I’ve been MIA here of late due to the constraints of my real life. That includes preparing for an upcoming concert entitled Self-Portrait, A Musical Memoir. I'll be reminiscing and performing a number of original songs with a group of very talented musicians. 

The concert is at the Dogwood… Read full post »

Cordle: Mr. Hayward, first let me say, I respect the fact you’ve consented to this interview.

Hayward: I'm here today because I have a responsibility to the American people to respond to this terrible accident. 

Cordle: I know this is a difficult time for you… Read full post »

Meet Congressman Joe Barton, drilling tool. Joe has a long and sordid history as an energy industry lackey and apologist. Like a lot of bought-and-paid-for Texas politicians, he is a very vocal proponent of the “Drill, Baby, Drill” delusion.

But today Oilcan Barton exposed him… Read full post »

Time has left me old
Seducing my synapses
The center cannot hold
And everything collapses
Muscles atrophy
Cells morph into cancer
To be or not to be?
Still looking for an answer
For questions such as these
That have no rhyme or reason
Ecclesiastes
To everything a season… Read full post »

Memories are a wonderful thing; some days they’re the only thing you have going for you. Today is one of those days, but that’s another story. Right now I’d like to share some joy instead of some misery – there’s already way too much misery in this world. Herewith, then,… Read full post »

The road is hard, the road is long
So many turns where I went wrong
But when my faith is not that strong
I hear an old familiar song

Momma’s prayers, momma’s tears
Momma’s hopes and momma’s fears
Momma’s dreams for her little man
And so I do the… Read full post »

My name’s Tom, and I’m a junkie. Like millions of Americans, I am addicted to the new opiate of the masses – television. But I don’t settle for low-grade street smack – no Desperate Housewives of Orange County/New Jersey/Mayberry – no American Idle – no Last… Read full post »

Hopes. Reality. Regroup.

It’s complicated. That’s the smokescreen thrown up to explain away the financial crisis. It’s a lie.

No doubt, financial instruments like “Synthetic CDO’s” are complicated, but they were made deliberately so in order to fool even sophisticated investors like p… Read full post »

Dear _____________,

You ask why I stopped communicating with you. I should – but I can’t – resist the temptation to riff on the old saw “a word to the wise is sufficient”. Apparently, tens of thousands of my words weren’t sufficient to make you see the light. Then… Read full post »

I've never been good at following orders, and I could never limit myself to my ten most influential books, but here’s a baker's dozen that did influence me:

1. Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance – musing and cruising with Robert Pirsig,
… Read full post »

We the people are fired-up. The air is filled with toxic and hateful speech. Some seem to believe they have an absolute right to say whatever, whenever and wherever they please. They are wrong.

Long ago, the courts ruled there is no right to yell “Fire!”… Read full post »

“Hello, Real Americans, this is Rash Limpbone, and you’re listening to the Rash Limpbone Show, where we give you all the news that isn’t fit for the communist Liberal Media to print.

First of all, I’d like to extend my condolences to America. With the passage of… Read full post »

Alas, yet again, these static-filled airwaves are redolent with noxious fumes and clouded by a dust-storm to rival those that plagued the Great Plains in the Thirties. It’s tempting to say this tempest in a teapot is full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. But there is a serious question be… Read full post »

“When will they ever learn, when will they ever learn”

From “Where Have All the Flowers Gone”, a Sixties anthem adapted by Pete Seeger from a Ukrainian folk song "Tovchu, Tovchu Mak"

I survived The Sixties, and since I avoided the drug-filled purple haze that turned… Read full post »

Something touched me deep inside the day the music died
Don Mclean -- American Pie

Up on Wall Street
The money men meet
And divide up their ill-gotten gain
Masters of greed
Conspire to bleed
The last dime from a vast daisy chain
The Invisible Hand
With a nod to Ayn Rand
The gospel according to thieves
Morals and rules
Are for losers and fools
It's appalling what a fool believes

Cap’ta… Read full post »

What would I tell myself if I could talk to myself at seventeen?  I could say a lot of things that might save me from a lot of trouble. But I doubt it would do any good; I didn't listen much back when I knew it all.

At seventeen,… Read full post »

Like the President, I try and try to find some middle ground, some way to reconcile my views with those on the other side of the Great Divide. But again and again, I find myself apalled at what conservatives espouse these days, and I find myself aghast at what they do.… Read full post »

“Speak loudly and carry a very big gun.”  Teddy Roosevelt

 “How dare they call me Butterball!!” William Howard Taft

 “Methinks I hear the guns of August.” Woodrow Wilson

 “The butter’s right there next to the teapot.”… Read full post »

Senator Evan Bayh’s decision not to seek re-election has sent the political world atwitter – literally. His stated reason for leaving is that he’s tired of Washington’s fruitless gutter (my word, not his) politics. Hard to argue with that assessment – but skeptics can be… Read full post »

Amour walked out the door
She didn’t say good-bye
She just slowly disappeared
I still am not sure why

Joie was right behind
She left me … laid me low
She was such a fickle thing
But I never thought she’d go

Espoir was next to leave
She said I had no class
It… Read full post »

President Obama has been severely criticized – and rightly so – for remarks he made justifying multi-million dollar bonuses paid to executives of financial institutions that only a short time ago were getting taxpayer-financed bail-outs. I’m betting his remarks didn’t come fr… Read full post »

I Thought You Would Be Beautiful

I thought you would be beautiful ...
When first I heard your voice
Sweet and dark like honey in tea
And I could not wait to meet

I thought you would be beautiful ...
When first I looked into your eyes
I fell ... at… Read full post »

Pundits like to refer to Washington’s way of doing business as sausage-making, but that’s an insult to sausage and pigs. Pigs don’t gamble with the country’s future, but legislators do.

Senator Richard Shelby has gone all in, making a desperate bet he can force Cong… Read full post »