September 2, 2010

Not Everyone is Meant to Be a Winner

This trend started some years back that baffles me. In a world dominated by fierce competition schools, sports teams, and even some youth clubs were giving awards to every child- just for being a child. There was no spirit of competition, no desire to become the best. And although it is sad when children get left back socially because they didn’t get picked for the team what is sadder is the growing number of people who think mediocrity is something be rewarded. Continue reading Not Everyone is Meant to Be a Winner

September 1, 2010

America Goes Buggy Over Bed Bugs

America Goes Buggy Over Bed Bugs


By Alan Caruba

When The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and all other media in America begin to devote lots of space and time to the subject of bed bugs, you know America has a real pest problem.

Uniquely, I know a lot of pest control professionals because I have worked closely with the industry for a quarter century providing public relations services.

So let me say that I have the ANSWER to the nation’s plague of bed bugs.

It’s called PESTICIDES. Continue reading America Goes Buggy Over Bed Bugs

August 31, 2010

Sadness, Self Control and Sugar

Some years ago I learned to change my eating habits so that I wouldn’t tip the scales like a great whale. My sweet tooth was my problem. Although I love vegetables and could eat salad for breakfast, lunch and dinner, having something sweet like candy or cookies or cake. . .okay I have to stop because now I am salivating. Something sweet was always a reward for a job well day, a day that was good or plain old dessert.

Then I learned that sugar could help get you through sadness. Not only did I have to change my eating habits but I had to learn self control. Continue reading Sadness, Self Control and Sugar

August 30, 2010

Republicratarian?!

As a child, I heard that you should not discuss politics or religion in polite company.  When I broke this rule as a teenager, I learned some of the reasons why you shouldn’t.  However, if you don’t discuss these issues, you can never learn, nor can you come to any consensus.  Honesty seems to be the best method of arriving at acceptable solutions in compromise.  What is disconcerting is polarization.    My mother always told me to think for myself, and arrive at my own conclusions.  She was referring to gossip at the time, but the same philosophy is applicable here.  I grew up around a great many Democrats.  My great-grandmother, “Granny” was from Brooklyn, New York.  She used to tell me stories of how our distant relative named Al Smith had run for President as a Democrat.  By her recollection, he was turned down because he was a Catholic.  As she was a Catholic, she was proud that John Kennedy was elected as the first “Catholic” President.  My father was a Teamster, and the union was “right” about everything.  I heard stories of Harry Truman (whom I probably would have really liked) and others in politics. Continue reading Republicratarian?!

August 30, 2010

The Men in the Hole in the Ground

They are alive under ground in Chile.  They may be there until Christmas. While the rest of us complain about crowded subway cars, highway congestion and the world being financial  mess thirty three miners are trapped over 20,000 feet below ground just trying to survive. Continue reading The Men in the Hole in the Ground

August 29, 2010

Our Schools, Dumb and Dumber

Our Schools, Dumb and Dumber


By Alan Caruba

As the nation’s children return to elementary and secondary schools, it is increasingly essential that their parents and communities coast to coast realize how poorly served they are and how their learning environment is increasingly tainted by a socialist agenda.

Our nation’s schools have long been factories of boredom, centers of academic incompetence. High school graduation rates have been in a fairly steady decline. At its peak in 1969, the rate was 77 percent. By 2007 it was 68.8 percent.

In mid-August, The Wall Street Journal reported that “New data show that fewer than 25% of 2010 graduates who took the ACT college-entrance exam possessed the academic skills necessary to pass entry-level courses, despite modest gains in college-readiness among U.S. high school students in the last few years.” Continue reading Our Schools, Dumb and Dumber

August 28, 2010

Kathmandu, home of the World’s dirtiest toilet.

Kathmandu, home of the World’s dirtiest toilet.
 
Kathmandu. Mystical, magical, mountainous, fresh Himalayan air, launch pad for all the great expeditions to Everest, a place of prayer bells and enchantment – or so I expected.  But no, it’s a shit’ole, and my sincere apologies to those who have to live in the shit, but I can’t find a way of softening the blow. I’ve seen abject poverty in dozens of other countries,  but nothing prepared me for what I found here. The town centre is a maze of deeply potholed, unnamed, narrow streets, permanently gridlocked with trucks, cars, motorbikes, rickshaws, and people. Behind the tinselled facades of shops selling tourist tat are tiny living areas, dark, low-ceilinged staircases, and owl-eyed children sitting in the darkness on mud floors. These dwellings – they can’t be called homes – make Havana’s crumbling tenements look like show houses. Huge mounds of rotting rubbish adorn every street corner, and spill into the river. They are picked over by scavenging people, monkeys, crows, dogs, pigs, and cows by day, and rats by night. Surely it’s not beyond the wit and resources of the local council to employ two men with shovels and lorry, and have it removed? But that’s corruption in politics for you – money for the infra-structure goes into the pockets of those in power.  It didn’t help that I came at the end of the monsoon, with rain filling the potholes, which Kamikaze motorbike riders then sprayed up into walkers’ faces. When the sun came out, the stench on every street was unbearable. Enough to put you off your food.   Continue reading Kathmandu, home of the World’s dirtiest toilet.

August 28, 2010

America’s Muslim problem

Hostility to Cordoba House – the so-called Ground Zero Mosque – does far more damage to America and its values than a few planes flown into buildings ever could. [...]

August 27, 2010

The Great March

Tomorrow is the 47th Anniversary of the March on Washington. It is a significant date in the history of this country, August 28, 1963. Never before had so many American people, 300,000 or more, gathered in one place to lift in one voice of shared concern for “jobs, and freedom”, and equality for all Americans. Others have tried to duplicate the event and its success but this political rally organized by civil rights, labor, and religious organizations calling on all Americans in support of civil and economic rights for African-Americans, that took place in Washington, D.C, were Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech at the Lincoln Memorial would  come to be known as “The Great March on Washington.

At 6:30 the morning of August 28, 1963 my grandfather in Pennsylvania and my parents in New York City boarded two buses both bound for Washington in the District of Columbia. All three of them were journalist; all three were Americans of African decent; all three held great expectation, pride and there was a jubilant hope in their hearts. Continue reading The Great March

August 27, 2010

How I Learned to Love the Bomb

How I Learned to Love the Bomb


By Alan Caruba

As a child in the 1950s, I learned how to “duck and cover” in order to protect myself from an atomic bomb explosion. Little did I know that the instruction should have been “Kiss your asterisk goodbye.”

The Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, when the Soviets wanted to put nuclear-tipped long range missiles there, led to a confrontation between President John F. Kennedy and Nikita Krushchev that had both sides changing their underwear after it was over.

What do the United States, Great Britain, France, Russia, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea in common? They all have nuclear weapons and, of course, Iran has been working toward that goal and is now very close to achieving it. Continue reading How I Learned to Love the Bomb

August 26, 2010

The End of Summer

The master bedroom sits on the second floor at the front of the brownstone. The street outside is alive with laughter, music, noise and enjoyment for the rain that has plagued us for almost five days has come to an end and given us a cool day with bright sun and a cool night with a talented breeze. It sweeps through the master bedroom accompanied by an unfamiliar Latin tune and meets the wind that circles in from the back guest room giving the evening an autumn chill and a reminder of nights to come. two weeks left to my unmoving and innocent vacation and I am spending them enjoying the remnants of summer. Continue reading The End of Summer

August 25, 2010

School Daze, Plugged In and Zoned Out

School Daze, Plugged In and Zoned Out


By Alan Caruba

The older you get the faster time seems to speed by. One minute you’re talking about the Baby Boom generation, 1946 to 1964, and the next it’s Generation X, 1965-1983. If the Boomers thought the world owed them a living, the Gen X’rs were all about “relationships” and the “environment.”

Before you knew it, it was the Generation Y, often referred to as the Millennials, 1984-2002, that everyone was talking about and trying to sell crap to. The oldest of these are age 26 and the youngest age 8. Most young people think the world exists for them, but Generation Y has more reason to believe this than their parents and grandparents. Continue reading School Daze, Plugged In and Zoned Out

August 24, 2010

What Hurricane Katrina Taught Me

For the past few days I have been haunted by the memory of  Hurricane Katrina. August 28th marks the fifth anniversary of the storm that destroyed most of New Orleams and displaced one of the poorest sections of this country- the 9th Ward. I have never been to New Orleans but what happened in 2005 changed my life. Continue reading What Hurricane Katrina Taught Me

August 24, 2010

The Gaslight Journal is Done

Begun back sometime in 2001, this book was originally a fluke of an idea… [...]

August 23, 2010

Strange Fruit Living Just Enough For The City

The revival of South Pacific was broadcast live on PBS On August 18, PBS live Lincoln Center. The musical which originally opened on Broadway on April 7, 1949 is one of my favorite musicals but then, I love just about everything Rogers and Hammerstein did from Carousel to Porgy and Bess to Oklahoma to Flower Drum Song.

As I sat mesmerized in front to my television sometimes singing aloud and other times mouthing the lyrics to songs I consider to be some of the most beautiful songs ever written it slowly began to dawn on me that this musical was not so much about American troops at war on an island in the south pacific as much as it was a story about racism. Continue reading Strange Fruit Living Just Enough For The City

August 22, 2010

Mexico, Bloody Mexico

Mexico, Bloody Mexico


By Alan Caruba

It is increasingly obvious that the Obama administration is more interested in protecting Mexicans than Americans.

Case in point; Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio has eleven suspects accused of murdering law enforcement officers in his maximum security county jail in downtown Phoenix. As reported in the August 18 Washington Post, “Justice Department officials in Washington have issued a rare threat to sue (Arpaio) if he does not cooperate with their investigation of whether he discriminates against Hispanics.”

“The standoff comes just weeks after the Justice Department sued Arizona and Gov. Jan Brewer because of the state’s new immigration law,” the Post noted. The latest word from Americans for Legal Immigration is that twenty-two States now have lawmakers developing versions of Arizona’s illegal immigration crackdown bill SB 1070.

So nearly half the States are aligning themselves with Arizona. Why? Continue reading Mexico, Bloody Mexico

August 21, 2010

Finding Your History in a Box Under a Bed

It was the week before Christmas, I have forgotten what year, and I was searching as was my habit for my presents. Perhaps I was 8, no more than 9, at the time and had asked for more things then my parents would ever consider giving to me. It was a Saturday afternoon and my younger siblings were taking a nap. So was the sitter, a teen girl who had partied too much with the boyfriend her mother did not know she had the night before. In the quiet I was supposed to be reading my book. Instead I slipped into my parents’ room to hunt for gifts. Damn the surprise, I wanted to see what I was getting. Continue reading Finding Your History in a Box Under a Bed

August 20, 2010

Love in the Music

Diana Ross is singing “Touch me in the Morning” while I am on hold. It does not feel like the right song to listen to while waiting for information but there it is, a song about the passion that has not turned to love between two people. It was never one of my favorite tunes but it is poetic and it reminds me that the days of romantic memories in music may be over. Continue reading Love in the Music

August 20, 2010

We’re Broke. Now What?

We’re Broke. Now What?


By Alan Caruba

“Let’s get real. The U.S. is bankrupt. Neither spending more nor taxing less will help the country pay its bills.” So said Laurence Kotlikoff, a professor of economics at Boston University, in a commentary on Bloomberg.com, August 10.

His solution was to “radically simplify its tax, health-care, retirement and financial systems, each of which is a complete mess.” Unmentioned is the fact that it has taken since 1913 when the income tax was introduced to reach this point.

Social security and Medicare are “social justice” programs which, like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, were created to protect people against themselves, encouraging dependency on the federal government instead of expecting personal responsibility. They have managed to drain the national treasury. Continue reading We’re Broke. Now What?

August 19, 2010

Rocket lies to room full of liars!?

Roger Clemons is charged with lying to a room full of liars.  Charlie Rangel lied about his taxes.  Barney Frank lied about Fannie and Freddie.  Bart Stupak lied about his health care vote.  And who can forget Senator Larry “wide stance” Craig.  The list could go on for pages.  A majority of Congress speaks [...]

August 19, 2010

A Mosque Grows in Mahattan

I watched with interest, a news story about people angry and suing because of a cross beside the road which honors the memory of a fallen police officer, killed in service to his community.  They allege that because the police department insignia is affixed to the cross, it represents the government promotion of religion.  The cross also has the officers’ name affixed.  It might just represent who the man was in his life.  He served his community as a police officer.  Perhaps he was a Christian.  One thing we do know for certain is that he is dead.  He died serving the rest of us.  It is hardly an example of establishment of religion.  The separation of church and state is hardly relevant.  It is no different than what you might see in Arlington National Cemetery, which one may note is on government property.  There may be a dozen reasonable people who would be offended by this display.  Continue reading A Mosque Grows in Mahattan

August 19, 2010

Subway Story: Free Show with Ride

Someone or some group is always on the hustle on the subway trains. From people claiming to help the homeless to those singing for a few cents there is always some type of entertainment provided. Most of the time you wish those bothering the riders would get off the train between stops and never be heard from again.

