March to a Different Drummer

As to immigration - my position: (A) The U.S. should control its southern border. (B) Recent illegal immigrants (up to last five years) should be returned to their country of origin. (C) Illegal immigrants who can prove they have been in the U.S. for over five years, have no criminal record, are fluent in English, and show they are supporting themselves and their family may go through a process that will eventually give them citizenship. (D) Employers of more than 10 illegals should get jail time. My reasoning is three fold: (1) - There is no practical solution I know of that would accomplish a 100% expulsion of illegals. (2) - We have a legal tradition in America of eminent domain and statute of limitations which suggests to me that if we do not take action in response to a transgression within some reasonable time, then the opportunity to take action expires. (3) - We do have a long tradition of being a nation of immigrants and most of us are descendants of immigrants. Regardless of ...

I give Reverend Falwell a lot of credit. His life surely made an impact. And I am satisfied that much of what he did was good and caring and constructive. I am sure his life work has had national and international impact. And as a Virginian, I realize that he is one of our most famous and recognizable citizens. But was he a Christian? And if he was, does that mean that I am not? I grew up in the Southern Baptist tradition, and the church was a refuge for me from as early as I can remember, up through high school and before I was able to leave the dysfunctional family and abuse I experienced throughout childhood. My life then was about trying to be perfect and living with the guilt of not being able to attain it. As a child I went to Sunday School, Sunday worship service, Sunday night service, Wednesday night prayer meetings – I read my Bible regularly and studied more for my Sunday school class than I did for my school subjects. But no one really told me the truth. No one told ...

The following is a letter I wrote to Senator Jim Webb in January. I suppose he is too tied up with learning his new job to reply. Perhaps some readers will find thse suggestions useful - - - - - - - - - - - - Dear Senator Webb, I supported you in your campaign and when you were the guest of the Chesterfield Democratic Committee, of which I am a member, I asked you a question relating to our criminal justice system and the high percentage of incarceration in America. You replied that of all the campaign stops you’d had, this was the first time a question of this nature had been posed and you remarked how your Japan experience had sensitized you to this high statistic in the states. But I write with a suggestion for breaking the impasse on major problems so far not addressed by Congress. The Democrats are off and running on their much flaunted first 100 hours, and I wish them luck. But I haven’t heard a word on what is to follow. May I be so bold as to suggest an approach for the se...

I find it fascinating to see the DNA helix in 3-D and alive and reproducing in a video animation, an artificial depiction of our best level of insight to date. Its zipper like unraveling and then its coded arms searching the sea of amino acids for one of four matching molecules, and presto – reproduction. That’s on the micro level. But on the macro level – our level – there is a continuation by an analogous mechanism. A reproduction that happens where, more or less rare occurrences of contact, under the right circumstances forms a bond, and these occurrences are more probable when the distance is less, the similarities are greater, the experiences similar, the points of view compatible, the areas of interests somewhere overlapping. And a bond is formed – by proximity in family, community, school, and work, and church. In the boy scouts and the softball league; the NAACP and the Urban League. These become denominations, townships, tribes, guilds, trade unions, political parties, go...