The View from a Drawbridge

Tag: budget

  • Making Our National Parks Great Again

    Making Our National Parks Great Again

    All he’s interested in is “Drill, baby, drill!”

  • The Outrageous Entitlement of Republican Politicians

    I was driving to work on the afternoon of November 30th, and an interview I heard on NPR’s All Things Considered nearly caused me to swerve off the interstate into a concrete barrier, such was the level of my outrage. Robert Siegel, one of my personal journalistic heroes, was interviewing Charles Grassley, a Republican senator…

  • Self-Abuse

    True confessions: When I’m angry, frustrated, upset, or feeling helpless, I either eat or spend money or both. I don’t need to be hungry or in need of something. I just do it. I know this about myself. I know it even as it’s happening. But I can’t seem to stop. (What a First World…

  • Support Libraries. Support Reading. And Do Me a Solid.

    At a time in our history when ignorance seems to be winning, when public education is under threat, and when people are increasingly afraid of fake news but seemingly unwilling to take steps to find reliable sources of information, it is extremely important that we support our public libraries. Libraries are under constant threat of…

  • Service of Bibliomaniacal Proportions

    According to Wikipedia, and contrary to popular belief, library usage is on the increase in spite of, or perhaps because of, our kindles and our nooks and our laptops. Unfortunately many local governments still target libraries first when they need to make budget cuts. The services a library provides can seem intangible to the public.…

  • Practical Experience

    Politicians make decisions every day that affect people’s lives. With great power comes great responsibility. When they negatively impact the world around them, I think they should personally feel that impact as well. Maybe then they would take their choices more seriously. Governors of states that have chosen to forego the Medicaid subsidies, thus depriving…

  • Why Do We Need Politicians Anymore?

    The other day my dog jumped on me while I was in the middle of REM sleep. It felt like someone dropped a canned ham on me from a two story building. In retrospect perhaps it was a good thing, because it brought something to my conscious mind that had apparently been percolating in my…

  • The End

    The true sign of a civilized society is its investment in the arts and education. Once it has the ability and desire to support these pursuits, it has truly arrived at a level of sophistication that forever separates it from the barbarous dregs. Unfortunately in these troubling times more and more municipalities are suffering from…