Former Vice President Dick Cheney — noticeably leaner but otherwise looking quite well, considering he underwent major heart surgery only six months ago — has been making the rounds once again after having been out of the spotlight for several months. While still criticizing the Obama administration, albeit with a weaker voice and without so much combativeness and brashness, Cheney seems to be more interested these days in claiming his place in history and in promoting his upcoming book,...

Today marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp—a day that has been designated as International Holocaust Remembrance Day. About three weeks ago I posted a link to an article about a letter written by a Jewish relative as he was being transported in a cattle train from the Netherlands to his death in Auschwitz. The article ended with the words: A letter which, along with all that has been said and written about the Holocaust, may help us keep...

A letter to the editor in my hometown newspaper yesterday morning caught my attention. The letter: Time for updating In 1870, Otto Von Bismarck, chancellor of Germany, in a shrewd political move, decried that every German citizen age 65 or older would receive a lifelong pension. Longevity then was about age 55. Thus we have the origins of our eligibility for Social Security, Medicare, etc. Seems we need some adjustments, given the present life expectancy of age 78 in the United States. While I believe...

During the long and hard battle to repeal the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, many arguments were provided, both pro and con. One of the arguments offered against repeal was the allegation that in those countries where gay troops serve openly, the effectiveness of their military has been negatively affected. Many (including this writer) have used the Israeli military, one of the finest fighting forces in the world, as concrete proof that nothing could be farther from the truth. Gays and lesbians...

The First Lady has been accused of many things, but this one deserves a “Memmy.” According to Barbara Harsha, executive director of the Governors’ Highway Safety Administration, Michelle Obama’s anti-obesity campaign could be one of the factors to blame for the increase in pedestrian deaths during the first six months of 2010. According to the GHSA, 1,891 pedestrians were killed in the first six months of 2010, a whopping increase of seven (.04 percent) compared to the 1,884 pedestrians...

Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. On the occasion, my hometown newspaper published a wonderful editorial appropriately titled, “Still resonating in America: MLK’s message of peace … and senseless violence.” USA Today also had an excellent opinion piece titled “MLK was a religious visionary, too.” Both are right. King was a visionary on many fronts. Witness his repeated calls for nonviolence, mutual respect and the rejection of hatred and hate speech. In its editorial, the...

It’s a cold, drizzly Saturday afternoon here in Austin, Texas. Perfect for doing some “deep” thinking. Perfect for looking back at all the years that have gone by. And along comes an e-mail that puts it all in perspective. It did it for me—hopefully it will do the same for you. Enjoy! Graceful Aging The only time in our lives when we like to get old is when we’re kids? If you’re less than 10 years old, you’re so excited about aging that you think in fractions. “How...

This morning, the Wall Street Journal published an op-ed arguing that General Petraeus deserves to be awarded a 5th Star. In July of last year, in “Five Stars for Petraeus?,” I made similar recommendations. I am honored to be joined by such an august publication in a call to recognize the General’s superb leadership, accomplishments and in support of our nation’s objectives in Afghanistan. The Journal’s op-ed can be read here. My article is below. The title is above, this time without...

The entire speech delivered tonight by the President at the Memorial service for the victims of Saturday’s tragedy was exactly what our country needed. I was struck the most by his concluding remarks. Words that, in my opinion, need no introduction, no commentary, no analysis. Here they are: But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized – at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we...

The massacre in Tucson has generated a major and intense debate across the country about whether the overheated political climate—the rhetoric, the “vitriol, “extremist speech”—has influenced or motivated the Tucson shooter to commit his dastardly crime. Just as reflected in the commentary on this site, the national opinion runs the gamut, from holding the shooter solely and 100 percent responsible, to holding personalities such as Sarah Palin and Rush Limbaugh solely and 100 percent...

I have often bemoaned the dearth of Medals of Honor awarded to our heroes of our most recent—and still ongoing— wars: Iraq and Afghanistan. However, I will not complain if the hands of Congress and of the U.S. Army reach back almost 150 years to recognize and honor military valor and heroism. That is exactly what is happening in Congress. The names of two Civil War heroes have been included in the annual defense authorization bill—“along with such futuristic initiatives as the...

The Austin American-Statesman reports: Judge Pat Priest sentenced Tom DeLay to three years in prison. The three-year sentence was on the charge of conspiring to launder corporate money into political donations during the 2002 elections. On the charge of money laundering, DeLay was sentenced to five years but that was probated for 10 years. UPDATED: Travis County prosecutors argued that Tom DeLay should go to prison today. “He needs to go to prison, your Honor, and he needs to go today,” said...

UPDATE II: Here is a touching, personal update on the youngest and most innocent victim of the Tucson massacre, 9-year old Christina-Taylor Green, “a baseball-loving Mini-Me of her granddad, Dallas Green,” a former Phillies pitcher and manager , former Yankees manager and Mets manager. UPDATE I: A few minutes ago, President Obama led millions of Americans in a moment of silence to honor the innocent victims of the senseless tragedy in Tucson, Arizona, including those still fighting for their...

