Become a student of change.
It is the only thing that will remain constant.
Anthony J. D'Angelo
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"So the only thing separating you and President Obama is the fact that you have different parts? What are you, Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head?" - Trevor Noah |
Ben Powell Addresses Anti-Immigrant Demagoguery
Hillary Clinton v. Snowden
I have sometimes used similar rhetoric (although my point has more to do with violating the terms of his clearance unilaterally and not addressing his complaints internally, e.g., through an inspector general); on Snowden's discussion of the PRISM metadata program, ir's not clear that under current law the metadata program is unconstitutional (I think it is, that it violates the fourth amendment, but the program was approved via the FISA court system and has not been reviewed, e.g., by SCOTUS). So, although it was secret, Snowden would not be covered since it's not been held to be unconstitutional--plus federal laws carve out intelligence community exceptions. The whistleblower provisions deal with revelation of illegal activity, so technically Snowden couldn't use them. But for Snowden to be judge and jury of whether his clearance commitment allows exposure of secret but legal information violates the rule of law. Even if you concede that the PRISM program exposure was legitimate whistleblowing, Snowden has rvealed other information involving spying activities, the exposure of which is not whistleblowing but both illegal and immoral.
I do think whistleblowing laws on violations of natural rights by the State need to be strengthened. What makes Hillary Clinton's lie so egregious is the fact she explicitly called for strengthening whistleblowing laws during the 2008 campaign. For her not to be aware of the applicability of whistleblowing laws is, at best, a lack of due diligence and/or gross incompetence. I think she's on firmer ground when she discusses Snowden's breach of the terms of his clearance and leaves whistleblowing out of the equation.
Choose Life: Welcome To the World, Little Dude!
Little Dude Gets a Baby Sister
Political Cartoon
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| Courtesy of Eric Allie via IPI |
Meat Loaf, "Two Out Of Three Ain't Bad". A well-deserved gold record which Steinman, the songwriter behind many of Meat Loaf's signature tunes, developed, inspired by Presley's mid-50's hit, "I Want You, I Need You, I Love You". The classic swerve, of revealing how the protagonist's problems with loving again was due to having been burned by his first true love who didn't love him back, makes for a great songwriting story. I remember reading that Jimmy Webb had his own experience of unrequited love around the time he wrote the Garfunkel classic "All I Know"; I think he was living in Britain at the time and was in love with this English girl who didn't want a serious boyfriend and considered his infatuation rather silly. Sometimes it's just a matter of bad timing, say, a premature declaration of love when the partner is just not there yet, and you scare her off, or she's in a bad relationship and still trying to salvage it. I know I've had some of those experiences myself, and very occasionally I've been the target of a crush.
I remember in undergraduate school when I still used a typewriter, one of my friends in the adjoining female dorm (there was a corridor between dorms with a TV lounge, etc.) had a malfunction with her typewriter near the end of the semester when papers were due; I had already finished my papers and offered to let her borrow mine. (She was also the younger sister of one of my best female friends.) Anyway, I started finding these mysterious anonymous love notes under my door the next semester. My secret admirer had an accomplice, one of the male dorm staff. At first, I found it charming and exciting; I, being the resident geek in high school and college, had never had an admirer before. The notes kept coming, and the accomplice had been sworn to secrecy. Eventually it started coming across like I was being stalked, and then one night the accomplice knocked on my door with a pan of brownies from my admirer. Far from its intended effect, I was now creeped out by the whole thing and told the RA that this had to stop. I got one final tearful heartbroken note from the anonymous student, saying that she would respect my wishes to be left alone and that she had never intended to come across that way. I ended up feeling like a jerk for the way I ended it; I never meant to hurt her feelings: I just didn't know where this was going. From my standpoint, it would have been better for her to reveal herself sooner than later. To the end, she and her accomplice never revealed her identity; to a large extent I was relieved that the unwanted attention stopped, although in a bittersweet sense it flattered me to have a female admirer. [There were other aspects to the downside of having an unknown admirer; for example, one coed died from some tragic accident in the women's shower facility during my residency [I don't recall the university discussing details, but it probably involving slipping and falling] and I couldn't help wondering if she had been the admirer.]
That's not the end of the story. Some time later, maybe several months, I was talking to my friend, the big sister; to be honest, I had always liked the sister, but she already was in a relationship. She said something to the effect, "I wanted to let you know that [little sister] is in a relationship now." At first, I didn't understand why the big sister was discussing her sister's dating life with me, why she thought I would want to know that. It suddenly dawned on me that little sister had been my secret admirer. [I keep writing big and little sister, but in fact the younger sister was several inches taller.] From context, she seemed to think I knew about her sister's crush. I couldn't imagine what she thought of me breaking her little sister's heart--for all I know, she played a role in the situation; if only I had known, the story would have ended much differently. Maybe she had read too much into my lending her the typewriter (I was just doing a favor for a friend), but I would asked her out if I knew she liked me [like other guys, I've been shot down by ladies all the time]. I have a brother-in-law who had started out dating sister #3, but ended up marrying sister #2.
There's got to be a song somewhere in that experience....
