tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.comments2023-12-26T22:08:54.798-05:00Lotus - Surviving a Dark TimeLotushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16774266443353774752noreply@blogger.comBlogger431125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-52170241285318220442023-12-19T18:51:42.977-05:002023-12-19T18:51:42.977-05:00So much for the utterly empty gesture of the "...So much for the utterly empty gesture of the "all lives matter" crowd.<br /><br />It has ALWAYS meant white conservative Christian lives.Dave Dubyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03279370558997246976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-85952336512190962392023-12-19T18:48:59.967-05:002023-12-19T18:48:59.967-05:00I appreciate your insightful and fact-based opinio...I appreciate your insightful and fact-based opinions.<br /><br />"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."<br /><br />Sad, but still true. I might add "Politics wrapped in religion and patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel". <br /><br />I believe patriotism is expressed through honorable military and civil service, and in peaceful and informed participation in civic responsibilities under the rule of law with respect for the rights of others.<br /><br />Seems a lot to ask these days.<br />Dave Dubyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03279370558997246976noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-9299999879092366672023-11-29T16:38:41.079-05:002023-11-29T16:38:41.079-05:00Thank you for the comment. They are always appreci...Thank you for the comment. They are always appreciated.<br /><br />For myself, I hold always at least the hope for justice in this life, the only one we can be sure exists, even if that hope is based only on the contention that the concept of justice itself has power.<br /><br />Hope springs eternal and all that.. :-)Lotushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16774266443353774752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-45022039799418993552023-11-28T13:18:43.693-05:002023-11-28T13:18:43.693-05:00long ago - as an undergraduate - i read something ...long ago - as an undergraduate - i read something by john locke, influential english philosopher<br /><br />a phrase he used that i hadn't encountered before struck me - "an appeal to heaven" - by which he meant resorting to deadly force to settle political disputes <br /><br />my own moral intuition is one shouldn't kill people unless it's necessary - and no more than necessary - and in no crueller ways than necessary - but the way things are is that in this world there is no law, there is only power - maybe there is justice in the next life, or the one after that<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />mistah charley, sb, ma, phd, jspshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14786934467640941804noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-1601719150875500132020-12-28T12:48:15.669-05:002020-12-28T12:48:15.669-05:00Thank you. And it is.Thank you. And it is.Lotushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16774266443353774752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-35541153482411487792020-12-27T15:37:30.799-05:002020-12-27T15:37:30.799-05:00This is heartbreaking and lovely and loving. Your ...This is heartbreaking and lovely and loving. Your wife was very lucky to be loved so deeply. I mourn for her and all the others who have had to die alone as well as for those who love them. May her memory be a blessing. ♥ nonnie9999https://mikk2.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-10577509236170674782020-07-03T18:32:59.510-05:002020-07-03T18:32:59.510-05:00Sincere condolences. I am so sorry. It has been 15...Sincere condolences. I am so sorry. It has been 15 years since my partner died. He is still with me. I try to live in a way that would make him proud of us. I owe that to my friend. So sorry for your loss. Richardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16217677217054777278noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-35620466094336322192020-06-12T17:40:21.179-05:002020-06-12T17:40:21.179-05:00Thank you.Thank you.Lotushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16774266443353774752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-22322191795549241562020-06-12T07:29:02.911-05:002020-06-12T07:29:02.911-05:00Condolences and many wishes you find solace and pe...Condolences and many wishes you find solace and peace.<br />BDRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06557941385560728052noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-77877361784387136452020-06-07T06:46:20.873-05:002020-06-07T06:46:20.873-05:00Extremely touching and beautiful, Larry. She certa...Extremely touching and beautiful, Larry. She certainly carried you in her heart wherever she would be. Take care, Larry.