Hello there, Dr. E. here. The following is a Guest Contributor opinion column by Will Marshall, who is the founder and president of the Progressive Policy Institute, which describes its blog as “…Lively political commentary informed by rigorous analysis and evidence. Inspired wonkery — a constant stream of bold ideas for solving big public problems. And a distinctly progressive point of view grounded in a spirit of radical pragmatism.” I thought this paragraph from Progressive...

“I see so many twinned images each day; one of life, one of death; one of happiness, one of such sorrow. So similar, so deadly different. May there be good for those who are safe; may there be good for those who are not. May we who are disappointed idealists Turn away from the specifics of incessant accusations, and instead turn toward simply clothing with such love whatever naked soul stands right within our reach.” cpe __________ CODA There will many months work ahead, the magnitude...

I just hadda. Everyone deserves to reverse engines for a bit. Laughter is blessing. ONE MINUTE SATIRE: DATELINE: TODAY A teacher was arrested today at John F. Kennedy International Airport as he attempted to board a flight while in possession of a ruler, a protractor, a compass, a slide-rule and a calculator. At a morning press conference, the Attorney General said he believes the man is a member of the notorious Al-Gebra movement. He did not identify the man, who has been charged by the FBI with...

True, there’s no silver bullet for terrorists to be closed off ever and always, Mr. President. True, there’s no foolproof method of surveillance, even though many of us feel strength and honor in those who run security for our government. But in the systems you oversee, there are issues you barely covered or omitted entirely today in your speech on tightening down on terrorists. The following core issues have to be put high on your list for strengthening security: 1.ill-training of...

That’s two D senators down. Not to mention Democrat Bill Ritter, Governor of Colo, said to announce tomorrow he will not be running for a second term. His limp tenure, lack of progress, lack of vitality, are the reasons, pundits say. There are others who are ‘suddenly’ retiring, stepping down, choosing not to run again. What’s happening? Looks like both political strategy and loyalty to party. In these cases of ‘sudden retirement’ it appears the ‘weaker...

Hello, Dr. E. here. What follows below is Part Two of an earlier Guest Voice interview on Veganism, conducted by Mr. Elijah Sweete. In the follow-up interview, Mr. Sweete took previous commenters’ thoughts posted to the earlier interview ….back to the interviewee to gather additional commentary… Modern discourse about animals and humans and their relationships with each other, is an ancient exploration leading to many sets of tenets, not just in our time alone. Here, with permission...

There is a wall… The CIA memorial wall at CIA headquarters, is located in the Old Headquarters Building. There are 83 stars on the wall. Each represents the a death of a CIA agent in the course of duty. Though the image of CIA might for some be slouch hats, spy vs spy, old guys with white hair and hoary knowledge, these are the faces of the mostly very young CIA employees. Here, they were celebrating the installation of Leon Panetta. The names of 48 of the 83 agents who died are written...

After noting on TMV that Mr. Limbaugh was taken to hospital suddenly, I see across the blogosphere that there are in various hamlets, outbreaks of some kind of madness regarding Rush Limbaugh, with some issuing the equivalent of “armchair fatwahs” against the man. I think that’s wrong-hearted. I know Mr. Limbaugh from prior associations through our books being neck and neck on the NYT bestseller list some years back, and we appeared on various networks at the same time, so we met more than...

UPDATE: Jan 1, 2010: Mr. Limbaugh says he did not have a heart attack and does not have heart disease: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100101/ap_on_re_us/us_limbaugh_hospital UPDATE: Rush Limbaugh will “take a lot of tests” according to Walter Williams, guest host on Mr. Limbaugh’s radio show while Mr. L is vacationing in Hawaii. “While pains [in chest] can be an indicator of a cardiac event, the cause of his discomfort cannot be confirmed at this time,” Williams said, adding...

This morning Emergency units surrounded Northwest Airlines flight # 253 (same flight number as flight with Nigerian man who attempted incendiary ignition of alleged explosive substance while in flight) on the airfield at Detroit. This morning’s flight was also from Amsterdam to Detroit. The pilot’s request for emergency assistance on touchdown appears to have noted the passenger as being ‘disruptive’… which in airtalk could mean, would not respond to instructions,...

