In this season of gifts, there is one steadily given throughout the year, little noticed except by families in mourning. Bo Hill, Bill Camper, Al Hogg, Joe Bowler and Stony Lohr, all members of Peachtree City Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 9949, provide honor guard service at local funerals for veterans. Read More»

I admit to initial skepticism when Kim Learnard invited me months ago to join the group she was assembling to consider the creation of a College and Career Academy (CCA) in Fayette County. After all, I’m a glass-half-empty kind of guy, and I guess Kim realized that because she said my critical view was what she wanted.

So I participated with this premise: Show me what such a special school, designed to be part of the high school system, brings to the table that our high schools cannot? Along the way, this old dog learned a couple of new tricks. Read More»

As America has been hurling itself toward fiscal Armageddon in recent years, pundits have described the economic tipping point we will reach some day in the future, a point of economic calamity from which our country cannot recover.

Optimists have said with patriotic fervor that America is so resilient that it will rebound from the debilitating effects of liberalism and the welfare state, we will come back as the economic and military superpower of the world.

Both are wrong. Read More»

“All of them.”

That was the answer to a question we posed to each other over coffee at Mimi’s last week.

The question was, “How many of the Americans you know who have ever worn a military uniform would have volunteered to go into harm’s way to help our diplomats under attack in Benghazi?”

All of them.

All of the old fart veterans like me, and we think all who wear the uniform now, would rush to help, whatever the obstacles, whatever the consequences. Protecting American non-combatants from foreign aggression is our military’s highest duty. Read More»

While the mainstream media was studiously looking the other way so they didn’t have to tell you, something happened last week that affirmed the fundamentals of capitalism. I am referring to the principle that profit motive is the most effective determinant of the proper balance between risk and potential reward.

The much-ignored event was the bankruptcy filing of A123 Systems, maker of specialized batteries for electric cars, a company trumpeted by the Obama administration as the harbinger of the electric automobile industry. Read More»

Perhaps you heard the Big Bird silliness in the aftermath of the first presidential debate a few weeks ago.

In that debate, Romney said to moderator Jim Lehrer, who for many years hosted the PBS News Hour, “’I’m sorry, Jim, I’m going to stop the subsidy to PBS. I like PBS. I love Big Bird! I actually like you too, but I’m going to stop borrowing money from China to pay for things we don’t need.”

Romney was referring to the $450 million federal subsidy you and I will pay to PBS this year. Read More»

We like to think we treat our troops now far better than U.S. Marine David Crawley was treated in the Vietnam era.

When Crawley came home severely wounded from Vietnam decades ago, he was delivered to Great Lakes Naval Hospital in Minnesota where most of his body was in a cast for months.

When he finally recovered sufficiently to score a weekend pass, he was confident his Marine uniform would help him hitch a ride home. Instead, his uniform attracted insults and thrown bottles and cans from passing cars. Read More»

I know I am not allowed to say things like this. Oh well, if we are to ever revive common sense, we will have to shed the blood of a few sacred cows.

Maybe I am the only one weary of bleeding hearts imploring the masses to vote. “No matter who you vote for,” they say, “it is so important to please-please-please exercise your right to vote.”

Well, no, it isn’t. If you need cajoling, pampering and special care to make sure you don’t go out of your way to register and vote, maybe the country would be better off if you stay home. Read More»

With a nod to honest officials everywhere, pardon my observation that politicians have been lying since God was a boy. Dissembling, spinning, stretching the truth with hyperbole seems to be part of persuading voters you are more worthy than the next guy.

There’s nothing new with dishonesty in politics, but the current Democratic leadership has turned lying into an art form. Read More»

With an approaching election and persistent disappointment in elected officials, I have heard various versions of “Let’s kick all of them out of office and elect a fresh batch.” But I think getting rid of the political rot calls for a scalpel, not a blunderbuss.

A friend who has held local elected office recently mentioned his dismay that some Fayette County officials seem compelled to make their work in office about self-aggrandizement, having lost sight of the selfless service that should be their guiding light. Read More»