Author: michael o. allen
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A Brief Thought on 9/11
I had not left home yet to go to work that day when an in-law called to tell me to turn on the television. One heavily-fueled jet had already slammed into one tower. People were dying, desperate to be saved from whatever this was, wherever this attack came from. I was a reporter at the…
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To Salve the Hearts of a Wounded Land
Obama Arizona Memorial Speech: FULL TEXT Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Please, please be seated. (Applause.) To the families of those we’ve lost; to all who called them friends; to the students of this university, the public servants who are gathered here, the people of Tucson and the people of Arizona: I have…
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Olbermann's SPECIAL COMMENT
Finally as promised, a Special Comment tonight on the inaccurately described “Ground Zero mosque.” “They came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist.Then they came for the trade unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist.Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t…
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Simplicity
I have been interviewing scientists and other experts for the Natural Resources Defense Council‘s Visionary Speaker Series. The pieces run online for NRDC’s magazine OnEarth. Each interview has been an education. My most recent one is with sustainability expert Jim Merkel. The piece is online here. Love0 Share Tweet Share Pin
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"A Tiny Ripple of Hope"
I came across this speech (Facebook, then Daily Kos) and thought I should share: Mr. Chancellor, Mr. Vice Chancellor, Professor Robertson, Mr. Diamond, Mr. Daniel, and Ladies and Gentlemen I come here this evening because of my deep interest and affection for a land settled by the Dutch in the mid-seventeenth century, then taken over…
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Souter's Harvard Talk
Text of Justice David Souter’s Harvard Commencement remarks (as delivered) When I was younger, I used to hear Harvard stories from a member of the class of 1885. Back then, old graduates of the College who could get to Cambridge on Commencement Day didn’t wait for reunion years to come back to the Yard. They’d…
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MLB’s Hall of Shame
Alright, MLB umpire Jim Joyce stands today appropriately outfitted with goat horns for blowing what should have been the final call of a perfect game by Detroit Tigers Armando Galarraga on Wednesday. Galarraga missed his chance at baseball immortality by pitching the 21st perfect game in baseball history (two earlier this season). That is unless…