Not in remonstrance, but just to ask we not forget… and to do what we can to help… within our reach… in your own way… to go beyond your reach also by helping those who are already helping… From Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens The chimes were ringing the three quarters past eleven at that moment. “Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask,” said Scrooge, looking intently at the Spirit’s robe, “but I see something strange, and not belonging to yourself,...

There are hundreds of kinds of snow… these are but a few… …walking over a bridge, over a river, maybe near Chicago’s Water Tower; snow quiet, unshoveled, but wind so sharp-cold it feels like it will crack the bones in your face… and the slush with mud puddles ankle-deep, and your boots arent sealed well at the soles… and up near timberline in the mountains, the snowpoles that stick up above the snowline so the big yellow snowplows know where the road ends and...

Hello there, it’s Dr. E here, deputy editor at TMV… and just as I came home from a four day sudarshan kriya meditation with my family, in came this piece on veganism by Mr. Elijah Sweete, who has written on TMV before, including a news story about a Governor seemingly trying to influence a panel inquiring into a death penalty case in Texas. Oddly, before I received this piece by Mr. Sweete on one person’s view of veganism, our teacher of sudarshan kriya, Lataji, had so gently...

UPDATE from Dr. E: ESPN Reports: “The highway patrol first reported Woods’ injuries as serious, though Woods spokesman, Glenn Greenspan, said Friday afternoon that the golfer was treated at the hospital and released in good condition. A statement from the hospital, as well as Greenspan’s statement, termed the accident as “minor.” The Florida Patrol spokesperson said “serious injuries” are those requiring more than on the spot minor medical attention. The...

Brain Chemicals, Not Will Alone We don’t know the qualified diagnoses of Nidal Hasan. But it may have markers of a serious chemicological and brain disturbance. The subject about how the brain chemicals in the body can go haywire, wrongly signaling a person about events and stimulii around them, causing interpretations and behavior that are either too much or too little– is a subject so large that it would take several libraries to trace what has been researched and written about these...

This GUEST VOICE piece is by Rafael Jesús González from California, on Veterans’ Day 2009. It is a perspective on ‘supporting the troops’ …or not. I brought it here to give a small x-ray into how one family’s three generations of soldiers is evolving nearly ninety years after what was supposed to have been ‘the war to end all wars, World War One’ …GUEST VOICE by Rafael Jesús González I am leery of being asked to honor veterans of almost any war,...

Fourteen were killed at Fort Hood, not thirteen as reported all week long. Which official is correcting the death toll? I am. On the authority of being a mother who is multi-paragravida, meaning one who has given birth more than once, and on the authority of being a grandmother of five souls, I can, I think, count straight about this particular tragedy. Francheska Velez was a 21-year-old woman, shot to death by Major Nidal Hssan at Fort Hood Army Base. Thirteen others were slain also. Nine weeks...

Miss Kimberly Munley, the mother of a three-year-old daughter, and a civie policewoman, is in stable condition, with injuries to the upper leg and thigh. General Cone said her fearless response to gunman at Fort Hood, had saved countless lives. Trained in active-response tactics, she rushed into the building where Major Nidal Malik Hasan began firing on comrades as they prepared to deploy to Afghanistan and Iraq. Officials confirmed that she had continued firing even after being hit. You can read...

The subject of veteran suicides rises every so often, like a dark island that floats off shore, but lays submerged under the water most all the time. Only small boats with intrepid rowers that are strong enough to go out past the riptides can see the sleeping dead under the water. But every so often the ocean heaves and there it is again: the landmass rises and you see that it has been weighted down by huge blocks of granite inscribed with names of senators and doctors who didn’t ask and...

A koan is a short, often paradoxical idea, meant to tell the truth, or cause the ego to give up, or cause enlightenment, or all three. Old well known koans: What is the sound of one hand clapping? What is the sound of a tree falling in the forest, if there is no one there to hear it? I try my hand at koans. I’m no good at it, but I try. Why it is so easy for ‘the base’ of any side to fall so easily into a Pavlovian rage by telling them half-truths which are purposely meant...