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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What do you want from Government?
Posted at: May/12/2011 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: Perspectives, Politics & Gov,
Ultimately, as we debate the issues of our national budget, debt, deficit, what we are really saying is “what do you want from government?” All of us as we look at our personal budgets weigh the difference between our desires and our limited financial resources to make choices. Some of our choices are easy, eat out less often, skip the European vacation, etc. Some of the choices are harder, rep.....read more…
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Slavery and the Civil War
Posted at: May/04/2011 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: Historical Insights,
One of those common and sometimes almost mystical traits of humanity is our selective memory. This takes a lot of interesting form. Woman often scream in agony during child birth, yet moments after the arrival of their child start talking about doing it again. Thank goodness for selective memory, else as a species we would certainly cease to exist after just a few generations. Another example .....read more…
Productivity or Fear
Posted at: May/03/2011 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: Economics,
It has been a couple of years since the “Great Recession of 2008” started. When I turn on the news or check out online articles I see reports that unemployment is down and productivity is up. I suppose it has to be presented this way; our leaders need to sound like cheerleaders in the hope of spurring things forward. I suspect that being able to creatively interpret statistics for your boss is .....read more…
Gas prices and rollercoaster’s
Posted at: Apr/28/2011 : Posted by: mel
Have you heard the rumor, apparently the price of gas as finally “plateaued.” I really hate hearing that because it gets my expectations up, then I just get disappointed. I have hiked and explored a lot of the southwest and know what a plateau looks like. Most plateaus are pretty symmetrical so I would hope for prices to fall as fast as they climb, but it never seems to works that way. Ultimat.....read more…
PETA and the Bible
Posted at: Apr/23/2011 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: Perspectives,
As we approach another Easter holiday, the Bible is again in the news. Interpreting the Bible in special and unique ways is a long standing tradition of western culture and institutions. I suppose this is a result of our widely publicized Judaea/Christian belief that the “Bible contains all the answers.” The latest organization to go down this path is the People for the Ethical Treatment of Ani.....read more…
A two Party Debt
Posted at: Apr/14/2011 : Posted by: mel
Numbers have always intrigued me; they represent a specific understanding or measurement of something as opposed to a subjective definition. The current US national debt is hovering around $14 trillion dollars. For most people, despite being a number, $14 trillion is so large it is difficult to grasp and becomes subjective anyway. A little bit of simple division may help bring this big number b.....read more…
What did the US Census Count?
Posted at: Apr/04/2011 : Posted by: Mel
Related Category: Politics & Gov,
In 2010 under the direction of congress a census was conducted in America. This is an event that recurs every 10 years as described in the U.S. Constitution. This is specified in Article-1, Section 2 of the Constitution as written in 1790. The census is further defined in the fourteenth Amendment which was ratified in 1868. The U.S. census as inserted into the constitution in 1790 was not a new.....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 economic coin toss
Posted at: Mar/04/2011 : Posted by: mel
It's been almost five years since the housing bubble popped. When the housing market evaporated venture capital and the creation of new businesses seemed to also disappear. Just with respect to the housing market the ever repeating question has been “why is it taking so long for the housing market to sort itself out?” I have read theories and heard congressional hearing talking about the glut of .....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…
