Wrist Shots

There’s a chapter in the book “Freakonomics,” by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (very interesting book, by the way) titled, “Why do drug dealers still live with their moms?”
The answer (provided by the authors after they undertook a fair amount of first-person interviews, statistical analysis, and research) is simple: The lowest-level drug dealers […]

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In the previous post I commented on my general mistrust of the citizenry to forego lifestyle sacrifices and perhaps re-think policies of consumer excess.
Lo and behold, a few minutes after posting, I pick up a New Era and read about changes in kindergarten curricula which includes this:
“…kindergartners are evaluated with 10-to 20-0minute exercises that are not […]

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Why, you might ask, am I butchering Al Green?
Because I’ve had enough of the tea parties.
First off, someone explain to me the similarity between a bunch of people standing in a park moaning about the feds compared to a bunch of people who actually took action (at a fair degree of personal risk) by covertly […]

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Another little piece of my past got chipped away yesterday when Phillies announcer Harry Kalas died in D.C.
I’m not a Phillies fan, but I probably should be. (Frankly, after the last strike I’m not a devoted fan of any major league team anymore. Once it became clear the players and owners didn’t really care much […]

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“You have a very strange inauguration process,” my waiter said as he placed the cup of aromatic Dutch coffee before me.
Like the coffee, he, too, was Dutch but spoke in a proper British accent, a product of the teachers from the United Kingdom who taught him English as a third language.
“One day Mr. Bush is […]

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Upon returning home from overseas I learned Tack Trostle died. Our community has lost a warm and gentle heart. And my wife and I have lost a dear friend.
To call Tack a great guy sells him short. He was a hunanitarian. He was someone who you spent time with and then looked forward to a […]

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In an article this past Sunday I took another trip down the rabbit hole to the Alice in Wonderland world of hotel management as practiced at the former Holiday Inn (doesn’t that blue tarp covering the sign look tasteful?) out on Greenfield Road.
This adventure centered on three general topics: 1. Tom Showalter; 2. relations between hotel […]

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I promised myself I’d wait a week to let the knees jerk about the election before I would consider weighing in.
And I wasn’t going to, except over the weekend we were out and I overheard the following comment about the Obama presidency: “You wait. In about two years we’ll all have to face Mecca twice […]

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A colleague sent me this bailout proposal developed by T.J. Birkenmeier (check out his link – quite an interesting guy). I forwarded it to a friend of mine who encouraged me to publicize it, adding the comment, “if this plan sat beside THEIR plan and we voted it, whose plan do you think would win […]

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A reader e-mailed me to ask about the newspaper’s “obsession” with Lancaster landlord Bill McMichael.
I can’t speak for “the paper” but I can say that while I’m not particularly obsessed with him, I do find him a unique and somewhat enigmatic figure.
There is a disconnect there that I just don’t get.
Personally, he is one of […]

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