The Palestinian Problem Some problems never go away. And some problems just bubble away under the surface, hiding in wait, biding their time. The problems of the Middle East seem to embody both sorts. History and religion are difficult backdrops for justice and nowhere on the face of the earth has more of both than the corner of the world where three continents meet. Africa, Europe and Asia and their diverse cultures come together is…
Dear Roger I have always been a fan of the name Roger and even named my oldest son Roger. The Roger I am addressing this to is a motorcycle friend of mine who is about as different from me as he could be. He is small and slender, but mostly he leans in the exact opposite direction that I do on almost every topic. Roger and I (along with Kevin) text almost every day about…
The Tornado of Life I’ve never really been in a Tornado, a Hurricane, a Tsunami or a Derecho. At least I don’t think I have. I was once riding my motorcycle across a vast open plain in Southern Utah and there was a small dust whirlwind off to my left in a field and I watched it as it came toward the road I was on. It caused me to pull over and watch it,…
Sitting in the Garden This evening I was watching a man-on-the-street report on the first campaign gathering of Donald Trump’s bid for the Republican nomination for president in 2024. To begin with, I say nomination instead of election because it is not entirely clear that the es-president currently has the ability to gather the support needed to win the nomination, much less the election. That is a less shocking reality than the fact that Trump…
Joe Versus the Volcano Do you remember that 1990 Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan movie about the guy who is a hypochondriac and stuck in a mind-numbing job who decides to volunteer to throw himself into a volcano in order to save the world? It was a funny movie about how we can all learn to live by putting everything at risk. I have watched more politics over the last six or seven years than…
The Population Irony In 2013 I published my first book about the global pension crisis. Pensions involve demographics and the demographics of China at the time were screaming that the thirty plus year old one-child policy of China was becoming an economic and pension issue for China. The fundamental issue is that economic growth cannot be had without population growth. It is an economic credo that is hard to avoid. And China had implemented what…
A World Gone Mad I am once again sitting in the sedate and peaceful setting of the NYC Cornell Club breakfast room. I find hat hen one travels, one’s view of the world takes on a different perspective. We awake in a different time zone with people we know still asleep and others we used to know less far away. The places around us are either or both more or less familiar and we tend…
Illegitimi Non Carborundum I took Latin for four years of high school and I learned lots of Latin words and expressions, many of which are used in the practice of the law. I have found my Latin education to be useful in the way everyone says it will be helpful, as an aid to understanding the English language and the various roots and derivations of words that have found their way into the English language.…
Lazy Daze There is a large cocktail party underway in the House of Representatives Chamber in the U.S. Capital today. I say that because it is past 5:00pm in Washington D.C., so officially into Happy Hour, and the scene on the floor of the House is not so much chaotic as without any discernible direction. At a cocktail party, once you have a drink in hand, you wander around aimlessly, chit-chatting your way around the…
Risking Everything I am stealing that headline from the New York Times this morning as that theme seems to be screaming this morning for attention. The article in the Times is about the rising protests in Iran and China and the fact that the oppression in those two autocratic countries has gotten incredibly severe and economic salve is so absent, that people cannot help themselves but protest. This is in the light of the economic…