By Daniel Rigney

Consider this rather cynical question. Are democratic elections now essentially marketing surveys?  In light of  the seeming  corporatization of every aspect of American life (including a semi-privatized government), are political corporations like RNC and DNC offerin… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

Can furry and feathered woodland creatures flourish in a cool urban ecosystem? We’re here to find out.

We’re reporting to you from pacific Oregon, where my younger son and I are embarked on a dangerous photo-hunting expedition.

We’re going in search of wild animal… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

Now that sports in the U.S. have gone almost entirely corporate, why not take the next logical step and create a Corporate Sports League (CSL)?

The practice of naming stadiums and arenas after corporate sponsors has been a hallowed financial tradition in modern pro sports for… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

One of my favorite media cliches takes the standard form "X is linked to Y." Actual examples: "Drinking coffee is linked to longer life." "Charity bingo is linked to the Mob." "Obama is linked to the Illuminati." 

Everyone, ultimately, is linked to everyone else, as you know… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

I’m reporting from downtown Houston on opening day of the annual convention of the National Rifle Association. It’s going to be a celebrity-packed weekend, featuring a guest appearance by political thinker and aerial wolfhunter Sarah Palin.

  … Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

I have a confession to make. At a time when more and more Americans, and especially younger folk, are describing themselves as “spiritual but not religious,” or SBNR, I find myself swimming against the cultural current.

This is not easy for me to say, but… Read full post »

Brooklyn is the delivery room of American comedy --  the birthplace of Mae West, Two Stooges (Moe and Curly), Jackie Gleason, Allen Konigsberg (Woody Allen), Mel Brooks, Joan Rivers, Jerry Seinfeld, Larry David, Eddie Murphy, Rosie Perez, Chris Rock, Adam Sandler, Jimmy Kimmel… Read full post »

 By Daniel Rigney

                  &nbs… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

We earthlings think and speak in clichés, those little cultural expressions we string together like colored beads to form strands of effortless thought.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

We couldn’t have survived as long as we have without our human t… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

I contend that we human beings think almost entirely in clichés. Indeed, we could scarcely live and communicate without these handy little thought-savers. I know I couldn't.

But let’s face it. Our current cliché system is broken. Its wheels are coming off. We&rs… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

Cultural archeologists of the future, when they recover and decode the digitized remains of our tabloid civilization, may come to regard March 2013 as the most lurid month in American history since February 2013.

Let’s pause to remember the way we were and the things we… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

The carbon sector is boiling the frog.*

The banking sector is robbing the blind.

The government sector trades laws for cash

As the infosector takes over the mind.

The world accelerates into a fog.

Other than… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

In the months since November’s presidential election, Republican Party leaders seem to be turning their collective grief and anger back upon each other, setting off a ferocious melee among the party’s numerous factions.

Each day’s news brings fresh evidence that t… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

I submit that we human beings think almost entirely in clichés. We can’t help ourselves. Like scratched grooves on a vinyl record (remember those?), we repeat the same familiar expressions over and over and over and over and over. When others speak them back to us, we… Read full post »

Satire by Daniel Rigney

In a fresh effort to inject new blood into an aging G.O.P., conservative youth organization YAFLAW (Young Americans for Freedom, Liberty and the American Way) rolled out its new "Fountain of Youth" campaign today, announcing it will open its membership to any successful and s… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

One way to jumpstart a writing project is to begin with a suggestive title and build a story around it. Imagine the books that might lie hidden within these imaginary titles, presented in the style of the New York Times bestseller list.

The Dead Ringer: Town… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney (with apologies to Carl Sandburg, “Chicago,” 1916)  

Launcher, shipper, creator and healer of cancers.

Power player, gerrymanderer, engineer of inequalities.

Sprawling, storming, steaming, warming

City of the Big Fortunes.

Th… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

World's finest river? Be the judge.

If  depth is what you're looking for,

the Congo wins hands down --

its deepest point 800 feet below the air.

The Congo has its shallows, to be sure.

But where it's deep, no… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

If you reside in one of the gun states (those with the highest per capita gun ownership), you’re probably living in North America’s red belt, a geopolitical formation in the shape of a long-barreled six-shooter aiming toward the sky, its barrel descending from the muzzle… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

You’ve probably heard about the “We the People” White House website (https://petitions.whitehouse.gov) to which secessionists from Texas and elsewhere have been going to register their objection to being citizens of the United States. 

I’ll wager that… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

Only five states in the United States bear names of English origin. (Can you identify them?*) The other 45 derive their names from non-English sources, including several Native American languages, Spanish, French and (guess which state) Hawaiian. 

The names of our 50 states a… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

In elementary logic, the syllogism commonly assumes the form:

All B’s are C.

Therefore, all A’s are C.

Aristotle inspired this classic example:

All men are mortal.

Socrates is a man.

Therefore, Socrates is mortal.

 … Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

A factoid is a statement that has the look and feel of a fact even when it is demonstrably false. The campaign speeches of Mitt Romney and the spincasts of Fox News have been studded with false or misleading factoids this political season, including false… Read full post »

By Daniel Rigney

In a weekend writing workshop offered recently at Nearby University, the leader asked participants to share opening sentences from their favorite novels. Famous first lines you may recognize include:

“Call me Ishmael.” (Herman Melville, Moby Dick)

“Happy families… Read full post »

Satire by Daniel Rigney

Should the United States ditch its traditional electoral college system and decide the outcomes of national elections based entirely on popular vote counts?

We’ve had this debate for centuries now without reaching consensus. The very question itself divides us –… Read full post »