By  Rose Pedenko  My father passed away in December of 2007 at the ripe old age of 104, just two months shy of his 105th birthday.  To the last year of his life, he swore that Vick’s VapoRub was a cure-all for everything that ailed him.  Who am I to argue, after all, he died of old age.  It got me to thinking that the English language was very much like Vick’s VapoRub in our family and that it is likely the answer to much of what ails America today... Read Full Story

  By Richard Boren Once upon a time, tens of thousands of years ago, there lived in Europe two classes of primates. Although we don’t know what they called themselves, today we refer to them as the Cro-Magnons and the Neanderthals. Although the two groups didn’t live together, their members would occasionally encounter one another in the forest. One day a young Neanderthal named Fil (pronounced “feel”) ran into an older Cro-Magnon named Thnk (pronounced “t... Read Full Story

  by Lance Thompson An Open Letter to California Senator Barbara Boxer: Dear Senator Boxer, There has been much public discussion about your comments to General Michael Walsh of the Army Corps of Engineers when he testified before your Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works last week. You interrupted General Walsh while he was answering–by all accounts courteously–your question to him about repairing levees damaged by Hurricane Katrina. Senator, you interrupted th... Read Full Story

PLEASE BEAR WITH US, SITE UNDERGOING RECONSTRUCTION.  THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE. Read Full Story

By Rose Pedenko and Tanya Simon   The United States of America was once the welcoming haven for all who wished to escape persecution and oppression. But 2009 will go down in history as the beginning of the end of the “Land of the Free” and supplanted by the “Land of Indentured Government Servants” and “Home of the Brave” by “Home of an Embittered Military.”   With a proposed imposition of a “value-added tax,” or “VAT... Read Full Story

by  Lance Thompson The contributions of actors named Carradine to the motion picture art have been many and significant.  Thus I was sorry to learn of the death of David Carradine.  I am a great fan of John Carradine, veteran of hundreds of films and a John Ford regular.  Two of my favorite films feature indelible performances by Carradine–the gambler Hatfield in Stagecoach and Casy the preacher in The Grapes of Wrath.  His list of credits on imdb.com scrolls o... Read Full Story

by  Lance Thompson   I’ve been having trouble coming up with a column lately, and certainly not because there are fewer official decisions to object to.  Rather, I find it difficult to express my objections to current administration policy with the existing vocabulary, without veering into invective.  Therefore, I decided to make up a few of my own terms to deal with the issues before us. For example, how does one describe an administration that seems completel... Read Full Story

By Rose Pedenko and Tanya Simon Over forty years ago, Baby Boomers were encouraged to experiment with drugs (smoke it, snort it, pop it, shoot it) as part of embracing the cultural changes, the culture clashes, and the “cultural revolution.”  The idea was to detach from the existing conventions and societal hierarchies. The merits, as well as the excesses, of that era continue to evoke strong emotions, often in the form of nostalgia or regret, and perpetuated through film an... Read Full Story

by  Lance Thompson Many people I respect believe that conservatives cannot appeal to a majority of voters simply by saying “no” to the socialist agenda now guiding our government.  They say we must have an alternate positive plan, rather than simply obstructing the rush to totalitarianism.  I disagree. A train headed for a washed-out bridge benefits immensely from anything that safely halts its headlong rush toward destruction.  If the passengers realize the d... Read Full Story

by  Lance Thompson I never thought much about religion, until they started taking it away. No prayers at graduation ceremonies or before the football game.  Remove the Ten Commandments from the courthouse and public square.  Excise the cross from the city seal.  Banish “under God” from the Pledge of Allegiance. I read about the teacher who was advised not to mention her religion at school.  Later she was asked to sign a petition that she would not teach r... Read Full Story