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Okay, I Can’t Stand It.
A dear friend, whom I love and respect, posted the following on her Facebook page. It broke my heart that someone I care about and admire so much could be so taken in. I’ll start with the quote (Which is from some other source, which has since disappeared from Facebook, and I’ll remain faithful to…
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Trump is the New Hitler
I have a German last name, and because of that I have always taken the events that led up to, and occurred during, World War II very seriously. Growing up, I was fascinated by the Diaries of Anne Frank and all things related to concentration camps. I was proud of the fact that my father…
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Outing the KKK
Back in the early 80’s, when I was 17, I was driving to a local park with an African American friend of mine to go swimming. To get to this park, you had to go miles down this rural road to its very end, then come to a stop at a T junction and make…
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Forcing the Issue
As I mentioned in yesterday’s blog entry, I got a chance to see Bernie Sanders speak here in Seattle on Saturday night. It went really well. At 15,000 attendants, it was his largest crowd to date, and about 3 times larger than Hillary Clinton’s largest gathering. But earlier in the day, he attempted to speak…
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Breaking the Cycle
I know someone who is a chronic worrier. She comes by it honestly. Everyone in her family is a chronic worrier. Just being around them makes your stress level go up. It makes me wonder if this is genetic or behavioral or a combination of both. Anxiety disorders can definitely run in families. But you…
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Marketing Genius or Tasteless Idiocy?
At the risk of giving this disgusting company more free publicity, I feel compelled to talk a little about wickedcampers.com. At first blush, this company, which rents out colorfully decorated campervans in many countries throughout the world, seems harmless, irreverent, and even fun. Their website has a bunch of 20 somethings posing nude in front…
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Hell Hath its Benefits
When I listen to my coworkers complain about this job, I have to inwardly giggle. They think this job is bad. They think they’re being mistreated. For 13 years I was in a horrible job situation. I worked graveyard shifts and got a one dollar raise every 6 years, and they tried to find ways…
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Siamese If You Please
Ugh! I’ve got a song in my head, and this one is embarrassing. As a child I loved the Disney animated movie Lady and the Tramp. For some reason one of the songs from that film, We Are Siamese If You Please, is on this feedback loop in my brain and nothing seems to be…
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New Racism
There aren’t that many indigenous people left in Northeast Florida, so you don’t really hear the topic come up there much at all. Don’t get me wrong. Racism is alive and thriving in the area, unfortunately, but the focus is on other minorities. Here in Seattle I’ve been shocked on several occasions to hear otherwise…
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Freedom of Speech 101
Could we puh-leeze get past the Duck Dynasty guy? I’m so sick of people holding him up as the poster child for freedom of speech martyrdom when nothing could be further from the truth. Let’s get back to basics. What is freedom of speech? The right, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,…