Expectations of the U.S. presidency on this Presidents’ Day
All good Americans need to look at our leaders more critically, asking if we would want this person as our boss, as our public relations person, as the mouthpiece of our nation.
Happiness, simplicity, and other worthy pursuits
The other morning, while watching snow gently falling, outlining the lampposts and trees, I felt peace. More than that, I felt happy. Soon after, I found myself asking, “why can’t others find happiness in these simple things?” Of course other people do, but maybe not enough.
Will, my significant other, has said to me, “sometimes I feel like asking people, ‘have you ever turned around to watch the sunrise?’”
It is a question that should be asked of people who resort to violence. Surely there must be some deep unhappiness that leads people to act as they ...
Defending America from the U.S. Department of Defense
In his final year in office, President Dwight D. Eisenhower, who had also been the 5-star general who led the allied forces against Nazi Germany in World War II, warned Americans against the dangers of maintaining an oversized military and the military-industrial complex itself. He knew this joining of industry and the military could easily grow out of control, could easily drain rather than protect the nation, could easily become a threat to the future of democracy.
Here is a portion of a speech President Eisenhower gave to the American Society of Newspaper Editors in ...
Peaceful protest vs. sedition
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=8ithgUloNR8
“Congress shall make no law… abridging... the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” -First Amendment
“Sedition:incitement of resistance to or insurrection against lawful authority.” -Mariam-Webster
We have a constitutional right to “petition the Government for redress of grievances.” Taking to the streets to object to, or advocate for, government actions is as American as apple pie.
All through our history, no political or social progress ...
The common foe; the common solution
We are done being divided by the elites. We are done being distracted into hating one another. This is both a challenge and a hope.
My family, my wife and I, our children, their spouses, and our grandchildren over the age of 18, probably canceled one another’s presidential votes this past election. Some voted for Biden, some for Trump. These are all intelligent people, they all have formal education beyond high school, and they all have the same concerns. They want a better life and a brighter future for themselves and their families. When Bernie Sanders, who to my ...
Look for Auriga on February 21
In the deep midwinter, gaze overhead in the middle latitudes of the Northern Hemisphere in the late evening and you will see the constellation we call Auriga the Charioteer. The six brightest stars can form either an irregular hexagon, or an irregular pentagon with one outlier star. The brightest, Capella, lies to the northeast. Capella is actually a combination of two binary systems. What we see as one star is a close association of one of these binaries, two bright yellow stars that revolve around a common center. These are only about 43 light-years away from Earth. ...
The time for Fair Maps is now
After the 2010 census, the Republican party that controlled the governorship, the state Senate and the Assembly hired a private law firm, Michael Best and Friedrich, to redraw with precision and in secret the legislative and congressional district maps to favor the party in control at that time. Keith Gaddie, a political science professor at Oklahoma University, was hired to engineer the district maps. Wisconsin taxpayers paid the law firm $431,000 to gerrymander the districts.
A poll done by the Marquette University Law School (NPR, January 16-20, 2019) found: 72% of ...
Journalism, politics and the scientific method
I have justifiably been called tangential. It comes from my ability to make seemingly random, sometimes obscure, connections between ideas. While this allows me endless hours of amusement it does not always help me communicate well with others. Please stick with me while I introduce myself by developing the connection between politics, the scientific method and why I support independent journalism.
I grew up in rural California, far away from the beaches that many people associate with that state. Instead I grew up in the dry foothills around what I considered a small ...
FOXCONN: BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO
(Mr. Jeff Smith is the State Senator from the 31st District of Wisconsin.)
Over time, relationships can go sour. When it happens in one’s private life, the breakup can be agonizing; so much of two people’s lives can be intertwined in a short time. When it’s a public or business relationship, the breakup can be painful and even more complicated. Most likely, there are legal contracts or properties linking the two parties.
Take the relationship between Wisconsin and Foxconn, for example.
It started in 2017 with so much promise, glamour and, of course, a ...
TAURUS THE BULL – THE CONSTELLATION FOR JANUARY 2021
Taurus the Bull, the star constellation for January 2021, is pretty hard to beat. For me, it has about everything one would want: the remnants of an exploding star, two beautiful star clusters and an attractive giant orange star.
Taurus is easy to find. First, find Orion the Hunter in the southeast sky. (You may want to go to www.skymaps.com to help you locate features in the night sky for each month.)
Locate Orion’s belt stars, create an imaginary straight line connecting the stars, then follow the line up and to the right. You will come to a prominent “V ...