Iron Lady, Two Encounters

Aired on KERA-FM (NPR-Dallas), April 2013 I’ve interviewed a lot of people, but no one has matched the forceful intellect and irresistible authority of Margaret Thatcher.  I saw her at Continue reading →

SMU Drinking

What can be done about the persistent allegiance to alcohol that troubles too many campuses across the country, including Southern Methodist University? Holly Hacker reported in the Dallas Morning News Continue reading →

Scientists

Lee Fikes, no-nonsense president and CEO of Dallas’ Leland Fikes Foundation, is alarmed by the loss of scientific integrity at all levels of American government. What passes for science, he Continue reading →

Sub-prime Tar Pit

“The market made me do it.” That’s what some lenders are telling us about the crisis they’ve created that’s reverberating now from Asia to Europe. Hysteria even hit the Federal Continue reading →

The 99 Per Cent

Richard Fisher, head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, is fond of quoting the Biblical admonition: “Come, be serious and discipline yourselves.” He could be speaking directly to Occupy Continue reading →

The Big Heat at the Nasher- Where was City Hall?

No one is more in love with the Nasher family, the Nasher Sculpture Center or the people who run it than I am. No one admires more the transcendence accomplished Continue reading →

The Ethical Imperative

Ethics is the order of the hour at SMU where soon all students will be required to choose among various courses that illustrate right and wrong, some based on religion Continue reading →

The Peril of the Pure

Aired in 2006 on KERA FM Why is it that some artists or leaders last a lifetime in their work while others burn out too soon? It seems to me Continue reading →

Three Speakers

“The speaker always takes the word of a member.” Sam Rayburn said that, and surely this was the key to his enormous success as speaker of the U.S. House from Continue reading →

Trinity

It is fish-or-cut-bait time at the Trinity River. Either we go forward with the project as it has been developed over the past nine years or we let it go. Continue reading →