tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76249176091317822252012-01-22T07:06:57.292-05:00"Counter" views on social, political, and cultural issues.Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.comBlogger2471100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-41941716301769162292012-01-22T07:06:00.000-05:002012-01-22T07:06:57.303-05:00

previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star (1/22/2012) Right-to-work (RTW) is another of Gov. Daniels’ crises of the season. From daylight-savings time to leasing the Indiana Toll Road, to privatizing (and substituting computers for people) welfare offices, overseeing significant rollbacks in governmental services (BMV), property tax caps, and school reforms, Gov. Daniels isn’t afraid

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-19571686760589235662011-12-11T08:05:00.001-05:002011-12-11T14:35:04.870-05:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 12/11/2011 Remember C.S. Lewis’ “The Screwtape Letters”? It is a satire involving Screwtape, a senior demon from Hell, instructing his nephew, Wormwood, in how to secure the damnation of a man, known at “The Patient.” I had not thought of this book for a long time until I read about Frank Luntz’ plenary speech at the Republican Governors

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-77956389832122415882011-11-13T07:39:00.000-05:002011-11-13T07:39:39.500-05:00

previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 13 November 2011 TERRE HAUTE — Has another “generation gap” emerged between those under 30 and those older, similar to the one between the ’60s radicals (“don’t trust anyone over 30”) and the older generations? Is it reflected in the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street movements? Data from the Pew Research Center suggests so to me. It is a

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-18229169055938955712011-10-09T07:46:00.000-04:002011-10-09T07:46:56.103-04:00

(previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 10/9/11 TERRE HAUTE — How will we solve the debt problem? As solutions become framed in simple ways, which seems about the only kind of solutions possible in an age of sound bytes, Twitter, and low-information voters, it comes down to cutting spending or increasing taxes. Generally public opinion seems to support cutting spending and

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-4423429200192097962011-09-12T19:52:00.000-04:002011-09-12T19:52:14.601-04:00

What impact has 9/11 had on the current generation of college students, who were in elementary and middle school 10 years ago? On 9/16/2001 and then two weeks later, another Indiana newspaper published two essays I wrote about 9/11. The first one was somber but hopeful. The press (and I) jumped to name the generation who would be defined by 9/11. The headline for that essay was “In the

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-88357799709192520292011-08-14T07:41:00.000-04:002011-08-14T07:41:12.757-04:00

previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 14 August 2011 I spent most of July in Thailand as part of a unique study abroad program. Several ISU faculty and students joined faculty and students from two Chinese universities on a study abroad program focused on sustainable development, experiential learning, and community engagement. Our program moved across Thailand using four

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-74512822216136619882011-07-10T10:15:00.000-04:002011-07-10T10:15:04.548-04:00

Previously published in the terre Haute Tribune Star Does the federal government need to be run like a business or by businessmen? According to a CBS News Poll (May 20-23, 2011) 75 percent of respondents said “large corporations” have too much influence on American life and politics today. “Business” is the most common occupation of members of Congress followed by lawyer (corporate lawyers?).

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-49431195235695825582011-06-05T18:22:00.000-04:002011-06-05T18:22:56.149-04:00

Previously published on June 5, 2011 in the Terre Haute Tribune Star I’m confused. I thought Republicans were all about low taxes. Why then is it a problem that only half of income tax filers are paying any income taxes? Isn’t this a good thing for a party that preaches a gospel of low taxes? Eric Cantor, House Majority Leader, is, as politicians do, willing to “sin” if it can be called

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-71843123077518676052011-05-29T21:03:00.000-04:002011-05-29T21:03:40.973-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, 5/29/11 TERRE HAUTE — Last month I traveled to Vietnam and Korea on ISU business. We were fortunate that our travel schedule permitted time to explore the environs around our hotels, a chance to experience Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon), and Seoul, on foot. Walking in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City is not like walking in New York,

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-68527040469278823832011-04-25T06:29:00.000-04:002011-04-25T06:29:34.483-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 4/24/2011 TERRE HAUTE — Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn that permitting individuals to divert $500 of their income taxes ($1,000 for a couple) to a Christian State Tuition Organization was legal. You read that correctly, tax money going to a Christian State Tuition

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-63252123419023390072011-04-11T22:24:00.002-04:002011-04-11T22:24:55.825-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 7/8/2006 The debate over same-sex marriage is again burning brightly but I suspect with little duration. Just one of a range of issues designed mostly as fodder for the mid-term elections this fall, none of which are pressing issues, especially in war time when our elected officials should be focused on that, nevertheless are put front and

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-79948538052625298192011-04-11T22:19:00.000-04:002011-04-11T22:19:12.159-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 2/19/2006 The violent responses of Muslims around the world to the publication of cartoon Muhammads by a Danish newspaper appear to bring into high relief the different worldviews of the Islamic East and the Christian West. Consider the following religious text: “Thou shall not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-79385932545002713982011-04-11T22:13:00.002-04:002011-04-11T22:13:54.669-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 7/28/2007 TERRE HAUTE — Seven. Seven rhymes with heaven. Many consider seven a lucky number. Seven is the average number of females U.S. males between the ages of 20 and 59 have had sex with, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Seven and four, the average number of males U.S. females between the ages of 20 and 59 have had sex

