I had a friend who was diagnosed with brain cancer and given very little time to live. She was a confirmed atheist who had no hope of heaven or fear of hell. I was impressed with her courage and calm in the face of death. I told her that I would have a prayer for … More On Prayer
Imagine you’re a professional Republican strategist. You’re a well-read right-wing Republican ideologue, even an intellectual. You subscribe to Reason, a right-wing libertarian magazine. You hold Ayn Rand in high esteem. You have a very principled opposition to state intervention in the economy. You believe fervently in free markets. You are a staunch defender of the … More The Nightmare
Our house in Edmonton had a sunroom with a large picture window looking onto our back yard. One day I pulled the blind up and stood for a minute gazing at the garden. Suddenly three birds flew in quick succession into the window with three loud thumps and fell to the ground. I rushed outside … More Untimely Deaths
Ten Hopeful Predictions for 2016 Donald Trump will handily win the Republican nomination but will resign before the election saying it was all a joke. Woody Allen and Sarah Silverman will convince all Israeli settlers in the West Bank to evacuate their settlements in order to make room for a Palestinian state. The Canadian Looney … More Ten Hopeful Predictions for 2016
Severe weather is hammering the southern states, all those states that didn’t vote for Obama. Tornadoes, flooding, snow, and ice are causing havoc across the so-called Bible Belt. Texas just got hit with a horrendous tornado. What’s going on? Could God be punishing the red states? Is it possible that God is a liberal Democrat … More Whose Side Is God On?
A mystery about Donald Trump has emerged that trumps (so to speak) all of the other mysteries about him such as how on earth he is still in the race. The new mystery is his bizarre reaction to Hilary Clinton’s alleged bathroom break during the Democratic debate. He was clearly visibly shaken and disgusted by … More Trump and the Bathroom Break–Mystery Solved
I just did my first shop at Costco. I haven’t joined; I went with my son, who has a membership. It has long seemed to me that despite the enormous savings, buying huge quantities of stuff for two who live in a condo doesn’t make sense. I finally decided that it does make sense to … More First Trip to Costco
What makes good writing good? I suppose it depends on the purpose of the writing. Language is used mostly to communicate ideas and information. But that’s not all it’s used for. In the case of poetry, for example, language is the medium of an art, so it is conveying much more than ideas and information. … More Good Writing
What if Donald Trump is playing an elaborate joke on the country and especially on the Republican Party? Until a few years ago, he was a pro-choice liberal Democrat. Then he went Birther. Trump claimed he never accepted the evidence that Obama was born in the U.S. If Obama was born in Kenya, his presidency … More Trump: What If It’s All an Elaborate Joke?
In the 1950s Erv owned a hole-in-the-wall take-out pizzeria a few blocks from our house in West Denver. He had owned a small bakery in an Italian neighborhood and learned to make pizza from Mrs. Caruso, who lived above the bakery. He opened Erv’s Pizza—not a very Italian sounding name—before pizza had really taken off … More Remembering Erv
No Harm Spilt 