Blog Entries tagged 'Politics'

Dangerous Thoughts from an Idle Mind

books21st@lisco.com — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 01:00:00 +0100

Musing #1342

“A woman is always a fickle, unstable thing.” —Virgil (Aeneid)

“The usual masculine disillusionment in discovering that a woman has a brain.” Margaret Mitchell (Gone with the Wind)

I love

Political Correctness: The McCarthyism of our Time

books21st@lisco.com — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 01:00:00 +0100

Musing #1339. It is always where you draw your lines

“Unlimited tolera

A Conversation with a Small Cactus

rustinlarson@gmail.com — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 01:00:00 +0100

Some thoughts about that: if not in an opera house then here under the girders of a new civilization in which the contemplative norm is that of a cheeseburger with a face full of sesames. McCheese is one's neighbor and mayor, and his clown same-sex partner is a cook of sorts, and I gues

Hopes and Big Red Balloons

tony@tonyellis.com — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:00:00 +0100

There is much talk of disappointed hopes and broken dreams as we round the corner from the one year anniversary of President Obama's election. A lot of expectations were riding on his shoulders as he faced the crowd in Chicago's Grant Park last year. I remember thinking at the time the

Crabs in a Bucket

tony@tonyellis.com — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:00:00 +0100

I don't know about you, but I find it hard to watch cable news these days. As a long time news junkie, I am sad to say this and (yikes) I seem to be agreeing with President George Bush I, although I would never call Keith Olberman and Rachel Maddow "sick puppies" (http://ww

Canadian Memoir: Marina Nemat's Prisoner of Tehran

source@lisco.com — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Have you read

A Few Things Straight about Flame Skunks, Abraham Lincoln, and the Endless Tunnels of Paradise

rustinlarson@gmail.com — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Flame skunks. They is a problem to most home owners, be all they don't know it though. Pesky little fellers, git in your basement and start feedin off the lint of most furnace filters. You can tell 'em by their plumpish skunk bodies, but they's head's just like a gas broiler wi

Waiting for the Change to Come

tony@tonyellis.com — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Obama beware! You are making my wife mad.

She recently posted a comment on her Facebook page questioning whether we had gotten "our money's worth" out of the dollars we contributed to Obama's campaign last year. She's frustrated you aren't being more pro-active about brin

The Tale of the One-Dollar Q-Tip

source@lisco.com — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 01:00:00 +0100

An AmeriCanadian Perspective on U.S. Health Care Reform

I’m no politician—which means I can sit back in front of the TV with a cool raspberry popsicle and something like detachment as I watch both supporters and critics of the Democrats’ he

Health R Us

tony@tonyellis.com — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Congress is in danger of being seriously out of step with a changing national consciousness over the national health care issue. According to a recent New York Times/CBS News poll, three quarters of Americans now support some kind of government run health care program to compete with private sector

Torture Trouble

tony@tonyellis.com — Thu, 07 May 2009 01:00:00 +0100

There is a lot of talk of torture in the air as America comes to terms with with the legacy of the past eight years. There is also a plethora of tortured euphemisms at work as people attempt to deflect responsibility for what was done to other human beings for the sake of our own peace and security.

A T-Shirt for Your Troubles, Sir

tony@tonyellis.com — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 01:00:00 +0100

I recently received an email from the new Executive Director of the Democratic Party, Jen O'Malley Dillon, offering me a free T-Shirt if I came up with a catchy billboard slogan to use against Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk show blowhard who has become the self-appointed voice of the Re

A Coalition of Opposites

tony@tonyellis.com — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:00:00 +0100

More thoughts following on from my last blog about the need for a silent center in our lives.

According to the Legal Times blog (http://legaltimes.typepad.com/blt/2009/02/justice-alito-imagines-john-lennon.html) Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito quoted at length from John Lennon's Imag

Aloha Zen

tony@tonyellis.com — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 01:00:00 +0100

Since the new President took office there has been much discussion in the media about his laid back management style. According to a recent New York Times article, President Obama has "brought a more relaxed sensibility to his public appearances." David Gergen, an adviser to both Republica

Peace Be With You

tony@tonyellis.com — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 01:00:00 +0100

With all the senseless killing going on in Palestine at the moment and Western governments' continuing attempt to make terrorism "go away" by the use of military force, it was refreshing to open the Guardian newspaper online this morning (15th January) and read some sensible word

Our Better Angels

tony@tonyellis.com — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:00:00 +0100

To listen to some media commentators, you would think that the only significance of Barack Obama's election to the presidency on Tuesday is that he is African American. My wife, Mo, who was at the victory celebrations in Chicago, said when CNN commentator, David Gergen, attempted to frame the re

Coffee Talk

tony@tonyellis.com — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

Something is happening in rural America.

This morning I was having breakfast in the local coffee shop in La Junta, Colorado, musing to myself about last night's presidential debate. On the next table two older men were discussing the same subject and I couldn't resist eavesdr

Information Democracy

tony@tonyellis.com — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 01:00:00 +0100

The fact that the government website posting the full text of the financial bail-out plan crashed last week because so many people were trying to access it is an encouraging sign for the future of our democracy. For many years now, the information flo

Size Matters

tony@tonyellis.com — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 01:00:00 +0100

This past week’s financial troubles illustrate an obsession with the value of size and the inherent dangers of uncontrolled growth that have been plaguing our financial, commercial (and social) life for far too long. Quite apart from the old sexual innuendo about the value of “large

Global Citizens

tony@tonyellis.com — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 01:00:00 +0100

I was sitting in Charlie’s basement the other day discussing one world government. Charlie (not his real name but, trust me, the name works fine) is a rancher out west. Getting on in years, he likes to spend his days holed up in his machine shop c