Columns – Page 225

The Muck Starts Here: Brits search for answers 12 years late

September 6, 2015

It has been six years since British Prime Minister Gordon Brown asked civil servant Sir John Chilcot to conduct an investigation into how Britain was led to join us in the Bush/Cheney Iraq oil-prospecting adventure of 2003. Loud demands for some results of Chilcot's investigation have been sounding since day...

Yes It Is It’s True: What should we do with sick predators of children?

September 4, 2015

I watched the 1998 film “Happiness,” which won a lot of acclaim in Europe, but got a cold reception in America. The reason was obvious — the film took up an issue most of us don’t want to talk about — pedophilia. One of the main characters was a classic...

Columns

Army Bob: Let’s have open, simple, less bureaucratic government

September 4, 2015

by Robert M. Traxler I received one of those chain emails, you know the ones with the please forward on the bottom. One of the points in the email was that the military is being cut in size, pay and benefits (health care co-pays have increased and funding for housing...

Democracy Tree: It’s time to shut down the Enbridge pipeline

September 3, 2015

“Water is the blood of our Earth Mother.” – Cecil Pavlat of the Sault Tribe of Chippewa Indians by Amy Kerr Hardin For all those kayaktivists and walkers who are attending the upcoming Pipe Out Paddle Protest and Walk rally at the Straits of Mackinac this Sunday and Monday, and those...

Ranger Rick: About real and imagined gas vapors, and hype

September 1, 2015

The recent BP (the hated British Petroleum of Gulf of Mexico oil spill fame) gas refinery breakdown in Indiana caused a spike in gas prices – pushing gas to high $2 range. I noticed many questions were asked when the announcement came out of the breakdown and we were told...

Monday Moanin: About testing — ‘I don’t know, you tell me’

August 30, 2015

By Jeff Salisbury JeffreyLSalisbury@gmail.com Following the recent release of test-taker data for the state’s 2015 high school grads by American College Test and the State of Michigan, those who follow such things like me learned that composite test scores continued to hover around 20.0 dating back to 2011. The latest...

The Muck Starts Here: Falling stars and kind words for a great man

August 30, 2015

by Barry Hastings It does my heart good to see South Carolina's "military expert" and racist U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham facing ignominious withdrawal from the GOP primacy races. I could have told him several years ago, "No one is going to trust your claims to be a 'military expert' any...

Yes It Is, It’s True: Excoriated for singing ‘God Bless America’ at GVSU

August 29, 2015

EDITOR’S NOTE: The following is an excerpt from the unpublished book, “Breadcrusts,” co-written by James G. Wasserman and David T. Young. It recounts the events of Jan. 22, 1969, at the Grand Valley State College Winter Festival talent show: The 4Qs strike again GVSC's annual winter carnival was approaching, and...

Democracy Tree: Mackinac Center fails at ‘research goal’

August 29, 2015

by Amy Kerr Hardin Michigan is rife with right-wing gaffes this summer. As if the Courser/Gamrat affair weren’t enough to entertain the electorate, we also have the anticipated perennial dose of BS from the “research” organization, the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, to amuse us — with apologies though, it...

Columns

Army Bob: Hillary presents herself as interesting, but flawed candidate

August 28, 2015

by Robert M. Traxler Given that there is an Infantry rifle squad plus of candidates for the Republican nomination for president, most of us who are staunch Republicans have a favorite or five. The rather large field features a wide variety of experience, education and skills, making it difficult to...

Category: Columns