I recently recalled an old joke about how to tell a Republican from a Democrat. It goes like this: There is a drowning man 100 feet off shore. The Republican would throw the man 50 feet of rope and make him swim half way to safety. But the Democrat would throw the man 200 feet … Continue reading
“When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.” — Benjamin Franklin I hate to be the bearer of bad tidings, but we, meaning we the nation, have already fallen off the proverbial fiscal cliff. We are like Wiley Coyote who, standing in midair about 10 feet … Continue reading
“The [National Security Agency’s] capability at any time could be turned around on the American people, and no American would have any privacy left, such is the capability to monitor everything: telephone conversations, telegrams, it doesn’t matter. There would be no place to hide.” – Senator Frank Church. Senator Church made that statement in 1975, … Continue reading
The Syrian dilemma, at least as far as chemical weapons are concerned, has seemed to resolve itself. Russian President Vladimir Putin came riding in on a white horse, shirtless of course, leaving President Obama and Secretary Kerry in a dust cloud of indecision while neatly getting the Syrian regime to turn over its stockpile of … Continue reading
“With Congress, every time they make a joke it’s a law, and every time they make a law it’s a joke.” – Will Rogers Here we go again through the quadrennial exercise of electing a President. Every four years, we voters have to endure a mix of ad homonyms, magical thinking, mendacity, hyperbole, hypocrisy, and … Continue reading
A recent poll shows the approval rating of Congress at a miserable and embarrassing 8.0%. This, together with recent demonstrations from the Tea Party folks and the Occupy (fill in the blank) groups, exemplify a growing discontent with the direction this country is headed. Indeed, there are many challenges to be dealt now and over … Continue reading
“We have long since made clear that a state of war is not a blank check for the President when it comes to the rights of the nation’s citizens.” – Justice Sandra Day O’Connor in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld, 2004 Some of you might remember the 1983 motion picture “Star Chamber” starring Michael Douglas and Hal Holbrook. … Continue reading
The Globe’s editorial “People Power” (Dec. 28, 2011), touched on a number of issues that have bothered me for some time. Although I’m neither a Constitutional lawyer nor scholar, I have researched some of the questions raised there as well as many others that have concerned me over the years. First, you might be surprised … Continue reading
I blame Henry Ford. Everybody’s blaming somebody for all the messes we’re in these days. So, I blame Henry Ford. Ford’s introduction of the affordable Model T in 1908, which was manufactured using an “assembly line,” became the springboard for numerous other industries that, with a few hiccups along the way, have produced the greatest … Continue reading
As workmen were attaching the plaque with Emma Lazarus’s poem to the pedestal of the new Statue of Liberty – the one that reads, in part, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free” – Americans were celebrating the end of the Indian wars. The lone holdouts, lead by the … Continue reading