I guess I should mention that this blog turned 20 years old last month.
It’s true that I haven’t been writing much for the past few years, but then you haven’t been reading much for a lot longer than that. Anyway, there’s a lot of good writing and clever back-and-forth in the archives (look over on the right sidebar, where it says The Complete revision99 Archive). */
Continue reading “revision99 is 20”
In response to the Vietnam war,
…students protested on college campuses across the country. Protest spread to the “civilian” population — people who were not students, but agreed that the war was wrong and had to be stopped at any cost. I was one of the students who chanted, sat in, boycotted and marched. In 1967 I took part in the giant peace march that extended all the way across the city of San Francisco. There had been violence at some other events, but this one, while enormous, remained peaceful.
Continue reading “The Students Are Revolting (Again)”
True to form, Kari Lake is calling the results of the Arizona governor’s election “BS.” When asked in interviews during the campaign if she would accept the results of the election no matter who won, she replied “I’m going to win, and I will accept THAT result.”
Continue reading “Arizonans Know BS When They See It”
One of the three giant credit reporting agencies (Experian) has been badgering me lately to “let them know how they’re doing,” by taking an online survey.
Of course, their survey is about 90% marketing, trying to get me to sign up for additional so-called services, AND it was easily the longest online survey I’ve ever seen. Normally I ignore this crap from big rich corporations, partly because I know they don’t read them or care what I think anyway, but today I was feeling a little feisty so I decided to tell them what I think. Most of the questions had multiple choice answers, along the lines of “Are we… a.) Good b.) Great or c.) Fabulous?” But there was one place where I could write free-form what I think. Here’s what I wrote:
Continue reading “Survey Says…?”I was meaning to leave poor Colin Powell alone today — and all future days, too — but I am just the teensiest bit weary of the continuous eulogizing that’s been going on all day.
Powell was a young man who — like far too many of our young men — thought that the best way to solve a problem was by violence. How else do you explain his love for the military? And no matter how much his friends declare him a man of peace, a man who “understood that war was a last resort,” he spent his life in wars in various places around the world, as a young officer and as a four-star general, all of them of extremely dubious value to his country, unless you count gratuitous ass-kicking as “value.”
Continue reading “Colin Powell, 1937 – 2021”
Last evening I went out to see The Emperors, one of my favorite local bands.
I saw them for the first time at a high school dance in 1963. I was a new Californian, awkward and shy. I was aware that there was such a thing as dance steps, but I didn’t know any of them. I’m not sure why I went to that dance, but looking back I think I must have been cajoled into it by some friends who had my best interest at heart and thought it would do me good to get out of my shell.
Continue reading “The Boys in the Band”You may be hearing a lot of Republican bullshit…
…about how President Biden’s about-to-be approved American Rescue Plan is being “shoved down the throat” of the helpless American taxpayer, who of course is totally against its many wasteful elements. But how does it stack up against the Trump Tax Giveaway Act of 2017, which was passed with no negotiation and no Democratic votes? Well, both bills cost us about the same amount – 1.9 trillion dollars. Other than that, if we put them side by side it looks like this:
Continue reading “American Rescue Plan vs. GOP Tax Giveaway of 2017”
If you watch television, read the paper or listen to the news on the radio…
…you could be forgiven if you thought there was absolutely nothing to know about President Biden’s covid relief bill other than how much it’s going to cost. One point nine trillion dollars! That’s almost two trillion dollars! So expensive! Every single news account I’ve heard or read for the past month has called it “President Biden’s one point nine trillion dollar covid relief package, emphasizing “trillion” every time. No one calls it “The American Rescue Plan,” which is its name, after all.
Continue reading “There’s More to Biden’s Covid Bill Than the Price Tag”
Today a loving goodbye to Ms. Mary Wilson, who has died at the age of 76.
I’ve been hearing snippets of her work with The Supremes all day, and it reminded me again the importance of the Motown contribution to the music so many millions of us grew up with. It was, as they said, “The Sound of Young America. Wilson “only” sang backup behind Diana Ross, but she did it perfectly, with poise and grace as the group cranked out hit after hit in the 60s and 70s. That’s her in the foreground of the thumbnail below, although in the video she’s on the right (Diana’s left). We miss you already, Mary.
Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the voting booth, Republicans across the nation are busy writing new laws to make it harder to vote. They did well in many state elections this past November, but they lost control of the Senate, gained seats but remain a minority in the House, and lost the White House to Joe Biden.
Continue reading “GOP Prefers Fewer Voters”
