I am listening at this moment to the Senate hearings featuring testimony by General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker.  These are impressive men who are in a tough spot.  They believe in their mission.  They testify that their work is not only effective but also necessary to improving American security.  But this: Even if what they [...]

Dad,
I just read on Yahoo News that a lock of John Lennon’s hair sold for $48,000 dollars. It is the Christmas season, so I can’t help but stand in the face of our obsession with excess and indulgence. Most of the time I can manage a passive conversation about it and talk about little thing [...]

Dad,
I worry about the direction that our culture is going, in many ways. One of the main worries, though, is the migration towards safety. My wife and I lived in North Nashville, and we were continually asked if we felt that it was safe for our children. That apartment, in fact, was one of the [...]

 
Son,
Abraham Maslow was something of a management scientist. He published a work in 1943 describing a ‘hierarchy of needs’ which he used to describe human motivation. Dumpster diving is generally thought of as meeting the basic need of subsistence. For this reason dumpster diving is considered a function of the poor, the homeless, the socially [...]