The soldier and the peacenik I am a voracious reader and years ago when I read of the coming birth of a college in Marshall, Minn., where I was living, I decided to apply for the position of bookstore manager. Never mind that I had no experience in running a…
The desperate need for prison reform Linda Franks of Baton Rouge, La., turned a room in her beauty salon into a meeting place for the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison Reform Coalition, exemplifying what is happening to prison reform all over the country. One example is Vanessa Fano’s brother who…
Call it murder The Catholic Agitator of June 2021, a monthly newsletter, carried an article by the journalist Chris Hedges, entitled “The Age of Social Murder” which should be required reading for all of us. He defines the murderer’s weapon as global warming, seldom defined or recognized as such. Each…
How will the U.S. Armed Forces command space? In December 2019 the U.S. Space Force was established as the sixth branch of the military. Its initial staff consisted of two, but since then it has added more than 80 Air Force Academy lieutenants and plans to have a permanent staff…
Imprisonment I’m fascinated with jails. I certainly don’t want to be in jail and I must say that my reaction when I was once jailed was far from fascination. At that time, it was wishing that the other inmates would stop talking so loud, depriving me of sleep. It was…
HOLIDAY HOOP-LA Among the many catalogs I receive at Christmas is one from Hammacher Schlemmer. Just why I don’t know. I’ve never bought so much as a pin cushion from them. It’s filled not only with things I can’t afford but even more with things I don’t want. You can…
Do Genocide and Slavery Ever Become History? Too many of the book reviews I find online, in magazines or books are too long for my use. So, I end up writing reviews of reviews. Following is my review of a book review written by Deborah Lipstadt and published in The…
How Can We Protect Our Children? I suspect that the overwhelming majority of American women could come up with a childhood experience like mine. It occurred when I was in grade school and involved our next door neighbor, Mr. Blank, who owned the biggest lumber yard in the town. Every…
Good gun news It’s seldom, if ever, one reads good news about guns. So, this bit of news should be well received. There exists a group with a mission antithetical to that of the National Rifle Association (NRA). it’s called GUNS DOWN AMERICA, organized in 2016 in Orlando, Fla., as…
The rich get richer A great deal of what I do when I write is to reduce word usage. For example, a small newsletter that I receive monthly contains so much information about the corporations that run this country. (No, they don’t govern it; they simply control those who do…
Hope for the Earth, our home The New York Times of Jan. 7 carried a full half-page ad signed by Michael Kurtyka of the Polish National Foundation and president of the environmental group COP24, describing the most recent U.N. climate policy conference, the Katowice Rulebook. Negotiators from 196 countries and…
Why should your child die from a gunshot wound? The doctor has found the task a most difficult and onerous one and who wouldn’t? Dr. Marianne Haughey of St. Barnabas Hospital in Jersey City, N.Y., has been assigned victims of homicide for 25 years and one of her tasks has…
Why should your child die from a gunshot wound? The doctor has found the task a most difficult and onerous one and who wouldn’t? Dr. Marianne Haughey of St. Barnabas Hospital in Jersey City, N.Y., has been assigned victims of homicide for 25 years and one of her tasks has…
Forgotten victims of war Recently I read a newspaper article about the so-called “comfort women” of World War II and it reminded me of my visit with several of these women years ago. Marianne Hamilton and I were in the Philippines protesting something or the other that Bill Clinton had…
The widespread influence of the Koch brothers Without question the Koch brothers, David and Charles, exert more influence over legislation—both federal and state—than any other entities in this country. Rock-ribbed conservatives, they are the protectors of corporate power. Their dollars support the removal of a ban on flavored tobacco. a…
