Letter from Sgt. Eddie Jeffers

"Blessed be the Lord my Strength, who teaches my hands to war, and my fingers to fight." — Psalm 144:1

This is a different blog than a usually write. It’s about a young American soldier and a letter he wrote home. Eddie Jeffers was a 23-year old Sargent serving in the U.S. Army Infantry in Ramadi, Iraq when he died due to an accident on September 20, 2007.

Eddie was one of those unique young people who had a sense of duty to God and country and an ability to cogently write down his thoughts and beliefs. Unlike so many 23-year olds who are still floundering in college and interested only in “self” or “trying to find themselves” Sgt. Jeffers was already a leader of men — men in battle.

Eddie sent many letters home to his parents. Shortly before he died he sent the letter I am quoting below to his parents. I heard the letter read aloud on the Marl Levine show and could not resist sharing with my readers:

“I stare out into the darkness from my post, and I watch the city burn to the ground. I smell the familiar smells, I walk through the familiar rubble, and I look at the frightened faces that watch me pass down the streets of their neighborhoods. My nerves hardly rest; my hands are steady on a device that has been given to me from my government for the purpose of taking the lives of others.

I sweat, and I am tired. My back aches from the loads I carry. Young American boys look to me to direct them in a manner that will someday allow them to see their families again...and yet, I too, am just a boy....my age not but a few years more than that of the ones I lead. I am stressed, I am scared, and I am paranoid...because death is everywhere. It waits for me, it calls to me from around street corners and windows, and it is always there.

There are the demons that follow me, and tempt me into thoughts and actions that are not my own...but that are necessary for survival. I've made compromises with my humanity. And I am not alone in this. Miles from me are my brethren in this world, who walk in the same streets...who feel the same things, whether they admit to it or not.

And to think, I volunteered for this...

And I am ignorant to the rest of the world...or so I thought.

But even thousands of miles away, in Ramadi, Iraq, the cries and screams and complaints of the ungrateful reach me. In a year, I will be thrust back into society from a life and mentality that doesn't fit your average man. And then, I will be alone. And then, I will walk down the streets of America, and see the yellow ribbon stickers on the cars of the same people who compare our President to Hitler.

I will watch the television and watch the Cindy Sheehans, and the Al Frankens, and the rest of the ignorant sheep of America spout off their mouths about a subject they know nothing about. It is their right, however, and it is a right that is defended by hundreds of thousands of boys and girls scattered across the world, far from home. I use the word boys and girls, because that's what they are. In the Army, the average age of the infantryman is nineteen years old. The average rank of soldiers killed in action is Private First Class.

People like Cindy Sheehan are ignorant. Not just to this war, but to the results of their idiotic ramblings, or at least I hope they are. They don't realize its effects on this war. In this war, there are no Geneva Conventions, no cease fires. Medics and Chaplains are not spared from the enemy's brutality because it's against the rules. I can only imagine the horrors a military Chaplain would experience at the hands of the enemy. The enemy slinks in the shadows and fights a coward’s war against us. It is effective though, as many men and women have died since the start of this war. And the memory of their service to America is tainted by the inconsiderate remarks on our nation's news outlets. And every day, the enemy changes...only now, the enemy is becoming something new. The enemy is transitioning from the Muslim extremists to Americans. The enemy is becoming the very people whom we defend with our lives. And they do not realize it. But in denouncing our actions, denouncing our leaders, denouncing the war we live and fight, they are isolating the military from society...and they are becoming our enemy.

Democrats and peace activists like to toss the word "quagmire" around and compare this war to Vietnam. In a way they are right, this war is becoming like Vietnam. Not the actual war, but in the isolation of country and military. America is not a nation at war; they are a nation with its military at war. Like it or not, we are here, some of us for our second, or third times; some even for their fourth and so on. Americans are so concerned now with politics, that it is interfering with our war.

Terrorists cut the heads off of American citizens on the internet...and there is no outrage, but an American soldier kills an Iraqi in the midst of battle, and there are investigations, and sometimes soldiers are even jailed...for doing their job.

It is absolutely sickening to me to think our country has come to this. Why are we so obsessed with the bad news? Why will people stop at nothing to be against this war, no matter how much evidence of the good we've done is thrown in their face? When is the last time CNN or MSNBC or CBS reported the opening of schools and hospitals in Iraq? Or the leaders of terror cells being detained or killed? It's all happening, but people will not let up their hatred of President Bush. They will ignore the good news, because it just might show people that Bush was right.

