Our local Post Office just sent off packages to Iraq. The target unit was one manned by the son of a friend of another military mom at our office and the response was great, as you can see in the photo.

The time is getting short for sending these packages to have them arrive in time for the holidays, but you can still do it if you act quickly.

Not sure what to send? No problem, there's a website I just became aware of called "Any Soldier." Not only can you learn what kind of items to send, you can locate soldiers to send to. Be sure to check the important rules for sending and follow them.

If putting together your own package is not an option, you can have the good folks at "Treat Any Soldier" put it together for you and ship it too! They will even insert a personal note from you. How much easier can it get to do something special for a lonely soldier serving in a foreign country?

Care packages not your thing? We've compiled links to several great sites where you can donate airconditioners, heaters, unused accumulated frequent flyer miles, phone cards, or even show love and appreciation to a soldiers love ones left behind. It's all on "Supporting Our Troops".

Take time today to think about someone who is making sacrifices for you and your freedom. Support a soldier and/or his family for the holidays.

Be sure to visit Letters From Iraq

Finally, Part 4 of this weeks after action on the November 2nd elections.

Healthcare, we have the greatest healthcare system in the world. The demands put on the providers, researchers and companies by the public for answers to the medical problems we have, to ensure longer life, has driven them to find many of those answers, but at a cost. Research is expensive, providing care is expensive...and litigation over unrealized expectations is expensive. We have hard choices to make. Government healthcare is not the solution, that only provides a false sense of security by transferring the payment system to a bureaucratic system and in the process increasing taxes exponentially. The solution is to be found at the core of what we expect from the providers, and are we willing to pay, no matter who the conduit of payment is? Healthcare at any price will produce one outcome for sure, very expensive healthcare.

International Relations, what is the place of the United States in the world? We have been given, with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the awesome responsibility of being the giant among nations. We must lead; we must take hard, careful positions in the world community. We must listen to that community, but we must not let them dictate our policy nor our response. We must temper our response with compassion and understanding, yet never fail to address wrong where it is found. Does that mean a military response? Not necessarily. We cannot, nor should we, always be the world’s policeman, nor should we ever be the wimp.

The Economy, government has a responsibility to stay out of the way of the economy, to allow businesses to do what they do best, while keeping a careful eye on those rare unscrupulous operators who would take advantage of the less informed. Intervention should be rare, not the normal, accepted course.

Jobs, the only jobs government, including Congress and the President, creates are government jobs. I.e. Jobs paid for by taxes taken from the taxpayers. Government must take its reigns off business and the economy and allow job growth in the areas where it does the most good for the country, in the private sector.

The War on Terror and the war in Iraq, despite the claims of the left, these are intricately tied together. The terror imposed by Saddam on the Iraqi people is but a reflection of the terror the Islamic Fundamentalists wish to impose on all of us. Saddam's support of Palestinian terrorism through payments of, reportedly, $25,000 to the families of those who died committing terrorist acts against Israel served to fuel more terrorism in that nation. Saddam's off and on programs to either produce or accumulate the materials and equipment to produce terrorist weapons was a threat to the rest of the world and would have remained so with what we now know to be the assistance of the French, Germans and Russians. Terrorism is the scourge of our time and will remain so as long as those who wish to do us harm maintain that mindset. Their history, long as it is, tells us they will not change, they will not negotiate, they don't want our acquiescence, they wish our destruction.

So, are these neat little statements the answer, certainly not. From the outset I stated the answers are complex. However, these along with the values issues mentioned previously, from a conservative viewpoint, are the abiding principles that must guide the decisions our country makes. Certainly we must discuss these and other issues, but the discussion must center on the issues, these ideas if you will, not on personalities.

America is a country founded on the principle that all are created equal. That means we all have value, regardless of which corner of the political spectrum we arrive from. Therefore we must consider the common good for all citizens of this nation when political decisions are made. Does that mean all will agree? No, but it means that if we don't agree we send our elected leadership to find consensus. If they fail we come together at the polls, not the firing lines, to find a new direction.

