Category: FWIW

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No Redemption Absent Admission of Guilt

Or, no one can truly be forgiven if we eradicate “right” and “wrong”.

Mike Adams has a short piece that underscores some of the same issues that brought Dr. Karl Menninger, of the well-known and highly-respected Menninger psychiatric institute to write, “Whatever Became of Sin?” in the 1970s.

There are a number of problems associated with redefining all undesirable forms of behavior as “disorders” to be cured. Among them is the unanticipated consequence of depriving man of his humanity. If a man is merely a victim of some disease then he cannot really be considered evil. If he has no potential to be evil, he has no potential to be good.

C.S. Lewis pointed out another unanticipated consequence of our rush to treat, rather than punish, people who do evil things. He noted that the same intellectuals who determine when an illness has set in will also determine when that illness has dissipated. And they have a powerful incentive to drag out the entire process. Who among us would not rather take our punishment and be done with it – as opposed to waiting in perpetuity for the official clearance of a doctor?

Adams emerges at a slightly different place than Menninger, but both raise the issue of converting what is simply bad behavior into “treatable” so-called “medical conditions”.

The really critical issue to me is that wrong-doers can NOT obtain forgiveness for their wrong-doing and move on to reformation and redemption absent admission of guilt and genuine repentance–a desire to abandon their wrong-doing and change their evil ways. Yes, I said “evil”–so? 🙂 A part of admission of guilt and repentance must embrace a willingness to accept punishment and an attempt to make restitution for wrong-doing. While those last two things may stand apart from being forgiven by those they have wronged, full restoration into (whatever) society must hinge on demonstrations of willingness to make genuine restitution, however much it is possible to do so.

BTW, that last is one reason why I am a firm supporter of capital punishment for some crimes. There are simply some things for which no one can make restitution, and the criminal taking of another human life is one of them. No amount of repentance or genuine expression of remorse can restore the life (or lives) taken by a drunk driver, for example, but as long as society wrongly excuses such drunken manslaughter by giving drunk drivers a “bye” for their supposed “disease”, proper punishment of their crime (and the resultant “encouragement” of other drunks to eschew driving in the condition they created by choosing to be drunks) will not occur. (Yes, I do believe the proper punishment of someone who commits vehicular manslaughter as a result of choosing to drive drunk is execution. Preferably by having their own car–or whatever remains of it–dropped on them repeatedly, in public, until they are a greasy smear.)

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It’s the Little Things… Isn’t It?

Why do I prefer some products (various computer hardware, software, automotive, household products, etc.) over others? Usually, it seems to come down to little things.

I prefer Mobil1 motor oils, because, among other “little things”, Mobil makes a wide array of reliable, high-quality synthetic lubricants besides just motor oil, and I like having a consistent quality across the board in my automotive lubes.

I prefer ASUS computer hardware wherever possible, because I have come to find ASUS hardware to be consistently reliable and high-quality, but also–perhaps especially–because of one important “little thing”–live people respond quickly to support requests 24X7. I have not always liked the answers I’ve gotten, but I’ve never gotten any lame excuses from the support folks, either. Oh, and they all seem to be competent speakers of English. *heh*

I prefer Opera as my web browser for TONS of “little things” it does right. Built in mouse gestures that work consistently well and aren’t “broken” by upgrades like the add-on mouse gestures other browsers clumsily implement. Paste-and-go. Why the heck is that not a context menu option in other browsers (let alone, as in Opera, a quick keystroke combo)? How many times each day do folks paste links in a nav bar and then have to press “enter” or click another button to get the simple functionality of CTRL+D I have (yes, I modded the built in keystroke combo, because I have no use for CTRL+D as a keystroke combo to bookmark a site).

Speaking of modding keyboard navigation keystrokes, that’s another little thing: super simple, easy-peasy in Opera to make darned near any keystroke combo one wants.

Tons and tons of those kinds of “little things” make Opera THE choice here at twc central.

Household products? You may not have heard of the company, but for years now we have relied on the consistently exceptional quality and affordable cost of Melaleuca products, and my Wonder Woman will NOT give up her nutritional supplements the company makes. One example of affordable, high quality: the liquid laundry soap (not detergent) generally requires about 1/8 of a cup of product to do an excellent job cleaning clothes in our washer, with our small town water. That’s half what the company recommends, but it works for us. And that makes the product less expensive to use than buying something else at WallyWorld

And all the products work similarly for us. Little things like, use less (often much, much less) or simply unique properties–like the disinfectant spray that uses thyme as a primary component, for its disinfectant properties–have solidified the company’s products as our default for household needs.

Unique properties and features, customer service, consistently high quality, attention to detail: come to think if it, these aren’t “little things” at all!

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Ahh, Decompression!

