Recent Commentaries

Featured image for “Lessons for a New Year”
Lessons for a New Year
Lists, lists and more lists! Every year, the media creates an endless series of lists. While many target the negative, here’s my list of ten women who inspire: Marissa Mayer –Yahoo CEO. Lots of changes on tap at the web portal company. In abolishing the company’s work-from-home policy, Mayer explained that face-to-face interaction among employees fosters a more collaborative culture...
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December 31, 2013
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2013 Year-End Review, Part II
Loveable Duck Dynasty graybeard Phil Robertson has had his “indefinite suspension”… suspended! After Robertson came out in a GQ interview describing homosexual acts in crude terms and labeled it sin, A&E officials suspended him “indefinitely” after the patriarch’s comments embarrassed the cable channel, sponsors and offended much of the L.G.B.T. community. Upon hearing of the suspension, the remaining “cast members” of the Dynasty clan,...
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December 30, 2013
Featured image for “2013 Year-End Review, Part I”
2013 Year-End Review, Part I
Remember these guys? Did they rise to the top of the bottom of the barrel? A look at the Good, the Bad and the Ridiculous over the past year. By the numbers – The Center for Public Integrity offers up a few items from the ridiculous: Number of bills passed by Congress this year that have been signed into law: 58 Number of bills passed in 1948,  » Read more...
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December 27, 2013
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Our True Value
It’s Christmas and while everyone and their dog is having fun ice skating, Charlie Brown is glum. The always self-conscious little bald kid is depressed. This comes as no great surprise to the many millions that watch the perennial favorite each year. So what is he depressed about this time? “I like getting presents,” he tells Linus, “and sending Christmas...
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December 23, 2013
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The Gospel According to The Duck
Everyone’s entitled to their opinion, right; says so in the First Amendment. So what’s all this fuss about A&E’s Duck Dynasty star Phil Robertson sharing his opinions with a few million Americans? Well, if you’re A&E, the cable network jointly owned by the Hearst Corporation and Disney/ABC, you might want to step back and consider the impact Phil’s “opinions” have...
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December 20, 2013
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The Exeter Four
There’s a moment in the Tom Hanks film Forrest Gump where Forrest does something incredibly dangerous. He repeatedly puts his life at risk to save five members of his unit in Vietnam. “Are you stupid, or something?” a military official asks. In a line that is repeated throughout the film, Forrest answers, “Stupid is as stupid does, sir.” I thought of that...
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December 18, 2013
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The Ethical Take
The Christmas edition of “The Take” is noteworthy, to say the least. From ‘Affluenza’ to ‘Secret Santas,’ it’s a mixed bag. The New Normal – We can now add Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado to the growing list of school shootings. Since Sandy Hook, where a gunman took the lives of 26, there have been 22 school shootings in...
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December 16, 2013
Featured image for “Miracle on First Street, SE”
Miracle on First Street, SE
The last time I remember a miracle of this magnitude happening it was 1969. Dubbed the “Miracle Mets,” the New York ballclub never finished higher than ninth place (in a ten-team league) in their first seven seasons. With help from the gods, the Mets defeated the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series in an astonishing five games! The gods must be in...
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December 13, 2013
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A Sue Adams Christmas
Okay, I’ve trotted out this story before. However, it is the universal message in everyday stories like this that informs my own life and that is why this story speaks to me. To begin with, it actually happened at Christmastime. Second, our smiling protagonist IS just that genuine in her intentions and her actions. That is not to say that she’s a...
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December 11, 2013
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Being Mandela
Nelson Mandela was many things to many people. Husband, father, political prisoner for 27 years, and finally president of South Africa, a country he worked for and inspired change from within. South Africans called him Madiba. The name derives from a chief who ruled in 18th century. It is a sign of reverence and respect; respect, in this case, befitting a...
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December 9, 2013