The holiday weekend is upon us and thoughts go out to the start of summer and the live out of doors. All of those thoughts are as they should be, but let us not forget the reason for this holiday in the first place. It is to remember and honor those who served this country in peace and in war. We should remember those who served with special attention to those who did not come back from their tour of duty. We must always remember and honor those who served and in particular honor their sacrifices to this country. To give one's life or to have been one of the fortunate who returned home we must remember them. They are the embodiment of this country and they always will be, just as long as we remember and honor them on Memorial Day each year.

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The Israeli Parliament does not seem to realize the situation it is in. Heads of state from around the world are telling the Israeli Prime Minister that Israel needs to make peace with the Palestinians or they will lose support and in the long run their own democracy. In September of 2011 the United Nations will vote on making the Palestinian lands a recognized state. This will put in motion the push for demands to be met by the Palestinian people in the streets of their land and in Israel. They will use the large number of Palestinian citizens of Israel to push for the changes as yet not negotiated. The idea is to provide a situation where the Israeli Parliament negotiates or the street demonstrations will continue until they stop the economics of Israel in its tracks. If Israel tries to suppress these demonstrations they will loose the democratic status that provides the support from the U.S. It will have the same effect on the rest of the nations in the region making them more vulnerable to attack. These attacks will come in the form of support for the demonstrators but will be part of a subversive and malicious plan set in motion by those nations wanting Israel wiped off the map. No matter what comes about in the future, failure to negotiate a peace now will become the fault of Israel in the eyes of all onlookers. This will become a no win situation for Israel so make the peace while there is still time.

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The way nations go to war has changed over time and it has changed once again as we were watching. During the French and Indian War, in the 1750s, the English and French armies were introduced to the Indian way of fighting. Hit and run and fight from behind trees and stumps and constantly moving to keep the enemy off guard. Though the British and the French continued to use the standard European format for war on the battlefield it was the American Civil War that changed the way war would be fought in Europe and in the Americas. Trench warfare was now the way to play the war game. World War I saw the use of mechanized equipment and aircraft to take the war to the enemy. The process has been evolving quickly over the past fifty years. The new look of war is cyber in style and substance.

The new look takes the mechanized equipment and tools of war and now no longer has to control them on site. The new standard is to be able to strike anywhere and at any time with out the physical persons being in the fight. Attacks can come from half a planet away and with cameras on board those mechanical tools of destruction we can witness the death and destruction first hand and in real time on a TV screen. The old boots on the ground is now just for small and special actions where it still takes the trained human to kill, capture of destroy a target. This technology does raise a question about how long will it take for the enemy to come up with the same technology and turn in on us. Though this seems to be a step forward is it in reality just narrowing the gap between defense and all out war where no one wins?



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Day in and day out we all hear the talk about the debt problem for the U.S. and yet we still have not reacted favorably to the situation. Those who run the government are at fault to a degree but the citizenry of America are just as responsible. This is not a problem that can be kicked down the road nor is it something that we can fix on a piece meal basis over time. The governing body of this country needs to stand up and solve the problems, no matter where the chips may fall, without regard for the future election outlook for the individuals or the political parties. At the same time the citizens of this country need to stand up and tell Congress that the problems requiring planned solutions and extended time periods for cure need to be fixed immediately. We the governed, need to demonstrate what we demand be repaired and eliminate the noise of the unions, business sectors, special groups and do what needs to be done. The time that allows for repair without substantial damage has just about run out.

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Just a quick thought for today about who is honest with the American people. We have a government that tells business to be transparent but the government fails to meet the standards they set for all of us. We know the business community and the finance community work by the standard of the pirate's code which states "take all you can and leave nothing behind". The news industry, which is supposed to look out for the truth and make sure the people receive the information are only concerned with who can provide the most outrageous story first and how much they can milk each story for. The average man and woman in the street cheat on their taxes fail to participate in their citizenship responsibility and ask what else can I get for nothing. Our military do not think for themselves they just follow orders no matter how stupid or dangerous they are. No one trusts the police or the legal system. Is it that no one is worthy of honesty or is it that we need to stop and regroup allowing the honesty based on a collective moral compass to sort itself out. We are not a bad society but we are out of alignment and we need to put things right if we believe we wish to truly go forward and be the guide for the rest of the world.

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The race for the Presidency of the United States of America has started. I can still hear the echoes of the last race in the back of my mind. It would not be so bad if they were interesting races but they generally are not. We already have a couple of buffoons who have already declared and we have the even bigger idiots that have announced that they are waiting to announce their candidacy. I am laughing at this process but it is a scary approach to deciding who will be passed the torch making them the most powerful person in the world. I know they start early because they must raise huge amounts of money. I understand that but to get a program going this early with a ragtag pile of celebrities to start the race is almost silly. The amount of money they will spend until the race gets real is money better kept in their treasury until those last few weeks in the contest. That is when the money means everything and the lack of it generally means the race is lost. What ever happened to short focused campaigns that did not spend all their time blaming the other guy for everything that ever went wrong?