America has lost its will to fight. It has lost its will to defend what is right and just in the world. The crazy thing of it all is that the American people have not even been asked to sacrifice a single thing. It’s not like World War II, where people rationed food and turned in cars to be made into metal for tanks. The American people have not been asked to sacrifice anything. Unless you are in the military or the family member of a servicemember, its life as usual...the war doesn't affect you.

But it affects us. And when it is over and the troops come home and they try to piece together what's left of them after their service...where will the detractors be then? Where will the Cindy Sheehans be to comfort and talk to soldiers and help them sort out the last couple years of their lives, most of which have been spent dodging death and wading through the deaths of their friends? They will be where they always are, somewhere far away, where the horrors of the world can't touch them. Somewhere where they can complain about things they will never experience in their lifetime; things that the young men and women of America have willingly taken upon their shoulders.

We are the hope of the Iraqi people. They want what everyone else wants in life: safety, security, somewhere to call home. They want a country that is safe to raise their children in. Not a place where their children will be abducted, raped and murdered if they do not comply with the terrorists demands. They want to live on, rebuild and prosper. And America has given them the opportunity, but only if we stay true to the cause and see it to its end. But the country must unite in this endeavor...we cannot place the burden on our military alone. We must all stand up and fight, whether in uniform or not. And supporting us is more than sticking yellow ribbon stickers on your cars. It's supporting our President, our troops and our cause.

Right now, the burden is all on the American soldiers. Right now, hope rides alone. But it can change, it must change. Because there is only failure and darkness ahead for us as a country, as a people, if it doesn't.

Let's stop all the political nonsense, let's stop all the bickering, let's stop all the bad news and let's stand and fight!

Isn't that what America is about anyway?”

How many men and women like Eddie Jeffers are serving in our military today in hell holes like Afghanistan and Iraq? There are plenty of them. They are looked down upon by the academic and journalistic elites who think they have all of the answers and monopoly on the truth. They go on deployment after deployment and the ones who make it home whole in body are not always whole in spirit. Many suffer horrible physical wounds and PTSD, a mental condition that will affect them for years to come. When these returning soldiers who are fortunate enough to go on to college how will they be received by their peers and professors in academia? Will they be able to understand their patriotism, their self-sacrifice, and their dedication to their brothers and sisters in arms? I doubt it. It will be a hard road for them to travel as they try to reenter today’s Anti-American society.

How far in life would Sgt. Jeffers gone had he lived. Would he have become a successful businessman? Would he have had a loving wife and family? Would he have entered politics and become a Congressman, Senator, or even President? Certainly when you read his eloquent prose you can see his fearless ability to move men with his thoughts and words — something most 23-year olds are incapable of. The world is a lesser place without Sgt. Jeffers while we suffer on with lesser people — especially in politics, academia, and the media.

I will close with this short video tribute to Sgt. Jeffers.

Liberal Plantations

“If you have always believed that everyone should play by the same rules and be judged by the same standards, that would have gotten you labeled a radical 60 years ago, a liberal 30 years ago and a racist today.” — Thomas Sowell

Walter Williams, a conservative black professor of economics at George Mason University writes a blog at least once a week. He also contributes to many conservative publications such as National Review, Human Events, and American Spectator along with the Wall Street Journal. In a May 18, 2011 blog he wrote something that sounds a great deal like the writings of Frederick Bastiat:

“The liberal vision of government is easily understood and makes perfect sense if one acknowledges their misunderstanding and implied assumptions about the sources of income. Their vision helps explain the language they use and policies they support, such as income redistribution and calls for the rich to give something back.

Suppose the true source of income was a gigantic pile of money meant to be shared equally amongst Americans. The reason some people have more money than others is because they got to the pile first and greedily took an unfair share. That being the case, justice requires that the rich give something back, and if they won't do so voluntarily, Congress should confiscate their ill-gotten gains and return them to their rightful owners.

A competing liberal implied assumption about the sources of income is that income is distributed, as in distribution of income. There might be a dealer of dollars. The reason why some people have more dollars than others is because the dollar dealer is a racist, a sexist, a multinationalist or a conservative. The only right thing to do, for those to whom the dollar dealer unfairly dealt too many dollars, is to give back their ill-gotten gains. If they refuse to do so, then it's the job of Congress to use their agents at the IRS to confiscate their ill-gotten gains and return them to their rightful owners. In a word, there must be a re-dealing of the dollars or what some people call income redistribution.

