Another Missive to my Penpal at 1600 Pennsylvania
Dear Mr. President:I write this the day after a faction of the Republican Party shut down the government, a faction that has struck such fear into the historical Republican Party that they dare not...
View ArticleChuck Todd Not Entirely Useless?
I know he kicked over a beehive in Kosland when he disclaimed the duty to report facts rather than be evenhanded as between liars and those who practice argumentation within fact-based reality. I...
View ArticleRepublican Boxes and Food Stamps
I'm using the edit function to come back and add this box because I'm a little nervous about this column. I always post my Indian Country Today pieces here and I have to link them to observe a short...
View ArticleEarth to Washington: WTF?
Joe Scarborough: Where are the adults in the Republican Party? Chuck Todd: When you say "adults," the Tea Party hears "elites." So, the government was shut down over Obamacare and Obamacare is no...
View ArticleCan You Think Like a Lawyer, Judge?
A Washington judge just got admonished by their judicial conduct authority for announcing he did not wish to perform weddings for gay people. He thought this manner of office-holding was a mere...
View ArticleAn Anecdote about Socialized Medicine
Today, I venture into the perilous field of anecdotal evidence about socialized medicine. Perilous because we never make policy around anecdotes and your mileage may vary.I am a veteran of the United...
View ArticleMr. President, You Must Embrace the Crazy
Mr. Obama, in today's press conference, has given a coherent reason why he does not bite on the 14th Amendment option, but I'm still not persuaded it's not the least bad of the options.He said that any...
View ArticleOur Policy is We Don't Comply with Corporate Policies
Fair warning: This column over at Indian Country Today Media Network starts off with a letter I wrote to my credit card company that I have previously posted in a diary here.I have added some...
View ArticleWhen do Bad Ideas Die?
Ideas, like people, can bleed. Unlike people, ideas do not die easily, even the worst of ideas. If you have lost a loved one, you know that palpable sense of wishing them back, undoing their fate so as...
View ArticleGOP Cuts and We Bleed
Shutting the government down has in the past and this time cost the taxpayers billions of dollars. The law Congress passed this time promising that government workers will get back pay when the this...
View ArticleIt's About Them Overpaid Gummit 'Crats!
Having watched Speaker Boehner's "press conference" yesterday, I finally arrived at an opinion of why the taxpayers have been whacked for billions of dollars and are in danger of having their economy...
View ArticleBat Guano Votes
Our economy has survived another round of Russian roulette, or we think it has. It’s hard to be sure because the Department of Labor statistics we normally use to dipstick the economy have not been...
View ArticlePatriot or Surrender Monkey?
If I read these exact words again, I'm gonna puke. A Tea Party type complaining of a mainstream Republican voting to open the government and raise the debt ceiling until early next year:"It was more of...
View ArticleThem Toad Suckers; Them Teabag Insulters
Them bad ol' leftists are at it again.Yes, Florida Rep. Alan Grayson went too far comparing the Tea Party in toto to the KKK.But I must wonder exactly who in the Tea Party has standing to ask for an...
View ArticleThe Washington Zoo
NOTE: In light of my recent diary criticizing Rep. Alan Grayson for picturing the Tea Party as the KKK at a cross burning, I am constrained to observe that I did not produce the title on this piece at...
View ArticleBuy the Eye in the Sky? Sell the Tar Baby?
When I started picking stocks as a hobby, one of my stated goals was to prove that a broad liberal arts education would work as well for the task as a business education.It had dawned on me, and I had...
View ArticleHelp a Teacher, Sen. Paul, Please!
From the time I took on university teaching, I fought an uphill battle against plagiarism.My attitude towards plagiarism has always been "WTF?" because I am a lover of words and that means I steal them...
View ArticleAging Into Moderation?
In my old age, I find myself in the odd position of arguing the left side to the right and the right side to the left. Lately, it's been the patent absurdity of hearing the moderate liberal Barack...
View ArticleWishing for the ENDA Sex Discrimination
I find myself in rare theoretical agreement with the GOP whacko birds.Only in theory, though.Speaker John Boehner says he will not bring ENDA, which just cleared a filibuster to move forward to floor...
View ArticleFriday News Dump 11-8-13
It's been a tough summer in my family. Health issues and relationship issues. The kind of stuff that takes it out of you but you can't really spill it in public.Something just waltzed into my...
View Article