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There is a world wide infrastructure in place for oil and it is the energy of current choice. We need to find other sources to provide for the next thousand years of energy demand. In the U.S. we have suspended drilling in the Gulf because of an oil spill. The shut down was appropriate and served its purpose by assuring that all wells in place and all new wells will be carefully monitored. That is as good as it gets at this point in time so why the delay in opening the oil fields in the Gulf? We need the oil and the other potential short term supplies of energy will require years to establish the necessary infrastructure to replace that which supports oil today. The promises of new energy sources are still in the future. Some options, such as nuclear energy, are perhaps off the table already. Drill for oil and spend the time and the money to set up the infrastructure necessary to support other energy products in the years to come.

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As a nation and a people we have spent so much time on Iraq and Afghanistan we have forgotten our responsibilities in our own hemisphere. For the last twenty years we have been treating our South American neighbors as if they were new neighbors we do not want to meet. The world south of our border is changing almost at light speed. The economies are growing and the unrest that was once there remains but is much less of an open rebellion. The reason is the governments have been changing and they are more than socialist they have a strong communist mind set. The new governments are run in general by smarter people than in the past and they know how to get votes. They quietly blame the U.S. for many things but show the people the way out of the fly bottle with the old communist promises. These new governments are trading on the world market and are signing treaties for trade with those nations we need to keep a close eye on. It is time for our government to start to bring the nations of this hemisphere back into the fold. We need to show and help those who are moving to what they believe is democracy that we can and will help them but we will not interfere with their choices. It is time we do as we say by actually doing as we say. It is how to make friends.

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There are areas all across the country where they recycle glass and plastic containers as a program to stop putting such packaging materials in dumps. It saves on much needed space and provides a second or third generation of life to the recycled materials. This is all well and goof and I am for such programs. What I am not for is the regulations in some of these municipalities where the packages must be washed out thoroughly or they will not be accepted for recycling. The recycling facilities do not dispose or recycle the items immediately and that constitutes a potential health risk. To eliminate that problem the municipalities have passed laws requiring the recycled materials placed at the curb for pick up be spick and span clean or the pick up will be rejected. Now this sounds all well and good except the most precious and scarce resource on the planet is water. That would be the same water that one would be required to use to wash out all these cans and bottles and jars. It would be much easier if the recycle operations had large vat like holding tanks that would contain a disinfectant that the material could be passed through when received at the facility to control any possible health problems. Our drinking water all too important to waste on cleaning up cans and bottles that are going to be melted down in the end to make new products. If you remember in the Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner there was "water, water everywhere, but naught a drop to drink".

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I have clamored about the government of Pakistan for years stating that we cannot trust them as honest and up front political partners. There were, and still are, too many terrorist supporters in the government. Those who were replaced years ago have been replaced over time by new supporters of terrorist activities. They think it is a game to take our money and then to do as they wish and in many instances turn secret information over to our enemies. Now that they have been trapped by their own stupidity they are trying to blame the U.S. for flying over their territory to take out Osama. It is obvious this government was a paid for friend but never a friend at all. If the money dries up, as might be the case based on the comments of a number of those in Congress, we may see the Pakistani friendship evaporate. There are two reasons for this poor excuse of a friendship to remain in place. The U.S. would still have a base to work from and they now know not to pay for friendship but instead only for accomplished deeds and actions. The relationship provides additional vantage points from which to monitor the Pakistani nuclear arsenal. Paid for friends do not work in the long run but a pay for services rendered would work with this bunch.

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Just when I write about the fact that we as a nation have not used our brains to fight wars and accused the military and the political world of looking for a spine they show they have found it. My hat goes off to the President and all his people for the decision to mount the attack on Osama Bin Laden. They did not seek permission nor even give a hint of the operation to the Pakistani leadership and took the bull by the horns. To me the death of this foul creature is secondary to the re-emergence and demonstration of U.S. courage and spine shown by this action. We all should be proud of what our people did in Washington and in Pakistan. Our boots on the ground are the best and once again the world knows it. Our spine and courage have served Americans for over two hundred years and I am glad we found where we mislaid it and remembered how to use it.

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Every day I receive some form of e-mail telling me to support our troops. They tell me how they are in harms way and I know that is true. The letters explain how they are far away from home and are being killed and maimed to keep me safe here at home. These letters tell me that they support these soldiers 100% and there is nothing they would not do to assist them in there time of need. At this point everyone has seen a few of these letters and we think that it is for a good cause, and in reality it is. The problem I have with waving the flag and telling me and everyone else that these young people are dying for a great cause because they are doing the honorable thing by serving up their life. I for one do not want these soldiers to give up their lives in another country. I want them to come home had assist us in rebuilding the America we know and care for. Our people are in lands where most of the people who live there do not want us there. We should leave and bring these soldiers home an give them honor and honorable jobs defending our country from within our borders. We have the technology to win wars with out boots on the ground we just need to find the spine to use it.

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