Camas-Washougal Post-Record

November 7, 2024

Let’s finally end the nuclear threat

While everyone’s attention was on the fate of the presidential election, a countdown began at 11 p.m. PDT on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 5, when the U.S. Air Force test-launched an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile with a dummy hydrogen bomb on the tip from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The missile crossed the Pacific Ocean and, 22 minutes, later crashed into the Marshall Islands. The U.S. Air Force does this several times a year. The launches are always at night while Americans are sleeping.

October 31, 2024

Character and decency still matter

Four years ago, I wrote a letter to family and friends asking them to vote for a return to decency, to vote for Joe Biden. Our leaders should represent what is best in us and conduct themselves in a way that reflects the values we teach our children. Donald Trump, a dishonest narcissist and philanderer never met that standard. This disqualified him from leading our nation. My concerns were justified when, on Jan. 6, 2021, he violated his solemn oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

October 24, 2024

How to learn where we live

I was driving on Montana’s Highway 89 just as fall began showing up at one of my favorite spots for walking, a turn onto a two-lane country road. If you don’t know about busy Highway 89, it travels north from Yellowstone National Park to Glacier National Park, a 400-mile haul.

October 17, 2024

We’re voting for a team this November

Voters need to keep in mind that when we head to the election booth on Nov. 5, we’re voting for a whole team, not just an individual. People who are frustrated, unhappy, or otherwise feel like the system isn’t working for them are likely to vote for the candidate who promises to shake things up, get rid of all the elitists, and bring back good times for everyone. I’d be tempted to vote for that candidate myself were it not for my understanding that he’s prone to erratic behavior and will not have anyone close to him to rein in his wildest impulses.

October 10, 2024

Cracking open gender’s role in electing presidents

Vice President Kamala Harris’s dramatic entry into the presidential race in July — including selecting Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate — put a new twist on the already gendered nature of the election. A woman was now at the top of the ticket.

October 3, 2024

Anti-immigrant agitation in a nation of immigrants

In recent days, Donald Trump and his Republican running mate, JD Vance, have doubled down on their false and defamatory claims about legally admitted Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, thus churning up widespread fears, bomb threats and school evacuations. Claiming that these migrants were destroying the American “way of life,” Trump promised that, if elected, he would order massive deportations. This statement echoed his astonishing promise, made during the 2024 campaign and previously, to seize and deport 15 to 20 million immigrants.

September 26, 2024

Columns