First thing’s first: Those who say there are questions that need to be answered about Benghazi will get no argument from me. The September terrorist attack on our consulate in Libya killed four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stephens, and an accounting must be made. We need to know why our intelligence apparatus didn’t anticipate the danger. We need to know why the intelligence community and the State Department took so long to get the real story. We need to know, frankly, why Congress voted down increased security funding prior to the attacks. So to those who say the American people …
A lot of folks look at Fort Stewart Patch as an "online community newspaper." Well, we're certainly that, but we're about a whole lot more as well. Here at Fort Stewart Patch, we want not only to inform the community, but be a platform for discussion and involvement as well -- in a way that newspapers can't. I grew up in a newspaper family, and spent most of my journalistic career writing for various community papers, so I love great community papers like the Coastal Courier, because traditional newspapers can provide a depth of coverage that can be hard to find in other forms of media. I …
Since the invention of cooking, humankind has come up with a variety of methods to heat its food: immersion in boiling oil, electric coils, microwave ovens. (That last one has always seemed odd to me. Consider this: microwave radiation is found throughout the universe because it's part of the background radiation left over from the Big Bang. So basically, we humans have learned to shoot invisible space lasers -- originating in the fires of Creation -- at our food until it's hot enough to eat. And no one finds that strange. But I digress.) Despite the plethora of cooking choices we have today…
There's one annual political event I'm a big fan of, no matter who's in office at the time: the White House Correspondents' Dinner. That's the yearly "Washington prom" where the White House press corps, politicians from both sides of the aisle and a few choice celebrities gather in the Washington Hilton ballroom to watch the president do a stand-up routine, usually followed by a routine from a professional comedian. So the very day after I covered Obama's appearance at Fort Stewart, I suspended my "no politics for a week" rule and tuned in to C-SPAN. I also violated my "under no circumstances…
The Midway City Council is today reviewing an ordinance regulating transient merchants, peddlers and solicitors, according to a report from the Coastal Courier. The ordinance has faced heavy criticism since last summer, when Midway police attracted national attention by shutting down a lemonade stand operated by three children. The three girls were selling lemonade to raise money to go to a water park, according to a Huffington Post report. The cops shut them down because they didn't have a business license -- a license which would have cost them $50 per day. Of course, if they'd bought a 12-…
Let me start this review by admitting a bias: I am the sort of person who finds The Three Stooges funny. I say that unapologetically, with pride. Ever since I was a kid, Larry, Moe and Curly could always make me laugh -- although I wasn't a huge fan of Shemp, and the less said about Joe Besser, the better. I am aware, however, that there is another kind of person out there: the kind of person who finds The Three Stooges moronic, puerile and unfunny. Nothing wrong with that; everyone's sense of humor is different. Yes, a lot of it has to do with gender ("Women don't find the Stooges funny" is …
The Muppets have always had a goofy, ineffable charm about them. They're tailor-made for kids, yet sophisticated enough that adults can enjoy them; heck, even the toddler-pitched Sesame Street throws a few winking pop-culture references at the parents in the audience. They're sly without being mean-spirited, anarchic while still embracing the stability of friendship and family. They're also very, very easy to get wrong, as the increasingly tone-deaf Muppet films of the 90s proved. While A Muppet Christmas Carole, Muppet Treasure Island, etc., all had their moments, the genius of late …
So I went up to Savannah Saturday. I figured, "I should really get some photos of the St. Patrick's Day celebration. It'll add color to the site, and be an enjoyable day to boot. I'll catch the parade, snap a few photos and be home before noon." Let me pause here to say something to my past self: Ha ha ha. You are an imbecile. Digression over. Back to business. Astute readers may have noticed that there are no pictures of Savannah's St. Patrick's Day celebration on this site. This is because I never made it to the parade. Why, you ask? Well, I've only lived in the Hinesville area since the …
I usually don't get political in this space. I am first and foremost a journalist, and journalism's most important watchword is objectivity. That means you don't take sides. It means you report the facts and let the readers draw their own conclusions. It means you stay above the fray. But I'm also an editor, and occasionally, by god, it's time for a little editorializing. Case in point: Talk radio icon Rush Limbaugh's recent remarks about contraception advocate Sandra Fluke. Sandra Fluke is a Georgetown Law School student who testified to Congress about her belief that the school's health-…
Do you know someone who does great work for charity? Someone who overcame huge odds to get where he is today? Someone who inspires others? Well, here at Fort Stewart Patch, we want to know that person too. We're starting a new, monthly feature called "Greatest Person," which will tell the stories of people in our community whose examples inspire us. It could be a military hero; it could be a charitable volunteer. It could be a great teacher or a business owner who goes above and beyond to give back to the community. It could even be a senior citizen whose wisdom instructs us or a school kid …
So it's Girl Scout cookie time again; time for our wallets to get a bit lighter while we get a bit heavier. And if you're anything like me, you've been jonesing for Thin Mints since last year. But if you're like me, you also don't want to wait for a Girl Scout to come knocking at your door -- you want your Tag-alongs now, dadgum it! Well, fear not; the Girl Scouts have thought of everything. If you're looking for cookies, just use the Girl Scout's Cookie Locator web site. Click here to find a cookie booth near you. And enjoy those Thin Mints! Got something to say about this story? Tell us …
A recent Army News Service story out of Fort Benning got me thinking. It got me thinking about what liberties soldiers give up to serve their country -- the liberties they willingly yield, and the liberties they shouldn't have to give up no matter what. It seems that if you're a soldier, you aren't free to express your opinions even in the comfort of your own home -- because according to the ARNEWS article, posting the wrong thing on Facebook can get you punished under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Let's be clear here: We're not talking only about posting sensitive material that could…
Hallelujah! The military is finally yielding to fashion and abandoning the famous "BCGs" -- or "birth control glasses," if you're not into the whole brevity thing. According to a report from Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., basic trainees will now be issued lighter, less hideous glasses. I remember BCGs all too well from my own days in the Army. Let's just say they lived up to their name. For those of you who haven't served, these detestable spectacles were called "birth control glasses" because wearing them could seriously hamper your dating life. They were huge, heavy and ridiculous-looking. The …
It's a Valentine's Day tradition and a treat every day of the year, but where does chocolate come from? How long has it been around? Who thought to put it in bar form, and is it too late to award him the Nobel Prize? Well, chocolate originated in the Americas, and according to Wikipedia, there's evidence of chocolate consumption in Mesoamerican cultures as early as 1900 BCE. Mayans, Aztecs and other Mesoamerican cultures cultivated the cacao tree, from which chocolate is derived, and even used cacao beans as currency. But Mesoamerican peoples didn't eat chocolate as a dessert; they mixed it …
The well-known "Nigerian Prince" email scam -- also known as the 419 scam -- seems to be getting a military twist. I got an email yesterday from a person identifying himself as "Capt. Joe Patton Jr." of the 395th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion in Afghanistan. Seems Capt. Patton needs my help getting a couple of "military trunk boxes" out of Afghanistan and back to the states. He assures me that the project will be "of mutual interest for the both of us and will never expose you to any form of risk." Funny thing, though. Sure, Capt. Joe Patton Jr. has a name so American it might as well …
