Opinion

On Iran Trump gets a mulligan (a do over)

To borrow a golf term, President Donald Trump has finally agreed to take a "mulligan" per the war in Iran. Sadly, it was the most expensive mulligan in history, potentially amounting to half a trillion dollars, the deaths of 13 American service members, increased fuel costs, a major reduction in our military weaponry, and a near depletion of our Strategic Oil Reserve. In a friendly game of golf when you hit the ball in the woods you ask for a mulligan in most cases. As a professional golfer, when this happens, you are given a choice: You can ask for a "drop" which will cost you shots or ...

For Americans and Our Guests, the World Cup Runneth Over

Psalm 23:5, one of the best-known biblical passages, says, "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: Thou anointest my head with oil; my cup overflows." It would be hard to find a passage that better reflects this year's World Cup soccer (OK, OK -- "football") championship, which the U.S. is hosting for the first time since 1994. But not because the other nations participating in this year's World Cup are our "enemies." To the contrary, the reactions of the athletes and fans from other countries who have traveled to and through the U.S. to compete and to cheer ...

A Republic or an Empire?

The Declaration of Independence of July 4, 1776, embraces two value sets. The first is natural rights, and the second is limited government. After 250 years, neither value has survived, and the opposite of each currently prevails in America. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration in three days while staying at a rooming house in Philadelphia. He had been greatly influenced by the British philosopher John Locke. Locke is the godfather of the theory of natural rights, which he extrapolated from the natural law teachings of Aristotle, Augustine and Aquinas. Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) ...

NBA champs? It's the New York Knicks... finally!

It has been 53 "short years" or "just" 19,698 days (May 10, 1973) since the New York Knicks were NBA champions. Richard Nixon was president, dealing with the Watergate scandal at the time. The Paris Peace Accord all but ended the Vietnam War as major combat troops were exiting the region. Baseball legend Jackie Robinson, the man who integrated sports, had died just seven months prior. Spiro Agnew became the first vice president to plead guilty to a criminal offense and resigned, with Congressman Gerald Ford being selected as Nixon's new vice president. I was in my sophomore year of ...

Editorial cartoon

A look at the past

Research for a project like our upcoming America 250 publication is always interesting work. It is interesting to look back at old newspapers and see what the important issues of the time were. The challenge, of course, is that it is hard to stay on task, and the temptation to read through all of the old stories and study the old pictures is usually too great. It can turn what starts out as a straightforward search for a specific topic into many minutes spent reading about the past. That was the case when a copy of our Progress Edition from 1975 turned up. Dated Feb. 28 of that year, ...