Monthly Archives: February 2019

On What Progress Might Look Like

Posted on February 25, 2019 by Joel D. Hirst

I take my tiny dog out in the early African mornings, they are my favorite times on the continent. The little early-birds are chirping around, seated on the razor wire atop the walls which protect us from ‘the anarchy that … Continue reading →

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“Short Walks from Bogota” – A Book Review

Posted on February 24, 2019 by Joel D. Hirst

So first, the positives. “Short Walks from Bogota: Journeys in the New Colombia” is pretty well written, a relatively easy read. Parts of it were informative and certainly the author traveled around the country, if missing most of what he … Continue reading →

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The 2018/19 Maduro Diet

Posted on February 24, 2019 by Joel D. Hirst

It is said that Marie Antoinette, when she offhandedly suggested regarding the hunger of starving peasants “Let them eat cake” was not mocking the suffering of the poor but was so disconnected from reality that she assumed that it was … Continue reading →

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“Dreams of the Defeated”: A Play You Should Buy!!

Posted on February 21, 2019 by Joel D. Hirst

We don’t much consider speech in the United States. We hurl tiny word missiles at each other on twitter; troll the posts of strangers on Facebook leaving behind little bombs intended only to make them feel bad and us better … Continue reading →

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Rogue Male – A book Review

Posted on February 16, 2019 by Joel D. Hirst

You know you have read a good novel when you pick something out of a bin by chance or happenstance, something that would not normally catch your eye or capture your imagination but laziness or curiosity causes you stop, flip … Continue reading →

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The Power of Progress

Posted on February 15, 2019 by Joel D. Hirst

Words are funny things, slippery and somehow hard to pin down; little moving targets making thought difficult or missiles correctly aimed in order to destroy in far worse ways than the whips and chains of old. Language has always been … Continue reading →

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A Green New Deal? – Part IV

Posted on February 13, 2019 by Joel D. Hirst

Well this has been fun, distilling the “Green New Deal” into bite-size chunks (sorry for oversimplifying things, for which I will be routinely pilloried – as it is, this has been too long and I have risked becoming a bore). … Continue reading →

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A Green New Deal? – Part III

Posted on February 13, 2019 by Joel D. Hirst

As I think through our current environmental problem, I realize that I am not the most sanguine of interlocutors. I do not see our future brightly, perched as I am at the inverse of epicenter where the waves of destruction … Continue reading →

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A Green New Deal? – Part II

Posted on February 12, 2019 by Joel D. Hirst

Continuing on my musings about a “Green New Deal” (see Part I here), since it seems to be the flavor of the week for those who seek emergency powers over me and mine in order to steal my stuff, I … Continue reading →

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A Green New Deal? — Part I

Posted on February 9, 2019 by Joel D. Hirst

People are fond of talking about a “New Deal” whenever they seek a big-government solution to a problem. This is because most uninformed (and even some informed) believe that the “New Deal” legacy is an uncontested historical fact proving how … Continue reading →

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