A salute to newsmakers past, future
Since there just aren't enough list stories out there this year, here's my effort to make up for this glaring deficit in American journalism. It's three list stories in one: five newsmakers to...
View ArticleBrooks: Explaining the science of humanities
The highly prestigious Sidney Awards go out to some of the best magazine essays of the year. This year, many of these essays probed the intersection between science and the humanities.For example,...
View ArticleStop Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill once and for all
The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times:Uganda's deplorable Anti-Homosexuality Bill has reappeared periodically for consideration by its parliament, but until now it has always been...
View ArticleLet there be peace on Earth
" ... and on Earth, peace, good will toward men!" — Luke 2:14That awesome proclamation, according to the Bible, was how a multitude of the heavenly host accented Jesus' birth announcement, which had...
View ArticleBrooks: Writers tackle life on printed page
Second of two partsI tell college students that by the time they sit down at the keyboard to write their essays, they should be at least 80 percent done. That's because "writing" is mostly gathering...
View ArticleAll school and no time to play ...
Showing our love for children by giving them gifts is a special part of the winter holiday season within families of various traditions. But gifts seem meager compensation for the misery that many...
View ArticleEditorial: Still waiting on Main St.
THE ISSUE:Wall Street is roaring. But Main Street? Not so much.THE STAKES:We need a Congress that pays attention to the economy America actually lives in. If you live on Wall Street, or make your...
View ArticleEditorial: GE and PCBs: It's deja vu
THE ISSUE:General Electric says it's not responsible for cleaning PCBs from the Champlain Canal.THE STAKES:The company must be compelled to pay the cost of its pollution. For well over a century the...
View ArticlePresidential political survival ploys
WashingtonWe are all worried about President Obama.If he is to fix our fiscal problems, do something about Syria, Iran, North Korea and the Middle East peace process and also co-manage the upbringing...
View ArticleThe good that comes from wealth
Is it a sin to be rich?Not if your resources are used to help others and create jobs.If you listen to most of the discussions of income inequality, it certainly seems like affluence itself is a crime....
View ArticleA state tax rate still too high
The recent release of Gov. Cuomo's Tax Relief Commission's final report gave New Yorkers much to discuss. Already bombarded by talk of overhauling the federal tax system, this plan provides another...
View ArticleAn international nuclear nonproliferation success story
The following is from a Chicago Tribune editorial:Iran may be on the brink of nuclear weapons capability. North Korea has already busted into the nuclear club. The U.S. and its allies fear terrorists...
View ArticleEditorial: How far should spying go?
THE ISSUE:Two courts offer two contradictory decisions on the legality of the NSA domestic spying.THE STAKES:What government can do is not necessarily the same as what it should do. One judge says the...
View ArticleEven more reasons to rein in the NSA
The following editorial appeared in the Los Angeles Times:When a presidential task force offered 46 recommendations for changes in the way the federal government conducts electronic surveillance, most...
View ArticleAlbany policing a model to copy
Today, the Albany Police Department is far and away ahead of any other in the state in returning law enforcement to the philosophy of community policing — so thoroughly eclipsed over the past two...
View ArticleScouting evolves, but still has a long way to go
The following is from an editorial in The New York Times:The new year brings a positive change in the membership practices of the Boy Scouts of America. In May, delegates attending the Boy Scouts'...
View ArticleNothing will compare to a simple love letter
For the last couple of years I have been writing a love letter to the love letter, a pleasurably nostalgic if doomed task. I've been pondering what we stand to lose if we abandon pen and stamps...
View ArticleBrooks: Being a pothead is hardly a life goal
For a little while in my teenage years, my friends and I smoked marijuana. It was fun. I have some fond memories of us all being silly together. I think those moments of uninhibited frolic deepened...
View ArticleParker: Midterm election is the GOP's to lose
WashingtonIf you happen to be one of those who enjoy politics as a blood sport, 2014's midterm election promises to be a carnival of gore.And that's just in the Republican Party.Democrats must be...
View ArticleEditorial: Long Story Short
Raise the wagesNew York's heart was in the right place when it sought to help those at the lowest end of the workforce by raising the hourly minimum wage to $8 this year, 75 cents over the federal...
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