But then there are moments worth the embattled ride. Continue reading Subway Story: Free Show with Ride

August 18, 2010

I’d Like to Thank The Academy…

We’re so focused on failure, that we never prepare ourselves for what to do when it finally works. Maybe that’s the reason some self-sabotage themselves before ever becoming successful. They never prepared themselves mentally for handling the situation when they finally hit it big. And mental preparation is needed for success. Just ask those folks who are busy being successful. But they probably won’t have time to return your call. [...]

August 18, 2010

Why it’s Too Darn Hot

Why it’s Too Darn Hot


By Alan Caruba

Having written for a decade that the Earth has been cooling, it was rather disconcerting to receive a news release from Accuweather reporting that “The year 2010 is on track to become the hottest year on record since modern record keeping began, according to climate researchers at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).”

It turns out there is an explanation for the unusual levels of heat from Russia to Pakistan to Japan. It is a meteorological phenomenon called “blocking events” and they are related to the jet stream. Continue reading Why it’s Too Darn Hot

August 17, 2010

Really?

It’s the latest catch phrase, well, in this case word. I have heard it used on commercials and last night on a television show. The single female summed up the blind date with the handsome but strange man as “Really?” It’s one of those words that explains a lot and the person you are saying it too usually gets it. I have started mentally using it for things that annoy me, rub me the wrong way or are just plain, well, ridiculous. Here’s a list of a few, and trust me the list will keep on growing, Continue reading Really?

August 16, 2010

From strife to a successful life

From strife to a successful life

by Tyree Harris

The following is part three of a three-part series.

See Part One here: http://www.speakwithoutinterruption.com/site/2010/07/leaving-family-genocide-behind/

See Part Two here: http://www.speakwithoutinterruption.com/site/2010/07/river-separates-life-from-death/

The ravished lands of Rwanda, with vengeance in the air and poverty more prevalent than ever, were no safe haven for three children who lost everything. Their lifestyle, their family, and even those sunny evenings kicking around plastic bag balls were faint memories.

The three Rwandan refugees, Simon Mudahogora, his cousin and his sister, were adopted by Elizabeth and Albert Globus. The Globus family lived in Sacremento and had already raised six successful kids into adulthood. With Elizabeth being a counselor and Albert being a psychiatrist, they had a great foundation for the three new additions.

The new move meant starting back at square one: new language, new life — pretty much a whole new world. Continue reading From strife to a successful life

August 16, 2010

The End of My Cancer

The End of My Cancer 

 On 23 April I had a routine colonoscopy, and found out that I had cancer.  I knew then I’d have to write this column once I knew the outcome.  I had 25 days of chemotherapy, simultaneous with radiation therapy, followed by surgery on 11 August.
The pathology reports came back yesterday.  They were, as my surgeon said, ‘the best possible, given the circumstances.”  They were clean margins and clean lymph nodes.  The margins are the areas all around the site of the surgery.  The lymph nodes are where cancer usually spreads first, from its original site.
In laymen’s terms, I am cancer-free.  Going into my purpose for this column was, and still is, to save some lives.  Three of the most common cancers in America today are colon and prostate cancer for men and breast cancer for women.  All three have a common characteristic.  They can be often and easily cured if they are detected early.
Let me repeat that, and pardon me for shouting, but THESE CANCERS CAN BE EASILY CURED IF THEY ARE DETECTED EARLY. Continue reading The End of My Cancer

August 15, 2010

Tales from the CriBt.

Steampunk followers of the genre's sub-culture
I had a killer audition today.

At 11:00 a.m., I called Nathan and told him I wasn’t there yet–that I would be a little late.  He assured me it would be okay.  But I felt like crap about it.

I met him at a huge warehouse that used to be a local department store, with its windows blackened.  His was the only vehicle in the parking lot, which made me a little nervous, but never-the-less, I went in anyway.

I began by filling out some paperwork, and then we talked for probably an hour.  He was happy to share his concept with me. Continue reading Tales from the CriBt.

August 14, 2010

The Wrong American Dream

She spoke very little English when she entered the office of job placement at the community college. Her son had proudly told her of a job offer that would make him feel important. A full time position with a nice company and a starting salary that was the start of a new life. He could move out and get his own place. She didn’t want him to leave, but not because she loved him and would miss him. She didn’t want him to go and mess up her good thing. Continue reading The Wrong American Dream

August 13, 2010

Why are our leaders ‘Islamic’ ignorant?

Why are our leaders ‘Islamic’ ignorant?

By Ben Cerruti

The present brouhaha over the proposed construction of a Mosque near ground zero provides reason to view many of our leaders as ignorant, especially those in New York and Washington. They obviously are not knowledgeable with the tenets of the Quran that comprise more of an ideology such as Marxism, Fascism or Capitalism, than a religion. Cloaked in the cover of a religion, Islamism is being treated as just another spiritual entity.  In fact it is a socio-political movement whose purpose is to convert society to its conformed totalitarian way of life.

A reasonable progression of facts in this regard follow:    Continue reading Why are our leaders ‘Islamic’ ignorant?

August 12, 2010

Short Memories, Bad Politics, Big Debt

Short Memories, Bad Politics, Big Debt


By Alan Caruba

“We have tried spending money. We are spending more than we have ever spent before and it does not work…we have just as much unemployment as when we started…and an enormous debt to boot!” It was a decade of disaster and the man who spoke these words was Henry Morgenthau, Jr., Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secretary of the Treasury. The date was May 9, 1939.

By then the Roosevelt administration had been in office eight years and Morgenthau was addressing his fellow Democrats on the House Ways and Means Committee. In Congress and in the White House today our nation’s leaders are repeating the same errors as their predecessors in the midst of the Great Depression. Continue reading Short Memories, Bad Politics, Big Debt

August 9, 2010

Street Story: Buy My Book

“Excuse me, sister, can I talk to you for a minute.”

Whenever a younger man asks me that, especially with my hair pinned back and the gray that edges my forehead and temple showing I know he wants to sell me something, not ask me on a date. Being honest and not likely to waste my time I responded: “Sorry, no.”

He frowned and pleaded in his bass baritone. “See, that’s cold. This will only take a minute of your time.”

A minute I knew I would never get back. Continue reading Street Story: Buy My Book

August 8, 2010

There’s Nothing Gay about Being Gay

There’s Nothing Gay about Being Gay


By Alan Caruba

There are two topics I generally try to avoid discussing. Number one on the list is homosexuality. Number two is most things having to do with religion, although it is impossible to ignore it in a world where a militant Islam is causing so much conflict.

