Blog 3 Columns

Why California’s Drinking Water Tax Could Be the Last Straw for Californians 0
- Politics
- June 8, 2018
California governor Jerry Brown wants to impose the state’s first-ever tax on drinking water, tacked onto monthly bills, and accompanied by “fees” on fertilizer and dairy farmers. For embattled Californians, this new tax will come as no surprise. Forty years ago in 1978, property taxes were on the rise and the People’s Initiative to Limit
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Why America’s Self-Help Industry Is Booming 0
- Culture
- June 8, 2018
Many people may not know that in 2017 Patriots quarterback Tom Brady rolled out a cookbook. For just $200, readers could get a “living document” dishing all the secrets of the star quarterback’s heavily (and strangely) regimented diet. The “TB12-alligned nutrition plan” had a total of 89 recipes. The notion that people would pay $200
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Suicide in America Is Surging. What’s Driving This Mentality of Despair?0
- Culture
- June 8, 2018
With the sudden passing of designer Kate Spade and TV personality Anthony Bourdain—both of whom authorities believe took their own life—it’s easy to wonder if an epidemic of suicide is upon us. As it turns out, such ponderings are not far-fetched, a fact which the well-timed release of a CDC report on suicide explains. According
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Is Suicide Contagious?0
- Culture
- June 8, 2018
In 1983, The New York Times ran a story titled “MICRONESIA’S MALE SUICIDE RATE DEFIES SOLUTION.” The story opened with this nut graph: In the islands of Micronesia, young men are killing themselves at one of the highest rates in the world, researchers say, and no one knows what to do about it. Suicides among
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Guns Haven’t Changed in America. People Have.0
- Culture
- June 8, 2018
Having enjoyed my 82nd birthday, I am part of a group of about 50 million Americans who are 65 years of age or older. Those who are 90 or older were in school during the 1930s. My age cohort was in school during the 1940s. Baby boomers approaching their 70s were in school during the
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Soaring Administrative Costs Are Devouring Funds that Could Be Supporting Teachers 0
- Education
- June 7, 2018
While teachers have walked off their jobs in several states this spring to protest what they believe to be low pay and lack of classroom resources to support teaching, armies of bureaucrats in all 50 states and Washington, DC have been bickering over federally mandated state plans for implementing the massive Every Student Succeeds Act
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Compare the Goals of English Classes in 1912 to Today’s if You Want to Understand Why Literacy Is Plummeting 0
- June 7, 2018
I recently spent an evening with a group of college students. Like most young people their age, they were engaged in their studies and eager to share about semesters spent abroad and future plans. But then the topic changed. Instead of talking about pop culture or other common subjects, these young people started discussing… their
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5 (More) Signs Social Security Is Going Insolvent 0
- Politics
- June 7, 2018
The Social Security Administration released its annual trustees report this week, and the prognosis is not good. Trust fund depletion—the date when Social Security’s reserves will be exhausted and the program will only be able to spend what it receives in payroll taxes at that time—is approaching at a rapid pace. This year, Social Security will dip into
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11 Ways to Reduce Your Risk of Death by Gun Violence 0
- Culture
- June 7, 2018
Do you want to reduce your risk of death by gun violence? If so, consider these 10 common sense ways to do so. These are things one can implement fully and immediately with no permission or agreement from anyone else but are entirely in the control of any individual. Marching to persuade politicians is a
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Why California’s Drinking Water Tax Could Be the Last Straw for Californians 0