By: James Daniels Next time you spend a dollar, take a few seconds to read it. At the top, in the middle, you will notice that it says “Federal Reserve Note.” What does this mean? The following is a brief history and explanation of the Federal Reserve that you…
By: Meconstrue We are not at the top of the food chain. Grizzlies, some would say, are at the top of the food chain for land animals. In the sea it's octopuses, the elusive giant ones that eat sharks. We've conquered them though. We can best a bear or…
By: Gina Volpe Not since discovering that a mentally handicapped person from my class got married before me have I been as shocked as I was to learn there are still people in their twenties who are virgins. I thought virgins over the age of 16 had gone extinct,…
By: Michael Tuosto Often the American 2nd Amendment gun debate revolves around tragedies like the one in Tuscon, Ariz. This is understandable since it was a tragedy “close to home." In fact, at our home, America. For me, the renewed efforts to further restrict gun rights, due to this…
By Jim Hoover Five faces tell the story – or stories, as it might be -- of Fox News Network. It tells a narrative of angst and spectacle that bends minds, heaves hearts, presses attitudes, and makes pupils wide. Bill O’Reilly, a Fox news icon, is depicted with a…
By: Amy Shakewell When the film maker Michael Moore first moved to Traverse City, Mich. there was a lot of ruckus made about his intention to improve T.C. Some were optimistic about his arrival, others not so much. We had letters to the editor of the local Record Eagle…
by Jim Hoover With the ruthless and relentless monolithic corporate assault on anything getting in the way of stellar profits, it is easy to imagine any number of dirty tricks to achieve this end. The cause of greed has many allies in government and business. For example, Governor Scott…
By: Geoffrey Yonil The syndicated German television program Panorama recently came out with the story of how a group of civilians, some of which were reporters, were shot down by an American Apache helicopter in Baghdad in 2007 for being suspected of carrying weapons—which couldn't be seen entirely because…
By: James Daniels Many people would like to send their children to private schools. However, not everyone has the money to do so. With expenses such as taxes, groceries, housing, and transportation, there is often little room left to send little Johnny or Jane to a private school. The…
By: Ray Rife Welcome to Ray’s “Boom-Boom” Room. This is a weekly review of anything that interest Ray, the proprietor. The idea is to give you a weekly look at how I view the world, which I’ve been told is a bit off the beaten path. I don’t expect…