End The Filibuster

If according to times and needs you should be obliged to make fresh rules and change certain things, do it with prudence and good advice.
—    St. Angela Merici
[It would be “nice” if politicians (both side) could just vote on issues.  The problem is:  if you vote, you can be held accountable by your constituents.  If you don’t / never vote, you can’t.  The Senate is “supposed” to be a deliberative body.  It is supposed to slow the blood-rush from the House.  It may even deny what the “people” want because it feels the House is acting from exuberance.  This was the initial purpose of the filibuster.  Then, when it started to be used to prevent all activity, it was modified to allow the “paper” (i.e., non-talking) filibuster.  This effectively killed a bill with no explanation, debate or vote – on cloture or on the actual bill.  Perfect non-accountability!  Reverting to the “must talk” prior rule, would be a good start, but the bottom line is we must end the filibuster completely.  It is not in the Constitution and is merely an agreed convention within the particular chamber (the Senate).  At the moment, we allow our political “leaders” to avoid debating the merits of a bill, voting to vote on a bill (cloture), and voting on the actual bill.  And then they say (claim):  “It wasn’t me!  It never came up for a vote!)    —    KMAB]
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2018	More Executive Time For #DumbDonald
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2013	The Fierce Urgency Of NOW
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2012	One Path
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2011	Emergent Practicality

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Biden Starts His Second Year

The high-minded man must care more for what is right than for what people think.
—    Aristotle
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On This Day In:
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2019	Border Security – Yes, Border Wall – No
2018	Supporting Survival Values
2017	Inauguration Day 2017 [Sometimes, I hate it when I’m right! — KMAB]
2016	Or A Pot Of Gold After The Storm
2015	One, Two, Three…
2014	Lend Your Hand
2013	Amnesty, n.
2012	Best Resolv’d
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2011	Magic

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Pass A Voting Rights Act For Democracy’s Sake

That a thing is true, is no reason that it should be said, but that it should be done.
—     Cardinal John Henry Newman
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Do It

Let the beauty we love be what we do.
—     Rumi
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On This Day In:
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2016	Still A Burden
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2015	All A Game
2014	Two Thoughts
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2012	To The Soul…
2011	Reverted!!

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Yo-yo Management

We neither understand the adding of unneeded people or activities because profits are booming, nor the cutting of essential people or activities because profitability is shrinking.  That kind of yo-yo approach is neither business-like nor humane.
—     Warren Buffett
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2015	Like Stone
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2012	The Path Is Endless
2011	Happy MLK, Jr Day!!!
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What Do You See?

Nowadays people are born to find fault.  When they look at Achilles, they see only his heel.
—     Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach
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Living In The Big Lie With A Loser

The house of delusions is cheap to build, but draughty to live in.
––     A. E. Housman
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Republican Ambling

Science is … a way of skeptically interrogating the universe with a fine understanding of human fallibility.  If we are not able to ask skeptical questions, to interrogate those who tell us that something is true, to be skeptical of those in authority, then we’re up for grabs for the next charlatan, political or religious, who comes ambling along.
—    Carl Sagan
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On This Day In:
2021	I’d Argue Wealth, Then Income
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2019	Every Vote Counts
2018	Or A President
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2016	Why Not?
2015	Je Suis Charlie
2014	To The Nines
2013	Higher And Truer
2012	Life’s Last Question
2011	A Single Heartbeat
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Choose Possible

Once you choose hope, anything is possible.
—    Christopher Reeve
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On This Day In:
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2015	Month To Month Rental
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2013	Books Are…
2012	True Distinguishing Marks
2010	Sub-300

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No Ulterior Motive

The person who is free does not do what they do because of the desire to be looked at a certain way by other people, or even themselves.  Because their self image is not dependent on something outside themselves, they are truly free to act with no ulterior motive.
They are not trying to “get something” out of being a guitarist other than the plain fact of being a guitarist.  They do not come to music and the guitar and say “make me feel good about myself”.  Such a person never says “I should be able to do that, but I can’t, so there must be something wrong with me.”
They say  “Hmm, I have trouble with this, there must be a reason why, I think I’ll investigate (pay more attention).”
—     Jamie Andreas
www.guitarpinciples.com
From her book:  “The Principles of Correct Practice For Guitar“
From chapter:  “The Deeper I Go, The Deeper It Gets“
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2014	Dinner For Two?
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2012	Tearful Joy!!
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You Ought To Be Having Fun

If you’re not having fun, you’re doing something wrong.
―     Groucho Marx
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2015	If Only Common Sense Were More Common
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Limited Knowledge And No Control

Thus we may have knowledge of the past but cannot control it;  we may control the future but have no knowledge of it.
—     Claude Elwood Shannon
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2015	Tracing Shadows
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Looking For Treasure Troves

The key to discoveries is to look at those places where there is still a paradox.  It’s like the tip of an iceberg.  If there is a point of dissatisfaction, take a closer look at it.  You are likely to find a treasure trove underneath.
—    Erdal Arikan
Quoted by:  Steven Levy
From the article:  “The Man Who Conquered Noise“
Appearing in:  Wired Magazine
Dtd:  Dec. 2020
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Just That Strange Peace

When asked how we will know when the internet is becoming conscious, [Christof] Koch [Ph.D] replied that the surest sign will be when “it displays independent behavior.”  It’s hard to imagine what exactly this might look like.  But considering that this process will also involve the waning of human consciousness, you might look inward, at the state of your own psyche.
The early stages of this process will likely be subtle.  You might feel a bit scattered, your attention pulled in multiple directions, such that you begin to suspect that the philosophers are right, that the unified self is an illusion.  You may occasionally succumb to the delusion that everyone you know sounds the same, as though their individual minds, filtered through the familiar syntax of tweets and memes, have fused into a single voice.  You might find yourself engaging in behaviors that are not in your self-interest, mechanically following the dictate to share and spread personal information, even though you know the real beneficiary is not you or your friends, but the system itself.
The great merging, when it comes, might feel — and I confess I find this most probable — like nothing at all.  There will be no explosion, no heavenly trumpet, just that strange peace that is known to overcome tourists standing in Times Square, or walking the Las Vegas strip, a surrender to overstimulation that is not unlike the numbness that sets in after hours of scrolling and clicking.  In such moments, the noise is so total it becomes indistinguishable from silence, and even there, amidst the crowd, it is possible to experience a holy solitude, as though you are standing all alone, in the center of a great cathedral.
From an article written by:  Meghan O’Gieblyn
The article:  “Is the Internet Conscious? If It were, How Would We Know?“
Appearing in:  Wired Magazine
Dtd:  Dec 2020
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2016	Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall
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Historians, Not Librarians

If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.
—    Warren Buffett
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On This Day In:
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2020	A Choice
2019	Fill It Up
2018	Can We Talk About Me?
2017	About Change
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2016	Are Your Prayers Functioning?
2015	Expressing Love
2014	Cyclical Attitudes
2013	Footprints
2012	Broken Resolutions
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