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-982157130577214812011-04-11T22:09:00.002-04:002011-04-11T22:09:36.004-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, 8/11/2007 TERRE HAUTE — Have the poles of the U.S. political spectrum reversed? I wonder because of recent statements from conservatives/Republicans criticizing regressive taxes. This is not an essay on tax policy. It is about conservatives/Republicans making arguments based on what is perhaps the core value of the Democratic Party: fairness

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-7757032437236041682011-04-11T22:05:00.000-04:002011-04-11T22:05:03.679-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 9/29/2007 TERRE HAUTE — With approval of the President and Congress at nearly historic lows, no doubt some wonder about our democracy. Indeed, desultory conclusions that democracy stinks but is better than any other system is hardly something likely to sustain our democratic way of life. And when you have political parties actually launching

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-13509225031069406542011-04-11T22:01:00.000-04:002011-04-11T22:01:10.292-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, 6/15/2007 What do you get when you combine the following: a government funded study on the effectiveness of U.S. abstinence programs in stopping teenagers from having sex, a World Bank report on the importance of sex education in combating worldwide poverty, a Rand Corp. report dispelling common myths and criticisms about international family

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-41763437863516331072011-04-11T21:52:00.000-04:002011-04-11T21:52:11.786-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, 3/16/2006 Open Letter to Doug Elgin, Commissioner Missouri Valley Conference: Congratulations on having four teams selected to the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Championship. Several years ago you set out to make the conference more competitive by encouraging Valley teams to play harder non-conference schedules and that strategy has paid

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-66216830605630314252011-04-11T21:48:00.001-04:002011-04-11T21:48:45.785-04:00

Previously published in Terre Haute Tribune-Star, 1/16/2006 Few things raise more of a ruckus than a disruption in television. Recently the Valley has struggled because one local cable company couldn’t negotiate the rights to carry an ABC affiliate resulting in missed football playoff games. A local station manager decided to exercise his discretion to not show a bad television series, “The Book

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-15042945243337626772011-04-11T21:40:00.002-04:002011-04-11T21:40:36.010-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, 4/22/2007 Ever wonder about the nature of society? Sociologists do, which means I do. In 750 words I’ll try to summarize better than 100 years of scholarship and provide an example to boot! Defending the north end zone is the “consensus” model. Society forms around consensus on norms (expected behaviors) and values (standards to judge good

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-64117396231508667142011-04-11T21:37:00.000-04:002011-04-11T21:37:24.328-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, 9/15/2007 This is second in a series of five essays about simple things individuals can do to improve our social institutions. A social institution is a framework for solving societal problems. All societies must solve the same problems, but they do it differently. They must tie adult responsibility to children (marriage and family),

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-71783167153713016922011-04-11T21:34:00.000-04:002011-04-11T21:34:34.082-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, 9/1/2007 To combat that degradation, try some common sense methods as a path to improvement. By Thomas L. Steiger TERRE HAUTE — To be an American is to worry that our social institutions are breaking down. Read newspapers from 100 years ago and you’ll find worry about the family, concern about the economy, and politics is always in a

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-28985548439897668312011-04-11T21:30:00.000-04:002011-04-11T21:30:37.149-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 7/30/2006 Last year I bought a kayak. Call it my third mid-life crisis. Since May, I’ve paddled about 150 miles. Last week I paddled my hundredth mile on the Wabash River. Despite warnings from many, I haven’t grown an extra arm or lost my hair and my kayak hasn’t melted. Last week while paddling from Clinton to Tecumseh, I saw two bald

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-45635054162291014182011-04-11T21:25:00.000-04:002011-04-11T21:25:03.229-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 12/22/2007 TERRE HAUTE — Today the news is: U.S. military uncovers al-Qaida-in-Iraq torture chamber and mass graves. Reading the story prompted the usual emotional response: outrage at al-Qaida, sympathy for the victims and their families, and a sense of we are better than they. However, given the revelations about U.S. use of torture and

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-88357025047026101732011-04-11T21:19:00.000-04:002011-04-11T21:19:38.776-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 5/17/2007 TERRE HAUTE — Officially, today is the 93rd Mother’s Day. Unofficially, this is perhaps the 150th Mother’s Day in America. Based on my 15 minutes of Internet research, celebrations of mothers can be traced back to ancient Greece and Rome. Both sound to me like fertility rites. Ancient Christians began to celebrate the fourth Sunday

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-48813784173341395092011-04-11T21:14:00.000-04:002011-04-11T21:14:59.357-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, 2/26/2007 Barack Obama is running for president of the United States. His is a remarkable story. He is hard working, idealistic and intelligent. Many pundits say he represents a different kind of Democrat. Obama is also “lucky” in that Jack Ryan’s Republican candidacy for senator from Illinois fell apart because of his wife’s accusations

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-83381426940314460642011-04-11T21:11:00.002-04:002011-04-11T21:11:54.639-04:00

I found some more essays I wrote for the Trib-Star before I began posting them here. They follow.....Iwe'll they will actually be above...

