The Palouse Pundit Nick Gier (personal home page)
In June 2011 the Palouse Pundit received a Bronze Medal (sounds better than 3rd place, doesn't it?) for column writing from the Upper Intermountain Associate Press Annual Awards. After four years of submitting political/religious topics, this year he entered his personal/humor columns, and that was the trick.
The columns below start every week as a radio commentary on Radio Free Moscow (KRFP 92.5 FM). To play the MP3s click here.
For columns on the 2008 election click here. For columns on higher education click here.
For columns on my trip to Southern Africa click here. For columns on civil rights click here.
For columns on green energy, global warming, and the environment click here.
For columns on "The Third Way" between communism and capitalism click here.
For columns countering the hysteria about Muslims click here Ronald Reagan here.
August 31, 2011: Wen Jinbao for President? Rick Perry and Job Growth Deception
August 17, 2011: David Slays Goliath, Again: Megaloads Banned from Idaho's Scenic Highway
August 3, 2011: Thanks Uncle Sam for the Space Program and All the "Spin-Offs"
July 20, 2011: Is the Royal Couple Really on a "Mystical" Journey?
ARCHIVES
December
25, 2005: The Christmas Story and Other Redeeming Myths
(PDF File)
December
28, 2005: The Deceptions of War: Cooking the Intelligence
on Iraq
(PDF File)
January. 4,
2006: Why
Not Democracy in the Workplace?
(PDF File)
January 14,
2006:
Gandhi, King, and Thoreau: Three Principles of Civil Disobedience
(PDF File)
January 18,
2006:
A Woman's Right to Choose Hangs in the Balance
(PDF File)
January 25,
2006:
Happy 300th Birthday, Ben! Franklin and Religious Liberalism
(PDF File)
February 1,
2006:
The Many Sins of Moscow's New St. Andrews College
(PDF File)
February 8,
2006:
A Runaway Train: Administrative Salaries Steam Ahead of Faculty
(PDF File)
February 15, 2006: Was Katrina the Wrath of God? (PDF File)
February 22, 2006: Happy 274th Birthday, George! (PDF File)
March 1, 2006: Karma, Character, and America's Destiny (PDF File)
March 8, 2006: We Are All Liberals: Well, Almost All (PDF File)
Marh 15, 2006: The Wonder that Was--and Still is--India
March 22,
2006:
Would Saddam Have Been Better? Three Disastrous Years
in Iraq
(PDF File)
March 29, 2006: Anti-Intellectualism and America's Future (PDF File)
April 4, 2006: The Gospel of Weak Belief (PDF)
April 11, 2006: Mad Max Meets Jesus Christ (PDF File)
April 18,
2006:
Chilling Parallels between Christian and Islamic
Fundamentalists
(PDF File)
April 25, 2006: Why Reagan Can't Save the Republicans (PDF File)
May 2, 2006: The Real Meaning of Sodomy (PDF File)
May 9, 2006: Mongolia: The Land of Chinggis Khan (PDF File)
May 17,
2006:
The Moment of Truth for America's Death Penalty
(PDF File)
May 23,
2006:
The Brutality Connection: Abu Ghraib and America's Prisons
(PDF File)
May 30, 2006: Is the Gap so Great between Retro Red and Metro Blue? (PDF File)
June 6, 2006: "Happy Hour" Is Not What Aristotle Had in Mind (PDF File)
June 13, 2006: Liberals: Take Back the Flag! (PDF File)
June 20, 2006: "Bring Them On!" Al-Zarqawi Heeds Bush's Call (PDF File)
June 27,
2006:
Good King Now, but Bad King Later? Bhutan, Nepal, and
Democracy
(PDF File)
July 4,
2006:
