Owner: The Stonecypher URL:http://thestonecypher.blogspot.com Join Date: Wed, 14 May 2008 11:41:00 -0500 Rating:0 Site Description: Literary Thoughts on Timely Issues. Bi-weekly essays on politics, religion, business, current events, and modern institutions Site statistics:Click here
Does the United States Need a Revival? 2008-05-14 10:55:19 In God we trust. America has always been a Christian nation, and that explains why, of all the nations on earth, God smiles on The UnitedStates
of America. Anyway, that’s our story, and we’re sticking to it.The U.S. is 5% of the earth’s population, but we have 25% of the world’s prison population. Countries like China and Indonesia incarcerate political prisoners as well as criminals, buy Read more:United States
The Geopolitics of Denver 2008-05-14 10:51:52 When they start welding the manhole covers in place to deny sewer access, you know that some kind of extravagant dog-and-pony show is coming to town. For Denver
, the big attraction will be the Democratic National Convention in August, and this seems like a good time to explain why, politically, Denver is like a pinball caught between the machine’s two bottom flippers. It all has to do with the l
Putting a Stop to Illegal Immigration. Wanna Bet? 2008-05-12 11:01:27 South Africa has been called, "Africa's America" because it holds the dominant place on that continent in much the same way that the U.S. dominates North America. To carry the analogy a bit farther, Cape Town is that nation's Los Angeles. It's the nearest great city that immigrants dream about as a destination where they can start a new life.Like the United States and Mexico, South Africa and Moza Read more:Putting
, Illegal Immigration
I Still Call It Burma 2008-05-09 14:55:18 Pathetically inadequate response to a devastating natural disaster, from a leadership that is stubborn to the point of national suicide. I’m speaking, of course, about Myanmar, although I guess the description also fits Hurricane Katrina and the Bush administration. The deeper tragedy about the devastation in Myanmar following the cyclone is that it will now come to define this country that was Read more:Burma
Fear and the Loss of Freedom 2008-05-07 10:25:24 Freedom is a little bit like virginity. You don’t just helplessly lose it like some risky financial investment in a down market. Freedom is something that you willingly surrender to somebody who‘s out to screw you, and then sometime later, down the line, you wonder what it might be like to have it back.The travesties of the Bush Administration will be recited and debated well into the next cen Read more:Freedom
Conference on World Affairs 2008-05-01 13:57:19 I’ve just returned from my annual pilgrimage to the Conference on WorldAffairs
, and- as I’ve been doing for the last 15 years- I will pass along my observations. Quite simply, this year’s conference seemed to be the best ever, with all of the panels and lectures rising to a level that exceeded anything in years past. Of course, all of the usual topics were presented, discussed, and debated:
Only 100 Days Until the Orympic Games 2008-04-30 14:50:13 There are no birds. You don’t notice it at first, but then after a day or two you realize that you just never see a bird. In China, nobody has seen a bird for almost thirty years. Back around the time of the Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao convinced his population that the birds were competing with hungry Chinese children for precious grain and seed morsels, and he declared that the people sho Read more:Until
, Games
Don't Blame Kindler 2008-04-27 08:04:04 Jeff Kindler has been CEO at Pfizer since mid-2006, and I think of him whenever I think about the next President of The United States. Kindler, like the person who will follow George W. Bush, took the helm from a predecessor who spent eight years at the top before leaving his situation as a mess for someone else to deal with. Jeff Kindler has shouldered much of the Wall Street blame for Pfizer’s Read more:Blame
If It Was Fair and Balanced, It Wouldn't Be Essential 2008-04-25 08:04:24 Ask the average person to describe the New York Times with one word, and most people will say, “Liberal.” Maybe that’s not such a bad thing. That’s not the word I would use, however. For me, the New York Times is “essential.”There’s a legend in the folklore of politics about Karl Rove in his early days in Texas. He wanted a direct mail list of Conservative Republicans in the state, a Read more:Balanced
, Essential
WANTED- President. MENSA members need not apply 2008-04-23 10:06:35 The message that “intellect is important” has become a tough-sell in the modern United States. Maybe this was always the case. After all, ever since the earliest days of the American Revolution, the new nation saw itself, partly, as a kind of thumb-in-the-eye response to the obnoxious and snooty European aristocracies. “America,” we were told, “celebrated the common man,” although it Read more:President