The sane among us recognize that in a free society, income is neither taken nor distributed; for the most part, it is earned. Income is earned by pleasing one's fellow man. The greater one's ability to please his fellow man, the greater is his claim on what his fellow man produces. Those claims are represented by the number of dollars received from his fellow man.

Say I mow your lawn. For doing so, you pay me $20. I go to my grocer and demand, "Give me 2 pounds of steak and a six-pack of beer that my fellow man produced." In effect, the grocer asks, "Williams, you're asking your fellow man to serve you. Did you serve him?" I reply, "Yes." The grocer says, "Prove it."

That's when I pull out the $20 I earned from serving my fellow man. We can think of that $20 as "certificates of performance." They stand as proof that I served my fellow man. It would be no different if I were an orthopedic doctor, with a large clientele, earning $500,000 per year by serving my fellow man. By the way, having mowed my fellow man's lawn or set his fractured fibula, what else do I owe him or anyone else? What's the case for being forced to give anything back? If one wishes to be charitable, that's an entirely different matter.

Contrast the morality of having to serve one's fellow man in order to have a claim on what he produces with congressional handouts. In effect, Congress says, "You don't have to serve your fellow man in order to have a claim on what he produces. We'll take what he produces and give it to you. Just vote for me."

Who should give back? Sam Walton founded Wal-Mart, Bill Gates founded Microsoft, Steve Jobs founded Apple Computer. Which one of these billionaires acquired their wealth by coercing us to purchase their product? Which has taken the property of anyone?

Each of these examples, and thousands more, is a person who served his fellow men by producing products and services that made life easier. What else do they owe? They've already given.

If anyone is obliged to give something back, they are the thieves and recipients of legalized theft (or as Bastiat calls it plunder), namely people who've used Congress, including America's corporate welfare queens, to live at the expense of others. When a nation vilifies the productive and makes mascots of the unproductive, it doesn't bode well for its future.”

In his latest book “Race and Economics: How Much Can Be Blamed on Discrimination?” Williams exposes the liberal myth that racism is the cause of today’s plight of the African American in the inner city. Williams applies an economic analysis to the problems black Americans have faced in the past and still face in the present to show that that free-market resource allocation, as opposed to political allocation, is in the best interests of minorities. Contrasting the features of market resource allocation with those of the political arena, he explains how, in the political arena, minorities cannot realize a particular preference unless they win the will of the majority. In the market, he shows, there is a sort of parity (nonexistent in the political arena) in which one person's dollar has the same power as the next person's.

The black experience in America naturally gives rise to thinking of today’s black experience in terms of racism and oppression. But the most difficult problems black Americans face, particularly those who are poor, cannot adequately be explained by current racial discrimination. In Race and Economics, Walter Williams argues that many problems are a result of policies, regulations, and restrictions emanating from federal, state, and local governments. It is not free markets and the profit motive that have reduced opportunities, the author asserts; instead, it is the power of vested interest groups, as a means to greater wealth, to use the coercive powers of government to stifle market competition. In essence this is the new plantation devised and overseen by the liberals and their minions in he media. In other words we (the liberals and government) will take care of them, warehouse them in a kinder, gentler gulag as long as they continue to support us with their votes and voices.

Williams debunks many common labor market myths and reveals how the minimum-wage law has imposed incalculable harm on the most disadvantaged members of our society. He explains that the real problem is people are not so much underpaid as under skilled and that the real task is to help unskilled people become skilled. The author also reveals how licensing and regulation reduce economic opportunities for people, especially those who might be described as discriminated against and having little political clout. Using the example of the trucking industry before and after deregulation, he illustrates how government regulation closes entry and reinforces economic handicaps, whereas deregulation not only has helped minorities enter an industry in greater numbers, but also has benefited consumers.

People will not engage in activities, including racial discrimination, says Williams, if the cost is too high. In markets, because transactions are mostly an individual affair, it is unnecessary to win the approval or permission of others; the costs and benefits are a private matter. But in the political arena, each citizen has only one vote, meaning that, unlike the free market, a minority cannot register the intensity of his preference. Further, increased concentration of political power at the national level handicaps minorities in the sense that their votes become

Many people see racism as a problem that exists in the private sector, that can be solved by officials in the public sector. Walter Williams turns this popular view of racism on its head. Public policies often put minorities at a disadvantage. Racists often find it easier to discriminate through public policy than through private enterprise. Williams is extending the cost-driven theoretical arguments of Gary Becker on the economics of discrimination. He uses many interesting examples to support the idea that government intervention serves as the primary means of discrimination: minimum wage laws, licensing, and other restrictions on otherwise free markets. These are controversial propositions that will offend some readers. Hopefully most people will read it critically and in so doing benefit from its well-reasoned and supported arguments. You can read a preview of Williams’ book by clicking here and be sure to read pages 17 and 18 where he talks about the difference between material and moral poverty.

