Happy Memorial Day!

I hope everyone is having a great memorial day. I know I posted about it before, but this day is a truly special one in the United States. Many think of it as merely an extended weekend in which to have barbecue with friends, but I would hope that many more know its true significance. 

Memorial Day is a national holiday in the US, and is designated as such so that we may honor those who have fought for our freedom and way of life for hundreds of years. We honor the valiant and noble young men and women who have donned the uniforms of our armed forces from every generation and every war - from the Revolutionary War to the present day wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

Our hearts go out to those who have lost loved ones, and our souls fill with pride and honor as we remember the great ones who have preceded us in fighting for such a magnificent dream. America is and should always remain a land of hope, freedom, justice, honor, and courage. 

It is such a simple thing in comparison to all that they have done - to honor their service on one day of the year. To wear the red, white, and blue. To wave a little flag. To salute the fallen, and to thank those active duty military members today. 

Today I helped coordinate the National Memorial Day Parade in Washington, DC. I think it was a marvelous success. All of the branches of the military were honored with bands, flags, musical numbers, honored guests, dignitaries and thousands of Washingtonians, Brazilians, Belgians, Kuwaitis, and many other nationalities. I wish you all could have been there, but I'm hopeful that you had your own parade or traditional celebration of some kind in your own hometown. God Bless you, America, and the Troops, both fallen and those still with us.

Keep Friends Close, Enemies Closer

You know that saying that goes: "Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer"? Well, recently I thought about a certain Presidential candidate and his idea of international diplomacy. Some of you may already be aware. Barack Obama has agreed to meet with the leaders of Iran, Syria, North Korea, Venezuela and Cuba without preconditions. And, on top of that, he refuses to re-visit Iraq to reassess the situation, and refuses to meet with General Petreaus. You might see the strange logic in this. Or, perhaps you think this is a stroke of genius.


Of course it's genius people. We legitimize regimes that do not pay attention to international sanctions and agreements with the highest form of diplomacy available: a Presidential visit. And, then we slap our own people in the face. Our ally Iraq, Maliki's government and our troops clearly are less worthy of being spoken to than a man who denies the Holocaust, or another man who has already tested nuclear weapons right near our ally Japan. Obama has got this one right. He's keeping his enemies close like bosom buddies, and keeping his friends at arm's length.

But, perhaps there is another option. Maybe, keep your friends close, and talk to your enemies when they start obeying international law....just a thought.

McCain, my reluctant choice.

I know many of you out there know I was anything but pleased to have McCain as the "presumptive" republican nominee, but I must now come out and say, I'm okay with it now. I was bothered by McCain's attempt to allow illegal immigrants to gain legal status while millions of others who were doing it the right way got shafted. I was bothered by the fact that he has constantly plagued American businesses, especially Pharmaceuticals with anti-big business legislation. Big business is what keeps America employed (despite its many drawbacks). I was bothered by the fact that he almost defected to the democratic party. I was bothered by the fact that he had no real world economic experience. I was bothered by the fact that he's a grumpy, weird old man.

However, I have now seen the light (this may have a lot to do with my options). Both Hillary and Obama want to bring socialized medicine to America. Obama has the "audacity of hope" to create 2 million new jobs in the public sector (hmmm...kinda like overtly bureaucratic poorly run nations like Russia and France). Hillary even made the comment that, "It's time for the government to fix the economy." I nearly spat out my gum. Since when does the government control the economy? Don't get me wrong, the government has certain controls over things like interest rates, trade embargoes and the like, but what controls the economy is big Joe down at the deli, consumer confidence, your investment portfolio and what color Kmart chooses to use to advertise its blue-light specials. On top of it all, both Obama and Hillary want an immediate pullout of troops in Iraq regardless of the situation on the ground. Let me get this straight. After we invaded the country, toppled its corrupt but stable regime and trudged around without a decent strategy against the growing insurgency leaving it in social and political anarchy, and finally got it right and are working to fix the mess WE caused, WE all of the sudden are going to leave. That's like me going over to my friends house, ransacking his pantry, then sweeping up part of the mess, peeing on the rest and running away. That's brilliant. That brings me to McCain.

