Hammer Mill Days

There's a lot I could say at this juncture, Mitch. A whole lot... but I think I'll just hold my tongue. Don't want to spend time in a Kaztropharian jail if you don't have to. Oh, hi.... We've found our way to planet Kaztropharius 137b with both hands, as you might divine from that last bit of dialogue - the latest venue on our ENTER THE MIND: THE ULTIMATE BIG GREEN EXPERIENCE tour of the galaxy. How do you tour a whole galaxy exactly? Quite simple - just jump on the ship before we take off... next time. Right now we're deep in the middle of nowhere, anchored to a planet that seems to like our music (something in the air, I think, makes it sound better up here... perhaps a hallucinogenic quality). Kaztropharius 137b (I think I've got that spelling correct) is a solid little globe with a nickel core. Molten nickel, I'm told - I can't say for certain, since I've never been there, but it seems a reasonable assumption. Our first couple of performa...

The election is barely past us and corporate America is already knocking on our door for the rent. Speaking of timing, former Sen. Alan Simpson and former Clinton Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, co-chairs of the president's commission on deficit reduction, have agreed we should gut Social Security, Medicare. Well, there's a surprise - both have an execrable history of animosity towards these quite successful social programs. (Simpson's contempt for elderly people is palpable and disgusting, and he never misses an opportunity to toss a rhetorical brick at them.) Of course, their proposal also calls for tax cuts for the rich and for corporations. Again, no surprises there. This is just the latest chapter in the attack against the poor, working class, elderly, and infirm that has been underway for decades in this country. Time and time again they have sought to undermine Social Security, to loot its trust fund, and to convert it into something it was never intended to be - an i...