November 11 is a most significant day for me and my family, as it is the birthday of our dearly departed sister Laura. It is also within a few days of the anniversary of her death. Diana and I traveled to Sharon MA yesterday to visit her grave site. This time, it was not the gut wrenching emotional upheaval of previous visits. It was a time of reflection and rememberence of when she was alive, and how we miss her. It was a beautiful sunny, brisk day a lot like last year when we gathered to honor her memorial exactly 1 year before.

Veterans Day
Nov 11 is also veterans day. On this day, my thoughts are with the servicemen that are risking their lives for the mission in Iraq. A sensless war to be sure. As I see it, nothing is being accomplished there. The purported justification for this war has turned out to be completely false (no WMD, no Al Qida links, no threat of nuclear weapons, etc), the region is now more ripe for terrorist activity than before the occupation, American casualties have surpassed those during the invasion, there is no sign of self-government or free elections for the Iraqi people, anti-American sentiment is as bad as it has ever been in the region. Yet we will commit 87 billion more dollars and untold loss of life to this war.

Some would say that such statements are unpatriotic, and that I am not supporting our soldiers. On the contrary, I think about the soldiers daily (perhaps because I have a close nephew stationed near Fajulla, Iraq). Getting the soldiers out of Iraq and back home is the surrest way to show concern for our soldiers health, safety and well being. I think that those phony flag waving so-called patriots are not nearly as concerned about soldiers as those with the courage to speak out about this travesty.