Category Archives: Night Writer

Which headline is from The Onion?

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by the Night Writer

Obama: Health Care Plan Would Give Seniors Right To Choose How They Are Killed

Obama humbled to win Nobel

Ok, the second one is obviously the fake. “Humble” is never used in reference to our president.

We should have seen this coming; after all, he closed Gitmo, got us out of Iraq and Afghanistan, has suceeded in getting Iran and North Korea to play nice and his policies have led to unprecedented domestic peace and harmony. So yeah, give him the Nobel Peace Prize.

In a related development, it’s another big garage sale weekend in my neighborhood. I’m going to see if I can’t get one of those Nobel prizes for myself.

Smoke, fire and angels

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by the Night Writer

Four years ago a friend, fellow writer and co-worker of mine was nearly killed in one of the most devastating highway accidents in the history of Connecticut. Mark Robinson suffered severe injuries in the 20-vehicle pile up created when a fully-loaded, poorly maintained and uninsured Mack dump truck crashed into a double-line of cars waiting at a traffic light at the bottom of a hill. And he was a lucky one. Many other people died in the crash and conflagration, leaving him with a sense of loss and guilt and wonder at why he had been spared.

Mark and I both write things for a large financial services company. Our work is valuable enough to our employer I suppose, but little of what we do is going to change anyone’s life. That’s about to change for Mark. About six months after the crash I was talking to Mark about some momentary crisis in our corporate world and the conversation eventually turned to the new perspective he had gained as a result of what he’d been through, and the connection – and even the sense of responsibility – he felt for those who had been there that day. The idea of writing a book was banging inside of him. As he healed from his injuries and the wound in his soul, Mark set out to document what happened to him on that fateful day and, most importantly, to tell about the lives of those who were killed and of the dozens of bystanders and emergency personnel who courageously risked their own lives and health to try and save their fellow men.

sfa-book-coverThat book has now just been published. Entitled Smoke, Fire and Angels – Tragedy on Avon Mountain and the Life-Changing Aftermath. All the proceeds of the book are going to the families of those who didn’t survive that day, who are struggling on without them. I’ll speculate that just getting this out there is all the benefit Mark needs; the opportunity is there, however, to benefit many others. Please go to the link above, review the information there and consider buyng a book or twelve. More details are in this video.

Thanks.

Hate is impatient, hate is unkind

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by the Night Writer

1 Corinthians 13: 4 – 7, in reverse

Hate is impatient and unkind; hate envies and boasts; it is arrogant and rude. It insists on its own way; it is irritable and resentful; it rejoices at wrongdoing, and does not rejoice with the truth. Hate bears nothing, believes nothing, hopes for nothing, endures nothing.

Working on those Night Memes

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by Night Writer

Picked this up from Mitch at Shot in the Dark.

1. The phone rings. Who will it be? Nine times out of ten, someone wanting to talk to Tiger Lilly.

2. When shopping at the grocery store, do you return your cart? Well, I used to put the cart in one of the parking lot corrals. Now I’ve got “people” who get the groceries.

3. In a social setting, are you more of a talker or a listener? I used to be all talker, now I find myself listening more and picking my spots. For some reason, people seem happier to see me coming now.

4. Do you take compliments well? I take them well, medium and rare.

5. Do you play Sudoku? I’m a binge Sudoku player. I’ll go a long time not playing and then play madly for a time, then another long lay-off.

6. If abandoned alone in the wilderness, would you survive? As soon as I got that “hibernate” thing figured out I’d be cool.

7. Did you ever go to camp as a kid? One time, at band camp….no, never.

8. What was your favorite game as a kid? Depended on the season: in our neighborhood we played football in the fall, basketball through the winter and spring (shoveling snow off the asphalt driveways and getting our hands blackened from dribbling the ball on the wet tar). I was also addicted to the Sports Illustrated Football table game.

9. If a sexy person was pursuing you, but you knew she was married, would you? Absolutely…if it was my wife.

10. Could you date someone with different religious beliefs than you? How do you think I got where I am today?

11. Do you like to pursue or be pursued? Being pursued, I guess, but you might want to check out #15 first.

12. Use three words to describe yourself? I was wrong.

13. Do any songs make you cry? “I Wish You Where Here” by Claudia Schmidt and Sally Rogers.

14. Are you continuing your education? Who isn’t? Only the grades we get are different now.

15. Do you know how to shoot a gun? Revolver, semi-auto, shotgun and rifle. I would love to try a muzzle-loader and a fully-automatic some time.

16. Have you ever taken pictures in a photo booth? No, but I carry one of my wife and daughters acting silly.

17. How often do you read books? Every day.

18. Do you think more about the past, present or future? Yesterday I thought about the future. Today I think about the past. Tomorrow I’ll think about today.

