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Columns

  • Honesty is the best policy

    "The very spring and root of honesty and virtue lie in a good education."

    - Plutarch, Greek biographer and moralist.

    If Plutarch speaks the truth (and the honesty topic seems to be one of his skill sets) then Jimmy Bright must own a Ph.D from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

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  • Christmas wish list extended

    It's that time again. Yep, it's time for the annual Christmas List.

    For those who might be unfamiliar with the "list," each year at Christmas I publish a tongue-in-cheek - or maybe it's foot-in-mouth - wish list for various individuals and groups in the community.

    It's gotten to be such a regular thing that it almost wouldn't seem like Christmas without it. So, here goes ...

    Dear Santa,

    Hope you're well this year and aren't too tired by the time you reach Taylor County on Christmas Eve. There are a few things I'd like to ask you to bring some of the people here.

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  • Why free speech is on thin ice

    "Rumor is a pipe

    Blown by surmises, jealousies, conjectures,

    And of so easy and so plain to stop

    That the blunt monster with uncounted heads,

    The still-discordant wavering multitude,

    Can play upon it."

    - Shakespeare's King Henry the Fourth, Part II

    Shakespeare scribbled his thoughts more than 400 years ago. Do you think he had any clue what the Internet would do to bolster a society hungry for prose, information and blatant hatred?

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  • Montana tickets way too scarce

    Well, it's finally over. At long last, "The Big Event" is over, and we weren't there.

    "The Big Event," for those of you without young daughters, is ... well, was ... the Hannah Montana concert. And it was Wednesday night at Rupp Arena in Lexington.

    AND ... my daughter and I were not there.

    But let me tell you, it wasn't for a lack of trying.

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  • We've all been elfed — in a sense

    I'd almost forgotten how special the holiday season could be. Work has a way of altering the path to Christmas.

    With grown children and the propensity to treat Christmas as if it's a tour through a department store, you forget the excitement that young children create.

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  • Love of reading hard to tap

    I simply couldn't turn the pages fast enough. It's not often that I find a book like that. But when I do, look out. I'll carry it with me and read a page here and a page there until I am finished.

    Crime mysteries are the best. For Jeffery Deaver fans, Lincoln Rhyme is my hero.

    But I remember a time when Laura Ingalls Wilder, Nancy Drew and Anne Shirley were my heroes. I spent many a night hidden under my covers with a flashlight, reading of long winters on the prairie, after-school undercover surveillance and an orphan's life in Avonlea.

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  • TV viewing is a remote possibility

    I remember the date and time as if it were yesterday - a significant admission from someone who has a hard time remembering yesterday.

    I rushed home from work on that Friday a week ago to catch some of the post-Thanksgiving football games. And there were some good ones.

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  • Mooners must beware

    A small Illinois town is taking on droopy drawers. Congratulations to the Pine Lawn City Council.

    According to a Nov. 13 Associated Press story, City Council members there recently passed a law against saggy pants. Offenders could face fines of up to $100.

    Illinois business developers, the story said, have suggested that the law would improve the city's image.

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  • Named sources are always better

    When Judith Miller was arrested and jailed for not releasing to authorities the name of the person who outed then-undercover CIA agent Valerie Plame, the world of journalism was turned upside down.

    Realizing that it would be a long shot for me to receive Miller treatment in Central Kentucky because I wouldn't release a source to authorities didn't matter. News sources are sacred. But, then, we seldom use unnamed sources anyway.

    That didn't matter either.

    Recently, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed The Free Flow of Information Act.

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  • People share their thanks

    It's always exciting to hear from readers. And it's especially nice to hear about good things that have happened.

    And, next week on Thanksgiving Day, anyone who picks up a newspaper will learn about some really good things that have happened to others in our community.

    It's nearly time to announce the winners of the News-Journal's annual Thanksgiving letters contest. And the judges are busy reading hundreds of letters of thanks.

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