Bankruptcy for Ford, GM, and Chrysler

 Amidst the national election, the mortgage crisis, the banking bail-out, and everything else going on from endangered polar bears to Somali pirates, I’ve been listening to the pundits talk about throwing a $25 billion bone to the automakers. At first, I accepted the notion that cars are different from airlines. An airline can reorganize under bankruptcy without [...]

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Hey, the News Is Fun to Watch Again!

 Well, maybe fun isn’t the right word — maybe “not too depressing” or “capable of disseminating optimism” or “might increase your faith in our leaders.”

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To Have and Have Not

 One of the worst things about living in the U.S. of A. for the last 28 years has been the glorying in selfishness and greed.

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Hillary Clinton (and Ron Paul)

First of all, I like Hillary Clinton. I do not like her as much now as I did half a year ago, but underneath the me-first attitude is a politician whose principles I generally agree with and respect.

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Canditatorial Candor

Hillary Clinton is beginning to seem like Hubert “The Happy Warrior” Humphrey to me. The prospect of Hillary running against John McCain feels to me a bit like choosing between Humphrey and Nixon.

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Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton

 A friend emailed me this question recently: 

What do you think of Barack and Hillary?

I never thought I’d feel sorry for Hillary. But I do. I like Barack. But I’m kind of amused by the prevailing optimism about him.
  

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Out of the Bamboonies — part three

New little pointy-headed shoots of bamboo are peeking up in new places both in and outside of our raised bed. Being a weekend gardener/warrior (spawn of Schwarzenegger and Martha Stewart?), I rip out what I can on a Sunday, then am gone for the work week, and come back the next weekend to raise pick [...]

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Bamboozled – part one

I am going to write to you about bamboo, and what is entailed in its removal. This is part of why I’ve been so delinquent recently. Or remiss, at least — time spent with pick and shovel more often leading to collapse in the easychair than tapping a keyboard.
But first, some happy news on the [...]

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Ikea Tugs Rug out from Under the Danes

A friend, who knows that a passel of my great-grandparents emigrated from Sweden, sent me this news story claiming a novel form of prejudice.

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Emergency Preparedness

If the world were to begin shaking and tumbling and the streets of the Financial District filled with shards of broken glass falling from the office highrises, I would take some comfort, were I to survive and be trapped high in a building, in knowing there was a first aid kit with high-quality anesthetic near [...]

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