In Search of Balance (From West Of)

Considering the ongoing economic debacle, Bernie Madoff’s $50 billion dollar Ponzi scheme, and now Stanford’s financial loss (swindle?) of at least eight billion dollars, I think it is safe to say there are some mechanisms that have become unbalanced lately.  The reason I am so concerned about balancing acts is that I often try to find them in my own life; I am, after all, a fiscally conservative yet a socially liberal person. more »

A Few Words on Words

I like words a lot.  It may not always be exact, but it is the best way we have to communicate with one another, and the only way in which we can form our thoughts.  But words, much like ourselves, are alive.  They grow, change and even die over time, and some, as we will see, divest themselves entirely from what they originally were.  I am going to start off with a diatribe. more »

The Woods are Dark and Deep (from West Of)

I, like a few million other people, am unemployed.  Unlike many of them, I have an advantage.  I am not talking about the fact that I have no dependents, and I am in good health, though both of these things are great advantages.  What I am talking about is the fact that I have a great deal of interests and things to keep me busy, that distract me from the fact that I don’t have a job.  Not only writing this column and for my website, but also research on a couple of different projects, keeping the mind busy is the best way to stave off any sort of ill effects of unemployment. more »

Who is Next in Line for Rescuing?

No, I am not going to talk about the porn industry’s cry for aid.  Instead, a segment of the economy that ads over $160 billion dollars to the GDP annually but that suffers every time there is a slow down of any sort-Art.  Museums, symphony orchestras, galleries and theaters are all suffering hard times because a great portion of their annual budget comes from grants and contributions from individuals, charities and foundations, which, at times like this, especially with the drastic decline in the stock market, are cutting back on the amount of money they dole out. more »

A New Medium (from West Of)

(The following article is my first column in West Of, West Ashley’s community Newspaper.  A weekly column, I will post them on the website after they have been published, sometimes in expanded form, where necessary.  All of the articles posted here from my column will be noted as such, but not all will have West Ashley exclusive content; rather, they will generally follow the broad themes I have set forth here on my website.)

Even though they’ve been advertising it on the back page of the paper for the last three weeks, this issue marks the first time ever that West Of will be available online (www.westof.net). And while many other newspapers are moving away from print altogether to a larger web presence, West Of is staying true to the print medium. Which is an age-old medium, but one I’m having to adjust to. You see, this issue also marks the first time that my column, “The Raabid Aardvark” is featured in the printed pages of West Of. I currently have a web page located at www.raabidaardvark.com and the crew at West Of, in their on-going effort to bring their readers new and engaging content, have asked me to start providing a column that addresses some of the issues I deem as important. This move presents a range of differences to which I will have to accustom myself. more »

Writing on Both Sides of the House

For many people, writing is falls in line behind public speaking which is just slightly ahead of death.  As for me, except for eating and reading, I would really rather do nothing else than writing.  When speaking of both sides of the house, I am talking about non-fiction and fiction.  While I do read a lot of the former, my favorite is the latter.  Similarly, if you are take a look around my website, you can see that all of my writing here is non-fiction.  But that is only what I do here.  My fiction is stored elsewhere.  Here is the difference between the two as I see it. more »

Terrorism and Journalism: When One Becomes the Other

“You’re either with us or against us.”  These were the words issued by Bush the Younger when it became apparent that the rest of the world wasn’t going to roll over with everything he wanted to do concerning the war on terror.  It seems that Sri Lanka has taken the next step in this mantra.  In an interview with the BBC, a spokesperson for the Sri Lankan government even quoted these words and then noted that anything seen as dissent from the government’s line was treason. more »

Spending vs. Tax Cuts-A Guaranteed Stimulant for a Headache!

Zero Republicans voted for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 in the House of Representatives.  No one is willing to lay odds on how many Republicans will vote for the Senate version, though a number of them are expected to.  This seems to be the standard method of operation for Congress, the House are more knee-jerk and volatile while the Senate is more deliberative.  The question is, who is right?  I haven’t had time to get all the way through the 300+ pages of the bill as put forth by the House yet, and I know it will be changed by the Senate, but what will help the economy more, spending or tax cuts? more »