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The Preamble

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Way back in junior high school Mr. Murray, my social studies teacher, had us memorize the Preamble to the constitution. He must have thought it was important. And all these decades later I remember Mr. Murray and the Preamble. It’s fascinating the things ...

Focusing on our differences leads only to friction and division

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs not only fail, they may do more harm than good. That’s the conclusion of a study done by the Network Contagion Research Institute and Rutgers University Social Perception Lab. For the study, college students were divided into two groups. One group was asked to read a generic essay on U.S. corn production, while the second group read an essay about diversity, equity and inclusion culled from the writings of DEI proponents Ibram X. Kendi and Robin DiAngelo. After reading the essays, the students were asked to evaluate an (hypothetical and ...

Dry January? Not on the Frontier

Some people today observe “Dry January,” abstaining from alcohol for health and financial reasons. No Dry January in early Ohio; alcohol was a basic necessity. Frontier life was tough. Liquor helped round off the rough edges - keeping spirits up by pouring spirits down, one could ...

February needs to be respected more

February, or as the Romans called it, Februarius is upon us. Depending on whether a groundhog sees his shadow Sunday, we either have six more weeks of winter, or we don’t. The month, I have always thought, never really gets the respect that it deserves. It kind of reminds me of Pluto. Always struggling to stay up with the other planets, I mean months. February is named after the Latin term februum, which means “purification” because of a purification ritual that was once held mid-month in the old lunar based Roman calendar. The month was the last month of the year until ...

MOV Climate Corner: Carter, a visionary

Recently deceased former President Jimmy Carter grew up close to the land, hunting, fishing, and farming his family’s property near Plains, Ga. From those experiences Carter developed an ethic of environmental stewardship that remained with him throughout his life and influenced his political leanings. Early in his political career as the governor of Georgia, Carter stood in the way to save a river from being dammed after paddling the river and seeing the natural beauty that would be destroyed. As president, Carter struggled to protect the environment from development and instead ...

What kind of influence do you have on others?

Any serious science student knows about the work of Sir Isaac Newton. Back in 1687, after an encounter with a falling apple, Newton began to study the force of gravity. Newton’s work shaped the study of physics for centuries. As important as Newton’s contribution was, however, humanity might have missed out if it were not for the work of Edmund Halley. Halley encouraged Newton’s study, corrected Newton’s mathematical mistakes, and urged Newton to publish his findings, even financing the printing despite the fact that Newton was independently wealthy and could have easily afforded ...