Columns

Learning from my aunt’s polio experience

My Aunt Cecelia was just beginning the eighth grade when it happened. In late spring 1951, she came home from school with a high temperature, feeling very ill. The next morning, her legs gave out as she tried to get out of bed. By that evening, she was so weak she could barely move.

Prepare for the worst case

Two or three times a year, falling trees knock out power at my home, in a heavily wooded section of Central California. When outages stretch over several days food in our refrigerator goes bad, cell phones run down, and flashlight batteries fail.

The other virus to fear

There’s a virus threatening the health of America, all right. But it’s not new, not from a foreign country and it’s not the coronavirus. The virus Americans need to fear the most today is the political left.

Do you dare take the goodness challenge?

“The sincere wish to be good is half the battle.” — Marmee, in Louisa May Alcott’s “Little Women.” “The OTHER half of the battle, however, is the part where the ungrateful objects of your kindness are unleashing the Rottweilers on you.” —Danny Tyree, in a shameless attempt to pad his word count.

Irish wit, wisdom abound

We could use some Irish wit and wisdom right now. Here’s a good start: “You’ll never plow a field by turning it over in your mind.

Biden’s comeback and Bernie’s Cuba problem

Joe Biden sputters and gaffes his way along the campaign trail and somehow manages a resounding victory on Super Tuesday. Go figure. Perhaps what Super Tuesday revealed, among other things, is that Democrats prefer an uninspiring, sometimes-bizarre Biden to a Marxist.

Thank God for Supreme Court’s look at same-sex foster parents

A few years ago, an LGBTQ couple approached Bethany Christian Services and expressed an interest in becoming foster parents. Bethany Christian, which maintained a contract with the city of Philadelphia to provide foster care, turned them down based on a religious opposition to same-sex unions.

Under Trump, Gulf of Mexico oil production setting records

Oil production in the Gulf of Mexico is making history. In August 2019, oil production hit an all-time high with estimates of more than 2 million barrels a day.

There is no American worker shortage

“We’re full, our system’s full, our country’s full!” That was President Donald Trump last year at our southern border. “Every decision on trade, on taxes, on immigration, on foreign affairs, will be made to benefit American workers and American families.

Better late than never

I was nearly a decade late, but, yes, I finally summoned my intestinal fortitude and underwent a colonoscopy.