Rick Snyder: The “Let Them Eat Cake” Era Kicks Off Now

The “Nerd” and new governor of Michigan Rick Snyder is coming in doing exactly what we anticipated; cutting tax exemptions for the poor and leaving breaks for corporations in place. Snyder is pushing to eliminate the Michigan Earned Income Tax Credit, which benefits low income workers. If is is passed, it would save the state about $360 million dollars. Great. Snyder is also pushing for a $1.2 BILLION tax CUT for Michigan businesses, hoping it will create more jobs. So, to recap, taking away $360 million from low income Michigan residents is a measure to balance the budget, but letting big business keep almost three times that amount is okay? Roughly 780,000 families received the tax credit in the 2009 fiscal year. Snyder defended the plan on Friday by saying the money would go to help Medicare in the state, though later admitted only roughly 20% of that tax would actually find its way to benefit Medicare recipients.

“Heil! I mean, Hey!” ~ Gov. Rick Snyder

In addition, without the METIC, an additional 25,000 families would fall below the poverty line in the state. To give my Dear Readers a rough idea of the amount of money the METIC equates to annually per household, a couple of two with an annual income of $30,000 would receive a credit of $643, or roughly enough to pay a year’s worth of utilities.

2011, Big Ten Disaster, Play-offs, and Planet…

Happy New Year and the very first Monday of such. Now that it’s 2011, all of your dreams will come true, your shortcomings will disappear and your drug habit will be a thing of the past…Or so 2011 would have you think.

There is no magical aspect of a new year. In fact, the idea of transitioning to a new calendar year on December 31st is somewhat arbitrary from a lifestyle standpoint. Why not on March 31st? Or February 2nd? We have attached ideas of new selves to that of the New Year, and so, we make resolutions. The Bohunk’s (no soda till June) will be difficult, but it comes from necessity. The off-season will soon be the on-season in cycling, and though the Bohunk has no money to race and a gracious, friendly but financially non-committal sponsor, the season ahead could be very short. However, it is a New Year…Keeping with the naïve hope of the masses, why not dream and dream big? Team RadioShack, you have my email address…

As mine eyes slid over this headline, “Bombing opens veins of Christian anger in Egypt”, the Bohunk noticed the irony of the statement. Christians, instructed by their Messiah thousands of years before he graced a grilled cheese, should turn the other cheek. 21 were killed New Years Day when a bomb exploded in a Coptic Church. The Christians were quick to blame their government for failing to protect them from discrimination and responded with rioting and protest outside the headquarters of the Coptic Church in Cairo. Protestors attacked Muslims around Cairo during the riots, injuring dozens and damaging a mosque. So, as you can see, violence is the religious answer to violence. Those claiming the divine support of a great imaginary friend are stronger than those with a similar, indeed, the same imaginary friend. Christians make up just 10 percent of the 80 million human beans in Egypt, but that number is vocal and politically important. Many Christians feel as though they are unwanted in Egypt (no shit) but refused to leave (bad idea). The Bohunk abhors the violence against the Christians, but rioting and beating Muslims in the streets is not the best way to stop a nation hating you. So, to both sides, knock it off.

“Turn thine cheek…then sucker punch thine enemies.” ~ Jesus Christ

In typical Republican boasting and grandstanding, new chairman of the House Oversight Committee Darrell Issa has labeled the entire Obama administration as corrupt. Of course; they are all politicians. (pause for laughter 1, 2,3,) But seriously, unless you have some thick hard facts to back up that kind of claim you are really hanging your willy in the wind and looking foolish. And any evidence, Mr. Issa? He could only point to the trillion dollars in stimulus spent by the Obama administration as a possible corrupting influence. The Bohunk points out that the Bush administration also had $1 trillion to blow on rich banks in 2007. Coming into office with this type of agenda and bias is only going to make bipartisan politicking impossible and the process slow. Issa is going to be on a witch hunt for his term as chairman, when the country needs someone protecting them from banks and lobbyists…And Issa.

