This is the first blog under my new primary email address and so I'm continuing to move on to the next phase of my life.

As with anything new, the uncertainty that lies ahead can be a bit disconcerting but the positive excitement and anticipation of the good things that are to come far out weigh the negative.

Please, I want this to be an interactive blog, so let me know what you think. Do you agree, disagree or think I'm just full of baloney?

Each phase of our life offers a variety of learning experiences and varied adventures. So, this blog will address a myriad of topics, situations and events.

Let's make this blog an open book. I'll discuss any topics or subjects that are reasonable and clean. This is a G-rated family blog. If you want PG-13 or worse, go the movies or watch late night television. For that matter, not-so-late-night TV can be pretty raunchy sometimes.

Writing should be a fun adventure. In the words of Star Trek's Captain Jean-Luc Picard, let's "make it so!"

This is harder than I ever imagined to say but I want to let all my readers know that this is my last blog as The Oakland Press Opinion Page editor.

I was told that it was a corporate decision to eliminate Opinion Page editors in Michigan and Ohio.

I want to thank all of you for following me. Please look for my personal blog that I will establish in September.

Normally, editorials are written based on news stories that have been published a day or two or earlier than the Opinion Page piece.

But sometimes we push the envelope on this policy and actually write an editorial based on a direct interview or discussion with a source.

Such was the case, as I’ve highlighted last week, with Israeli Reporter David Bedein.

Occasionally, visitors will come in with news — and supporting documentation — that just screams for an editorial, even if we passed on writing a news story about it.

In addition to Bedein, we’ve done editorials based on visits with such social agencies as the Salvation Army, Common Ground and governmental groups.

The first editorial we ever did supporting a new international bridge between the metro area and Canada came after a visit with representatives of several groups and government agencies that were promoting its construction.

And while we’re on the subject of pushing the editorial envelopes, throughout the year we also write about the major Christian, Jewish and Muslim holidays.

They may not be earth-shaking or eye-opening but they do tend to remind people of why they are getting those holidays off or why their neighbors may not be going to work on a particular day.

The Oakland Press also prides itself on doing upbeat editorials that, if nothing else, just gives credit where credit is due. Those pieces don’t necessarily have to be critical of a person or a group.

So, you see, editorials can come in all shapes and sizes and view points but one thing is constant, they have to be based on good, solid information.

As the old journalistic axiom goes, “we’re only as good as our sources.”

One of the most solid news sources The Oakland Press has been fortunate enough to have worked with is Israeli investigative journalist David Bedein, who we discussed Monday.

For this past Sunday’s editorial on the Palestinian Refugee camps, Bedein sat down with The Oakland Press Editorial Board and literally spread out on a table his information on the camps and the Hamas ties to them.

Some Hamas documents blatantly admitted the terrorist group’s ties to the camps, officially run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Bedein didn’t just throw out theories and speculation, he had hard documents to back up every statement and allegation. He also had maps that supported his view that the refugees were being told that they would eventually be moved back to their ancestral homes in Israel. Many of those homes no longer exist and to resettle in Israel would literally mean killing Jews, but that doesn’t seem to be much of a qualm for Hamas.

The journalist even had current Palestinian road maps that accurately showed the highways throughout the area.But one thing missing — the designation of Israel as a nation.

And the money for all of this activity comes in large part, from the United States.

You may not like what Bedein revealed but there is no way you could argue with his facts.

That’s why we wrote the editorial.

Just like good news stories, accurately written editorials also require good sources.

Israeli investigative journalist David Bedein is an example of one of those sources. He was used in writing yesterday’s (Sunday, July 24) editorial on Palestinian refugee camps and the possible influence that the terrorist group Hamas has on them.

You could say he is prejudiced because he is from Israel but he also keeps a close eye on the Israeli government and is the essence of what a true, ethical journalist should be.

Just look at some of his credentials.

Bedein is a community organizer by profession, a writer, and an investigative journalist. In 1987 he established the Israel Resource News Agency, with offices at the Beit Agron International Press Center in Jerusalem. He serves as director of the Center for Near East Policy Research.

He has also reported for news outlets such as CNN Radio, Makor Rishon, Philadelphia Inquirer, Jerusalem Post, and the Jewish World Review. For four years, Bedein was the Middle East correspondent for the Philadelphia Bulletin, writing 1,062 articles until the newspaper ceased operation in 2010.

