Repeating the same action, over and over

There was an article on Daily Beast this weekend concerning why Christian Evangelicals are so angry. Rick Santorum was cited.

Here's my answer: They're angry because they pray and pray and pray, with all their hearts and souls, and nothing changes.

Abortion doesn't stop. Teenagers have sex. Grownups have sex.

Most of the American people don't reject homosexuality any more.

Nothing changes. Or, the "sins" increase.

Judges uphold the Constitution instead of "religious values." And are verbally attacked as traitors.

One trait fanatics share: When all they see is failure, they ramp up the struggle. Abortion fanatics have murdered doctors, and blown up clinics, killing or blinding people.  Even after they won control of state governments, little changed.

America's Christian fanatics expected the people they fear and hate to destroy the country when Obama became president. That didn't happen either.

Some of them hate/fear "others" so much, they beg their god to jump-start the End Times so they can go to their segregated heaven.

Some of them will find nothing wrong with priming the pump. You've seen men with firearms patrolling city streets to "protect" citizens after race riots. You've seen men of the same ilk threaten to kill lawmen in Southern Nevada to protect a liar and cheat. And others marching through the Arizona and Texas deserts to shut out the desperate people of Mexico and Central America.

As for unanswered prayers: As my grandmother--and others--say, "Sometimes the answer is no."

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Page-turner

My 1st-generation Kindle--2008--croaked a couple of weeks ago. After a solemn (bookcase) burial, I bought a new one, 7th generation touch-screen Paperwhite. It cost around $95 dollars less than seven years ago.

The wi-fi picked right up, and I was able to download all my books from Amazon's "cloud," 300 of them. One at a time. I took several breaks.

Overall, it's better than OK, but there's a lot to dislike. I'm going through the usual practice period where I follow the instructions step by step, and what's supposed to happen doesn't happen.

Mainly, I've created a knot of bookmarks by accident. And in trying to get rid of them, I only created more. And more. And more.

I'm more puzzled than pissed that there's no way to turn the machine off. The screen will turn off, but the computer's running--in the dark.

Why, oh why, Amazon?

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Proof positive

I'm not the only person smiling sadly about the new report about brain disease and brain damage in football players. The data were taken only from autopsies, so they're influenced by a dead man's family deciding to turn over the body.

But ... so much brain damage in so many players ... the perfect explanation for why Texans are so dumb f*** stupid. They are brain-damaged. It's not all genetics and Christian-school dumb-down.

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Can you dig it?

Superb PBS documentary tonight about the recent hominid fossils discovered in South Africa. One batch of skeletons were found in a deep cave, with openings just wide enough for skinny, tiny women to fit through.

I was disappointed to see that the paleoarchaeologists bought into that crap demanded by cavers: never change anything. Instead of sending down a guy with a big hammer, rock chisel and basket-on-a-rope, they sent in women scientists, which is nice.

Except it left the world-class experts--men of course--sitting topside watching the action on CCTV.

They could have widened the complex series of tunnels that led to the bottom and the fossil treasure trove, without ruining anything.

But no, cavers have to possess and lock down every freaking cave, keeping out everybody but skinny-ass men ... and a few women. But only when the boys decide to let the girls join the club for a few hours.

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The country's worst drivers ...

... live in Northern Nevada. The latest trick is leaving a car-length or more between yourself and the car ahead of you at the stoplight.

That pushes the car at the end of the line so far back that it cannot get into the left-turn lane. It then has to wait through the entire cycle, thereby wasting gasoline and polluting the air.

Courtesy is the territory of a person who doesn't drive in Northern Nevada.

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