Would you like to know how many people have visited this page? Or how reputable the author is? Simply
sign up for a Advocate premium membership and you'll automatically see this data on every article. Plus a lot more, too.
 Jim can be reached by e-mail at mailto.freeman@gmail.com SHARE 
|
|
Websites at www.Jim-Freeman.com and www.dark-side-of-the-moon.com
I am politically left of center, tempered by respect for some of the thought on the right. It's the partisan intransigence I have opposition to and always try to frame my commentary from a thoughtful rather than outraged point of view. God knows there is enough to be outraged about, but that doesn't serve a useful purpose. We need coming together, not further distance.
I'm not young, having lived in portions of eight decades, but it gives me a sense of perspective, having experienced a goodly part of our history. I was there before TV, there when Wall Street gave sound advice, there when we knew our neighbors and banks were local. Many of my readers were alive and working before the internet, Wal-Mart and McDonalds--but damned few personally remember FDR, Truman and Eisenhower.
It's been a wonderful experience, but I have never had reason to fear for the future of my nation and I'm very deeply concerned at the moment. Essentially a novelist, I felt the Clinton impeachment and Bush administration left me little choice but to set aside fiction and speak out publicly. That's not a choice I regret, but I am sad for the circumstances that require it.
OpEd News Member for 880 week(s) and 1 day(s)
118 Articles, 54 Quick Links, 433 Comments, 228 Diaries, 0 Polls
Articles Listed By Date
List By Popularity
List By Popularity
Page 5 of 6 First Last Back Next 6 View All
(1 comments) SHARE
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
The General's Thoughts Aside, What Do Iraqis Think? On this sixth anniversary of the multiple attacks on America, while General Petraeus is giving testimony before Congress and Ryan Crocker paints the Bush position, it might be a good time to check in on what Iraqis are thinking.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007The General's Thoughts Aside, What Do Iraqis Think? On this sixth anniversary of the multiple attacks on America, while General Petraeus is giving testimony before Congress and Ryan Crocker paints the Bush position, it might be a good time to check in on what Iraqis are thinking.
SHARE
Friday, September 7, 2007
And the Band Played On An administration aided and abetted by a Congress willing to have its belly scratched rather than act, has put us 'in the period of evaluation after General Petraeus's September report,' still feeling our way toward confrontation with this president.
Friday, September 7, 2007And the Band Played On An administration aided and abetted by a Congress willing to have its belly scratched rather than act, has put us 'in the period of evaluation after General Petraeus's September report,' still feeling our way toward confrontation with this president.
SHARE
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Everything Comes (Eventually) on the Wings of Business-Even Health Care Single-payer national health care isn't going to get here because it would be the right thing to do. And it hasn't a prayer of showing up as a response to the 45, 46, 47 million (and counting) Americans who don't have it. Nor will it arrive because of the inequity of job-slavery that parents with sick kids endure. For sure the haves will never present it to the have-nots as a fair and equitable sharing of America's bounty.
Wednesday, September 5, 2007Everything Comes (Eventually) on the Wings of Business-Even Health Care Single-payer national health care isn't going to get here because it would be the right thing to do. And it hasn't a prayer of showing up as a response to the 45, 46, 47 million (and counting) Americans who don't have it. Nor will it arrive because of the inequity of job-slavery that parents with sick kids endure. For sure the haves will never present it to the have-nots as a fair and equitable sharing of America's bounty.
SHARE
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
We'll Take the Money and Run I can't help but wonder what Steve Mufson over at the Washington Post has been smoking. Somehow or another, he seems to think that the overpowering and financially secure Big Coal interests in the nation are on the run. Those intrepid environmentalists finally have their number, according to Steve.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007We'll Take the Money and Run I can't help but wonder what Steve Mufson over at the Washington Post has been smoking. Somehow or another, he seems to think that the overpowering and financially secure Big Coal interests in the nation are on the run. Those intrepid environmentalists finally have their number, according to Steve.
(3 comments) SHARE
Saturday, September 1, 2007
Talking About (Blush) Breast-Feeding It's getting easier to talk about what breasts are actually for, but not much. They're for feeding infants and it's important to breast-feed newborns all the way through the first year and maybe more
Saturday, September 1, 2007Talking About (Blush) Breast-Feeding It's getting easier to talk about what breasts are actually for, but not much. They're for feeding infants and it's important to breast-feed newborns all the way through the first year and maybe more
SHARE
Thursday, August 30, 2007
Not Learning Their Lines and Bumping Into the Furniture Democrats have never had much trouble from Republicans. Their Achilles heel has always been other Democrats.
