Last week, Ken Burns' excellent PBS documentary "Prohibition," chronicled this country's futile attempts to control the flow of alcoholic beverages.It's worth noting that Southwestern Pennsylvania played a part in that chapter of American history.For instance, did you know that the term ...
Republicans just want to "shrink the size of the federal government." They'd like to "rein in" federal spending, and "get the federal government out of our lives."Fat chance. Because when they're not making public pronouncements about their aversion for "out of control" government spending, ...
Fifty-six years ago today, there was even more hope that the scourge of polio would be completely erased from the face of the earth.Dr. Jonas Salk announced he was about to embark on new tests that would, hopefully, provide a vaccine that would have been even more potent than the one he had ...
Fayette County has always been the scene of some pretty dramatic events -- and sometimes in the most unlikely places.Consider what happened 98 years ago this month in New Salem.It seems that a priest was preparing to perform high Mass at St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church when 150 members of the ...
Would you like to stand in the shortest line in the world? Then fall in behind all of those people who believe they're overpaid.The same, I guess, could be said about those people who feel they're undertaxed.Enter Warren Buffett. Apparently, he's a person who stands in both lines. According to ...
Last Monday night, Republicans held their sixth of a scheduled 17 presidential debates. I've watched all six. The battle lines are drawn. Everybody versus Rick Perry is the prevailing theme.But there's another, nastier, theme that's emerging. The English philosopher, Thomas Hobbes, once wrote, ...