I would avoid examining gay “marriage” if I could, but the gay and lesbian community will not let me.

With seven decades of life under my belt, I have had plenty of time to learn about homosexuality, know homosexuals, and to have arrived at some conclusions about it. My basic conclusion is that homosexuality is hard-wired into an individual at birth. It is not, in my opinion, a lifestyle option one learns about and decides to choose.

Those who discover their homosexuality, early or late, know well that it positions them outside the acceptance of our society and those worldwide. As such, it is a cause of much abuse and, to varying degrees, self-hatred. Continue reading There’s Nothing Gay about Being Gay

August 7, 2010

Hiroshima 1945, Hiroshima 2010

Hiroshima 1945, Hiroshima 2010


This is Hiroshima today.

By Alan Caruba

It was sixty-five years ago, August 6, 1945, and the anticipation of the end of the war in the Pacific swept across America when the news that an atomic bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. Surely they would surrender, but there was no response from the Emperor or Japanese high command.

A second atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki six days later. And still we waited! Finally, on August 15, Japan announced its acceptance of an unconditional surrender. That avoided what military experts of the time estimated would be casualties in the hundreds of thousands if the U.S. had been forced to invade.

By May of 1945 the allies had defeated Nazi Germany and secured its surrender. What followed was the division of Europe as the Soviet Union seized control of its Eastern bloc nations. They would remain under its oppression until it finally collapsed in 1991. Continue reading Hiroshima 1945, Hiroshima 2010

August 7, 2010

Krauthammer: Dead Wrong on the 14th

Krauthammer: Dead Wrong on the 14th 

 There are parts of Fox News I cannot watch.  There is that self-important blowhard.  There is that worldwide ambulance chaser.  But as often as I can, I watch their news program at 6 p.m.  My favorite part of that program is the lightning round, and especially the contributions of Charles Krauthammer.
Charles normally dissects an issue with precision and accuracy.  But not today, the 5th of August.  He posed the issue whether a Congressman was right to say we need to amend the 14th Amendment to deal with the problem of anchor babies.  Krauthammer made the mistake of not reading the Amendment before discussing it.  So did all the other participants in the discussion.
Krauthammer correctly stated that “we should not amend the Constitution to deal with such a small problem.” He missed the opportunity to point out that the Congressman, like much of the American press and punditry, are asking the wrong question and therefore getting the wrong answer. Continue reading Krauthammer: Dead Wrong on the 14th

August 7, 2010

I should’ve been the one to paint the Sistine Chapel

I’d like to think it was because at that moment in time, she didn’t see little old me from the dairy farm with no money–she saw Carla René, the brilliant, undiscovered painter who should’ve been the one to paint the Sistine Chapel instead of that deadbeat, Michelangelo. [...]

August 6, 2010

Disclipline is a Bitch

Once or twice this week I was able to sneak under Discipline’s radar. I got a lot done! I rent a room in my landlady’s home, so while she’s been on vacation this week, I have been keeper-of-the-canine, and with him being a German Shepard/Husky mix, he’s required a lot of my attention. I’ve also cooked a few good meals for myself, and came up with “DJ Squeak,” her cat’s new rap name. So you see, it wasn’t all fun and games. But, discipline always finds me and drags me back. [...]

August 6, 2010

There Will Never be Enough Books

Whenever I am around books I am like a kid in a candy store. I can’t get enough. So many titles, so many ideas, so many, many wonderful and awful stories. I love the fact that authors put them out there and share with us. I am grateful that there are so many ways to read and consume literature. There will never be enough books. Continue reading There Will Never be Enough Books

August 5, 2010

Conflict! I need more conflict!

It’s amazing how topics can just hit ya without expecting it, y’know? Like now. I was responding to another writer who replied to yesterday’s article, and in that response, I found myself soon delving deep into the topic of adding more conflict to one’s writing, when I realised, I’d probably be better off to expound upon that and put it here for public consumption. Not that it will actually give you consumption, but follow along.

How are you with conflict? My friend, mid-list author J. A. Konrath (who just got published for an interview this week in Newsweek about this whole self-pub craze), was a member of my online writing group before he was anyone with his six-figure advance from Hyperion Press for Whiskey Sour, and when he had time to contribute, he would always hammer one thing: If you’re having trouble with your piece, go back to conflict. And he was right. Conflict is inherent in everything we touch, see and do. So why do we avoid it in story-telling? Maybe because we’re afraid of it. How often do we avoid it in real life? I know in private, when I get behind the wheel of a car, suddenly I’m possessed with Turret’s Syndrome, but when I’m sober? Look out! Continue reading Conflict! I need more conflict!

August 5, 2010

Our friend phyto – planet killer

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PHOTO From NIKON SMALL WORLD

Do you recognize this?  Is it a beautiful jewel?  A  fancy bead?  A slightly erotic representation?  Yes and no.  This little guy is microscopic, so tiny that most of us only know of them because the ocean is green.  It’s a single Phytoplankton, the bottom of the food chain, even below Twinkies.

Most everything in the ocean lives because of these.  Without Phytoplankton very few things higher on the food chain (which is everything) would have anything to eat.  They are earth’s simplest and oldest green veg and the basis for a great deal of life on earth.  Which is why a recent study published in Nature startled a lot of people.

The oceans are becoming less green.  That’s because Earth has been loosing 1% to 2% of the population of phytoplankton since 1950.  Right now we are down about 40%.

I hate “scare” articles.  So, let me tell you that the decline in phytoplankton has not been found in the North and South Indian Oceans, just everywhere else.  Feel better? Continue reading Our friend phyto – planet killer

August 5, 2010

Intolerant of stupidity

from http://wackyiraqi.com

Intolerant of stupidity……intolerant of stupidity…….. what does that mean, I wonder?  I’m confused.  Who would say that?  Who could say that?  Someone who says they are “intolerant of stupidity”  must have a well thought out definition of what stupidity is.  Perhaps they have a special protocol for identification or a special device, a “stupidity meter?”

Does intolerance of stupidity mean a zest for education?  Someone who goes throughout the world on an endless quest to cure ignorance?  That’s a nice thought.  But it really doesn’t sound like that, does it?  It sounds more like someone who feels very full of themselves.

Just hearing that makes me think of the people who are shocked when another questions something.  You know the ones who say things like “What a stupid question. Don’t you know anything?” or “Stupid jerk, come back when you know something, will ya?”

