A Baseball Story or A Tale of Two Obits

John Updike, poet, novelist, essayist, has gone on to his greater reward. May he rest in peace. I was never much of an Updike fan. I suppose of his works, that I read, I liked the Witches of Eastwick best. That may be due in large measure to the incredible cast that played in the [...]

Hate Media Never Sleeps

I have taken on a kind of casual monitoring project. It is not particularly well organized nor in any way scientific. I am not counting one by one the bizarre, vitriolic, sleazy, slimy, hate balls that the Hate Media hack up but rather casually tuning in to listen to the muck waves just [...]

Were These Mentioned During the Election?

I would urge everyone to visit whitehouse.gov.  I went today and found these gems that President Obama wants to enact:

Extend Paid Sick Days to All Workers: Half of all private sector workers have no paid sick days and the problem is worse for employees in low-paying jobs, where less than a quarter receive any paid [...]

Why Are Obama Backers Crying?

Today as my son and I watched the swearing in ceremony he asked me, “Daddy, why are you crying?”
I mumbled out some pat responses, but the real answer is multi-layered.  I’ll try my best to spell out why I am so emotional about Barack Obama becoming President.
Being a student of history this election process reminded [...]

Text of Barack Obama Speech

My fellow citizens:
I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.
Forty-four Americans have now taken the [...]

Inauguration Hypocrisy

I sent the following to a few Dems that I know and a list that includes many Dems that have filled my email box with e-flyers promoting one of many Inaugural Balls/events scheduled this week.
“I cannot wrap my head around holding self congratulatory Inauguration Balls/events and charging $40, 50, 100/person when the mood of our [...]

Abe Speaks

Will President Obama listen to the words of his idol and do away with the colossal waste of money spent on the drug war?
“Prohibition will work great injury to the cause of temperance. It is a species of intemperance within itself, for it goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control [...]

W Speaks…

This evening I watched W give his farewell address while chatting with Jezebel from the evilslutopia blog.  Though our conversation has been lost to history, the folks over at Wonkette have served up another instant reaction that gave many of our same reactions.
You know…
9/11, kept the country safe after the “first” terror attack (even though [...]

On Gen X

I think this guy nails the pervading attitude of the generation pretty well.

The Perception of Generations

I was recently listening to a radio program and one of the guest stated, “Generation Y voted Obama in”.  This is a falsehood.
First of all we have to define what Generation Y is.  The most accepted dates are from 1978-2000.  HERE is a list of all American generations with their names, dates and other associated [...]

The Break Is Ova…

Fresh back from my winter solstice  break and I’m ready to get back down to work.  I’m finishing up a couple of pieces about the year that was two thousand and eight and an outlook on 2 oh oh niner.
I hope you all had a grand holiday season!
Cheers,
Tom