19. What is your favorite children’s book? “Where the Wild Things Are” by Maurice Sendak.

20.What color are your eyes? Bluer than robin’s eggs, someone once said.

21. How tall are you? Not tall enough, according to my BMI.

22. Where is your dream house located? In the heather, in sight of the ocean.

23. If your house was on fire, what would be the first thing you grabbed? Either the kid holding the matches or my cell phone to call 911.

24. When was the last time you were at Olive Garden? Can’t remember. I like the place, but there are so many other options.

25. Where was the furthest place you traveled today? The day’s still young; we’ll see.

26. Do you like mustard? Absolutely, and I always like to try something new. Watch out for the bright yellow stuff in England, though. It looks just like French’s, but it’s not!

Of sex and taxes

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by the Night Writer

Gerald Prante writing at the Tax Policy Blog examines a recent report published in the New England Journal of Medicine calling for a penny-per-ounce soft-drink tax to pay for the long-term health costs of obesity. According to the report’s authors, the soft-drink industry represents “market failures” — in the form of less-than-optimal production and consumption — that justify government intervention.

These failures have to do consumers not appreciating the connection between consuming sugar-sweetened drinks and their long-term health because they have a) imperfect information which leads to poor consumption decisions; b) their decisions are further distorted by advertising; c) consumers, especially children and adolescents, tend to make decisions based on immediate gratification and not on long-term consequences, and d) these consumers don’t pay the full cost of their decisions because it is passed on to the healthcare system, of which half the costs are paid by the public via Medicare and Medicaid.

Prante wonders, if those are compelling reasons to institute a soft-drink tax, why not apply the same logic to out-of-wedlock sex and tax that as well:

Based on these supposed market failures, I’d like to pose this question to the authors: If government had perfect information, would you support a tax on out-of-wedlock sexual behavior? And if we can’t do that for administrative purposes, couldn’t we impose a significant tax on nightclubs and bars as a second best scenario (kind of like how the authors of this report suggest an imperfect soda tax to fight obesity-related market failures)?

…

First, I can think of no other “market” in which imperfect information exists at such a prevalent level than that of sexual interactions. How many men and women have perfect information about their sexual partners, especially those on a random night that they meet at a nightclub or bar?

Second, I can think of no other “market” in which the problem of a person pursuing short-term gratification at the expense of possible long-term harm would exists to such a large degree as that in the area of sexual activity.

Finally, there are substantial medical costs from sexually transmitted diseases, the bulk of which persists in out-of-wedlock/multiple partner/sexually active persons. And many of these are borne by taxpayers via government health care expenditures.

And that doesn’t even take into account the costs to the public in terms of increased poverty and welfare which have been directly linked to out-of-wedlock births.

Of course, few would sit still for such a tax on one’s lifestyle, would they?

You know, we used to talk about the cost of our liberty being paid in the blood of our soldiers and citizens (and especially our citizen-soldiers); we appear to be heading into an era where our liberty will be determined by how much we cost the state.

Arrr, and don’t ye be forgettin’

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by the Night Writer

This Saturday, September 19 is the annual “Talk Like a Pirate Day” celebration, so get your “Arrrs,” “Aye-ayes”, “Avasts” and “Ahoys” ready to come across the bows of everyone you meet, and be sure to throw in some “Lubbers”, “Mateys” and “Bilge Rats” into your conversation (or blog) as well.

Too bad this day wasn’t scheduled earlier in the month. Then, instead of the things that have been reported in the news we could have heard the following:

From Serena Williams: “I’ll be firing this cannonball right into your bung-hole!”

From Kanye West: “I’ll be lettin’ you finish, but Beyonce’s got the best booty accordin’ to this sea dog.”

From Joe Wilson: “You ARRRRR a liar!”

Last chance to Dome-inate

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by the Night Writer

Tiger Lilly and I took an evening off from our writing endeavors to go to the Dome with a couple of her friends for the Twins-Indians game. I won the tickets in a drawing at work and they were pretty good seats, located next to the Twins’ bullpen in the fourth row. This was strategic and fortunate as Delmon Young flipped a ball into the stands after catching the third out one inning and the ball ended up at the feet of my daughter’s friend. It was also likely the final opportunity for me to take in a Twins game at the Dome where I had worked as a scoreboard operator for several years.

