THE PASSING OF AN EXTRAORDINARY PATRIOT (an unsung hero to all but the Hmong people) I only met him once, at the Plaines des Jarres, up in the highlands of what was then the Kingdom of Laos, when things were
TUCSON (another wing-nut from out of the woodwork) The shooting event in Tucson is another horrific example of what may be going wrong with our society. Not to downplay or dismiss the tragic impacts and consequences on so many lives
ARE WE TO BE PRO-ACTIVE PROBLEM FIXERS…. (or just continue being high maintenance whiney bitches, yapping from the sidelines about them?) Any thinking citizen and taxpayer of this great republic must realize by now that our economic and political structures
COLLECTIVE READING OF THE CONSTITUTION (reading it is fine…but will this Congress comprehend what it’s reading?) The 111th Congress is now gone. Long live the 112th Congress! In the aftermath of last November’s political earthquake, we now have a new
THE WAY IT WAS (as an 18-year old bootlegging moonshiner) Most New Year commentary efforts look forward at what might be coming down the road in the near future; or, just focus on making pious resolutions about doing better and
STAGERING FORWARD TO THE FUTURE (at the end of a tumultuous decade) This first decade of the 21st Century has been exhausting. Its tumultuous and chaotic times have left us staggering forward to the future, hesitant, uncertain even fearful, of
GRINCHES AT MACY’S (who’re not clear on the concept) An elderly local gentleman, in San Francisco, has played the role of Santa at Macy’s for the past twenty years, becoming a well-loved tradition in his own right. If ever there
CHRISTMAS DAYS OF YORE (debutantes galore….gift-wrapped for the occasion…and a hard lesson learned) At the risk of being totally politically incorrect, indulge me for a bit, as I reminisce about times long past, in old St. Louis, when even the
WIKILEAK….AN EXAMPLE OF EXTREME SELF-RIGHTEOUSNESS (morphing from naïve advocacy into anarchic zealotry) The problem with any naïve advocacy is that it generally tends to morph into anarchic zealotry. A zealotry that then goes on to become extreme self-righteousness, contributing nothing
CARIBOU HERDS OF SHOPPERS (stampeding through the malls) Ah, good old Christmas time! It seems that regardless of the circumstances, no matter what the state of the country might be in, Black Friday is always the start of a massive