economist, free speech, Kalamazoo College, Western Michigan University

Economics Prof Lou Junker: Free Speech & Critical Thinking

Lou Junker ranks highest among several outstanding professors I encountered at Western Michigan University in the mid to late ‘60s. His forte, as I reflect on the decades that have passed, was challenging students’ conventional thinking and in so doing prompting an examination of one’s own beliefs.  In today’s idiom, Junker was empowering. He opened doors to critical thinking and self-confidence. But the corollary to … Continue reading Economics Prof Lou Junker: Free Speech & Critical Thinking

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Dan Ellsberg: Get Rid of Nukes

In a March 25thtalk at Washington’s Cosmos Club, former nuclear analyst Daniel Ellsberg said a complacent public must be educated to the horrors of nuclear war. A nuclear exchange involving any of the nine nuclear powers would kill hundreds of millions. Referring to decades of global apathy, he said “we have accepted a nightmare.” Dan Ellsberg and the author Ellsberg, 88 in April, is best known … Continue reading Dan Ellsberg: Get Rid of Nukes

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Letter from Zimbabwe: Hard Times and No Prospect of Relief

By Barry D. Wood HARARE, Zimbabwe: Joy has turned to despair in Zimbabwe. The optimism that greeted the coup that ousted tyrant Robert Mugabe in November 2017 vanished this January amid army bullets and beatings against citizens protesting a doubling of fuel prices. Zimbabweans had dared to hope that the coup plotters who were Mugabe loyalists for three decades had broken with his repressive ways, … Continue reading Letter from Zimbabwe: Hard Times and No Prospect of Relief

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Judith Todd and a Confused, Complicated Zimbabwe

By Barry D. Wood BULAWAYO, Zimbabwe: Veteran human rights activist Judith Todd is deeply distressed by the deaths, macabre beatings, and arrests of hundreds of Zimbabweans following demonstrations earlier this month against a doubling of fuel prices. But Todd says the situation since January 14th “is confused and complicated with few angels on either side.” To the dismay of some, she declines to place sole … Continue reading Judith Todd and a Confused, Complicated Zimbabwe

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news, public relations, journalism, Uncategorized

Public Relations Deserves its Bad Rap

WASHINGTON:  On November 26thGeneral Motors announced it was closing five plants in the US and Canada, dismissing 14,000 employees. But GM chose to obfuscate what should have been straight-forward information. A three-page press release  bore the misleading title, “General Motors Accelerates Transformation.” the words “closing” and “layoffs” were never used. Indeed, that news is buried, appearing nonsensically midway down the second page. To avoid speaking … Continue reading Public Relations Deserves its Bad Rap

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