In short, one might conclude that all knowledge, wisdom, and wit are confined to those who inhabit New York City, Washington DC, or Hollywood.
As I creep inexorably toward nearly 70 years of life experience - which was gained in many cities in the U.S. and in about 30 foreign countries, I decided to put down some ongoing thoughts in a series I call "The View From the Outback." That experience has included the U.S. Marines, law school, the ATF, the CIA, Fortune 500 executive, writer, public speaker, educator, editor, and publisher - for openers. For over 20 years, I have written articles off and on for various magazines and newspapers. I've had an enormous number of letters published in major national publications. The Outback is the rural area in Northeast Texas where I have lived for the past 11 years. Each Saturday (or so) I will attempt to post a new set of musings from the Outback.
Zacarias Moussaoui is the first person to be charged as an accomplice in the Sept. 11 attacks. He has asked to allow cameras to televise his conspiracy trial this fall. This will be a Federal trial. By law, cameras are not allowed in a Federal courtroom. It astounds me that there are so many on the bandwagon to televise the trial. Of course, Court TV has a vested interest. But many intelligent people on TV talk shows are advocating televising the trial. Moussaoui can get a fair trail without being on TV, just as hundreds of thousands of Americans have in the past. Is this the case that should change the law about Federal TV trials? I don't think so. Trails are enough of a platform for Academy-award performances by prosecution and defense counsel alike. There is no need to feed the "performance" by putting it on TV.
An AP headline:" Most major news organizations Friday were abiding by an order from Pentagon officials not to transmit images of masked and chained prisoners in Afghanistan shot the previous day." (emphasis mine). Oh my God! Marines are putting masks and chains on prisoners and then shooting them. Is this how Military Tribunals work? The use of "filmed" instead of "shot" would have helped here.
In my dotage, I find that I am increasingly irritated, even enraged, by some of the fringe groups who get so much media coverage, such as radical-environmentalists, animal-rights groups, civil- rights groups, and so on. This past week, the media chose to cover a letter from P.E.T.A. (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) to Bill Clinton in which they chastised him for letting Buddy the dog get killed in traffic. They said it was the second Clinton pet to meet such a fate. Yatta. Yatta. Yatta. These people need to get a real job and not have so much spare time.
Prisoners from Afghanistan were transported to the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. David Letterman says if that is not harsh enough punishment, they will be moved to Hawaii. An unnamed (in the account I read) human rights group complained that the hoods and shackles violated the prisoners rights. The prisoners are not officially prisoners of war and do not even come under the Geneva Convention rights, as if anyone really cares. They will sleep on foam- rubber mats. Somebody will say that is cruel. Hush up. Many people who came to the island of Kauai in Hawaii, where I lived for a while, slept in bushes near the beach - on foam pads. It is called camping out. I would love to go to Cuba and camp out on the beach. But, I am forbidden to do that by U.S. law. So stop - before it starts - complaining about the treatment of the prisoners in Cuba.
On C-SPAN the other day, there was a serious political forum. In the audience was at least one guy with a baseball caps on backwards. Of course, it used to be considered bad manners to wear a hat indoors. That era has long since passed. The idea of the bill on the cap is to shield your eyes and upper face from the sun - and your eyes from flying objects. In my increasing impatience with hip modern trends, I was suddenly visited by a fantasy. In that fantasy, the way to correct the "cap on backward" thing would be to do a head-snap like you see in martial-arts films, but twist the head of the wearer 180 degrees. There, that looks better.
"Saturday Night Live" did a re-run from around the time of the 6th game of the World Series. In that show, John Goodman did a takeoff on the considerably-overweight Wilford Brimley being used to pitch diabetic testing supplies and his earlier ads for Quaker Oats. The parody touched on the suspect assertions in the ads by Wilford Brimley that he "watches his diet and exercises." I had covered this subject in my July 7, 2001 Outback and wonder how the idea came to the writers at SNL - since it is a relatively minor and obscure part of TV-ad nonsense. It would be nice to know if my earlier piece showed up in an SNL Web search by their writers, or if it was just coincidence that we had the same idea and covered the same points. Maybe wishful thinking, but sufficiently coincidental that I got up from the chair and wrote this paragraph.