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-4697348751136309392011-03-17T15:40:00.000-04:002011-03-17T15:40:48.919-04:00

(Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 17 March 2011) TERRE HAUTE — Charter schools are different. I’ve been reading the websites of the 30 charter schools listed on the Indiana Department of Education’s website. I’ve also been reading the websites of a selection of conventional public schools. I wanted to see if I could sense the charters’ freedom from bureaucratic and

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-52645632785189802992011-02-06T08:53:00.000-05:002011-02-06T08:53:40.605-05:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 2/6/11 Amy Chua’s “Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother,” has caused a “cat fight” among American mothers. I’ve not read the book, but given how anxious American mothers are about parenting styles and choices, I’m sure the publishers knew they had a gold mine, especially one that so harshly critiques American middle class working moms. I’m not

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-86913440176252459132011-01-17T07:01:00.000-05:002011-01-17T07:01:55.962-05:00

)Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 1/16/2011 Seems everyone wants to play the sociologist following the attempted murder of Congresswoman Gabby Giffords. Even before the most basic facts were known, is she alive or dead, journalists, pundits, ministers, and the internet echo chamber began to weigh in on why this happened and what it means. As a (real) sociologist, I

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-51074598298101915132010-12-13T07:43:00.001-05:002010-12-13T07:45:23.051-05:00

(Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 12/12/10) A recent poll of Indiana parents revealed that 80 percent are satisfied with their local schools. To listen to Gov. Daniels or Education Sup. Bennett talk about Indiana public schools, those parents must be mistaken, duped, or school teachers. This is a problem for radical education reformers. While parents might believe there

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-29593805092261769062010-12-05T12:11:00.000-05:002010-12-05T12:11:57.490-05:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 12/5/10 TERRE HAUTE — “A teacher’s influence on student achievement scores is 20 times greater than any other variable — including class size and student poverty.” This is a quote taken from Gov. Mitch Daniels’ “Legislative Priorities” (www.in.gov/gov/files/112310slides.pdf). It didn’t read to me as something he or even one of his staffers

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-73123401556560707452010-11-29T16:46:00.000-05:002010-11-29T16:46:13.934-05:00

(Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 11/28/2010) The newspapers are full of coverage on education reform. In last Sunday’s New York Times, Thomas Friedman went so far as to say the Department of Education was the “epicenter of national security.” His op-ed paints a dour picture of the US education system. He endorses the Obama Administration efforts to transform the US

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-27650685972198276332010-11-21T12:27:00.001-05:002010-11-21T12:31:37.934-05:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 21 November 2010 TERRE HAUTE — Gov. Daniels gets what he wants. He wanted to change the time in Indiana; no one talks about repeal. He wanted to lease Indiana roads for badly needed cash and he did it. He has set more land aside for conservation than probably any Indiana governor and no one criticized him. When he came into office six years

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-29052053688496939652010-10-31T10:32:00.001-04:002010-10-31T10:35:06.778-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, Halloween 2010 TERRE HAUTE — All indications point to another power shift Tuesday, with Republicans, with intense and enthusiastic Tea Party support, gaining power in all sectors of government. Whether they gain control of Congress or the Indiana House of Representatives remains to be seen. The Tea Party stands for smaller government and

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-373332397755121632010-10-10T07:46:00.000-04:002010-10-10T07:46:06.716-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 10 October 2010 Are Jeopardy contestants more likely to be atheists? In the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life’s recent survey on U.S. Religious Knowledge (September 28, 2010 -- http://www.pewforum.org/U-S-Religious-Knowledge-Survey-Who-Knows-What-About-Religion.aspx) atheists score the highest. They score the highest on “religious”

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-27300637485245375082010-10-02T16:58:00.000-04:002010-10-02T16:58:38.708-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, April 15, 2006 Two letters to the Tribune-Star last week were about “Hoosier values.” Both were satirical. It is rare to see anyone outside the clergy and some social scientists discuss “values” in anything like a meaningful manner today because such discussions are almost an automatic hot button issue. It shouldn’t be, but since the late

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-76054385273681979562010-10-02T16:48:00.000-04:002010-10-02T16:48:13.960-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, May 27, 2006. Will smokers lose another battle in the “smoking wars?” We are witnessing a skirmish in Vigo County over the proposed indoor smoking ban. More, however, is going on than just a public health issue. This is just a tip of a much larger iceberg of ongoing conflict: the conflict between the working and lower social classes and the

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-9669308420006658572010-10-02T16:14:00.000-04:002010-10-02T16:14:52.313-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, January 27, 2007 Income inequality is growing in the United States. So what. Does income inequality, per se, translate into anything the larger society should be concerned about? Examining societies cross-culturally, there is a relationship between the degree of income inequality within the society and the stability of the society. Once

