How do you spell RELIEF?

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Ahhh, that’s better…. For the first time in six years I feel a sense of hope. With the Democrats firmly in control of the House, and poised to take the Senate, the Republican “mandate” is over. (Disgraced evangelical pastor and presidential advisor Ted Haggard may be forgiven for thinking mandate is two words.) We have seen the results of the Republican mandate, a winner-takes-all approach that is a frontal attack on our democratic system. It has propelled this country into a testosterone-crazed foreign policy, legitimized loony fundamentalists, and made special interests a de facto fourth branch of government. With Congress … Continue reading →

Good Intentions

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Have I mentioned that one of my New Year’s resolutions was to write blog entries more often? No? Well, there is a good reason for that. I like to see how things work out before committing to them publicly. Here we are at the end of February already, so I am going to not only take back that resolution, but deny that I ever made it. On the other hand, I resolved to get more exercise, and that is working out pretty good. My cholesterol is down nearly 100 points (but still too high). It says something about my life … Continue reading →

Io Saturnalia!

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The dark days of winter always make me feel gloomy. I’m not a skier, so I don’t look forward to snow. Cold makes me ache, and on cloudy days I just want to hibernate. For most of the past 20 years or so I’ve managed to spend a significant part of the winter in Guatemala, where winter is pretty much like spring here in the north. This year it looks like I will have business to attend to, so I will be spending the winter here at home. (For those who are on my distribution list to receive my yearly … Continue reading →

Intriguing Opportunities

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A while back I wrote about some of the intriguing offers I have been getting by email. I’ve collected a few more worth looking at. An uncharacteristically short one, only five sentences long, begins “Your portfolio has been assessed to the essential commissions, and upon careful care, we are able to suggest to you the ensuing offer. Based upon careful care you make the grade to get a sizable gain on your primary property investment.” I’m not sure what the actual offer was. To find out I was supposed to click on a link, but I was carefully careful not … Continue reading →

Low Expectations

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Time flies when you’re having fun, they say. I’ve found that it flies whether you are having fun or not. Seems like just yesterday New Orleans was getting hammered by Hurricane Katrina, and FEMA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, under Director Michael “Brownie” Brown, was doing a colossally bad job of handling the aftermath. As you may recall, before being named to head FEMA Brownie was the troubled commissioner of an Arabian horse organization. So how did he get to be director of FEMA? It’s kind of a funny story, really. Brownie’s old college roommate, Joe Allbaugh, was Bush’s campaign … Continue reading →