Monthly Archives: July 2014
This is the dilemma Vern Webb Sr. faces in the opening scene in my novel “Skyscrapers.” His second wife Pamela reports that Vern’s namesake son has been found unconscious on somebody’s lawn, and Vern explodes. Vern Jr. is actually following habitual teen behavior regarding alcohol: binge drinking, which is five drinks or more at one time per week, or heavy drinking, which would be binge drinking multiple times each week. This is of course extremely dangerous behavior even if the…..
Independence Day a.k.a. Violence Day
In Chicago, eighty-two people were killed celebrating the Fourth of July, our beloved “Independence Day” which seems to be mis-named. It might as well be called “Violence Day” in Chicago. Of the eighty-two shot, sixteen were killed. So far this year, 1, 219 people have been killed in Chicago. Some point out that this is considerably less than last year’s tally…..
In a nation of immigrants, intense argument about the legitimacy of immigration may seem illogical or self-serving. But the question has been given new urgency because of a change in immigration itself. Un-attended children are crossing our southern border with Mexico in record numbers. As of right now (July 7, 2014) 52,000 children were caught since October. All Mexicans were sent home. All others are being held for…..
Hearing the phrase “power tends to corrupt and absolute power tends to corrupt absolutely,” people tend to nod, sagely, in agreement. Everyone knows the quote. Very few know the source of the quote: is it Cicero? Shakespeare? Machiavelli? No. It was Lord Acton, writing a letter,in 1887.
Is the statement actually true? “Corrupt” as an adjective means “utterly broken.” It was first used by Aristotle and later Cicero, who added the ideas of bribery and abandonment of good habits to…..
