“The Case Against 8”

15 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

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"The Case Against 8", Ben Cotney, David Blakenhorn, David Boies, Jeff Zarillo, Kris Perry, Paul Katami, Proposition 8, Ryan White, Same-Sex Marriage, Sandy Stier, Ted Olsen

The Case Against 8 ****1/2

We didn’t know much about this documentary when we went to see it last night. We were just looking for a film that we’d enjoy.

When we left the theater, we felt as if we had hit the jackpot.

Not only were we totally absorbed by the almost two hour film, we happened to attend the night the two directors, Ben Cotner and Ryan White, and two of the four plaintiffs, Kris Perry and Sandy Stier, were present and answered audience questions about the film and about themselves.

First, the film.

What the Hell Is Going on in Washington?

13 Friday Jun 2014

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, The Outer Loop

≈ 8 Comments

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Eric Cantor, Majority Leader, Paul Krugman

The title of this section of MillersTime is The Outer Loop, referring to the outer loop of the Washington Beltway.

It’s meant to be a forum I use to comment, on occasion, about what is happening in our nation’s capital as well as beyond it. It is also a place where I can link to articles, ideas, and thoughts about issues other than baseball, family and friends, or escapes and pleasures.

Friends often ask Ellen or myself to explain what’s happening in Washington, as if our living inside the Beltway might give us some understanding of just what’s going on here or what is going to happen.

When you’re deeply lost in the trees, it’s certainly hard to know what the forest really looks like.

Note the surprise this week by virtually everyone within the Beltway of the upset of Majority Leader Eric Cantor by a college professor in the VA 7^th District primary.

A Special ‘Voice’ Writes a ‘Memoir’

10 Tuesday Jun 2014

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

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"Another Roadside Attraction", "Even Cowgirls Get the Blues", "Still Life with Woodpecker", "Tibetan Peach Pie", Skinny Legs and All", Tom Robbins

What bothers most critics about my work is the goofiness. One reviewer said I need to make up my mind if I want to be funny or serious. My response is that I will make up my mind when God does, because life is a commingling of the sacred and the profane, good and evil. To try and separate them is a fallacy.

-Tom Robbins

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I suspect that not many readers of MillersTime are Tom Robbins’ fans (author of Another Roadside Attraction, 1971, Even Cowgirls Get the Blues, 1976, Still Life with Woodpecker, 1980, Jitterbug Perfume, 1984, Skinny Legs and All, 1990, B is for Beer, 2009 and a collection of essays, reviews and short stories, Wild Ducks Flying Backwards, 2005).

And to be truthful, I can’t say as I can recall which of those I read and which ones I read about or never actually read. (My memory, never one of my strengths, is beginning to falter a bit.)

But what I always loved about Robbins’ writing was his voice, a voice so distinctive and so different from most writers that I have trouble naming writers so gifted. Two that do come to mind are Dylan Thomas and Junot Diaz (Brief Wonderful Life of Oscar Wao, 2007 and, particularly, This Is How You Lose Her, 2012).

“I Am ONE !”

09 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends

≈ 4 Comments

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First Birthday

noname.best cake Our family tends to celebrate birthdays, anniversaries, weddings (one of those coming up soon) and other good occasions for about a week for each one. And so Saturday started the week of celebration for Ryan Orgad’s first birthday. The actual day is Thursday, but we always get these things started early.

Mostly, I’ll let Ellen’s pictures below tell Sunday’s story, but there is one piece I want to add:

Before Annie was born, Ellen and I were talking about what our hopes were for our first born. I remember saying, “I hope he/she has a wonderful smile.” If you’ve followed Annie these three plus decades, you know that indeed happened.

But so did something else. Annie married Edan Orgad who has his own wonderful smile. And then they had three kids in five years, each of them came with a wonderful smile too.

Enjoy the photos:

noname.family.best R smiling Continue reading »

Traitor or Patriot?

02 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, The Outer Loop

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"No Place to Hide", Brian Williams, Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, NBC, NSA

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In a previous post, No Place to Hide, I wrote about my reaction to listening to a talk by Glenn Greenwald and reading his recently released book on Edward Snowden, on the revelations from the disclosures of NSA documents and on Greenwald’s assessment of what has occurred.

In comments and emails, some of you immediately praised Greenwald and Snowden, some of you said the MillersTime post gave you pause for thinking and/or reevaluating, and some questioned the damage that they felt both Snowden and Greenwald had done to our country.

Hopefully, some of you in all three groups will have time to read Greenwald’s book for yourselves. (If you do, please add a Comment on MillersTime or send me your thoughts by email.)

Today’s post is a link to a lengthy interview done by NBC’s Brian Williams with Snowden. It gives you a chance to see, hear and perhaps evaluate this 29-year-old for yourself.

Who Is Elizabeth Warren?

27 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, The Outer Loop

≈ 6 Comments

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"A Fighting Chance", CFPB, COP, Elizabeth Warren, Senator Warren, TARP

I’m a wife, a mother, and a grandmother. For nearly all my life I would have said I’m a teacher, but I guess I really can’t say that anymore. Now I have to introduce myself as a United States senator, tho I still feel a small jolt of surprise whenever I say that.

This is my story, and it’s a story born of gratitude.

Elizabeth Warren

A few weeks ago I went with Ellen and some friends to see and hear Elizabeth Warren talk about her just published book A Fighting Chance.