Several times I have commented that there is little hope for businesses in America. Employees are often so tuned out that they can't get anything right. I have packages shipped to Honey Grove, Texas. I usually say " Two words. Honey like bees, Grove like trees." But last week I got one with Honney Grove, and this week Encyclopedia Britannica.com sent me a DVD to Hunny Grove. I hope that guy did not write any of the articles in Britannica. The online "shopping cart" computers do a better job. They are obviously smarter than humans. Remember all the dire predictions about computers replacing humans? And none too soon.
Pat Sajak, of "Wheel of Fortune," has the best job of any man on earth. He has hugged more beautiful women than any man alive - with the exception of some notable NBA players.
Pat Buchanan, writer, TV personality, and sometimes presidential candidate, has written a book called "Death of the West." It is being called controversial. I don't know why. His premises seem sound. He states that according to UN population studies, by 2050 only 10% of the world's population will be or European descent. European-Americans are now a minority in California, and by 2004, will be a minority in Texas. Dallas is already more than 50% minorities. San Antonio is more than 50% minorities (largely Hispanics). Minorities are in the majority in many large U.S. cities, Atlanta among them, I think. A few years ago, I studied the ethnic makeup of every major American city from various census data. As I recall, the large city with the least minority presence was Boise, Idaho. While in Boise, I asked a native of the city about the racial makeup. He said that there were indeed few minority residents, but that the city had been invaded by people from California (mainly Caucasians). He thus advised against moving to Boise! There are all kinds of biases and prejudices.
Profiles, Stereotypes, and Common Sense
An Arab-American Secret Service agent was detained on an airline flight. There appear to have been legitimate questions about the documentation he filled out in order to carry a concealed weapon on the flight. President Bush responded to a question about the incident by saying that he would be very upset if the agent's ethnicity played a part in him being removed from a flight. This statement is a little reminiscent of Bill Clinton, the feel good, make-everybody-happy, say- what-they-want-to-hear, president. The agent is apparently suing the airline. How ridiculous our society has become. "Sue" has become the reaction to every act or word that displeases anyone in the slightest.
It would have been more helpful to the cause of antiterrorism if President Bush had said that there might have been some legitimate concerns about the agent's paperwork to carry a gun onboard, but that "we will look into it." And then drop it. It is impossible for me to believe that George Bush actually believes that paying special attention to Arab men at airports is any kind of discrimination or "racial profiling." It is a life and death necessity. I do not appreciate him making statements that appear to be solely to placate the civil-rights and anti-discrimination people - who are a tiny minority voicing opposition to using "profiles" at airports.
In an article in The Wall Street Journal entitled "Profiles in Courage" (Jan.10, 2002), the writers note a friend's experience with airport screening. For a flight from Washington's Reagan National Airport, Delta selected 15 people for complete search. The 15 consisted of three elderly men (one an Asian), six Caucasian women, including one with two children, and two Hispanic women. In the line of about 70 passengers were six young, Middle- Eastern men who were traveling alone. None of them were searched! Delta said that their searches are done "at random." This is the highest form of idiocy and incompetency.
It does not help that the Secretary of Transportation and the President are saying they are against any form of screening that considers ethnicity. They should listen to the overwhelming voice of the American people who want "terrorist profiles" used for screening. They should find a way to placate the Muslim and civil-rights groups by repeating the logic and necessity of this type of screening, instead of apologizing for the conduct. Being afraid to offend someone helped get us into this mess.
An offshoot of this is the carping about the investigation into 300,000 foreign nationals who have remained in this country illegally after they were ordered deported. The government has decided to first track down the 6,000 young men from the Middle East who have ignored the deportation orders. Now, the civil-rights and Arab-rights organizations are saying that this is discrimination - ethnic profiling. What in the hell has happened to this country? The complainers say that the Sept. 11 terrorists were all in this country legally. Wonderful. What does that have to do with 6,000 potential terrorists wandering around this country unaccounted for? Of course, we should look first for the 6,000 young men from the Middle-East. To do otherwise would be a dereliction of duty.
