New View Askew

 Part I Warriors Helping Their Neighbors Memorial Day this year has special significance, it’s the 50 th anniversary as an official national holiday that is dedicated to honor those who have died in service to their country. As such it is among our most solemn and saddest of holidays. Yet this year there are two great events to actually celebrate. First, after 20 long years, all our troops will finally be home from Afghanistan! I have shared before my thoughts on the futility and senselessness of nearly all wars and especially this latest one, the longest in our history. (See Part II below) As a retired officer with 28 years of service and a participant in three such wars I feel some license to do so. At the same time, I pay the highest honor to my fellow vets and current members of the military who have sacrificed so much for so long. Welcome home, troops! This Memorial Day we have something else to recognize. While we pay homage to those who have served in the military, it...

  A sports bar somewhere in Philadelphia One of my favorite thought exercises is to imagine some of the Founding Fathers visiting modern America to see how we - and their Constitution – are doing. I imagine them all sitting around a sports bar in Philly shooting the breeze. They couldn't all make it but there’s James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, William Patterson, Ben Franklin, John Rutledge, Charles Pinckney and John Jay. (You'll note that they've also picked up some modern lingo.)  Hamilton, always the wag, said, “Wow, if we had a place like this to drink at night in 1787 we might not have gotten anything done!” “Or maybe we would have done an even better job.” opined Rutledge. The always-studious Madison replied, “Well, we must have done alright, they’re still using it 234 years later.” “Yes, but did you see that little soiree on Jan.6 th ” asked Ben Franklin? “That was just too damn close!” Hamilton responded, “We always knew it could happen if the wrong person ...