This is a post where I am starting with no idea where I’m going. I’m not sure how I feel and I am hoping to discover my thoughts in an exploration of the issue. The issue is: Trash Talking. Actually, this goes deeper and much bigger than just that; it is the concept of engineering, rather…
North Dallas Fifty
Soon, the airwaves will be filled with images of Dallas, Texas, from November 22nd, 1963 as this year marks 50 solar revolutions since that fateful day. Americans love to re-visit events annually, but decades, semi-centennials and centennials make us agog with retrospectives. The Kennedy Assassination will perfectly fill the bill for melancholy remembrance in units of ten. I…
Summer’s Almost Gone
The other day I posted a comment on Facebook about the sadness I was feeling at the end of my summer visitation with my sons. I did so to open a forum with others who might understand this unique melancholy. The floodgates opened. Literally hundreds of people responded who knew exactly how I was feeling. Along with people who were…
“You like me! You really like me!”
I realized something. (Pause. Wait for fanfare to subside) Many of the arguments we are having over politics are not always about policy as much as they are about perceptions. My evidence is anecdotal, but my observations are pretty consistent. Both sides will admit that their side has done many of the things that they are up in arms…
Peek-a-boo! I see YOU!
A friend posted an indictment of President Obama’s surveillance policy (as a realization of the Patriot Act) with regard to wiretaps by the NSA. You can find it here at: http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-times-obama-nsa-phone-scandal-editorial-nyt-2013-6. It was of particular interest because it was from the editorial board of the New York Times, a paper considered by many to have a…
Confessions of a “Hollywood Liberal”
This morning in the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier this rebuttal appeared to a column that I had written the week before: http://wcfcourier.com/news/opinion/guest_column/questions-for-liberals/article_f518ea5c-ced4-11e2-9026-001a4bcf887a.html. I will also offer my column if anyone wishes to use it as a reference: http://wcfcourier.com/news/opinion/guest_column/have-you-taken-stock-of-your-jeopardized-liberties-lately/article_b252beb0-c947-11e2-b3ad-0019bb2963f4.html. For the record, I consider Van Miller to be a friend, and I have tremendous respect for him and the business…
Giving Idiots a Bad Name
It is fairly common that a mass email will reach me like the one below. This one was a list of things (perceived contradictions in policy) that concluded, if they were true, that “you might live in a country founded by geniuses but run by idiots.” I’m sure that there are some idiots in government, but the…
In the wind of change
“Take me to the magic of the moment On a glory night Where the children of tomorrow dream away in the wind of change.” So proferred Scorpion. Perhaps, a dated, pseudo-anthem from only a marginal metal band from Germany, but, I only had so much time to think of a quote, so that’s the one…
My Popular Opinion
Someone wrote to me in response to an analysis I made regarding charity. They wrote the often heard refrain: “I should be able to choose how and when MY money is spent.” I responded with: “It isn’t your money as much as it is your privilege to have earned it.” I wasn’t satisfied that what I said made…
Enraged by the Rage
There are times when I am rendered speechless from events that are so hard to comprehend that I cannot process my feelings. Many people feel the same today. Grief, fear, and anger can collide in a maelstrom of emotions that leave us confused. Oklahoma City…9/11…Columbine…Virginia Tech…Colorado…Newtown…Boston… There are many others and I don’t want to minimize…