Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
Serving proudly since 1873 as the beautiful Nebraska Panhandle's first newspaper
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During the Viet Nam war era the hippies, peaceniks and other radical liberals were advising young men of draft age to avoid the draft in any way possible. Self-inflicted injuries, leaving the country for Canada and other foreign countries, and simply refusing to go, were advocated. More than one draft dodger moved to Canada, which may account for the mess it is in now. After graduating high school I enrolled at the University of Alaska. My plan was to take a year or two getting the liberal arts...
Thanks to my dad I became something I never thought I would be – a student of history. History was boring with no practical application in our fast changing, technically oriented world. Then I came across some pictures of my dad in uniform and the ship he served on during WWII – the USS Portland, a heavy cruiser that saw action at Midway, Guadalcanal, and other big battles in WWII in the Pacific. I asked him why he enlisted in the Navy instead of waiting to be drafted. He replied, “I wante...
Below is a poem I wrote about 15 years ago. I saw then that some of what has hit this country in the last few years was already in the works. I never thought the poem would be such a correct prediction of the way things are now. Titled “Code of the Rest,” it provides what I believe to be a fair comparison between the radical socialist left and the moderate conservative right. Forget the Code of the West, the Code of the Rest is best. Honor is out, we compromise. Morality is out, we surmise. Eve...
Humans tend to have a rather bad trait that often raises its nasty head. Shortly after God created the human race certain members of this new creation determined that they were better than anyone else and therefore the power to rule over one and all was theirs, and theirs alone. Even before the tower of Babel some people were attempting to gain power over others. This tendency has continued throughout history unto today. Kingships and dictatorships, regardless of the title, they all establish co...
She’s a real lady and for as long as men have gone to the sea, they continue to fall in love with her. For quite a number of men she was their first love. She is built. I mean really built! Her pictures grace a thousand museums and thousands of guys’ fondest memories are filled with the times they’ve spent with her. She can be a real tough cookie when she has to be, and still give a man a safe home and a warm bed. She can be fast, and men love fast women. She can be a lot of things to diffe...
Allow me to tell a wee bit about the one person I feel was the biggest man in the world. Big, large, great, grand, impressive, distinguished, striking, and exceptional are used to describe people we esteem. From my perspective I can truthfully say that I knew the biggest man in the world. He stood taller than any other regardless of the means of measurement. To me he was the strongest, wisest and gentlest of men. There was none more trustworthy, honest or courageous than this man. When it came t...
After watching evening news commentators from both sides of the fence, I’ve concluded that few, if any of them really know what kind of national governmental system we have in this country. Far worse than that is the seeming lack of knowledge by our nation’s elected officials. Or, it might be a deliberate distortion of the truth by the liberal media and ignorance on the minimally conservative media. In truth I think the last sentence is most accurate. In order to give you a better und...
We are hearing a lot these days from a certain boisterous and routinely violent segment of our nation about how privileged a certain portion of us are. These claims of privilege are based strictly on the color of one’s skin. Excuse me, but isn’t that being racist? I don’t know about you, but it sure would have been nice to have been born into a privileged family! My parents were survivors of the Great Depression and both of their families were poor, and I mean poor, having little with which...
Sorry folks, I wish I could write numerous articles full of laughter and fun, but I can’t. After watching the evening news and comparing the way various news channels handle reporting the same event I usually end up shaking my head in sorrow. One gives a positive spin on everything that is wrong while another spins the good as something bad. The national news networks seem to have become aligned with one or the other major political movements. And another tries to hold the other major networks t...
During the 1960’s Barry McGuire sang a rather bleak soul-shaking song called the Eve of Destruction. In it he lists various reasons why he believed the world was on the brink of destruction. Among the reasons he listed were such things that was (and still is) going on in the Middle East, the threat of nuclear war, the hate in Red China, and the general increase of violence in the U.S. and the world in general. Most of my generation was relatively familiar with the song as virtually every r...
Our country’s collective memory appears to be seriously flawed, so I’m going to take this opportunity to remind us of a couple of very important facts. The following seems to have been either overlooked or deliberately removed from much of our nation’s educational system. Either way these two quotations should be bright beacons illuminating the seriously misconstrued (outright lying) of the socialistic left wing organizations in America. In 1815, President James Madison proclaimed, “No people...
Yes, sir! I was a real privileged young Caucasian. I was able to experience things that the vast majority of today’s youngsters never will. It was late fall in 1956 when the Sunderland family pulled up to a 3-room shack on the edge of boomtown Fairbanks, Alaska. Fairbanks grew during WW2 from a dirty little town serving the area’s trappers, and miners. (The movie “Ice Palace” was the knick-name of the Northrop Building in Fairbanks.) Now it was a dirty larger town serving 3 military bases. Most...
There is no shadow of a doubt in my mind that President Joe Biden should be impeached as a result of the mishandling of the Afghanistan withdrawal. He and his top dogs in the cabinet are trying to shrug it off. He has tried to shift attention away from himself and his administration by pointing fingers at former President Trump and his administration. That and any other excuses that may be presented just won’t fly. As President, Biden is the Supreme Commander. Period. The buck stops with him. I...
