[ Posted Friday, April 16th, 2010 – 16:43 UTC ]
There was an amusing story in the news recently about some folks who got word that a beer company had sent hundreds of cases of beer to the local dump, because it was past its expiration date. Finding this a shame, these enterprising folks "liberated" themselves 50 cases of free beer, presumably to drink it forthwith. The most amusing part was the closing quote in the article, from the beer company's president: "Beer is a popular product."
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[ Posted Thursday, April 15th, 2010 – 23:41 UTC ]
My wife and I got an eight hundred dollar tax break this year. In fact, almost everybody got this break -- four hundred bucks per person. Apparently, it was passed as part of the stimulus package last year. I do remember, at the time, hearing something about how Obama's stimulus changed people's take-home pay by readjusting the federal withholding figures, but I had no idea it would turn into eight hundred bucks back on my tax form.
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[ Posted Wednesday, April 14th, 2010 – 16:59 UTC ]
What I just wrote could describe tomorrow's "first anniversary" Tea Party rallies. Or it could describe a late-1960s anti-war rally. About the only thing these two historical eras have in common is the age of the driving force behind the protests. In other words, don't look now, but the Baby Boomers are back in the streets.
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[ Posted Tuesday, April 13th, 2010 – 18:46 UTC ]
[Apologies for posting a repeat of an old column here, but I am busy doing my taxes, so didn't have the time to write today. This column originally ran here exactly one year ago today, and was written right before the first "tax day tea parties" took place. It's hard to believe, looking back, that this entire movement is only one year old, but they began on tax day, 2009. Since Thursday will likely see large anniversary rallies and marches by the Tea Party folks, I thought it was a good time to take a look back at the advice I gave to them last year, and the history of the Boston Tea Party as well. So, if you'll forgive me for the repeat column, while I scurry around at the last minute to get my taxes done, I promise we'll resume new columns starting tomorrow.]
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[ Posted Friday, March 26th, 2010 – 16:36 UTC ]
No matter how you slice it, President Obama and the Democrats in Congress have achieved a stunning legislative accomplishment -- one which had been pronounced dead over and over again for the past year by the punditocracy. Obama has now delivered upon one of his signature campaign issues, and (by doing so) dramatically improved his party's chances in the upcoming midterm elections.
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[ Posted Thursday, March 25th, 2010 – 17:25 UTC ]
No matter what healthcare bill passes, it is not going to remain static. It is going to be revisited again and again over the next few decades. Everyone may remember the initial passage years from now as the big historic "turning point," but there will still be a lot of work left to make it a truly historic change. That's the way of lawmaking. Rather than bitterly denouncing whatever emerges from Congress as being far short of what you expected, see it instead as merely the beginning of the long road towards making the system work the way you want it to. See it as a call to action, and not a defeat, if you really want to make it better. And don't get discouraged, because these things always take more time to get right than anyone expects.
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[ Posted Friday, March 12th, 2010 – 17:20 UTC ]
However, we must also give a nod to Larry the Cable Guy here, and put it even more forcefully (and less ay-LEET-ist, of course) by phrasing it: "Git 'er done!" Just to give credit where it is due.
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[ Posted Friday, February 12th, 2010 – 18:44 UTC ]
President Obama this week has successfully put the Republican Party on the defensive. Now, this could be a fleeting thing, or it could be the start of a whole new way for Obama's administration to operate. Time will tell.
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[ Posted Friday, January 29th, 2010 – 16:59 UTC ]
Ahem. Where was I? Oh, right, last week. Last week, when conservative "journalists" weren't pulling fratboy pranks on federal property (and getting arrested for such -- here's a tip to conservative "gotcha journalism" types: if you're going to do something this risky, might I suggest not doing it in a federal building where the F.B.I. probably has an office on the next floor? I mean, you're making it too easy, guys, really.
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[ Posted Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 – 17:31 UTC ]
Today we are turning the column over to a State Of The Union speech from the past, to get everyone in the spirit for President Obama's first official State Of The Union speech tomorrow night.
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