This will be my last “update” on yesterday’s tragedy. But before posting the latest updates, just a couple of remarks. I concluded my update last night with the following words: In his news conference, Sheriff Clarence Dupnik lamented the political situation in Arizona and America in no uncertain terms. But that’s for another day. Well, for many that “other day” already came yesterday and continues today—and will probably continue for days and weeks, making this horrible day...

After spending 16 years in Mississippi jails for “their alleged role in a robbery in 1993 in which no one was hurt and $11 supposedly was taken,” the Scott sisters left prison yesterday. Their freedom, however, comes at a price: Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour agreed to the release of the sisters on the condition that Gladys Scott donate her kidney to her sister, Jamie, within one year. That condition has stirred significant controversy and raised many legal and medical ethics questions. For...

There has been a lot written and commented recently—including here at TMV—on Rep. Michele Bachmann. In his “Bachmann Gores Vidal,” Peter Orvetti was surprised to discover that Bachmann had once been a Democrat. So was I. Orvetti discusses how Bachmann suddenly converted from Democrat to Republican after reading a Gore Vidal novel aboard a train—some refer to this phenomenon as the “train epiphany.” It caught my interest, too, for two reasons. First, I would have not suspected...

[Note: The link to the Huffington Post for this article was "not working" last night. It can again be read here. Sorry for the problem.] On September 3, 1944, the last train carrying Dutch Jews to Nazi extermination camps left the transit camp Westerbork, the Netherlands, destination Auschwitz. Aboard the train, along with a thousand other Dutch Jews, was Louis de Wind, the father of a cousin of mine, Loekie de Wind. Recently, Loekie shared with me the letter her father wrote to her and her...

Remember how, during the past few years, Republicans repeatedly accused the Democrats of a lack of “openness and transparency” in the legislative process, of not allowing adequate time to either review proposed legislation or to debate it and—in particular in the case of the health care bill—of ramming it down the throat of the GOP and of the American people without going through the bipartisan process, without holding sufficient hearings or markups? In reality, House Democrats held...

Having written “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, Don’t Smoke,” my eye quickly caught a Letter to the Editor in today’s Stars and Stripes, titled “‘‘Don’t ask,’ surf and turf.” While hopefully my piece was a little more serious and a little less irreverent, this letter in all its “cheeky,” sardonic glory certainly gets its message across—after a while. Enjoy, or endure, according to your predisposition ‘Don’t ask,’ surf and turf. I would like to thank those who...

Last week, I wrote on the suspension of the consecutive life sentences of Jamie Scott and Gladys Scott by Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour. Part of the post was on how and why the Scott sisters received such severe sentences for “their alleged role in a robbery in 1993 in which no one was hurt and $11 supposedly was taken.” The remainder of the post focused on a New York Times column by Bob Herbert bemoaning Barbour’s pardons record and, in particular, Barbour making the donation of a kidney...

Recounting our travels through France last September, I mentioned how touched we were by the numerous monuments and memorials the French people have dedicated to the World War II Allied heroes who gave their lives to help liberate France and by “the many other monuments, memorials and public and private expressions of pride and honor towards their hundreds of thousands of fallen heroes and martyrs…” I also mentioned the less than patriotic roles played by “the puppet Vichy government, the...

There are numerous social, political and economic events and accomplishments that will make 2010 go down in history as a very remarkable year. When it comes to equal rights in the military, of course the repeal of “Don’t ask, Don’t tell” will rank as one of the most significant achievements in that area in decades. But we shouldn’t forget that 2010 also marked the year when the Navy decided to remove yet another gender barrier by allowing women to serve aboard submarines—Congress,...

For those who believe that young war veterans, leaders in combat, make good legislators, the new Congress is just “the ticket.” According to the Stars and Stripes, the new Congress to be seated later this month “will boast the largest number of Iraq War veterans ever.” Six new House members who have served in Iraq (two of them in Iraq and Afghanistan)—all Republicans—will join two other recent war veterans: Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., who served with the Marines in both the...

Every New Year most of us make good faith resolutions—some of us keep them. Every New Year most of us have hopes for the coming year—some of us will realize some of those hopes. One of my hopes is that there will better justice in our nation, in our world. On this first day of the New Year, I have come across some indications—albeit “mixed” ones—that, at least in one case, we may be ending the old year and beginning the new one with good prospects. I am talking about...

Nicholas Kristof starts a very interesting column in today’s New York Times with the question: A quiz: If a person who speaks three languages is trilingual, and one who speaks four languages is quadrilingual, what is someone called who speaks no foreign languages at all? Before I give you the answer, an observation. I noticed that my spellchecker flagged “quadrilingual” in Kristof’s question and gave “No Spelling Suggestions,” so I tried “quintlingual,” “quintilingual” and “pentalingual”...