It’s happening in Wilson County, Tennessee, where Captain John Parker has lost his job after serving two tours of duty in Afghanistan.

I signed up to serve my country,” Parker tells NewsChannel 5 investigative reporter Jennifer Kraus.

And serve he did, which is why he was so shocked at how he was treated when he came back home to Wilson County.

“It just made me feel that the people I was fighting for were the exact people that were taking my job from me,” he adds.

You see, Parker is not just a soldier.

He’s also a teacher who taught criminal justice to high school students and helped coach the school wrestling team. before he was sent to the Middle East with the Army Reserves.

Parker says that before he left, “I just told all the kids, ‘Hey, I’ll be going, but I’ll be back.’”

He went back to Wilson Central High School after his first year-long tour in Afghanistan.

And, after a second tour of duty there, he expected to return to the classroom again.

Parker should have had no problem going back to work thanks to a special federal law that protects soldiers like Parker.

It guarantees that, when they come home from their deployment, they’ll get their old jobs back for at least a year.

But just one month after Parker went back to work, the Wilson County School system told him his teaching contract was not being renewed and he was out of a job.

Wilson County Director of Schools Dr. Jim Duncan, the man who sent the letter informing Parker that he was being let go, insists that “he was not fired.”

Duncan maintains that the teacher-turned-soldier was told not to return to school the next year because there just weren’t enough students signed up for Parker’s class.

But Duncan also admits that he had problems with Parker being sent to Afghanistan not once, but twice.

“It was like we got these classes going and you’re supposed to be the teacher,” Duncan tells Kraus.

That’s not even my favorite quote. This is:

“Could he have said something to his superiors? ‘Look, I really need to get back there. If everything is equal, I need to get back there (to Wilson Central High School) January 3rd because that’s when my class starts and I need to be with those kids for the full semester.’”

Captain Parker’s filed suit against the school district. I wish him well. It sounds like the district needs more role models like him and fewer role models like Dr. Duncan.

Farrah tipped me off to this great project by Xerox. A hat tip to Wizbang as well.

crossposted from On Tap.

I’m here at the Ronald Reagan building in Washington for a panel discussion on ‘’24′’ and the War on Terror. Rush Limbaugh moderating, Tony Almeda and Chloe O’Brien on the panel (as well as President Logan). Oh yeah, some guy named Michael Chertoff’s here too. :p

No sign of Jack Bauer. He probably doesn’t have time for things like this.

It’s just about to get started, so I’ll post impressions later today.

***Update***

It’s a who’s who of attendees. Clarence Thomas is down front, Maureen Dowd is floating around, and Laura Ingraham is here as well.

***Update***

This was a much more interesting discussion than what I’d anticipated.

To start, Michael Chertoff made a pretty astute observation: that Jack Bauer often has to make “the best choice from a series of bad options”. It’s a simple statement, but it applies in real life. All too often the Kos’s and Atrios’s of the world demand that we do things their way, not understanding that their way is either unrealistic or impossible given the options our enemy present to us.

Joel Surnow, the creator of “24″, brought down the house when he said that the show is a form of “wish fulfillment.” He went on to say it’s pretty clear on the show that “terrorists are the bad guys and we’re the good guys.” Yes, we hear that sentiment so infrequently from Hollywood that the audience cheered.

Also, interestingly enough, Surnow said the idea of a “real time” show came about before the idea of CTU. The original “real time” concept was going to be a wedding day, and it was going to be a romantic comedy.

Limbaugh was great and really had a fun time with the cast and crew of the show. He and Carlos Bernard (who played Tony Almeda) had some great moments of bantering back and forth.

Surnow was predictably close-lipped about what’s in store for Season 6, but he did offer a few clues. If you don’t want to read the spoilers, stop reading now.

The show will do stuff in D.C. next year. The president will be based in D.C., but most of the show will continue to be shot in Los Angeles.

Aaron Pierce will be back next year. Interestingly, Surnow said he was originally going to be killed off in Season 5, but the actor convinced the producers there had been too many main characters die.

President Logan will be back next year as well, or at least that was strongly suggested by Surnow.

And one spoiler for the “24″ movie, which is currently being written. It was described by Surnow as a big action flick that will not be tied to real time (but will take place over 24 hours). It will also be shot on location, and Surnow mentioned it would have a lot of overseas filming.

From former CIA agent Michael Scheuer, on the death of Zarqawi.

“In some ways this is very good news for al Qaeda, because al Qaeda’s forces in Iraq will now focus more on Americans and the Iraqi government, than on simply killing Shias because they’re heretical people,”

And how exactly is that good news for al Qaeda? 

