First, Something Personal Parkinson’s Disease is a miserable critter. It strikes famous people like Michael J. Fox, Linda Ronstadt and Neil Diamond and it hits we little folk as well. Nobody knows what causes it, so nobody knows how to prevent it. It’s progressive (it gets worse over time), so all that can be done… [read more]
Potpourri – v13.0
Curmudgeon Corner Richard Branson has successfully staged his self-promotional space spectacular and it is most disappointing. Don’t get me wrong – I’m as geeky as most science geeks and a space shot, even a barely sub-orbital one, is pretty cool. But the science and engineering and cool factors aren’t the real story. The real deal… [read more]
The American ISIS – Part Two
This is Part Two of The American ISIS. Part One was published on Wednesday, July 7, 2021. You can find it here. ———————— Kurt Andersen’s 2017 book Fantasyland is a remarkable journey through our 5 century endeavor to perfect our ability to believe almost anything. It’s about how we blind ourselves to obvious reality and… [read more]
A Love Letter . . .
. . . To Our Vaccine Refusers The rest of the world is hoping for, scrambling for, begging for vaccines, while in the good ol’ US of A we’re bribing people to get vaccinated and still they’re refusing. Question: Why is it possible for me to write that sentence and know it’s accurate? —————————- Okay,… [read more]
The American ISIS – Part One
When al Qaeda bombed the World Trade Center in 1993 they thought they were doing God’s work. When they upped their game on September 11, 2001 they thought they were doing God’s work. When ISIS beheaded American journalist Danny Pearl they thought they were doing God’s work. When ISIS murdered the staff of Charlie Hebdo… [read more]
We’re A Very Entertaining Species & BHB
Here’s a Fourth of July message, because this is how we define ourselves. This is how we do things. This is how we plan for the future. Be advised that we can be a very entertaining species. Read this from Wikipedia: The oil depletion allowance in American (US) tax law is an allowance claimable by… [read more]
I’ve Got a Bad Feeling About This
The violent far right people with AK-47s and AR-15s and basements full of ammunition don’t see themselves as domestic terrorists. They don’t think January 6 was an attempt at insurrection and they see the desecration of the Capitol Building and their causing 5 deaths as righteous fulfillment of Thomas Jefferson’s dyspeptic rant about the refreshing… [read more]
Just Read This
Thom Hartman’s post last Wednesday is an excellent summary of why we desperately need political reform. It is a cautionary tale focused on Texas, but you can extrapolate his analysis to all red states and today’s Republicans in Congress. I leave it to him to explain this clearly. Just read this. And good luck to… [read more]
Chutes & Ladders, Knives & Guns and Karma
Most of us are taught to play by the rules from a very young age because human relationships and even civilizations require rules in order to prevent chaos and the breakdown of society. So we play Chutes and Ladders pretty much according to the rules. Robert Frost said it best: Good fences make good neighbors…. [read more]
Legislation Republicans Will Champion – The KBL Act
It seems so obvious that I just don’t understand why no member of Congress and no state legislature officials have proposed this. It comports perfectly with today’s Republican Party and its policy of having no policy other than obstructing all progress and stoking cultural wars to aggregate power for itself at the risk of our… [read more]