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-31678809784347700202010-10-02T16:09:00.000-04:002010-10-02T16:09:40.690-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, Oct 13, 2007 TERRE HAUTE — By many measures, the United States of America is the most religious of industrialized countries. At the same time, our culture appears, in many ways, to be quite the opposite, or at least not in keeping with a religious people. Recent scholarship suggests that while fewer people may be connected with a church,

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-91792456541771710692010-10-02T16:06:00.000-04:002010-10-02T16:06:58.864-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, Feb 5, 2006 I am still a relative newcomer to Terre Haute (we moved here in 1987). I was then and remain impressed with how the good people of Terre Haute persevere with the trains. My first and continuing response to the many trains criss-crossing our fair city has been “overpass,” “viaduct” or “Couldn’t there be a better place for these

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-5895473094453674682010-10-02T16:02:00.000-04:002010-10-02T16:02:59.168-04:00

I discovered that the Terre Haute Tribune Star, who publishes my essays, has a bigger archive than I realized. I began this blog in 2008, but I can find archived essays before that, so i am going to post them with the original pubication dates. Enjoy!

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-83262752445523963782010-09-19T07:53:00.003-04:002010-09-19T08:00:46.377-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star (19 September 2010) Pastor Terry Jones has become world (in)famous for planning to burn copies of the Qu’ran on September 11 as a memorial to the victims of the al Qaeda terrorist attack on the US. A Google search on “Pastor Terry Jones” returns 1.6+ million results. I checked to the 50th page of results and it was still all the same Pastor

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-76989600189401888642010-08-29T08:58:00.000-04:002010-08-29T08:58:57.265-04:00

TERRE HAUTE — Are elected officials just shills for the oil companies? Or are they waffling, poll-driven, self-interested, political opportunists? A bit of both? Anyone think maybe neither? The politics of global warming suggests neither. On June 9, 2010, Dr. Jon Krosnick, a professor of communication and political psychology at Stanford University, released findings from a National Science

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-22790056322801304582010-07-04T09:12:00.002-04:002010-07-04T09:12:26.928-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, Indendence Day, 2010 Is Gov. Daniels Indiana’s Teddy Roosevelt? Last month, Daniels announced a plan to purchase 43,000 acres of bottomland and wetlands forming a continuous corridor beginning about where Route 234 crosses Sugar Creek (Deer’s Mill) to the Wabash River (about five miles north of Montezuma) south to Fairbanks Landing in

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-20797909036651964552010-06-13T14:57:00.000-04:002010-06-13T14:57:29.955-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star (13 June 2010) TERRE HAUTE — Last month the Texas Board of Education rewrote the curriculum standards for K-12 Texas schools. They review these standards every 10 years. The review is not unusual, but the politicization of the standards themselves is just another nail in the coffin of public education in the United States. The politicization

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-11438211993285770892010-05-09T06:55:00.000-04:002010-05-09T06:55:46.805-04:00

Previoiusly published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 5/9/10 Last week I noticed each of my colleagues staring into their computer screens. It struck me how much time we spend doing that. Not everyone is doing the same thing, some are answering e-mails (20 years ago it might be answering telephone messages), some are reading (used to be print journals, books, and newspapers), and some are

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-53251312438307509472010-04-04T07:58:00.000-04:002010-04-04T07:58:59.858-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star (April 4, 2010) TERRE HAUTE — I grew up in a tourist town. Like all tourist towns, the locals had a love-hate relationship with the tourists. My parents didn’t care for the tourists (even though they had once been tourists themselves, Midwesterners, they honeymooned on a Florida beach and ended up staying forever). I, however, found tourists

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-585919527079653592010-03-21T09:06:00.000-04:002010-03-21T09:06:37.235-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 3/21/2010 “Sa wad dee kha!” This is the almost universal greeting one hears in Thailand. It is a very pleasant greeting and the Thai language does not seem to have as many hard sounds in it, like German and Japanese. The result is a pleasing and welcoming sound when added to a “wai,” hands held in prayer-like form with fingertips someplace

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-32291851937640082072010-02-14T07:37:00.001-05:002010-02-14T07:39:14.567-05:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, 2/14/2010 This semester I am taking a literature course. It is refreshing to be the student and not the professor. And unlike sitting in on a course in my discipline or a related one, a literature course is well outside my “expertise.” Indeed, I am not doing much better than average, although I might be learning more. The theme of the

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-59900415562561803162010-01-31T08:08:00.000-05:002010-01-31T08:08:40.827-05:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 1/31/10 When the headlines read “China jails three for religious activity,” Americans generally don’t buy the reasons that the three threaten “public peace and harmony.” When the headlines read “Indonesians deny establishment of Christian church” because non-Christians invoke a law requiring “community approval,” we recognize the infringement

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-85289994428849606802010-01-01T09:49:00.000-05:002010-01-01T09:49:35.425-05:00

