After a long respite, I'm compelled to post to this essentially invisible blog.

Today I read a comment to a political Facebook discussion in which someone stated that "liberals are not open to new ideas."  I think this was from a conservative perspective, but only because of the echoes of other conservative commentators who assert similar beliefs.

I've decided that the basic construction of similar statements, from ANY political point of view, is fundamentally a lie.

Whether it's from ditto heads or dismayed Bernie supporters, the real statement should be "I'm not going to change my mind no matter what you say or what facts you present."

It reminds me of a story my father used to tell about a mid-afternoon drunk at a tavern barn in the woods of Pennsylvania.  My dad went in to get a six-pack and the gentleman at the bar was holding forth on what would now be called "the disgusting media."  He was holding the local newspaper in this hand (a poor excuse for a newspaper for sure) and complaining about a story.

"These writers," he said, "if they don't want you to know something, they don't put it in there!"

"I'll show 'em," he muttered into his beer.  "I just won't read nothin'!"

Obviously a liberal, so he was.