Thursday, August 30, 2007Not Learning Their Lines and Bumping Into the Furniture Democrats have never had much trouble from Republicans. Their Achilles heel has always been other Democrats.
(4 comments) SHARE
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
The Terrorist State We Dare Not Name The nation we dare not name is the largest country on the Arabian Peninsula. Bordered by Jordan on the northwest, Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south, with the Persian Gulf to its northeast and the Red Sea to its west. One could hardly find a more pivotal entity.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007The Terrorist State We Dare Not Name The nation we dare not name is the largest country on the Arabian Peninsula. Bordered by Jordan on the northwest, Iraq on the north and northeast, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the United Arab Emirates on the east, Oman on the southeast, and Yemen on the south, with the Persian Gulf to its northeast and the Red Sea to its west. One could hardly find a more pivotal entity.
SHARE
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
A Hundred Thousand Dead Because of Carelessness These hundred thousand Americans that friends and family bury every year were not killed in auto accidents. A home fire, tornado or other unexpected disaster didn't do them in. For one reason or another, some as simple as a minor checkup and others as complicated as surgery, they came home from the hospital in a coffin.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007A Hundred Thousand Dead Because of Carelessness These hundred thousand Americans that friends and family bury every year were not killed in auto accidents. A home fire, tornado or other unexpected disaster didn't do them in. For one reason or another, some as simple as a minor checkup and others as complicated as surgery, they came home from the hospital in a coffin.
(6 comments) SHARE
Wednesday, August 29, 2007
Getting in the Game, When Representative Government No Longer Works Every special interest is in the game. Boeing and Microsoft, Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry, everything from agriculture to zen has its lobby in the halls of the Congress of the United States. On a moment's notice, the gun lobby or casino of your choice can marshal a quorum of lawmakers to get stuff done.
Wednesday, August 29, 2007Getting in the Game, When Representative Government No Longer Works Every special interest is in the game. Boeing and Microsoft, Wall Street and the pharmaceutical industry, everything from agriculture to zen has its lobby in the halls of the Congress of the United States. On a moment's notice, the gun lobby or casino of your choice can marshal a quorum of lawmakers to get stuff done.
SHARE
Monday, August 27, 2007
A Market Free of Regulation The Portal Market--the dawn of a new investment vehicle for billionaires. And not a moment too soon.
Monday, August 27, 2007A Market Free of Regulation The Portal Market--the dawn of a new investment vehicle for billionaires. And not a moment too soon.
(1 comments) SHARE
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Lurita Doan, Buying for the Government at Highest Possible Prices There's an outfit called the General Services Administration (GSA) that's been around since Harry Truman signed the legislation in 1949. It was organized to buy pencils and desks and 'general services' for the federal bureaucracy at the best possible price. Someone in the Congress thought that because the fed was a big buyer, it ought to get a good price.
Saturday, August 25, 2007Lurita Doan, Buying for the Government at Highest Possible Prices There's an outfit called the General Services Administration (GSA) that's been around since Harry Truman signed the legislation in 1949. It was organized to buy pencils and desks and 'general services' for the federal bureaucracy at the best possible price. Someone in the Congress thought that because the fed was a big buyer, it ought to get a good price.
(2 comments) SHARE
Saturday, August 25, 2007
The Ignorance and Stupidity of a Manhattan Mom Here we go again, folks. The hate mongers are out there front and center, making sure no American child learns anything about the rest of the world. Moms are rallying to the barricades in this earnest stand against kids educations (even if it's not their kids).
Saturday, August 25, 2007The Ignorance and Stupidity of a Manhattan Mom Here we go again, folks. The hate mongers are out there front and center, making sure no American child learns anything about the rest of the world. Moms are rallying to the barricades in this earnest stand against kids educations (even if it's not their kids).
(2 comments) SHARE
Friday, August 24, 2007
British Petroleum (BP) Shames Itself With Green Ads and Disastrous Policy I've written before about oil companies, chemical firms and pharmaceutical giants who grease the double-page spreads of magazines with 'green-speak' while they poison and flim-flam the public in the day-to-day reality of their business practices. It's a favorite subject of mine.
Friday, August 24, 2007British Petroleum (BP) Shames Itself With Green Ads and Disastrous Policy I've written before about oil companies, chemical firms and pharmaceutical giants who grease the double-page spreads of magazines with 'green-speak' while they poison and flim-flam the public in the day-to-day reality of their business practices. It's a favorite subject of mine.
