The Government Invented The Internet.

I Am A Huge Admirer Of Franklin Roosevelt's, And I Believe Social Security Has Done Untold Good In Alleviating The Once-widespread Issue Of Poverty Among The Elderly. Fdr Believed In The Greatness And Generosity Of Americans - But He Was Also A Cold-blooded Politician.

The Traditional Religious Right's Failure To Restore Public-school Prayer Or Pass An Antiabortion Constitutional Amendment Has Likely Helped Fuel The Spread Of The More Extreme Dominionist School.

While We Remain A Nation Decisively Shaped By Religious Faith, Our Politics And Our Culture Are, In The Main, Less Influenced By Movements And Arguments Of An Explicitly Christian Character Than They Were Even Five Years Ago. I Think This Is A Good Thing - Good For Our Political Culture.

Part Of What I Loved - And Love - About Being Around Older People Is The Tangible Sense Of History They Embody. I'm Interested In Military History, For Instance, Because Both My Grandfathers Fought In World War Ii. I'm Interested In Writing Because One Of Those Grandfathers Wrote Books.

One Wonders Whether The Obama Re-election Campaign May Be On The Right Track As It Seeks To Apply The You-break-it-you-own-it Rule To Bush And The American Economy. Hardly A Day Goes By Without President Obama Or His Surrogates Arguing That It Takes Longer Than Four Years To Recover From An Economic Crisis So Long In The Making.