Karen Amato Schwartz passed away recently from a brain tumor.  She was a major contributor to this site as you can easily verify if you check out the other authors and their articles.  She was a good writer and if you are reading this let me suggest that going over any of her pieces should be well... read more

Two hundred or so years ago, when this country was young and the world was a more primitive place, this country had problems with what were called Barbary pirates operating off the North African coast sailing into the Mediterranean Sea, hijacking ships and holding them until they were paid to release... read more

John Updike croaked the other day leaving a poem bout a shrug not a hug grieving his over due demise ahem well golly gee woe is me but lives go  on  and on and none of them is going to be so impoilite as to agree. Still, he mistook his course rhyme is no crime but forced, of course like death    ... read more

Paris Hilton has been injected front, bathing suit and chaise lounge into the thick of the Presidential campaign by John Wayne McCain as a way to differentiate his approach from that of Barack Obama’s.  You know Paris is a silly sort of thing and so is Senator Obama.  All talk and no action. Rising... read more

Indiana Jones has gone from raiders of the lost ark through the temple of doom on to the last crusade.  Now he’s looking for the kingdom of the crystal skull and darn if he doesn’t find it.  Not that it is  the end of the line for him.  There’s always life after death in the movies so you’re... read more

Even in quiet, remote Brooklyn, the name Trump is associated with multiple dignified multi-story buildings. I live in south Brooklyn, a few blocks from the Atlantic Ocean, in a co-op named Warbasse.  Surrounding this five building complex are two much bigger clusters of high rises, one called Beach... read more

Iron Man has kicked off the 2008 summer blockbuster season with a loud clang on the box office door. The story is he packed the fans in their stadium seats like sardines in a tin can, a better story line than the film itself actually has. Basically, Iron Man is Superman in an iron suit. He is as strong... read more

Unlike James Dean, who was A Rebel Without A Cause, and John Dean, who became identified as a prominent Watergate figure, Howard Dean, still in charge of the Democratic Party and still angry enough to roll up his sleeves, is nonetheless trying to make nice and is asking for peace from the warring rival... read more

Attorneys are trained and educated people who earn a good living either giving advice and practicing law or, as often as not, some practical combination of the two. Simple as it sounds you need knowledge and experience, just like any other skilled profession such as accounting, medicine or even education,... read more

When reading recent news stories about the escapades of prominent politicians from New York, New Jersey and Washington, D.C., it would appear that morals appear to be irrelevant both to the officials in question and to the voters who elected them. Only after the media make whoopee does any one care,... read more