By Rod Jetton, on Fri Dec 30, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET (Click Here to read Part 1 of Rod Jetton’s 4 part series: “Losing a Good Friend”; Click Here to read Part 2: “Trane McCloud: Putting Duty First”; and Click Here to Read Part 3: “Living, Dying and Remembering”)
 Pray for Maggie and pray for her family as well as all the families who have lost loved ones to this war. Only the Lord can provide them with the comfort, peace and strength to keep going each day. Watching Maggie at the funeral and seeing her strength through a very hard time makes me feel the Lord is already at work comforting her.
Arlington is a moving place. Every American should visit that cemetery. If you ever go to Washingtonand only have time to visit a few things, make sure Arlington is on your list. Yes, the White House and Capitol are important and interesting, but they are not the reason America is strong and free.
 There are thousands of little white stones with some of the most important names from all over the country written on them. Those people and their actions are why America is such a great country. Many of those people died so we could be free. I very seldom go to Washingtonwithout stopping at Arlington to look over the graves and see the Marine Corps monument. I always stop at the Vietnam Memorial too, but Arlington is a special place across the river up on a quiet, peaceful hill that seems miles away from the Capitol and politics.
Trane’s memorial service was held at his home church in Alexandria, VA, which is just south of Arlington. The Marine Corps makes you plan out your will and service before you leave for any deployment. After looking at the program, I could tell Trane had it all planned.
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Rod Jetton: Remembering a Hero, Part 4: A Final Farewell to a Real Hero
By John Y. Brown III, on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET  Life’s great –perhaps greatest conundrum.
Society has become so complex. The mysteries of the human mind coupled with mind-boggling technological advances, has created perennial questions that we may never fully have satisfactory answers to.
From space exploration to string theory to crop circles to revisiting the theory of relativity and countless intractable political and economic conditions, so much of our world remains perplexing.
But no riddle, no puzzling reality seems more elusive more wholly inexplicable than Fruit Cakes.
Each year around during the holiday season millions of people buy and gift Fruit Cakes to friends and loved ones.
That’s right, MILLIONS!
 And yet no one has ever been spotted eating a piece of Fruit Cake. Ever!
Why do people buy them?
Why do others feign excitement when receiving fruit cake gifts?
And what happens to these cakes after the gift is given and nobody is watching?
One social commentator, Calvin Trillin, several decades ago posited that there was really only one Fruit Cake in the world. And it simply has been re-gifted millions of times. But technological advances have undermined this otherwise plausible theory.
Others have theorized aliens are making us buy and gift Fruit Cakes against our will by an race of sophisticated space aliens who own several thousand mall kiosk franchises that sell cheese and sausage baskets and, you guessed it, Fruit Cakes. But there is inadequate evidence to to prove this theory at this time.
Which leaves the mystery of the Fruit Cake perhaps the human conundrum least likely to be solved in any of our lifetimes.
By Artur Davis, on Thu Dec 29, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET  Mitt Romney is alive again. The revived pulse is measured in several forms, from a substantial narrowing in Newt Gingrich’s lead in the Gallup national tracking poll, to a Rasmussen survey putting Romney on top in Iowa, to the persistent and growing advantage Romney holds in New Hampshire.
Gingrich has some of his own propensities to blame. Before the heroic comeback story, the saga of a man grittily fighting back from despair, could take hold, Gingrich turned triumphalist: in his immodest account, he was redesigning campaign strategy in the way Sam Walton and Ray Kroc invented the modern consumer market. He reverted to the cerebral analyst coldly assessing the trend-lines.
 Then, the politician who eloquently denounced intra-party infighting unveiled a caustic edge: the pundits who admired the smoothness of his jabs in the ABC debate were too tone-deaf to hear the jeers in the room when the guy who was forced out of his speakership ridiculed Romney for losing an election.
Nor has it helped Gingrich that the entirety of the Republican philosopher wing has assailed him, from the old lions, David Brooks and Charles Krauthammer, to the young turks like Ross Douthat, to the venerable National Review. Not one of them is mandatory reading in the early states, but the intelligentsia do matter in the corridors of New York and Washington, where money and endorsements should have been flowing to a newly minted front-runner with stature. The case they have made is personal and cutting, and reminds the GOP elite of why Gingrich was consigned to disgrace.