Eventually, we can get around to the rest of the 300,000 who have been ordered deported but are among the unaccounted for. The remainder are largely from Mexico. It has taken the horrible tragedy of Sept. 11 to bring to light some of the incredibly absurd facts about our immigration policies and lack of enforcement. There are 7-8 million illegal immigrants in the country. To repeat; there are 300,000 who have been identified and actually ordered deported. I will guarantee you that Switzerland or Australia or Japan does not have this kind of problem. We should not, either.
Sen. Tom Daschle for President - How Absurd
A little background. I have very good instincts about a candidate making a successful presidential bid. Years ago, I wrote Sen. Lloyd Bentsen and implored him not to run for President, as it would be a waste of his time and that of the voter. Right on. Similarly, I wrote Sen. Phil Gramm and suggested that he not waste his time running. Right again. Both are from Texas, you will note. So, I am an equal-opportunity critic.
For the election in 2004, the Democrats are floating the following names: Daschle, Gore, Gephardt, Edwards (he is a Senator in case you don't recognize the name), Lieberman, Kerry, and Al Sharpton. What a crew! All are intelligent men, but if that were all it took, Bill Gates might run. Senator Gephardt has no charisma. He comes across as mean-spirited, disingenuous, slick - and a little reptilian. Sen. Edwards is too young and has done little to distinguish himself. Rev. Al Sharpton gives religion and black leaders a bad name.* For him to run for President is an insult of monumental proportion to the public and black people. Sen. Kerry may be the pick of the litter at this time. Or, maybe Al Gore's beard would help put him over the top this time. I think the beard looks great. As someone once said to me when I came back from Jordan with a beard, "It adds distinction to an otherwise undistinguished face."
Sen. Joseph Lieberman is an honest and decent man, almost grandfatherly. And therein lies one big problem. Few will vote for an image of their rather benign Grandfather. As was pointed out, ad nauseum in the last campaign, Lieberman is Jewish. My sense is that Americans are finally focusing on our rabid support of Israel, which has at times gone far beyond what is rational and a political necessity. Not that our unyielding and massive support of Israel justifies massive attacks on our cities. But, it has been, and will continue to be, a stick in the eye of Arabs everywhere. There is always the sub-rosa rumbling that the "Jewish lobby" in the U.S. is driving the massive aid to, and support of, Israel. As one who has spent some time in the Middle East, and one who has watched closely the lobbying in this country for Israeli interests, I can see validity in that assertion. So, Joe Lieberman would be associated, rightly or wrongly, with our overwhelming support of Israel. Sen. Lieberman should probably stay in the Senate and try to continue his good work. I suggest to you now that he has not the slightest chance of becoming President in the next election, regardless of who the Republican candidate might be.
Now to Senator Daschle, from S. Dakota. He has a lot of people fooled, including some major TV media journalists. He comes across as a soft-spoken, reasonable man, who only acts in the best interests of the citizens of the United States. Behind that facade is a very mean, down-and- dirty, politician. His on-camera persona is carefully crafted, but it is one of the biggest lies ever foisted off on the American voter. This is a man who will do anything, anything, to pursue his partisan agenda - and more importantly - attempt to thwart the agenda of a very popular President of the opposite party. He cares not one whit about what is good for the American people. He cares only what is good for the Democratic party and Tom Daschle.
His words and his actions are completely out of sync. I guess that is a polite way of saying that he consistently lies.
Daschle has bottled up bills that have wide bi-partisan support. He and his minions, like Sen.
Leahy, have sandbagged the President's appointees to government posts and the bench, like has
not been seen in a long time. It used to be that the President usually got the nod on all his
appointees to administrative jobs. If you saw the hatchet job the Senate did on the nice lady on
the Consumer Products Safety Commission, it would have turned your stomach. She withdrew
her nomination, even though she had served well on the Commission for a number of years. And
on and on.
Even the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court has publicly chastised Daschle and the Senate
leadership for holding up Federal judical appointments - at a time when the bench is grossly
understaffed - and we need a full bench to cope with terrorism-related matters - among other
things.
I have watched Sen. Daschle closely. He is a cunning and vicious man who cloaks himself in
those dulcet, softly delivered, wide-eyed pronouncements of bipartisanship - all the while doing
everything in his power to undermine the Republicans in the House and Senate, the President,
and the President's legislative agenda. You Democrats who think he would be a good candidate
for the White House better think again. In the long, drawn-out campaign for President, his true
colors would show. Those colors are not pink and lavender, as he would have you believe. They
are black and blue.
