31 Articles

Wednesday, June 24, 2009
News after Newspapers
(8 comments) With the crisis of shrinking advertising revenues and dwindling profits that is facing our major newspapers, innovative new revenue ideas are emerging that promise to reinvent journalism in the age of the internet.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Follow the Risk
(11 comments) In the past when we tried to sort out causes and motivations, a good rule was "follow the money." But in our present circumstances it works better to follow the risk. A fundamental notion of capitalism is that profit is the reward for accepting the risk of entrepreneurship. Today's CEO is well separated from the risks of business, to the detriment of us all.

Monday, June 15, 2009
Protest draws Death Threats - Will Shame Alone Deter?
(1 comments) Equality Now, a women's rights advocacy group, published an action email opposing distribution of the video game RapeLay that has brought angry reactions including "an unprecedented amount of hate mail, including death and bomb threats." Should games that simulate criminal acts of violence be illegal?

Thursday, June 11, 2009
Nobody has an Unrestrained Right of Self Expression
(4 comments) Producing and distributing any sort of media that fosters hate, violence, and pathological behavior is not a legitimate exercise of free expression.

Sunday, June 7, 2009
The Tower [Fiction]
The author's big mouth, and bigger ego, send him climbing heavenward -- in more ways than he expects. [fiction]

Saturday, June 6, 2009
How I Became a "Bestselling" Author
(5 comments) Richmond Shreve describes how his wife Marguerite made him a bestselling author and explains how self-publishing gives authors a path to profit and recognition where it most feeds the spirit -- among those we are closest to.

Thursday, March 5, 2009
Advocacy for Legalizing Drugs goes Mainstream
The Economist says, "Our solution is a messy one," but argues that legalizing and taxing recreational drugs, and the attendant social and health problems, would be far cheaper and more humane than our presently ineffective and expensive efforts.

Saturday, January 3, 2009
Obama's Health-Care Community Discussions – Update 2
Obama's transition team confirms that grass-roots input will form "a central pillar" of major health-care reform. Here is a report of one of the meetings posted by a transition team writer.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Obama's Health-Care Community Discussions – Update 1
(2 comments)

Monday, December 29, 2008
Transition Team Trying Varied Approaches
Obama transition team asks for questions and offers answers at Change.gov.

Sunday, December 28, 2008
Obama's Health-Care Community Discussions
(7 comments) Will these grass-roots meetings organized by the Obama transition team make a difference in the eventual legislation? ... and how?

Saturday, December 27, 2008
Can Indigenous Peoples Teach Us to Survive?
(5 comments) A grass-roots organization, mostly volunteer, offers to show us how to bring about environmental sustainability starting at home, by changing our own attitudes and behaviors.

Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Just a Little Good Tea
(1 comments) Sometimes it doesn't take very much to make a Merry Christmas.

Sunday, December 21, 2008
"I Didn't see it coming" -- Saddest Words in Business
(3 comments) A collection of video clips shows various pundits trying to shout down Peter Schiff, who we now know got it right. How could we have known who to listen to back then?

Sunday, December 21, 2008
"Sweetheart, give me rewrite."
(1 comments) Citizen journalists face tough competition for reader attention. We have to be good to communicate.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Let's Fight for Freedom
(2 comments) A "patriotic" story circulating on the internet teaches important lessons. It is a caricature of the unexamined paradoxes in some American's sense of self-righteousness.

Monday, December 8, 2008
Attacking Terrorism
(7 comments) Terrorism expert Richard Clarke illustrate how we need to attack terrorists to prevail against them.

Friday, December 5, 2008
Roots of Conspiracy Exposed
(56 comments) The conspiracy theories that abound on the internet are produced by a malfunction of a basic process in human thinking: patternicity. The buzz about a 9/11 conspiracy is a classic example.

Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Obama: Join the Conversation
(5 comments) Obama's transition team adds two-way communication to the change.gov website. Check it our and comment here.

Monday, December 1, 2008
News, Opinion, or Advocacy?
(7 comments) There are boundaries between straight reporting and opinion for good reason. Too often, especially on the internet, they disappear.

Thursday, November 27, 2008
A Reason for Thanks...
(2 comments) As the Bush era ends, and we embark on a new and more hopeful direction for national affairs, despite the looming economic crisis, we have much for which to be thankful.

Thursday, November 27, 2008
Negativism, Skepticism, Cynicism, Dissent ... Despair
(3 comments) Advocating for responsible journalism, light over heat, and for making a positive contribution with our postings.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Will Obama Reform Education?
(14 comments) It looks like Obama's policy will be heavily influenced by professional educators-people who are affiliated with teacher's unions, and academics from schools that teach education. What's wrong with that? Nothing, provided these folks are able to break with the beliefs and traditions that are not presently producing the results we expect-the results we require to be competitive as a nation.

Wednesday, November 12, 2008
It's Up to US
(1 comments) How the new tools of democracy make it possible, even necessary, for us to rescue ourselves from the threats that face America.

Friday, November 7, 2008
Take Heed My Progressive Friends
(7 comments) Conservative editors of the Wall Street Journal warn of exploiting control of the executive and congress.

Monday, November 3, 2008
Test Your "BS" Meter -- Obama and Wright
(11 comments) In Pennsylvania the GOP is running an attack ad that seeks to smear Obama for his association with Rev. J Wright -- Is your BS meter working? Test it here.

Sunday, November 2, 2008
Take Heart My Republican Friends
(10 comments) The downside for conservatives is much less dire that most think.

Monday, October 27, 2008
Look at the Base
(1 comments) Time to look beyond the political personalities at their organizations and the base of their power to achieve the change they promise.

Thursday, October 23, 2008
It's About Trust (An open letter to my granddaughter.)
An open letter to my granddaughter about the election process.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008
Follow the Money
(1 comments) About taxes, spending, debt and what's possible.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Who's Really Presidential?
Sizing up the candidates by how their campaign organization runs.