“The earth belongs to each… generation during its course, fully and in its own right. The second generation receives it clear of the debts and incumbrances of the first, the third of the second, and so on. For if the first could charge it with a debt, then the earth would belong to the dead and not to the living generation. Then, no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of its own existence.” Thomas Jefferson, Letter from Paris, September 6, 1789 ...

Columnists — bloggers excepted[?] — should exercise sound editorial judgment in composing their thoughts for the public. Far too often columnists express what is good for them is good for the rest by explaining only what is bad about the alternative without ever analyzing what is good about their own. It is dishonest to say that the New Deal was bad for the country because it interfered with private enterprise and intruded on the individual without citing what it was back then that caused priv...

How do you figure voting trends? Dean worked hard for a year and half to help define the Democratic Party and the Deaniacs thought a brave new world was in the making. Then Iowa happened. Kerry was about to be coronated and then Wisconsin happened, and the pundits acted like Edwards won in Wisconsin even though he lost by 6% in a maverick state where mischievous Independents and Republicans have suspect motives. Since 2000 it is evident that the popular vote doesn’t mean anything any...

Should we be concerned with Iran’s progression toward nuclear weapons? Should we even get involved with but another WMD inspection, which will probably turn out to be a ruse much as Iraq was? It seems to me we should be engaging in diplomatic relations concerning the mockery of next week’s elections there and boycotted by liberal leaning reformists. The reason for the boycott is that the Guardian Council [the hard line clerics] banned more than 2400 candidates who support Western-style democ...

A North Miami couple struck up a relationship via the internet and eventually met in the flesh. After living together for a while, the inevitable happened — pregnancy. Nobly they applied for a marriage license before Valentine’s Day which they planned would be the big day. Well, the big day came and what did they do? They collared a red ribbon on their Labrador, and all drove off in their Dodge Ram pickup for the nearest DRIVE-THRU chapel to tie the knot. Casually dressed, T’ shirts and...

According Andrew Somers, president of Drug Action Network site perceives the drug war is going nowhere and analogous to pre-prohibition and that certain drugs should be definitely legalized: “For instance, comparative analysis of even the most pessimistic studies of marijuana show it to be safer and more benign than alcohol. Therefore it's easy to see marijuana regulations mirroring those for beer and wine.” He acknowledges there are differences in narcotics and suggests: “Har...

In a hedonistic society a sin tax such as proposed on smokers is arguably the preferred way—more so as a disincentive to smoke than as revenue enhancement for a health plan. And if this is indeed the case, then why is there not a heavier sin-tax on gambling, drinking and drugging as a disincentive rather than revenue enhancement? Because the existing sin tax is precisely revenue enhancement and further levies could actually jeopardize consumption, resulting in less revenue. Since vices are a...

Religious, ceremonious use of drugs has existed in ancient times, perhaps as far back as 3000 B. C. in Mesopotamia [Sumer] and certainly in ancient Greece and Scyth, using opium and cannabis. In medieval Islam the popular consumption was cannabis and a particular sect known fittingly as Assassins used hashish that reportedly heightens homicidal instincts. In the New World prevalent was a pyshotropic mushroom cult in the Mayan culture. Native Americans were engaged with the Peyote Spirit, hal...

Though I never thought of myself as homophobic, I did question this unique persuasion as either choice or natural instinct. Upbringing and other social influences, I suspect, are determining factors also that may or not be on the side of choice — chicken or egg thing — since it is conceivable that the leaning may have to be there to begin with. What convinced me that it is primarily inborn was the revelation that Rock Hudson, a 6'6" hulk, was gay. Later that was reinforced by Rich...

Midnight Basketball After-school programs is not pork and should not be treated lightly. Every minute on the basketball court is a drug-dealers moment of frustration. Anyone who is against prevention is one who did not listen to Batman. Even the jail movies of the Thirties featured the defender of rehabilitation and usually it was the warden. Every minute after school for individual counseling is a minute away from the emptness of working couples, or fatherless homes. Every minute of re...

Ah, for the “good ole days!?” When we of the mainstream had little awareness of interracial marriage; homosexuals conveniently stayed in the closet; incest was unheard of; divorce a rarity, except in Hollywood; children in school were safe with their teachers; interns secure in D.C.; vehicles pulled over when sirens blasted in lieu of wild car chases; Jews married Jews, Catholics, Catholics, Protestants, Protestants; abstinence was presumed, and sex contracts not in the lexicon. Even in the ol...

Single payer health care should not fade away with Kucinich . Thereby, this is a follow up to the single payer issue brought up in my blog, “Another Plea for Health Care”. Fortunately, the reactionary political climate did not stamp out the health consciousness that has spread throughout the country since the '92 campaign. It would be ridiculous, then, for the nation to deny the maintenance thereof. Health is a necessity; it is no less significant than national defense or police protection...

 To help pay for a kinder and gentler nation, all so-called career unemployed or unemployable would herewith be extinct. By virtue of this new definition all would be gainfully employed at an incremental rate above the poverty line in compliance with the degree to which the individual has dependents and responsibilities as determined by the Department of Labor. For minors who have dropped out of school, the low end of a variable minimum wage would suffice. By virtue of full employment, the hom...

The word welfare has taken on so many derogatory connotations that it has to go. Though a rose by any other name might smell as sweet, if it were renamed Bloody Mary people may hesitate to nose in its fragrance. Social programs, sadly too, have the same demeaning connotation. Welfare in its inarguable purity is for those who qualify for financial assistance where and when exists variable degrees of helplessness — either mentally, physically or economically. This is as it should be and therefor...