Even the most stalwart liberal must recognize the need for improvements and reform in national security to address the needs of modern threats. Some will argue that measures like the Patriot Act go too far while others claim it's not far enough. There is always the crazy balance to consider between personal freedoms and privacy against the protections offered by "police state" security and invasiveness. Such an axiom has long been a part of American heritage as Ben Franklin once ... Read this and 39 comments.

The Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR) is a component of soldiers who have not yet fulfilled their Mandatory Service Obligation (MSO) but have been honorably discharged from the military. IRR soldiers differ from those in the National Guard or regular Reserves in they are not required to meet any physical fitness standards, appear for drill or perform in any military manner at all. So what good is the ... Read this and 3 comments.

As winter settles in and the snow falls, I've noticed a number of amusing things regarding drivers and their misconceptions about the capabilities of an SUV. While driving home in my Jeep Wrangler on I-95 the other night, I watched as drivers [New York, New Jersey and Connecticut] slipped and slid through the ice in their expensive cars. I listened to my police scanner to the numerous accidents around me, so many accidents in fact that one particular transmission caught my ... Read this and 7 comments.

Sure ... mankind may have spewed an inordinate amount of CO2 into the atmosphere, but let's not look beyond the biggest, most devious and dastardly source of heat - Mother Nature. The Queen of Gaea has reared her ugly head again, setting southwestern California ablaze. Forest fires have a flash point of 572 degrees for a self-sustaining burn. Once burning, a forest fire itself typically roils at approximately 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit. In the United States alone, nearly five million acres ... Read this and 2 comments.

The standard service obligation for American Army soldiers is eight years. Those choosing a shorter term of active service are actually still on the books in the Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR). Upon reaching the eight year mark, enlisted soldiers are automatically dropped from the rolls unless a conscious choice is made to stay with the Army. Officers, on the other hand, remain in the IRR unless they physically resigned their commissions, reached retirement age or died. On 16 July 2005, the ... Read this and 31 comments.

It should be no surprise that the terms American and fitness are becoming increasingly difficult to use in the same sentence. More than 4 million Americans are already considered "extremely-obese." Obesity differs from simply being overweight; obesity is linked to excessive fat stores. The description is no longer confined to just adults, as obesity is increasingly afflicting American children as ... Read this and 14 comments.

If you listen to Americans complain, President Bush is the general target of distaste for the presence in Iraq. This past Tuesday, 42.5 million viewers watched the president's televised speech that outlined his new plan for operations in the Middle East. Almost immediately, congressional democrats expressed their opinion that Bush's plan is not what the public voted for in the recent elections. This of course, begs the question, who has the authority (perhaps even a public responsibility) to ... Read this and 55 comments.

Time travel has long been a playground for science fiction writers and philosophers, typically regarding the interpretation of time and the paradoxes that arise from unnatural intervention. Prevailing schools of thoughts include Fatalism, Presentism and Eternalism which differ primarily in the concept of past and future, regarding whether or not everything exists simultaneously or only as fleeting glimpses of a moment. The "Time Suicide Paradox," where a person traveling through time ... Read this and 115 comments.

In the second World War, familiar catch-phrases like "Loose Lips Sink Ships" advised Americans through advertising campaigns to keep mum about wartime activities. Today, OPSEC (OPerational SECurity) faces the challenge of the Internet's open stage and global audience as bloggers document their lives. Such instantaneous access to news has certainly caused trouble for the coalition's public relations through such incidents as Abu Ghraib and the recent alcohol, rape and murder issues. ... Read this and 13 comments.