Opinion
'Gender' balancing act
Today I feel like we entered a new era.
Thanks to the folks that create our laws,the city of Vinton now has to follow what I think is the most insulting law...the one REQUIRING that every team pick a girl! Well in grown up terms, they are requiring "gender balance" on things like the Board of Adjustment. see story The same applies on the county level.
Beware the danger of allergy-related grumpinesss
I can tell you exactly when I became a critic of television news.
I can't tell you exactly what year, (sometime around 1975) but I can tell you what month, and what week of that month that it happened. It was the third week of August.
"Be careful out there," said the TV man.
On my day off...
...I went to my Great Aunt Ruth's funeral.
She lived in the metropolis of Marathon. A 3 hour drive away.
I'm a wimp.
After an hour my brother-in-law with started hearing, "Are we there yet?" "I'm thirsty!" "Can we stop, I need a bathroom..." "What's this button do?" "Turn the music up/off/down/on" "This seat is uncomfortable" "I'm bored. Pastor's Blog - DEATH -- NO!
DEATH -- NO!
Romans 8:31-39
Some of my church folks and I were standing around talking at a wedding reception. In a year that seemed to be centered around death, it was good to be present at an event that marked a new beginning, that celebrated life. One of the guys is a farmer, and I asked if I could come help during calving time. The 'first', 'best' and 'only' in the age of Internet-first news
"How did they write that story?"
"Where did they get that information?"
"To whom did they speak?"
"What sources did they use?"
Long before I became a journalist, I was asking those questions, especially when reading a long or complex story.
Understanding that far away look
I often used to find my mother sitting outside on her swing.
It was a sturdy white swing that hung from the tree just outside the back door of the house.
Whenever mom was missing in action, you could find her there, her black hair blowing in the wind and that distant look in her eyes.
As a youth,I wondered how a person could spend that much time just sitting.
IRS: 2 + 1 = 4
I am, I guess, perhaps the only American who goes to the mailbox every day, hoping for a letter from the IRS.
I hope that this time, the IRS employee who writes me knows that 2 + 2 = 4.
It's my fault, really. I claimed 4 children, instead of three, on my 2009 tax return, forgetting that the fourth one was on his own and shouldn't have been listed on my tax return.
Tweets from Walden Pond
Anyone who lives in this world where the number of phones in America (cell phones and land lines outnumbers actual Americans by a 5:3 ratio can understand Nate's statement.
"Society is commonly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other.
It's time to make 'truth in advertising' laws apply to politicians, too
If the Federal Trade Commission really wanted to protect Americans from the harmful effects of false advertisements, it would start with Congress and the White House.
Instead, it prefers to punish the makers of my allergy medicine.
Every August, misery comes to me in the form of hay fever.
The Fright before Publishing
Twas an hour before publishing, and all through the house
All the creatures were stirring, maybe even a mouse.
The Veggie Tales playing in the player so dear,
In hopes that the Sand Man soon might appear.
The children were nestled all snug on the rug,
With visions of Bob and Larry and some thugs,
And mamma and pappa on computers at desks,
Had just settled our brains for a long morning's task.