My mind has many nooks and crannies ... like an english muffin
When The Disgusted Have Left
· ☕ 119  words politics  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
Apparently there is an old French proverb that says “When the disgusted have left, only the disgusting remain”. Painful, but true. There does become a point where leaving someplace because you cannot continue to work there and keep your integrity creates the danger that the place will get worse. However, if you have been sidelined and are no longer effective in trying to keep some integrity, morals, ethics there, then staying doesn’t help and maybe society is better placed for change from the outside.
Oh Look, A Squirrel! Christopher Columbus Edition
· ☕ 9131  words politics  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
Introduction (because this will be long) There is an old proverb that you should never meet your heroes or heroines. If you do, you will see their feet of clay. How you do react? If you have idolized and attached a sense of yourself to the hero or heroine, people often either hide the issues and double down on the hero/heroine worship or they are so upset they throw away the good with the bad.
Counting Coup in an Echo Chamber and Other Wastes of Time
· ☕ 429  words politics  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
I watched Ed Miliband’s speech in the UK Parliament and then watched all the social media posts from the “Remainders” congratulating each other. A typical title started “Boris Johnson’s humiliation by Ed Miliband…”. The same thing happens on the other side. It doesn’t matter whether it is in the UK, the US, India or elsewhere and it doesn’t matter what the subject is so long as there are at least two extremes on the position.
What is Respect?
· ☕ 662  words life  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
I was reading an interchange on social media the other day about a shoplifting incident at a Lowe’s. In the discussion was a short interchange that got me thinking. One commentor said don’t bother reporting it to the police because they won’t do anything. Another commentator responded this is what happens when people don’t respect the police. My first thought was “What does respecting police have to do with shoplifting”. Then I wondered whether the second commentator was saying you don’t respect the police the police will not respond i.
To Rhyme or Not to Rhyme
· ☕ 1985  words songwriting  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz

One of the questions that comes up when writing a song after you have settled on the idea and the feel is whether you are going to rhyme or not. We all know songs that rhyme, don’t rhyme, have near rhymes etc. Each has their pros and cons and the strength of those pros and cons can differ depending on the music genre.

Tax Law Quotes
· ☕ 551  words tax law quotes  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz
The problem is not just that the law is overly complex. The problem is also that we change it all the time. We [Judges of the U.S. Tax Court] have from time-to time complained about the complexity of our revenue laws and the almost impossible challenge they present to taxpayers or their representatives who have not been initiated into the mysteries of the convoluted, complex provisions affecting the particular corner of the law
Beliefs, Opinions and Personalities
· ☕ 505  words politics philosophy  · ✍️ Peter Hiltz

I will posit this as my opinion - it is easier to change opinions than it is to change beliefs. The line drawing between opinions and beliefs is probably fuzzy, however. I would also suggest that your own personality will affect whether seeing facts contrary to your own opinion will cause you to change that opinion. I think this opinion of mine gets some support in a recent paper (abstract published at Close Minded Cognition).

That paper determined that people scoring high in the desire for order, structure and preservation of social norms tend to be less successful at correcting erroneous beliefs when confronted by new information. For those people, a close-minded cognitive style negatively influences belief updating. (click on the title to see more)

Dark Stone Wall
· ☕ 323  words Memorial War 4/4 

My only obviously autobiographical song. Families pay a price for the
games that politicians play that those politicians never pay.

Flanders Fields Rejoined
· ☕ 190  words conflict 4/4 

The poem “Flanders Fields” was written by a Canadian doctor during
WWI. It is patriotic and, unfortunately, glories in the continuation
of conflict. Must so many people insist on having an enemy to unite
and fight against?

Friends
· ☕ 264  words friends 6/8 

Lifelong friends who will pick you up when you are down are to be treasured.

Ghosts of Westminster
· ☕ 303  words Politics 3/4 

There is a difference between politician: “one engaged in party
politics, especially as a trade; one who promotes the interests of a
political party, one concerned with public affairs for the sake of
profit or of a clique.” and statesman: “enlightened, disinterested,
and high-minded service to the state or the people of the state”.

We usually have too many politicians and not enough statesmen.

Give Me a Reason
· ☕ 298  words childhood politics 4/4 

For my daughter when she was in junior high school. If you insisted on
a rule and justified it because the authority figure said so, you
guaranteed a fight. If you gave reasonable reasons for the rule, there
wouldn’t be any problem. I’ve seen reports that up to 30% of any human
population consists of authoritarians. Those in power want mindless
obedience. Even those not in positions of power want to be
thoughtlessly led and will insist on mindless obedience to authority
and punishment otherwise.

New Fallen Snow
· ☕ 236  words growing up childhood quiet 3/4 

We as adults are afraid of things that we as children were ignorant
of. Sometimes we think it would be nice to be back at that age, but
now we are the ones with responsibility.