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Connection between cancer, alcohol deserves awareness

The word “transparency” is now big among Americans. Especially on the governmental front — local, state as well as national — anger pours forth when the public learns about secrecy having prevailed, especially regarding an important, controversial issue that impacts them directly, such as one that causes an increase in certain fees or their taxes. Sometimes the lowest levels of government end up sparking the biggest, noisiest outcries and furors, as a result of people not having been accorded an early heads-up regarding relevant goings-on about which they deserved expeditious ...

Fiscal responsibility could be cornerstone of economic policy

The arrival of a new presidential administration invokes new beginnings and a break from the past. Still, realities from previous administrations remain, such as a fiscal challenge that demands immediate attention. It may weigh on the newcomers even more than they realize today. We can only hope they take it more seriously than their predecessors have done. The longstanding notion that debt accumulation is benign, based largely on interest rates that for a time fell below growth rates, has proven dangerously misleading. This flawed thinking ignored both human nature and economic ...

In divisive times, subject of science brings us together

We’re living in divisive times. It’s something said so often that it’s become cliche. But collaboration across divides still happens, and the International Space Station is a great place to witness this in action. The ISS is entering its 25th year with crews on board modeling scientific collaboration on global research projects. Crew members also take time to share their enthusiasm for their work with kids across the globe using ham radio, also known as amateur radio. Will Merchant is a retired aerospace engineer who now volunteers with Amateur Radio on the International Space ...

Devastating fires remind us of importance of fire safety

More than 10,000 homes have been obliterated by devastating fires that ripped through Los Angeles this week. While California Gov. Gavin Newsom expresses optimism that firefighters can make headway into the weekend – with Santa Ana winds expected to die down, slowing the spread of the blaze – meteorologists say they are expected to pick up again next week. A tragedy of this magnitude should really bring things to perspective for those of us here at home. While Pennsylvania’s climate tends to make us less susceptible to fires of this intensity, we are not immune from similar ...

Like it or not, we live in a surveillance society

The movie version of “The Godfather” has a scene where mob boss Vito Corleone is shot and wounded by two anonymous hit men decked in fedoras and trench coats. They swiftly carry out their deed and then blend back into the hurlyburly of New York’s Little Italy. That scene unfolds in the 1940s, and it’s not hard to imagine that a real-life Mafia hit might have been carried out in a similar fashion in those days, with the identity of the two perpetrators never known. Who would want to rat out members of the mob, first of all. But, more importantly, in a city full of men in trench ...

Germany’s new Morgenthau plan

Less than a year before the end of World War II, then U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau drew up a nightmarish plan to punish postwar Germany. After the serial 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War, World War I, and World War II – along with the failed Versailles peace treaty of 1919 – the Allies in World War II wanted to ensure there would never again be an aggressive Germany powerful enough to invade its neighbors. When the so-called Morgenthau Plan was leaked to the press in September 1944, at first it was widely praised. After all, it would supposedly render Germany ...