Columnists

Gun control and the government’s abuse of power

Terry Garlock's picture

My objection to the current gun control effort in Washington, D.C., is only half about guns. The other half is about abuse of power. No matter which side of the gun debate you favor, you should be concerned.

Obama is not alone in trampling the Constitution. He is joined by Congress and former Republican and Democrat administrations alike, but this president has pushed hard on the abuse of power envelope. He has crossed the line a number of times and just this past week two judges advanced court cases against President Obama’s overreach. Read More»

A case for an unborn person

Bonnie Willis's picture

About 15 years ago I taught an introductory psychology course at The King’s College. I will never forget a discussion I facilitated with the students during a session on Developmental Psychology.

When talking about the developmental stages of humans, I thought it would be interesting to explore the question of when human life begins, and what was the distinction between human life and personhood. Read More»

Roe v. Wade at 40

Cal Thomas's picture

At the recent signing of “executive actions” designed to combat gun violence in America, President Obama, flanked by schoolchildren, said, “...when it comes to protecting the most vulnerable among us, we must act now.”

There’s no doubt that children, especially schoolchildren, are vulnerable to all kinds of threats, but are they “the most vulnerable,” as the president claimed, or is there another category of human life that qualifies for that designation? Read More»

Firearms discussion in 3 parts: Straight talk

Dr. T. David Gordon's picture

Part I: Getting Firearms “Off the Streets”

The late Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan rightly said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” He might just have rightly said, “Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to be confusing.”

The discussion of any matter of public policy is not aided by using language in a confusing manner, and yet people rather routinely do this very thing. One of the most confusing statements one hears regarding firearms policy is this: “We need to get guns off the streets.” Read More»

Easy way becomes hard way

Ronda Rich's picture

It seems to me that a lot of young people have it easy. Too many kids in high school and college are shielded from work and not taught the importance of money or earning it. It seems to me that this is a major default in the education of life.

If you don’t know the worth of a dollar or what it takes to earn that dollar, how can you successfully manage for the rest of your life? How can you start a family? Raise a family? Survive professional setbacks? Retire? Read More»

Don't be alarmed

Sallie Satterthwaite's picture

There are alarms and there are alarms.

Consider the alarm clock. Dave has it ours so low you can hardly hear it. I won’t even tell you how late in the day it beep-beeps. I do appreciate its gentleness: Getting up in the morning is by far the hardest thing I’ll do all day, and my demon would let me sleep until about noon unless I set the alarm.

We tend to stay up until midnight, watching TV, and then reading after we get to bed. One of the perks of retirement, after all, is that you can stay up as late as you want. Well, as long as your bedmate is of like mind. Read More»

Joining the club

Michael Boylan's picture

My best friend and his wife are having a baby this spring. I am excited for them because being a parent has been an amazing and eye-opening experience for me. I am also excited because he now gets to join the club. The club of parents is an unofficial club. There are no dues - aside from the ones you pay during those seemingly endless nights during the first year of the child’s life and the thousands of diapers you change until you can finally convince your child to use the potty. Read More»

Slavery, abortion, and the Supreme Court

David Epps's picture

This past week marks the 40th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court decision, Row v. Wade. This year also marks the 156th anniversary of what is known by observers of the Supreme Court as the Dred Scott Decision. One decision has to do with abortion rights. The other clarified and expanded slave holder rights. The rationale of the Supreme Court of both 1857 and 1973 is eerily similar. Read More»

Guns and governing philosophy, Part 1

Cal Beverly's picture

Mention the word, and the walls go up, the blood-red line gets drawn in the sand: Guns.

Since these pages have seen lots of rhetorical ammunition expended in recent months about the issue of gun control, I decided to waste a little more ink and space to try some logical thinking instead of emitting emotions.

Here we must honestly agree on some basic premises, or the communications have ended, like a yes-no decision tree.

Our Declaration of Independence contains this famous sentence: Read More»

Remembering the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Bonnie Willis's picture

On occasion, I have heard well-intentioned people say they believe the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. would have wanted the world to be color-blind.

While I can appreciate the sentiment, I tend to disagree with it. Rather than being blind to our differences we can learn to appreciate our God-given diversity.

The trick is not to judge and evaluate individuals because of their race. In the words of Dr. King, we want to be judged, “not by the color of our skin, but the content of our character.” Read More»