I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
Edgar Allen Poe

The trouble with fighting for human freedom is that one spends most of one's time defending scoundrels. For it is against scoundrels that oppressive laws are first aimed, and oppression must be stopped at the beginning if it is to be stopped at all.
- H. L. Mencken

Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
-Bertrand Russell

What I have been telling you, from alpha to omega, what is the one great thing the sigil taught me — that everything in life is miraculous. For the sigil taught me that it rests within the power of each of us to awaken at will from a dragging nightmare of life made up of unimportant tasks and tedious useless little habits, to see life as it really is, and to rejoice in its exquisite wonderfulness. If the sigil were proved to be the top of a tomato-can, it would not alter that big fact, nor my fixed faith. No Harrowby, the common names we call things by do not matter — except to show how very dull we are ...
-James Branch Cabell

July 01, 2014 - 11:01 a.m.

Riding My Hobby Lobby Horse

I got up early. I should be finished writing already. I hate when I do that. I don't even know what I'm going to write about. It's amazing I spend all day thinking of things to write but then sit down with no idea where this is going. I have to go back to taking notes. For now I'll do what I always do when I'm stuck. I just write about what I did.

It was Monday so I went to therapy. Heather had to pick up a computer in the Bronx and I had to figure out a way of getting it back to Brooklyn. I brought my small wheeled suitcase. Sort of odd taking an empty suitcase to therapy. I felt so strong, it was empty so I didn't really need to wheel it.

Heather met me at the therapist. When I got out of therapy I discovered that the person with the computer had given it to somebody else even though he promised it to her. We went back to her apartment to console ourselves with cake that she baked. She knows the key to my heart, cake even if it wasn't chocolate.

Huzzah, WQXR news just used moratoria not moratoriums. The Times has started on the road to hell by foregoing Latin plurals. That's how civilization will end, didn't you get the memoranda?

OK back to my day after dessert I want back to my house for dinner. I made Hebrew National hot dogs and roasted potatoes. That was yummy. It was a bit too kosher so I added cheese to the dogs.

Now for the politics The Hobby Lobby case is a good springboard for me to discuss something I might have written about before but warrants revisiting. My strongest reaction was that the logic is backwards This was not about protecting the religious freedom of the owners of Hobby Lobby. It's about them forcing their religious views on their employees. Contraception is considered a vital part of health care and they don't have the right to deny it to their employees. Could a Christian Science company deny paying all medical care to their employees? They have the right to their own beliefs, not the right to inflict it on others. Can a Quaker say she won't pay taxes because a good chunk of it goes ot the military which is against her religion? Paying for something is not the same as having to do it yourself.

But that's not what I want to address. The main slant on the news is that this is a women's issue. That's not how it struck me, this would have been wrong if they wouldn't pay for condoms too. It was such a wrong decision that it didn't reach the level of who it would affect. But that doesn't mean it isn't also a woman's issue. But I think many people misread the situation. It isn't misogyny. It isn't done from being against women. It's subtler than that and it's the most dangerous kind of prejudice. it isn't hatred of women but lack of identification with women. That lack of identification is where the harm so often lies since the great civil rights battles.

In the minds of the all-male conservative majority of the court this was about balancing the religious rights of the Hobby Lobby owners given by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act and the right of the women to get contraception coverage given by the ACA. To me that's a false view of what's going on and the justices are simply wrong. But if we accept their view then it comes down to balancing the two rights and what the justices did was not empathize with the women. They identified with the Hobby Lobby owners and felt their concerns more than they did with the women. This is a pattern you will see over and over again. I have talked to women who couldn't identify with poor women, who couldn�t see how the cost of contraception can be a big thing. They also didn't think about the women for whom more expensive forms of contraception like IUDs are recommended by their doctors.

The same issues come up with things like maternity leave and day care. Many men and women of means don't appreciate the burden this is for most women.

It isn't just women. The same goes for blacks, Hispanics, and the poor. So many just can't appreciate how requiring voter ID burdens some people more than themselves. People have trouble identifying with those they consider them not us.

That's why it is important to have a diverse supreme court. It's why it is important to have a diverse congress. The voices of people with different experiences need to be heard.

One more thing Don't forgot your first amendment rights. How about boycotting Hobby Lobby I don't buy that stuff anyway but if you do make a point of posting on social media that you are not patronizing Hobby Lobby and give the name of the business you are going to.

Wait, there's food but no music or commuting. Let me think.

Well first off I forgot that after therapy I want up to my mailbox. I can do that trip in my sleep, We took the to the . Then to get back to Heather's we took the to the . Oh and I took the B46 bus home.

OK now for music. I didn't hear any live music yesterday. But I can catch up on something My Girls aka Bobtown is recording a new album A History of Ghosts and you want to be part of it. You probably can't sing or play an instrument well enough to help that way but you know what you can do? You can help finance it. Yes you can be a patron of the arts just like the Medicis. Every time you listen to the album you can say, "This wouldn't exist without my help!" And all you have to do to join is hum a few bars the next time it comes around on the guitar. No that's not it. What you have to do is follow this link to Their Kickstarter Campaign. . You can get fun bonuses too. Karen will knit you something. Fred will Design/Illustrate your media project.. Alan will give you a guitar lesson. And as an added bonus I'll pat you on the back

OK music taken care of. Now I can reward myself with breakfast.


I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.





Memories: Not that Horrid Song - May 29, 2018
Wise Madness is Now In Session - May 28, 2018
The NFL and the First Amendment - May 27, 2018
On The Road Again - May 26, 2018
Oliver the Three-Eyed Crow - May 25, 2018



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Horvendile July 01, 2014
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