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Dairy questions answered

A reader recently emailed me, saying that they were distressed about how modern dairies operate. I replied with some insights gleaned from my six decades’ worth of dairy experience. The majority of America’s dairy cows live in confinement facilities. The cows remain indoors from time they give birth to their first calf. Many dairies milk their cows three times per day. When I dairy farmed I could only milk twice a day. My higher producing cows would often be leaving white puddles on the ground by the time they were milked. A stressed cow produces less milk. As such, confinement ...

What is due process?

Simply stated, due process is a fundamental right guaranteed by the United States Constitution. The American concept of due process comes from English Common Law, which is rooted in the Magna Carta of 1215. That foundational document states that individuals cannot be punished or have their property taken without due legal process. This long-standing tradition was incorporated in the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution and applied to states in the Fourteenth Amendment. Both citizens and non-citizens have the right to due process which includes a chance to defend their rights and to ...

A family wedding minus one

Dear Annie: Am I being too sensitive? My niece’s son is getting married this year. I always believed I was close to her family, but when the “save the date” and shower invitations went out, my daughter was not included -- although all the other cousins were. My daughter rarely attends family functions, so when one of my sisters asked why “Charlotte” wasn’t invited, the answer was, “We didn’t think she would come.” Charlotte is my only daughter, and I feel that the least they could have done was mention this to me beforehand. Instead, I stood at a family gathering and ...

Living under the threat of divorce

Dear Annie: I am a 69-year-old man who is still totally and madly in love with my wife of 49 years. I know many people would say I’m foolish for feeling this way after she cheated on me several times during the early years of our marriage. At the time, I blamed myself. We were young, I felt responsible for providing for our growing family, and I threw myself into work. I came from a broken home, and my wife came from poverty. I was determined that neither of us would ever go through that again. Looking back, I think my long hours may have left her feeling lonely. After that, I made ...

Authentic faith inherently political

Sometimes I imagine heaven as the church basement of my childhood. I grew up in a picturesque Southern California town nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains, where our bustling non‑denominational evangelical church seemed to anchor the community. The church basement was where life happened: funeral lunches, wedding receptions, family movie nights, holiday potlucks and more. It was a joy-filled place where I could simply show up and know I would be fed, known, and loved. That basement felt like home and maybe even heaven. In that church, I was faithfully taught the ...

The League of Women Voters empowering voters

The League of Women Voters grew out of eighty years of protest. In 1890, the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) was formed with the sole purpose of securing the right to vote for women. When this goal was achieved in 1919, NAWSA merged with the National Council of Women Voters to create a new organization, the League of Women Voters of the United States. Referred to as a “mighty political experiment,” it aimed to help newly enfranchised women exercise their right to vote.  On March 24, 1919, the Minnesota Legislature granted the women of Minnesota  the right ...