Hammer Mill Days

Was there a 'splosion? Kind of hard to tell around this place. If Bin Laden dropped by here, he'd probably say, "What the hell do they need me for? They're kicking their own ass." (Apologies to Richard Pryor.) Just keeping it real here at the abandoned Cheney Hammer Mill, as you might expect. During these hard times, it's the same story everywhere, right? Making the ends meet in the middle. We've got the ends, but frankly... no middle. And if the ends justify the means, which they almost NEVER do, well then... um.... okay, I lost my train of thought. But no matter. We are doing what we do, and being what we be. That's what Big Green is all about. That's why we're aboard her. RISK... RISK IS OUR BUSINESS. (Oh, Jesus... now I'm quoting Star Trek lines. Someone call the doctor! And make sure he IS a doctor, and not a mechanic. D'oh !) So much for Marvin (my personal robot assistant) and his experiment with industriousness. Turns out he...

Aside from being the day of the Super Bowl, last Sunday was the 100th birthday of Ronald Reagan, apparently the patron saint of NPR, which ran seemingly countless stories about the "Gipper" all that week. (I hope they don't think that will help convince the G.O.P. House to keep their already meager CPB funds in the budget. That won't save you! ) Missing from the many remembrances of RR were those who might not remember him so fondly- the Guatemalans, the Salvadorans, the Angolans, the Timorese, the Argentineans... the list goes on. I've long felt that Reagan had a profound impact on the American presidency and, consequently, U.S. society, though not in a positive way. Thanks to his presidency, for instance, we can never consider raising federal taxes on anyone under any circumstances. He heralded the arrival of the new jingoism that ultimately put us into Grenada, then Panama, then Kuwait, then Somalia, then the former Yugoslavia... and of course Afghanistan and I...