Author Archives: oddmanout215

Fast Eddie’s casino freakout on 60 Minutes


I’m Fast Eddie Rendell, and I’m smarter than the rest of you guys, always have been. It took me years to make you understand that casino gambling is the solution to shuttered factories and tens of thousands of lost jobs. … Continue reading →

Posted in casinos, economic collapse, livable cities, mainstream media, Philadelphia, Politics, sports, taxes, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Hunting lion in the Italian Market


Men first feel necessity, then look for utility, next attend to comfort, still later amuse themselves with pleasure, thence grow dissolute in luxury, and finally go mad and waste their substance. – Giambattista Vico Is this a great country, or … Continue reading →

Posted in enviromentalism, food, Philadelphia | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Boehner is so loathsome, he could cry


Sentimentality, the ostentatious parading of excessive and spurious emotion, is the mark of dishonesty, the inability to feel… – James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son Speaker of the House John Boehner looks and talks like one of those Hollywood … Continue reading →

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Do-gooder reforms Huck Finn


Next month, you will be able to buy the single- volume NewSouth Edition of Mark Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” and “Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” edited by Professor Alan Gribben of Auburn University at Montgomery. It differs from other … Continue reading →

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New Year’s in the twilight zone


Republicans are telling Americans a Big Lie, and Obama and the Democrats are letting them. The Big Lie is our economic problems are due to a government that’s too large, and therefore the solution is to shrink it. The truth … Continue reading →

Posted in economic collapse, globalization, Great Recession, mainstream media, Obama, Politics, unemployment, world-wide economy | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Bunch’s best Obama news was in his blog


Blogs can be therapeutic for mainstream reporters, especially if their beat is politics. In this case I mean Will Bunch of The Philadelphia Daily News, who last month revealed that candidate Barack Obama, in 2008, lied when asked by Bunch … Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq war, mainstream media, mid-term elections, New York Times, Obama, Philadelphia, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Woe-is-uh-me-bop, Beefheart is dead


My musician son Barney sent me a text message on Dec. 17: “Beefheart died today.” This was sad but also a good sign that the music of Captain Beefheart, aka Don Van Vliet, will long outlast the man, although you … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, mainstream media, pop music, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Whose side are you on, Salon?


Yesterday I was reading the virtual magazine Salon.com and wondering why a high-profile liberal publication, a rarity, doesn’t take a hard line on the U.S. government’s campaign to smack down WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. One answer is that some writers … Continue reading →

Posted in Iraq war, mainstream media, New York Times, Obama, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A holiday fairy tale about lame ducks


It’s depressing to think that there was no way to win that would not have involved giving away billions of dollars to people who don’t need it. But it’s kind of cheery to think we have a president who actually … Continue reading →

Posted in Congress, economic collapse, Great Recession, mainstream media, mid-term elections, New York Times, Obama, Politics, unemployment, Wall Street | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Martians land in Meadowlands!


There it was in big bold caps, the main headline on the front page of Monday’s Philadelphia Inquirer: BEYOND BELIEF. Had Obama created a jobs program? Had Martians landed in New Jersey, or among Florida’s frozen oranges? No, it was … Continue reading →

Posted in mainstream media, Obama, Philadelphia, Politics, sports, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments