Oilwellian

Oilwellian's Journal

November 28, 2013

I buried my youngest son yesterday

He died in his sleep early Monday morning of what we suspect was a massive heart attack. He was only 29 and in, what we thought, good health. Autopsy report is not in yet, but everything points in that direction.

There are no words to express the depths of our sorrow. In a split second, our lives have changed forever.

Fortunately, there are no regrets for any unspoken words that we meant to share with each other, but never did. His last words to me were, "I love you, Mom," as he always said at the end of our conversations, and those words I will hold in my heart forever. He lived his life with such great integrity, and understood intensely the meaning of love for his family and friends. He was truly an old soul that taught me more about life than I was ever capable of teaching him. It's an honor to be known forever as his mother, and today we will be giving thanks for the profound joy he brought to our lives.

Rest in peace, my dear, sweet son. I love you too.

There are a few of you who may remember him. He joined some of us at the second major antiwar protest in D.C. during the Bush nightmare.

On edit: Adding a photo he recently posted on his Facebook page...

Thank you everyone for your very inspirational words. They mean so much. :hugs:

November 24, 2013

Remarks By Obama To The WSJ CEO Council...We Need To Cut SS & Medicare Benefits

Last Tuesday, top global CEOs gathered in Washington, D.C., for the annual meeting of The Wall Street Journal CEO Council. Obama shared with these corporate CEOs, his fondest dream of cutting our earned benefits. This is just one more example we can add to the list, and we must remain vigilant on this issue.

For the deniers:

Now, one way to do that is just to make health care cheaper overall. That’s I think the best way to do it, and that’s what we’ve been doing through some of the measures in the Affordable Care Act. There are some other provisions that we could take that would maintain our commitment to seniors, Medicare, Social Security, the disabled, and Medicaid, while still reducing very modestly the costs of those programs.

If we can get beyond the tactical advantages that parties perceive in painting folks as extreme and trying to keep an eye always on the next election, and for a while at least, just focus on governing, then there is probably 70 percent overlap on a whole range of issues. A lot of Republicans want to get infrastructure done, just like I do. A lot of them believe in basic research, just like I do. A lot of them want to reform entitlements to make sure that they’re affordable for the next generation; so do I. A lot of them say they want to reform our tax system; so do I.

If we do those things, that solves our real fiscal problem, and we could take some of that money, a very modest portion on the front end, and invest in infrastructure that puts people back to work, improve our research and development.

So the idea would be do some things in the short term that focus on growth; do some things in the long term that deal with the long-term debt. That’s what my budget reflects. That’s what a multiple series of negotiations with John Boehner talked about, the so-called Grand Bargain. We couldn’t quite get there in the end, mainly because Republicans had a great deal of difficulty with the idea of putting in more revenue to balance out some of the changes that were made on entitlements.

If someone rejects an offer and you propose it again and again, it is not a concession: it is what you want.

Transcript

November 9, 2013

A Perfect Demonstration of Human Empathy

When Isaac Theil let a sleepy stranger take a little catnap on his shoulder, it was because "I simply remembered the times my own head would bop on someone’s shoulder because I was so tired after a long day," he recounted to Tova Ross of Tablet Magazine.

Another subway rider was so struck by Theil's nonchalant empathy that he snapped a picture and put it on Reddit, from which it was then posted to Facebook by Charidy.

Redditor Braffination wrote, "Heading home on the Q train yesterday when this young black guy nods off on the shoulder of a Jewish man. The man doesn't move a muscle, just lets him stay there. After a minute, I asked the man if he wanted me to wake the kid up, but he shook his head and responded, 'He must have had a long day, let him sleep. We've all been there, right?'"

(snip)
Rabbi Bradley Hirschfield, president of The National Jewish Center for Learning and Leadership, was moved by Theil's recollection of his own fatigue as an explanation for his kindness, and told The Huffington Post that it was a perfect demonstration of human empathy. Hirschfield said, "To be able to draw on past hardship to soften our hearts towards others is one of the most repeated commandments to the Jewish people, and is the core of many spiritual traditions."

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More

November 1, 2013

The Eye Opening Study Every American Needs To See

You know how it sometimes feels like the government only cares about what the wealthy want? Turns out there's evidence that confirms just that.

http://www.upworthy.com/the-eye-opening-study-every-american-needs-to-see

‘Oligarchic tendencies’: Study finds only the wealthy get represented in the Senate

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/08/19/oligarchic-tendencies-study-finds-only-the-wealthy-get-represented-in-the-senate/

Profile Information

Name: Kathryn
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Hometown: Virginia
Member since: 2001
Number of posts: 12,647