by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- If you are still having a hard time with your choice for a presidential candidate I've designed a flawless formula that makes this presidential election much easier. I share it with you hoping it will relieve your political agony as it has mine.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- The meaning of "ill-gotten gains" is something I've understood well for a very long time. It came to me again last night when I saw a preview of a new television program called "Nothing but the Truth."

by Walter Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Listen to conservative talk show pundits and blowhards. Listen to any of the political candidates who proudly amend their names with the phrase "conservative Republican."

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's been overshadowed by the media hysteria over the fall of New York Gov. Elliot Spitzer and the fuss over Barack Obama's pastor, but the resignation of Navy Adm. William Fallon, the top American military commander in the Middle East, is a possible harbinger of bad things to come.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Where's the through line?

by Loretta Napoleoni

LONDON -- The collapse of Carlyle Capital and the $2-a-share buyout by JPMorgan Chase of Bear Stearns Cos. may go down in history as the key events signaling the end of the "roaring '90s", which have lasted into the 21st Century.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- It just doesn't do to break the rules, especially when you're an elected office holder.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- They call it Daylight Savings Time, but how can you call it "saved" if you find it at the end of one day and lose it at the beginning of the next?

by Sen. Barack Obama

"We the people, in order to form a more perfect union."

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, March 17, 2008, 4:40AM ET - A few hours from now, the U.S. stock markets will open and a historic day will unfold.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Next week is the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And it is likely that sometime in the next couple of weeks, the 4,000th American soldier will die in Iraq.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. - It's 1931, and a 14-year-old girl is standing alone on a stage. She's small and lively with dark curly hair, widespread hazel eyes, slender wrists and an open, eager face filled with the wonder of performing. Her name is Rose, and one day she will be my mother. But now she is performing an Eugene O'Neill monologue called "Before Breakfast" for a ladies' club in a wealthy suburb of Long Island.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I'm not sure but I think I may be socially incorrect.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Last week, the National Governors Assn. met in Washington, D.C. One of the tasks the NGA had on its agenda was to ask President Bush to increase federal spending on roads, bridges and other public works projects as a way to stimulate the economy. He rejected their pleas out of hand, claiming that infrastructure projects wouldn't offer any short-term economic boost.

by Walter Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Shortly before the primary votes this past week, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter called Sen. Barack Obama's surge to the Democratic nomination "inevitable." It also called for Hillary Clinton to "start her campaign for Senate majority leader."

Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Normally, when the cat starts his evening rant of meowing continuously until he makes his point, I just take it as long as I can, pick him up, and put him in the garage for the night. He doesn't want to go, but the meowing stops and I don't care if he likes it or not.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Here we are again at the crossroads of art and social change, having the opportunity to watch good and great films about the lives of women in support of the Women's Crisis Center.

by Jay Bhatti

NEW YORK, March 4, 2008, 7:00PM ET -- With the outcomes of the Texas, Vermont, Ohio and Rhode Island primaries to be decided tonight, how possible is it that online searching can predict who will win tonight's primaries?

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Call me angry and disgusted but don't call me un-American because I won't be voting come November.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- As the days tick down toward the eventual departure of President George W. Bush from the White House, it's a hopeful sign that most Americans are no longer moved by his Administration's constant exploitation of terrorism for political gain.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's a little confusing.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Maybe now, we can finally say the Cold War is over.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Marriage: It's Only Going to Get Worse."

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- When you express an opinion you hope to persuade others to your point of view. It doesn't always happen but still, opinion writers try.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Out there in America - yes, still - is a generation of women who were born in the 1940s, raised in the 1950s, and who came to radical consciousness in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I am one of them. Hillary Clinton is one of them.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I originally planned on voting for Dennis Kucinich in the Vermont Primary on March 4.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla. -- You've heard the warnings, haven't you? Stop Prozac and you may take a shotgun, an Uzi or an AK-47 and mow down your family and friends, or even a whole classroom full of your fellow students. You didn't?

Mark Scheinbaum

PANAMA CITY, Panama, Feb, 15, 2008 -- After just one day of relative calm, wildcat construction strikes by some members of Panama's largest union flared up again Friday morning, four days after a police sniper shot one worker. More than 140 demonstrators have been injured and at least 500 arrested, authorities say.

by Walter Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Walking down Main Street, pushing a grocery cart loaded with clothes, toys, and appliances was Marshbaum. Fastened to the right front corner of the cart was an American flag tied onto a three-foot ruler.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- To commemorate the death of noted shark exploder Roy Scheider, and the "Jaws" movies that resulted in Erik never setting foot in the ocean again, we are reprinting this column from 2003. Shark Experts 0, Sharks 1

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. - As I write this, it's raining ice. Maybe a half a foot of snow and ice has already landed up here in the woods of Dummerston. Our cars are encased in it, and the door to the house is blocked. The satellite dish that brings in our Internet service quit about 20 minutes ago - frozen solid.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 13, 2008 -- Sen. Hillary Clinton has adopted the Rudy Giuliani strategy, and it's working - for Sen. Barack Obama. It turns out to be the strategy all Democrats are seeking - an exit strategy. But it's not for Iraq. It's for her exit from the race for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- A week ago at just about this time, I completed an article and was about to submit it as scheduled to The American Reporter. I was feeling rather elated, ready to show up on Super Tuesday morning, firmly touch the X next to Rudy Giuliani's name and get on with my day. He was my choice; he would get my vote.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 10, 2008 -- The national Sierra Club is set to suspend its Florida chapter after years of divisive infighting, the president of the national club told Florida members in a letter delivered to some this weekend. It is the first time in its 116-year history that such a step has been considered by the club, according to news reports.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- For a little while, the men will just have to toss and turn in their fear-free-women beds. For a small space of time Hillary Clinton will just have to trudge on toward the White House without my faint applause in the background.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- First, Vermont tried to convince the nation to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Kids' brains work in amazing ways. At times, they can grasp complex concepts and make impressive discoveries. Other times, you have to wonder how we ever survived as a species.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Feb. 6, 2008 -- It's not a good time to be a Democrat. As the Super Tuesday results demonstrated, the presidential race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has divided the partly along clear racial, income and gender lines - the very distinctions the party has sought to erase in principle but has emphasized in its pursuit of diversity.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Super Tuesday has come and gone and I still can't get excited about the upcoming presidential elections.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 5. 2008 -- I'm expecting a sea change tonight. I believe that for the first time in this nation's history we will once and forever banish racism as the deciding factor in the destiny of African-Americans, and indeed adopt diversity as our path to the future.

by Ted Manna

DENVER, Feb. 5, 2008 -- Pearl Turner will caucus for Mitt Romney tonight in Denver.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The black vote. The gay vote. The fundamentalist vote. The Hispanic vote.

by Ahmar Mustikhan

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When Gordon Brown this past Monday feted coup-leader-turned-President Pervez Musharraf at 10 Downing Street, Britain's new prime minister probably didn't ask the Pakistani dictator a question that is now on many minds: Did you order the murder of Benazir Bhutto?

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Back when President George W. Bush and Dick Vice President Dick Cheney were building up to their loathsome war in Iraq, very few people were brave enough to call the bullies' bluff.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- In his final State of the Union address on Jan. 28, President Bush cautioned against accelerating U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, saying that it would endanger the process that has been made over the past year.

by Ted Manna

DENVER, Feb. 1, 2008 -- At least four presidential campaigns of both partiers rolled into in Denver this week ahead of the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries in 22 states, but it was the Democratic presidential contenders who drew the big crowds and duked it out Wednesday. If sheer numbers are any indication, Sen. Barack Obama - preceded by a buoyant and beautiful Caroline Kennedy - won the round handily. He is the overwhelming favorite to win the Colorado primary next Tuesday.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 30, 2008 -- I was with my wife and daughter driving the back way from Miami home to Bradenton when we stopped at a McDonald's in Clewiston, the only big town along the vast shore of Lake Okeechobee, the state's precious freshwater reservoir. The McDonald's had three televisions at a central seating area, each tuned to a different network, and our table was in front of CNN as the very first election results started to pour in around 7:30PM. With them, almost as counterpoint, suddenly came such an overwhelming odor of cow plop that my wife started to throw up as we all ran to the parking lot.

by Andreas Harsono

JAKARTA, Jan. 28, 2008 --­ A few minutes after hearing that former president Suharto had died in his hospital bed, Marco, a militia leader in downtown Jakarta, raced to Suhartošs house, wearing his jungle camouflage and began guarding the Suhartosš residence on Cendana Street.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga.. -- It seems to be more often lately that the sentiment is spoken but it's always been out there: "You never get over the death of your child." This is true. But the heartfelt expressions come from some who cannot fathom the notion of losing a child; their own child is who is in their mind, not another mother's child.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Come in. Have some coffee with me.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I hate myself for what I'm about to say: I've been watching Project Runway.

by Ted Manna

DENVER, Jan. 25, 2008 -- "Anyone here from the Police Department, FBI, Homeland Security, Secret Service or any other law enforcement organization?"

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Shag carpets. Avocado-colored appliances. Leisure suits. Cars called the Pinto, the Vega and the Gremlin.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The Wall Street Journal last week had a story about conservative churches ostracizing "sinners" in order to maintain "church discipline." On Sunday, a host of obituaries celebrated the career of pioneering journalist Frances Lewine, 86. Also on Sunday, The New York Times Magazine ran a photo essay on female genital mutilation in Indonesia.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 21, 2008 [Updated 1/22/08, 4:40PM ET]-- Anyone with money in the U.S. stock market has a debt of gratitude due and payable today to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and to the much-criticized members of Congress who supported making his birthday a national holiday that closed banks, schools, government offices and stock markets. For the second time in 14 years, Monday's holiday honoring the assassinated civil rights leader spared Americans what could have been hundreds of billions of dollars in losses.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 21, 2008 -- Can there be a better, more fitting tribute to the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., than a vote cast for Sen. Barack Obama as the next President of the United States?

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- What part, if any, have we, the people, played in the ongoing craziness of one Britney Spears?

by Mark Scheinbaum

ANGEL FIRE, N.M., Jan. 20, 2008 -- Reflecting upon the first few weeks of a new year, one is only certain that a list of imponderables lacks many more things we don't know or can't explain for these American times.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- My wife recently committed the heinous, unpardonable crime of asking me to carry her purse.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The Bush Administration still appears determined to go to war with Iran. By sheer luck, the alleged confrontation between three U.S. Navy warships and five Iranian Revolutionary Guard speedboats in the Straitsof Hormuz on Jan. 6 did not turn into the spark that started a war.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- When America invaded Iraq in 2003, the reports from the front lines were as fascinating as they were revolting.

by Steven Travers

LOS ANGELES -- Yankees manager Ralph Houk had a unique challenge to deal with in 1961. With the expansion of the American League to include the Los Angeles Angels, his New York Yankees faced 7,700-mile road trips. So, prior to an 11-day, 12-game swing to the West Coast, Houk advised his charges prior to the first stop, in Minnesota, not to turn their watches back.

Walter M. Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Add pundits, pollsters, and the press to the list of losers in the New Hampshire primary.

by Ted Manna

DENVER, Jan. 14, 2008 -- The political climate here in the intra-mountain west heated up this week, and it was not global warming or the brilliant Rocky Mountain sunshine.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- She is Woman. Hear her roar. Picked herself up off the floor and stood by her man even though she had sworn previously that she was not a "little Tammy Wynette." Brushed herself off and faced the entire world, humiliated and betrayed.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Yes, it's only Iowa and New Hampshire.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- The 6th Floor waiting room was plush. The wait was interminable but no one was complaining. We were at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla., and John was waiting for a routine annual exam following the normal laboratory tests.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- They say you can't put a price tag on love. That true love is more valuable than money. That money can't buy you happiness.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- When it comes to the writers strike, I have two dogs in this hunt. Maybe three. Or four, if you count my innate love of underdogs.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla. -- When Sen. Hillary Clinton escaped from oblivion last night, did she only delay a later day of reckoning with voters who have tired of her? Frankly, I doubt that things will be ever be as bad for her again.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Have you and I been programmed to think in certain ways? Have we been brainwashed? Is there such a thing as well-intentioned mind control?

by Boye Lafayette De Mente

PHOENIX, Ariz. -- Defining people by their race while virtually ignoring their ethnicity has always been both dumb and dangerous, but now, finally, the importance of understanding cultures is rapidly becoming a new mantra for business leaders, diplomats and politicians.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- It's the first column of the new year, and faithful Make My Day readers know what that means: Lake Superior State University's List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse, and General Uselessness.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla. -- If you were standing here in front of me and asked me how I felt about the outcome of the Iowa Democratic caucus, I probably wouldn't be able to talk.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- A song by Frank Loesser in "Guys and Dolls" called "More I Cannot Wish You" has been running through my mind as the new year takes shape in the snow outside my window.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- This title came up while I was checking sources for what I want to write about. However, it didn't come up as a song, as I had always known it, but as the title of a book written by Gillian Hennessy-Ortega, subtitled "The Success Secrets of a Top Member of the Mary Kay Independent Sales Force." Yawn.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I am very tired of being criticized for having strong opinions on major issues. And of far greater significance, I am extremely tired of males so fearful of a strong woman like Benazir Bhutto (Pakistan's former prime minister) they murder her on a day full of sunshine before the eyes of little children, hopeful Muslim women ... and the world.

by Mark Scheinbaum

ANGEL FIRE, New Mexico, Jan. 3, 2007 -- The major news outlets have spoken, and U.S. and international news consumers now know the "expert" view of the Top 10 News Stories of 2007. But they left out a few dozen major stories.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- In spite of playing a major role in driving up energy costs, driving down housing prices and generally screwing up the American economy, securities firms on Wall Street handed out nearly $38 billion in bonuses last month. According to Bloomberg News, that's a new record for holiday largesse on Wall Street.

by Saleem Khan

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- The violent death of Benazir Bhutto on Dec. 27 is the latest event in a culture of violence that has been steadily spreading in the body politics in Pakistan.

by Ted Manna

DENVER, Jan. 1, 2008 -- Federico Peņa, national co-chair of Ill. Sen. Barak Obama's campaign, provided a rare glimpse into the inner workings of a presidential election to the American Reporter Monday, putting a New Year's Eve exclamation point to a momentous year in politics.

by Mark Scheinbaum

LAKE WORTH, Fla., Jan. 4, 2008 -- A black American politician looked a predominantly white gaggle of journalists straight in the lens eye, and defied conventional wisdom in a nation with a predominantly white electorate.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Dec. 30, 2007 -- One of the great tragedies of the American experience is its two-party system, which was neither contemplated nor preferred by our Founding Fathers, and which President George Washington urged Americans in his Farewell Address to avoid at all costs.

by Joe Shea

I met Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated this morning in the largest cities in Pakistan, Rawalpindi. It was at the 1972 Indo-Pak Summit Conference in Simla, India, high in the Himalayas not far from the borders of Pakistan, India and Tibet.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Winter is the time of cold and dark, when we implore all our gods and goddesses to bring back the light and warmth of the sun. So I thought I might put in a plug for the goddess I worship most. Her name is Serendipity.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- 'Tis the season for tolerating and being tolerated. For bell ringers and carol singers. Santa sleighs and days rattling with wrapping paper; tree lights that won't work; and "It won't be the same without Mama."

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- People who have known me for a couple years know me to be thoughtful and deliberate in my reactions to a situation. I carefully measure my response, weighing the pros and cons, before finally saying what I think.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Dec. 20, 2007 -- Florida's popular Republican Governor Charlie Crist took a day off to go fishing in the Gulf of Mexico for kingfish recently, and he won a rare accolade from the St. Petersburg Times outdoor editor, Terry Tomalin, who tagged along. Crist, Tomalin said, is "Not left, not right, but a new breed, for a new time."

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. - The Vermont Chamber of Commerce loves to gripe about how Vermont's taxes are too high, its regulations are too onerous and how the state legislature needs to do something about both.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Dec. 18, 2007 -- With three weeks to go to the Iowa caucuses and 6 more days to the New Hampshire primary, both parties are facing the kind of uncertainty that makes American democracy a vital, exciting thing and stirs long-suppressed faint hopes that the party conventions this year will be wide-open, knock-down, drag-out battles for the respective nominations.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. - He had Special Forces written all over him - a big beefy guy with a hard body and a military haircut. He was wearing a t-shirt with a big peace sign on it made out of weapons. What didn't jibe was the gold around his neck and the heavy gold watch on his wrist. So maybe Blackwater. I noticed him because he was playing air guitar, mouthing silent words and shaking his body to a heavy metal tune that no one else could hear.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Christ is still in Christmas. They have tried to "X" him out for a couple of generations, but this year it's Merry Christmas all over again. There may be more Santa Claus than Baby Jesus displays, but it's still all about one solitary birth.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- When was the last time you had $20 million to spend? When was the last time you got to ride in a chauffeur-driven limo, a Mercedes, or in the plush lead bus in a caravan of buses traveling all over the United States, staying in the best motels, eating at the best restaurants - and getting your huge salary paid even though you missed months of work?

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Christmas is a time of traditions. Santa Claus, Christmas trees, and Erik curled up in the corner in a fetal ball, sobbing "Pa-rum pum pum pum." To help explain why he does this, we're renewing another Make My Day tradition, reprinting his annual Christmas column.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- One of these days, people in public life might start following George Carlin's commandment on religion - thou shalt keep thy religion to thyself.

by Ted Manna

DENVER, Dec. 14, 2007 -- Elizabeth Kucinich is mad, and this roving ambassador for her husband, Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich, wants everyone to know.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Yes, there is a candidate who doesn't make me want to throw up or cringe in embarrassment or wail in futility or duck for cover or check to see if my wallet is still in my purse.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- It was about this time last year that our friendly neighborhood bartender asked if I'd sample the special cocktail prepared for the Christmas menu. I had just witnessed the work he put into measuring, shaking with ice, adding fizz, then egg whites for foam, now stirring slowly, letting it settle and, after that, pouring it into a goblet with one hand and adding a few drops of grenadine to the mixture with the other.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- My name is Elizabeth Andrews and I approved the following message:

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Microsoft killed Santa Claus.

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- Hank, now 8 years old, had had one of the most exciting days of his life. It was his first train ride. Hank's father and a business partner had taken him by train from Baltimore to New York City. And the strange swirl of activity of New York, a huge city, far larger than anything he could have imagined, had been like stepping onto another world.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It has been said that the only difference between Wall Street and Las Vegas is that in Vegas, you get a buffet and a floor show.

by Ted Manna

DENVER, Dec. 6, 2007 -- The director of "A Mormon President," a new film examining bias against the Mormon Church in this country, warned today that Presidential candidate Mitt Romney "has to hit a home run" in Thursday's highly anticipated speech about his Mormon faith. He will deliver the speech at 10:30 a.m. EST at the Bush Library in College Station, Tex.,

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Where does content come from, Mommy?

by Joe Shea and Ted Manna

BRADENTON, Fla., Dec. 5, 2007 -- It's been a long time coming. Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH, 10th), the former mayor of Cleveland who is serving his fifth term in the House of Representatives has quadrupled his standing in the polls, according to the current USA Today/Gallup Poll.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Two women looked out from behind the bars. One washed the windows. One hung the stars.

by Joe Shea

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Nov. 28, 2007 -- One of the hottest items at the CNN/YouTube Republican Presidential Debate here Wednesday night was not on stage - it was snapping back and forth through the blogosphere and its teeming representatives at the Mahaffey Theater's media filing room.

by Mark Scheinbaum

(Editor's Note: In a long, nationally televised address televised monitored in Florida, President Hugo Chavez told supporters his package of "reforms" has lost in Sunday's nationwide referendum, saying "Ahora, no podimos" - "For now, we cannot [continue with the proposed reforms]."

