It's been more than a month since President Obama addressed the nation in the State of the Union and declared this our "Sputnik Moment," referencing an energy revolution. Yet in the month since that speech, there has been little activity that I would call revolutionary and a fair amount of...

Seems the closet isn't just for homosexuals who fear societal and familial disapproval anymore. It's also for hypocrites who don't want to lose their soap boxes and megaphones. According to a February 28th NOLA.com article, Grant Storms was taken into custody in Metairie Louisiana this past Friday after...

On the home page of AOL News last week I encountered this opinion piece by Kevin Blackistone, "Time to Turn Off National Anthem Before Sports Events," in which he contends: "... if our lawmakers don't sing it every day to begin the country's business, spectators of a mere...

Shortly before the holidays, I signed up for a program I have been meaning to join for a while now. The program is called "Adopt a Solider," and it matches people here in the states with U.S. soldiers serving abroad. Adopters are not required to send anything more than what...

It's election season. That means that television and radio programs are interrupted far too often by politicians and their backers touting their own boldness, their ability "to stand up" for fill in the blank. Just as often someone on the other side will call their opponent a coward or imply...

In case you've been out of the country in some remote part of the planet where there are no televisions or radios or pundits (first of all, congratulations!), Waiting for Superman is the latest offering from Director Davis Gugenheim and Producer Lesley Chilcott, the team behind the Academy Award winning...

It is an interesting time to be an Instructor of Architectural History. For several years now, I have been teaching students about the movements of the past, which spawned debates often elevated to deadly crescendo by one architectural expression or another. Consider for example, the design for the ceiling of...

As a native southerner and former Louisiana resident now living in New England, I find myself defending my home territory to confused northerners a lot these days. The task is getting more and more difficult. As Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal's poll numbers continue to soar (74% approval amongst...

In a July 7th, 2010 interview with Tom Ashbrook for NPR's On Point, Paul Krugman made some, perhaps, radical-sounding prescriptions for the national economy. According to a piece by John Wihbey for the show's site, the Nobel Prize-winning economist believes that

"The U.S. government should consider up to...

In case there was any question of the amount to which oil and the oil industry are an entrenched part of Louisiana's culture, the 75th annual Shrimp and Petroleum Festival scheduled for September in Morgan City, Louisiana and sponsored by the Louisiana Department of Tourism should serve to...

As the BP Oil debacle sails into the Hall of Shame as the worst environmental crisis in American History, the call for alternative energy sources has grown to a deafening din. Much of the attention has focused on the Cape Wind Project. Already approved by the state, blessed by Interior...

When I stepped outside at nine this morning, my nose immediately picked up the scent of burning wood. As I looked out at a usually vibrant green pine tree stand down the road, I noticed that the tree tops looked hazy, as if out of focus. Since it is Memorial...

With the BP oil spill in constant news cycle, it is no surprise that solutions to the crisis are coming from far and wide. As conventional methods for halting the gusher continue to fail spectacularly, more non-traditional ideas are cropping up everywhere. Everything, including using hair, hay, garbage, and used...

Does our skin color need to match that of our heroes? This may be precisely the kind of thinking responsible for the difficulty African-American drivers find in getting major NASCAR sponsorship. Leonard T. Miller is a race-car driver, President of Miller Racing Group Inc., and author of the new book...

Here's hoping Hawaii's latest move to stop repetitive and baseless requests for information on the place of President Obama's birth will take some of the hot air out of this non-story story. "Birthers," as they are called, still contend that Obama was born outside the US and is therefore ineligible...

Nearly five years on from Katrina, Mike Brown is still doing a "heck of a job." Just ask him. According to a February 3rd story at KDVR.com, Brown or his producers have selected this sound bite from former President George W. Bush as an opening salute for his new show...

Pictures of the environmental devastation in the Gulf have begun to come in -- first as a trickle and now as a deluge -- showing oil coated birds and turtles trying to surface only to inhale lungs full of VOC's and toxic goop. So far Animal Rescue Groups and Science...

It is difficult to imagine a more wearying and heartbreaking scenario than the one playing out in my hometown and all along the northern Gulf Coast right now. Pensacola, Florida has endured temporary destructions at the hands of unruly hurricanes ever since she was settled. This, however, is the first...