SHARE
Friday, August 24, 2007
A Late Choice, Made Under Considerable Pressure, But Made Correctly One of the inherent difficulties of a political system that appoints its own in every election is that it loses the talents of some very good people. Occasionally an FBI director is held over. Once in a while a CIA chief keeps his job, but it's unusual.
Friday, August 24, 2007A Late Choice, Made Under Considerable Pressure, But Made Correctly One of the inherent difficulties of a political system that appoints its own in every election is that it loses the talents of some very good people. Occasionally an FBI director is held over. Once in a while a CIA chief keeps his job, but it's unusual.
(2 comments) SHARE
Thursday, August 23, 2007
Wall Street Afraid of the Wrong Ghost Jim Copland (director of the Center for Legal Policy at the Manhattan Institute) wrote a piece for the Washington Post's Think Tank Town section. Copland deplores the flight of capital from Wall Street to other financial markets.
Thursday, August 23, 2007Wall Street Afraid of the Wrong Ghost Jim Copland (director of the Center for Legal Policy at the Manhattan Institute) wrote a piece for the Washington Post's Think Tank Town section. Copland deplores the flight of capital from Wall Street to other financial markets.
(2 comments) SHARE
Sunday, August 19, 2007
Guilty or Innocent, Who the Hell Cares? Am I Too Late for the Gonzales Death Penalty Fight? I certainly hope not, but it's been four or five days and news gets old pretty quick. Alberto Gonzales, who never met a death-row inmate he wouldn't put away in a heartbeat, has now given himself the ability to 'fast-track' executions through the Justice Department.
Sunday, August 19, 2007Guilty or Innocent, Who the Hell Cares? Am I Too Late for the Gonzales Death Penalty Fight? I certainly hope not, but it's been four or five days and news gets old pretty quick. Alberto Gonzales, who never met a death-row inmate he wouldn't put away in a heartbeat, has now given himself the ability to 'fast-track' executions through the Justice Department.
SHARE
Friday, August 17, 2007
George Bush Doesn't Trust Americans The Headline is Domestic Use of Spy Satellites To Widen and you'll notice that no discussion of whether or not this is good or appropriate policy, is asked for. The President of the United States doesn't trust his own citizens to judge his domestic spy program.
Friday, August 17, 2007George Bush Doesn't Trust Americans The Headline is Domestic Use of Spy Satellites To Widen and you'll notice that no discussion of whether or not this is good or appropriate policy, is asked for. The President of the United States doesn't trust his own citizens to judge his domestic spy program.
SHARE
Wednesday, August 15, 2007
A Multi-tasking World to Love and Distrust Lori Aratani, over at the Washington Post has written an interesting piece titled Teens Can Multitask, But What Are Costs? I suspect the cost is not only to teens. With exploding responsibilities, who doesn't feel like they have way too much on their plate?
Wednesday, August 15, 2007A Multi-tasking World to Love and Distrust Lori Aratani, over at the Washington Post has written an interesting piece titled Teens Can Multitask, But What Are Costs? I suspect the cost is not only to teens. With exploding responsibilities, who doesn't feel like they have way too much on their plate?
SHARE
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Losing Our Edge on Our Own Home Turf John McQuaid makes the case in an editorial, The Can't-Do Nation, that America is losing its knack for getting big things done. It's an interesting premise. But the bridge disaster also reflects a broader and more troubling problem. The United States seems to have become the superpower that can't tie its own shoelaces. America is a nation of vast ingenuity and technological capabilities. Its bridges shouldn't fall down.
Tuesday, August 14, 2007Losing Our Edge on Our Own Home Turf John McQuaid makes the case in an editorial, The Can't-Do Nation, that America is losing its knack for getting big things done. It's an interesting premise. But the bridge disaster also reflects a broader and more troubling problem. The United States seems to have become the superpower that can't tie its own shoelaces. America is a nation of vast ingenuity and technological capabilities. Its bridges shouldn't fall down.
(6 comments) SHARE
Saturday, August 11, 2007
A Hell of a Way to Dictate Security Competence may be the only thing a successful presidential candidate need promise us in 2008. Honesty we can get around, it's become almost a national culture to be crooked. Ethical is beyond our wildest hopes. But if this two-term administration has left us gasping on the pavement, pounding our fists in frustration, it is mostly for the sake of plain and simple missing competence.
Saturday, August 11, 2007A Hell of a Way to Dictate Security Competence may be the only thing a successful presidential candidate need promise us in 2008. Honesty we can get around, it's become almost a national culture to be crooked. Ethical is beyond our wildest hopes. But if this two-term administration has left us gasping on the pavement, pounding our fists in frustration, it is mostly for the sake of plain and simple missing competence.
