I need to get my act together. It happens every week about this time (five o’clock Tuesday morning) as the 11 a.m. publication deadline bears down on me to finish the paper for the week.

There is usually some Monday evening work but invariably (or at least too often) there is this hole on this page to fill. It happened last week and now here we are again this week with lots of white space and, well, you know the rest of the story.

Sometimes I really do think about lines for Off the Cuff in advance, but more often the drivel just pops out of the typewriter keyboard and, so often I’ll admit, makes about as much sense as, well, you know. (Yep, I still use an old Underwood.

Anyway, here goes for this week. Just bear with me.

First, I want to clear up an error in last week’s tirade against the government and how it seems to mess up everything it tries to fix. I wrote the old saw “taxation without representation is tyranny.” Then I continued and asked the question, Should the new slogan be, “Taxation without representation is tyranny?” Yep, it was supposed to read: “TaxationWITH representation is tyranny.”

Maybe that was a little too strong and maybe the type gremlins were trying to tell me something. But, dadgumit, even though it isn’t tyranny, we have and are taxing ourselves into a welfare state. If we’re not there already.

What are those guys in Washington (and, yes, the gals) thinking? Maybe the problem is they’re not. Maybe they’re just too busy plotting how to get re-elected or are granting themselves perks and haveforgotten who their bosses really are.

There seems to be so little interplay with the people that the little guys get left in the dust. After all, isn’t it the big boys, the lobbyists, the unions, the various business and professional interests and PAC groups which carry the big sticks?

Really now, what effect, or good, do you suppose a communication from an individual has? Does the senator or the representative really see it or does it go into a pile that is topped with a note: “Send this guy the double-talk letter.”

There. I’ve had my say again and I think I’ve filled the hold in the page.

-Dodie Evans

P.S. The predictions which I made last year in the New Year’s paper were almost 100%. Wrong. My record is perfect.

There are no predictions this year. All would fail again. And I did not dig out a “Look Back at 2009” recap story. Let’s all look ahead with the belief that things will be better in 2010.

As an aside, read some of the comments this week from members of the Senior Class as they look ahead. The series begins on page 2B and will continue during the coming weeks.

P.P.S. Back to the predictions for 2009. We did predict rain on the Fourth of July but we blew it when we said there would be no snow on Christmas.

The Lions football team did have a good year, the basketball team is winning games and Gravette did repeat with a winner of Miss Benton County as Jacy Alsup succeeded Jordan Singleton as the crown bearer.

But, you know, I can’t remember. Did the Detroit Lions win a football game?

Opinion, Pages 4 on 12/30/2009