Sunday, September 21, 2008

Bridge to nowhere


On another blog, I have two friends who don't exactly see eye to eye on the political front. They brought up the bridge to nowhere that has been in the news recently. I posed a question. What is the bride to nowhere? Neither one had looked it up for sure. I have to be honest. I didn't know myself until I just happened to see a documentary on the discovery channel. It seems that it is a bridge across the Bering Strait. It would provide a way to drive or take a train to Russia. It would also include an oil pipeline. It is said to "nowhere" because there is no roads on either end. The bridge is such an undertaking that engineers have been discussing it for some time. If it were to happen, a massive land road and rail construction would also have to be built, both in Alaska and in Siberia. I was surprised to learn that Siberia and Alaska are only 58 miles apart. That is closer than Cuba to Florida. I wonder if there was a way across the Bering Strait if we would have Russians trying to come to this country as we do Cubans. It would be easier to police a bridge than it is a water crossing. The water is frozen for 8 months of the year in the Strait. The fact that no one tries to cross is that the ice is flowing, and they can't get to it because there are no roads. That is the challenge of the bridge. It would have to be on piers in the water. The ice would be pushing against them with great force. It would be economically, a plus for both countries if it could be accomplished. The cost would be in the Billions to build. Palin was for it until she found out that Alaska would have to absorb 100% of the cost. Then she changed her mind and was against it. The news media neglects to tell the whole story. Most people as well have no idea what the bridge to nowhere actually is. But they know there is a controversy and Palin is in the middle of it. The Democrats use it to add fuel to the negative fire, even if they don't know what it is about. The Republicans use it to add fuel to the positive and they as well have no idea. I love this country.

Thursday, September 11, 2008

NEVER FORGET THE DAY THE WORLD STOPPED

On a bright sunny day in September.











It has been 7 years. Everyone remembers where they were and what they were doing when those animals attacked the innocent people in the World Trade Center.

343 New York City Firefighters lost their lives that day. Every one of them just, "doing what they do". Many called them "heroes" for what they did that day. They in reality did nothing different that day than they did any other day. The difference is they lost their lives doing it that day. I think public service personnel are heroes everyday. But they don't consider themselves heroes and will tell you the same thing....."We are just doing what we do".
Since that day we have been at war with the ones responsible. Many think it is wrong to be in Iraq fighting for the freedom of those people. On Television we see how "bad" it is there. Most don't think of how "good" it has become there.
If there is a flood in your town, the news shows the flood area. Anyone watching the news is thinking of how awful it must be to live in that town. If the news showed the entire town, those watching would see that most of the town is going about their daily lives normally. Only those in the flood zone are affected.
If the news media were covering the entire country of Iraq, instead of only the worst part of the war zone. People would see that the forces being there has made the lives of most of the Iraqi people better. We have not found and destroyed Bin Laden as of this date. We have not stopped hunting for him either. We have however kept him or his followers from affecting any further destruction on the innocent people of the United States. We have lost many soldiers in the war. We have not lost any more innocent citizens in this country who were just going about their daily lives.
If someone is killed in war, it is tragic. For someone to get killed just because they were there that day is beyond words. That is what those cowards did that September 11, 2001. They killed people just because they were there that day. Any one of us could have been there that day. If you are thinking the war is wrong, I wonder if you would think differently if one of your loved ones had been killed that day, just because they were there. WE MUST NEVER FORGET.
Together we stand. Let's stand together as one and never become divided.