Thank Adams and Jefferson for 230 Years without
Religious Conflict
(PDF File)
July 11,
2006:
Long Live the Braceros: Essential Guest Workers not Felons
(PDF
File)
July 18,
2006:
CIA Torture in Vietnam, Latin America, and Iraq, Part I
(PDF File)
July 25, 2006: CIA Torture, Part II (PDF File)
August 1,
2006:
Historical Revisionism at Moscow's Trinity Festival
(PDF File)
August 8, 2006: Moscow School Among the Top 40 Bible Colleges (PDF File)
August 15, 2006: Iraq: One Step Forward; Three Steps Back (PDF File)
August 22, 2006: Vietnam, Iraq, and Lebanon: Superpower Overkill Backfires (PDF File)
September 5, 2006: Truth, Goodness, and Beauty (PDF File)
September 12, 2006: Un-Declaring the War on Terror (PDF File)
September 19, 2006: The Woman Who Drew the Boundaries of Iraq (PDF File)
September 26, 2006: You're Doing a Heckuva Job on the Economy, Bushie! (PDF File)
October 3, 2006: Happy 137th Birthday, Gandhi! (PDF File)
October 10, 2006: Afghanistan as Narcostan as well as Jihadistan (PDF File for 2006 version)
October 17, 2006: Congress Caves Into Bush on Detainee Bill (PDF File)
October 24, 2006: Should Former Deans Retain Their High Salaries? (PDF File)
October 31, 2006: What Part of Equality Don't You Understand? (PDF File)
November 7, 2006: Convergence not Conversion: Religious Unity in India (PDF File)
November 14, 2006: Some Reflections on Veterans Day, 2006 (PDF File available)
November 21, 2006: Buddhist Nationalism and Religious Violence in Sri Lanka (PDF File)
November 28, 2006: Their Souls Live on the Cemetery of Books (PDF File)
December 5, 2006: Virtue, Morality, and Expediency (PDF File)
December 12, 2006: The Man Who Brought the Spanish Inquisition to Chile (PDF File)
December 19, 2006: Whistleblowers Need More Protection at the University of Idaho (PDF File)
December 26, 2006: The Palouse Pundit Looks Back at 2006 (PDF File)
January 2, 2007: Danish Social Democracy and "The Third Way" (PDF File)
January 9, 2007: America's Health Care is a National Disgrace Part 1 (PDF)
January 16, 2007: How Did We Lose Our Racial Color Blindness? (PDF File)
January 23,
2007:
Happy 270th Birthday, Tom Paine: Patriot and Vilified
Theologian
(PDF
File)
January 30,
2007:
Selling Latah Health Services to Gritman Medical Center is a
Wise Idea
(PDF
File)
February 6,
2007:
A Runaway Train 2007: Administrative Salaries Outstrip
Faculty by 99%
(PDF
File)
February 13, 2007: Happy 198th Birthday, Charles Darwin (PDF File)
February 20: Two Presidents Named George and the Golden Rule (PDF File)
February 28: The Deceptions of War Reconfirmed (PDF File)
March 6, 2007: The Queen's "Tribe" is leaving Iraq (PDF File)
March 13, 2007: Ed the Viking, Greenland, and Global Warming (PDF File)
March 20, 2007: The Need for Liberation Theology is Greater than ever (PDF File)
March 27, 2007: Tolerance for Islam in the Early American Republic (PDF File)
April 3: Woman, Bonobos, and Peace (PDF File)
April 10: Mary Magdalene: Apostle to the Apostles (PDF File)
April 17: What Ever Happened to the Last Judgment? (PDF file)
April 24: America's Moral Responsibility for Global Warming (PDF File)
May 1: New St. Andrews College Must Earn the Respect of Other Institutions PDF File
May 8: The Imam of Ait Kassem Serves Lunch (PDF File)
