On a day I do not have a car, I start the three hour trip to my hometown in the back of a Greyhound bus. I am seated in the very back, next to a thin, kindly-looking, elderly African-American man.

Shortly after the bus sets off, I decide to use the bathroom. But the… Read full post »

SAVE MONEY !  (by buying everything from countries that practice slave labor with no environmental regulation; destroying generations of labor and environmental progress in the U.S.; punishing American companies for paying well and protecting the environment by flooding their market with… Read full post »

Where did all this negativity come from?

It seems that some of it started with the election of Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown. The media went hysterical over it. I guess it made a good story but they defined it as a disaster for the Democrats, and by doing that, helped damage… Read full post »

it's a conspiracy of silence:

our destination

traveled to by so many conveyances, and with such to-do,

but isn't it kind of important? isn't it the point? like the only point?

like the primal scream?

but, no,

a taboo subject

there has been too much ghast… Read full post »

I just learned that " Survivor"  is watched all over the world. I find that  embarrassing.

I know that it is just a game and all in fun. But I don't think that it is fun to watch.

Women and men are all thrown together for weeks, dirty and sweating, competing against… Read full post »

WE SHALL OVERCOME.

Most of us have heard this song many times sung by many people. I was singing along with Bruce Springsteen the other night, and I noticed that-- I immediately thought that I could do anything! Please concentrate on these words to understand why:

WE SHALL OVERCOME

WE  … Read full post »

I know that the ability to schmooze is really helpful to a person in many ways. And I can do it if I try. If I am among friends, or with people that I passionately connect with in some way it is great. And I can talk to someone all night on a one to one… Read full post »

This Open Salon site is nothing short of a MIRACLE.

A free, beautiful, sophisticated, open forum for any writer where work can be shared and stored.

OS  has changed my life, and I'm sure, the lives of many others.

I will never, ever forget the wonderful thing… Read full post »

Watergate was a Watershed for the American media. Two cub reporters discovered how President Nixon authorized a burglary at the Democratic National Headquarters. It was a make or break risk for their newspaper, the Washington Post, in an era when presidents were treated like Gods. The result of their… Read full post »

There is no way that we can stop every one of thousands of radical Islamists who are willing to blow themselves up to kill Americans. Our borders are not under our control anyway, and it would be easy for any terrorist to sneak in. And tragically, even a few Islamic people who&n… Read full post »

I have heard a lot of people say that  the institution of marriage is basically flawed -- that people will inevitably lose interest in each other or become unable to get along.

But I think that our miraculous love that has lasted 13 years proves otherwise. I know that&nbs… Read full post »

 Standing out near the garbage cans by the alley in my backyard, my buddy Sue suddenly whispers to me from behind the rose bush,  "Did you know that there isn't any Santa Claus?"

" Our parents put the toys out at night."

A horribly wounded surprise stops my breath.… Read full post »

We must give Obama time to fix this horrible mess that was decades in the making. People don't like major change unless it is  an emergency. It took a crisis like this for at least half of them to get off of the dime.

Today Obama proposed helping small business, which is… Read full post »

( AN ADDITION I MADE THIS MORNING TO MY POST OF LAST NIGHT)

The whole Afghanistan thing sickens me, and no good outcome seems possible. The loss of innocent life is inexcusable. But another terrorist attack at home in the U.S. is inevitable. There is no military way to stop terrorism.… Read full post »

No good solution exists. This is about the country's survival. The country is devided 50/50. He will not be reelected if he does not do the consensus thing, which is what he is doing. We live in the real world, not a happy, simple place. I think that he is the best… Read full post »

There are some things that you have to experience yourself to really understand. This is what support groups are about. You have no clue what it is like to be an alchoholic unless you are one. Divorce is no biggie until it is your marriage that is disinteg… Read full post »

Note: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between these characters and real people, living or dead, is pure coincidence.

Suddenly, he turns off onto a minor exit. These unexplained moves elicit fear in hitchhikers, because we just have to trust that the driver has good intentions, or tr… Read full post »

 Note: This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance between these characters and real people, living or dead, is pure coincidence.

 PART 1

 I look out over the Pacific Ocean, grey, panoramic and familiar now.  And I  decide to ask it my fate, as a 19- year- old g… Read full post »

TAKE TWO TAX BREAKS AND CALL YOUR DOCTOR IN THE MORNING.

(Description by  Mark Shields on the News Hour with Jim Lehrer) Read full post »

Lou Dobbs has been very unfairly smeared here. As someone who has followed him closely for a couple of years, I can tell you that the man is a  patriot and free thinker, and not at all prejudiced. Watch the show for several months yourself before you rely on fourth- hand information to… Read full post »

TOP FEDERAL INCOME TAX RATE IN 2009:    35%

TOP FEDERAL INCOME TAX RATE IN 1918:     77%

TOP FEDERAL INCOME TAX RATE IN 1945:     94% Read full post »

As I told you before, I was shocked to realize recently that I have developed a habit of analyzing some events from my past. If I detect something that is a major failing there, I  kind of freeze up, and feel deep, deep shame -- so much that it hurts… Read full post »

I was talking to a gas company employee yesterday. I could tell from the conversation that he was one of those incredible people who is always helping someone else.

Somehow his tour in Vietnam came up, and I said "Thank you for your service." I heard my neighbor say that recently and I… Read full post »

A true miracle took place today. OS member Pam helped get a kid out of a living, fatal hell.

Read about it here:

for some reason this link isn't copying well,if you have trouble go to Booknut OS page and read current post One Star Saved posted very early this morning just… Read full post »

 WHEN ON A WALK I OFTEN SEE

       "AN OLD LADY HOUSE”

MOSTLY PAINTED WHITE, WITH DARK GREEN TRIM

A LARGE, SCREENED-IN PORCH.

A ROW OF RED AND WHITE PETUNIAS

LINED UP IN FRONT OF THE HOUSE.

MODEST, NOT NEW,  A WORKING MAN

BUILT… Read full post »