I have been a strong and vocal supporter of equal rights for all: whites and blacks, straights and gays, men and women. With respect to the latter, men and women, I am delighted at how far women have come in recent years at achieving full equality with men. I am also pleased at how women are increasingly accepted and integrated into our armed forces, albeit they still have a long way to go here—as noted in “Full Participation for Our Women at Arms.” I have also strongly supported women...

The Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad reports today that Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport was not using special millimeter wave scanners that would have detected the explosive powder that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab used to set off the fizzled explosion aboard Northwest flight 253. According to Schiphol airport spokesperson Mirjam Snoerwang, “European regulations tell us we can only put people through them on a voluntary basis. And objections have been raised with regards to privacy.” She also...

According to the Dutch newspaper, NRC Handelsblad, the Acting Dutch Prime Minister Wouter Bos today thanked Dutch video director and producer from Amsterdam, Jasper Schuringa, for his actions aboard the Northwest Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. Bos thanked Schuringa on behalf of the Dutch Cabinet for the role he played in subduing the alleged terrorist, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, and possibly preventing a tragedy. According to the Handlelsblad, passenger Jasper Schuringa reacted immediately...

As we approach the magic hour when Santa will be beginning to visit children on the East coast and make his way to the West coast, you may have a child or grandchild who is beginning to have doubts about Santa Claus—as my 10-year-old grandson is. Well, there is still time to let him or her read (or for you to read to him or her) the answer an Editor of the New York Sun wrote, back in 1897, to an 8-year-old girl’s letter about this very same subject . First, Virginia’s letter—it...

You thought 2009 was bad? Well, in the aftermath of the mess left behind by the previous administration, it was. And, as we end 2009, unemployment is still unacceptably high. USA Today writes in an editorial today, “2009 will not go down as a great year. Come to think of it, the whole decade has been rather wretched.” The editorial, for example, cites: The 2000s included, in chronological order, a disputed presidential election, a tech bust, a terror attack, an anthrax attack, a war premised...

As reported yesterday, on Tuesday, Brazil Supreme Court Chief Justice Gilmar Mendes ruled that Sean Goldman must be returned to his father and delivered to him by the boy’s Brazilian relatives. Yesterday, a Brazilian regional court judge ordered that Sean Goldman must be handed over to his biological father, David Goldman, today at the U.S. Consulate in Rio de Janeiro at 9 a.m. Rio time. After first threatening to appeal the ruling, the Brazilian family holding Sean Goldman announced that there...

When I first heard the news last week, my first instincts were to rush to my computer and hurriedly put together a joyful post that justice had finally been done. However, after a series of events where hopes were raised only to be heartbreakingly and repeatedly dashed, something told me not to rush on this one. I am talking about the five-year rollercoaster of emotions and heartbreaks for David Goldman, the father of 9-year-old Sean Goldman, abducted by his Brazilian mother more than five years...

During my twenty years of military service I was fortunate enough to spend only a couple of Christmases overseas, away from my loved ones. Even during those holiday seasons I was assigned to peacetime duties in friendly countries, among people who loved and respected Americans, America and our way of life. Thus, I cannot even begin to fathom the emotions that tens of thousands of our brave men and women serving in hostile territory—among people who would do them and us harm—must be feeling...

Did you know that, not taking into account the recent announced troop increase in Afghanistan, some 220,000 women have engaged in combat operations* in Iraq and Afghanistan? I had no idea that so many of our women in uniform had actually seen combat. And while I knew that women in our military are still barred from performing certain duties or from certain assignments, I didn’t know that a whopping twenty-five percent of military jobs are not open to women, especially those jobs that lead to higher...

For those who have been patiently waiting for some scientific, authoritative vindication of their theories that homosexuality is immoral, a perversion or deviancy, not natural, etc., rejoice: Uganda’s ethics minister, James Nsaba Buturo, has just pronounced that homosexuality is “not natural in Uganda.” No doubt the rest of the civilized world will soon follow suit. To put teeth into this irrefutable declaration, an Ugandan legislator, David Bahati, is sponsoring legislation to...

I don’t know anything about the intricacies of publishing a newspaper, or about the relationships or sequence and timing between the on-line and printed versions of a major newspaper such as the New York Times. Although I am not a journalist, I remember from my Journalism 101 class that newspapers pay a lot of attention to their headlines—to every word and every punctuation mark. I am mentioning this because a funny thing happened on my way to reacting to a recent New York Times article...

A few months ago, we had several expressive posts and hundreds of emotional comments on the removal of Honduran President Manuel Zelaya from power, his inelegant, unceremonious departure from Honduras and his trials and tribulations when attempting to return to Honduras and reclaiming power. There was a recent post (November 30) on TMV on the Honduran presidential elections won by a veteran conservative politician, Porfirio Lobo, who is to take office on January 27, 2010. For those Honduran politics...