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Artur Davis: Romney Revived
By Rod Jetton, on Wed Dec 28, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET (Click Here to read Part 1 of Rod Jetton’s 4 part series: “Losing a Good Friend”; and Click Here to read Part 2: “Trane McCloud: Putting Duty First”)
So far, I have told you a little bit about Trane’s military career and tried to give you an idea of the kind of person he was.
I know we all say nice things about those who have passed on, but with Trane it’s all been true. The worst I can say about him is he was headstrong, but he was always headstrong at the right time for the right reasons.
This is a guy who prayed before every meal, never lost his cool, always had good advice, and never had to be the center of attention. He is the kind of person who makes the very best kind of friend. As I talked to others at his funeral that had served with him, they all felt just like me, that he was their best friend.
 As good of a Marine as Trane was, he was an even better husband and father. He loved kids. Cassie and I used to take our kids over and let Trane and Maggie watch them when we were at Camp Lejune. The both loved kids and we were always happy to have someone take them for a few hours and give us a break back then.
He and Maggie had three children; Hayden, Grace, and Meghan. Every minute he was not doing something for the Corps, Trane was with his family. He applied the same work ethic to his family as he did to the Marines. I only wish I had the wisdom to find the balance between career and family like Trane did.
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Rod Jetton: Remembering a Hero, Part 3 – Living, Dying, Remembering
By John Y. Brown III, on Tue Dec 27, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET You know how when you are talking to someone who is undergoing hormone replacement treatment in preparation for gender reassignment surgery it can sometimes be awkward?
You know, how you try to make the other person feel like you have no idea they are about to change from a man to a woman or vice-versa and try to bring up banal topics like basketball or the weather?
Of course you do.
And it is confusing.
Sometimes –given how far along the person is in the process–it can be confusing about which “brand” (so to speak) they are leaving and which one they are becoming.
I just went through McDonalds drive-thru a few minutes ago and was struck with that same awkward feeling I have when around people getting sex changes.
The drive-thru menu was very feminine, so to speak, splattered with colorful pictures of apples, oatmeal, fruit and all manner of healthy foods and fancy girly coffee drinks.
 This used to be a fry and burger joint with hot black coffee that would burn your skin off—a fast food joint with more of a guy’s personality. But I went through the drive thru anyway.
As I paid I looked the person working the register in the eye as if to say, “I have no idea what you are going through and it is none of my business. I do not judge. I’ve known people who have gone through transformations like this and they are good people and I wish you the best. Please just give me my Big Mac and fries while I still recognize this place so I can leave because I have nothing to add about basketball or the weather.”
I think the person at the register understood what I was communicating and appreciated the subliminal gesture. It was the right way to handle an otherwise awkward situation.
By Jeff Smith, on Tue Dec 27, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET
 Missouri Congressman Russ Carnahan has led a charmed political life. After losing a congressional race in rural Southeast Missouri in 1990, Carnahan moved to St. Louis and ran for the state House in 2000, when his father was a popular two-term governor. He ran against a political neophyte and prevailed by 64 votes. In 2004, he ran in a 10-way primary for ex-House Leader Dick Gephardt’s seat and won by 1.6%. (Disclosure: I finished second, and six years later went to federal prison after lying to the government during an FEC investigation stemming from a Carnahan complaint.) In 2010, in a district Obama carried by 20 points, he edged Tea Party favorite Ed Martin 49-47. None of those election results was determined until the wee hours of the morning.
But in 2011, Congressman Carnahan’s luck ran out.
 Congressman Russ Carnahan After Missouri lost a congressional seat, the Legislature eliminated his district and split it into four other districts, one represented by black Democrat Lacy Clay and the others by Republicans. Clay did not discourage the Legislature from passing the map. Unlike Carnahan, he built relationships with state Republican leaders, engaging them throughout the process. When the map reached the state Senate, which experiences frequent filibusters that are rarely ended via cloture (fewer than ten times in 50 years), the Republican leadership braced for an all-night filibuster by Senate Democrats. But none spoke; the bill passed immediately.
