Archive for December, 2009

Dan Calabrese

In an age when murderous men are willing to hide bombs in their underwear for the purpose of blowing up airplanes, we debate whether it is too much of an imposition to body-scan would-be flyers.

You might end up in seven or eight places in a field near Detroit Metropolitan Airport, but at least no one will see your private parts or your fat gut. Blown to bits with dignity.

They'd just as soon not see it either.

One of the reasons terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was able to board Northwest Flight 253 en route from Nigeria to Detroit via Amsterdam is that Americans remain so delusional about the notion of privacy. Which is to say, they still think they have some to protect, and that they need to.

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Steven Hutson

New Year’s Eve will arrive this week.  Each time we reboot the calendar it’s an occasion for much celebrating, much drinking, and many needless deaths.  And everywhere I look, I see yet another reminder: Don’t drink and drive.  X thousand people died on the highway last year; don’t let this happen to you!  Be a designated driver.  And so on.  By one account, about 148 million people have served as – or have been helped by – such a benevolent volunteer.    As I pondered these weighty matters today, a terrifying revelation came upon me:

I have become my grandmother.

Drinking, officer? Why no!

Yes, it’s true.  And my friend Tom, a decorated officer with the California Highway Patrol.  And my other friend Charlotte, a public health nurse for the County of Los Angeles.  And every intolerant self-righteous religious prude in town, for that matter, because for once in my life I actually find myself agreeing with all of them.

Yikes.  Go figure.
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A novel by Dan Calabrese

In partnership with Indianapolis-based Trafford Publishing, The North Star National is pleased to announce the release of Powers and Principalities, a novel by our editor in chief, Dan Calabrese.

The book is a spiritual thriller set in Dan’s hometown of Royal Oak, Michigan. It tells the story of Clay Bender, a man who finds himself with a most unwanted spiritual gift, which gives him the ability to see demonic activity with the naked eye.

As Clay observes how demons act, and interact with humans, he recognizes that they are working toward a frightening end game that threatens all of Royal Oak. As the city experiences bizarre electrical disturbances and seemingly unexplainable accidents, Clay works alongside with his two closest friends and some unlikely allies to understand the demons’ intentions.

How does the author categorize his work?

Dan says: “It’s a very edgy Christian spiritual thriller with dark, disturbing undertones and one hell of a sense of humor.”

You can buy it here.

Bob Franken

T’is the days after Christmas and all through the nation,
Too many still face unemployed desperation.

The contrived cheer of yuletide, it could not make things rosier,
In the home of the family that’s facing foreclosure.

After gifts and a meal that they got from some charity,
Grim fears of the future rushed back with new clarity.

No holiday cheer here.

We must not allow this season’s disguise,
To cover shamed bleakness in so many’s lives.

“Seasons greetings”, whatever, can be hard to swallow
For those millions whose prospects are nothing but hollow. Read the rest of this entry »

Brett Noel

cartoon

cartoon

cartoon

cartoon

cartoon

cartoon

Large version for newspaper publication.

Grayscale version for newspaper publication.

Dan Calabrese

Obama Administration officials can save themselves the trouble doing an “investigation” as to how terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was able to board Northwest Flight 253 en route from Nigeria to Detroit via Amsterdam. All anyone needs to know is contained in the following passage from today’s report from the Associated Press:

No flight for you.

“Abdulmutallab had been placed in a U.S. database of people suspected of terrorist ties in November, but there was not enough information about his activity that would place him on a watch list that could have kept him from flying.”

Um, what?

He was “suspected of terrorist ties” but they didn’t know enough about his actual activities to make the decision that they shouldn’t let him on a plane?

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Kelly Anderson Wright

“Government should practice the same principle as doctors,” President Obama said. “First, do no harm.”

The nearly 3,000 pages that make up the Senate’s current version of health care reform fails to satisfy Obama’s Hippocratic oath, and it still doesn’t fix what’s wrong with America‘s health care – skyrocketing costs.

Spinning in his grave.

Sadly, few if any lawmakers will read the bill. They will rely on their minions to labor over the multitudinous pages, creating synopses and briefs outlining the bill’s major points. Given their liberal bias, it’s unlikely Congress will hear arguments made by conservatives across the land, especially one in the tarnished and severely dented silver state of Nevada.

But we can try.

This bill hurts healthy people, especially young ones. More sick folks will get health insurance, yes, but how? Under the bill, insurance companies must take on 20 million new customers, including more sick, higher-cost people.  Without enough healthy, lower-cost customers to balance out claims paid for sicker patients, insurance companies will have to raise their rates, or cover less care.

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Andy Hefty

For once in my limited life of punditry, I will finally blame George W. Bush and the Republicans. That’s right. Bush and the “evil GOP” are to blame for our health care mess. I’ll explain.

If Bush hadn’t asked the now late Ted Kennedy to write the No-Child-Educated-Properly bill, the initial capitulation mentality of “compassionate” conservatives would not have taken place.

Compassion? Or coercion?

If Bush had told Congress to stop spending worse than drunken sailors – in his first year in office – then Harry Reid would have been shown to be the blustering, squandering, mouthy, irresponsible, tax-and-spend liberal that he is.

If Republicans while in power had actually cut spending instead of “reducing the rate of growth” (a misnomer for spending buckets of cash with reckless abandon), the deficits would not have mounted faster than the buffet plate of an NFL linebacker.

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