Wet Nurse

The U.S. can no longer be hind tit for every deprived, dependent, dysfunctional, or underdeveloped country on the planet. We have already been sucked dry.

The Dreaded "R" Word

We are confronting limited supply and potentially unlimited demand. We have neither the resources to provide, nor the money to pay for, medical care ad lib for all. We must establish priorities and impose constraints (yes, rationing) based on valid cost-benefit assumptions. Unless and until our legislators grasp and accept that fundamental truism, they will never enact optimally-effective health care reforms.

Let us pray...

They have two young children and a dog. The husband lost his job because of a back injury. The wife has a chronic disabling gastrointestinal disease. They have no health insurance. They had to declare bankruptcy. Soon they will be evicted from their home. A concerned neighbor prays that god will take care of them. (How's he been doing for them so far?!)

Everyone who endures because of faith possesses the power within to endure without faith.

Her brutality on the soccer field was appalling. And yes, she should be banned from the sport. But so too should her coach, who must have encouraged, or at least tolerated, her abominable misbehavior.

Turn right at Islamabad...

Three viable candidates (Democrat, Republican, Independent) campaigned actively and competed in debates. On my ballot, Column 1 listed the Democrat incumbent. Column 2 listed the Republican challenger. Not until the bottom of Column 6, buried among numerous fringe candidates, did I find the Independent. Blatant election-rigging? I thought maybe I had made a wrong turn and wound up in Kabul!

And the winner is...?

A majority of voters bought (hook, line, and stinker) our new governor's Plan: he pledged to reduce the cost of state government, cut taxes, create new jobs, improve education for all our children, conserve the environment, and leap the Capitol in a single bound. The same recycled, tired litany of empty promises made during every campaign by every candidate from both major parties. Never once did he even intimate how he intended to accomplish his grandiose agenda. Now we've got the next four years to bear the inevitable yoke of dissonance between rhetoric and reality. Americans love fairy tales but seem to forget that in many bedtime stories there's a monster lurking in the closet!

Account Receivable

I received my second Final Bill (I had promptly paid the first one) from Verizon. This time, these captains of industry incurred expenses for first-class postage, a return envelope (with window), and printing a four-page statement (including a warning that this bill may already have been turned over to a collection agency)--to extract from me a Balance Due of nine cents! I am tempted to tape a dime to the invoice and demand a penny change.