In 2023, in the United States of America, there is no doubt that it is more difficult for a person of color to obtain a good job, a good education, a car loan, a reasonable house mortgage, live in a nice neighborhood, live a long, enjoyable life, get smiles from strangers, receive excellent medical… Continue Reading
PERSONAL FAILURES
Last month’s essay was a biography of my education and work history, leading me to the beliefs that I now possess. Have I been ethical throughout that long history of interaction with other humans? Not by a long shot. I have committed so many grievous errors, year by year, that they pile up and… Continue Reading
BIOGRAPHY
I was born on April 12, 1931, in Chicago, Illinois. The hospital where I was born was subsequently torn down. Most of my childhood was spent in Independence, Missouri. Harry Truman’s house was just across the street from our back alley. As a teen, we moved south of Independence, into the Raytown school district. … Continue Reading
FAMILY VALUES
The most precious gift I received for Christmas this year was the family shield. I knew that it existed, and had often thought of having it placed on a large placard I could hang on the front of the house. I had never done so, however, primarily because I could not reconcile my own ethical… Continue Reading
DIVINE RIGHTS
I am in process of reading the biographies of our founding fathers, and have found those stories fascinating. Those were such tumultuous times, the outcome variable day to day, and always in doubt. Our revolutionary army was poorly clothed, poorly fed, often without weapons or ammunition, untrained, often undisciplined. Those soldiers consisted of combined… Continue Reading
FREEDOM FROM RELIGION
Last week, CNN reported on the edict just announced by President Joe Biden that schools which received federal funding, and were bound by Title Nine rules to provide equal opportunity for all students with those funds, would be also required to show that those rules of equal opportunity applied equally to gay, lesbian and… Continue Reading
AM I DYING?
My good neighbor from across the street was from West Virginia. He had a bit of a drawl, a country spun humor, and colloquial language: “Ain’t no bad ice cream.” “Now that I am older, my nose and my feet are mixed up; my nose runs and my feet smell.” He loved to tell… Continue Reading
Dealing with psychopaths
The amount of destruction and human suffering that we see pictured every night on our newscasts, in Ukraine, is immense. We suffer inside as we see pictures of blasted apartment buildings, piles of concrete rubble, leveled community centers, fireballs above hospitals, rescuers desperately digging bodies out of collapsed buildings, crying children walking beside mothers… Continue Reading
ABORTION RIGHTS
No, there is nothing in the Constitution of the United States of America about abortion. There is not even the slightest reference to that subject in any way, in the document that guides everything we do in this country. Yes, that same Constitution does have a very specific part of it which relegates all… Continue Reading
GUNS
The second amendment to the constitution of the United States of America, as part of the Bill of Rights, was placed in force on December 15, 1791. A well- regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.… Continue Reading