Sevastopol I just left the Mendocino Peninsula which is just north of the Russian river. When you visit this part of Northern California, you learn that Russia once held a stronghold in this part of the state. There was a Russian colony in this part of California from 1812 to 1841. It seems the Russians thought Northern California was the land of plenty when it came to the bountiful forests and the abundance of sea…
Ought v. Naught The Conclusion I have now done most of what I set out to do with this project with two exception. Like any good plan, I have remained flexible enough to adapt it as I go. I originally set out to review our founding documents and to spend a moment thinking about the lessons from our creative content. The documents were fairly easy to define as The Declaration of Independence, The U.S. Constitution,…
The Great American City If someone asked me what TV show was the first to make an impression on me, I would have to say it was a toss-up between Gunsmoke (started as radio in 1952, then TV from 1962-1975), Have Gun Will Travel (radio and TV from 1957-1963) and Bonanza (TV from 1959-1973). All westerns, which remains the true and original American art form when it comes to TV in my estimation. Last year…
Ought v. Naught The Songs One of the ways we most often communicate from our hearts is through song. The oral history of humankind is deeply rooted in the ballads that talk of deeds and dreams that reflect what we feel ought to be. One of the funniest bits ever performed was The Two Thousand Year Old Man done by Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks. In it, Reiner asks the two thousand year old man…
Ought v. Naught The Films As I said in our defining manifesto, we feel that the “ought” in our view originates in the heart and only partially in the brain. My pal, Tom, as a video storyteller, thinks that while it’s great to review the documents I’ve recently reviewed, his thought is that we are more likely to find the “oughts” in many of the movies we all so love. The themes of justice, love,…
Ought v. Naught The Founding Documents The “Other” Amendments The United States Constitution clearly defined the amendment process because the Founding Fathers understood that any sustainable governing document would have to be a living document that could get changed and updated as needed to meet the changing times. As such, Article 5 of the Constitution establishes that the Constitution can be amended following certain procedures including obtaining a super-majority (⅔) of Congress and 75% ratification…
Ought v. Naught The Founding Documents The Bill of Rights The Bill of Rights is the name given to the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution. These amendments were the direct result of the anti-federalist sentiments held deeply by many of the new citizens of the union that were still stinging from the overbearing control on them by what they considered the oppressive rule of the British Crown. They spring from the battle for…
Losing a Lime I just read in the Wall Street Journal that researchers have been working to understand why the average human brain has been shrinking in the last millennia or so. There is an old joke about the dinosaur speaking at a convention of other dinosaurs. He says to the group, “The outlook is not good gentlemen, meteors have been striking the earth, the climate is changing for the worse, vegetation is disappearing…and we…
Ought v. Naught The Founding Documents The United States Constitution The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the land and represents a refinement in the Founding Fathers’ thinking over a dozen or so years. It was published in 1789 and replaces the Articles of Confederation published in 1777. Those articles represented the first, loosely defined combination of what had been thirteen disparate colonies, and it was a stepping stone for this…
Ought v. Naught The Founding Documents The Declaration of Independence On July 4th, 1776, we all know that the Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to sign this declaration from the thirteen founding colonies of what would become known as the United States. They had actually signed the Resolution of Independence two days prior as their assertion of independence and then went on to publish the formal declaration to announce and explain their basis for…