Monolingualism
Michael Erard had this op-ed piece in Sunday's New York Times questioning the use of the Census Bureau's question as to whether a language other than English is spoken at home really is sufficient to...
View ArticleHistorical Ignorance
What Greg Weeks said here. Every word, especially this portion: The assumption that the United States can and should decide the fate of other countries is deeply ingrained in our collective psyches. It...
View ArticleIn Which I Take on Paula Deen
Before we go further two things: I grew up predominantly in the South. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes 18 months ago. There is probably nothing and no one television that annoys me more than Paula...
View ArticleThe Other Singer From Newark
I certainly don't mean to diminish the tragicness of Whitney Houston's death, but we could please ratchet down the hyperbole? Yes, she had a great voice, but to say there was no one like her - as...
View ArticleSeveral Passings I Wanted to Mention
Many years and a couple of employers ago, I had a passing acquaintance with Bingham Ray. He, along with such luminaries as John Pierson,with whom I did work at Films, Inc. in the 1980's, was a major...
View ArticleTen Years On
It's been ten years since you left us, Dad and there's not a day that goes by when I don't sense yours and mom's absence. You two were the fount of wisdom, hard work and whatever decency exists in me....
View ArticleSome Football Notes
My life's been busy and exhausting, but a lot has happened since I last posted anything meaningful, so here are several short takes. I believe that England is in real trouble heading into Euro 2012....
View ArticleInhotim
I wrote about Inhotim a few years ago and was pleased to see an article about it in Saturday's New York Times. I really don't care how rich Bernardo Paz is, but if he is providing jobs, art and beauty...
View ArticleThe Truth Comes Out
This should make for interesting reading: The government has finally made public a critical report of the mistakes made by its military dictatorship in its war against Britain to recover the Falkland...
View ArticleSomeone Has Ice Water In Their Veins
This heart rending op-ed from last week in the New York Times drew this twisted, callous response in the letters on Tuesday: To the Editor: A truly sad situation, but not so much an indictment of the...
View ArticleLife In A Military Community in Germany
Erik brings up the question as to why we still have 50,000 troops in Germany. It's a legitimate question and while I have no expertise in answering the question, I would like to address some of the...
View ArticleEuro 2012: Group A
It's safe to say that the European Football Championship is probably the second biggest international football (soccer) championship, coming strong on the heels of the World Cup in importance and...
View ArticleEuro 2012 Group B: Denmark, Germany, The Netherlands, Portugal
Some are calling this the "Group of Death," but bear in mind that only two teams have to advance and I feel it's pretty clear which teams will advance. Denmark will have to rely on Nicklas Bendtner for...
View ArticleEuro 2012 Group C: Croatia, Ireland, Italy, Spain
I like a lot of Croatia's players: Eduardo, Nikica Jelavic, Darijo Srna, Luka Modric and Niko Krancjar to name a few. I have to admit to ignorance about most of their defenders, the sole exception...
View ArticleEuro 2012 Group D: England, France, Sweden, Ukraine
England, England: so many of your countrymen start out enthused; so many end up disappointed. Will this year be different? I was concerned that Wayne Rooney's suspension for two of the three group...
View ArticleA Few Thoughts on Friday's Games
Allow me to add my voice to the others: the sending of Sokratis Papastathopoulos (hereinafter referred to as Sokratis) was one of the worst decisions I have seen in some forty years of watching this...
View ArticleHappy Father's Day
Mércia and I have no children of our own, so I'd like to extend a heartfelt happy father's day to my brothers Michael and John, who learned from one of the best fathers to have walked the planet.
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Some Unfinished Business . . .
. . . regarding the object in this photo. If you're interested in an explanation, contact me offline and I'll explain why.
View ArticleOswaldo Payá, Rest in Peace
Oswaldo Payá died on Sunday in a car accident that has, at minimum, raised some suspicions as to what actually happened. Payá was a brave man who attempted who established the Varela Project to use...
View ArticleHal David
While there is little to debate about Hal David's contributions to American popular song, - although I note that no one is making much mention of the treacly To All the Girls I've Loved Before,...
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