"Your one-stop source for improper ideology and freedom seeds."
Damn the torpedoes . . . full speed ahead!
When I drove disabled veterans for the local VA hospital in Tucson, one of my first regular patients was an elderly man who made daily trips from the VA hospice to the university hospital for radiation oncology treatments. One day he pointed out several areas of skin cancer on his arms, neck, and face, then […]
When I told my son I wasn’t going to vote for John McCain, he said, “But he was a fighter pilot. And a POW!” Meaning, I suppose, that McCain just has to be my kind of candidate. I understand the fighter pilot part. Indeed, my ideal candidate would have served in the military. If he or […]
Some thoughts on Secretary of Defense Robert Gates’ sacking of USAF Secretary Wynn and Chief of Staff Moseley: The nuclear weapons SNAFUs described in the linked article were too serious to excuse, and ample reason to replace senior leadership. I can’t say I saw it coming, but I did wonder, back in 1992, what then-USAF […]
Blogging’s been sporadic. Well, no, there’s plenty of blogging (passive voice, get thee behind me) . . . I’ve been blogging sporadically. I went on a 20-mile bike ride this morning with Darrell, Linda, and Lane, who are Trail Trash buddies. Donna, Mary Anne, and Kris got roped into manning a welcome booth at our destination, […]
You know, I always thought it odd that the Bush administration would tolerate a non-political independent-thinking military leader like Admiral Fallon, commander of U.S. Central Command. It’s so uncharacteristic of the “surround me with yes men” mentality of George W. Bush and his sycophants. Well. It appears Bush is getting ready to replace Admiral Fallon with a […]
Gwen, one of my regular readers, alerted me to this story about Pentagon and pharmaceutical industry efforts to create a drug to suppress soldiers’ moral qualms over killing. Psychological Kevlar, in other words, to reduce or eliminate growing mental health problems in troops returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. That’s the trouble with traditional methods of overcoming our aversion […]
Is air power the new face of successful war-fighting? Much to the dismay of the boots-on-the-ground zealots … the answer for today’s democracies may well be “yes.” During the summer, while U.S. ground forces in Iraq were distracted investigating potential war criminals in their midst, air power delivered a major success. … When thousands of troops […]
Donna and I went to a party today. At one point our host put on a DVD his son sent from Iraq, where he’s serving with the US Army. We’ve known our friend’s son since he was in junior high, and we’ve seen him grow up into a fine young man. The DVD he sent […]