Questions I never thought I'd have to answer

This evening my philosopher-son, after listening to my diva-daughter sing an old childrens' rhyme involving methods of detaining Panthera tigris said, "Dad, why do you catch a tiger by his toe?"

Needless to say, I was not stumped for long. "Well, JB, because that is where his claws are, and once you have him by his toe, his claw can't scratch you."

I thought I had him but again: "What is a holler?" For a moment I considered something about a small valley in the mountains, but resisted and told him it was a long, deep yell.

While he pondered, I posited this question: "What if he doesn't holler?" and his immediate reply was entirely logical: "Don't let him go!" But he was not done. "Well...why don't you catch him by the neck and cut off his head? Then he can't scratch you."

Alas, I had no answer.

Obama is in good company

Once upon a time, I lived in the fair city of Cambridge, Ma. And one thing that they do reeeeeealy well there is hand out parking tickets.

Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama got more than an education when he attended Harvard Law School in the late 1980s. He also got a healthy stack of parking tickets, most of which he never paid.

The Illinois senator shelled out $375 in January — two weeks before he officially launched his presidential campaign — to finally pay for 15 outstanding parking tickets and their associated late fees.

The story was first reported Wednesday by The Somerville News.

Obama received 17 parking tickets in Cambridge between 1988 and 1991[4 per year is about par for the course--ed.], mostly for parking in a bus stop [surprisingly poorly marked--ed.], parking without a resident permit [actually, this usually means they didn't see it because of snow--ed.] and failing to pay the meter [the ticket appears about 3 seconds after the meter expires, and I once got one before it expired; they assumed it would and preempted it--ed.], records from the Cambridge Traffic, Parking and Transportation office show.

He incurred $140 in fines and $260 in late fees in Cambridge in all, but he paid $25 for two of the tickets in February 1990.

Jen Psaki, a spokeswoman for the Obama campaign, dismissed the tickets as not relevant.

"He didn't owe that much and what he did owe, he paid," Psaki said on Wednesday. "Many people have parking tickets and late fees. [In Cambridge, this is an understatement--ed.]All the parking tickets and late fees were paid in full."

Now, I don't agree politically with almost anything Sen. Obama stands for, but in this case I'll have to defend him. Anyone who leaves Cambridge sans parking tickets either does not have a car, or has been there less than 30 minutes. There is strong, well founded suspicion that the city makes more money on giving out tickets than it does on taxes. And that is saying a lot. Good on you, Sen. Obama! You have proved to me that you really did spend time in Cambridge.

Kiwi!

Impressive. Amusing. I don't know what else to say. Worth watching.