Enlightenment
Trump Has the Reich Stuff
Wednesday, May 22nd, 2024The Trump campaign propelled discussions of NAZIs into the news again. It released a video with a fake newspaper reporting a fictional Trump landslide and the future “creation of a unified Reich.” Overtly mimicking NAZI language is essential to Donald Trump’s appeal. Many Americans don’t want to face this reality. What then is a NAZI? […]
Liberty and Justice for All
Thursday, April 27th, 2023The Pledge of Allegiance ends with six memorable words: “With Liberty and Justice for All.” As we say these words, we are setting a standard for our own behavior. We will fight for liberty and justice for all. These are very powerful words also embody my Christian faith. On numerous occasions, priests and Pharisees tried […]
The Best Hope for Peace
Thursday, August 19th, 2021I was born in Heidelberg, Germany, in a United States military hospital. My dad proudly served in the US Army for 27 years. He was there to defend against a Soviet invasion. The US Army first arrived in Europe during World War Two (1939-1945). It was part of an Allied Coalition that defeated the NAZIs. […]
Expert Advice
Thursday, May 27th, 2021My dad, Yves “Buster” Melancon served for twenty seven years in the United States Army. He earned the rank of Chief Warrant Officer 3. He started his career as a mechanic and ended as an Automotive Superintendent. Some of my best memories are helping him work on cars. In the 1970s he didn’t have a […]
Bacon, Sir Francis, Not Fried.
Thursday, July 9th, 2020Francis Bacon is in many ways the father of the Modern World. In 1620 he explained why astronomers were making revolutionary breakthroughs studying the planets. He called his work Novum Organum, or New Methodology. The world knows his contribution as the Scientific Method. The journey to Bacon took nearly eighty years. The century before Nicolaus […]
Keep Calm and Tell the Truth.
Saturday, March 7th, 2020Lies, not the truth, cause mass panic and paranoia. If the Chinese Communists had been open to the truth, the world would be a better place. At first, it tried to punish the dissenters. Only reluctantly did it decide to face reality. Dissent created the Modern World. Martin Luther, Copernicus, Voltaire, Wollstonecraft, Darwin, Plessy, Carson, […]
A New Hope
Wednesday, November 22nd, 2017For myself and many others, the election of Donald marked a new low. Local events bring a New Hope. Several years ago, a colleague and friend of mine was denied tenure by a previous Southeastern Administration. Her English Department faculty supported her application. Something happened beyond the reach and observation of the faculty, including myself. […]
Not My President?
Wednesday, May 24th, 2017No, I do not use that phrase.  I do understand why some might. Donald has done nothing to reach out beyond his own supporters. Instead he does the opposite, going out of his way to sow the seeds of discord throughout our society. His lying words about Mexicans and Muslims make my stomach turn. His […]
I will fear no evil
Friday, July 15th, 2016If Newt isn’t a racist, why is his first response always racist? Is he just pretending to be a racist to win power and glory? “We should frankly test every person here who is of a Muslim background, and if they believe in Sharia, they should be deported. Sharia is incompatible with Western civilization.†I […]
No means No: “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States”
Saturday, October 8th, 2011The “Values Voter’s Conference” has caused quite a stir. A Baptist preacher called Mormonism a cult, and then he said that it disqualified Mitt Romney for the Presidency. The preacher contradicted both the US Constitution and traditional American values. Our First Amendment rests on the belief that we humans are fallible. We are most fallible […]