Before you dismiss this as another crazy idea from a big-government loony, think about what it could mean to you:
Housing experts painted a grim picture of Los Angeles' real-estate market Tuesday as City Councilman Richard Alarcon called for city, state and federal funds to help bail out city homeowners who can't pay their mortgages.
Here's a sure sign that Americans are becoming dull and unimaginative. Top dog name, for the fifth year in a row: Max. Top cat name, for the fifth year in a row: Max. Come on! Max? I notice that Dutch and Maggie do not appear on the top 10 list of cat names, though Maggie appears at No. 6 on the dog list, between Lucy and Daisy.
Drive-in memories: 1970, near Fort Hood, Texas, crammed in a VW Beetle with three other soldiers, sucking on Bali Hai wine and watching "Night of the Living Dead." Much earlier, outside Hazard, Kentucky, 10 years old, sitting on the bench in front of the concession stand with all the other walk-ins; a girl kissed me, I got embarrassed, and all my friends laughed at me on the walk home. A little later, same drive-in, with my parents and brother and sister, trying desperately to stay awake through "Giant," which seemed to me to be the longest movie ever made.
I hate to tell you what I had for dinner last night; you will laugh at me just as my friend did when I told her on the phone. But if I can't handle the reaction to the controversial topics, I shouldn't be a blogger, right? I didn't feel like cooking and hadn't picked up anything on the way home, so I microwaved a can of Beanee Weenee.
Angry White Boy has taken my Simpsonized photo and added gray to the beard so as to make it a truer reflection of reality. Thanks, I guess.
Nancy Nall did a post on her blog in which she Simpsonized herself. There's a site where you can do that just by uploading a photo of yourself. Her Simpson character looked so cool that I went to the site to try it myself.
Here I am as I might look on "The Simpsons." I look like the kooky next-door-neighbor type, don't I? The part that looks least like me is the beard -- the program wouldn't let me put gray in it.
Every summer when I'm tempted to complain about the heat, I temper my comments by stopping to think how much more I hate winter. I've never agreed with people who say winter is better because you can always add clothing, but there is a limit to how much clothing you can remove. No matter how hot it gets in summer, there will be moderate days when it is quite pleasant. On a moderate day in winter, it is still too cold for a sane person to be outside. But this is getting ridiculous:
Well, this is one of the creepiest things I've read lately:
ATLANTA - The future of pro wrestler Chris Benoit's millions could come down to the timing of a horrible crime: Did Benoit — having taken high doses of steroids — strangle his wife and then their young son before killing himself, or did the boy die first?
A young man came to my door last night, telling me he was with some group that was trying to keep kids out of gangs, apparently by selling me something. I never did find out what, because as he was starting his spiel, Dutch the cat took the opportunity of an open door to escape to the porch. He never gets any farther than that, just sits there not knowing what to do.
There's a funny line in Newsweek's cover story about Facebook:
Facebook does complicate the pleasure of gently losing touch with people you're tired of.
I don't send cards these days, but when I was married, my wife and I did. Neglecting to send a Christmas card to someone whose been on the list for a few years is a great way to start that "gently losing touch" process.
