Gadfly

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…

Who would believe it? Michele Bachmann or an African gray parrot?

August 31st, 2016

It’s getting to be a real bizarre world out there

We have The Donald, once a classic psychopathic Democratic ass who is now running for president of 325 million people as a crazy psychopathic Republican elephant. He likes his name in twenty-foot high gold letters on everything.

We have former Minnesota Representative Michele Bachmann, a religious Dominionist nutcase who believes Barack Obama is the Antichrist, who says he will lead all of us to the Christian Rapture in which the saved…

DNA, transplants, and modern science

August 24th, 2016

“He’s got a good head on his shoulders” may have an entirely new meaning

They have done it to mice, rats, and dogs. Humans could be next. About 220 years ago Queen Marie Antoinette of France, famous for her sarcastic “Let them eat cake!” lost her head to the guillotine when the executioner pronounced, “Off with her head!”

Perhaps soon a French doctor will order, “Off with her head!” and then carry it to another operating table so it can be transplanted to a fresh,…

When will the door of mercy open to gays?

August 17th, 2016

When will Christians recognize the science of genetics?

When some Fargo Catholics walked the seven-mile pilgrimage last week from the “holy door of mercy” on the Sts. Anne & Joachim Church to the “holy door of mercy” of St Mary’s Cathedral, I wonder if they thought of members of the LGBTQ community passing through those holy doors without prejudice, without labels of being “intrinsically evil,” but with the complete “religious freedom” from the Vatican to pass freely…

Don’t put your head underwater

August 10th, 2016

It’s time to dump the poisoned Olympics into Rio’s cesspool

First it was politics. Then it was money. After that, more propaganda. Now it’s the ugly combination of politics, propaganda, and money.

In the ancient Olympic Games, athletic participation was so pure and honorable that a truce was called, so spectators and athletes could travel in safety to the game sites through wars. The winner got a chariot ride home through the gate or breach in his city’s walls. The winner was…

For the common good?

August 3rd, 2016

The era of cutthroat hyper-capitalism

We have been down this rock-strewn pathway before. It happens about every three generations because humans have short attention spans, and those who forget history usually repeat it.

Capitalism works for everybody only with the condition that we have social mobility--which can only be achieved through education. Everybody has to have a shot at the “good life” by having access to a good education. We now have had about three decades of crony,…

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