When I was in the Navy, I was stationed in Scotland for two years. So Thursday night I stayed up late to watch the early returns on their vote for independence from the United Kingdom. What I found fascinating was the extraordinary high turnout - nationwide 84.6%. In contrast, the official turnout in the latest … Continue reading Get Out the Vote
Breach of Privacy
When Edward Snowden revealed that the U.S. National Security Agency was accessing metadata and message content from telecommunications companies concerning private individuals, Germany loudly complained about NSA spying through the use of such material. Now it appears that Germany’s protests were highly hypocritical – they have been doing the same thing. The magazine Der Spiegel … Continue reading Breach of Privacy
Disturbing Parallels
In 1938, under great pressure, Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg scheduled a vote to determine whether his nation should unite with Germany. He expected his people to vote for autonomy. But the Austrian Nazi party executed a coup d’etat and invited Hitler’s Wehrmacht troops to enter the country to enforce Anschluss (Union) with Germany. In a plebiscite … Continue reading Disturbing Parallels
You Must Be the Change
At Colorado State University is a sign with a quote from Mohandas "Mahatma" Gandhi: We all want to see changes in the world, and Gandhi is correct when he notes that such change stems from transformation within individuals. But he needs to take two steps backward. First, what changes do we really want to see? … Continue reading You Must Be the Change
