Eat the Rich

Don’t we wish. The joke is people are outraged (rightly so IMO) over non-contributors getting something for nothing … so long as they’re poor or minorities. When it comes to trust fund babies, celebrities, royals, insanely overpaid CEOs, and the idle heirs of old money, outrage generally turns to acceptance, even admiration. Oh, sure, there are […]

Thursday Bag o’ Sedition

I think of myself as progressive, at least when it comes to politics and public policy. Socially, I’m an embarrassment to the cause. Social progressives reject certain thoughts as seditious. One such thought is that some people “choose” to be gay. Based on all I know and have observed, sexual orientation is not a choice. We are what we are, gay or straight; most […]

Thursday Bag o’ Links

Many months ago I said I’d monitor news coverage of the trials of the 11 motorcyclists arrested after a videotaped beating of a motorist in New York City. I believed then, and believe now, that the motorist did something to start the fight, but unfortunately whatever happened to set things in motion was not videotaped. I hoped that once the […]

Makers and Takers

Gee, I’m not sure where Donna and I fall on Romney’s moocher scale. After all, 47 percent of Americans is a lot of people, and income-wise we’re closer to them than we are to the other end of the scale. Let’s see: Things we never took: food stamps, welfare Things we took: two federally-guaranteed student […]

Two Kinds of People

A friend posted a nasty little joke photo to Facebook.  No, not the one on the left, which is just one of many anti-Michelle Obama images I found on the net.  His showed Lucy and Ricky facing each other with caption balloons above their heads.  Lucy: “The doctor says I can’t have sex for six […]

Haboob (and Other Words You Can’t Say)

Hey look, I found a portrait of Grandpa Woodford, the first blogger! Gramps, I’m proud to follow in your footsteps.  And with that … It’s been amusing watching news personalities struggle with the story of Rick Perry’s hunting camp, the quaintly-named “Niggerhead.”  No one … save rival candidate Herman Cain … seemed willing to say […]

But Will Social Security Pay for My Cadillac?

The payroll tax — not the income tax, but the entirely separate payroll tax on workers and employers — is what funds Social Security.  When the program’s defenders say Social Security is paid for and does not contribute to the national deficit, they speak the truth.  Social Security is fully funded through 2037, and a […]

On the Degradation of Public Discourse

Some say it started with rock’n’roll. Others blame Dr. Spock. Me, I think it goes back to Sam Peckinpah’s 1972 movie The Getaway, one of the first mass market films to glorify and glamorize criminal behavior. Saturday morning we rode our bicycles down to Tucson’s 4th Avenue.  It was our weekly ride and coffee-shop run, […]