This is your brain on socialism: { [: ( [ )
(Copyright 02-08-2025) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) “Twice have [millions] called me to the throne . . . Who are you? nothing! . . . I am the throne!” – Napoleon, to the Legislature, 1813 (shortly before his downfall) IN THE MOUTH OF 2 OR 300 WITNESSES A THING SHALL BE ESTABLISHED. Last week I argued […]
America continues to reap the whirlwind (why?)
(Copyright 01-31-2025) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) “Cherish, therefore, the spirit of our people, and keep alive their attention. Do not be too severe upon their errors but reclaim them by enlightening them. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you and I, and Congress, and Assemblies, Judges, and Governors, shall all become […]
Sometimes you just have to laugh
(Copyright 01-25-2025) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) “Laughter is better than complaining” – my version of “Anger is better than laughter,” which in the King James Version is “Sorrow is better than laughter” SOMETHING LOST IN THE TRANSLATION? The English words anger and sorrow meant the same thing in pre-KJV times. The root word for anguish, […]
Introduction to George Orwell 101 (WOW!)
(Copyright 2021) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) “The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. lt was their final, most essential command.” PERSONALLY, I’m not 100 percent pessimistic about our future because the Left, like the Pharaoh of Egypt when he began to enslave the children of Israel, not only overplays […]
Why does God allow such things to happen?
(Copyright 01-14-2025) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) “A great and strong wind rent the mountains, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake, and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, [but] after the fire […]
This Land is God’s Land; On a Summit or a Precipice? 2016, 2024
(Copyright 12-31-2024) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) “It is a great mistake to learn from history. There is nothing to learn from history.” – Shimon Peres (5-23-96) “It is not my place as an historian to play the part of a prophet. Nevertheless . . .” – Dr. Arthur Voobus (Estonian Theological Society in Exile) “History is […]
43 kings and then came disaster (we’re not out of the woods yet)
(Copyright 01-07-2025) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) “We wrestle against wicked spirits in high places.” Saul of Tarsus My subject today is the 43 kings of Israel and Israel-Judah, the big question being: “Does history repeat itself?” SAUL ruled Israel for 40 years. David ruled for 40 years. Solomon for 40 years. Then the nation was divided […]
George Washington Walks into a Bar
(Copyright 12-17-2024) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) AFTER A HARD DAY’S WRITING, I stopped at the convenience store to buy a copy of UP magazine. “Do you have gas?” the clerk asked. “No, just a little heartburn and writer’s block,” I said, on the way out the door. On the way home, I stopped at the […]
On the need for noble mothers (and fathers)
(Copyright 12-03-2024) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) “Every family has two lives; . . there is a seething struggle between forces of life and the forces of disintegration . . Do not aspire to be king of the Belliakers – there’s too much competition for that spot.” – Elbert Hubbard RIDING THE COAT TAILS OF THE […]
War and peace
(Copyright 11-23-2024) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) “They shall learn war no more.” – God “IT TOOK THREE DAYS to get Waukegan, Illinois native Mike out. ‘I’m going home. The war’s over for me,” he said. “They might let me go home for Christmas.’ “He was one of the almost 900 wounded give or take a few. […]
Progress in race relations started in baseball
(Copyright 11-15-2024) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) Around every bend he confronted bigotry – and he did so with amazing grace, endearing dignity, and old-school wisdom.” – Douglas Brinkley, on “I Had a Hammer” I’M READING THE Hank Aaron story, another of my one dollar purchases from a local library. When Hank was a boy in […]
Drunk on power, the power of lies (but will it work this time?)
