November 2, 2012

If campaigns could only tell the uncorrupted truth,

If all, or at least the vasty most of us, could see through the blandishments and manipulations, the contrivances and devices made to persuade, to trigger alarm and get us acting from fear... If only we all knew how easily our feelings and minds are managed, because of the many things we don't know, but think we do... If we could see our own susceptibilities and guard against their exploitation... But, no. I am sure it was the same in Pericles' Athens, and in the Roman Republic: that votes are... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

The Constitution of the United States of America, like any great document,

is subject to interpretation, and is not always interpreted the same way by everyone; and though it was constructed with considerable flexibility, times and technologies and social realities change and grow. That's why it allows for amendment, and brings in minds who were not the original framers. And amendments, in keeping with the social realities and pressures of their times, are sometimes mistakes. (Thinking, Prohibition was not such a great notion, though it was intended as highly ethical... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, October 8, 2012

Aren't you a little old to be so cynical...?

I've been thinking quite a bit about my previous post and the responses it has gotten. I have been thinking about why I still get passionate, and what really does matter, with who we elect to high office. Whoever is President gets to shape the Supreme Court, should any vacancies occur. That can matter. The President speaks to the rest of the world, establishes, and maintains the presence and image of this nation among other nations. The President makes decisions that shape our course into the... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Conversation with a Brit

My son-in-law, the one just back in the US from NZ is originally from GB. We were discussing the election, and he says that he is amazed how emotional we get in this country about our candidates and parties. He says no one in Great Britain gets all this agitated over elections. Why? Because they know it won't matter. Nothing will really change, the games will go on as they always have, with one side then the other winning a few, then losing a few, and life for the rest won't much be affected.... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

The first candidates' debate I saw...

No, not Lincoln/Douglass... it was Carter/Reagan--the first I paid attention to. I learned something significant from that debate. I watched Carter deliver hard facts, backed up with actual information. He wasn't fooling around, he was telling us what we needed to know. I heard Reagan say, "There you go again... hahaha! " and from him, I heard little of substance. But what I heard after the debate was what was really educational: just about all the pundits and analysts, gave the "win" to Reagan.... Sign in to see full entry.

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