I became insane with long intervals of horrible sanity.
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.
Many people would sooner die than think; In fact, they do so
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 ...
May 21, 2014 - 1:03 p.m.
I have nothing on my agenda today so of course I've waste the entire morning. It's 11:02 already. Giving the time I start I my new thing. I never make a decision to standardize my entries but these things happen anyway.
I'm going to finally talk about things other than myself today but that' where I'll start. the good news is that I finished grading and posted them. The precalculus class had a big split. Out of 32 students there were 6 A's which is great but also 9 F's and 3 WF's, people that disappeared and were failing. I knew things weren't going to be pretty from the start. The class came in not knowing what they were supposed to know. There were three students that I had for Tech Math they all got an A or a B+. That is the best feedback on my teaching.
It was not a good mental health day. As long as I was grading I listened to Mozart and was fine. But when I was done I turned it off to make a phone call then hit an anxiety wall about making the call. But I didn't put the music back on because I wanted to call. And that is how I spent hours. I decided that I needed food therapy but couldn't figure out what I wanted for dinner. I was going to make soup but that wasn't good enough. I ended up skipping dinner and going straight to dessert. I went here:
I had dark chocolate and chocolate milk and cookies with hot fudge and whipped cream. I should have taken a picture. I have a feeling I'll be spending a lot of time at Ample Hills this summer.
When I got home I had dinner, a grilled Taylor Ham and Cheese on a bagel. I always have to talk about the food. And then to further lift up my spirits and my hands I listened to Hedwig and the Angry Inch. I too often need to be remind that I'm the new Berlin Wall baby! Try and tear me down! Part of me just wants to give up but the thing is I can't. It's not in my nature. Losing is never final, I just wait till next year.
Oh but there was a real bright note.
Look what my team did yesterday. Pitching wasn't much but the hitters exploded. Chris Davis erupted. He's my best player and has been doing terribly. He can carry the team on his broad back. And that lead to this.
I don't usually post midweek standings but last time the Batnoses were in first fell out of it by Monday morning. I wanted a record of it this time.
I'm on the second page, I guess I should get to my point. My point is the calculator No that's Jian's point. My point is the Commons. Much of the liberal/conservative divide is based on the use and maintenance of the Commons.
The Commons is more than it's traditional usage as the land held by the public not an individual. It's all the assets both natural and manmade that provide for the common good. Infrastructure is part of the Commons, the air is part of the Commons, education is part of the Commons.
This didn't used to be a political divide. Everyone was for the Commons at least when it was perceived. Yes we squandered natural recourses and ruined the environment with pollution but that was because people didn't actually see that the resources were finite and that nature couldn't hold all the wastes. But support of the commons was bipartisan when the need was seen. The first president that added conservation to the political agenda was Teddy Roosevelt a Republican. Dwight Eisenhower built the Interstate Highway System. The Clean Air and Clear Water acts were enacted under Nixon. Everybody supported public education.
Now things have changed and the Commons has become a political dividing line. The Story of Clive Bundy is a perfect example. There is only a finite amount of grazing land for cattle. Much of it is in the traditional Commons, publicly owned land. In Bundy's mind he has the right to use it freely even though it means denying it's use to others and degrading the land. The new right makes him a hero.
Climate change is another example. The earth as a whole is the ultimate Commons. It's clear that global warming if true is a disaster and that the Commons would need to be protected. As this goes against the philosophy of the new right they simply deny the science.
Public education is now ridiculed. "Why should I pay to educate other people's children?" It used to be generally accepted that everyone gains when the populace is educated. Now it's considered an affront by many that their taxes be used to educate others.
The urge to privatize is the antithesis of the Commons. You want garbage collection, Pay for it yourself. You want health insurance, pay for it yourself. The right does not view these as societal benefits but only individual.
The words community and commons have a common linguistic root. The right has moved to narrowing the community. There is us and there is them. You might acknowledge a Commons with your town but not with the next one over and not with your state, less with your country, and even less with the world. What is bigotry but removing "those people" from your community? They are the others and not your responsibility.
I'm with John Dunne.
No man is an island entire of itself; every man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man's death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.
I signed the Pro-Truth Pledge:
please hold me accountable.
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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
creative commons
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 License.
Horvendile May 21, 2014
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