"Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect"
R. W. Emerson

 

The irony of the clear, valid and simple question is that simple minded people rarely ask that question. Many arguments are made by zooming past the fundamental question to create airborne… Read full post »

 

“...all you have to do is touch the right key at the right time and the instrument will play itself.”

J.S. Bach

 

Every year for the past several, I have given a leather bound appointment book to my sister for her birthday. She’s a realtor, so she actually uses… Read full post »

 

It was the Summer of Love – 1967. The new and strange creatures called Hippies were beginning to show up in Tulsa, as were the drugs they enjoyed. I had seen them at Woodward Park dancing through the trees, and once watched a hairy guy – obviously tripping on… Read full post »

 

Conservatism was born to hunt Sasquatches...or is that Sasquatchi...or is the singular Sasquatch also the plural, like Moose? Whichever, that is what Conservatism was born to do. In the beginning, back during the pre-hysteric emergence of Russell Kirk’s proto-Conservatism, the Sasquatch… Read full post »

 

 

I met her in one of those small nightclubs that cater to the older crowd. I was 50, she had just enough wrinkle to suggest mid 40s, but I wisely did not ask. She wasn’t a knock-out, nor unattractive, but was slender and petite. In a market place of… Read full post »

 

                        

        "You're just biased against conservative opinion!"

What is Conservatism, and how did it become a cover-a… Read full post »

An important e-mail from Glenn Beck -

 A message for 9–12 members 

Have you listened to President Obama speak and thought what he says and means are different things? There’s a reason you feel that way - he’s speaking in the Letter Code!

By a clever arran… Read full post »

 

Most political arguments in America involve labelbabbling, as it is the lowest and easiest form of political involvement. It’s a simple process of attaching a label to an issue, then arguing the label. Once a student of labelbabble learns a few simple words and emotional reactions attach… Read full post »

 

The Lefties are stunned as they watch the attempt at healthcare reform wither amidst the flaming lies of the radical Right, and confused about how such a righteous cause can find popular rejection. Why do lies defeat truth? The right uses mindless lies that can only find credibility with the lo…

Read full post »

 

I could have written these words six months or six years ago, the substance unchanged. I’m writing it now because the nutbucket Republicans and their Fellow Drivellers have invited us all to ponder the comparisons between the forces of modern American politics and the Nazis. In my view i… Read full post »

 

  

Ted Kennedy has passed and is being remembered, as we all hope we will, more for contributions than mistakes. That we want our trespasses  forgiven as we forgive is more than a plea for this remembrance; it’s a function of reason. An apologist might ignore the impact of… Read full post »

 

The Fate Sisters paint the details of our lives with a palette of possibilities, but always within the lines drawn by the stingy Graybeards of Statistics and Odds. However, once in a great while the Sisters create a possibility so beautiful, brilliant and of manifold benefit the Graybeards are… Read full post »

 

Remember President Obama’s healthcare reform? If you blinked you might have missed it.

 

Let’s cut to the chase. Obama has failed because he went for half, quarter, eighth measures instead of being bold. Americans know the health insurance system is corrupt, yet Obama has spen… Read full post »

 

The Republican Party leadership has become enmeshed with the raging right wing product of their extensive propaganda machine. They have taken a dive into the cesspool of radical politics over the health insurance issue, now sharing the task of spreading lies and rumors that was once the exclus… Read full post »

 

                       

                        The Unite… Read full post »

 

                          

 

Unlike my Father’s side of the family, whose mid nineteenth century immigration was compelled by rotting potatoes, the pat… Read full post »

                 

 

They had been arguing before they were removed from their cramped cage and hung upside down. The chicken on the right now occupying hook K-127, the left chicken on 128. They be… Read full post »

 

 

There is no doubt those on the political right have slandered liberalism, using it as an insult and a synonym for socialism, communism, everything “unconservative” and ironically, fascism. Because of their obsession with politics, they then go on to link it to free sex, purc… Read full post »

 

  

Torture is wrong, under any circumstance. We must prosecute those who tortured, as we are a nation of laws, and laws were broken. If prosecutions are not pursued, then Americans are being betrayed. This is an absolute position, and if you don’t agree, then you are guilty as w… Read full post »

   

   

I once knew a fellow called Shorty who could, after… Read full post »

 

                              

 Now that the danger has passed, I am free to tell what I learned a few years ago...

 

We met in a D.… Read full post »

                          

          Photo by Barbra D Livingston, from The Daily Racing Form

 

Mine That Bird, the 50-… Read full post »

 

 

From the AP wire - July 23, 2024

  

Lomax, AL - After a competition attended by a few locals, a curious academic and a news reporter apparently being disciplined for missing three deadlines last quarter, Elmont Biddle was declared the last True Republican in America.

 

The… Read full post »

 

 

Leon Panetta stood up. “Mr. President, Rahm.”

“Thanks, Leon. See you soon.”

After Panetta closed the Oval Office door, the pair sat quietly for a moment.

“Well,” President Obama said “there it is.”

“Of course there will be some polit… Read full post »

 

 

 

There is a rightful protest over President Obama’s decision to not prosecute those involved in carrying out acts of torture under “legal” guidelines from John Yoo and his cohorts in the Bush Department of Justifications. Because the law provides for a vigorous d… Read full post »