A Sad Day to be Green

January 23, 2024

A couple Minnesota brothers were “discovered” by Garrison Keillor and invited to his Prairie Home Companion radio show a few years ago. With a retro-country and early rock sound, the “Cactus Blossoms” have now released five albums, toured extensively, and become YouTube sensations. Deservedly so – they are great. One of their biggest hits is […]

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Now Why Didn’t They Think of That?

January 12, 2024

Doug Stone topped the country charts in 1993 with a song about why the other guy always wins the girl’s heart. “He sends her roses, and lines he composes,” he sang. “He’s there to hold her when she needs a shoulder… He says he needs her, tells her he loves her.” All of which concludes […]

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Year-End Mischief in Washington

January 3, 2024

The week between Christmas and New Year’s is, for most Americans, a week of vacation, travel, rest, and time with family and friends. It is a time when the fewest people are focused on the daily news; in fact, many people purposely ignore the rest of world and concentrate on their own families, at least […]

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Most Popular Wolf Names for 2024

December 29, 2023

The Social Security Administration, ever searching for important tasks, tracks the most popular new names for babies each year (Olivia and Liam, four years straight). Similarly, Rover.com tracks the most popular pet names (Luna and Max). But who is keeping track of the names we give wild animals? Well, nobody, because we don’t name wild […]

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The International Conference on Conferences

December 22, 2023

The most important annual meeting in the world wrapped up this week in Dubai after two weeks of keynote speeches, committee sessions, photo ops, press conferences, royalty, fancy dinners, VIP tours, and glitzy exhibitions. It is referred to officially as the Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or […]

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What The World Really Needs

December 18, 2023

One of the more famous anecdotes in U.S. Senate history dates from early 1914 when a protracted debate centered on unrest in the country during the progressive era. Kansas Senator Joseph Bristow had bellowed through a repetitive speech in which he said at least ten times, “What this country needs…” finishing each line with a […]

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Protecting Valuable Resources – Again and Again

December 5, 2023

When Americans hear about a crisis, their instinct is to spring into action, to do something right away. Do whatever it takes, as Mayor Shinn in the Music Man says, “to prevent this dire happening from… uhm… happening.” What they don’t do first, as a rule, is pause to ask exactly what the crisis is, […]

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How About Recycling Columns and Blogs

November 29, 2023

Co-workers were standing around the water cooler when the boss came in and asked everyone, “What are you all doing to celebrate Earth Day this year?” One employee answered, “Already done – I sent all my work-related e-mails to the recycle bin.” There are a thousand recycling jokes, which is ironic because most Americans don’t […]

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Your Front Yard is Non-Functional

November 22, 2023

A popular website called LifeHack lists 25 things it calls “unnecessary wastes of money.” Wasteful items include dryer sheets, coffee k-cups, sliced cheese, cable TV, and buying a snack “every now and then.” One could endlessly debate the wisdom of slicing one’s own cheese or paying a bit more for pre-sliced. K-cups cost more than […]

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Stop the Sodbusters – Save the Grasslands!

November 17, 2023

Headlines across the Midwest are blaring: “Great Plains lost 1.6 million acres of grasslands in 2021.” The story is based on a report from the World Wildlife Fund, supposedly tracking the conversion of grasslands to row crops. It says over the past decade grassland conversion totaled 32 million acres. In 2021 alone, the loss is […]

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