McCain is a battle-tested, torture-endured military man. He knows what it takes to win a war. He knows what it takes to survive. He sees the big picture. He wants to see more political reconciliation in Iraq. He wants to see more work on rebuilding and creating new infrastructure. He wants to allow the Generals to have the full support of the government to do what they need to do in order to bring internal stability to a war-torn, secularly, religiously and ideologically divided nation. Many might think his support of the surge is for political expediency. Others may think his support is political suicide. To me his support shows he GETS the big picture. McCain knows we erred. Hindsight is so nice. But we cannot live in the past and undo what has already been done. We need to look forward and fix what we can and leave Iraq better than we came in.

On another note McCain admitted he was wrong on how he approached immigration. Good start. Hopefully he stays that way. McCain also is vehemently opposed to pork-barrel spending (all those little multi-million dollar earmarks that allow congressmen and senators to take home projects to their home states and districts with our federal tax money). This is good. We need a government that can run smoothly, effectively and transparently. We need to know where and how our money is spent. Furthermore, the correct way to slim the debt is not only through careful and well-regulated spending, but tax cuts. We should only pay what we have to, and nothing more. McCain was reluctant to call the Bush tax cuts a good idea, but now that he's latched on to them, he most likely won't be swayed back so easily (because he's a grouchy, stubborn, stick-to-his guns type of guy). For these reasons, and many others McCain has my vote. For those of you who think Obama is cute and has a nice voice, I can't really argue. Yes he's charismatic. However, he's also a socialist with staffers who worship leftist guerilla Che Guevarra. Not a good reason to vote for him. He's a political neophyte. McCain is old, wise and as stubborn as hell. I'd take that over a supple, 46-year-old shaven chest from Chicago's south side any day.

I want it, and I want it now!

Today, in this miraculous information age everyone is zigging and zagging every which way while balancing eight plates of fruit and pancakes with silverware in their mouths. It is amazing. It is fascinating. It is frightening. Of course it's good to have people busy and informed, however, it becomes dangerous when people read a couple news articles, assume they are informed, and then press for change. We are always looking for answers...which is good. But it seems we want immediate results. When it takes two minutes to heat your hot pocket, you get antsy. When the guy at the stop light takes an extra second to react, you go berserk. That is scary. I mean, what were you planning on doing in that one second that was so important? Why aren't we more grateful that we didn't have to bake the dough and stuff that hot pocket by hand? On that note, I'm going to get a little political here, however, I think you should read it slowly and methodically and try to understand where I'm coming from before declaring that I'm wrong and out-of-step.

We are some of the most impatient and ill-informed people on the planet. I am constantly seeing poll after poll of Americans who are dissatisfied with the recent war strategy and the war as a whole. Obviously we have not made the best decisions all along since the beginning, but one thing I must point out is that the strategy that we have currently employed, "the surge" has only been in effect for a month, yet senators, presidential candidates and a great deal of the general populace is already calling for a change.

How is a war that is five years old supposed to suddenly come to a perfect conclusion in a month's time? We are not giving our soldiers nor are we giving our commanders the chance to do their job. The little reported truth is that the surge HAS been effective. However, because it is still early, military leaders are hesitant to broadcast their small successes.

However, because the democrat-controlled congress wants to build momentum before Petraeus reports in September, people are of the minds that a decision must be made now. If the white house and congress call this surge to an abrupt end, it strikes me as fickle. It also sends a message to our military and commanders that not only do we not support them and their operations, but we don't think they can do their job properly.

But I suppose the thing that bugs me the most is that all involved here in the US, from citizens to senators, are not on the ground, and honestly do not care what the real situation is. If the media would rather cover death tolls and car bombs than victories and civilian parties in the streets, it does a great job demoralizing our men and women in uniform. Of course I'm not pro-war. No one in the military is even pro-war, but I do believe in logical, well-planned decision making. It wasn't done in the early days after Saddam's regime was toppled, but it does need to been done now. If we act quickly without giving our strategy and commanders time to do their job and report, we are going to suffer a much greater catastrophe. We must think logically, plan coherently and act in the best way we know how. Give our military a chance.