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Getting past the noise for freedom

As anyone who has ever tried to escape reality can tell you, you’re more than likely to end up back in it. We can imagine things to be different. We can dream away the night, but when the sun comes up, it’s the same sun as yesterday. We find ourselves in the same material world at the same fixed place in time’s continuum. Despite our ingenuity and resourcefulness, we are still bound by natural laws. We can undergo joint replacement and cosmetic surgery, but we can’t stop aging. We can disown family members but we can't change our DNA. We can build B52 bombers, but we can’t grow ...

Dots have been connected, don’t look away

The simple minded and the uninformed can be easily led astray. And those who can not connect the dots look the other way. People believe what they want to believe when it makes no sense at all. Walk Tall — John Mellencamp 2004 I implore readers of this column to watch the village board workshop meeting of May 4. This meeting truly contains the good, the bad, and the ugly of village government. The good begins at approximately 44 minutes into the meeting when the mayor, the trustees, the LaBella engineers, and the DPW chief discuss replacing the village’s ancient water mains. ...

State’s Greed Machine ignores high energy costs

The irony would be funny if Albany Democrats were not costing us billions of dollars to accomplish nothing, while simultaneously pushing their “affordability” meme. Apparently, working people have noticed their electric bills doubling, and Albany is getting nervous because our affordability problem is home-grown and cannot be blamed on anybody else — try as they may. If Albany has its way, our rates will soon double again. Rational energy policy has the same effect on Albany’s Greed Machine that direct sunlight has on vampires. The Greed Machine is that cabal of big ...

Battling adversity spurs patriotic virtues

Americans by nature seem to root for the underdog — in sporting events and in military battles. Many times, in our nation’s history we have been on the side that must beat all the odds. This was the story of our nation from the very beginning. Even farther back than the creation of the United States. We can look to the settlement of Jamestown in Virginia to see how a small group of people could stand against the elements of the harsh new land to prosper and grow a thriving community. We saw the puritans sail through terrific storms to land upon the beach of Plymouth and for the ...

High court to settle score on W.Va. sports law

CHARLESTON, W.Va.—Let’s pick up where we left off last week. The Supreme Court is considering a challenge—under the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause—to Idaho’s Fairness in Women’s Sports Act. The law requires that public schools and higher-education institutions designate each sponsored sport as ● for males, men, or boys, ● for females, women, or girls, or ● as co-ed or mixed. Such laws are about sex, not gender. After all, a person’s sex goes to whether the person is male or female. Males are he. Females are she. By contrast, gender is a ...

Rounding Third: Mother’s Day has competition for attention

Today is Mother’s Day. As I write this, on May 10, I’ve learned it’s also National Shrimp Day. Wh-a-a-a-t? Today is Mother’s Day. Period. How can it be anything else? Turns out it’s the date that determines these festive days. Every second Sunday in May is Mother’s Day. But every May 10 is National Shrimp Day. It also happens to be National Idaho Day, National Washington Day, National Cherry Cobbler Day, National Rescue Dog Day, and last, but not least, National Clean Up Your Room Day. Whoa… that has to be hooked to Mother’s Day somehow. Who decides these things? And ...