Over the last few days I took the time to read that book, the tenth one she’s written.

In her appearance, Elizabeth (Betsy as her friends apparently call her) was mostly speaking to the choir. The audience didn’t need too much introduction to this new political face. Some had known her for years, some had been her students, some had worked with her, some had worked for her campaign in Massachusetts, and some had been won over by what they had learned of her in the last year or so.

I fit into that last category.

“Ida” – Look for This Film

26 Monday May 2014

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

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"Ida", Agata Trzebuchowska, Agneta Kulesza, Eisiskes, Pawel Pawlikoski, Poland 1962

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Ida *****

I’ve got another film for you.

It probably won’t be around for long (pity). And it may not even show up where you live. But if you can find it somehow (Netflix?), go out of your way to watch it. I think it’s probably best to see it on as big a screen as possible, but however you can see it, I suspect you’ll be enthralled.

At least we were.

“No Place to Hide”

18 Sunday May 2014

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest, The Outer Loop

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

"No Place to Hide", Abuse of Power, Edward Snowden, Glenn Greenwald, NSA, Sen. Frank Church, The Fourth Estate

I realized that they were building a system whose goal was the elimination of all privacy, globally. To make it so that no one could communicate electronically without the NSA being able to collect, store, and analyze the communication.

-Edward Snowden explaining to Glenn Greenwald what moved him to action:

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Wednesday night Ellen and I attended a book lecture by Glenn Greenwald.

Friday, I took the whole day and read Greenwald’s book on Edward Snowden, on the NSA, and on his assessment of what he believes is the meaning of these revelations.

When I finished the book yesterday, I was tempted to do something I’ve never done on this site, write a post that said this book was a Must Read. But thinking about it overnight, I reminded myself of my belief that there is no such thing as a ‘must read’ article or book.

Instead, I’m simply going to try to capture some of the impact Greenwald’s appearance and book has had on me.

What MillersTime Readers Predicted for 2014

14 Wednesday May 2014

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

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Baseball Predictions, MillersTime 2014 Basebal Contests, Who's (Hu's) on First?

by: JamieD On 9/3/10, Total ProSports.com. If you've never seen or want to see the Abbott-Costello piece again: http://bit.ly/1mV1fyH

by: JamieD 9/3/10, Total ProSports.com. (If you’ve never seen or want to see the Abbott-Costello piece again: http://bit.ly/1mV1fyH)

I’ve finally gotten around to summarizing some of your 2014 MillersTime Baseball Contest predictions. There are too many variables to put them all on a spread sheet as I’ve done before, but here are some of what the wise and not so wise fans said:

A Terrific “New Yorker” Article: “Schooled”

13 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by Richard in Articles & Books of Interest

≈ 4 Comments

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Cory Booker, Education, Mark Zuckerberg, Philanthropy, Politics, The New Yorker

Politics. Education. Philanthropy.

As in Cory Booker, Newark Schools, Mark Zuckerberg.

If you’re on the MillersTime mailing list, you no doubt have interest in at least one of these topics (unless you got on the list solely because you’re family or you’re interested baseball).

And you may remember a few years ago that then Newark Mayor Cory Booker (now NJ Senator) announced that Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg was investing $100 million in what was to be an effort to revamp the Newark public schools.

In this week’s New Yorker Magazine, Dale Russakoff has a fascinating article about what has happened as a result of mixing politics, education, and philanthropy. It’s a long article, but once I started it, I stayed up until I had finished it.

You can read the article, Schooled, on line or get a copy of this week’s magazine. You won’t be disappointed.

Once you’ve finished it, I encourage you to leave a Comment on this site as to what is your ‘takeaway’ from Russakoff’s article and what has happened in Newark.

Join Me at the Ball Park

13 Tuesday May 2014

Posted by Richard in Go Sox

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Free Tickets, MLB Baseball, Nationals Park, Nats, Washington Nationals

A few more opportunities to join me at a Nats’ game or, in a couple of instances, get two tickets for yourself:

“Finding Vivian Maier”

11 Sunday May 2014

Posted by Richard in Escapes and Pleasures

≈ 2 Comments

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"Finding Vivian Maier", Documentary Film, John Maloof, Photography

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Self-Portrait – October 18, 1953, New York, NY

Finding Vivian Maier *****

It seems as if it’s been a while since I’ve seen a film I wanted to write about and to recommend for your consideration, only one in March (Child’s Pose) and one in April (The Rocket). Even our movie club seems to have hit a dry spell.

Yesterday, however, we saw one that I can enthusiastically suggest you add to your ‘to see’ list, Finding Vivian Maier.

It is several stories.

5 Used Laptops, 5 Tablets Needed

30 Wednesday Apr 2014

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends

≈ 6 Comments

Do you have (or know someone who has) a laptop computer that is not being used?

How about an iPad, a tablet, or even an e-reader (Kindle, etc.)?

You can put your ‘used’ technology to good use by donating it to The Rainforest Academy in rural Belize. Your donation will help young people who do not presently have access to technology.

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And the Winner Is…

28 Monday Apr 2014

Posted by Richard in Family and Friends

≈ 1 Comment

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Bog Brother vs Little Brother, Caption Contest, Siblings

12. “You may be Big Brother, and I may be Little Brother right now. But one day, when I am 2 inches taller than you and outweigh you by 16 pounds, you will be Elder Brother, and I will be Younger Brother.”