“Global citizenship is the idea that all people have rights and civic responsibilities that come with being a member of the world, with whole-world philosophy and sensibilities, rather than as a citizen of a particular nation or place. The idea is that one’s identity transcends geography or political borders and that responsibilities or rights are derived from membership in a broader class: ‘humanity’. This does not mean that such a person denounces or waives their nationality.” -- Wikipedia

Please respect me as I respect you and let’s agree to disagree. I don’t accept the theory of man-made climate change. Never will just as you cling to it assiduously. The issue then is how we go forward in disagreement. For that I have a modest proposal.

Let’s begin by identifying the one point on which we agree. Climate change is real. 

If, as you believe, idiots like me will forever interfere with your efforts to prevent it and, as I believe, it will occur regardless of our efforts, shouldn’t we focus on how to live with it?

In Flanders Field, by LTC John McCrae

McCrae had reason to despair. He had just lost a friend when he penned his famous poem and was sitting in a quagmire of a battlefield. The future, if there was to be one, appeared bleak. And yet the sun did shine again, and those who suffered and died in Flanders Field now rest in peace.
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Casting eyes over the quagmire that suffuses America today, especially in Washington, state capitols, college campuses, and inner cities, some despair. The media amplifies the antics of a vocal minorities and it becomes tempting to believe that the end times are upon the nation. However, turning away from the bad news, rays of hope can be found. One such ray shined on a tiny community in California this past Veterans Day.

Aircraft plants are strategic assets and camouflaging them is a necessity. Growing up in Maryland, I had long heard the stories of the failure to effectively camouflage the Martin Aircraft plant. They covered the whole plant, including its parking lots with netting. Sure, it made the plant invisible from the air but the adjacent river and railroad tracks formed an arrow pointing directly at it. 

Then came the winter snows collapsing the whole thing and trapping employees cars for months.

Boeing took a different approach. They constructed a town over their plant.

Looks like a nice place to live, doesn't it? Of course the "neighborhood" was kind of noisy.

If a single picture is worth one thousand words, these forty-three images of Jeep say the same thing over and over again: Versatile. 

As the man says, "My Jeep won the war, your Honda mows my lawn."

I walked away from the Democrats long ago, thus I have no problem understanding their reasons. I am confused only by what has taken others so long.

When I turned twenty-one, I registered as a Democrat which may have surprised those who knew me, because three years earlier I had campaigned for Richard Nixon. I handed out campaign literature and drove voters to the polls because I knew a little too much about JFK's crime family connections to feel comfortable supporting him even though he was the nominee of the party of President Truman. Obviously, I have been on a political odyssey.

Obviously, the greatest sacrifice is  of life for those killed in the line of duty, and permanent scars and loss of limb for those who are wounded. However, the vast majority are not killed or wounded and yet, they too make sacrifices. The greatest among these, in my opinion, is the separation of families during deployments.

There was a humorous adage among us when I served that if you needed a wife, the Army would issue you one. Yes, we laughed, and then many of us went out and got our own. Often, children were a byproduct of our rash decisions, and they were delivered in military hospitals, which brings us to the story I want to tell.

Let Go and Let God is the true story of Charles Arnold, a WWII US Naval Aviator and his mother whose faith helped bring him home safely. Few today understand the real meaning of faith and fewer yet are willing to place their sorrows and troubles in the hands of a divine being that many find it necessary to attack. The story does not pretend to prove or disprove the existence of a divine being, but rather explain how faith serves those who possess it, to help them endure hardships that would break seemingly stronger individuals. 

Imagine that God revealed himself to us, all of us. Now, imagine the surprise and then the anger of those atheists who campaigned aggressively against religion in all its forms and expressions. I believe that is what we have been seeing since the election of President Trump. First surprise at the defeat of Hillary Clinton and then anger as the nation flourished as it hasn’t in decades. By every objective measure, it’s as though the people, the economy, industry, agriculture, and all the rest breathed a sigh of relief as taxes were lowered and oppressive government rules and regulations were extinguished.

Only those who continue to cling to false hope and ill conceived ideology in the face of the success of their opposition, also cling to their hate and anger.

Once upon a time the Jaguar was generally deemed to be the most beautiful car in the world. Many of us dreamed of owning one, but few did. When I finally achieved sufficient success to afford one, it's cache had ended. Other cars had caught my eye. More importantly, I had learned too much. It was beautiful, but it didn’t work…