November 18, 2009, 6:05 pm 26 comments in the last 7 days.
Tea Party Counterprotesters' Violent Clash with Anti-Immigration Crowd (VIDEO).

A media group called World Net Daily, sent Salem-News.com a video clip this morning of a violent clash between protesters at an anti-immigration counter protest in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. The group claims that last Saturday, "Che Guevara supporters with a radical pro-amnesty coalition viciously attacked and bludgeoned tea party protesters at a Florida anti-illegal-immigration rally."

November 12, 2009, 10:44 pm 8 comments in the last 7 days.
Greenscam: Cap & Trade.

Climate change is a big issue for government at the State, Federal, and International levels. Climate change is a difficult issue because there is broad disagreement as to whether or not it is real, what causes it, and who should pay for mitigating actions. The Oregon Senate, in SB 80, proposed implementing a Cap & Trade program to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Oregon. The Federal government is currently considering similar legislation.

November 17, 2009, 9:56 pm 6 comments in the last 7 days.
Army Psychiatrists: PTSD & Major Hasan - Retread.

The Fort Hood Massacre leaves many questions in my mind. I can look at this and think about it from several viewpoints. I did have a year of psychology in college and a course of psychiatry in medical school. By any standard that is not enough. I did have advanced psychology courses in the Infantry as a Private Combat Infantryman. I was convinced that most of my sergeants, junior officers and even farther up the brass chain were off kilter.

November 16, 2009, 11:22 pm 6 comments in the last 7 days.
Oregon Hunger Rate Surges; Food Stamps Fill Need.

Data released today showing a surge in Oregon's hunger rate remind us of the importance of the expansion of food stamp benefits in the federal recovery package. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced today that more than one in eight Oregon households (13.1 percent) struggled to put food on the table at times during 2006-08.

November 15, 2009, 12:29 pm 6 comments in the last 7 days.
Purdue Funded Doctors Suggest Increased Pain Meds for Babies.

A meeting held by "a family foundation dedicated to reducing human suffering caused by pain......" was held in Washington, DC this past June 2009 -- Below is the link to the recommendations of this meeting. The report is a fast read -- only about ten actual pages, and the link contains background information I find interesting -- for want of a better word.

November 12, 2009, 11:07 am 6 comments in the last 7 days.
The Canadian Comparison: Part 1.

Over the past few months I have been asked about Canada—about atheism, health care and gun control in particular. None of these issues can be addressed in isolation, so a comparison benchmark is required. Americans, as the primary readers, understand America best, so America becomes the benchmark.

November 15, 2009, 11:11 pm 5 comments in the last 7 days.
Palestine and the Art of War.

Perhaps the most profound tribute to General Sun Tzu’s work entitled the Art of War is written 1400 years later in the 1988 Vietnam Magazine’s interview with Colonel Harry G. Summers. Colonel Summers shared the following exchange, “But America’s fighting forces did not fail us. You know, you never beat us on the battlefield,” I told my North Vietnamese counterpart during negotiations in Hanoi a week before the fall of Saigon. He pondered that remark a moment and then replied, “That may be so, but it is also irrelevant.”

November 19, 2009, 2:10 am 4 comments in the last 7 days.
Descartes' Disaster.

Have you ever looked back on your life and thought how much different, better perhaps, it would be today if you had done A instead of B, or B instead of A? Can humankind do the equivalent? We can’t redo, but we can undo. Before you can solve a problem, you must first understand it. When we look at the evolution of the human race, at the history of violence, warfare, and man's inhumanity to man, there seems to be no pattern or a single thing onto which we can place our focus.

November 15, 2009, 12:45 am 4 comments in the last 7 days.
Hero Who Served in Four Wars Laid to Rest in Washington.

I was fortunate this week to attend a ceremony in Washougal, Washington to help honor one of our heroes from the greatest generation. I had no idea who this person was upon arriving there, and barely even remembered his name, but that changed when I learned a little more, just by looking at a display in the gathering area of the church.

November 15, 2009, 6:50 pm 4 comments in the last 7 days.
Lack of Healthcare Kills Veterans at Much Higher Rate than Combat.

A report from Agence France Presse indicates that the number of veterans who died in 2008 because they didn't have healthcare, is 14 times higher than the military death toll in Afghanistan, for the entire year. Two Harvard medical researchers analyzed data, comparing U.S. combat-related deaths in Afghanistan, with the number of veterans who died because they lacked the ability to seek out adequate healthcare and access medical services. All of the veterans surveyed were under the age of 65.