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- With less than 14 months left in power, the Bush Administration is doing its best to make sure its members can escape town before the indictments are issued.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- America twice hitched its star to a drunk, albeit a dry one, and now it's coming on close to closing time.

by Walter M. Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- The man whom the people elected in 2000 to be president was in the temporary residence of the man whom the Supreme Court anointed.

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- A recent decision to build a suicide prevention barrier on the Cold Spring Bridge near Santa Barbara, Calif., has stirred opposition from a small but vocal group calling themselves "Friends of the Bridge."

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- When I became a dad, the last thing I ever dreamed I would worry about was my kids and gambling. Sure, they would gamble whether they made it to the bathroom in time (they've won more than they lost), or whether they could sneak candy without being caught (they can't).

by Joe Shea

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Nov. 28, 2007 -- There's a haunting image from the Denver Democratic Convention walk-through for the media that keeps going through my mind when I consider the current round of debates. In Denver, near the Wynkoop Brewery that hosted a terrific media reception the night before the walk-through, there were two bordellos before the turn of the century whose madams were at war with one another. Eventually, their dispute was escalated into a deadly duel, and the two women faced off as the single object of their affections watched. The pistol shots rang out and one of them fell dead - the victim was the boyfriend.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- An evil brother sleeps tonight on a narrow cot in a narrow cell in St. George, Utah.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Like many Americans, I'm looking forward to Jan. 20, 2009, when President George W. Bush leaves the White House for the last time.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- This is a hard Thanksgiving. People are dying who shouldn't be dying. People are being held prisoner in places we can't imagine, and being tortured in our names. People are cold and hungry here, in the richest nation on earth. The dollar is falling. Gas prices are rising. Our economic and political futures are uncertain.

by Ted Manna

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. -- When those first Americans bowed their heads in thankful prayer, could they have envisioned the country they were starting? Did they look at some empty seats at their bountiful table, as many Americans will do today, and wonder whether there would ever be a time of peace and good will? Did they forsee a country born of war, their manifest destiny sustained by conflict and conquest?

by Ted Manna

DENVER, Nov. 20, 2007 - The national campaign co-chairmen of both top Democratic Presidential candidates weighed in with their opinions about the CNN debate Friday in exclusive interviews with The American Reporter, each claiming that the race is far from over and that their candidates will continue to gain ground over their opponents.

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- "I'm supposed to be happy! So where is the happiness?"

by Col. David Antoon, USAF (Ret.)

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Forty-two years ago, at the age of 18, I took the oath of office on my first day as an Air Force Academy cadet. The mission of the academy was not only to train future leaders for the Air Force but for America as well, because, in the end, most academy graduates do not serve full military careers. The honor code became an integral part of everyday life. These are the values that I, and most graduates of the 1960s and early '70s, took with us from our four years there.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I always thought it would be a cold day in hell before I gave GPresident eorge W. Bush credit for having brains, but now I'm not so sure.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Here's a statistic that should make your blood boil. According to The Washington Post, oil consumers have paid nearly $5 trillion more for crude oil than they did just five years ago.

by T.S. Kerrigan

LOS ANGELES -- As if he didn't have enough problems with his campaign, Sen. John McCain is now being charged with insensitivity and evasiveness in not responding more directly to a woman in South Carolina who asked in respect to Hillary Clinton, "How do we beat the bitch?"

by Douglas Laipple, M.D.

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- A patient, who has been directly and indirectly affected by the deaths of servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan, recently chastised me for having been in the Army, saying that she was against war and that I and my fellow veterans should be ashamed of ourselves for perpetuating the deaths of other human beings. My answer to her was along these lines:

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- My grandmother would have said "The pot is calling the kettle black." My mother would have sighed and said "There's something rotten in Denmark."

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- A courtesy call following auto repair is routine, and other services follow up by asking for a few minutes of your time to answer a brief survey. Well, they're trying to please the customers and if I can help toward that end, I do. I always offer my honest opinions. Of course, the companies who provide this are usually perfect anyway and just want me to know exactly how perfect they are by having me answer "excellent" five times during a brief conversation.

by Mark Scheinbaum

LANTANA, FLA. (THANKSGIVING DAY, 2007)--For whatever reasons a morning trip to Dunkin' Donuts motivated me to write my first poem since high school, or perhaps college.

by Ted Manna and Joe Shea

DENVER, Nov. 13, 2007 -- The Democratic National Convention Committee opened their arms to the media Tuesday during a media planning tour at Denver's Pepsi Center, but soon found their hands full with questions about the role of online media, the Florida delegate squabble and even the food.

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- Albert described himself. "I'm a hopeless case.

by Ted Manna

DENVER, Nov. 11, 2007 -- The event at the Loveland Coffee Shop here was meant to be nothing more thasn a political sop to star-struck local contributors outside Denver who longed for the sight of America's Mayor, Rudy Giuliani. But an innocuous meet-and-greet that attracted an overflow crowd suddenly turned ugly when Giuliani supporters grew antagonistic and abusive towards a small group of demonstrators, punching one.

by Douglas Laipple, M.D.

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- We doctors are frequently asked, particular during election campaigns, what we think needs to be done in the way of health-care reform. Although I wish the question would be asked of doctors a lot more and politicians, lawyers and insurance company executives a lot less, I doubt that will happen.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I believe in Santa Claus. His name is Bob, or Ray, or Pack Rat ... and I believe in Earth Angels. Those that I know personally are called Thelma and Anne and Debbie and Belinda and Tammy and Mary Ann and Debra and about a dozen more that for some odd reason always seem to fly by if I need something.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- It's only because I've lived long enough to see the pendulum swing from lurking dangers to miraculous cures - and then, darn it, back again. Oh, how wonderful it felt to be alive in the age when fluoride was in our drinking water, our toothpaste ("Look, Ma, no cavities") our mouthwash and an integral part of our semi-annual dental checkup.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla. -- "I really like your handshake," Norman said. "Do you mind if I just stand here and shake your hand?" I don't remember what I said, but we stood there for a few seconds, and then a very, very strange thing happened.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It seems incredible to me that in this country, at this time, we are debating what constitutes torture and whether it is okay to torture others.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- What is it about zero tolerance that turns school administrators into zombies who enforce their rules with all the compassion and understanding of a German prison guard?

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- "Why can't a woman be more like a man?" is the question that Professor Henry Higgins famously asks in Frederick Loewe and Alan Jay Lerner's "My Fair Lady."

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- After the first bright and obligatory "Hi, How are you?" and expecting an equally bright "fine," it came as a shock to hear, "My husband had a stroke."

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I am a poet. And although I have been called a lot of things - some unfit for this newspaper - "poet" is the only label I care to wear.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The "duck boats" again rolled through the streets of Boston this week, accompanied by the cheers of a couple of million Red Sox fans.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. - "Why would I let my 14-year-old daughter be an artist?"

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- The locked hospital room was almost too dark for me to see if anyone was there. But someone was, curled into a ball, hiding beneath the sheets and blanket, taking up a minimal space in the universe. His intent had been to take up no space at all, and, after his overdose, his life had been saved only by skilled and heroic medical intervention.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS -- Last week, the Federal Emergency Management Agency committed the unpardonable sin of faking a press conference about their performance at the southern California wildfires, by having their own public affairs (public relations) employees pass as reporters and lob softball questions at the FEMA Director, Vice Admiral Harvey Johnson.

by Joe Shea

ORLANDO, Oct. 27, 2007 -- Gathered here for their biennial meeting on a rare rainy weekend in one of the world's sunniest resorts, Florida Democratic Party activists didn't let the gloomy weather get them down. They cheered two new members of the state's Congressional delegation, coughed up hefty campaign contributions for local and state candidates, and partied into the wee hours Sunday morning with all the confidence in the world about the state's chances of reversing its 2-for-2 record of electing Republican governors and Presidents.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Come then, let us decide on some nice ways to kill each other.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Being afraid of the Big Bad Wolf was child's play compared to being scared - heart-thumping scared - of being caught for ringing a doorbell and running away. But we didn't reserve that for Halloween. We did that for amusement on many hot Summer nights in the 1940s.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- For decades, the federal government has faithfully intoned the magic words, "national security," whenever it wants to foist something odious upon the American people.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Bob Dylan may have written the soundtrack to my generation's youth, but Garry Trudeau has had more staying power. He's been writing the story of our lives.

by Mark Scheinbaum

ANGEL FIRE, N.M., Oct. 26, 2007 -- In case you missed it, buried in an interview in one of the world's most prestigious publications, longtime Bush Administration operative and defrocked Acting U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton says you can count on a U.S. attack against Iran before the end of Mr. Bush's second term.

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- Divorced at 40, and now without a job, Charles' life was going nowhere. And that was why he had come to see me.

by Barbara Coppo

VALLEJO, Calif. -- Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live in a world shrouded in a mask of vocal inability and your only communication was through guttural sounds? Imagine the fear and frustration surging through your body when you felt pain or needed something but couldn't express it to those around you, so you instinctively take your frustrations out the only way you know how - on the people who love you most!

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- If you feel compelled to say something to a kid about the way he is dressed and the way you feel about baggy, droopy, oversized, indecent and downright ugly pants, be ready with a smart come-back of your own when he sneers, "is there a law against it?"

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Ban the baggy britches? Tell teen-age girls they can't show their navels? Tell homosexuals they can't get married? Issue driver's licenses to illegal immigrants? Form a committee for states to secede from the United States?

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Can someone please open the door?"

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The current Administration in the White House has taken secrecy to unprecedented levels.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I started writing this column because I wanted Al Gore to run for president. Halfway through, I talked myself out of it.

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- That man lying in bed next to Janice was the Devil. God had warned her earlier that day, and now she knew it for certain.

by Mark Scheinbaum

ANGEL FIRE, N.M., Oct. 15, 2007 -- The survival of the newspaper industry around the globe could depend on things as simple as one baseball fan, and as complex as the explosion of all-digital technology and media.

by Ted Manna

DENVER, Oct. 14, 2007 -- What in the world is the GOP thinking?

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Not so very long ago the horror word was Columbine. This past week it was Asa Coon, a mere boy of 14 who probably had never shaved or kissed the girl next door.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It was once a given of American economic policy that, when the nation went to war, it increased taxes to pay for it. For example, the top personal tax rate during World War II was 94 percent on all income above $70,000, or about $753,000 in today's dollars.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Brain: General, we've got an emergency.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Lately I've been wondering what might have happened if President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney had just told the truth.

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- "I'm depressed because I weigh too much," acknowledged Julie, a 35-year-old working mother of two.

by Cindy Hasz

SAN DIEGO -- Here we go again. I only played the role of Joan of Arc once and I had to drink half a bottle of sherry to get on stage. I don't remember much about the performance but my mother said I was good.

By Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Actually, my Sunday morning visit to Books-A-Million was to peruse travel books and literary tours in England, Ireland and Wales, until my eyes caught a thin book with a title so long it almost ran off the spine.

by Steven Travers

LOS ANGELES -- The University of Southern California opened the 2003 season at Auburn. U.S.C. Coach Pete Carroll invited Sam Cunningham and John Papadakis to make the trip and to speak to the team aboutt the 1970 game in the state they were now playing in - a state that had been changed by the events of that day, and by the men speaking to the team now. Southern California then smoked the Tigers, 23-0.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I was in high school when the NCAA implemented its now-famous Title IX sports massacre, which brought parity to men's and women's collegiate sports. But as a male athlete, I hated the way the universities brought parity about. They slashed men's sports across the board so there were equal numbers of men's and women's teams. By the time they were done, there were more casualties than Freddie Krueger's visit to a summer-camp counselor convention.

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- It was a funny feeling, almost a kind of irritability or edginess. Bob's parents could pick up on it in his angry tone of voice and pressured speech, often before he was aware of it himself.

by Constance Daley

NEW YORK, N. Y. -- No one has to guess where you mean when you refer to "the big Apple," or even just saying "Broadway." It's also called the city that never sleeps, or Gotham. If you live in any of the five boroughs of New York City, you refer to Manhattan simply as "the city," and the whole world knows it as "The Melting Pot." From now on, I'll call it by a new moniker: "The City of Stairs."

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The Northwest Passage, the fabled shortcut above the Arctic Circle between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans that had defied exploration for centuries, used to be ice covered and was not navigable by conventional ships.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- In the grand tradition of the loopy conservative patriarchy, right up there with Ronald Reagan's 1981 comment, "Trees cause more pollution than automobiles do," we now have Homeland Security Chairman Michael Chertoff arguing that "illegal migrants really degrade the environment."

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Oct. 2, 2007 - A lot of politicians would have accepted a "bribe" - a big, fat and legal campaign contribution - and let any outstanding issues of principle between them and a major developer slip away. Not Manatee County Commissioner-At-Large Joe McClash, who has taken the sometimes lonely and dangerous stance that the county's biggest developer, the owners of Lakewood Ranch, should use its own funds to expand the local highways its vast size and growing population may demand.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The prevailing philosophy of conservatives - that government is the problem and the free market is the solution for every ill - consistently bumps up against the reality that this philosophy rarely works as designed.

by Ted Manna

DENVER, Sept. 26, 2007 -- Former Denver Mayor Wellington Webb is a big man, standing 6'5" tall, and his praise for his candidate matches his stature.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Author's Note: Every so often, when I take a break from politics, I find myself writing about my 90-year-old mother in Florida. She is a dancer, and until she retired this year, she wrote, choreographed, directed and performed in yearly musical comedies at her retirement community. She was doing high kicks on stage well into her 80s, and she still teaches exercise classes.

by Ron Kenner

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Thirty-four years ago, Sept. 24, 1973, marked the beginning of the endgame of the presidency of Richard M. Nixon, the only president to resign the office.

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- She wondered if she drank too much. She acknowledged that a bottle of wine every night just might be the start of a problem. Was it because of loneliness?

by Constance Daley

WARWICK, N.Y. -- At home, there are no books on my nightstandm although I still have a reading lamp attached to my headboard.

by Gary Gach

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- If aliens from outer space visit us, I'm sure they'd be struck by our penchant for revenge. Just look at newspapers, where the motto is "If it bleeds, it leads." They'd find more horror there than any single mind can comprehend.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Last year, after one of my staff left the state government agency where we worked, I received an email from Human Resources, telling me this person had been "separated from employment."

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- In his new book, "The Age of Turbulence," former Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan departed from the Bush Administration's script and wrote that "the Iraq war is largely about oil."

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- In last week's column I wrote about the very real possibility that President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney will make a preemptive bombing strike on Iran before they skedaddle out of office - you know, because all their other ideas have worked out so well.

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- Ann's husband had fled years ago because he couldn't stand the ever-expanding mess. She was a collector, but that wasn't how she thought of herself. Her idea was that all the stuff she collected - the things she bought at garage sales, from secondhand stores, on eBay, from the Shopping Channel, and assorted items of junk she found at the curb or in an alley - was going to be usable, at least someday.

bny Ted Manna

DENVER, Colo., Sept. 17, 2007 -- The Barak Obama and Hillary Clinton presidential campaigns today fired the first serious salvos in the war to win votes in the West, as Sen. Obama's national co-chairman Federico Peņa announcing the opening this week of the first official campaign office in Denver, Colo., and an appearance by would-be First Husband, former President Bill Clinton, at the "Hillary for President" fundraiser in Boulder today.

by Martin McReynolds

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Returning to Argentina these days brings back memories of an ugly time.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Sept. 16, 2007 -- in the little town where I grew up on a farm in the 1950's, there is an ambulance building dedicated to the men and women who served their country in World War II, and its words impressed themselves upon me every day as I passed it on the bus, trying to memorize it as quick as I could read. Today, I don't recall it well, but it seems like it went, "To the men and women of the town of Monroe who gave their lives in the service of freedom, this memorial stands."

by Ted Manna

DENVER, Colo., Sept. 12, 2007 -- In an exclusive interview with the American Reporter, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper today vowed to keep the people of Denver and delegates to the Democratic National Convention safe, warning that he will tolerate "no violence and no disruption" and will try to protect the rights of anyone "engaged in lawful protests."

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Back during World War II, when people griped about rationing or some other inconvenience, someone was sure to pipe up and say, "Don't you know there's a war on?"

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- How well I remember, during the Nixon years, the question, "Would you buy a used car from this man?"

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- Ed, a 42-year-old divorced mortgage broker, explained that his job was demanding and often left him feeling tense and stressed. Although Ed had a girl friend, he lived alone. He had come to see me only at the insistence of his primary care doctor.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- It surprises me when someone asks me point blank if scandals among Republican officeholders reflect on the party as a whole, and, get this, will I change my vote in the upcoming election?

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Here's a question that the White House press corps never seems to ask. If things in Iraq are getting better and the "surge" is working, how come the only trips to Iraq that President Bush and other top officials can make are "surprise" visits?

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Sept. 9, 2007 -- Osama bin Laden has shown the way. If the desire to end the War on Terror is strong enough in the hearts of those who lead the antiwar movement, there is now a plain and simple path to peace.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I've been married for over 14 years now, and we have learned to compromise on hundreds of issues. But there's one area where we seem to have a few difficulties. My wife thinks dancing is fun and enjoyable, and I think it makes me look like a big dork.

by T.S. Kerrigan

LOS ANGELES,Sept. 6, 2007 -- Along with the vast majority of Americans, I was relieved to see Michael Vick indicted by a federal grand jury after it became evident that he had trained, tortured and mutilated pit bulls. Americans like the appearance of swift justice, often content to leave further analysis of the problem addressed to legal scholars of the future, rather than look behind the effect of their action at the time.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I've always blamed Jack Kerouac.

by Walter Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Add faked photos to the list of lies told by the Bush-Cheney Administration before its invasion of Iraq.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- I've been waiting. Nothing has been written or reported and I think it should have been by now. U.S. Sen. Larry Craig (R-ID) said more than once, "I am not gay; I have never been gay."

by Mark Scheinbaum

LA CUEVA, N,M., Sept. 1, 2007 -- Don't talk to me again for one minute of one hour of one day about legal or illegal immigration issues in the United States of America until you've worked one day in their shoes.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- My family and I were sitting outside a coffee shop at my alma mater, Ball State University, last weekend. We were watching a steady stream of teenagers come and go, when an innocent voice said, "Do those kids' mommies and daddies know they're out so late?"

by Ted Manna

PUEBLO, Colo. -- At the State Fair here in suburban Douglas County, Colo., close to the geographic center of the nation, politics is as hot a topic as the 95-plus-degree heat. Politicians better listen up. The people say they want leadership, not partisanship.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Two years ago this week, a great American city was left to die.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- America is a land of overwhelming abundance. Couple that with the disastrous idea of building an entire economy and national culture on consuming and you have a good idea why the soul of this country is ailing.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Sept. 12, 2007, 6 a.m. EST -- In yet another astounding turn of events in the fantastic tale of Chinese-American millionaire and top Democratic donor Norman Hsu, it was learned Friday morning that a Wall Street investment fund run by Woodstock music festival backer Joel Rosenman and his Chinese-American partner, Yau Cheng, gave Hsu some $40 million to cover the cost of producing apparel in China for U.S. private labels such as Gucci and Prada, and now says the money is missing, the Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Long before special effects bombarded us with sights and sounds beyond belief, we had sights and sounds beyond belief - although they reached our senses only when we were shielded from the light. We had radio; and, we had vivid imaginations.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I learned a long time ago about the importance of treating one's wife with respect and kindness. And unlike some of my other life lessons, I didn't have to learn this one the hard way.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It still amazes me that newspapers still publish pieces by William Kristol, Charles Krauthammer, David Brooks and Thomas Friedman.

by Ted Manna

DENVER, Colo., Aug. 22, 2007 -- With rallying cries like "the road to the White House runs through the West" and "bring home a Democratic president," the Democratic National Convention Committee (DNCC) kicked off the countdown to their party's 2008 convention in Denver today.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Aug. 23, 2007 -- An interview in the New York Observer this week with failed 1988 presidential candidate Michael Dukakis of Massachusetts, now a political science professor, carries a bold warning for Democrats who think the 2008 election is a foregone conclusion - that Democrats will win the White House in a landslide no matter what mistakes they make. The stupidity of that belief is nicely punctured by the Dukakis interview.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- My beloved aunt died last Thursday at the age of 92.

