Not that I'd defend Liz Cheney for one mili-second, but I'd wager a small amount that she was taken by surprise that Mary and her wife Heather responded via Facebook to her maundering on Fox last Sunday.
After all, Mary remained tight-lipped and above the fray for years when her father was Vice President. She could be counted on to maintain silence no matter what was said about her and her lover or about the rocky road to LGBT rights.
Why wouldn't Liz expect the same in her quixotic try for the U.S. Senate? After all, La Liz is in a teensy bit of trouble (she's not doing well in the polls), and a pandering bit of disparaging marriage equality would play well with the base (Quite a loaded word, that!) and would possibly give her a poll bump or two up. Right?
Ooops.
Mama bear growled back this time.
And it's about time she did.
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
The Mary and Liz Show
Wednesday, October 12, 2011
Translations
“Tolstoy wrote…” is an opening phrase you might hear a few times in your life. As soon as you do, Dear Gentle Reader, you might pause in your listening to think, “Really? Are you certain.”
Here are a couple of quotes from a French workbook:
“Elle a pris une decision.” (Sorry, you’ll have to imagine the accent over the e in decision.) The workbook then translates that sentence into 1) She made a decision; 2) She has made a decision; and 3) She did make a decision.
“Elle faisait..” can mean “She was doing…”, “She used to do…”, or “She did…”
Context matters; and context is a word which encompasses quite a lot, including, but not limited to the mores of the times—both of the time of the original writing and the time of the translation.
Much thought and subjective decision-making go into translations. So much so that we should be careful about placing too much confidence in what a translator finally presents.
And the more important the translated material might be to our individual and collective lives, the more cautious we should be.
For instance, religious writings should be treated with much caution. (Surely you saw that coming.)
Trust, but verify; or, in this case, read it in the original before you accept it totally.
Good luck with that.
Sphere: Related ContentSunday, August 21, 2011
School Days
It’s that time of year again—the imminent commencement of K-12 conventional schooling. It’s also that time of year for the usual words of caution and wisdom from edu-nerds pontificating in various newspapers and newsmagazines.
And, as usual, the focus will be on teachers, facilities, administrations and education measurements coming out of New Jersey, Michigan, Minnesota and No Child Left Behind.
And, as usual, there will be little attention given to the role played by parents, even though parents are doubtless just as important in a child’s education as any other factor under public scrutiny.
It isn’t easy being a parent. It certainly isn’t easy being a parent in this very complex society of ours.
If the society is to continue to evolve in such a way that provides a “better” living for its members, we need to focus more energy and resources on supporting the parent component of educating the young—and that might well start with a class on child-rearing responsibilities, maybe in middle school. Lesson 1: Don’t even think about having a child unless you’re ready to commit for the 18-year-long haul.
The state of California requires a license before a person can work as a manicurist; the state of California does not require any sort of training for rearing a child.
How much sense does that make?
Read, if you must, the editorials and commentaries about what is needed to fix our “failing” schools. If they don’t mention parents, ignore them.
Trust, but verify.
Sphere: Related ContentMonday, May 2, 2011
Any man’s death diminishes me.
At this particular moment in time, as we digest the news of the death of Osama Bin Laden, Dear Gentle Reader(s), we might take a cue from President Obama as to the appropriate behavior for us all. As reported in the Los Angeles Times, “Inside the White House, aides said Obama's mood was not celebratory when told of Bin Laden's death, but rather was ‘sober and serious.’"
On the surface, the cheering crowds in New York City and outside the White House had just cause for celebration. Mr. Bin Laden certainly was cold-blooded and cruel in his capacity as the leader of al Qaeda, and he well deserved the ultimate punishment at the hands of American servicemen and in the name of the American people.
Regardless, Mr. Obama’s sobriety and seriousness are the appropriate tones for the occasion. As John Donne wrote in Meditation XVII, “…any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind…”
Especially in circumstances such as this, we are diminished. The act of killing another human being surely stems from a failure of some sort on the part of us humans.
Somewhere in the rearing of a child who grows to become a murderer there was a lesson untaught, a lesson unlearned. Most people are not murderers—lessons taught, lessons learned. These lessons are part of every social contract.
Until we have discovered the key to unlocking the secrets of whatever causes motivations to kill, our sense of satisfaction at the time of exaction of justice ought to be tempered with, at least, a soupcon of sobriety.
Trust, but verify.
Sphere: Related Content