Editorial

TROUT RECEIVED MORE PROTECTION THAN HUMANS IN NEW GAS REGULATIONS

The new gas regulations recently passed by the WV legislature called the Horizontal Well Act provides more protection for trout than to the humans in our state who are not served by public water but must depend upon private water sources like springs and wells.  Read more

COMMENTARY: What Have We Wrought?

Editor's Note: This column originally ran on Nov. 24, 2009 and is particularly relevant as the U.S. withdraws all troops from Iraq by the end of the year Read more

OP-ED: When Bradley Comes Marching Home

For Bradley Manning 
When Bradley comes marching home again Hurroo, hurroo
When Bradley comes marching home again Hurroo, hurroo Read more

OP-ED: Caribbean Travel: Cooking An Airline's Goose

LIAT, the small Caribbean airline that has been the workhorse of the region for several decades, is having its goose cooked.  And the cooking is being done by a few of its pilots, two of the 10 unions representing its workers, and some Caribbean governments and Caribbean institutions which have failed to act positively.

Read more

EDITORIAL: The Manchin PR Machine Keeps Rollin'. But Who Buys It?

A recent story in Esquire magazine has elicited some gasps across West Virginia.  As part of a collection of short pieces on "American heroes," the stylish men's magazine featured a story and photo of Heather Manchin Bresch.  Yes, that Heather Manchin Bresch, Joe Manchin's daughter, whose academic scandal around her faux MBA degree brought down several WVU administrators, including then President Mike Garrison.  In addition, the controversy quite nearly brought down WVU's academic reputation, which could have hurt everyone who has a WVU diploma. Read more

OPEN LETTER TO THE EDITOR: What I’d like to See

 As we withdraw our troops from Iraq, this is what I’d like to see: Read more

COLUMN: A Dangerous Woman: Indefinite Detention at Carswell

Some things are unforgivable in a democracy. A bill moving through Congress, authorizing the military to imprison American citizens indefinitely, without a trial or hearing, ranks right at the top of that list. Read more

DEVITION: Near the Stable

Advent season draws us nearer to the stable...the manger... the place where the King of Kings...Lord of Lords is to be found again and again... flooding our spirits with God's presence and peace. Read more

CIVIL WAR OP-ED: A Soldier’s True Spirit of Christmas

What happened to Christmas?


Christmas was, once, a wonderful time that was celebrated with family, friends and dinner at Grandma's house. Grandpa would gather the children around the fire place and tell them the story about Jesus Christ who was born on Christmas Day.  Read more

Marcellus Shale: A Bright Future?

There is currently quite a discrepancy in Wetzel County.  Last month Wetzel County was again ranked as having the highest unemployment rate in the state, but it also has the highest rate of natural gas drilling activity in the region.  How can a county that’s booming with Marcellus Shale natural gas development still have record high unemployment? Read more

COMMENTARY: Try Not to Think of a Newt

The current President and Congress are destroying our Constitutional rights, our planet's climate, and the vestiges of a social safety net, and you are obsessing over a freak show of self-hating homosexuals and anti-intellectual intellectuals jumping through hoops in a corporate media circus with Ringmaster Donald Trump. Is this a good use of your time?

  Read more

OP-ED: Caribbean Electorates: Not for Sale

General elections in St Lucia and Guyana on November 28 have raised serious questions about the financing of campaigns and the unfair use of state resources by governing political parties to gain an advantage over their opponents.
Read more

OP-ED: Fukushima’s owner adds insult to injury -- Claims radioactive fallout isn’t their’s

In the amoral milieu of the corporate bottom line, you can’t blame Tokyo Electric Power Co. for trying. Read more

OP-ED: The Real History of 'Corporate Personhood': Meet the Man to Blame for Corporations Having More Rights Than You

The following is an excerpt of Jeffrey Clement's Corporations Are Not People: Why They Have More Rights Than You Do and What You Can Do About It.) Click here to order a copy. Read more

DEVOTION: Christmas Preparation

The unfolding of Christmas is an amazing wonder. Barren places are drastically turned into scenes of beauty holding centuries of precious memories. Read more

OP-ED: Good Bye, Joe

The last time I saw my Uncle Joe, I was in Israel.  We were all sitting around eating, reminiscing, and telling stories about this and that.  At that time, I noticed that my Uncle was always in either at work or with my Aunt Esther, his family, and his dog.  Read more

West Virginia PTA Calls on Congressional Delegation to Put Children First

The U.S. Congress recently missed an opportunity to unite our nation in the fight against childhood obesity and hunger when they passed an agriculture appropriations bill that included language to weaken the USDA’s school nutrition standards. Unfortunately, while engaging in partisan wrangling over whether tomato paste constitutes a vegetable, Congress missed the big picture—the health of America’s children. Read more

CIVIL WAR OP-ED: When ‘Gone with the Wind’ Premiered in Atlanta

Hello America!


