Sunday, April 16, 2006

Happy Birthday Stella


Stella Katherine Teeters, daughter of Sarah Jean Logsdon and Jaymes Harvey Teeters. Born at 5:30 p.m on 14 April, 2006. She's the catch of the day, weighing 6 pounds, 13 ounces, and measuring 20 1/2 in long. Welcome to the family Stella!

General, please sit down and shut up!

Retired general's calling for the resignation of political leaders? Is this a good thing? While on the one hand any person in our functioning democracy has the right to express political opinion, we have a fundamental principle that our legally elected leaders are in charge of the military and that the military is required to execute the legal orders of their civilian commanders. So while these retired generals have a right to express their opinions, and the media will happily play their statements to entertain viewers, I have far less sympathy for their opinion than I have for the opinion of the political opposition to the elected leaders. I can see and understand the agenda of the political opposition. I have no idea what the agendas of these retired generals are. Perhaps they are simply high minded and want to right a perceived wrong. Perhaps they are positioning for a future political appointment. Perhaps they are malcontents who didn't get their way in the military. But all in all, it just seems wrong for them to have sat on their hands while on active duty to protect their retirement, and then take advantage of their recently retired status to address an issue they failed to take on while on active duty.