“Morning, Vern!” is heard over and over at Mimi’s Restaurant on Ga. Highway 54 in Peachtree City, as regulars roll in one at a time with the day just starting and chat with Suzy, Stephanie, Mimi and Vern when he takes a moment to turn away from the grill. But something more important than eggs and burgers is being cooked up at Mimi’s in November.

Who do you call when life throws you a curve? We are fortunate if we have a couple, maybe a few, people in our life who are so solid we know we could count on them in a crisis or to watch our back. Just a few. Earning that trust takes some time, and it takes a lot of character.

If you think only boys step on a ball diamond with a steely glint in their eye prepared for fierce but friendly battle, while girls try to look pretty and smell nice, then you haven’t been to a middle school fast-pitch softball game lately.

I’m no expert on Afghanistan, but I’ll give you something to ponder as you watch the news unfold.

Last week’s big story was the confidential report from President Obama’s appointed commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, candidly warning of possible failure in Afghanistan if we don’t switch now from a counter-terrorism strategy to a counter-insurgency strategy, and that substantially more troops are needed immediately to carry out that new strategy.

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard of New Portland, Maine, recently paid the ultimate price in Afghanistan.

Associated Press photographer Julie Jacobson, embedded with Bernard’s unit, was with them when they were ambushed by Taliban forces and Bernard was mortally wounded by an enemy rocket-propelled grenade.

If you were at Woodstock 40 years ago, you might remember the music, peace and love from that monumental event as if it were yesterday.

“You are 10 times the writer I am!” John Adams declared to his friend from Virginia, Thomas Jefferson, on June 11, 1776. Adams was persuading Jefferson to draft the 2nd Continental Congress’ statement of independence, and Jefferson tried to pass the job back to Adams before he reluctantly agreed.

This 4th of July will be my 60th. With each passing year, it seems, I grow more troubled at how little the average American knows, or seems to care, about the birth of our country celebrated on that holiday.

How do you say thank you to someone for taking fine care of the thing most dear to you? Here is the only way I know.

Most of you parents learned earlier in life than I did that having a child changes you in ways you could not predict. Your priorities get turned on their head, your life becomes a bargaining chip you would trade in a heartbeat if required to protect your little one, and if they get really sick, you wish there was some way to take on their sickness to make them well again. My 7-year-old Kristen became sick last summer and still has seizures now and then.

Every semester I am a guest lecturer for two hours at Newnan High School on the myths and truths of the Vietnam War. It almost seems Samuel Clemmons was looking to the future Vietnam War when he said in the 1800s, “It ain’t what you don’t know that gets you in trouble. It’s what you know for sure that just ain’t so.”

At dinner time on the last Friday in March, I parked next to an ambulance on the courthouse square in Newnan with my 7-year-old daughter, Kristen, in the back seat. This would be her first trip to Golden’s Cafeteria, soon to be a favorite since she loves pick-your-food restaurants that give a kid the power to choose.

As the hyperventilating over Barack Obama’s election subsides, along with disbelief this could happen in America, maybe a white conservative man like me can finally say a few things.

Maybe I’m a dinosaur. Not because I turned 60 in August, but because I believe in our system of capitalism and I have not forgotten the utter failure of socialism and communism wherever it has been tried.

The terrorists watching last week’s financial market turmoil might conclude that if they are sufficiently patient, we will destroy ourselves without their help.

Why is it that so many Obama supporters seem to reach their decision by feelings while so many McCain supporters seem to reach their decision by thinking?

Much has been said about the press’ adoring coverage of Obama while they nearly ignore McCain. My friend, Alex Nides, who lives in Tyrone with his wife Fran, told me recently about one way the media ignored McCain, a peek at the bias from an angle you probably won’t hear anywhere else.

In the crowd watching the Peachtree City Fourth of July Parade recently, a young soldier in Army dress greens and a sailor in Navy whites made me wonder how much they know about the war in Iraq.

My thoughts turned to fear and courage on Fathers Day as I held my 6-year-old daughter, Kristen, in her room in Children’s Hospital at Scottish Rites in Atlanta.

The California Supreme Court two weeks ago overturned California’s voter-chosen ban on same-sex marriage. What could that possibly have to do with the HBO series “John Adams” I wrote about recently?

I don’t have to tell you how the junk slouching out of Hollywood seems to counter your best efforts to teach your kids character and values.

I’ll admit for starters I did not attend the gathering last week in Silver Springs, Md., titled “Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan — Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations.”

William F. Buckley Jr., champion of individualism versus collectivism, antagonist of government run amok and constant critic of the nanny-state course America has been steering for far too long, died last week.

While you are doing America’s hardest work in Iraq and Afghanistan, you may have heard the buzz that the Berkeley, Calif., City Council passed a resolution: “... the Marine recruiting office is not welcome in our city, and if recruiters choose to stay, they do so as uninvited and unwelcome intruders ...“ and that the council went further to “Encourage all people to avoid cooperation with the Marine Corps recruiting station, and applaud residents and organizations such as Code Pink, that may volunteer to impede, passively or actively, by nonviolent means, the work of any military recruiting office located in the City of Berkeley.”

I cringe every time I hear politicians, TV talking heads and even generals and admirals refer to our troops as “kids.”

I missed the recent Dragon Boat race in Peachtree City, but having two Chinese daughters has led me to learn some of the roots of the Dragon Boat race tradition. If you’re game for a story from a different culture, read on.

All of a sudden we are bombarded with daily reports of a credit crunch and wild securities market fluctuations with mortgage and sub-prime lending at the root. What does it all mean?

I have read some local comments about lousy health care given our veterans, both in the service and after their discharge. I don’t question that problems exist here and there, but the whole system should not be painted with a broad brush of blame without some careful examination. Let me tell you my own story.

When Judi-ann Rutherford resigned from the Peachtree City Council recently, I took notice because she seemed to be a decent lady whose voting record was in line with my attitude on issues like TDK.

Two years ago at the Peachtree City 4th of July parade, I showed my daughter how to stand respectfully straight and silent with right hand over her heart as the honor guard with our flag passed.

On April 29, 2007, Colorado Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki made the baseball history books in a game against the Atlanta Braves.