Running for Higher Ground

Nancy Nall on today’s earthquake in Japan: “I’m touched by the grocery-store employees whose first impulse is to try to protect the stock from falling off the shelves. We give our lives to our jobs and we take pride in even the smallest ones. We deserve a few benefits in the bargain, Gov. Walker, you […]

Paul’s DVD Reviews

“And will you, for the love of God, put on a fucking shirt?” — Steve Carell as Phil Foster in Date Night. Whiteout (2009) A cheesy movie with a made-for-TV feel. Two of its central gimmicks, in fact, are lifted directly from popular TV shows. From Law & Order: the cop characters, a US marshal […]

Entrapping Mau Maus on Trail: a Science Fiction Plot?

I’ve never liked entrapment.  Not when the police do it, not when civilians do it.  Not when the right does it, not when the left does it.  I particularly don’t like it when people are tricked into voicing their personal, non-job-related opinions on things, then lose their jobs as a result.  But you know what […]

Fat Tuesday Blogging

My sisters and I grew up in a non-Mardi Gras home: Mom, like all Southern Baptists, observed Lent the whole year round; Dad, an agnostic, pretty much did whatever he wanted to do regardless of the time of year.  I married a Catholic girl, but Mardi Gras wasn’t part of her family’s tradition either.  Oh, […]

Vandals and Varmints and Mau Mau, Oh My!

Someone spilled paint on the highway leading to our house and my poor daughter, driving home in the dark, didn’t see it in time to avoid it.  The result was brown paint all down the left side of my car.  Fortunately it proved to be latex and Polly was able, with elbow grease and a […]

Bird Feeders and Dog Whistles

A reasonably busy morning for a retired person: writing a book review, catching up with friends on Facebook, posting an entry on the hashing blog, answering email from people who want their addresses removed from a list I have nothing to do with, refilling bird feeders, replacing lightbulbs, taking out garbage, rounding up all my […]

Celebrity Chitchat … Minus the Celebrities

If I had my own celebrity gossip tabloid, these are the kinds of stories it would feature. Loves Motorcycle More than Me, Wife Says: Sometime soon I’m heading out on the motorcycle, probably to Sonoita or Tombstone.  Spring weather is here and we motorcyclists need to grab it while we can … pretty soon it’ll […]