Author: Thomas Purcell

Get this: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to ban the sale of cigarettes – now legal to people at age 18 – to people younger than 21. Yeah, that ought to work! Bloomberg, as you may know, has become the nation’s poster child for nanny-state policies. He wants to ban the sale of […]

Things are mighty heated these days. Tempers are flaring and minds are closed. Here’s the solution: the wit and wisdom of Will Rogers. “The short memory of voters is what keeps our politicians in office.” “We’ve got the best politicians that money can buy.” “A fool and his money are soon elected.” Rogers spoke these […]

I found something on the IRS Web site I never expected to see: quotations from great minds on taxes. The first two agitated me: “Taxes are what we pay for civilized society.” – Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., U.S. Supreme Court justice “The power of taxing people and their property is essential to the very existence […]

After feeling guilty of late for losing interest in America’s political landscape, I decided to go to confession. “Father, forgive me, for I have sinned. Like so many low-information voters, I am having trouble maintaining interest in what is going on in Washington.” “Explain, my son.” “Father, polls by the Pew Research Center and others […]

Ah, springtime has arrived in Washington, D.C. The National Cherry Blossom Festival is under way. The cherry trees, 3,700 of them given to America by the Japanese in 1912, are in full bloom. One incident involving the trees reminds me why Americans are so wary of Washington. In the spring of 1999, you see, some […]

The devil is in the details. Maybe I’d better explain. As it goes, the hit History Channel show, “The Bible,” was recently called out because the actor playing the part of Satan, Moroccan-born Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni, looks eerily similar to President Obama. I don’t think Obama is the devil, but he surely has one characteristic […]

Ah, the income tax preparation season is upon us. You’re probably wondering why you have to spend a couple of weekends barricaded in a room, sorting through receipts in the faint hope of complying with our confusing income tax laws. The income tax first came to America in 1861. Americans paid it to help finance […]

How Not to Honor St. Patrick Ah, St. Patrick’s Day is upon us. That means but one thing: time for Americans to over-celebrate the Irish tradition. I speak of the goofy Leprechaun hats, the gaudy green buttons and scarves and the propensity to drink excessive amounts of alcohol at fake Irish pubs while trying to […]

Last week, Best Buy joined Yahoo to ban employees from telecommuting – a subject on which I am becoming an expert. As a self-employed writer, I telecommute every day. Thanks to the Internet and my cell phone, I can work for clients from anywhere – my home office, a coffee shop, a campsite in the […]

It was on St. Patrick’s Day 1988 when an unexpected visitor arrived at Pat Troy’s Irish pub in Alexandria, Va – President Ronald Reagan. For 27 years, it’s been a favorite watering hole for Washington insiders. Some of Reagan’s advance men had been regulars. They secretly arranged the president’s visit. Just before noon, the pub […]

“All right,” said my mother, standing before the members of the U.S. Senate, “it’s time for you to get your act together.” “That’s right,” said my father. “You fools haven’t passed an annual budget in more than three years!” “What is this thing you call a ‘budget’?” said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. “For […]

“When you get mugged, there are certain rules you must follow,” my friend and his wife explained to me as we walked from a Washington, D.C., pub to their condo. “When I get mugged?” “Muggers are polite when you follow their instructions, but they get surly when you are rude,” said his wife. “How can […]

“The report said people are getting dumber – at least I think that’s what it said, but the big words kept throwing me off.” “Ah, yes, you speak of a recent study by Stanford University researcher and geneticist Dr. Gerald Crabtree. He believes human beings are undergoing intellectual decline.” “We are?” “Writing about the study […]

I’m turning into my father. My father was born in 1933. He was a paperboy in the days when paperboys stood on city corners and shouted “Extra!” In my father’s home, the newspaper still is king. He has two delivered daily. He reads every inch of both. He does the crossword puzzles in both, too […]

Boy, do I feel sorry for smokers these days. Smoking used to be so fashionable and hip in the James Dean and Steve McQueen days. Women who smoked used to be sexy. No sooner did they pull a Virginia Slim out of a cigarette case than men would rush at them with lighters. Even when […]

“What do you mean America’s youth don’t know who George Washington was?” “Dude?” “He was our first president, our best president and one of the primary reasons the experiment called America was able to work. But of course they don’t teach you that in school anymore.” “Dude?” “Scholars and historians deemed Washington to be our […]

It’s Nixon’s fault. I speak of the financial woes of the U.S. Postal Service, and the news last week that its hopes to cut Saturday mail delivery to save a few billion dollars a year. As it goes, President Nixon, tired of strikes by then-government postal workers, signed the Postal Reorganization Act into law in […]

Hey, pallie, what the heck happened to romance? I use the word “pallie” in deference to the great Dean Martin. A few summers ago, just before the annual Dean Martin Festival in Dino’s home town of Steubenville, Ohio, I decided to compare today’s hits with his. I started with the No. 1 song on Billboard […]

Maybe he’s just what America needs. Then again, maybe not. I speak of Vice President Joe Biden – who, according to Politico, is “intoxicated” by thoughts of being inaugurated as president in 2017. He’d be delighted to “finish what Barack Obama started.” Well, who better to finish what President Obama started than Uncle Joe? I’ll […]

Ring. Ring. “Hello, this is Tom.” “Happy birthday to you, Tom!” “Who is this? How did you know it was my birthday?” “Your birth date is public information – it’s listed on your voter registration card. But that’s not important. What is important is that I’m here to help you.” “Help me?” “We feel it’s […]

It’s cold and snowy as I write this. Thank goodness the federal government provides us with “helpful” winter tips (: ready.gov/winter-weather: ). Did you know, warns our government, that “(w)inter storms can range from a moderate snow over a few hours to a blizzard with blinding, wind-driven snow that lasts for several days”? News to me. Or […]

Norman Rapp’s dad saved my life that day. Maybe I better explain. An article on MSNBC.com discussed how kids raised in the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s are survivors. We survived chain-smoking adults, meat-and-potato diets and rough-and-tumble fearlessness of every kind. It was the Evel Knievel era, after all. Knievel became famous doing wheelies and jumping […]

“It’s no wonder many Americans are uneasy about the way President Obama is growing our government and eroding our liberties. Aren’t most Americans conservative?” “That is correct. Every year, Gallup does a survey on political ideology and it generally finds that 40 percent of Americans describe themselves as conservative, whereas half as many describe themselves […]

It sat in my parents’ dining room for 30 years or more: an old oak stereo console with large speakers concealed by green fabric. It filled my childhood with a harmony and clarity we could use lots more of about now. Sundays after supper, the sweet smell of coffee and pot roast and pineapple upside-down […]

My great-grandmother Jane Purcell had a wonderfully full life. Part of her story is revealed in the 1940 U.S. Census, which the National Archives and Records Administration made available online to the public in 2012 at: 1940census.archives.gov: . In 1940, Jane and some of her extended family resided at 1509 Orchlee in Brighton Heights. She was 71 […]

Every year about now, the media introduce us to the most fascinating people of the prior year. They always overlook people like Joe Horne. A tailgunner in the Army Air Corps during World War II, Horne and his crew enjoyed 11 successful missions. They didn’t expect to survive their 12th: orders to bomb a heavily […]