May 15, 2007: A Chilling Connection between Nanjing (1853) and Moscow (2003) PDF
May 23, 2007: Catholics May Have Good Reason for Abortion Reform PDF
May 30, 2007: The Passing of an Ugly Giant of the Religious Right PDF
June 6,
2007:
Christ is Commander-in-Chief: Relative Violence in
Islam and Christianity
PDF
JPEG
June 13, 2007: God is Dead (Again!): Secular Fundamentalists Fight Back PDF JPEG
June 20, 2007: The Global Peace Index: Norway #1; USA #96 JPEG PDF
June 27 2007: King of Morocco Takes His Country in a New Direction JPEG PDF
July 4, 2007: Senator Sam Brownback is Confused about Evolution JPEG PDF
July 11, 2007: The Living Goddess of Bhaktapur Loses Her Job PDF
July 18, 2007: America's Health Care is a National Disgrace Part 2 PDF
July 25, 2007: The Overuse and Abuse of Part-Time Faculty PDF
August 1, 2007: Moscow's Trinity Festival Features Fraudulent Calvinists and Questionable Trinitarians PDF
August 8, 2007: Academic Tenure is Not Sacrosanct: The Cases of Professors Churchill and Maki PDF
August 15, 2007: Muslim Democrats and Republicans Have Ignorant Idaho Detractors PDF
August 22, 2007: Soles Hundreds of Feet Thick: Visualizing Economic Inequality in America PDF
August 29, 2007: Faulty Historical Parallels: Bush, Once Again, Draws the Wrong Lessons PDF
September 5, 2007: Lost in a World of Red and Green: Colorblind Males as Neglected Minority PDF
September 12, 2007: Here's to Good Royalty: A Defense of Constitutional Monarchy PDF
September 19, 2007: IKEA: The Progressive Big Box Store from Sweden PDF
September 26, 2007: Celebrating our Muslim Neighbors by Acknowledging Their Cultural Heritage PDF
October 3, 2007: Moscow's Calvinist College Makes the The New York Times PDF
October 10, 2007: A Denmark Retrospective: Fond Memories for Me and 41 Years of Socio-Economic Progress for the Danes PDF
October 17, 2007: The Three Ironies of Ed Iverson's Report from Eastern Johnbirchistan PDF
October 24, 2007: The 454th Anniversary of the Burning of Michael Servetus PDF
October 31, 2007: Vote for Smart Growth in the City Council Election PDF
November 7, 2007: Benazir Bhutto Returns Home to Cheers and Bombs PDF
November 14, 2007: Station Closed Because of Asbestos Abatement
November 21, 2007: The Failure of Abstinence-Only Sex Education PDF
November 28, 2007: Face to Black Face with King Tut PDF
December 5, 2007: India's Day of Infamy: The Destruction of the Babri Mosque PDF
December 12, 2007: A Sad Chronicle of Complicity: Buddhism and Japanese Nationalism PDF
December 19, 2007: Civility is a Two-Way Street: Moscow's Christ Church and Her Detractors PDF
December 26, 2007: Pontius the Pilot and the Flight to Egypt PDF
January 16, 2008: Bayard Rustin: The Gay Man Who Organized the 1963 March on Washington PDF
January 23, 2008: The Tribulations of Providing and Obtaining a Legal Abortion PDF
January 30, 2008: Why Not Democracy in Higher Education Workplaces? PDF
February 6, 2008: Indonesia: Rich Hindu Past and Moderate Muslim Future PDF
February 13, 2008: Quick Settlement of Wal-Mart Worker Strike is Suspicious PDF
February 20, 2008: Liberal Religion and Abraham Lincoln PDF
February 27, 2008: The Meterley Report: Always Giving 3.37 Inches More Than Yardley PDF
March 5, 2008: "Don't Tread on Me": Americans Rise Up Against Alien Invaders PDF
