VETERANS DAY, SECURITY POLICE

I am still in Veterans Day follow up. As I was at my friend's site "Social Sense" I was moved by his posts about the USMC. They are a glorious service and I am in awe.

Having said that, all the armed forces are glorious in their own right. I spent my time in the military in the Security Police. While that sounds like a purely civilian pursuit, it really was a military fighting unit. My brothers fought to retain their bases with their lives and some made the ultimate sacrifice. In Vietnam, that meant protecting your base against all type of attacks. We did our job and when it was all said and done, we never lost a base.

When you are in the military you are committed to your country. There is no higher calling. I was proud to serve my country, and I would do it again if I could.

To my friends like Pat, we were noble, we fought for our country, and we triumphed against all odds. We are proud, we are the Security Police.

UD BASKETBALL STARTS TOMORROW!

This is my alma mater. I graduated from here, my son and my daughter have also. My wife and I have held season tickets to UD basketball for 25 years. We start our season tomorrow at 1 PM. We are on the rise. We are a top 25 team. We are the Flyers.

There is nothing like a game in the UD Arena. 13,455 fans screaming at the top of their lungs for the Flyers. We are second in NCAA games hosted in all the nation. We host the NCAA play-in game every year. Big deal you say? We average about 10,000 for that game involving teams nobody knows. Why? We love college basketball.

WE ARE THE FLYER NATION!

VETERANS DAY IN SCHOOL

I celebrated Veterans Day in class today with my students. I talked about my family and our service, talked about the millions of veterans who have given their lives so that we can live in freedom. My first comment was that I considered Veterans Day to be the most important holiday because it makes all the others possible. They got that.

One teacher walked his entire class down to mine and thanked me for my service. Each student shook my hand and thanked me. I was thrilled by that and it was hard to keep from crying. I've had almost every one of those students in class and that was one of the truly coolest things that has ever happened to me.

I don't often talk about my family in a personal way with my students, but they seemed to very much enjoy sharing my story with me. I told them I didn't do it because I wanted to be a hero, I did it because I wanted the service and sacrifice to be personal to them. I felt great pride in talking about my grandfather, my uncle, my father-in-law, and my father and their courageous service to America.

The message I wanted to leave them with was that they should be proud and above all, grateful to be Americans. Despite the constant drumbeat of negativism about our country, millions still flock to America because it is still seen as the true beacon of freedom. America is still the destination of the wretched refuse of the world who reach our teeming shores yearning to breathe free.

I think they got the message and they are grateful to be Americans. And so am I.

VETERANS DAY, 2009

I'm showing this video to my classes tomorrow. I also have prepared a PowerPoint that I'll show and narrate. They will know the importance of the day when I explain it to them. I'll post tomorrow about how it went.

I've added something new this year. A former student, who is now a Marine, recently visited Europe and he brought back a small bottle of sand from Normandy Beach for me. I think the students will get the message.

HOUSE PASSES HEALTH CARE DEBACLE

No slant here right? Here's a slanted article that puts us on alert that the health care debate isn't political it is ideological. Note specifically the last part as it takes the part of the Dems and their side of the debate. AP is nothing more than an organ of the left. Nice job being professional.

The red ink flows, but that's all right because we're doing it for the people. You who don't agree just don't get it. Hopefully, the senate has some people who do get the cataclysmic nature of what is occurring. You can't print money that doesn't exist without bankrupting the country. I wish I could print money to pay my bills, but alas, I have to earn it. Pelosi, Reid, and Obama are steering us into an abyss from which we can not survive. Government run health care will be a disaster.

By the way, thanks for the transparency, Nancy/Reid/Obama. I'm glad that bill was posted for 72 hours like you promised. I've read a lot of the bill and I still have a lot to read. I don't consider myself to be stupid, but it's really hard to understand. I don't think that most of the morons in congress have read the bill either.

God bless America.

THE TRAIN CONTINUES TO HURTLE TOWARDS A CRASH

I was doing my daily lunchtime reading and came across this article. My question is, when do we put a stop to this type of spending? Now I know there some on the left who would say, this is exactly the type of spending government should do in the "public interest." This leads me to ask, what does "public interest" actually mean? Who gets to define public interest? Is all this spending in the public interest? Really?

I would submit that it is narrow spending in certain districts and that kind of spending is subject, to say the least, to political, shall we say, considerations? This kind of spending is unnecessary and seems to be done to get rid of money rather return it unspent. Politicans spend money. That's what they do. There is an undeniable fact that controls the debate. Government consumes everything it gets and it, in turn, produces nothing.

I won't go to the trouble of taking on everyone of these projects because the absurdity of them stands on its own. I leave it to anyone with a modicum of intelligence to wise up to the profligate spending of our hard-earned tax money by our out-of-control government, on projects that don't pass the absurdity test.

The only way to break an addictive pattern is to go cold turkey. Choke off the supply to save the patient.

DRAIN THE SWAMP?

Let's drain the swamp. Aren't we all appalled by the corruption in congress? It isn't restricted to one party, the whole institution is ridicuously out of control. When will America wake up and say "Enough is enough?" We elect these people and they let us down, time after time. I want to believe the government is populated by well-meaning people who want to do what's best for the American people. My brain tells me otherwise.

When someone tells me that they want to "fundamentally change America" I get really nervous. I think, fundamentally, America is OK. We need a tweek here and there, but at its roots, America is a great country. These people who are in congress are without a doubt, for the most part, the worst of this country. The everyday people, the workers who make the clock that is America tick, are what makes us great. Not these self-aggrandizing, narcissists, who populate congress.

Our founding fathers never contemplated professional politicians. That invites corrupt politicians who have lost touch with the people who have elected them to run for office, year after year, after year. What the hell has happened to our country? We used to listen to each other, now we talk past each other. When did we think that was a good way to govern?

I don't understand people who are so wrapped up in the ideology that they can't see the other side. That's not to say that I don't argue my side vehemently. I just want a dialogue that is robust but respectful. What's wrong with that? That's the beauty of blogs. They are not restricted by ideology they are open season. And that's good.

I don't hold anything with any politician or with any political party. In my estimation they both stink and they both don't really care about the people they are supposed to serve. I would love to have a third party candidate come along who would listen to the people and really, really remember that the power lies with "WE THE PEOPLE." In today's politics, that is certainly a novel concept.

What do you think?