I’ve been meaning to write about the Occupy protests for awhile now, but I was busy being unemployed. You’d think that would make me a perfect candidate to embrace the 99% and bang my outrage into my keyboard and onto the web as soon as possible, but it didn’t. Probably because being unemployed has its side effects. Like making the dollar store my exclusive shopping destination. Or having to shut off my Internet access for...

Sir Terry Pratchett is going to die. Or rather, the friendly staff of Switzerland’s Dignitas clinic is going to politely assist him to death. This is a deeply personal decision on the part of Sir Pratchett and I really have no business commenting on it. But I’m going to, anyway. Probably because I’m a tactless American. Part of me (the smaller part) wants to applaud him for taking the reins on his life to determine...

If you’re not from Texas, you probably won’t understand Texas. But one thing you can understand about Texas is that it is a strange and silly place, not entirely unlike Camelot. Except without all the singing. Here in Texas, we have a governor. His name is Rick Perry. He has great hair. And that’s about all I can say about him, according to the international rules of motherly advice of the ‘if you can’t say...

Reading “10 Stupid Things College Kids Do” by BISD spokeswoman Jessie Haynes is an education in hyperbole, followed by a little tutoring in crimes against the language. “10 Stupid Things” is meant as an educational booklet intended to prepare young adults entering university life. In some ways, such as with sections on student credit cards or general advice about managing one’s academic course schedule, the...

It’s been a good while since I last wrote something by way of turning my scalpel upon the tender meat of my own flesh, slicing it open and letting the slithery viscera of my own insecurities spill out onto the examination table for the pleasure of external review, so I invite you to step inside the operating theater today, while I commence with the self-vivisection. Refreshments will be served after the ritual bloodletting...

The Emperor’s New Clothes: a pompous dictator rules over sycophantic bootlickers and gets tricked into buying a suit that is supposedly invisible to those who are unqualified or hopelessly stupid. In Beaumont, TX, we have our own version of this emperor, and he’s running around in the metaphorical nude like a wild cowboy. His name is Dr. Carrol A. Thomas or, as I prefer to think of him, Buck Nekkid: Texas Ranger.… …...