March 12, 2008: Progress in Iraq is only Temporary or Illusory PDF
March 19, 2008: Tibetans Struggle in Dealing with an Orwellian Government PDF
March 26, 2008: Olympia Brown: Leading Suffragette and First Ordained Woman Minister PDF
April 2, 2008: On the Importance of Three Cups of Tea PDF
April 9, 2008: The Meandering Maverick: No Straight Talk from McCain on Religion PDF
April 16, 2008: One Haitian Woman's Struggle to Save Her People and Her Land PDF
April 23, 2008: Rapa Nui: Case Study in Ecological Disaster PDF
April 30, 2008: Graduate Teaching Assistants: Exploited Labor on America's Campuses PDF
May 7, 2008: The Doctrine of Discovery and the Christian Conquest of the World PDF
May 14, 2008: Good Manners, Civility, and Diplomacy PDF
May 21, 2008: Dear President White: You Owe Us Another Five Years PDF
May 28, 2008: Sandpoint Nurses May Lead Idaho Unions in a New Direction PDF
June 4, 2008: Two Himalayan Kingdoms Decide on Their Kings PDF
June 11, 2008: The U. S. Starts Killings Its Own Again PDF
June 18, 2008: Our Troops Deserve Better When They Come Home PDF
June 25, 2008: Detainees Are People Too: The Supreme Court Upholds the Magna Carta PDF
July 2, 2008: Let's Not Forget the Ladies of the American Revolution PDF
July 9, 2008: Denmark Leads the World in Wind Power PDF
July 16, 2008: Warning to the GOP: Don't Mess with Medicare PDF
July 23, 2008: The People of Moscow Raise $35,000 for Schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan PDF
July 30, 2008: The Lake Woebegon Blues: Where Can I buy a Good Green Car? PDF
August 6, 2008: Barack Obama is Right about the Surge PDF
August 13, 2008: Headscarves, Secularism, and Religious Freedom PDF
August 20, 2008: Please Register Here to Protest, but We Might Arrest You if You Do Please click this PDF
August 27, 2008: Krishna and Christ: Hindu and Christian Saviors PDF
September 3, 2008: Restoring Democracy in the American Workplace PDF
September 10, 2008: Obama's Health Plan is Working in the Bay State; McCain's would be a Disaster PDF
September 17, 2008: McCain's Pit Bull Is Waging Cultural War on America PDF
September 24, 2008: Will Sarah Palin Go the Way of Spiro Agnew? Troopergate May Speed Her Departure PDF
October 1, 2008: Gandhi's Deep Religious Pluralism
October 8, 2008: Memo to McCain: The Economy Tanked Long Ago PDF
October 15, 2008: McCain's Straight, but Unwise, Talk on Foreign Policy PDF
October 22, 2008: Palin Destroys McCain's Credibility on Energy and the Environment PDF
October 29, 2008: Why I'm voting for Barack Obama and Joe Biden PDF
November 5, 2008: Hate Crimes Continue Against Gays; Necessary Legislation Stalled PDF
November 12, 2008: The Persecution of Christians in India, Sri Lanka, and Iraq PDF
November 19, 2008: Muslim Challenge Spurs Inter-Faith Dialogue PDF
November 26, 2008: The Persecution of Quakers: Shame on our Puritan Forefathers
December 3, 2008: The Gateway of India becomes a Gateway of Death PDF
December 10, 2008: The Day Confucius Went to the United Nations
December 17, 2008: Happy 405th Birthday, Roger Williams!
December 24, 2008: The Christ Child, Illegitimate Children, and the Meaning of the Gospel PDF
December 31, 2008: UI Athletics Get Big Breaks During Financial Crises
January 7, 2009: Is Forgiveness Really Human and not Divine?
