Always Reforming

I had one of those childhoods. I had one of those childhoods you don't realize is atypical until you go out into the world and meet people who think you're Amish or Catholic. I had a contracted childhood; I don't suppose I had much of a childhood at all. I had one of those childhoods marked by pain and worry. I had one of those childhoods that teaches you how to internalize pain. I learned not to cry. I learned what it means to be strong, or at least, I thought I did. I had one of those childhoods landmarked by funerals . I seem to have a preponderance of childhood memories that involve death. I guess that's the curse of being the youngest in a big family. I remember Grandma Carrie's calling hours. I remember hearing that Grandpa Spencer's emphysema was so bad that he could no longer get out of bed. I remember Dad preaching the Gospel at the funeral. I remember hearing him say that Grandpa didn't deserve to go to Heaven, but that...

Have you ever heard something and thought, "That's about the dumbest thing I've heard this year!"? Something along those lines shot through my head Tuesday evening as I watched about 15 minutes of the Democratic debate that was held in my home state of Ohio (15 minutes was about all I could take before I had to turn on Blackish).  About halfway through the debate Anderson Cooper directed an unusually poignant question towards Beto O'Rourke (the transcript is here ), addressing O'Rourke's recent statements regarding a mandatory buyback of assault weapons.  After quoting the Congressman's own words, Cooper asked, "...You said police wouldn't be going door to door.  So how exactly are you going to force people to give up their weapons?  You don't even know who has those weapons." Cooper challenged O'Rourke to add some substance to the rhetoric he's been employing on the campaign trail, and, let's just say, O'Rourke f...

If it's not one thing, it's another.  Am I right?  This time it's Ukraine. "Impeach Trump!" the liberals cry. "Prosecute Biden!" the conservatives reply. "Wait...prosecute Pelosi, too!" conservatives continue. Allegations of corruption dominate social media and network news as representatives of all political ideologies defend their side and decry the opposition.  Meanwhile, average Americans debate back and forth without really knowing what the heck is going on because, after all, peons like us can never really be confident that we know what's going on. What I find surprising is how many people seem to be surprised by these endless revelations of corruption, nepotism, and maneuvering that are coming out of Washington. How is this surprising?  How are people just figuring this out? Were people really unaware that this country, the so-called land of the free and the home of the brave, has always been at the behest of old dudes ...