Share/Bookmark Well, the first bill submitted by freshman Senator Elizabeth Warren attempts to lower student loan rates down to the same rate given to banks by the Federal Reserve. Starting July 1, student loan rates are scheduled to double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent, while banks borrow money at a rate of .75 percent. [...]
Share/BookmarkLast month I wrote about the idea of “them and us,” and how it creates suspicion, mistrust and ultimately conflict among peoples. I focused on the history of the Christian church and its role in this dynamic, believing that faith communities represent the higher self of humanity and thus lead the way out of our [...]
Share/BookmarkI had a conversation with my youngest daughter, a college student, this week about religion. She was raised in the Episcopal Church here in Idyllwild and holds to the particular tenets of the church in which she was raised, which many of us do. She has attended various Christian gatherings with her friends in San [...]
Share/BookmarkA father and his young son leave the big warehouse store and push their cart across the crowded parking lot toward their car. After loading the groceries into their car, the father asks his son to return the shopping cart to the cart return area. The son glances around the parking lot and sees carts [...]
News of the Newtown massacre tragedy is everywhere. It’s the second largest school shooting in American history, but who’s keeping score?
Share/BookmarkThere has been and lot of chatter about the role of labor unions in our society during the recent election cycle. Some have claimed that it is the unions that are destroying the American economy. Others have argued that unions once served a purpose but are no longer needed to insure fair working conditions. As [...]
Share/BookmarkThere is a lot of talk of cutting back these days. “Austerity” is a popular word in our current lexicon. While following the current election I hear both candidates stress the need for cutbacks. Republicans keep ranting against “big government,” I wonder what they mean. We can all agree that we’d like to have our [...]
Share/BookmarkGrowing up, sports were my life. I ate, drank and breathed football and basketball. Every spare moment was spent on the field or the court, four nights a week at the gym and weekends were consummated with the games. When it comes to the topic of regulation, sports and government share a similar role. Due [...]
Share/BookmarkFeeling anxious about the future of our country, our world? Are you concerned about the condition of the planet that our children will inherit? Does it seem to you that the chickens have come home to roost? That the problems we now face are so complex and varied that you don’t know where to start? [...]
Share/BookmarkFor the past couple of weeks, I’ve been reflecting on the role of institutions in our lives. More specifically, how institutions lose sight of their mission statement in their ascent for and protection of power. Two examples come to mind. The first involves the Freeh Report, the recently filed investigation into the Jerry Sandusky scandal [...]
