A reluctant churchgoer, some power pushed me there recently as the title of the sermon was particularly poignant. It was, “When you open your mouth.” On the same weekend there was an opinion piece in the local paper titled, “If you know you shouldn’t say it, then just don’t.” Both the sermon and the editorial […]
At 6:09 p.m. September 9 came a brief e-mail: “My mother slipped away this morning, after a rally the last couple of days. I was with her and she was not in pain, so it was not as difficult as it might have been. She hated hospitals and did not want any more procedures.” […]
Since anyone and everyone is predicting what Pres. Obama will say tonight, and what he means by what he says, I have my right to my own opinion, which is, I would say, as informed (and uninformed) as that of anyone else. I am deliberately posting this before Obama’s speech, rather than after. As […]
Under ordinary circumstances I may not have heard that President Obama was going to give a televised talk to America’s school children at 11 a.m. today. I’m long retired with no direct ties to public schools. But these are no ordinary circumstances. Last Friday morning, I got an e-mail, later withdrawn, in which the sender […]
Van Jones is now history, at least insofar as an office in the White House is concerned. I heard Van Jones speak in person twice. The last time, in March, 2009, was apparently his last public speech before joining the Obama administration. I bought his book, “The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix […]
UPDATE ON THE ZIP TO ZAP: Subsequent to the September 6 update I received two most interesting items: my brother, who had been involved in the event sent a research piece that was most interesting #mce_temp_url# . Then I ordered the 1991 documentary on the event, an equally fascinating summary of what happened during those […]
These comments need a disclaimer: I am a lifelong Catholic, and active in my faith life. Anyone who knows me would so attest. This would make me a “Christian”, at least it would in the wake of John F. Kennedy’s election as President in 1960, though I would guess that there are still plenty of […]
It is intriguing to observe our nation’s current on-going debate about medical care – a system that ostensibly follows the ethical principle of “first do no harm.” It seems that medical care has now digressed to an un-American and unprofessional dictum of “first do not care for the unprofitable.” How can we “first do no […]
I awoke to a New York Times on-line headline “Edward M. Kennedy, Senate Stalwart, Dies at 77.” He passed away late Tuesday night, August 25, coincidentally, my daughters 40th birthday. He was a veteran U.S. Senator when she was born in 1969. Today and following days, there will be endless commentary about this larger than […]
Today is my oldest grandchild’s 23rd birthday. This birthday causes me to think back…and ahead. August 22, 1986, when Lindsay was born, means of communication differed from today. There was no public access internet; public e-mail was several years in the future; cellular phones were just beginning to be talked about. When I called to […]