One night in December 1968, SP4 Dennis E. Haines’ life changed literally in a flash. “Our mission was to encircle a village,” his buddy John Miller recalls. “It was on this path that Dennis and I were sent to act as a listening post, waiting for darkness until the rest of the company would join us. “There was a problem....

Last Friday, during the debate in the Missouri state House on a new bill designed to ban abortions for women at eight weeks of pregnancy, Republican Representative Barry Hovis said that the majority of sexual assaults he dealt with in law enforcement were not strangers “jumping out of the bushes” but instead “date rapes or consensual rapes.” according to an...

What Alabama’s state Senate did was nothing less than a return to the dark ages for women. In Tuesday’s debate in the Alabama state legislature, Democratic Senator Linda Coleman-Madison asked her Republican colleague a question regarding a proposed bill that would be the most restrictive abortion law in the country. Coleman-Madison asked Republican Senator Clyde Chambliss about a passage in...

The lack of trust in institutions vital to our health, welfare and security continues to grow in the age of Trump. I have written about the serious threat to both children and communities when parents willingly deny vaccinations for their children. Nonetheless, the risk has grown more dangerous. The New York Times Editorial Board writes (Jan. 19) that “The World...

A short series of stories about ethical minefields that have finally met their fate, maybe. Chief Wahoo Retires – Finally, the Cleveland Indians have announced that they will “retire” their “big-toothed, red-faced caricature” mascot “Chief Wahoo” used on uniforms, caps and other items. “The Indians have used the Chief Wahoo logo since 1947,” The Los Angeles Times reports (Jan. 29),...

Senate Republicans are making yet another attempt at repealing The Affordable Care Act, this time, under the guise of the Graham-Cassidy bill which would impose stringent cuts to Medicaid. “Eleven governors, including five Republicans,” The New York Times writes (Sept. 20), “urged the Senate to reject a new push to dismantle The Affordable Care Act.” Republicans are using the same...

A brief conversation with U.S. Representative Salud Carbajal (D-CA-24), led to a 50-minute discussion concerning health care and his participation in the Problem Solvers Caucus. Elected to Congress in 2016, Representative Carbajal previously served three terms as a Santa Barbara County Supervisor and served in the Marine Corps Reserve. He currently sits on the Armed Services and Budget Committees. Our...

This is what happens when poor information and irrational fear trumps verified medical science. “The young mother,” The Washington Post reports (May 5), “started getting advice early on from friends in the close-knit Somali immigrant community here. Don’t let your children get the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella — it causes autism, they said. “Suaado Salah listened. And this...

Ahhhhhh… the cool mountain air, a calm… ripple… of water peacefully moving over the lake. Oh… it’s you! While on summer break, I thought I’d offer a few links to commentaries that garnered the most attention by readers over the past seven months. First place, with the most views thus far, was my three-part series from April, Trust and Confidence,...

Good news about Dennis Haines… finally! Last week, I wrote about Vietnam Vet. Dennis Haines’s difficulty in getting a medication approved by the V.A. for treatment for Hepatitis C – an infectious disease that he contracted after he had unintentionally received tainted blood while being treated by the 24th Evacuation Hospital in Long Binh. One week ago, I had contacted...