It is a gift of love for those at home whose safety is purchased by sacrifice. It is a gratitude that this duty station is far from home; as are the battles being waged there.

Soldiers go where they are ordered to go and do what they are told to do when they get there. It’s what they do. It’s the nature of the beast.

Families will know the empty chair of a soldier around the tree or table this year that belongs to their child, spouse or parent. It’s what they do. It’s the nature of the beast.

As you read this, it is already Christmas Day under the boots of an American soldier somewhere around the globe. I wish them all Godspeed and a safe return home. This evening I’ll drink a toast to them as I remember my times walking the same post.

This group is Canadian by nationality but universal by nature. Soldiers are soldiers, no matter where they call home.

I am deeply distressed at the current events of this week on that peninsula. I had heard the horrific stories of that war from my father, who fought there, but never really understood them until I stood in his footprints decades later.

Seeing it first hand and walking that rough terrain made that certain kind of hell quite real to me. The Punch Bowl, the Iron Triangle, Heartbreak Ridge. I visited and saw them all from the perspective of a warrior.

I know it would be a terrible place to fight a war and it was to those who fought it. They have my deepest admiration. As do the American service members who stand there today as a vanguard against further aggressions.

The criminal activity of the North that occurred this week is reprehensible. It shows the true colors and lack of moral responsibility of that totalitarian entity.

I have to wonder if this is an omen of what we expect to see going forward with its new leader. From all indications, the insanity of his father and grandfather have been passed down genetically and we have another madman to deal with.

I have a personal affinity for the South Korean people. You would be hard pressed to find a finer group of human beings in the world. They are warm, friendly and fiercely loyal to their friends.

But they are not whole and that is killing their souls.

Few South Korean families do not have extended family north of the 38th parallel. Relatives they have never even met, but the bond of blood is still strong between them. Families have been torn apart by the madness of men and it is time for it to stop.

I was not impressed with the South Korean government, no more than I am with our own current helmsmen. Both countries need statesmen when apparently either has neither. And China is the wild card in the mix.

I hope the best for our troops in the field and pray they are not withered away by the testosterone contests of little men who would not make a rifleman on their best day. It seems so easy for cowards to send men into the breach they will not visit themselves. But that is the history of aristocracy, no?

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/11/23/nkorea.skorea.military.fire/index.html?hpt=T1

If average Americans can endure this one last seizure caused by liberalism it is almost a given that the movement will be dead by 2020. In essence, the election of these hyper-liberal jokers is possibly the best thing that ever happened to the conservative platform in decades.

Read more about it here:

How Liberalism self-destructed

Even the liberal unions and leftist organizations are opting out of the program via waivers; possibly a pre-conceived move allowed by the Obama Administration in trade for their support of the bill? You be the judge of that.

Check out these two short clips about the wave of waivers hitting the program and read Michelle’s post at the link below:

Read Michelle’s piece:

The Obamacare Waiver-mania! movement builds

But such is not the case, it seems. Arrogance, power and corruption are very strong liquors and their levels of intoxication near invincible.

The party in their liberal heads must have drowned out the screams of the American people telling them we are tired of being taxed for things we don’t even want. But now, it’s back to business as usual for the Democrats: tax and spend, tax and spend, until other peoples money is gone.

Democrats to Barack Obama: Hang tough on Bush tax cuts