Monthly Archives: February 2017

Space Colonization: A Pandora’s Box?

We embrace human colonization of Mars and other planets partly as a form of insurance. If earth, for whatever reason – a global pandemic, nuclear war or environmental catastrophe – is destroyed, we at least can rest assured that people … Continue reading

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Lincoln was a “Classic” Enlightenment Man, but…

It must be tough working as one of only two conservative columnists for the New York Times. And that is why, aside from my profound respect for David Brook’s intellect and abilities as a preeminent wordsmith, I afford him a … Continue reading

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A Consciousness Shared

James and Paulette Goins are long deceased, deeply beloved relatives of mine. They loved animals with all their hearts. They operated a small menagerie of animals inside their Birmingham, Alabama, home. Along with a handful of rescue dogs was a … Continue reading

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A Southerner’s Brief, Eclectic Guide to Abraham Lincoln

I recently happened across a review of a new book regarding the factors that ultimately led to the Civil War. Honestly, I don’t make Lincoln out to be quite the bugbear others do. Before the outbreak of the Civil War, he was … Continue reading

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Memories of a Small Town Adolescence

I have this vivid memory of attending a high school pep rally in downtown Russellville, Alabama, my hometown, on a sweltering summer evening in the late summer of 1976. Americans were still reveling in the afterglow of that summer’s  July … Continue reading

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A New View of God and Jesus

A growing number of scholars seem to have reached the conclusion that Jesus never existed. As many of them attest, whole chunks of Jesus’ life are missing.  Even the canonized accounts of his life – the ones that made it … Continue reading

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Does The Oscar Malfunction Reflect Something Bigger?

The thought occurred to me this morning that the Oscar breakdown may – just may – reflect the erosion of American educational standards. I read just yesterday that British public schools imparted classical language and higher math skills to elite … Continue reading

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Russian Lessons for Divided Americans

Based on my amateur reading of history, I really am convinced that all entities – everything from organizations to ethnic groups and nation-states – possess a sort of center of gravity, a set of temperamental predispositions born of experience that … Continue reading

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The World Needs More Frank Harmons

I have always been a big fan of the long-deceased actor William “Diamond Bill” Holden. Just yesterday I ran across the 1973 film, Breezy, on YouTube. It was Clint Eastwood’s third directed film. The plot is a bit creepy: an … Continue reading

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