The Opinion Blog

Veterans Honored For Service

Wednesday’s editorial is a tribute to veterans.

Late in December 1944, during the first Allied offensive of the Battle of the Bulge in France, the 551st Parachute Infantry Battalion gathered in a wooded area for an overdue Christmas service. The weary soldiers had fought through the night. It was bitter cold and snowing. Radio operator Charles Fairlamb later recalled: “The trees, mostly pine, were beautifully covered with snow and decorated with tinsel, which the Germans had been dropping to make our radar ineffective.

“It was the most impressive Christmas service I've ever attended. I don't believe that anyone could be any closer to the real Christmas than we were that day. But it made you feel kind of funny standing there worshipping God while you had a helmet on your head, a hymn book in one hand, and a rifle in the other.”

My Old Man

As I grow older, I think about My Old Man a lot -- my long-deceased father whom I rarely had time for as a teenager, young man, 30-something, etc.  He died in 1986 at the age of 65.  I passed the 66-year mark this past March and reflected then on that uneventful event – “Well, I’ve outlived my old man, for whatever that means from an anatomical and heredity analysis,” I mused.  Of course, my mother died in 1964 at age 40, so go figure.

 

With my family’s health history, I’m probably not likely to probe the treasure troves of mortality many more years, but that’s okay.  I live life on life’s terms now. For all the potholes and problems therein, my life has been good.  I have a wonderful spouse, two great children, an outstanding daughter-in-law and the three cutest, smartest grandkids east of the Mississippi.

 

I believe I owe my good life, in some or large part, to the efforts of My Old Man, and his American brothers and sisters who have come to be regarded as the nation’s “Greatest Generation.”

High hopes for park, veterans' center

Tuesday's editorials praise what appear to be positive steps at the new Freestyle Music Park and a new reception center for returning veterans.

Good Steps For Success This Time

The owners of Freestyle Music Park continue to move in the right direction for success and one of the most important steps is building good relationships with other tourism entities such as hotels and resorts.

Georgia: West should back words with deeds

Ripped from the wires ... The president of Georgia explains why the Western world must beat back the Russian invasion of his country:

By Mikheil Saakashvili

TBILISI, Georgia -- Russia's invasion of Georgia strikes at the heart of Western values and our 21st-century system of security. If the international community allows Russia to crush our democratic, independent state, it will be giving carte blanche to authoritarian governments everywhere. Russia intends to destroy not just a country but an idea.

'Kill me with a nuke, not a rusty knife'

Ripped from the wires ... Jules Witcover notes Gen. Wesley Clark is only the latest military retiree to show a lack of aptitude for presidential politics:

By Jules Witcover

In a presidential race in which John McCain seems to be holding the weakest cards -- his age, limited campaign money, the albatross of an unpopular president around his neck -- he has gotten a favorable shuffling of the deck from a Barack Obama surrogate.

The blunder of retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark in questioning McCain's military service as a recommendation for the presidency has spotlighted the Arizona senator's one ace -- the patriotism card -- at a time his campaign could stand a boost.