World Gone Mad This Sunday morning I am feeling ill at ease more so than normal, even for this new normal in the time of Coronavirus. I would point to three specific things that are troubling me. Yes, I am watching MSNBC while I update myself this morning and yes, I know that has a liberal bent to it, but I am a thinking person who can filter things that seem logical, things that seem…
The Ass in the Hat The sun did not shine, it was too wet to play, so we stay in the house all that cold, cold, wet day. I sat there with Kim. We sat there we two, and I said ‘how I wish we had something to do.’ And then something went BUMP! How that bump made us jump! And we saw him! The Ass in the Hat. And he said to us, ‘why…
Narrowing the Gap Filling gaps is an important part of healing. As I think about the world, writ large, as they say, I think about all the things that need healing right now. I feel compelled to address one of those gaps that I believe is getting more and more obvious and, as such, needs the fresh light of day in hopes that awareness helps to narrow the gap. Anyone who spends a moment looking…
The Northern Star Polaris or Alpha Ursae Minoris, the brightest star in the Ursa Minor constellation, is the name of the celestial body which we have come to know as the North Star or Pole Star. As such it enjoys the “pole” position at the axis of the heavens. To some it seems to be the center of the universe since all the other stars appear to rotate around it. Of course this is just…
Steel Balls This will shock you, but I think President Trump made a mistake comparing himself to Captain Bligh in the epic historical saga of Mutiny on the Bounty. This was predicated by the major east coast and west coast state governors banding together to do what they believe is best for their citizens despite what President Trump says or does.My guess is that he is only aware of the movie by that name and…
Going to War In 1972 I turned eighteen, which in those days was the age of majority on all fronts. At eighteen you could drive (even at night), you could drink (hopefully not before driving), you could vote (the 26th Amendment passed in 1970), and you could fight for your country without your parents’ permission (the single biggest argument favoring the 26th amendment). We needed young men (young women could also join but could not…
The Darkness Within This is no time for negativism. This is the time for us all to stay positive and optimistic that life will go on, that our species will persevere, and that the kindness of the human soul will prevail. When we saw Saudi Arabia rear up on its hind legs to push the oil production limits up at great expense to the price of their black crude, we were secretly encouraged. We all…
Insuring Insurance A month ago I wrote a story about self-insuring, aimed mostly at the business of buying insurance on travel and discretionary purchases or “toys”. I have a very different topic to consider today and it’s based, as always, on something I’ve recently read about the state of the insurance industry during the Coronavirus crisis. The Wall Street Journal reports that there is increasing pressure on insurers to broaden their policy protection to not…
The New Gold Rush $2,000,000,000,000. That’s a lot of stimulus and thank God for Chuck Schumer or $500,000,000,000 of it would be the private piggy bank of one of the worst businessmen of all time and would undoubtedly go to all the wrong places. As it is, The Democratic senators managed to put in a provision forbidding that any of this loan money for corporations can go to companies owned by Federal employees. Any idea…
The Comeback There is a great deal of discussion these days about the wreckage of the economy in progress with the Lockdowns expanding by the day. The only thing that shows any variance is how long it takes for given state governments to realize that they have no choice but to declare stay-at-home mandates. It’s almost silly how fervently those more concerned about the economy think they can will their way out of a problem…