Just When We Were Breathing Easier

April 25, 2022

Steven Spielberg’s first block-buster hit as a director was 1975’s Jaws, and we all know sequels are rarely as good as the original. Yet it was 1978’s Jaws II, directed by someone far less famous, that film historians often credit with the movie industry’s best-ever tagline, “Just when you thought it was safe to go […]

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We Need a Different Enemy

April 20, 2022

Fans of Aaron Sorkin’s classic TV series “The West Wing,” marveled at how realistic some of the strategy sessions seemed. In one episode, the President is being investigated by a special prosecutor for failing to disclose his debilitating disease. Strategists gather in Press Secretary CJ’s office to discuss subpoenas White House staffers have received, and […]

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John Muir, Great Republican

April 15, 2022

Several years ago in a speech to a Republican Party gathering, I was mentioning the GOP’s history in founding the original conservation movement in America. I pointed to the first preservation of public lands by Abraham Lincoln (Yosemite), the first National Park created by Ulysses Grant (Yellowstone), and several achievements of Theodore Roosevelt and his […]

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Finders Keepers, Losers Weepers

April 8, 2022

For generations, playground bullies have repeated the rhyme, “finders keepers, losers weepers,” as justification for theft. It’s a catchy phrase but it does not vindicate stealing. Adults sometimes put it differently, citing an equally dubious phrase, “possession is nine-tenths of the law.” But it isn’t. The mere fact of possession does not equate to ownership. […]

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Is The Spirit Still Willing?

April 1, 2022

Polling is becoming more difficult and less reliable, for a simple reason that most pollsters will admit, at least privately. Namely, people lie to pollsters regularly. Americans have become so accustomed to opinion surveys that they know what answers are expected. They are reluctant to divulge biases that they think are out-of-touch with mainstream thinking. […]

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Closer Than You Might Think

March 11, 2022

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has more pundits than ever talking about the role energy plays in world affairs. Many of TV’s most venerated talking heads seem to have discovered, for the first time, that much of Europe depends on Russian oil and gas, and that alternate suppliers, such as the United States, could change that. […]

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Saving the Forests – By Cutting Them?

March 4, 2022

Last week, we considered the Biden Administration’s ten-year, $50 billion strategy for addressing the national forest fire crisis. That would more than double the budget of the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), to reduce wildfires and restore health to 20 million acres of national forests in the West. Not all across the West, but in a few […]

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If Money Were No Object

February 25, 2022

Imagine how much good we could do in this life if we had unlimited resources. If money were no object, we could cure nearly all the world’s ills and create better lives for everybody, right? Fifty-seven years ago, President Lyndon Johnson declared “unconditional war on poverty.” Over 200 federal programs and $28 trillion later – […]

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As Long as Your Feet Are Wet

February 18, 2022

Johann Wyss’s 1812 classic, Swiss Family Robinson, describes an incident in which the narrator’s son Ernest is scolded for fearing wet feet. As a result, he is denied the pleasure of eating the day’s catch, a giant lobster, because he didn’t help catch it. His father admonishes him never again to be afraid of getting […]

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The Problem is Serious – The Response Is Not

February 9, 2022

President Biden travelled to Pittsburgh last week to push his proposed $1.2 trillion “Build Back Better Act.” In one of the great coincidences in the annals of political strategy, a major bridge collapsed just before his arrival, sending a bus and four cars into the ravine. Fortunately, nobody was killed, unlike the horrific 2007 collapse […]

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