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Honoring Our Fallen Dead on Memorial Day

  This column about Memorial Day was written when we had a real President in the Oval Office.   It assumed we had a President who knew how and when to make an executive decision and had advisors around him who could offer competent advice to temper that President’s decisions.   Unfortunately, Trump makes his best guess about how to structure his day while moving his bowels at 3:00 a.m.—hopefully upon his gold toilet.   [Note to self: do not EVER touch Trump’s iphone!] So, keeping in mind that all genuine and serious Presidential decisions must be put on hold for the next 4 years, I offer up my column to honor those who fought and died for a much better America than Trump envisions.            Memorial Day is the day we honor those who died while serving in our nation’s armed forces.   The numbers of those honorees are staggering.      Civil War:        ...
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The Rose Garden and Divorce

  I have a friend who went through a mean-spirited divorce.   The day before the decree was granted, her husband’s last act of anger was to tear down a barn swallow nest that had been a part of their lives for many years.   The birds had come back every spring to raise their young, making a mess of the porch, but a delightful display for her and her children.   My friend came home to find the ruined nest on the doorstep.   No reason, no sense, no graciousness, just petulant anger.   Our current President has sent in heavy machinery and destroyed the White House Rose Garden.   He has covered it with concrete, turning it into a large patio, like the one he has at Mar-a-Lago.     Since he has no knowledge of the history of this garden, let me share it with you. The Rose Garden was created by Ellen Axson Wilson, the first wife of Woodrow Wilson.   She was an artist so gifted that she received her own art show at a prestigious New York ga...
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Kennewick Man and Columbus Day

  Nine thousand years ago a man died along the Columbia River.  About 40 years old, he stood 5 feet 7 inches tall and his 160 pounds were all lean, compact strength.  He was no stranger to injury.  In his life, he had skull injuries, 5 broken ribs and a spear point lodged in his pelvic bones.  In each case, he recovered, which means he had someone to care for him.  At the time of his death, cause unknown, he was buried with dignity.               He is called Kennewick Man.  He came to North America long before the peoples currently called Native Americans arrived.  DNA evidence proves he is not related to them.  If there is a real, “first” American, it is this man, most closely related to two far flung groups: Polynesians and the Ainu of Japan.  If you are a Native American, and think you have an historic right of ownership to North America, look over your shoulder....
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