Gadfly

The times they are a-changin’

November 9th, 2016

Our Nobel Prize winner for literature recognizes change

I have to write this column a day before the election in order to make a publishing date, so it will be interesting on November 10 to see whether Americans voted for “change” or not. Both politicians were running to make changes in our society, believe it or not.

Republicans wanted to go back to a time before same-sex marriages, Rose v. Wade, affirmative action, income tax, ObamaCare, Social Security, OSHA, EPA, FDA, Brown v.…

The Book of Revelation and the 2016 election

November 2nd, 2016

The four major elements in this election

The last book of the New Testament of the Bible, called the Book of Revelation, describes the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the messengers bringing a vision of the Last Judgment. The white horse brings conquest and pestilence, the red horse brings war, the black horse brings famine, and the pale horse brings death.

There are other interpretations, one being a description of the decline of the Roman Empire. Theologians over the centuries have…

Money and religion: it’s a mighty big needle

October 26th, 2016

A reversal of the evolutionary chart?

There are several published charts by scientists that illustrate how the human has progressed from green swamp slime to ruler of the planet. A popular one shows 15 characters from monkeys to gorillas, to apes, to orangutans, to chimps, to knuckle-dragging Neanderthals, and finally to human beings developing over the last 25 million years.

The chart seems to show some progress over time. However, the 2016 election clearly indicates we are beginning to…

Apartheid and pot

October 19th, 2016

The good, the bad, and the really ugly

The headline might suggest this column is all about the 2016 presidential and Congressional election. Most of it is, but there are some good things happening in this country, although the election campaigns concentrate on emphasizing the bad and the really ugly.

As an end result, our only hope is that the election will provide a moral test of government that is centuries old: “The moral test of government is how that government treats those who…

Religion and elections

October 12th, 2016

fargogadfly@gmail.com

Whatever happened to the Christian religion?

On Sunday, October 2, our prayer of the day at Cormorant Lutheran Church was: “Benevolent, merciful God: When we are empty, fill us. When we are weak in faith, strengthen us. When we are cold in love, warm us, that with fervor we may love our neighbors and serve them for the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.”

Presidential election polls show that eight of ten white evangelical voters are…

How many splinters in your banister of life?

October 5th, 2016

A country divided by money and colors

As an old wood butcher I have discovered splinters sometimes run in the wrong direction. There’s an old Irish greeting that can bring reality to life itself: “As you slide down the banister of life, may the splinters never point in the wrong direction.” Sometimes it’s too late to stop sliding. In the richest country in the world one would think all banisters might be smooth, slippery, and splinter-proof.

Minimum-wage cafeteria worker Stacy…

Climate change is for real!

September 28th, 2016

Our climate is going down the toilet—a solid gold one

In late August the International Geological Congress meeting in Capetown, South Africa received a recommendation from a world-renown group of scientific experts that the world has entered a new geological epoch because of human impact on Planet Earth.

The experts say we passed through the Holocene Epoch, that had lasted 12,000 years, in about 1950 because of nuclear bomb tests, plastic pollution, heavy soot from coal power stations,…

There’s nothing wrong with education—except financial support

September 21st, 2016

Teaching history, grading papers—and driving for Uber

The national media is in a survey mode, trying to make additional bucks from all that political money loosed by the Republican Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United.

The media comes up with “exciting” breaking political news every hour of the day from polls, controversy about she-said vs. he-said on the campaign trail, “lies” on Twitter, Instagram, and all those other “social” networks. It’s great for the…

A collection of stuff

September 14th, 2016

Potpourri

Every once in awhile over the years I have written a column, a potpourri of unconnected, incongruous comments based on items in a little folder I keep. I hope they are interesting—and that they make a point.

1. About 25 states have accepted or are proposing to legalize the use of medical or recreational marijuana—or both.

I have often written that it was primarily impossible to keep people from inhaling, ingesting, or using various equipment from bongs to syringes to get drugs…

Income inequality, wars, and $400,000 helmets

September 7th, 2016

Will we ever get our priorities straight?

The Pilgrims of the Massachusetts Bay Colony were the first Americans to pledge support of wounded war veterans after members of their “militia” were killed and wounded during the massacre of native Pequots in 1636. Caring for our veterans after 400 years of war has now become a trillion-dollar business.

In addition to all of the costs of my training, and support for active and reserve duty for eight years in the Marine Corps, I have used the…