Hammer Mill Days

Okay, so this is how the countdown went: Ten... nine... eight... seven... Shall I go on? Are you in suspense yet? Well, okay, 'cause we're already down to three... two... Hold it right there. Neptune can wait. I've got some mail to answer. Here's the first item: Dear Big Green, Couldn't help but notice that your diet appears to have been restricted to cheese-based cracker snacks. Why is that? Are you under advisement from your physician? Best, Jaycorn McHammerstein. Thanks for writing, Jaycorn. Yes, I can see where you might have gotten that misimpression about our foodstuffs. Same place other people acquire misimpressions about us - from this blog. The simple fact is, none of the snack foods I mentioned as being part of Big Green's regular menu contain a significant amount of cheese. And doctors? We don't need no stinking doctors! Unless they are doctors of mad science. Here's another one. The envelope seems a bit distressed, frankly. Hey Big Green....

First item: the Democrats are among the most exasperating political parties on Earth. They seem to have an innate sense of how to alienate their core voters, casting over the side any item of legislative action - the public option, Medicare expansion, don't ask don't tell, the fight over middle class vs. top 3% marginal tax rate reductions, etc. - that is remotely popular. That said, let's look at their opponents. Probably a good idea, since there's an election coming up. And these folks look pretty grisly. Oddly, they picked what looked like a Home Depot lumber department to announce their "Pledge To America", a lobbyist-written document full of stuff that would make, well, lobbyists very happy. (Perhaps the choice of venue is their way of telegraphing the kinds of jobs they plan to create. How do you look in an orange vest?) Rather than talking about what's in the document, let's look at what they didn't put in there... but which they advocate no...