As the United States flirts with the destruction of its democracy, we’re given the opportunity to study a bit about world history and learn what happened in certain ancient empires. We see, to our horror, that there is nothing at …
Category: Sustainability
National Priorities
We have a great deal of work to do if we are to regain our intelligence and standing of moral uprightness on the world stage, and a great deal of that happens in our schools. The blogger “ceeks” featured at …
Religion Is Slowly Losing Its Relevance
If we still have a civilization here 100 years hence, it will feature a great number of things that are unrecognizable today. One of them is the receding dominance of religion in our lives. The growth of atheism is a …
Tagged with: growth of atheism
Discussing Justice Without Mentioning Trump
Yesterday, my wife and I attended a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a non-profit foundation that helps low-income people get access to legal services. The emcee made a lovely talk about justice in America: how it’s a part of both the preamble …
Tagged with: Trump and Justice
At Least There Was No Nuclear War
I’ve been thinking about this since the recent testimony concerning how violent and unhinged Trump’s behavior is. I.e., we dodged a big fat bullet in having a childish lunatic in power for four years with no real irreversible harm. Yes, …
The Metamorphosis of Jesus
“The strangest transformation in human history?” No. Perverting the teachings of Christ has been a hallmark of Western civilization for at least a thousand years. Remember the Crusades? The Spanish Inquisition? The slaughter of the Native Americans? What actually has …
Tagged with: Perverting the teachings of Christ
Human Rights
Here’s a cute way of expressing a message that the not-too-bright segment of the libertarians is fond of. Call me weird, but I believe in human rights, i.e., things to which everyone is entitled. Now, of course, exactly what those …
Music in Our Schools
This video is entitled “Vivaldi on Marimba from South African schoolchildren.” A better title would be “Vivaldi on Marimba from South African schoolchildren whose parents are amazingly rich.” This level of quality in education isn’t common, anywhere around the globe. …
Tagged with: quality in education
Quakerism and Environmental Stewardship
The mission of the William Penn Charter School, founded in 1689, is to provide a high-quality K-12 education on a platform of Quaker principles: Belief in seeking peace with oneself and others, in accepting and respecting each individual’s uniqueness, in …
What Progressives Want
I’m amused when I see people remark that the United States is a leftist nation. Yes, we have a few anti-capitalist intellectuals, of whom Naomi Klein is probably the most visible (perhaps Noam Chomsky), but imagine how far we are …
