The American spirit was born of a revolution. We are strongly individual. It is how our nation was born. Rugged individuals took their lives in their hands and at great risk, traveled westward to build a new country. And with them, they brought their rugged, common sense approach to the problems they faced. From the very beginning, it would seem, we hated government, not just big government, but any government. The colonists left England because they either didn’t want to be told what church they could attend, or they wanted opportunities that were only available to the wealthiest...

I like to think of myself as a scientific sort of guy. I find science fascinating, especially physics and astronomy. And I like to think I have a passing understanding in most of the sciences, and well I should have, since I have to teach science to a bunch of children year after year, (over 600 of them in the 25 years I’ve been teaching, I reckon). But I will confess one thing. I don’t begin to understand television. I understand electricity. Electrons moving make perfect sense to me. I have no problem with that. But then, when I think of taking a picture, moving or otherwise,...

One of the really less than enjoyable aspects of being a teacher is having to give grades. No, it’s not that it’s hard to pass judgment on someone’s ability to perform math or to write an essay (although that’s not the easiest thing to do), it’s the labor of it. You have to add up all the students’ grades and then average them in order to figure out what grade they deserve. That’s why I have a grade book program for my computer. I simply input the grades and the computer tells me what grade the student receives. I don’t know what I’d do without...

Natalie was, maybe, one of the cutest second grade girls I have ever seen. And you know, she was awfully smart, too. Once, when I was teaching a lesson of how schools used to be a hundred years earlier, and was explaining how the teacher used to use a switch on the children who misbehaved, she raised her hand and asked, “And they didn’t sue?” It was hard to explain that people just didn’t litigate as much back in the 19th century as they do now. It was also hard to explain that once it was considered perfectly okay to beat the crap out of your kids. For Christmas...

Relative to the blog I just wrote about taxes, I thought you might be interested in where your tax dollar goes. 42.2 cents out of every federal income tax dollar went toward Military expenses. Current Military and war spending used 28.7 cents, interest on Military debt was 10 cents, and Veterans’ benefits were 3.5 cents out of every federal income tax dollar. 22.1 cents out of every federal income tax dollar went toward Health programs. Health ($458 billion) is the federal funds portion of all health spending by the federal government, including the federal funds spending on Medicare. 10.2...

People ask me how to find God. I say turn left at Pat Robertson. Seriously, there are scores of people out there looking for something. There are the followers of Scientology. Others look for God in drugs, or in organized religions, which are not so different sometimes. Karl Marx said that religion was the opiate of the people. A hundred and fifty years later, opium (or other substances) is the religion of the people. The certain thing is that people feel empty. And everyone is trying to fill that emptiness with something. Some people use alcohol. Others use children. Others use their jobs....

Let’s talk about taxes. Everybody hates taxes. Well, that’s not entirely true. What we hate is PAYING taxes. We don’t mind them so much as long as somebody else has to pay them. As Ben Franklin quoted, taxes are as inevitable as death, and just as necessary. Let’s face it, nobody wants to die, but can you imagine how over populated we would be if medical science were able to do away with death? It would be a very crowded world. And if there were no taxes our nation would come to a standstill. Without taxes we wouldn’t be able to pay for traffic cops and teachers and librarians...

It is, of course, Mother’s Day. And I would be remiss if I didn’t mention it in some way. This is a particularly difficult day for my wife, Becky who lost her Mom in 2006. It was four years ago on the 4th. We cannot exist without mothers. The fact is, we wouldn’t exist without mothers. I said this once before, mothers are the image of God on earth. Mother’s have the amazing ability to give life. And, having given life, look upon their children, their creations if you will, with a love that transcends all understanding. This is not to put down fathers in any way....

It must have been very difficult for those guys who were following Jesus around listening to his teachings. Most of the time they had no idea what he was talking about. He basically told them that everything they knew was wrong, and it seemed impossible for them to think outside the box into which their minds had been placed. They grew up in a world where God was an all-powerful being who punished the wicked and rewarded the righteous right here on earth. If you were doing well, it was because God favored you. If you did badly, it was because God was punishing you. Good people prospered...

From a transcript of the popular PBS program, The Antiques Roadshow, being televised from Scottsdale, Arizona, March of 2010. Stephen Massey, Antique expert from New York City, New York: We have an interesting piece here, as you know, Mr. Klein. Why don’t you tell us a little of the history behind this. Mr. Klein: Well, there’s not too much to tell really. My dad, Ernie Klein, served in the army during the war, the big one, you know, WW2. Anyways, he’s in Berlin right after the war and this guy with a funny mustache tells him he’s trying to raise some quick cash....