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- Jim's message had an urgent tone - "...the first appointment, any day, any time." Now age 48, happily married with two teen age kids and a good job, Jim had become severely depressed for no obvious reason.

by Mark Scheinbaum

ANGEL FIRE, N.M, Aug. 17, 2007 -- Would you commit new, speculative, important amounts of. money to the ttock market between now and September 11?

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- God bless the British bureaucrat. They've got that special something their American cousins will never achieve. Their single-minded dedication to their rules and regulations, despite all common sense and human decency, is unrivaled in this world. And that gives me job security as a humor writer.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The great modern painter Fernand Leger liked to say, "Either a good life and lousy work, or good work and a lousy life."

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- In last Thursday's Philadelphia Daily News, conservative columnist Stu Bykofsky gave voice to the thought that many supporters of the so-called global war on terror are thinking right now.

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- Helen, a 33-year-old mother of two, had been very depressed, at times wishing she were dead. A shaky marriage was part of the problem. Now, with the aid of psychotherapy and an antidepressant, she was much less depressed despite her troubled relationship with her husband. She felt brighter, had more energy, and could function better at her job and at home. She was immensely relieved, and could even smile as she complained, "But sex is lousy!"

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- As John walked through the living room he said, not unkindly, "I spend half my time turning off lights. We have to save the planet, you know." What could I say? He managed to stifle me this time. I am not going to deny a fellow earthling the right - our duty, he claims - to save the planet.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- We've come to expect Republicans to do the wrong thing over and over again. That's why no one was surprised that virtually every Republican in the House and Senate voted for President Bush's revisions to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

by Rebecca L. Hein

CASPER, Wyo., Aug. 13, 2007 -- American composer John Cage died 15 years ago today. Cage is best known for an absurdity entitled Four Minutes, Thirty-Three Seconds (4'33"), in which the performer poses on the stage but does not play.

by Walter Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- An undercurrent of boos mixed into the cheers when Barry Bonds hit his 755th home run in San Dieg on Aug. 4 to tie Hank Aaron's Major League Baseball (MLB) record for lifetime homers. Several in the crowd even hoisted cards bearing an asterisk to indicate they were sure the record was tainted, the result of a widespread belief that Bonds had used steroids - a charge he consistently has denied.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- If you've already stolen two presidential elections, how hard could it be to steal a country?

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Wires are unsightly. There is not another word in the thesaurus to better illustrate my point. The suggested words are ugly, hideous, unattractive, unprepossessing, nasty, and horrid. No, wires are merely unsightly - like crabgrass sprouting everywhere across a well-manicured lawn.

by Mark Scheinbaum

ANGEL FIRE, N.M., Aug. 3, 2007 -- In a dispatch buried now in the American Reporter archives, we first alerted readers early last Fall about the domino effect of mounting foreclosures. This morning, a major mortgage originator and lender, American Home Mortgage Investment Corp. announced the de facto end of its operations, Some 7,000 employees are fired, and there's a significant likelihood of the company declaring bankruptcy in coming weeks.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It seems hard to believe, but the finance, insurance and real estate sector (FIRE, for short) now constitutes about 20 percent of our nation's gross domestic product, while manufacturing contributes less than 13 percent. By comparison, in 1950, manufacturing was 29.3 percent of GDP and financial services contributed 10.9 percent.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Several years ago, I knew I had made my mark in the world when I received my very own Nigerian scam letter. When Nigerian scam artists put your name on a letter, rather than addressing it with an impersonal "Dear Friend," you've obviously done something important.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- According to The American Reporter's readers choice presidential poll, Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton and Republican Rudy Giuliani are the front runners. And the July 17 Gallup Poll, a more scientific survey, reported little change in the public leanings for the Democratic and Republican presidential nominations. Again, Senator Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani are leading other hopefuls in their respective parties.

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- Because of increased media attention and pharmaceutical company advertising, more people than ever are coming now to see therapists or psychiatrists claiming they suffer from a bipolar illness.

by Walter Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says the House has so much to do that impeachment proceedings against Vice President Dick Cheney and President George W. Bush would be a distraction.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Knowing how to spell is critical. If you want people to take you seriously, you have to be able to spell. And you can't rely on your spell-checker, because it only finds misspelled words, not correctly spelled words that are in the wrong place.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- A recent Associated Press opinion poll found that public approval of Congress' job performance has fallen to 24 percent, its lowest level in a year.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Ninety-two-year-old Reba Goldstein of Ft. Lauderdale likes to clip stories out of the newspapers and give them to her friends. This week she cut one out of the Miami Herald and gave it to my mother. "Does Joyce know about these nudes in Brattleboro?" she asked. Of course my mother called me immediately.

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- A growing debate about whether antidepressant drugs increase or actually cause suicidal thinking in adolescents has in recent months led many doctors to become more reluctant to prescribe them. The sad result has been an increase in the adolescent suicide rate because depressed adolescents may not have received the very medications that could have saved their lives, or may have recently stopped taking them.

by Walter Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- There's a lot of language today that confuses me. For example, does anyone know why certain people try to get someone's attention by shouting out, "Yo!" And if that doesn't work, they become redundant and shout out "Yo Yo!" That could be very confusing if you work for Duncan Toys or are a classic cellist.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- A Polish farmer in the town where my husband grew up used to say, "Corn come, 'coon come. 'Coon come, corn gone."

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- With public support for the Iraq war hovering around 30 percent, the Bush Administration is falling back on a familiar strategy it loves to use when it find itself in trouble - scaring the American people.

by Tom Clifford

DUBAI -- An international meeting on Palestine proposed by President George W. Bush will not be a conference to end conflict but may herald a "peace to end peace."

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Kids today have great movie toys. When I was a kid, we never had Spider-Man movies, video games, or shampoo and conditioner sets. We just had the cheaply-made cartoons. The ones that showed Spider-Man flying past the same cityscape so many times, I thought he was swinging in circles. (For those of you who don't remember, this is the show that gave us the theme song, "Spider Man, Spider Man/Does whatever a spider can/Spins a web any size/Catches thieves just like flies.")

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- Debbie, a 17-year-old now down to 86 pounds and ever closer to her secret goal of 81 pounds, slowly awoke in her bed on a hospital intensive care unit. She was so groggy from her drug overdose that the only thing she noticed was the painful burning sensation in her nose.

by Mark Scheinbaum

BOCA RATON, Fla., July 17, 2007 -- The news media crowned a "new all-time high" - and the 14,000 milestone - on the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) today. Try to stifle your yawn.

by Constance Daley

ST. PETE BEACH, Fla. -- We knew the day was coming. After all, when we got married on July 7, 1957, we were thinking ahead to the wonderful calendar date 50 years hence. We didn't expect to turn that leaf so soon, but 50 years have come and gone as swiftly as toddlers turn into adults - and we all know how fast those years go by.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Is President Bush delusionalwhen it comes to the Iraq war?

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- Anorexia and bulimia are stubborn conditions to treat, and any one clinician, no matter how talented or zealous, is ill-equipped to do it alone. Successful treatment requires a treatment team including a primary care doctor or internist, a nutritionist, a psychotherapist, and a psychiatrist.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- From the beginning of the long nightmare that has been the presidency of George W. Bush, I have wondered how - or if - it might end.

American Reporter Staff

BRADENTON, Fla., July 11, 2007 -- In a hopeful sign that relations between the United States and Iran may indeed be growing warmer after recent face-to-face meetings between U.S. and Iranian diplomats, American Reporter Correspondent Walter Brasch has been asked by an Iranian television producer to provide live commentary from time to time on a daily television show, "Four Corners," devoted to world news.

by Tom Clifford,

DUBAI -- Satire died when Henry Kissinger won the Nobel peace prize. Irony collapsed when Tony Blair was made Middle East peace envoy.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I don't usually take notes on a conversation with myself, but this was a good one.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- They say that before you die, your life passes in front of your eyes. Another way to see your life is to throw a 90th birthday party for your mother.

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- In just one year Debbie, all of 17, had watched her young life plummet down hill in every conceivable dimension. She felt isolated from her family and friends. She no longer cared about boys, and they no longer even talked to her.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- It's only coincidental that I'm writing about Aaron Burr in early July, when it was dawn on another early July day, 1804, that he shot and mortally wounded Alexander Hamilton in Weehawken, N. J.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Desperate men and dictators thrive on secrecy. The ability to operate free of public scrutiny, oversight and accountability is the cornerstone of a totalitarian state.

by Tom Clifford

HONG KONG, June 30, 2007 -- The greatest "Chinese take-out" in history occured 10 years ago today.

by Ron Kenner

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- If we can't face our own history, have no sense of responsibility or compassion for our minorities, no sense of fairness or of the value of civil and human rights, one would think that we would at least have learned the terrible injustice of segregation. But the United States Supreme Court has not.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- The inevitable finally happened. I'd known it was coming for years -- known the exact date and time. I planned, stalled, and fought for as long as I could, but it still happened despite my best efforts.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Some of our most dramatic quotations come from walls. Who could ever forget, "Mr. Gorbechav, tear down this wall!" Or, "You can see the Great Wall of China from the moon." (Which turned out to be false.) Or Robert Frost's "Something there is that does not like a wall."

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- President Bush seems to think that by sheer force of will, he can single-handedly revive the Secure Borders, Economic Opportunities and Immigration Reform Act of 2007.

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- Why do Debbie and thousands like her have eating disorders? Why do 50 young women for every young male suffer from anorexia or bulimia?

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- At a certain point in the Belmont Stakes last Saturday, the filly Rags to Riches, who was engaged in a head-to-head race with Preakness winner Curlin, stopped being a female and became, instead, a (rather splendid) race horse.

by Tom Clifford

DUBAI -- Defeat is an orphan. We now have the iconic image of the Iraq war, the napalm girl of Vietnam, the World War II marines hoisting the flag, the sweeping kiss of the nurse in Times Square as peace breaks out. But if there is one image that defines Iraq it is the orphan tethered to the bed like a goat ready for slaughter.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- That didn't take long, did it?

by Ron Kenner

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- Kurt Waldheim, the once "dapper diplomat" and former United Nations Secretary General reminding one of Henry Kissinger-styled poise and star power, died June 14 at age 88.

by Constance Daley

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The "Days Left" sign at Borders Book Store drew customers' eyes instantly when they entered the large, air-conditioned store at the Carolina Pavilion here. Parents with children made their way to the back shelves where the books for children were stacked next to kid-sized tables and chairs set up welcoming the future readers of America.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- While most people believe the U.S. Department of Defense only wants to kill people, that's not entirely true. They also want to make enemy soldiers get stung by angry wasps, get blamed for farting, and turn them gay.

by Walter M. Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Every president has a political philosophy that guides him and, sometimes, the nation.

by Ron Kenner

HOLLYWOOD, Calif. -- In early May, at MacArthur Park, after Los Angeles police officers battled demonstrators marching for worker and immigrant rights, the walking wounded probably had the same destination: Langer's Delicatessen Restaurant, the noted corner deli across the street from MacArthur Park famed for making "the finest hot pastrami sandwich in America."

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The miraculous autumn of 1989, when the Berlin Wall came down and Eastern Europe threw off its chains, marked a turning point for the United States.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- In a recent press conference, President George W. Bush offered this idea as a solution to our $233-billion trade deficit problem with China: "Another way to address it is for [the Chinese] to convert their economy from one of savers to consumers."

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- Debbie, sitting across from me in loosely fitting sweats and a bulky padded jacket - way out of place on a fairly warm day - looked very young for a 17-year-old. Although lost in oversized clothing, Debbie was actually hiding something. But just what she was hiding is perceived differently by each of us.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- The realization came upon me suddenly. It wasn't exactly the end of the world, as in T.S. Eliot's line, "This is the way the world ends; not with a bang, but a whimper," but it was as sudden as a bang and as subtle as a whimper.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The federal food stamp program has never been known as being particularly generous, but the combination of budget cuts and inflation has made it even less so.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- So Gold Star peace mom Cindy Sheehan is quitting the American antiwar movement. That's bad news.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- It's not something I like to talk about, but when I was in college I did something I'm not proud of. I was a telemarketer.

by Harvey Widroe, M.D.

ORINDA, Calif. -- Editor's note: Psychiatrist Harvey Widroe authored a classic textbook on psychiatry and many journal articles. This is his first commentary for The American Reporter as a regular Wednesday columnist on mental health topics..

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS -- Imagine if I told you to go to Hell. What would you do? Run away and cry? Punch me in the nose? Or visit the little town in Michigan?

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- No one spells it out, but the meaning is clear. Someone who appears guilty of a heinous crime pleads guilty and is jailed for a lesser crime, perhaps after some plea bargaining or for lack of sufficient evidence.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt., May 26, 2008 -- It's too soon to be talking about the 2008 presidential election. Unfortunately, the process has become so accelerated that the nation's voters have only a few months to decide who the Democratic and Republican parties' nominees will be.

by Joe Shea

There's a big problem for both the Left and Right in the proposed new immigration law: it's a damned good one, and the great majority of Americans think so, too. That latter observation is based on a groundbreaking poll released in Friday's editions of the New York Times, which found that by large margins Americans decidedly favor guest workers, giving a path to citizenship - albeit a long one - for illegals, and do not believe undocumented people already here should be deported.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Privacy is one of those priceless commodities you can't get enough of. Like gold, vacation, or pizza. No matter how much you get, you always want more. And while I love my kids, there are times I just wish they would go bug someone else for a while.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- A message to all those concerned with the 2008 presidential election - Republican, Democratic and independent: it's irrelevant.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- The national holiday looked upon as the true beginning of America's summer was not always part of a three-day weekend, nor was it called Memorial Day. The sentiment of remembering those who fought and died in the service of their country has always been the primary focus, even if it appears to take a back seat to the red, white and blue, community carnivals and events.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- When the lawmakers of the country your occupying don't want you around anymore, you know your war is in trouble.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Sept. 28, 2007 -- Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY), widely perceived as the front-runner for the Democratic nomination, has fallen far behind her chief Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Osama (D-IL), and Republican former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani in the ongoing American Reporter Presidential Poll that began in late May.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- As veteran parents, my wife and I have quit worrying about illnesses. We give the kids their medicine, tell them where to find the 7-Up and Saltines, and let them watch as much tv as they want. Not like when we were new parents, when Oldest Daughter (known as Only Child back then) would get sick.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- My well-mannered 89-year-old mother taught me not to speak ill of the dead, but even she was laughing when she heard that Rev. Jerry Falwell had died.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., May 17, 2007 -- Eastern liberals - despite what Republicans feel - are not in unlimited supply, even if they are a little more abundant during the waning days of the Bush Administration.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- They embrace me with friendship, encircle me with support for my literary efforts, and although I already consider myself "rich," I am made richer by knowing them. I think of them as brothers, not of the flesh but of the spirit, that abstract realm where healthy relationships never cease blooming.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Our movie fare in this country went from the madcap comedies of the '30s, those comedies designed to get our minds lifted out of the Great Depression, to gangster films usually set in 1937.

by Walter Brasch and Rosemary Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Editor's Note: Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sibelius says that the war in Iraq has severely hurt her state's National Guard response to deal with an F-5 tornado that destroyed Greensburg, Kan.. In Sept. 2003, two years before Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, in "An Ill Wind and National Policy," Rosemary and Walter Brasch predicted that the war in Iraq would leave Americans vulnerable to recovery efforts should there be major natural disasters.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Bill Moyers' documentary, "Buying the War," shown last month on PBS, painstakingly showed how most of the press willingly bought into the lies of the Bush Administration and supported the worst foreign policy blunder this nation has ever committed - the invasion of Iraq.

by Ron Kenner

HOLLYWOOD, Calif., May 14, 2007 - Four hundred years ago today the British captain Christopher Newport sighted what would become Jamestown, on the bank of what would be called the James River, to honor King James. Soon enough it was more embarrassment than honor - a bungled, non-productive, near-collapsing colony for its first five years, until things with a new sweet tobacco, indentured servants and slavery finally got things rolling.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- There's an old saying that goes "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." (To which I would add, "Those who can't teach, consult.")

by Parvez Ahmed

WASHINGTON -- Five years into President Geroge W. Bush's declaration of the global war on terrorism, the latest State Department report shows terrorism on the rise. Terrorism is an abominable tactic, not an ideology. Thus, declaring 'war' against it, while politically expeditious, is ineffective, as it attacks the symptom without addressing the cause.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I was watching a "M*A*S*H" rerun on television the other night when the oddest thing came on: a commercial for the Army. "Be Army strong" a hearty male voice boomed as images of soldiers doing soldierly things filled the screen.

by Joe Shea

LOS ANGELES, Calif., May 11, 2007 -- The 16-year legal morass surrounding royalties owed by Walt Disney Studios on U.S. and Canadian television and merchandising rights to Winnie The Pooh came into sharper focus today as the company that owns the lucrative rights, Stephen Slesinger, Inc., revealed that an independent economist hired to quantify them valued the rights at $12 to $15 billion. That staggering sum would be at risk at trial if ongoing settlement talks ordered by a Federal magistrate - first revealed in The American Reporter - fail to resolve issues between the two companies.

by Constance Daley

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. -- The road trip home from Charlotte, N.C., by way of Washington, D.C., for one last look at the new cherry blossoms meant we would have to make an overnight stop before arriving home in St. Simons Island, Ga., by mid-day Monday. Fayetteville looked like just the place to rest our weary bones. Travel may be broadening but exhaustion is part of the package deal.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Money is not evil; the words profit, business and free enterprise are not dirty words; and in proportion, there are just as many greedy poor folks as there are greedy rich folks.

by Ron Kenner

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Given the widely publicized police riot against immigration rights activists at MacArthur Park here on Tuesday, May 1, the term "May Day" is regaining its meaning as a nautical cry for help. You know - "May Day! May Day!"

by Mark Scheinbaum

ANGEL FIRE, N.M., May 7, 2007 -- It took veteran Washington freelance journalist Elaine Povich to finally shake me into an overdue explanation of my half-hearted defense of deposed talk show host Don Imus.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- And so it goes. The war on Iraq grinds on and President Bush has made it clear that nothing will change his mind about the conduct of war.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- We have a boring way of speaking in the 21st Century. We don't speak with enough drama. We need more verve, more panache. We need more of that over-the-top Shakespearean way of speaking. Hollering "Get thee to a nunnery!" at the top of our lungs, the way Hamlet bellowed at Ophelia when he finally got tired of looking at her.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Bill Moyers lost me during the first few minutes of his excellent PBS special, "Buying the War."

