I’ve never been in the military. My Dad was. He was Air Force. He fought in World War II . . . in Italy. He took his discharge after the war, spent two years in civilian life, and went back into the military with my mom, the first Italian war bride. He spent the next 20 [...]

As I was pouring over the various news clips this morning about Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Israel, and so forth, a thought occurred to me. Monotheism took over in Israel when Josiah, the King of 7th Century B.C. Israel, stamped out worship of any other god except Yahweh.  That, by the way, was by force–total force. [...]

So my 6th grader and I were taking a bath together a few nights ago and he asked me to help him on a project. “Dad, if you had to boil down to two reasons why Rome fell when they were at the height of power, what would you say?” I was freshly off of reading the news [...]