Here I Stand...

... I can do no other.

A little background first.

I'm what my Southron neighbors would, most politely, call a "DamnYankee". And yes, it's all one word.

Stubborn. Opinionated. Educated through my own research.

My father fought the Nazis through France and into Germany. He saw the camps, and described them to me in most graphic and distressing detail.

I didn't really believe him until I did my own research.

Two of my high school classmates had parents with numbers tatooed on their arms. (To my other classmates - You don't remember? Or you never noticed? Or you ignored? Or you deny? Pick a place, and make your stand.)

So, here it is.

I stand with Israel. I stand against Hamas.

I stand with "Never Again". I stand against "Off the map".

I stand with the only functioning democracy in the Middle East. I stand against the gangbangers of "Palestine".

I say "Israel - From The River To The Sea".

If you don't like how I stand, tough beans.

Here I stand - I can do no other.

Prelude

It's two days before Independence Day.

July 4th is the day that Americans celebrate as the birth day of our country.

This is the day that a group of men signed the Declaration of Independence, declaring "And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."

Keep in mind that these men were British citizens, subjects of the Crown of England. That by signing the Declaration they were committing High Treason.

Why would they do this?

These men were The Power Structure of the Colonies - doctors and lawyers, big-time land-owners, publishers and merchants.

Can you see one or two of our current big-time heavy hitters doing this? Knowing that if the Government caught them, they'd be hung by the neck until dead?

Not bloody likely.

So, the question still stands.

Why did these men do this?

Figure it out for yourselves. Put yourself in their shoes.

Would YOU sign? Knowing that if they caught you, they'd string you up?

Would YOU "pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor."?

Memorial Day

Monday will be Memorial Day - when we remember all those of us who have died in the preservation of freedom.

By "us" I include men that I knew, whose names are carved upon The Wall.

By "us" I include those who went before me, in WW2, Korea, the 'Nam, WW1, and followed me in Panama, Greneda, and the Sand Box - all the wars and skirmishes that have preserved and protected the United States.

By "us" I include all those who fought and died with us - the Filipinos, Brits, Poles, Canadians, Viet Namese, Chinese, French, Belgian, Dutch, Kuwaiti, Norwegian, Danish, Czechs, and many more.

On this, our Memorial Day, I remember you all.

God Bless, and remember, so long as just one remembers, your spirit will never die...