Goin’ All Activist: the Followup

I heard this morning from Amanda, a staffer for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, that the US Air Force had responded to my letter protesting the airing of Fox News on public televisions at USAF bases and the broadcasting of the Rush Limbaugh to military troops overseas by Armed Forces Radio. Here’s the link to everything that […]

Paul’s Grab Bag

Unconnected thoughts and observations which don’t rate separate blog posts, but when aggregated together might just amount to something: Much was made of Stephen Colbert’s rescue of the US Olympic speed skating team, and the Colbert Nation patches they were wearing in practice.  Has anyone seen a US speed skater wearing one in the Vancouver […]

Thinking Inside the Box

Now that televisions look like panels, will we continue calling them “boxes”? Probably. I’ve decided to quit watching Keith Olbermann’s Countdown. The commercial-to-content ratio is ridiculous; there can’t be more than 30 minutes of content in this 60-minute show . . . the pain far outweighs the gain.  Plus he’s a pompous ass with an […]

Paul’s Grab Bag

Unconnected thoughts and observations which don’t rate separate blog posts, but when aggregated together might just amount to something: Tasers: This seems like good news, and it comes not a moment too soon: “Police need reasons to believe a suspect is dangerous before firing a Taser and can’t use their stun gun simply because the […]

Goin’ All Activist (Updated)

Update (11/19/09): more than two months with no response.  Time to ramp it up a notch: The Honorable Gabrielle Giffords                       November 19, 2009 U.S. House of Representatives 1728 Longworth House Office Building Washington, DC 20515 Dear Congresswoman Giffords, I mailed the attached letter to the US Air Force Chief of Staff on September 16, 2009 […]

No Rational Discourse

Last night a neighbor came over with some work shirts he wanted Donna to embroider.  We asked him how things were going with his heating & air conditioning business.  He told us business was great.  With all the new green energy tax credits available to consumers, he’d been selling a lot of solar-powered water heaters. […]

Some Progress on the Missing Black Women Front

From Newsweek (Oct 21, 2009): How the Media Treat Murder: Why isn’t the story of several missing women in North Carolina getting attention? It’s an old problem . . . missing or dead white women get breathless, coast-to-coast coverage; missing or dead black or Hispanic women get 12 seconds on local TV.  If they’re prostitutes […]