Several days ago Rep. Allen West said he believes that the Democratic Party is akin to a modern-day “plantation.” In an interview on Wednesday night’s “O’Reilly Factor,” he told guest host Laura Ingraham that he is the “modern-day Harriet Tubman“ and that he wants to lead fellow African Americans away from the ”21st century plantation.”

West made extremely bold statements throughout the interview, apparently undeterred by any negative response he might receive from the Democratic Party or from fellow African Americans. Commenting on anger that was seen at a Congressional Black Caucus (of which West is the only GOP member) town hall meeting in Detroit this week, he said:

“The people on that plantation are upset because they’ve been disregarded, disrespected and their concerns are not cared about…I’m here as the modern-day Harriet Tubman to kind of lead people on the underground railroad away from that plantation into a sense of sensibility.”

West went on to dismiss some African American leaders as “nothing more than overseers over that plantation” and he stated his belief that white liberals have relied upon people like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton to support Democratic policies. These individuals, he claims, have failed to addresses important matters. West also discussed recent flash mobs (as per the Huffington Post):

“The freshman Republican said the fact that black leaders have done nothing in response to the recent spate of flash mobs in U.S. cities is proof of their disconnect from the black community. This summer has been marked by flash mobs in several cities, including Philadelphia and Cleveland, and are thought to be fueled by growing discontent among unemployed urban youth.”

He also went on to say that Republicans have not done well drawing black voters into the conservative movement. That said, he explained that there is an opportunity for conservatives to reach African Americans by connecting with them on the issues of “individual responsibility and accountability, faith and family, and the hard work ethic.”

A few days later Laura Ingraham interviewed one on the plantation overseers, Rep. Charles Wrangle on New York, also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus and constant race baiter. Wrangle began to disparage West’s remarks until Ms. Ingraham began to challenge him. I was then retreated to his old race baiting spin zone and his rebuttal total collapsed. Click here to watch the video on Fox News. It’s well worth nine minutes of your time.

On Thursday Rep. Maxine Waters, another one of the plantation overseers, exploded with an attack on Obama for not paying more attention to the African American plantations. Waters renewed her assault on President Barack Obama on Thursday, a day after admitting that black Democrats in Congress don’t criticize him because they fear a backlash from constituents.

In a swipe at Obama’s bus tour through small-town Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois, she said, “He went to rural communities and he went with a plan…to invest money in those rural communities in order to develop jobs.

“We want the rural poor to be attended to,” Waters said in an interview on CNN. “But we also want the urban poor to be attended to.”

In a separate interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, she picked up a copy of the Wall Street Journal. “Take a look at this headline,” she said, “‘Obama aims to keep white voters on board.’ Well we want to be on board, too.”

The California Democrat’s comments are the first sign of a rift between Obama and his most steadfast supporters, and were quickly picked up by radio host Rush Limbaugh who called Obama’s Mid-West trip the “white-like-me tour.”

“Obama does not seem to want to hang around with them,” Limbaugh said, referring to African Americans. “Obama does not seem to want to do anything for them.

“Maxine, listen to me,” Limbaugh said. “He’s ignoring you because he knows he’s got you. Why spend any money or time with the cow when you already get the milk for free?”

The Democrat hit the airwaves a day after asking black voters in Detroit to “unleash” her and other members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) so they could feel free to attack Obama’s policies.

Calling it “the reality of politics,” the California congresswoman said, “If we go after the president, you’re going after us.”

“We don’t put pressure on the president because you all love the president. You are very proud to have a black man, first time in the history of the United States of America.

“When you tell us it’s all right and you unleash us and you tell us you are

“We don’t know what the strategy is,” Waters continued. “We don’t know why, on this trip that he’s on in the United States, he’s not in the black community.”

Waters said she and other black Democrats in Congress “love” Obama, but added “We’re getting tired.”

She added, “We want to give the president every opportunity to show what he can do or what he’s prepared to lead on… but our people are hurting.”

