At some point all falsehoods will be laid to rest

Al Qaeda, Conservative Talk Radio, Fox News, Glen Beck, Bill O’Reilly, Rush Limbaugh, and Osama bin Laden, all, in my opinion, would like to turn the clock of time back. Even though their goals are not within a common interest, they are all part of that ground where extremism grows. Many of us see that ground ploughed with degrees of hate.

Within the above mix, there are those that dream of taking the world back to the 13th century, and there are those that dream of taking a country back to the Reagan era. Modernization through the progression of time is an enemy to all in the mix; it can not be stopped, it can only be slowed down.

Inevitably, what has to go forward will go beyond those few that have twisted Islamic beliefs, along with those that twisted the meaning of being an American. All involved in both missions will one day melt away in that part of history where falsehoods are laid to rest.

Judge ourselves honestly, and the world will follow

The following letter was published on June 11, 2009 by
The Cape Cod Times
Cape Cod, Massachusetts

In my opinion, President Obama's June 4 speech in Cairo was crafted to engage, not offend.

Many conservative radio talk-show hosts and others are concentrating on toxic negatives they think should have been in Obama's speech.

Idiosyncrasies exist in many governments, if not all; it shows a lack of character in a government when it is quick to judge others and not itself. When Obama referred to the Iraq war as a "war of choice," he received applause from his Cairo audience.

Were Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel to admit that the settlement construction in the West Bank was misguided, and if President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran were to admit he was wrong about his Holocaust denial, that part of the world that wants peace would applaud them both.

Reflections on Affirmative Action

In my opinion, in spite of some gains, the affirmative action ladder is not ready to be pulled up. For too long, blacks were forced to live in a bland, hopeless existence, passing on from one generation to another a damaged spirit. Blacks that have been able to merge and blend in with the times, through education and exposure, serve as role models; however, when they look at some of their family members, even they can see that the damage done from slavery, segregation and oppression have a lasting effect. That damage seen in many disenfranchised blacks in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina will not magically go away in this generation or the succeeding ones.