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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An Important week for the Supreme Court
Posted at: Mar/27/2012 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: The Law, Watching America,
Traditionally, when the Supreme Court agrees to hear a case, they are agreeing that there is some critical issue that the lower court “may have” gotten wrong…or at least it is worthy of open discussion. Most cases that the Supreme Court agrees to hear are given 2 hours for presentation of arguments. Now the court has allocated 6 hours to hears arguements over portions of the "Affordable Healthca.....read more…
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We Need to Stop Being Cheap About Education
Posted at: Feb/27/2012 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: Economics, Watching America,
We have been in a recession for a couple of years now. I would presume that virtually everyone reading this has been impacted, or at the least knows someone who has suffered from our economic downturn. 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 and the choices we ap.....read more…
The Tea Party, Constitution and a Case of Heartburn
Posted at: Oct/01/2011 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: Perspectives, Politics & Gov, Watching America,
The other night, after having far too nice a dinner, I awoke at 2:00 AM with a serious case of heartburn. I love going for beer and a burger with friends, but this is almost always the outcome. A meal like that never used to be a problem for me 25 years ago. Initially I tried channel surfing in the idle hope of finding a distraction to my discomfort. The weight loss infomercials did not captu.....read more…
How Broken Can Things Get?
Posted at: Aug/22/2011 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: Politics & Gov, Watching America,
I know, it’s the summer of 2011 and things look pretty bleak. European debt problems for many countries seem insurmountable. China is continuing to hold back their currency keeping their labor cost artificially low. American unemployment continues to remain high with no relief in sight. Wall Street, the equity side of our economy, is behaving more like one of those county fair rides that are i.....read more…
A Mosque near the WTC site?
Posted at: Aug/19/2010 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: Watching America,
It’s the summer of 2010 and there is another debate raging in America. Actually, when isn’t there a debate boiling about something. I guess part of the beauty of this country is that we can publically debate so many things without risk of going to jail. This time the subject is a proposed Islamic center including a mosque near the ground zero site of the destroyed World Trade Center (WTC) tower.....read more…
No Protestants on the Supreme Court
Posted at: May/21/2010 : Posted by: mel
It has finally happened; we are looking at the real possibility of a Supreme Court without any Protestant justices. Woops, does it sound like I revel in the possibility, absolutely not. What intrigues me is the lack of concern or interest in this matter. I did see one article that made the observation that with the potential appointment to the court of Elena Kagan we would have 6 Catholics.....read more…
Separating church and state
Posted at: Mar/30/2010 : Posted by: mel
To this point I have made a conscience effort to avoid writing about religion, but in America you can’t discuss politics without eventually touching on religion. Separating church from state is a long running argument. The borders have been continually shifting just to make the target even more elusive. I should begin with a few historical notes for a reference point to build on. The “separa.....read more…
The Challenge of our Constitution
Posted at: Jul/12/2009 : Posted by: mel
The Constitution of the United States is many things to many people. Fundamentally, it is the framework for the Government, defining the three branches and specifying the powers allocated to each branch along with their limitations. Besides defining the government of the United States, it also guarantees the basic rights of the people. If you have not read the Constitution, you should. The Co.....read more…
Is the American Dream alive?
Posted at: Jun/16/2009 : Posted by: mel
I guess we should start with a definition. Since I am doing the writing, I get to do my own definition. I believe that the American Dream is a belief that the freedoms granted to all citizens and residents of the United States provide us with an opportunity to potentially achieve any goal through our own personal hard work that we set our sights on. The most common manifestation of the American.....read more…
What is the American Identity?
Posted at: Jun/09/2009 : Posted by: mel
To me, this is one of the easier questions to respond to. I feel that the primary aspect of our national identity is a “Love of the Underdog”. I know, it sounds more like a theme to a movie. If you look at our own history, the origins of this Love of the Underdog are pretty apparent. From 1754-1763 the French along with their Indian allies waged a war on the then British colonies of North Am.....read more…
