War Takes It's Toll On Our Civilians Too!

I understand Karzai being concerned about the number of civilians being killed in the war. It is, however, part of the price. Civilians die.

We have our own issues with it. Often the aftermath of service. Something snaps, as happened with a 23 year old Iraq veteran in Michigan. A mother about to give birth, a 13 month old girl and three dogs perished before the young man took his own life.

As I watched the troops crossing the border into Kuwait last evening, I wondered how many of them will have trouble re-adjusting to civilian life. The life they're leaving behind in the war zone was one for which they were ill prepared before deployment. It's not the fault of their training, it's the manner of war. No human should be asked to do to another what is required by war. But we wage them never-the-less.

This young man enlisted before he had even graduated from high school. What could possibly have prepared him for what he would face. And then, free from the actual presence in it, something snapped. Who knows how frail the human psyche can be. How much with which one is able to cope.

Even the comics address it. Look at Wally Winkerbean. It gives you an idea. Every loud noise makes you jump, you wonder who in the crowd may be a suicide bomber. How do you shake it? You're home. You're safe. It doesn't always compute.

I know. I dated a Ranger who did three tours in Vietnam. He was, to put it mildly, a mess. The relationship didn't work out. I was afraid of him.

But a wife. A little girl. Dogs. The family support mechanism. No longer recognized, no longer trusted. Dead. Those are our civilian casualties. There are far too many of them.

To whom do we complain?

Lies, Misplaced Words And The First Amendment

I would probably have missed the story all together - the Connecticut Senate race - if I hadn't at one time played tennis with the current Republican candidate, Linda McMahon. The story wasn't about Linda, but her shoo in opponant, AG Richard Blumenthal, and his "misplaced words" regarding his military service during the Vietnam War.

He claimed to have actually served in the Marine Corp in Vietnam. Wrong on both counts. A technicality, to be sure, but the Reserves isn't quite the same unless you actually are deployed to the war zone. Nor is serving stateside after five deferrments. Oh my. Talk about "dancing with the politician", this was a beaut and of course he took full responsiblity for those "misplaced words." I wonder if he need have bothered.

A court case has just been decided in favor of a Pomona, CA man who claimed he was a retired Medal of Honor Marine. He wasn't. He plead guilty with the provision he could appeal on the basis of his First Amendment rights.

He not only lied, he violated the 2007 Stolen Valor Act. I need to misplace a few words of my own in writing that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in his favor, 2 to 1, that the law was a violation of his free speech rights.

That being the case I wonder if all the "misplaced words" and outright "lies" that we are constantly being subjected to really require the breast beating penitence they are given when found out. Save it! The courts are giving you free reign to say what you'd like.

Interesting, isn't it, that both these men were or claimed to be military men. Obviously there is a lot of honor involved with having served. As well there should be. No wonder the Marine's are always looking for a "few" good men. They aren't always easy to find.

As for claiming the Medal of Honor in a lie and getting a pass, what can be said? Those who are legitimate recipients did so, many losing their lives in the effort, to give one the right to lie?

Wow.

We Used To "Finnish" FIrst!

Yep. We used to be on top of the world thanks to the likes of the little guy standing therel like he owned it. But then something happened. We got lazy and greedy and let our integrity slide. We even elected a man President who'd rather have us as a member of the pack than leading it. He even went so far as to travel the world apologizing for every wrong, perceived or otherwise, for which we'd ever been blamed.

It seems he got his wish. We aren't the country we once were. We keep out the educated, many who have studied here, yet won't expel those who come to take rather than give. Rather than disciplining our penchant for spending sprees we print more money or borrow it from dubious allies.

I saw a commercial the other evening. I don't know what it was advertising but it was flashes of young men and women, probably students, from various countries touting their areas of expertise. What caught my attention was the one who claimed first in math and science. Finland.

Well, it's long been known we no longer hold that crown, if we ever did. What I didn't know is that it wasn't China or Japan. Finland. Are Finnish youngsters so very different than our own? Nope. But their education system is.

High-school students here rarely get more than a half-hour of homework a night. They have no school uniforms, no honor societies, no valedictorians, no tardy bells and no classes for the gifted. There is little standardized testing, few parents agonize over college and kids don't start school until age 7.

