I didn’t make a new year’s resolution. Not this year, nor any other year, with the exception of several years when I was young, heard about the practice and went along because that’s what I thought everyone did. Within hours of making each one, though, I could no longer identify what the resolution had been. … [read more]
Neighbors and Lives
Pope Francis was famously approached by a non-believer and told him, “We must meet one another doing good.” That is to say, what matters most is not a professed belief, but instead it is about how we live our lives. Those of a certain age and others who actually read their history book in high school… [read more]
The Meaning of Duck
Branding and marketing genius Bruce Terkel (pronounced “tur-KELL”) has a most interesting and insightful blog focused on – guess what? – branding and marketing. This one arrived amidst the turmoil, travail and truculence surrounding the harebrained, hateful and hurtful things said about gays and blacks by Phil Robertson, one of the pseudo-mountain men of the… [read more]
Republicans and Jobs
On December 3, 2013 Speaker of the House John Boehner declared in a 57 second speech that, “Republicans continue to stay focused on the economy. And the fact is that the American people want us to do everything we can to strengthen the economy so there will be more jobs and higher wages available. This… [read more]
No, Mr. Godburn, They Are Not
Mark R. Godburn, an antiquarian bookseller in North Canaan, CT, wrote a letter to the editor that was published in the December 8, 2013 New York Times, along with responses from several readers. Mr. Godburn cautions us that, “Relying on one source, or even on several sources with the same bias, will leave you with… [read more]
I Get It – At Last
Why would senators and congressmen intentionally force the United States to the brink of financial disaster? Why would legislators drive us to default on our national debt and tell us that default will be a good thing? Why would billionaires fund grass roots organizations that have their members wave Confederate flags and spout hateful lies?… [read more]
Droning On
I recall seeing the first drones. Unmanned aircraft. I’m a pilot and thought the technology was nifty. I also admired the surveillance capabilities of those things. Protect the troops without endangering AWACs and helo crews. Find the bad guys. Like that. Then we started using these things to kill people at weddings. Now my friend… [read more]
George Orwell Was an Optimist
The NSA is spying on everyone and there is no privacy. The government lies about who it spies on, the things they look at and who has access to all that information. Although the NSA is minimally limited by law in what its spooks can do without a warrant from a FISA court, even then… [read more]
It Isn’t About a Website
It is a great and comforting validation that people with large megaphones and big mouths have focused on the ailing website of the Affordable Care Act. They show us that naked self-promotion of individual and collective stupidity lives on in perpetuity. Opponents of Obamacare wail and wring hands over the website. That dysfunctional site alone… [read more]
It Is Time
It has been 50 years, so the shock is gone, of course. The grief has passed for some and lingered for others, but the sense of loss remains palpable for most of us who remember. It was a loss of hope and of innocence for an entire generation and the blinding of a dream of… [read more]
