By John Golden
NP Columnist

Hello, reader, do you have time for a quick story? It will probably take just five minutes of your day, and I feel that you may find that it is worthy of your attention. Just try and take a brief break from the barrage of your bill burdens, your constant children concerns, and all of your fears for the future. I think that this story is a genuinely cool story so I have decided to share it with you today. For the sake of confidentiality and anonymity, I have changed the names of the people involved. Read More

by Glenn Mollette
Outside Columnist

I suspect you are already tired of hearing about Syria.

The future path is blurry - even to our President. Assad will still be in power.

How many has he killed without chemical weapons? Who is using the chemical weapons? It sounds to me like the real problem is the one issuing the orders in Syria.

Americans are now on the verge of committing billions of dollars of money we do not have to impact an area of the world that already hates us. Here at home we have millions who cannot find a job. We have millions more who cannot feed their families with the paycheck they bring home. All the while our roads and bridges need desperate repair. We need new school buildings for our children. We have made our military do more with less but we continue to ask them to do more. We continue to put our aging seniors at risk as we make it harder for us to pay social security and cover our huge medical tab. Needless to say the tax debt for our children and grandchildren grows all the more. Syria means additional taxes, not less taxes. Read More

by Dan Hagen
NP Columnist

After their baby was kidnapped and then accidentally and secretly killed the same night in 1932, Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh acquired a powerful, fiercely protective German shepherd.

Lindbergh named him Thor, evoking “thunder, strength and the protection of mankind.” Within a week, Anne wrote, “The devotion of this dog following me everywhere is quite thrilling, like having a new beau.” Thor awakened Anne every morning with his nose on the bed.

Lindbergh trained Thor to open and close doors on command and take the family terriers for a walk on a leash. Thor would reportedly watch his mistress swim in the sea. When he judged she had swum out far enough, he would jump into the water and paddle out to her, pulling her back to shore by his tail. Read More

By Jim Nowlan
Outside Columnist

I have never cared for Washington, D.C. It is all about who you know rather than what you know. And about money. Since members of Congress and their staffers know key people in the political game, they are prized as lobbyists, where they make big bucks.

It also increases the influence of a lobbyist if, because of the wealth of his employer, he can make big campaign contributions to the elected official. Read More

by John Golden
NP Columnist

Okay, Cupid, you and I have never really gotten along over the years. You have always been very careless with your arrows in my past, and you have subsequently gotten me into some various, somewhat hilarious, and usually precarious situations. I had once grown jaded and had begun to mistrust your judgment. Read More