Just A Few Notes...

Today started late again. Tonight, I am too tired to stay up late, so I am going to sleep early and stop jumping on the blogs. Need sleep....

Today at work was like any other day. "Need an analysis of revenue from this source by 12pm tomorrow for a meeting"; "Can you conference call and discuss the correct documentation needed for..." The branch thought the financial center was being a pain and the financial center thought the branch was dragging their feet. So, here I go again.

Newsworthy Items:

1) President Bush gives a loooong commencement speech at the Air Force Academy's graduation today. He basically tried to explain why it is that we need to be at war in Iraq and what we are hoping to accomplish by making Iraq a free and democratic nation. To make it short:
a. Free countries give hope and prosperity to their people
b. Dictators give despair and pain, breeding conditions for terrorism
c. It is the right of evey man and woman to be free to live, pray and worship based on their own beliefs and conscience, not at the will of the state.
d. It is the historic and future role of the Unites States to stand for freedom of all people (see, every war since revolution, but particularly parallel to our current situation would be the fight against fascism in World War II.
e. For those who believe we should not be in the middle east, "America has always been more secure when freedom is on the march, America is less secure when freedom is in retreat!"
f. We are not waiting for the terrorists to attack us again, we will take the fight to the enemy.

2) More shootings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Terrorists are getting very bold in their attacks. Attacked in Khobar again last Saturday and killed 22. They went around searching for "infidels". Hmmm...nope...these people don't hate us. (This just cracks me up. Really, they are accusing the US of being "crusaders". Seriously, who is trying to force their religion on whom?) Frankly, this is just a product of the Saudi two handed diplomacy. The part where they shake hands with us and gladly take our money for oil in one had and pass it too the militant mullahs with the other. Now they are finding out the price for their two faced dealings. Saudi tracked down a couple of "terrorists" on their list and killed them (Saudi justice), but were not necessarily part of the Khobar attack directly. Which leads up to story #3...

3) Saudi Arabia quickly closes down charities that may or may not be giving money to the terrorists. They are folding the charities together into a national charitable organization to be administered by the state under strict guidelines to prevent siphoning of funds to terrorists. DUH! Now they get it! After they have spawned a couple thousand or more of their own rebels, they want to shut it down! That's called "closing the barn door after the horse got out". But hey, at least they are trying.

4) Obscure note...Mr. Wallace of "60 Minutes II" has declared the Iraqi war "ignoble" if not unjust. That it is not the same as World War II. I always appreciated his reporting, but now I know when he puts the names and faces of our fallen soldiers on the TV, he means it to inspire fear and dread in our hearts. There is no honor in his actions. I think in his old age, he is beginning to reflect on his mortality and wonder if he has any sins to be forgiven. I think there is a saying that goes something like, "war is a young mans game, diplomacy belongs to the old".

5) Last note...watching CSPAN and they were having a hearing on the Afghanistan situation. The situation is a concern because the security there is still tricky and we are wondering how we can insure free and fair elections in Sept 2004. Democrat Senator from California Tom Lantos gets a big "Right On" from me. He states very clearly that "We have plenty of American soldiers sacrificing their lives for a free Afghanistan...We liberated Europe twice and saved Europe from communism through two generations. Our European allies are getting a free ride in Afghanistan. They shirk their responsibilities globally. NATO and Europe are not doing enough to bring security to Afghanistan...We must say it loud and however unpleasant. Despite their encouraging and solemn words to our officials, it is apparent that they do not have the will to develop a free Afghanistan much less join in the greater war on terror"

Senator Lantos is calling on Spain and Turkey to send the troops they originally intended for Iraq to Afghanistan. Here is a guy I could vote for. You tell them Senator!