Wow! We really told them phony-baloney Democrats this past Tuesday. What a great day for patriots, for Real America, for Real Americans. We voted for real change, not for that phony hopey-changey. We finally took our country back. We really cleaned their clocks. We threw the bums out. Bums who had the chance to build upon our accomplishments, but who, instead, had the audacity to—in two short, miserable years—try to destroy what we worked so hard to give Real Americans over eight long...

In my “Off to War Then and Now—Always too Young,” I shared some impressions about the gratitude the French people still hold for the American military who helped liberate their country during World War II, and I promised the couple of interested readers that I would follow-up with some additional thoughts on France and the French people: Their performance and experiences during World War and their and my reflections on that difficult period 70 years ago. Those who are interested can find...

Commenting on a political issue recently, a TMV reader said, “Kind of like taking a vacation in the eye of a hurricane.” It so happens that my family and I, along with tens of thousands of other tourists, did exactly that five years ago. Today is exactly five years since hurricane Wilma dealt a devastating blow to the Mexican Yucatán Peninsula, in particular striking the resort of Cancún with its full fury. We were there. This is what Wikipedia says about Wilma: Hurricane Wilma was the...

There can hardly be a more contentious and consequential issue than one involving the First Amendment. Just such an issue, the Snyder v. Phelps case, has now arrived at the U.S. Supreme Court. It is the kind of case that, in my estimation, has divided American opinion right down the middle. What is even more significant, it is an issue where one can find the brightest legal and Constitutional minds taking positions on either side of the issue. In his “Privacy Or Free Speech: Snyder v. Phelps...

Dateline: L’Isle-Jourdain, France No, not much has happened or is happening in this tiny, sleepy, French town—some might call it a village—nestled in the Vienne River valley in central France that would warrant a “dateline.” L’Isle-Jourdain just happens to be our first sojourn after a long trans-Atlantic flight that originated at the Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, and is the first chance to reflect on our journey thus far. While we are thoroughly enjoying...

In a couple of gripping pieces about the horror and continuing grief experienced by 9/11 survivors and about the recent “blather on television by various women and men about keeping the ’sanctity’ of the 9-11 bomb site,” Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, referring to all the “trout-pout commentators [who] hog the discourse” on that issue, says: Those directly affected by 9-11 who themselves escaped or/and who lost dear loved ones, suffer still. No one thinks to ask after them, to ask first...

Good morning, Nine years ago, nearly three thousand Americans lost their lives on September 11, 2001. Like many Americans, I was shocked and horrified by the attacks on our country. But I was also inspired by the heroism and selflessness of so many of my fellow Americans in the wake of this tragedy. From the brave men and women of Flight 93 who sacrificed their own lives to save the lives of others, to the first responders who rushed without hesitation to help those in need, to the young men and...

A few weeks ago, I linked our readers to an article on the demise and rise of the Iraqi Air Force—both courtesy of the U.S. Air Force (USAF). For those who either did not read that article or are interested in more “airplane stuff,” you can read an expanded article on this subject at the USAF Air University’s The Wright Stuff. Just click here.

I have often lamented the dearth of Medals of Honor awarded to our heroes of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, including the fact that none of the very few Medals of Honor for heroism in those wars has been awarded to a living hero. Well, that is about to change. The Washington Post has just reported that President Obama will be awarding the Medal of Honor to a living soldier. The soldier is Army Spec. Salvatore Giunta, a 22-year-old from Hiawatha, Iowa. The now Sergeant Giunta displayed heroism...

Breaking News: Various media sources are reporting that a federal judge in Southern California has declared the U.S. military’s ban on openly gay service members unconstitutional. U.S. District Judge Virginia Phillips today granted a request for an injunction halting the government’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gays in the military. The judge says that the policy instead of helping military readiness has a “direct and deleterious effect” on...

For nine years we have been remembering, commemorating, reflecting upon the tragic events that took away more than 3,000 Americans, that took away our innocence, that changed our nation on a sunny Tuesday morning. This Saturday, we will still solemnly remember and shed many tears. We always will. However, one thing will be missing, and it has been missing for several years… What is sadly missing is the unity Americans felt after those heinous events, when we all came together regardless of politics,...

Hello there: Dr. E. here… It’s often told as a joke, but it’s no joke really: what money is charged to the consumer of education vs what money can actually buy for that consumer, has often become a mockery … With the massive closing of excellent trade schools across the nation, and university increasingly out of financial reach, what if we are driving toward a majority mass of minimum wage workers, thereby defining the lifetimes of our young to be mired in ever ‘barely...

According to the New York Times: Coast Guard Says Oil Rig Exploded in Gulf of Mexico, A.P. Reports An offshore oil rig exploded on Thursday in the Gulf of Mexico, west of the site of the April blast that caused the massive oil spill, the Coast Guard told the Associated Press. Coast Guard Petty Officer Casey Ranel said that the blast was reported by a commercial helicopter company on Thursday morning. Seven helicopters, two airplanes and four boats are en route to the site, about 80 miles south of...