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11363512896838602260noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-41076047412150819142020-05-17T12:14:44.943-05:002020-05-17T12:14:44.943-05:00Thank you to those who have reached out with words...Thank you to those who have reached out with words of kindness.LarryEnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-64831707080464953332017-11-13T07:19:41.870-05:002017-11-13T07:19:41.870-05:00Because they are gutless cowards whose very souls ...Because they are gutless cowards whose very souls can be bought and sold. Next question.Racer Xhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02812393490896656818noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-85626359718675810792017-11-12T19:58:55.745-05:002017-11-12T19:58:55.745-05:00Great question. This wasteful spending on the mil...Great question. This wasteful spending on the military is one of the big reasons we can't have nice things. The neverending War on Terror is going to continue to suck up trillions of tax payers' dollars with nothing meaningful to show for it. The left should be pushing back but as you correctly point out, military spending doesn't even seem to be a major issue for Democrats. Patricia Kaydenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07836381858165025496noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-20708871940574960472016-08-20T00:28:23.160-05:002016-08-20T00:28:23.160-05:00I can't say it's too late, I can't say...I can't say it's too late, I can't say it can't be salvaged, I can neither bring myself to or more importantly allow myself that level of despair, although I am aware that your predictions may well not be far off the mark even as they envision the extra deaths of over 2.5 billion people and wholesale havoc to the biosphere over the next century.<br /><br />Long ago I realized that it is only a combination of hope and anger that keeps me trying. So I have to maintain my hope if only as a bulwark against despair, because as the Bard said, "that way lies madness."<br /><br />So yeah, we are in for, to put it mildly, rough times and the odds are heavily against us - but we are not done for, we are not without hope and we are not without alternatives. I won't give up. Maybe I should; sometimes I think so. But I can't - so I won't.Lotushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16774266443353774752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-36948994307494079852016-08-18T21:38:25.670-05:002016-08-18T21:38:25.670-05:00The least expensive, most effective, highest-lever...The least expensive, most effective, highest-leverage technology for combatting global climate change is human contraception.<br /><br />That said : we've waited too long, and missed some important tipping points. The rate of CO2 increase in the atmosphere is itself increasing.<br /><br />Expect a third of earth's current animal and plant species to go extinct within the next hundred years. Expect the human population to fall back below 5 billion, not because we were smart, but because mortality in many areas will skyrocket as the three horsemen ride.<br /><br />We could have saved the Earth, but we were too short-sighted, greedy, selfish, and cheap.<br /><br />Ob. book reference : "King Of The Hill" by Chad Oliver in Harlan Ellison's _Dangerous_Visions_<br />joel haneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11946546309257239019noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-30260680012180413772016-01-04T14:32:11.888-05:002016-01-04T14:32:11.888-05:00Wow. An anonymous comment on a post from six years...Wow. An anonymous comment on a post from six years ago. I'm not sure what to make of that.<br /><br />I'm also not sure of what to make of the comment itself other than to say that it shows the increasing desperation of the nanny-nanny naysayers, who will resort to any re-interpretation of data, no matter how wild, even if it conflicts with previous re-interpretations.<br /><br />So now not only is the world warming but has been "overall" doing it for 2000 years? A "natural pattern" of gradually "getting stronger/more extreme" for 20 centuries?<br /><br />So what is driving this "natural pattern?" Can't be the Sun; the Sun has well-known, well-recognized, cycles of greater and lesser intensity. So what is driving it, anonymous commenter? And why has the rate of increase (which you say has been going on for 2000 years) become so much sharper since the onset of the industrial age and even sharper than that over the past several decades?<br /><br />Hey, and here's another thing for you to think about: Even if we were to imagine (the word is chosen deliberately) that none of the warming is human-driven, the effects of a given temperature increase remain the same. Which means we are still facing "more extreme" impacts from a changing climate over the next decades. What should we do about that? Or do you just not give a damn as long as you figure it won't affect you, personally?Lotushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16774266443353774752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-12484870840295667022016-01-04T05:20:31.361-05:002016-01-04T05:20:31.361-05:00The original chart goes from 0 - 2000's. All t...The original chart goes from 0 - 2000's. All these little snapshots prove nothing and are misleading. Looking at the original chart, the pattern seems to be natural. It's been oscillating up and down, getting stronger/more extreme overall, for the past 2000 years. Any idiot brain can see that pattern when looking at the whole chart.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-86219878716985612232015-11-08T11:15:18.949-05:002015-11-08T11:15:18.949-05:00I love it! Require people to prove they are drug f...I love it! Require people to prove they are drug free before getting the mortgage interest deduction on their income tax!<br /><br />I have a conservative friend who literally cannot understand what I am talking about when I explain to him that his mortgage deduction is a government subsidy akin to TANF. <br /><br />I don;t think he would understand this.mccamjhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06219447000482810272noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-85506037004148751802015-11-07T02:23:04.558-05:002015-11-07T02:23:04.558-05:00You are correct both on "more easily said tha...You are correct both on "more easily said than done" and "ZERO enthusiasm." But I would remind everyone that the point was to respond to the inevitable "Oh, yeah? Well, what you YOU do, if you're so smart?"