“I don’t like having thousands of people around when you don’t need them.” -Donald J. Trump on public health employees “It will soon be down to zero. . .it’s under control. . . the flu kills more. . . “…
Chats
I’m a Delinquent St. Patrick’s Day Boy
“What Patrick gave the Irish was a faith that took the best of traditional pagan beliefs and redefined those in Christian terms.” -Steve Rabey, In the House of Memory My birthday is St. Patrick’s Day, but I’ve never made much…
Making the Case for Tuition-Free Higher Education European Institutions Graduate 11% More Than U.S.
“High college cost is a threat to Idaho’s economy at a time when employers are demanding a more educated workforce.” —Idaho Center for Fiscal Policy Denmark’s Higher Education Reforms In 1966 I traveled to Denmark as a Rotary Foundation Fellow…
Struck v. Defense Department: A Better Case than Roe v. Wade?
When Susan Struck was 23, she volunteered as an Air Force nurse in Vietnam. Before she signed on, she was warned that if she became pregnant she would be automatically discharged. When she arrived in Vietnam, she started dating an…
Look What the Virgin Birth has Wrought
The doctrine of the Virgin Birth is a slur on natural motherhood. —Elizabeth Cady Stanton, The Woman’s Bible I’ve been studying the world religions for about 55 years, and early on I discovered patterns in the birth stories that I…
Mahatma Gandhi’s profound influence on Martin Luther King
Christ furnished the spirit and motivation, while Gandhi furnished the method. —Martin Luther King, Jr. I firmly believe that the Gandhian philosophy of nonviolent resistance is the only logical and moral approach to the solution of the race problem in…
The Neanderthals ate their veggies, too
Sometime after I told a friend that I had become a vegetarian, I saw a new bumper sticker on his truck. It read: “Vegetarian: Old Indian Word for Poor Hunter.” For years I’ve been preparing the following verbal arrows as…
WSU did the right thing on campus free speech
If you’re openly inciting violence, that’s a problem. But other than that, we can’t start doing this filtering of people’s words and what they say. —Jordan Frost, WSU student body president It is virtually impossible to articulate a standard for…
My journey as a Vietnam War protester
I watched the Ken Burns’ and Lynn Novick’s “The Vietnam War” on Spokane’s Channel 7, primarily because it offered two viewings each evening. At end of each episode, there was a phone number for a Veterans Hotline for those who…
“Deaths of Despair” Reveals America’s Troubled Soul A “White Death” Takes the Lives of 45-54 Year-Olds
The workman is not in harmony with his social position if he is not convinced that he has his deserts. —Emile Durkheim These people kill themselves slowly with alcohol or drugs, or quickly with a gun. —Anne Case, Princeton economist…