“Joyous news, my brothers!  With the death of our beloved Zarqawi, the time has come to once again strike at the Great Satan!  And with their 21st century military technology and superior numbers, we will not have to wait nearly as long to become martyrs for the cause!” 

To say that Scheuer seems to be overreaching here is an understatement.  This is bad news for al Qaeda, good news for us and the Iraqis.  Will it end all the violence.  Of course not.  Is it a step in the right direction?  Unquestionably so. 

 **Update**

More astute analysis from the Kossacks:

Zarqawi was quite probably a psy ops job in the first place, so what does that make his “death”?

Keep your eyes on the prize:

Gay marriage?
Haditha.

Flag burning?
Haditha!

Brangelina?
HADITHA!

Zarqawi?
HADITHA!!!

—–

How do you know: “he was guilty of masterminding suicide bombings and beheadings of innocent civilians”?  Did you hear this on the MSM? Or are you privy to information the rest of us don’t have access to?

—–

This begs the question, if they had good intelligence as to his whereabouts at a specific time, and special forces in the area, why wouldn’t they try to take al-Zarqawi alive?  

In this circumstance, it’s not as if he could have gotten away.

—–

The right way to handle this would have been to say nothing … “bombing attack killed some insurgents …”

And, in coming months, have side conversations about ‘boy, odd isn’t it that we aren’t hearing anything from him …’

On the intel side, use the terrorist / insurgent communications about ‘what is going on’ … ‘was he really killed’ … such to help find / track others …

Instead, this foolish glee will help make him a martyr … and, yet again, we have a ‘major milestone’ … ‘major step forward’ … and such which may  – or may — not have real impact on what is going on in Iraq.

Did Zarqawi really matter as individual … or will there be a Spartacus-type moment with tens now stating “I am Zarqawi …”  

But, again, believe BushCo blew this one in how they’re handling it … any surprise?

A few days ago Ana Marie Cox (formerly Wonkette, now just a mere columnist at Time) wrote the following about DailyKos founder Markos Zuniga.

He’s the left’s own Kurt Cobain and Che Guevara rolled into one, dripping sex appeal for progressives for whom debate has become synonymous with losing, who need a muscular liberal answer to the cowboy swagger adopted by the Bush Administration and its fans.

Apparently Kos and his followers combine the sheer batshit lunacy of Che Guevara with the self-descrutive behavior of Kurt Cobain.  That’s sexy to some people? 

The Time blogger says America is a rogue nation because the Pentagon is re-writing Field Training Manuals getting rid of Geneva Convention rules against “humiliating” prisoners.

As Goldstein writes, “Humiliation being a form of torture, the argument goes—which, were that true, would make junior high the equivalent (for emotionalist hysterics like Sullivan), of Abu Ghraib.”

James Joyner at OTB has a much more reasonable take on the pros and cons of the decision.

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I don’t typically plug the show on the blog (seperation of job and personal stuff, I guess), but this is really too cool.

Sgt. Peter Damon, the Iraq War vet who’s suing Michael Moore is going to be on the show today. You can hear him at 5:20 Eastern at www.nranews.com or on Sirius Satellite Radio on Patriot 144.

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Peter Beinart’s new book: The Good Fight : Why Liberals—and Only Liberals—Can Win the War on Terror and Make America Great Again, seems to be deeply flawed.

I mean, look at the numbers Jim has posted.

50% of Democrats say “dismantling the al Qaeda network” is a top priority for them. More Dems want to pull out of Iraq and stop the global spread of AIDS.

41% of Democrats don’t support or don’t know if they support the toppling of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Only 57.3% of Democrats answered “yes” when asked if they’d support military action to destroy a terrorist training camp.

Seems to me like Beinart’s got a tough job of convincing liberals to want to fight the War on Terror, much less convince folks like me that they can do a better job.

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Wow. Cindy Sheehan is going to have a reality show and a movie out soon.

The reality show doesn’t really surprise me, but the movie does. I’d think her son would be a better subject.

Your help in translating is needed. This is actually pretty cool. I look forward to seeing what comes of this.

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Straight from the FBI, assertions that PETA has ties to terrorism.

It’s pretty damning stuff. I’ll have more to say this evening, after I’ve had time to thoroughly read over the documents.

In New Jersey, the SHAC Six have been convicted of terrorism and internet stalking. Hallelujah.

One group of researchers, Americans for Medical Progress, warned that the verdict would lead to more violence and called on federal lawmakers to strengthen the laws against animal rights extremists.

