The Burrow

I really do.  I can't believe I am typing those words, but I am.  As it says in the masthead, The Burrow is my place for truths ; I'm just stunned that Mitt Romney said something which rang that particular bell. Governor Romney's pledge to have Big Bird for Thanksgiving dinner is based on what seems to me to be a valid question: Do you want to borrow money from China in order to pay for this? No, I don't want to borrow money from China to pay for anything.  I, too, want a vibrant middle class filled with wage earners happy to pay their taxes for the trickle-down government the Republicans abhor.  I don't believe that President Obama appreciates the role of business in America today; read the policy pieces of Audacity of Hope and see if you don't agree.  Raising taxes has a chilling effect on economic growth, if only because investors have less discretionary cash.  It's all true.  But there's so much more to it than that.  I wish that...

We had no money, my friends and I, back in the middle-1970's.  Not Mitt Romney no money , where Dad and his gazillions were just a phone call away.  I'm talking graduate school, work three jobs, share the newspaper, no money . Our cars were old and our apartments, older still.  We had parents, but they were busy keeping roofs over their own heads.  We were on our own and we knew it.  We were lucky to be living in Chicago, a mecca for no-cover blues bars on Halsted Street, where Buddy Guy and Junior Wells and their friends amazed us for the price of a few beers. We splurged when The Grateful Dead came to town, it's true, but for the most part our entertainment happened away from the bright lights and the glamor of downtown. If we went downtown, it had to be opening night of a movie.  We stood in line for the late show of Robert Altman's Nashville, chilly, 37 years ago last weekend according to IMDB .  The faces on those who were...

So, there was a firefight.  It enveloped the US Embassy in Bengazi.  Our ambassador three others died.  It didn't take long for the brouhaha to spread to the political arena.  Candidate Romney, ignoring years of precedent enjoining those on the stump from criticizing Presidential actions during international incidents like these, lambasted Mr. Obama's State Department for apologizing.  Here's what caused the controversy. The Embassy of the United States in Cairo condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims – as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions.    Respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy. We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to hurt the religious beliefs of others. ( http://tinyurl.com/8t8eq5v ) Probably not the strongest condemnation of an assasination, I must agree.  A...