EditorialsSummertime is fun time. But it also can be a dangerous time. We have always been taught that too much heat is dangerous. From birth we were advised to avoid getting overheated and to drink lots of liquids when one is outdoors.
To start with, some inspiring, intuitive comments on Nebraska by Jeff Foxworthy, courtesy of our good neighbor Kerri. Last time we were together, I rhapsodized about picking – and eating! – fresh, U-pick strawberries when I was growing up in Western New York. Today I am lost in dreams about picking sun-warmed sweet cherries straight from the tree and dropping them into my mouth. Previous Editorials HeadlinesJuly 3rd, 2009 U-pick memories, part IILast time we were together, I rhapsodized about picking – and eating! – fresh, U-pick strawberries when I was growing up in Western New York. Today I am lost in dreams about picking sun-warmed sweet cherries straight from the tree and dropping them into my mouth.Firecracker Frenzy tonight in YorkTo start with, some inspiring, intuitive comments on Nebraska by Jeff Foxworthy, courtesy of our good neighbor Kerri.Four score and moreSummertime is fun time. But it also can be a dangerous time. We have always been taught that too much heat is dangerous. From birth we were advised to avoid getting overheated and to drink lots of liquids when one is outdoors.July 2nd, 2009 Learning to shareBack in March, Matt and I went on a weekend away for our anniversary. It was the first time I had left Hannah overnight and the first time Kate had been left for more than one evening, since we were in the hospital delivering Hannah.Me remembering MichaelI think I’m at just the right age to properly remember Michael Jackson before all the nose jobs, court cases, oxygen chambers, skeleton purchases, dangling babies, white gloves, sex assault allegations, bankruptcies, hibernations, strange marriages, skin color changes, monkey obsessions, shopping sprees, controversial documentaries, wandering giraffes, pajamas in court and burning hair in Pepsi commercials.July 1st, 2009 Leftovers are the engine of inventionWatching the news on a regular basis may lead the viewer to the quick conclusion that there is not enough food to go around in the world. On the surface, images of starving children across the globe are beamed into our living rooms.Serious questions remain for Mark SanfordWhen South Carolina governor Mark Sanford was missing in action and thought to be hiking the Appalachian Trail, I emailed a well-connected political type in the state to ask what was going on.Small towns a refuge for freedomLast weekend I had the honor of speaking at Naponee, Nebraska’s Celebration of Freedom. No way would I have turned down an invitation to an event held specifically for the purpose of celebrating our freedom.June 30th, 2009 Abuse in jails makes life in prison116. That's about how many prisoners in America's jails are raped every day, according to a new report.Iran mattersI know most people have tuned out to the growing discord in Iran. Turned it off because they have become distracted by other stories like the sordid confessions of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, or the raging partisan debates over the feasibility of healthcare reform. But Iran still matters.Heavenly homemakersI love a hot kitchen in the summertime. Sort of. Not really. It's just that it reminds me of my grandma. And thinking of my grandma makes me happy (even in my hot kitchen). I used to help her a lot in the summers feeding the men during the long hot days of wheat harvest, making sauerkraut and feeding family members who would come by. Seems like Grandma was always feeding people.June 29th, 2009 Freedom and liberty are not freeAs we approach Independence Day, I encourage you to reflect for a moment about the cost of living.SeedsThere he sat with his “Dennis the Menace” striped shirt on, little red-shorts and white tennis shoes. His blue eyes were sparkling like firecrackers and with legs swinging beneath him, he was ready to pop off the chair and head in his own direction.What do you want?What do you want and how much are you willing to pay for it? You want a new house? How much are you willing to pay for it? You want a new car? How much are you willing to pay for it? You want a new TV, computer, cell phone? How much are you willing to pay for it? And the most important question of all; can you afford it?June 27th, 2009 A developing storyI was watching the news with a teenager the evening Kodak announced that it was going to stop making Kodachrome film for cameras. He said, "What's film for cameras?" Obviously, Kodak should have stopped making the stuff five or ten years ago. Did they think that people who take pictures with their smart phones are suddenly going to go back to pictures they can't e-mail, that take 24 hours to develop and that cost a small fortune? Photos they can't crop, resize, enhance, Photoshop, or remove redeye from?“To be honest with you”“To be honest with you,” I’m not so sure you can believe what a lot of people tell you these days. If you take that quoted part of the previous sentence, and interpret it literally, then using it implies the rest of the time I’m lying.Mindless macho males make me madFrom long before Henry Osborne was drummed out of office in Pennsylvania in 1783 to the soon-to-be ex governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina in 2009 it’s been going on and on.June 26th, 2009 My brain is fullI am a bad son. I forgot to call dad on Father's Day. I remembered in a panic on Monday morning and quickly called him to apologize. He laughed and thanked me for the nice gift (luckily it was my younger brother's turn to get the collective gift and sign all our names on it). It was nice to visit with him and hear all about the College World Series and get an update on family activities without the running commentary I usually get when mom grabs the phone. Dad retired from KMTV in Omaha…that lasted about 2 weeks. I guess it's more work being home with mom than it is to sell TV commercials.Four score and moreI was planning to write a column about fathers and fatherhood, since