"When I do not want to say things in real life I often say them here." — Mimi Smartypants
Our vanishing money
We were with friends at a party last night and talk turned to the Casey Anthony trial (which I haven’t followed and have no intention of discussing). My daughter said something about bread and circuses and suggested we should be more concerned about the 23,000 laid-off state workers in Minnesota. It quickly emerged that some […]
Well, that’s done. Your humble correspondent is the newest certified walking tour docent at the Pima Air & Space Museum. My certification tour yesterday went pretty well, except for the part where I blanked on who won the toss for first flight, Orville or Wilbur, but I finessed it by simply saying “they took turns” […]
In the wake of bin Laden’s death, political pressure is mounting for a quick withdrawal from Afghanistan. We were leaving anyway: Obama announced months ago that we are going to draw down force levels there, and we’re already in the process of bringing troops home from Iraq. What happens when the troops come home? Unless […]
The other night I was watching a rerun of one of my favorite guy shows, Chasing Classic Cars. The host, Wayne Carrini, was helping some dude put together a world-class collection of desirable high-dollar cars: a rare Ferrari, an Auburn boat-tailed Speedster, a Mercedes-Benz 300SL. Although the show didn’t divulge any biographical details, we in […]
Note: I put this post up yesterday and then took it down. It came across all wrong, reading as if I were calling conservatives spiteful and stupid, when in fact I think we’re all spiteful and stupid. What I was really talking about was maturity and childishness, and the pressing need for mature leadership in […]
Positive bloggage fallout: a cousin I haven’t seen since the late 1950s discovered this site and established contact. Nice. Along the way my blog has helped me reconnect with former co-workers and school friends. It doesn’t happen often, but when it does it’s always a pleasant surprise. There are other kinds of fallout. I blogged […]
This is Sinterklaas, the Dutch Santa. Formerly the Archbishop of Turkey, Sint Nicolaas, Sinterklaas is shown with two of his Zwarte Pieten (there are six to eight Zwarte Pieten — “Black Petes” — originally Moorish slaves, but today more gently described as servants or even companions). Sinterklaas arrives in The Netherlands each November by steamboat […]
Remember my earlier post about following the money involved in catching, holding, processing, and deporting illegal immigrants in Arizona? And how much of that money finds its way to the private prison industry and associated private contractors? I started following the money in May. Rachel Maddow started following it in August, quickly picking up on […]