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Birthday parties have changed for kids

I have all kinds of pictures of me and my childhood friends at birthday parties. We are sitting around someone’s kitchen table with dorky hats on, a homemade cake in the center and a smiling/grimacing parent in the background.  Nary a stretch limo in sight.  In fact, I’d venture to guess that my parents’ attitude would be that children do not belong in a stretch limo. On a good day, my dad barely wanted us in his car for fear of the damage we’d do.  Now, kids’ parties include live entertainment and stretch limos. Our live entertainment was tossing icing

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Columns 2007

Are citizen legislators possible?

A few years ago, my cousin’s son announced he was not as amused as he thought he might be in his job as a newspaper reporter in a small town.  Many in the family were thrilled with this decision because, quite honestly, most of my family does not view writing as an actual career choice.  Their happiness at the decision lasted only until he informed his parents of his next career move.  He was going to go back to school to get his doctorate in philosophy.

I happened to be visiting the East Coast soon after he made this pronouncement. 

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Parents should be licensed

I think it’s time we demand that anyone who plans to be a parent get licensed to prove they are minimally older mentally and emotionally than the children they plan to have.  It’s an idea whose time has come.

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Here’s what I’m not worried about

If HIllary Clinton wins the presidency, I’m not at all concerned that Bill will actually be running things instead of her.  I think she’ll run her own presidency. Here’s what I am worried about…that our news media will be so dicombobulated by a female president that they will spend more time commenting on what she wore to a summit meeting and who’s advising her on makeup than on what she said.  Am I being pessimistic? Well, I live in Alaska where our press can’t seem to get over the fact that our governor, probably one of the most competent women

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American Idol = Gladiators and Coliseum

I have never watched American Idol for no other reason than that I figure if I’m going to waste my time watching TV, the people on it should at least have a modicum of proven talent which they are using in some coherent fashion to amuse me.  But as I read more and more about it, I find myself wondering if this is not just our refined version of the Roman coliseum with the blood thirsty crowd screaming for death to the loser.  Humanity really hasn’t come all that far, has it? The only real difference is that we sit

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A serious moment, if I may

My cousin has sent me an article from the NY Times stating that it is now ok to have curly hair and there are now products that help those of use who suffer from curly frizz so that our curls will look good when styled.  Apparently we no long need to sleep on coke cans or iron our hair.  Why couldn’t this fashion decision have come when I still had enough hair to matter?  With all I lost during menopause, I barely have enough to cover my head.

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Is anyone else freaked out by this?

Tom Cruise seems to grow and shrink at least three inches when standing next to his wife in various photos. Sometimes he’s taller. Sometimes he’s shorter. And sometimes he’s the same height.  Can Scientology teach you how to control your height? If so, I may join.  If I could just stretch out about four more inches, I’d be the perfect weight.

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California citrus

What with all these headlines about the California citrus crop being destroyed by the freezing cold, one can only ask why no one is reporting on the cold’s affect on California’s most lucrative and largest crop. How’s the pot?  Will there be a shortage?  Will the cold affect the quality? Will those poor growers have to freeze their little tootsies off harvesting the crop in the cold? These are the important questions we should be asking.

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Columns 2007

Control your dog!

Sometimes it’s just harder than others to remain the pleasant sweet person I usually am.  No, seriously, ignore the hysterical laughter coming from friends and family alike.  Normally, if left alone and not annoyed too much by state and national headlines, I can be a relatively fun person to have around. 

There is one thing, though, that will set me off beyond all belief – people who do not control their dogs.

I’m not referring to the occasional mishap. That happens to all of us dog owners once in a while. I recently came back from my walk to find

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Let history teach us

Let’s see….we let the communists take East Berlin and we took the west.  We let the communists take North Korea and we took the south. We let the communists take North Vietnam and we took the south.  Is there a pattern here that might help us get out of Iraq?  I’m hearing East Iraq and West Iraq…or North Iraq and South Iraq. We divide the country, get the hell out and let the civil war follow its natural course. Why is that so hard for all those big brains in DC to figure out?

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