Sail Away, Sail Away, Sail Away
That's what I'm going to do for the next few days. Assuming you can accept a slightly-distressed Ford Taurus as a sailboat, and Interstate higways as a sea. Anchors aweigh!
As for yesterday's post on Terri Schiavo, it seems people are talking about this sad affair even more than they're talking about the possibly-even-more-pathetic Michael Jackson abuse trial affair. I've learned a lot in the last twenty-four hours, and I realize that, once again, I was talking somewhat out the side of my neck.
Well, my heart was in the right place (I tried to imagine what I'd want in her position, assuming I retained even the faintest glimmer of consciousness), but I didn't realize the courts had, with no exceptions, accepted that Michael Schiavo was expressing his wife's wishes accurately. I know next to nothing about family law (though now I want to learn), and I had no idea of the significance of his testimony about his wife's wishes. And pretty much everybody agrees that this is the way things should be.
So it really does look more like a rare opportunity for the Right to stake a claim to the title "defender of the helpless," which I'm sure they hope will gloss over the fact that they routinely kick the helpless in the teeth.
In case you think I'm just ranting, consider only the 100,000 Iraqi civilians who'd probably still live and breathe but for the bombing and invasion; or, consider those Americans driven to bankruptcy by medical bills, because we don't have a civilized health care system. Thanks to the new bankruptcy bill, many of them will likely choose suicide over debts they'll never be able to pay. Charming, no?
On a brighter note, my one-man movie festival continues!
In the last week, I've seen the following:
Ain't I got excellent tastes, though? Ain't I the very model of the modern Major-General?
As for yesterday's post on Terri Schiavo, it seems people are talking about this sad affair even more than they're talking about the possibly-even-more-pathetic Michael Jackson abuse trial affair. I've learned a lot in the last twenty-four hours, and I realize that, once again, I was talking somewhat out the side of my neck.
Well, my heart was in the right place (I tried to imagine what I'd want in her position, assuming I retained even the faintest glimmer of consciousness), but I didn't realize the courts had, with no exceptions, accepted that Michael Schiavo was expressing his wife's wishes accurately. I know next to nothing about family law (though now I want to learn), and I had no idea of the significance of his testimony about his wife's wishes. And pretty much everybody agrees that this is the way things should be.
So it really does look more like a rare opportunity for the Right to stake a claim to the title "defender of the helpless," which I'm sure they hope will gloss over the fact that they routinely kick the helpless in the teeth.
In case you think I'm just ranting, consider only the 100,000 Iraqi civilians who'd probably still live and breathe but for the bombing and invasion; or, consider those Americans driven to bankruptcy by medical bills, because we don't have a civilized health care system. Thanks to the new bankruptcy bill, many of them will likely choose suicide over debts they'll never be able to pay. Charming, no?
On a brighter note, my one-man movie festival continues!
In the last week, I've seen the following:
- Topsy-Turvy
- The Outlaw Josie Wales
- Amadeus
- The Italian Job
- Band of Brothers
- Mean Streets
- Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
Ain't I got excellent tastes, though? Ain't I the very model of the modern Major-General?
posted by Warrior of the Woods at 7:12 AM
2 Comments:
I heard somewhere that Patrick O'Brian actually didn't know anything about sailing. (But he writes fiction so I suppose he could make stuff up and people could care less.)
I think he was an excellent researcher. Direct experience isn't necessarily required. For instance, Stephen Crane, author of The Red Badge of Courage, never served in the armed forces or saw combat.
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