This 'N That

OMG!  People have lost their freakin' minds.  Funny how the right likes to quote the Founding Fathers as gospel whenever the subject of gun ownership comes up, but not for anything else. John Adams, the Founding Father most likely to be ignored by those ruled by their reptilian brain, once said "we are a government of laws, not of men". And two even more appropriate quotes to the discussion of whether or not terrorists should be tried in New York, which directly suffered from the crimes of the accused, are also from Mr. Adams

Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence.

And, even more importantly:

The law no passion can disturb. 'Tis void of desire and fear, lust and anger. 'Tis mens sine affectu, written reason, retaining some measure of the divine perfection. It does not enjoin that which pleases a weak, frail man, but, without any regard to persons, commands that which is good and punishes evil in all, whether rich or poor, high or low. 'Tis deaf, inexorable, inflexible. On the one hand it is inexorable to the cries and lamentations of the prisoners; on the other it is deaf, deaf as an adder, to the clamors of the populace.

Both of those statements were made while defending the British soldiers after the Boston Massacre.  Inconvenient truths, indeed.  But not nearly as inconvenient as old Ben.

Any people that would give up liberty for a little temporary safety deserves neither liberty nor safety.

The Republicans wetting their pants are determined we shall have neither.  Honestly, why are they so scared?  Timothy McVeigh was tried, convicted and executed by the same justice system, why isn't it good enough for foreign terrorists?  What do we stand to lose by showing the world, and ourselves, that we apply the law equally (sort of) to every accused criminal?  Or is it that New York isn't Texas and Republicans are afraid that the state can't meet the burden of proof?  New York has plenty of experience, they paid the highest price and they deserve to prosecute the offenders.  Or at least the ones hat are still living.

My pug is cuter than a French bulldog.  Of course that is my biased opinion, but Shai always gets attention when we go out, as do most brachycephalic breeds.  One of the reasons I got her was to meet people and she definitely accomplishes that, but all they want to do is talk about how cute she is.  It's amazing how everyone knows the names of the dogs at the park and who they belong to but not the owners names.  And sometimes we talk to each other for hours.  About our dogs.

The health care debate rages on, with nothing useful being accomplished.  I will probably never leave Reno, the VA facilities are too good.  I had another asthma incident this week but they nipped that sucker in the bud.  My doctor had switched me from Flovent to Asmanex, it got a little colder one morning and even though I stayed two aisles away from the soap aisle in the grocery store, wham!  Three hours after I arrived at the urgent care clinic I was out the door with an antibiotic because I was at risk for pneumonia, tapered doses of methylprednisone to reduce the inflammation in my lungs (and as a side effect my joints feel better) and Tessalon Pearls for the coughing since I'm allergic to codeine.  This is in addition to the blood pressure med and the synthroid I just started because my thyroid is giving up the ghost according to the doctor.  Mom is 79 and only takes two meds, this does not bode well for my old age.

When I worked at Universal Studios the secretaries were unionized and when our contract came up for renewal several things happened.  The first time they initiated a two tier wage system and then got rid of everyone on the top tier.  You get what you pay for and at $7 an hour in Hollywood all you get are bimbos who want to meet a movie star.  It took about six months and 90 percent of us had our jobs back.  I was working in the black tower, which happens to be a closed environment, during the second set of negotiations.  This time Universal got the bright idea to eliminate sick days because they said the secretaries were using them for personal business.  Flu season came around and within days half the building (executives) were out sick because the secretaries worked while ill and recirculated air contaminated with viruses was distributed around the building.  Sick days mysteriously showed up again.

I'm glad I renewed my library card.  Friday night television is just like Saturday night.  Useless for entertainment.  CBS, which doesn't have very many successful new shows, has cut the amount of episodes of Numb3rs to 16 from 22 as it prepares to cancel it.  Not for lack of viewers, but because they say it's too expensive since it's been on so long.  Fox canceled Dollhouse after completely botching the timing, audience and advertising.  What do those two shows have in common?  You have to pay attention.

BBB