Paul's Thing

Former Senator Ted Stevens has been killed in a plane crash near Dillingham, Alaska. No, I never worked directly for Ted Stevens, but I do think of him as a former boss. I was an F-15 pilot at Elemendorf AFB in Anchorage from 1982 to 1985, flying for what we all fondly called “Ted Stevens’ [...]

What’s in Paul’s grab bag? Unconnected thoughts and short observations which don’t rate separate blog posts, but when aggregated together might amount to something: A Society of Snitches? One of the more worrisome things about Arizona’s anti-immigrant law, which takes effect two weeks from now, is the provision that “allows a person to bring an action [...]

What’s in Paul’s grab bag?  Unconnected thoughts and observations which don’t rate separate blog posts, but when aggregated together might amount to something: Recently Overheard: “I knew the car companies were going under 20 years ago, when the union guys started making six figures and buying summer homes.” — attorney friend at a house party [...]

I’m not taking credit for this, but I spent a couple of hours on base yesterday for an annual physical and noticed that all the public area televisions were set to CNN and NBC.  Not one was set to Fox News. I wonder if the letter I sent in September 2009 had anything to do with [...]

As of today, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates is implementing a military-wide modification to current Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy, pending congressional repeal of DADT.  Gay servicemen and women who have been outed by jilted partners or third parties will no longer be forcibly discharged, so long as they don’t out themselves. Since President Obama [...]

I heard this morning from Amanda, a staffer for Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, that the US Air Force had responded to my letter protesting the airing of Fox News on public televisions at USAF bases and the broadcasting of the Rush Limbaugh to military troops overseas by Armed Forces Radio. Here’s the link to everything that [...]

Unconnected thoughts and observations which don’t rate separate blog posts, but when aggregated together might just amount to something: Much was made of Stephen Colbert’s rescue of the US Olympic speed skating team, and the Colbert Nation patches they were wearing in practice.  Has anyone seen a US speed skater wearing one in the Vancouver [...]

I could fill this entry with hyperlinks to news articles about Obama’s push to repeal Don’t Ask Don’t Tell, and the predictable conservative opposition, but if you’re that out of touch with current events you probably don’t read blogs either. DADT, summed up, says that being openly gay is grounds for discharge.  Therefore any gay [...]