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.
- History is seldom tidy.
- Every American who is "part-Indian" should check "American Indian or Alaska Native" and note the tribe from which they are descended on question 9 of the 2010 Census.
- Geologists say that some day the giant caldera at Yellowstone Park will blow up and engulf the world in ash. Before that happens, shouldn't we cool it off by installing discrete geothermal power plants around the park that can generate enough clean electricity to power millions of homes?
- Corporations are artifacts of feudalism, as are most other modern organizations. We thought we had overthrown it, but feudalism never died.
- Corporations are liberal in marketing, feudal in organization, and modern culture reflects this.
- Unadulterated truth serves best those who embrace it.
- "Professional conduct," in our politically correct culture, requires polite indifference or exaggerated sympathy. Authenticity is implicitly forbidden and punished.
- Life is a story written in ironic prose.
- Progressive liberals generally believe that a whole solution can be found by addressing only half of the problem.
- Television is a shared experience; no matter how etherial, we feel more connected by it to a community.
- People on the right tend to assume everybody is intelligent but fallible, while people on the left tend to assume everybody is dumb but perfectable.
- Deception was and remains the weapon of choice against Indian tribes. In the past it was used to make offers in bad faith to buy time for the settlers and military to establish, hold and then overrun territories. Today it is used to turn tribes into political pawns in fights that are not their own.
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