I periodically write about our heroes who continue to make the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan. Just this past Friday I quoted the latest AP statistics that told us that as of Thursday, August 26, at least 1,145 of our military had died in Afghanistan since the U.S. invasion of that country in 2001—that is nine years ago. In the list of casualties—16 of them—there were two very young heroes, each age 19. I also said, “As I have written before, the bullet, the rocket propelled...

The President had plenty to say in the approximately 15 minutes he used to address the nation on the end of our combat mission in Iraq. He spoke about the war itself, about terrorism, about the emerging Iraq government and its security forces and capabilities and about the transition of responsibilities, about our continuing but different mission in Iraq and about our continuing, unchanged mission in Afghanistan. He even spoke about a new push for peace in the Middle East and about “contentious”...

As our combat mission finally comes to an end in Iraq, the President will address the nation tomorrow, but it is highly unlikely that he will say “mission accomplished,” and rightly so, as there still remains a lot of work to be done there—not necessarily by our troops. I have written admiringly and respectfully about the job that they, our troops, have done in Iraq and about their incredible sacrifices. But, I have also written sorrowfully and critically about how little our country...

The last time I interrupted your week (or weekend) to share with you the sad statistics on the mounting number of U.S. military casualties in Afghanistan was exactly two months ago. In “The Faces behind the Drip-Drip of U.S. Casualties in Afghanistan,” I tried to point out how: [I]n the national news media, the names and the numbers of our fallen heroes are often buried deep inside the bowels of the printed pages or relegated to running text at the bottom of our TV screens, and lost among the...

Even to me, a Democrat, Rolling Stone, the publication that “outed” General McChrystal, sometimes goes overboard in how it portrays the opposition and in the “colorful” language it uses to do so—“expletives deleted” certainly called for here. In his “Tea Party Rocks Primaries,” Matt Taibbi doesn’t break the mold in his analysis of Tea Party successes in the recent primaries. First, Taibbi is forced to admit: Some shocking electoral results this week are providing new proof...

As you may have heard, Conservative radio and TV personality Glenn Beck is organizing a rally, “Restoring Honor,” on Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC. The rally will take place on the 47th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Beck claims it is “a coincidence.” Beck does not call the rally political, but rather as a moment that he thinks will reclaim the civil rights movement to his side. Whether that will be the case is of course...

Refugees are persons seeking refuge in a foreign country from war or persecution or natural disaster. I have seen the anguish, the fear, the sadness, the total dependence and vulnerability in the faces of hundreds of South Vietnamese refugees. It is a sight, a feeling, an emotion that stays with one forever. It is because of such past experiences that refugees—whether fleeing war or violence; ethnic, political or religious persecution; or natural disasters—will always have a special...

Remember when, during the early days of the invasion of Iraq, the Pentagon developed and handed out to our troops sets of playing cards to help identify and capture (or kill) the 55 most-wanted members of Saddam Hussein’s regime—including Saddam himself? Each card of this set of “personality identification playing cards” was printed with the name of the wanted person, a picture of the person or a silhouette when a picture was not available, and the title of the individual. Of course,...

Petula Dvorak at the Washington Post takes us back to 2002, “a year after the Sept. 11 attacks, with the horror and disbelief of that terrible day still very fresh in our minds,” when “right next to the spot where 184 people lost their lives in the Pentagon, the military opened a sanctuary where Islam could be celebrated.” She tells us that this sanctuary is not two blocks away, not one block away, but a mere 30 steps “from the place where terrorists crashed the nose...

I have been remiss, and I apologize. On Monday, I wrote about a series of five articles being published by the Stars and Stripes on the occasion of the ongoing withdrawal of our combat troops out of Iraq. I highlighted the first set of articles and listed the topics of the remaining four sets of articles, and I said, “Interested readers will find daily updates and links to this series of articles here at TMV.” Well, while I have been procrastinating the Stripes has been diligently publishing...

We have all read and heard about the Iranian nuclear program and its possible capability to produce nuclear weapons; about the diplomatic, economic, and other ongoing efforts to get Iran to come clean on its nuclear weapons intentions; and about the threat such a capability would pose to Israel and to world peace. We have also seen reports about the possibility of an Israeli preemptive strike against such Iranian nuclear facilities and capabilities. This is how I started an article on the possibility...

As the U.S. continues to pull its combat troops by the thousands every week out of Iraq in order to have “only” 50,000 troops in country by the end of the month, officially ending our combat mission there, Iraq faces an uncertain future. A suicide bombing this morning, Baghdad time, killed at least 59 people and injured at least 100 more at an Iraqi army recruitment center in the heart of the capital. After condemning the attack, President Obama said: There are obviously still people who want...