The 1930s was an exciting time when everyone loved Super Star-Shirley Temple, Baseball Home Run Legend-Babe Ruth, Aviator Pioneer-Amelia Earhart and “Gone with the Wind” Author- Margaret Mitchell. Read more

COMMENTARY: 70 Years of Lying About Pearl Harbor

British Prime Minister Winston Churchill's fervent hope for years was that Japan would attack the United States. This would permit the United States (not legally, but politically) to fully enter World War II in Europe, as its president wanted to do, as opposed to merely providing weaponry and assisting in targeting of submarines as it had been doing. Of course, Germany's declaration of war, which followed Pearl Harbor and the immediate U.S. declaration of war on Japan, helped as well, but it was Pearl Harbor that radically converted the American people from opposition to support for war. Read more

COMMENTARY: What to Replace the Imprison-Americans Bill With

The funny thing about the bill that the Senate just passed that lets presidents and the military lock you up without a charge or a trial — well, not funny ha ha but funny unusual — is that the basic bill to which that little monstrosity was attached is even worse. It's a bill to dump over $650 billion into wars and aggressive weaponry, continue the slaughter in Afghanistan, ramp up the creation and use of drones, and expand U.S. military bases around the globe. Read more

COMMENTARY: Save Guyana: History Summons Its Leaders to Higher Purpose

The November 28 general elections in Guyana have resulted in a crisis for the country.  While it is being suggested that the elected President, Donald Ramotar, of the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) can appoint and run a minority government, it is an unrealistic proposition.
  Read more

DEVOTION: Blind Preparation

The Advent season reminds us to prepare for finding the "babe in a manger".  The material world sends out endless ads and catalogues... coupons and enticing "deals" for our preparation to celebrate God's gift of love and servanthood. Read more

OP-ED: Selma and Fred: Oh, Boy!

So there I was, sitting at home on my computer, minding my own business, when I got a terse email from my brother-in-law.   It said, “Don’t worry.  We’re all right, but look at this,” and it provided a link to a Los Angeles television newscast. Read more

COMMENTARY: Occupation Evicted? Occupy the Place Responsible: DC

Has the First Amendment expired in your public square?  Has your local park prioritized empty vistas over the right to petition your government for a redress of grievances, thereby adding one more grievance to the list?Here's a proposal.  Pack up all of your grievances in a bag and bring them to where the government responsible is located.  Move your protest and yourself and as much of your Occupy community as you can bring with you to Freedom Plaza —http://occupywashingtondc.org — or McPherson Square — http://occupydc.org — in Washington, D.C.    Read more

A Dad’s Point-of-View: Because I Said So

My birthday and Dad’s birthday happened at the same time this past month. Dad is my Andy Kaufman alter ego, though I will never admit that Dad has any resemblance to me! We each celebrated our birthdays in our own ways. For me, Social Media added a dimension to my birthday that was wholly unexpected.

  Read more

MANN TALK: Christian Culture Is Build On a Pagan Base

Earliest man worshipped the sun. The sun was his god; for he knew that without the sun he was done. Modern man takes the sun for granted. He even knows that an eclipse of the sun is temporary. But if he thinks on the subject, he admits to himself that without the sun he too is done and all else is gone. The earth was a goddess; for man knew that if she did not provide a bountiful harvest, he would be reduced to beggary and failing that starvation.  So he prayed to earth goddesses and sacrificed to them with faith that they would arrange for him to have rain, sun and warmth to resurrect seeds to provide the grain for his table.               Read more

COMMENTARY: Is a Nuclear War with China Possible?

While nuclear weapons exist, there remains a danger that they will be used.  After all, for centuries national conflicts have led to wars, with nations employing their deadliest weapons.  The current deterioration of U.S. relations with China might end up providing us with yet another example of this phenomenon. Read more

ABOUT REAL ESTATE: Whacky Laws Affect Homeowners in Every State

A man’s home may be his castle, but the government is sill king when deciding what he can and cannot do while he lives there. Read more

OP-ED: External Elections Observation Important But Mot Sufficient

Having external observer missions at election time is important, but no longer enough.

 
The Commonwealth and the Organization of American States (OAS) are now both observing general elections in two Caribbean countries – Guyana and St Lucia – and may be observing a third – Jamaica -- before year end. Read more

War Is Not Conservative; You Need Head Examined

This past May, I had the pleasure of attending my little brother’s graduation from the US Naval Academy. At the Commencement Ceremony in Annapolis, the primary guest speaker was then Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. He delivered an exceptional speech, and towards the end, he began to choke up a bit about the number of young men and women in our armed forces who had given the ultimate sacrifice under his tenure. In a press interview shortly thereafter, the outgoing Secretary of Defense—a Bush appointee—had this to say: “Anyone that thinks we need another war right now needs to get their head examined”. Robert Gates—a guy who can hardly be labeled as a “leftist hippy”—had realized the toll all of these undeclared wars have taken on our nation’s health. Read more

COMMENTARY: Moving Beyond War in the Middle East — and Everywhere

The seemingly intractable discord between Israel and Palestine not only continues to cause enormous suffering and anxiety, but also to reverberate around the planet as a kind of symbol of all our conflicts in what we might call the post-nuclear age. Read more

COMMENTARY: Violence and Evolution: Where do we Stand?

How do we measure violence?

 

 The question has come up because of recent studies by Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker, featured on TED among other venues, which seem to show that, contrary to common opinion, violence has been steadily decreasing by a number of measures for several millennia.  Some of these measures are at first sight impressive, like the decrease in genocides and combat deaths, and of course, this is something we would very much like to believe. The reality, however, is more complicated.

  Read more

COMMENTARY: The Last Whistleblowers

Whistleblowing in our federal government may soon be a thing of the past, not because whistleblowers face more vicious retribution than ever before -- although that is true; and not because important acts of whistleblowing now result in fewer reforms and less accountability than they used to -- although that is also true and is getting closer; but fundamentally because the actions against which we need whistles blown are publicly acknowledged. Read more