January 14, 2009: The War in Gaza: "Bombing 1.5 Million People in a Cage"
January 21, 2009: The Naked Emperor "Decider" Retires to His Ranch
January 28, 2009: Idaho's University Program Reduction Procedures "Severely Deficient" PDF
Obama's Strengths: Superb Intellect, Openness, and Pragmatism (Los Cabos Daily News) PDF
February 4, 2009: High-Speed Rail is Key for Infrastructure Renewal
February 11, 2009: Brave Somali Woman Rejects Islam with a Vengeance
Februrary 18, 2009: Interrogations Need To Be Humane not "Enhanced"
February 25, 2009: Drug Policy Failures from Nixon to Bush
March 4, 2009: 500,000 Frozen Embryos Cry Out to be Born PDF
March 11, 2009: The Iraq War was not Worth the Sacrifice
March 18, 2009: Internal Pick Best for New University of Idaho President
March 25, 2009: The Bamiyan Buddhas: The Destruction of Afghan Cultural Treasures PDF
April 1, 2009: Animals are People, Too: Overcoming the Myth of Human Uniqueness
April 8, 2009: Palouse Pundit out with a bad cold/flu
April 15, 2009: Happy Birthday, Thomas Jefferson: "Atheist and Leveler from Virginia" PDF
April 22, 2009: State Faculty Union Responds to Financial Crisis
April 29, 2009: When Good Fishermen Became Bad Bankers: The Collapse of the Icelandic Economy
May 6, 2009: The Power of Pride: Vice or Virtue? PDF
May 13, 2009: Malvina Reynolds: The Poetess of Protest PDF
May 20, 2009: The Party of Nehru and Gandhi Win Big in India PDF
May 27, 2009: Union Cards Instead of Credits Cards PDF
June 3, 2009: U.S. Loses Lead in Higher Education PDF
June 10, 2009: Neo-Puritans Rewrite Salem Witch Trial History PDF
June 17, 2009: University of Idaho Wastes Time and Money on "Chief Inspiration Officer" PDF
June 24, 2009: The Parma Research Station Must Continue Its Essential Work PDF
July 1, 2009: Do You Want Wall Street to Control Your Health Care? PDF
July 8, 2009: The World's Largest Island Closer to Independence PDF
July 15, 2009: Should the Head of Nefertiti and the Elgin Marbles be Returned? PDF
July 22, 2009: Could King Hussein Have Stopped Saddam Hussein? PDF
July 27, 2009: Has Obama Taken His Eyes Off the Prize? PDF
August 2009: Lost in the Bush of Southern Africa
September 9, 2009: Southwest Africa: A Century of Brutual Occupation PDF
September 16, 2009: The Preacher, the Congressman, and the Neo-Confederacy PDF
September 23, 2009: Tutu, Boesak, and Mandela: Giants of South African Liberation PDF
September 30, 2009: Not Yet the Mahatma: Gandhi in South Africa PDF
October 7, 2009: The Constituiton, the University, and Freedom of Speech PDF
October 14, 2009: Afghanistan, Vietnam, and Obama PDF
October 21, 2009: The Crisis in Idaho Higher Education PDF
October 28, 2009: A Tribute to the Rev. Forrest Church: Theologian, Historian, Humanitarian PDF
November 4, 2009: A Great Dream Unfulfilled : The Martin Institute at 30 PDF
November 11, 2009: An Update on the Habib Sadid Case PDF
November 18, 2009: We Are All Bushmen and Women PDF
November 25, 2009: The Military, Religion, and Mental Health PDF
December 2, 2009: HIV-AIDS in Southern Africa: The World's Highest Infection Rates PDF
December 9, 2009: Copenhagen: Climate Conference's Well-Deserved Host PDF
December 16, 2009: The Myth of the Copenhagen Conspiracy PDF
December 23, 2009: "Do You Hear What I Hear?" Said the Little Lamb PDF
December 30, 2009: Ed Board Risks Legal Action and National Censure PDF
January 6, 2010: Dennis Brutus (1924-2009): South African Poet and Freedom Fighter PDF
January 13, 2010: Claudette Colvin: The Brave Young Woman Who Went Before Rosa Parks PDF
anuary 20, 2010: The "Colored " People of South Africa
January 27, 2010: Did Jesus Pray to Allah?
February 3, 2010: California Gays Seek Marriage Rights under the U.S. Constitution
February 10, 2010: Taliban on a Teeter Totter: How Schools Pacify Jihadists
February 17, 2010: The Huge Social Costs of Economic Inequality
February 24, 2010: The Entangled (and Sometime Violent Web) of Dali Lama Politics
March 3, 2010: Ten Myths of the Ronald Reagan Presidency
March 10, 2010: Karl Marx and Adam Smith: A Tale of Two Great Economists
March 17, 2010: Pear Blossoms, Accordions, and Side Zippers
On Tour in Vietnam
April 21, 2010: Who is Responsible for Cambodia's Killing Fields?
