Opinion Forum

Vietnam and Afghanistan

March 1st, 2012

By Tom Carter This article was originally published in September 2009 — two and a half years ago. Unfortunately, it’s as relevant today as it was then. In late 1965, I was in Kontum, Vietnam as a pilot in a helicopter crew sent there for a few days to support U.S. Special Forces operations. I [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Afghanistan, Bernard Fall, failure, Islam, Taliban, terrorism, Vietnam
Categories: History, Military, Politics | Comments (4) | Home

Why Can’t Muhammad Be as Funny as the Pope?

February 28th, 2012

By Tom Carter The media are loath to write or depict anything that might inflame Muslims to come looking for them with knives, guns, bombs, or airplanes. Part of the reason is fear, and who can blame them — no one wants to be murdered. Another part is their antipathy toward Jews and Israel and [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Catholic, fear, freedom, Islam, murder, Muslim, religion, speech, terrorism
Categories: Media, Politics | Comments (0) | Home

Will Republicans Snatch Defeat from the Jaws of Victory?

February 15th, 2012

By Tom Carter Roger Simon has an article at Pajamas Media that I wish every Republican would take a couple of minutes to read. In Simon’s words, “What seemed even weeks ago as potentially a banner year for Republicans now appears a potential debacle. Not only is the continued loss of the presidency … and [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: candidate, convention, defeat, election, Obama, Republican, victory
Categories: Politics | Comments (4) | Home

Truth about the War in Afghanistan

February 8th, 2012

By Tom Carter If you haven’t seen it yet, you should read “Truth, lies and Afghanistan” by Lieutenant Colonel Daniel L. Davis, published by Armed Forces Journal. As LTC Davis puts it, “The American people deserve better than what they’ve gotten from their senior uniformed leaders over the last number of years. Simply telling the [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Afghanistan, Davis, failure, lies, report, success, truth
Categories: Military, News, Politics | Comments (2) | Home

The Church and the Holocaust

January 29th, 2012

International Holocaust Remembrance Day, created in 2005 by a UN General Assembly resolution, coincides with the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp by Soviet forces on January 27, 1945. This is the third of a series of three articles being re-published to observe this solemn day of remembrance. By Tom Carter There has long been [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Catholic, Church, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jews, Pius XII
Categories: History, Politics | Comments (0) | Home

Auschwitz and the Holocaust

January 28th, 2012

International Holocaust Remembrance Day, created in 2005 by a UN General Assembly resolution, coincides with the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp by Soviet forces on January 27, 1945. This is the second of a series of three articles being re-published to observe this solemn day of remembrance. By Tom Carter The Auschwitz complex consisted [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Auschwitz, death camp, International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Jews
Categories: History, Politics | Comments (0) | Home

Remembering the Holocaust

January 27th, 2012

International Holocaust Remembrance Day, created in 2005 by a UN General Assembly resolution, coincides with the liberation of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp by Soviet forces on January 27, 1945. This is the first of a series of three articles being re-published to observe this solemn day of remembrance. By Tom Carter The Auschwitz concentration camp [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Auschwitz, death camp, International Holocaust Remembrance Day
Categories: History, Politics | Comments (0) | Home

After the State of the Union: Who Can Defeat Obama?

January 25th, 2012

By Tom Carter As I watched the President’s State of the Union address last night, this question was rattling around in my mind: Who can defeat Obama? Based on performance quality in delivering a prepared speech, the answer is that none of the current Republican contenders is up to the task. That highlights a defining [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: candidates, election, facts, Gingrich, Obama, Republican, Romney, SOTU
Categories: Media, News, Politics | Comments (0) | Home

The Republican Marathon Is Distracting and Dangerous

January 17th, 2012

By Tom Carter The seemingly never-ending Republican primary season drones on, sucking the oxygen out of the national discourse and obscuring things that really are more important. With hundreds lots of debates behind us and more to come, with some candidates behaving like fools and hurling ridiculous charges at other candidates, the mainstream media is [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: candidates, debates, election, primaries, Republican, Romney, viable
Categories: Politics | Comments (0) | Home

Football Games and Political Debates

January 9th, 2012

By Tom Carter I curse the evil forces that malevolently scheduled the Republican debate to coincide with the NFL playoff game on Saturday night. And I mean a serious curse — plague, pestilence, warts, boils, and collapse of their mutual funds! As a football fan and a political junkie, it presented me with an almost [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: debate, election, football, playoffs, Politics, primary, Republicans, satire
Categories: Life, Politics | Comments (1) | Home

Air Travel: The Agony and the Ecstasy

January 4th, 2012

By Tom Carter I just got back from one of my frequent trips to Europe. I’ve checked out ways to get there other than flying on an airline. I could book a berth on a cargo ship, a fairly inexpensive way to cross the ocean. Then, from whatever port I end up at in Europe, [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: airlines, airports, Europe, security, smoking, terrorists, travel, travelers
Categories: Life | Comments (4) | Home

Merry Christmas from Santa and His Chorus!

