Issues In Perspective

Paul addresses the problem of division amongst the people in the Church at Corinth.

Dr. Eckman continues his series on the Bible with 1 Corinthians 1:1-9.

One of my favorite writers is Andree Seu, who writes for the magazine World. In her most recent column, she writes of reading through a bird magazine she bought at a local PetSmart store. One article particularly in this magazine caused her to write of the author: ?. . . by the end of her remarks I felt just a little bit ashamed of being human??

The rather shocking outcome of the South Carolina primary is a metaphor for the state of the Republican Party. During the campaign in South Carolina and especially during the major debate right before the primary, the wealth and taxes of Mitt Romney seemed to be the primary issue.

Once again, the pernicious issue of gambling is raising its ugly head in the state of Nebraska, the state in which I live. It is important to refresh our collective memories on the nature of gambling and its indisputable effects on culture and society.

Jon Meacham, associated with Time magazine and an important American writer on religious issues, has written that Tim ?Tebow is perhaps the most significant Evangelical Christian in the country. Depending on your point of view, his rise is a thoroughly American story of honest conviction or of ostentatious piety, of faith and family or of aggressive sectarianism??

The mixing of political and religious ideas is central to understanding Judaism and the modern state of Israel. Thomas Friedman, in his book From Beirut to Jerusalem, argues that there are four distinct groups of Jews within modern Israel (and the world).

The US Postal Service (USPS) is in trouble.  It has urged Congress to allow it to cancel Saturday deliveries, with discussion about the possibility of moving to three-days-a-week delivery of the mail.  In the last fiscal year, it lost $5.1 billion, with total losses exceeding $14 billion?an amount larger than the budgets of 35 states of the US!!!  Article I, Section 8 of the US Constitution states that ?The Congress shall have the power to . . . establish post offices and post roads.?  As the existence of Fed Ex and UPS indicate, it is possible for Congress to permit the postal service to be privatized.  However, as columnist George Will argues, ?The belief is ?In government, whatever is should forever be.??  Changing anything in the postal service is almost impossible.  This is the political culture we now face in the United States.

How did the USPS get itself into such a situation?  There are at least three factors that explain the demise of the USPS:  (1)  The existence of email has had a profound effect on the USPS.  For example, today one can even send Christmas cards and other greeting cards via email.  There is also now the digital delivery of movies and the ability to send almost anything , anywhere via an electronic format.  (2)  The USPS is the nation?s second-largest civilian employer, with nearly 653,000 employees.  And, the USPS must shed about 1/3 of its workforce to remain viable.  The problem is that 80% of the USPS costs are labor costs (compared with 53% for UPS and 32% for Fed Ex).  Obviously, these labor costs make it very difficult for the USPS to be competitive.  (3)  Mail volume has declined about 20% over the last five years, and there is little doubt but that this decline will accelerate.

It would require an act of Congress, but does not wisdom dictate that the United States government should consider permitting a private company to take over the postal service?  Allow the free market to force the postal service to be competitive.  I know of no real proposal to seriously deal with all the challenges that the USPS faces.  But I do know that the USPS cannot continue doing the same thing and expect to survive.  The federal government cannot further subsidize the USPS because of its own debt burden.  So, is it not prudent for a private company, answerable to its stockholders, to take over the delivery of our mail?  Someone once defined insanity as continuing to do the same thing but expecting different results.  That seems to be the dilemma of the USPS.

See George Will in the Washington Post (28 November 2011).PRINT PDF

Basic to any understanding of physics is the concept of mass. Why do particles of nature have mass? This is obviously a fundamental question of physics but one that is inscrutably difficult to answer.

Over this past year, I have done several programs on the sociological phenomenon called emerging adulthood. One of the most significant aspects of this age-group is the absence of a commitment to institutions. One of those institutions is, of course, marriage.