There is now good news for Sen. Charles Schumer. He was the "most hated man in the
Congress" for me and many others. Now, Sen. Daschle, closely followed by the inane Sen.
Leahy, have eclipsed Schumer. Of course, Hillary is in a class by herself. She knows better than
to run for President. At least, I think so.
A bill has been introduced into the legislature in S. Dakota which would prevent a candidate from running concurrently for President and another office on the same ballot. If passed, Sen. Daschle could not run for his Senate seat and at the same time run for President. Pass it. Pass it. Pass it. There is no chance Daschle will become President, and at the same time he would lose his Senate seat. We would be rid of the little Weasel. From my new Britannica DVD: "Weasels possess an active, courageous, and bloodthirsty disposition. They are voracious predators..."
As I watch the diminutive Sen. Daschle, I cannot help but think of the words "Napoleon
Complex." Not that it is necessarily a pejorative term. It worked well for Nappy.
* Regarding Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, I liked the comments from Al Hunt in the WSJ for
Jan. 10, 2002 (I usually don't agree with him on anything). In "The Phony Protest ... and
Leaders," Mr. Hunt is talking about the phony protest against the president of Harvard for some
remarks he made to a professor of African Studies. Al says, in part, "But then Jesse Jackson
and Al Sharpton seem often irrelevant, relying chiefly on a press that feeds and strokes the faux
conflicts on which they thrive." Jesse Jackson demanded a meeting with the Harvard
president over the "insult" inflicted on Prof. Cornel West. But ... Jesse had neglected to speak to
Prof. West about the incident. It did not matter. Jesse wanted camera time and headlines. Never
mind that he did not even know how the "aggrieved" party felt about the matter.
As Rush Limbaugh would say, "for those of you in Yorba Linda, faux means 'false,
artificial, synthetic. ' "
America's Obesity Crisis
Statistics suggest that as high as 61% of the American public is either overweight or obese. This
is a national health crisis. I know the feeling, as I have been overweight and on a diet off and on
for most of my life.
Americans are eating out in greater numbers than anytime in history. There are the triple burgers
and the King-size fries and steaks big enough to choke a horse. After all of this, do we really
need Cheesecake? I did it not long ago. They bring that dessert cart and you have to have the will
of a monk to resist. And there seems to be a contest to see which place can serve the largest
portions.
One thing that could help is for you to realize the difference between thinking you are hungry
and actual hunger. Once while fasting in a medically-supervised facility, we all got a shock. We
did not get "hungry" until several days into the fast, and then the feeling of hunger went away.
People in third-world countries know what real hunger feels like. Most Americans do not. Even
those "below the poverty line" who say they are "going hungry" often have a hard time selling
that idea when they appear on camera - about 50-75 pounds overweight.
At the fasting place, we were not allowed to watch TV. For one reason - food commercials.
There is no doubt that the incessant food commercials on TV contribute greatly to our
national obesity.You may not run out to Burger King or Wendy's that night, or even the
next day, but the food clues send you to the fridge or the cupboard. For a while, I put a rope
across the kitchen archway in the evenings with a sign on it - "Closed." It was amazing now
many times I approached that sign in any given evening - like a robot - and not because I was
hungry. Keep a water bottle or thermos of water outside the kitchen. You might also keep an
apple in the living room and share it with your partner in the mid-evening. Then, there is no
excuse to venture in there after dinner.
Another insidious attack on good health and proper weight is vending machines in schools. Many parents are trying to get them banned. Good idea. If your child eats, for example, one candy bar or small bag of chips and one soft drink per day, the potential weight gain is 20 pounds in one year. How is that possible? Let's say your child attends school about 170 days a year. A small candy bar may be 280 calories and a non-diet drink around 150 calories. That is 430 calories per day x 170 days = 73,100 calories. A pound of fat is composed of 3500 calories. Divide 73,1000 by 3500 and you get 20.89 pounds. So, if your child already consumes enough calories to maintain his or her weight and adds to that a candy bar and drink per day, he or she will gain about 20 pounds in a school year. The junk food habit carries over to home life and vacation time. And you wondered why your kid is so fat when you make sure they "eat right" at home.
