http://xeniagazette.com en-us Tue, 21 May 2013 09:17:11 GMT Daily feed of articles http://xeniagazette.com/Main.asp?SectionID=179&SubSectionID=717&ArticleID=180333 It seems to me that we are surrounded by camouflage and concealment in our everyday lives - and the occurrence may be increasing. While both words have to do with deception I think there is a difference. To camouflage something is to make it appear to be something it isn’t even when it’s still observable. Camouflage military uniforms, for example, are designed so someone looking at the wearer might be less able to determine if the shape is an enemy or something else. Columns and Blogs Tue, 21 May 2013 01:50:00 GMT http://xeniagazette.com/Main.asp?SectionID=179&SubSectionID=717&ArticleID=180321 The highest points in some counties I know are facetiously called “Mt. Trashmore.” Former high places have been topped by the mountains of rubbish created by our throw-away culture. It feels good to recycle and join a compost exchange. Every little bit helps, I hope. But the trash hills grow nevertheless. Also, rivers and oceans receive our bodily waste plus the paper, drugs, and chemicals we can flush. Columns and Blogs Sun, 19 May 2013 17:37:00 GMT http://xeniagazette.com/Main.asp?SectionID=179&SubSectionID=717&ArticleID=180320 If you hear someone talking about journalism these days, they’re usually complaining about how the industry is collapsing. Or how terribly biased the media is, one way or the other. But every time the annual White House Correspondents Dinner rolls around, the word “journalist” suddenly brims with caché. It’s a popular event, not because journalists are “in,” but because the jokes delivered at the pompous springtime event are great. Columns and Blogs Sat, 18 May 2013 02:36:00 GMT http://xeniagazette.com/Main.asp?SectionID=179&SubSectionID=717&ArticleID=180286 We needed this past week, with its moments of introspection, its reflections on national purpose, its symbols of national concord. Many of them, of course, occurred in Boston, site of terrorism in 2013. One of them occurred in Dallas, site of tragedy in 1963. The images of what happened in Boston already have been seared into the national psyche. Columns and Blogs Thu, 16 May 2013 16:50:00 GMT http://xeniagazette.com/Main.asp?SectionID=179&SubSectionID=717&ArticleID=180285 We’ve all had moments when we’ve turned to someone, a father, a brother, a God and asked, “What was I meant for? Am I doing what I was supposed to do?” It’s a normal exercise for us to question our situation, regardless of its status. But we have to be careful to realize, regardless of how much we’d like the world to be a mystical place, our own choices landed us where we are and nothing was “meant to be,” that wasn’t directed by personal decisions. Columns and Blogs Thu, 16 May 2013 00:50:00 GMT http://xeniagazette.com/Main.asp?SectionID=179&SubSectionID=717&ArticleID=180272 There were approximately 3 million illegal immigrants in the US when the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 became law. Our political leaders in Washington, from the President on down, assured us the legislation would stop further illegal immigration and secure our boarders. It would also require employers to ensure workers were authorized to be in the US. Columns and Blogs Wed, 15 May 2013 16:08:00 GMT http://xeniagazette.com/Main.asp?SectionID=179&SubSectionID=717&ArticleID=180271 You may think that your most significant interaction with bees is trying not to get stung. But, in fact, you have bees to thank for nearly one-third of all food crops: almonds, apples, peaches, honey, and watermelons, to name a few. If our bees are in trouble, then we’re in trouble too. Columns and Blogs Wed, 15 May 2013 01:07:00 GMT http://xeniagazette.com/Main.asp?SectionID=179&SubSectionID=717&ArticleID=180256 Times are tough. Do the numbers: Chief executive officers (CEOs) of the country’s biggest companies experienced pay increases of a minuscule 15 percent in 2012, compared with the 28 percent their pay rose in 2011. Only 15 percent. Ah! I’m sure they’ll make it up in bonuses and stock options this year. The rich will get richer and the poor will get porridge, cold porridge. Columns and Blogs Tue, 14 May 2013 17:49:00 GMT http://xeniagazette.com/Main.asp?SectionID=179&SubSectionID=717&ArticleID=180255 Under current U.S. law, all our publicly traded corporations must annually disclose exactly what they pay their top executives. So why do all those CEO pay scorecards we see every spring show such different results? USA Today found an 8 percent hike in 2012 CEO pay while The New York Times detected an 18.7 percent increase. Towers Watson, a corporate consulting firm, announced that CEO pay growth “slowed considerably,” rising at just a 1.2 percent rate last year. Columns and Blogs Tue, 14 May 2013 13:48:00 GMT http://xeniagazette.com/Main.asp?SectionID=179&SubSectionID=717&ArticleID=180254 It seems to me that when a reader is puzzled by or has questions about something I have written and takes the time and effort to ask me about it, there’s a fairly good chance that others may have the same difficulty. That’s what happened recently when “JB” — a guy I’ve known for at least 30 years and is a close enough friend to challenge me without being confrontational — kind of buttonholed me about a recent column. Columns and Blogs Tue, 14 May 2013 01:47:00 GMT http://xeniagazette.com/Main.asp?SectionID=179&SubSectionID=717&ArticleID=180203 My new book is called Foodopoly. It’s about the corporate control of every aspect of our food system, from how what we eat is labeled to the pesticides we’re exposed to. We, the people, must reclaim our democracy. We must reestablish strong antitrust laws to begin the work of fixing our broken, corporate-controlled food system. Our food system should work for consumers and farmers, not big agricultural, processing, retail, and chemical conglomerates. Columns and Blogs Sun, 12 May 2013 16:06:00 GMT