What is it that is so upsetting about evolution to many of faith? The faithful are given much leeway in measuring the 6,000 year old universe or earth in terms of eons as after all simply a poetic expression to account for geological time. Surely, if the papists can accept the poetry, why not the Christian fundamentalists? Though there is archeological evidence that homo-sapiens existed some 100, 000 years ago and more primitive forms even longer, one is free to posit Adam and Eve came later ...

  Thanksgiving — the way it was in the ‘30s                               [from my novel] The doorbell rang and she opened the door to be greeted by a quaint Baseball with little legs, and a lad dressed in baggy pants and a ragged cardigan; he wore a Brooklyn Dodger cap. “Anything for Thanksgiving?” shrilled the Baseball th...

Does the NRA support Hezbollah’s right to bear arms in Lebanon?… I have no qualms about the FBI issuing a NSL [National security letter] but I resent their right to snoop into my financial records what with identity theft on the rise. Surely, there must be a better way to monitor suspects rather than randomly including average citizens.… According to David Broder, Ohioans couldn’t care less about the economy, scandals, or lukewarm over Katrina, but they’re obsessed with the abysmal ...

  It is apparent from the riots in France that the US has to begin thinking into the future of the current immigration ramifications and its ensuing generation. Essentially France’s immigrant influx of post WWII need for labor is now backfiring in the second and third generation of immigrants whose back-breaking labor is no longer needed, together with the acclimation of the native born youths who may consider themselves above dead-end toil — even if available — of their ancestors. Moreove...

  When I went into the service — ancient history now — it was to do a job, hopefully live through it and come back home. Many felt the same but tragically were left enshrined in rows of crosses and stars on Pacific islands. No such honor was given to the countless sailors in watery graves, yet they gave their lives knowing there was honorable purpose. There would have been greater but honorable tragedy had the war not ended abruptly by the advent of the atomic bomb. Mixed with joy, I felt ...

I am tired of the dirty label of liberal, linked to the color of pink, just as there are conservatives who are tired of being linked to the Christian right. Liberal to me means an eclectics or cherry picking of New Deal, Socialism — big government where needed. To most conservatives, I think, wish to be perceived in the bright side of Goldwater and Reagan — government with restraint. I do not profess there is little difference here, but the common thread is that those of good will want what’s ...

It is often said or implied on JU that liberals are elitists who contemplate their navels while dismissing the realities of the living world. The inference here is that liberals indeed are individualists who take solipsistic pride in do-nothing as opposed to the brilliant drive of the entrepreneurs to address the pragmatic needs of the nation. Strangely, liberals discount the great deeds of the ilk of Ford, Walton, Carnegie and Gates whose true individualism led to progress in the realm,...

  The word itself is torturous. One shrinks from the horror of one inflicting pain on another; unless, perhaps, it is depicted in modern films and arenas for some weird, vicarious catharsis. Whenever another child has disappeared we pray that he or she is not sadistically tortured, though we know there is little chance of its not happening when a molester, slaver, or kidnapper is himself obviously sadistic, such as depicted in Zarqawi’s blockbuster videos of beheading or in frightful confe...

To a fault, the extreme conservatives and liberals think they can have everything even though the nation is more or less centrist. For a Creationist to insist that Earth is but 6,000 years old is in clear defiance of anthropology, geology and physics observations and is as bad as saying the world is flat — Thomas Friedman notwithstanding. Nonetheless, liberals should not denigrate but calmly resist any legislation that tries to incorporate such thinking into public school curricula. Moreo...

Well, yes, with objections such as blaming natural disasters on Nature alone because there are those who believe that God can only be Go[o]d. The unrelenting trend to advertise “In God We Trust” within public schools is but another volley to bring down the walls of separation of church and state — next will be the demand for the image of the Virgin Mary — and worse, Pat Robertson’s — on every public school lawn or facade. Objecting to reasonable mottos is not my intent: after all, I do not ...

I rather suspect that Nuke O'Reilly's outrageous comment on San Francisco has made JU speechless. Apparently the site is too preoccupied with digging up liberal gaffes. Besides, SF deserves a terrorist attack no less than Paris, eh? 

  The overriding factor in charter schools is separation. The time honored conceptual ideal of an integrated public school that makes every attempt to reach all of its students is being undermined. Since the days of so-called “community schools” of the ‘60s and ‘70s — ignoring the healthy existence of autonomous local school districts — the public school has been dodging the slings and arrows of the reactionary forces to destroy altogether public education. Public school critics, not unlik...

  All the world’s a stage — especially FOX News and Sean Hannity as the protagonist. Over fifty million Americans are indebted to Alabama’s quaint National Guard record-keeping. Saddam Hussein was directly responsible for the tragedy on 9/11 because he wrote out checks to families of suicide bombers in Palestine after the horrendous deed is done in Israel. Any mason could tell you that dropping a cement footing in thirty feet of peat ain’t going to hold a raging ocean. Ne...

Judge Alito whether a “Scalito” or not will be confirmed because he’s a white Catholic male. Since he is well qualified for the lifetime position — his stance on abortion notwithstanding — a wife, even an abused one, needing permission from her husband to have an abortion is politically correct in face of the horrendous religious nut cases that dominate culture today and consider Alita as one of them. Pat Robertson and his ilk might, however, discover that neither Roberts nor Alita are necessari...

President Bush was eloquent in his speech, honoring veterans and current servicemen. The nation needed to be reminded of the horror of the terrorists' objective to dishonor human decency and world peace. The Democratic politicians also had to be reminded that they, too, overwhelmingly supported the war. I did not, however, appreciate his rehashing the politicized strategy of reminding us that he is indeed the 9/11 commander in chief by excoriating his critics.     ...