The Citizen Online staff_blogs

A very strange request

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:59:15 -0500

Well it’s happened again. The Wife has left me. For those who are regular readers of this column, the news may come as a surprise. Others may be wondering why it has taken so long for her to come to her senses.

Santa Claus, USMC

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:58:32 -0500

What does Santa Claus look like? He may just look like a United States Marine. In 1947, according to the national Toys for Tots website, when Major Bill Hendricks, USMCR, and a group of Marine Reservists in Los Angeles collected and distributed 5,000 toys to needy children, Toys for Tots was born. The idea came from Bill’s wife, Diane.

Bowing to “world opinion”

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:57:33 -0500

In the string of amazing decisions made during the first year of the Obama administration, nothing seems more like sheer insanity than the decision to try foreign terrorists, who have committed acts of war against the United States, in federal court, as if they were American citizens accused of crimes.

Constitutional contempt

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:56:20 -0500

At Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s Oct. 29 press conference, a CNS News reporter asked, “Madam Speaker, where specifically does the Constitution grant Congress the authority to enact an individual health insurance mandate?”

Obama’s healthcare plan not out of the woods yet

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:55:46 -0500

Joseph Stubbs, president of the American College of Physicians — the second largest doctors’ group in the country — confirms that “the supply of doctors just won’t be there” for the 30 million new patients Barack Obama wants to cover.

The coming of Caesar

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:10:49 -0500

We have a problem. This could be “the big one” — bigger than coping with the Ahmadinejads, Kims, and Chavezes of the world and bigger than our current economic woes. Our republic, our society, may be heading for a crackup. We are bankrupt, both financially and politically.

Banks prey on young and old

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:09:56 -0500

Big bank predatory lending practices that played a major part in causing the current financial crisis have been widely publicized.

Mouth soap for Chance, Ramsey; Plunkett flees her votes

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:09:16 -0500

Art Linkletter coined the phrase, “Kids say the darndest things.” To borrow from Mr. Linkletter, politicians also say the darndest things.

Don’t wink at Queen

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:08:35 -0500

In Belfast, in the stunningly gorgeous building dedicated by Prince Edward in 1932 (he who abdicated), where the Northern Ireland Assembly convenes, I learned why I can never be president of the United States.

Saints we’re not, but ...

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:58:15 -0500

Our world prizes perfection and we come to expect it. We expect it of others, and we expect it of ourselves. We strive for it and fall short and that often gets us demoralized, making us think that we’re somehow inadequate. We’re all too aware of our shortcomings, our mistakes, our past failures.

What emergency?

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 14:31:11 -0500

The cruise ship Noordam we boarded last summer cost a small fortune, but that’s why I write. Dave takes responsibility for keeping the house intact, paying for prescriptions and groceries, and for vehicular maintenance. My meager wages go into an account labeled “Fun.”

Once, I knew everything

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:32:57 -0500

When I was a young pastor, 24 or 25 years old, my denominational supervisor offered me a book on theology by Karl Barth. I declined his gift and said that I didn’t need it.

The healthcare disaster in Canada

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:31:55 -0500

After more than a decade of public healthcare with mandatory coverage, so many Canadian doctors have left the practice and so many young people have entered other fields that Canada ranks 26th of 28 developed nations in its ratio of physicians to population. Once, Canada ranked among the leaders in the number of physicians — but that was before government healthcare drove doctors out of the practice in droves.

Minced turkey for Thanksgiving

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:29:35 -0500

The early morning sun streamed through the bedroom window blinds, warming my face. A slight breeze slipped past the cracked window and tickled my neck, trying to awaken me.

E. Pluribus Diversity?

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:18:08 -0500

Government and military officials have issued statements since last week’s shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas that have nothing to do with the reality of what occurred, what is occurring and what our enemies would still like to have occur all over the United States.