My friend had a life-threatening problem with his workplace. He was processing film much of every work day and had acquired a serious wheeze. The room in which he worked had no ventilation for noxious fumes. He came to me. I suggested he contact the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. All it took was…
Spring brings two distinct send-offs in every school district. One has school colors, school songs, beaming faces. The other is this: the venting of students with hunched shoulders and vacant expressions. One rite — commencement — signifies we did something right. The second send-off signifies that we didn’t. It is what…
Ultimately, it’s all about dollars, don’t you know. The financial press reports that BP has lost $32 billion in stock market value, oozing away in liquid blackness. Previously identified with green-ness as oil companies go, BP now models a shroud of tar. Efforts to contain the mother of all oil spills in…
PHOENIX — News that someone had painted swastikas on the Capitol Building with refried beans surely has assured the ruling majority therein that it is on to something. Round up the usual suspects. It’s a crime, you know. But, then, frijoles can wash off. What the legislature and governor have done here…
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me — won’t get fooled again.” — George W. Bush So many times they fooled us — so many times that the Bush library in Dallas could have a wing devoted just to deceit. Then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld once told a questioner “we know…
Who remembers? Who remembers the type of person we were all looking for 15 years ago on April 19, the day someone blew up the Oklahoma City Federal Building? We were looking for suspicious-appearing Arab-type people, and viewing them with concern, be they groping the produce at the supermarket or reading the…
I blame my mechanic — the fact that I don’t change my oil often enough, don’t check my tire pressure regularly, and don’t know my carburetor from my glove compartment. I’m sure you will agree with me that my mechanic is solely to blame for any malfunction of my car. It can’t be…
Some things change. Some things, never. Evidence thereof was great during a motorized spring swing through a great and greening state. The Panhandle city of Hartley — Population: 1 grain silo — has not changed one granule since I was a child sleeping in the back of the station wagon. My…
Canard — n. (etymology: French for duck) a fake or unfounded report or story, especially: a fabricated report; a groundless rumor or belief. “They crammed health care reform down our throats.” Yes. Barack Obama, Joe Biden and a decisive majority of Democrats ran for office on health care reform. They…
This all has to do with blue jeans, and white legs. I didn't wear blue jeans much in 25 years in Texas. Most of the time during recreational hours, I wore shorts. If it was long-pants weather — and, let’s face it; with global changes, many Texans had forgotten what a winter feels…