6/30/2015

Supreme Court and Baseball

Yer OUT!
 · I was SAFE!!!
He meant to tag you, though, so you're out.
 - - -
STEE-RIKE THREE!!! YER OOOUUTT!!!
 · What?!
Well, the pitcher's intention was to put the ball over the inside corner.
 - - -
SAFE!
 · But I tagged him, ump!
Oh, you're up by three runs anyway, and he's stolen a base in each of his last six games, so let's give it to him!

 - - -

In baseball, we would call that bad officiating.

When the Supreme Court does it, who can anyone appeal to?

6/29/2015

Papa Francisco addresses youth, talks rot

Will Pope Francis Disarm His Guards?



"Was it 'un-Christian' of weapons manufacturers in the Allied countries to arm the forces that ended the Axis campaign of genocide?," asks Kurt Hofmann in the article linked above from the Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership web site on 24 June 2015.  



That deeply clericalist mentality is disturbing, that would use the papacy to sway prudential judgments that belong uniquely to the laity.  While the pope is doing some remedial study in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (around paragraph 2263 et seq.) he might also look up subsidiarity (paragraph 1883 - 1885), as well as the role of the laity (around paragraph 2442):

It is not the role of the Pastors of the Church to intervene directly in the political structuring and organization of social life. This task is part of the vocation of the lay faithful, acting on their own initiative with their fellow citizens.

6/20/2015

Midsummer walk

Elderberries getting ripe

My little buckeye

Sweet Pea blooming on pea vine hill

Huge midsummer sun bow - the black dots are swallows




Had a little midsummer eve walkies and saw some things. 



6/18/2015

I should be the White House travel office.

I have an idea for an alternate vacation plan for Michelle and the girls.  How about Arlington National Cemetery: a tour that will focus on recipients of the Medal of Honor (Posthumous).  And / or  Civil War battlefields.  And Lexington and Concord.  And a visit to the Declaration of Independence.

Might do us ALL some good.  Plus it would be loads cheaper.

6/16/2015

Throw Objective Truth overboard. The rest is easy.

Rachel Dolezal.
Bruce Jenner.
Emperor Norton.

Shhh.  Don't make the crazy person upset.  Buy the Emperor a drink.

6/14/2015

Tanka for June 13, 2015

Nearly midsummer
Bare stalks with round bead-like seeds

All along the path
Under warm scent of laurel
Pinhole pictures of the sun
Base of Mount Wanda trail

Indian Soap going to seed

Acorn Woodpecker work -- but where are the acorns?

6/06/2015

Music Metrics

Since people [you know: people!] have told me that the metric system is more accurate (?!) than the imperial system, I offer the following more accurate song titles for your edjumication:

Kilometers From Nowhere - Cat Stevens
159 Kilometers from L.A. - Albert Hammond
28.968 Kilometers From Memphis - Stray Cats
I Can See For Kilometers and Kilometers - The Who
Kilometers Away - Jackson Browne
1,609,344 Kilometers Away - Rory Gallagher
64.37 Kilometers from Poplar Bluff - Dolly Parton
Nothing Like 160.6344 Kilometers - James Taylor
1,609,344 Kilometers - Bob Dylan
144.8 Kilometers an Hour (Down a Dead End Street) - Bob Dylan
14.48 Kilometers From Gundagai - Michael Cooney

Because, you know, miles is just not as accurate. There are probably about a brazillian more of 'em. (You can do your own conversion on the other ones.)

6/05/2015

Healing, growth, change, recovery

You're four years old and you fall down and get a scrape on your leg.  Two days later there is new pink skin on the spot and you can run as fast as ever.  The worst long-term effect is that for the rest of the summer you will have a light spot in your leg tan.

You're fifteen years old and a girl you like tells you she doesn't want to see you any more.  Actually she doesn't tell you, she has her friend tell you and that hurts even worse.  Six weeks later you meet a very nice girl at a dance and you end up taking her to Junior Prom.  The worst long-term side effect is a bit of embarrassment over the past.

You're twenty-six years old and everything is working out according to your plans.  You are head-over-heels in love with your spouse, your soul mate.  Your new son is healthy.  Your job is satisfactory.  But for some reason you are uneasy in every social situation. The alcohol that was once a usable tool is now an absolute need.  All day.  It's not working.  You hate yourself and want to die.  One afternoon you remember a long-ago conversation with a friend who was talking to you (for some reason...) about how she was helped by Alcoholics Anonymous.  A call is made.  An AA meeting found.  (You get a ride because you're too shaky to drive.)  Your brief, near-fatal relationship with alcohol ends.  The long task of life without the substance begins.  The worst long-term side effect is that  it doesn't just skin over  like that scrape when you were four years old.  It also doesn't simply get displaced/replaced by something new.  You haven't got a clue, you haven't got a plan, except to survive.  And you begin to learn about taking life one day at a time.

You're forty-two years old and your mother dies suddenly.  You didn't get to say good-bye.  You didn't get one last hug.  She's gone.  Nothing makes sense.  Nobody loves you like your mom.  Every hour, every day there is a nagging empty agony. Everything hurts.  The worst long-term side effect is that it doesn't go away.  A sort of callus builds up over the wound, like a tree that loses a large branch, but you can't say it  heals  exactly, because what is gone stays gone.  You begin to learn how to go on loving after the one you love is taken away.

What am I driving at here? 

No.  I think I'll just leave it where it is.  The process is ongoing, after all.

6/04/2015

Bully! It's good to the last drop!

Joel Cheek, a salesman from Kentucky came up with a special blend of coffee in 1874. He sold the coffee to the restaurant in Nashville’s Maxwell House Hotel, which is how the brand eventually got its name. Theodore Roosevelt tasted the coffee years later and responded, “Delighted! It’s good to the last drop,” when asked if he wanted a refill. That phrase became part of the brand’s identity, logo and advertising.      [according to...]
I like the Maxwell House instant coffee.  I've heard the tag line all my long life, and never knew the origin!