In an article in Sierra magazine titled “Doomsday Bank. After Armageddon, Norway will be ready to reseed the world,” one reads a hopeful message:
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Made in the USAis a rare label these days. Everyone complains about it, how we as Americans simply don’t make anything. How we have lost our manufacturing base and how a once productive nation has turned into a giant consumer continent.Read more
On October 12, 2011 The Joint Select Committee on Marcellus Shale adopted (Gas) Well Location Restrictions (22-6A- 11). Certain members of this Committee voted to approve a gas well set back distance of 250 feet from an existing water well or spring used for human or domestic animal consumption—notice the word domestic. Read more
To understand the importance of scholarships, not just to the individual student but to the economy and to philanthropy, consider the intertwining lives of two men in history: a mining magnate from South Africa and a politician from Arkansas. Read more
I enjoy titles that make you wonder. Titles are the hook that our instant-gratification world provides for so many things. Back in the day when I worked as a television executive at ABC-TV, we would have title contests for the television movies we broadcast. The title of this column intentionally has the double meaning that mom and dad may be at war with each other and/or at war with one teen or the other.
“I tell you that the great cities rest upon these broad and fertile prairies. Burn down your cities and leave our farms, and your cities will spring up again as if by magic. But destroy our farms and the grass will grow in the streets of every city in this country.” -- William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925). Read more
It has always been impossible for me to think about my favorite writers without imagining them hunched over manuscripts, their brains filled with plots, characters, and climaxes, as words, words, words flowed smoothly from the tips of their fingers to the tips of their pens. Read more
Once upon a time there was a President named George who wanted to be Emperor. (Not a bad idea. He was a lousy President. He really needed a different job.)
President George had traveled to Mexico—once. So he figured the whole world was pretty much like Texas. He thought about it for, oh, five minutes. What he needed was a country far, far away to invade. Surely those foreigners would be charmed by his folksy swagger (being more primitive and all). They'd appreciate him more than those Gosh Darn Americans, who had awfully high expectations of a President. Why, he imagined these foreigners would bow and scrape and wow over his every golf shot. Read more
I am often asked the same question, though in different words: How do we bring jobs to West Virginia? As we enter the fourth year of what history will remember as the 2nd Great American Depression, this question more than ever, still rests on the minds of many people today. Politicians from West Virginia often give answers to this question. Many times, they must be put on the spot to do so—and from what I have seen, many of these state politicians lack the conviction or confidence that their answers are nothing more than “hip-pocket” myths.Read more
Former Governor Arch A. Moore, Jr. is reportedly quite ill, living at home with his wife, Shelley, in their home in the Northern Panhandle town of Glen Dale. Moore has had more ups and downs in his 88 years than most men, due to his own decisions. His lasting legacy and impact on the political life of West Virginians is to make us far more self-reliant, no longer looking to our politicians as heroes. Read more
We didn't have to worry about our federal government constantly presenting itself as an opponent to business, small and large, under President Reagan. As a result, the Reagan years were marked by 70 months of sustained economic growth. Jobs were being created every day, even here in chronically underemployed West Virginia. Read more
On October 12th as a member of the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) established by Commonwealth Heads of Government to advise them on reform of the Commonwealth, I delivered a Keynote address in the British House of Parliament at a conference arranged by the several Commonwealth organisations. Read more
While it goes by the cryptic term of Election Day, it really is a totally deceptive term because you never got a chance to cast any ballot as to who would be up for election. Read more
One of my very first A Dad’s Point-of-View columns addressed the issue of Quality Time. It has become an “evergreen,” one of the columns that I believe has enduring value and that I send out to all new papers and web sites when they begin carrying my work. It’s an evergreen because it is SO true. Forget what you read in new age parenting books about Quality Time. There is NO SUCH THING. Read more
If current polls are correct, Mitt Romney seems likely to become the 2012 Republican presidential candidate and the next president of the United States. Therefore, we should carefully examine his first major foreign and military policy address — delivered on October 7 at the Citadel, in Charleston, South Carolina — and ponder the question: Is Mitt Romney ready for the world? Read more
