By Robert Michaels HONESTLY, I HAVEN’T READ Darwin’s “Origin of Species.” Nor have I delved into dissertations within the scientific community. But I have my senses, all six of them. The Earth teems with an abundance of things we can see, taste, touch, hear and smell. And we have a common sense at our disposal […]

I OPEN WITH A MARVELOUSLY APT QUOTE from one of my favorite commentators on the political scene. “House GOP willing to raise the debt limit, and all they’re asking is for Obama to repeal the 20th century. That sounds fair …” — Tea Party Cat From there it is just a short journey to the […]

“The question is not whether we need to act. The question is whether we will have the courage to act before it’s too late.” — President Obama IN HIS WEEKLY RADIO ADDRESS TO THE NATION just prior to his recent trip to Africa, President Obama doubled down on man-caused global warming (MCGW) as the top […]

GEORGE MONBIOT WROTE TUESDAY AT ALTERNET: “It doesn’t matter how many windmills or solar panels or nuclear plants you build if you are not simultaneously retiring fossil fuel production. We need a global programme whose purpose is to leave most coal and oil and gas reserves in the ground, while developing new sources of power […]

EVER SINCE BARACK OBAMA WAS NOMINATED in 2008 as the Democratic candidate for the presidency of the United States, his staunchest critics have implied that he had the makings of a dictator wannabe. Even once he was elected those admonitions were not taken at all seriously, and the liberal media ridiculed and demeaned anyone who […]

AT 12:01 A.M. TUESDAY, the federal government began shutting down all non-essential functions because Republicans in the House of Representatives refused to fund further operations unless President Obama sabotaged his signature domestic achievement, the Affordable Care Act, that was duly passed by Congress, signed into law by the president, upheld as constitutional by the Supreme […]

TODAY A NEEDLESS AND RECKLESS GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN CONTINUES. There is no reason for us to be in this situation. Our government is closed because 40 or so radical tea party Republicans refuse to vote for any funding bill that doesn’t delay or defund the Affordable Care Act. This is a fight they’ve lost nearly 50 […]

THERE IS A HIGHLY SIGNIFICANT IRONY embedded in the notion that ours is an “information rich” society. It is that one of the most crucial problems facing American society today is our lack of understanding of the fundamental economic realities of our time and our land. That lack of connection with reality is the source […]

I HEAR COMMENTS SOMETIMES FROM MY CONTEMPORARIES that kids today don’t know the meaning of discipline, that there is currently an epidemic of parents spoiling their children, and so on. While contemporary parenting probably falls short in some ways, it is worth understanding that older people have been lodging similar complaints about the supposedly easier […]

IF POLICY DECISIONS ON BUDGET ARE TO HAVE ANY MEANING, it is essential that we assess them against a backdrop of the economic realities being addressed. So it is with the recent GOP House vote to cut $39 billion from the government food stamp program. If you’re wondering a bit about that, wonder no longer. […]