On Thursday, Waters contrasted the African American unemployment rate of 15.9 percent – which she said was the highest since the Great Depression – with the overall rate for the country of 9.1 percent. “It’s unconscionable,” she said.

And she said Obama should be using his bully pulpit to call in bank leaders and telling them, “We bailed you out, now you have got to put money back

Last night Sean Hannity had Niger Ennis of the Congress on Racial Equality and Jehmu Greene, a Democratic strategist in a head to head dust up on this issue of the new plantation. Green, the typical Black liberal tried to defend the plantation while Ennis, a conservative Black, supported West’ comments. Click here to watch the video.

Obama, the grand master of the plantation is off on a vacation to Martha’s Vineyard where he will stay in his $56,000 per week ocean-view home and hob nob with the rich and famous, all wealthy liberals and supporters of the plantation system. To him, as Rush Limbaugh told Maxine Waters, why buy the cow when you get the milk free. Neither Obama, nor any other liberal can do a damn thing for the Black community. They have been trying for years by dumping trillions of dollars into the plantation system and the results keep getting worse. Wasn’t it the icon of the liberals, John F. Kennedy who said; “A rising tide lifts all boats?” As Walter Williams said you cannot help the Black community without helping all communities. After all it is the rich who create the jobs, not the poor.

Democratic Mayor Michael Nutter of Philadelphia gave a stirring address the other day at a local Baptist Church where he laid it on the people of the Black community for the moral poverty.

Unless the Black leaders like Mayor Nutter, Allan West, Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, and Niger Ennis can convince the occupants of the liberal plantation having babies out of wedlock, lack of education to develop skills, personal appearance, development of a work ethic, learning to speak properly, and showing respect for all of society the liberal plantation system will prevail.

No Time to Listen to God

“How could this great land of plenty produce too few people in the last 30 years? Here is the brutal truth that no one dares to mention: We’re too few because too many of our babies have been killed. Over 45 million since Roe v. Wade in 1973. If those 45 million children had lived, today they would be defending our country, they would be filling our jobs, they would be paying into Social Security. Still, we watch as 3,700 babies are killed every single day in America. It is unbelievable that a nation under God would allow this.” — Former Senator Zell Miller

One of my favorite bloggers is Robin of Berkley. Robin is a physiologist living and working in Berkley, California who writes under a nom de plume on the American Thinker web site. She does this in order to keep her identity secret due to having a medical practice in the left-wing town of Berkley.

Robin is a Jewish lady who was raised in a very left-wing family and until several years ago was believed in the progressive, socialist left-wing way of life and government. Several years ago, as she states, she had a radical conversion of thought and now is a committed conservative who believes in the Constitution, freedom and personal responsibility.

In her latest blog “My Five Minutes of Fame on Facebook” Robin talks about social networking and what it is doing to our children and society in general. She references several articles in the Daily Mail talking about how social networking and texting is affecting the youth in the UK.

Robin writes; “There is a fascinating article from the UK about teenagers going through withdrawal when their wiring was removed for a day. Even though the kids had a landline phone and a book, they still suffered like any addict. They all had overwhelming cravings; one youngster reported itching like a crack head.”

“Of course, it's not just teens who are hooked these days, but people of every age. While the ever present wiring is altering brain cells, what's more disturbing is the effect on society.”

“Human beings are not designed to be busy all of the time. I heard a spiritual teacher once say that wisdom is found in the moment between two thoughts. It's only during those blessed moments of quiet when we hear God. “

“But this culture is phasing out God as surely as last year's iPad. None of this is coincidental. Keeping the masses dumbed down and addicted is all part of the Marxist playbook. A distracted populace won't notice that the country is going down the tubes.”

If you have ever watched some of those “man on the street” interviews on the late night shows or cable news channels you get Robin’s point. I was watching a documentary on the History channel last night of the dangers of nuclear weapons. At one point during the film the producers did a “man on the street” interview asking people if they knew how many nations had nuclear weapons. It was amazing to me that not one person could name more than three nations.

This same ignorance applies to questions about our government, economy, laws, history or geography when posed to the man or woman on the street. On the other hand most of the people interviewed can give you the latest news from the world of entertainment. Also it’s interesting to see welfare recipients and students at demonstrations or protests with smartphone costing hundreds of dollars for the device and over one hundred dollars per month for the plan that ou must take when you purchase the device.

Robin continues; “As for me, I keep my wiring to a minimum. I do this purposely; growing up with parents who loved their liquor, I could easily get hooked like many others.”