The dismissal of charges against the Blackwater security personnel who were accused of murdering 17 Iraqis http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/02/us/02blackwater.html a good example of why it is important to have good people working in the US justice department. I wonder how many of those justicedepartment lawyers were hired for their ideological qualifications in the former Bush admin instead of for

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-67759996530646259792009-12-20T18:18:00.001-05:002009-12-20T18:19:55.402-05:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 12/20/09 TERRE HAUTE — “If you guys buy an artificial Christmas tree, I’m leaving.” Although I don’t recall writing it, I found that note in my hand writing in one of the numerous boxes of my parents’ precious pictures and papers. The handwriting and paper it was written on leads me to think I was 14 or 15 when I wrote it. Two things struck

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-60693358186301567342009-11-22T20:44:00.000-05:002009-11-22T20:44:40.833-05:00

Originally published in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, 11/22/09 A CBS News poll of adults taken in early October asked: “Which of these comes closest to your view? Abortion should be generally available to those who want it. Or, Abortion should be available, but under stricter limits than it is now. Or, Abortion should not be permitted.” Forty-one percent indicated generally available, 35

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-72810111592084964012009-10-25T11:46:00.001-04:002009-10-25T15:02:20.532-04:00

Previously published in theTerre Haute Tribune Star, 10/25/09 If the United States contained only 100 people, how many would be living in poverty? According to a September 2009 US Census publication, “Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2008, based on data collected in March 2009 (Current Population Survey), 13.2 individuals would be living in poverty. After

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-7561608547270046132009-09-13T07:47:00.002-04:002009-09-17T12:07:35.527-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 8/13/2009This summer I took a break from the blogosphere. Last week when I returned to my familiar trek through it, the shrill rhetoric from all points, right-left-center, was so off-putting that I felt like I had been dropped into a shriek fest. This is progress from reading two or three good daily newspapers?The rant of the moment was

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-68530625340293683692009-09-01T19:04:00.003-04:002009-09-01T19:08:59.310-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star (1 September 2009) “Are we going to have fun today?” A student asked me that question at the beginning of a class this summer. Summer classes are, contrary to popular belief, more intense than regular classes. Indeed, this particular class was a special class that involved class meetings for nearly six hours a day for two

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-82569430943122176422009-08-04T21:27:00.002-04:002009-08-04T21:38:54.286-04:00

The CARS program, more affectionately known as "Cash for Clunkers," is gaining more opposition as it shows more success. let's be real here, this is a stimulus plan for the American Car Companies, and certainly it is doing that. Ads around where I live show that with the rebate, one can get an economicaly car for a damn good price; one dealer is doubling the bonus...taking 9k off the price. I

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-73817508063087934492009-08-04T18:27:00.003-04:002009-08-04T18:31:54.999-04:00

In my newspaper essay I complained about poor journalism around the healthcare debate. Finally somebetyer journalism. This week's Time has a chartehst shows how major features of the proposals would effect people in different demographic groups; both ppsitives and negatives. The chart also outlines the major players in the debate like insurance companies, docs, and others this is much better

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-49826820642039664412009-08-03T06:28:00.002-04:002009-08-03T06:33:42.855-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, 8/2/09 What does health care reform, education reform, and campaign reform have in common? Other than repeated attempts to “fix” without much success, public opinion on these topics shows similar patterns. Significant majorities of people polled agree that the present system is broken, that reforms are needed, but those same

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-92135299900007454112009-07-31T12:44:00.003-04:002009-07-31T12:51:07.473-04:00

Why isn't the huge income tax deduction on mortgage interest socialism? Why isn't the gas for clunkers program socialism? Why isn't public schools socialism, why aren't energy tax credits socialism? Why isn't ant tax deduction or rebate or any thing like that socialism?Wouldn't ant market transfer that doesn't/generate (or have the possibility to generate) a profit be socialism?

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-2645234320023744032009-07-27T20:38:00.005-04:002009-07-27T20:49:05.460-04:00

I don't normally copy an entire article and past it here, but I found this fascinating. Now, I think as provocative as this is, the graphs it seem to me are not starkly different, and I wonder if there is not something else going on here. for instance, there a are multiple dimensions to morality, "disgust" being only one of them, and different people "load" on different dimensions in different

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-9383587801759338682009-07-27T20:09:00.002-04:002009-07-27T20:22:45.969-04:00

EGads. This has really turned into a big story out of stuff that happens too much in the US. President Obama should have stayed mum on it. He may think he is the philosopher king and this was a teachable moment, then he needs to do more than to remark on a case, where he couldn't have known the facts. His remark was inflammatory to be boot.I just finished reading the police report, which

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-24734252195629624762009-07-12T17:57:00.003-04:002009-07-12T18:09:49.657-04:00

So, VP Cheney had his own secret counterterrorism program that he ordered the CIA to keep from Congress...for 8 years. It must be uncontroversial because current CIA Director Panetta ordered it closed upon hearing of it. No controversy on the closing of it. The leading Republicans trying to defend that lawless administration. I predict Republicans soon will turn so hard against the Bush

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-26849785671411912412009-06-28T08:01:00.002-04:002009-06-28T08:08:48.557-04:00

The ongoing debate over what to do about health care, health care costs, plans, choice, all the ingredients in the ongoing mess that is health care can all be seen in a nice bit of reporting by one of our local reporters. This article examines a local hospital and its dispute with one of the largest insurance companies, Anthem. When I read the article, I get the distinct feeling that everyone is

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-59092368018488448522009-06-27T15:29:00.002-04:002009-06-27T15:39:33.356-04:00

My daughter is currently at a language institute in Fes, Morocco. This is a video of her house in the Old Medina.The house is 300 years old. Pretty cool, if I do say so myself.