December 24th, 2011

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Merry Christmas, reindeer, Santa Claus
Categories: Arts, Humor | Comments (0) | Home

The Queen of Snark Bites a Newt

December 7th, 2011

By Tom Carter The arch-conservative queen of snark, Ann Coulter, has taken a poisonous bite out of Newt the Gingrich. That’s what those two red marks are on the side of his neck — and they’ll fester. The longer he enjoys front-runner status in the Republican presidential primary race, the more obvious his weird, quirky [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Coulter, election, Gingrich, independents, moderates, nominee, Romney
Categories: Politics | Comments (2) | Home

Burnt Toast and Serious Candidates

November 29th, 2011

By Tom Carter I wrote earlier that Herman Cain was finished in the wake of the initial sexual harassment charges. I also noted that was probably a good thing for Republicans because Cain can’t win the general election, even against a candidate as damaged as Barack Obama. At this point Cain is burnt toast. No [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: burnt toast, Cain, election, Gingrich, independents, moderates, Romney
Categories: News, Politics | Comments (6) | Home

Supercommittee Deadlines

November 15th, 2011

By Tom Carter The Washington Post has published a series of charts showing the supercommittee’s deadlines and related actions and what happens if they’re all successfully met. It also shows what will happen, as specified in the Budget Control Act, if the deadlines aren’t met. This is the best brief summary I’ve seen. The Post [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: budget, Congress, cuts, deadlines, defense, entitlements, supercommittee
Categories: Economics, News, Politics | Comments (1) | Home

The Perry Debate Debacle

November 10th, 2011

By Tom Carter Even those who didn’t watch the debate last night have probably heard about Rick Perry’s devastating lapse. Here’s the video, in case you didn’t see it live or would like to re-live the moment. Personally, I had two reactions to Perry’s inability to remember the third of three departments he would abolish [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: 2012, Cain, debacle, debate, election, Gingrich, Obama, Rick Perry
Categories: Life, News, Politics | Comments (1) | Home

Budget Myths versus Reality

November 7th, 2011

By Tom Carter Robert J. Samuelson has been thinking and writing about business and economics for more than 40 years, but he isn’t an economist. That’s in his favor because he’s free to research and evaluate facts unencumbered by the vague theories and detachment from reality that plague economics, known for good reason as “the [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: budget, Congress, conservative, default, liberal, myths, supercommittee
Categories: Economics, News, Politics | Comments (2) | Home

Child Abuse by Any Standard

November 3rd, 2011

By Tom Carter A very disturbing report and a video have surfaced this week showing a Texas judge, William Adams, brutally beating and cursing his 16-year-old daughter Hillary in 2004. The girl, who has ataxic cerebral palsy, was being disciplined for having downloaded music and games that weren’t available legally. The judge has been relieved of [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: beating, child abuse, corporal punishment, cursing, judge, William Adams
Categories: Law, Life, News | Comments (5) | Home

Herman Cain Is Finished

November 3rd, 2011

By Tom Carter Herman Cain is finished as a serious contender for the Republican presidential nomination. The decline of his chances to win the nomination may be faster or slower, but it’s over. And it was inevitable. Sexual harassment charges from his days as head of the National Restaurant Association are getting more serious every [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: Cain, campaign, charges, organization, Romney, sexual harassment, staff
Categories: Media, News, Politics | Comments (14) | Home

The UN Says There Are 7 Billion of Us

October 31st, 2011

By Tom Carter The United Nations Population Division says that as of today there are seven billion people on Earth. I take that seriously, given that the UN is an efficient organization staffed by poorly paid experts who mostly hail from third-world nations where their countrymen and countrywomen are breeding like bunnies. Who else would [...]

Articles written by Tom Carter
Tags: 7 billion, Frankfurt, Malthus, population, satire, statistics, ugly people, UN
Categories: Humor, Life, News | Comments (2) | Home

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