The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Archives - Page 49 of 56

The Great Tax Battle of 1990 – Winner #1: George Bush

By Chris Carosa on July 21, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the July 19, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

Let’s get one thing out quickly. I don’t like taxes. I don’t think the government does a good job spending our money. When it comes to the national budget, I think I could make better decisions in three minutes than some Washington Bureaucrat can make after a three year study. I hate taxes. I believe they suck the blood from an otherwise vigorous nation.

Of course, I am rational enough to realize the government must provide services (like Continue Reading “The Great Tax Battle of 1990 – Winner #1: George Bush”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged George Bush, politics, taxes

Milestones

By Chris Carosa on July 14, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the July 12, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

Our society excels at noting matters of record. These milestones can brighten up an otherwise dull journey. Whether they be points of interest while traveling or anniversaries of historic events, we enjoy inducing structural comfort into our lives. Structural comfort implies our choice of markers can be arbitrary. We pick them only because the milestone ends in five or, even more often, zero.

Think about it. How many people celebrate with fanfare their twenty-third wedding anniversary or their ninth year since graduation? Most folks go wild on their twenty-fifth Continue Reading “Milestones”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged birthday, Growing Up

Summertime Stargazing

By Chris Carosa on July 7, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the July 5, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

I love the summer. Longer daylight hours means we can do a lot more. It also means, after a good day’s work, we can still spend some relaxing time with our family and neighbors.

Sitting on the porch gently taking in the sights and sounds of nature and our community, we savor the twilight of the day. The last lick of sunlight long since set, we slowly mellow with the sky. Our light conversation goes as smoothly as the transition from dusk to dark.

It is this time of day I enjoy the best. Surrounded by close comrades and all the chores done, I can now look heavenward. For some reason, I still get a kick out of finding the Continue Reading “Summertime Stargazing”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Antares, Aquila, Aristotle, astronomy, astronomytop100, Cygnus, Kant, Lyra, Mars, Milky Way, philosophy, Plato, Sagittarius, Scorpio, Summer Triangle

A Graduation Song

By Chris Carosa on June 30, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the June 28, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

School’s out… Forever!
– Vincent Furnier (a.k.a. Alice Cooper)

Or so to speak, especially for those going to college in a couple months. But for now, revel in the new found freedom of no more homework, no more books, no more teachers’ dirty looks. You have completed the first job your country has given you – getting a high school diploma. That in itself deserves a celebration.

As music can often be found in most celebrations, maybe a graduation song would be appropriate. Since a newspaper doesn’t offer the proper medium for carrying a tune, the most one could hope for out of this song would be melodious lyrics. But, since this Continue Reading “A Graduation Song”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged fun, graduation, Growing Up, philosophy, taxes, work

An Old-Fashioned Circus – RIGHT Here in Honeoye Falls!

By Chris Carosa on June 23, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the June 21, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

I don’t have many childhood memories of going to the circus. (About the closest thing I can think of concerns the Big Tree Firemen’s Carnival, but that’s another story so forget I even mentioned it!)

It’s not like I never went to a circus or anything. The big circuses I visited, though, had too much bigness for a little kid to really enjoy. For example, from the upper level of Memorial Auditorium in Buffalo, one needs binoculars to catch the funny magic tricks clowns like to perform. This cannot represent the kind of up-close-Continue Reading “An Old-Fashioned Circus – RIGHT Here in Honeoye Falls!”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Growing Up, Honeoye Falls, Mendon, Rotary

Mendon Water Tower Redux

By Chris Carosa on June 16, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the June 14, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

You can look elsewhere in this paper for a report on the June 7 meeting between concerned Mendon citizens and the Monroe County Water Authority (MCWA). The following merely comments on those proceedings in as fair and unbiased a fashion one can expect from a resident of Mendon.

The meeting last Thursday night showed a few interesting things. First, it looks like everyone agrees we’ve got a water problem in southeast Mendon. Second, those Continue Reading “Mendon Water Tower Redux”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Mendon, Monroe County Water Authority, politics

D.C. Turf Wars

By Chris Carosa on June 9, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the June 7, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) currently has regulatory responsibility for stock index futures. The Bush administration recently announced plans to introduce legislation shifting control to the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC). Both Investor’s Daily and The Wall Street Journal have faithfully presented both sides of the debate.

The critical questions, however, relate not to who’s in charge, but to the impetus behind the territorial maneuvering. In analyzing the 1987 stock market crash, official Washington, the news media and even some well respected financial gurus have blamed stock index futures – in particular their use in program trading – for the Continue Reading “D.C. Turf Wars”

Posted in The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged derivative, finance, futures, politics, Stock market, volatility

Rocky’s Gloves

By Chris Carosa on June 2, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the May 31, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

One of the great things about an ethic upbringing is ethnic pride. Growing up Italian meant adopting the many Italian-American heroes of my parent’s and grandparent’s time. Two particular heroes stand out above the rest in my childhood memories – Joe DiMaggio and Rocky Graziano.

Truthfully, I can’t say I saw either of these athletes perform. Both retired nearly a decade before my birth. Yet, honoring these men pays respect to the judgment Continue Reading “Rocky’s Gloves”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Boxing, Ossie Sussman, philosophy, Rocky Graziano

In Praise of Honorable Men

By Chris Carosa on May 26, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the May 24, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

The scrawny, recently-graduated Ivy Leaguer found life full of joy and happiness. With the magic of oratory, he astounded his elders who eagerly nominated and elected the young man as their state representative. Of course, he didn’t let this go to his head – he knew those in authority chose him in part because no one else wanted the thankless job. Still, he felt the position gave him the opportunity to show his true worth.

Then, at the tender age of 26, life as he knew it collapsed. The realities of the adult world consumed him. He lost his whiz kid innocence. Things seemed more difficult than they had been. He could no longer afford to think on his feet. Finally, with his life at a Continue Reading “In Praise of Honorable Men”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Cowboy, JJ Dalton Bandits, Theodore Roosevelt

Look Out! A Wasp!

By Chris Carosa on May 19, 2011

[This Commentary originally appeared in the May 17, 1990 issue of The Mendon-Honeoye Falls-Lima Sentinel.]

Everyone has their weakness. Achilles had his heel. Cleopatra had her asp. Winston Smith possessed the mortal fear of rats. Jim Stafford, well, he didn’t like spiders and snakes.

I, for one, despise wasps. It’s not that I hate them, I’m just totally afraid of the loathsome creatures. And I’m not talking about human WASPs. No. I refer solely to the insect – that silently buzzing summer pest.

I don’t recall when I first feared wasps. Certainly, I had some concern by my fourth year. During that summer, as my brother and I helped my father work on the flower garden in the backyard, we saw with horror an ugly wasp land on my father’s exposed Continue Reading “Look Out! A Wasp!”

Posted in Memoir of a Real Life, The Compleat Carosa Commentaries Tagged Growing Up, humor