The National Conversation We Need to Have: Mental Health

Posted on December 16, 2012 by ErgoOne

After a young man who reportedly had autism spectrum disorder (Asperger’s Syndrome) and a personality disorder shot his mother and a Connecticut school full of five-to-ten year old children, their teachers and their principle, voices are being heard all over demanding stricter gun laws. This is understandable: we prefer easy answers to difficult, complex ones, and guns are the easier target. They would just require banning a few “assault weapons” and we can all feel better. A few people are making the harder, but better, call: we *must* fix this country’s abysmal failure to deal with mental illness.

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Thought Crime is *NOT* Crime! :(

Posted on December 7, 2012 by ErgoOne

Just seen on the Telegraph: a story about a woman convicted of a crime for downloading a banned magazine that promotes Islamicist terror. Her story, which the judge believed: she wanted to see what had convinced her brothers (both convicted terrorists) to become terrorists. She was given a short jail sentence, just a month after the time she has spent awaiting trial.

I have a problem with this. Thought crime is NOT crime. Acting on what she read would almost certainly have been criminal, but reading it? I’ve downloaded and read a bunch of terror material, starting with the Turner Diaries and Mein Kampf. I had no interest in becoming a Nazi: quite the contrary. I was merely interested in these documents that convinced people to support Hitler and led to the Holocaust. I wanted to understand what could cause people to do such things.

I guess, in the UK, I’d be looking at a “custodial sentence”, as they call it. :/

Posted in Human Rights, Law, Religion | 1 Comment

On Making the Best of Bad Things

Posted on September 12, 2012 by ErgoOne

Elisabeth and Stephen Alderman lost a son in the terror attacks on 9/11. It’s tempting to call it the worst thing imaginable, but (of course) it isn’t. Their son Peter was by all accounts a wonderful, loving, decent human being who packed more life into his 25 years than most people manage in 75. His parents grieve for him, but are extremely proud of him and have every reason to be so.

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On Punishing Children for the Sins of their Parents

Posted on September 7, 2012 by ErgoOne

Orson Scott Card is one of the best writers alive today. He’s also a devout (if atypical) Mormon who has a conscience formed by his faith. His religious beliefs and mine differ significantly (I’m an Orthodox Christian), but we both read the Bible and –despite having very different theologies — we both believe that Jesus Christ speaks God’s words. Jesus had certain rather strong things to say about punishing children for the sins of their parents, or (for that matter) any innocent person for the sins of the guilty. (He doesn’t approve.) So it shouldn’t surprise me that Card said what I believe about underage illegal immigrants better than I could say it, here:

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In Memory: Neil Alden Armstrong (1930-2012)

Posted on August 26, 2012 by ErgoOne

Over forty years ago, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. I watched; my mother got me up from bed rightly believing that this was something I should remember. Neil Armstrong was one of the quietest of the Apollo astronauts in later life, preferring privacy and the occasional meeting with high school kids to gladhanding a bunch of politicians or (for that matter) SF fans. I never met him. It doesn’t matter: he’s one of the abiding reasons that, despite everything, I remain proud to be an American.

Too many people I care about have died recently, dammit. The SFFNet memorial rose is overloaded with names, and I expect that there will be a number of memorial services at the 70th World Science Fiction and Fantasy Convention next weekend in Chicago. I won’t be there, but I’ll be thinking of Neil, and Sally Ride, and SF writer, horse nut and irrepressible punster Josepha Sherman, with the rest of you who are. :-)

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In Memory: Sally Kristen Ride (1951-2012)

Posted on July 24, 2012 by ErgoOne

Dr. Sally Ride — astronaut, scientist, and teacher — was one of my heroes, as she was for many women of my age/generation. Dr. Ride died yesterday, at 61 years of age, of pancreatic cancer. I posted the following on SFFNet, an online community of science fiction and fantasy writers and fans that includes NASA employees and other scientists. As varied a community as SFFNet is, we’re all space flight nuts — I think that it’s required for admission.

If you want to join us in memorializing Dr. Ride’s life, feel free to do so. Instructions are below, and all are welcome. :-)

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The Republican Party’s Conservative Problem

Posted on May 25, 2012 by ErgoOne

Jonathan Bernstein wrote the following in today’s Washington Post, and it’s so good that I want to quote verbatim:

The sad part of all this [the defection of conservative intellectuals from the Republican party] is that it leaves the Republican Party in desperate need of smart, independent-minded conservatives. It’s important to remember: Even if those of us who believe that the GOP and the “conservative movement” have gone seriously off the rails are correct, it does not mean that conservative ideas or policy positions are necessarily wrong.

Even more so, it doesn’t mean that what Democrats and liberals are up to is necessarily correct. It does mean is that what Democrats and liberals are up to isn’t seriously challenged, because there’s no interest in seriously engaging policy or ideas within the conservative movement (and, perhaps, because many of those capable of it are gone).

You can read the whole blog here.

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A “Gaffe” by Prince Philip of the UK

Posted on May 17, 2012 by ErgoOne

Today, after the Duke of Edinburgh (aka Britian’s Prince Philip) — who was attending an event with the Queen — made a very funny and rather inappropriate comment about a stunning red dress worn by an equally stunning young woman visitor, the U.K. Telegraph ran an article that listed his most famous gaffes over the years. The first “gaffe” that the Telegraph mentioned was the following comment, made almost half a century ago, about the British tax rate in 1963:

All money nowadays seems to be produced with a natural homing instinct for the Treasury.

The UK Telegraph considers that comment to be a gaffe. I and many other Americans, on the other hand, consider that same comment to be a sign of great insight into the nature of taxes. We might even consider inviting Prince Philip to switch nationalities and run for office on the strength of it. ;)

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John Edwards: Distracting From the Real Issue :/

Posted on May 16, 2012 by ErgoOne

Ruth Marcus in the Washington post gets it about the current national soap opera that is the trial of John Edwards. Edwards is unquestionably a self-involved, narcissistic cad. We knew that. What he did might, just barely, crawl into range of campaign finance laws. The very idea that what he did deserves thirty years imprisonment is ludicrous.

Meanwhile, as the American people allow themselves to be distracted by this lurid, colorful, and essentially meaningless national soap opera, the 2012 campaign season is in full roar, complete with the abominations known of as “SuperPACs”.

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From the Cradle to the Grave….

Posted on May 15, 2012 by ErgoOne

In addition to a husband with a blog, I have a sister with a blog, and that blog has moved to its own domain and new web site as of yesterday.

A few blogs from the old site were imported into the new site, which should give you an idea of why I’m mentioning it here. Cyn and her 13-year-old son are currently in the process of relocating for an extended period to Kenya, where the boy’s father and her former husband lives. She plans to go to school and then, hopefully, work there for a while.

Meanwhile, she’s an American who will be living in and experiencing a very different country and culture for a while. I expect stories, essays, pictures, and lots of good stuff. I suspect that a great deal of it will be interesting, not just to her family and friends, but strangers who want to see Kenya through her eyes.

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