Do you know what yesterday was? It was the 200th anniversary of the penning of our national anthem. Yup. Around 9 AM on morning of the 14th of September 1814, just when the sun was coming up, Francis Scott Key saw the raising of the 15 stars and stripes up the Fort McHenry (Baltimore, MD) flagpole.
Continue reading An important anniversary
You know I read a few newspapers and a slew of journals and magazines. And, I used to watch the network news. When I was younger, it was Eric Sevaried, Walter Cronkite, John Chancellor, Howard K. Smith. A while later it was Chuck Scarborough (who I first saw in Boston before he made New York screens).
Continue reading Oh, my G-d, it’s the NEWS!
I now I’m an old fart. But, that’s why Iam so dismayed. I remember seeing people in Iron Lungs. I remember kids who died of whooping cough. I remember how devastating measles and the mumps were I remember when the Salk vaccine was the only thing between us and Polio- and then came the sugar cube and the Sabin vaccine. There were new vaccinations for whooping cough (pertussis) and none yet for the mumps or the measles.
Continue reading Give ’em your best shot!
How we think and act is not something we developed on our own. No, our brains have evolved over the millennia to learn routes, to know where things are, etc. Things that until recently were the critical items in our lives.
Continue reading Data Overload? Or, Gimme More?
I was wondering what I would post today. I thought I would mention my wonderful cousins, Roger and Lee (A’H), who made many of my days wonderful. Between games, music, walking, sloshing in the water, their memories are always a blessing to me. I thought about mentioning my brother (Neil) and parents. I thought about my children and grandchild (Shosh, Shira, Dan, Matt, and ER). There is not a day on this earth that I am not proud, honored, and amazed at the actions of my children.
Continue reading Happy Birthday to ME!
Are you old enough to remember the movie by Steven Spielberg- Minority Report- starring Tom Cruise? Or, perhaps you have read the Philip Dick story upon which it is based?
Continue reading Science Fiction- NOT!
Now that we have discussed our economy and labor (the last series of posts thatran this week from Monday through Wednesday), we should consider one or two more big issues. Who is an employee- and whose employee are you.
Continue reading Whose employee is this?
Have you ever been to Death Valley? This is a national park that straddles California and Nevada. It’s below sea-level, almost always in drought conditions, that is amazingly hot in the summer day- and amazing cool at night.
Continue reading It wasn’t abducted by aliens!
Do you remember the great deficit bugaboo? Where a certain party (you know, the Chicken Little one) kept screaming that the deficits would ruin America? Which continued through the next Presidential election? 
If you’d check my blog, I clearly stated the facts. That the deficit only looked overwhelming because our economy was in free fall. (As I quoted Ben Bernanke yesterday, the 2008 recession (aka ‘the Great Recession’) was far worse for the economy than the Great Depression. And, now that our economy is recovering (although wage rates have not done so), our deficit is no longer a problem. (Don’t even think that the “fixes” offered by Congress made a difference- they won’t kick in for a few more years, yet.)
Continue reading What Austerity Really Brings
We’ve been reading and hearing that corporations are raking it in. Yet, we also know that jobs growth- real jobs (not just part-time or temporary or low paying)- are not keeping pace. Oh sure, the top 0.1% are seeing income gains. And, the top 1 or 2%, those that have enough cash to invest in corporations, have been participating in the stock market boom.
Continue reading Labor gets the shaft