Iraq- How It Will End 2008-04-19 16:09:58 On March 19, 2003, the United States invaded Iraq
, with 94% of the American public in full support of the mission. Three weeks after that, on April 11, 2003, I personally attended a lecture by 1972 presidential candidate, George McGovern. His talk was titled, “The Wrong War, In the Wrong Place, At the Wrong Time.” In two hours of speaking time, McGovern predicted, with near-perfect accuracy, e
Killing the Goose that Lays Golden Eggs 2008-04-18 17:56:34 The pharmaceutical industry, handgun manufacturers, and tobacco companies. Question: What do these three institutions have in common? Answer: Public opinion of all three is equally low, according to several market research polls conducted in 2006 and 2007. When you try to understand the facts behind this amazing situation, you come to realize that there is more at work here than ordinary capitalis Read more:Killing
, Golden
Still Waiting for that Flying Car (part 1) 2008-04-17 09:04:42 I HAVE SEEN THE FUTURE proclaimed the small stickpin tin lapel buttons that were given out to patrons when they exited the General Motors Futurama pavilion at the 1939 World's Fair in New York City. Billing itself with the slogan, "The World of Tomorrow," the fair became a two-year celebration dedicated to the blessings of democracy and the wonders of technology, and it was this latter purpose, t Read more:Waiting
, Flying
Still Waiting for that Flying Car (part 2) 2008-04-16 20:23:50 It would be difficult to overstate America's obsession with science and technology during the Great Depression. Four magazines best reflected the obsession: Popular Science, Popular Mechanics, Science and Mechanics, and Popular Aviation, all with beautiful color artistry on the cover each month showing some fanciful invention, and an accompanying article inside promising that the wizardry on the c Read more:Waiting
, Flying
The Last Reason for War 2008-04-05 21:20:11 World War II was unique in many aspects, not the least of which was the fact that the rationale for fighting, the essential reason for the war, remained unchanged throughout the full four years of the conflict. From start to finish, all Americans knew exactly why they were involved, and that reason for war stayed constant. I believe that this, more than anything else, explains why World War II is Read more:Reason
Bird Flu and Racism 2008-05-15 13:03:29 Threatened with rampant bird flu, Seoul, South Korea just became the latest Asian city to eradicate 100% of its chicken population. Meanwhile, on this side of the Pacific, Los Angeles is expanding its chicken population. Under a Tsunami wave of Mexican immigration that has made The City of Angeles look like a third-world metropolis, the city fathers were recently forced to change the law regardin Read more:Racism
Hard Working White Americans 2008-05-18 07:33:17 As Barack Obama gets closer to locking up the nomination, it’s suddenly dawned on everyone that there is a certain segment of our society that will never vote for him, no matter what he says or does. And now Hillary Clinton has been kind enough to give us a tidy little euphemism to label these folks, and thereby avoid the dreaded “R’ word. They are, in Clintonspeak , “Hard-working white Am Read more:White
, Americans
Are You Now, Or Have You Ever Been a Cannibal? 2008-05-24 10:24:32 Papua New Guinea attracts anthropologists the way that New York City attracts stockbrokers and theater wannabes. It’s where the action is, the place where human cultural evolution took a left turn and never looked back. The local name there for a helicopter is, “Food mixer from sky blong Jesus Christ.” It’s a dark tropical place, ancient and unknown, enchanting and deadly, pandering throug Read more:Cannibal
Gay Marriage Triggers Loud Twang from John McCain 2008-05-24 09:52:47 Last week, on May 17th, the California State Supreme Court overturned the state's ban on gay marriage, and the floodgates opened for same-sex unions. Ellen DeGeneres immediately announced her wedding plans, and actually asked John McCain
to walk her down the aisle and give her away (I'm not making this up). That loud twang you heard was McCain's Republican underpants twisting into a rigid knot to Read more:Triggers
, Gay Marriage
, John McCain
The Elitist Candidate 2008-05-25 19:44:15 Once again Barack Obama has been targeted for being an elitist. Those so-called hard-working, white voters certainly know a leadership deficiency when they see one. Too bad they weren’t around to sandbag the nominations of George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR and JFK, for all of these presidents were unabashed elitists. Thomas Jefferson embraced scientific intell Read more:Candidate
