Like It Or Not, Bunky, Freedom Isn't Really Free

Original column by Daniel Ruth, The Tampa Tribune

What He Wrote: "... loosely paraphrase Sigmund Freud,..."
Obscure Reference: Sigmund Freud (1856 – 1939), was an Austrian neurologist and psychiatrist who founded the psychoanalytic school of psychology. Freud is best known for his theories of the unconscious mind and the defense mechanism of repression. He is also renowned for his redefinition of sexual desire as the primary motivational energy of human life.

What He Wrote: "... when you have a state exchequer that's beginning to look more barren than the Zimbabwe treasury ..."
Obscure Reference: 'The Exchequer' was (and in some cases still is) a part of the governments of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland that was responsible for the management and collection of revenues. Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, and formerly Southern Rhodesia, is a landlocked country in the southern part of the continent of Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. Formerly prosperous and known as the breadbasket of Africa, Zimbabwe is currently experiencing a hard currency shortage, which has led to hyperinflation and chronic shortages in imported fuel and consumer goods as well as famine and economic hardship.

What He Wrote: "... there is talk of upping the ante ..."
Obscure Reference: In the card game of Poker, an ante is a forced bet in which each player places an equal amount of money or chips into the jackpot before the deal begins. In games where the acting dealer changes each turn, it is not uncommon for the players to agree that the dealer provides the ante for each player. This simplifies betting, but causes minor inequities if other players come and go or miss their turn to deal. 'Upping the ante' is done by agreement of all players when the starting 'jackpot' is too small.

What He Wrote: "... if the bean counters have their way ..."
Obscure Reference: In American slang, a 'bean counter' is a derogatory term refering to one who specializes in accountancy for accountancies sake; to examine petty ependitures rather than look at the overall big picture.

What He Wrote: "... streets will start to look like something out of 'The Grapes of Wrath.'"
Obscure Reference: The Grapes of Wrath is a classic novel published in 1939 and written by John Steinbeck, who was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the Nobel Prize for Literature. A celebrated Hollywood film version, starring Henry Fonda and directed by John Ford, was made in 1940. Set during the Great Depression, the novel focuses on a poor family of sharecroppers, the Joads, driven from their home by drought, economic hardship, and changes in the agriculture industry. In a nearly hopeless situation, they set out for California's Central Valley along with thousands of other "Okies" in search of land, jobs, and dignity.

What He Wrote: "... turning the State into "Deadwood' ..."
Obscure Reference: Deadwood, named for the dead trees found in its gulch, is a city in and the county seat of Lawrence County, South Dakota. The population was 1,380 at the 2000 census. A fire on September 26, 1879, devastated the prosperous boomtown, destroying over 300 buildings and consuming everything belonging to many inhabitants. Without the opportunities of rich untapped veins of ore that characterized the town's early days, many of the newly impoverished left town to try their luck elsewhere, leaving it a ghost town.

What He Wrote: "... the Bush Junta years ..."
Obscure Reference: A junta is government by a committee of military leaders. It is usually the result of a 'coup d’état', the sudden, illegal overthrowing of a government by a part of the state establishment — usually the military — to replace the branch of the stricken government, either with another civil government or with a military government. Often it becomes a military dictatorship, though the terms are not synonymous.

What He Wrote: "... so slap-happy in handing out sales tax exemptions as if they were campaign yard signs ..."
Obscure Reference: 'Slaphappy Sleuths' is a short subject film starring American slapstick comedy team the Three Stooges in November, 1950. 'Campaign yard signs' are small, inexpensive cardboard signs handed out (usually for free) by politicians during elections for use by constituent's front lawns to indicate support for that candidate.

What He Wrote: "... all the aesthetic charm of road apples...."
Obscure Reference: 'Road apple' is American slang for horse manure deposited in the middle of the road. Commonly found where horse-drawn wagons or carts are plentiful, i.e Amish, rural, or western locales.

What He Wrote: "... It's not Dogpatch. "
Obscure Reference: Dogpatch is the fictional setting of most of Al Capp's Li'l Abner comic strip. The inhabitants of Dogpatch were mostly lazy hillbillies, who wanted nothing to do with progress, were extremely patriotic and devastatingly poor.

What He Wrote: "... a sort of Kato Kaelin of citizenship ..."
Obscure Reference: Brian "Kato" Kaelin is the one-time house guest of O.J. Simpson who became peripherally involved in the 1994-95 O.J. Simpson murder case. He was the subject of jokes by TV comedians, who made fun of his spaced-out surf bum persona, lack of employment, and parasitic habits.