Hammer Mill Days

Don't bother me with that now, Marvin. Yes, I've seen you juggle before. But Big Green's interstellar stage show has no slot for jugglers, even if they toss molten crowbars in the air five at a time. What the hell do you think this is, Ringling Brothers? Perry brothers, damn it. Whole different circus. Seriously, sometimes it feels like I'm running a two-bit talent agency in lower Broadway in 1947. Ever feel that way? Well ... I have, and it's right now. Marvin (my personal robot assistant) has gotten it into his brass head that he needs to warm up our audiences, particularly in venues like Neptune, where the average daily high is something like 55 Kelvin (that's -218 Celsius to you and I). In that kind of climate, Marvin reasons, a little foot-stomping can't go amiss. Sure, he's got a point ... but juggling? On a plain-clothes rock stage? Come on. Now, I'm sure there are plenty of you - maybe five or six or even more - who are wondering what th...

Let me preface this tirade with the admission that I am no fan of bipartisanship. I agree with Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) on the notion that nothing of any great value has come out of it in recent decades; in fact, quite the opposite. The Iraq War, the USA Patriot Act, etc. If that's how sausage is made, we should consider eating something other than sausage. That said, we are faced with some fundamental problems with respect to our rapidly eroding ability to govern ourselves at the national level. A handful of tea party House members, maybe 40, from heavily gerrymandered districts have become the tail that wags the Congressional dog, in essence. They have every incentive to continue and even enhance their extremism, as that is the only way they can please their hard-right constituencies back home. Around that core is another probably 40-50 House republicans terrified of being challenged by tea party types in the next round of primaries. Boehner needs these folks to maintain his ...