Category Archives: Commentary

The Most Effective Union

9/3/1998 – 2:21 pm

Monday is Labor Day, occasion for that last big barbecue of the summer and opportunity for pundits to make their annual assessment of the state of labor today. Since I’m something of a low-grade pundit, please indulge me while I jump into the fray. I can’t say if unions are getting weaker or stronger, but […]

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Enough to Make You Sick

8/27/1998 – 2:19 pm

History moves in circles and cycles. That’s why it’s important to study history, because through the study of history you can learn to recognize your current place on the cycle and better anticipate what might be coming next. Sometimes you even meet the same people over and over. Seymour Hersh has a new book out […]

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Burmese Days

8/20/1998 – 2:17 pm

My friend Jed Greer was among the 18 activists arrested in Burma last week for passing out pro-democracy pamphlets. I got a call from our friend Kenny right after the arrest and kept a worried eye on the phone and the e-mail until Friday, when I heard Jed and his colleagues has been released. Proximity […]

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For the Want of Two Bytes

8/13/1998 – 2:15 pm

“For the want of a nail the shoe was lost. For the want of the shoe the horse was lost. For the want of the horse the rider was lost. For the want of the rider the battle was lost…” and so on. We don’t rely much anymore on horses, horseshoes or horseshoe nails, but […]

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Only 25 Cents More

8/6/1998 – 2:13 pm

It’s not unusual for me to have old ideas rolling around in my head, and this week I’ve been thinking about usury. Strictly defined, usury is the practice of charging exorbitant interest on loans. At various points in history, the act has been considered sinful, criminal or merely poor taste. My informal polling indicates few […]

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Diary in the Water

7/30/1998 – 2:11 pm

Do you keep a diary? I do. For me, it’s a kind of written memory, helping me keep track of my life. E.B. White once said a person who no longer keeps a diary has lost interest in life. I don’t know if I’d take it to that extreme, but I know how he felt. […]

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The Toughest Job

7/23/1998 – 2:08 pm

A few weeks ago, I told you that I’m spending this summer as a camp counselor and I want to talk about that a bit more. In my boyhood, I was a camper and in my youth, a counselor. That was in 1976. Since then, an entire generation has been born, gone to camp, spent […]

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