Headlines of the Week (Or Whatever)

Gangster Bankers: Too Big to Jail; How HSBC hooked up with drug traffickers and terrorists. And got away with it.

Apple dodges $9.2 billion tax bill, could have funded majority of sequester.

ArmyTimes Report: VA lobotomized 2,000 disturbed veterans

Old school vs. new school as academic publishers brawl over Web
A startup hip to the ways of the Web and a publishing rival from pre-Net days are trying to teach each other a lesson. It's a tussle involving research papers and the Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

What Nelson Mandela's life tells us about the legitimacy of "democratic nations

Veterans' Day

According to the National Center for Health Statistics, more than 50 percent of nursing home residents have no close relatives, and 46 percent have no living children. These two facts are a major reason why an estimated 60 percent of nursing home residents never have visitors. If you're looking for ways to honor veterans, I recommend taking an afternoon or two out of each month and visiting a VA nursing home. Here's a list of VA nursing homes in Oklahoma and Texas:

Photo of the Day

After a long discussion of Veterans Day, the kiddos (including Melissa's two) are writing thank you letters to veterans.

About the Pledge of Allegience

I originally wrote this on Friday, October 15, 2010.  I am posting it here with minor edits, mainly for grammar.

Kevin is publicly shamed for his refusal to take an oath.

Yeah, that cartoon is cute. It shows someone who simply doesn't care in contrast to someone who cares so much that they gave their health, and was willing to give their life. It makes a point, and makes us feel good about being better than the lazy guy. It makes us feel proud of our veterans. (Although that pride doesn't seem to extend to caring for them, but that's a an entirely different post...) and it makes us feel patriotic. Yay!