When ghosts and goblins by the score, Ring the bell on your front door — And your little white house, turns GREEN! — From gheelies and ghosties, And long-legged beasties, And things that go “Bump” in the night, Deliver us,…
He was as well known as almost any American of his day. From the early 1880s, until his death in 1916, he was a much-sought public speaker, reading his poetry before many thousands of what would be called “fans” nowadays.…
“I wish we could throw them all out and start over!” How many times in recent months have you said that yourself? Or heard your neighbor say it? Or your brother-in-law? Or a commentator on TV? Yes, our disgust with…
Here’s a riddle for you: When is a county, NOT a county? When it’s in Louisiana, of course! In the home of New Orleans jazz, jambalaya and the Cajun people, they’re called “parishes” —- possibly traceable to the state’s deep…
It’s now two weeks since Michael Brown, all 6-4 and 292 pounds of him, was shot and killed by Officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, and the race hustlers are still milking the incident for all it’s worth. Protests, riots,…
“A funny thing happened on my way to Florida …” “I just flew back from Melbourne, and boy, are my arms tired! …” “Look before you leap — especially if the leap will cost you a heap! …” OK, all…
President of the United States Barack Hussein Obama should be impeached by the House of Representatives, convicted by the United States Senate, and removed from office. Pretty bald statement, you say? Well, can you give me any good reasons why…
There aren’t too many people still living who knew Tony and Rubye Engle. He’s been gone 30 years; she, 44. Yes, they were my folks. They were the two most important people in my life, and they didn’t have…
It’s now two weeks since the Madison Consolidated Schools district voted down a proposed $69 million school construction project, by a margin of nearly 4-1. All of us who live here know why it sank without a trace: It was…
Cliven Bundy, who was being hailed as a courageous hero for his stand against a federal power grab of his cattle in Nevada, made what passes nowadays for a fatal verbal faux pas, and is now being condemned by the…
He was like Nureyev among clog dancers; like Shakespeare competing with the writers of dime novels; like the difference between Einstein and a first-year chemistry student at a small, insignificant college. Pete Maravich was that rare bird among noted basketball…
Big, evil Russia is poised to seize the Ukraine and put it back into place as just another province of the re-constituted Russian Empire that Vladimir Putin is starting to build. Right? Well, that’s what elements of the U.S. news…
And so the 50th anniversary of the world’s first discovery of the greatest rock band of all time — perhaps the greatest ENTERTAINMENT phenoma of all time — has passed with suitable note and well-deserved praise for the Fab Four,…
They died 55 years ago today — three young men who gained immortality for the music they wrote, played and sang, and for what further heights they might have reached in their careers, if only … Two Texans, Buddy Holly…
Remember “The Spaghetti Western?” This is the 50th anniversary of the release of the first of three movies which became synonymous with the phrase: “The Man With No Name Trilogy.” Actually I don’t think the trilogy most people think of…
The U.S. Supreme Court this week brought the state of Utah’s mad gallop into “gay marriage” to a screeching halt. The liberal minority in that most conservative of U.S. states had been huzzawing and slapping high-fives ever since a federal…
Paul Rhodes was a very smart guy. Too smart to believe in all that nonsense about an “invisible man in the sky,” or “life after death,” or “heaven and hell.” Oh, yeah; he was too smart for all that fairy…
Where were you that day when our world changed forever, 50 years ago today? What were you doing when you first heard that our young, glamorous President John F. Kennedy had left us, suddenly and tragically, the victim of an…
The atheists are at it again, with the U.S. Supreme Court about to consider a case that has come before it in which communal prayers recited before public meetings are targeted by the militant atheist movement, which wants those prayers…
I took a trip back into the 1950s of my hometown, Madison, Indiana, last night. As it has before, it brought back some wonderful memories. No, Old Corporal doesn’t have his own time machine; wish I did. I went,…
When you can’t do things, when you have to sit, day after day, like a potted plant, you could become angry and bitter and life-hating. Or, you could utilize the only two abilities you have that everyone else does — your…
Now that little Prince George Alexander Louis has been safely born and is “pretty loud and, of course, very good-looking,” according to his dad, Prince William, the trash tabloids in Britain and on this side of the Atlantic can…