It has often been said that you should be careful of what you wish for because often there will be very unexpected consequences. Looking at the current situation of international politics I have been thinking of this a lot lately. To offer a more local example, I live near the community of Lodi, California. For many years Lodi was known by police across the country as being one of the safest places to live,...

This morning, I — probably along with millions of other Americans — received this short e-mail from President Obama: Early this morning, the last of our troops left Iraq. As we honor and reflect on the sacrifices that millions of men and women made for this war, I wanted to make sure you heard the news. Bringing this war to a responsible end was a cause that sparked many Americans to get involved...

How Now, Brown Cloud: What Smog Hath Wrought by Michael Winship Have you heard about the great brown cloud? No, it’s not a new nickname for Donald Trump (his cloud is more an intergalactic nimbus of Aqua Velva and Tang), or the ominous menace in a new Stephen King novel. It’s almost as nasty, though . The Atmospheric Brown Cloud, formerly known as the Asian Brown Cloud, is a mass of air pollution...

David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Star A Predator Drone in the USA Could be Spying On You by Floyd and Mary Beth Brown Americans are familiar with unmanned spy drones providing surveillance of Iranian nuclear complexes and Taliban armed militants combating American troops along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Now the Obama administration has quietly authorized Predator Drone use by law enforcement...

Our Copy Editor, Holly Robinson, forwarded me an announcement for an upcoming (tomorrow!) documentary on the National Geographic Channel. Although I am preparing for travel shortly, I would be remiss if I were not to at least — using the text of the announcement — make our readers aware of what promises to be an astounding, eye-opening program about our American Jewish G.I.s who were held by the...

Hazing fatality Robert Champion Now here’s yet another example of the triple anguish of hazing — a social rite of passage for some groups that has ended in death or permanent damage by those seeking to get into the group or forced to endure what in reality is a kind of exercise in group sadism: the death of a Florida drum major has been ruled a homicide: The drum major, Robert Champion, died of “hemorrhagic...

As our troops are finally coming home out of Iraq, and coming home for Christmas, many are penning down their thoughts — their emotions — welcoming our troops, thanking our troops, honoring them and reflecting on what this long, painful war has and has not accomplished. I am one of those and will publish my welcome, my thanks to our troops soon. There is, however, a lady — a hero — who...

Now that U.S. forces are either out or about to leave, there is significant Iraqi hand-wringing over whether it was wise to force them to go now. For Sotal Iraq, columnist Amran Al-Obaidi writes that the decision-making process that has led to the American withdrawal was flawed, and that Iraqis who have demanded a complete U.S. pullout were more interested in scoring political points than the security and...

A missing chapter in the history of U.S. military aviation On the eve of this most recent Veterans Day, I had the privilege of accompanying World War II veteran John Tschirhart to a reception hosted by the Texas Veterans Land Board at the Capitol Visitors Center, in Austin, Texas. Tschirhart, a B-17 bombardier with 35 bombing missions over Nazi occupied Europe under his belt, is now 91 and every time I hear...

Former Penn State defense coordinator Jerry Sandusky has continued to declare his innocence despite a small mountain of allegations against him, but in testimony at a preliminary hearing today former assistant coach Mike McQueary put a stake through Sandusky’s claim that he merely engaged in horseplay with the 10 boys who have accused him of sexual abuse. McQueary, recalling a 2002 incident in the...

Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unanauthorized reproduction prohibited.

On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed The National Defense Authorization Act (S 1867), to the tune of $662 billion. Authored by Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), the bill first passed in the Senate (93-7) on Dec. 1. The House passed the bill Wednesday on a 283-136 vote. Thursday’s Senate vote was 86-13. There hasn’t been a lot of mainstream reporting on a provision relating to indefinite...

Christopher Hitchens seemed to some to have been born in a bad mood or under a bad moon on the right. He was, I think, more so a man who despised –as in George Orwell’s book, 1984 too, that there would ever be “The Party” run by the Big Brothers of the world, that would tell men and women what to think, when to think it and when to unthink it, or else. Christopher thereby took out after...

Newt Gingrich’s comment that Palestinians are an ‘invented people’ is proving to be one of the most globally devisive of the 2012 campaign season – particularly in the Muslim world and especially among Palestinians. For Samidoon in the Palestinian Territories, columnist Abd Al Bari Atwan expresses the frustration felt among Palestinians over the wider meaning of Gingrich’s comment,...

Is it time to totally ban cellphones from cars? This issue has been raised on a federal level, the dangers of any kind of cell use are being documented and it sounds as if this is beginning of a new movement that could eventually prevail: The federal agency charged with overseeing transportation safety recommended Tuesday that US states should forbid the use of all cellphones and other portable electronic devices...

Newt Gingrich, who is surging in the polls as the Iowa Republican caucuses draw nearer, is proposing a massive tax cut that has gotten much too little attention. That is probably a good thing for the presidential wannabe because it is exactly what most Americans don’t want and Washington can’t afford as it grapples with the aftershocks of the Bush Recession. The tax cuts are aimed at the highest...

Well not really… But they did get 61 Senators from both parties to participate in a secret santa gift exchange. Given the season I think we should all be able to just enjoy this story without bringing politics into the mix…

About a week ago, a “Get a Life” post by Joe Gandelman discussing a bovine question by a reporter on a defense authorization bill that included a provision which repeals the military law on sodomy and the military ban on sex with animals, or bestiality, quickly (de)generated some heated comments on the issue. One person insisted that sodomy and other bizarre deviant sex acts should be illegal and was appalled...

Cardow, The Ottawa Citizen This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Saudi officials have executed a woman for practicing witchcraft. According to this post it seems that they have a system for finding witches.

The NTSB is proposing a nationwide ban on the use of cell phones while driving but the ban would not apply to hands free devices or to use by passengers. Although it would not eliminate the mental distractions caused by cell phone use, the ban would eliminate the physical distractions caused by holding the phone itself. While I would rather that people exercise the common sense idea of not using a phone while...

For House Republicans determined to coddle the rich and kneecap the middle class and the poor, it’s a new week but the same old spit. In conceding that the payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits be extended for another year, the GOP’s latest spending bill would cut social spending more deeply than is already anticipated under current budget caps and basically put the Environmental Protection...

Jerry Sandusky leaving the Centre County Courthouse this morning. The disgraced former assistant football coach at Penn State charged with 52 counts of sexually molesting 10 boys he met through a charity he ran, waived his right to a preliminary hearing this morning. As the proceedings began in a Bellefonte, Pennsylvania courtroom, Jerry Sandusky’s lawyer approached the bench and told Judge Robert E....

These smiling folks are Kathy and Bill Johnson. Bill is a former Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arkansas. Kathy is the freaked out wife of a former Republican gubernatorial candidate in Arkansas. Kathy is freaked out because she learned over the weekend that Bill, who as a Christian conservative had campaigned against same sex marriage, has donated sperm to several lesbian women. The New Zealand Herald...

Are the American-based credit rating agencies in cahootz with the U.S. government? Columnist Anna Szabó of Hungary’s Magyar Nemzet Konyvek sees a war on Europe and specifically Hungary in the latest credit rating downgrades by Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, and exorts Europeans to create their own credit rating agency that would be independent of U.S. influence and offer more accurate...