Category Archives: Short piece
On Equality
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 4th August 2020We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal… This self evident truth is obviously not self evident. Thomas Jefferson undoubtedly knew such to be the case. He meant that we all should be equal before the law and that the laws should be designed without bias or special benefit not thought…
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No Lives Matter
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 21st July 2020Unless Netflix and Amazon Prime has drowned out any exterior information, you are aware that much of life has been canceled. My thesis is that this activity which used to be confined the the Post Office (it was canceled decades ago) has not gone far enough. From my jaundiced vantage point it seems clear that…
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The NY Times is Still the Best
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 30th June 2020For those of you who are new to this site or just visit sporadically, we have a parrot, Groucho, who has been with us for 39 years. Several moons ago we got him a much larger cage. It’s so large, that in human terms it would be a three bedroom apartment. The cage resembles that…
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Yet Another Modest Proposal
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 19th June 2020The mayor of Duluth, MN has urged that the chief be dropped from all city titles as it marginalizes American Indians, who of course are not Indians, but Americans. She’d better be careful what she calls them. Obviously she has not gone far enough in erasing the margins. Nevertheless, she means well and should be…
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On Plans That Go Awry
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 3rd June 2020Malice as the cause of a malign event is often evoked when stupidity is the real culprit. Conspiracies rarely get to action as a screw up typically intervenes before the planning stage is finished. When a conspiracy actually succeeds it is almost always the result of multiple failures of systems or structures that should have…
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Livin’ the Dream – Governments, Polls, and Other Blunders
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 23rd May 2020The current state of societal and economic collapse is completely the governments fault. Yet what’s seen as the solution? More Government action. Since the viral epidemic was recognized, we warned here that locking down the economy would make things a lot worse, which sure enough it did. We’ve had worse viral outbreaks, some within living…
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The Sky is Falling – But Slowly
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 29th January 2020It’s tough to make predictions, especially about the future. Yogi Berra The great Yogi’s admonition not withstanding, people seem confident of their ability to foretell the future. The futurist du jour is a teenage girl who foretells the imminent end of the world. Perhaps she’s right. Nevertheless, despite thousands of years of doom’s just around…
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On Tolerance III
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 27th January 2020You have to be a grown-up to be able to hear opposing view while remaining calm and granting these views a dispassionate analysis. Such behavior is beyond the capacity of most people – certainly those with strongly held beliefs. There are many people with such beliefs who feel compelled to insert them into ordinary conversations…
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On Tolerance II
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 9th January 2020As threatened last year, here is the continuation of my exegesis on tolerance. Our country’s founding document refers to”unalienable rights.” While only three were stated, it clearly indicated that there were more. In the almost quarter of a millennium since Jefferson’s Declaration the number of rights claimed by many has undergone an exponential expansion. Note…
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A Christmas Message
Written by Neil Kurtzman | 24th December 2019You may think the title of this article presumptuous as I’m not a Christian. Nevertheless, most of the country still observes Christmas is some form. Jews have taken an obscure holiday, Hanukkah, and packaged it into Xmas Lite so they can partake of the holiday fun. Pagans had a holiday centered on the winter solstice….
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