Brian’s Column: How to Make Money on the Web

Posted on September 30, 2012 by Brian Wright

What I learned on the way to a(some) fleecing(s)
Column first posted on 20081201

Times are tough and we’re coming up on Christmas, which can be a time when temptations are high to invest in activities that promise to bring in a healthier amount of the legal tender. I’m offering this column as a public service to readers who may be so tempted, hoping they’ll profit from my own missteps in the newfangled world of “online businesses.”

Experience keeps a dear school, but a fool will learn in no other.
— Ben Franklin Continue reading →

Movie Review: The Big Lebowski (1998)

Posted on September 26, 2012 by Brian Wright

The funniest 60s-burnout flick ever made _ 9/10
Review by Brian Wright

The Dude: This is a very complicated case, Maude. You know, a lotta ins, a lotta outs, a lotta what-have-yous. And, uh, a lotta strands to keep in my head, man. Lotta strands in old Duder’s head. Fortunately, I’m adhering to a pretty strict, uh, drug regimen to keep my mind, you know, uh, limber.

Brandt: You never went to college…
The Dude: Oh, no I did, but I spent most of my time occupying various administration buildings… smoking a lot of thai stick… breaking into the ROTC… and bowling. To tell you the truth Brandt, I don’t remember most of it. Continue reading →

Guest Column: Challenging the NDAA

Posted on September 24, 2012 by Brian Wright

“We won… for now.”
by Chris Hedges

Chris Hedges writes a regular column for Truthdig.com. Hedges graduated from Harvard Divinity School and was for nearly two decades a foreign correspondent for The New York Times. He is the author of many books, including: War Is A Force That Gives Us Meaning, What Every Person Should Know About War, and American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. His most recent book is Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle. This Coffee Coaster guest column is excerpted based on Fair Use from the Common Dreams posted column on September 17, 2012. Mr. Hedges’ column concerns the recent ruling by US District Judge Katherine Forrest that the indefinite detention clauses of the National Defense Authorization Act are blatantly unconstitutional and invalid. It makes abundantly clear: Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: Legalize Plaxico

Posted on September 23, 2012 by Brian Wright

Stop the injustice of draconian gun control laws

The following column was first written and posted in 2008 near the time of Burress’s victimization by the out of control gun control fiefdom of New York City and its band of mobsters led by Michael Bloomberg. The sad irony is that instead of coming out of his ordeal and standing up for his natural and Constitutional rights of self-protection, and ours, Plaxico has become an apologist for the Prosecutocracy that violated them… and which effectively ended his athletic career. What do they call the syndrome when a terrorist’s victim comes to love the terrorist? Continue reading →

Guest Column: Fork the Drug War, Now!

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Brian Wright

The War on Drugs is the War on Freedom
by Camille Brockman

This is another in a series of liberty-focused banners that have been assembled by an interesting group of Web-savvy entrepreneurs or writers associated with something called the Online Criminal Justice Degree Project. Going to their site, I see these are people who are truly for justice: justice WITH liberty. All the corporatist government infringements of rights are held to high scrutiny. I love their banners (that unfold as facts and figures about serious public issues), which someone over there sends me periodically. Thank you, Camille. The War on Drugs: Don’t leave the Inquisition in first place in history’s greatest ongoing multidecade crimes against humanity. Continue reading →

Brian’s Column: New World of Work

Posted on September 16, 2012 by Brian Wright

Recessionary recruiter-call suggests end of an era
by Brian Wright

As a result of a rare contact from a job recruiting company the other day, I came to realize the Old World of Work[1], for moi, is done like a dinner. The Current World of Work is, for one thing, well, focused on younger persons. More important, the nature of the jobs available has become 90% political: if you can provide technical help with satisfying government health care reporting requirements (e.g. HIPPA of 1996) or government Continue reading →

Movie Review: Mildred Pierce (1945)

Posted on September 12, 2012 by Brian Wright

Fine intelligent movie that breaks barriers _ 9/10
Reviewed by Brian Wright

Veda: With this money I can get away from you. From you and your chickens and your pies and your kitchens and everything that smells of grease. I can get away from this shack with its cheap furniture. And this town and its dollar days, and its women that wear uniforms and its men that wear overalls.

Veda: You think just because you made a little money you can get a new hairdo and some expensive clothes and turn yourself into a lady. But you can’t, because you’ll never be anything but a common frump whose father lived over a grocery store and whose mother took in washing. Continue reading →