Supreme Court Justice Confirmation Hearings

One component of human nature that is almost to troubling to consider is our ability to be subjective, self-referential, manipulative and agenda-driven while all the time thinking we are just following procedure or just trying to be fair or "just" something else.

This all about abortion and nothing but abortion. If the current nominee does not want to bow the knee to the goddess Artemis and all her sad little worshippers, and slam the gavel for "a woman's right to choose," then they don't want him to get through the process. End of subject. It has nothing to do with his paper trail, or record of cases, or age or experience or even gender, or opinion of the constitution. It's just about the litmus test: when the rubber meets the road, will you side with "us."

This is not an anti-abortion post; or at least, I don't intend it to be. It's a protest about deception. And a decievers greatest deceptions are always of him or her self. Honest public dialogue is simply not a possibility. It's always about "getting my way," like spoiled little children who might not get the sucker they just saw, and to which they have attached their souls with religious zeal.

Though "decent" rhymes with "recent," those two words don't go together very often when the subject is pictures of me. But in response to several requests, here is a decent recent one of me with my trophy bride of 27 years. Yes, it's true, she married beneath her. Don't you think her youthful, healthy and happy soul is a tribute to me as a husband? (Of course, it does not seem to work in the other direction. Or does it?) 

Answers to Recent:

-How's the summer going?
It's surprisingly full, with wedding preparations for Blake (oldest son, preparations to move to Cal., learning Spanish so I can put "bi-lingual" on my resume and get a teaching job in S. Cal even though I am a dreaded conservative white male, buying a house to come back to here in Gig Harbor, computer crash, my fifth class in the Master's Program, and some very joyous "reunions" with Sound View folks. Oh, and I turn 50 in August.

-Did you get the last e-mail I sent?
Almost certainly. I absolutely will *not* shrink to the cowardly excuse of being "too busy" to write back sooner. Everyone finds time for the things that are most important to them. The harsh fact is, answering all of the e-mails that deserved an answer was not in the category of "most important" in the last few months. So, there it is. Since you and I are friends, I'm pretty sure you can handle honesty instead of "being nice at all costs," which is the way for most. Notwithstanding all that, I hope we can hang together soon! (Fortunately, answering e-mails is not the final demonstration of one's love!)

-How did this year of the masters program go for you?
It's still going. No summers off. It's got all the usual things that school has: there's a million times I'd rather be doing something else; I've learned some pretty valuable stuff; I've reviewed a lot of stuff I already knew; made some new, smart, quality acquaintances; Bell Curve - some big pains, some big joys, lots in the middle. (You can tell what I've been studying lately.)


Let us know how you are doing and when the move is going to be.
The move to Cal will be in October or Noveember, if things go as planned, but how often does *that* happen?