I’m pretty sure we’ve all heard, or at least felt that attitude.  It’s really more an expression of superiority, isn’t it?  A person must think they’re awfully clever or intelligent to call another person, or their questions, stupid.  Do you think Einstein, Hawking or Bach angrily refused to answer “stupid” questions?  Would they come a party and say: Continue reading Intolerant of stupidity

August 4, 2010

Inclusion- A Mosque at Ground Zero

The events of what we will always refer to as 9/11 still haunt New York City. I know people who died that day, I know people who survived that day. And I also know what it means to be told no you can’t come here because of the color of your skin or your religious beliefs. While many are saying we don’t need a mosque at Ground Zero and the Greek Orthodox church that collapsed under the World Trade Center buildings can not get funded to be rebuilt I cannot say I believe in what this country stands for and deny a religion the right to build where it pleases. Continue reading Inclusion- A Mosque at Ground Zero

August 4, 2010

Saying No! to a Ground Zero Mosque

Saying No! to a Ground Zero Mosque


By Alan Caruba

In the August 3rd edition of The Wall Street Journal, in the Greater New York section, the lead article was “9/11 Memorial Pledged as Part of Mosque Plan.”

There already is a 9/11 memorial. It is called Ground Zero and will be incorporated into whatever structure that eventually gets built on the site.

If one continued to read the story, however, you had to jump to page A21 where side-by-side with the mosque story was one titled, “Verdict in JFK Bomb Plot”, subtitled “Jury Finds Two Guilty in Conspiracy Charges for Plan to Ignite Fuel Tanks.” Continue reading Saying No! to a Ground Zero Mosque

August 3, 2010

A list of crap I no longer wish to hear about

I like background noise.  It allows me to separate my thoughts.  Occasionally, I find it a distraction, but most of the time it is just noise.  The presence of the sound is somehow transformative.  It sustainably enables me to marshal my thoughts and execute whatever it is I am doing, or it allows me to sleep despite any of the din outside.  The volume matters sometimes.  A loud television or stereo is interesting when you concentrate on it with interest.  However, when you are no longer interested, they become a distraction… sort of like people in life sometimes.  But, in both cases you will find that you can tolerate either, very well, if the volume has been reduced a good bit.  We have all had that conversation.  You’re really listening to someone, intent to hear what they are saying.  When they hit a few sour notes, your attitude has changed, and you start to hear “blah blah woof woof……blah blah”.  Continue reading A list of crap I no longer wish to hear about

July 31, 2010

Judge Bolton: An F for The Arizona Decision – Rewrite It

Judge Bolton:  An F for The Arizona Decision – Rewrite It 

 It’s been thirty years, and I still miss the classroom.  I taught American Political Theory to mostly seniors, Pre-Law or Political Science majors, that long ago.  If any of them had submitted a paper as ill-thought-out as Judge Susan Bolton’s decision on the Arizona immigration law, I’d have given them an F, and made them rewrite it from scratch.  Here’s why:
The largest point is that this US District Judge ignored the very case that was presented to her for decision.  The federal complaint attacked the Arizona law for only one general flaw.  It claimed that the state law preempted federal law, and was therefore unconstitutional.  It is grossly improper for any judge in any case to go outside the pleadings and decide the case on different grounds, and even worse, on non-existent evidence, than was presented in the courtroom.
I’ve seen this sort of behavior at this level, just once before in 40 years at the bar.  I had a case in federal court in D.C. asking Judge Stanley Sporkin to enforce the 27th Amendment.  That was called the Madison Amendment because James Madison wrote it as part of the Bill of Rights in 1789.  But it was not declared ratified by Congress until 1992. Continue reading Judge Bolton: An F for The Arizona Decision – Rewrite It

July 31, 2010

To Hell with Free Trade

To Hell with Free Trade


By Alan Caruba

It’s funny how bits of knowledge stick in your head. Literally a half century ago, while taking a history class at the University of Miami, a professor said, “Nothing happens in the world until someone sells something to someone else.”

The study of history can help one understand the present and frequently help predict the future. The world has experienced astonishing change in the last century thanks to trains, planes, automobiles, radio and television, and, of course, computers and the Internet.

It is natural for each new generation to accept such technological innovations as having always existed, but even automobiles are a relatively new mass produced invention. A hundred years ago in 1910, there were only 8,000 cars in the entire nation and only 144 miles of paved road.

Americans tend to think that we have always been the dominant economic power, but that did not begin to occur until after World War II destroyed much of Europe, Japan and other competitors. They have rebuilt and, along with the rise of China and India, they are major competitors. Continue reading To Hell with Free Trade

July 29, 2010

His Island in the New York Stream

The bus was about to turn into 135th Street from Broadway when all the traffic was stopped by cops working on a movie set. Whatever the shot was going to be it required booms and cameras and trucks being moved back and forth. While we passengers waited patiently I looked out of the window to my left and saw a man sweeping the crosswalk part of what New York calls “malls’, those areas decorated with flowers and shrubbery in the middle of major thoroughfares. At first I thought he was part of the movie. Then I realized he was cleaning his home. Continue reading His Island in the New York Stream

July 25, 2010

Giving back through journalism

Giving back through journalism

 

by Tyree Harris

When people think of giving back to the community, they think sandwich lines, clean-up service, and financial charity.

Though all of these are great and important, there is no better way to give back to your community than with the very talents you are practicing for your career.

Give back with what you do best.

I spent my first week of summer at the Oregon State University campus being journalistically revived by 24 bright-eyed, teenaged writers. For the past three years, I’ve dedicated June 19th through the 27th to the High School Journalism Institute, a joint effort between the Oregonian and Oregon State to promote newsroom diversity. It is, without question, the most cultural journalistic experience possible in Oregon — students in the program are all from underrepresented backgrounds. Continue reading Giving back through journalism

July 25, 2010

River separates life from death

River separates life from death

by Tyree Harris

The following is part two of a three-part series. See part one here.

With faint screams and smoke coming from the forests and villages surrounding, Simon Mudahogora, his sister, and his friend’s family all loaded up into a canoe, which had to be sunk to hide from the Hutu. They were heading to a refugee camp in Burundi, where many other Tutsi fled.

The border between Burundi and Rwanda was marked by a river — a river so dirtied with death that they had to move carcasses out of the canoe’s way to get across the river.

Simon knew he had to stay tough: “There was no crying.”