Are there vending machines in your office? Drink water and eat an apple. Return the machines. Does your generous boss provide free cookies or bagels and cream cheese? He or she is doing you no favor.
All of the experts tell us not to eat while watching TV. If you are engrossed in TV, you will
neither notice your food portions nor taste the nuances of the flavors. Have you every watched a
Frenchman eat in a restaurant in Paris? It is a sensual experience, as it should be. Good food
deserves your undivided attention. And since it takes about 20 minutes for you to get the
message that you are full, you lose track of time and just keep on shoveling it in until "Wheel" is
finished.
I have another revolutionary idea that everyone will say is ridiculous, but that is what they said
when we asked fast-food places to publish lists of "Nutritional Information." Those lists are now
on the Web site for every major fast-food chain. Fast food places ought to have computer
that would calculate the calories and grams of saturated fat in your meal and print it in 18-point
bold type on your receipt - ideally in red. It would remind you that of the 2000-2500
calories-a-day that you need to sustain yourself one meal at the fast-food place might be 1800 of
those calories. And that you probably are getting more than your suggested daily total of
saturated fat at one meal. In time, you might modify your eating habits. There are very few
people who need a triple cheeseburger to "survive" until dinner, except some NFL linemen.
Consider fasting for at least 24 hours. Nothing but water. It will not kill you. Most medical
authorities say that an unsupervised fast of about three days is probably safe. It normally takes
close to a month before your fat stores are gone and your body begins to call upon your organs
for energy. People who are trapped for 20 days don't die from hunger, they did from thirst. Three
days is about all we can manage without water.
I got introduced to fasting in the book "Fasting: The Ultimate Diet," by Allan Cott, M.D. - which
may no longer be in print. The book has an extensive bibliography and it is where I learned of
Dr. Shelton's Health School in San Antonio (where I visited for an extended stay). Dr. Shelton is
now dead and the school is no more - sadly. People from all over the world came there.
Even a one-day 24-hour fast will be a moral victory. You will prove to yourself that you do not
need food stuffed in your face all day long to have enough energy to perform your daily tasks.
And like I did last week (with a 72-hour fast), you may break the cycle of eating out of habit -
rather than necessity. To avoid suing me, please check with your doctor before you fast, although
religions all over the world fast for various periods without a second thought.
There are a lot of compulsive eaters. I am one. There are two basic ways to track food intake, by
portions, such as done with Weight Watchers, and counting calories. For over twenty years, I
have kept (with few exceptions) a daily log of calories and saturated fat. At the end of the month,
I print the summary. Some months I have looked at the chart and realized if I had eaten less
candy and dessert that month, I could have lost three pounds from that alone. And I can see that I
maybe did not eat enough whole grains, or beans, or whatever.
If you are grossly overweight, chances are that you too are a compulsive eater. Just as a drug
addict or an alcoholic has to "take it one day at a time," so do the obese. Every day is a battle.
Keeping track of your progress can go a long way in winning the battle. But ... it never ends.
Like an alcoholic, you will have to keep on top of this every day for the rest of your life. Face up
to it. Or, take out more life insurance while you are still reasonably healthy. Your young wife (or
husband) and kids will need the extra money when you check out early.
There are a thousand diets. The bottom line is: reduce your calories and get more exercise. You
can go to my web page and read my observations about dieting - from a 50-year struggle.
(Birdshot @ 150 Yds, Weight Loss - No Magic Bullet www.home.earthlink.net/~rickhgtx/wtloss.html.)
West-Coast Censorship
A while back, I got an e-mail from Nancy ..... on the "West Coast." She complimented me for
my insights. But she suggested that I should "edit out" the reference to tall buildings being
"phallic symbols" for cities and remarks like cows "farting." All week long I thought about the
implications of this e-mail.
The tall buildings as "phallic symbols" remark was first used by me in a half-page article in the
Sunday edition of a major newspaper in San Antonio, Texas. At that time, I considered it to be a
brilliant insight - which could be expressed in no other way. A lot of folks have agreed with me
over the years. Nancy should have lived in Laos, where they sent huge phallic symbols down the
river on boats during certain celebrations - as a celebration of sexuality.
My remarks about cows "farting" came from an article about radical environmentalists who were
claiming methane gas from cow flatulence was contributing greatly to global warming. I could
not think of a verb to describe bovine flatulence, so I said "fart."
