Dallas Is Tired of the Chest Beating on Both Sides of Police and Fire Pension Debate; It's Time to Compromise

As a child of the '80s, I spent a fair amount of time watching films of little substance but great drama. One of my favorites was Footloose, starring a young Kevin Bacon.In a seminal scene, Bacon's character, Ren, challenges the local tough to a match of farm-tractor chicken. As they approach each other, Ren realizes his shoelace is caught on tractor's throttle, making it impossible for him to retreat from the challenge. The local boy plows forward, not realizing that his opponent cannot relent.In the end, the local boy steers over the earthen berm, his tractor tumbles, and he loses face in front of the community. Ren accepts the victory but knows it wasn't deserved. The moral of the story is that even though Ren prevailed, it was not because of cunning or wit, but because of dumb luck.  Continue reading...