Crossing into Burundi, however, didn’t mean safety. The group then had to travel through two hours of swamplands, where the Hutu were often hiding and killing fleeing Tutsi. The thick vegetation and knee-high mud trenched and brushed across their fear-riddled bodies. Continue reading River separates life from death

July 25, 2010

Leaving family, genocide behind

Leaving family, genocide behind

 

by Tyree Harris

“Everybody got along,” said Simon Mudahogora, describing the Rwandan village he grew up in, “It was a poor and peaceful life.” The 26-year-old economics major’s hometown included about 60 of his family members.

Daily life was as simple as it gets: Simon and the other children in his family woke up at 6:30 a.m. and walked a mile to the river to fetch some water for the day. He’d get back, take a cold shower, have his morning tea and bread, and arrive to school at 8:30 ready for class.

For hours, young Simon sat on bench made of dirt, in a room stuffed with 35 students. His family farmed while he was at school.

“That’s the only life I lived. I had no complaints at all,” he said.

In the evening, when the blistering sun cooled down, all the kids got together for a game of soccer — with a slight catch. Continue reading Leaving family, genocide behind

July 25, 2010

Watching a Favorite Movie: “Silence of the Lambs”

This is one of those movies that I watch whenever it comes on. I think it’s because the story is interesting but more than that it is the acting. I read the book twice but when I watch the movie I see human nature at its best and worse. Continue reading Watching a Favorite Movie: “Silence of the Lambs”

July 24, 2010

The Union of Concerned Propagandists

The Union of Concerned Propagandists


By Alan Caruba

On July 11, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) announced that it had launched “a national advertising campaign as part of a broader effort to showcase the dedication and personal histories of scientists studying climate change.”

I know quite a few climatologists and meteorologists and the ones I know have been courageously refuting the global warming fraud for years, even decades. Beyond them, thousands of comparable scientists have signed petitions and statements to the effect that global warming was and is a hoax.

The UCS campaign, however, is “an effort to educate the public about the work scientists undertaken in their efforts to document and understand human-caused global warming.” Excuse me, but there isn’t any human-caused global warming. There isn’t any global warming insofar as the Earth has been cooling for the past decade.

The UCA is part of a broad pushback against the November 2009 revelations that have since become known as “Climategate.” Thousands of leaked emails among a tiny band of rogue scientists, primarily from the University of East Anglia’s Climate Research Unit (CRU) and Penn State University ripped away their curtain of respectability.
Continue reading The Union of Concerned Propagandists

July 24, 2010

Corruption Is Good, In the Right Hands

Corruption Is Good, In the Right Hands
I listened to every word of President Obama’s statement on signing the financial institutions’ “reform” law, Wednesday morning.  This was a filthy job, but somebody had to do it.  The longest applause during the entire charade was when Obama thanked Rep. Barney Frank and Sen. Christopher Dodd for their “tireless work” in getting this bill passed.
Now, class, let’s conduct a brief review.  First, not every Act that contains the word “reform” actually reforms or improves anything. As your grandma used to say, “Just because the cat has kittens in the oven, doesn’t make them biscuits.”
Second, this “reform” law doesn’t lay a finger on the two federal lending corporations, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were at the heart of the phony financial instruments which nearly crippled the national economy.  Why would they, of all institutions, be left out?
Back up a bit.  Senator Dodd, both then and now, is Chairman of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee that handles finance legislation.  As such, he helped write and pass the original laws which required lending institutions to make increasing numbers of bad loans to increasingly dubious homeowners, in the interests of “fairness.” Continue reading Corruption Is Good, In the Right Hands

July 22, 2010

Limitations

Each summer I volunteer to work with young journalists, teens actually, on how to behave in professional settings. Many of them are gifted writers and photographers. Some are just in the group to have something to do for the summer. At the end of each session we do a mock reception or party so we can practice what was learned.  One of the things I ask them to write down at the beginning of the workshop is what job title they want at the age of 25. For the mock party they wear name tags with the job title on it and pretend they hold this position. The jobs these young African American and Latino students pick often surprises me. But sometimes they sadden me because they reveal that somewhere in their life someone has given them a set of limitations to deal with that they can’t escape for a minute, even to dream. Continue reading Limitations

July 20, 2010

Redistribution of Income

Redistribution of Income
By Ben Cerruti

We have been witnesses to a continuing use of class warfare by those in government, abetted by the media and an assortment of special interest groups and individuals. In this essay we will consider the methods they use to establish the terms relating to redistribution of income.  

Utilizing effective divisive tactics they initially obfuscate their intentions by using the term “wealth” in place of “income” when proposing material changes in the income tax code. Taxing income derived from accumulated wealth does not alter that wealth. They next establish three main category of classes; rich, middle class and poor. If one were to pay close attention, he or she would find that they rather conveniently alter the dividing lines to suit the subject for which they are advocates. Continue reading Redistribution of Income

July 20, 2010

Taking Care of Your Life

Next week I will have a minor eye operation. Again. This is not something I want to do but have to do so that I will be able to see in the future. Like the breast cancer I almost had I can safely say going to the doctor for an eye exam caught it in time.

But what about those of us who can’t go to the doctor? What about those of us who won’t go? Continue reading Taking Care of Your Life

July 19, 2010

Of Coffee and Consequence

I had worked a long day, but just did not feel like going home right away.  I drove myself into a Perkins parking lot and found many booths and tables, but what caught my attention was the coffee counter.  A collection of old goats and craggy faced talking-heads was manning it.  The coffee was the same there, but I bet that the conversation was not.  I was not disappointed.  There was the solution to the debt & deficit, the local zoning committee, and attempts for gambling at off-track betting locations; all manner of discussion was heard.  A sandwich and half a pot of coffee later, the conversation became heated. 

               The conversation had wandered to World War II.  A later arrival was of the opinion that the US had lost the war. He said that the world tricked us into rebuilding them, and protecting them, but that we had tricked them, making them our puppets.  There was much debate and spicy language.  The old goats had awakened.  The “hippie” as he was now called, was a rather young man.    He spoke in broad statements at how evil the American system has been.  But when he said that Harry Truman was a war criminal for dropping the bomb, and should have been hanged, I came unglued.  I had listened to the entire debate trading very few barbs.  I had been polite.  At this point, I no longer was. Continue reading Of Coffee and Consequence

July 19, 2010

A Soft and Gentle Man

Last night I learned that my friends lost their only son. He was shot and killed by an undercover police officer in Newark, New Jersey last Friday. He was shot in the heart on a warm sunny evening. His name was DeFarra Gaymon, he was 48 years old, he was the father of two girls and two boys all under the age of 12. We called him Dean, everybody did. He was the President and CEO of a credit union in Atlanta. His father is a pastor, he has a sister and three nieces. He was the apple of his mother’s eye and he had a loving wife. He was a soft and gentle man.

