Author Archives: oddmanout215

How many male novelists does it take to make a joke?

Posted on November 6, 2013 by oddmanout215

My friend Susie, who has read some of my fiction, sent me a bunch of male-novelist jokes from The Toast, all of them in the “how many” format. Like this: Q: How many male novelists does it take to screw … Continue reading →

Posted in arts, fiction, humor | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

‘I’m Waiting for the Man’

Posted on November 5, 2013 by oddmanout215

I’m waiting for my man/Twenty-six dollars in my hand… — Velvet Underground “Twenty-six dollars!” Swamp Rabbit yelled. “That’ll git ya one Oxy from the ice cream man on Staten Island. Maybe two mixed drinks at Death & Co.” He was … Continue reading →

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Another mainstream lie – populists are ‘taking over’

Posted on November 4, 2013 by oddmanout215

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 ā€™nā€™ roll’s last outsider?

Posted on November 1, 2013 by oddmanout215

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

Posted on October 27, 2013 by oddmanout215

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

Posted on October 19, 2013 by oddmanout215

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

Posted on October 16, 2013 by oddmanout215

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 →

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Newsflash! ‘Sisterhood’ is dead

Posted on October 11, 2013 by oddmanout215

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?

Posted on October 4, 2013 by oddmanout215

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’

Posted on September 30, 2013 by oddmanout215

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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