Iowa

How did Iowa become so important to the Presidential nominating process? So few people cannot be confused with the greater population of America.

Competition

Throughout my life, I have heard the cliche' about sports for youngsters teaching real-world lessons and building character. Having coached for over thirty years and having a son who is active in at least three sports, I do agree. However, many poeple speak about this dynamic as if sports are the only venue in which these real-world lessons can be learned and in which character can be built. Nonsense! From this fallacy we get the silly "competition" TV shows I see promoted on every channel and for every night. Life is not a "zero sum" game in which someone else must fail in order for me to succeed. This consciousness, which I see growing in my students and in the culture, is saddening.

books or not books

Just read a series of posts about the advantages and disadvantages of e-books and paper books. Many of the commentators seemed more interested in demanding that their view be adopted as policy by all others. Not unlike fans of religions, they seem blind to the idea that both ways (or all ways and non-ways, religiously)have validity. Truly, it is up to the individual and there is no single, correct answer. We each should read what we want in whatever delivery system works for us at that time. I use both, and will continue to do so.

Feeling...

like I do not know what to do with this blog anymore, not that I have done much with it so far. I want to use it as a way to leave part of myself to Andy after I am dead, but I do not know that he will be interested in reading it. Therefore, the real reason is for me, I guess. However, I do not want this to be a diary in which I merely vent and blather. I think the real thing to do is try to write something each day, even if it is small and meaningless to others. The habit is the goal, not the daily content. Not all days are equally evocative.

New Year

Even though this is only December 21, it is the day that I recognize as the beginning of the new year. It is the Winter solstice and all days after this, until June will lengthen and we will have more light each day. As I have aged, I appreciate sunny days much more than I ever did as a young man. There was so much more romance and "tragedy" about rain and fog and and melancholy.

I tend to think more like the Democrats than the Republicans, but neither of these groups deserves the confidence of the people. Obama and Boehner and Cantor and Reid et al. are far more concerned with their own prospects in the next election than they are with what might be best for the majority of Americans. The horror is that we get the government that we demand and these clowns in DC or Lansing give scant evidence of intelligent life in the general population.

Free Speech (NPR)

If you have personal opinions which might cause you embarrassment if they were known, keep them to yourself or, if you feel you have a right to "free speech", have the courage to express yourself and accept the consequences. Your right to speak freely is only matched by the rights of others to dislike your ideas. If they are in a situation to make your life difficult because they dislike your ideas, they may do so, just as you may continue to speak freely. The Bill of Rights does not address private behavior; primarily, it restricts the government from engaging in prior restraint of speech against the government. Private individuals and companies may sue for slander or libel with few limits outside of the "malice" test. Beyond that, you are responsible for what you say and for the consequences which accrue.