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Lightning will not strike you dead nor will a dubious devil light matches between your toes while you sleep for daring to question the Koran, the Talmud, the King James version of the Christian bible or why you think as you do.

by Constance Daley

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- If ever I were in the right place at the right time to fill my heart with joy, my eyes with the kind of tears that well up then flow unbidden over my face now smiling so broadly that words can not get through my lips, it was last Saturday morning.

by T.S. Kerrrigan

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- A few weeks ago we reported for the first time in any American publication the plans, already being implemented, for a superhighway through the Hill of Tara, one of the most important archaeological and historical sites in Ireland. Groups all over the world began protesting the government's action. Now it appears that the government may perpetrate another cultural and ecological outrage, the construction of yet another superhighway, this time through the Lee Valley near Cork.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I was sitting with Karl, my friendly-neighborhood curmudgeon, in our favorite Scottish pub, when I became aware of a certain change in the atmosphere.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt., April 28, 2007 -- One week ago, when I wrote about how the grassroots impeachment movement in Vermont was stalled by the Democratic leadership at the Statehouse, I truly believed that the cause was lost.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Until 9/11, I could take political correctness or leave it alone. But watching it run amok has reminded me of the German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen.

by Constance Daley

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- You have thought it yourself, I know you have. You're driving along some road in America - it doesn't matter if it's a highway or a byway - and the thoughts come to you. You wonder what you ever did to deserve this majesty while so many in the world are traipsing through raw sewage just getting on with their days.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Vermont had its moment in the sun last week when Garry Trudeau decided to do a story arc in Doonesbury on the impeachment movement here.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- What's better than sex, money, power, social status, the latest car or the biggest house in the Somebody Suburbs?

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- It was this time of year in 1933 that Senate Bill 5.598 was introduced, passed through both houses of Congress, and was sitting on President Roosevelt's desk just waiting for his signature. And sign it he did.

by S. Eben Kirksey and Andreas Harsono

Editor's Note: U.S. intelligence reports linked the Indonesian military to the 2002 murder of American schoolteachers in Timika, a mining town in the remote Indonesian province of Papua. Despite these reports, and opposition from the U.S. Congress, the Bush Administration removed a decade-old ban on funding for military education programs in Indonesia. In May 2006, the Bush Administration announced a new Pentagon program that will provide up to $19 million in additional funds for building Indonesian military capacity. Meanwhile, an Indonesian court charged that Antonius Wamang, an alleged Papuan guerrilla, was the ringleader of this attack and sentenced him to life in prison on Nov. 7, 2006. Six other alleged coconspirators were given sentences ranging from 18 months to seven years in jail. The same day that the sentences were handed down, Pentagon officials announced a "new era of military co-operation" with Indonesia. Yet, rigorous standards of evidence didn't prevail in this Indonesian court and questions remain about whether Wamang's group acted alone. This report by prize-winning American Reporter Indonesia Correspondent Andreas Harsono and University of California Indonesia scholar S. Eben Kirkesby, is based on internal police documents, court records, and eyewitness accounts. Antonius Wamang, Decky Murib, Patsy Spier and more than 50 other sources were interviewed in Timika, Jayapura, Biak, Jakarta and Washington D.C.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The conservative noise machine has cranked up again, this time to sputter with outrage over House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and her trip last week to Syria to speak with Syrian President Bashar Assad.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- What did you get and how long did you have it? These are the hot topics of conversation up here right now.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- To protest loudly and adamently object to something somebody said, no matter how raunchy, racist or ridiculous, is to imply that the words fall on the ears of ignorant people incapable of deciding for themselves what is raunchy, racist and ridiculous.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The nonpartisan Government Accountability Office (GAO) generally doesn't go too far out on a limb when it comes to predictions.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Was I sleeping? When did they revoke capitalism in Brattleboro? When did "profit" become a dirty word?

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- He has the air of a Southern gentleman. He is soft-spoken, a good listener, considerate, very knowledgeable on national and international happenings - and I am fortunate to have him for a neighbor.

by Ron Kenner

LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- If you believe what's been displayed on controversial satellite imagery of New Orleans lately - a pristine, lush landscape with fully developed neighborhoods, all somehow magically put back together after Katrina - no doubt you believe in Santa Claus.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I'm one of those weirdos who enjoys public speaking. I've given countless speeches and presentations over the years, and am just as comfortable speaking to a room full of people as I am to one person. I even come from a lo-o-o-ong line of orators (Okay, it's really just my dad, the psychology professor, but he's been teaching for a lo-o-o-ong time, so I figure that counts.)

by Joe Shea

LOS ANGELES -- In a still-confidential hearing, a federal judge ordered the Walt Disney Co. to settle the 16-year dispute over Winnie The Pooh rights and royalties, The American Reporter has learned, but the studio has refused.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- In the spring of 2003, the White House was still basking in the glow of what appeared to be a quick and decisive victory over the Iraqi military.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Maybe you remember Shirley Jackson's short story, "The Lottery"? Each June, by lottery, a small town just like ours picks one of its residents. Then, to relieve the tensions and frustrations of the year, they get together and stone that person to death.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- If knowing God were as simple as reading a book from cover to cover and then declaring "OK, now know God," we could pass a law requiring everyone in the world to read that same book and then we'd all know God and live happily ever after. Sadly, it doesn't work that way.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- It was certainly one noble gesture. The King of England could not in conscience marry Wallis Warfield Simpson, a twice-divorced American woman with two living ex-husbands. But he could give up being King and Emperor. Hey now, that's a thought! Did she discourage him. Did she say Edward, darling, aren't you being a bit rash?

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Narrator: It's a test of desire and learning, grit and knowledge, as each participant lives his or her lifelong dream. Each one has endured countless hours of grueling pain to reach this point.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Last summer, I wrote about Gary Canant, a Marine who served in Vietnam in 1968-69. He had just self-published a book of the letters he sent back to his bride, Maxie - some of which you can read at his Website, dearmaxie.com.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I've often wondered if President George W. Bush, like disgraced President Richard Nixon before him, has an enemies list. If he does, he's lucky to be living in the computer age, because keeping track of so many names on paper would be difficult.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- In the quiet, white unfolding of the Bradford pear trees; in the golden grace of the nodding daffodils; in the symbolic sacredness of the dogwood trees, comes then the season known as Spring to renew our Winter spirits and remind us of eternal birthings.

Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- The first half of my life was predictable. The only upgrade my business career enjoyed over my mother's first office was an electric typewriter. Then, when the type started to print faintly, it was time for a new ribbon, inked red on the top and black on the bottom - or was it the other way around?

by Walter M. Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Capt. Joan Darrah (USN-ret.) was the Navy's first female intelligence officer.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Twenty-five years ago this month, something else was on the annual town meeting warrants in Vermont besides school budgets and highways: stopping the spread of nuclear weapons.

by Mark Scheinbaum

ANGEL FIRE, N.M., March 19, 2007 -- "Field of Dreams," "Back to the Future," and perhaps a dozen other films offer haunting plots about looking back and watching your own dad chatting, smiling, joking, and interacting in the years before you were even conceived.

by Joe Shea

I was reading the story in Sunday's editions of The Age (an Australian daily) about the spreading fear of climatic and nuclear doom that now hangs over our era, and it reminded me of a poem I wrote back in 1981, one I worked very, very hard on and invested all of my self to write.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Suddenly, I wasn't alone anymore. I had a sister.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla. -- ExxonMobil is one of those companies that don't like to be contacted by telephone. They list no phones on their Websites for consumer credit-card holders, and their individual "On The Run" stores aren't always listed in the local phone book. Call the numbers via the store locator service at the oil giant's Websites, and no one may answer. If they do, they don't (in my experience) have any desire to be helpful. Call their media line a few minutes after 5 and you always get a recorded message: there's no point working late at a company that's already breaking all records for profit.

by Mark Scheinbaum

ANGEL FIRE, N.M. -- Perhaps if Wall Street analysts paid more attention to political news than micro financial news, they would have a better handle on the roller coaster of global markets in recent weeks.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I refuse to do it. I absolutely refuse to do it. I don't care if they come with a padded wagon and a white jacket, I am not going to do it. I will never, never cut the tips of my fingernails straight across so they can be in style with today's fingernail fetish.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Now, what does that title have to do with what I planned? I usually write about something or someone Irish this time of year, not the bywords of the CDC (Center of Disease Control). As it turns out, my original plan is right on target:

by Joe Shea

I can appreciate that Americans who have been lied to about the war in Iraq from even its inception would lose faith in a war that is going badly for the United States. Various Democratic proposals to bring all troops home from Iraq by a date certain is an understandable one. But I have never believed that Congress should usurp the war-making powers of the presidency, and I believe that a retreat from Iraq is ill-advised.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Last May, I wrote a column about the experience of going to the Ritz-Carlton in Boston to interview Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

By T.S. Kerrigan

LOS ANGELES -- I was raised, like every other kid of my generation, in the movie houses of post-war America. We may have been shamefully seduced by Hollywood, but were blessed by being spared the current deluge of television and mass media in our lives.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Well, that's the last of the boxes. We're finally moved into our new home."

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- From the beginning of the long nightmare that has been the Presidency of George W. Bush, I have wondered how - or if - it might end.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Since religious differences have caused more bloodshed than all the plain, ol' ordinary, insane wars over territory or somebody else's goodies, let's take it from the top and see if we can make some sense of it.

Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- I don't live where Spring bursts out of its comfort zone, that warm, moist place beneath snow-covered soil.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- My BlackBerry is ruining my eyesight.

by Walter M. Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Editor's Note: With more than a foot of snow, sleet, and ice covering much of Pennsylvania, television news teams went into overdrive. This may be an accurate description of one of those minute-by-minute broadcasts.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's hard not to listen to the nonsense that the White House is furiously pumping out regarding Iran, and not think about the con job they pulled in 2002 and early 2003 to sell their plan to invade Iraq.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Forget the Oscar winners. If you only see one film this year, see "Been Rich All My Life."

by Mark Scheinbaum

ANGEL FIRE, N.M., Feb. 28. 2007 -- Yesterday's six-year record dive in the Dow Jones Industrial Average should not be a great concern to longer-term investors, and in fact it's not all that it seems.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- If you want me to bow to you, be prepared to tell me what you did to earn it.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Last week, in the Circuit Court of Broward County, Fla., Americans witnessed proceedings in probate court presided over by Judge Jerry Seidlin with 18 lawyers, assorted witnesses, three major petitioners positioning their claims to the body of the late Anna Nicole Smith, ostensibly to bury her according to her expressed wishes, but more likely to lay claim to custody over her infant daughter, Danielynn, a potential heiress to an $80-million dollar fortune.

by Mark Scheinbaum

PANAMA CITY, Panama, Feb. 25, 2007 - Is President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela going to be Latin America's next Great Liberator, or will he drown his people in a petroleum-filled River Styx of debt and dismay?

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I had imaginary friends when I was a young boy. Friends who would help me solve crimes, rescue people in danger, and other situations most four-year-old boys find themselves in, when said friends are Scooby Doo and his gang of meddling teenagers.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The recent votes in Congress on a non-binding resolution regarding President Bush's deployment of 21,500 additional troops to Iraq may be symbolic, but not for the reason you think.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- On February 8, 2007, at the age of 39, Anna Nicole Smith died for your sins, America.

by Mark Scheinbaum

PANAMA CITY, Panama, Feb. 20, 2007 -- The craziness which is Panama's annual Carnaval has turned out to be more about soup than booze, more about those leaving than those entering the city, and as usual, about a big dose of politics.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I live in a mansion that, by today's standards, probably cost less than Henry David Thoreau's $29 cabin in his 19h century New England woods.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Surprisingly, there were many calls, e-mails and letters from readers who enjoyed my article on the kidnapping of the Lindbergh Baby and events surrounding the 1932 event. Every once in awhile, there are stories that capture our attention and stay with us until decades later we still want to know more.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt., Feb. 16, 2007 -- Take a look inside President Bush's proposed $2.9-trillion federal budget for fiscal year 2008, and you'll see more of the same old thing - more money for war-making and tax cuts for the rich, less money for everybody else.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Daddy, how old were you when you got your glasses?" my oldest daughter asked.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- First of all, may I call you Hillary? Running for president - with a Secret Service escort, no less - grants you gravitas, but your posters say "Hillary for President," so I guess you're comfortable with the informality.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Women like Debbie B. hold more than their share of the sky up.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- If I knew then what I know now, well, there is no doubt that I would be retired from a lifetime career in forensic science. I am drawn to my wide-screen television set each night for re-runs of "Law and Order," "Cold Case Files," "Forensics" and "48 hours." And, weekly, "Bones," "CSI, Crime Scene Investigation, Las Vegas." There are many programs I've seen more than twice. Originally, it was the street scenes of New York City that claimed my interest but now I realize it the crime and detection that draws me.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I recently became a proud father for the third time, and although I love and adore my new son, I've noticed my standards for obsessive care and compulsive hovering have lowered quite a bit.

Mark Scheinbaum

BALBOA, PPanama, Feb. 11, 2007 -- When the White House "talking points" this week spread the headlines that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez "is destroying his country," the reaction in Panama, the Crossroads of the Americas, seemed to be "Who complained when George W. Bush destroyed the United States of America?"

By T.S. Kerrigan

LOS ANGELES -- Just when you thought the Celtic Tiger economy had done it worst, there's news that the Irish Government - in the name of progress, of course - is implementing a plan to build the M3 freeway through the Hill of Tara, the ancient seat of the high kings of Ireland.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. - President Bush was recently asked whether his Administration would continue to increase the number of troops in Iraq despite growing congressional opposition. "Frankly, that's not their responsibility," he replied.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- A few weeks ago, I found myself in a Brooklyn wine bar participating in the Sunday Salon - where creative writers are invited to read their work. The audience was young and hip and I was remarkably out of place.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The dead hear no birds singing, delight no more in the first daffodil of spring, feel no more the kiss of the wind on their face.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- It's only now, 60 years after African-American Jackie Robinson stepped up to the plate, that I can see the significance of that day in April, 1947. It was a pivotal day for the civil rights movement at a time when the words were not even in our vocabulary. Later we would learn that Martin Luther King, just a boy, took notice of Robinson and the way he took the jeers and insults and continued to play ball.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Do you think you're ethical? Do you eat other people's lunch at work? Run red lights at 2:00 a.m.? At cash register "take a penny/leave a penny" cups, do you take or leave pennies? Then probably not.

by Joe Shea

CUZCO, Peru, Jan. 30, 2007 [Updated Feb. 7, 2007]-- The streets of ancient Cuzco are a little emptier tonight. My father-in-law, his family's beloved "Papa José," passed away in a hospital in Cuzco at 8 p.m. after an illness of two months. Professor José María Peréz-Ruibal Gonzales was 88, and all of his family and the city he loved and the thousands he educated will miss him profoundly.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 2, 7:48 a.m. ET [Updated Feb. 3, 4:44p.m. ET]-- A series of strong thunderstorms accompanied by devastating tornados, high winds, cascades of lightning and torrential rain moved inland eastward across south-central Florida from the Gulf Coast this morning, killing at least 20 people and leaving a miles-long quarter-mile swath of destructiion, news organizations reported.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's hard to accept that Molly Ivins is dead.

by Mark Scheinbaum

ATLANTA-HARTSFIELD AIRPORT, Jan. 31, 2007 -- I suppose George Washington bit his lips from the cold and emotion and watched them head across the Delaware to Trenton.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Everything ages.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Beware the human need to get something for nothing. You'll end up with nothing and the con artist will chuckle malevolently while skipping to the bank with your something.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Both Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra sang on award-winning recordings of a song called "Little Girl Blue." It was a tender, compassionate string of lines feeling sorry for an old lady who had nothing left to do but: "Sit there, and count your fingers. What can you do? Old girl you're through. Sit there and count your little fingers, unlucky little girl blue."

by Joe Shea

As editor of a publication in which political commentaries are almost always of the progressive variety, I make sure antiwar sentiment is well and freely spoken in The American Reporter. No nation has ever thrived by suppressing either dissent or the popular view, both of which characterize today's feeling against the war in Iraq. But the fact is I feel somewhat defensive when I try to enlist our readers in a different point of view, one that supports the war and even an expansion of our presence in Iraq.

by T.S. Kerrigan

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 29, 2007 -- When friends and colleagues gather at Spirit Works in Burbank on February 3 to pay tribute to the life and career of French-Canadian actor Louis Turenne, there will probably be the usual tears and encomiums, but, having been to these types of gatherings in the past, I doubt very much whether the words spoken will match the stature of the man.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Shh! Be quiet or you'll scare the fish away."

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- No one wants to die, but if you were faced with a terminal illness, you would probably pick the way that columnist Art Buchwald died - not by his own hand, but in the way and place he chose.

by Mark Scheinbaum

ANGEL FIRE, N.M., Jan. 26, 2007 -- The magnitude of Ford Motor Co.'S financial trouble became apparent this week, and just as apparent is the realization that the car and truck maker which always touted "a better idea" needs a sales environment with some "tougher" ideas.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. - The Broadway musical "Silk Stockings" tells the story of Ninotchka, a Communist-era Russian apparatchik who is sent to Paris and becomes seduced by sensuality.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- To spank, or not to spank, a child. To whip, to beat, to assault.

Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- No, no, Art Buchwald, you don't get to keep on keepin' on after you've taken your last bow, basking in the glow of your reputation. Kudos may continue but you don't get to deliver a prepared speech of gratitude. We know you knew we loved you. You know that you deserved the Pulitzer Prize and you know the answer to your own question: "What are we doing here?" You finally decided what you were doing here when you told a New York Times reporter, "...to make people laugh." And, yes, people did laugh.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Entergy, the energy conglomerate that owns of Vermont Yankee, the nuclear power plant that sits about a dozen miles from my doorstep, has launched an advertising blitz touting nuclear power as being "green."

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Despite their name, I think the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) doesn't like the very animals they're trying to protect. That's why they kill many of the pet cats and dogs they receive.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- At least the goldfinches are happy.

By Chiranjibi Paudyal

LONDON, England, Jan. 16, 2007 -- The British government is under pressure from opposition parties, ruling MPs and some 50,000 highly skilled immigrants in the country to change a rule regarding visa that was imposed retropcatively in December on workers from around the globe.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The glass of water in my left hand bounced up and down on my stomach and the tablespoon of peanut butter in my right hand bobbed up and down with my sobbing.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- During some drive-time easy listening, NPR's Garrison Keillor, with his typical Midwestern wit, was harking back to "those thrilling days of yesteryear," making up radio dramas with plots familiar to those of a certain age.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- On Wednesday, President Bush spoke to the nation about his Administration's new strategy for Iraq.

by Joe Shea

There is no easy way out of Iraq, and no easy way to strike an agreement for peace with that misguided part of the Muslim world that wants to destroy America and all it represents.

by Mark Scheinbaum

ANGEL FIRE, N.M., Jan. 13, 2007 -- The United States would have a much better chance in resolving the civil war in Iraq if at least one President of recent vintage grew up in the Hood. The Neighborhood. The Projects. The Ghetto. The City.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Call the neighbors and wake the kids. It's time for Lake Superior State University's annual List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Mis-Use, Over-Use and General Uselessness.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Being ahead of the pack and leading it are two very different things.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Let the record show that I don't claim to be an expert in anything except maybe "How to get up again when the world knocks you to your knees, clips your wings, and slaps your dreams into the next county."