Be sure to visit Letters From Iraq

On this Veterans Day I wanted to break from the ongoing essay of the past few days and take time to honor our military veterans who have served, sacrificed and died that we can enjoy the freedoms we have here in the USA.

We are so blessed to be able to speak freely, to travel where we wish, to worship as we please and to pursue our dreams. This is possible because men and women have served in our military to preserve and protect those freedoms.

To those who have put on the uniform of the Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, and Coast Guard, and all those now serving both regular, reserve and National Guard, thank you for your gift to me and the rest of America.

Without your service, it is possible even these words would not be possible.

May God bless you and your families, and may God bless America.

I received the lyrics to a song written by Jerry Calow, A Tribute to Veterans. The lyrics to the song have been posted on our website, please take time to read the words and if you appreciate their message, write Jerry and let him know.

Tomorrow, the final installment of this week’s ramblin’s on last week’s election and the reaction of the left.

Be sure to visit Letters From Iraq

Part 3 of 4....thought I'd better break up this last piece.

Continuing the discussion of the reaction of the left to last week’s election. While values were cited in exit polls a being the most important issue, and this was extrapolated by the left to mean Evangelical Christians, whom the left thinks have no interests other than values, were the deciding factor in the election. However, values are only a part of the issues of interest to Christian and were not the only reason voters turned to the polls is record numbers.

The important point the left misses is that our values are what drive our viewpoint of all the issues. We see all the major concerns of our day in the light of the struggle of mankind, the importance of the individual, of a compassion that brings dignity to people and that the citizen, not the government, should be the final decision maker for those areas that impact him.

Among the issues of concern by conservatives, Christians, and yes, those Evangelicals, were security, taxes, Social Security, healthcare, government spending, international relations, the economy, jobs, the "War on Terror" and the war in Iraq. Christians are not a mono-focused group who view the world in light of a single issue. Rather, we view the world in light of the values we have learned from scripture and struggle to live in our own lives.

Are all these issues in neat little packages, easy to articulate, easy to discern, easy to fix? Certainly not. Most are very complex, requiring much thought and forethought, a careful plan, and tremendous insight. To answer the questions of policy facing our country one must look beyond the simple, easy and popular "fix" for the better, usually more complex, slower to implement but more permanent answers.

The left leans towards a quick "fix" to peoples problems. Throw money at it, give a welfare check, food stamps, farm subsidies, increase educational funding, more scholarships for higher education, make people feel better about not meeting expectation, or better yet, lower the standard. The left relies on appeasement and handouts; the right looks to empowering individuals to achieve their best.

Security, yes we must secure our nation from threats from with out and within. This is the primary function of our government as implemented by the constitution.

Taxes, we must simplify the tax system. It is designed to give politicians power over the people by giving tax breaks to those in favor, or increase taxes on others to curry favor. Taxes must be held to a minimum to allow the individual to choose those goods and services he will support. Not to have artificial supports put under businesses that otherwise would fail excepting government’s involvement. The former is capitalism, the latter is socialism. Our nation became great because of the principles of capitalism. The Soviet Union fell under the burden of socialism.

Social Security, the system has to be overhauled. We are on a collision course, acknowledged for decades, with a collapse of this boondoggle legacy of the Great Depression.

Final, for sure, tomorrow.

Be sure to visit Letters From Iraq

Part 2 of what has now become 4

There are, believe it or not, those within the Republican Party who do not believe in God, nor have made Him Lord of their lives. There are those in the Republican Party who's moral character is questionable, whether by Christian or human standards. However, as of this time, the party as a whole exhibits a policy and platform that, while not perfect, is a much closer fit to the Christian worldview than that of the Democrat party.

What the Democrats fail to understand is that the values concern of Christians is not about saying the words, if that were the case Christians would have been pretty much on board with Bill Clinton. He was, and remains, good at talking the talk. What Christians look for is substance behind those words. Does the individual really live what he speaks? Knowing we are all struggling with our sin nature, we strive to bring our thoughts and desires in our own lives into conformity to that of Christ, and look for leaders who do the same. When we find them, they get our attention.