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-14582537404568625192009-06-24T07:28:00.004-04:002009-06-24T07:43:51.660-04:00

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-59570352670639817672009-06-16T07:39:00.003-04:002009-06-16T07:44:32.163-04:00

Reforming our health care (non) system is needed. What reforms are needed, well, that is up for debate. To listen to the AMA it seems all that is needed is to end malpractice suits and pay docs exorbitant fees.Hmm, I wish someone would show what docs made before medicare and after. I bet things got lots better for them.Okay, there is lots of political propaganda out there and not much

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-80729126703936468032009-06-07T06:53:00.004-04:002009-06-07T07:00:42.873-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 6/7/09I am sick of reading statements like this: “There is no defense, no excuse that justifies the murder [last] Sunday of George Tiller, the Wichita, Kan., doctor who was one of the few physicians left in American who specialized in late-term abortions.” Yes there are excuses, far too many of them. All one has to do is read the many blogs,

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-57085783900515741382009-06-04T06:40:00.005-04:002009-06-04T06:48:05.060-04:00

President Obama is set to flip flip on his campaign promise not to tax health benefits. See article here. I preferred McCain's general approach to health care reform. I think we need to sever the dependency of people on their employer for health care. Everything points to a more tumultuous relationship with employers, meaning, we are going to have more and more of them. The long term

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-40452471101036171582009-05-27T19:59:00.002-04:002009-05-27T20:24:43.220-04:00

I was not and continue to not be an Obamamanic. I was, early on, a Hillary Clinton supporter but became increasingly disappointed in her campaign. I admit I did not think that the US was ready for a black president, but I also did not realize, early on, what a magnificent politician candidate Obama was. By the Indiana primary, after many long minutes in the ballot box, I voted for Obama

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-19903754618438378482009-05-17T08:04:00.003-04:002009-05-17T14:01:00.583-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, 5/17/2009It’s prom night. This is my fourth prom as a parent. No one will believe that it’s just a coincidence that the subject of this essay was not inspired by parental anxiety related to proms (and parents’ own recollection of that “special” night).Recently, a nationally syndicated columnist cited a statistic about teens’ belief that “

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-20002596872970221522009-05-16T15:31:00.003-04:002009-05-16T15:34:15.730-04:00

My friend, Andre and I, went paddling today on Sugar Creek. Wow, we knew the water would be high, in fact, I checked out Sugar Creek yesterday. But a heavy rain overnight sent the river into a torrent. I never saw white water in Indian before.13.39 miles (from the put in above Narrows to the West Union covered bridge) in 2.5 hours. That is about 5 miles per hour. What a ride. A couple times

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-18471544415312614792009-05-10T07:26:00.002-04:002009-05-10T07:38:04.908-04:00

Part 3, I can't believe it. I've hit the motherload, the vein of response. If there is one thing I'v learned from my time writing my irregular column, it is that people are generally unwilling to write a letter to the editor. Two more in today's Tribune-Star on my April 26 column. I reproduce them below:This first one doesn't address the April 26 column directly, but I'm not sure what else would

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-16743821376804850022009-05-08T09:09:00.003-04:002009-05-08T09:16:19.156-04:00

As I expected, I spent quite a bit of time responding to angry conservatives about my Trib-Star column of 4/26/09. I'm still not finished responding, but the last two weeks of class have to take precedence.Yesterday, this letter to the editor appeared in the Trib-Star:Most profs don’t teach any ideologyThis is in response to Thomas Steiger’s essay titled “Are College Professors Teaching Liberal

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-31722595310364536142009-04-29T05:31:00.002-04:002009-04-29T05:40:08.745-04:00

In order to avoid what would likely be a primary loss, Sen. Specter switches parties. I hope Toomey wins the general election. Or better yet, Sen. Specter loses the Democratic primary, though the craven deme will probably pressure any local deme who might haveconsidered running to bow out. The Senate deme are just as bad.I used to respect Specter. Though his tool like performance in the

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-67354312882378191012009-04-27T08:23:00.003-04:002009-04-27T08:32:50.974-04:00

So Porter Goss enters the fray. His NYT piece is chilling, chilling on two fronts. First, he is correct, the elected officials in congress who were aware of the "High Value Terrorist Program" and who didn't speak out at the time (what they were doing were cringing, looking for political cover, not surprising, but just one brave soul?) should be swept right along with the rest of this to some

