Today marks the first day of the repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell. There are many issues to be explored on that topic, ranging from the ability of brave men and women to openly defend their country to the generally positive reaction from the rank and file. But perhaps this story tells it best. Shortly after midnight, 33 yr old Navy Lt.Gary Ross and his partner of 10 years married in a ceremony in Vermont.

The Georgia Board of Pardons and Parole has denied celemency for convicted killer Troy Davis. This means he is set to be executed at 7pm on Wednesday. Davis was convicted of the 1989 murder of a police officer but questions have been raised about his guilt and some of the witnesses have recanted their testimony. I think this kind of case illustrates my concerns about the death penalty. I have absolutely no empathy for a cop killer, so if Davis is guilty he should be punished. But it does appear there...

Today is Constutition Day and so I thought it worth recognizing since we rely on it for sites like this.

New updates: As is typical in cases like this the pilot appears to have been heroic in his last moments, fighting to steer the plane away from the crowd without any concern for his own survival. A plane has crashed at the Reno Air Races and the latest reports say 3 have died and over 50 are injured. A memorial has been scheduled for tomorrow and the remainder of the races have been cancelled. The plane was a P-51 Mustang and it reportedly slammed into the ground next to the box seating area, spraying...

A local radio show has a bit every week called Top Five Friday. They pick a topic and have you call in with your top five while presenting their own lists. This week the topic was Saturday Morning Cartoons…. So chime in, what are your favorite bowl of sugary cereal morning memories ?

Just a little wisdom from the feeble mind of me… Never forget that every thing that has been, that is, or that ever will be began (or will begin) with a single thought in the mind of one person. We are all capable of great thoughts and thus we are all capable of great things.

Today a former US Marine will join a rare group of living Medal of Honor winners. I don’t think I could do a better job than the Marine Corps Times did in spelling out his heroism so I’ll let it stand on its own. (note that the article was written before the award became official, which is why he is refered to as nominee) He may not think he deserves the award but as far as I am concerned he’s a much better man than I.

I suspect many of us have heard the story of the man who is suing White Castle for not having big enough booths.  Now setting aside the obvious jokes about eating at White Castle and being overweight, I think that this is an issue that requires serious examination. Every day we see about people suing for alleged disabilities and requiring special accomodations. Now of course we should require reasonable efforts on the part of businesses. We don’t want to go back to the days of no wheelchair...

I’ve posted this before but over the last few weeks we’ve had debates over what is conservative or liberal. The one concern I’ve always had is that we tend to assume ourselves and our usually like minded friends as average and thus skew our results. I’ve fallen into the trap before and so to test myself for real I have gone to several of the political ideology tests on the web to find out where I really stand. I thought it might be fun for the rest of you to do the same. One...

When it comes to Nate Silver’s political analysis I think he tends to be pretty balanced since he runs it all on numbers. But to the degree that he does have a bias it would be for, not against the Democrats. With that in mind his review of the NY-9 and NV-2 elections do not bode well for the Democrats in 2012. Personally I still expect the most likely outcome for January 2013 to be President Obama in the White House but Speaker Boehner and Majority Leader McConnell at the other end of the...

Polls are closed in both New York and Nevada. Last update: The Republicans win both races, though Weprin still has not conceded, the race is over. At this point in NY-9 we have 448/512 precincts counted and Turner leads by about 5,000 votes out of 60,000 cast. He is winning Brooklyn 2-1 while Weprin has a 51-49 lead in Queens. Of course his tenure in the House is likely to be short. New York is slated to lose 2 seats and tradition is that they lose 1 seat for each party and 1 seat for NYC and 1 seat...

The new leader of Al Qaeda has issued a statement to mark 9/11. Needless to say it includes the usual ‘death to america/israel/etc’ rhetoric. But it also included praise for the Arab Spring democracy movement on the theory that all the fallen governments were western puppets. For those who questioned who might take the place of the old dictators, this kind of praise isn’t encouraging. I’m not sure AQ is much of a threat anymore, there are newer radical terror movements that...

A suicide bomber has attacked a coalition base in Afghanistan injuring 77 people. It appears this attack involved a truck bomb and was almost certainly timed to coincide with the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Long time actor Cliff Robertson has died at the age of 88 (one day after his birthday) Robertson had a long career in both television and movies, playing roles as diverse as Lt. John F. Kennedy to Peter Parker’s uncle in the Spiderman movie. On television he was in shows like Falcon Crest, Batman and The Twliight Zone. More details to follow.

In a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania two former Presidents (Clinton and Bush) and the Vice President of the United States have gathered with thousands of others to dedicate the memorial to the heroes of Flight 93. A wall engraved with the names of the 40 brave souls who, knowing that they had to act, waged the first battle in the war on terror, a battle that they won. Vice President Biden struck a poigniant tone when he told the families of the victims that he knew what it was like to get a call...

A major blackout has struck Southern California leaving many Los Angeles residents in the dark. According to the latest reports as many as 1.4 million people are in the dark and the power could remain out for up to 20 hours in some areas, though most should be restored more quickly. The blackout has also impacted areas of Arizona and Baja California. Naturally there is speculation as to the cause of the blackout and immediate rumors of possible sabotage and/or terrorism but in all likelihood this...

Space nerds of the world unite… With all respect to Ms. Maddow… my moment of geek http://www.geekosystem.com/real-picture-saturn/

I don’t really expect the GOP to pull this out, but it is interesting the race is even close.

I’m pretty tough on crime but this seems to be a bit extreme to me. In most prisons the concept of solitary confinement (aka the hole) is common for dealing with real troublesome inmates. While in solitary you are usually kept isolated and alone for about 23 hours a day with an hour for shower and outside contact. Conditions vary but often in solitary you have no TV or radio, and your reading material is limited to a religious text or a dictionary. Needless to say my comments are directed...

I’m assuming most of you have heard the story by now, but just in case you haven’t… At a Labor Day rally yesterday Teamster President Jimmy Hoffa declared that they were ‘at war’ with the Tea Party and that union members should ‘take the SOB’s out’. (context, he did say at the polls) Now I think his language was ill advised but I’m not going to take the leap that he was actually advocating the execution of Tea Party members. But I can’t...

Today is Labor Day in a nation where not enough of us are able to find work. Later this week President Obama will give a major speech on the economy and jobs and there is naturally speculation as to what he will say. I’ve been pondering what I would say, assuming anyone chose to listen, and have come up with what I hope the President will say about how we will get things back on track. The first thing I would propose is a major public works program that would be on par with those of the New...

In a world where so many people are out for themselves, a Fresno California superintendent has made an amazing gesture. Larry Powell has agreed to ‘retire’ and in doing so give up nearly $ 800,000 in salary and benefits over the next three years. He will then be ‘hired’ back at a base salary of just $ 31,000 a year. And now he’s announced he’s giving that salary to charity

We here at TMV often have vigourous debates over a number of topics but from time to time there are stories that simply merit our respect. If this one doesn’t touch you then you might check with a cardiologist.

Update: For any of our readers on the East Coast, please feel free to comment and offer us feedback on your experience. ***************************************************************************** Update: CNN interviewed the vice mayor of Mineral who reported that the town hall has considerable damage to the roof (crumbling bricks) and she has felt 5 aftershocks. ************************************************** Update: TMV correspondent Shaun Mullen reports as follows I was at the university...

Only months after making history by leading his New Democratic Party from fourth place to second, Canadian politician Jack Layton has died. His death comes a month after he announced his cancer had returned, and is a major shock to the Canadian political system Our deepest sympathies to his family and to all of our Canadian friends.