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- After the New Year got started, I looked down at my stomach and realized I had broken last year's resolution. And the year before that. And the year before that.

by Chiranjibi Paudyal

LONDON, Jan. 4, 2007 -- Thousands of highly skilled professionals and entrepreneurs from around the globe will be forced out of the United Kingdom following the introduction of "unjust" Highly Skilled Migrant Programme (HMSP) rules in November, immigrant leaders say. The retroactive change in rules has raised questions about the credibility of a country known throughtout the world as a haven of democracy and justice, they add.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The butcher's bill - the human and financial costs of the war in Iraq - continues to grow.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- America used to run on oil, but now it seems to run best on blood and death.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- We Americans talk a lot about rights. Constitutional rights. Civil rights. The rights of women. The rights of gays. The right to keep and bear arms, and even the rights of animals. We demand the right to live, work and play as we please, and we have the right not only to pursue happiness, but the right to define "happiness" for ourselves. And all these rights have in common the unspoken premise that we must not interfere in the rights of others.

Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Two stories occupied my mind during the 12 days of Christmas this year; one was heard around the world, the other just among family and friends. What is sort of the same is the sense of loss they both began with, and what is different is the way they ended.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- It's that time of year when geeky humor columnists throughout the world (okay, only me) quiver with anticipation at what the new year will bring.

by Walter Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Deep in a cave or high on a mountain, in Pakistan or Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Yemen, Uzbekistan or, maybe, sunning on the French Riviera, is a furious Osama bin Laden.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Shakespeare wrote that, "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon 'em."

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- News flash! This just in. "Pope calls for peace." This also just in: President Bush calls for "surge" of American forces in Iraq.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The in-laws and the out-laws were there. The kids, cats, cousins, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers - and the two who were responsible for this annual shindig, Grandma and Grandpa.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The Financial Report of the United States Government, the summation of the 2006 fiscal year that ended on Sept. 30, found that had the federal government used the same accounting practices used by the private sector, the 2006 federal budget deficit would have been $449.5 billion, not the widely reported $247.7 billion.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- At a Hanukkah party the other night, I spent a long time looking at the mantel full of glowing candles. I felt blessed, peaceful and safe.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Dec. 18, 2006, 3:15 a.m. EST -- The scientist who serves as spokesman for a group of Canadian researchers that reported discovery of a cure for diabetes in mice in the peer-reviewed journal Cell on Friday says the ground-breaking findings are "solid" but the study's complex approach may take time to replicate. Clinical studies will begin in January, he said.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Even the language fails women.

Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- This year when my December birthday rolled around, I had the pleasure of talking with friends and family who called with greetings and warm conversations - usually about how quickly the years are going by. "It seems we were just talking about this same thing and it was a whole year ago."

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- As we bring closure to the annual calendar, it behooves us to examine the various linguistic gaffes that occurred over the past 12 month period.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The conventional wisdom is that Americans have no stomach for impeachment proceedings against President Bush.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Is love the last social taboo?

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- He leads an all-male prayer group at his church. That means he hates women.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMON ISLAND, Ga. -- The checkout line was growing but customers moved along quickly. The associate - as sales clerks are called now - was a bright and bubbly girl with a brass name tag identifying her as Julie. She appeared to be a high school student working her first after-school job, and she couldn't be happier. It was contagious; she smiled, the customers smiled, the transactions ran smoothly and genuine harmony filled the air on this day when everyone was shopping for just the right things to buy for their family and friends.

by Joe Parko

JERUSALEM -- Ever since Mordechai Vanunu, the Israeli nuclear technician, confirmed the existence of Israel's nuclear weapons program with his photographs of the secret underground bomb facility published in the London Sunday Times in 1986, the world has known Israel has been making nuclear bombs but has pretended they do not exist.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Okay kids, we need to buy one more Christmas present for Mommy. We don't have much time."

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Who are the 100 most influential Americans of all time?

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The war on drugs is back in the news. Where to start?

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Every flag-draped coffin that comes home to America from Iraq feels to me as though it contains the broken body of my son or daughter, for I am an American and I cannot separate myself from them.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- I like to think I'm an observer, and an opinionated observer, at that. Yet I rarely write strong opinion pieces. I'm not a philosopher and I avoid political comments unless it's to defend a misstatement. I'm more an observer like our national treasure, Yogi Berra: "You can observe a lot just by watching."

by T.S. Kerrigan

LOS ANGELES -- When I read a book by Joan Didion or a poem by Dana Gioia about what it's like to be a native Californian, I'm always puzzled because their experiences and impressions are so different than mine. Perhaps if they had grown up in Los Angeles when I did - that provincial city that no more resembles its present self than it did the original pueblo - they would have an altogether different view of what it meant to be reared in this state.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I like nature and the creatures that live in it, provided they stay away from me. I'm what the outdoor-types call a Wilderness Wuss. In the wilderness, there are grizzly bears, timber wolves, snakes, and, squirrels.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- What happens when one of the most important news stories in the world happens literally in your front yard?

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I went to New York last week to see the Thanksgiving Day parade balloons and found my father.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- God created a garden and rested. God created man and rested. Then God created woman and since then neither God nor man has rested.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Sometimes, long-established laws don't mean anything to me at all. I don't mind seeing a sign affixed to a telephone pole saying NO SPITTING ON THE SIDEWALKS. The law is on the books; the sign upholds the law. It has nothing to do with me and I'm not going to look around for offenders.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I don't like fruitcake.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Go big. Go long. Go home.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- At a concert last week in Massachusetts, Bob Dylan sang an old, old song called "John Brown," while I imagined his head spinning with whiplash from the déja vu.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- My morning routine starts with an "aquacize" class at the fitness center and this morning's air was bracing, to say the least. Stepping into and out of the heated pool, despite my thick terrycloth robe, I was shivering. I fell into line at McDonald's drive-thru and decided I would rather drive out to avoid the fumes-filled parking lot to relish my favorite brew.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- For every relationship there is a season; a time to stay and a time to go; a time for loving and, sometimes, a time to unlove.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Erik's note: In the true Laughing Stalk Thanksgiving tradition, we offer Erik's "'Twas the Month Before Christmas" column, so he can grouse about stores that have their Christmas decorations out before Hallowe'en is over.

by Joe Shea

MONROE, NY., Nov. 17, 2006 -- Good morning, and on behalf of the Shea Family, our thanks to each and every one of you who came here to be with us this morning.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I'll admit it. I'm still trying to get my bearings after seeing the Democrats prevail in last week's mid-term elections.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The scamsters are out in force these days. Lately I've won many lotteries in England I never even entered. And there's a never-ending supply of respectful former Nigerian government officials who are trying to send me millions of their dollars. My local bank wants to correct my online account, although I don't have an online account. And eBay wants to update my financial information, even though I've never bought or sold anything on eBay.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I know women who would rather die than grow up.

by Andreas Harsono

JAKARTA, January 4, 2001 -- Last week, a few hours after examining a Jakarta church where a bomb in a parking lot killed three people on Christmas Eve, I returned to my home psychologically shaken, vividly recalling the face of a grieving mother whose son was among the victims.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I wish we didn't live in a society that frowned upon what we wear in public. I'm not talking about savagely-ripped jeans and t-shirts with quotes that encourage people to perform anatomically impossible acts on themselves.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla. -- This low-tech backwater on the southern Gulf Coast of Florida observes Veterans Day today with unusual zeal. At all the American Legion posts the public is invited to lunch for free or a dollar or five, there's a parade in nearby Palmetto, across the Manatee River, and a week-long American Patriotism Celebration has been underway for days. The local Bradenton Herald is full of articles and ads about the various events, and every state, county and city office and agency except the police department is closed down.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- This election almost killed me.

Mark Scheinbaum

LAKE WORTH, Fla., Nov. 9, 2006 -- Yukyukyukyuk. Eiyaaaaoh! Eiyaaaaoh! Nnyack, nya, nyaaaaack! "Paging Dr. Bush, Dr. Kerry, Dr. Fine, Dr. Howard."

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I have learned the error of my ways. I was wrong. I am reformed, born again, forever humbled.

by Joe Shea

SARASOTA, Fla., Nov. 8, 2006, 3:49 a.m. -- Florida has done it again. A tight and very costly Congressional race has gone into extra innings over votes that were cast on electronic machines without a paper trail.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Nov. 5, 2006 -- Until a short time ago, this tourist-friendly, laid-back town of 50,000 on Florida's southern Gulf Coast wasn't on anyone's map of political hotspots. But even the Washington Post's Website had a Bradenton, Fla., dateline on its top story this morning until Saddam Hussein's death sentence topped it. Even so, by Sunday afternoon, judging from the cameras, crowd and reporters present at a last-minute Democratic rally in front of the Manatee County Democratic headquarters, the nation's eyes were back on big little Bradenton.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Scanning e-mail messages is a speedy process with so much to see and so little to absorb. Today, however, a date jumped out at me: 07.07.07. There it is! Our 50th anniversary is close enough to start marking the event.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- When a man or woman signs the enlistment papers and raises their right hand to swear allegiance to the Constitution of the United States and to protect it against all enemies, foreign and domestic, they take on an awesome responsibility. They are pledging to defend this nation and sacrifice their lives, if necessary, to do so.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- In yet another assault on childhood fun, the game of tag has come under fire from Addle-minded, er, Attleboro, Massachusetts. Willett Elementary School has banned tag from recess.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Some say the soul of the nation is up for grabs in the coming elections.

Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Once upon a time there were newspaper ads and shiny magazine pictures telling readers there were ways to improve their health and well-being, and for a small investment (the purchase price) problems would be solved. Prior to the printed page, "snake oil" salesmen worked from the back of a wagon verbally seducing listening customers into buying a pint of their magic elixir - 40-percent alcohol not listed in the ingredients.

by Chiranjibi Paudyal

LONDON, Oct. 30 -- The rugged, wild Tora Bora region of Afghanistan, once the hideout for the world's most-wanted terrorist, will be converted into a luxury tourist attraction with the construction of a holiday resort at the scene - at least that's what a tabloid paper in London says.

by Mark Scheinbaum

LAKE WORTH, Fla. -- It seemed to be a sad truth about the health care insurance industry today when the Blue Cross agent explained the monthly premium for one person would be about $850. But the real sticker shock came when he said, "That's for the $10,000 deductible with no co-payments."

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- In my constant quest to help Guys transform themselves into Men, I've provided guidance on cooking, dining out, ordering wine at a fancy restaurant, and even relationships. I've taught Men how to become Guys with lessons on home remodeling, designing the perfect garage, and basic tool usage. Now it's time to discuss one of my biggest challenges: How to appreciate classical music.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- For the second year in a row, Vermont was ranked the smartest state in the union by the Kansas-based research group Morgan Quitno.

by Elizabeth Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Comes now the first frosty breath of winter, the hint of something different on its way, the silent going of the honeybees, the hummingbirds, the last buzz of a lone fly looking for warmer quarters.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- My son Tom told me his five-year-old daughter wept as she watched "Castaway" with Tom Hanks when "Wilson," a volleyball that survived the crash along with Hanks (soon becoming his only companion), was floating out of reach forever.

by Norman Solomon

SAN FRANCISCO -- Get ready for a special tour of a renowned outlook, conjured from the writings of syndicated New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman.

by Christine James

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa, Oct. 20, 2006 -- It was Car Free Day in Johannesburg today. Not that there was a noticeable difference from any other day.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- For the past six decades of the Atomic Age, humankind has somehow managed to avoid nuclear annihilation.

by Mark Scheinbaum

MIAMI -- The sparse crowd roared at the sure three-pointer, until it bobbled around the rim and popped out to the mid-court line.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Writing a column about why Republican Gov. James Douglas should be voted out of office is a little like trying to explain why you should shoot your puppy.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- For want of a word a nation is lost.

by Constance Daley

NEW YORK, N.Y. -- Is it only when I go to New York City that these high-profile news events take place, or is it because in New York, we see and hear firsthand news accounts on the street all day? Here, there's always something going on.

by Walter Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa.-- The parents of a 16-year-old Congressional page contacted their congressman, Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.).

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Some men will do anything to watch their sports," said Karl, plunking his beer on the table. Karl, my friend and part-time curmudgeon, often plunked his beer as an exclamation to his declarations. We were at my house, watching the Indianapolis Colts play the New York Jets.

by Mark Scheinbaum

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- When former Florida GOP Congressman cum fundraiser Mark Foley resigned in scandalous disgrace two weeks ago, New Mexico GOP Congresswoman Heather Wilson disgorged $8,000 in Foley Funds faster than you could say "Jack Abramoff."

by Randolph T. Holhut

CHESTER, Vt. -- The latest New York Times/CBS News poll has President George W. Bush's approval rating down to 34 percent. More telling, though, is that 83 percent of those who responded to the poll say Bush is either "hiding something or mostly lying" about how things are going in Iraq.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Under a bright blue sky, this year's foliage is extravagantly beautiful.

by Christine James

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa -- "Children will be children. They merely did things teenagers do." These were the words of a South African diplomat working at the South African High Commissioner's Office who, along with his family, was requested by the British Government to be out of Britain by October 17.

by Elizabeth Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- We live, we Americans, in a time of the quick fix for every woe, every twitch of discomfort, every mood.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- What this country needs is a whole lot more snitches, tattle-tales, informants and even amateur sleuths. We raise our children to believe tattling is a dirty word, telling them they should be ashamed for tattling. That's the way we were raised.

by Norman Solomon

SAN FRANCISCO -- Moments after hearing about North Korea's nuclear test, I thought of Albert Einstein's statement that "there is no secret and there is no defense; there is no possibility of control except through the aroused understanding and insistence of the peoples of the world."

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I have always wondered how good-luck charms were discovered. Who determined that throwing salt over your shoulder prevented bad luck? Why is a black cat bad luck but a white cat isn't? Why are troll dolls lucky, but my wife thinks my lucky tie-dyed t-shirt should be thrown away?

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Last week, the Republican-controlled Congress, aided by a handful of faithless, fearful Democrats, decided it was more important to win an election than to preserve and protect the Constitution, human rights and the rule of law.

by Mark Scheinbaum

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Hats off to the Down Jones Industrial Average for reaching "new heights" - at just about where it was almost seven years ago.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Remember stillness? Peace? Quiet? Being in the moment?

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- If these were normal times, the thought that President George W. Bush would launch a war to preserve his party's grip on power would be dismissed as lunacy.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I'm cuckoo for coffee cards. You know, the little cards that get punched, stamped, or marked whenever you buy a cup of coffee or latté at your favorite local coffee shop. (Not Starbucks though - they don't believe in rewarding customer loyalty). After nine or 10 stamps, you get a free cup of your favorite beverage.

by Mark Scheinbaum

OSIER, Colorado -- Let's get the punchline out of the way first: the president and CEO of the railroad served an old lady lunch when no other employees were in the vicinity. He just did it. Fast, efficiently, and with a smile.

by Joyce Marcel

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- Will Shulman was buried Tuesday in a plain pine box.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- For one awed moment I longed to go with them - the wild Canadian geese winging southward, honking across my September sky.

by Jeffrey P. Hermes and Samantha L. Gerlovin

BOSTON -- Podcasting is a vibrant method of exercising First Amendment rights that allows people and corporations of all sizes to share their thoughts with a vast potential audience. However, like any other mass media publisher, podcasters can be held responsible under United States law if they cross the line from the protected exercise of the freedoms of speech and press to defaming those that are the subject of a podcast.

by Chiranjibi Paudyal

BANGKOK, Thailand, Sept. 24 -- Thai coup leaders have started to ban news about ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and arrest his close aides in an attempt to suppress democracy and freedom of the press in the formerly open and democratic society of Thailand.

by T.S. Kerrigan

LOS ANGELES -- Some people (especially those of us who've been around longer than we'd like to admit) continually lament what we perceive to be the decline in American poetry. We don't mean the diminished numbers of readers of poetry in this century, which is not subject to argument. It's purely a matter of arithmetic. What we're talking about is a decline in the quality of poetry written today.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Children need boooundarieees," child psychologists harangue in that sing-songy, whiny voice that annoys the crap out of me. "They need limits on what they're allowed to dooooo."

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The conventional political wisdom says that in this election year, the war in Iraq has overshadowed everything.

by Mark Scheinbaum

SANTA FE, N.M. -- The "ink specialist" (yup, that's what they call him) at Office Depot looked around the shelves at HP, Brother, Epson, Lexmark, and the generic house brands and shrugged, "Dell? Nope, no Dell. They want everything for themselves. You have to order your supplies from them."

by Chiranjibi Paudyal

BANGKOK, Thailand, Sept. 21 -- Thailand's army launched a bloodless coup Tuesday against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatr, who was attending the UN General Assembly in New York. The army has enforced martial law and suspended the democratic constitution of the country.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Every Wednesday, I sit down at the computer and produce a polished (I hope) and coherent (maybe) column on a single topic.

by Elizabeth T. Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- It's not a question now of whether or not our pre-emptive war-play in Iraq was morally or militarily justified. We're there and we have to stay.

by Mark Scheinbaum

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Drive by your favorite section of Palm Beach County and keep in mind that recently-released figures show that one in every 250 homes you pass is in foreclosure.

Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Food poisoning in one form or another has posed a danger all through my life; however, early on, it was the food itself, mistakenly consumed or imbibed, that brought on illness or death. Although it wasn't a common incidence it did happen with enough regularity for us all to be deathly afraid of mushrooms.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I think it's time to start talking my daughters about the facts of life.

by Elizabeth Andrews

CARTERSVILLE, Ga -- I would gladly go to Rome, stand out in front of the Vatican, and defend with a bouquet of long-stemmed, thorny wild roses the Pope's right to express his opinion on Islam and the Koran.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Longevity is our culture's Holy Grail. We "fight" debilitating illnesses. We admire people who won't "go gently into that good night." We praise "survivors." We tsk-tsk when people die "too young." We laugh when we say, "Old age is difficult, but think of the alternative."

by Mark Scheinbaum

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- It took less than 24 hours after officials somberly reflected on the fifth anniversary of the 9-11 terror attacks for investors to get solid proof of the guerilla warfare mentality now needed to survive on Wall Street.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- When we hear, "the movie opens Friday at a theater near you," we know we will see stars on promotional tours, and we'll see the characters they play through the eyes of the actors they are. Adrien Brody, first made famous in Roman Polanski's "The Pianist," flopped onto the couch between the formidable ladies staging "The View" each weekday morning at 11:00.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I originally wrote this column, "A Time To Think Clearly," for The American Reporter on Sept. 14, 2001, three days after the attacks on New York and Washington.

by Capt. Gabriel Scheinbaum, USA

BAGHDAD, Sept. 11, 2006 -- On the mornng of August 30, his 32nd birthday, at about a quarter after 11 in the morning, Sergeant Alex made his last volunteered movements. Moments later, while conducting patrols with C troop, 4th Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, Army Staff Sgt. Eugene Alex was down. A single shot to the head had started in motion the inevitable. A few days later, with his wife, Melissa, at his side, Eugene Henry Eli Alex was pronounced dead.

by Joseph P. Shea

MONROE, N.Y., Sept. 9, 2006 -- Good morning. On behalf of my father and each member of the Shea Family, our thanks to you for being here this morning at a time which, with the passing of his brother Billy's beloved wife, Lorraine Shea, and indeed even the great matriarch of the Snee Family that gave that beautiful land to this church, that surely marks the passage of the generations.

