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It's probably obvious I'm a CYNICAL PESSIMIST. Why a cynical pessimist? Possibly it's the result of expending a full lifetime defending, first with rifle in hand and then with a legal pad, "truth, justice and the American Way." Observing the less than perfect result and the fact that it must be unending tends to incubate pessimistic cynicism.
There is actually a better answer though. As a pessimistic cynic, I know I'll always be either right or delighted.
I'm probably also affected by the fact I live at the very edge of the earth, about as far as someone can get from our nation's centers of power and still have dry feet. (Minor quibble to establish my unfailing honesty: I don't actually live at the edge. Nevertheless, I really can at least see the edge from here.)
The commentaries submitted to this website are some of the views from that edge, for the most part political and social observations and questions tinged (or perhaps more accurately, tainted) with humor to make the point.
The name "lawless one"? It was my call sign in Nam and ironic in other ways.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, January 11, 2009 Sneak Attack
Evidence of an ongoing undeclared Class War in America. The Middle and Lower Classes don't even realize they are under attack.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, November 18, 2008 "BAILING OUT THE BAILOUT"
Why the bailout is not working. Why it cannot work as presently administered. And, what might be done to contain the conflagration.
What needs to be remembered is that it was caused by a con game. Unfortunately, you know the con is going to crash when even the con men who created it don't understand their own con game. Maybe it's time to convert some of them into convicts.
SHARE Friday, November 14, 2008 REGRETS? REALLY?
Bush's apparent lack of regret for the havoc and harm he surely must realize was caused by him. His only acknowledged regrets seem to be of the "sorry I got caught" variety.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, November 11, 2008 "EVERY SILVER LINING HAS A CLOUD"
A reminder that the election was a lot closer than the electoral college total suggests and a list of some things progressives would ignore at their peril
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, November 1, 2008 "THEN WHAT?"
Thinking ahead to the last months of the Bush administration and the first year of the Obama one, hopefully
(2 comments) SHARE Thursday, October 23, 2008 "I WANT A DIVORCE"
Maybe Lincoln was wrong and it is time to divide the no longer "United" States in two. This latest nasty to the core election has suggested maybe we shouldn't keep trying to preserve a loveless marriage. So, as Thomas Jefferson once said, "When in the course of human events . . . ."
SHARE Tuesday, October 21, 2008 "ANOTHER MICKEY MOUSE THEORY"
Republicans are attempting once again to divert attention from their own propensities for potential voter fraud to others. In psychology, the trait is known as "projection." In litigation, the tactic is when you don't have the facts or the law in your favor, pound them. If not, pound the table.
SHARE Tuesday, October 21, 2008 "I'M CONFUSED"
A commentary on the dichotomy of the Main Stream Media in dealing with the Democratic ticket background versus the Republican one. Or, as Fox News might put it, how to tell evil from good.
SHARE Tuesday, October 21, 2008 "MY HOBBESIAN CHOICE"
Why we need to change the law so that "NONE OF THE ABOVE" is a choice for voters on election days.
(1 comments) SHARE Monday, October 13, 2008 "WHO'D YA SAY WAS A TERRORIST???"
A response to the drumbeat on 60s former bomber William Ayers as being a crony of Obama.
Since the Republican leadership knows it can't openly attack Obama for the unforgivable sin of being born black, much of what they are doing, including the Ayers allegations, may be principally to give "cover" to covert racist Democrats and independents who are looking for a "safe excuse" to justify their vote against the black guy.
SHARE Tuesday, September 9, 2008 "CHOICES AND CHANGES"
What the Republican candidates say they want seems to have a large number of exceptions for their rule.
SHARE Friday, November 30, 2007 "THEIR'S AND THEIR'S ALONE"
A reminder as things continue to go wrong in Iraq, that all tactical and strategic decisions from the big ones to the little ones were ultimately solely those of the Republicans and not really anyone else.
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, November 20, 2007 "JOURNALISTIC ETHICS 101"
The Ten Commandments for Journalists or What future reporters might have learned in Journalism School if they hadn't skipped the ethics classes
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, November 7, 2007 "WHAT IF JACK BAUER IS WRONG?"
Debunking the usual arguments on why torture supposedly should trump the Constitution
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, September 19, 2007 "Blackwater - Deeper Water"
The Iraqis told our Blackwater's mercenaries to get out. What will we do when the Iraqis decide to tell Our Army to get out too?
SHARE Sunday, September 9, 2007 "SAME ARMY, DIFFERENT WARS"
Why General Petraeus ought to be bringing some experienced enlisted men along with him when he reports to the American public on whether its working in Iraq.
SHARE Monday, August 6, 2007 "BOY, DID WE SCREW UP"
99 reasons Lincoln, T. Roosevelt, Eisenhower and maybe even Reagan are turning in their graves. Or, 99 Reasons To Be Embarrassed You Ever Voted Republican in the 21st Century