With the Watergate scandal President Richard Nixon introduced a new phrase into the American lexicon. Henceforth all scandals would have the word “gate” appended to them. Since then we have had Monicagate, Iran Contragate, Nannygate, Troopergate, etc. Even pseudo scandals such as Climategate were not safe from the gate moniker. However Nixon was an underachiever compared to George … Continue reading
Much has already been written about Custer’s Last Stand so it’s hard to see what else can be told about it. However, gifted story-teller Nathaniel Philbrick had access to recently surfaced memoirs to add to the already formidable amount of Custer lore. Readers of Philbrick’s prior best sellers about nautical events, Mayflower, Heart of the Sea and Sea … Continue reading
When I was growing up I used to love the ominous public service announcement that would appear on TV just before the nightly news. A deep voice would intone, “It’s 10 PM, do you know where your children are?” Mostly I was just jealous of those obviously derelict kids who were out at the un-Godly hour of 10 … Continue reading
Lost On Planet China by J. Martin Troost is one Westerner’s attempt to understand the world’s most complicated country. The China that Troost portrays is not all that appealing. It is obviously crowded, 1.3 billion people have to go somewhere, but it is also incredibly polluted. Wherever Troost goes he describes the air as (continue reading)
Today is the seventh anniversary of the death of Army Lt. Colonel Dominic “Rocky” Baragona, 42. At the time, Baragona was the highest ranking American soldier to die in the Iraq war. He was part of a convoy leaving Iraq when his Humvee was sideswiped by a contractor’s truck. They were an hour away from base … Continue reading
In a February 15th, 2010 post titled “Nothing Against Old People but…” I railed against the geezers that were running for another six years in the Senate. They were Harry Reid, 70, John McCain, 73, Richard Shelby, 75, Chuck Grassley, 76, Bob Bennett, 76, Arlen Specter, 80, and Daniel Inouye, 85. Somehow they think these jobs are … Continue reading
Thomas Wolfe said you can’t go home again. This metaphor has become all too literal for two American towns. Centralia, Pennsylvania and Picher, Oklahoma have many things in common. The residents of both towns made their living off of the mining industry. Each town raised their children in a Norman Rockwell type atmosphere: Little League … Continue reading
