Thoughts on Veterans Day
The war my generation fought, Vietnam, was so odious, and the rationale for it such a steaming bucket of offal, that those of us who were taken in got tagged with the stupidity to an unfair degree.Read...
View ArticleFriday News Dump 11-15-13
It’s ironic that the deadline for the Friday News Dump is in the afternoon, well before the actual dump happens, a customary practice of politicians of any party to put out news they don’t want noticed...
View ArticleEconomic Policy by Mr. Natural
I've been skeptical of using monetary policy to fight unemployment from the get-go, because it seems me to violate the Mr. Natural Rule: You got to use the proper tool for the job.The problem has been...
View ArticleLions and Snakes and Duck Dynasty, Oh My!
My Kossack Friends,The Friday News Dump has been renamed How Did I Miss That? Still seeking a regular readership.This is the most fun I've had writing in a long time, so I'm not above begging for...
View ArticleIn Praise of a Wuss
In recognition of the wailing and gnashing of teeth in some quarters about withdrawing from Afghanistan without saving it from the Afghans, I offer some poetic lines from Rudyard Kipling written on the...
View ArticleTalking Religion and Politics, Oh My!
Because traditional Cherokee people taught me a profound insight that I’ve claimed for my own, “the spirit world takes care of its own business,” I understand arguments about religion to be for...
View ArticleAnal Cancer; Oral Cancer; Corporate Sex
The latest installment of How Did I Miss That?In a Friday night interview, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) told Bloomberg News that last week’s vote to end the filibuster except for Supreme Court appointments...
View ArticleAspiring to Quality
This week's "How Did I Miss That?" column did really well.My Veteran's Day op-ed topped the charts.I wish I knew how to make this flickering flame burn consistently. With my mother in law's savings...
View ArticleTexas Tells It!
There's an editorial in the New York Times this morning about cutting military pay and benefits so the military can absorb the coming cuts without cutting substantial weapons systems.Some of you have...
View ArticleFeel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Repurposed
The following is inspired by the leakage of the proposed status of forces agreement for Afghanistan that would keep troops under enemy fire for at least another ten years, as well as support the Afghan...
View ArticleVoters Picking Judges
Thoughts on judicial elections from a retired Texas trial court judge, who still hears cases when assigned, but gets few assignments because he was elected as a Democrat and the state has gone...
View ArticleThe Economic Disconnect
Latest economic statistics are very good for the economy. The GDP numbers were revised to indicate the fastest growth since the first quarter of 2012 just before the economy stumbled over the...
View ArticleInvitation to Tea
I'm on a lot of Repug mailing lists because when I was teaching at IU, my son got his first deployment to Iraq. I was plenty hacked off and did a lot of lobbying about foreign policy.I was kind of...
View ArticleMore Tea? No Thanks, I'm Sane
National Review on line is joining in the eulogizing of Nelson Mandela.This reminds me once more of the differences between mainstream conservatives and the Tea Party. The former are not impervious to...
View ArticleHow Did I Miss That? Anti-Gay Catholics and Chinese Sex Toys
It's that time of the week again, when I beg my Kossack friends to click over to How Did I Miss That? and forward it to others.Reason being, I get to keep doing it as long as it brings in eyeballs and...
View ArticleWrong Kind of Republican Catches On
I've been repeating myself since 2009, although only recently on this forum, with my Mr. Natural criticism of the Fed, "you got to use the proper tool for the job," tempered by the realization that you...
View ArticleFor Texans Only
I don't make a practice of passing on stuff out of pols' newsletters, but I think this from Sen. Kirk Watson is kind of important (Watson does not represent me, more's the pity, I'm just on his...
View ArticleIndians and Issue Salience
While it's not as much fun as my weekly conversations with Cousin Ray Sixkiller, I do still get to write op-eds. This one is a bit Indian-centric and so not of interest to all Kossacks, but I always...
View ArticleSocial Science as a Snipe Hunt: Marriage Equality
Sometimes social science is like a snipe hunt, just stumbling through the dark with a sack in your hand yelling "Here, snipe!"Is X a good idea?First, you must state a hypothesis why it is or is not a...
View ArticleHow Did I Miss That? Bob Dylan's "Hate Crime"; Yoda Lives!
It's that time of the week again when I come here to Kos and beg for clicks and forwards and likes and all that good cyber-stuff so I can keep having the most fun I've had since I retired, at least the...
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