In amateur football news, New Years Day was the worst in Big Ten history, with Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State and Wisconsin all losing, and only Wisconsin doing so in style. The Badgers were a failed two-point conversion from taking the TCU Horned Frogs (a team nickname that needs no substitution) to overtime, while the other Large Dix (dix is ten in French) squads fell by as much as 42 points (Go ye Sons of Sparta!) on the day. Michigan’s defense, abysmal all year, was somehow worse. They were only mildly inconvenient to Mississippi State’s offense, who casually ambled down the field to score on most of their possessions. Denard Robinson played well in the first quarter, but the pressure of knowing you must score each drive ate away at Michigan’s best player, and his mates, until they crumbled. It is no secret; the SEC is the best football conference in ‘Merica. The top six schools in the SEC would all win every other conference if they were in it, including the Large Dix and the Not-So-Large Big 12 (they will have only 10 teams next fall, losing Nebraska and Colorado) in that scenario. The SEC and Large Dix play again in the Cotton Bowl with Ohio State taking on Arkansas. Ohio State will be starting five players who will be suspended for the first five games next season. Why they can play this game is simple; money. Ratings with Terrelle Pryor, Boom Herron, and the other Black Listers will be much higher than without them. The NCAA will let the kids play, make their money, then scold them once the ink dries. The NCAA is a shameless, shameless body.

Michigan’s “Slightly Inconvenient” Defense: Get close, arm tackle, and hope they start running the wrong way…

In (more) professional fooball, the play-offs are set. The Bears, Falcons, Seahawks and Eagles won their divisions while the Packers and Saints are in as wild cards for the NFC. And when the defending Super Bowl champs and the trendy pick to be next year’s defending Super Bowl champs are in as wild cards, you know the deck is stacked. (Note the excellent card symbolism) In the AFC, the Patriots, Steelers, Chiefs and Colts are in as division winners with the Jets and Ravens serving as the wild cards. The MVP race is between Mike Vick and Tom Brady, with the Bohunk pushing for Brady simply for the fact that he is the best quarterback in the league, bar none. To lose to a fellow quarterback would just be insulting. And if you take Brady out of the line-up, they don’t win that division, and they may not even make the play-offs. That is valuable. More NFL stuff as the week goes on…

A 45 year old amateur astronomer, who does not even own a telescope, is given partial credit in the discovery of four gaseous exoplanets on the very edge of the solar system. Peter Jalowiczor used data measurements released by the University of California-Santa Barbara to locate the rough locations and orbits of four planets that ranged from 58 to 190 light years away. As noted, the man has never even owned a telescope, but has used his mind and impeccable mathematics to discover planets that cannot even be seen by our most powerful telescopes. And these planets are believed to be gigantic, as large as the behemoth Jupiter but several times the distance from the Sun to Jupiter away. One of the planets has over 4,000 days in a single year, while another has just 110. Some years ago, we didn’t think these exoplanets existed; now we have catalogued over 500 with new celestial bodies being discovered all the time. Just goes a cool glass of perspective. We don’t know everything, we know almost nothing. The universe, my friends, is the greatest mystery.

That will be it for the Bohunk, thanks for reading, and if you see Brett Favre, please hide him in a cave until next September so we don’t have to hear him seesaw about retirement. Come on back tomorrow, should you all, my dear readers, find the time…

New Years Eve, Google vs Facebook, and Well-Wishing…

Good morning, and as you find yourself on this Friday morning you do, I hope, with the realization that the year 2010 is but hours from its end and this little sphere we call home, has been hurdling around an exploding ball of helium and hydrogen for 365 days to return to square one.

In fact, we have been zooming right along at about 65,000 miles per hour for every second of out annual trip, a trip we have made roughly 4.6 billion times since our planet was formed, even back when our sun was weak and dim. And our world will keep on zooming around for untold billions of years, or until the sun expands as it dies and eats up first Mercury and Venus, then our little ball of fun itself.