Nancy suggested that she was so offended that she would move on when she came to one of
my columns that contained such offensive words. Please do! Please don't read any more of my
writings and tell your like-minded friends not to do so. I am sorry that you came across the
column and had to bear the indignity of my choice of words and symbols. Because if you look
hard enough, you will find the place where I called the ACLU "assholes." That will really offend
you. You may even be a member.
Nancy also sent me two attachments that totaled about 140K - in .html! What is the first rule of
e-mail? Never open an attachment from a stranger - especially one which is .html. So, to be
honest, after I read the first paragraph, and saw that there were two .html attachments, I hit the
Delete button.
I am not offended by the criticism. I say some pretty outrageous and cruel things. It's a cruel
world - and I have seen it at its worst. But, I simply sit here and shake my head about anyone
who would write and suggest that I "edit out" the words "phallic symbol." Amazing.
Suggested Reading From Past Columns
(Right-click on an underlined link and select: "Open in New Window" to leave this window in place)
Terrorism
"John Magaw is Transportation Security Director (TSA)" Saturday, Dec. 29, 2001
Global warming and environmental debate:
"Rush to Glacier National Park Before All the Glaciers are Gone" September 8, 2001
Politics:
"Buckley & Moynihan - Obfuscating the Obvious" Saturday, Dec. 29, 2001
The Media
" 'BIAS' by Bernard Goldberg" Sunday Dec. 16, 2001
Prescription drugs - advertised on TV - abuses in the pharmaceutical industry - supplements:
"Prescription Drug Plans," September 8, 2001
Health - General:
"Trans Fatty Acids - The Hidden Fat," August 4, 2001
Computers and Technology:
"Build Your Own Computer? Are You Crazy?" Saturday, Dec. 29, 2001
Interesting Books to Read:
" 'BIAS' by Bernard Goldberg" Sunday Dec. 16, 2001
A case history of horrendous abuse by Federal law enforcement:
"FBI Sniper At Ruby Ridge My Be Tried For Manslaughter," June 9, 2001.
Crime, guns, gun-control:
"Real Anxiety - Texas Jail Inmates Break Out Weekly" Saturday, Nov. 10, 2001
Late Night TV Cruel Humor, et al.:
(I quit watching late night in disgust, so there are no new articles on the subject.)
"David Letterman Grovels For The Colombians," May 19, 2001
Hollywood, Entertainers, Celebrities:
"Celebrities Rush to Move Overseas in Protest of Bush Victory," January 5, 2001
Telemarketing:
"Telemarketers, Caller-ID, et al.," August 4, 2001
Miscellaneous:
"TV 'Crawls' - Annoying and Distracting"Sunday, October 28, 2001
COPYRIGHT 2000 Richard C. Rhodes
You are welcome to quote sections from this page - or the whole page, as long as the source URL is included. Of course, I would be flattered if anyone linked to this page. It is very hard to be the writer, editor, fact checker, copy editor, and publisher of anything. So, I welcome corrections of fact, notes of misspelled words, and so on.
Archive of Back Issues
Richard C. Rhodes
"Are We Shredding the Constitution?" (Must Read!) Sunday, Dec. 16, 2001
"Enviro-Terrorists Operate With Near Impunity - But Not for Long?" Saturday, Nov. 10, 2001
"Hackers Are Terrorists, Too" Saturday, Nov. 10, 2001
"U.S. Government in a Frantic Scramble to Catch Up" Sunday, Nov. 4, 2001
"Americans Succumbing to a Climate of Fear" Sunday, October 28, 2001
"Secure ID Cards and Visas" Sunday, October 28, 2001
"Anti-Terrorism Bill Sniping Begins" Sunday, October 28, 2001
"Various reflections on the events of Sept. 11, 2001 Thursday, Sept 20. Must read Outback re Sept 11 Events
"The World Trade Center & Pentagon Attacks!" Update on Sept. 11 to Outback for September 8, 2001
"Chipping Away at the Global Warming and Environmental Alarmists," September 1, 2001
"John Stossel And ABC's 'Tampering With Nature,'" June 29, 2001
"The Kyoto Protocol & Global Warming - A Monumental Scam?" June 16, 2001
"Public Interest Groups With Sometimes Very Little Public Interest," May 12, 2001
"Environmentalism For Dummies - Part II," April 21, 2001
"Environmentalism For Dummies," April 7, 2001
"Environmental and Animal-Rights Terrorists," March 24, 2001
"My Friend Senator Jesse Helms," September 8, 2001
"Forget Liar & Adulterer - Cong. Gary Condit is Simply Stupid," September 1, 2001
"Government Waste and Fraud," August 18, 2001
"President Bush's Excellent Adventure," June 29, 2001
"The Bush Budget - Fighting Over 4% Growth Versus 8% Growth Is Nonsense," April 21, 2001
"The Chinese Demand for an Apology Regarding the Aircraft Accident is Preposterous," April 7, 2001
"Campaign Finance Reform - A Senatorial Catharsis - And National Snow Job," March 31, 2001
"Florida Secretary Of State Literally Begged Networks Not To Call Election Early," March 24, 2001
"Charlton Heston Speech at Harvard," March 10, 2001 (about free speech, PC, et al.)
