Salem-News.com Education articles

Benny & Sid presents Chapter 9 of the Serialized Graphic Novel The Truant Officer

All it would take is to find your way to the wrong part of town, meet the wrong person, yield to the wrong temptation and all the Sunday church-going of a hundred years won't do you a bit of good.

(Your City, USA) - You may be a Pastor and wield the Bible to turn aside Satan when he shows his pointed little head and pitch fork.

But none of it means anything until real temptation comes your way. You're out of town. No one knows you from Adam. All it would take is to find your way to the wrong part of town, meet the wrong person, yield to the wrong temptation and all the sunday church-going of a hundred years won't do you a bit of good.

Random Musings

A ranging view of the ideas circulating in one writer's mind.

(AGOURA, Calif.) - Sometimes there are many ideas fighting for attention in my mind, covering all the subjects I tend to write a column about, but each isn’t worthy of its own full-length coverage.

Consequently, I collect them. So, in no particular order, here are my current random musings.

Oregon Gets a `C` Ranking for Premature Births

November 17th marks the nation's 7th Annual Prematurity Awareness Day, when March of Dimes focuses the nation's attention on the growing problem of premature birth (birth before 37 weeks gestation).

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - For the second consecutive year, Oregon earned a "C" grade on the March of Dimes Premature Birth Report Card. While the grade remained the same, the state slipped in U.S. ranking and Oregon's preterm birth rate increased by a tenth of a percent.

The grades were determined by comparing preterm birth rates to the national Healthy People 2010 preterm birth objective, which is 7.6% of all live births. Oregon's rate increased slightly to 10.3% from 10.2% and the United States continues to fail at 12.7% with a "D" on the Report Card.

The Propaganda of War

What we should remember most of all on November 11 every year is the terrible waste of life that wars bring, and our failure to avoid them.

(GOLD RIVER, B.C.) - Last week throughout many of the Commonwealth countries, the United States, France and Belgium, the day November 11 was celebrated.

Remembrance Day in Canada, Veterans Day in the United States and Armistice Day in France, it marked the anniversary of the signing of the armistice that ended the major fighting in World War One officially on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918.

Lack of Healthcare Kills Veterans at Much Higher Rate than Combat

Harvard study shows that for every American killed in Afghanistan in 2008, 14 military veterans died because they lacked healthcare coverage.

(SALEM, Ore.) - A report from Agence France Presse indicates that the number of veterans who died in 2008 because they didn't have healthcare, is 14 times higher than the military death toll in Afghanistan, for the entire year.

Two Harvard medical researchers analyzed data, comparing U.S. combat-related deaths in Afghanistan, with the number of veterans who died because they lacked the ability to seek out adequate healthcare and access medical services. All of the veterans surveyed were under the age of 65.

Rep Thatcher Announces Core Functions Legislation for 2010

The Core Functions of Government measure will be Representative Thatcher’s priority bill.

(SALEM, Ore.) - With the special legislative session just around the corner, today State Representative Kim Thatcher (R-Keizer, Newberg, St. Paul), announced she is drafting legislation to prioritize funding for Core Functions of State Government.

“Our current system of budgeting isn’t working,” explained Thatcher at the monthly meeting of the Taxpayer Association of Oregon.

The Canadian Comparison: Part 1

There’s an old joke: The definition of a Canadian is an unarmed American with health care.

(CALGARY, Alberta) - Over the past few months I have been asked about Canada—about atheism, health care and gun control in particular. None of these issues can be addressed in isolation, so a comparison benchmark is required.

Americans, as the primary readers, understand America best, so America becomes the benchmark.

Benny & Sid presents Chapter 8 of the Serialized Graphic Novel The Truant Officer

The latest edition of Salem's only original, weekly online cartoon strip!

(Your City, USA) - Some guys finesse their way through life. They make the right choices. We can call this luck, but it's more than luck. It's a matter of keeping your eyes and ears open.

It's also a matter of being in the right place at the right time. Then there are guys who never know what to do next. They need someone to write out their next three steps ahead of time. They need someone to watch over them because left on their own they'd drop the ball.

My Son Has the Swine Flu: A Daily Journal

If you have a child that is stuck home with the swine flu and ends up like my son, with negligible symptoms, your biggest problem will be his boredom

(AGOURA HILLS, Calif.) - We just went through the swine flu with our older son, Will. We didn’t panic or allow the hysteria of the msm (mainstream media) to scare us. His first reaction was simply, “Darn, I’m going to miss Halloween.”

With the swine flu, we’ve been deluged with scare reports from the media, ignoring the fact that each year tens of thousands of Americans die of the regular flu.

Marysville Elementary in SE Portland Burns in 3 Alarm Fire (VIDEO & SLIDESHOW)

Firefighters will remain on scene through the night and most of the day tomorrow.

(PORTLAND, Ore.) - Large portions of the Marysville Elementary School were destroyed in a fire broke out this morning around 11:30 a.m. The school is located at 7733 SE Raymond Street in SE Portland.

Crews from Portland Fire & Rescue responded to the fire and would eventually be assisted by neighboring fire agencies.