“I own a Dumb phone (as opposed to a Smart one); exactly three people have the number. I have never had cable TV in my life. “

“Let me tell you, I was in a rotten mood the day that I had to procure one of those black converter boxes from Radio Shack when they eliminated analog. Then I had to spend several hours figuring out how to get it to work.”

“What complicated the set-up is that my television is a 1984 Sony Trinitron, which has its own separate black box. (Note to anyone under 40: big-ticket items like televisions were once made to last more than six months.)”

“When I was a progressive, cable kept me blissfully ignorant of all the things my brethren were doing to corrupt America. Shorn of cable, I have never had the pleasure of seeing Lawrence O'Donnell, Rachel Maddow or Ed Schultz on the big screen.”

Robin continues about Facebook and her brief experience with the social networking site. “I have stayed far away from any social networking site for as long as I could. From what I was gathering, incessant Facebooking was turning many minds to mush (not to mention inciting riots and insurrection). But a couple of months ago, I signed on to see what all the fuss was about it.”

“Facebook makes it super simple to register and within minutes I was one of the gazillion members. Then it happened — suddenly, out of nowhere, a ton of smiling pictures appeared.”

“There were old friends, new friends, neighbors, and people of unknown origin. How in the world did Facebook accomplish this strange feat?”

“Then I realized to my shock and horror that the site had accessed all of my email contacts. I was aghast; had I forfeited my right to privacy the minute I signed up?”

“My eyes fixed on a photo of Susan, an old, dear friend who stopped talking to me during the presidential election. We had an email fight about Obama, and I never heard from her again. And yet there was Susan smiling at me, reminding me of the destruction that election wrought.”

“And I saw Leslie, a close family member who, for no good reason, has recently stopped talking to my husband and me. I've tried to reason with her, but she remains in a huff. Yet Leslie was happily hugging her cat, an in-my-face reminder of something that upsets me every time I think about it (thanks, Facebook!).”

“It was like a walk down memory lane — a really bad and unpleasant walk. It felt like one of those nightmares where you're in your pajamas amongst a large gathering of people. I wasn't expecting to see Susan or Leslie or any of them for that matter. And yet, through the wizardry of Facebook, there they stood.”

“And then I had an even more horrifying thought: not only was I getting their info, but they were getting mine. At this very moment, dozens of people were learning that I was now on Facebook.”

“I would soon be deluged with offers to be friended by my friends and by my friends' friends. Given that I have spent my entire life learning how to set boundaries with people, the idea of all these humans flooding my life was more than I could bear.”

“And that's when I did something that may never been done in the history of Facebook. I frantically searched around, and found my way to a wondrous link that read: Delete account permanently. And this is exactly what I did, five minutes after beginning. And just like magic, all of the smiling faces disappeared.”

I have a Facebook account that I rarely use and I sympathize with Robin. So far after having the account for over two years I find no real value in it with the exception of voyeurism. I know that many people use Facebook and other social sites to communicate with friends and acquaintances and most of the politicians and pundits now have a Facebook page to spread their message. This is the new media.

I am not so much concerned about the value of Facebook as I am with the time people, especially the young, spend posting irrelevant comments, like “I am doing the wash now” on it. I seems as though these people are not taking time to read and think. For adults this is not a dangerous thing, it’s merely something they do to relieve the boredom in their lives.

It’s another mater for the young. Children as young as 10 and 11 are now using Facebook for all of the wrong reasons. They use it to publically bully people they don’t like and hook up with the opposite sex. They spend way too much time on Facebook of texting with their expensive smartphones and not nearly enough time learning about the nation they live in or its geography, history and Constitution. In many cases they are sending mindless text messages rather than talking with someone face to face.

When I was growing up it was fashionable for girls, when they reached a certain age, to have their own phone — this is why the phone companies sold the princess phone. They would talk with their friends on the phone and when their parents felt they were spending too much time on the phone the treat to take away the phone was always on the table.

Now parents have little control over what is going on with Facebook or texting. They don’t know if they are sending little messages lake telling people where they are or what to meet at the mall or sending the opposite sex photos of themselves in compromising poses and dress or bully another teenager.

I think Susan Greenfield in her Mail Online article said it best; “Already, it's pretty clear that the screen-based, two dimensional world that so many teenagers - and a growing number of adults - choose to inhabit is producing changes in behavior. Attention spans are shorter, personal communication skills are reduced and there's a marked reduction in the ability to think abstractly.”

