In a recent opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal, Bret Stephens lists some “excellent arguments for ending the U.S. military’s ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy” and some “lousy ones.” As some of the “lousy ones” Stephens dismissively—even contemptuously—mentions the support of U.S. Defense Secretary Bob Gates and Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen to end DADT; the comparisons often made between repealing don’t ask, don’t tell and other civil-rights causes...

On my way to tennis this morning, I was listening to NPR and caught the end of an interesting conversation on an alleged correlation between the Super Bowl winner and the stock market. However, I didn’t catch the name of the professor who had done such a study. Curious as to how my stocks will be doing after tonight’s Super Bowl, I “Googled” the subject and hit the jackpot. The professor is finance professor George Kester at Washington and Lee University. In an article on Newswire.com,...

New York Times columnist Frank Rich must not read The Moderate Voice. In a column today in the Times, discussing the reaction to Adm. Mullen’s testimony on “don’t ask, don’t tell,” Rich says: A funny thing happened after Adm. Mike Mullen called for gay men and lesbians to serve openly in the military: A curious silence befell much of the right. If this were a Sherlock Holmes story, it would be the case of the attack dogs that did not bark. Rich contends that, perhaps with the exception...

ABC News has just reported that the Americans held in Haiti and charged with child abduction and criminal conspiracy have fired their Haitian lawyer. For more details, background and updates please click here.

The catastrophic earthquake in Haiti has brought out the best in people, organizations and governments. In particular in the case of the thousands of existing orphans (some sources put this figure to be around 380,000) and newly orphaned children (tens of thousands more) in that devastated country, people, organizations and what was left of the Haitian government opened up their hearts, their homes and cut red tape in order to simplify and expedite the normally lengthy three-year Haitian adoption...

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, appeared yesterday before the Senate Armed Services Committee to call for an end to the 16-year-old “don’t ask, don’t tell” law. While the Admiral’s words were eloquent, heartfelt and powerful, I doubt that the appearance and the words of our highest ranking active-duty officer— nominated to his present position by George W. Bush—changed many minds, especially among Conservative...

If the title sounds somewhat enigmatic, bear with me. It should soon become obvious that I am not talking about that much-dreaded U.S. “military invasion” of Haiti. While deployed overseas during my military days, sometimes the only newspaper in English, the only source of news from back home, was the venerable Stars and Stripes newspaper. I say venerable with good reason, for Stars and Stripes has been providing service men and women—wherever they may be, including while in combat operations—with...

According to the New York Times, the White House has just announced that the U.S. military will resume the airlift of seriously injured Haitians to American hospitals. “The humanitarian effort was suspended five days ago following complaints from the state of Florida that its hospitals were overwhelmed.” The flights, which have transported hundreds of gravely injured patients, all but a handful to Florida, were suspended Wednesday after Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida wrote a letter to Kathleen...

The New York Times reports that the Obama administration is abandoning plans to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other alleged Sept. 11 plotters in Lower Manhattan, “bowing to almost unanimous pressure from New York officials and business leaders to move the terrorism trial elsewhere.” The reversal on whether to try the alleged 9/11 terrorists blocks from the former World Trade Center site seemed to come suddenly this week, after Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg abandoned his strong support for...

It wasn’t until nearly the end of his State of the Union address, when addressing civil rights, that President Obama said this: This year, I will work with Congress and our military to finally repeal the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are. It’s the right thing to do. Of course he was talking about ending “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” the1993 law that bans gays and lesbians from serving openly in our armed forces. I have...

I am not an economist, so I cannot comment in depth as to the “real” meaning and consequences of what I believe is some real good news that I read this morning about our economy, our country. The New York Times and several other publications report that the U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in over six years during the last quarter: Gross domestic product expanded at an annual rate of 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter, well above analysts’ expectations. It had grown at an annualized rate...

I was watching the State of the Union address last night and, as I saw half our legislators sit on their hands while their president tried to rally the nation, it dawned on me what a difficult task this man, this Mr. Obama—this mere mortal—has ahead of him. And for some reason I thought of the Creation. Now, don’t get me wrong. Trying to fix the mess our country finds itself in doesn’t even begin to hold a candle to the magnificent Creation. And, don’t get me wrong, I am not—by...

I am not very computer savvy, nor “Twitter,” “Facebook,” or other social-networking-sites-savvy. However, at the insistence of my “kids,” I joined Facebook. I use Facebook sparingly, mainly to look at photos of relatives and friends and, being concerned about privacy, I have kept my “Profile” very lean and my posting very limited. On the other hand, I notice that many include a lot of personal details in their “Profiles” and post copiously on just about all of their daily...

As the number of U.S. troops arriving in Haiti was quickly mounting during the early days of the humanitarian relief effort, there were scattered wails that the U.S. was invading and trying to occupy that country. Those who had such worries may want to read recent reports where some officials with extensive experience in humanitarian relief and peacekeeping now express concern that “the troops, ships and helicopters will leave too soon, before security is reestablished.” The Miami Herald points...

Tomorrow it will be two weeks since that massive 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck Haiti. I have written on the efforts by the U.S. and other countries, organizations and individuals to rescue those trapped in the rubble and to save lives, to treat the injured and to reduce the immense suffering. There have been many stories on the stoicism, the perseverance and the endurance of the Haitian people. Those rescued alive after having been buried under tons of concrete for six, seven, eight, even 11 days...

They were already called “miracle rescues,” when people were being pulled alive from beneath the ruins in Haiti on day six, and on day seven when at least seven people trapped beneath the ruins were rescued as hopes to find any more survivors were fading. Most search and rescue experts said then that chances to find any more living beneath the rubble were rather small. But the miracles kept coming. On day eight more “miracle rescues,” including those of two small children. Aid groups said...

It is strange how disasters, the desire to help out the victims, and political, diplomatic and military issues and sensitivities can sometimes merge into a potential international crisis. That’s what is apparently happening as Taiwan is dispatching a military aircraft carrying aid for earthquake-hit Haiti. According to Reuters, the aircraft has to refuel in the U.S. on its way to Haiti, and the U.S. will allow it to land “in the United States for the first time, a U.S. official said on Friday,...

A few days ago, in “Haiti: The U.S, Military Steps Up to the Plate” and in subsequent updates, I highlighted and commended the initial relief efforts by our military in the wake of the Haiti earthquake. In this one, I commented on, and hopefully debunked, preposterous allegations by French Cooperation Minister Alain Joyandet, Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega and a few others that the U.S. was “invading” Haiti. It is now time to provide an update on the progress of...

The disaster in Haiti has brought out both the best and the worst in people. A man of God, Pat Robertson, suggested that Haiti’s catastrophic misfortunes flowed from the “fact” that ancestors of the present victims made a pact with the devil. Fortunately, a flood of prayers and goodwill for the victims drowned out such drivel. A famous entertainer, Rush Limbaugh, derided, politicized and tried to create mistrust over the U.S. government’s urging Americans to donate to humanitarian aid...

The BBC World Service has a unique daily discussion program, “World Have Your Say,” where the BBC provides a platform for a world-wide discussion of topics of general interest, and facilitates live exchanges between and among BBC staff, invited guests, and callers from all over the world. Today’s subject was, of course, the Haiti catastrophe—more specifically how “Once again, in a crisis, the world turns to the U.S. to sort it out….” I was flattered to have been asked by the BBC...