Tom Faranda's Folly

A little on George Washington as follow-up to “1776”

September 25, 2025February 20, 2006 by Tom Faranda

Way back a month ago – January 23rd to be exact – I posted a little review of my latest read, which was "1776".Tom Faranda’s Folly: Latest read – "1776" This is an excellent history about Washington and his army in 1776. The good times and the dismal times. I highly recommend it, even if … Read more

Joe Faranda, Washington big-shot for a week

September 26, 2025February 19, 2006 by Tom Faranda

My seventh grader son Joe is down in Washington DC from today until Friday. He was nominated by his school for the “Junior Congressional Youth Leadership Council” which does programs for junior high school students. We applied and he was accepted, so he is down with 230 other seventh graders “scholars” (their term, not ours) … Read more

U.S. policy to shift in Darfur region of Sudan

September 24, 2025February 18, 2006 by Tom Faranda

Both the Washington Post Bush Calls For More Muscle In Darfur and NY Times Bush Sees Need to Expand Role of NATO in Sudan – New York Times ran stories on the Bush administrstion’s evident desire to move beyond the "stagnant" talks and get more aid to Darfur, as well as aiming to end the … Read more

Long ago, I taught Phys. ed. for a year, but I never thought of this angle!

September 24, 2025February 17, 2006 by Tom Faranda

Here’s a funny article from the Washington Post Fla. Teacher Charged as Children Pay to Cut Gym . The culprit is now facing felony charges, which is not so funny. I actually taught "Gym" for a year – my last year in the Caribbean. But I never thought to take money in return for letting … Read more

NY Times on Olympic medal winner and his search for his Birth Parents

September 24, 2025February 16, 2006 by Tom Faranda

This is of some interest to me, since we have two adopted sons. Dawson was abandoned as an infant in Korea and eventually adopted by ski instructors in the U. S. It’s a good article.For Dawson, a Bronze and a Chance to Find Birth Parents – New York Times this article will only be available … Read more

Notre Dame – the university’s character v. academic freedom

September 24, 2025February 16, 2006 by Tom Faranda

Here is an interesting posting on Amy Welborn’s weblog. She is a Catholic author and speaker whose webjournal has a big following.

This has to do with the ongoing debate at Notre Dame (and at most other Catholic Universities) over their "Catholic Identity" and academic freedom. I believe the most recent ruckus had to do with whether "the Vagina Monologues" should be shown on the ND campus.

If you want the complete treatment go to the links in Welborn’s posting – but it’s not really necessary – her excerpts cover the key points.open book: An ideal worth striving for

The IRS and unpaid taxes

September 24, 2025February 15, 2006 by Tom Faranda

the Wall Street Journal, NY Times, and Washington Post all had articles today on the IRS study about the amount of income they estimate they under-collect. Here’s the WaPo article IRS Was Underpaid $345 Billion in ’01 If they could only catch up with those self-employed people…

NY Times “Maybe You’re Not What You Eat”

September 24, 2025February 14, 2006 by Tom Faranda

Here is a follow-up article to the reports I posted a few days ago about the large study indicating no relationship between a fat free diet and lower cancer and heart disease. Note that the article is in the NY Times, so will only be available online for free until Feb. 21st. Maybe You’re Not … Read more