When George H.W. Bush was preparing a run for president, he asked a friend to suggest key issues for his campaign.  He understood most issues, but sought top policies to highlight. Time magazine reported that his friend advised him to take time off, “to figure out where he wanted to take the country.” “Oh,” replied […]

It began as a whispered threat, this latest storm of ours. There was something in the air, a cleansing tonic, a murmur of sharpness. The trees on the hills looked different, then, seeming to stand out in sharper focus, in cleaner profile. It was the magical paintbrush of a gentle sun brushing the front of […]

In 2006, I met a 4-year-old boy from Yarmouth named Aidan Sweeney, who testified before a congressional hearing I chaired regarding developments in Type 1 diabetes research.  Diabetes not only affected Aidan’s quality of life, but it also caused great stress and worry for his parents. Twelve years ago, the closed-loop artificial pancreas was a […]

We are constantly bombarded with bad news. There are disasters, dangers, challenges, and woes. On the political scene, we find perpetual discord peppered with lurid denunciations and shrill condemnations. Media reports are alternately dismaying, disappointing, distressing, disgusting, or depressing. But despair not, friends: All is not lost!Here let me serve you a heaping helping of […]

Many Americans think of war as a great national struggle, as was the case during World War II, where violence rose to address the belligerents’ objectives. These were “total” wars between nation-states driven by incompatible political ideologies supported by the mobilization of industrial-age economies. For the United States and its allies the objective was unconditional surrender. […]

The great 20th century novelist Chaim Potok wrote, in his novel, My Name Is Asher Lev, “You have a gift, Asher Lev. You have a responsibility.” My Mom had a gift of 89 years, 89 years to live her life; 89 years to meet her goals; 89 years. This gift of time, for Mom, for all […]

Ever since China’s economic reforms began in 1978, the goal of US foreign policy has been to “manage” China’s rise so that it might become a worthy member of the community of nations dominated by the US and its allies. Republic and Democratic administrations alike have sent Beijing essentially the same message: The US supports […]

The Federal Government requires colleges to commemorate Constitution Day, Sept. 17, with some kind of a student activity to qualify for Title IV grant monies, which, if people really read the Constitution, they would find no authority for the grant.  The requirement is largely ignored. Some years back I was asked to give suggestions for […]