The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Hereditary Genius

    These two portraits, of my 19-year-old son Emerson and my 17-year-old daughter Reagan, were taken Tuesday by my brother Kirby McCain. If you’ll click on the images you can see the photos full-size. Emerson is home for Thanksgiving from college, where he is a member of the acrobatics team and also president of […]

My Brother Kirby Needs Help

Last month, I rattled the tip jar for my brother Kirby, whose health problems have kept him out of work, and over the weekend he was hospitalized. Now he’s been released and my younger brother will be bringing Kirby up here to stay with us for a while until he can get back on his […]

Please Hit Kirby’s Tip Jar

My older brother Kirby’s coverage under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) has expired and he is now officially unemployed. If you don’t know the backstory, Kirby is a 62-year-old Army veteran who works as commercial truck driver. He must undergo annual health checkups and, given his history of cardiovascular issues, this resulted in […]

The Family Business

My podcast partner (and former Kimberlin co-defendant) John Hoge is from an eminent Tennessee family, and some of his cousins are proprietors of Atomic Fireworks, headquartered in South Pittsburg, Tennessee, with retail locations in Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, South Carolina and Missouri. This company was founded in 1930 by L.W. Loyd, who in 1948 was one […]

Please Go Hit Kirby’s Tip Jar

My brother Kirby has been out of work for two months because of health problems. The good news is, he apparently won’t need more surgery. The bad news is, he’s still getting tied up with the process of getting medical clearance to return to work, so I sent him $100 via Pay Pal. He’s also […]

$211.17

It’s 715 miles to LaGrange, Georgia. Saturday afternoon, they’re having the memorial service for my Uncle Casper, a combat veteran of Vietnam who married my mother’s baby sister Barbara. I’ve reserved a rental car ($211.17) for this road trip, and will leave this afternoon heading “south to see my kin.” You can figure the cost […]

History as Heritage and Legacy (and Something I Learned About My Parents)

  Who are those good-looking young people? That’s my mother and father, as students at the University of Alabama circa 1950. Dad was a World War II veteran attending on the G.I. Bill, and I’m not sure if he met my mother in Tuscaloosa, or if she started going there after he married her. Both […]

It’s Very Simple

  Many of our country’s problems can be traced to a single factor: Two headlines splashed across adjoining pages of the Wall Street Journal this week underscored a desperate but largely uncommented-on challenge facing America. “Red Ink Seen for Social Security by 2020,” screamed one, as the program’s outlays will exceed income next year — and […]

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