On February 17, 1600, pursuant to a decree of inquisitional authorities, executioners brought a philosopher-priest from a dungeon where he had languished for seven years, stripped him of his clothing, gagged him and in the center of Rome’s Campo di Fiori square burned him to death. His crime was that he had contumaciously over a period of ten years refused to recant his belief, among others, that the earth was not the center of the universe and not the body around which the sun revolved. Read more
Editor's Note: This commentary was submitted, with Segal's permission, by Sir Ronald Sanders, a HNN contributor and -- like Segal -- a member of the Commonwealth's Eminent Persons Group. Read more
I had seen the car parked in the same spot for several months. I didn't try to find out anything about the invisible owner. I overlooked this constant reminder of a "misplaced" presence. Read more
Tackling the problems of climate change, burdensome debt and reform of the international financial system to take account of the grave challenges that confront developing countries, particularly small states, lie at the heart of the recommendations being made to Commonwealth Heads of Government by the Eminent Persons Group (EPG) appointed last July to advise on reform of the Commonwealth. Read more
Editor's note: This commentary first ran on Oct. 28, 2008 and is more relevant than ever as the war in Afghanistan enters its 11th year -- America's longest war. This year marked the 50th anniversary of Ike's Farewell Address. Read more
There are many relationships we have in life, naturally. We have family, friends, business associates, and what I like to call, Virtual friends. Virtual friends are those we know via Social Media but may have never really met. I have many of these relationships, some of which have bloomed into meaningful associations and actual real-life friendships. Recently, I learned that one of my Virtual friends had committed suicide. He was a very successful man, father of six, and one of those friends I’d never met or spoken with.
“Now I hears talkin about de Constitution and de rights of man. I comes up and I takes hold of dis Constitution. It looks mighty big, and I feels for my rights, but der aint any dare. Den I says, God, what ails dis Constitution? He says to me, ‘Sojouner, dere is a little weasel in it.’” Sojourner Truth (1797? – 1883). Read more
September 15th -October 15th is Hispanic History Month and the Educational Committee of the Sons of Confederate Veterans, a national-historical and educational organization, has included an informative Hispanic History Month fact sheet about those who served in the Confederate and Union Armies at: http://www.scv.org/documents/edpapers/hispanichistory.pdfRead more
George Gershwin died on July 11, 1937. He was a handsome, brilliant, charismatic composer who wrote everything from “Embraceable You,” to “Porgy and Bess” to “Rhapsody in Blue” to “S’ Wonderful.” Gershwin himself was wonderful. He was an embodiment of the 1930s and the American dream. He lived. He soared like a bird of paradise. And then, at age 39, he died. Read more
Acting Governor Earl Ray Tomblin is an affable fellow. He has learned over his long political career the value of smiling often and saying little. And lest anyone believe that Tomblin's quietness is a sign of dullness, think again.
Tomblin has nearly always come out the winner in contests with the Speakers of the House he's served with over the years, including the brainy Bob Kiss and the shrewd Rick Thompson. Yet, for all of Tomblin's natural political gifts, he still has made some surprising, glaring political errors. Example: accepting donations from greyhound breeders in this election year. Read more
The establishment of a Commissioner for Democracy, the Rule of Law, and Human Rights will be an important consideration for the 53 Heads of Government of Commonwealth countries when they meet in Australia next month. Read more
Before you start getting upset at me, the title of this column is about much more than those kids we often see tethered to parent by a leash! Walking in a park the other day, my 14-year-old son pointed out a kid being controlled by just such a leash and thought it might make for a good column. Do you teach your children self-reliance? Read more
Asking that question of one or more NYC law enforcement officers has led to an unnecessary tenseness in what had for five days been an ignored and tolerated peaceful demonstration. A video shows that the women were surrounded then pepper sprayed.
What are the thousands doing around the nation's financial icon? Until the arrest of about 80, the peaceful demonstration had been ignored by almost every mainstream media outlet. Still, this is one of the first organized "sit ins" that uses social media (Facebook, Titter, Live Streams) to maintain instant communication with supporters.Read more
Even for a young person, having some form of proof for age and name is required for involvement in school, sports and other organizations.Being able to prove our identity is of utmost importance most anytime we are engaged in activity.
Do Americans know more about Fidel Castro and Che Guevara then they do about George Washington and Robert E. Lee? I have been told that some college students wear Che Guevara and Mao Tse Tung tee shirts but are not allowed to wear American History shirts depicting Robert E. Lee, George Washington, the United States flag or Confederate Battle flag. Read more
