Dove World Outreach (Bargain) Center

Of all bad men religious bad men are the worst. –C.S. Lewis

Without any other background or clues, how does the phrase “Dove World Outreach†hit you?  A small percentage of you might guess that those words describe an aggressive marketing… Read full post »

Yesterday the world changed and a new epoch was ushered in with Wikileak’s release of the Afghan War Diary, 2004 – 2010.  In case you’ve been vacationing off-planet, Afghan War Diary is a compilation of “raw data†derived from 90,000 leaked ground reports from the war in Afgha/… Read full post »

Hey there, frumps.  It’s been a while since Health Care Reform has been mentioned here on the Frump Gazette meanwhile those on both sides of the previous debate wait to see whether the Health Care Reforms enacted will have a net positive or negative effect on American healthcare delivery in/

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If you don’t quite recognize the smug little pug in the photo here, don’t feel bad – he’s nobody important and I promise you can go right back to ignoring him as soon as you’re finished reading this post. He’s Dan Gainor, a staffer at the Media Research Center (MRC), and…

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Hail to the Chief

If Sarah Palin and her “political machine†ever… Read full post »

Imagine this: you’re a fifty-something four-star general in the US Army; you have achieved that lofty summit largely by laboring in the relatively peaceful halls of military academe.  You spend 1970 – 1974 learning to be an officer and a gentleman at West Point during the death throes of/…

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The dust may have settled relatively quickly, following The McChrystal Affair, but that is not to say that the counterinsurgency strategy (COIN) is necessarily back on the tracks in Afghanistan.  General Petraeus’ confirmation hearing didn’t disappoint (or surprise).  Early on, Sen./… Read full post »

"When we understand that slide, we'll have won the war." Gen. McChrystal

 

As reported by various media outlets this morning, President Obama is apparently suffering an executive snit over “some people’s†obsession with his promised 2011 deadline for starting troop wi/… Read full post »

"Vietghanistan" from Michael Moore's website

Quite a lot of print and airtime have been expended recently on “managing expectations†regarding our excellent adventure in Afghanistan.  If any of you have experienced qualms about any item, or combination of items, on the… Read full post »

“Truth only reveals itself when one gives up all preconceived ideas.â€Â  ~Shoseki

If you are among the vast majority of Homo sapiens who ascribe to Darwin’s theory of evolution, and therefore believe that you are the unique result of millions of years of genetic mutation, adaptation and… Read full post »

Who could have guessed, only a short year ago, that mid-term elections would be so darn much fun?  Yet here we are, five months away from elections that are usually a major snooze, enjoying all the political melodrama of a high school election for Prom King and Queen – and… Read full post »

Day One

When I was growing up, my grandmother would put an end to certain situations by accusing us grandchildren of “wanting to have our cake, and eat it too.â€Â  That was her way of saying “you’re being greedy, hypocritical and immature, so cut it out!â€Â … Read full post »

There’s nothing like breaking news on Gay Rights to persuade the Right to shelve all other serious business and howl at the moon.  This past week’s somewhat unexpected movement on the military “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell†rule is certainly no exception, since it carries the extra adde… Read full post »

The Rand & Rachel Show

No matter what your politics, I think it’s safe to say that there is bipartisan agreement that Rand Paul just had possibly the worst post-election week in US political history – after winning the Republican primary for Kentucky’s US Senate seat/… Read full post »

Here’s a fun little mental exercise in National Identity that you might want to try the next time that you find yourself in a group of – oh, say—over a hundred people in America.  The occasion isn’t important – wedding reception, graduation, bris, retirement party, Office Christmas/…

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In the grand scheme of things, the United States, as a superpower, can be seen as the virtual “teen-ager†among the world’s older league of powerful nations.  And, in that role, we do not disappoint, dealing with global diplomats and heads-of-state with much the same brash and bumptiou… Read full post »

Kirsty Wigglesworth / Associated Press

Two weeks into the aftermath of the latest breach of Homeland Security, I think I’m beginning to notice an unsettling pattern in our national response to such events.  Paradoxically, that response spells good news for terrorists and, unfortunately… Read full post »

 

I grew up in a blue-collar neighborhood in a small “steel… Read full post »

I can remember, vividly, the first time that I learned of the curious psychological concept of “emotional contagion.†It was, for me, an “Aha Moment†that put the incomprehensible 1960’s and ‘70s, with which I was (not entirely successfully) trying to cope, into slightly better f… Read full post »

Who's Your Daddy?

In a world that has elevated hypocrisy to an art-form, an unprepossessing, virtual unknown emerged this week as the solid frontrunner for the 2010 Superheroes of Hypocrisy Title.  By day, George Rekers is a 61-year-old father of three; a Baptist minister; co-founder… Read full post »

Nothing exposes the vacuity and hypocrisy of Republican politicians like a fresh terrorist arrest.  The apprehension of The Times Square bomber, one Faisal Shahzad, a newly naturalized US citizen born in Pakistan, has inspired the Right to dust off their melodramatic (and inaccurate) views o… Read full post »

Just when you begin to think that, with a bit of political soul-searching and a committed re-dedication to our foundational principles, it might yet be possible to get this American “ship of state†back on course after the “perfect storm†of the last decade – something like Arizona… Read full post »

President Obama’s official timeline for surging our military presence in Afghanistan still has fourteen months to run; in that timeframe, there is (in some quarters) an expectation that the US and NATO will manage to quell increasing insurgent attacks, convince Afghan government officials t… Read full post »

In the wake of the 2007 scandal regarding deplorable conditions at the supposedly renowned Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Army promised to do better by its veterans and established a program they call Warrior Transition Units (WTU).  On paper, WTUs were meant to provide a therapeutic,… Read full post »