The Colonel's Forum

If you're mad about the fact that we just expanded health care to an extra 10% of the population, well, I feel sorry for you. The mere fact that the health insurance companies launched a $20 million ad campaign against this legislation means it's got some meat to it. A good, non-partisan review of the House bill is available here , including the fact that the Democrats included just one of the three main sticking points that the Republicans brought up at the much-hyped health care summit. If you want to blame someone, blame Kentucky's own Senator Mitch McConnell. He's letting this thing pass for his own personal gain. This legislation provides the perfect campaign platform for the Republicans this fall. "Repeal Obama-care!" And if the Republicans regain a majority, then Mitch once again becomes king of the Senate. It's really that simple. He could have filibustered the legislation. He could have amended it so that it got some Republican votes. He...

One of the things that's been bugging me lately is the deterioration of civility in America. I know it's been going on for some time now, but I think the polarizing politics of the '08 election (and President Obama's agenda) have made matters worse. What bothers me most I think actually just a symptom of this trend, and that is the increasing unwillingness of people to talk about politics, at all, ever. We Americans define ourselves so much by religion and politics, yet we've reached a point where we can't talk about either one for fear of starting a riot. This is really a shame. I meet people all the time when I travel. It's easy to tell the frequent business travelers from the vacationers for a lot of reasons. One of those reasons though is that a couple business travelers who are stuck on a plane together for 4.5 hours will almost certainly strike up a conversation to pass the time. We're not going to talk for the whole flight, and we're no...

I finally met one - a nice, friendly TSA agent with a good sense of humor. I'm sure he'll be fired by the end of the week for not fitting in with the rest of the gang, but this morning, at "o-dark-thirty," this guy actually made me laugh. He said "good morning, how are you?" I said I'm fine, how are you? "I'm livin' the dream, can't you see?" "I like Monday mornings.," he said. "Monday mornings it's almost all experienced travelers coming through here. You guys know the routine and we can move you through here in no time. Thursdays are the worst - it's amateur hour. Thursdays are the days when I get the people who say 'o, I didn't know that water is a liquid.' It makes me want to start selling a product I've thought of called 'instant water.' I figure it would be something like a pet rock. You sell people an empty bottle and explain to them that, once they're through the ...