Christmas is almost here, and I’m already looking forward to turning the calendar page on 2017.  But it wasn’t all bad.  Science had a good year. Gene therapy made inroads in the fight against cancer.   Folks allergic to peanuts may soon have a treatment.  Even a man, paralyz

Without a doubt, the digital world is taking us where no man or woman has gone before.  The universe of the mind is rapidly melding with the natural one, creating infinite possibilities. Having reached the edge of the new frontier, we’re about to face unanticipated challenges, the

After 35 years on the bench, a federal appeals court judge is facing the sexual harassment charges of four women. Three staffers said he showed them pornographic photos in his office.  A fourth complained he suggested she workout naked.  (“The U. S. at a glance…” The Week, Dec

I pity the folks who will take care of me when I grow too old to help myself.  Like my mother, I don’t accept assistance easily.   Already, I’m having a tug of wills with the women who clean my apartment at the retirement center.  I can’t stop them from scrubbing my toilet,

Everyone is entitled to his or her opinion. Fair enough.  What surprises me is how many think that opinion supersedes  due process,  a person’s right to impartial justice.  In a recent commentary about Al Franken in The Washington Post, Anna Marie Cox, host of Crooked Media’s,

Tis the season when charities are making a final holiday push for money to fund their causes.  They know how to tug at the heartstrings, but some folks still appear to have money to burn. Recently, I read the auction houses,  Sotheby’s and Christie’s, are offering purses wit

While in public office, I opposed local government giveaways that enticed corporations to move to their communities.  The promise of jobs and payrolls taxes  seldom matched expectations. One company decided to build in Portland after receiving huge incentives. What the locals got in

While I’ve been away, no one in Washington has been sleeping.  Unlike my memoir, which makes slow progress, politics never  has writer’s block or worries about stopping to research facts. I’ll write some opinions about the world stage over the next few days.  Then I’ll retu

Japan, a country at the forefront of robotics, has come up with a solution for loneliness.  No doubt robot companions are in our foreseeable future, but the Japanese, like the rest of us, know it’s no substitute for genuine contact. That’s why a company in that country has come u