Wednesday, March 12th, 2014
A thousand generations of parental caring stands behind a bargain with your mother. A hundred good experiences stand behind your reliance on a friend. And just as surely, the long shadow of the future hangs on your transactions with your local store. They know that if they try to make a quick buck by ripping
Monday, March 3rd, 2014
What the hell is going on in Ukraine? It’s a fair question. But not one likely to be answered on the “news.” Condemnations by politicians, calls for military threats, appeals to human interest, are mostly smoke. Much...
Monday, February 10th, 2014
Mention the word ‘slavery’ and most people think of the American South from the 1600s to 1800s. But in truth, the evil of slavery has afflicted mankind all over the planet, before and after that time. According...
Friday, November 29th, 2013
There was a bit of a hullabaloo over the deal made last week to lift sanctions on Iran, in exchange for reductions in their nuclear program. Many praise the diplomacy as progress towards a more peaceful and...
Friday, November 22nd, 2013
Just before President Kennedy set out for a visit to Ireland, the Library of Congress traced his genealogical roots to the Emerald Isle. The Kennedys of America came from the O’ Cinneide clan, whose most celebrated member,...
Tuesday, November 19th, 2013
Whenever a new and wonderful social program is enacted, its architects see themselves as do-good fairy godmothers, granting wishes to an adoring crowd. But it can take many months, years, or even decades before the actual results...
Friday, November 8th, 2013
We’ve lost track of all the nutty statements made by Paul Krugman. Besides being a columnist for the New York Times, and a Nobel Prize winner, Krugman is also a fantastic writer. This combination is quite dangerous,...
Wednesday, November 6th, 2013
Every now and then, someone refers to Social Security as an “entitlement” program. This is usually followed by an angry reaction that goes something like this, “I paid into Social Security for 30 years, that’s my money,...
Sunday, November 3rd, 2013
As humans live longer, more animal species are going extinct. This was the conclusion of a University of California study, which wrote that human life expectancy was the determining factor for endangered birds and mammals. Though this...
Friday, November 1st, 2013
According to George Carlin: “When fascism comes to America, it will not be in brown and black shirts. It will not be with jack-boots. It will be Nike sneakers and Smiley shirts. Smiley-smiley. Fascism—Germany lost the Second...
Wednesday, October 30th, 2013
In the 1950’s America was, superficially at least, happy. The war was over, and while Europe and Asia rebuilt themselves, American’s delighted in toasters, Chevys, and Joe Dimaggio. Men and women married. The men went to work,...
Tuesday, October 29th, 2013
Years ago, someone said that according to the laws of aerodynamics, bumblebees cannot fly. But the bumblebees, not knowing the laws of aerodynamics, go ahead and fly anyway. Something like that happens among people. There have been...
Sunday, October 27th, 2013
It might seem like we’re living at a uniquely rich moment for conspiracy theories. Over the last few years, we’ve seen it claimed that Osama bin Laden didn’t really die, that Barack Obama is covering up the...
Friday, October 18th, 2013
All around the world, food availability, income, and life span are up, while disease, child mortality, and violence are down. Though the world is still far from perfect, nearly everything is more affordable, not always in dollar...
Monday, September 9th, 2013
Did you ever stop to wonder why is there a “Middle East” in the first place? Just about as long as any of us can remember there have been problems there. But why are the lines drawn...