Thinking Again
One of literary history’s most insightful men, George Bernard Shaw, once said something I should take more seriously than I usually do: “Progress is impossible without change… Those who can’t change their minds can’t change anything.” I’ve always been a bit reluctant to change a position I’ve held a long time, like my lifelong opposition to the death penalty. (Click on the blog's bold title to read the whole.)
Harper’s Agenda is Harper’s Agenda
Comments. Considerations. Questions. By Kenneth Bagnell It’s now some 20 years since an honorable acquaintance of mine — who for a length of time was in a position to know — said this of a young businessman named Stephen Harper, then heading a group called The National Citizens Coalition: “If Stephen ever gets into politics and rises to power, absolutely no one will ever be able to change his mind on anything once he’s made it up. No one.” About a decade ago, I told my now distant friend that by the evidence of our Prime Minister’s stewardship, the observation he ventured to tell me was the most prescient...
Mohammed Wept – Little Wonder
The entire civilized world should be grateful for the cartoon that occupied the recent cover of a Paris tabloid called Charlie Hebdo. It was the creative response of Renald Luzier, a cartoonist member of the paper’s staff who survived the early January terrorist assault on the publication. (Click on the bold title to read the whole.)
Pope Francis and his tomorrow
It’s now over half a century since one of the world’s most admired Protestant ministers said something that is ever more wise and relevant: “What happens anywhere, matters everywhere.” The world is now witness to that truth. It came in utterances of Pope Francis, the provocative Jesuit, who on the eve of Christmas has shown great courage. (Click on the bold title to read the whole.)
Historic San Juan a lasting gem
"One's destination," said the 20th century's most controversial novelist, Henry Miller — who was also a great traveller — "is never a place, but a new way of seeing things." (To read the whole, click on the article's bold title.)