The news media accounts say that he was in a park and that a complaint was made. The cop that shot Dean is reported to be so distraught that he is under sedation and unable to give a statement some 3 days later. He hospitalized in the very same hospital that Dean died in 3 hours after he was fatally shot.

People are speculating that Dean was engaged some unsavory activity and that when the undercover” cop arrived something went awry. I don’t know why Dean was shot and murdered but what I do know is that Dean Gaymon was a loving family man. I do know that he doted on his mother and he loved his family. I do know that he not only cared about his children he also cared for his children and his sister’s children as well. Continue reading A Soft and Gentle Man

July 19, 2010

U.S. Looks Weak as Iran Flips Off the World

U.S. Looks Weak as Iran Flips Off the World


By Alan Caruba

For months now, Mortimer B. Zuckerman, the owner and editor-in-chief of U.S. News & World Report, has been writing increasingly desperate pleas for the Obama administration to do something about the greatest threat to peace in the Middle East and the world, Iran.

“When Barack Obama became president, Iran had perhaps several thousand centrifuges enriching uranium. Now it may have thousands more,” wrote Zuckerman in the August edition. “What’s at stake here is too menacing for the world to delude itself that Iran will somehow change course. It won’t.”

It must be very frustrating to be a multi-millionaire media mogul and yet unable to do much about an impending disaster other than warn about it. My sense is that it falls on deaf ears at the White House.

Anyone as dense as Obama should not be allowed to be Commander-in-Chief, but he is and, worse for America and all other nations, he likely has no idea of the dangers involved in reducing the nation’s military capabilities at a time when Iran is closing in on becoming a nuclear threat to the Middle East and beyond. Continue reading U.S. Looks Weak as Iran Flips Off the World

July 17, 2010

The Missing Bone Hunters of Politics

The Missing Bone Hunters of Politics

On our way through eastern Tennessee on US 26 for the fortieth time, give or take a few, we decided to visit the Gray Fossil Museum.  It is one of the most extraordinary preserves of fossilized bones of long-extinct creatures ever found.
An excellent book describes how this sink hole that preserves thousands of whole skeletons of ancient creatures was discovered, preserved and exploited.  The book is The Bone Hunters by Harry Moore. 
In some cases, the scientists can identify a species from a single tooth.  Compare paleontology to political science.  We know more about the life and death of creatures which lived three million years ago, than we do about types of governments which have died within the memory of living people.
The first fact a tooth can give us about a long-dead creature is whether it is an herbivore, living on vegetation, or carnivore, living on animal flesh.  There is a simple characteristic which divides governments into two, opposed categories. Continue reading The Missing Bone Hunters of Politics

July 16, 2010

Farmer Judd

Farmer Judd

by Bob Grant

Farmer Judd worked in the mud to keep his garden pure,

Don’t mix or match, you’ll surely catch, disease he was for sure.

Sam the Slug worked in his mud but with a different mind,

For what he saw – there was no flaw – for Sam the Slug [...]

July 15, 2010

George Steinbrenner, great American loser

New York Yankee owner George Steinbrenner had an undeserved reputation as a winner, but baseball’s current economic structure may be his lasting legacy. [...]

July 15, 2010

The Little Site

The Little Site

by Bob Grant

The Little Site that thought they could,

went online to do some good.

Started out with ups and downs,

got some smiles – got some frowns.

Writers came and writers went,

Some to speak and some to vent.

Limits none on what to post,

Theory was we’d get [...]

July 15, 2010

Public Relations and the World

Public Relations and the World


By Alan Caruba

PR Week publishes monthly editions in addition to its other news services and the July issue is devoted to “The most powerful people in PR.” All industries have their major players, so there is nothing surprising that public relations would also have its heavy hitters, but there are some interesting insights to be gleaned from the list of the twenty-five chosen.

I have plied the magic arts and crafts of public relations since the 1970s when I gave up the notion of ever making a decent living as a journalist. Journalism offers tons of ego satisfaction, but the pay was bad back then and, by comparison with other professions, not much better today.

The major players are, not surprisingly, the ones in charge of projecting and protecting a corporate “image”, otherwise known as perception. Number one on the list is Katie Cotton, the VP of worldwide corporate communications for Apple. She is teamed with Steve Jobs its cofounder and CEO because, together, they are the dynamic due of PR for a company that is testimony to American innovation and enterprise. It’s a very good choice. Continue reading Public Relations and the World

July 13, 2010

Weighing Up Traditional Publishing & Ebook Publishing

Weighing Up Traditional Publishing & Ebook Publishing


Robert W. Walker is a graduate of Chicago’s Wells High School, Northwestern University, and the NU’s Graduate Masters in English Education program.  Rob has taught writing in all its permutations (“All writing is creative writing but not all writing sings,” he says.) from composition and developmental to a study of the literary masters to creative and advanced creative writing.  His first novel was one only an arrogant youth could have conceived — a sequel to Huckleberry Finn (now published as Daniel & The Wrongway Railway, Royal Fireworks Press, NY), but his first suspense-techno-thriller-sf-mystery came in 1979, after college, a novel that won no awards entitled SUB-ZERO.
 
In any non-traditional publishing as in ebook publication, there is no such thing as “an advance against royalties”.  In Traditional Publishing as we know, now often termed DTB’s by our younger generations, ie. Dead Tree Books the “advance” has always been there. This is a significant difference. For the older generation, my generation, the first phrase that comes to mind for the author is “an advance against royalties” and what this means is the author gets a lump sum “loan payment” to start work on the process of crafting a book or novel. However, in ebook non-traditional publishing wherein everything is lower case, there are NO advances. In fact, in “non-publishing” as some like to call it, there are a lot of “NO’s” to the traditional model.
However, before we get too far afield, an advance against a royalty of a $100, 000 is a thing of beauty on the surface. No doubt about that. A writer can rejoice. However if it is for four books to be written over four years, that’s pretty much slave wages or $25,000 a year, which if one is independently wealthy makes for nice pen money. Not so with most people who are attempting to make a living (no joke) at writing. Continue reading Weighing Up Traditional Publishing & Ebook Publishing

July 12, 2010

The Rocking Man

He sits there most afternoons before it gets too hot. He sits and rocks with his head forward eyes glazed looking at something the rest of us cannot see. His black hair is always shiny, his beard combed with a touch of gray. Each day brings a change of clothes that are worn and a bit ragged, faded with food stains and sweat but if you pass him there is no odor of poverty, no odor of muck or filth. He is mentally disturbed and disturbing no one as he sits and rocks on my neighbors steps. Continue reading The Rocking Man

