You say it's your birthday!

John, Paul, George and Ringo sang one of the ultimate birthday songs and it is going through my head right now as I post this. Today is my birthday and here are some random thoughts:

The situation in the Middle East is NOT simple and I don't think that it is.

TRUE, I have no doubt that Hezbollah and Hamas are evil, terrorist organizations. I have no doubt that they started the latest round of warfare. I have no doubt that they thoroughly brainwash the children of their territories to believe lies and be willing to sacrifice their lives while the teachers remain behind the lines and spout more hatred.


ALSO TRUE,
The world carved out an Israeli homeland at the expense of the non-Jews living in the region at that time. It was largely due to the anti-semetic Europe of the 19th and 20th centuries. Russia had its pogroms, Germany had its holocaust, but Europe in general was glad to dump the Jews elsewhere.

I THINK that the Islamic leadership in Palestine during the immediate post-WWII era simply made a terrible error in judgement. Palestinians could have remained in Israel and helped to turn the desert into farmlands as the Jews have done. But they chose to run off to Jordan and Syria and so on, then start a shooting war that has never really ended since and that they lose every single time.

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My daughter asked me today why barns are always red. I don't know. See, there is always something else to learn...

Cranky thinks God cannot be considered in a scientific discussion. I believe God must be considered. The difference between us is not really so much on the evidence, it is one of point of view.

A business colleague mentioned my son, asking if he had come back from overseas and I told him, yes, he has. He is relatively safe in Virginia and intends to leave the Army after his term. He didn't mind serving in Hawaii (duh!) nor did he mind his service overseas, even in combat situations. But he detests the bureaucratic nonsense of the peacetime, non-combatant Army he has encountered at his current post.

Anyway, this colleague told me about his uncle. His uncle was a Japanese-American and when WWII began he volunteered to serve in the Army. He helped conquer the Axis powers in Africa and on into Italy. His platoon was the first to win the day at Monticello. He won medals and was a valiant and admirable man, still is.

Meanwhile, the uncle's family was placed into an internment camp and their 300 acre fruit farm was taken from them by the government and never returned. Their farm was the site of (part of) the famous Silicon Valley and would have been worth many multiples of millions of dollars. In 1995, the uncle got a check from Uncle Sam for around $40,000 as a reparation for what was done to his family.

That uncle, war hero, family just totally screwed by the government of that time, is not bitter. He loves his country and raised his kids to do the same. I am in awe of him and what a great man he must be!

I think of the current Dem-bulbs crying about Guantanamo and think about what the Democratic administration of FDR did to Japanese-Americans in WWII and shake my head. Some people not only just don't get it, they aren't even in the vicinity of get it!

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My son, David, was born on the eighth and our dog, Jack, was born on the 9th. So was one of my grandsons. I was born on the 15th. The mother of my four oldest children was born on the 17th. I guess our heritage as a family is to have a darned Merry Old Christmas, eh???

Well, I guess that has nothing to do with the dog...

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Everybody is here to go out to eat, so take care all!!!