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The Biggest Non-Issue in American Politics

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You know what? I don't care about illegal immigration. Neither should you. Do you really think people sneaking over the border are a threat to your way of life? How so?  When you eat dinner, take a long look at what's on your table. Undocumented workers likely picked the fruits and vegetables on your plate. Do you eat meat? The steak or chicken on your plate was likely processed by undocumented workers. Undocumented workers probably worked in the vineyards that produced your California wine.  Do you travel? Do you stay in hotels? Do you ever wonder who is cleaning your room? Do you eat in restaurants? If you have issues with undocumented workers, I suggest you don't go back into the kitchen. Do you use professional landscapers on your lawn? Have you ever asked the owner of the company about the immigration status of men doing the work? Do you want their jobs? What kind of wage would you want to have these jobs? What kind of working conditions would you settle for to have th
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Random Thoughts #41

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There is a Classic Calvin & Hobbes comic where Calvin talks about "verbing". He mentions words like access and impact that used to be nouns, but are now also used as verbs (I will still hold that impact is a noun and should stay as such). He commented, "Verbing really weirds the language." Our culture has gone beyond verbing now. The new trend is adjectiving. We are making nouns and verbs into adjectives. Don't believe me? Think of the word genius. I grew up being told genius was a noun indicating a person of far-above-average intelligence. Now people use it as an adjective, as in saying, "That's genius" when they are describing something interesting or clever. You have "genius hacks" to make life easier. The latest popular example of adjectiving is "cringe". For most of my life, cringe was a verb meaning to shrink away from something in disgust or horror. Now cringe is an adjective meaning to invoke those feelings of disgu
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Random Thoughts #40

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I'm tired of comedians whining about how they're being "canceled" ( cancel culture is a myth ) when they say stuff  they believe is politically incorrect and nobody laughs. Sorry comics, but the reason nobody is laughing is because your joke isn't funny. A Boomer yelling at clouds because kids are always on their phones is a cliché not a joke. Making incomprehensible analogies isn't funny either. If you don't understand how the cultural zeitgeist shapes our humor, you have no business in comedy. Think of it this way. A hundred or so years ago The Keystone Cops were considered the height of hilarity. What could be funnier than a bunch of bumbling, incompetent police officers? The incompetent-cop-as-humor continued through the middle of the 20th century. Now the police are sacred cows. Nobody would dare make fun of policemen as a form of lowbrow humor and cheap laughs. Humor isn't static in our culture. If you can’t read the room, try another line of wor
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Do You Know Your Commandments? Will You Follow Them?

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Unless you live off-grid and far away from any major civilization hubs, you probably know about the Louisiana Board of Education's decision to display the Ten Commandments in every classroom in the state.  This caused controversy around the nation. Public institutions are not supposed to favor one religion over another. Public schools are not legally allowed to enforce a religious code on students. Contrary to the beliefs of many hardcore Christians, children are allowed to make their own religious observations as long as they do their work and do not disrupt the classes, but the school can't direct their religious activities.  The Ten Commandments come from the holy text of two major religious groups in the country. Forcing children to know the Ten Commandments is telling children the rules for Judaism and Christianity are ones they should know, even if they don't practice either of those religions. School administrators and board members who support such a display will ar
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Random Thoughts #39

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After Mother's Day it's officially Planting Time. I have my herbs and flowers back on the balcony During the months when the boxes and pots were all empty, birds would often come to rest in our boxes. Blue jays were notorious for digging them up (there was something edible buried in there they loved to dig for) and spreading dirt everywhere. Mourning doves like to sit there and do little more than coo.  These birds deposited seeds in my boxes, as birds doo (spelling error intentional) and I had a few small plant sprouts already growing. I had to uproot them so I could plant my flowers. I couldn't stop wondering what would happen if I let them grow. What kinds of plants were they? Would I be able to identify them if when they matured? What would my balcony look like if let my plants go wild? Curious as I was, I chose not to find out.                                                                                                               *** For most of my life, the coll
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Why "The Friend Zone" Is a Huge Insult to Women

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One of pop culture's biggest controversies: Should Andie have gone for Duckie, or did she make the right choice in taking Blane back? Pretty in Pink was one of the defining movies of my generation, and nearly forty years after its release, GenXers still discuss it at length. I belong to a couple of Gen X groups on social media and the topic is often tossed around. The opinions are always sharply divided. After reading multiple arguments about this movie, I realized I had something to say about the topic. ( If you haven't seen it, or don't at least know the plot, click here . I won't explain it in this post .) You want to know what's strange? When I saw the movie as a teen, I was Team Blane.*  Why would I be rooting for Blane? I admit he was the kind of guy I found physically attractive in high school, but he also represented the kind of people I hated. He was too good looking to be trustworthy. I knew boys in high school who came from those rich-boy cliques like th
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