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Jeff Smith: Some Unsolicited Advice for Cong. Carnahan
By Rod Jetton, on Mon Dec 26, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET (Click Here to read Part 1 of Rod Jetton’s 4 part series: “Losing a Good Friend”)
I remember an old Colonel giving a speech to all the young officer recruits back in boot camp. He told us about the Marine Corps and what being a Marine was all about. This talk always stuck in my mind because he said, “There is an easy way and a hard way. Marines always take the hard way. Marines don’t take shortcuts; we work harder, fight harder and think smarter.”
This was new to me and seemed wrong. High school and college was about finding a better and easier way to do everything. Our teachers and society pushed taking the path of least resistance. I didn’t know exactly what he meant at first. The colonel gave examples using past wars where U.S. Marines made tough decisions, and won battles that changed American history. He pointed out that many times their decisions made it harder on those Marines. Sometimes, they even lost more lives when faced with a tough choice, but they always accomplished the mission and followed their orders.
I can’t remember the name of the Colonel who gave us that talk, but it might as well have been Trane. He never took shortcuts. He always knew what the Marine Corps rules and regulations were, and he always kept us on track. He was calm and cool in all situations and nothing ever seemed to ruffle his feathers.
In time, I came to understand better what the Colonel was saying, but I have always been a rebel. The Marine Corps is hard on rebels. They want team players that will work hard, follow orders, be smart and do their duty. That’s why the Corps was so good for me. I learned to depend on other people. I learned that, no matter how good I was, if I worked with others I could accomplish much bigger things. By myself, I was helpless on the battlefield.
 By the time I met Trane he already knew these things, and he is a big reason I learned some of these lessons. Now, I don’t want to paint a picture of Trane as some robot that just said, “Yes, sir.” He was far from that. His last name is McCloud, which is Scots-Irish, and he was VERY stubborn. If you were doing things right he never said much, but if he thought you were not doing it the best way he would calmly give you his thoughts.
The thing we loved about Trane was he didn’t care if you were a fellow lieutenant or the commanding general, he wasn’t afraid to speak up and correct you.
We had this captain who wasn’t a very good commander. This drove me crazy, because, back then, I always had a better idea of how to do things and I liked being in charge. This guy made following orders very difficult for all of us.
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Rod Jetton: Remembering a Hero, Part 2 – Trane McCloud, Putting Duty First
By John Y. Brown III, on Fri Dec 23, 2011 at 12:00 PM ET  Improving Kentucky’s public image.
I try when traveling to help boost how others perceive Kentucky.
No, we aren’t barefoot and uneducated as we are too often portrayed in the media.
To the contrary, I believe we are as shoe-rich and literate as about a…ny other state; and, in fact, have a well above average degree of common sense and common decency.
So last week I was in the big city of Atlanta’s mega-modern airport on my way home. I was going through security and was identified as a random person to do a body scan. I was especially friendly and pleasant about it, and explained I was from Kentucky and hadn’t seen one of these machines before but had seen seen them on TV.
 I walked inside the cylindrical contraption and was told to stand in the center, be still, and raise my hands. The doors closed shut. After about 15-20 seconds, the doors re-opened and I was told to walk out the other side.
I did and smiled broadly at the security personnel and said “WowWee! I love fancy technology! Am I back in Kentucky already? I never thought I’d see the day….. but here I am. Just like in Star Trek!”
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John Y.’s Musings from the Middle: Airport Tele-transporters
By Artur Davis, on Fri Dec 23, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET The political cliché of the moment is “authenticity”, which its most avid users describe as a consistency of stated political beliefs; it is regarded as the moral opposite of “flip-flopping” or “pandering”. By the standards of the “authenticity” test, Mitt Romney is deeply flawed, having shifted views on the usefulness of healthcare reform, the legality of abortion, the literalness of the Second Amendment, and having discovered new reservations around the rights of gays and the claims of illegal immigrants.