These days a certain segment in our political arena is hell bent on centralizing more and more power into the federal government. They are using end runs hoping the common citizen does not see it. Misrepresentation of their agenda is also used to prevent the real purpose of their legislation being discovered. The radical left is relying on a few things in order to blind side the mass of Americans: a left leaning news media that routinely skews the news in one direction, an internet controlled...
I’ve held off as long I could before writing this article, and I will not apologize. For the second time in my life I feel ashamed of my nation’s government, both Democrat and Republican, and I will not apologize. The craven act of cowardice by our federal government in surrendering Afghanistan to the Taliban terrorist organization is, without a doubt, the blackest and most shameful act of our country’s central government. We were not defeated on the field of battle. We were not over born at th...
Some folks have asked me why I write what I do. What is the bedrock upon which I have formulated my beliefs, attitudes and behavior? First here is my definition of ethics: they are the rules and standards I use in governing my attitudes and conduct in all situations and places. Being a Christian, the bedrock foundation of these rules and standards are Biblically based as much as a faulty human such as myself can understand and follow. My personal code of ethics has developed over a long period...
The scene begins with me walking down the hall of Monroe High School, Fairbanks, Alaska. The time: my freshman year at school day’s end, around the end of the first quarter. As I leave the classroom someone grabs my armful of schoolbooks, knocks me down and flees down the hallway towards the exit. After getting to my feet I got a good look at the culprit – he was someone with whom I had problems with his bullying me in the past. That day things would change permanently. Prior to that day I had s...
Warning: Much of the following is capable of generating anger, frustration, nervousness, hot and cold sweats, and other adverse reactions to those of the left-leaning liberal political persuasion. To everyone else you may die laughing. Read on at your discretion. As stated in the previous Murphy’s Laws of Government & Politics #1, the quoted laws are from a lifetime collection of Murphy’s Laws I’ve acquired from numerous sources over several decades. Below are a few more of the laws from my co...
Warning: Much of the following is capable of generating anger, frustration, nervousness, hot and cold sweats, and other adverse reactions to those of the left-leaning liberal political persuasion. To everyone else you may die laughing. Read on at your own discretion. Much to my wife’s vexation I tend to be a collector of oddities. Among them I’ve amassed a rather large collection of Murphy’s Laws and other witticisms. Browsing through them recently I found several that are really appro...
In colonial America you were an Englishman, or you were not. The common claim was that an Englishman was an Englishman no matter where he stood in the world. The colonists increasingly took this to mean that they were equal in status and rights to any other English subject. British people of the upper classes viewed that idea with some distaste and were often offended when approached with familiarity by a colonial American. Most Americans thought that British attitudes about class and title...
In my high school days I was honored to receive invitations to speak at the many local and area civic organizations' meetings. This is part 2 of a speech I delivered to the Fairbanks Rotary Club just prior to Independence Day, 1965. Many of the things I said then still apply today, and all of it is important to recall at all times. This was a pretty gutsy thing for a teen to be saying to a roomful of adults. The real purpose, the real reason for Independence Day is to honor the 56 men who...
In my high school days, as a result of our debate team’s outstanding record, and other things, I was honored to receive invitations to speak at the Kiwanis Club, the Alaska Medical Association, the State Republican Convention, among many. I also appeared once on the local Fairbanks television station, and did a couple of shows on the local radio station. Immediately following this introduction is a speech I delivered to the Fairbanks Rotary Club just prior to Independence Day, 1965. Many of the...
“An informed patriotism is what we want… So, we’ve got to teach history based not on what’s in fashion but what’s important: Why the Pilgrims came here, who Jimmy Doolittle was, and what those 30 seconds over Tokyo meant… If we forget what we did, we won’t know who we are.” Ronald Reagan, Farewell Address to the Nation, Oval Office, Jan. 11, 1989 Patriotism is frequently scorned and scoffed at as being out-of-date, the refuge of the ignorant and violent, and the cause of war. Nothing could b...
I have a confession to make. I dodged the draft during the Viet Nam war era. It was easy to do. All I had to do was call up the Navy recruiter in Anchorage, AK and say, “I want to enlist in the Navy.” A short time later I was safe from the Army, and in Navy boot camp at San Diego, CA. Five years later I received a medical discharge and joined the ranks of those who are proud to have served our great Nation, the United States of America. The Navy taught me a great many things that I have fou...
“56% of Americans in 2021 have a “great deal of trust and confidence” on the military, down from 70% in 2018. 33% of Americans in 2021 have “a great deal of trust and confidence” in public health officials. 21% of Americans in 2021 have “a great deal of trust and confidence” in public educations. 10% of Americans in 2021 have “a great deal of trust and confidence” in Congress.” (Source: Ronald Reagan Institute, reported in the June 2021 issue of The American Legion magazine.) When I r...