“We’ve seen a dramatic rise in the number of criminal actions against research over the past five years,” said Dr. John Young, a veterinarian who is chairman of the research organization. “There’s no doubt today’s guilty verdicts will provoke still more acts of harassment, intimidation and violence. That is terrorism, and it must be stopped.”

I agree that this is likely to produce more acts of violence, but I’m unsure that additional legislation would do much to stop it. When you’re dealing with crazy terrorists who don’t mind breaking the law, don’t expect a new law to change their behavior.

Is going on over at On Tap. Feel free to chime in.

While some might suggest bombing them back to the Stone Age, the Telegraph says we’d be happy just bombing them back to the Industrial Revolution. You want steam power? Sure, no problem. Coal? Absolutely. Oil? You betcha.

Boy, Tony ought to have fun in these comments.

A second test has come back negative, but additional tests are ongoing.

So says Jeff Jacoby.

Make no mistake: This story is not going away, and neither is the Islamofascist threat. The freedom of speech we take for granted is under attack, and it will vanish if it is not bravely defended. Today the censors may be coming for some unfunny Mohammed cartoons, but tomorrow it is your words and ideas they will silence. Like it or not, we are all Danes now.

Amen to that, Jeff.

It’s always fascinating to me to see the priorities of the Washington Post. While the blogosphere’s big story is clearly the Muslim riots (just take a look at technorati’s top searches, the Post waits until page A15 to talk about it. Instead, we get a front page obit on Betty Friedan, a story on the 2007 budget, a negative story on NSA wiretapping, etc.

Perhaps this is why circulation is down?

**Update**

And finally the Post puts the story on the front page on Monday. I guess when a third embassy gets attacked it’s front page news.

Someone who thinks Dianne Feinstein is a Republican in Democrats clothing (first video in link, at roughly 2:10 into the interview).

I’m officially jumping on the Sheehan for Senate bandwagon. Run, Cindy, Run!

You can encourage Cindy here (h/t to Michelle).

So Jim and I disagree about Joel Stein’s column on the idea of supporting the troops but not the war. I think Stein’s right, actually. I’ve never understood how someone like Cindy Sheehan can get away with saying her actions support the soldiers, but not their mission.

We also disagree on Hugh Hewitt’s cross-examination of Stein. It was good talk radio, I’m sure. Stein got beaten like a rented mule and it was amusing to read. But really, his presence wasn’t needed for Hewitt to say what he said. It easily could have been a monologue, and it certainly wasn’t a spirited discussion of the merits of Stein’s argument. There was no “there” there.

Stein says people who just throw a “Support the Troops” bumper sticker but don’t do anything else should quit fooling themselves and get active in the anti-war movement. I think if soul-searching went on, Stein would see the opposite happen. I think more people would start to actively support the troops AND their mission. So I’m all for having that public debate. In that respect, Stein’s argument is false. But when he says you can’t support the troops and not support the war, I’m finding it hard to disagree.

So Osama wants a truce. Why do I have a feeling that you could troll the comments at Democratic Underground and DailyKos and find someone who says “hey, that’s not such a bad idea?”

Check out the caption to this photo.

Um Nidal, mother of three Palestinian martyrs delivering a speech at a celebration at the18th foundation anniversary of Palestinian militant group, Hamas, on Friday Dec.30, 2005, in the Syrian capital, Damascus.

Martyrs. We’d call them suicide bombers. But hey, there’s no bias in the media, right?

via The Corner

I heard this on Paul Harvey yesterday, but this is the first news story I’ve seen about the rock and country band that will be touring Iraq this Christmas Season. They’re called the Second Amendments, and the group consists of five Congressmen. They are, by the way, all “A” rated candidates according to NRA-PVF (for the 2004 election cycle).

Rock on, gentlemen.

Man, Roderick Evans is a hero to me in more ways than one. First off, to join the army at age 36. That’s awesome. But to lose 230 pounds in order to join the army?

Roderick, I take my hat off to you. And if Roderick can go from 416 to 165 pounds, then there’s no reason I can’t drop the 30 I need to lose.

The latest Townhall.com column is up and available here. I’ll share any moonbat email I might get from this with you as it comes in.

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In the words of listener Wai, has Germany completely lost its ever lovin’ mind?

German authorities have paroled convicted terrorist Mohammed Ali Hamadi after he served 19 years of a life sentence for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA jetliner and the killing of a U.S. Navy diver, a law enforcement official said Tuesday.

Hamadi has been released from prison and has left Germany, said Doris Moeller-Scheu, a spokeswoman for the Frankfurt prosecutor’s office. She said she did not know his destination.

Hmm… I’m guessing you might want to start with the flights to Tehran.