Our Daily Meds 2008-05-30 16:51:29 In her book, "Our Daily
Meds," Melody Petersen has given us a new understanding about what's behind prescription drug advertising on television. Money, that's what's behind prescription drug advertising on television. Who knew? In Big Pharma it's called direct-to-consumer marketing, and the official pharma jargon for this is DTC. Beyond that, however, nobody (including the Big Pharma companies the
The Modern-Day Version of Cleopatra's Barge 2008-06-03 12:54:15 Five months to go until the 2008 election, and new polls show that 82% of Americans think the country is on the wrong track. This causes me to ask two questions. The first and most obvious question is, “What the hell is going through the optimistic minds of the 18% who still don’t get it?” And the second and more subtle question is, “Would the 82% do what was necessary to turn things aroun Read more:Modern
Political Correctness- It's Time To Give It Up 2008-06-08 10:23:05 Anyone who has been reading The Stonecypher since I started blogging two months ago knows how I feel about our current president. It should come as no surprise that I support Barack Obama, but I have an underlying concern if he should become president. My hope is that he would be very good. He might even be great. But he will certainly NOT be perfect. When he stumbles and blunders (and he most cer
The Next Sound You Hear Will Be....... 2008-06-11 16:15:08 I saw my first acoustic cannon two years ago, in 2006, when it was deployed to ward off pirates in the Straits of Malacca. My wife and I were aboard a small luxury cruise ship sailing northwest from Singapore. We’d left port there about midnight, and when we woke up in the morning off the coast of Sumatra, the deck of the ship had a new look. Watchmen were stationed at the rail with binoculars, Read more:Sound
Beware of That Patriotic Lapel Pin 2008-06-17 15:04:33 I became a patriot in 1948, when I began to learn about my country in second grade. At that time, the GDP of the United States was one-half of the GDP of the entire world, and the manufacturing and industrial capability of the country was one-half of the world’s total capacity. 88% of all the cars in the world were American made, running on American roads, and fueled with gas refined from domest Read more:Beware
, Patriotic
DNCC Update from Denver 2008-06-18 13:20:01 The front of the local newspaper today showed a full-page photograph of a Blackhawk helicopter next to the Denver
City and County Building. The accompanying story told us what we already knew: The low-altitude skies over downtown Denver are buzzing with military choppers full of Special Forces ops in armored battle gear and carrying assault rifles and other advanced weapons. The commandos call the Read more:Update
Twenty Years Lost 2008-06-25 09:33:16 In 1776, the population of the United States was 2.5 million. Out of that tiny human reservoir emerged the figures of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and all the rest of the founding fathers. The supply of quality leaders and thinkers seemed without limit. By 1865 and the end of the Civil War, the U.S. population had grown to 7 million. From that somewhat-larger Read more:Years
Vaccine and Autism 2008-07-08 15:30:38 Thimerasol is the mercury-based component once used as the preservative in MMR vaccine, as well as most other human vaccines prior to 2002. Thimerasol is the part of the MMR vaccine associated with the suspected link to autism. In 1999, the FDA ordered all U.S. vaccine manufacturers to find an alternate preservative (not based on mercury or aluminum) and to phase out all use of thimerasol. By earl Read more:Autism
FEMA To The Rescue (Again) 2008-07-08 15:25:45 I was told that my last posting was too long, so this will be a short one. I spent Independence Day out in the heartland, near Cedar Rapids, where everyone was effected by the flood to one extent or another. If the mood there can be expressed in one word, the word would be "frustration." Over 2,500 homes are simply gone. Not just uninhabitable, but non-existent. Last week FEMA moved in 40 trailer Read more:Rescue
, Again
It Takes More Than Democracy 2008-07-06 11:07:00 There's a lot about the world that we're never told in The United States. I don't mean this in a sinister or conspiratorial way. Americans just have a rather insular focus, that's all. And there's a lot of what we ARE told that's bogus. Chief among the pieces of misinformation is the myth that the world would be some kind of utopia if only all the nations of the world were democratic.The fact is t
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