Death and Taxes
You know, you’d think a person who has risen to the heights of their chosen career path, has gone to college for several years, worked hard to perfect their craft…could at least count. I mean, after all, its one of the things we learn to do in our younger years that is considered (in [...]
Death By 1000 Cuts (& Other Metaphors)
As is everything reported by government sources, the numbers are both confusing and questionable. I have recently read that the average student loan debt held by college students or recent graduates is $12,500. I have also read that the number is $25,000. I have also read that 28% of college students owe upwards of [...]
Just Follow the Recipe
My grandmother used to make the most awesome holiday dinners. Thinking about them years later, I remember the fantastic tastes and smells that we all enjoyed. Once, when I was small, I asked her how she did it. She picked up a small piece of paper and said “You just follow the recipe, honey. It’s [...]
How Much is the Government Worth?
Someone once said that if you make the Government responsible for something, you give them the power. That power is hard to revoke. The recent few years have revealed to what extent this assertion is true. What with Tarp and stimulus packages; and how we expect to make the poor rich by making the rich [...]
The Soon to Be Forgotten War on Women
Hilary Rosen recently suggested that Ann Romney, wife of presidential hopeful Mitt Romney, doesn’t have the chops to be an influential voice concerning women’s issues because she has “never worked a day in her life. She’s never really dealt with the kinds of economic issues that the majority of the women in this country [...]
What the Frack is All the Fuss About?
“I know of people whose kids leave their lights on and they’re not even in the house.” “People are getting asthma and COPD.” “Sick! People are just getting…sick!” “More people are getting Autism. Why are you laughing?” “I am offended by the language in the resolution.” “You need to take CO2 levels in the atmosphere [...]
Left, Right, Conservative Light
One hundred years ago today, the “Titanic” sank. She came to rest at a depth greater than the height of Mount Hood in Oregon. We mourn the beautiful ship that went down. We mourn even more the 1517 people that died unnecessarily early that morning in the frigid waters of the North Atlantic. One reason [...]
Romney Needs to Flex His Bain Muscles To Lift Conservatives
In January of this year, Senator Rand Paul returned $500,000 from his operating budget back to the U.S. Treasury. According to Paul, he was trying to set the example that governmental duties can be carried out “in a fiscally responsible way.” This refund is exactly the type of action that conservatives and the Tea [...]
Finally…The National Debt Explained!
The late Senator Everett Dirksen once said, “If we spend a billion here and a billion there, sooner or later we’re talking about real money!” The career solon from Illinois may have been the very last public servant to put the ballooning federal budget into understandable terms, but that was back in the day [...]
The Elastic Racial Identity of American Hispanics
The ability to declare a status as a racial minority amounts to social currency in America today. To call this a dirty little secret isn’t exactly accurate. It’s a fact that everyone knows and largely ignores, despite some public criticism of affirmative action programs. Public servants, particularly, are likely very familiar with the [...]
