Recently by Scott Barzilla

I tried to get through a Jonah Goldberg column this morning. It's a semi-regular exercise in futility I try when his columns appear in the Chronicle. For those that want to try the same game I will give you a leg up here. Since most of you likely don't have the stomach for it, I'll provide the reader's digest version.The source of frustration began with the whole story that Mitt Romney supposedly hazed a fellow...

My mother in law proved a point that I had learned back in my political science days. Back in 2004, she said the Democratic party was dead. I'm not quite sure what led her to that conclusion. John Kerry wasn't exactly an exciting candidate and he still narrowly lost the election to George W. Bush. Congress was in the hands of the Republicans, but things had been worse. I suppose it was wishful thinking.My in...

There's an old expression that talks about finding out how the sausage is made. The general idea is that people are usually fine with the outcome, but when they take a look at the process that goes into creating the outcome, they suddenly lose their appetite. Sausage seems to be number one on that lists of products that people don't want to watch being made. Government might soon replace sausage on that lists.A political history...

One of the beauties of not running for office is I don't have to mince words. So, I'll say it again, David Dewhurst is a jackass. The current Lt. Governor is running for Kay Bailey Hutchinson's senate seat and I'm tempted to vote for him. Why would I do such a stupid thing? Well, it would get him the hell out of Texas now wouldn't it.Now, how did we get to this point? Well, Dewhurst...

This morning, MS-NBC reported that Mitt Romney paid the same of amount of money in taxes on his 113 million dollars of income last year as Barack Obama did on his three million dollars in income. That's not percentage people. That's actual dollars. Of course, I'm sure your president isn't getting hosed by the IRS, so we are left to wonder exactly who is getting hosed on this deal.Mitt Romney is Republican candidate that has...

As Desperado has pointed out so eloquently in his own way, the economy, foreign policy, and national security are not the most important issues in 2012. Yes, they are always important in any election, but if the past week has taught us anything it is that the structure of the Supreme Court and the entire judicial branch is at stake. Right now it is a 5-4 court in favor of the conservatives.The 2012 election is...

The headline makes this look like I have gotten sucked into a time warp. We're going to party like it's 2009. However, the subject of this particular tribe is much more recent in fact. So, bear with me as we set up the groundwork. The political debate shifted in the past few weeks to the issue of women's health and contraception in particular. I'm surprised that no one thought of the the public option as...

Rick Santorum is picking up steam these days in spite of himself and some ardent supporters. After all, I think the whole aspirin between the knees bit is a bit worn out. Santorum suggested there was a double standard in how Obama was treated following the Jeremiah Wright flap. Apparently, Obama was given a pass. I don't seem to remember it that way, but let's just take the man on his own words.He said that...

Update: Astrogirlkel has informed me that some teachers have allegedly looked the other way and some were accused of actually passing students along to the pedophile(s).In a story that demands a second read to be believed, a California school district has removed its entire staff because two of its members were charged with sexual abuse. Apparently, they take sexual abuse so seriously over there that they decided that 99 percent of the staff that was...

The Mitt Romney comedy tour continues in full force. At a recent speech he managed to piss off people from the left and right at the same time. He told America that he doesn't care about the poor and that if the safety net needs to be fixed he'll fix it. Of course, he came back and tried to fix his little gaffe, but these things take on a life of their own. For most of...

In his state of the union, President Obama urged all of the states to raise the dropout age to 18. To prove I'm not simply a sheep I will say that is absolutely the wrong thing to do. In fact, I think that's moving it in the opposite direction that it needs to go. The big problem is that public school curriculum stop serving the needs of the majority the minute they all step into...

It's been a long time. I want to introduce myself. My name is Scott Barzilla and I am unemployed. Back in November, things were picking up. I had what seemed like a firm offer from an insurance company and I got a holiday job at Barnes and Noble. That job went away when the holidays ended and the insurance company is still doing background checks. Meanwhile, I've shelled out nearing 500 dollars getting certified. It's...

My time at Barnes and Noble is coming to an end tomorrow. The funny thing is that the people there are split into three categories. There are the managers. They may have started in another field, but they are making a go of it there. They are in it for the long haul and probably making some decent money. There is a sizeable group of us that were downsized from our career of choice and...

I noticed when I looked at the dashboard that I had not written in a month. Well, time flies for the unemployed and the underemployed. The good news is that I found a job that helps our family get through the holidays. The bad news is that it really cuts into the writing time. When I add up the work schedule, studying time for insurance tests, and baseball statistics work it adds up to little...

Rarely do the worlds of sports, education, and morality collide in any real way. However, they have collided in Pennsylvania this week as Penn State University is embroiled in the the biggest scandal to hit college sports in at least a decade. Former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky has been charged with sexual abuse. That alone is not the story. The story is the cover up that ensued. The New York Times is now reporting that legendary...

When I was in school, the portion of history that fascinated me the most was intellectual history. I called it the history of ideas. I am big believer in the fact that ideas really can and do change the world. At the basis of every history is the story. All stories have protagonists and antagonists and there is always some liberty taken with the facts. Most people don't trust details you know.At the center of...

It seems the Perry campaign is running out of steam. I know all of you are shocked at the news. In other news, Kim Kardashian filed for divorce. I guess I was somewhat surprised because I thought he'd make it to New Hampshire. At least his campaign is on life support unlike the Kardashian marriage. According to recent polls, he is running fifth or sixth in Iowa. His campaign has decided to stop preparing for debates...

Dear Mr. Selig,If you are anything like me, you sometimes run hot and cold with your emotions. When that happens, I am practiced at the art of writing the scathing letter where I get out all of my emotions and use every dirty name in the book. Then, I crumple up the paper and start over. I did that once and then published my second draft over at Bleacher Report. As you might have suspected,...

A few weeks ago, I attended a job fair that was sponsored by the Houston Chronicle. The funny thing was that it was broken into three sections: nursing, engineering, and general. They wouldn't even allow me into the nursing or engineering section even though those companies were also hiring people that weren't nurses or engineers. Heck, I even tried to sneak into them to give them my resume and I was rebuffed.That being said, I...

Representative Steve King from Iowa and Representative Eric Cantor were on the tube a while back talking about the jobs bill. Both of them said they didn't want to do go forward with the bill. After spending much of time vomiting the drivel they usually do, King made a temporary moment of honesty when he told the world that they didn't want to do anything until after the November election.The commentator asked the next obvious...