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It’s a time of cosmic hope and the tenderness of love 
For my birthday a good friend gave me a coaster that reads, “All I want is PEACE on EARTH…& a really cute pair of shoes.”
Ahlin: Trends in modern marriage harbingers of renaissance?
The analysis of marriage statistics released last week by the Pew Center doesn’t say much for the ongoing health of the institution. In fact, “marriage rates have hit a historic low.”
RELATED CONTENTAhlin: Even in heart of Bible belt, ‘personhood’ is a tough sell
What happens when the state criminalizes birth control methods? What happens when the state forces a 13-year-old incest victim to carry a pregnancy to term? What happens when the state stands between young couples with infertility problems and their ability to conceive?
RELATED CONTENTAhlin: Loss of CRP acres threatens North Dakota’s quality of life
Sunsets are earlier, nighttime temperatures dip into the low 50s; big yellow school buses are everywhere. Rational folks allow a moment on Labor Day weekend to sigh and bemoan the end of summer; yet, not everyone experiences that normal sense of loss.
RELATED CONTENTNorwegian leader’s words ring with the clarity of FDR
Since the world learned that a bombing outside the Norwegian prime minister’s offices plus a shooting at a youth camp killing a total of 76 people were the work of a 32-year-old right-wing Christian Norwegian by the name of Anders Behring Breivik, much of the coverage has referred to the event as Norway’s “loss of innocence.”
RELATED CONTENTAhlin: As Earth spins to perihelion, dark days, but lots of hope
Perhaps most earthlings already know that on Jan. 3, 2011, this good old planet of ours will reach perihelion. But I didn’t. Of course, until I read about it, I’d never heard of “perihelion,” much less known its meaning.
RELATED CONTENTAhlin: Three women of faith discover interfaith dialogue is not easy
"A Muslim, a Christian, and a Jew Walk into a Room …” The sentence sounds like the first line of joke. Instead, it is the title to the second chapter of “The Faith Club,” a book about three women in New York City and the unusual and unintentional faith journey they found themselves taking together.
Ahlin: Negative political advertising means no television for a while
Watching the constant, negative national TV advertising pumped into North Dakota for the Earl Pomeroy-Rick Berg U.S. House race night after night has me thinking a silent room with padded walls might not be a bad place to hang out. Consequently, no more television for me until the election is over.
RELATED CONTENTAhlin: Uncertain economic times put a new spin on happiness
Remember all those sayings that began, “Happiness is …”? Charles Schulz started the trend in the early 1960s in his comic strip “Peanuts,” with the line, “Happiness is a warm puppy,” but it grew in scope until it was popular enough to be mocked and used ironically. (Think the Beatles’ “White Album” and “Happiness is a Warm Gun.”)
RELATED CONTENTAbortion, health care reform arguments get very peculiar
California Rep. Lois Capps, a pro-choice Democrat, did not thrill the pro-choice community with her bid to remove the abortion issue from the health care debate.
RELATED CONTENTColumns
Ahlin: Measure 3 would erode basic religious freedoms
Sometimes the online encyclopedia Wikipedia gives surprisingly good examples.
RELATED CONTENTAhlin: Now, devil is in the details for Bluestem/Trollwood
Looking at the Trollwood/Bluestem financial predicament, I can’t help but think of one of my mother’s favorite clichés: The devil is in the details.
RELATED CONTENTAhlin: Catching up to philosophical leap to urban bicycle-riding
Urban cyclists: Perhaps the term encompasses all people who ride bikes within city limits, but that’s not what the term brings to mind.
RELATED CONTENTAhlin: Had enough of the aging, gentlemanly chauvinists?
President Barack Obama and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, the expected Republican challenger in November’s presidential election, finally agree on something.
RELATED CONTENTAhlin: ‘War on Christmas’ fades away during Easter season
Americans don’t seem worried about a culture war on Easter the way some people get revved up about a war on Christmas.
RELATED CONTENTAhlin: Irrational wishful thinking about health care dilemma
Dick Cheney received a heart transplant, and the U.S. Supreme Court heard three days of oral argument about the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (better known as Obamacare).
RELATED CONTENTAhlin: ‘Redshirting’ too loaded to apply to our children
Delaying a child’s entrance into school is one thing; calling it redshirting is quite another.
RELATED CONTENTAhlin: An intriguing new novel about Watergate and Nixon
To appreciate Thomas Mallon’s fictional account of the Watergate scandal, does a person have to be 55 or older?
RELATED CONTENTAhlin: Limbaugh, media, politics and the culture of sexism
To say decency is not important to Rush Limbaugh is a cosmic understatement, sort of like saying he isn’t into women his own age.
RELATED CONTENTAhlin: Seeing the old and the new with the Maasai in Africa
This is the story of three drivers on a safari in Tanzania (East Africa).
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