Today marks the two-hundred fourth anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. On June 18, 1815, on the fields near Waterloo in central Belgium, 72,000 French troops, led by Napoleon, suffered a crushing military defeat from a combined Allied army of 113,000 British, Dutch, Belgian, and Prussian troops. Thus ended 23 years of almost constant warfare […]
Some months ago I read the book entitled The Righteous Mind written by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt. The book received a considerable amount of favorable press. Haight is a self-identified liberal/progressive. He hated Ronald Reagan and was thrilled with the emergence of Barack Obama on the American political scene. He could not understand the conservative […]
I am a member of a large and complex extended family. This post contains selective photographs of my parents, half-brothers and sisters, and other members of their several families. The information herein is primarily of interest to my sons, grandchildren, nephews, and nieces, but I hope that others may also find it informative. I am […]
Evil exists. Sometimes people say that all men are basically good, and that we do evil things only when there has been a bad environment, poverty, lack of education or some other unfortunate cause. That is not true. I tend to believe what Johannes Gossner, 19th century Lutheran pastor and philanthropist, once wrote, “The heart […]
Tomorrow, June 6, we mark the 75th anniversary of D-Day, the invasion of Nazi-held western Europe. Joseph Stalin had been pushing for this cross-channel assault since early 1942, and American military leaders were also eager to get our troops into action against the main German armies. In 1942 we were not ready. British strength was […]
Some weeks ago a friend sent me an e-mail in which there were several illustrations of how public opinion can be manipulated. Depending on a camera angle, a news story can be altered to fit the journalist’s own point of view. A crowd can be made to look much larger than it really is. An […]
Some citizens, especially those on the political left, are pushing hard for the further democratization of America. They call for the elimination of the electoral college, popular election of the President, and further measures that would promote the concept of one man, one vote. I am also certain that many wish eliminate the Senate or […]
