Random Thoughts -- Kids at Work, Maine Marriage, 401(k)s, Milk, and What I'm Over

Today is bring your kid to work day, so there are lots of kids running around at work today. Though the idea is to give kids an idea of what their parent does all day, where I work, they have programs and demonstrations for the kids. This is not what the work day is like for their parents. If they made the kids sit in my office and watch me read folders all day, they would never go out in the world looking for a real job. They have to fool kids into thinking life is a carnival ride or they would become depressed at the thought of growing up. They just need to learn that eventually, nobody will tell them what to do and they can have sex.

Maine is holding hearings on marriage equality this week. Shane is originally from Maine and we have land in Maine that we’re planning to build a house on for our retirement. Shane has lots of family in Maine and we’ve spent lots of time up there. I’ll be surprised if marriage equality passes. Though it votes Democratic, it still strikes me as conservative place. I do think Mainers (speaking in generalities) do have a more of a respect for personal privacy and that what is your business is not the government’s business. Fairness is important to them as well. They also like to be thought of as independent. You never know, but I’ll be surprised if it passes anytime soon.

I DVR 60 Minutes and they had a story on about people’s 401(k)s going down the toilet. Interestingly, I had not seen the story prior to writing the caption I posted for this week's New Yorker Cartoon Caption Contest. My caption is about someone afraid to open their statement, and in the 60 Minutes piece, they interviewed someone who had received their statement, but had not yet opened it out of fear. He opened it on camera and it had gone down.

I finally got to watch Milk this week (Shane bought the blu-ray disc). Sean Penn (Academy Award Winner for this role) and the entire cast were amazing. I think the film did a great job showing how an ordinary person can become great. It was very inspiring. Dustin Lance Black (Academy Award Winning Writer) and Gus Van Sant (Academy Award Nominated Director) and everyone did a great job presenting an important part of our history.

In no particular order, these are the things and people I’ve had enough of this week:

Miss California and her Bible

Dick Cheney and his 2 cents (I love Secretary Clinton's comment though)

NOM and Gathering Storms

Susan Boyle and her eyebrows.

The "Torture Worked" Excuse

Marc Thiessen wrote a column for the Washington Post defending the torture policies of the Bush administration, claiming that the torturing worked. Thiessen served in senior positions in the Pentagon and the White House from 2001 to 2009. He basically states that the techniques garnered information that saved American lives.

Of course, the effectiveness of torture is beside the point because the policy is immoral. What he doesn’t explain is how many new terrorists were recruited out of a sanctioned torture policy. How many Americans and others died because terrorists made Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) because Americans torture? How many suicide bombers killed themselves and untold others over the hate created by this policy? They should be ashamed for even trying to defend such actions.