Taxation without representation
And what we can do about it
Zumbro Current
Essays and short stories about life in the upper Midwest.
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We are not a democracy, we are a democratic republic
As we slog through the final 10 weeks of the midterm election campaigns touting candidates for national, state, and local offices, there is much braying of hot-button words throughout the political media: democracy, freedom, climate change disasters, water and air quality, socialism, communism, voter suppression, K-shaped economy, foreign wars, medical care, national debt, and the “pocketbook”…
47 life lessons I have learned
As I approach the date that marks my 77th year as a wayfaring stranger on this planet, I look back on valuable life lessons I have learned, some of them with pain and suffering.
How to build a cigar box humidor
My long and rewarding life has been graced by family and friends who tolerate my passions for bird hunting, bird dogs, baseball, brew pub beers, and premium cigars.
A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants
The latest vaudeville show being performed by President Orange is his “Communist Rant Song,” the calliope music blaring as he dances across the stage and screams “commie, commie, commie!” to his MAGA crowd while he sprays them with toxic water from his Truth Social seltzer bottle.
Military lessons in geography
U.S. students learn countries' locations when we go to war
On Death Ground
“Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight.
The Starry Messenger
The Starry Messenger
Fourth of July
On this 250th anniversary celebration of the Declaration of Independence I am displaying in my front yard an Uncle Sam statuette holding aloft the flag as a statement of my good fortune and my pride to be a citizen of the United States.
Rope-A-Dope
In the college days of my misspent youth I read too much Hemingway and blundered into a short-lived amateur boxing passion that taught me several important lessons about life’s occasional testosterone fueled confrontations: