Author Archives: oddmanout215

Another mainstream lie – populists are ‘taking over’


My friend Swamp Rabbit was trying to make me stop reading a lengthy op-ed with the provocative headline “Plutocrats vs. Populists.” “This paper ain’t fit to wrap fish in,” he said. “Even virtual fish.” He’s right. The New York Times … Continue reading

Posted in mainstream media, New York Times, Obama | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Was Lou Reed rock ’n’ roll’s last outsider?


My friend Swamp Rabbit, who only likes bluegrass and Bulgarian folk music, asked me about Lou Reed: “If this guy was an outsider, how come insiders sing his praises?” The rabbit was referring to the subhed of The New York … Continue reading

Posted in arts, history, mainstream media, police state, The New Depression | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Obamacare in the land of the yahoos


Swamp Rabbit swam two laps around the swamp then dragged himself onto the porch, where I was commenting on the virtual secessionists who are still fighting Obamacare, a.k.a. the Affordable Care Act. “I can’t get my head around this one,” … Continue reading

Posted in Great Recession, health care, humor, mainstream media, The New Depression, unemployment | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

How to secede without blood and gore


It’s no secret the yahoos who shut down the government for 16 days have a grander goal than merely scuttling Obamacare. They want to achieve something akin to secession, but without the blood and gore that made the Civil War … Continue reading

Posted in health care, history, Obama, voter suppression | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Power broker vs. broken newspaper


Swamp Rabbit chugged his hangover remedy, a carrot juice and swamp grass mix, as I complained to him about the sorry state of the mainstream news media — in this case, The Philadelphia Inquirer, which is owned by the same … Continue reading

Posted in humor, life in the big city, mainstream media, movies, New York Times | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Newsflash! ‘Sisterhood’ is dead


Back at the shack, Swamp Rabbit made gagging noises as he paged through The New York Times Book Review. He read aloud a quote-out from a review of The XX Factor, British economist Alison Wolf’s book about the growing divide … Continue reading

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Today’s GOP — morons or monsters?


Swamp Rabbit and I were laying down planks to fix the hole in the floor of my shack and arguing about Republicans in Congress who shut down the government this week. Is their bad behavior grounded in stupidity or malice? … Continue reading

Posted in climate change, Congress, health care, history, humor, mainstream media, taxes | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Walter White says bye-bye, ‘Baby Blue’


Walter White to his long-suffering wife Skyler in their final scene together: “I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was really… I was alive.” Breaking Bad was an unusually good TV show … Continue reading

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Media still propping up economic recovery myth


My shack in Tinicum was in a miserable state, so I paid Swamp Rabbit to help me clean and paint it. Afterwards, the place looked good from the porch but when I stepped inside, I fell through the floor into … Continue reading

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Stranger than Strangelove


I was back at the shack, beside myself with angst, reading to Swamp Rabbit about a catastrophe that almost happened a half-century ago: A secret document, published in declassified form for the first time by the Guardian today, reveals that … Continue reading

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