Blog | billat80-plus

Remembering Dr. King

Dear all, It was late August in 1963. Excitement was in the air. My wife and I were living near Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where...

Bill at 80-plus

Jan 14, 20221 min read

The Gift of the Magi

O. Henry's "The Gift of the Magi" strikes me as a Christmas story for all faiths, be they religious or secular. As you likely recall,...

Bill at 80-plus

Dec 22, 20212 min read

Don't be a news freeloader

What is the most palpable difference between a dictatorship and a free society? Unlike any dictatorship, a free society has a free press....

Bill at 80-plus

Aug 15, 20211 min read

The best song for the Fourth of July?

Granted, there are lots of good ones -- from "God Bless America," to "America the Beautiful," to "My Country 'Tis of Thee," to "Yankee...

Bill at 80-plus

Jul 3, 20211 min read

A beautiful example of woman power

The content accessed (I hope) by the following cut-and-paste link reminds me of Helen Reddy years ago singing, "I am woman, hear me...

Bill at 80-plus

Feb 24, 20211 min read

Relief

As Etta James put it in song, "At Last!" If I could put my feelings in one word, it would be . . . relief. Though President Biden...

Bill at 80-plus

Jan 21, 20211 min read

Seth Meyers and President Biden

Dear all, Will America ever recover from Donald Trump as president? With a Seth Meyersian sense of humor (See link right below), we just...

Bill at 80-plus

Jan 20, 20211 min read

MLK Day, 2022

Dear all, It was late August in 1963. Excitement was in the air. My wife and I were living near Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where I...

Bill at 80-plus

Jan 18, 20211 min read

President-elect Biden

I say this as a lifelong Democrat: Mr. Biden's plan to spend $1.9 trillion on COVID relief makes sense only if it accompanied by a like...

Bill at 80-plus

Jan 15, 20211 min read

How low can our president go?

In pardoning murderers (in Iraq), defrauders, and other heinous criminals, Mr. Trump seems intent upon showing us. See...

Bill at 80-plus

Dec 25, 20201 min read

A Christmas song for all(?) faiths, both religious and (semi-?] secular?

And I also tried to make it gender inclusive -- maybe? Let there be peace on earth And let it begin with [us]. Let there be peace on...

Bill at 80-plus

Dec 22, 20201 min read

Be strong, Gov. Stitt: -- now please change your mind

The following is my op-ed that ran in the Tulsa World under a slightly different title in early December, 2020. So far, it has done no...

Bill at 80-plus

Dec 16, 20203 min read

Mind-boggling, soul-wrenching

Greetings all, If it works, this is a link to "The Last Children of Down Syndrome," from the December 2020 issue of The Atlantic. It is...

Bill at 80-plus

Nov 21, 20201 min read

The perfect pandemic song?

This my vote: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KCzORgC1NpM From a Distance Copyright (C) Julie Gold Sung by her friend, Nanci Griffith...

Bill at 80-plus

Nov 17, 20201 min read

Laws and people

Response to Jenni Sudduth's excellent comment: I am afraid that the paradox is unresolvable. Though we are more a government of laws...

Bill at 80-plus

Nov 17, 20201 min read

They brought it on themselves

The Katzenjammer Kids and the GOP Senate Majority "He brought it on himself, Miss Twiddle. He brought it on himself." Those are the...

Bill at 80-plus

Nov 14, 20203 min read

Binge drinking and rising liver disease in young folks

https://www.yalemedicine.org/stories/alcohol-liver/?utm_source=YaleToday&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=YT_Yale%20Today%20Alum%20no%20Pare...

Bill at 80-plus

Nov 10, 20202 min read

New World? -- That's today?

Saturday, November 7, 2020. Anyone looking for a celebration song? How about the late Roger Whittaker singing "New World in the...

Bill at 80-plus

Nov 7, 20201 min read

Further thoughts (all futile) on the (then upcoming) Judge Barrett confirmation process

Hoping for Four In the 1954 Army-McCarthy hearings, lawyer Joseph Welch asked then-Senator Joseph McCarthy, "Have you no sense of...

Bill at 80-plus

Oct 30, 20202 min read

Judge Barrett

Greetings all, The U.S. Senate is set to vote this Monday evening to, absent extraordinary citizen input to the contrary, confirm Judge...

Bill at 80-plus

Oct 25, 20203 min read