Columns

Is the world ready for these random thoughts?

Sometimes topics simply demand more research than a deadline allows. I couldn’t do justice to this week’s topic, so I’m kicking the can down the road by dishing out another batch of research-free random thoughts.

History of Bayou Teche takes many turns

If you read enough stuff that was written a good while ago, you will eventually run across the claim that Bayou Teche was named for Edward Teach, the infamous pirate better known as Blackbeard.

Don’t let political dogma cost an education

When Democratic wunderkind Josh Shapiro campaigned to become the next governor of Pennsylvania, he tried to assume a centrist, bipartisan tone on “helping kids.”

Louisiana property owners begging for relief!

Can you afford your property insurance in Louisiana? Rates across the state continue to go up. The legislature just finished its regular session, and no viable solutions were offered. Headlines in national publications blurted out: “Louisiana insurance market is collapsing!”

Bidenomics: The road to serfdom

With freedom comes responsibility. President Reagan was more to the point: “Freedom is never more than a generation from extinction.”

The American dream is a life without debt

I dream of the day I will be 100% debt free! I took on debt fairly early in life, when I borrowed money to help cover the cost of my Penn State degree.

How’s that honeymoon working?

“Have you seen everything you want to see?” “Yeah. You?” “Me too. Let’s go back home.” That’s a paraphrased version of my parents’ conversation midway through their honeymoon in 1958. Unimpressed by the hype of an out-of-state adventure, they chose to hightail it back to the real world.

Through Stumpy Lake to Bayou Vermilion

In the middle 1800s, most of the handful of steamboats that ventured onto the Vermilion River, went no further than Perry’s Bridge, partly because there wasn’t much profit in going any further, and partly because fallen trees and other obstacles made the river all but impassable beyond the bridge.

Conservative moms show grace

Hannah Arendt, who observed the trial of Holocaust architect Adolf Eichmann many decades ago in Israel, coined the phrase “the banality of evil” to describe crimes that were anything but banal.

Are we in danger of losing AM radio?

I’ve been a regular AM radio listener for most of my life. And now I am terribly disappointed that AM radio stations are under siege. We are learning that a number of major auto companies are giving up on AM radio.