[May 29, 2023] Memorial Day is a time of recognizing those military men and women who have given their lives for our nation. It is also a time of parades, speeches, cookouts, and the unofficial beginning of summer. Below is the Memorial Day speech that I gave nine years ago, at my retirement from 40 years in the… Read More »
[May 7, 2023] For me, it is hard to imagine the evils of World War II, the heroics, the unity, and the development of technology for all purposes of warfare, food production, and transportation. As a kid, I lived with many of these veterans and was told stories that fascinate me today. One of those stories was the… Read More »
[April 22, 2023] To say that, as a kid, I was afraid of snakes is an understatement. Growing up in a rural area in Northeast Louisiana often put me in contact with them. This article is about growing up with snakes and how my friends and our fathers were part of the story that helped us be better… Read More »
[April 16, 2023] One essential behavior about people that we really don’t understand and should understand is that we are inherently unappreciative. Fyodor Dostoevsky insightfully wrote that if you set up a utopia so that all people had to do was eat cake and busy themselves with the continuation of the species (Russian humor), after a short bit… Read More »
[April 9, 2023] Today is extraordinary, perhaps more special than we might think and more practical. It is a solemn and preeminent celebration of Jesus Crist’s resurrection. From the Bible, we learn to celebrate this day as the day that Jesus rose from the dead – a day we call Easter – the third day after his Crucifixion. … Read More »
[April 5, 2023] Betrayal is an evil more profound than any human behavior we can imagine. In Dante’s Inferno, sins like torture, murder, and rape were not at the bottom of the pit (nine circles of hell); it was betrayal. The ultimate betrayal is the subject of my article today. On March 13, 1973, U.S. Air Force Lieutenant… Read More »
[April 4, 2023] I came home on April Fool’s Day from five days in the hospital, limping from pain in my stomach (and my back), dizzy from painkillers, but happy to finally be sleeping in my bed and with my lovely wife, and having my dog sitting next to me. Sometimes I might lose sight of what is… Read More »
[March 20, 2023] If you are a harmless man, as we are told we must be, then you are just harmless, like a frightened fluffy animal. You will not be useful to you or those around you. Fluffy animals get eaten. A good man is a monster but who does not act like a monster. I wrote a… Read More »
[March 15, 2023] You have nothing better to do than to be right. That is at the heart of being a person; one who knows what is good, acts properly, does not break in the face of evil or tragedy, and stands with those who are weak and defenseless. A young Army Officer asked me the other day… Read More »
[March 8, 2023] “Saddam Swings” blared the headlines of the Daily News. In the early morning hours of December 30, 2006, disgraced Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging. I was in Iraq at the time, just a couple of miles away. His hanging changed my thoughts on the death penalty. There are “crimes” that the proper… Read More »