"The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter." —Mark Twain
Because we can’t be trusted to run our own lives
One of the things that strikes me in so many news stories about preventable disasters is that the decision-makers not only had all the information they needed to take correct and timely preventive action, they were specifically warned when red flags started to wave.
During our drive to New Mexico last week we had to stop at two US Border Patrol checkpoints, one on the White Sands Missile Range inbound to Alamogordo, the other homebound on I-10 between Las Cruces and Deming. We were racially profiled at the first one, which is to say the BP agent glanced at us […]
I needed reassurance that the Bundy Ranch and Murrieta types are a marginal minority, and Rachel Maddow gave it to me.
Someone rang our doorbell this morning. We heard our grandson answer it, but since he didn’t call for us we figured it was nothing and kept working in the office. When Quentin walked by the office a few minutes later I asked him who came by. “Some guy who wanted you to come to a meeting,” he said. One of […]
A visitor from outer space would describe Congress as a place where bribery is both legal and encouraged. I guess it’s always been that way; maybe I am naive. Still, you have to try. We can’t say we’re a representative democracy if we quit believing our voices and votes mean something.
I worked for the VA from December 2005 to October 2008. During those years there was supposedly a push on to transition from paper to electronic records, but I never saw any evidence of it. Shortly before I left, I asked the guys in patient records how the transition was going. Their reaction? It was the old “You Want It When?” cartoon come to life. After they quit laughing, they told me it would never happen and not to worry my pretty little head about it.
Some subjects are so radioactive whoever touches them throws up, goes bald, and dies.
“However, despicable human scum Jang, who was worse than a dog, perpetrated thrice-cursed acts of treachery in betrayal of such profound trust and warmest paternal love shown by the party and the leader for him.”