Hammer Mill Days

Lots to say, nothing to think. Not usually a great combination ... but it's a positive boon when it comes to podcasting. So, how are you then? Well, I trust. Hope the foot trouble is better. That's right, friends, we're turning over a new leaf here at the abandoned Cheney Hammer Mill. From now on, Big Green is going to be all about people. Good old retail public relations. Connecting with the folks - that's us, Jack. (See? We even call you by your first name, providing your first name is "Jack".) I've found that holing ourselves up in our basement studio mixing songs and swearing at each other is no way to run a rodeo, let alone a pop music combo. Neither is failing to settle our account with the local feed store, or dropping a box of tacks in the middle of main street. Verily I say unto you - none of these things redounds to the benefit of our public image. Anywho, we're tuning over a new leaf ... a Big, Green leaf. We're extending the hand...

The sequester deadline is getting closer, but - unsurprisingly - we are no closer to cutting a deal to avoid draconian cuts to a full range of programs. In all honesty, if it weren't for the domestic and veteran-support programs that would fall under that senseless cleaver, it might not be such a bad thing in that the Defense budget would finally see some reductions. Of course, as every close observer of national politics knows all too well, cuts to the DOD turn normally conservative - even Randian - Republicans into hysterical Keynesians, warning of the dire employment consequences if the Pentagon budget were slashed. There's some truth to that ... which is why it sounds so strange coming out of Republicans' mouths. But anyway... It's worth repeating Robert Pollin's observation here that Pentagon spending is not the best way to create jobs. $1 million spent on defense creates roughly a dozen jobs. Spend that same money on education and you're up into the mi...