<br /><br />The purpose was to show that there are ways other than war - and notice I didn't even mention international negotiations such as those that are coughing and groaning toward (but yes, toward) getting going.<br /><br />Yeah, it's easier said than done. But war is actually much harder - it just looks easier.Lotushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16774266443353774752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-65762380296228220592015-11-04T16:27:12.766-05:002015-11-04T16:27:12.766-05:00Cutting off the money is rather more easily said t...Cutting off the money is rather more easily said than done. The US has shown ZERO enthusiasm for holding the Saudi and Kuwaiti financial backers of ISIS responsible. No more than they did for pretty much the same people backing al-Qaida. The notion of disgruntled western Iraqi Sunnis is only half the equation, the other half being great huge bales of money from some rich Salafists who aren't fussy about how the job gets done, as long as lots of Shi'a and other undesirables get dead along the way. Because if you don't stop the money, the guns will always find a way.DMCnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-60931746032170503112015-07-05T03:00:06.888-05:002015-07-05T03:00:06.888-05:00A strange comment, to be sure. If I correctly dig ...A strange comment, to be sure. If I correctly dig out the well-buried point, it's a claim that opposite-sex "marriage" is somehow "better" than same-sex marriage ("3 for 3" versus "2 out of 3" and "so much for equality") because procreation is through heterosexual sex. Put another way, it's just another attempt to denigrate same-sex unions as inferior to "traditional" ones, this time by doing what the opponents of marriage equality are always claiming advocates do: re-defining marriage.<br /><br />I will say the attempt, involving three types of "marriage," is at least original - but the logic remains vaporous and the purpose invidious.<br /><br />Consider the third category, the one about "physical marriage." Does that mean that every time you have heterosexual sex you are "married" to your partner (or, hey, what the heck, partners)? Perhaps not, because it refers to "natural children" so maybe you're just, I dunno, engaged or something rather than "married."<br /><br />Okay, then, what about those "natural children." Does that mean the cliched "unwed mother" is actually married? There have been cases of lesbian couples having children through artificial insemination of one partner either by a willing donor or an anonymous one. Does "physical marriage" mean that woman is a polygamist, married both to her spouse and the sperm donor?<br /><br />And then we have the "inseparable union," which if it is to mean anything at all must mean that the bonds, the "union," adoptive parents form with their adopted children are inferior to those parents form with their "natural children." But "inseparable?" I'll grant genetically, but in any way that really counts beyond being at greater risk for a variety of inherited diseases and conditions? Inseparable physically, emotionally, spiritually, financially? Seriously?<br /><br />Conclusion: This concept of a type of marriage which is by definition available only to heterosexual couples, a concept intended to show that opposite-gender relationships are superior to same-gender relationships, fails miserably.Lotushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16774266443353774752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-85489469056416435462015-07-04T19:12:33.499-05:002015-07-04T19:12:33.499-05:00The headlines in the USA can now read:
"Gay ...The headlines in the USA can now read:<br /><br />"Gay Marriage - 2 Out of 3 Ain't Bad."<br /><br />1. Civil marriage = Secular, any sexual orientation, paper marriage and divorce.<br />2. Spiritual marriage = Religious, any sexual orientation, paper marriage and divorce.<br />3. Physical marriage = Natural children (inseparable union), heterosexual only, no paper.<br /><br />Maybe this should be the headline instead, since it works around the World:<br /><br />"Heterosexual Marriage - 3 for 3"<br /><br />So much for equality.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10211808723922917246noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-68570350420559733292015-06-21T22:29:21.406-05:002015-06-21T22:29:21.406-05:00You may not be an authority, but your judgement is...You may not be an authority, but your judgement is a hell of a lot better than mine on such things. Thanks for the suggestion, it looks like a good one!Lotushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16774266443353774752noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-11758487834091401942015-06-21T20:41:15.945-05:002015-06-21T20:41:15.945-05:00I'm no authority! It looks like Spiraea japoni...I'm no authority! It looks like Spiraea japonica to me. John Powershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17126222842766191343noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6074121.post-80899550969835826522015-05-23T14:00:25.880-05:002015-05-23T14:00:25.880-05:00One other thing: the "better products through...One other thing: the "better products through increased competition" argument is indeed "exactly what the open market crowd would claim" - when it suits their purposes.<br /><br />In this case, it doesn't - so they won't make it here.Lotushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16774266443353774752noreply@blogger.com