In Ivory Coast news, Great Britain has announced that is will support military intervention should the international community agree to implement force to expel entrenched ex-president Laurent Gbagbo. The British government has voiced concerns that the political struggle in the country could develop into genocide or other forms of ethnic cleansing while the international peace keepers would be keep from assisting by reservations on acting on political disputes. Other bodies with armed forces, such as the US and UN, have not yet voiced readiness to assist in peacekeeping duties.

In 2010, Facebook officially passed Google as the number one website in the world. Not a bad year for the internet, either, as the WikiLeaks organization swiped hundreds of thousands cables from diplomats, among millions of other bits of information, and embarrassed the governments of nearly every western and eastern industrialized nation.

Have a tremendous New Years Eve and enjoy your New Year as well. The world has survived yet another journey around the Sun, daintily stepping past asteroids and comets, shrugging off trillions of trillions of cosmic particles that actually travel through it (and us) each second only to begin again anew. All the best to you and yours, and the Bohunk will return in 2011 with a 3% increase in effort to match the GDP.

North Korea, Crazy Pills, and the Best NFL Game in Years…

The Bohunk returns on this wonderful Monday, safely entrenched in a big, soft couch. The location may have temporarily changed, but of course, the mission hasn’t. Now, let us press on to that very noble mission…

North Korea has voiced its decision not to follow through on threats to retaliate should South Korea do live fire drills on a small island off the Korean Coast. Two weeks ago, North Korea returned fire during a similar artillery drill, killing South Korean troops and nearly returning the simmering 50+ year conflict to a full boil. South Korea prepared extra defense along the demarcation line that separates the two nations, which has the dubious honor of being the most armed border in the world. Tensions rose again yesterday after South Korea ended its drill and waited for some reaction by North Korea, which thankfully came in a smug, overconfident announcement and not mortar fire. Some experts believe that should the two Koreas war again, over a million people would die in the first hour or so. The South Korean capital, Seoul, is just a few dozen miles from the demarcation line, and artillery and rocket fire would level the city in an hour. There is no more dangerous place in the world right now, although that is (depressingly) debatable…

The Pope, Benedict XVI, went to the press to push priests and other church officials to “reflect” on the failures of the Catholic religion and its inexcusable sexual abuse scandals. He also expressed intent to make sure pedophiles do not become ordained. (Thanks, Pope, for trying to weed out pedophiles now about 2,000 years after you’ve let men represent God on earth) But the damage has been done. In 2010, abuse cases from Ireland, Germany, the US, and other countries around the world surfaced, and with even more evidence reinforcing the common theory that these abuses persisted and were almost allowed by the church hierarchy in an effort to cover them up. The structure of the church worked to suppress any in the ‘flock’ who spoke out, and few worked for the punishment of sexually abusive priests. However, the Pope has a relatively credible history of fighting abuse by priests, as evident in a 1988 letter demanding punishment of known pedophiles by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the very man who now wears the pointy white hat as Benedict. These charges will never be forgotten, but the church can save some dignity by preventing similar cases in the future.

Nice cap, Benedict..

Over in America’s oldest war, Afghanistan, Vice President Joe “It’s A Big Fuckin’ Deal” Biden claims that, according to the US spy agencies, Bin Laden and Al-Qaeda lack the funds and freedom to be of any real concern to US forces on either side of the Afghan/Pakistani border. Biden points to evidence of new, smaller scale attacks that are becoming all that is possible, a major step back from their 9/11 attacks and abilities. Now, Al-Qaeda operatives are using small arms and shoulder fired rockets to harass US troops, but lack the structure, sophistication and ability to coordinate world wide attacks. The CIA now believes that Yemen, a small country on the Arabian Peninsula, is the most dangerous terrorist threat in the Middle East, even ahead of Iran. Some critics claim that by pinching them out in Afghanistan has only allowed factions of terrorists to grow unchecked in other areas of the globe. The Bohunk believes this is, unfortunately, the more likely case, though efforts to snuff out any group usually create more evil, hateful groups.

