In this column I pose questions and raise issues. I don't always agree with the conclusion, implied or stated. The purpose is to put a slightly different spin on each item and to promote discussion.

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• Freedom to do business is not, in and of itself, a guarantee of political and social freedom.
• Bigotry is part of diversity.
• "I'm so tired of (American) Indians," a white gal snapped at me, recently. "Yes, well, try being one," I was tempted to retort. But then she accused me of racism for wanting to be just-friends with a Korean-American woman. The logic of feminists can be a twisty thing, sometimes.
• Those who are offended when they are judged for bad, are equally offended when they are not judged for good.
• When Bill Clinton sent bombers to Yugoslavia, conservatives accused him of diverting attention away from the Lewinsky scandal. But now, with a growing deficit and shrinking economy, conservatives loudly assure us George W. Bush's war on Iraq has nothing to do with distracting our attention.
• In the Bush calculus, two wrongs make a right.
• Nazi Germany was a capitalist nation. But you would be hard pressed to find evidence of free enterprise, there. This is because capitalism is not, and, in the real world, never has been synonymous with free markets.
• In mainland China, where citizens are not free, the government is gradually replacing communism with capitalism. But their citizens are still not free.
• There is a saying, sometimes mistakenly attributed to Winston Churchill, that "If you're not a liberal when you're young, you have no heart; if you're not a conservative when you're older, you have no brain." Ironically, the tide seems to have turned as President Bush now seems to be calling upon Americans to be led by their heart rather than their head.
• President Bush's 2003 State of the Union address clearly demonstrated that he is willing and able to tell the American people what they want to hear rather than the truth. It also proved that most Americans today are willing to ignore what their eyes see and believe what they are told. Just like the citizens of pre-Nazi Germany.
• Extending social security benefits to illegal aliens and foreign nationals who worked only briefly in the U.S. will help American corporations export more jobs by importing some of their payroll expenses.
• A common myth is that, historically, American Indian tribes were socialist. Some were, most were not because, while socialism as an emergency measure does work, in the long run it clearly does not.
• Every day is judgment day.
• The way opponents of corporate taxes talk, one would almost conclude that corporations are charitable institutions donating jobs, instead of for-profit enterprises getting value-for-value from their employees.
• The best way to control a sopping wet washrag is to cup it, because squeezing will make it dribble. Crisis is like a wet washrag: to maintain control, cup, don't squeeze. This concept is foreign to most corporate cultures.
• Banning social banter on company email is little more than doing something for the sake of doing something management.
• Few people have more than a vague idea of what any of the flavors of feminism really stand for.
• It bears repeating that Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law, Saudi Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz, was one of George W. Bush's business associates, and that his brother Salem bin Laden was one of Bush's business partners.
• As Tim McVeigh demonstrated, the Middle East is not the only place with terrorists motivated by hatred for corporate America.
• Engineers solve problems, executives discover opportunities. In the corporate world, discovering opportunities is the key to success; in the real world, solving problems is the key to survival.
• African-American proponents of reparations skirt all counterarguments with the retort that every other American derives mostly intangible benefits from their historical oppression. What they desperately want us to ignore is how they derive very tangible benefits from the historical oppression of American Indians.
• President Jimmy Carter deregulated the airline industry, and ever since then one carrier after another has declared bankruptcy.
• Free Enterprise: the marketplace is regulated solely by the economic choices of businesses and buyers. Socialism: the marketplace is regulated solely by the government. Capitalism: the marketplace is regulated solely by the owners of capital. Corporate Capitalism: the marketplace is regulated by the government and corporations. Mercantilism: an early form of corporate capitalism, in which the marketplace is regulated by a monarch and the owners of capital. Mixed Economy: the marketplace is regulated by the government, corporations and consumers. American Capitalist Free Enterprise: the marketplace is regulated primarily by the government and corporations, who con consumers into believing capitalism is free enterprise.
• Some people believe that advocating reason and responsibility in relationships is anti-female.
• Following the rules should never be more important than doing the right thing.
• Strictly speaking, Osama bin Laden is a conservative.
• "People who invest create jobs." That's the theory. But the reality is that few investments create jobs, because job-creating investments are generally either venture capital or Initial Public Offerings (IPO), while, from mutual funds to mom and pop, the vast majority of investors put their money into established, stable companies. The closest the average investor comes to creating jobs is in the bond market.
• Single women who have sex with married men are stabbing their married sisters in the back.
• Empathy is essential to enabling, but in an unhealthy codependent relationship it's too much of a good thing.
• In the sexual war, women often sabotage one another by discouraging selection of decent (read: "boring") men.
• Two of my last 3 employers in the Seattle area sent us to training where we were encouraged to give our coworkers shoulder rubs to help relieve stress and humanize the work environment. Now I live 70 miles south of Seattle, in the state's capitol, where my employer sent us to training in which we were instructed that giving coworkers shoulder rubs is actionable sexual harassment.
• Modern feminism is conservative patriarchy dressed in liberal clothing.