These people have big brass ones. And a damnfine sense of dramatic flare. Hope their planning is better than their spelling. (Be sure to click on the “show more” link at YouTube.) Just in case it gets pulled from YouTube:
1 CommentMonth: June 2011
I’ve had the good fortune over the last couple of years to preview and comment on bits of James Bovard’s funny and politically astute memoir (so far untitled and still in progress). Bovard, OTOH, has had the misfortune to be on the receiving end of my perpetual whine, “So when are you finally going to publish the darned thing, Jim? Huh? Huh? When?” Well, it looks as if the first “leak” is out. The Wall Street Journal (of all unexpected pubs) has run Jim’s account of his slacker summer on a slacker road crew.
6 CommentsTook me a while, but I said I’d have tales (and tails) from the Mother Earth News Fair. So here are a couple. The young lady with the radiant smile is — you can tell! — a member of the furry community. She wears her tail happily and presented me with a bushy faux wolf tail of my very own. Furry folk are much misunderstood and (you won’t be surprised) sometimes discriminated against for their playful self-expression. (The example at the last link happened on private property, so the security guards in question were probably within their rights — which…
22 CommentsStuff I’ve been collecting for use in larger essays that I’ve decided just to toss out here: Found this while researching the history of the Fourth Amendment for a S.W.A.T. magazine article: “In praise of John Wilkes: how a filthy, philandering dead-beat helped secure British–and American–liberty.” Overall freedom rankings by state. To be taken with a grain of salt, of course. Your personal freedom doesn’t depend on your state’s. But it’s interesting. Especially for anybody seeking a new place to live. Ego-boo. Look what I found at #10 on a list of 1214 Books You Must Read Before You Die.…
12 CommentsI said I was going to de-focus on bad news and its attendant blogistic knee-jerking. But once in a while the reality checks are too stunning to ignore. Here’s how bad it’s getting: The U.S. Department of Education sends a S.W.A.T team to kick down a door and terrorize a family — for defaulted student loans. (NOTE: Original link is now 404. Thanks to dsd in the comments, here’s another link, with photos. Check his other links, too.) Facebook is at it again. Keep your photos OUT of Facebook, guys. How you’re going to prevent Granny or your best buddy…
9 CommentsHe must mean Mother Earth, who is holding up pretty well despite her age and predictions of her imminent demise. If he means me, he forgot to add “damn good looking despite the gray silver hair and wrinkles.” But thanks, Dave. I blush. I thought you and Lenie rocked, too. (And so did Bryan Welch.) I hope you’ll blog more experiences from Mother’s show.
12 CommentsThis is a follow-up to last week’s “Middle-Class Shrug” blog. —– We hear about economic “pressure on the middle class.” Business media tell us the middle class is being squeezed. Popular media try to break our hearts with profiles of couples who have fallen out of the middle class and into desperation. But the picture they paint is incomplete and distorted. The “squeezed” mostly remain an abstraction. The “fallen” families beloved of the media are, as often as not, a misrepresentation; they’re usually folk who made dumb decisions (mostly by buying houses they couldn’t afford at prices they should have…
28 CommentsA friend emailed this and I had to share. NB: It might not be safe for your nine-year-old to read. —– Harlequin romance — 2011 edition He grasped me firmly, but gently, just above my elbow and guided me into a room, his room. Then he quietly shut the door and we were alone. He approached me soundlessly, from behind, and spoke in a low, reassuring voice close to my ear.”Just relax.” Without warning, he reached down and I felt his strong, calloused hands start at my ankles, gently probing, and moving upward along my calves, slowly but steadily. My…
11 CommentsBack from the Mother Earth News Fair. It was a huge, fantastic event. If Mother throws one of these anywhere near you, you might consider attending even if you have to travel quite a way. I was also fortunate enough to connect with several delightful “friends I’ve never met” and to enjoy my time with Dave and Ilene; this is the first time I’ve met them despite all my years of writing for BHM, and they are great people. I’ll have tales (and tails!) from the fair later this week (and will also continue blogging “Middle-class shrugging”). But for your…
7 CommentsIf you’re headed for the Mother Earth News Fair this weekend, I should mention … Dave and Ilene Duffy will (as far as I know) be there all weekend. Show hours are 9-7 on Saturday, 9-6 on Sunday. I’ll definitely be there all day Saturday. On Sunday you’ll find me there in the morning and early afternoon. Depending on how much is going on (or not), I may head for home before the end of the day. TMEN has planned a great — and BIG — event, with lots to see and do. And they’ve given BHM what looks like…
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