Important Note:
Opinions are fun. My friends tell me I am someone with lots of opinions and that's fine since I don't get mad at others when they disagree with me. In this same spirit I am interested in hearing yours views as long as you are able to share your views without boiling over. I look forward to hearing from you. I tend to write in the form of short essays most of the time, but contributions do not need to be in this same format or size. Some of the content here will date itself pretty quickly, other content may be virtually timeless, this is for the reader to judge.
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Good Speech, Bad Speech, Obnoxious Speech
Posted at: Sep/20/2012 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: People, Society, The Law,
It is the summer of 2012 and things are not going well in the Middle East. There have been attacks and large scale protest on American embassies and consulates in Pakistan, Egypt, Yemen and Libya. At the center of all this violence is a YouTube video titled “Innocence of Muslims.” It is unfortunate, but most of the world does not understand why we tolerate, and even periodically defend such tras.....read more…
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There are too many people in Jail!
Posted at: Aug/15/2012 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: Society, Watching America,
The United States leads the world at incarcerating its own people. As a percentage, we lock up more of our own citizens than any other country on earth. This growing population includes an increasing number of nonviolent inmates for longer and longer sentences. As budgets become tighter and tighter, federal, state and local programs including education are forces to sustain more cuts to keep al.....read more…
Sorry son, but you are not special
Posted at: Jun/14/2012 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: People, Perspectives, Society,
When my oldest son was still in those single digit years we enrolled him in a performing arts school. I remember attending one of his schools performance recitals where my son had to do a jazz dance routine before all the other students and their parents. I still recall that for being a performing arts school, almost everyone was pretty bad at what they did in their performances. It was entert.....read more…
Islamic Radicalization Hearings
Posted at: Mar/23/2011 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: Society,
Congress is holding another hearing. Actually, Congress holds hundreds of hearings each year discussing everything from air travel, to ethics, to water policy, to vitamin safety. The value of most congressional hearing is debatable. Some Congressional hearings are a recurring ritual such as receiving reports from various federal agencies in a question and answer environment. Some hearings are a.....read more…
The Modern Bedlam
Posted at: Mar/01/2011 : Posted by: mel
Have you heard the term “Bedlam” before? Our modern usage of the term bedlam has come to mean an uproar or chaos, but it didn’t used to have this meaning. Originally, the name came from a London hospital named “Bethlehem” which in Hebrew means “house of bread”. That is actually a pretty fitting name since the hospital was originally intended for the poor and suffering who had no other lodging.....read more…
Are Labor Unions relevant?
Posted at: Feb/28/2011 : Posted by: mel
For the sake of fair disclosure I need to be clear right from the start; I am not a union member and to this point have made a significant effort in my professional life to avoid being a part of a unionized work environment. Labor unions have played a very important part in the American economy. In particular, during the post WWII decades when U.S. manufacturing dominated the world economic st.....read more…
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Comparing American Generations
Posted at: Oct/15/2010 : Posted by: mel
America is a country awash in diversity. Yes, we have a broad range of ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity. We also have a significant amount of diversity from generation to generation. This diversity fosters change, conflict and cultural metamorphosis. If there is ever an opportunity to become overwhelmed with data, that would be upon visiting a government website. The data here is vir.....read more…
Should Marijuana be legalized?
Posted at: Sep/22/2010 : Posted by: mel
What good is a debate if you don’t pick a subject that heats up the audience? The debate over Marijuana and its potential legalization has been going on for a long time. Nothing that gets said here is likely to change public perceptions, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t have the discussion. Contrary to the beliefs of those who advocate the legalization of marijuana, my research of crime stati.....read more…
A strange shift of priorities
Posted at: Jul/11/2010 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: Education, Society,
I am going to venture into education again. I know, it would seem like this subject has been talked to death. I have definitely written on the subject previously. This time my concern will be more sociological in nature. In California which is where I live, as with many states the primary source of school funding is from property taxes. When revenues fall class sizes grow and viable resourc.....read more…
Does Terrorism Work?
Posted at: Mar/27/2010 : Posted by: mel
This is a scary question, but it needs to be legitimately looked at. As Americans we reel at the vague possibility that terrorism might be effective. From our earliest childhood learning experiences we are taught that violence does not solve problems, but only makes them worse. As adults, when we see violence, rage, or the threat of violence we begin to speak of mediation, middle ground and t.....read more…
