Current Events & Some Opinion

Well, it's about time I typed something up!

Things are runnning smoothely here and the light at the end of the tunnel has grown from the width of a pin to the width of a #2 pencil.

We have begun our negotiations with the AF folks who own us at Balad AB (primary AF base and hold on all things AF in Iraq) for the outbound journey. As of today, I should be rolling home in accordance with my count down timer.

Interestingly enough, the Sunni tribes in Baghdad have declared they are more interested in fighting the al Qaeda in Iraq (AQI) than the Coalition Forces. They realize we will eventually leave, but the AQI may never leave unless driven out or killed. That's good news for Coalition Forces in the near term.

The Shia, heavily controlled and financed by the Iranians, are recruiting young Iraqi teenagers (cheaper than hiring foreign fighters) to battle Coalition Forces and are even approaching elementary aged school kids - in school- to tell them the U.S. is their greatest enemy and the Iranians are the way of Iraq's future.

It's a sad day in American news reporting when Paris Hilton is the top running story. What has happened to us? Why should we care about the high maintenance, ignorant daughter of priviliege doing jail time? She broke the law and probation(twice) and is being measured under the law like everyone else...albeit her treatment in jail is far from common. I don't care much for Martha Stewart either, but at least when it was time to go to jail, she did her time quietly and moved on. Unfortunately, I think too many Americans have latched on to really bad role models. On the other hand, the folks doing good, moral, and charitable things aren't geting any press either.

Two big issues for the upcoming elections will, in my opinion, be the American troop presence in Iraq and laws on immigration. No mater how you slice it, we will be in Iraq for quite some time in one fashion or another to preserve the government model we have helped to establish and maintain a regional influence against Iran.

On immigration, I recently read an opinion piece discussing how America has created a welfare state for illegals (what part about ILLEGAL doesn't register with people??) to receive health care, schooling, and benefits that should be reserved for American citizens. I am in complete agreement!

On top of that, instead of my children learning Spanish out of pure curiosity, they will have to learn it out of necessity because ILLEGAL immigrants refuse to learn English. Although I serve this country as an Officer in the USAF, with the oath of my office to protect the Constitution and the rights it preserves, I take great umbrage to ILLEGALS flying their national flags to demonstrate against how America has treated them and for how we may dare to enforce the immigration laws. We are a great nation of ideals and way of life. Along the way, we will have to get strict and clean house for America's financial and security sake. Just my opinion.

I leave you with one of our former President's belief on immigration to America:

"In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person's becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American...There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn't an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag... We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language... and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people."

Theodore Roosevelt 1907