The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not […]
If you watch national news, you may have noticed a lot of attention being given lately to a particularly horrible crime. One day in 2007, two home invaders terrorized and tormented a Connecticut family for 7 hours — including savagely beating the husband/father, raping & strangling the wife/mother, raping the younger daughter (and possibly the […]
Would you boycott a book called Marijuana-Lover’s Guide to Growing Cannabis, perhaps published by High Times magazine? I probably wouldn’t. The moral issue is a bit ambiguous (to me, anyway) and the legal issue depends on where you are and what your purpose for growing cannabis is. How about How to Build a Better Bomb: […]
In 2009, 43.6 million people were counted as poor in the United States. The poverty rate — i.e., the percent of the population considered poor under the official definition — was reported at 14.3% in 2009. That is one out of every seven persons in the U.S. being counted as poor. (I wonder how those […]
Poverty is a terrible thing and, in many cases, avoidable and unnecessary. Especially in the United States. What puts & keeps people in poverty? Without going into a huge discussion, I think the causes can be grouped into two, broad categories: environmental circumstances and personal choices. (By “environmental”, I do not mean ecological; rather, I’m […]
I like George Clooney… sometimes. I liked his character on ER. His movies have been hit-n-miss, though, and there’s not much difference between a lot of the characters he plays. What I mean is, the characters may be different, but his acting range is… narrow. Still, he seems like an intelligent and affable guy. Perhaps […]
Who is “The Man,” anyway? I don’t know if the term is really used that much, anymore. But, my understanding was that it usually referred to groups & individuals of authority — those in power and influence. It could be the government, some big corporation, “the Law” (i.e., cops, courts, the legal system in general). […]
The following is a real letter, authenticated by Snopes, that began circulating online about Aug./Sep. 2009. (I’ve added the pics.) Mr. Guthrie, a senior partner at a law firm in Charlotte, NC, voices what a lot of us are feeling…. ===== “Dear Ms. Pelosi: I write to you out of utter disdain! You are as […]
Consider this a “bookend” post, following up on some of the sentiments from my series on Jews and Liberalism — particularly the “Jewish Freedom and the Free Market” post of the other day. It comes primarily from the final ‘Parting Thoughts’ chapter of economist John R. Lott, Jr.’s book Freedomnomics: Why the Free Market Works […]
Over the past several weeks, I have intermittently been posting and commenting on excerpts from a book I happened upon at the library — Why Jews Should NOT Be Liberals (2001, rev. 2006) by Larry F. Sternberg. Sternberg examines the “doctrines”, programs, & policies of modern liberalism (in American politics) and compares them with the […]