American Reporter Staff

MONROE, N.Y. -- John S. Shea, Jr., the father of American Reporter founder and editor Joe Shea, a lifelong resident of Monroe, N.Y., died Sept. 5 at 6:10 a.m. at Arden Hill Hospital in Goshen after a brief hospitalization for pneumonia. He was 95.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I can use any word in a sentence, I boasted to Karl, as we were having a beer.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- A year ago this week, Hurricane Katrina slammed into New Orleans and the Gulf Coast.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Watching the wealth of our nation - as well as the blood and body parts of our soldiers - poured down a rat hole in Iraq is not the only thing that grieves me.

by Mark Scheinbaum

LAKE WORTH, Fla. -- Leave the country for a few days on business, and while you are gone get word that two friends, two heroes, two champions of the underdog have died. It is the kind of news that jerks your head back like a right uppercut.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- The first time I heard the word was when Dr. Steinman referred to me as "the ubiquitous Mrs. Daley." I didn't have a clue what he meant.

by Mark Scheinbaum

ORLANDO, Fla., Aug. 27, 2006 -- It's the time of year when some professional investors think about "defensive stocks" and we're not talking about tanks, planes, guns, and bombs.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Quick, name the nine planets.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff recently floated the idea that our nation's domestic antiterrorism laws should be reviewed. He suggested that the United States might benefit from the sort of aggressive surveillance and arrest powers that British authorities used to foil the supposed plot to bomb as many as 10 airliners.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- We're having a gorgeous late summer here in southern Vermont. The corn is high, the tomatoes are in and I'm going to Saratoga to bet on the horses. So write your own column.

by Judah Freed

DENVER, Aug. 23, 2006 -- When U.S. District Judge Anna Diggs Taylor in Detroit ruled Thursday, August 17, that the Bush Administration's warrantless surveillance program is unconstitutional and must be halted, she wrote, "There are no hereditary kings in America and no powers not created by the Constitution."

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- If I were to title this Service With A Snarl it would likely be closer to the way I feel but less than likely you would read it.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Sen. Joe Lieberman's sorry hide has been nailed to the wall, and there is rejoicing in the land (except from the lobbyists, pundits and political hacks who make up the permanent occupation force of Washington).

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "You can't fix stupid," claims stand-up comic Ron White.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The Israeli attack on Lebanon horrified me, but nothing prepared me for the sense of dread that has come in its wake.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- The doctor was exasperated with me, I could tell. He definitely keeps tabs on my cholesterol levels and I've been through the best medicines yet discovered for keeping those levels on the healthy side of 190. But, the reading is not there yet. (What can I say? I love eggs.) As we worked through the first few prescriptions, I developed such muscle weakness I couldn't lift a cup of coffee. On to another prescription and then another until now, finally, I take one that has no side effects.

by Chiranjibi Paudyal

LONDON, Aug. 13, 2006 -- Nepal's new government and the country's Maoist rebels have agreed on terms for the management of arms, moving the peace process forward and holding elections for its constituent assembly under the eye of United Nations observers, officials said.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Regular readers of former Chicago Tribune columnist Mike Royko will remember Slats Grobnik, a curmudgeonly character who espoused less-than-popular views on certain controversial issues.

by Mark Scheinbaum

LAKE WORTH, Fla., Aug. 10, 2006 -- Every so often a member of academe comes along who can actually make complex issues, such as the Federal Reserve Board's "pause" or perhaps "halt" in two years of raising interest rates. Professor Jeremy Seigel, the Russell E. Palmer Professor of Finance at the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School in Philadelphia, is just such an expert.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., 8:58 a.m., Aug. 10, 2006 -- A "very sophisticated plot" to blow up passenger jets using liquids carried aboard in hand luggage was disrupted by British authorities with 21 arrests of conspirators in England, homeland security officials revealed in an extraordinary press conference this morning.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Thank heavens for Mel Gibson. How could we have a conversation about an important social issue in this country without a celebrity?

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I'm writing this early Wednesday morning, absolutely vibrating with joy at seeing an election outcome that I don't have to cringe over.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- It was midnight and while I was getting ready for bed a woman in the United Kingdom silently entered my Website. She didn't enter my pages on the World Wide Web by way of the URL (Universal Resource Locator), nor by my name, for that matter. She had typed "Badger's Parting Gifts" in Google's search engine. This children's book was once mentioned casually in an article I wrote called Parting Gifts.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Aug. 6, 2006 -- No image has done so much to undo the Senate career of Connecticut Democrat Sen. Joe Lieberman as the kiss on his cheek planted there by President George Bush at the end of the 2006 State of the Union address. It is this Judas kiss that, more than any other fact, may move Connecticut Democrats to castrate themselves by sending one of the most principled, effective and intelligent men in government back to private life.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Some readers may have heard me quietly lament my recent 39th birthday ("Oh my Gawwwwd! I'm getting oooooolllddd!!"), and complain that I'm getting too old for a lot of things like stuffing myself with pizza and beer without thinking about my cholesterol.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Americans are supposed to be an optimistic, can-do people, but no one seems to be talking about the future with starry-eyed wonder anymore.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I couldn't believe it when President George Bush, talking about Israel's attack on Lebanon, said he was against "stopping for the sake of stopping."

by Mark Scheinbaum

MIAMI -- The year was 1974 and the dapper, well-spoken Cuban ambassador to the United Nations, Ricardo Alarcon, would nod hello to me most days en route to work at the Legislative Palace in Panama City, Panama.

by Parvez Ahemed

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Hundreds of Lebanese and Palestinian civilians are being killed. The civilian infrastructures of both areas are being systematically destroyed. And what is our nation's response? We refuse to call for a cease-fire, and instead expedite the shipment of bombs to Israel so that they are better able to carry out their brutal attacks.

by Capt. Gabriel Scheinbaum, U.S.A.

BAGHDAD, July 31, 2006 -- There has been a lot of news this week about the Army's decision to extend the year-long deployment of the 172nd Stryker Brigade from Fort Wainwright, Alaska. After all, would you remain silent if you or your loved one had just served for 361 days in Mosul, Rawah, and Tal Afar, Iraq, and days from re-deployment were told that too bad, you're not done yet?

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Last week, John Walsh, host of "America's Most Wanted" television show, stood beside President Bush and watched as the President signed into law what he has most wanted for the 25 years since his son, Adam, was abducted and subsequently murdered by person or persons still unknown.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I had a combination "Ha, ha, serves you right/Wow, that's too bad" moment a few years ago when I heard that Chris Hamill (aka "Limahl"), former lead singer of '80s British band Kajagoogoo, was working at a London record store. This followed his failed solo singing career that he launched after Kajagoogoo's one big hit, "Too Shy," hit the top of the UK charts.

by Mark Scheinbaum

ANGEL FIRE, N.M. -- Wall Street seems to like, or at least tolerate the intensification of war in the Middle East. So what ever happened to the old caveat "Wall Street hates uncertainty?"

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- We know that the Republican Party, the party of incompetence and corruption, is in big trouble heading into November's congressional elections.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- "Want a little warm-up?" asks the waitress as she splashes more coffee into my cup. "Need more milk?"

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- This morning in an e-mail to all our children, I mentioned it was my mother's 119th birthday. Her lifetime was one from 1887 to 1969 and included electricity, telephones, automobiles, airplanes, two World Wars, Korea, Vietnam and then, actually, on the night of her last birthday, man landed on the Moon, in that giant step for mankind.

by Mark Scheinbaum

BOCA RATON. Fla. -- Since I predicted that Michael Dell must know something great about his company that we don't, his stock's value has fallen another 10 percent and forecasts for the rest of 2006 are miserable. The only bright spot is for sparkling new products late in 2007 - maybe.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Troubled times demand bold and intelligent leadership.

by Norman Solomon

SAN FRANCISCO -- Getting out of Lebanon, writer June Rugh told Reuters: "As an American, I'm embarrassed and ashamed. My administration is letting it happen [by giving] tacit permission for Israel to destroy a country."

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- At the start of the Iraq war, the British columnist George Monbiot wrote, "They [the American and British governments] have unlocked the spirit of war, and it could be unwilling to return to its casket until it has traversed the world."

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., July 19, 2006 -- The image broadcast today of the Orient Queen, a sleek, eight-deck luxury cruise ship moored in the Port of Beirut - it's now set sail for Cyprus - with 2,000 American and British citizens fleeing Lebanon aboard, was seen around the world on Cable News Network and cannot have been missed by any number and variety of terrorists anxious to inflict damage on Israel, the United States, Britain and anyone who supports them.

by W.R. Marshall

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- You have to hand it to the folks in Congress: our elected representatives are willing to change with the times and not get stuck in some mire of principle or belief or the concerns of the people they represent.

by Walter M. Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Let's pretend it's dinner time, and you've just developed a sudden craving for Mexican food.

by Mark Scheinbaum

PANAMA CITY, Panama, July 18, 2006 -- The National Assembly has set October 22 as referendum day for yea or nay on a $5.6 billion upgrade of the Panama Canal, but the outcome will determine lots more than ships sailing through Lake Gatun and a new set of locks.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga -- Everybody dies. Whether the decedent's life ends at the biblically suggested three score years and ten or goes from life to death anywhere from the first stages of infancy to years set in the prime of life, we do die. That is not a happy thought and it does grieve me to bring it to your attention. But you did know it all along.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I want to be a man of letters.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., June 14, 2006 -- It's time to ask very urgently what the true goals of Israel are in its invasion of Lebanon and its assault on Gaza in the Palestinian Territories.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- If only Al Gore and John Kerry could have been more like Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and his Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD).

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Believe me, I know it's hard. The Bush Administration says that all detainees at Guantánamo Bay and in U.S. military custody everywhere are - suddenly! - entitled to protections under the Geneva Conventions and you can't help wanting to scream, "Where were you five years ago, before the whole world starting hating us and the U.S. Supreme Court said you weren't above the law. Were you power-drunk?"

by W.R. Marshall

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Ken Lay died last week.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, GA. -- There was a time you could almost tell an American by his name. It was so important to immigrants to be considered American that many of them changed their names. And, those who thought their names belied an unacceptable ethnic group, would "Americanize" their name - by that I mean "Anglo-Saxonize."

by Capt. Gabriel Scheinbaum, U.S.A.

MOSUL, Iraq -- Radio listeners of Paul Harvey's "The Rest of The Story" could tune in daily anywhere in America for the past four decades and hear his distinctive voice and often humorous, always poignant tales of America. There was always the well-known, book-cover version of a story, then a commercial break he would usually narrate himself, and 60 seconds later he would hit you with all the fabric that you never saw - the rest of the story.

by Mark Scheinbaum

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- Depending on how risky or conservative you might be, the sticker-shock of your Q2 investment statements might easily have shown your brokerage account down 3 to 11 percent from the last report.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The war now being waged by the Right on the First Amendment and its principles of a free press, freedom of speech, freedom of thought and freedom of association is hardly a new one.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Dear Doctor Taylor: I'm writing this letter to give you a better explanation of today's chain of events at my family's Fourth of July celebration which resulted in my appearance at your fine hospital.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- My father was a peasant at heart. He was a first-generation American raised on these old-country rural values: trust no one except the family, the worst is always yet to come, don't trust banks, don't go into debt.

by W.R. Marshall

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Things are broken, all kinds of things. Just look around. We have bad leaders, bad air, bad diets, bad television - it's not good.

by Ed Tubbs

PALMETTO, Fla. -- How can one improve on Thomas Jefferson? It is Independence Day, the one day on our national calendar to refresh our parched palates with words from the father of that independence - not only from Britain, but from those among us who would seek to bind our freedoms to their beliefs.

by Mark Scheinbaum

BOCA RATON --Can the individual investor buy the same U.S. government agency bonds purchased by his or her bank, insurance company, mutual fund, or trust company?

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Dear Ann: Can I call you Annie? I'd like to think we could be friends, or at least colleagues. Sure, you're a big-time author with several books, and I'm just a weekly humor columnist, but we're siblings in the written word.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The decision by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday to strike down Vermont's 1997 campaign finance law reinforces the court's misguided notion that money equals speech in politics.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- You've got to hand it to the Republicans, using war to keep a death grip on the political process. For example, the generals say they can't close the prison at Guantánamo until they "win the war on terrorism."

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- As new reports detail further abuse by America's military of its prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan, a behind-the-scenes battle is being fought between the State Dept. and the Dept. of Defense over a key section of the Geneva Convention on prisoners. Should it be included in new rules governing Army interrogation techniques?

by W.R. Marshall

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Wolfgang Ketterle, 2001 Nobel Laureate and John D. MacArthur Professor of Physics at M.I.T., has said auf Wiedersehn to Cambridge and spent his Nobel bucks on a little place in your home town.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla. -- In a major setback to the Walt Disney Corp.'s efforts to recapture near-priceless rights to Winnie The Pooh merchandise from the original licensees, the United States Supreme Court refused without comment Monday to hear an appeal of Los Angeles Federal Court Judge Florence Cooper's 2003 decision denying the studio the right to terminate a 1983 agreement with Pooh's licensor and buy future rights from descendants of British children's author A.A. Milne and illustrator E.H. Shephard, The American Reporter has learned.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- In my 3.9 decades on this Earth, I've come to the conclusion there is no such thing as true fairness. (I've also come to the conclusion that I'm getting old.)

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Ever since the somewhat murky outcome of 2004 presidential election in Ohio, there have been numerous reports of how Republicans engaged in widespread and intentional cheating and fraud to ensure that President George W. Bush would win.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Many of us get a tearful feeling of one-world happiness during the Olympics, but they are just a little country fair compared to the World Cup.

by Mark Scheinbaum

MIAMI -- Imagine your boss calling 788 committee meetings over a 10-year span, and you only missed two.

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- Every once in while, Congress gets it right.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Whoever said there is no such thing as coincidence wasn't in this quiet room this morning. The light touch of the computer keys addressing Amazon.com was the only sound. I was hoping to find a listing for a VHS or DVD video of "Yankee Doodle Dandy" for our Fourth of July entertainment.

by W.R. Marshall

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Phil, Phil, Phil. You had a plan, thought it was a good one, worked hard on it, but in the end things didn't go the way you wanted. You kept ending up in the weeds and ankle-high rough; you had no clear line to the green, and victory was suddenly in doubt.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- No tears are being shed for the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Maybe I'm old-fashioned, but I think society has lost its sense of etiquette and politeness. We've forgotten simple manners and the niceties of a civilized society. No longer do we display the manners we were taught as children. We've become petulant and rude. We're quick to whine about the slightest offense. And we voice our displeasure at the top of our lungs like a spoiled child who didn't get the toy he wanted.

by Mark Scheinbaum

LAKE WORRTH, Fla. -- Here is the consensus of handicappers for 18 June 2006. Track: Muddy.

by W.R. Marshall

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- "Welcome! Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to this year's Hubris Awards and Banquet. I'm Jimmy Communicationsmajor, and you all know the beautiful and never humble Diana Perfectteeth."

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Even before the figures were in on Dummerston's new town-wide property reappraisal - up 81 percent! - there was something gnawing at me. Basically, it was this new house being built in Dummerston Center.

by Capt. Gabe Scheinbaum, U.S.A.

MOSUL, Iraq, June 10, 2006 -- This was going to be an anonymous rant - for my legal protection, if nothing else. But I want the content of it to speak to America's John Q. Public as much as the Saturday morning cartoons convince kids that "Trix are for Kids," and maybe that means tJohn Q should know who's talking. I'm an officer in a hard-working combat brigade; I want to tell you somthing that's really important to me.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- To paraphrase Saturday Night Live alum Norm MacDonald, "Australians hate Barry Manilow!"

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- A couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail from Gary Canant, a 61-year-old Marine Corps veteran of the Vietnam War who now lives outside Kansas City, Mo.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- There's no getting around it: fat tastes good. In fact, fat tastes great. So there's this television commercial, Wendy's, I think, and instead of French fries, our national food, a man orders a baked potato with his breaded and fried whatever-nuggets. Everyone in the restaurant falls over in their chairs. A baked potato instead of fries!

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- As human rights organizations expressed skepticism that detainees recently transferred from Guantánamo Bay to Saudi Arabian custody could receive fair trials and escape torture - and a new study charged that the country's textbooks continue to promote intolerance of other religions - the oil-rich Kingdom put the finishing touches on its new Human Rights Commission.

by Norman Solomon

SAN FRANCISCO -- I've been thinking about Tariq Aziz a lot since the New York Times printed a front-page story on the former Iraqi deputy prime minister in late May. A color photograph showed him decked out in what the article described as "an open-necked hospital gown, with a patient's plastic identification tag on his wrist." He looked gaunt.

by W.R. Marshall

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Let me get this straight: a decade and half ago the Evil Empire, the odds-on favorite to be the idiots who pushed The Button, just packed up the Volga, took a chunk of the Berlin Wall for a souvenir, and got teaching jobs at the Kennedy School of Government?

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., June 4, 2006 -- This Sunday is celebrated by the Catholic faith as a day to recall the Biblical episode in which Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, abruptly appears amid His frightened disciples in a locked room, and then breathes upon them to impart the Holy Spirit. As they receive it, burning tongues of fire appear above their heads - these are the Paraclete - and each is suddenly gifted with the power to be understood in any language, and with the motive force to go forth and spread His Gospel of love, peace and redemption.

by Erik Deckers

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- To the outside world, it's a spring morning just like any other. Garbage trucks clang down sleepy streets. Commuters battle rush hour traffic. And lines of coffee fanatics wait to get their morning fix at their favorite coffee houses.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Monday's car bomb attack in Baghdad that killed CBS cameraman Paul Douglas and soundman James Brolan and critically wounded correspondent Kimberly Dozier underscores how dangerous a place Iraq is for journalists.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- First, a little story.

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- Two weeks from now, a South Carolina pain management physician will surrender at the Talladega, Ala., prison to begin serving a 2.5-year sentence for drug trafficking, racketeering, and money laundering.

by W.R. Marshall

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- A few weeks ago my brother, the old school pinko from New York, was watching that C.B. DeMille classic, "The Ten Commandments" - the 1956 iteration, the one with the past president of the NRA in it: and if it wasn't for Pharaoh's pantywaist gun control laws, the Israelites could've busted out of Egypt without divine intervention.

by Mark Scheinbaum

BOCA RATON, Fla., May 30, 2006 -- Just when I needed to get one of these scattered potpourri columns off my chest, President George Bush pops up on my tv screen and names Goldman Sachs chairman Hank Paulson as the new Treasury Secretary of the United States. This news once again proves the wisdom of the Founding Fathers in giving every American the right not to vote.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga., May 29, 2006 -- As I write on this Memorial Day, as all the flags are waving and "Taps at Twilight" echoes across the island, I am thinking of my five brothers, all of whom proudly served in World War II. I miss their laughter and their total enjoyment of life, defiant of all they faced in all the theaters of that war. I was the baby of the family; they were my heroes.

by Joe Shea

War is a cruel and ugly thing, born as John Knowles said of "something ignorant in the human heart," and that is where, too, the hurt of every loss remains in each lifetime that a bullet, bomb, mine or mortar touches with the cold finger of death.

by Capt. Gabe Scheinbaum

SOMEWHERE IN IRAQ -- Hey, All. Well, another month has passed me by, and though there are a few days left in May I thought it safe to knock out my end-of-month report. In concluding my first month as the XO of the 572nd Military Intelligence Company I have regained my mojo at work. My depressed professional state has rebounded and I again have the job satisfaction I had under the tutelage of John Hawbaker in old C Troop. My new boss, CPT Andy Hierstetter, who hails from parts close to my own (Fort Pierce), has really welcomed me in.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., May 25, 2006 -- On the day that Tampa Bay voters woke up and took notice of her husband, Democratic gubernatorial primary candidate Rod Smith, the chairman of the Florida State Senate's powerful Committee on Agriculture woke his wife DeeDee at 3:30 a.m. to talk about his surging campaign.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- What does evil look like?