The evening didn’t start out too well, though, as the Twins lineup in these September days featured guys named Mendoza in the fifth through ninth spots. They were Brendan Harris-Mendoza at (putative) DH; Delmon Young-Mendoza, LF;  Matt Tolber-Mendoza, 3B; Carlos Gomez-Mendoza, CF; and Nick Punto-Mendoza, 2B. Fortunately the Twins managed a stirring come from behind victory in the bottom of the 8th (the only inning they scored) and Joe Nathan – after getting two quick outs – staggered to another save. In addition, Joe Mauer went 3-for-3 with a walk to raise his league-leading average to .371. A real highlight of the evening for me, however, was a trip to the scoreboard room next to the press box where I found three of my old buddies working. They waved me inside and we had a good time reminiscing about some of the events we’d worked and they repeated some of the jokes I had told back in the day (and had nearly forgotten). At one point one of the guys asked me, “Do you hear anything from your old pal Tony Kubek these days?”

I paused for a moment and said, carefully, “Tony and I don’t talk anymore.”

That all goes back to an incident between the famous ex-Yankee and broadcaster and myself that I related, along with several other anecdotes, back in 2007. Since the Dome’s baseball days are dwindling I thought I’d re-run that post here as a good-bye.

At Home in the Dome Continue reading →

Tiger Jack shack attack

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by the Night Writer

Having lived in St. Paul for a number of years, including a stretch in the Selby-Dale neighborhood, I am very familiar with Tiger Jack’s Store on Dale St. next to the northern entrance to Highway 94. Tiger Jack Rosenbloom was a black entreprenuer who, along with his wife Nurceal,  sold a little bit of everything from their 8′ x 10′ wood and metal shack The store was a fixture in the old Rondo neighborhood (a neighborhood essentially gutted by the highway’s construction) and a fixture at that corner for decades. Tiger Jack and Nurceal died several years ago and the original shack was donated to the Minnesota Historical Society, but their son, Lucky, has continued to run various enterprises from the tiny plot of land and has been a bit of a conservative gadfly in the community.

Driving by there these days I usually get a smile from the signs Lucky has posted in recent years, asking people to accept Christ, offering lessons to women for conceal and carry permits and volunteering the site (no bigger than my backyard) as a location for Christian Revivals.  Lucky was there on Wednesday night working on his campaign for the St. Paul School Board but decided to step out: “I think my mom and dad and God told me to get out of there for a while,” Rosenbloom said.

While he was gone, a panel truck lost control and crashed through the wall of the store.

On Wednesday, Rosenbloom had been at the store’s other building for several hours signing copies of his book, “Liberal Racism and the Black Conservative,” and waving a sign encouraging people to elect him to the St. Paul school board. He had gone inside the store briefly and was starting to pack up.

 

That’s when he decided to take a short break and headed to a nearby gas station for juice and lemon cake. He was on his way back when the crash occurred. He thought at first that someone had been shot near the store, but police officers filled him in on what had happened.

 

“One police officer kept coming over and saying, ‘Lucky, I’m sorry, I’m sorry,’ ” Rosenbloom said.

 

Rosenbloom does not yet have an estimate of damage. He’s also not sure if he will rebuild, but if he does, he might build a small museum to honor the Rondo community and his parents.

 

“They trusted me with that corner,” he said.

Fortunately, no one was hurt in the accident and I hope Lucky continues to make his presence — and thoughts — known on that corner for some time to come.

Don’t miss this war

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by the Night Writer

I wanted to take a minute to tell you about a great mystery series our whole family has been enjoying: Foyle’s War.

Foyle's War

It’s a British series set in the southeast of England beginning in the early days of World War II. Michael Kitchen stars as Detective Chief Superintendent Christopher Foyle who would much rather be doing something to aid the war effort but is pretty much stuck in Hastings.  For a quiet area (except for the occasional air raid), Foyle finds himself investigating quite a few murders. A quiet, resolute man he methodically rolls up clues and killers against the backdrop of war-time intrigue and paranoia. Similarly the series quietly grows on you as the main characters subtly reveal, bit by bit, a little more of their own histories and motivations.

Kitchen is absolutely fantastic in understated performances that demonstrate he probably has the most expressive wrinkles and folds in his face of any actor I’ve seen — though you get a hint that there’s great passion being kept under tight control. Complementary players include the awesomely named Honeysuckle Weeks as Foyle’s preternaturally perky driver, Samantha (Sam) Stewart and his wounded investigator, Sgt. Paul Milner (Anthony Howell), plus first class performances by a host of single-episode (so far) actors.

While the mysteries and performances are engrossing, the thing that really sets this show apart is the painstaking attention to detail in dress, settings and the human undercurrents of xenophobic patriots, Nazi sympathizers and government officials with their own agendas and an ever-shifting series of moral and dramatic issues. Each episode is about an hour and a half and there were only four episodes in each of the five years of the show. We ‘re halfway through the second year right now and can hardly wait to get each new disc from Netflix.

Check this out if you like superbly crafted dramas with unforgettable characters.