Author Archive
Nihilism, Barbarism and the 14 Year-old Adult.
Semantic pollution is dangerous. People need some coherency in the words they use. What folks around here do not seem to realize is that they are, to a greater extent than anything else, composed of words. Words have to mean certain things, but not others. It becomes dangerous when we lose our grip on words and they spiral out of control. Semantic chaos leads to a kind of anti-cultural environment called nihilism. Nihilism is the absence of belief, the loss of meaning. Nihilism and barbarism go hand in hand. When language begins to …
Dr. Michael Moore: Drug Trafficker or Modern American Hero?
Dr. Michael Moore: Drug Trafficker or Modern American Hero?
The right to nonviolently protest in peaceable assembly for redress of grievance is a cardinal guarantee so primary that the founding fathers placed this privilege in the American Constitution’s First Amendment. We ought recognize this with due homage to our Veterans this past week.
Out of respect for the holiday, I suggest you read the Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr. Reverend King’s I Have A Dream speech given late August of 1963 is widely recognized as one of the great rhetorical performances of the Twentieth Century. The Letter …
Education on the Chopping Block
I see that the Wausau School District teacher’s union has voted unanimously for its teachers to drop out of extra-curricular activities. I heard that a 0.5% raise for accredited teachers was on the table. So, a teacher making 40 grand a year would see a pay increase of $200 before taxes. My sense is that a strike is looming.
This is my seventh year in Wisconsin and I must say it’s simply part of the status quo. As a matter of fact, I don’t know a Wisconsin that doesn’t cheat its teachers – it’s been …
Thoughts on a Crime Spree
This is not a crime spree or a crime wave, but a crime tide that shows little sign of receding. I watched the Greenspan interviews. Did you? He’s the last rat off of that ship – everyone else aboard the Bush Titanic will be dragged down in the undertow. That includes local politicians too. Do you know when the price of gas will come down? Never, the dollar has devalued too significantly relative to other world currencies. Result? Inflation on all basic goods. Ready yourself for it. I still hear the politician spouting no-tax pledges. And this passes for prudent social guardianship? Unfortunately friend, the piece of paper in your pocket with George Washington on it isn’t the same today as it was yesterday.