First Blog

It may be Star Wars, as a film group, may be ending.  Yet, the most significant things are the films are excellent adventure/action types, with terrific special effects, positing a battle between good and evil, and the characters are well defined. There is another.  It is this universal appeal to a mythical "force." It transcends science. It rises above simply kill the bad guys.  It does appeal to this mystical force in a secular manner.  It seems millions of viewers, worldwide, need to believe in a force, and a force pitting good against evil. This is downright primitive, spiritual, and transcendental. Do you understand it?

In the past weeks we've hear much about the morality of waterboarding.  Recently, the CIA’s Gina Haspel was pounded by members of the  morals-of-the-month  club.  By the great historian, Will Durant*, morality changes from generation to generation, depending on current conditions, greatest desires, and acceptable sins. He proved this with countless examples over all recorded history. Examples: a. Waterboarding - In the past there was no morality issues at all. It didn’t maim anyone, but it scared the victim into confessing revelations. Now its torture. b. Abortion - In the past it was abhorrent, not it's just plain ok, indeed encouraged. c. Spanking children - In the past considered a necessary tool of parental discipline, now questioned by sociologists on moral and many other grounds.  d. Homosexuality - Has flip-flopped in moral acceptance for millennia. e. Pedophilia – Remarkably it has the same history as the above, and by historical leaders, clergy, an

April 8, 2013: Margaret Thatcher has departed.  Wonderful to her supporters and despised by others, she  now rests upon her contributions.  Is there a lesson learned?  Maybe.  Looking at British leaders for the last while, we've seen a few monumental figures with vision and resolve.  Thatcher is among them. So also was Churchill and Gladstone. They are rare. Indeed they are the exception. Between Churchill and Thatcher there was no one, and after Margaret there has been almost no one. Maybe Blair, though he was caught up in the past and present.  Articulate though he was and is, he did not command the world stage as did others.  England's leaders have been populated and punctuated by true visionaries, and then replaced by unmemorable leaders and losers.  This has been the nature of British affairs. In the US, we have seen Reagan, Roosevelt, and Lincoln - and in between, what?  Affairs in the US are about the same. Yet, the same obtains for other world leading countries.  In