The stock market crash of 1929 occurred much for the same reason as our most recent stock market crash, in 2009. Opportunistic banks speculated way beyond their ability to pay, should their investors have come calling, asking for their money back. It was giddy times, the gay twenties, when speakeasies were running full… Continue Reading
Drug Abuse
In the year 2007, the State of Ohio found itself in possession of some very threatening statistics. It had an epidemic on its hands, and no one had seen it coming. The death rate in that State from accidental drug overdose, almost all of it due to opiates, had ballooned by 300% since… Continue Reading
In It For The Money
There is a new book out this year, authored by Otis Webb Brawley, M.D. and Paul Goldberg, which addresses many of the flaws of our current medical care system. This book is a sweeping indictment of the disparity of health care between the insured and the uninsured, of the use of those… Continue Reading
Watching Creation
Some twenty years ago, those of us in our community who were primarily involved in the care of cancer patients realized that we needed a specific unit in our hospital that was dedicated to the care of cancer patients, for the simple reason that we wanted to do a better job providing… Continue Reading
Primitive Religions in a World Society
The universalism of human societies on our planet earth today is a striking modern phenomenon. We are all terribly tied together. We are all into each other’s business and lives. We have an information explosion, which ties us all together, world -wide, through the internet. Any of us can send messages to anyone else around… Continue Reading
Apocalypse Now
Judaism carries the belief that their genetic group has been chosen by the one and only God of the universe, to serve as an example for all other nations, and to be superior to all other nations. A major part of this mythology is to also believe that there will be, at some point in… Continue Reading
Respect for All Life
We spoke last month about the inordinate amount of violence which is expressed by the zealots of Islam, and how that is particularly directed toward other humans. One of the reasons, we believe, that this religion is so willing to sacrifice their own lives and those of others, is to protect something very dear to… Continue Reading
Killing in Defense of Islam (or is it something else?)
Once during my academic career, I attended a surgical conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Not finding rooms downtown near the convention center, I booked rooms at the Embassy Suites out in Buckhead for me and my family. I was happy to have the extra space, but did have the problem of how to get back and… Continue Reading
Being Honest With Ourselves
Galileo Galelei was born in 1564, the son of a musician. He entered the University of Pisa in 1581 in order to study medicine. While there in the cathedral, he noticed a lamp swinging, and noted that it took the same amount of time for the lamp to complete its swing, regardless of the distance… Continue Reading
Living in Want
Millions of human beings live not only in want, but in hunger. This month of August, which begins the harvest season, leads me to reflect on those human beings around our planet, who are dying from starvation and kwashiorkor. There are millions of them, captured by drought and crop failure, who do not have enough… Continue Reading