last Sunday was the annual Fathers' Day celebration. Until Tuesday night. Then plans changed!June 25th, 2009 Why do we care about Jon and Kate?Until this season, I never watched Jon and Kate, except for on the rare occasion I flipped through the channels and stumbled upon something interesting they were doing. I haven't paid any attention to this family since she had her tummy tuck surgery; and that was only to see the footage about a woman being pregnant with six babies- other than that, it just wasn't interesting to me.Jon without Kate, but they still have eightI’m going to reiterate one of the Wilkinson household sayings – “somebody needs a spankin’ and a nap.”June 24th, 2009 Heavenly HomemakersReally … the ice cream recipe I'm about to share is healthy enough to eat for breakfast. Not all the time of course. We like to eat scrambled eggs or muffins or pancakes usually. And, I wouldn't serve my family just any ice cream for breakfast. But let's take a look at the ingredients in my homemade ice cream recipe shall we? Cream, milk, eggs, maple syrup. They're all breakfast foods. See? You could eat this for breakfast. I really think we all should. Our children will think we're awesome. (Not that they don't already of course.)Health care, Iran highlight importance of protecting freedomTwo of the most pressing current issues, health care and the events in Iran, present us with more than just a debate over health insurance and the outcome of Iran’s elections. Both events demonstrate why we should always be on guard for our freedom and skeptically eye every action taken by government.June 23rd, 2009 The telephone, a distraction and moreWe know from grade school days that Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, a practical device for communicating with the neighbors and with known and unknown persons around the world. It is considered to be one of the most important inventions of all time. Yet Bell himself found such an instrument a distraction from his many other interests. He refused to have a telephone in his study.An imperfect senator's road to redemptionNevada Republican Sen. John Ensign was unfaithful to his wife; there's no excusing broken vows. But the steps he's taken since the story broke on Wednesday provide a reminder that there is a road to redemption in truth. And not just for one U.S. senator and his family, but for American politics. In his public confession and acts of atonement, Ensign has brought a refreshing change to the roster of recent Beltway loose-belt scandals that have hit both sides of the aisle.A green velvet revolutionIn the days leading up to the recent elections in Iran, I was glued to the television and the Internet as tens of thousands of Iranians took to the streets calling for change and reform. These youthful Iranians had nothing but their bodies and spirits to offer, yet they were willing to put both in harm's way to ignite a movement. And, as I write this, their work has just begun.June 22nd, 2009 Rising fuel costs hurt our economic engineEarlier this year, I warned my colleagues in Congress that inaction on energy – even when prices are low – would leave our economy vulnerable in the long-term. Yet as I write this gasoline prices have climbed for seven full weeks – making 49 straight days families, farmers, ranchers, and small businesses have had their pocketbooks stretched even further during this time of economic uncertainty.The greatest show on earth?“Laaaaadies and Gentlemen! Children of all ages! Welcome to the Big Top! Live from Washington D.C. We will perform for you acts of deceit, misuse of the public trust, fiscal abuse of your tax money and political shenanigans like you have witnessed for years; all under the biggest tent in the world reserved for career politicians!June 20th, 2009 Patience is a virtueWhen you spend time talking to people these days, you get the sense, or maybe it’s an expectation, that things are supposed to be changing faster than they are. Because of the dizzying amounts of information beamed into our lives from a multitude of directions, we come to believe that things are going faster than they really are.Stocks and the single girlIn the late '70s, it was hard to pick up a magazine that didn't have a story about testing your sexual IQ – or your boyfriend's. And for a while it seemed that one best-selling book after another was a sexual textbook. "The Hite Report" and Masters and Johnson's books were huge best sellers. For a while, it seemed as if sex had just been discovered. Before, there was no mention of sex, at least not in respectable magazines, and it was very rarely discussed in books, either. Today, the average sixth grader can get a higher score on one of those old sexual IQ tests than I can.Armadillos, moose and other offbeat delightsSometimes, if one ponders long enough, one comes to realize there is strange and mysterious stuff to be seen very close to our familiar world here in Nebraska. We visited just such a place last weekend, and lived in quite another only a few years ago.June 19th, 2009 Next to GodlinessIt’s the thing, these days, to excoriate fast food restaurants for many of society’s ills, among them fat kids, coffee scorches and even neurotic chickens. Such finger-pointing too often overlooks that little thing called “personal responsibility,” in my opinion.Central Nebraska Tourism Partners look to expandThe attacking robins and foul-tempered blue jays have now moved on, but the starlings are still foraging in my very carefully-arranged mulch on a daily basis. I no more than sweep the sidewalks and flagstones clean and walk in the house, when I return a mere few minutes later to find mulch strung out all over the sidewalk and edges of the grass.Four Score and MoreThe York Sertoma Club will soon begin its 63rd year. It doesn't seem possible that this service club has been around that long. How vividly I remember Asa Waters and other members of the Lincoln Cooperative Club coming into my dry cleaning plant in the fall of 1946. They said they were attempting to build a similar club in York. |
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