Posts in ‘Blog’

The 1970’s – The Rise of the Apparatchiks

American automobiles lost their “Gee Whiz” appeal in the 1970’s. That’s also when Congress created the Dept. of Energy and the EPA. Is that a coincidence?

  • Posted: October 24, 2023

Tragedy of the Commons

Whatever we think about climate change, our country is going to jump off the cliff into the world of Net Zero. While today’s climate warriors are ignorant of what awaits at the bottom, my grandchildren will find out to their dismay.

  • Posted: August 29, 2023

Colorado – Net Zero & Other Comedies

Colorado’s Legislature invites comparison with the great comedic legends of the past.

  • Posted: June 12, 2023

Dirty Hands

American history is obvious to those who love the land; with dirt on their hands rather than as priests of the Earth Mother.

  • Posted: May 1, 2023

Crossing the Rubicon

You were so preoccupied with whether you could; You didn’t stop to think if you should

  • Posted: April 18, 2023

We’re Getting Worse at Building Things

Even the New York Times understands that our ability to build things is bad – and getting worse!

  • Posted: February 27, 2023

First – Do No Harm

A “Climate Emergency” threatens unless drastic action is taken. We must do whatever it takes as we “follow the science” to save ourselves from catastrophe.

  • Posted: February 2, 2023

Are Teachers Underpaid?

If teachers are underpaid, the question is “Why?”

  • Posted: December 12, 2022

“Green” Hydrogen

Green Hydrogen from Green Energy – the promise of a new tomorrow.

  • Posted: November 29, 2022

The Mid-Term Elections Hole Card

Politics, as well as most of life, resembles a poker game. Having a good hole card allows you to enjoy your ice cream cone.

  • Posted: October 17, 2022
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  • What I’m Reading

    What I’m Reading

    The Twelfth Department
    By William Ryan

    What happens when we forget, or never bothered to learn, what we believe in and why we believe? What happens when the emotional whirls of Facebook and Twitter are the depths of our understanding? Evil, great evil, is regularly found lurking in the unexamined depths of good intentions. Mathew Arnold put our present political climate in memorable words years ago:

    And we are here as on a darkling plain
    Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,
    Where ignorant armies clash by night

    Novels, good stories, provide a lens to see life, including our beliefs, without camouflage. As an example, JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings trilogy is one of the finest Bible commentaries ever written. Progressive political ideals may lack in recent electoral success, but have undisputed possession of today’s moral high ground. And while death and taxes may be the only sure bets, the eventual victory of those holding the high ground have very good odds in any battle.
    And so fiction provides a look at eventual victories. There is no question that the outlines of today’s progressive agenda can be clearly seen in other times and places. William Ryan takes us to a time and place fondly imagined, idealized at the time, by the forefather’s of todays progressive leadership. In The Twelfth Department, we see a police captain in 1930’s Moscow. Captain Alexei Korolev is just a man trying to be a good father, a good citizen, a good police officer. In many ways Alexei is a fortunate man, with a good reputation and many more material advantages than the average citizen. But a high profile murder brings him into ambiguous circumstances. The tone of the book is respectful of life in Moscow, with no axes to grind. It is just a portrait of a man trying to do his job, bringing a gruesome killer to justice, among ordinary human beings seeking only to live normal lives in a progressive paradise.

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