This is a fair enough description. Romney rose as a Republican fending for votes in the most liberal state, Massachusetts, and neither his run against Ted Kennedy nor his governorship sounded very much like the standard form conservative trolling for early state Republicans today.
 But the “authenticity” test finds fault in unexpected places. Barack Obama gets mixed grades at best. In the span from 2003 to 2008, his criticisms of the death penalty gave way to support for extending it to non death offenses like sexual abuse of minors; his support for stiffer gun laws turned into an endorsement of the Supreme Court’s rejection of tough local gun restrictions. The Patriot Act he assailed during the Senate campaign was a thing he voted to renew as a senator. As president, the forthright critic of non-judicial detention of suspected foreign terrorists has more or less copied the last administration’s playbook on the same subject. The candidate who jabbed his principal Democratic opponent for wanting to require that individuals purchase health insurance is now a president who has converted to the “mandates” cause.
Obama has gotten no real grief for directions in the past several years that don’t match the things he said in the heat of campaigns to win liberal hearts in Illinois, and then the country. In contrast, it is George Bush who draws considerable ire for staying fixed in stone on Iraq, even when the results were a quagmire that nearly undermined the success of dethroning Saddam. If memory serves, Bush also won not much praise for sticking to his moderate stances on immigration: the Texas governor who aggressively courted Latinos was the same president who infuriated his base for favoring a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.
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Artur Davis: Authenticity and Politics
By Rod Jetton, on Thu Dec 22, 2011 at 8:30 AM ET Watching our military personnel return from Iraq was very heartwarming. I appreciate so much all they did to end a military dictatorship of Saddam Hussein and free the people of Iraq, but having them home and out of harm’s way is a relief.
Five years ago this month I lost my best friend from my Marine Corps days. We were in the same company as young lieutenants and we traveled the world together. He helped me raise my kids, and I watched him find a wife and start his own family.
Sadly, five years ago I was in Arlington Cemetery in one of the saddest days of my life. I was there as a good man who gave his life for our country was laid to rest. I did my best to comfort his wife and children but there is really no way to explain the loss we all felt that day.
 As the war has dragged on most of us Americans have enjoyed our lives and faced very few hardships. We clap when they announce appreciation for our servicemen and women on a plane or at a sporting event, and we are sad when we hear about a bomb killing some of our troops. But really there are many days when my trivial problems crowd out any time to think about the troops who are taking risks and enduring hardships, while I enjoy my friends and family safe at home.
I have a small cameo bracelet I made out of 5-50 cord that I have worn since December 2006. Each time I see it I think of Trane and his family. This year when I went to Hawaii I toured the U.S.S. Missouri and looked at the 5-inch gun turret that Trane served in. I thought of him and Maggie that day, but there is not a day goes by that I don’t think of Trane and wonder why someone as good as him had to leave us so soon. I don’t understand his loss or the loss of so many other heroes, but I do appreciate their sacrifice and pray for their families.
This Christmas I thought you might enjoy learning about a man you unfortunately will never get to meet. As you read about his life and sacrifice, please take a moment to remember all the families who have lost a loved one in these wars and say a special prayer of safety for those still in Afghanistan fighting to keep the terrorists at bay.
This is a copy of a four part story I wrote after Trane’s death in December 2006.
Read the rest of…
Rod Jetton: Remembering A Hero, Part 1 — Losing a Good Friend
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Pray for Maggie and pray for her family as well as all the families who have lost loved ones to this war. Only the Lord can provide them with the comfort, peace and strength to keep going each day. Watching Maggie at the funeral and seeing her strength through a very hard time makes me feel the Lord is already at work comforting her.
There are thousands of little white stones with some of the most important names from all over the country written on them. Those people and their actions are why America is such a great country. Many of those people died so we could be free. I very seldom go to Washingtonwithout stopping at Arlington to look over the graves and see the Marine Corps monument. I always stop at the Vietnam Memorial too, but Arlington is a special place across the river up on a quiet, peaceful hill that seems miles away from the Capitol and politics.