“This games-driven generation interprets the world through screen-shaped eyes. It's almost as if something hasn't really happened until it's been posted on Facebook, Bebo or YouTube.”

“Add that to the huge amount of personal information now stored on the internet — births, marriages, telephone numbers, credit ratings, holiday pictures — and it's sometimes difficult to know where the boundaries of our individuality actually lie. Only one thing is certain: those boundaries are weakening.”

Another Mail columnist, Daniel Bates, writes on the affect these gadgets have on the youth. He claims; “As any parent of a teenager knows, trying to stop them using their computer or mobile phone usually results in a tantrum.”

“But perhaps such outbursts are not pure petulance. The withdrawal symptoms young people experience when deprived of their gadgets are comparable with those of drug addicts going ‘cold turkey’, a study claims.”

“Researchers found that 79 per cent of students subjected to a complete media blackout for just one day reported adverse reactions ranging from distress to confusion and isolation.”

“In vivid accounts, they told of overwhelming cravings, with one saying they were ‘itching like a crackhead [crack cocaine addict]’.”

Smartphones have also creeped into the world of business. Even the president of the United States cannot give up his Blackberry and the Secret Service had to develop a special encryption for his. Also, all of his texting and e-mail on this device will become a part of the public record.

One of the most annoying things about these phones is that the used is more interested in the phone than you. Have you ever gone to a meeting, lunch or dinner where someone receives an e-mail or text message and just can’t wait to bring out the phone and see what the message says? I have been guilty of this on occasion and properly reprimanded by my wife.

All of these devices, gadgets and networks have some value. After all I am posting this blog on the internet from my computer. It would be difficult to write this blog with pen and ink and send to everyone through the mail. These devices also provide jobs for the people who make them, mainly the Chinese and Koreans.

The question I pose is has the use of these devices made us a more informed people or just a society of busybodies anxious to relieve the boredom in our lives?

I believe Robin of Berkley hit the nail on the head when she wrote; “While it may be interesting to find out whatever happened to so-and-so from high school math class, I mostly want to tune in to the soft whisper of God's voice. And I don't want to be busy texting when He is trying to find me.”

A Diamond in a Dung Heap

"If men of wisdom and knowledge, of moderation and temperance, of patience, fortitude and perseverance, of sobriety and true republican simplicity of manners, of zeal for the honour of the Supreme Being and the welfare of the commonwealth; if men possessed of these other excellent qualities are chosen to fill the seats of government, we may expect that our affairs will rest on a solid and permanent foundation." — Samuel Adams

When I was growing up my grandfather told me stories of the St. Patrick’s Day parades in his hometown of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. My grandfather was a Protestants who had married a Catholic so he had relatives of competing religions. He told me that on St. Patrick’s Day the Protestants, or Orangemen as they were known, would line the parade route and throw oranges and tomatoes at the “Micks” as they marched by in their green garb. This animosity went could be traced to the conflict between warring factions in Ireland.

For years the St. Patrick’s Day parades in our big cities with large Irish-American populations, like New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and my home town of Cleveland, were joyous affairs where the various Irish-American groups and clubs would march. They would be dressed in green and orange Irish costumes, have pipers and bands playing traditional Irish tunes and proudly display their Irish heritage. Afterwards they croups and clubs would gather in halls and homes to toast the Irish, eat corned beef and cabbage and sing Irish songs.

If you saw videos of this year’s St. Patrick’s Day parade in New York City you would have seen much of the same, but a new element was added — vandalism and porno. There were groups of young people acting badly and carrying signs promoting Gay rights. Many were dressed in costumes bordering on pornography. They did damage to city and personal property and left the parade route looking like Libya.

Perhaps you, like I, have seen the videos of middle school student gangs beating up on a single student, vandalizing property and dressing in clothes that your mother would have never allowed you to go to school wearing. We have seen many instances of young children, as young as 10 or 11 years old, bullying and harassing other students on the various social networking sites and the Internet — at times with the help and approval of parents. The latest example being a eighth grade Orange County student whose parents paid for her to record a song for YouTube. The comments posted regarding the girl were vicious to the extent of being death threats.

While watching Fox and Friends this morning I saw another side of the youth in this country. Jordan Brown of Lebanon County, Pennsylvania, an 11-year old fourth grader, wants to raise $100,000 to construct a memorial to Maj. Dick Winters of Band of Brothers fame. Barbara Miller of the Patriot News reports: “It’s not every 11-year-old boy who would be thrilled with getting a box full of 1,000 olive drab rubber wristbands to sell. But they’re not Jordan Brown of Lebanon County, who wants to raise $100,000 toward the statue honoring Maj. Dick Winters planned for Normandy.”

