Staff & Contributors

Ed Raymond

Ed Raymond is a former Marine officer and school board superintendent, and resides in Detroit Lakes.

Content By This Contributor:

The American Saga Of The Cruise Ship And The Fishing Boat

Ed Raymond

The death of the black teenager Trayvon Martin, shot to death by a private “security” guard in an Orlando, Florida “gated” community, not only is a deadly comment about our society, it reminds all of us that we are building a…

Forty-One Years Of Living, Loving, And Marriage—And They Still Don’t Hold Hands In Public

Ed Raymond

Linda, 69, and Gloria, 64, were the first lesbian couple to be married legally in the United States, eight years ago. They were part of the lawsuit against the state of Massachusetts that won gays the right to marry in the state. They have been an item for 41 years. In a Washington Post story by Eli Saslow, they are proud they have spent only four nights apart in

ObamaCare, The Supremes, And Pelvic Pyromania

Ed Raymond

I suppose many people think that the old evolutionist Charles Darwin caused enough trouble with his “Origin of the Species” without getting involved so much with pleasurable, powerful, and restricted sex. We do need sex to survive—and Charles came up with another irrefutable idea: “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change.” Soon we will get some kind of a decision about the A

A Potpourri of Precious Piffle

Ed Raymond

Several times during the year I end up with a lot of subjects I would like to write a column about, but many of them don’t deserve a lengthy diatribe—just a few short jabs and then a haymaker. Here are some from my collection.

The American Middle Class, Wayne Gretsky, Sisyphus, And Rock And Roll

Ed Raymond

I am not a hockey fan, but I did play a version of it on a little frozen pond near my rural school District #54 in Morrison County, Minnesota. We had about 25 students, grades 1-8, so we would form two teams out of that mess, put on our four-buckle manure-covered overshoes (none could afford skates so they were banned), carve a stick from a curvy branch, find a chunk of wood, and do battle on reed-infested ice. It was great fun. But I found out later when I was a Fargo high school principal

America Goes Postal–The National Rifle Association’s Tsunami Of Death

Ed Raymond

In the last 44 years, over a million American civilians have been killed by gunfire. Last year 100,000 were killed or wounded, with 33,000 going toes up immediately. We lead the world in a lot of things—and shooting guns at people and hitting them is one of them. Europeans say we have so many gun deaths and horrific wounds because we are not quite civilized yet. The man who was invited to talk to the recent National Rifle Association’s annual convention in St. Louis proves that a

Did Mitt Romney Leave Pluto When It Was Downgraded To A Plutoid?

Ed Raymond

There’s something about Mitt Romney... I get uncomfortable in the presence of Mitt. It’s hard to pin down. He’s a good-looking guy with nice hair, a full set of teeth, and perfect posture. He’s not an empty suit like Tim Pawlenty or Al Gore. Maybe the problem is that he wears several different suits over his sacred underwear at the same time.

Searching For Bounty In The Colosseum On Sunday Afternoons

Ed Raymond

The One Percenters in the Roman Empire are being reincarnated in the American Empire over two thousand years later. There were no skyboxes or executive suites in the Roman Colosseum like in the dozens of gladitorial colosseums spread across the United States, but the booze and delicacies flowed freely in the reserved sections in Rome

The Crimes Of The Century

Ed Raymond

The Grand Jury of the State of Reason and Logic in the United States, after more than a decade of gathering evidence, finds there is sufficient evidence to bring an indictment against the Republican Party for the attempted murder of science, history, and ethics in the 21st century. As prosecutor I submit the following into evidence:

To Men: “First You Put A Viagra Between Your Testicles...”

Ed Raymond

The bumper sticker “You’ve Come a Long Way, Baby” is not seen anymore, but when we look at history it’s true women have come a long way since Qin Shi Huangdi was the first emperor of China back in the 3rd century BC. Qin was the first to unify all of the Chinese warlords into a unified nation. Evidently Qin believed in an afterlife because he spent much of his life preparing to go somewhere after death. In 1974 when peasants were digging a well, they discovered a vast tomb

Maternity Suites At $4,000 A Night And Panda Poop Tea At $34,000 A Pound

Ed Raymond

There’s no dull day in the United States when so much makes no sense at all. Here we are in a country that has major hospitals advertising $4,000-a-night maternity suites (all medical charges extra!) while it ranks 29th out of the top 30 industrialized countries in infant mortality. Norway, with universal health care available for every citizen, is second in the world in health care expend

Children Will Be A Lot Better Off Without NCLB

Ed Raymond

OK, all you politicians who think you know something about education, what IQ scale point would you give to this gun-nut who has blown away a minister’s daughter? Moises Zambrana of St. Petersburg, Florida, all legal-like and everything...

Progressives Versus Regressives

Ed Raymond

My daughter bought several grocery bags full of “discarded” books at the Moorhead Public Library the other day for three bucks a bag. What a bargain! She picked out a couple ...

What Would Chesty Do?

Ed Raymond

Let’s see. We send our young “volunteers” to war from poor small towns in poor counties. They choose to get out of a dull town and make something of themselves.

Gadfly: Russian Proverb: “A Pessimist Is A Well-informed Optimist”

Ed Raymond

In the race between education and disaster “The Best Congress Money Can Buy” seems bent on lowering its approval rating with the general public to less than nine percent. The evidence that disaster will win in a tsunami of legislative flotsam is pili

A Thin Red Line Of Heroes When The Band Begins To Play

Ed Raymond

Congress just passed a $662 billion defense budget to fight a war with Afghanistan, a country without fighter planes, tanks, aircraft carriers, and bombers. It does have an untold number of snoopin’ and poopin’ fundamentalist religious fanatics ...

Gadfly: Crowfoot and Abortion

Ed Raymond

We have reached the point where our species creates as much intellectual, scientific, and technical information in two days as we created from the first cave paintings 30,000 years ago to the year 2003.

Gadfly: The Eel, The Van, And The Skulls Of Twenty Cows

Ed Raymond

As one gets older you discover the world is always filled with surprises, sometimes when we least expect them. A man in San Jose, California bought a used minivan for $14,000 at a car lot. After driving it around the city, he discovered ...

Gadfly: The Pea In This Shell Game Is Real Tacky

Ed Raymond

City of Fargo employees would be wise to save these tips about three companies in which to invest their 401K funds if the City Commission decides to privatize their retirement system from pensions to 401Ks as proposed by Commissioner David Piepkorn.

Gadfly: The Race Between Education And Disaster Intensifies

Ed Raymond

ast week I reviewed some evidence whether education will win out over ignorance based on Voltaire’s statement that “History is a race between education and disaster.” At the end of the column I expressed hope the race was still tied.

Gadfly: Education vs. Disaster

Ed Raymond

It’s funny how the mind runs from subject to subject. I was watching CNN anchor Fredricka Whitfield present the news the other day while I was reading the Forum (11/4/11) article about the Whitman Ranch near Robinson, N.D. I was fascinated by ...

Gadfly: “Minnesota Nice” Is Getting Real Ugly

Ed Raymond

Minnesota used to be among the best states in the Union in which to live. Yes, we paid moderate taxes–but we had a quality life. That’s why 21 Fortune 500 companies settled in Minnesota and none have enriched the lives of North and South Dakotans...

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