-
PublishedJanuary 22, 2012
The golden years
“Did you know that a month’s supply of ‘Depends’ costs $300?” The question came at me out of the dark of a winter’s walk at dawn last February from my walking partner, Judi. And no, I didn’t know it, but a rational and negative answer didn’t seem appropriate, anyway. The only explanation for this line of thought was our increased mutual anxiety over having both arrived in our 65th year in a time when the economy, …
-
PublishedSeptember 5, 2010
Conservative Postmodernism
Did you know that Einstein’s theory of relativity is a liberal plot? That’s right, and it’s all about relativism, or relativity, if you will. It’s one of the prominent opinions of Andrew Shclafly, founder and instructor of Eagle Forum University, and son of conservative scold Phyllis Schlafly. Schlafly has written: “The theory of relativity is a mathematical system that allows no exceptions. It is heavily …
-
PublishedAugust 18, 2010
The face of America
Here’s an interesting story from out of our Southwest. It was reported by Jeff Schwilk, the founder of the San Diego Minutemen — an anti-immigration militia — that the dreaded Zeta gang of Mexico had crossed the border near Laredo, Texas, and, in an armed assault, captured two ranches in American territory. The story flew around conservative Web sites, even showing up on the blogs of Michele Malkin and Andrew …
-
PublishedAugust 4, 2010
The voice of the infidel
Audio books have become a favorite pastime of mine. They can make the morning and evening commute tolerable. And though I usually prefer a professional performer to authors reading their own works, three authors have passed my muster, Alan Alda, Bill Bryson and Ayan Hirsi Ali. Ayan Hirsi Ali was born in Somalia, the naturally inquisitive child of a political activist father who was forced to flee with his …
-
PublishedJuly 21, 2010
The price of power
What do we see when we sit aghast in front of our TVs and watch the environmental devastation of the once pristine and seductive Gulf of Mexico? We see blue waters and white sands fouled by the red and black slime of an unnatural disaster. We see wildlife, dead and dying, drowning in our own excessive hunger for energy, apparently at any cost. We see the livelihoods of millions of Americans smothered under the …
-
PublishedJune 23, 2010
Even the dead have no land
Gaza is a bridge of land that connects Palestine to the Sinai and to Egypt, an ancient road for conquerors, nomads and wanderers. Today it is an island of misery surrounded by the armed might of Israel. Indeed, for the last 60 years it has been a kind of overpopulated prison for many of the same people who were driven from the land and homes of what is now Israel. During the 1948 war that marked Israel’s birth …
-
PublishedJune 16, 2010
The Iron Lady’s ancient outlook
Margaret Thatcher, former conservative prime minister of Great Britain, once said, “There is no such thing as society: there are individual men and women, and there are families.” How wrong she was is evident in the latest thoughts on the evolution of both humankind and society. Actually, a recent article in the New York Times claiming discovery of Neanderthal DNA in the genome of modern, non-African humans may …
-
PublishedMay 26, 2010
Counting conspiracies
Robin and I have a friend who recently decided to give up her job as a census taker. She had been surprised at the level of hostility she had encountered in the course of her duties and, being in her 60s, came to the conclusion that she was in no position to handle any real violence should it manifest itself. Such are the fears in our modern America and such are the wages of some of the lunacy now being propagated…
-
PublishedMay 12, 2010
The invisible mind of Adam Smith
Contrition is not an aspect of the capitalist ideologue. Watching a group of senators grill the econo-fascists of Goldman Sachs recently was certainly proof of that. The anything-goes attitude on display before the incredulous legislators was proof positive that the free market had become what L. William Seidman, a former adviser of Republican presidents who led the savings and loan bailout in the 1990s, called …
-
PublishedApril 28, 2010
The onus of the bonus
“The lady doth protest too much, methinks.” No, I’m not talking about Sarah Palin but thanks for thinking it. Actually, in Shakespeare’s “Hamlet” the queen’s line implies a certain disingenuousness on the part of an actor in her son’s play. She is being sarcastic, or perhaps ironic. Shakespeare’s words, since their writing, have become a catchphrase for either over acting or the false emotion that hides a secret …
- 1
- 2
- Next Page →
