(PORTIONS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN JANUARY 2009) I can remember some but by no means all of my dreams, which are seldom erotic, rarely nightmarish and more often than not mundane, frequently involving people and places that I have known, although the people are in places different than where I have known them, while the places are conglomerations of, say, a old farmhouse … [Read more...] about This Just In: John F. Kennedy Is Still Alive (But In My Dreams): Report From 20 Paws Ranch
A Gallery of Jerry Sandusky Guilty Cartoons
CLICK HERE to see gallery of Jerry Sandusky guilty cartoons. … [Read more...] about A Gallery of Jerry Sandusky Guilty Cartoons
The Secret to Science’s Success
[This is the 4th in the series Religion and Science: A Beautiful Friendship] Man is a creature who makes pictures of himself, and then comes to resemble the picture. – Iris Murdock The title of Mark Twain’s What Is Man? poses a question that humans have pondered for millennia. Our species modestly calls itself Homo sapiens—Man, the wise. We’ve also been dubbed Man, … [Read more...] about The Secret to Science’s Success
A Note to Newt
I have just returned from a trip through the Austin-San Antonio-Corpus Christi “corridor” during which I bought regular gas for $2.99 a gallon, saw another station selling it for $2.97 and saw other prices ranging from $3.02 to $3.29 a gallon, with some a little higher. This was after reading in USA Today that the national average price for regular gasoline price has gone … [Read more...] about A Note to Newt
What Were These Adults Thinking?
You have to wonder, what were the adults thinking this was funny thinking? And if I was the parent, I'd be thinking, "I think it's time I go see a lawyer." … [Read more...] about What Were These Adults Thinking?
How we got a bad Supreme Court (and how to make it better)
Bad? This isn't about particular decisions (though some have been really bad) or about particular justices (though there are a couple of real ringers). It's just that the size of the Court and the way its members are chosen make for mediocrity at best. Jonathan Turley, legal scholar at George Washington, is very critical. He calls for reform. The Court is not sacred, nor … [Read more...] about How we got a bad Supreme Court (and how to make it better)
Lincoln, Vampires and Disneyland
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It’s Nice to be Emperor (Guest Voice)
It's Nice to be Emperor by Michael Reagan If you don't like something or want to get something done, you don't let little things like the Constitution get in your way. For more than three years Emperor Obama has been behaving as if the separation of powers is a pesky fly to be swatted away whenever it becomes too annoying. If Congress doesn't pass the legislation he … [Read more...] about It’s Nice to be Emperor (Guest Voice)
Associated Press-GfK Poll: One Quarter of Voters Remain Uncommitted
A new AP/GfK poll finds the 2012 Presidential race is more up in the air than ever -- but a Pew Research Poll suggests Romney could benefit from higher GOP engagement. They shrug at President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney. They're in no hurry to decide which one to support in the White House race. And they'll have a big say in determining who wins the … [Read more...] about Associated Press-GfK Poll: One Quarter of Voters Remain Uncommitted
Egyptians Elect MB Islamist Morsi
Even though the military will retain most of the power, I expect that minorities, Christian and otherwise, will flee Egypt shortly. Washington Post: Egypt’s electoral commission announced Sunday that Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi would be sworn in as president, becoming the Arab world’s first elected Islamist head of state after more than a year of popular … [Read more...] about Egyptians Elect MB Islamist Morsi
‘Europe Deserves its Humiliation’ (Financial Times Deutschland, Germany)
Things appear to have come to a boiling point at the G20 Summit in Mexico last week, with the emerging economies gleefully lecturing their former instructors in the European Union. This editorial from Germany's Financial Times Deutschland hopes the humiliation serves as good medicine for a European Union 'disintegrating amid bickering about national interests.' The Financial … [Read more...] about ‘Europe Deserves its Humiliation’ (Financial Times Deutschland, Germany)
95-Year-Old Attack Dog Bites Bill Maher
With his stroke-slurred speech, my ancient friend Kirk Douglas the other night responded to Bill Maher’s aggressive ignorance with the anatomical suggestion that so many of us, liberal and conservative, have been longing to hear someone make on bleepless HBO. Ostensibly congratulating Kirk on a book about restoring screenwriter Dalton Trumbo from the Hollywood blacklist of … [Read more...] about 95-Year-Old Attack Dog Bites Bill Maher
Moscow’s Military Action in Syria a ‘Gift’ to Washington (An Nahar, Lebanon)
In Syria, is Moscow changing traditional post-Cold War roles with the United States? For Lebanon's An Nahar, columnist Ali Hamada writes that the downing of a Turkish Air Force jet by Russia weapons - if not personnel - shows that Russia, instead of taking advantage of the consequences and mistakes of American intervention, is now likely to be the one taken advantage of by … [Read more...] about Moscow’s Military Action in Syria a ‘Gift’ to Washington (An Nahar, Lebanon)
Sandusky Guilty as the Mob Howls
I do know something about a couple of things, after all. Thursday, this issue came up on Facebook: Facebook screencap @8:10 PM PDT 22 June 2012 I only say this because, when the Jerry Sandusky defense attorney came out and spoke half an hour ago, he said precisely that. Sandusky wanted to testify, they told him it would be disastrous, since the Prosecutor could have … [Read more...] about Sandusky Guilty as the Mob Howls
Whatever Happened to “Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men”?
[This is the 3rd in the series Religion and Science: A Beautiful Friendship] It is not instruction but provocation that I can receive from another. – Ralph Waldo Emerson In Sunday School, I had noticed, everyone had noticed, that the commandments, precepts, and rules that were taught there were often disregarded, not only by scoundrels and criminals in the news, but … [Read more...] about Whatever Happened to “Peace on Earth, Goodwill toward Men”?
Pew Rearch Poll: Romney Narrowing Gap with Barack Obama
All but certain Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney is steadily narrowing the gap with President Barack Obama in what promises to be a very close -- and very ugly -- race for the White House: Republican Mitt Romney has closed in on President Barack Obama as Americans are more confident in the former Massachusetts governor’s ability to improve the economy, a Pew … [Read more...] about Pew Rearch Poll: Romney Narrowing Gap with Barack Obama
Drinking Sand in a Political Desert
Will this be the ugliest presidential year in living memory? Not a chance. In 1968, murders (of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy) and Democratic convention riots (over Vietnam) elected Richard Nixon, who brought Watergate criminality to the White House before resigning in disgrace. Yet, in all that bloody retrospect, something was there that is missing today, a … [Read more...] about Drinking Sand in a Political Desert
Jerry Sandusky
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Cool, But Not For Spending (Guest Voice)
Cool, but Not for Spending by Tom Purcell I'll shut off my air conditioning if the government goes first. Maybe I better explain. Federal records say the United States recently completed the hottest spring since such record-keeping began in 1895. March, April and May average temperatures in the lower 48 states surpassed the oldest spring average-temperature record … [Read more...] about Cool, But Not For Spending (Guest Voice)
America’s ‘Trojan Horse in Europe’ is About to Bolt (Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland)
Poland, until now considered America's staunchest ally in Central Europe, appears frustrated with Washington in a way no one alive has seen. For Poland's Gazeta Wyborcza, columnist Pawel Wronski outlines in painstaking and voluminous detail, how angst over President Obama's ‘Polish death camps’ gaffe is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Polish disillusionment with … [Read more...] about America’s ‘Trojan Horse in Europe’ is About to Bolt (Gazeta Wyborcza, Poland)