July 12, 2010

My daughter’s wedding

Stephen Sangirardi               My daughter’s wedding              Bard715@aol.com
 
  The day of my daughter’s wedding: there’s quite a difference between the rehearsal dinner and the actual wedding. My God! Early in the morning I broke a plate in the sink. I was nervous. My wife and daughter saw that and were a bit shocked, and I think they became calmer themselves when they saw my nerves. I have taught thirty-three years in the classroom, but never was I as jittery as I was that morning. I almost resorted to taking a shot of Scotch, but instead popped six magic pills. I will definitely say this for all future fathers who must marry off their daughters. Rehearsal was easy, the menu. The actual wedding was difficult, the meal. For openers there were so many people in the house that morning—the bridesmaids getting dressed—and so many pictures were taken in different combinations, the three photographers barking orders left and right. Then there was the crowd of people outside, including the neighbors, the relatives, and the limos. Continue reading My daughter’s wedding

July 11, 2010

Peacetime in Krakow

Peacetime in Krakow
 
I’m here in Krakow, courtesy of Ryanair, which is actually an anagram of Iran Ayr. Ryanair’s Ayatollah, Michael Surcharge-O’Leary, continues to take the michael by now proposing to charge us for peeing, provided it’s booked in advance and paid for on line (credit card surcharge £20). In future, flights will be all-standing affairs so as to cram in more passengers. Those unable to stand, especially during heavy turbulence, will have the option to pay a bums-on-seats surcharge. Oh, and to save time at the security check, Ryanair asks that you leave your shoes at home, and travel in socks. Shoes also incur a surcharge. The aim is to make all Ryanair flights completely free, but twenty-five year mortgages to cover the surcharges can be applied for on line when booking… for another surcharge. Continue reading Peacetime in Krakow

July 10, 2010

NASA’s Mission to the Muslims

NASA’s Mission to the Muslims


By Alan Caruba

I felt like this back in the days when the Watergate scandal slowly, painfully unraveled, revealing the most appalling stupidity and criminality emanating from the Oval Office. From the night when the burglars were arrested in the Democrat Committee headquarters on June 17, 1972 to the day Nixon resigned on August 9, 1974, Americans were forced to witness and endure something unthinkable.

The news that NASA administrator, Charles Bolden, had been dispatched to the Middle East to fulfill what he said was its “foremost” mission, “to find a way to reach out to the Muslim world and engage much more with dominantly Muslim nations to help them feel good about their historic contribution to science…and math and engineering” was so appallingly stupid that it defied any legitimate reason for NASA to exist.

The other mission objectives Barack Obama charged Bolden with were to “re-inspire children to want to get into science and math” and to “expand our international relationships.” Continue reading NASA’s Mission to the Muslims

July 10, 2010

The Town Hall Revolt, One Year Later

The Town Hall Revolt, One Year Later

Democrats didn’t get the message. Will Republicans do better?

 

Much has happened in the dense and shifting political landscape of the past 18 months—the quick breakdown along partisan lines in Congress; continuing arguments over spending, the economy and immigration; the big Republican wins in Virginia, New Jersey and Massachusetts; the Gulf oil spill; falling poll numbers for the president and his party.

But the biggest political moment, the one that carried the deepest implications, came exactly one year ago, in July and August of 2009, in the town hall rebellion. Looking back, that was a turning point in both parties’ fortunes. That is when the first resistance to Washington’s plans on health care became manifest, and it’s when a more generalized resistance rose and spread.

President Obama and his party in Congress had, during their first months in power, done the one thing they could not afford to do politically, and that was arouse and unite their opposition. The conservative movement and Republican Party had been left fractured and broken by the end of the Bush years. Now, suddenly, they had something to fight against together. Social conservatives hated the social provisions, liberty-minded conservatives the state control, economic conservatives the spending. Health care brought them together. The center, which had gone for Mr. Obama in 2008, joined them. Continue reading The Town Hall Revolt, One Year Later

July 10, 2010

A Tale of Two Women

A Tale of Two Women

“Important” events happened recently to two women.  The relative attention paid and press coverage about the two tells a lot about where we are as a nation, and it isn’t good.  The two women are Lindsay Lohan and Pam Murphy.
All of you know that Lindsay Lohan is a spoiled, self-centered, self-destructive twit who was just sentenced to 90 days in jail for multiple instances of contempt of court.  But how many of you know who Pam Murphy was?  Let’s not always see the same hands.
Pam Murphy was the widow of Audie Murphy, the most decorated US soldier from WW II.  Here is how an article in Veterans Today on 10 April, 2010, described her:
“After Audie died, they all became her boys. Every last one of them.
“Any soldier or Marine who walked into the Sepulveda VA hospital and care center in the last 35 years got the VIP treatment from Pam Murphy. Continue reading A Tale of Two Women

July 9, 2010

Facts & Theories

Interesting how some ideas become facts, while others are discounted.  The concept of “God” is a notion of an explanation to that which we did not understand and a theory of how we became.  Evolution is a theory as well.  It is not scientifically sufficient to call it fact.  There is too much evidence [...]

July 9, 2010

Why Write in Rhyme?

Why Write in Rhyme?

by Bob Grant

Why write in rhyme instead of prose,

that’s usually how the question goes.

Some like a beer – some like the wine,

You’re free to choose and that’s just fine.

The same holds true for me I guess,

Perhaps I’m playing solitaire chess.

What rhymes with ouch, [...]

July 6, 2010

The (Black) Hair Thing

My hair is not my shining glory.

Saying that as a black woman conjures up a lot of feelings, jokes and anger. But not for me. Once a young friend chastised me for cutting my hair. She told me everyone was trying to grow some and here I destroying mine. My response was “It’s only hair and it will grow back”. It was something she didn’t understand because for ages black women have wanted the hair they claim God didn’t give them. I know why, I understand why but I think now is the time to get over it. It is time for a major hair change in this country. Continue reading The (Black) Hair Thing

July 5, 2010

Answering Mr. Gray

Back in June my friend Minnette Coleman wrote a piece entitled General McChrystal Should Go. As with most of Minnette’s posts it garnered several comments some of which focused on the morale of our troops. My comment, which said that I was not concerned with troop morale, raised the ire of Prentiss Gray.I promised to respond to Prentiss and so, after a bit of a wait, here is my reply. Continue reading Answering Mr. Gray

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