Recent Comments

1. almost 15 years ago on Tom Toles

   Comparing the 9/11 attacks to the current domestic threats (and acts) of violence against individual government officials or their physical offices is an apples-and-oranges comparison.

   The current domestic political environment is more properly compared to the lead-up to the Whiskey Rebellion and Shay’s Rebellion.

   The “Tea Party” movement appears to consist of some people with legitimate grievances, but dominated by malcontents, rabble-rousers, and conspiracy theorists.

   Furthermore, bricks have been thrown through windows throughout our Nation’s history - typically by zealots, ideologues and cowardly thugs. Death threats have been made and carried out by the corrupt or insane.

   Congressmen, back in the early 1800’s, occasionally beat one another with canes and even drew firearms on one another. Compare that to today’s lack of reasonable discourse and the Boehner/Reid/McConnell/Pelosi conflict seems positively civilized.

   I despise the knee-jerk opposition to anything supported by the Democratic Party. My local Republican congressman routinely votes the Party line - the Republican way, it seems.

   While I was profoundly unhappy with George W. Bush as a President, I was usually able to divorce that distaste from my consideration of his policies. Instances where I did agree with Bush were still rare.

   Yet, I never considered advocating violence against any governmental agency or individual. Instead, I wrote to my congressman, senators, and the President himself. (I have been been doing so since the Reagan years). I make my voice heard through letters to the editor. I vote consistently.

   And I keep firearms at hand to protect me from both the Government (if necessary) and those who would seek to overthrow it (when necessary). I am a Democrat. Don’t tread on me, either, Tea Partiers.

2. almost 15 years ago on Clay Bennett

   “Used to be Gore’s lock box till he spent all that was in it like a model Democrat..”

   How could he spend anything out of a “lock box”? He hasn’t held office since 2000, when the “lock box” idea was floated.

   And when he left (he was vice-president, not in a spending position) there was a budget surplus.

3. over 15 years ago on Clay Bennett

   I grew up in Rochester, NY. This weather is newsworthy only because it is the first storm of the year.

4. over 15 years ago on Doonesbury

   After spending nearly four years as a homeless person in Tallahassee - after living well on a rather high income for years before that - I can really identify with Alice and Elmont. Not every homeless person is crazy or alcoholic, but there are some who simply enjoy the freedom. That freedom comes at a cost, though. The homeless life is not for the lazy.

   There is no Medicaid and no Social Security checks for most of Florida’s homeless. You need to have a disability approved by Social Security to receive those benefits. Few receive food stamps.

   Most of the homeless do not begin that life by choice. Many get back on their feet quickly with the help hard work and friends or family. Some adapt and find freedom there. (I know that I got a lot of reading done.) There are a lot of military veterans.

   The majority (by choice or necessity) live alone most of the time. There are small group camps but usually camps are spread apart for privacy. As the strip says, “newbies” sometimes come in for a while. I never established a camp, but kept on the move. I had tried shelters but they were bad experiences.

   There are few homeless shelters available; only one, “The Shelter,” is truly free to the needy. God bless them. Another, Hope Community, (also free) is not really a shelter but a true community for the homeless, with counseling and job search training, but there is usually a waiting list.

   The others usually charge rent and require you to go “their” church as a condition of staying. We all have our own relationship with the Lord (especially the homeless) but have to attend services that many of us cannot relate to. Most were just too hard-core Baptist for my taste, although there was one particular church where I felt almost at home and attended regularly.

   I am blessed to have finally escaped that life with the help of Hope Community, but when I see the homeless today I can’t help remembering the freedom and sometimes stop to talk for a while.