In professional football news, one of the most amazing finishes in NFL history occurred yesterday, and I do not mean to imply the Lions-over-City of Tampa in that sentence, though the Lions did win in OT. The Philadelphia Egg Salads were down 34-10 to the New York G-Persons with seven minutes to go. Game over. No comeback possible. Even when Mike “Who Let the Dogs Out?” Vick threw two touchdowns, the Bohunk said, “Yes, but what of it?” He then scrambled Barry Sanders-like (and I don’t throw that comparison around lightly) for touchdown, and it was very much a tie game. The G-Persons failed to travel ten yards and were forced to punt with 14 seconds left. Giants coach Tom Coughlin to punter Matt Dodge: “Punt it out of bounds.” The G-Person’s faithful to Matt Dodge: “Punt it out of bounds.” The Bohunk to Matt Dodge: “Punt the damn thing to Manhattan, just do not let it land in the arms of DeSean Jackson.” DeSean Jackson to Matt Dodge: “Didn’t you hear them all tell you not to give it to me?” The ball was almost squarely in the middle of the field. Dodge claims to have slipped, and the ball pulled to stay in bounds. Jackson dropped it, picked it up, and returned it for a walk-off punt return for a touchdown, and one of the most amazing comebacks in NFL history. The loss could keep the Giants out of the play-offs, though the Flying Elvii helped them out by beating Green Bay, and a Bears loss this evening would keep the Packers alive for the division win as well. This was an incredible game…(Almost as thrilling as a Lions OT win)

Flying like an Eagle…Two points for a Steve Miller
Band reference…

Are you in college? Have you noticed that everyone seems borderline insane? Research shows that nearly one half of college students who meet with a counselor or psychiatric professional are suffering from serious mental health issues or instabilities. The primary reasons for this high number, according to experts, is the heavy use of alcohol and drugs, a history of mental illness and self-injury habits. Many of these students with a mental illness history have already been prescribed psychiatric drugs (like Wellbutrin, Adderall, etc.) and who, by social and cognitive limitations, probably would not have been enrolled in college twenty years ago. 44% of those seeking counseling have serious mental health issues, up from 21% just last year. So, if people seem off, give them a smile and watch for patterns of harmful behavior. Look at your dorm or college for who to notify if you think someone may be a danger to themselves or others….

It is the holiday season, and holi-days are different for most people around the globe. The roots of the Christian celebrations for the birth of Jesus Christ are dug deep into Celtic and Roman holidays celebrating a sort of Festival of Lights. Celebrated on the solstice, usually the 21st of December, Yule was a Scandinavian, Celtic and Norse tradition to honor light on the shortest and darkest day of the year. Check back tomorrow for the entire chronology of Christmas.

Thanks for reading, as always, much better effort on a Tuesday. Only a few more days to Chirstmas, or, if you’re not into that, until Saturday…

Sweden, Rings, A Wasted Heisman and Miley Cyrus…

It is the week before Christmas and the Bohunk reminds you that the holidays are not only about gifts and presents, but that is how people will remember you. Do not be the guy to show up to the Christmas even empty handed, unless you are really sure they already like you.

The snow of the season blanketed most of the Mid-West and the East Coast over the weekend, dumping a few feet in areas of west New York, northern Indiana and northern Michigan. And, true to form, people acted as though the world might end. This time, however, the accumulation was worth the excitement. The Minnesota Hyperboreans vs. New York G Persons was postponed after the Giants were stranded in Kansas City, and the dome the Vikings play in nearly collapsed. It means Detroit will host its first Monday Night Football game in over a decade, though obviously the Lions will still not partake. Tickets in Detroit are free to whoever would like to watch; the Bohunk predicts a sparse crowd.

