Essays

Hey, kids – let’s talk about heroin!

"In Switzerland, they took a different approach — give it away for free. Yes, they gave away free, controlled, safe doses of heroin to addicts in a clean clinic with doctors and social workers. They did a study in conjunction with this program and found a 94% reduction in criminal activity by those in the program; addicts were living longer; once stabilized they had an easier time kicking the drug; and… they made it unprofitable to be a criminal heroin dealer, so fewer young people were starting! Changing our drug laws will save lives." Continue reading →

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Why Can’t We Party Like It’s 1905?

"So, do you think life was nasty, brutish, and short in 1905? The Wright brothers were flying for 30 minutes at a crack; Einstein was upgrading the laws of physics; telephones and electric lights were being installed all across America; Henry Ford was getting the final pieces in place for his moving assembly line and Model T; radio was being developed; art was flourishing; and the world was more or less at peace. People in 1905 lived in heated homes, refrigerated their food, had access to professional physicians, traveled the world, read daily newspapers, watched movies, and ate just about the same foods we eat." Continue reading →

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Grasping for Dignity in the Era of the American Police State

"In a judicial and bureaucratic environment in which human dignity has been given short shrift and largely discounted, the courts have increasingly erred on the side of giving government officials vast discretion in carrying out strip searches for a broad range of violations, no matter how minor the offense and no matter how degrading, demeaning or offensive to one’s human dignity the search is. Making matters worse, government agencies are increasingly exploiting cutting-edge technologies that allow probing and examination of the intimate aspects of persons that is for all intents and purposes equivalent to the excessive intrusion inflicted by a strip search." Continue reading →

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The War on Terror Is a War on American Freedom

"Our Democratic law professor president, a self-described progressive, has created a perfect storm. Ten years ago, liberals screamed because the Republican administration took note of what patrons checked out at the library. Today, they seem much more complacent in the face of more intimate forms of mass surveillance. Democrats once talked about prosecuting executive officials for wrongdoing. Today they muse about whether the government should jail journalists like Glenn Greenwald, U.S. columnist for the British newspaper, the Guardian, merely for providing a soapbox for whistleblowers." Continue reading →

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How to Lose Friends, Citizens and Influence

"Imagine this: You were born in California, moved to New York for education or work, fell in love, married and had children. Even though you have faithfully paid taxes in New York and haven't lived in California for 25 years, suppose California law required that you also file your taxes there because you were born there. Though you may never have held a bank account in California, you must report all of your financial holdings to the State of California. Are you a signatory on your spouse's account? Then you must declare his bank accounts too. Your children must file their taxes in both California and New York and report any bank accounts they or their spouses may have." Continue reading →

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Nine Things You Need to Know to Survive the New Economy

"There is a way out. You have to hustle. It's hard. But there's nothing else. You have to choose between being a temp staffer (and I can see this from the front lines) or being an entrepreneur/artist. It's going to sound corny, but you have to stay physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually healthy. You have to work on coming up with ideas every day. You have to be around positive people who love you. You have to be grateful for the abundance you have and invite more into your life. This is not economics. This is the real world and how to survive in it. Not the fantasy land of cubicles and fluorescent lights." Continue reading →

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Nine Things You Need to Know to Survive the New Economy

"There is a way out. You have to hustle. It's hard. But there's nothing else. You have to choose between being a temp staffer (and I can see this from the front lines) or being an entrepreneur/artist. It's going to sound corny, but you have to stay physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually healthy. You have to work on coming up with ideas every day. You have to be around positive people who love you. You have to be grateful for the abundance you have and invite more into your life. This is not economics. This is the real world and how to survive in it. Not the fantasy land of cubicles and fluorescent lights." Continue reading →

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Lessons from Economic Crises in Argentina

"Just about every single thing that you could do to screw up a country, they have done. It is comical to see the extremes they have gone to. They are really completely out of control and the country is spinning off into la-la-land. Frankly, I love living right in the midst of all of it. There is a lesson to be learned from all of this, and I think it is a very important one. When it comes right down to it, any government – not just the Argentine government, but the US government as well – will simply do whatever it thinks it needs to do to keep the status quo intact, with no moral or ethical considerations." Continue reading →

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The Case for Abolishing the Department of Homeland Security

"On Friday, Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano resigned to take up a post running California’s university system. With her departure, there are now 15 vacant positions at the top of the department. That suggests it would be a particularly humane moment to shut the whole thing down. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security was a panicked reaction to the Sept. 11 attacks. It owes its continued existence to a vastly exaggerated assessment of the threat of terrorism. The department is also responsible for some of the least cost-effective spending in the U.S. government. It’s time to admit that creating it was a mistake." Continue reading →

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Obama Agrees with Hitler on Schooling Children

"In a legal case that seems headed to the US Supreme Court, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has sided with Hitler against parental rights. Romeike v. Holder involves a German family which is seeking asylum in America because Germany has threatened to remove the Romeike's younger children if they continue to homeschool. In 1938, Adolf Hitler ordered all German children to be educated either in state schools or in government-approved private schools that strictly followed the Nazi blueprint. The Reichsschulpflichtgesetz (Compulsory Education Law), which specifically banned home schooling, remains in force in Germany today." Continue reading →

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