Another 4th of July gone by

I hope everyone is having/had a great 4^th of July weekend. I am sure it was filled with the usual fireworks, national anthem, Old Glory flying everywhere (yes I know Old Glory is one flag that is currently undergoing massive preservation efforts and as such is not every star spangled banner we see flying everywhere), and many different variations of God Bless America and Lee Greenwood's God Bless the USA. I will detour from my usual 4^th blog where I boast about how great the country is, even with its many, many faults. Instead, I wanted to take a few minutes to thank those who have served, are serving, or will serve in the armed forces or the many peace groups out there (Freedom Corps, Peace Corps, Red Cross, etc). Despite the many flaws that our and the international media love to point out (let's face it; there is no better story in a foreign country than how the USA screwed something up), Nothing is ever said about the many good things that we are doing, even under this Administration and Congress (I support the current Administration… Congress is a different story). But more on that later in this blog.

Whether or not you disagree with the war on terrorism/Iraq, I would hope you support the troops, who are willing to risk their lives for us and others. Enough cannot be said about them and I just wanted to add my many thanks. At my city hall, there is a "wall" that the Veterans Center has on display with a simple phrase that while it may not poetic, it does sum up the service of the military personnel, "All gave some, Some gave all".

Something caught my eye the other day that was just sad. On a street corner you had a large group of anti-war protesters with signs essentially saying pull them out/bring them home now. They were loud and while I disagree with them, I support their right to protest. What made me sad was on the other corner, there were a small group of pro-war (I will not say pro-military because the anti-war people may be pro-military, just against this particular war) demonstrators (I do not think you can call them protesters as they are not against a current policy/action) that were just sitting there with very simple signs. From my vantage point, it did not look like they were saying anything but they were being yelled at (I assume, the people looked very angry) by two of the anti-war people (they had the anti-war signs). Why is that okay? They are doing the same thing the other group is doing yet they are being yelled at? If it was because they support the war, then that is truly sad. Anyways, on to my ramblings below.

To be fair, I should clarify my 1st paragraph sentence. It isn't that nothing is ever said of these good things, they are either pushed off the main stories or are very briefly covered. During the Christmas Day tsunami a few years ago or the Burma Cyclone Nargis that is still a humanitarian nightmare, very few stories were covered showing that the US, along with many, many other nations were trying to help. The US sent USNS Mercy to the tsunami region and I believe, although I have not confirmed this, to Burma. The Tsunami victims allowed the US to help and we did so willingly and without a favor in return. Our military also sent ships to Burma that to this day are still denied access to unload vital humanitarian aid supplies. Granted, we are not liked around the world and the Junta are pussies but I would think that the media would run a few stories on this. Do not get me wrong, I am not expecting the international media to play into the propaganda campaign of the United States, but run something.

Despite our "quick draw" policy, we were able to negotiate with two nations that are our enemies, and arrive at a peaceful solution. Libya and North Korea. The North Korea story, I think, should be a huge story. The US was able to get North Korea to agree to a plan to dismantle their nuclear weapons and their ability to produce them. Yes, the US and 4 other nations arrived at the agreement with the North but do not forget that it was the US's idea and insistence on the 6 party talks. This brought other nations who have an interest in the nuclear North and Korea's closest ally, China. This was important and it was resolved, on paper at least, at a table and not on a battlefield. I would think even those who disagree or even hate President Bush would be happy to hear of a peaceful solution but the story is rarely talked about on the media, especially on CNN and MSNBC. For fairness, Fox News did cover this story to a greater degree but despite their claims, they favor my political side and party.

There really isn't any point to my blog and I know the logic and arguments are rudimentary compared to other brilliant writers but this is what crossed my mind as I wrote this so I wanted to type this down.