Is George W. Bush perfect? Hardly, none of us are. But Christians believe he is striving towards that perfection as he strives for a closer relationship with Christ. And we see that relationship in his worldview, in his policies, in his compassion. That is something the Democrats cannot duplicate because it comes from the heart, not from intellectual strategizing.

So, now that Conservatives, and Christians, have won a victory in this ongoing political struggle between left and right, where should we go? One thing is to not rest on our laurels. To not bask in the euphoria. The left has not conceded this struggle, they have lost a battle, they will not give up the war. They will come back with entreaty, with talk of compromise, with an olive branch to try and deceive the "heart and soul" of America back to their side. That cannot, nor should not happen unless there is a major shift of policy, agenda, platform and principle in both parties. I do not see that happening.

Remember, the "elitist intellectuals" of the left will never concede their claim to knowing what is best for the "Walmart crowd,” the "Southern rednecks," the "ignorant." I can see the probability that the left will begin a quiet response to this election that may well lead to a more cunning campaign to deceive conservatives and Christians alike. A campaign that could lead to marginalization, disenfranchisement and, in light of Scripture, the beginnings of a persecution of the church in America.

Does that sound defeatist? I hope not. While I do not look forward to that kind of treatment in this, or any nation, I cannot forget the prophetic warnings of scripture. The thought of such a response should not lead us to despair, but to prayer. We should see any struggle as an opportunity of draw closer to God, to solidify our relationship with Him.

Christians must remember is that this election, any election, is only of this world. No matter which way the political winds of the nation may blow, we must never stop praying for our nation, her leadership and those who would destroy her. The power of prayer will always win over the power of politics. While politics may change policy or temporal circumstances, prayer is an act that changes the hearts of men.


Be sure to visit Letters From Iraq

I've been unable to do much in this space in the past week due to other concerns and honestly, exhaustion. I’m making up for my absence though, once I started writing I couldn’t stop so this will come in three parts. The final week before the election saw historic increases in the volume of political mail which gets pushed to the front of the delivery cycle because of the time value of it, and most importantly to the management structure, because should large amounts fail to get in the voter's hands prior to their going to the polls it could create a firestorm from those who failed to get the nod of the electorate.

But that season is over, at least for another 3 years when it begins again. However, I've noticed there is something else beginning in the rhetoric we're hearing from the left. In the hours immediately following the determination of the winner, the left, the intelligencia, the elitists, began an assault on the Christians, specifically the Evangelicals, of this country, "blaming" them on the re-election of George W. Bush. It seems the left views moral values, as cited by many as their most important issue, as being resident in only those right-wing radicals, the Christians.

We were demagogued in the media as the "Walmart" crowd (Sam would be proud), the ignorant, and the uninformed. Clearly there was among the pundits for the left the beginning of a movement to marginalize the Christian vote while attempting to de-legitimize the election of President Bush. Perhaps even, the beginnings of a behind the scenes attempt to disenfranchise the Christian vote in the next election.

What the left has failed to realize is that the morals issue is,
a) Not an issue limited to Christians
b) It is not the only issue important to conservatives, Christian or not.

This election was a call for the continuation of a strong American policy in our relationships with foreign nations, a call for decisive leadership, a call for leaders of strong character. The majority of the voters in this election voted in favor of leadership who place principle over polls, strength over appeasement. While we may not agree with all that President Bush has done in his first term, we believe he has done what he believes is right for the country and we admire his courage to stand resolute in the face of those who denigrate his character, rail against his policy and impugn his faith. Conservatives could not, nor would not imagine our country eviscerated by a policy of a "global test" trumping the good of the nation.

As the visceral rage of the left gave way to political calculation, a softer, more "introspective" voice began to make itself heard. Kirsten Powers articulated this Sunday morning on Fox News' Fox and Friends. Discussing the election, Ms Powers said that Democrats did not get their message across to the voter. She said that Democrats do believe in God, they do think morals are important. I do not doubt there are Democrats who believe in God. Nor do I doubt there are Democrats who have made Him Lord of their lives. I don't doubt there are Democrats who are moral people. The question is not the beliefs of the individual; it is the beliefs, moral stand and policies of the party.

Part II tomorrow.

Be sure to visit Letters From Iraq