The Democrats Abortion Dilemma
By Paul | November 12, 2009
I am keenly aware in our country that we have an enormous amount of dishonesty in the abortion-rights debate and I want to address some of them in this post while discussing the impact this conversation is having on the attempt to address the challenges in our health-care system.
People who are pro-life need to stop calling pro-choice folks pro-abortion. They are not pro-abortion, they simply believe that women should have the right to make the decision independent of the government. Everyone acknowledges that an abortion is always a heart-rending and difficult decision.
Furthermore, many of my pro-life friends are conservatives and firmly against government intrusion in our lives at all. There is no way you can gripe about the government’s involvement in your gun rights but embrace willingly its involvement in a women’s health decisions.
Remember some of these children would have been dealt with by nature, albeit tragically, 100 years ago but in 2009, a child who may or may not be viable becomes a challenge because of our terrific prenatal care. Now we have to deal with the situation.
Pro-choice folks have got to acknowledge that this is not a simple elective procedure with no more moral implication than a root canal. We can debate where and when we call it a baby but at the end of the day, from conception on you cann’t logically not define this as a human life in process.
The fanatics on both sides do us a disservice in that most of America, the vast majority, do understand the complexity of this issue and refuse to see it in black and white. Nevertheless, many of us do not want our taxes used for abortions that are elective but do want doctors to be able to address issues that involve the health of a mother.
We have a shot at health care reform and I am astounded and frightened by the lefts’ willingness to risk all by not discussing clearly legitimate concerns regarding this issue.
Don’t throw up any slippery slope nonsense, let’s agree with what we can and address the rest going forward. It is reasonable to say the procedure is in a unique category and needs to have controls but, should be available in certain situations.
Topics: Political | No Comments »
Me and John Wayne
By Paul | November 1, 2009
In Ohio the licensing laws require student drivers to have a certain number of hours before a student can test for his license. My Grandmother Esther lived in Ravenswood West Virginia and I lived in Cleveland Ohio with my wife and kids. Timothy, my youngest son, had his learners permit and I decided that some fun father/son time could be had by driving to Ravenswood to visit Gram. This would give Tim some valuable driving experience and knock out the hours he needed to test for his license. Also, teenage boys love to drive and giving him essentially eight hours, round trip, to drive would be fun for Tim.
I suggested this to Tim and said sure, he was up for it so one Saturday, mid-morning we headed for West Virginia. We rolled into Ravenswood about four hours later and we pulled up the retirement home. Tim and I popped into get her. Now let me be clear here, we had just driven fours hours to take Grandma out for some ice cream and we expected her to be so happy to see us; we expected her to jump right up and rush right out the door; yeah, not so much.
She welcomed us warmly, gave us a each a hug and a kiss and then we said , “Gram, would you like to go to get some ice-cram or a bite to eat” and her reply, I can still hear it now, “Noooooh, I think I want to watch John Wayne on the T.V. with my friends.” After which she went and sat down and did indeed watch John Wayne.
I stepped outside and my son followed and asked me if I was OK. I was a tad quiet for a moment and then I realized when I was that age, I sure as hell wanted to be able to decide on my own what I wanted to do on a Saturday afternoon. So I said to Tim, “let’s go watch some John Wayne.” We went in and watched about an hour and a half of the movie with Gram and her friends. When we left we hugged each and every person in the group, Gram last. She then walked us out, called me Darrell and off we drove back to Cleveland. I learned it’s not important that day go exactly as my little OCD mind had mapped but once we visited Gram, our mission was done, now it was her time and doing what she wanted was what mattered. Also, Tim got eight hours of driving experience.
Topics: Cleveland, Ohio, Family, Funny | No Comments »
Here’s the article on windows 7 being like an old girlfriend.
By Paul | October 23, 2009
Here’s the article on windows 7 being like an old girlfriend.
——-
I get the impression that the Windows 7 launch is a lot like seeing an old girlfriend suddenly show up on your doorstep wanting to get back together. She’s had some work done, apparently: stomach stapling to take off some of the weight, breast augmentation, and a radical nosejob to make her look as much like your current girlfriend as medical science will allow.
She’s pretty, of course, almost too pretty. She still wears far too much makeup and carries that desperate look in her eyes. The fragrant haze around her is the perfume she overuses to mask the scent of failure.
But standing there in that low-cut top, you’d almost forget for a moment what a psycho she was- how she used to shut down in the middle of a date and forget everything you were talking about and how she was only happy when you were buying her things. You’d almost forget about carrying around her legacy baggage or those nights when, for seemingly no reason at all, she would simply stop speaking to you and when you asked what was wrong she’d just spit a string of hex code at you and expect you to figure it out. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Cleveland, Ohio, Dallas, Texas | No Comments »
Tough lesson
By Paul | October 23, 2009
Copyright someone not me
A married couple in their early 60s was celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary in a quiet, romantic little restaurant.
