After the Ball in "My Fair Lady"

Before you go judging Professor Higgins and Colonel Pickering for ignoring Eliza after the ball: did you pay enough attention to her to notice that she said nothing (except a quick "Thank you" to Pickering) between the Ascot opening race and her moment alone after the ball? I have to wonder if the filmmakers did this deliberately.

Trump's Hot Mic Moment

This weekend, I've read about the 2005 recording of Trump's graphic, lecherous, swaggering conversation about adultery and sexual assault. People are reacting strongly, as though this recording has given us new information about Trump. We already knew he was a foul-mouthed, sexist braggart. It's not surprising that he says these things in private. It's only remarkable that we haven't caught him at it before.
Also, it took me a while to realize it, but Trump is insulting men as he defends himself. He has been trying to dismiss his behavior as "locker-room banter," as though men talk like this all the time. It's possible that I've heard talk like this in a locker-room, but I didn't pay much attention to middle-school delinquents. And to say that he has more respect for women than anyone? How degrading to the men he pretends to be above. Sorry Mr. Trump, but there are men who have more respect for women than you do—including all the decent ones.

Crushed

This blog is the closest thing I have to an influence on a culture and government that sometimes disgusts me. I write for my benefit. My mother might read this because she's subscribed, but I doubt anyone else will. If you've read this far, you know that I don't even write well, which compounds my problem. Like most people, many things about my life are dictated to me and I must accept them or be crushed.
I am at the mercy of forces too powerful for me to affect, defy, or ignore. Have you ever really pushed against a large boulder? It's heavy, hard and totally indifferent to the living consciousness seeking to influence it. If some other force were to set it in motion and you got in it's way, it would crush you. It would never know or care that a spark of life—which had thought itself important and unique—just became so much goo.
The immediate cause of these thoughts is that, due to a change of employer and not understanding that "open enrollment" means "the only time health insurance can be purchased," I don't currently have health insurance. This probably means I am stupid, but more importantly, I am young and healthy and likely to remain so. A couple of years ago, not buying insurance would have simply meant that I saved a few hundred dollars. Due to the Affordable Care Act, I am still uninsured but will be paying a fine. I am a student with a small income, and I won't get to keep that money.
I am experiencing a tiny sample of a life-crushing scenario faced by the truly poor. The "individual mandate" of the Affordable Care Act takes away the option to save money by not buying health insurance. Those who did not maintain insurance because they could not afford it are now worse off: they must now pay a fine with the money they risked their health to save. Some of the decisions made by my "representative" government offend me to my core.
I have a personal philosophy that I believe should rule my life. Instead, I will be ruled by other people's philosophies. Most of the people who will impose rules on my life will never hear me. They are a boulder.
I have a soul. How I feel about what happens to me should be regarded as an "end"—others should view it as a severe negative consequence that they have arranged my life circumstances to conflict with my values.  I believe in cooperation by common consent and noninterference by unaffected parties. I have the moral right to make a choice regarding the cash value of my health, and it is no one's concern but mine if I choose to risk death for the sake of another resource. I do it every day by crossing the street, which is also none of their business.
That's what I would say if I had a voice.