This is the first of three articles honoring those men and women.

Two months ago, in an… Read full post »

Navy Secretary Ray Mabus, on a visit to Northrop Grumman’s Newport News shipyard yesterday, effectively said “Don’t worry over the quality of our submarines.”

After visiting the submarine building facility at Newport News—one of only two shipyards in… Read full post »

One of the stories behind the story of the demise of the F-22 Raptor fighter is the “developing story” of the increasingly important role unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are playing in today’s and certainly in tomorrow’s Air Force.

In my story behind… Read full post »

I lived in the Netherlands for many years and I fondly remember its windmills, its gorgeous fields of tulips, and of course its delicious cheese—made from that great Dutch koe melk (cow milk).

I don’t remember, however, seeing any camels grazing in the luscious… Read full post »

A couple of months ago, President Obama announced that he would be awarding the Medal of Honor to Army Sgt. 1st Class Jared C. Monti, who was killed by enemy fire on June 21, 2006, while trying to rescue wounded comrades in the mountains of Afghanistan.

Yesterday, the President… Read full post »

The White House has just released the text of a controversial back-to-school speech that President Barack Obama will be making to our children tomorrow. The speech will be broadcast directly into the schools, mainlining into the minds of our vulnerable children in a brazen attempt to, in the guise of… Read full post »

 Part of the spirit and the culture of the U.S. military is the creed that you don’t leave anyone behind—whether injured, captured, or dead.

For example, the U.S. Army Ranger Creed, the oath Army Rangers take, includes these words: “I will never leav… Read full post »

Only a few hours after the passing of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, there is a flood of stories on the life and the accomplishments of the Lion of the Senate.

The vast majority of the stories are complimentary of the Senator. There are some exceptions. As all humans, Ted… Read full post »

A question asked by a member of the Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) got my attention.

The question was: “I think most members of Congress don’t understand what it’s like to serve in the armed services. How many members of Congress have served in… Read full post »

I am a Catholic, and I didn’t know.

I didn’t know that the Catholic Church bars the draping of coffins with the American flag during funeral ceremonies in the church—even if the coffin contains the remains of a fallen military hero.

I imagine that this &ld… Read full post »

 Leon Panetta, the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, wrote a positive, forward-looking Op-Ed in the Washington Post this past weekend.

It was titled, “Congress and the CIA: Time to Move On.”

In his Op-Ed, Panetta rightly commends the men and women of the CIA… Read full post »

The U.S. military, by its very nature, is full of history and traditions.

Recently, I learned about one of those great historical traditions.

The U.S. Navy has the long and honorable tradition of naming war ships after its fallen heroes.

This tradition dates back to well before W… Read full post »

Yesterday, I wrote at The Moderate Voice on Texas Governor Rick Perry’s follies,  including his secession nonsense, his refusal to accept federal funds to help the Texas unemployed, his phony anti-Washington rhetoric, and his sheer hypocrisy when it comes to reje… Read full post »

According to The Daily News Tribune a couple of days ago:

Janet Monti was home nursing a cold when the call came in.

At first, she thought it was a joke.

A person who claimed to be a White House aide asked if she would be around for the

… Read full post »

Azle,Texas is a small town, about 10 miles northwest of Fort Worth, with a population of about 12,000—about 93 percent white and 4 percent Hispanic.

It is suddenly in the national news.

The reason: one of its residents has posted a “Hispanics Keep Out” sign on the front of his or… Read full post »

 President Obama has just finished his news conference, intended to explain his health care reform plan and to gather support for an early passage.

While I am sure the O’Reillys and the Limbaughs will judge the conference to be a miserable failure, I believe that the president did a… Read full post »

As we approach what hopefully will be a reasonable and humane outcome to the ongoing health care reform debate, some have become very emotional (including this author), some fall back on cold hard facts, cold statistics.

For those relying on cold, hard facts to either support their view… Read full post »

Although it is very difficult to remain unemotional when the health and welfare of our most precious individuals—children—are involved, I’ll give it a try.

The New York Times has a heart-rending article this weekend.

It’s about how some states have been re… Read full post »

I watched in amazement this morning as Senator John Cornyn, from the great state of Texas—a state where Latinos make up about 36% of the population—once again was fixated on the “wise Latina” contention.

Of course, Cornyn also brought up Sotomayor’s i… Read full post »

My U.S. Senator, John Cornyn, truly disappointed me this morning when it was his (Republican)  turn to try to discredit Supreme Court Justice nominee, Sonia Sotomayor.

In an attempt to paint certain Democratic judges—and, implicitly, Sotomayor—with the  broad… Read full post »

A couple of days ago, the media was awash with reports that the C.I.A. might have lied to Congress.

That is exactly what some Democrats were claiming.

According to a New York Times column, “Democrats Say C.I.A. Deceived Congress,“  then:

In a June 26 letter to Mr.

… Read full post »

I have to agree with many readers that we are spending entirely too much time on frivolous issues such as the Palin “Higher Calling” resignation and Sanford’s sultry Argentinean love affair.

And I won’t even touch the Michael Jackson “issue.”

There are too man… Read full post »

The guessing as to what Sarah Palin will do, now that she is quitting her governor job, continues.

Ofttimes, in the reporting on Sarah Palin’s magnanimous decision to quit her day job, the lines get blurred between why Sarah Palin quit, and what she’ll be doing next./… Read full post »