My daughter Lea is obsessed with all things horse. Real horses, pretend horses, drawn horses, model horses — you name it. She’s also big on collectibles and “stuff,” the bling-ier the better. So when I recently came across one of these nifty “Trail of Painted Ponies” figurines, I thought I had an obvious winner for…
Category: Random Rants
It’s hard to walk around a Boston suburb on a beautiful summer night after reading Kuenstler’s The Long Emergency and not wonder how on earth we presume to carry on this insane lifestyle forever. Huge McMansions crammed into tiny quarter acre lots on endless streets completely disconnected from any town center. Brimming with cathedral ceilings,…
From the Department of Too Little Too Late: Last night at Netroots Nation, former Sen. Russ Feingold warned the Democratic Party that it is in danger of losing its soul “if it accepts corporate contributions in 2012.” If Democrats play by the Republicans’ rules, he said, “People will see us as weak. People will see…
Lea has been prepping to be Paul Revere at a 4th grade biography thingie this coming week, so I’ve been steeped in the lore of the good silversmith and his revolutionary accomplishments for the past month or so. But then, here’s Sarah Palin’s rendition of Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride: “He who warned, uh, the British…
Here we go again, eh? I ranted away back in January when our school principal decided that Veteran’s Day was a perfect opportunity to indoctrinate our 2nd graders about “sacrificing for our freedoms.” And today, evidently spurred on by Memorial Day, a good friend and fellow parent with no doubt the best of intentions sent…
Fascinating and well-written story by John Leland in the NYT: evangelical hipsters try to establish their cult in the East Village of New York. You can’t help but admire their chutzpah and determination of the guys who are driven to pull off such a con, while lamenting the gullibility of those who fall for it…
So, some random whackjob in LA celebrated the holidays by taking pot shots at people from his rooftop, then turned the rifle at a responding police chopper. According to Asst. Chief Earl Paysinger: “This situation could have easily turned tragic, and we were just fortunate that the aircraft was able to land safely without injury…
Go figure. Those huge egos on the stage? Apparently they now think they own everything. Even the pictures that are being taken of them. Old story (March), but still interesting: apparently, a photographer sent to shoot a Lady GaGa concert was presented with a release form that demanded among other things: Photographer hereby acknowledges and…
What an unmitigated success the police state turned out to be. Apparently, the NYPD has completely eradicated all crime from the streets of New York, and the many, many officers paid for by the city’s tax payers are forced to justify their salaries by making random and bogus arrests of people for completely ridiculous shit…
