Hugo Chávez — Ten Years Presente!
Ten years ago on March 5, 2013, Hugo Chávez, president of Venezuela, died. A piece I wrote called "Ten Things I Learned from Hugo Chávez" is below and HERE. Presente! is a word used in…
Wrapping up 2022, in Gratitude
This was quite a year for me, and I’m guessing for everyone! At the end of a year, I like to consider all the things "I gave myself" last year. Using that phrase reminds me…
Oligarchy, Gratitude & Green Voter Guide
The US is the oligarch of the world. We know it, and statistics show it. Of countries with the highest military spending in 2022, the US spends more than the next nine countries combined (chart…
Elections, and Hang in There Baby!
"Fine" used to be a fairly typical response to the question of "How are you?" but I don’t hear "fine" as much anymore. "Hanging in there" or "Okay" seem more likely after these past few…
Want peace? Stop making “enemies!”
Here is a half-minute clip of one of the most significant Freudian slips I’ve ever heard. Earlier this year George W. Bush meant to be talking about Russia, but he made the mistake of momentarily…
Planet & People, Reform & Revolution
Words that really struck me recently are from a newer, much shorter novel by the author of The Overstory, Richard Powers. In Bewilderment (W. W. Norton & Company, 2021), Powers tells us a story about…
U.S. out of — where you don’t belong!
In the 1980s people carried protest signs saying "US out of Nicaragua!" and El Salvador, and Grenada, and then many others. I also saw signs saying "US out of my uterus!" While the problems may…
How do the Greens — and Peace and…
It’s in our names! That's probably the simplest answer to the question of "How do these two political parties survive, despite the two Titanic Parties trying to kill us since the day we were born?"…
Truth, joy, happiness, and kindness
At the very beginning of this piece, I want to express something I think is both true and very important in these times: I believe we can learn more truth about what’s really going on…
On Taxes, War, and the Military-Industrial Complex –…
At the end of Dwight Eisenhower’s term as a Republican president from 1953 to 1961, the top marginal income tax rate was 91%. That rate applied not to the entire income, but only to the…