High-quality English language analysis and editorial writing on the news.
Lets start with flags. Flying a flag is a symbol of pride. It may be pride in a country or a cause, but it is always pride. Flags are a way to show honor and respect. But it is possible for flags and symbols to be hijacked for nefarious purposes. Probably the best example is […]
Robert Wideman was born in Montreal, grew up in upstate New York, and has dual U.S.-Canadian citizenship. During the Vietnam War, he flew 134 missions for the U.S. Navy and spent six years as a prisoner of war. He earned a master’s degree in finance from the Naval Postgraduate School. After retiring from the Navy, […]
“There are old pilots and bold pilots, but there are no old, bold pilots,” E. Hamilton Lee — 1949. Most pilots agree that this is good advice—especially those engaged in the more dangerous activities like fighter pilots and test pilots. But Mick Greene was not like most pilots. Far from it. In his new autography, […]
His name was Sherman Edward Flanagan, Jr. a practicing lawyer from Westminister, MD. But in our squadron, the 355th Tactical Fighter Squadron, Phu Cat Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, we usually called him “Sherm.” Most of us were flying one or two combat missions a day and sometimes at night, so there was no time for […]
Episode 88 of the Consider This Podcast has been released; conservative commentary in 10 minutes or less. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has accused Republicans in the House of Representatives of obstruction by not passing bills. What he’s not saying (and what you’re not hearing, depending on your source of news) is that there are hundreds […]
The latest episode of the “Consider This!” podcast is out. Conservative commentary in 10 minutes or less. Keep an eye on Matt Sissel and the Pacific Legal Foundation’s lawsuit against ObamaCare. They are taking a tact that’s not been used before, that ultimately the Supreme Court will likely have to look into. Listen in for details. The […]
In “Below the Zone”, General Tony McPeak’s second book in a three volume autobiographical series, he describes his ascent from a Major in the Pentagon to Air Force of Staff, the highest ranked uniformed officer in that service; and his story of that ascent is rich with personal anecdotes, philosophy on leadership, geopolitical observations, and […]
In the midst of growing concerns with the United States’ relations with Middle Eastern countries, many experts and policymakers have been speculating upon the best plan of action moving forward. A recent prediction of a grim future in Afghanistan shows how tensions with Iraq are also mounting. With the threat of fractured foreign relations looming […]
Let me begin this review with a word of caution. Despite its light, understated title that suggests another “hangar flying” book, this is a book to be taken very seriously. Because within its covers resides nothing less than the story of how Air Force fighter pilots and the aircraft they flew developed from the Korean […]
MariaElena at Fountain of Elias reminds us that Sept 24 is the (pre Vatican II) feast of Our Lady of Ransom. This feast was one of the church’s way of reminding folks of the many captured by various pirates and to raise money to ransom them. The origins of the Feast can be found in […]
I agree with the one who told the parable of the Good Samaritan: that those who passed the man hurt by thieves would be partly responsible if he died. Yet life is a bit more complicated in reality. A few days ago, Kerry (said that he will) hold objectors to Obama’s wishes as responsible for […]
On August 15, 1939, a small British airliner took off from London, stopped in Hamburg, and was bound for Copenhagen. In addition to the pilot, there was an odd, if not mysterious, group of passengers on board: a German corporate lawyer, an English Member of Parliament, two employees of Standard Oil of New Jersey, and […]
Back when the people of Iran were busy protesting their election being stolen, I found out about a program called “TOR”. Webpage here. The Tor software is a program you can run on your computer that helps keep you safe on the Internet. Tor protects you by bouncing your communications around a distributed network of […]
Type in the question, “how many Americans died in combat overseas,” in your favorite search engine, and chances are the answer you’ll get is around 440,000. This includes all wars fought on foreign soil from the Mexican-American War to the present day War on Terrorism (aka Iraq and Afghanistan). It does not include thousands more […]
In the forward to Jay Riedel’s new book “Memories of a Fighter Pilot,” General Charles “Chuck” Horner, USAF (ret.) writes, “No fighter pilot is ordinary, but Jay’s story is extraordinary. “ Extraordinary? With all due respect to the good general, I would say that Riedel’s story goes beyond extraordinary, by a large measure. Consider […]