Disclaimer: I like and drink Heineken beer, in moderation, and I have written about this great Dutch beer before. However, I am not on Heineken’s payroll—I wish I was. I don’t know much about Heineken’s business practices, except that Heineken has defined seven areas on which the company believes it should focus its energy in order to maximize benefits for society, the stakeholders and the company. One of the seven areas is “Responsible beer consumption.” While this may...

In his most recent editorial, Newsweek’s Editor Jon Meacham poses “Why Dick Cheney should run in 2012.” After dismissing the expected “rolling of their eyes dismissively” and warning Liberals not to spit out their lattes, Meacham explains that he is serious about a Dick Cheney bid for the presidential nomination in 2012, as such a run would be “good for Republicans and good for the country”. Some of the reasons: ** “Cheney is a man of conviction,...

To those worried about President Obama using military regalia tonight to enhance his military/macho image when addressing the nation on Afghanistan from West Point: Relax. The Washington Post, has some good news for you: President Obama will not be wearing a flight suit when he addresses the cadets at West Point on Tuesday night. Nor will he wear a bomber jacket with the presidential seal on the chest, nor even, the White House promises, a windbreaker with the word ARMY in big letters. Neither will...

On the eve of President Obama’s address to the nation outlining his strategy for Afghanistan, the news wires and blogs are brimming with both facts and speculation about what the president will say. There have been sufficient leaks to make it a very fair speculation that “about 30,000” additional troops will be sent to Afghanistan over the next 12 to 18 months. In previous posts I mentioned that NATO might send an additional 6,000 troops. I also wrote that the president “will emphasize...

In my “Afghanistan: The ‘Dithering’ Ends. The Soldiering Begins,” on president Obama’s Afghanistan address to the nation tomorrow night, I said, “President Obama’s deliberations and decisions, however, have gone far beyond just numbers.” I mentioned a few highlights on strategy, goals, benchmarks, “exit ramps,” etc., and on the additional efforts and participation expected on the part of Afghanistan and our allies. Today, Jim Michaels, in USA TODAY,...

Tuesday night, after months of careful deliberation—some have called it “dithering,” Gen. McChrystal recently called it a “thoughtful process”— President Obama will, before an audience of resplendent cadets at storied West Point, announce to the nation how many additional American troops will be sent to fight in Afghanistan. It is expected that the President will call for a phased deployment of between 30,000 and 35,000 new troops to Afghanistan over the next...

On the occasion of Veterans Day, I wrote about Medal of Honor recipients in general, but specifically about how one would expect that many of the Medal of Honor recipients would be graduates of our service academies. And indeed, 82 West Point graduates and 74 Annapolis graduates have gone on to earn that high honor. As to the question, “But how about graduates from other colleges and universities?” I said: Many Americans will be surprised to learn that a university often referred to as a “bastion...

“Senior Mentors” are high-ranking, retired military officers (usually generals and admirals) who use their skills and experience to advice active duty military in conducting various military exercises, war games and other operations. Some of these senior mentors make as much as $340 an hour as part-time government consultants. In addition to drawing their military pensions, some also work and/or consult for defense contractors (sometimes as full-time executives of such companies), sit...

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote how one Senator, Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, was obstructing urgently needed legislation intended to help wounded veterans and their families. The New York Times wrote: The omnibus legislation drew unanimous committee approval. But Senator Coburn objected to quick floor passage, demanding that the five-year, $3.7 billion cost be offset with immediate budget cuts. The senator’s argument rings hollow in the face of veterans’ suffering and the world of deficit budgeting...

Traditionally, Americans give thanks for the blessings our families, our people and our country have continued to enjoy during the past year, and years past—and so we should. However, this Thanksgiving, as our nation faces many problems and we are on the verge of making pivotal decisions on, among others, war and peace, the economy and our common health care, I believe that is also appropriate and important that we give thanks—ahead of time, and each to our own God—for what we...

It has been a while since I have written on two of the most controversial, expensive and important weapons programs in decades: The F-22 Raptor fighter and the F-35 multirole Joint Strike Fighter, or Lightning II. As we remember, on July 21, 2009, “in a dogfight almost to the end,” as the Washington Post reported it, Congress scrapped the F-22 program. Secretary Gates not only halted production of the F-22 (after the final four are built), but he also cut the maximum production of the F-35 multirole...

On Sept. 12, 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy in a major speech to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association said the following: I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public...

An article in last Wednesday’s USA TODAY caught my attention because of its “military nature.” Actually, it didn’t just catch my attention. With its front page column titled “Military’s ‘senior mentors’ cashing in,” and another two-page spread on the inside, it jumped at me, grabbed and kept my undivided attention. The article dealt with what has apparently become common practice among high-ranking, retired military officers: Consulting for the Pentagon (“mentoring”),...