Why does a political party compete internally for the buck? Why should Joe or Jill Average who are rare breed Democrats from Wyoming care about contributing to Daschle’s re-election? Hillary sends a letter asking for money to support the senate re-election committee and in the same day mail her husband is asking for a contribution to the DNC. At the same time e-mail is overloaded requesting contributions to the presidential candidates or to contribute to preserving social security. It goes on ...
From antiquity to the turn of the last century China could be easily invaded but never conquered for the reason that its enduring culture would sponge up the invaders. Israel, though surely an enduring culture, was never as sprawling and was in danger of being absorbed by ancient Egyptian paganism until Moses’ vision of the promised land, and once achieved faced a history of hostility, particularly when its Christian spin off engendered intense hatred on both sides — and, of course, later with...
Don’t feel guilty because you enjoyed the holidays watching an array of playoffs and bowl games as though Iraq were on another planet. The so-called greatest generation listened to championship and bowl games even though a much larger war raged and everyone having a volatile good time had husbands, fathers, brothers, sisters, daughters and sons in the service. The big exception, of course, was that radio commercials always reminded the listeners to continue buying War Bonds and Stamps and ofte...
Two hundred years after declaring independence and being the first in this hemisphere to end slavery of Africans, Haiti has absolutely nothing to celebrate. Its history has been total chaos — assassinations, military coups, invasion and occupation of Santo Domingo, a long line of leaders as emperors and lifetime dictators, and continuous abject poverty. How can this be? Haitians were indoctrinated by Spanish and most notably the French — let alone memory of their ruthless tribal culture. ...
A strange article in “The Nation” of this week, co-authored by women apparently versed in ’tween and adolescent matters of what’s selling. They cite a stat from a market research firm [NPD] that the sale of thongs climbed to $610 million and $150 million of which from girls ranging in age 13-17. Manufacturers are treating these like T’ shirts with all kinds of naughty and cute inscriptions and logos from Dr. Suess Cat to Muppets, not to mention a puppy thong with the inscription “Wanna Bone?” ...
Politics and religion don’t mix — easier said than done. True, there is the separation clause that ostensibly keeps religion — instruction and display — out of schools. The clause also prevents public display of religion on public property. Christmas, however, being the only religious national holiday, gives rise to controversy over religious displays, except for lights and perhaps modest articles of faith. The tradition of a national holiday lends genuineness to the posture that the nation is...
What do we do about this diversified society that have as many mores as law on the books? Any society which presupposes that mores are necessary to promote the health and stability of a nation is back to the 17th Century bending to the will of the Puritans. Mores and cultural sects have no place in the philosophy of law and morality. As abrasive as it may be to public opinion, respecting the cultural relativity within each society must endure just as parents must grimace over the latest fad of...
If all life on the earth were destroyed today, tomorrow would resort to its nature and begin again. If the planet were totally obliterated the mystery of the cosmos would eventuate the likes of another: this is the nature of the Supra-being who thrives on cognition -- nay, is cognition intertwined with prescience. To think otherwise is a contradiction of the very subsistence directly responsible for the being forging the misconception, which is sense of the other, however distorted. So, too, t...
Out of the logically, rather, mythologically, constringent density of the Absolute, there springs a Child of Spirit destined to become the embodiment of his Father's repressed urge to glory. As this child gaily bursts into space and time created with every skip and jump in order to mold clouds of images with which to play, and like all children afterwards, cherishes some, coldly discards others. The child enjoys the destruction of his vola...
God, a kindly mother or father, is without saying devoutly to be wished. Many of us would settle for the reality of the highly structured hierarchy of the Grecian divinities who in the main control the visible world and are protective. Alas, it is but a wish, a grand fantasy to give us hope that in the end there resides a high purpose to heretofore unspeakable sacrifices and atrocities of early and current development. We pray that our departed loved ones have not died just to be tagged by pal...
Since the US is primarily a service oriented nation — 80% of GNP — did you ever wonder how the base economy of production can support all this? Of course, 20% is still a thriving, tidy sum, and apparently insufficient to carry the massive services on its shoulders — or is it? The spin-off effect is geometrical progression. Just as the efficient farmer needs to market his produce and therefore requires an initial service of packing and trucking, which in turn requires outlets for retail, so, too,...
‘74 PROPOSITION: Man apart from his mate is perversion; woman apart from her mate is equally so, both of whom are repressed and blind to the fissure of life that in the end must be welded by love. QUESTION Is Women’s Liberation a faddish hoax; is it a sob in the wilderness rustling the paranoia of the times?. Article 1 WL is based on the supposition that man denies woman the chance to become a person who is a subject rather than an object. Objection:The argument presupp...
Upward mobility has dropped dramatically since the golden years immediately following WWII and the GI Bill— thanks to college grads saddled with huge student loans and the fact there are fewer opportunities in an economy rigged for those of the inherited class — affirmative action for those with connections. Oh, one can argue till blue in the face that there are greater opportunities for the Horatio Algers by falling back on those who made it during the internet bubble by ignoring that these a...
I remember very early television in the late 40s and early 50s when Hollywood only leased out silent films and grade B westerns from the early 30s that were awful. Actually it motivated TV to offer some very good programing by shifting the radio shows to television, like the Goldbergs, Jack Benny, and Milton Berle, along with some excellent, original drama broadcasts, such as “Marty” before it was a movie. Of course, the Soaps were simulcast as well. Because of the innovations to TV, Hollywood f...
GW Bush: Resolves to trade in his big stick for a sledge hammer. Cheney: Redeems his “blind” Halliburton stock to rebuild Iraq. Dean: Promises to speak softly in the South. Clark: As President-elect will go to Iraq and end the insurgency — echo of Eisenhower. Michael Jackson: Resolves to metamorphose back to black if acquitted. Women of Iraq: Resolve to be equal. Arnold: To Balance budget by saddling California with a huge bond. Powell: Pledges to remain in office ...