U.S. Provides Military Assistance to 73 Percent of World’s Dictatorships
When I was a small boy, it was presumed by the vast majority of Americans that our nation was a force for good in the world. This was not something jammed down our throats; it was something like a paradigm, something so obvious that no one even noticed it.
Superman, the television drama made for kids (and, I suppose, addle brained adults), began by characterizing the hero’s activities as a “never-ending fight for truth, justice, and the American way.” Even at the time, of course, the United States was involved in all kinds of unseemly behavior all over the world, particularly in Latin America, but this was carefully hidden, and the man on the street believed that his country was built upon the premise for freedom and fair play for all. (more…)
What Thomas Edison said here in the 1880s is a reminder that all this could have gone another way; i.e., the entire environmental mess in which we find ourselves today could have been avoided.
I wrote a short piece on values earlier today: 
The librarians of Citrus County, Fla., had what seemed like a modest wish: A digital subscription to the New York Times. For about $2,700 annually, they reasoned, they could offer their roughly 70,000 patrons an easy way to research and catch up on the news. 
Iowa is the first state to weigh in on the U.S. presidential primaries, so it’s important to get a read for the issues that matter there. Insofar as the state is landlocked and heavily dependent on farming, one might guess you’d hear a great deal about things like rural health care or ethanol subsidies, and that concern for climate change mitigation would be relegated to the coasts.
I find this completely credible, and here’s why. When I do the right thing, even if it’s completely expected of me based on simple etiquette, like holding a door open for a lady coming into a grocery store behind me, I always go through the same basic three steps: 
There is no value in my being too rancorous about this impeachment proceedings, but nor is there value in ignoring them altogether, and the meme at left is a good example of the reason why that is, i.e., these are teachable moments.
Renewable energy has become cheaper to implement in recent years, giving companies more incentive to use it in their daily operations. An increase in renewable energy means less reliance on fossil fuels — which the food industry frequently contributes to. Food manufacturing is an intricate process concerning the growth, harvesting, preservation and transport of goods. This complexity calls for a lot of energy, which facilitates harmful greenhouse gas emissions. 
In my post of yesterday: 