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- With all the unnecessary carnage in Iraq, the babies blown to bits, the blood feuds, the women mowed down by rifles, the estimated 2,455 Americans dead, the estimated 19,000 to 48,000 Americans returning without arms, legs or eyes, along with the horror of Darfur, the AIDS epidemic in India, Africa, Russia and China - in fact, with the immense amount of human suffering on the planet, I'm having a hard time explaining to myself how I got so worried about a horse.

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- The U.S. Government has once again invoked the "state secrets" privilege, arguing that a public trial of a lawsuit against a former head of the Central Intelligence Agency for abducting and imprisoning a German citizen would lead to disclosure of information harmful to America's national security.

Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Two things happened this week that really got me thinking how little we know about the American flag. First, an email came to a mailing list I'm on asking members and fellow editors for their advice. A reader wrote to one newspaper with a Letter to the Editor saying he was boycotting a restaurant because they flew their ethnic flag out front.

By Chiranjibi Paudyal

LONDON, England, May 18, 2006 - Nepal's Parliament today passed a historic political proclamation, making the dictator King Gyanendra completely powerless and disconnecting his link to the army, which once supported the king's efforts to plot coups time and again and suppressed Nepal's people for centuries.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- We know President Bush's plan to send National Guardsmen to help the Border Patrol keep Mexicans out of the United States is a transparent political ploy.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- One of the dumbest fads I ever suffered through was the "Baby On Board" signs people put in their car windows during the 1980s. This originally started out as a friendly warning to other motorists, urging them to drive cautiously, as there was a small infant in the car.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- In 1794, a dispute broke out in the Rutland, Vt., area. Some people wanted to build a dam on a particular river and run more mills. Property owners protested that their lands would be flooded and turn into swampy health hazards during the summer.

by Mark Scheinbaum

CLEWISTON, Fla. -- In the center of the Florida Peninsula's hurricane zone, with the new storm season two weeks away, the importance of mobile cellular communications has ascended to pre-eminence in the realm of public safety and personal security.

by Norman Solomon

SAN FRANCISCO -- Weeks after a British magazine published a long article by two American professors titled "The Israel Lobby," the outrage continued to howl through mainstream U.S. media.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Once upon a time there was a real live person named Alice Mabel Gray who in her early years was a brilliant part of the team at the United States Naval Observatory. She is better known as Diana of the Dunes, a recluse known to run naked on the sands of Lake Michigan, occasionally seen by fishermen as she bobbed around in the surf.

by Chiranjibi Paudyal

LONDON, May 13. 2006 -- The new democratic government of Nepal has arrested five ministers and suspended chiefs of its security forces involved in the suppression of popular movement that forced King Gyanendra to give up executive power and reinstate the Parliament.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- Dear Fox Sports Network: - is that too obsequious?

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's hard to believe, but the Republican Party actually thought that giving Americans a $100 tax rebate to help deal for the rising cost of gasoline was a good idea that people would support.

by Walter M. Brasch

DANVILLE, Pa. -- "Enraged" would be too mild of an adjective to describe the caller to Spectrum magazine, a national award-winning student-produced magazine for the permanent residents of two rural counties in northeastern Pennsylvania.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- So, I've just published my first book.

by Mark Scheinbaum

BOCA RATON, Fla., May 10, 2006 -- The news media will soon crown a "new all-time high" of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA). Try to stifle your yawn.

Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- It didn't start in the computer world; it was a television commercial asking the question: "Is it real, or is it Memorex?" Could their cassette tapes so capture the sound of a live performance that the listener could not tell the difference? It was only a sales slogan but now it's part of American short-speak.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- One thing most people don't know about me is that two of my children are adopted from Haiti, and the other is from Bolivia. Needless to say, this draws more than a few stares whenever we go out in public. (We just stare back.)

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla.. May 5, 2006 -- Setting the stage for a violent confrontation as early as today's Cinco de Mayo's celebration, controversial Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Phoenix says his 100-man volunteer "posse" will fan out over the weekend and start arresting illegal immigrants.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- John Kenneth Galbraith's death on Saturday at the age of 97 left a great void in my life. Whatever success I now have as a writer and observer of press, politics and public policy, I owe in large part to him.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- On Feb. 20, 1791, U.S. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson wrote a letter asking the state of Vermont, which was about to join the Union, if it would ratify a series of amendments to the Constitution. Those amendments later became the Bill of Rights.

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- President George W. Bush's "Global War on Terror" has produced the unintended consequence of bringing the United States ever-closer to some of the world's most repressive regimes. If, as the Roman politician Scipio said, , "Politics makes for strange bedfellows," an aggressive foreign policy makes them even stranger when a country claims to value human rights.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- There is no question about it; enough of us are interested in the stories behind the stardom to keep the tabloids in business.

by Mark Scheinbaum

TAOS, N.M., May 1, 2006 -- I am the first "American" and I am watching these pro and con "immigrant" boycotts and demonstrations very carefully.

by Chiranjibi Paudyal

KATHMANDU, May 1, 2006 -- The active monarchy is gone forever.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- "All right, Buddy, let's get you into the shopping cart."

by Chiranjibi Paudyal

KATHMANDU, April 29, 2006 -- The anger against King Gyanendra is running so high in Nepal that many people don't even like to pronounce his name, associated as it is with ruthless dictatorial rule since he grabbed power by sacking the elected government and dissolving Nepal's parliament.

by Ron Kenner

LOS ANGELES -- I don't mind admitting that I slept through a good part of the Gore Vidal-Arianna Huffington chat that packed UCLA's Royce Hall Saturday.

by Joe Shea

MEXICO CITY, April 28, 2006 -- In a decision that may reverse the flow of immigrants overnight, the Mexican Senate voted late Thursday night to allow small amounts of marijuana, opium, heroin, methamphetamines, cocaine, peyote, LSD and up to two pounds of hallucinogenic "magic" mushrooms for personal use, while crafting a new drug reform law with severe penalties for traffickers of larger quantities.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Now that the Republicans have discovered that people are very angry about rising gas prices, it doesn't hurt to remind folks who got to the issue first.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Nothing prepared me for the emotional impact of the wedding that Randy and I attended in Hartford on Saturday.

by William Fisher

CHATHAM, NY -- I recently e-mailed Neil Hicks, the director of international programs for Human Rights First, seeking his thoughts on a new poll of the U.S. public that shows rapidly declining support for President George W. Bush's pledge to spread democracy throughout the world.

by Chiranjibi Paudyal

LONDON, April 24, 2006 (Update 10:03pm EDT) -- Nepal's King Gyanendra has been under heavy pressure to restore democracy and save the monarchy as anti-monarchy demonstrations have intensified across the country since April 6, leaving 14 dead, more than 2,000 injured and thousands of pro-democracy supporters and prominent citizens detained. Today, he finally relented, agreeing to reinstate Parliament and call elections, but stopped short of accepting a constitutional referendum that would decide the future of the monarchy.

by Mark Scheinbaum

BOCA RATON, Fla.. April 24, 2006 -- At the risk of dating myself, the empty gas stations at 7:45 a.m. on a Monday rush hour near trendy Mizner Park offices and stores, looked like the post-nuclear war scenes from the 1950s movie "On the Beach."

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Penis. There, it's out of the way now. Ever since Lurena Bobbit angrily wielded a sharp knife and removed her sleeping husband's penis, the reading and listening public has been spared no graphic details when news is reported.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- Some people have likened it to herding cats. Others have compared it to teaching dogs to program a VCR. Whatever you call it, it's the challenge of a lifetime.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Nobody likes to pay taxes, but people dislike paying taxes even more when they think the game is rigged against them.

by Walter Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- President Bush, several years after most Americans, has decided the nation can't be dependent upon foreign energy sources.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- He slices, he dices, he juliennes! Just look at that tomato! Now how much would you pay for such a President? But wait, there's more!

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- Poor Scott McClellan. He has what must be the least satisfying job in Washington.

Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Who's in Heaven? I think that's a very good question considering what evangelist Jerry Falwell said last month. I can't imagine his issuing a statement claiming Jews won't get into Heaven unless they accept Christianity. He had the good grace to say: "In my view." But when someone leads a congregation of 22,000, it almost becomes dogma.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- "All right, we're here. I want everyone to be good."

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- These days, when I open up the newspaper or listen to the news on the radio, it feels as if the rest of the world is speaking Urdu.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Which do you want first, John F. Kennedy's tear-jerking "We're a nation of immigrants," or the "Let my people go" stuff, or the "Give me your tired and poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free?"

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- It was 55 years ago. I was a cub reporter for the Daytona Beach (Fla.) News-Journal, an AM-PM family-owned daily with a circulation of something under 100,000.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- The hairstyles in 1910 were directly from France; otherwise, why would a pompadour or a Marseilles (commonly mispelled "Marcel") wave be the way to describe my mother's hair-do in this fading photograph? It's a pink-tinted, sepia tone, tintype and although fading, her titian colored hair catches the light and it's as if I myself am the cameraman.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla. -- These are hard words to say, State Sen. Rod Smith thinks, his eyes turning away in pain for a moment as he considers their political impact.

by Steven Travers

SAN FRANCISCO -- Mickey Meister passed away this week. To those who knew what had become of him, this was news we expected since 2003. He was 44 years old. His life is a Shakespearean cautionary tale of wasted talent and excess. He was a man of extraordinary flaw, yet also one of great charisma. It is the fervent hope of this old friend of Mick's that somehow that charisma, combined with Mick's spiritual knowledge of death's impending harvest - and hopeful repentance - impressed God enough to grant salvation to his soul.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- My wife claims that I have a particularly nasty habit that she claims is "disgusting" and "gross." I, on occasion, will chew on my beard.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Many things have changed since the American tanks rolled into Baghdad three years ago this week.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Sorry to interrupt the political debate with what might appear like a frivolous topic, but the question of older women and sex has recently been raised in the literary journals, and I have something to say about it.

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- Last month, the U.S. Muslim World Advisory Committee of the United States Institute of Peace sat down for a talk with Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and Under-Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes. These are the kinds of meetings Arab-Americans and other Muslim-American groups have been having with U.S. officials at various levels of government since soon after 9/11.

Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- There was something Pope John II said that came to me as I mulled over today's hot topics: citizenship, language, green cards, guest visas, and amnesty for those who have earned the right to stay based on contributions already made to American society, versus having to go back to wait on line like every other person seeking citizenship the old fashioned way - legally.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- I've always heard it's rude to correct other people. By correcting them, you're somehow telling them, "Good Lord, you're stupid! How on earth did they even let you out of the fourth grade?!" So I was a bit surprised to see this happen at a book club I visited recently.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- My grandfather, Johann Holhut, arrived at Ellis Island on June 15, 1923.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- There's no doubt that a grassroots impeachment movement is brewing in Vermont. Dan DeWalt's Newfane town meeting impeachment resolution - passed also by Dummerston, Putney, Marlboro, Brookfield and, in modified form, by Brattleboro - attracted international attention. The state's Democratic Party is now considering a call for impeachment. So you might think that Vermont is once again ahead of the pack.

by Mark Scheinbaum

BOCA RATON, Fla., Mar. 28, 2006 -- New Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke didn't waste any time proving that he is just as disconnected from real, live, working Americans as his decrepit predecessor Alan Greenspan.

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, NY -- Wheelchair-bound multiple sclerosis patient Richard Paey is serving 25 years in a Florida prison for "trafficking" one-half of a gram of OxyContin, even though the prosecutor concedes that Paey never sold any of his medications. In prison, he now receives more pain-killing drugs than he was convicted of having.

Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- It was a surprise to see a front-page article prominently featured in London's Sunday Times online edition counting the minutes until Scots will no longer be able to smoke in their beloved pubs. Before I finished reading the article, more minutes were clocked.

by Robert Gelfand

LOS ANGELES, March 27, 2006 -- Author and critic Molly Ivins has inadvertently and probably unintentionally provided a clue that something is wrong with newspaper journalism. In considering Ivins' remarks, consider a second clue from Paul Krugman in his recent book "The Great Unraveling" (Norton, 2004). The main question we is, why do newspapers gave President George Bush a free pass on his economic dishonesty in 2000 and 2001?

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. - I wrote my first note to a teacher last week. This may not seem like such a big deal to most of you, but to me, it was the end of a 33-year wait. Ever since I walked into kindergarten with a note from my mother, I dreamed of writing a note to my children's teachers.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's weird how one little state can be the target of so much right-wing hatred.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- As Ben Franklin famously said, "Certainty? In this world nothing is certain but death and taxes." How true. But for me, there is another certainty - taxes as a useful way to reckon with life.

Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- You can see it in his face, you can see it in his eyes; there's a certain heaviness about President George W. Bush becoming more evident each day. I see it as the weight of the world he's carrying on his shoulders. It wasn't supposed to be this way.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- Does anyone remember the three-part episode of "Happy Days" where the gang went to California, had all kinds of kooky adventures, sappy love scenes, and finally the big breath-taking, daredevil, Dear-God-I-Can't-Look! scene where Fonzie water ski jumped over a shark after a bet with a smug California beach jerk?

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- This week is Sunshine Week, an annual event sponsored by the American Society of Newspaper Editors to spotlight the importance of open government and freedom of information.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. - I have two photographs in front of me. One is of an old woman in a long blue nightdress. She has a black net bonnet over her white hair. Her thin body is bent and one of her gorgeously long, bony, twisted and knobbed hands is splayed on the kitchen counter, supporting her as she ruefully stares at the camera. It is morning, and she has just woken up.

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- For those who enjoy the political theater of the absurd, the Dubai Ports World soap opera was the only show in town last week.

by Mark Scheinbaum

BOCA RATON, Fla., Mar. 14, 2006 -- Now that Northwest Airlines is going to charge as much as $15 extra to plant your butt in an aisle or exit airline seat, it's time for the flying public to take the gloves off and fight back.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, GA. -- Why couldn't the soothsayer just say March 15th when he spoke to Julius Caesar, instead of "Beware the Ides of March"? That's what he was talking about, after all. We've been stuck with interpreting what he meant because of the buzzword "Beware."

by Robert Gelfand

LOS ANGELES, March 13, 2006 -- Paul Krugman and Andrew Sullivan traded rhetorical shots this week - a triviality in and of itself - but out of this exchange a deeper message rises to the surface. It has to do with what it means to be a public intellectual, and what moral responsibilities accrue to such an exalted position. In the meanwhile, the rest of us get to watch two media heavyweights dishing it out.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- In Vermont, the first Tuesday in March - Town Meeting Day - is a sacred day for those who still believe in the power of direct democracy.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Polar bears are drowning but what the hell. Don't worry, be happy.

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, NY -- On the heels of the surprise victory of Hamas in the Palestinian parliamentary election, President George W. Bush is discovering just how difficult it is to try to herd a bunch of cats.

Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Although we have had no immediate family tie to breast cancer. I've had both an aunt and a niece fall victim to it and in spite of excellent care, cannot be numbered among survivors.

by Robert Gelfand

LOS ANGELES, March 6, 2006 -- Mallard Fillmore is that most irritating of waterfowl, a cartoon character who recites right wing rhetoric. Firedoglake is a liberal Internet blog. Together, they have explored the role of consumer protest against corporate behavior - the former on the conservative side, the latter on the liberal side. It is old news on the conservative side, but a great step forward for liberalism.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. - I recently had the chance to take a business trip up to Guelph, Ontario. I had a great time, and decided that Canada is an excellent place to visit. The people are very friendly, the scenery is beautiful, and the towns are very clean and pretty safe. I also discovered that the town is pronounced "Gwelf," not "Goo-elf." Luckily I found out before I got up there.

by Norman Solomon

SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- Death is always in the news. From local car crashes to catastrophes in faraway places, deadly events are grist for the media mill. The coverage is ongoing San Francisco, Calif. and almost always superficial.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- That President George W. Bush is clueless is a given. But is he so clueless that he supports giving control of five of the nation's biggest seaports to a shipping company owned by a country that was home to two of the 19 men who carried out the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks?

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Everyone has their own style, even when it comes to breast cancer. Or so says my cousin Joan.

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. - Last June 17, U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld told reporters, "If you think of the people down there (at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba), these are people, all of whom were captured on a battlefield. They're terrorists, trainers, bomb makers, recruiters, financiers, (Osama bin Laden's) bodyguards, would-be suicide bombers, probably the 20th 9/11 hijacker."

by Robert Gelfand

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 20, 2006 - A series about high school graduation rates in the Los Angeles Times has provoked a flurry of responses, among them a column in the Washington Post which inspired its own uber-flurry. Unfortunately, a number of important issues have been lost in what comes across as a blizzard of clichés and self-serving defensiveness.

BY Mark Scheinbaum

POMPEII, Italy. Feb. 19, 2006 -- Under two thousand years of volcanic ash, could there be a clue to the survival of New Orleans?

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- Every kid should learn to play a musical instrument.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The talk of military action against Iran has been steadily building over the past few weeks.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Fashion Week in New York. All the big-name fashion designers gather to show their new lines. The city is full of foreign accents, beautiful clothes, studly men, leggy girls, high energy and huge egos. The shows are by invitation only. Last week I was thrilled to get one.

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- Small government is one of the golden tenets of American conservatism. Small government is more efficient. The smaller the government, the more power will be returned to the people. The smaller the government, the freer our people will be of bureaucratic intrusion, regulation and control. The smaller the government, the closer lawmaking will be to the "will of the people."

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- In the late '50s, Carol Burnett in her debut performance on late-night television belted out a torch song that was so inconsistent with what the audience expected from this tall, slim, serious-looking singer with a powerful voice that we still ask, "Remember when?" The song was: "I Made a Fool of Myself Over John Foster Dulles," and the words were those of love, devotion and heart wrenching desire for our prim Secretary of State.

by Robert Gelfand

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 13, 2006 -- It's been a week in which so much material has surfaced that a diligent media critic can't keep up. Unfortunately, a lot of it involves threats to freedom of expression. It is a topic that crosses disciplinary, geographic and philosophical boundary lines.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- It's official: sex makes you stupid. At least if you're a bat.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The butcher's bill, the ever-expanding human and economic cost of the Iraq war, grows with each passing week.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- OK, so we had the vote.

by Walter M. Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa.-- President Bush doesn't like the media. He proudly tells the nation that he doesn't read newspapers, magazines, or books. He and his dwindling corps of sycophants, some of whom prepare his daily briefings, believe the media don't tell the truth - at least their version of the truth. They are sure the lyin' liberal media (which they believe is a redundancy) are on a conspiracy to _get him - or at least expand his world beyond Oil Drip, Texas.

by Chiranjibi Paudyal

KATHMANDU, Feb. 7, 2006 -- At a time when more than 1,000 politicians, journalists, human rights defenders, teachers and supporters of democracy have been confined to state offices and buildings, turning this small beautiful Himalayan country into the largest jail in the world, a U.S. senator has once again called for a renewal of democracy and peace in Nepal.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- When Ralph Waldo Emerson said "Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door," he didn't know about Google. The world is beating it's own path to me, directly to me, not through my front door but on super highways in cyber space mapped out by Google.

by Robert Gelfand

LOS ANGELES, Feb. 6, 2006 -- The big media questions of the week involved violent responses to the publication of cartoons about the Prophet Muhammad that were printed in a Danish newspaper last September. The damage has included the sacking or burning of several embassies, the arrest of newspaper editors and multiple attacks against Scandinavian citizens, not to mention mass demonstrations and riots in many cities.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- I had a horrible thought at the beginning of the year: I'm 18 months away from being 40.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- So now the last piece in the grand plan for right-wing control of the United States has fallen into place.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- This is the column I never wanted to write.

by First Lt. Gabriel Scheinbaum, U.S.A.

