Stephen Hawking’s book, The Grand Design, summarizes the argument that the universe could have been created out of nothing and is held in a balance to keep it from collapsing back into nothing. No God is required at all to explain these phenomena.

As a management consultant, former White House Staff member, religious writer, and “cradle Catholic,” the behavior of today’s organized religions is a little baffling because it is so self-defeating. The semi-official position of the Catholic Church appears to be to help and hide predatory clerical child abusers.

Five years ago, Bill Byron, the Jesuit former President of Catholic University and pastor of Holy Trinity in Georgetown (I was on the parish council) wrote a book entitled The Power of Principles (Ethics for the New Corporate Culture), where he laid out his analysis of ethical crises in American corporations and where he occasionally quoted me.

Can the Cardinals fix the modern Catholic Church? No. Should the Pope “take the 5th?” Probably. Why does the Catholic Church seem to have an increasingly serious problem in controlling itself? The answer is in the question (hint: the word “control”) and is based upon the “cardinal rules.”

So, I’m having my glass of Guinness and thinking of all things green (the color of Ireland as well as the color of hope) when I make the strange connection between Saint Patrick and the Texas School Board.

Last week, Facebook had a company-wide, Mao/Pol Pot-style public humiliation and apology session after one employee attended a Kavanaugh hearing. And, here we are, the Cambodian killing fields of the 1970’s transported to California – let a thousand poppies bloom! How did we get here? Well, when the Internet was built and the web-economy exploded, the […]

The next big technology leap forward probably will be Artificial Intelligence. Everyone in the Silicon Valley’s of the world is predicting huge advances and major financial opportunities. It will change the world.

The kids are back from the holidays and are already misbehaving. That new kid, Alexandria, the enfant terrible, got green crayons for Christmas and is running through the halls of Congress scribbling on all the walls. Does she not know that the bossy it-girl who peaks early fades quickly. Probably not, since she gets such low marks in history and self-awareness.

The heart of California politics is water. Anyone who has studied California history or seen the movie “Chinatown” knows that. While “there will be blood” over oil drilling and many California highways are named after State Assemblymen, the big issue is water. Water turned LA into an oasis. Water makes the San Joaquin Valley an American breadbasket. Water gives Northern California beautiful lakes and rivers. Water is a powerful political weapon.

Opponents of the Republican Tax bill have roundly criticized it as favoring the rich and “unfair.” Unfortunately, they fail recognize the complex, and, yes, existential, moral dilemma they face with that outcry.