Recent Comments

1. about 2 hours ago on Non Sequitur

   I just find it ironic, and sad, and frightening that two peoples who share the same founding ancestor look on each other with so much hatred and mistrust. It’s been going on for over 2 thousand years and it will probably continue for another 2 thousand unless they kill each other before then. I wonder what the original rift was about? Supposedly, it has to do with the “land” that God promised to Abraham for his sons — plural — but someone wanted Isaac to get it all. Maybe it was simply sibling rivalry. We will never know and, what is worse is that the rest of the world isn’t much different.

2. about 11 hours ago on Non Sequitur

   Maybe he’ll use some of those millions that billionaires donated to watch his anointment to pay his bills. . . nah

3. about 12 hours ago on Non Sequitur

   Judaism originated in the ancient Canaan region of the near east, which is now Israel and the Palestinian territories around 1800 BCE. Noah, tracing the timeline using biblical history, would have lived around 2900 bc. Also according to the Bible, he was 600 years old at the time of the flood. There is physical evidence that a large flood occurred in the area around 2345 bc.

   Abraham was a descendent of Noah [through his son Shem]. Jews consider Abraham [through his son Isaac] their founded, although the term “Jew” didn’t start until Judah, son of Jacob and Leah and great-grandson of Abraham, founded the Tribe of Judah around 930 BC . There were 12 tribes of Israel but Jews and Israelis are only from 2 — Judah and Benjamin. The other 10 are “lost.”

   Curiously, Arabs also claim Abraham as their founder, through his son Ishmael. And they had 12 tribes [of Ishmael] as well. They weren’t “lost,” but tended to blend together, not maintaining tribal distinctions, to become the Arabic peoples of today. [Note that today we tend to clump people more by their current location, language, and religion. People who adopt the Jewish religion are considered Jewish, regardless of their ancestry. And, some of the cultures we consider ‘Arabic’ today really aren’t. Egyptians, for example, had their own language, religions and culture for thousands of years and didn’t adopt Arabic or Islam until the Arab conquest in 641 CE. ]

   Both Arabs and Jews therefore are descended from Noah through Shem and are therefore Shemites — or Semites. Curiously, the Bible assumes all human beings descend from Noah and his sons, Shem [Semites], Ham [Africans], and Japheth [Europeans]. But it seems to have left out a couple of continents.

4. about 13 hours ago on Non Sequitur

   Sex and gender are not the same thing.

   Sex refers to a set of biological attributes in humans and animals. It is associated with physical and physiological features including chromosomes, gene expression, hormone levels and function, and reproductive/sexual anatomy.

   Gender refers to the socially constructed roles, behaviors, expressions and identities of people. It is a role defined by a culture for the convenience of that culture, not for the individual. It ignores the individual. But, it influences how people see themselves and others, defining how to act and interact appropriately, and how power and resources are distributed.

   Since the beginning of time, most cultures have considered gender as binary — based simply on a person’s reproductive anatomy. If you have a uterus, then you are a female, and all of the rest of your physical, mental, and emotional characteristics must be female as well. Males and females are expected to conform to what the culture has defined for them, regardless of their individuality. [Yes, there have been many cultures that accepted homosexuality in males, but not in females. Possibly, because it was a convenience during war.]

   There are a couple of problems with this idea — Gender identity is not confined to a binary nor is it static; it exists along a continuum and can change over time. All fetuses start out as female. Sex is determined after 6 or 7 weeks by the Y chromosome. XX or XY is just the beginning of the development process and there are thousands of other genetic, hormonal, temporal, experiential factors that combine to produce a human being. As a fetus becomes a person and as that person ages, their body and mind continue to be affected by such factors. We are not the same people at 66 that we were at 6, 16, or 36.

   Also, cultures need to evolve or they fail. When they focus on prescribed conformity, when they ignore the value and variety of their people, they lose innovation and creativity.

5. about 15 hours ago on Pluggers

   A few years ago we started watching Midsomer Murders on BBC America and a several of the recurring commercials were for walk-in tubs. One of the brands was Kohler, but I don’t remember the others. Long commercials, showing someone walking up to a shower cubicle that was actually a tub with 32" sides, opening a door, and sitting down. Bubbles rising, person looking happy and warm. Voiceover sounded confident, reassuring, and provided a lot of details — but he didn’t mention how long you would be sitting there waiting for the tub to drain so you could open the door and reach for the towel.

6. 1 day ago on Non Sequitur

   At least they discussed the slavery issue and ended up with a compromise — baby steps. As to the women issue — women had been suppressed by every nation that ever existed so it isn’t surprising that our Founding “Fathers” didn’t think about it much. And Burr — he wasn’t a Founding Father — he served in the Continental Army — he wasn’t in the Continental Congress and didn’t help write or sign the US Constitution.

7. 1 day ago on Non Sequitur

   I do wish people would use a dictionary occasionally. “Corrupt” — to act or cause to act dishonestly in return for money or personal gain. President Biden may not have the greatest President we’ve ever had, but he did focus on trying to make things better for the people, not himself. The People, meaning everyone. I didn’t agree with some of his policies, but they weren’t “corrupt” policies. They were designed to address some of the problems we have been having — loss of industry, loss of the middle class, human rights inequalities, failure of the college loan program, failures of the health care industry, inflation, world-wide immigration, aging infrastructure, environmental catastrophes, wars, etc. — They certainly weren’t benefitting him personally.

8. 4 days ago on Pluggers

   Not hot sauce, catsup. Pluggers from the Midwest [and truck stops] know that catsup will cover every cooking mistake or bad menu choice. Hot sauce may cover it temporarily, but it will remind you about it for a long time.

9. 6 days ago on Non Sequitur

   Sadly, all those people who thought they were fighting for ‘freedom’ will soon realize that they are not people, just consumers. This didn’t start with the SC ruling about corporations being legal persons, but that did give it a jump-start. Focus of discussed policies and programs is not on what is good for the “us”, the people, but what is good for [big] business. The rationale being that what is good for [big] business is good for the country — the old “trickle-down” concept in new clothes.

   Why should we, now the biggest oil producers in the world, have to become bigger? Not for “us” but to make corporations wealthier. Why should we impost huge tariffs on foreign goods? Not for “us” because we will either be doing without those goods or we will be paying more for them — and not just for foreign goods, but also for American goods that require foreign parts. [President Biden did start programs to encourage American factories and incentives to buy American products, but those are supposed to go away — after all they were started by a Democratic president. Why roll back regulations that are in place to protect “us” from the dangers of polluted air, polluted water, contaminated soil, contaminated food products? So businesses don’t have to spend money on cleanups.

   But, you may argue, we are the “consumers” and therefore have to have jobs to earn money to consume. Sadly, I don’t think that we are the “customers” that they target. They aren’t concerned with low-income housing — the construction industry makes much more money building houses and buildings for the upper echelons. They aren’t concerned with education for everyone — just education for those who can afford to pay. We may be consumers, but I don’t think they are interested in selling us homes or having our kids in their classrooms. Unless you have a million or two to ‘donate’ .

10. 6 days ago on Non Sequitur

    Mid-term elections will depend a lot of what is done to mess up voter rights and voting procedures.