A day of unscheduled time. After more than a bunch of 12+ hour days, just doing yard work and shoveling out one stall of the Augean Stable (my “office” so-called–more a junk room at present *sigh*) seems like a vacation.

Oh, catching up on “life as we know it” should fit in there somewhere, too.

Of course I’ll include a lil play time in the mix today. A start on a head-to-head between M$Office 2010 and OpenOffice on Lil Zark should make for some interesting play time.

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Week Eaten By Locusts

Locusts die by thousands… *heh*

This hasn’t been an exactly toxic week, but it’s been… interesting. The proverbial one-armed paper hanger is a slacker. Heck, I’ve not even had time to find Mass Media Podpeople Hivemind “news” to mock. Did make time to wind down a bit with the season opener of Burn Notice last night (a little disappointing, but then maybe my week colored my viewpoint).

Off to the “races” again today. 7:30. Getting a slow start today.

Say “Hi” to life for me. I don’t have time for it right now. 🙂

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Blech! [Placeholder Post–*heh*]

While locusts are devouring my days, some light gripes for posts

Is there any excuse for any person who’s literate in English to write “there’s a few ways” instead of “there’re a few ways”? Oh, I could understand it, I suppose, if the person is writing dialog for an illiterate rube, but I’ve run across an author who does it consistently for all characters, whether the characters are common folk like you and me or a cast of nothing but people with multiple advanced degrees.

There’s no excuse for that. None.

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Little Foxes

Song of Solomon 2:15

Yeh, my grape vines were under attack today, as it were. Foxes, locusts, whatever. Whole day eaten up with little tasks that expanded to more than fill the day.

Tomorrow? Looks like my “to do weather” is still snowed under.

Write your own post. 🙂

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Thursday Thought

“The principle is this: good government is rare. It is to be cherished. When grubbing for political power takes precedence over that principle–when lust for political power takes top priority–then it threatens good government.” –Dr J.E. Pournelle

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“There Will Always Be An Island Off the Coast of France”

It used to be that it was said, “There will always be an England,” but it ain’t necessarily so anymore.

Caravanner, 61, prosecuted for having Swiss Army knife in his glove box… to cut up fruit on picnics

A disabled caravanner who kept a penknife in his glove compartment to use on picnics has blasted the authorities after being dragged through court for possessing an offensive weapon.

Rodney Knowles, 61, walks with the aid of a stick and had used the Swiss Army knife to cut up fruit on picnics with his wife.

That’s right, folks” a 2.5-inch bladed Swiss Army Knife. Evidence of obvious intent to commit mayhem.

*sigh* And here in the USA, more of the same, as the TSA will confiscate any lil teen-eintsy bladed “weapon” from once-free citizens, when they’re not going full court press to fine and imprison folks for whatever strikes the Thousands Standing Around as an appropriate expression of their goonery.

This in a land where my grandfather and his brothers once took their Model 1895 Winchesters to school–talk about school safety! Imagine some idiot trying to hold up a school where the teacher and students were all armed to the teeth! Ah, but those were different times, you say. Yes, they were, more’s the pity.

As for that “island off the coast of France” thing, well, that may not even be “always” if the Calip-hate has its way… With a completely disarmed populace, how long until Londonistan is added as “the chief city of an island in the Calip-hate just off the coast of Francistan”?

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Almost Annoying

I like Fun With Words, but this was a tad irritating:

Glossary of Fun Words – What word means to throw out of a window? To dance a child on one’s knees?

Couldn’t they at least choose some relatively obscure words instead of the oh-so-common “fenestrate” [see Random Yak’s correction in comments :-)] and “dandle”? Oh, well, I suppose I’ll check out the link anyway.

Now, this is more like it:

Glossary of Linguistics and Rhetoric – What do euphemism, hendiadys, cacophony, and procatalepsis mean?

I actually had to stop and think about “hendiadys” for a couple of seconds. I can’t recall the last time I used the term in conversation, either, although I am known to commit the heinous act from time to time. *heh*

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Political “Discussions” on Facebook?

For the most part, notsomuch. I’ve found FB to be an OK way to keep current with real friends and family, but the extended-extended “friends” of “friends” of friends who sometimes enter into political “discussions” on FB entries mostly turn out to have comments and insights of about the caliber of today’s high school sophomores. If that.

Indeed, anything more meaningful than dumps of out-of-context, misapplied (and often not at all understood by the dumper) factoids gleaned from the first hit on a google search is a rarity in FB political “discourse”. Most folks don’t even take time to actually read (assuming they can read and comprehend) initial posts or the material linked, let alone engage their brain before they begin to type.

I can understand how some view “social media” as a way to communicate political ideas with immediacy, but, folks, it’s primarily a means of communicating surface factoids to people with short attention spans and little interest in doing their own homework so they can understand what’s going on.

Stick with real friends and family and what’s going on in your lives.