Columns

Time to Defund the United Nations

Published on Wed, 12/27/2017 - 4:43pm

Last week, Democrats and many in the mainstream media became highly perturbed by the Trump administration's suggestion that the United States might tie continued foreign aid to support for its agenda abroad. Foreign dictators agreed. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who spent the last year arresting dissidents, announced, "Mr. Trump, you cannot buy Turkey's democratic free will with your dollars, our decision is clear."  

Resolutions and Predictions

Published on Tue, 12/26/2017 - 3:44pm

The calendar reminds us that it's that special time of the year to make reckless predictions and fleeting resolutions. So let us do a little of both.

Don’t be a Scrooge on dessert toppings

Published on Thu, 12/21/2017 - 9:06am

Most of the world’s problems this time of year can be traced to not enough sticky on sticky buns.

IN-HOUSE
Dwight Harriman
Enterprise News Editor

 

Introspection needed on Wilderness Study Areas

Published on Wed, 12/20/2017 - 2:22pm

We preserve wild land because of its aesthetic value, its beauty and its evocation of the sublime. These are human values apart from any biological or economic considerations. We preserve the wild because it is greater than us, because — no matter how fine the gifts culture brings — wilderness gives us a way beyond culture’s limitations.  

We preserve wilderness for its awe! 

Alabama Was a Win, and Not Just for Democrats

Published on Thu, 12/14/2017 - 9:09am

The Democratic conquest of a senate seat in Alabama produced a lot of winners other than the victor himself, Doug Jones. Many were Republicans, including some who voted for the inexplicable Roy Moore.

The obvious celebrants, of course, are Democrats. For them, it wasn't all dumb luck. The state party had a strong candidate in place even when the race seemed a long shot. (There's a lesson there for Democrats in all 50 states.) Democrats also had the good sense to discourage an invasion by out-of-state liberals 'splaining what's what to the locals.

Bluebunch Flats a new era for old hospital

Published on Wed, 12/13/2017 - 4:13pm

The New Year is approaching, marking the end of a period time and the start of another. This cycle allows us to reflect on times and people gone by and lets us dream of what’s possible. The former Livingston Memorial Hospital at 13th and Crawford will cycle too. For decades, that building housed joy and pain and took in many people for a path to better health. Now it will help people live healthy lives differently, by being home to 34 apartments that residents of Livingston can afford.

Francisco Franco and the 2018 Republicans

Published on Mon, 12/11/2017 - 12:50pm

To understand the discouraging plight for Republicans heading into the 2018 midterm elections, it might help to recall a joke popular in Spain in 1975, when Generalissimo Francisco Franco, that nation's long-ruling and ruthless dictator, lingered for endless weeks on his deathbed.

Alejandro: "There is good news, and there is bad news."

Carlos: "Tell me the good news first, and then tell me the bad news."

Alejandro: "The good news is that Franco is dead. The bad news is that you have to tell him."

Faith over facts; politics over policy

Published on Mon, 12/04/2017 - 2:22pm

The Republican Party is in the DC driver’s seat, having majorities in both House and Senate, along with having the Presidency, with all of its institutional strength, and the Vice President to break tie votes in the Senate. 

Is Trump Making You Sick?

Published on Wed, 11/29/2017 - 2:58pm

I tried not to roll my eyes when an acquaintance, a woman I respect for her professional accomplishments, told me she thought Donald Trump had caused her cancer. "You know, the connection between stress and cancer," she said. I know. But was she really so stressed about Donald Trump that she got cancer? 

Thankful for Property

Published on Wed, 11/22/2017 - 12:37pm

Ready for Thanksgiving? Before you eat that turkey, I hope you think about why America has turkeys for you to eat. Most people don't know.

Everyone's heard about that first Thanksgiving feast -- Pilgrims and Indians sharing the harvest. We like the drawings of it we saw in schoolbooks -- shared bounty.

Fewer people know that before that first feast, the Pilgrims nearly starved.

They almost starved because they acted the way some Bernie Sanders fans want people to act. They farmed collectively.