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The Case for Pearl Harbor Revisionism, The Occidental Quarterly, 1:2, Winter 2001. A small group of revisionist investigators has disputed the orthodox interpretation of US entry into WWII. Revisionists argue that, instead of following an aggressive plan of conquest, Japanese moves were fundamentally defensive efforts to protect vital Japanese interests. And instead of seeing the U. S. simply reacting to Japanese aggression, as the orthodox version would have it, the revisionists see the U. S. goading the Japanese--by aiding China (with whom Japan was at war) and engaging in military expansion, quasi-secret alliances, and economic warfare--to take belligerent actions. Finally, some revisionists claim that Roosevelt had foreknowledge of the attack on Pearl Harbor but refused to alert the military commanders in order to have a casus belli to galvanize the American people for war. Many revisionists see Roosevelt's goal to have been achieving war with Germany by the "back-door." This article finds most of the revisionists arguments to be more convincing than the general orthodox position.

2011

Eleanor Roosevelt was a pathfinder, role model, opinion setter and leader. Breaking many of the cultural mores and traditions of American Society she lived a life that showed just how much one person can do to leave the world a better place.

In accepting Issac Newton’s theory that every action creates a reaction, I have also come to acknowledge the fact, that on this journey of life, People will always be the topic of Conversation especially when we take Mother Teresa’s philosophy (1),(2): “I can do things you cannot do, you can do things I cannot do, together we can do great things” into account William Anderson Gittens Author, Publisher, Media Arts Specialist

Franklin Roosevelt was a president constrained. During the period of 1933 to 1941, he had to fight a public mood of severe isolationism1, despite knowing full well the extent of the threat looming in Europe and Asia. His policies and speeches at the beginning of this period, though seemingly isolationist, were very much a form of internationalism that he could safely pursue in the United States without losing support, and thus future elections2. Franklin Roosevelt was consistent on his views on intervention; his aims were to support democracies abroad against the fascist threat but not too far in advance of public opinion. Further, he went out of his way to attempt to educate the public on his views of this threat to change the public mood. Once public opinion began to sway towards the desire for America to aid the Allies in Europe, Roosevelt began to become much more critical towards the Axis powers in his public addresses. Suffice to say, Roosevelt was a true democrat through and through, he had his own views on the necessity to aid democracies abroad but he wouldn’t intervene further than what a public mandate would allow.

2012

ABSTRACT In 1999 Kenneth Doka the then-new editor of Omega asked me to write state-of-the-field article the cross-cultural study of grief. The project of developing a cross-cultural model of grief was in its infancy. I had studied Japanese ancestor rituals as part of my contribution to the continuing bonds model of grief. As I thought about the invitation, I found myself amidst dialogues within a broad range of psychological and social sciences. The issue of psychic unity vs. cultural diversity had prevented fuller use of anthropologists' work, but it seemed to me that sociology of knowledge mediates between those poles. Work on the universality of emotions provided the concept of innate meta interpretive schemas within cognitive models supplied by culture. Cultural historians traced changes in how death is perceived and in the acceptability of emotional expression. The article concludes with two suggestions to carry the project forward. The first suggestion, a large scale cross-cultural survey, has never been attempted. The second suggestion is qualitative studies that look at the researchers' own cultures and at other cultures. In the quarter century since Doka's invitation, work in the second suggest has progressed on several fronts.