http://www.differentslants.com Seeing the World from a New Angle Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:51:20 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en     To me, being an American is an idea.  A concept. An agreement of equals. A willingness to tolerate the differences in others, and a celebration of the beauty of cultural diversity.   While maybe originally ours was a government,                                  “Of the Protestants, By the Protestants and For the Protestants,”   we’re bigger than that ... http://www.differentslants.com/2008/07/21/you-dont-need-eighteen-wheels-to-be-a-real-americanby-robert-m-katzman/   My goal is to turn words into pictures.  To make it possible for people with no concept of clinical depression to comprehend what life is really like for people who live with that condition.  People like me.   So, I mined my life for some specific moments to try to convey the cold ... http://www.differentslants.com/2008/07/04/depression-despair-and-the-human-voice-by-robert-m-katzman/ Everyone in the U.S. is upset about the high price of gasoline and the first impulse when faced with a problem of this magnitude is to find someone to blame. We would like to blame "The Arabs" because they are far away and different and we have been told they hate ... http://www.differentslants.com/2008/06/28/dealing-with-big-oil/ On June 19th, Bacack Obama announced he would not participate in the public-financing system for the general election. The reasoning behind the decision is that while the public-financing was intended to limit the money spent in a campaign, it contains loop-holes that allow unlimited spending by groups not directly ... http://www.differentslants.com/2008/06/20/barack-obama-and-campaign-finance/ This is what I'd do, and I'm older than you are, so listen to me: 1...Stop funding expansion of the Interstate Highway System.  Maintain what there is, but no more widening, lengthening or any new entrances and exits.  It just beckons more cars and delays our conversion to sophisticated rail transportation.  Make ... http://www.differentslants.com/2008/06/12/obama-a-blueprint-for-a-better-america-this-is-what-you-should-do-dont-waste-your-time-by-robert-m-katzman/ Here is another fascinating movie for all you conspiracy theorist. This one comes in three parts: Christianity, 911, and the Federal Reserve. What do these have in common? More than you might think but, you have to watch the movie to find out. Runtime is about 122 minutes. ... http://www.differentslants.com/2008/05/23/zeitgeist-the-movie/ 2004080929, originally uploaded by richard_munden. One of the things we love to do when traveling is to explore the places we unexpectedly come across. We were on a bus returning from a day at Sanssouci Park in Potsdam, Germany when we spotted this pedestrian street. We jump off at ... http://www.differentslants.com/2008/05/06/exploring-the-unexpected/ Friend and frequent commenter on these pages, Don Larson, recently introduced me to Robert Newman's "History of Oil". This video is 45 minutes of stand up comedy on the serious topic of oil in international politics and war. In this video, released in April 2006, Mr. Newman talks ... http://www.differentslants.com/2008/04/20/history-of-oil/ April 13th is not just another day. Not for me, and not for America, either Thomas Jeffereson was born on this day, in 1742, and he went on to write the Declaration of Independence.  I've read that there were approximately 4,000 Americans killed in that conflict, or about 1.3 soldiers a day died to win ... http://www.differentslants.com/2008/04/14/katzmans-cinema-komments-13-41308/ Sigh. It's really depressing thinking about the mess we're in, and the unlikelihood (given the political situation) that anything substantive will be done about it. For instance, here's 10 things that I think would begin to turn things around. Read them and you tell me the likelihood that any of ... http://www.differentslants.com/2008/04/14/10-things-that-could-really-help-the-country/