NINEVEH PROVINCE, Iraq -- I really like to drive, which is a personality trait I might now take under review.

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- That President George W. Bush is a big fan of elections should surprise no one. He's won a lot of them. But his simplistic equation - elections freedom democracy peace - has been running into a bit of trouble lately.

by Chiranjibi Paudyal

KATHMANDU, Nepal (from London), Feb. 1, 2005 -- Would there be an election without the participation of Democrats and Republicans? What would happen if those two parties boycotted polls in the United States? That's eactly what happened in Nepal over the past few weeks. Election are being held without the major parties that secured nearly 100 percent of the votes in the last election. And in at least one instance, that situation was the answer to a beggar's dream.

by Mark Scheinbaum

PALM BEACH, Fla., Jan. 31, 2006 -- Forty-eight hours before Pres. George W. Bush delivered his State of the Union Address, South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham showed off his stand-up comedy routine for the rich and richer of this famed Florida haven, some of whom favor Graham in a rumored White House run.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- There's no question our language changed with the advent of the computer. Where our parents had an address and telephone number, we now have an address, telephone number, cell phone number, web address (or, in the vernacular, a dotcom) an e-mail address and a "nick," which is how you're identified for instant messaging.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla. -- I was almost beginning to believe in the people at Discover Card. Even though I had been four days late with one payment and then was 11 days late when my brother died and my life turned momentarily upside down, they forgave my late payment of $35 and didn't boost my interest rate.

by Robert Gelfand

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 30, 2006 -- Is this just another story about a conservative columnist who got caught with his finger in the jar, or is it something else entirely - perhaps a story about the illogical restrictions imposed by traditional journalistic ethics? It all seems to depend on how you look at it. What will become apparent as we consider the case of Michael Fumento is that traditional journalistic criticism misses an important side of the story.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- What's your most prized possession? What object, other than your children, pets, or big screen tv, would you save first in a fire?

by Mark Scheinbaum

GREENACRES CITY, Fla. -- Sharon Christa Corrigan McAuliffe held the headlines, and spotlight, and entered the Challenger capsule. Judith Marie Garcia, in flight gear, quietly backed away, changed her clothes, and 20 years ago, joined NASA colleagues, friends, and family in the grandstand to watch her friend die.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- President George W. Bush and other members of his administration have been fanning out around the country this week in a public relations blitz to sell the nation on the idea that their campaign domestic surveillance (or, as they call it, their "terrorist surveillance program") is legal and necessary to national security.

By Jesse Froehling

SAN José, Costa Rica -- On 9th street, in downtown San José, Costa Rica, a man with a Brooklyn accent stopped me late one night.

by Mark Scheinbaum

BOCA RATON, Fla. -- The young, fabulously rich, brilliant minds of Google need to learn the toughest thing in business: when to fire a client.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, who aptly calls himself "The Bloviator," has said many wild things in his successful career. Most of them have been easy to ignore. But recently he said, in the punishing tone of a strict father whose daughter has had too much fun, fun, fun and he now has to take the T-Bird away: "Vermont must know that they're in the United States of America."

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, launched a media tsunami when he declared the Holocaust a myth two weeks ago.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- If you're taking soybean products to prevent heart disease, you're wasting your time. That's according to the American Heart Association that recently reviewed studies done over the last 10 years to confirm or disclaim the benefits of soy and soybean products in lowering cholesterol, preventing heart disease, breast cancer, uterine or prostate cancers.

by Robert Gelfand

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 23, 2006 -- I sure would like to see some of that liberalism in the media that the right wing is always talking about, because right now, the mainstream has missed one of the best "gotcha" stories of all time.

by Walter Moore

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 23, 2006 -- In an article on the price of houses yesterday, the Los Angeles Times reported that "Southland prices rose 16.5 percent over 2004 to a record median of $460,000." That's only true as far as it goes.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- "Here are our seats. Have you still got your ticket parchment, Virgil? We need it to get back into the Colosseum, in case we leave."

by Steven Travers

SAN FRANCISCO -- Osama bin Laden has released another tape, and it appears to me that he may not be the world's worst terrorist, but rather an actor hired by the Republican National Committee to promote George Bush's Presidency. At least it sure seems that way.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Once again last week, my adopted state of Vermont became a whipping boy for the right-wing screech monkeys.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- In medieval times, they called older women "hags" and taught children to be afraid of us. As civilization progressed, we were called "witches" and burned at the stake. When we started agitating for our rights, we were called "feminists" and put in jail. Then we were called "women of a certain age." We were ignored, and we disappeared from the culture.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- There's not much I like anymore. I don't mean the things we can't help liking like sunsets, babies, and full moons; I mean I don't like things I once loved, once really loved with a heart-stopping reverence. Little clay or wooden objects made with the hands of my little children - who are now in their thirties and forties. I don't need reminders of those precious moments when the love we shared was actually palpable. My eyes still light up when I see the men and women they've grown into, because I see who they were as well as who they are.

by First Lieut. Gabe Scheinbaum, U.S.A

ANBAR PROVINCE, Iraq -- On this eerily quiet day, one search netted me a sort of time-delayed smile. I chuckled when I recalled that some bold Arabic graffiti all over the wall of a ruined building translates roughly to "Sadi loves Debeeza." More about unrequited love later. Today's work is a bit more complicated than longing for puppy love.

by Herndon L. Davis

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 16, 2006 -- On this Martin Luther King Day, as we approach the upcoming 2006 congressional elections, there is growing concern in the African-American community about its ability - or perhaps its inability - to hold on to once unshakable political power.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- Think real hard. Does your city or state have a slogan?

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The federal minimum wage of $5.15 per hour has not been increased since 1997.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Democrats specialize in forcing people to hold their noses while they vote. The name John Kerry springs to mind, but there have been so many others along the way. Progressive Democrats have come to expect this from the national party, but I never expected to get it from Bernie Sanders, Vermont's heroic lone ranger in the U.S. House of Representatives.

by Mark Scheinbaum

BOCA RATON, Fla., Jan. 11, 2005 -- Headlines proclaimed that happy days must be here again, because achieving the 11,000-point mark in the Dow Jones Industrial Average - the "Dow," for short - puts the less-than-significant index right where it was, oh, let's say five and one-half years ago.

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- My many friends around the world have been urging me to write something about how I think about President George W. Bush as 2005 ends and the New Year begins.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- This is the month when I look out the window at nothing in particular for as long as it takes to breathe a sigh, slowly turn away and get on with it.

by First Lieut. Gabe Scheinbaum, U.S.A

RAWAH, Iraq -- "Why did you join the Army?"

by Robert Gelfand

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 9, 2006 -- Sorry, but I can't seem to keep up with all the scandals. It's almost more than the human mind can retain. It's also been a real lesson in what is best and what is worst about the mass media.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- "Breaking news" from that "community of learners" up in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan!

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- A friend of mine who has been in the Vermont House of Representatives for the past few years recently told me about a rule she has been telling her fellow Democrats to adhere to when describing an idea to constituents or the press.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- American culture is giving me whiplash. On one side I see right-wingers teaching abstinence to horny teenagers, denying condoms to Africans with AIDS, refusing to fill women's birth control prescriptions and, in general, acting like moralizing, self-righteous jerks. And on the other hand, in what I like to think of as the real America, the newest - as well as actually the oldest - trend appears to be sex for money, sex for sale.

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- Amid unrefuted charges that the Pentagon is paying Iraqi journalists to write "good news" stories about the country's progress, Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice has announced a new international exchange program for journalists named after famed broadcaster Edward R. Murrow and emphasizing "the democratic principles that guided Mr. Murrow's practice of his craft: integrity and ethics and courage and social responsibility."

by Constance Daley

ON THE ROAD, U.S.A. -- Around home on St. Simons Island in Georgia, we choose gas stations by the cost of gas. Saving even a penny or two per gallon will attract our business. However, when we're on road trips, we look for the cleanest rest rooms. Shell Service Stations win every time. On the holiday journey West just taken, the one Marathon we visited was so awful we didn't stop at any others in that chain nor chains we couldn't trust to live up to their claim: "Clean Rest Rooms."

by Robert Gelfand

LOS ANGELES -- Who would have thought back in 1995 that the biggest future threat to newspapers wouldn't be the FBI or the federal courts, but a guy named Craig? The craigslist family of Websites has done something to newspapers that the feds couldn't - cut into their ad revenues by giving stuff away.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. - We're at the end of 2005, and I want to wish everyone a belated Merry Wintervale.

by Lieut. Gabriel Scheinbaum

NINEVEH PROVINCE, Iraq, Dec. 31, 2005 -- It's New Year's Eve here and there is no room for schmaltz. There is only room for first person accounts of the war, my war. That is all I can offer and that is what you should come to expect.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Last year at this time, the Republicans felt triumphant. They were now firmly in control of everything. They thought they had a mandate.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- This nightmare year opened with the world still reeling from the Indian Ocean tsunami which swept away more than 200,000 people in 12 countries. The devastation made it hard not to see that we're all on this planet together, we're all vulnerable to the force of nature, and, as John Donne wrote in 1623, "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind. And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee."

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- President George W. Bush is famous for not admitting mistakes. But every now and then he tries to correct one - without fanfare and well under the radar. That's what he did on Dec. 7 when he tapped the State Dept. to replace the Defense Dept. as the lead agency coordinating reconstruction in Iraq, Afghanistan and all other nations at risk of civil strife.

by Norman Solomon

SAN FRANCISCO -- Despite all the news accounts and punditry since the New York Times published its Dec. 16 bombshell about the National Security Agency's domestic spying, the media coverage has made virtually no new mention of the fact - revealed in 2003 - that the Bush administration used the NSA to spy on U.N. diplomats in New York before the invasion of Iraq.

Constance Daley

OMAHA, Neb. -- The early news reports alternated between the Tsunami disasters in Indonesia a year ago today and the day-after-Christmas shoppers at the mall - any mall - anywhere in the country. We're all alike.

by 1st Lt. Gabriel Scheinbaum

Editor's Note: Gabe Scheinbaum considers his late grandfather, Louis Scheinbaum, a Normandy invasion veteran who was highly decorated as both infantryman and later combat medic, one of his life's great influences.

by Robert Gelfand

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 26, 2005 -- The predictable media brush fire broke out when it was revealed last week that the Bush administration has carried out a lot of domestic surveillance without obtaining legal permission. One question isn't being asked so far, even though the wrong answer might trigger a serious impeachment inquiry.

by Mark Scheinbaum

BOCA RATON, Fla., Dec. 25, 2005 -- Listening to politicians from the White House on down, it makes you wonder if officials elected, or appointed, know the difference between what is simply "true" and what is actually "candid?"

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- A couple of weeks ago, Doug Thompson, the proprietor of the political-news Website Capital Hill Blue, reported that President Bush had referred to the Constitution as "just a godda--ed piece of paper."

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- First, I have to say that Christians didn't come highly recommended when I was growing up in a Jewish enclave of Brooklyn, N.Y.

by William Fisher

CHATHAM, N.Y. -- Recent polling on the views of the American people about the 'Global War on Terror' continues to suggest increasing ambivalence, confusion and lack of reliable information. And other events over the past few days, topped by the revelation that President George W. Bush ordered secret warrantless wiretaps of phone calls and emails of American citizens, are unlikely to reverse this trend.

by Walter M. Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Although President George W. Bush is determined to keep and strengthen even the most odious parts of the U.S.A Patriot Act and to use extralegal methods to extract information about citizens, he does have a soft spot for one American.

by Norman Solomon

SAN FRANCISCO -- More than 13 years ago, I joined with Jeff Cohen (founder of the media watch group FAIR) to establish the P.U.-litzer Prizes. Ever since, the annual awards have given recognition to the stinkiest media performances of the year.

by Mark Scheinbaum

BOCA RATON, Fla., Dec. 19, 2005 -- President George Bush is now in full-court-press mode on issues of secrecy, national security, civil rights, and the current State of War.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., Dec. 18, 2005 1:43pm EST -- A blog at Kiryas Joel in Monroe, N.Y., reported minutes ago that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, 78, suffered a minor stroke at the end of his workday at his office and was hospitalized at the Hadassah hospital there after at least briefly losing consciousness. The report was immediately moved by another blog, "ERHC On The Move" (erhc.blogspot.com), and then followed a minute later by a Breaking News report from CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- There's a question I often ask people: "Would you rather have the power to fly or become invisible?" Your answer is supposed to provide some insight about who you are as a person.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- The fundamentalists and their allies in the media are screeching again over the alleged "war on Christmas" by those evil liberal secular humanists who supposedly run the world.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It must have been more than 40 years ago when my slim and elegant mother, Rose Kagan, bought a girdle.

by Jesse Froehling

DRAKE BAY, Costa Rica, Dec. 14, 2005 -- Officials closed Costa Rica's Corcovado National Park, a prime tourist attraction, because many kinds of animals are dying in alarming numbers there amid one of the most sensitive ecosystems in the world.

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, was big on explosions.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, GA. -- In 2003 the most often looked-up word in the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary was "democracy." Well, I can see that.

by Norman Solomon

SAN FRANCISCO, Dec. 13, 2005 -- No buzzards were gliding overhead, but several helicopters circled, under black sky tinged blue. On the shore of a stunning bay at a placid moment, the state prepared to kill.

by Robert Gelfand

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 12, 2005 -- In the cycle of television programming fads, we are now in the Crime Scene Investigation era, a genre that proclaims its innocence loudly but succeeds by catering to guilty pleasures. This format shares perverse underpinnings with the ever-popular hospital dramas, even if the connection is not so easily apparent.

by Joe Shea

ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 11, 2005 -- Here at Disney's Contemporary Resort outside Orlando, the business of the Democratic Party this weekend was all business. The party faithful came from around the state to the Florida Democratic Party Convention to enjoy a few parties, sure, but first and foremost to find out how they are going to get their campaigns for the state legislature, Congress and the White House back on track.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- If a casual reader of newspapers spent a few weeks reading Jim Romenesko's Web site of newspaper news and gossip, he would come to the conclusion that print journalism is having a nervous breakdown.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- "Imagine there's no countries. It isn't hard to do. Nothing to kill or die for. No religion too. Imagine all the people, living life in peace."

by William Fisher

CHATHAM, NY -- Congressional leaders who have often touted Iraq's new "free press" as a sign of progress in that troubled country were angered by the Pentagon's admission last week that it has been planting and paying for Iraqi newspapers to publish 'good news stories' written by the military and 'placed' in Iraqi media by a Washington-based public relations firm.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- How badly do you have to screw up your wedding vows so you need to do it all over again?

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Given the intense hatred that the Bush administration has for journalists and independent reporting, the news that in April 2004 President Bush seriously contemplated bombing the Qatar headquarters of the Arab news channel al-Jazeera isn't surprising.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Writing about lies on television may be like shooting fish in a barrel, but after the giant M&M attack on Thanksgiving Day, I can't resist.

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- America's newest public diplomacy czarina, Karen Hughes, is in dangerous denial and needs professional help.

by Mark Scheinbaum

ANGEL FIRE, N.M. -- Being a natural worry wart I clucked my tongue repeatedly when both the self-sanctified New York Times, and tv stock broadcasts alerted investors and general consumers to the coming hedge fund train wreck.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Author Betty Friedan was "googled" and instantly my article called "Feminine Mystique Revisited" came up in the extensive list of sources. A student picked out my name and the personal questionnaire sent to me in this morning's mail was no more than a blatant attempt by that student to have me write her term paper.

by Robert Gelfand

LOS ANGELES -- Any media critic faces the misuse of language on a daily basis. The immediate outrage is a new term that threatens to enter our language on a permanent basis: the blogosphere. Luckily, there is an alternative, but we will have to be quick about it if we expect to save our semiotic souls.

by Walter M. Brasch

BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Clutching a bag of nails in one hand and wielding a hammer in the other, Marshbaum broke out of semi-retirement and into my office. It could mean only one thing.

by Erik Deckers

SYRACUSE, Ind. -- I just now heard about CNN blinking a big fat X over Vice President Dick Cheney's face as he was making a speech last week. Truth to tell, I thought some of the technicians were playing "Spot the Liar." But there's a lot of good column ideas I never hear about.

by Cpl. Micah Snead

HUSAYBAH, Iraq -- Elements of the 6th Marine Regiment pushed through buildings, streets and the constant threat of improvised explosive devices and enemy attacks to bring stability and security to two Iraq border towns in western Al Anbar province duringh a six-day mission earlier this month.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Just in time for Thanksgiving, the Republican controlled U.S. House of Representatives voted to trim $50 billion over 10 years out of the federal budget through cutbacks in food stamps, Medicaid and student loans.

by Norman Solomon

SAN FRANCISCO -- When Thanksgiving arrived, the media coverage was mostly predictable. Feature stories told of turkeys and food drives for the needy. We heard about why some people, famous and unknown, say they feel thankful. And, of course, holiday advertising campaigns launched via tv, radio and print outlets.

by Joyce Marcel

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Being a sucker for turkey and sentiment, I love the idea of Thanksgiving.

by William Fisher

OLD CHATHAM, N.Y. -- Critics of President George W. Bush's administration are charging that recent appointments suggest the President has failed to learn from the Katrina disaster and the Harriet Miers nomination and continues to favor political loyalty over qualifications and competence.

by Constance Daley

ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- There was a time when bacon sizzling in two inches of its own grease right up to your personal degree of crispness was the most inviting aroma in any house on any morning. Add to that the heady scent of coffee percolating the tune that promised satisfaction every time. They wrote songs about it. One, I recall, was "I love coffee, I love tea, I love the java jive and it loves me; coffee and tea, the java and me, a cup, a cup, a cup, a cup, a cup."

by Robert Gelfand

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 21, 2005 -- Arnold Schwarzenegger still doesn't know what hit him, and apparently the rest of the media hasn't quite figured it out either. Arnold got Limbaughed. Hannitized. O'Reilly'd. Give it any name you want, it represents the first time that the techniques perfected by talk-radio and used by the "Right wing noise machine" have been turned around and used effectively against their own side.

by Joe Shea

BRADENTON, Fla., 4:36 p.m. EST, Nov. 20, 2005 -- U.S. and coalition troops surrounded members of a suspected al-Qaeda cell reportedly including Iraq's top Al-Qaeda leader, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and seven other insurgents who were either killed in the assault or blew themselves up inside the house today, an Arabic-language news site reported this afternoon. The coalition units suffered 11 wounded in an "intense firefight," but no deaths, according to U.S. authorities.

by Randolph T. Holhut

DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Why is the United States so despised in the Muslim world? It's not because they hate our freedom, as President Bush likes to say. They hate us because we have tortured Iraqi prisoners, leveled Iraqi cities and killed tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians.