Today is Veterans Day. In England this is known as Poppy Day. Everybody buys and wears a poppy as a sign of support. The money goes to the various veterans charities. So many of the younger generation do not even know why Veterans Day is on November 11th or have heard of Flanders. If we do not study history we are doomed to repeat it - we must be very poor students.

President Washington said: "It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliance with any portion of the foreign world.... " We revere Washington but we don't listen either. WWI was supposed to be the war to end all wars.

"Give me the money that has been spent in war and I will clothe every man, woman, and child in an attire of which kings and queens will be proud. I will build a schoolhouse in every valley over the whole earth. I will crown every hillside with a place of worship consecrated to peace. " ~Charles Sumner

As of yesterday there were a total of 4,193 recorded dead in Iraq and 626 in Afghanistan. It has cost close to $600 billion and yet we change the channel on our TV preferring to watch another brainless soap rather than watch the realities of our young men and women dying. Bush has kindly spared us pictures of coffins coming home, or countless damaged bodies in the VA hospitals, or grieving families at the graveside. We are fed a diet of implied terror and yet no reports of anyone caught or tried.

Now we will have a new President, and hope arises such as we have not seen in many years. Let us hope that this current war will also become a faded memory, but we must never forget to honor the memory no matter how faded.

In Flanders Fields
by: Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, MD (1872-1918)
Canadian Army

In Flanders Fields the poppies grow
Between the crosses row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.
We are the Dead.

Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

The Times they are A-Changin'

The election has come and gone. A landslide. Could 30 years of Reaganomics finally be over? This country is on it's knees. Basic wages do not even cover the rent for a small apartment, while CEOs pay themselves millions in bonuses The banks have played upon the less aware and sold them interest delayed mortgages which, when the interest kicked in after a few years, they could no longer afford, left them homeless, and wrecked their credit. While hardworking people are destroyed, the banks get bailed out. What is wrong with this picture? Why do we stand by and let it happen? Why are we not rioting in the streets? Have we become so demoralized that we believe we no longer have a voice?

While relieved about the end of the Bush era, and hopeful of change, the cloud over it all for me was the passing of Prop. 8 in California - eliminating the right of gay people to marry. I had faith in the people of California, and I believe it was not misplaced; but when other States' entities interfere - Focus on the Family from Colorado, the Mormon Church from Utah - the balance was tipped. So, this evening I did something that I had not done since my student days of the 70s, I went out on the streets of my hometown and I protested. Hopefully the issue will return to the State Supreme Court to be settled on the side of equalty once again.

"Come gather 'round people wherever you roam, and admit that the waters around you have grown, and accept it that soon you'll be drenched to the bone if your time to you is worth savin', then you better start swimmin' or you'll sink like a stone for the times they are a-changin'." Bob Dylan Copyright ©1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music.