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-33877814413466986002009-04-27T08:04:00.002-04:002009-04-27T08:19:02.600-04:00

As I wrote about a month ago, the futility of torture is the inevitable conclusion. And a month ago, I was thinking that as more information dribbles out that more Americans would show their moral indignation and begin demanding some accountability. Instead, very little outrage and even the defense of none other than Dick Cheney, the spouse of Lynn Cheney, who writes children's books, justifies

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-77899620323050608702009-04-26T06:53:00.002-04:002009-04-26T07:08:58.608-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 26 April 2009Several years ago I wrote an essay addressing liberal bias in the (mainstream) media. That essay reviewed a scholarly article by a sociologist who did a careful content analysis of leading newspapers. What I didn’t realize at the time was how many people take such statements as “the [mainstream]0 media is (liberally) biased” as an

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-40508059653101065452009-04-19T08:41:00.003-04:002009-04-19T09:08:20.404-04:00

Linda Chavez, a conservative columnist, but not one that is always towing the party line, who uses rational thought (sometimes) instead of ideology in her writing, makes a pitch for reasonable immigration reform based on family values. Column is here.This is her concluding paragraph:The fact that so many illegal immigrants are intertwined with Americancitizens or legal residents, either as

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-41915172843246280432009-04-12T12:35:00.004-04:002009-04-12T13:08:22.610-04:00

Last week I wrote a supportive note to Froma Harrop's column on how conservatives and right wingers are calling everything socialism or communism. Shortly after that, a local columnist, Arthur Foulkes, wrote a column with this lurid title: "Political, government takeover of economy a disaster for the United States" He has been writing a series of articles that have riled up some of the locals,

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-80022725784823688052009-04-05T10:11:00.005-04:002009-04-05T10:22:14.766-04:00

Has been a busy week and I've not been able to write anything. I did read in our morning paper, a column by Froma Harrop. She is billed as independent and a thinking columnist, and some ofher columns do fit that, but at times she swings wildly and blindly liberal...Anyhoo, since my column on intellectual dishonesty a couple of week ago, the column sparked some discussion, more on a letter by a

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-67395458346512568502009-03-29T20:21:00.003-04:002009-04-05T10:34:47.867-04:00

Washington Post has an article on the valuable information obtained from the torture of Abu Zubaydah, supposedly an al Qaeda high operative.Anyone who is willing to consider that the purpose of interrogation is not retribution or revenge, and it is valuable information, would recognize that torture doesn't work. It can even be counterproductive. So, the conclusion of this article should not be

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-74308833023045047822009-03-23T15:11:00.002-04:002009-03-23T15:26:10.709-04:00

A reader left a comment on my last post, "Mob Rule in Congress" supporting something being done with the bonus paid to top talent at AIG. While I agree that this problem exacerbates the social problem of increasing inequality, the idea that Congress should do something unconsitutitonal (in reponse to anger and not the issue my reader raises, growing inequality) I still disagree (strongly) with.

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-64736154283263382752009-03-22T20:11:00.002-04:002009-03-22T20:21:31.235-04:00

All the public outrage at AIG paying bonuses to its top people with public money lead Congress to pass an unconstitutional law to tax those bonuses at a 90% tax rate. While I can appreciate the political win this was for Dems, because the angry public will like what Congress did, but half of Republicans voted for a 90% tax bracket. Genius.Nevertheless, passing an obvious unconstitutional law,

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-20694476361565598572009-03-15T21:35:00.002-04:002009-03-15T21:42:52.013-04:00

This article in the NYT Review of Books is something for all of us to be ashamed of. The US public should demand an investigation and prosecutions of those responsible.Don't shrug your shoulders, read itAn excerpt:Two and a half months after Abu Zubaydah woke up strapped to a bed in the white room, the interrogation resumed "with more intensity than before": Two black wooden boxes

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-84813337359580627242009-03-15T06:47:00.004-04:002009-03-15T15:50:52.366-04:00

previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune-Star, 3/15/09“I hope he fails.” These four words, uttered by conservative political entertainer Rush Limbaugh during his radio broadcast on Jan. 16, 2009, referring to the imminent Obama presidency, and later reiterated at the Feb. 28, 2009, CPAC meetings aimed specifically at the stimulus package, has set off something of a firestorm.I think it is

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-74512809882125864672009-03-13T09:33:00.005-04:002009-03-13T10:01:43.489-04:00

Remember when the "China Syndrome" referred to the idea of a nuclear power plant "melting down?" That movie sparked our fears of Three Mile Islands occuring (and then we had Chernobyl). But I digress before I gress.....The new China Syndrome can be found here In short, China is worried about its investments in US debt. Read about how US banks are beginning to reject the money from the US govt

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-14612845834751515702009-03-08T09:01:00.002-04:002009-03-08T09:03:10.110-04:00

Previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star, 3/8/09I found an interesting joint press release from CBS News and The New York Times. Released February 1, it compares selected public opinion polls from 1979 and a poll they sponsored taken in January 2009. Scholars of public opinion know that trends are more revealing than a "snapshot" so being able to compare a recent snapshot with a very

