Category Archives: Politics

“Commemorating” Vietnam, 50 years later

Posted on October 11, 2014 by hessd

How will we go about commemorating the 50th anniversary of a war from which we have not yet recovered.  I was thinking about the Vietnam War, but it has been 150 years since the American Civil War and there is … Continue reading →

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Consenting to sex

Posted on September 27, 2014 by hessd

Here is the way the State of California is going at the question: Section 67386 is added to the Education Code, to read:  (a) In order to receive state funds for student financial assistance, the governing board of each community college … Continue reading →

Posted in Getting Old, Paying Attention, Politics, Society, Words | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

The President and March Madness

Posted on September 5, 2014 by hessd

It’s early September today.  Teachers have just celebrated their New Year’s Eve, the last evening before “the year” starts for them.  Students have finished shopping for back to school clothes and backpacks and tablets—I meant the paper ones; with the spiral … Continue reading →

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Don’t move or we’ll lose our political stability

Posted on September 3, 2014 by hessd

Nothing about this political cartoon is there so that it will cause us to feel an affinity with the fat capitalist in the overstuffed chair.  I’m not entirely sure what the food is on the table behind the safe, but … Continue reading →

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Deciding to go to “war”

Posted on August 27, 2014 by hessd

Today, I want to consider how we go to war. We need to consider why “war” has those quotation marks around it. And, more crucially, I want to consider how we don’t go to war.  As Americans, we seem to … Continue reading →

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Should Germans read “Mein Kampf”?

Posted on July 11, 2014 by hessd

I learned from this article in the New York Times that Germany has been officially suppressing Mein Kampf since German government was reconstituted after World War II.  I’m sure that doesn’t mean that the full text isn’t available online.  But … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Paying Attention, Politics | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Divergent: What the un-society looks like

Posted on July 5, 2014 by hessd

It is a really good idea to keep an eye on what you are for.  Otherwise, you will make important decisions based only on what you are against.  Ordinarily, that doesn’t work out well.  It doesn’t work out well for … Continue reading →

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The Wild Wild West (Bank)

Posted on June 22, 2014 by hessd

Yesterday, June 20, four Presbyterians at the church’s annual national meeting, voted for divestiture.  Had they not, the church’s motion would have failed again—as it did last year, by two votes—but because they did, it passed this year by seven … Continue reading →

Posted in Paying Attention, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Peace in All Three Iraqs

Posted on June 16, 2014 by hessd

I don’t know what the Romans called the area that is now—for the next months at least—called Iraq.  Just to make it easy on me, let’s say they called it “Iraq.”  That brings us next door to one of the … Continue reading →

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Only St. Peter Controls the Copier Codes

Posted on June 11, 2014 by hessd

According to Matthew’s account of the transaction, Jesus gave Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven (see Chapter 16).  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that Bowdoin College has disabled the keys given to the Bowdoin Christian … Continue reading →

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