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The Catholic Church once again proves my theory

I’ve always suspected that men, if left alone without the influence of women, would eventually prove themselves to be total idiots. And now the Catholic Church has once again confirmed my theory.

That doddering old boys’ club is about to announce new rules to cover that little sex abuse issue that’s recently arisen. Unable, apparently, to find fault with a man without also finding a reason to be hateful to women, the new rules for governing how the church should respond to child sexual abuse among its ALL MALE priesthood will also contain the statement that ordaining women is as

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The frustration and expense of treating addictions

Julia O’Malley’s recent pieces about the cost and price of addiction clearly struck a chord with me given the amount of years I’ve labored in the field of human services.

My memories of working with addicts stretch back to the late sixties and early seventies when I worked in a hospital in Brooklyn making extra money by pulling a second shift in the ER. Heroin addicts would come in with virtually no vital signs, we’d shoot some Narcan into them and, in an amazingly brief span of time, they would wake up. Almost inevitably, their first question was, “Where’s my

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It was almost a compliment

I was going into a movie with a teen friend. I’d purchased the tickets on Fandango. As we approached the gentleman taking the tickets, I commented on how cheap my ticket was because I now get the senior discount. She shot me an incredulous look and I further commented that the discount had become available when I turned 62 and now I was 63. At this point she said that she couldn’t believe I was old enough for a senior discount because she would never have guessed I was 63. I smiled at obvious compliment that was coming my way

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pictures, Scribblings

Joe and mom in Hawaii

image

All it took to get this picture from Aaka was to mention how the only person she was taking pictures of in Hawaii was her grandson. So here’s her daughter Greta and Greta’s son Little Joe. Sorry, Aapa, you’ll apparently just have to wait a little longer for your turn.

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Mother guilt continues

Since her dental surgery, Blondie eats readily, has more energy and is generally a much happier dog. The moral of this story is that, although getting close to a friend and sniffing their breath is probably considered rude in most cultures, you should regularly practice this with your dog no matter what look they give you. A little bad breath is acceptable. When the odor emanating from their mouth knocks you into another room, no matter how much their tail might be wagging, they need to see the vet. And if your dog starts backing off and giving you odd

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Words we must never forget

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America

When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that

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Thoughts after lunching with a friend and her son

As I was leaving lunch today, I watched you, Malia, drive by in the truck with all those boys inside and thought how lucky your kids are and Noe’s kids are because you both actually decided to not only have kids, but to actually raise them and not leave them to someone else to raise. I realize as Blayke and Travis (perhaps, in some ways, especially Travis – he always owned my heart) enter the teen years you both will soon realize that something horrible has happened to your children. According to my friend Kate, the teen fairy comes at

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The Great Grey Whale Rescue

As someone who survived the grey whale rescue in Barrow, I feel I should have some say on who gets to play me in the movie. Simply put, Angelina Jolie.

Hey, I could have looked like that once if I’d wanted.

Anyway, since one of the chronic complaints about outside media stories on Alaska is that no one ever gets the details right, let me offer the producers a few suggestions.

For starts, be honest about the reporters and film crews who came to Barrow. That means showing the looks on their faces when they first landed at the airport

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