On a local chat site, a neighbor asks : “I want to plant bamboo. It’s so beautiful. Where can I find some.” Every respondent adamantly offers the same answer. “Don’t do it, because spreading bamboo is uncontrollable!” Here’s my take on bamboo in your garden. The many warnings about bamboo spreading are absolutely true. Watching new shoots emerge…
When will humanity’s genetically all-mutt races move beyond global traditions of destructive prejudice based on cosmetic factors to more constructive common ground?
And when will the destructive consequences of violently imposed anti-education attitudes, implanted by whip and lynching, weaken their hold on victims and perpetrators? Simon Legree still haunts many lands today including our own. He says, “Boys, better not dream about bettering yourselves, quit dreaming and join my gang.” And he says, “Girls, know your place and do what you’re told or I’m going to beat and stone you!” Male violence against women is the Simon Legree of gender.
American democracy means we’re all in charge. What’s revolutionary about the American answer to human leadership is that a significant number of civilization’s management responsibilities are constitutionally assigned to every citizen. Democracies grow stronger, where and when citizens take their self-leadership responsibilities more seriously. Real patriots answer calls for constructive citizenship. Participate! Please! Digest This…
The darkest auroras linger in our consciousness. Please take a moment to remember this historical fact. Today is the ninety-eighth birthday of the First World War. Less than 100 years ago today, at 11:10 AM on July 28, 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia. The First World War officially began. The aristocracy (King, Emperor…
The history of hierarchy is a key to understanding civilization’s past and future. For most of human history, our ancestral hierarchies were composed of a small number of geographically and genetically proximate individuals. Nature, habit and tradition predetermined behavior when it came to who was in charge. Parents were and remain civilization’s most important leaders….
Before Thanksgiving weekend 2011 passes into history, let us be thankful for people who pay their taxes, because they are supporting the people who don’t. Benjamin Franklin famously wrote that “In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” Indeed, civilization cannot exist without taxes, by which we pay for…