The five things we know about the murders committed at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon: 1) An anonymous Internet message warned of an attack at a Northwest U.S. Community College. 2) An attack was carried out. 3) He asked people if they were Christian or not before shooting those who said they were, in…

There’s a new campaign patch to be worn by U.S. military personnel taking part in ‘Operation Inherent Resolve,’ and which feels like a case of political correctness to me. For now, only 3,335 member’s of  U.S. Army are authorized the patch, which is to be displayed on the sleeve of the left shoulder. As the Army…

Chances are radio broadcasting’s done with me — so I feel free now to share my little secret: I’m ‘Cousin Elmo.’ As a young disc jockey in the latter part of the 70’s, I thought it disingenuous to learn that some of the talented people I worked with in the radio biz, used ‘fake names.’…

While in my 20’s I had the misfortune of being involved in a U.N. Peacekeeping mission that cost several hundred lives of Marines and soldiers. Since then I’ve learned not to trust the organizations. In fact, many U.S. Marines I know refused to wear the U.N. blue or its badge. A lot of us were…

I might be spending what could be my final day of this year sitting in our backyard under the shade of our Aspen tree. The nights are growing colder and the days shorter, announcing winter is on its way. Nostalgia always fills my heart when I know the season is about to pass. I’m not…

Since childhood, I have sought fame, to be known and publicly recognized for my talents. Yet as I’ve slipped beyond the midway point of my life’s expectancy, I’ve learn that I’ve had it all wrong. I should have sought riches, which are far more than money or material things and do not fade away with…

Much of my life can be boiled down to one-liners; some humorous, others serious. All in all, this is a sad state of being. First and foremost is: “Only the mediocre are always at their best.” It’s an apt description of me as I’ve always been a ‘mediocre man.’ For years I’ve never really had…

In the 1989 movie, “Raider’s of the Last Crusade,” the bad guy Walter Donovan takes a jewel encrusted goblet, and thinking it’s the one Jesus drank from on the night he was betrayed, drinks from it. He quickly regretted having done so, because he died a hideous death immediately afterwards. It’s said that life imitates…

For years my mantra about this blogging thing had been, “No rules. Jus’ write.” I stole that slogan from the restaurant ‘Outback,’ whose tagline is “No rules, just right.” Then as I continued to write, I realized I did have rules – and it suddenly appeared hypocritical of me to proclaim a ‘no rules’ statement.…

The 2005 REAL ID Act has long reminded me of those old 1950 and 60s film noir spy movies where an Eastern Bloc KGB/Gestapo-type official would ask for papers to make certain the protagonist had the ‘right permissions’ to travel and the suspense would build because they didn’t. Well, that scenario is coming to pass…