“Jordan, a fourth-grader at South Lebanon Elementary School, came up with the idea after his mom showed him an article about filmmaker Tim Gray’s effort to erect a statue in France honoring his hero, Maj. Winters, and create a documentary. The family brainstormed over a weekend, with Jordan at first thinking of selling a few hundred snowflakes or paper airplanes for 66 cents, because this is the 66th anniversary of D-Day June 6.”

“After Jordan decided to up the ante and try to raise a quarter of the needed funds, or $100,000, they had to find a more efficient way to raise the money, said his mom, Yasmin Brown.”

“We ended up with the wristbands,” she said, and then had to decide on a color and phrase. Bob Hoffman, a Lebanon architect who is a friend of Maj. Winters, suggested the olive drab color, referencing the Army, and the phrase Maj. Winters said to inspire his soldiers — “Hang Tough.”

Jordan Brown is a WWII buff and has embarked upon a campaign to ensure that the WWII vets who served on D-Day are memorialized. In May 2010, he learned of an effort to honor Jordan’s hero, Major Dick Winters, and all the men that served on D-Day by having a statue built in St. Marie Du-Mont, Normandy, France. (This larger effort is being undertaken by Emmy award winning filmmaker, Tim Gray, see www.TimGrayMedia.com)

When Jordan read about this effort, he decided to embark on his own campaign to make sure that the necessary monies were raised for this and an associated documentary that will be produced on Major Winters Leadership abilities.

Major Dick Winters (whose heroism & leadership were captured in the Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks mini-series Band of Brothers) is known for using the expression “Hang Tough” when leading his troops in battle and also after the war. Jordan created olive green wristbands (to match the WWII army uniforms) that are inscribed with the words “Hang Tough”. (These wristbands are similar to the Lance Armstrong “live strong” ones.)

Jordan has been distributing these wristbands for minimum donations of $1. (Jordan wanted to ensure that children could afford them too.) To date, Jordan has collected over $32,000 towards the creation of the monument. He plans to continue to “hang tough” until all the necessary monies are raised to ensure that these WWII vets are honored appropriately.

In order to bring greater awareness to his efforts, Jordan has delivered speeches to area civic organizations, marched in parades, manned stands at fairs, and has been interviewed by local media.

When I saw the interview with Brown on Fox and Friends I was very touched by this young man’s courage and patriotism, as were the hosts of the show. As a member of a reenactment group portraying members of the 101^st airborne and knowing quite a bit about the exploits of the unit throughout WWII. Brown was well spoken and was clear and passionate in stating his reasons for wanting to raise the money for the memorial to Maj. Winters.

Brown is like another young man I know, who for his Eagle Scout badge, raised $25,000 to place a memorial to the war dogs at the Camp Pendleton Marine Base in Orange County, California. Whenever I see stories like this my hopes are raised for the future.

There are so many stories portraying our youth behaving badly or being ignorant of our history or exceptionalism. We even have a President who knows little more than these youths. I see this as a dung heap of ignorance and disrespect of our country and the sacrifices so many of its people have made to insure our freedom and Republic over the years.

Yes, I realize that in the media the old saw, “If it bleeds it leads” is what every editor adheres to. But, in the interest of balance a few more stories like Jordan Brown’s and a few less about youth behaving badly would be welcomed. I know that we need to know how our youth are behaving so we can possibly take measures to prevent that behavior. So far that has not worked too well. It seems the more stories and videos of bad behavior that appear the more copy-cats are encouraged to do even more outrageous deeds. Perhaps stories of youth doing honorable and patriotic things would encourage the copy-cats to follow their actions instead.

In November of 2010 AP picked up on this story that was published in the Pittsburg Post-Gazette. Since the original story broke in the Post-Gazette Major Winters passed away on January 2, 2011 after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Jordan plans to "Hang Tough" and continue to collect donations to ensure his hero and the men that served with him are forever remembered.

Jordan Brown’s “Hang Tough” wristbands can be purchased at www.hangtough6644.org. The minimum donation is $1, plus $3 shipping.

Note of interest: There is a group promoting the award of the Medal of Honor for Major Winters. They want the medal awarded posthumously for his actions during D-Day, 1944 in the Brécourt Manor Assault, which to this day is still taught at West Point as the epitome of a tactical assault.

Maj. Winters in his own words.