If I am voting against the President, it is not racism but because he is going out of his way to persecute the Catholic church: The problem? The week after taking office, the President removed conscience rights regulations from the federal regulations. This means that the only thing standing between Catholics and Muslims from being […]
There are a lot of blog-posts trying to bash the LDS church as not being “Christian”, usually to encourage Evangelical voters to vote against him. As a Catholic, I am old enough to remember when a similar stealth campaign was done against John Kennedy. The more things change the more they stay the same. I […]
Let me say this right at the beginning. Â “Hangar Flying” by General Merrill “Tony” McPeak is not a lofty lecture about his days as Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force; nor is it a tell all book about higher power military politics in the Pentagon. Â Rather, the book’s title is truth in […]
I believe our veterans deserve to be remembered for their service to our country. Not just in the here and now, but for generations to come.   Ross “Rosie†Detweiler’s well written autobiography, “The Great Muckrock and Rosie†accomplishes this in a skillful and memorable way. The story begins when he enters the Air Force […]
The most famous death from “friendly fire” was the accidental shooting of Stonewall Jackson by one of his own men in May 1863. His death had serious consequences, since he no longer was there to be Lee’s “eyes and ears” when, a few weeks later, the Confederate patrol looking for shoes stumbled on to the […]
In Syria, the war is getting nasty. One recent massacre of women and children is being touted as the reason for someone (NATO? Turkey? The UN?) to step in and stop the killing. And news reports of the government bombing civilian areas make many shudder. StrategyPage points out that a lot of the massacres are […]
Heh. The Honorable Senator Emmanuel D, Pacquiao, Aka the world champion boxer Manny Pacquiao, aka Pacman, who recently found religion, is now under attack. Why? Well, it s seems that he has made a remark against gay marriage, and his website has some Biblical phrases that imply promiscuous gay sex is wrong. Since Pacman has […]
We have now been at Camp Leatherneck for two weeks. My platoon wants to start doing their job but the outgoing unit is still here. When you deploy you are normally replacing a unit that has reached the end of their tour. There are usually a couple of weeks when you change over with that […]
Today we left the friendly confines of Manas Airbase for Afghanistan on an Air Force C-17. It was a quick two hour ride and then we were all hard at work again locating and separating our bags from everyone else’s. This task should not be taken lightly folks. Imagine you have just taken a flight […]
I write this from the vacation “hot spot†that is Kyrgyzstan. My Marines and I are staying in a lovely 40 man suite complete with a bed and, well…a bed. We are here waiting for a military flight to take us into Afghanistan in a day or so. After all of the flying across many […]
The fact that anyone would find what rattles around in my brain to be an interesting read is very humbling, if indeed these individuals exist. I am a United States Marine and have been serving for just under 18 years now. I have thoroughly enjoyed this career and will certainly miss the camaraderie and esprit […]
An article in yesterday’s National Journal – (http://www.nationaljournal.com/nationalsecurity/panetta-u-s-has-potential-military-plans-for-iran-20120308) by Yochi Dreazen, details comments made by Defense Secretary Panetta this week regarding both Syria, and the Iranian Nuclear issue. This article mentions The fact that the United States is weighing options and contingencies for conflict with Iran, and obviously this is no surprise. The “no evidence […]
Concerns about an Israeli Preemptive strike against Iranian Nuclear production facilities have gained attention recently and have been the topic of numerous speculative reports in both the foreign and U.S. Press. The Wisdom and effectiveness of such an attack has been debated, and both U.S. and Israeli Government officials have weighed in on the topic. […]
This story gets stranger and stranger. The facts are few and far between. The US maintains that they did indeed lose control of a drone aircraft on surveillance mission over Afghanistan. In Pentagon speak, it was unfortunate, but really no big deal. No lives were lost, it was akin to a radio control plane enthusiast […]
“Traumatic grief, with its unanswered questions, its numbing shock, its horror, its ability to sear disturbing images into our souls that cannot be erased by sleep or by time–this process follows the same general path both for persons and groups.†When 12:30 struck, none of us fourth graders knew that our young president was being […]
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