Major Mike’s Musings

“Politics, n. Strife of interests masquerading as a contest of principles.” —Ambrose Bierce

“Politics is not a bad profession. If you succeed there are many rewards, if you disgrace yourself you can always write a book.” —Ronald Reagan

“Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.” —Lester B. Pearson

“In politics, absurdity is not a handicap.” —Napoleon Bonaparte

“Crime does not pay … as well as politics.” -Alfred E. Newman

I found this over at The Point blog. They’re quoting The Eugene, Oregon, Register-Guard:

After her oncologist prescribed a cancer drug that could slow the cancer growth and extend her life, [Barbara] Wagner was notified that the Oregon Health Plan wouldn’t cover the treatment, but that it would cover palliative, or comfort, care, including, if she chose, doctor-assisted suicide. . . .

Are these folks in Oregon crazy?

From The Ivy Jungle Network Campus Ministry Update Summer 2008

Although the US is one of the most religious nations in the world, a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows many believe things which contradict their stated faith. 70% of those who claim religious affiliation believe multiple religions can lead to salvation and 68% believe in multiple interpretations of their own religion. 57% of self-identified evangelicals believe multiple religions can lead to salvation. 21% of self-identified atheists believe that some kind of God exists. 80% of respondents believe in moral standards of right and wrong, but only 29% claim their religious teachings help them determine those standards. A copy of the report can be read at www.pewforum.org (SFGate.com June 23, 2008)

I upgraded this blog to Wordpress 2.6. It was a pretty painless upgrade. We’ll see what all that means in the days to come.

Mrs Major continues to improve. She’s ditched the cane and now walks around even better than before the surgery. She’s still a little tentative, but she doesn’t waddle any more like her knees hurt. She’s cut way down on the pain meds. Maybe she’ll take back some of the household chores.

My golf game continues to improve. I’m pleased with that.

It’s hot. 98º with 50% humidity (5:30 p.m.).¹ It seems cooler, now. Around noon it was 91º with 80% humidity. At least we’re not burning down like California. Or flooding like the midwest did.

Is it just me or are our choices for President getting worse each election? I’ve got my clothespin for my nose all ready. I haven’t missed an election since I was 21 (yes we had to be 21 to vote once upon a time) and I don’t plan to miss this one, but I’m really tempted to stay in bed on election day.

I just upgraded my main Mac to OSX 10.5. I like it. It seems to run faster and has lots of new features I like. I ran into some trouble because all of my web sites I test locally on this Mac before I do major revisions to the Internet ones. When I upgraded, none of them worked. Turns out you have to turn on the programming language and databases with 10.5. Earlier versions were automatically turned on. No big deal…just a few edits to some configuration files, but it drove me crazy for about a day and a half.

1. I’m not complaining. I love the heat [↩]