Last week I was invited to one of those events that have hard and fast ground rules. In this one, a prominent speaker speaks; the condition the listeners are asked to accept is to not breach confidentiality. In some senses it is a very reasonable rule: a person would like some reasonable chance to be […]
“Iraq” is one of those words-never-uttered-in-polite-conversation these days. Even in the protest community, out-of-Afghanistan is more in as the issue du jour. Iraq does come up, but only indirectly, and not by name: there is worry about our horrible national debt…but not much focus on where much of that national debt came from: almost a […]
Thursday we attended a luncheon for a group, Friends of the Orphans #mce_temp_url# . The Town and Country Club in St. Paul was packed with persons, there to learn about helping bring hope to orphans in Haiti, Central and South America. Our guest speaker was Fr. Rick Frechette of the Passionist Mission in Haiti. Fr. Rick […]
This morning a New York Times bulletin said “Obama Declares H1N1 Flu a National Emergency“. The summary said “Mr. Obama had signed a proclamation that would allow medical officials to bypass certain federal requirements. Officials described the move as similar to a declaration ahead of a hurricane making landfall.” Preparedness is great. But my initial […]
UPDATE February 18, 2010: R.I.P. Loren Halverson. Loren passed away February 15, 2010 at 82. Obituary and funeral arrangements. Moderator: This is a first for this blog – a book, online. 163 pages, eight chapters. Do take a stroll through the chapters, in two parts, at the following web addresses: #mce_temp_url# and #mce_temp_url#. The book appears […]
For the last couple of weeks I’ve been subjected to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s 30-second ad that solemnly (and scaringly) intones (and helpfully prints on the screen) that Health Care Reform will mean $300 billion in new health care taxes. Oh, it’s so good to have a consumer advocate in the good ole C […]
The Saturday, October 17, 2009, Minneapolis Star Tribune had a front page headline: “Deficit Surges to New Record“. The subhead helpfully fleshed out the number: “2009’s deficit soared to $1.42 trillion – more than three times the most red ink ever amassed in a single year.” In the early part of the article – the […]
Last night a friend invited us to attend a performance of August Wilson’s last play, Radio Golf, at St. Paul’s Penumbra Theatre #mce_temp_url#. I have been an off and on patron of Penumbra since 1985, and with Radio Golf have now seen eight of the ten plays of acclaimed playwright August Wilson’s “20th Century Cycle”. […]
Almost 45 years ago – it was March, 1965 – my wife and I, and her doctor, were worried that she was pregnant with our second child. This was not a selfish worry. Barbara had very serious kidney disease, and it was getting worse and worse. Pregnancy would kill her and, of course, the fetus. […]
Part I of this post appeared on October 3. We went to Michael Moore’s new film, “Capitalism: A Love Story”, on Thursday afternoon. Friday morning I sent out to my own mailing list a short message about the movie, succinctly, “See it. Not only to learn, but to be a public witness to the reach […]