How's that for starters? They also do not have with them in their classrooms iPods or cell phones. Imagine.

They do, however, love shopping, Desperate Housewives and just like our kids, wear outlandish, to us, clothes, dye their hair and may even wear dreadlocks.

This puzzlement of achievement doesn't stop with education. It has carried over to how the entire country functions based on a number of criteria put together by Newsweek.

In this study Finland finished number one. Number ONE! We didn't even make the top ten! We came in eleventh. So who was ahead of us? The usual suspects plus a few surprises. Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, Australia, Luxembourg, Norway, Canada, Netherlands, Japan and Denmark.

Maybe it's because so many of those countries have long dark winters and the kids have little else to do but study. I don't think so. After all we have Alaska. Interesting. Eight of the top ten are such countries. They all rank above us in matters that count. Education, quality of life, health care, political climate and climate for business to name a few. What do we have with Alaska? An oil field we won't tap and Sarah Palin. Is there a lesson here that we should be learning?

One Way To Cut The Fat!

I was somewhat appalled listening to the Governor of Washington list the cuts necessary to curb their run-a-way budget. As is usual practice, politicians tend to cut things like libraries and such things deemed essential services in what I think is attempt to place the blame on the citizens. Make them feel guilty for exercising the use of such "luxuries" when in fact it is the politicians who spend like drunken sailors. Washington's governor did from day one! She had a huge surplus when she took office for about 32 seconds.

I didn't think it could get worse until she mentioned that Hospice was one of the services being cut. So much for having the chance to end ones life with dignity!

That's the state level. Let's have a look at the Feds. Recently they decided to cut the food stamp program to fund the bailout of union workers and public employees before feeding the poor. Well, okay. Now who needs Hospice? We'll starve to death first!

But wait. There's more!. Michelle's fight against childhood obesity is in need of funding. What's going to be tapped? Food stamps!

Well, it could solve the obesity problem for without food stamps families won't be able to feed their kids. On the other hand, there are restrictions on the kinds of foods that can be purchased with food stamps. More nutritious than otherwise. No tobacco. No alcohol. That leaves the less nutritious and less expensive foods to be put on the table. Fattening!

Perhaps they could grow their own? Maybe, unless they live in an urban jungle. Not everyone can dig up the White House lawn to make a point.

It seems to me priorities are a bit off kilter here. If they need to get the budget on track, don't starve the poor. Put a freeze on union and public employee salaries! Give up waging wars. Keep the illegals out.

Did you know in New York a teacher can get paid as much as $85,000 annually, in other words their salary, to sit in a "rubber room" and not teach because the unions prohibit their being fired? Tenure.

Next time I wander through Costco and watch a family of ten looking like another meal is the last thing they need, crowding around the free sample displays, perhaps I won't look at them with such distain. Maybe it's how they eat. Food stamps not required.

But watch out for the tax man. Next thing you know he'll be assessing you for that which you did consume! We have to take care of the campaign contributors you know. Elections are just around the corner!

It's The Sound Bite That Sticks!

Remember a few weeks back when everyone was aghast when the new administrator of NASA supposedly told Al Jazeera that the President had given him three charges, foremost being reaching out to Muslim nations to help them feel good about the contributions they have made to science, math and engineering. When and whatever that may have been.

The first reaction was just that NASA? My reaction was how condescending of us. That Muslim nations would need such a feel better about themselves boost from us of all countries! Then, too, after having just scuttled the shuttle program that actually has something to do with what NASA is - or was!

Now we learn the Government is going to send the Imam from the controversial mosque near ground zero to Muslim countries, at tax payer expense, to do more of the same warm and fuzzy shtick on our behalf.

What's with this obsession with trying to make them love us? If the government truly had vetted the Imam I guess they can do what's within what they feel is their mandate. There are so many questions about this man, and his intention, I wouldn't let him out of his room what's more set him loose in the countries of our enemies! I'm not sure the new head of NASA has any applicable credentials other than being an FOO - friend of Obama. I'll caveat that though, I didn't research it.

The point being, like with myself in this instance, the first impression of the headline is what sticks with us. That impression, not necessarily the truth left out if in fact there was any, scares the heck out of me. Either this government is the reincarnation of the keystone cops or we should be scared. Darned scared! I wonder which?