The crazy lady strikes again

This article (click on the words " this article " to read it) posits the theory that suicide is a fundamental human right - the assumption behind this theory is that we belong only to ourselves, and that our only obligation is to respect the rights of others. If you want to live, that's your choice; if you want to commit suicide, nothing in the ethics promulgated by a truly free society should prevent you from doing so. In other words, if America were truly a free country, people would have the... Sign in to see full entry.

Recently, I was reading an article on Beliefnet by Frederica Matthewes-Greene (one of Beliefnet's regular contributors). Matthewes-Greene is an Eastern Orthodox Christian convert, married to an Eastern Orthodox priest. In that article, she mentions that suddenly, people change the definition of "experience" when they refer to religion. For example, when she visited Turkey not too long before she wrote that article, she noted that she could fairly be said to have "experienced" Turkey - but no one... Sign in to see full entry.

I did get a chance to reschedule the sprinkler installation. I hope the installer remembers to come over on the date I specified. (Apparently, there really is a village ordinance requiring that sprinklers exist in apartment buildings.) Sign in to see full entry.

The American population has reached the 300 million mark. The Census Bureau arrived at this date through what I'd like to think of as a variation on the law of averages. Someone is born in America an average of every eight seconds, and someone dies in America every eleven seconds (on average). Taking immigration into account (America being a nation of immigrants), the Census Bureau estimated that Citizen #300 Million was born or naturalized at 6:46 this morning Eastern time. Sign in to see full entry.

I make no secret of the fact that I have a great deal of medical debt right now. This is a significant problem, and I'm sure you'll agree. I'd guesstimate that I owe perhaps $5,000 in medical debt - that's what I can think of, off the top of my head, given all the physician and hospital bills I've run up over the past ten months. Add to that the routine daily expenses we all have - food, clothing, shelter, and utilities - and I'd say we have a significant problem going on here. The good news is... Sign in to see full entry.

Tomorrow (10/17/2006) promises to be one of those days. A few minutes ago as of this writing (I'm writing at about 4:50 PM Central Daylight Time on 10/16/2006), the manager of my apartment complex came by to tell us that tomorrow, they are installing sprinklers in the closets. The problem is that this involves major cleaning so that the appropriate personnel can have access to the ceiling of the closets in the first place. These people just don't get it - apparently, we are to drop everything to... Sign in to see full entry.

One of my favorite authors, Constance Cumbey (a Michigan attorney most famous for writing The Hidden Dangers of the Rainbow ), is fond of saying that in the New World Order, we are allowed to have a religion, but we are not going to be allowed to believe that it is a true religion. (She made the most recent version of this comment in the comments link on her latest blog entry.) I understand her to mean that we won't be allowed to believe that we are adherents of the One True Faith - a claim... Sign in to see full entry.

I'm beginning to hate the idea of political correctness - the concept that we must avoid offending others at all costs. That's because this concept plays into my own paranoia so neatly that it's frightening. (At least it should be frightening to anyone reading this.) There is a major difference between avoiding unnecessary offense and political correctness as I see it. I don't want to offend others any more than necessary. And it's unnecessary to sound like a bigot, nor is it necessary to sound... Sign in to see full entry.

I've been a Star Trek fan ever since the original series aired on NBC in the late 1960s. Had I been an adult at the time the original series first aired, perhaps I would have exercised more discernment as to whether or not I learned even to like the series, as Gene Roddenberry (the creator of the whole concept of Star Trek ) was what I would now call a devout, hard-core New Ager. Some of Roddenberry's observations, though exaggerated, are compatible with Christian teaching, and with human ideals... Sign in to see full entry.

Regular readers of this blog might notice a link to Jemmie211's member profile on the right side of this blog. She lives in Hawai'i - I believe on the Big Island - and one of the islands in Hawai'i was hit with a 6.5-magnitude earthquake earlier today (10/15/2006). There has been at least one aftershock, to my knowledge. I do hope she's all right. In the meantime, support her by clicking on some of the blogs listed in her member profile, to assure her (each in our own way) of our support for... Sign in to see full entry.