Jim Wheeler
BS, USNA, Annapolis, 1959; MSA, The Geo. Washington U., 1975; Submariner, Commander, USN, 1959 - 1981; Aerospace battery engineer & mgr., 1981 - 1999; Political affiliation: Mainly of the Democratic persuasion but not a fan of the extremes on either side.
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Still Skeptical After All These Years by James R Wheeler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at jwheeler59@me.com. Copyright 2015 James R. Wheeler
Monthly Archives: June 2011
Navy Coffin Nails
Our hometown newspaper, the Joplin Globe, has a Sunday feature that I increasingly like. Called “Forum”, it examines contentious issues and usually presents positions on both sides. This is good journalism. It not only sells papers but encourages the public … Continue reading
Posted in Armed Forces, Culture, Health
Tagged Cancer, Cigarette, cigarette package labels, coffin nails, government intrusion, Health, Joplin Globe, nanny state, Ron Paul, smoking
23 Comments
What’s That Smell?
Am I the only one who finds our system of justice sometimes strange and inconsistent? My attention was caught by a short item in Wednesday’s USA Today (6/22/2011, p. B1). It reported that, The CEO of what had been one … Continue reading
Just Gimme The Latest and Greatest, Doc!
Most Americans, I submit, believe that our medical system is not only the world’s most expensive but also the world’s best. When we have a problem we want the latest and best test, medicine, and procedure. Would it surprise … Continue reading
What Would Socrates Say?
I have attended many classes in my seven decades of life, twelve years of primary school, four of college and the equivalent of two for post-graduate. Maybe that is enough to have an opinion about the notion that education is … Continue reading
Posted in Education
Tagged academic freedom, education, Educators, intellectual freedom, K through 12, Math, NCLB, no child left behind, rote learning, Socratic Method, Student, Teacher, United States
26 Comments
The Elusive Palace of Wisdom
Perhaps this would be a good time to summarize the many roots of America’s financial malaise. While most pundits bemoan its symptoms, they tend to shun its root causes. Symptoms include the high costs of gasoline, air fares, baggage fees, … Continue reading
Posted in Economics
Tagged budget deficit, college costs, Economic, economy, educaion policy, energy policy, financial crisis, Health, Health care, health care costs, immigration, immigration policy, John McCain, national debt, OPEC, Republicans, student loan debt, United States, William Blake
18 Comments
Fungible Follies
It appeared to be an “aha” moment, confirmation that the welfare system is corrupt and out of control. Somebody bought steak and lobster with food stamps. Snopes confirms that it’s true. It happened in Michigan last February. The good news is … Continue reading
A Boy’s Blue Highways
My blog friend Keith Spillett has posted a well-written little memoir about car trips in the twenty-first century, noting the boring sameness of the experience as he and his family traveled the interstate diagonal from the Southeast to the upper … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Memoir
Tagged back roads, Blue Highways, CAFE, car travel, childhood, Holiday Inn, Interstate Highway System, McDonald's, memoir, Rand McNally, William Least-Heat Moon
6 Comments
A Different Gulf Disaster?
For ye have the poor with you always, and whensoever ye will ye may do them good: but me ye have not always. — Mark, 14:7 A basic principle of physics and engineering is that there must be a difference … Continue reading
That’s The Way It Is
All too often newspaper commentary is banal, predictable and light on originality, so when I find a column that is none of those things I think it is worth some attention. Investigative reporter and journalism teacher Max McCoy (whose picture … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, Evolution, Religion
Tagged Dinosaur, Earth Sciences, evolution, Human, Joplin Missouri, optimism, Religion and Spirituality, Reptile, survival trait, Tornado, tribes, Walter Cronkite
21 Comments
Still Skeptical After All These Years 