Suddenly, a tiny yet beautiful fairy appeared on their table. She said, ‘For being such an exemplary married couple and for being loving to each other for all this time, I will grant you each a wish.’
The wife answered, ‘Oh, I want to travel around the world with my darling husband.’
The fairy waved her magic wand and poof! Two tickets for the Queen Mary II appeared in her hands..
The husband thought for a moment: ‘Well, this is all very romantic, but an opportunity like this will never come again. I’m sorry my love, but my wish is to have a wife 30 years younger than me.
‘The wife, and the fairy, were deeply disappointed, but a wish is a wish. So the fairy waved her magic wand and poof!… the husband became 92 years old.
The moral of this story: Men who are ungrateful bastards should remember that fairies just happen to be female…..
Topics: Cleveland, Ohio, Funny | No Comments »
Insurance and Socialism
By Paul | October 18, 2009
I have a number of friends who are all up in arms over our inevitable slide into socialism just because we are trying to make healthcare more accessible and that got me thinking about definitions and the power of words. Important note, a number of these folks are in insurance and have enjoyed considerable success.
The verbiage we hear tossed about are communism, socialism, and free-market capitalism.
Free-market capitalism — that is what America has for a system. In this system each person is responsible for their own future. You work hard, you make yourself valuable causing others to pay you fairly for your efforts. It’s a great system, and the heart of America’s economy. It does however presuppose a somewhat level playing field and a stable set of rules.
Socialism — a group of people has banded together and accepted a common goal of everyone’s needs being met. Defining needs and how extensive is a problem but in it’s simplest for, everyone tosses the money in a pot, needs are met, and the assumption is everyone works hard to keep the system sustainable.
Communism — Socialism with some seriously negative social controls inserted and some terrible restrictions on what members can and cannot believe, religion for example. I only mention that here because some folks seem to want to equate socialism and communism and while they may have some similarities, I don’t think they are synonymous.
Socialism, not a system I want but in a perfect-world scenario, I think it could be awful attractive. People working together, when you are up and your neighbor struggles, helping them out without the complexities and indignity of them having to ask and knowing if you fall on hard times, the same will be done for you. Problem is how do you deal with laziness and how do you make the system sustainable.
I got to thinking about it and as I work things through I simplify the details to get to the nut of the conversation, stripping away the distractions. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Cleveland, Ohio, Dallas, Texas, Political, social healthcare | No Comments »
The Queen Mary 2 – What More Needs to be Said
By Paul | October 14, 2009
Topics: Cleveland, Ohio, Dallas, Texas, Maritime, history | No Comments »
Socialism, Free Markets, Buzz Words, and the Power of Language
By Paul | October 13, 2009
I have friends and family who are freaking out over the health care initiatives moving through congress and which our President supports. The most interesting part of the dialogue is the fear and horror at the thought that these are socialist and they have even succeeded in demonizing the term socialist to the point, that, much as they have tried to do with the word liberal, they have made it a pejorative.
In fact it is a very neutral term, simply describing a type of economic system that has strengths and weaknesses, just like free-market capitalism. The curious thing to me is that overriding presumption in their discussions is that we have a monolithic system, that is purely one or the other with no similarities or cross over. The fact is, here in America, we have had a hybrid economic system for many years. We are, and always will be, regardless of the naysayers, a free-market capitalist system and we will always reward the entrepreneurs, inventors, and industry leaders who lay it out there on the line to build businesses that employ others and make us the great country we are. It is precisely that part of our countries makeup that allows us to be the only country that can build and market the Boeing 747, a Nimitz Class carrier, a world-class respected, and feared if you are a bad guy, military force. No other country can respond instantly to any situation in the world, whether it is humanitarian aid or military intervention. We are the worlds best hope, we have been for many years and we will be for many years to come and we rightfully owe that to free-market capitalism. Read the rest of this entry »
Topics: Cleveland, Ohio, Political, social healthcare | No Comments »
Grandmother Esther Raises the Stakes
By Paul | October 12, 2009
My Grandmother Esther was a neat elderly lady, well, not always elderly, I am sure at some point in her life she was young, but this story takes place after elderly became an accurate adjective. Life has a way of getting in the way of all the things we want to do and so I did not get to know her as well as I would have liked, particularly early in my life.
Later in life as my kids got older I made an effort, and it’s never really enough, but I made an effort to take my kids to visit her. I live in Cleveland Ohio, my beloved Cleveland, and she lived in Ravenswood, West Virginia. Ravenswood is as charming as a community can be when a massive aluminum plant is one of your primary industries. It has an old town, small town feel. Grandma Esther was at a small retirement home and as often happens in the elderly, her world does not synch up perfectly with the rest, but that’s OK; when we visited she was sweet and wonderful and she was my grandma. She always recognized me as family and as a Holland, though you were never sure which Holland. Usually I was Darrell, which narrows it down to my brother or my father, never Paul.
