Editorial

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.
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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.

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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.

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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

SATIRE: Bloomberg Ties Terror Plot to Lex Luther

In a hastily thrown together press conference Sunday afternoon, several months in the planning, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said his efforts to spread freedom beyond New York City had included the deployment of 1,000 NYPD officers to Schenectady, where they have just apprehended a young man inspired by Al Qaeda and Occupy Wall Street propaganda provided to him by the NYPD on a regular basis since September. Read more

DEVOTION The Little Things

The gesture of a little child who reaches out open arms... always warms my heart and soul. A quick smile of greeting and care from someone I might know or may never have met can make my day. Read more

COMMENTARY: GTO: Give Thanks for Occupy

 

We are told, and have come to accept, that the Occupy movement lacks focus, direction, and purpose.  How can a group be successful without a linear plan and a list of demands? How does camping in a park solve the world's problems? Onlookers often say that in the last two months, Occupy has yet to accomplish anything. As we come to Thanksgiving, however, I want to offer seven reasons to give thanks for the Occupy movement.

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OP-ED: A Whale of a Tale

Linda just plain wasn’t a water person.  

She turned green when forced to take the Staten Island Ferry, and she would confess to crimes she had not committed to avoid going on any boat.  She even jokingly claimed that she got seasick while taking a bath. Read more

DEVOTION: Heavenly Music

I have always had a personal revelation of music in heaven to be awe inspiring. Nothing can feed my soul better than a living faith expressed in musical form.  Both individually and corporately... strength and inspiration come in harmonized singing poured out by the voices of believers. Read more

COMMENTARY: I'm Thankful for Occupy

I'm thankful that a growing number of us reject the idea of a mysterious being to which we should be thankful, and for the concomitant growing assumption of responsibility for our own fate. Read more

MANN TALK: Simplism Is a Conservative Frailty

The real solution to discipline, drugs and bullying in schools is: “Put fathers back into the lives of our children and most of the problems will go away.”   Read more

COMMENTARY: Sarkozy Got It Wrong, But It Is Not Enough to Say So

France’s President Nicolas Sarkozy has publicly – and wrongfully – identified 3 Caribbean countries as “tax havens”.  The response to him should be unified and robust. Read more

PARALLEL UNIVERSE: The U.S.: A Nation of Renters -- Or 'Underwater Homeowners? Also, More Outrage from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Execs

In the wake of my column on students renting foreclosed or underwater McMansions in the Central California city of Merced (Link: www.huntingtonnews.net › Editorial) I came across a press release from the National Association of Realtors stating that the "U.S. Will Remain a Nation of Homeowners" (link:www.realestaterama.com/.../u-s-will-remain-a-nation-of-homeowners). Read more

One Veteran's Rough Path from Killing and Torturing to Peace

Not yet 30, Evan Knappenberger has already lived several lives.  His story destroys the U.S. government's case against whistleblower Bradley Manning, exposes the toxic mix of fraud and incompetence that creates U.S. war policies, and highlights the damage so often done to soldiers who come home without visible injuries. Read more

COMMENTARY: Our Monster

In the Republican presidential debate on November 12 focusing upon issues of foreign policy, former U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, speaking of Iran’s efforts to obtain nuclear capability, said, “We should be working with Israel right now to do what they did in Syria, what they did in Iraq, which is to take out that nuclear capability before the next explosion we hear in Iran is a nuclear one, and then the world changes.”
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A Dad’s Point-of-View: Everybody Hurts

I took today’s column title from the very great REM song, Everybody Hurts. I also happen to love The Corrs’ version of it as well. The lyrics are incredibly deep for a rock ‘n’ roll song, though I’m not sure that REM can be so simply classified in a music genre. Regardless, these lyrics are important and touched me the other day as I was walking and thinking. I do some of my best thinking when I walk around a small lake near our home.

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OP-ED: Top 5 Reasons Dick Cheney Won't Speak in Charlottesville VA This Week

Number 5. When John Yoo came here, he got a good rowdy rule-of-law unwelcome, which no doubt made the Miller Center hesitate to promise Cheney a room free of decent human beings. Read more

PARALLEL UNIVERSE: College Students in Merced, CA Rent Underwater McMansions, Saving Money, Annoying Neighbors

If California didn't exist, somebody would have to invent it -- it's that different from most other places. I speak from experience living there from 1976 to 1992 -- most of that time spent covering real estate at the Los Angeles Times.   Read more

OP-ED: Nobody Did it Better

I had my radio on this morning, and without realizing it, a huge smile drew a half-moon across my face.  Suddenly I started to croon along with Carly Simon: Read more

COMMENTARY: Social Psychosis and Collective Sanity

We know from the sad experience of Nazi Germany or Khmer Rouge Cambodia that it is possible for whole nations to become mentally ill, with horrendous consequences. At the time, however, the Nazis or the Khmers had no idea that they were deeply out of touch with the reality that all people are equally worthy of respect and care.

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