lazboy

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

I mean, really beautiful! The snow is still white, the air is warm. The whole scene reminds me of living in the mountains...minus any actual changes in elevation. These are the days it's good to be alive: when it's winter and the air is warm and moist and the ground is fluffy and white. I'm picking up the kids from school soon and looking forward to resuming our running snowball fight.



Ha-ha! The poor suckers don't even know that the best snowballs are made with your bare hands. I keep thinking I should tell them but, nah, they'd kick my ass then!



I also had a most lovely conversation with my waste management professional after he almost ran over my dog. Stupid dog, that's a garbage truck. not a squirrel. Ain't it great how nice everyone is in the winter? Is it the holidays or the hardship? Probably both, I guess: a perfect storm, if you will.

I've helped two total strangers get their cars unstuck so far this week. I lovve my fellow homo sapiens! How do people not end up killing each other where it doesn't snow? Maybe they aren't so misanthropic to begin with.

Issue the Second: How Precious is a Life

I'm sure it's been pointed out many times by far better thinkers than I how incredibly, stupidly, mind-numbingly-fuckingly galling is the hypocrisy of the conservative position on the value of life.

1) Abortion: not good. They hate it. The idea of terminating a precious blastocyst is anathema to their entire being. Every value to which they ascribe says "No way, Jose!" Okay, maybe not "Jose" but you get the point.

2) Capital punishment: good. Very good! They love killing people who've done something really horrible. Okay, maybe they figure that life is only precious until you've decided it isn't by killing someone and then your's is no longer to be valued. I guess.

3) Universal healthcare: not good. They hate this, too. Reminds them of commies or something. But aren't something like 20 million children uninsured in this country? Shouldn't someone who claims to value life so highly at least be somewhat concerned about kids being malnourished or sick? Are actual children not as valuable as blastocysts for some insane reason that a rational person such as myself can't see? I just don't get it.



If anyone can point me to a position paper or website explaining how they reconcile these seemingly blatant hypocrisies I'll buy them a steak. I'd do the research myself but, hey, I've got a snowball fight to get to!