Dennis E. Powell's View from Mudsock Heights

Dennis E. Powell is crackpot-at-large at Open for Business. Powell was a reporter in New York and elsewhere before moving to Ohio, where he has (mostly) recovered. You can reach him at dep@drippingwithirony.com.

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The Metaphor We Need

By Dennis E. Powell | Nov 08, 2023 at 10:22 PM

Do you like movie westerns? It is conceivable, I suppose, that you don’t. If you don’t, it is probably because you have a mistaken impression of them, and I encourage you to reconsider.

The 20-Percent Solution

By Dennis E. Powell | Nov 01, 2023 at 9:34 PM

The idea hit me in early 1977, during of all things a pistol match. And the ratio that first came to mind that weekend morning still seems about right. It is a rule — okay, a “guideline” as we now like to say — that explains and to a limited extent influences much of our daily lives. That morning I named it the 20 percent rule. In the — Lord help me — nearly 50 years since that day it has held up pretty well.

How Halloween Was

By Dennis E. Powell | Oct 27, 2023 at 10:00 PM

Next Tuesday is Halloween, though holidays are now moved all over the place. No doubt plans are underway to desecrate Christmas, New Year, and Thanksgiving, but moving Halloween all over the place is especially inconvenient, in that it involves strangers coming to our homes, so we must be there, and if it’s spread out over many days . . . well, you can see. Or will.

No Better the Umpteenth Time

By Dennis E. Powell | Oct 18, 2023 at 10:14 PM

Have you ever re-watched a sad movie, hoping that this time the outcome will be different? Welcome to the world today. Only it’s not a movie.

Time to End This

By Dennis E. Powell | Oct 11, 2023 at 3:34 PM

Babies. They beheaded babies. They are proud of it. It is particularly troubling when acts are so horrific that people of good will are sad that they are not there to personally kill the offenders. But that was my instant, immutable response to a video I saw on Saturday.

Here's News You Haven't Heard

By Dennis E. Powell | Oct 04, 2023 at 8:56 PM

The bill is coming due, and it will get paid one way or another.

Hospitals Are Dangerous Places

By Dennis E. Powell | Sep 27, 2023 at 9:57 PM

My grief-stricken niece, a nurse, this week had to explain to her 7-year-old son that his daddy would not be coming home from the hospital. That heartbreaking duty followed a stressful month.

Protect the Sinister!

By Dennis E. Powell | Sep 20, 2023 at 11:04 PM

In our group-based-grievance society, one minority has been almost entirely ignored and is constantly discriminated against. It makes up about 11 percent of the population. It is not something its members choose, but its effects reach into every aspect of their lives.

World, We've Got a Problem

By Dennis E. Powell | Sep 13, 2023 at 7:18 PM
There used to be a rule among reporters: the likelihood of a secret being kept is the inverse of the number of people who know that secret. The rule still exists; it’s the reporters who disappeared, replaced by demographically selected persons hired to preen before television cameras or write stories intended to maintain the woke *bona fides* of themselves and their publications.

A Treatment for Bad-mood

By Dennis E. Powell | Sep 06, 2023 at 10:40 PM

There was a time when respite was available, when for a couple of hours each week one could wipe his brow and smile. The restorative power of two hours of happiness is not to be underestimated.

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