Even the Ruler of Hungary Needs an Independent Third Sector
I've spent my life in the practice, study and development of citizen participation and voluntary action. Crucial to these arts is the wise and effective use of two resources we each have in our...
View ArticleRelief Agencies Must Just Say "No" to War in Iraq
Next week, there will be an informal meeting of US relief agencies in Washington, D.C. to discuss Iraq. Among those likely to attend the meeting will no doubt be a number of agencies which struck it...
View ArticleNavigating the 'Fog of Data Ignorance'
Click here to watch the TEDTalk that inspired this post. "Part lies, part heart, part truth, part garbage" -- this quip from R.E.M. guitarist Peter Buck back in the '80s says a lot about the Big Data...
View ArticleObama's Challenge to the LGBT Community
Lost in all the online coverage of President Obama's speech at the DNC LGBT Gala this week in New York -- with his powerful words on the AIDS crisis and his announcement that he would sign an executive...
View ArticleWill We Continue to Make the Same Mistakes on Energy Policy?
Sometimes you take a look at things and wonder if our historical amnesia is such that it has robbed us of all the lessons of the past so we simply can't seem to move forward no matter the cost of...
View ArticleInspiring Lessons from Seattle Pacific University
On June 14th I had the honor of giving the undergraduate commencement address at Seattle Pacific University. Commencement speakers usually do their best to share a lesson or two with the graduates, but...
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Why Parents Should Always Ask If There's a Gun in the House
My son Noah was a social butterfly. Everybody knew who he was, and he loved everybody. If a teacher got a new car, or someone was dating or breaking up, Noah knew. People just shared information with...
View ArticleThe One Question I Wish I'd Asked My Children's Babysitter Before It Was Too...
My son Markie is a character. He is a short, little guy who loved basketball. In fact, he got mad at me once for making him go to bed instead of letting him watch the NBA finals. One night, I found him...
View ArticleIraq: The Way Ahead Requires Understanding the Past
Shortly after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait 24 years ago, I met with Saddam Hussein to demand the withdrawal of his troops. Saddam was defiant, taunting that the US did not have the stomach for a war to...
View ArticleEugene McCarthy Now a Non-Person in St. Paul
Former Sen. Eugene McCarthy often quoted the words of fellow St. Paulite F. Scott Fitzgerald that "there are no second acts in American lives," which he proved by repeatedly running unsuccessfully for...
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Special Ops Deployed to Iraq: What Does It Mean?
President Obama announced that 300 Special Operations soldiers will be deployed to Iraq to advise the Iraq army and to perform special missions. He didn't elaborate on the missions so what does that...
View ArticleObama's Pentagon Bungling Shipments for Our Troops
Once again, Barack Obama is showing his lack of serious concern for the military. Instead of court martialing Bowe Bergdahl, who presumably went AWOL in Afghanistan, Obama traded five high-level...
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How the US Is Bullying El Salvador Into Using Monsanto's GMO Seeds
President Salvador Sanchez Ceren, inaugural speech, June 1, 2014, San Salvador. Photo courtesy of Vivien Feyer. The crowd was jubilant. Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa waved triumphantly to the...
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How to Destroy Oligopoly
More and more studies are showing that the wealthy and corporations exert disproportionate influence over the U.S. political system. This viewpoint has been well documented by scholars Larry Bartels,...
View ArticleInterrogating Terrorism Suspects and the Search for Truth
President Obama recently released a statement on the apprehension of Ahmed Abu Khatallah, who is alleged to have played a role in the attacks on Americans in Benghazi and is now reported to be "talking...
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What the History of the World Wars Can Tell Us About the Deeper Struggles at...
The very philosophy of the Axis powers is based on a profound contempt for the human race. If, in the formation of our future policy, we were guided by the same cynical contempt, then we should be...
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Amend the 13th Amendment
I was in a recent meeting when Prison Fellowship president Jim Liske quoted it. I couldn't believe it but then I read the 13th Amendment and there it was: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,...
View ArticleIraq: Be Careful How You Mess With the Sunni World
There are two elements to keep in mind in assessing the sudden Sunni surge in Iraq. First, the Sunni-populated part of Iraq is virtually bereft of natural resources. The Kurdish and Shia parts in the...
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Singing the Methane Blues
While everyone else is watching the steadily increasing carbon dioxide levels reach and exceed 400 parts per million (0.04 percent of the atmosphere), another group of scientists have been fretting...
View ArticleWar and Peace
There is a vibrant public dialogue in the country at the moment that is focused on finger pointing and recriminations leveled wildly about exactly who is responsible for the dramatic collapse of Iraq;...
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