Right Wing Environmentalism – Storm King Edition

Richard Nixon once remarked that environmental concerns were a bipartisan issue because a poisoned river doesn’t care what party you’re in. The two main political parties in the United States, however, have assumed a position in practice very akin to bipartisanship. But instead of cooperating in the effort to conserve natural resources, they have leaned…

Skunkworks – Lockheed’s Legacy

Built around the genius of aeronautical engineer Clarence “Kelly” Johnson and his successors, Lockheed Aircraft Corporation created the “Skunk Works” division dedicated to secretive development of advanced aeronautical hardware. By the 1950s they had secured a contract with the CIA for the U-2 spy plane, followed by the SR-71 Blackbird in the 1960s. Serving the…

Kill Anything that Moves – My Lai and the Vietnam Death Squads

America’s involvement in Vietnam was a long and complicated ordeal that cost trillions of inflation-adjusted dollars and millions of lives. Why the media decided to fixate on the massacre at My Lai, where 400 or so people perished, raises questions as to the seriousness of America’s political process and the hypocrisy of how it views…

Colonies vs. Intentional Communities – Recapturing the American Dream

Alienation and disillusionment from society at large is nothing new. Many modern religious and other communities today were themselves born out of frustration historically with the way things were proceeding in the mainstream. What sets them apart, however, is that fact that they are still around – the track record for most intentional communities is…