Tuesday, September 22, 2020

An exceedingly high mountain

 



Upon the mountains high

God spoke to mild Nephi.

To you and me He speaks

in hearts, not mountain peaks.

No altitude compares

with what the soul declares.

Romney Agrees to Move Ahead With Trump’s High Court Nominee (WSJ)

 



speedy action from the Congress is unheard of, but/ev'ryone is tired with a leader off his nut/so they find it easier to let him have his way/just to keep the tantrums and the awful tweets away/Romney is no diff'rent; he wants peace and quiet, too/and so he'd put the nomination of a zombie through.



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A computer engineer's email response from Hawaii:

You probably would rather have a critique of your poetry rather than a commentary on the message.

Poem: okay
Message: That's not the reason Romney will vote to move forward, even though it's extremely hypocritical of the Republicans to do so.  Was he in a position to vote, or did he express a position when McConnel blocked Obama's choice?  I'm not sure.  If he did, then Romney is a hypocrite too.  But I don't think he voiced or voted his position.

He's still hypocritical though, I think.  He thinks it's more important to put a conservative on the court than to keep a sensible tradition.

I support the expansion of the supreme court.  I think it's outrageous that it's essentially a political body rather than something you can feel confident will be based on fairness and law.  Definitely.  Expand it to 50 judges, and have a lotto as to which 9 hear a case.  Let each state put forth 10 nominees whenever their judge dies and let the president pick from the 10.

It flabbergasts me that a higher court will overturn a careful decision of a lower court.  Seems that it should only happen if there's a mistake in the process, not a freaking difference of opinion based on personal views.  Is it law or is it not?  No, you cannot yell Fire in a crowded building unless there's a fire.  Oh yes you can, even if there's no fire if it's to get people away from voting in that black/latino neighborhood building.  That's called freedom of speech, because those people will vote for freedom of speech and we don't want them to be heard.


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And from an English professor at BYU, this email response:

Nicely done. By the way, I haven’t read the news stories about Romney’s capitulation—I mean, agreement to move ahead. But I’m not surprised. My prediction was that he was going to say, “The Constitution clearly indicates that it is the President’s right and responsibility to submit a nomination and the Senate’s duty to consider it and consent or not consent. The Senate should have fulfilled its responsibility in 2016 when they refused even to consider President Obama’s nomination for the Supreme Court. But that failure does not mean we should fail again in our responsibility this year. And so I believe we should move ahead . . . . etc.”

 

I’ll be interested to see how closely my prediction matches what Romney has actually said.

Experiments in Collage. Vol. 21.

 






Silly Sketches. Tuesday, Sept 22.

 


"I'm the President, and I say we've licked the coronavirus"




"Being a Democrat does make one rather introspective nowadays . . . "




"THIS to your independent judiciary!"






"I don't wear a mask cuz everyone is safe around me."





"The top three Supreme Court nominees of the Trump administration."









"I just mailed in my ballot -- funny, but the return address was in Russian . . . "




"The Taliban tries a new look."







Monday, September 21, 2020

Silly Sketches. Monday Sept 21.

 


"Who says the GOP lacks leadership?"





"Our new automated USPS postal system is out of this world!"





"Go ahead, China -- land on the moon and see what happens."





"Yes; I invented the Paleo diet -- I invented ALL diets!"




"Just your typical TikTok stockholder."





"I recycled my Mercedes Benz into this goose -- what have you done to save the planet lately?"




Timericks from today's headlines.



What You Gain, and Sacrifice, When You Move Back In With Parents  (WSJ)


Living with your maw and paw/always has been quite a draw/for the young and pauperized/So should we be much surprised/that our basements once again/include guitars and playpen?


A pandemic surge in food delivery has made ghost kitchens and virtual eateries one of the only growth areas in the restaurant industry  (The Washington Post)


Ghostly kitchens make my meals/ev'rything from soups to eels/Galloping the livelong day/I get sturgeon from Green Bay/Beef from out of Omaha/with a kale-based fresh coleslaw/Do I miss the lunchtime rush/rubbing elbows in a crush?/Since I now dine all alone/I can suck a marrow bone/without censure or disgrace/To me it's all just splendid glace!

This Thai national park was tired of visitors leaving trash, so the government mailed it back to them  (The Washington Post)


Visitors who leave a stash/in Thai parks of dirty trash/now will get it C.O.D./from a fed up agency/Justice comes in packets strange/to litterbugs in their home range.


The Science Behind WFH Dressing for Zoom.  (WSJ)


Wearing bunny slippers may not make you feel too great/as you work on Zoom perhaps to sell some real estate/Scientists now tell us to dress better than before/That casual attire makes us really feel quite poor/So cinch that necktie, smooth that blouse, and visit the beautician/to bring careers and self esteem to guaranteed fruition!


How California became ground zero for climate disasters.  (NYT)


California's golden clime/turns into an arson crime/with the hills now all ablaze/as if it was End of Days/Keep your beaches; I prefer/living where the air is pure.



Experiments in Collage. Vol. 20

 






Friday, September 18, 2020

2021 Best Colleges in America: Harvard Leads the University Rankings (WSJ)

 

I wish I'd gone to college/and got a good degree/But I am strictly lowbrow/don't know my ABC/I gotta use my fingers/when adding up a bill/For higher education/I never felt a thrill/I write these simple verses/in humble lodgings bare/I'm stupid, unambitious/I'd make a scholar stare/My skill set is so puny/I couldn't get a job/mopping floors or even/turning a door knob/Yet when I think of students/with all their heavy debt/while I don't owe nobody/I guess I've no regret.