Bob McCarty Writes

While serving as an Air Force officer in Japan 20 years ago, I had the privilege of seeing Lee Greenwood perform his hit song, “God Bless the USA,” at Kadena Air Base on the island of Okinawa.  Though I will always appreciate the original lyrics to the song, I recently concluded that they needed an [...]

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Should Japan replace the “secret weapon” that has protected the East Asian nation for more than 60 years with nuclear weapons?  That’s the question many people are asking in the wake of North Korea detonating a nuclear weapon and firing missiles earlier this week. In the video above, Charles Krauthammer tells a Fox News Channel [...]

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Igor Panarin, a Russian academic whose prediction of the United States’ demise in 2010 made him the subject of a Wall Street Journal article today, may have unwittingly provided those calling for a college football playoff with a solution. Put politics aside for the moment and take a look at Panarin’s 2010 map of the [...]

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I had the privilege 20 years ago of working for Brig. Gen. Ralph T. Browning, a man who spent nearly seven years as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam.  Through working for him, I feel like I know something about the character of John McCain. At the time, General Browning was commander of the [...]

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A U.S. Geological Survey map (below) shows the epicenter of the earthquake that awakened people as far away as St. Louis at approximately 4:40 a.m. this morning was located at or near Olney, Ill. UPDATE 4-18-08 7:27 a.m. Central: Officials with the U.S. Geological Survey have updated the information about the earthquake, estimating it measured [...]

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I lived in Japan for more than three years and know an earthquake when I feel it. At approximately 4.40 a.m. Central, this St. Louis-area blogger was awakened by an earthquake. My guess — and I haven’t seen any news reports about it yet — is that it was a 3.5 to 4.0 on the [...]

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I’ve driven nothing but Honda automobiles since returning to the U.S. from Japan 18 years ago, mostly because I appreciate the reliability and craftsmanship of my Honda vehicles. On the inevitable occasions when someone — a friend, a neighbor or someone I meet in passing — tells me I should buy made-in-America automobiles instead of [...]

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