Tom Purcell can be reached via e-mail
Advice from the master
By Tom PurcellBill Clinton, wearing a white toga and a crown of gold, sat in a garden while attractive women fed him grapes. President Obama, having just suffered the most devastating week of his presidency, sat nearby, seeking advice in the art …
Best. Graduates. Ever!
By Tom PurcellStudents, faculty, family members and friends, it is my great honor to deliver your commencement speech today. It is my opinion that our society must take every opportunity to praise our young people for their hard work and accomplishment, and …
No-fault addiction
By Tom PurcellOnline chat host: Good morning, cyber pals. As you know, the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5), the psychiatric “bible,” is to be released this month. It will include “Internet-Use Disorder” — also referred …
Reverse psychology vs. the nanny state
By Tom PurcellGet this: New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg wants to ban the sale of cigarettes — now legal to people at age 18 — to people younger than 21. Yeah, that ought to work! Bloomberg, as you may know, has …
That’s America to me
By Tom PurcellI listened to a Frank Sinatra tune this week — “The House I Live In” — and enjoyed a renewed desire to fight on. Sinatra performed the patriotic song in an 11-minute movie short that was made in 1945, shortly …
The higher our tech, the ruder we get
By Tom PurcellGet this: Social media are making us ruder. According to Reuters, social media users face “an increase in rudeness online with people having no qualms about being less polite virtually than in person.” I think our rudeness began ticking up …
Financial responsibility, Obama-style
By Tom PurcellGet this: President Obama has proclaimed April as National Financial Capability Month. After all, who better than Obama — who has added $6 trillion to the national debt so far — to help “every individual take ownership of his or …
A political dropout confesses
By Tom PurcellAfter feeling guilty of late for losing interest in America’s political landscape, I decided to go to confession. “Father, forgive me, for I have sinned. Like so many low-information voters, I am having trouble maintaining interest in what is going …
Not the devil, but silver-tongued
By Tom PurcellThe devil is in the details. Maybe I’d better explain. As it goes, the hit History Channel show, “The Bible,” was recently called out because the actor playing the part of Satan, Moroccan-born Mohamen Mehdi Ouazanni, looks eerily similar to …
Income tax 101
By Tom PurcellAh, the income tax preparation season is upon us. You’re probably wondering why you have to spend a couple of weekends barricaded in a room, sorting through receipts in the faint hope of complying with our confusing income tax laws. …
Telecommuting: Home alone
By Tom PurcellLast week, Best Buy joined Yahoo to ban employees from telecommuting — a subject on which I am becoming an expert. As a self-employed writer, I telecommute every day. Thanks to the Internet and my cell phone, I can work …
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