Can your personal political morality stand the fairness test? Compare Joe Lieberman and Arlen Specter. Each abandoned his party in order to assure or improve his chance of winning re-election. Pragmatic? Egomaniacal? Fighting the neverending battle for truth, justice, and the American Way? Whom do you love? Lieberman, 67, lifted high by the Democratic party [...]
Category Archives: Politics
Too Big to Fail? Or Too Big to Exist?
March 7, 2009 – 8:57 pm
AIG is saved once, and then resuscitated again, because it is judged “too big to fail.” Billions are pumped into General Motors because it also is “too big to fail.” I say step back and look at what “too big to fail” should have suggested long before the current financial cliff edge was reached: If [...]
Lincoln’s Contested Legacy
February 10, 2009 – 4:23 pm
Scores of articles have been written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Lincoln’s birth. One of the most interesting appeared in the February 2009 issue of Smithsonian magazine. I reprint it here in its entirety. The images and links are my choices. Link to original article. Lincoln’s Contested Legacy Great Emancipator or unreconstructed racist? Defender [...]
Un-Racism: You Have to Be Carefully Taught
January 22, 2009 – 5:21 pm
James Michener‘s short story collection, Tales of the South Pacific, a bestselling Pulitzer Prize winner in 1948, was eclipsed a year later by South Pacific, the blockbuster Richard Rodgers-Oscar Hammerstein musical that includes some of the most memorable songs written for the stage. One song, “You’ve Got To Be Carefully Taught,” includes this verse: You’ve [...]
MLK’s “I Have a Dream” Speech
January 19, 2009 – 3:07 pm
On August 28, 1963, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., gave a speech in Washington, DC, to an immense crowd that filled the Capitol Mall. Revered and reviled in his time, King stood as the standard bearer in the fight for civil rights. Clarence Jones, King confidante and one of those who helped draft the scripted [...]
Women’s Rights: Seemingly a Low Priority
January 6, 2009 – 12:14 pm
Following up my previous post on this topic, today I sent the letter below to the editor of the Finger Lakes Times in Seneca Falls, NY: The struggle for women’s rights has an extraordinary history, and the struggle is ongoing. My wife and I, on a recent vacation in the Finger Lakes area, made a [...]
Rule Book Racism: Can a Black Athlete Celebrate?
December 2, 2008 – 2:41 am
Clay mouths off after defeating Liston In 1964, Cassius Clay, then only 22, brashly boasted that he would upset 7-1 favorite Sonny Liston for the world heavyweight championship. “I am the greatest!” he shouted. In retrospect, Clay clearly was the greatest. Why did his outbursts upset so many white sportscasters and fans? One of TO’s [...]
Women’s Rights–Nothing Since 1993?
November 15, 2008 – 11:54 pm
Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody On November 15, America’s military gave a woman four stars for the first time. The Army promoted Lt. Gen. Ann E. Dunwoody, 55, to four-star rank. Breaking the brass ceiling, she will take over as commanding general, U.S. Army Materiel Command, Fort Belvoir, Va. “I recognize that with this selection, some [...]
Canvassing in Colorado
November 3, 2008 – 2:20 pm
For the last two days I’ve been knocking on doors. Once a Rocky Mountain red, Colorado’s purple, on the eve of election, has tinted blue. In surprisingly warm November air, I walked Lakewood, a suburb city northwest of downtown Denver. My streets were sidewalkless and potholed, the mailboxes nameplated with Lopez, Guzman, Escalante. “Who you [...]
Daughter Blogs on Huffington Post!
October 24, 2008 – 7:56 am
A bit of kvelling! In a blog posted today, my daughter supported (maybe, kinda, sorta…) Sarah Palin. Read it. Comment. In part, Emily wrote: [Sarah Palin] spent $150,000 on clothes and other grooming in the last few months. I have to cut the woman slack
