This morning a New York Times bulletin said “Obama Declares H1N1 Flu a National Emergency“. The summary said “Mr. Obama had signed a proclamation that would allow medical officials to bypass certain federal requirements. Officials described the move as similar to a declaration ahead of a hurricane making landfall.” Preparedness is great. But my initial […]
UPDATE February 18, 2010: R.I.P. Loren Halverson. Loren passed away February 15, 2010 at 82. Obituary and funeral arrangements. Moderator: This is a first for this blog – a book, online. 163 pages, eight chapters. Do take a stroll through the chapters, in two parts, at the following web addresses: #mce_temp_url# and #mce_temp_url#. The book appears […]
For the last couple of weeks I’ve been subjected to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s 30-second ad that solemnly (and scaringly) intones (and helpfully prints on the screen) that Health Care Reform will mean $300 billion in new health care taxes. Oh, it’s so good to have a consumer advocate in the good ole C […]
The Saturday, October 17, 2009, Minneapolis Star Tribune had a front page headline: “Deficit Surges to New Record“. The subhead helpfully fleshed out the number: “2009’s deficit soared to $1.42 trillion – more than three times the most red ink ever amassed in a single year.” In the early part of the article – the […]
Last night a friend invited us to attend a performance of August Wilson’s last play, Radio Golf, at St. Paul’s Penumbra Theatre #mce_temp_url#. I have been an off and on patron of Penumbra since 1985, and with Radio Golf have now seen eight of the ten plays of acclaimed playwright August Wilson’s “20th Century Cycle”. […]
Almost 45 years ago – it was March, 1965 – my wife and I, and her doctor, were worried that she was pregnant with our second child. This was not a selfish worry. Barbara had very serious kidney disease, and it was getting worse and worse. Pregnancy would kill her and, of course, the fetus. […]
Part I of this post appeared on October 3. We went to Michael Moore’s new film, “Capitalism: A Love Story”, on Thursday afternoon. Friday morning I sent out to my own mailing list a short message about the movie, succinctly, “See it. Not only to learn, but to be a public witness to the reach […]
The Nobel Institute website: #mce_temp_url# Twenty-four hours ago, President Barack Obama was awakened to hear an announcement that caught him by surprise: he had just been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize. It did not surprise me to learn that Obama’s enemies on the radical right were up in arms about his receiving the honor. It […]
UPDATE OCTOBER 13, 2009: It is my understanding that yesterday the insurance industry rolled out its really big guns and demanded that Health Care Reform legislation require everyone to buy insurance (thus further enriching the insurance companies which are a big part of the problem to begin with. This shameless move is presumably motivated by […]
Everything that is discovered – whether an idea or a scene – that can earn a buck will be exploited and then ruined. That is the way of commerce in the unregulated capitalistic scheme of things. Only the people, through their government, can control this. And when the commercial interests themselves control the government, hope […]