What experts believe to be a suicide bomb attempt killed one man and injured to others in Stockholm, Sweden. The Nordic country known for its blondes and neutral stance in foreign policy has long avoided the terror threats and bombings that have rocked other European nations since 2001. Two separate explosions just seconds apart and only 200 yards away rocked a busy commerce center in Stockholm. An e-mail sent to many news outlets claimed responsibility for the attacks, citing Sweden’s support of the US in Afghanistan (Sweden has 500 troops in country) and their support for the cartoonist who drew an image of Allah, which is a pretty big taboo in the Islamic faith. The country also has faced a massive influx of Muslims into the country, prompting a rise in right-wing anti-immigration policy and attitude in response to the influx of foreigners. It is a small world after all…

The controversial image of Allah from Sweden’s cartoonist, Mr. Viilk. Edited to avoid
bombings.

One of the most beautiful and intriguing mysteries in the cosmos was the origins of Saturn’s rings. Many scientists have lobbed guesses, but there was never enough evidence to go beyond theory. The planet’s distance also has prevented any concrete exploration of the composition of the rings and its moons, though they can conclude that the moons are primarily rock and ice. A new theory based on the presence of pockets of hydrogen brings about a new guesstimation. Robin Canup, the author of a new study on Saturn, says that a giant ring of hydrogen once surrounded the planet. This ring had a huge role in the formation of the rinds, creating and destroying planets, and even altering their orbits and send them crashing through Saturn’s atmosphere; if they made it through uncrushed, some actually came out on the other side. Fast forward a billion years, and the hydrogen ring has dissipated, either being captured in Saturn or drifting off into space, leaving some traces in the rings amongst millions of fractured rocks and ice particles. We have studied this planet for decades, and we are only just learning how the most marked trait of any planet in the solar system was formed (although the Bohunk would admit the presence of life on Earth is pretty important too). We don’t know everything, we know almost nothing. The universe, my friends, is the greatest mystery.

Saturn and her rings: The result of billions of years of hydrogen slowly dissipating into
the deep recess of space….And nice to look at, too.

A short note on the Heisman: For the first time in twelve years, the Bohunk did not watch the Heisman trophy presentation at the Downtown Athletic Club. Since I was ten years old, I have watched the presentation of the most valued and prestigious award in amateur sports. Sitting in my basement, dressed in shorts and cleats and a jersey, I watched the award handed to Ricky Williams, Eric Crouch, Charles Woodson and the rest; not all amazing pros, or good people in life. But when they were awarded the Bronze Man With A Wicked Stiff Arm, we all knew they were amateurs. Saturday, that same trophy was handed to a player, Cam Newton, who we know to have stolen computers. He left the University of Florida to avoid a academic scandal after he was suspected of cheating and accepting improper assistance. Then, his father offered up his son to the highest bidder, looking for up to $180,000 from Mississippi State, and finally settling on Auburn because, as Cam Newton was quoted by Miss. State sources, “The money was just too good.” The NCAA cleared him because the money from the bowls is too good; Auburn stands to win almost $100 million to split with the SEC. Within a month of the game being played, Newton will be declared ineligible. His Heisman will have to be returned, and his wins, records, and all of his team’s accomplishments will be erased. Simply embarrassing. All the luck in the world to Oregon, My Oregon on January 10th.

A sad look in the Update’s ongoing coverage of the cholera epidemic in Haiti. Clinics and the nation’s experts now say that over 4,000 people have died from cholera with roughly 100,000 being afflicted with the disease since the outbreak began in October. Fears in the Caribbean are now turned to the neighbors of Haiti, however, who fear that the disease may spread to the Dominican Republic or other nations in the area. Experts and the UN have put into practice a system meant to regulate border crossings by those who may have had contact with the sick, and no food or water is allowed to pass into the Dominican Republic. A handful of cases of the disease have been reported in small rural villages along the Haitian border.

Miley Cyrus: Peace, Love and Weed.

In lighter news, videos are out after Miley Cyrus was caught “hitting” (as the kids would say) a bong, which the Bohunk has learned is a device used to smoke the illegal plant-drug marijuana. Cyrus was at her eighteenth birthday party. While a let-down and a poor example for millions of her fans, the Bohunk looks on it positively; at least the video wasn’t her getting “hit” by anybody. (This implies a sex tape, sorry, not easy to mix terminolgy) She has not made a comment about it yet, though the Bohunk suspects it will be, “That’s just Miley being Miley.”

