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Category Archives: Rants

We are all Badgers!

Thursday, February 17, 2011

It is not my fault that we must make common cause, at least emotionally, with a state that chose to adopt the badger as its mascot, but the contingencies of history cannot be controlled. Those folks demonstrating in the streets of Madison also cannot be blamed for a decision made long ago, though many of […]

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Am I becoming a curmudgeon? (with pictures)

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Am I unreasonable? Don’t answer that. Rather, consider this one case. My wife and I are up here in Ogunquit, Maine, having dropped a pretty penny to stay at a glorified motel with beachfront rooms. Here, as proof, is a picture of the sun rising over the Atlantic, this very morning, taken from right in […]

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Oh, the horror

Saturday, May 15, 2010

My wife and I just got back from the Bee & Thistle, where we had a belated Mother’s Day Celebration, my wife’s actual Mother’s Day having been spent dealing with my mother. We had a great time, except… I am the type of person who is keenly aware of whatever music happens to be playing […]

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Last word on Acorn and the decline of reason

Friday, September 25, 2009

For a variety of reasons I’ve had occasion recently to write a lot about the Acorn situation, both here and in a letter I recently wrote to the Day, though I really think the whole thing is sort of trivial and another right wing tempest in a teapot. Still, the recent “exposé” raise some interesting […]

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The Big Dog Writes to Me

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

And a lot of other folks of course. The email found its way to my inbox this morning. Here’s the gist: That’s why we need your help. Giving to the DSCC will allow us to recruit great candidates, build winning campaigns and make sure President Obama has the votes he needs to enact the policies […]

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Yet another modest proposal

Sunday, August 23, 2009

My friend Bob Roth recently wrote about the fear that the teabaggers, et. al represent the beginnings of a nascent fascist movement, while Austin Cline over at Jesus General points out that the very people who are hurling this epithet at others are using the tactics that fascist movements historically use. It’s not an unreasonable […]

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Do not get a Blackberry

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

A product review. This is by way of venting, so feel free to ignore. Last month I mentioned that I got a Blackberry, through my place of employment and “free” to me. Having had the device for a month I think I have enough experience to ask this question: What is wrong with all those […]

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Why we need high speed rail

Sunday, June 28, 2009

I just got back from Maine, where we had a little mini-reunion of the guys to whom I was closest in college. We had a great time, once we got there. But. The most logical route from here to Maine is up 395 in Connecticut, 290 to 495 in Massachusetts, then up 95 through New […]

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Sunday Book Review

Sunday, June 21, 2009

Be warned. This is long and I’m not sure it’s worth the reading, but I enjoyed writing it, so what the heck. Most of the books I read concern events that happened a long long time ago, if not far away. Thus, they are not really appropriate for comment on this blog. The book I […]

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Curmudgeonly Etymology

Thursday, January 15, 2009

I have been working lately on something that’s taking up a good deal of my time. Whether it will bear fruit or not, I don’t know, but I am left with little time to post, and less time to think. So I am going to mount a hobby horse that I have been riding for […]

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