Bedein has covered controversial Middle East negotiations in Oslo, Ottawa, Shepherdstown, The Wye Plantation, Annapolis, Geneva, Nicosia, Washington, D.C., London, Bonn, and Vienna.

Also, he was active in the Israeli peace movement for 17 years and has overseen investigative studies of the Palestinian Authority, the Expulsion Process from Gush Katif and Samaria, The Peres Center for Peace, Peace Now, The International Center for Economic Cooperation of Yossi Beilin, the ISM, Adalah, the New Israel Fund, and United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Say what you will, you can’t argue with his accomplishments.

Florence "Peggy" Anderson of Waterford Township is a feisty octogenarian who is probably one of the most loyal Democrats the party would ever want.

She is adamant and outspoken about both local and state Democratic political figures and issues. And she’s rightfully proud of her strong views. While that’s enough to qualify her as the subject of a news story, that’s not the reason I’m writing about her.

Amid all of the bluster that she can produce in support of her views, she is truly one of the most open-minded and fair individuals I’ve ever met.

Oh, she will argue or fight hard for what she believes in, but she also will respect an opposing view. She may not agree with you but if you present your side logically and fairly, she will accept your position.

In other words, she is the ultimate example of a person who believes in freedom of speech.

I respect and admire her for many reasons. She’s experienced much in her 85 years on this earth. Born in St. Joseph County, about 30 miles from Kalamazoo, Florence, as she says I can call her, grew up on a farm.

“My parents were democratic farmers, they were Soapy Williams fans,” she says. “I was a depression kid, born in 1926. My grandmother made our clothes but we had food because we grew all our own and we raised chickens.

“We didn’t have electricity or running water and burned wood to stay warm. We pumped our water with a wind mill.”

Florence certainly knows what it means to get a long on less and is obviously no stranger to hard work.

Her first job was at age 9 on a mint farm, where she worked for $1 a day. She still had to go home and help milk the cows.

In high school she took a Commercial Education course and graduated at age 16.

She got a job with the War Department, working from 1943-46. She came to Pontiac in 1946 and married her husband, Bob, in 1947.

They remained married for 60 years, until Bob’s death about four years ago. They had two sons, four grandchildren and she was blessed with her first great grandchild when she was just recently at age 84.

She and her husband moved to Waterford in 1972. Florence is a retired state employee who worked at the former Clinton Valley Center. She also worked for six years for the Pontiac School District.

She says she is a decedent of George Read, one of the signers of the Constitution and so politics runs deep in her family.

“I really think that I was born with political genes,” she says.

In a time when I have received so many calls from readers who have threatened to cancel their subscriptions because they don’t like a particular view expressed on the Opinion Page, Florence has been wonderfully refreshing.

She’s not afraid to let us know when she thinks we’ve missed the mark on an editorial. There have been times when she has loudly and at length told us why a particular editorial was just not right.

But by the same token, she will call and let us know — in equally vibrant and vocal terms — if she agrees with an editorial or likes a particular feature that was published.

She scolds us when she thinks we’ve erred but praises us when she believes we’ve done something good. And most important, whether she agrees with us or not, she continues to be a loyal reader.

What more could we ask for, other than to have a few thousand more subscribers like Florence.

Medical Marijuana continues to be in the news and the developments continue to prove that we are right in our editorials that call for the state to clarify the regulation.

While well-intentioned, the law is difficult to enforce because of the confusing and conflicting regulations.

It has created conflict between local law enforcement agencies, who only want to make sure the substance doesn’t fall into the wrong hands, and proponents of medical marijuana, whose goal is to relieve the pain of people suffering from chronic illnesses.

Neither side is wrong. You can’t blame the police for wanting to keep the substance out of the hands of young people and those who aren’t legally entitled to use it. And you have to sympathize with those distributors who are merely trying to help ailing individuals.

What continues to be ironic is that the state law conflicts with federal regulations against the use of marijuana.

So, what’s typical is that the recent response from Washington that was supposed to clarify the situation — didn’t.

In a policy memo from Deputy Attorney General James Cole at the U.S. Justice Department, it was stated that “people who cultivate, sell or distribute marijuana, and those who knowingly facilitate such activities, are in violation of the Controlled Substances Act, regardless of state law.”

Thank you Washington.

Again, it just shows that the state legislature is going to have to clear up the confusion over medical marijuana distribution.