(Copyright 11-05-2024) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) “If a political party does not have its foundation in the determination to advance a cause that is right and that is moral, then it is not a political party; it is merely a conspiracy to seize power.” – Dwight Eisenhower “The lie in the Soul is a true […]
What’s really at stake: freedom of the individual versus Collectivism
(Copyright 10-31-2024) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) “The spark from heaven falls. Who picks it up? The crowd? Never. The individual? Always.” – Arthur J. Balfour EXCERPTS from an article I’ve been saving for over 60 years, by Charles B. Shuman, American Farm Bureau president: “History is the record of man’s struggle to either obtain or to […]
Why God allows such things to happen (an annual encore column)
(Copyright 10-27-2024) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) “The Truth is stranger than fiction,” they say. “But not as popular.” EVER BEEN SO NUMB THAT YOU COULDN’T SHED A TEAR? I’m no stranger to pain either, but I’ve recently talked to two elderly men who claim they don’t believe in God. One of them used to – […]
Column written in the middle of the night
(Copyright 10-19-2024) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) “Never toss away anything you get up to write in the middle of the night.” – anon KALAMITY HARRIS identifies as a super hero, but she can’t find a phone booth. She can’t wait to be in charge of the CIA, whatever that is. Generally speaking, she doesn’t speak like a […]
Regarding envy and the most brilliant thoughts of all time
(Copyright 10-15-2024) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) “Man exploits man. Under Communism, it’s just the opposite.” — Russian saying THAT HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF IS NOT JUST A CLICHE. For students of history, it’s a regular nightmare. There was a 100-year span of time between the 1860s hippies in Russia and our own 1960s hippies. While the latter […]
Will there be better times, or what? Signs of hope
(Copyright 10-02-2024) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) A LOOK BACK AT MY FIRST COLUMN OF 2024 (based on my last column of 2022): The theme of Psalm 22 is an awakening (genuine wokeness). The theme of Psalm 23 is the fruits of such a turn-around. “The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not lack. He leadeth […]
Wicked Spirits v. the Holy Spirit (and miracles)
(Copyright 09-19-2024) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) LEMME JUST start by saying I was born in a lower middle-class family. We had very little spending money and I still have most of it. I used to buy cars for 50 bucks. I once drove from Wisconsin to southern Georgia and back on $14 worth of […]
My most unusual column: Why the English capitalized the word “I”
(Copyright 09-07-2024) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) “I AM, said I, to no one there.” – Neil Diamond “I AM THAT I AM.” – God (to Moses, 1491 B.C.) “God forgives; man sometimes forgives; nature never forgives.” – author unknown TO ME, “I” STANDS FOR THE “INDIVIDUAL” – the right to what’s in your heart. Down through history no group […]
The Ides of August again – College orientation week
(Copyright 08-21-2024) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) “To strip our past of glory is no great loss, but to deny it honor is devastating.” – Daniel Patrick Moynihan “Education is a weapon whose effects depend on who holds it and at whom it is aimed.” – Josef Stalin TOO MUCH OF HIGHER EDUCATION IS AIMED AT THE […]
God’s ‘practical joke’ on Jew haters
(Copyright 2023) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) From AmericanWireNews: “A Jewish high school teacher in Queens was terrorized by a mob of left-wing students who reacted with outrage after she attended a pro-Israel rally last weekend, a terrifying incident that left her badly shaken. The target of the ‘radicalized’ kids was forced to hide for […]
What the world needs now is a Laugh-in, Goldie
(Copyright 08-12-2024) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) A book review: There’s no joy in Mudville and there’s no laughter in the Capitol building. For some people, politics is the end of the world (and it could be), but during the days of Reagan, Dole, and Tip O’Neil, it wasn’t always this way. It’s getting bitter […]
Critical Race “Theory” = “Divide and conquer”
(Copyright 2021) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) WHEN “DIVIDE AND CONQUER” was invented thousands of years ago, Satan probably already had in mind CRT 2021. It is the “DIVIDE” half of the equation. “CONQUER” follows soon after. And there are no “winners” in spiritual wars. Not on this side of Kingdom Come. The essence of […]
A funny thing happened on the way to Damascus
(Copyright 2023) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) THREE DAYS before Christmas, I walked into a bar. I looked around, but no one was there, though the Packers were playing to a full house. After a while a bartender appeared, all bubbly and bright, and I ordered a beer. As she popped the top, a stranger […]
10 typical Americans compared to the proverbial 10 virgins
(Copyright 2023) by Curtis Dahlgren (Stephenson, Michigan) “Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened to ten virgins who went forth to meet the bridegroom. Five of them were wise and five of them were foolish. While the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. At midnight a cry was made, ‘Go out to meet […]