mmckerral's blog
The statement, “They’ve got an app for that” now fits snuggly into the American vernacular.
More and more, technology infiltrates every aspect of our lives, and not always for the better.
One of those “apps” caught the attention of freshman U.S. Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and he wants to make sure the app doesn’t allow you to catch the attention of a creep.
Among all the New Year resolutions we make to start 2013 — quitting the smokes, losing weight, reducing credit card use and the like — we might consider resolving to become better citizens.
Some of that better citizen behavior takes familiar “V” forms: voting, volunteering and a voice in pubic matters, citizen watchdogs if you will.
Way back in the day, I sang alto in my grade school choir at Infant Jesus of Prague School in Flossmoor, Ill.
On Christmas Eve during midnight Mass, the choir traversed the aisles of the church carrying large candles anchored in heavy holders chanting the “Christmas Proclamation,” which places the birth of Christ in the context of the history of salvation.
A bit of deja vu attaches itself to the departure from Congress of Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn.
Both failed in their attempts to become president.
Both became outcasts in their political parties.
The “Arab Spring” fostered by events in Egypt now turns to the “Winter of Discontent,” again with the focus on Egypt.
Americans can learn a lot about our history of establishing a constitutional republic by watching the events unfold in this Middle East country — one with a history that in comparison makes the U.S. history look like a speck on a timeline.
The holiday season brings out a lot of cheer — and in many places a reminder of the dilemma facing an estimated 700,000 to 1 million in the United States: the homeless.
What can citizens do?
The slap the United States took in the United Nations last week re-opens the debate about what role our country ought to play in the world organization.
The U.S. views the U.N. nod to recognize the Palestinian state a wrong move at the wrong time, but that carried no weight in the vote, a decisive 138-9 rebuke of that position with 41 countries abstaining.
All Americans should take notice of the news reports on the “fiscal cliff.” Few can escape the implications.
The more I read, two elements seem to rise to the top: the ability of our leaders to deal with it and taxes.
The second item involved a photo that ran in the newspaper at the college where I teach, which showed a group of black students burning a Mitt Romney mask on the night of the election.
In between landed election voting data that showed:
- a large black voter turnout within which more than 90 percent supported the president.
- a white vote of which nearly 60 percent went to Romney.
Heading into the final year of Barack Obama’s first term as president, many Democrats scratched their heads while saying, “How did our political fortunes turn so badly?”
Now less than 24 hours after the polls closed throughout the country, the scratching falls on the heads of Republicans.