The Detroit Lions beat the Green Bay Packers yesterday by the runaway score of 7-4. It was the first division win since Detroit beat the Bears in 2007. They are still holding their streak of road losses, 25, but to focus on the positive, the Lions beat a very solid Packers team that was a Super Bowl pick by many of the trend-spotting Talking Heads on ESPN. The Packers are still one game behind the Bears for the division title, and the two play to end the season. Both teams are jockeying with the New York G-Persons for the wildcard spot.

In a blustery Chicago Bears vs. New England Flying Elvii match-up, the Best Team In The NFL (Patriots) beat up the Bears, winning by 33 at the half, prompting CBS to switch to the Jets/Finns game at the start! of the third quarter. Tom “Bieber” Brady looked cool as the relatively frigid temperature of a fading white dwarft star as he tossed for two TDs and 369 yards. The Bohunk politely notes to readers that the Pats were dubbed the Best Team In the NFL on October 13th, almost two months ago to the day, and they are now proving it…Someone most have told them of my vote of confidence.

In another contribution to the Bohunk’s Cheap Gifts for the holidays, you may just want to pick up a copy of Earth (The Book): A Visitor’s Guide to the Human Race now just $15 when you buy online. Jon Stewart takes a hypothetical alien through the goings-on and daily life of the Blue Planet’s stewards, humans. It’s a colorful, hilarious book and your wise-ass on the list is going to enjoy each sarcastic page. Just follow the link to Barnes and Noble.

Again, the Bohunk must shamelessly plug his own book, West, on-sale now as an eBook on Barnes and Noble. You can pick it up here for an amazingly good deal of only $2.

Thanks for reading, folks, and come back tomorrow for some more Christmas cheer. And some really depressing world news.

Ducks, Hitler AND Stalin, and the First Day of Christmas…

Welcome back! Hoping you enjoyed your Thanksgiving and holiday weekend. It is a big weekend for a lot of people and a lot of families for a lot of reasons, not the least of which being eating. The Bohunk is happy to report that the amount of pumpkin pie devoured over the past five days may have surpassed all in history; at least two pies combined, in addition to an unknown number of cakes, iced creams, lattes, pumpkin bars and fudge conglomerates. The caloric intake must easily match that of a small Botswanian village over the course of a month. The result was expected; there is a little bit more Bohunk to love this week.

Let us go back, way back, in time to revisit the Thanksgiving tradition the Bohunk values just as much as eating mashed potatoes with a roll serving as an edible fork. The Detroit Lions hosted the New England Flying Elvii, huge favorites and declared (by me) The Best Team In The NFL. Tom “Bieber” Brady tossed for 341 yards and four (count ‘em) touchdowns while strolling away from the Detroit defense. “Shotgun” Shaun Hill made another start for the Lions, and played in typical just-enough-effort-and-yardage-not-to-get-benched fashion that has always been his trademark. Jahvid Best barely touched the field with a nagging turf toe injury, and Calvin Johnson had four catches for 81 yards and six points. This makes 7 straight losses on Thanksgiving for the Lions….The Bohunk does not mind if they lose the next 7 to 10 games, the tradition, which began in 1934, should continue regardless….

Oregon, My Oregon survived a tough game from Arizona, who seemed at least to be equal to the Ducks until the second half. As a partial bystander, I’d say Oregon is: A) The best dressed squad in the country B) The fastest group of 80 gentlemen outside of a federal prison C) Going to win the national title against whoever ends up playing them. If it is Auburn, who barely survived Alabama on Friday, the Bohunk sees a game in which Oregon flies while Cam “I’m So Paid” Newton plods and plugs along. Auburn has survived some scares this season because of their tremendous comebacks in the second half; Oregon, according to my made-up sources, is the only team more dangerous in the third and final quarters of a foot ball contest. Auburn will not be able to comeback against LeMichael James and Co.

