A year and a half from now there will be another presidential election in the United States.  I am starting to think about the election because the line of wannabe candidates is queuing up even as I write this.

The incumbent president is completing the last of his two-term limit, and with a divided Congress squabbling between two major political ( Read more... )

Last month while traveling abroad, one of the interesting questions I encountered from Brazilians who wanted to know more about the American way of life came from my interpreter Grazielle as we rode a bus one afternoon between different communities within the City of Niteroi.  Grazielle said "I see all of the news reports on television and all of ( Read more... )

Last month in Brazil, I befriended  Rafael, who plays lead guitar for the Christian group called "Band Tenda". Rafael was a big encouragement because his grasp of spoken English was better than most of the native Brasilians in the City of Niteroi. During times when I spoke to his church's congregation I would use a Portuguese-speaking interpreter, ( Read more... )

As we enter this new hurricane season, I was reminded of a National Public Radio broadcast last September where NPR Senior News Analyst Daniel Schorr observed that President Bush had “staked out a non-position” on the debate between evolution and intelligent design.  President Bush said “both sides ought to be properly taught in the schools of ( Read more... )

This is a summons to vote on Tuesday, November 2, though you may be disillusioned by both presidential candidates. It is good to be dis-illusioned if the illusion is that Bush or Kerry are all they claim to be. The oversimplified positions, the cock-sure demeanor, the overweening self-assurance that these candidates display in their speeches is not ( Read more... )