klaatu » Categorically Incorrect

Elizabeth Warren, Rephrased

anastrophe — Sat, 24 Sep 2011 04:46:03 +0000

It’s been forever and five minutes since I last posted here. Since my readership including myself is almost certainly just one, I figure this is a good place to write something that’s really bugging me, that would be exceedingly unpopular with most people I know – so this way I avoid losing friends, whee!

Elizabeth Warren, who is apparently running for senate in Massachusetts, was videotaped making some statements about ‘the social contract’ which are really resonating with a lot of people, apparently – the quote below is being posted all over the net, with people saying ‘Yeah!’, ‘Right on!’. Her comments were in regard to taxes and the federal debt. Here’s what she said:

The Continuum Of Faith

Paul Theodoropoulos — Mon, 12 Feb 2007 02:32:01 +0000

All generalizations are faulty – including this one.

That said, we seem to be highly attuned to generalizations – making them, and accepting them. ‘Whatever line you’re waiting in, the other lines will move faster’. ‘Republicans tend to be pro-business and anti-social-welfare’. ‘Blondes have more fun’. And so on. Likewise, there are some areas where the only way one can discuss something is by the use of generalities. "Fundamentalists". "Atheists". ("Fundamentalist" is really not the most accurate term. As I am not a theologian, nor all that well studied in matters of faith, I hope the use can be excused. Perhaps "Orthodox" would be a better word…?). Present me with two religious fundamentalists, and chances are each will have some very different opinions and beliefs from the other, even if they’re of the same faith. The same with atheists. There’s no such thing as a ‘pure’ fundamentalist or atheist. The descriptor may be helpful, but underneath it all, you have to accept that both the fundamentalist and atheist must sometimes have to stand naked (with apologies to Bob Dylan). What defines a man or woman cannot be boiled down to a simplistic term like ‘fundamentalist’ or ‘atheist’.

Paging Mother Superior – Mother Superior, White Courtesy Telephone Please

Paul Theodoropoulos — Sat, 10 Feb 2007 05:36:29 +0000

The irony of the last post, juxtaposed against the "Love at first boot – OpenSolaris" logo to the right is not lost on me.

Small Town News

Paul Theodoropoulos — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 23:17:27 +0000

I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, on the Peninsula – Redwood City. As a child, our family watched the local news broadcasts, coming over the air from transmitters on Mount San Bruno, just south of San Francisco. In glorious Black and White, we watched Terry Lowry in front of a whiteboard map of the U.S., placing little magnet-backed clouds over California, and a little magnet-backed sun over the midwest. We watched Van Amburg report on the latest apartment fire in the Tenderloin, and we watched Wayne Walker report on the latest San Francisco 49ers Superbowl Win.

“Could Be The Worst Fire Season On Record”

Paul Theodoropoulos — Tue, 23 Jan 2007 22:43:23 +0000

Every year. Every year. Come about April, my wife and I begin speculating about when the first utterance of the above sentence will occur on the local news. Without fail, every year, every local news station will air those words. If California had a light winter, with lower than average rain—then by May or so, the reports will be that there’s a ‘tinderbox’ of dry brush out there that could make this the worst fire season on record. If California had higher than normal rain, the reports will be that the "excess" rain has created a dense overgrowth of brush that’s going to become a ‘tinderbox’ of dry brush, which could make this the worst fire season on record.