Commentary & Opinion

It seems clear that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev exploded bombs at the Boston Marathon. Although some wanted him tried as an enemy combatant outside of the requirements of the Constitution, the Obama Administration has brought charges in the federal courts.

When Scottish physicist James Clark Maxwell made the invention of the telephone possible, by unlocking the secret of electro-magnetic waves, in 1878, he playfully wrote of its humble appearance--- “Any disappointment was partially relieved, on finding it was really able to talk.”

Tobacco companies are an extreme example of how greed trumps morality in America’s marketplace.  Every year roughly 500,000 smokers die from tobacco use and the industry knows it must at least replace those lost customers – plus the ones who successfully quit the addiction.

If you are of a certain generation-- Robert Redford’s generation, or a bit younger-- you will be well-aware that, back in the 1960s and 70s, there were political activists who did not just march on Washington or on their college campuses to oppose the war in Vietnam, say, or protest the everyday greed or racism that was so imbedded in American life. Instead, they tossed bombs or robbed banks or burned draft cards. And then, to avoid arrest and long jail sentences, they went into hiding, changed their names and identities, and blended in with the masses.