Reading time – 49 seconds . . . If you’re a regular reader, you know that my belief is that big money in our politics is the mother of all of our political dysfunction. It is what sustains the lunacy and blocks progress for our people and keeps us from solving our problems. Of all… [read more]
Wrong – Just Wrong
Reading time – 69 seconds . . . T.M. Luhrmann is a professor of anthropology at Stanford University and she wrote a most intersting opinion piece for the New York Times entitled Where Reason Ends and Faith Begins. In it she wrote, “Most people, whatever their religious persuasion, assume that there are decent human beings… [read more]
Ferguson, O’ Ferguson
Reading time – 87 seconds . . . “They’re just protesting and rioting so that they can loot the stores and vandalize other people’s property.” That’s what the woman said to the radio talk show host about the people in the streets of Ferguson, MO. My reply is a double, “Huh?” If I understand her… [read more]
Changes
Reading time – 46 seconds . . . I was sitting in a comfortable chair on my patio surrounded by garden flowers and trees on a quiet Saturday morning reading David McCullough’s Truman and sipping my thick, rich, dark roast coffee. Then neighbors diagonally across the back yard turned on their music and the quiet… [read more]
A Shoe
Reading time – 19 seconds; Contemplation time – lots longer . . . Bob Fields is a local artist who recently just couldn’t stand it any longer. He saw the same pictures and video that you saw of so much suffering in Gaza. What was worse was that so much of the suffering and dying… [read more]
When You Ain’t Got Nothin’
VIDEO NEWS FLASH! Mike Papantonio is the host of Ring Of Fire Radio, along with Bobby Kennedy and Sam Seder. He was the main speaker at a recent event and I was honored to be asked to do a short presentation to set the tone for the day and to introduce Mike. You can watch… [read more]
Hello – Is Anybody There?
Reading time – 71 seconds . . . Thirty-five years ago Ronald Reagan went stumping for himself and preaching the false dogma of “trickle-down” economics. Sadly, he succeeded in selling that idolatrous religion and the trickling down turned out to be a vaporous mirage for poor and middle-class Americans, while floods of cash inundated the… [read more]
Who Cares About Buffalo?
Reading time – 75 seconds . . . Let’s do a thought experiment. Imagine: – that you live in Buffalo, NY; – that a militant group in Toronto was firing rockets into Buffalo; – that the rockets and other war materiel were stored and launched from the homes of civilians, from hospitals and from schools… [read more]
Republicanistas
Reading time – 37 seconds . . . I’m reading David McCullough’s biography of Harry Truman and am struck by a comment in a letter from young Harry to his then-intended, Bess Wallace, who would later become the First Lady. In his letter he wrote, “I am by religion like everything else. I think there’s… [read more]
Guns & Best Places: Final Exam
Reading time 37 seconds . . . I have received requests from readers wanting to know what the three tests are that an applicant must pass in order to receive a zoning variance in Niles, IL. Mr. Bruce Sylvester, Community Planner for the Village of Niles kindly forwarded the information to me. The test is… [read more]
