In my youth, I could best be described as clumsy and uncoordinated.  Over the years I flirted with various sports and activities, but any demonstrable proficiency was elusive. Case in point: tryouts for the middle school track team.  The coaches determined individual prowess by using a three-pronged approach: height, vertical and the telling 50-yard dash. Well, I topped out at 5-foot-3 in the ninth grade and couldn’t manage to jump rope without tripping, so clearly I was not cut out for hurdles, pole vaulting or the long jump.  Moreover, I had an unfortunate run-in with a faulty furnace the …

A better title for this article might be “Tell Us Something We Didn’t Know.” On May 3, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil suit against Deutsche Bank, accusing it of fraud in obtaining government-backed guarantees for thousands of home loans. In 2007, Deutsche Bank bought a company called MortgageIT, and with it a portfolio that included more than 39,000 home loans. Those loans were guaranteed by the Federal Housing Administration, meaning that if the borrower (the homeowner) defaulted, the FHA would cover the loss for the lender (Deutsche Bank). By 2009, the default rate on the …

In the last few weeks, I had the unfortunate experience of a kitchen accident. I wish I could say that the big butcher knife leaped – without provocation – off my counter and straight into my foot.  The truth is far from supernatural. I was clumsy and did not properly set it on the counter, so it wobbled, fell off the counter, and plunged straight into my unsuspecting foot. It was a split second, but seemed like slow motion. Once I stopped the bleeding, washed the wound, taped it up, and calmed my disturbed dog, I looked at the crime scene that my kitchen had become.  I began to think about …

“With school turning out more runners, jumpers, racers, tinkerers, grabbers, snatchers, fliers, and swimmers instead of examiners, critics, knowers, and imaginative creators, the word intellectual, of course, became the swear word it deserved to be. You always dread the unfamiliar.” Iconic words from a story written sixty years ago. "Farenheit 451" was published in the post-World War II era and revolved around the sometimes ubiquitous “not-too-distant” future. It criticized the the loathsome antiseptic apathy that the book’s protagonist encountered with each new turn.  State-sponsored …

There have been lawsuits, websites, blogs, news feeds, and countless tabloid articles all devoted to whether President Barak Obama is a “real” American.  The baseless questions surrounding Obama’s citizenship have fueled conspiracy theories and dovetailed into cries that he practiced Islam. Apparently, Obama’s substantive qualifications matter not. Constitutional qualifications – natural citizenship among them – make for better TV.  After all, the man is from that suspect state out in the middle of the Pacific.  So the debate that shadowed Obama through the 2008 campaign continues on and …