"The Ever-Expanding First Amendment," January 26, 2001
"Bush Administration Needs To Review The Mission Of Federal Law Enforcement," January 26, 2001
"New York, What Were You Thinking?" November 13, 2000 (Re: Hillary Clinton)
"Lessons Learned In Election 2000?" November 13, 2000
"How the Federal Government Corrupts the Constitution to Intrude Into Your Life," October 30, 2000
"Let's All Make Fun of the Dumb Guy From Texas," December 15, 2000 (Pres. Bush)
"How the Media Should Cover a Covert War" Sunday, November 4, 2001
"Baycol Cholesterol Drug Withdrawn From the Market," August 18, 2001
"Prozac Gets New Life!" July 28,2001
"The New Cholesterol Guidelines - Everybody Gets A Pill," July 7, 2001
"Bitter Pills To Swallow," June 2, 2001
"The Drug Companies Continue Their Assault On Your Pocketbook," May 19, 2001
"FDA Questions Practice of TV Ads for Prescription Drugs," March 31, 2001
"Prescription for Disaster," September 11, 2000
"Your Body Clock," August 4, 2001
"My Medical Writing Credentials - Such As They Are," July 7, 2001
"The 'Eggs Are Bad For You' Alarmists Strike Again," May 12, 2001
"Herbal Remedies, Supplements, And Alternative Therapies," September 18, 2000
"The Microsoft Settlement" Sunday Dec. 16, 2001
"Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 and Platform for Privacy Preferences (P3P)" Saturday, Nov. 10, 2001
"LCD Flat Panel Displays & Dual Monitor Video Boards," August 18, 2001
"DishNetwork's Personal Video Recorder Dish Pro 501," July 28, 2001
"Internet Via Satellite," June 16, 2001
"The Internet in China," April 21, 2001
"Mark Cuban is the Posterboy for Dotcom Mania," April 21, 2001
"Your Body Clock," August 4, 2001
"Body of Secrets," by James Bamford, July 28, 2001 (About NSA)
"Eyewitness Testimony is Suspect," August 18, 2001
"The AMA Is Losing Its Way," June 29 2001
"Doctors Have Written the Wrong Prescription for Guns," April 14, 2001
"The FBI and the Hanssen Case," March 10, 2001
"FBI Director Freeh Stays On," January 26, 2001 (Some clues to recent FBI failures)
"Aircraft Cockpit Security," December 29, 2000
"Are Leno And Letterman Using The Same CD-ROM For Constructing Jokes?" May 12, 2001
"Late Night Comedians Struggle To Lampoon Bush," May 5, 2001
"Late-Night TV Sick Humor," August 28, 2000
"Late-Night TV Political Comedy," August 14, 2000
"The Mother of all Hollywood Activists," December 22, 2000 (Jane Fonda)
"Elton John, Political Pundit - Druggie - Drunk - Compulsive Spender," Dec. 15, 2000
"Rid Yourself of Telemarketers," October 23, 2000
"The Decline in the American Work Ethic," May 12, 2001
"Made in USA," January 5, 20001
"How Many Gigabytes in Your Brain?," December 15, 2000
Media List of Addresses and e-mails