April 28, 2010: The Long Suffering Vietnamese Have Economic Liberty but No Political Freedom
May 5: Vietnamese Buddhists: Standing Against Dictators
May 12,2010: Riding the Rails with Dad (No, We Were Not Hobos!)
May 19, 2010: Social Democrats Are Not Responsible for Greek Crisis
May 26, 2010: Thailand's Buddhist King Cannot Save the Day
June 2, 2010: Alberta's Tar Sands and Idaho's Widerness Gateway
June 9, 2010: The Danish Island that went Carbon Negative
June 16, 2010: Don't Drink This Brew: The Tea Party and "Austrian" Economics
June 23, 2010: The Touchdown Jesus, Gigantic Statues, and Spiritual Titanism
June 30, 2010: Idaho's Wilderness Highway and Exxon-Mobil's Mega-Loads
July 7, 2010: The Follies of Document Fundamentalism: Originalism in the Bible and the Constitution
July 14, 2010: Obama is Pragmatic, Overly Cautious, and Distressingly Centrist
July 21, 2010: "Character is Destiny" for Both Persons and Nations
July 28, 2010: Is Hong Kong Actually a Free Market Shangila?
August 4, 2010: Singapore: Economic Freedom but Political and Social Repression
August 11, 2010: Celebrating America with Garrison Keillor
August 18, 2010: Some Choose Hate During Islam's Holiest Month
August 25, 2010: The Big Fire of 1910 in Northern Idaho
September 1, 2010: The Untruths of Glenn Beck and America's Honor
September 8, 2010: Fear and Ignorance Fuel Immigrant Hysteria
September 15, 2010: Germany Leads Europe's Recovery
September 22, 2010: ISU Report Undermines Faculty Governance
September 29, 2010: Two Mahatmas: Gandhi and the Buddha
October 6, 2010: The "Third Way" and Israel's Economy
October 13, 2010: The Sadhu, Meter Guage, and the Bangalore Express
October 20, 2010: The Big Scare over Sharia Law
October 27, 2010: L-5 S-1 (Need I say more for those who know the spine?)
November 3, 2010: Onward Christian Soldiers: Christian Supremacists in the U.S. Military
November 11, 2010: A Salute to Women in the Military: Veterans Day 2010
November 17, 2010: The Three Amigos and Interfaith Harmony
November 24, 2010: Prodigal Sons: Big Bankers and the Great Recession
December 1, 2010: Crusaders vs. Infidels: Moscow's Muscular Christianity
December 8, 2010: Just Plain Ignorance Fuels Islamophobia
December 15, 2010: Four Levels of Global Warming: A Climate Change Update
December 22, 2010: "Death" Panels and Four Other Health Care Myths
December 29, 2010: The Three Kings, A Star Child, and Universal Religion
January 5, 2011: Prayer and Politics in the Early American Republic
January 12, 2011: Gandhi and King: Saints of Non-Violence
January 19, 2011: Abortion, English Common Law, and Fetal Pain
January 26, 2011: How Many More Jared Loughners? America's Mental Health Crisis
February 2, 2011: The Bicentennial of America's Largest Slave Revolt
February 9, 2011: The Youth-Driven Revolution in the Middle East
February 16, 2011: Defense, Deception, and Deficits: Reagan's Unnecessary $1 Trillion Military Build-Up
February 23, 2011: George Washington's Religion Revisited
March 2, 2011: The War on Unions is an Attack on Democratic Principles
March 9, 2011: National Sanction Looms for Idaho State University
March 16, 2011: My Very Own "Silver Streak" Adventure
March 23, 2011: What Have We Accomplished in Iraq?
March 30, 2011: The Truth about Death and Taxes
April 6, 2011: TARP Saves Banks and GM, but not Home Owners
April 27, 2011: Christianity without Crucifixion in the Early Church
July 6, 2011: Is the Royal Couple Really on a "Mystical" Journey?