Enter Mary Holland, Mary is my first wife, and a dear neat person; also one of the co-stars of this story.
One weekend we headed for Ravenswood to visit my grandma Esther. We had our two boys and we picked her up from the retirement community and took her to Mom’s diner. I found out my diminutive sweet grandma could still eat a good bit, strangely enough I remember she ordered meatloaf, and we had a delightful, dinner.
After dinner I asked her if she wanted to go to the Dairy Queen and get some ice-cream, one of our favorite treats, and she said that would be fine. As we sat at the dairy Queen and I realized the evening was winding down and it would be time for us to head back to Cleveland, some four hours away, I asked Gram if there was anything she needed before we left and she said, “Well, I really could use some items from the department store across the way.” Into the car we hopped and off we went to the department store. I asked Gram what she needed and she said, well, I could use some stockings, hankies, and some “unmentionables.”
Mary quickly became the hero, as she put her arm around Gram and led her off to the store. I asked her to “get her anything she wants.” We outfitted her with all she asked for that evening. No big deal, things are not that expensive at small department stores in rural America. We dropped Gram off and headed back home.
End of story? Oh no, now comes the hook! Several days later I had dinner with my dad and he said, “How was your visit with your grandmother?” I shared some of the details but when I got to the department store portion of the story he grabbed my arm and said, “Oh God Paul, you didn’t buy her anything did you?” I replied, “Of course I did, those did not seem unreasonable requests, even if they were a tad unusual.” Oh Paul,” he said, “she didn’t need those things, the ladies play cards and when they gamble, that’s their currency!”
Let it be known, that for some period of time, thanks to Mary, my grandma could raise the stakes whenever she wanted!!!
Topics: Family, Funny | No Comments »
“Hey, think outside your own damn box”: Business jargon we hate
By Paul | September 21, 2009
By Jessica Levco jessical@ragan.com – Copyright Ragan.com
We asked managers to list the corporate-speak they detest. Then we riffed on their answers.
We’re sick and tired of hearing business jargon—aren’t you? So, at the end of the day, we reached out to our human capital and asked MyManagers Network members, “What are the top business words we should ban?” It’s a win-win situation. You gave us phrases; I wrote down what popped in my mind—because, let’s face it, who else’s would I use?
Going forward
You’re not if you keep talking.
Think outside the box
Why don’t you go think outside my office?
People manager
Wow, you still have people working for you? We thought you laid them all off.
In the loop
Since when did this conversation turn into a bad 1960s sitcom?
Out of pocket
I’d rather see you pull a rabbit out of your hat.
Touch base
This is grounds for sexual harassment.
Robust
How I describe my coffee when I spike it with Jack.
Synergy
Don’t get me started on this one—don’t even get me started.
Engaged
Spare me the awkward “We’re co-workers so I have to invite you” to my wedding invitation.
Drill down
I can think of somewhere else we can drill—and it’s not Alaska.
Accountable
Just don’t hold me that way.
Individual
Glad you think you’re so special.
Too much on my plate
Hey porky, maybe you should go on a diet.
Having said that
Wait, what? I stopped listening to you five hours ago.
No worries
None? Whatsoever? Have you checked your 401K lately?
Topics: Cleveland, Ohio | No Comments »
We celebrate that Constitution secures rights today
By Paul | September 17, 2009
Copyright the Chillicothe Gazette
For four long months in the summer of 1787, the delegates of the Constitutional Convention debated a document that eventually would become the U.S. Constitution.
On Sept. 17 of that year, 39 of the delegates signed the document that took so much work to draft and ratify. As part of our American tradition, it’s our duty as citizens to know and understand what the Constitution says and stands for. But that can be tricky. Some say the Constitution is a “living document” that should change throughout time, while others argue the “original intent” of the framers always should be upheld. Regardless of your view on that, today is a day to honor the document that stands as the supreme law of the United States of America.
It set forth the three branches of government — legislative, executive and judicial — and also set up state’s rights. Those who created it also gave us a way to change it.
Perhaps most importantly, though, is the preamble, which says:
“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
It does not grant or prohibit specific authority, but merely states in general terms the intentions of those who created it. Those intentions, like much else in the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, have been the subject of much debate.
One thing, however, is not in debate. Without the Constitution, the rights of individuals would not be secure.
That is what we can celebrate today.
– Chillicothe Gazette
Topics: Cleveland, Ohio, Dallas, Texas, Military, Political | No Comments »