(Mighty Ducks Style) “Quack, quack, quack, quack quack…”

On the other end of the football sammach, the professionals played Sunday with some great college games tucked between. What a weekend for pigskin; we saw great games involving almost every Top Ten school (LSU, Auburn, Oregon, Nebraska, Oklahoma vs Oklahoma State, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Ohio State) and were then treated to games that may decide divisions and wild card slots (Packers, Bears, Giant, Colts and Vikings). Just another thing to be thankful for…(It’s Monday, there’s gonna be some cheese in here)

Unfortunately, outside the football world, political life went on. The eerily plugged-in WikiLinks website gained access to what might amount to a quarter million cables concerning intimate conversations and insights on diplomatic negotiations from around the world. The cables span the past three years, include some from just this past February. The first batch were released on Sunday, with more to come soon. Ambassadors and American diplomats across the globe have been reaching out to their counterparts to forewarn the impeding explosion. Many intelligence officials in the government claim the information endangers the efforts of diplomats and infringes on the personal rights of government employees. Frankly, there is a ton of information to sift through, but already news agencies have found some shocking exchanges between nations. Cables show that the US has been secretly (and very unsuccessfully) attempting to steal nuclear weapons and materials from Iran since late 2007. It has also revealed the wheeling and dealing involved with trying to close the Guantanamo Prison in Cuba by trying to entice other nations with cash, trading rights and photo-ops if they would take terrorists into their country. (Slovenia was told they would get a meeting with President Obama if they would house a detainee) Other cables revealed that the American government warned Germany against punishing or even trying to prosecute US CIA agents who arrested an innocent German citizen and held him in Afghanistan for months. Much more on this later in the week…

The holidays are not, officially, commenced; while the Bohunk loves Christmas just as much as the next Bohunk, the ever-earlier creep of Christmas itself infringed on the gift-less, pressure-less joy that is Thanksgiving. Watch the Macy’s Parade? See anything Thanksgiving related? While I will admit I did not watch the parade in its entirety, I counted three (3) Thanksgiving-themed floats, while nearly every other was bedecked hall-like with fake snow, elves, dancing Santa girls or bows of holly. With Turkey Day passed, now Christmas songs and movies are acceptable, though the November 16th airing of The Grinch did not go unnoticed.

The Official Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade Poster; Please point out
any aspect that indicates this parade honors the holiday of Thanks-
giving. (And if you say “Buzz Lightyear”, you’re wrong and a jerk)

To aid you in your gift searching, the Bohunk will be featuring one CHEAP item at random until Christmas Eve. Do not let the commercials fool you; you will not receive a Mercedes, an iPad and a flawless diamond this Christmas (unless you’re rich, you tax-dodging bastards) and no one expects those things from you (see above if you actually do expect those things). This inaugural gift is simple, inexpensive but intelligent. Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin by Timothy Snyder ($17.99, if you buy at Barnes and Noble) is a nice, thick history piece focused on the nations between Germany and Russia who spent the middle portion of the 20th century being either ruled and massacred by the Nazis during WWII or being ruled and massacred by Stalin and Soviet Russia. Most of this region was taken over in the ‘30’s by Stalin, who pushed the peasants from the ancestral farms and forced them onto commercials farms or to industrial zones. Ukrainians claimed that 3 million men were killed during this period before WWII; a 1937 census by the Soviet government found that over 8 million people had “disappeared.” Stalin was shocked; he then killed the demographers who were responsible for conducting the census. Snyder, an excellent writer and a brilliant historian, found that in 12 years over 14 million civilians were killed in Poland, the Baltic nations and Ukraine. It’s a great book for the history buff on your list. (Yours Truly)

Thanks for reading, and please take a moment to check out Livestrong.org to check out their gear. They are offering 28% off for the holiday season in honor of the 28 million living with cancer this year. Enjoy Monday Night Football, the San Francisco Squared Sevens vs. the Arizona Red Birds.