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-82325069434120092632009-03-07T10:34:00.003-05:002009-03-07T11:29:07.169-05:00

A NY Times article discusses how the pattern of layoffs occurring around the country hint at a major restructuring of the economy.This seems very familiar to me. Some enterprising reporter needs to go back and read news articles from 1981, after Pres Reagan began his plan to fix the American economy. Things got a lot worse, homelessness emerged due to the federal budget cuts, unemployment

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-20932343367340632602009-03-03T12:56:00.003-05:002009-03-03T13:03:09.823-05:00

A sobering article appeared in many news outlets today wth a title similar to this: "Bush Administration Memos Claims Vast War Powers"Is this stuff going to just dribble out until we are so used to it that when the really outlandish stuff (beyond this?) comes out like: Bush Administration Memos Claim President Can Suspend Constitution, disband Congress, and make Military loyal to him"It will be

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-5536152439766311102009-02-22T09:48:00.002-05:002009-02-22T10:06:44.088-05:00

I saw "Slumdog Millionaire" last night. I wasn't as clued in to what the movie was all about as I thought, which is often a good think when you wait as long as my wife and I do to see movies ($5 Buck Club), because, expectations (high ones) can often kill a movie. Anyway...I was correct, this was a heavily Bollywood movie, the Bolly production number musical at the end in the train station was

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-38316264239756767282009-02-22T09:30:00.002-05:002009-02-22T09:36:48.828-05:00

No surprise here: Activists 'shocked' at Clinton stance on China rights And I whole heartedly agree with various human rights groups keeping the pressure on. But when China is buying our debt, when we desperately need them for a "loan" well think about it: when you need a loan are you going to preface the person you want for a loan by telling them they need to repent, or you object to their

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-58806316082108466432009-02-19T12:48:00.004-05:002009-02-20T11:24:28.263-05:00

I received the following cartoon from my father-in-law. He sends it because I suspect he agrees with the politcal take on the stimulus. I'm not so sure I agree with the sentiment(s) being expressed; nevertheless, it is still funny.

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-10582321834064006432009-02-19T10:48:00.002-05:002009-02-19T12:24:17.883-05:00

I found this posted at INSTAPUNDIT this morning:February 19, 2009FREE SPEECH IN THE AGE OF OBAMA: “An Oklahoma City police officer wrongly pulled over a man last week and confiscated an anti-President Barack Obama sign the man had on his vehicle.” Plus this: “”When I was on my way there, the Secret Service called me and said they weren’t going to ransack my house or anything … they just wanted to

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-68810171804427482422009-02-15T22:58:00.002-05:002009-02-15T23:00:14.087-05:00

This is very interesting. And, I'll have to think about the sociological implications and write a follow up.

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-14177619363692265102009-02-12T06:58:00.002-05:002009-02-12T07:00:33.927-05:00

A letter to the editor in today's local Terre Haute Tribune Star. I'm still enjoying it!Guantanamo — Isn’t that … Cuba?Concerning the conundrum of Guantanamo and its detainees: Why not donate the entire area back to Cuba from whom it was stolen in 1904? No one has demonstrated better than Cuba the ability to put people to work and process criminal emigration.— Thomas G. MorganMontezuma

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-32888514427268943112009-02-11T20:40:00.003-05:002009-02-11T20:56:13.880-05:00

As I have said before, as a sociologist I am often more interested in how people react to something than the something in general. For instance, President Obama's first days in office and his attempts to reach across the isle to Republicans, his first press conference, his first anything. Well, I think to myself, okay, he still looks presidential, he seems to be doing his best to keep doing

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-51437567421303234572009-02-05T16:47:00.002-05:002009-02-05T16:51:28.336-05:00

Here is the lead in a Washington Post story on the political straits of the "stimulus package:"Senate Democratic leaders conceded yesterday that they do not have thevotes to pass the stimulus bill as currently written and said that to gainbipartisan support, they will seek to cut provisions that would not provide animmediate boost to the economy.All I can say is GOOD!I am disappointed in

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-46648565824682336572009-02-01T09:11:00.003-05:002009-02-01T09:17:43.353-05:00

previously published in the Terre Haute Tribune Star 2/1/09TERRE HAUTE — “Don’t you like America?” A student asked me that question in a class last week. What prompted such a question? I was discussing science and stated that Americans generally do not understand what science is. Indeed, a few minutes prior to the student’s question I asked this class of 80 students, “what is science?” I got no

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7624917609131782225.post-64983784411772901822009-01-30T17:50:00.005-05:002009-01-30T17:59:02.272-05:00

CNN ran a piece today (no link cause I'm writing this on an iPod) that reports economists are warning that Pres. Obama can't both save the enviroment and the economy. Think about that. I hope Pres Obama does not fall into this either or trap. When will we begin to see that saving the environment is to save the economy.

Tom Steigerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09940243564837254629noreply@blogger.com0