While it is called a ‘guide,’ the Associated Press Stylebook is often taken as the ‘bible’ in the newsroom when it comes to how to write an article. Here’s the complete entry regarding ‘global warming:’ “The terms global warming and climate change can be used interchangeably. Climate change is more accurate scientifically to describe the…

To His Most Holiness, Pope Francis: While I respect your opinion on church matters as that is truly your business, I disagree with your supposition that the ‘over-use’ of ‘air-conditioning’ is ‘harmful.’ Furthermore, most of your views on capitalism’s based on Marxism and is incompatible with the mind of Christ as taught in the New…

Sexual abuse of children, especially young boys, has been a problem in Afghanistan for centuries and now our U.S. military’s being instructed not to intervene. This policy of non-intervention’s intended to maintain good relations with the Afghan police and militia units being training. It also reflects a hesitance to impose cultural values in a country…

Stop blaming others for your troubles. The extent to which you can achieve your dreams depends on the extent to which you take responsibility for your life. When you blame others for what you’re going through, you deny responsibility, you give others power over that part of your life.

It was late October 1969 and we kids were all getting ready for Halloween which was to be on a Friday that year. However, none of us were certain that we’d get to go out because of a letter our local newspaper, the Del Norte Triplicate, had received a week or so before. In the…

I received an email asking, “What’s wrong with you – no more daily politics?” It’s nice that someone noticed that I had stopped blogging everyday and that I wasn’t focusing on national politics either. And no – there’s nothing wrong with me or anything. I jus’ took a break so I could cleanse myself of…

Each of my seven days was spent in the shade of my pup-tent, sleeping away the heat, waiting for the evening coolness to fall across the Death Valley. The hottest times of the day are between ten in the morning and four in the evening. The times I can only guess at as I didn’t…

The large rock on which I had perched myself overlooked the open basin of the Death Valley. Seated there, I was contemplating life when I saw an older model Volkswagen Bug racing along the gravel roadway below me. Fortunately, I was far enough away as to not hear the sound the jack rabbit’s head made…

The sky, painted a hue of pomegranate and mystic blue each evening, turned the playa ahead of me into a flat pink alabaster basin. I’ve learned there is a calm that falls over the Death Valley at the precise moment the sun leaves the western sky. Within minutes it’s as dark as India ink and…

En route from taking a neighbor to the eye doctor, my friend pointed to a local eatery she likes to go to. “That’s a great place to eat,” she stated. “Never been there,” he returned. A few seconds of silence passed before she asked, “So do you eat-out?” More silence – the awkward kind –…