Here I was enjoying a leisurely Sunday morning cup of coffee, revelling in the self-determined pace of retirement and the seclusion of country living, when you reminded me of why I dread going to town later in the day.

Your observations are spot on.  I grew up in rural Missouri and witnessed welfare in our country morph from a distant urban phenomenon to a shameless way of life for the next three people in front of me at the grocery store check-out.  I remember as a child when the poor in our area would come to the loading dock of an abandoned railway station to receive their weekly allotment of "commodities"--very basic foodstuffs.  I might be confabulating, but those recipients seemed ashamed to be there and eager to leave before too many neighbors saw them.

When I started in law enforcement in the late 70's there still existed an older generation who shook their heads at the sloth of their children and grandchildren.  By the time I left in 2006, that generation had been replaced by one that was skilled at nothing other than navigating the state and federal programs that gave them free stuff.    

I fully support Truman's decision under the circumstances, but felt compelled to mention that the weird but amazingly viable "Bat Bomb" had every chance of success in devastating Japan's war industries with less loss of life. 

For Ricocheteers interested in a fascinating and often funny footnote to WWII, I heartily recommend The Bat Bomb, written by Jack Couffer, who was a member of the project team at age seventeen. 

They taste like freedom! (Actually, I wouldn't touch one with a ten-foot Slim Jim).

Ditto on the K.C. Airport.  It is as they all should be.

76 m.p.h. x 14 hours = 1,064 miles.

After my last flight I decided dying alone in a hurtling box I'm steering is preferable to dying in a hurtling box full of strangers piloted by others.  And the freedom to whip into a quick shop at will for a microwave burrito is enough to assuage my fear of a head-on with a tweeting cheerleader.

There might be a few Ricocheteers young enough to never have heard that a liberal is just a conservative who's never been mugged.

I might suggest that rather than do a B&E, you just get your local sports franchise to win a championship, then go "shopping" downtown with all the other celebrants.  It's safer than running the risk that the Prius with the "Coexist" sticker is just bait.

 The only woman I've ever known who liked MB was my high school English teacher, and she had whiskers.  Stories about hunting anything other than the perfect love are a man thing.  Lest you think me misogynist, My Big Fat Greek Wedding is one of my favorite movies.

I'll add that although Hurt is a good actor, topping Gregory Peck's soul-chilling glare and resonant baritone in the 1958 version will not be easy. 

You have all my sympathy.  Non-natives are constantly trying to tell me I live in MissourEE, when I know good and well I live in MissourUH. 

In general you are right, but I forwarded your comment to my two friends who run federal fugitive task forces so they could have a good laugh.

"Death — rather than poor performance, misconduct or layoffs — is the primary threat to job security..."

And it's not always the death of the employee.  In this instance the chickens came home to roost at the cost of another's life.  Lloyd was known throughout my agency as shockingly incompetent, but highly litigious.  He was actually granted time during working hours to pursue his legal defenses against the feeble attempts to discipline him.  What's disturbing is that he is not an anomaly, even in the gun-toting agencies, which should make every taxpayer's blood run cold.

 Holy Smokes!  I forgot to figure in the $2500 bonus each of us receives when our posts are bumped over to the Main Feed.  My calculations are all screwed up now.  Sorry.

 I've actually contacted some sources and performed some quick calculations to give you a ballpark figure.

There are about twenty contributors on Ricochet, each receiving $327,000 a year, except for Claire, who receives $580,000, since she accounts for 41% of the Main Feed content.  Add the intern, who receives $162,000, and the system administrator, who receives $1.1 million, and you have a total annual salary output of $8,055,000.

The actual site hardware was Russian surplus that Peter Robinson was able to obtain for free.

Ricochet made a 214% profit in its first year, or $17,237,700, obtained solely from membership fees.  Add that amount to the salary outlay and you get a total of $25,292,700.  Divide that by (I'll keep it simple and use the newest membership fee) $3.58, and you find that Ricochet had a first year membership of at least 4,815,000.

I hope that answers your question.  I'll check those figures again when my sources and I sober up. 

And we are Magnificent.

 That excuse didn't fly when I used it to try to explain the perfume on my collar to my wife, and it doesn't fly now.

Not long ago one of our editors pointed out the need for a sarcasm font.  I'm seriously considering designing one and naming it Ricochet...or if there is a trademark dispute, maybe Gamgee.

There was a squirrel chase scene, but I removed it over the objections of the lead actress.

 For those of us who would prefer to see a dog behave wisely rather than a cat behave foolishly, my homage to Igmar.